So! I rewrote my mermaid fic and I'm much, much more content with how it's turned out. It feels a lot less aimless now. Plus it has a lot more Ace in it, which is never a bad thing!

Anywho, a big, big thanks to tumblr user Tsukiharu for her awesome prince!Shanks/mermaid!luffy comic which was the major motivation for writing this (so go check out her stuff asap) although this is just a prequel, so if you want more than go follow her!

No warnings except for the occasional bit of language (also for an ace/sabo side pair as well~)

(also i decided to keep the title cause im pretty unoriginal)

Luffy moved quickly, the smooth motion of his bright red tail cutting through the water. Every so often he'd poke his head up above the water to make sure that he was still going in the right direction since his sense of direction was pretty bad even for a merman, but the view of buildings, seemingly stacked up on top of each other and glistening in the sun on the distant island, assured him that he was still heading in the right direction.

Back under the sea, his journey was only interrupted by the occasional detour as he'd dart away to catch a snack or two. With his speed, most of the other fish didn't stand a chance and he was able to fill up on breakfast before he'd even reached his destination.

With an eager grin, he finally arrived at the island's port, which was empty due to how early in the day it was. Docked there were a few human ships- absolutely massive from his vantage point- with their bottoms covered in barnacles and sea stars. There were plenty of smaller boats tied to the long wooden poles of the port, but they weren't as attention grabbing as the ones with the fancy flags and figureheads. He swam up to one of the larger ones, while avoiding the nets floating in the sea and snatching a squirming fish from one of the closer nets, before brushing his free hand across the bottom of the boat.

It was rare that he was ever close enough to touch one of them, since when they were out on the open sea there was too much of a chance of being spotted by humans, so he ran his palm up against the sturdy material and felt a twinge of envy. Merfolk didn't have, or really need, boats since they could just swim everywhere they needed too and Luffy thought that that was stupid; After all, there was a certain Romance when it came to sailing- a certain sense of freedom.

Except, the one time he'd brought it up around his Gramps, the older merman had punched him extra hard for the remark. Granted, the punch- or the extra rough training session afterwards- hadn't done anything to change his opinion, but he was more careful not to say that sort of thing around his Gramps anymore. Or really anything human positive.

His Gramps Garp, with his tail that had once been a dark blue but was now streaked with silver scales and almost white fins, disliked humans with a passion. He'd known too many merfolk who'd lost their lives at the hands of humans in some way or another and refused to think of humans, or anything associated with them, in a positive light. He'd tried to instill the same dislike of humans in Luffy as well, but instead of making him hate them, it had done the opposite and had left Luffy enamored with them.

While he knew that humans were dangerous, and wasn't trying to get caught by any of them any time soon, Luffy also thought that there was something cool about humans. They just seemed to make so much cool stuff. He'd plundered his fair share of human objects from shipwrecks and from places where they'd just dumped stuff overboard, and while Ace usually discarded his human wares when his interest waned- handed them off to Sabo- Luffy kept his own hoard; It was his treasure. He just had to be careful that Garp and the other merfolk never saw it. Some might just pass it off as a sign of his immaturity, like his friend Makino did, but the older ones, like Garp, would definitely lose their minds.

Taking a bite out of the fish in his hand, Luffy drifted past the boats. The water around the area was murkier and dirty, but Luffy ignored it; although that was one of the worst things about humans in his mind- they always made the water so dirty and grimy and weird to swim through. The fish that spent too long near their islands also tasted weird because of it. Although that had never stopped Luffy from eating them before.

He continued on his path, tracing the coast line until he came to a little beach on one of the sides. The island, since it was totally surrounded by the sea, had a few beaches, but Luffy liked this one the most. It was more enclosed than the others and he'd only ever seen a few humans there, unlike most of the others that were often packed full of humans, and although Luffy thought better of humans than most merfolk, he still wasn't going to go to a beach full of them.

Going to beaches themselves was fun though- especially for sleeping. You had to be careful and not sleep too deeply in case a human came around, but they were much more comfortable when it came to sunning than laying on rocks. Although dealing with the birds that flocked beaches was still pretty annoying. Even if he snapped or grabbed at them, the particularly dumb ones would still try and peck at him as he tried to sleep. The bolder ones would even go for his tail.

Still, it had been a while since he'd come to this beach, so he came to sleep in the sun for a while. Since it was still pretty early in the morning, it felt like it would be safe to stay there and explore for a bit afterwards. After all, there were sometimes cool things that could only be found on land.

Luffy finished his snack and swam to the shore, enjoying the feeling of the smaller waves on his back as he moved into shallower and shallower waters. He wiggled his hips left and right, making s-shaped grooves in the sand with his lower half as he pulled himself onto the sand. He moved just a little farther up inland, but not far enough away that he wouldn't be able to make it back to the ocean if he needed to, before he sat up and stretched his arms over his head- enjoying the feeling of the sun on his upper body and tail. Since he spent most of his life underwater, he didn't feel the full warmth of the sun too often, so it was odd but it was a really nice sort of way. After stretching his arms, Luffy made sure to stretch his back and his tail a bit too.

Afterwards, he brushed some of the sand off his tail, taking in the bright shade of red and the pink of his tailfin. Although he usually wasn't too concerned about how his tail looked, there were time where he still thought that it was a nice looking tail. It wasn't quick as thick as his Gramps', since Garp's tail was more geared towards powerful movements and was more muscular over all due to the long distances that he swam, but there was a nice combination of speed and power there. Makino had even teased him a few times in the past that if he took better care of it that he'd had no problem attracting a mate with it, but Luffy had brushed off her remarks, since he wasn't too interested in that sort of thing. Maybe one day he'd start worrying about how flashy his tail was, but right now there were too many adventures to be had.

Luffy was mid-tail stretch when the wind shifted directions and he caught a strange smell. Twisting his body around, Luffy looked around the beach until he noticed a dark lump farther up along the beach. A shiver went through his body when he realized what he was staring at. Even from this distance he could tell that the lumpy shape was a human.

Now he'd heard it countless times from everyone- Garp, Makino, and even Ace sometimes. 'Avoid humans and don't go to close to the surface or land, and definitely don't go near boats' they'd repeat over and over again. And Luffy, time and time again, had nodded along- his head already full of his next few adventures.

Ace, of course, never expected him to listen- Luffy knew for a fact that Ace had his own human friend; A male named Sabo who was about Ace's age. Luffy had met him quite a few times before, even though he lived on an island that was a fair distance away from where their colony usually slept. Ace probably did it more for the sake of keeping up appearances than anything else.

Makino also knew that Luffy never really heeded her advice, but she at least thought that so long as Luffy stayed content with just finding shipwrecks, and didn't get too close to actual humans, then it was ok. She actually liked to see some of the stuff that he pulled from wrecked ships, and she still had one of the hair pins that he'd found a few years ago; Although she didn't wear it, since she didn't want to occur Garp's wrath.

Garp, on the other hand, usually put him through hell if he saw Luffy anywhere near human ships- or even ship wrecks. It was a pain wherever the other merman should show up out of nowhere and suddenly hit him! It seemed like pure luck that had kept Garp from stumbling upon Luffy's hoard of human stuff because even if it wasn't a huge hoard, but it would definitely be enough to make the older merman flip his lid.

Despite that and his hatred of humans, Garp usually had a pretty good sense of humor, and although he liked beating Luffy up way too much- he always called it 'training'- sometimes Luffy had fun with him.

But he knew why they all lectured him- he knew about all of the dangers of humans, and all of the reasons to avoid them. He knew and yet, his shiver hadn't been one of fear, but of excitement and interest. He'd never turned down an adventure before so as soon as the impulse came to him, he acted upon it.

Luffy immediately twisted around and started moving across the sand. The human wasn't too far away and it only took Luffy half a minute to get closer. Once he was closer to them- maybe 10 feet away- all of the warnings started playing through his head again. It could be some sort of trap and if he wasn't careful he might be the next horror story to keep the young merkids from getting too close to humans. Luffy immediately shook his head to get rid of those sorts of thoughts. When had danger ever made him hesitate before? He'd stood up to everything the ocean had thrown at him so far, so why would a single human before any more dangerous?

The last question repeated in his head even as he observed the human. He could hear the human's muffled snores and he could see the rise and fall of their chest, even though it was covered by a black garment. The human seemed to be asleep so if he was quiet when he went to look then the human wouldn't even wake up, right? Right.

Luffy nodded to himself before moving slowly this time, keeping a careful eye on the human's chest to make sure that the breathing didn't change too much. He was sure that even if the human did suddenly wake, then he'd be able to get away and back into the ocean, but he still had to be careful.

He made it over to the human's side and leaned over them. Although the head and chest were covered by the black garment, the lower half- so different from his own- was left uncovered. Luffy marveled at the two limbs growing out of the lower half and he leaned down to carefully tug at one of them.

The material covering them felt strange under his fingers. Sabo had once described this stuff as clothing that humans wore to keep themselves covered and warm. 'Tops' covered the upper half of their bodies while 'pants' covered their lower halves and 'shoes' were the weird things on their feet. Merfolk really didn't have clothes, or wear them in the same away as humans. Of course if they wanted to, a merman or woman might find a piece of cloth or netting to use to cover their chest or tail, or maybe even tie up their hair, but it wasn't mandatory, as it seemed to be for humans.

He found clothing floating in the ocean sometimes, but it felt so different when it was dry. Just for extra measure, he felt the clothing that was draped over the human's head as well. It was different, but not in a bad way; the material actually felt pretty nice between his fingers and he immediately wanted to take it back with him and add it to his hoard of human treasure.

When the desire become too strong to ignore, he started peeling back the black garment from the human's face. The human wouldn't miss this one thing, right? He just had to be careful.

The first thing that Luffy noticed was that the human's hair was a shade of red that was only a few shades darker than his tail and that it stuck up every which way. The human also had three scars over one of their eyes. Luffy, for a few seconds, wondered what the human had done to get those wounds. He remembered getting the scar under his own eye from trying to prove how brave he was to everyone else by stabbing himself with a knife. Man, he'd gotten in so much trouble for that!

He wondered if the human had tried something similar, although he couldn't imagine doing the same thing three times. The lower half of the human's face had stubbly facial hair, a few shades darker than the hair on his head. Judging by their face as a whole, the human was probably more than a bit older than him or Ace- maybe closer to Makino's age.

The human snorted in their sleep before their snores grew even louder, and Luffy waited a few seconds to see if they'd move again. All the while, all he could think about was that the human smelled pretty bad. Really bad. Honestly, if all humans smelled this way then he might just have to rethink his desire to get close to any more of them…

Rubbing at his nose, Luffy drew his eyes away from the human's face and looked further downward. The human wore a simple white shirt, faintly stained in some places, and through the cut of their top Luffy could see that the human had a muscular build similar to Ace's and his Gramps'. That meant that the human was a male right? Especially since human women were supposed to have upper bodies like looked like a mermaids'. Luffy poked his chest just to make sure, but it felt pretty firm. The man was even more muscular than Luffy himself was, but, Luffy assured himself with a huff, the human definitely wasn't stronger.

Wrapped around the bottom of his shirt was a red sash that was the same color as his hair, and Luffy wanted it as well, but he couldn't see a way to easily take it off of the man without physically moving him, so he, reluctantly, let it be. He looked farther down to the man's lower half and remembered what Ace had told him before, about humans being built differently from merfolk down there as well. He'd been confused about it before, but whenever he'd tried asking Sabo about it, Sabo had refused to show him; and had, instead, turned red and given Luffy a strange explanation that he hadn't understood.

Now Luffy's curiosity was piqued.

It seemed easy to get the weird lacing around the top of the pants undone, and by pulling at it a few times Luffy got everything loose. He pulled the fabric up and peered into it, seeing some dark red hair and the shape of something else.

"Well this is unexpected."

Luffy's head snapped around as he heard a deep, but slightly breathless voice from behind him. He was pretty much draped across the human's chest by the point so he just stared, wide eyed, into the human's face- which was now eye level since at some point the human had shifted onto his elbows.

Wait- when had that happened? For a few seconds all of the activity halted in Luffy's brain and he was just left staring in shock. The small part of his brain that was still function noted the small details from the man's voice, to his brown eyes, and the way that his hair was sticking up even more. The human, meanwhile, kept muttering to himself.

"How much did I even drink last night? Shit-" The human groaned, torn between staring at Luffy's face and something off to the side. Luffy looked towards where the man must have been looking, but all he saw was his tail, which gleamed a bit in the sunlight.

Wait, his tail?

His tail! Shit!

Suddenly Luffy's body snapped into motion and he twisted away from the human. He heard a grunt of pain and some cursing as his tail slammed into something but he didn't stop- couldn't stop. The coat was still clasped in his grip when he scrambled for the safety of the waves and deeper water.

He should have kept swimming once he was completely submerged- he definitely should have- but he stopped, and, his curiosity getting the better of him, poked his head out above the waves. He was now a lot farther from the beach but the human was still in sight. The man, he could just barely make out his face now, had a hand pressed up against the side of his face and wore a dumbfounded expression. He stared out at the waves and then their eyes met.

Luffy found himself trapped by that gaze, which wasn't helped by the war of emotions going on inside of him. His instincts, which sounded like Garp at the moment, were telling him to get the hell out now, but his curiosity kept him held in place. What would the human do next? Would he try and follow him? Whether he stayed there for a minute or ten just asking himself those questions, Luffy didn't know.

Suddenly the loud roar of a nearby fishing boat horn broke the moment and startled the two of them back to their senses. Without looking back at the human again, Luffy turned and dove under the ocean waves, the stolen garment still clutched in hand.

'I got close to a human', echoed in his head over and over again as he made his way back to his colony. 'I got close to a human- I actually touched a human', the thoughts continued until they were the only things filling his head. It should have been a terrifying thought. He'd been distracted and the human could have done anything to him. The thought should have been horrifying and everything, but instead Luffy found that he couldn't wipe the smile off his face.

He'd touched a human.

He'd touched a human!

For the next week Luffy could only stew in the feelings that were building up in him. There was excitement there, and a bit of apprehension, at the idea of going back to the island and seeing the human there, but at the same time there was a bit of nervousness there. It was the closest he'd ever gotten to a human- excluding Sabo- and it had felt like swimming through a minefield. If he did something really dumb- or at least dumber than normal- than he could really get into trouble. Still the idea of going back called to him.

The only problem was that finding the time to break away from the colony and explore on his own for a while had been frustratingly difficult to find over the past week. Everywhere there turned there seemed to be more work for someone to force onto him, and with his Gramps back amongst the colony for a few days, escaping the older merman, or his booming voice, seemed completely impossible. His body was already sore due to some of the 'love taps' that Garp had already given him- including one for coming back to the colony so late last week.

So he stayed put, doing whatever work his Gramps threw at him, and the other merfolk in the colony were all too happy to follow Garp's lead, or maybe they were just happy to have him being productive with the rest of the colony for once, rather than getting into trouble all of the time. Either way, everyone kept him busy. It wasn't until Garp gave him the go ahead to go hunting with Ace that he finally had some breathing room.

"We'll bring back a few sharks, so don't expect us until later, Old Man!" Ace had shouted at their Gramps before swimming off with Luffy in tow. They both swam with grins on their faces as Garp's annoyed shouts trailed after them.

Once they were farther away from the colony and out in open water, Luffy finally felt a grin break across his face. "Finally!" he shouted, throwing his arms out above his head. He'd been about to go crazy back there! "Thanks Ace!"

Next to him, Ace watched him with a small, amused smile on his face. He'd seen Luffy's utter frustration over the last few days, and, amusing as it was, it was also his job as the big brother to do something nice for the him every once in a while. "Yeah, yeah, I bought you some time. Go and have fun, but don't forget to bring back a shark or two. I won't save you from Garp if you forget." He said with a serious expression, even though he was only about half serious. He'd bring back one or two himself, and maybe even a dolphin or two. Whatever kept Garp off his back too.

Although it looked like Luffy hadn't listened to his warning and instead he turned to Ace with a gleam in his eyes. "That reminds me, I found something cool! Wanna come and see it Ace?"

"Something cool?" Ace asked in a tone that just dripped disbelief. "It isn't anything from that weird hoard of yours is it?"

"Shut up! That place is my treasure!" Luffy said before sticking his tongue out. It wasn't his fault that Ace didn't think that human stuff was as cool as he did. "Now do you wanna come or not?"

Ace shrugged, his tail giving a disinterested flick. "Sure. I got some time to burn." Although he wasn't totally disinterested. Luffy did find the occasional cool thing in the ocean, even if most of it was just junk.

"Alright, let's go!" Luffy shouted before the two darted off in the direction of Luffy's little hoard. They swam alongside of each other, even though Ace could normally outswim Luffy. His tail was similar in build to Garp's, albeit a flashy orange color instead of blue and his fins were a pale yellow. His black hair was also a bit wavier than Luffy's, although no less messy, and instead of a scar on his face, Ace had freckles practically splattered across his face, shoulders, and even his torso. Ace was pretty attractive by merfolk standards, but, despite his appearance, he was politely disinterested in everyone who'd come forth with the intention of pursuing a relationship.

In fact, the only one who Ace seemed even remotely interested in was Sabo, and one time Luffy had seen him showing off so much around the human than Luffy had almost mistaken his brother for a dolphin. Granted, the one time he'd told Ace what he thought ("Hey Ace, you're pretty flashy around Sabo, aren't ya?") Ace had turned red and chased him around for an hour. Despite Ace's apparent reluctance to admit anything, and the expected stigma that went with associated with humans- much less looking at them like potential mates- Luffy still supported Ace. Plus Sabo was definitely an exception to the 'human are bad' rule.

Still, it was because Ace was a bit more open towards humans that Luffy wanted to tell him about his own experience. At the very least, he knew that Ace wouldn't tell Garp about it.

It took less than half an hour for them to find the right rock formation, but once he found it, Luffy swam under it and emerged in a deeper cave, where human items sat on every surface. The cave was pretty spacious so there was enough room for both him and Ace to be in there at the same time without running into each other.

There were also a few fish swimming around in there, but Luffy and Ace made quick work of them, before Luffy went rooting around for what he wanted to show Ace. When he found it, he held it in front of him with a grin. "Look Ace! I found this."

Ace looked down at the coat with a blank expression. "Wait, it's just this?" It was just a coat. Luffy had plenty of clothing items just scattered around here. What made this one different?

"Yep! I got it off of a human." Luffy said proudly, and again, Ace had no idea why that was any sort of big news so Luffy added. "Off of a live human. A sleeping human."

Now this had Ace's attention and he felt something in his chest lurch and his heart beat started to race in his ears. "A sleeping human? As in a live human? You went up to a living, breathing human?" Luffy nodded, looking fucking ecstatic and Ace had to quell the wave of fear and worry that threatened to sweep over him. Looking at him now, Ace knew that Luffy looked fine. There were no cuts or bruises on his body- or at least none that weren't from Garp- and he didn't look like he'd been through anything dangerous or traumatic. It didn't mean that nothing had happened, but it did mean that Luffy wasn't bothered or frightened by the whole experience, but that was both good and bad.

Good since he didn't have to kill anyone for hurting his little brother.

Bad because he fucking knew Luffy and knew that Luffy didn't know when to stop, so if he'd gone up to one human, it was only a matter of time before it happened again. But-

But he was getting ahead of himself. He hadn't even heard the whole story and there he was, jumping to conclusions. Ace closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose before sighing, "Ok, ok, started from the beginning. Tell me everything that happened."

"You looked down his pants?" Was the only thing that Ace could find it in himself to ask. He probably shout have started with 'What the hell is wrong with you?' or 'Why would you do something so stupid?' but nope- that's what came out of his mouth. Although he did think that he had a right to ask what the hell Luffy had taken it upon himself to look down a goddamn human's pants.

Luffy gave him a 'isn't it obvious' look? "Cause I wanted to see what humans looked like down there, of course. Why else?"

"Why else?" Ace mimicked. He was torn somewhere between horror that his brother would ever try something like that and laughter at how utterly ridiculous Luffy could be at times. He stared at Luffy for a few long, long seconds before the laughter finally won out in the end and a startled noise punched out of his gut. In a few seconds he was bowed over, clutching his stomach. "Oh my god- oh my fucking god." Ace couldn't stop the frenzied laughter. Of course that would be Luffy's reasoning. His stupid, stupid reasoning.

"What?" Luffy frowned, both surprised and a bit annoyed at Ace's laughter. "Sabo never let me see what was down his pants! And I just wanted to see." Besides, it wasn't like he could check with any of the humans who drowned at sea. They're bodies were always either half eaten by fish, or bloated, or just, weird… This had been his best shot at checking out something new! Although he hadn't actually seen anything.

"Trust me," Ace said, pausing to catch his breath and wipe at his eyes. "It's nothing special. Just weird looking." He said with a dismissive wave. "Like a sea cucumber, so something." Luffy turned on Ace with a betrayed expression.

"Wait what?! How do you know? Sabo let you see his?" Luffy practically got in Ace's face, noting the red that spread across Ace's face at the question. "And a sea cucumber? That's really weird."

"Shut up! I've just because we go swimming together sometimes, idiot." Ace groaned before twisting around and looping an arm around Luffy's neck. He pulled him into a chokehold before rubbing his knuckles over Luffy's head to shut him up. Luffy, of course, protested immediately and there was a brief struggle as it turned from playful to serious in a matter of seconds. It ended with them on the cave floor and Luffy's head being pushed into the sand, although both of them were being careful to not damage anything in the cave during their scuffle.

"Come on Luffy." Ace sang from behind Luffy's back, one arm pressing Luffy's arm down and the other hand on the back of Luffy's head. Most of his body weight was pinning Luffy to the ground. "Give up and I'll let you go."

"No!" Luffy protested, struggling even more. His tail beat against Ace's, but Ace remained unmoved. They kept up the one sided struggle until Luffy finally let out a frustrated groan and slumped forwards.

"Done yet?" Ace sighed, his body language practically dripping with boredom. Although his brother wasn't a bad fighter- far from it actually- he was still pretty far from Ace's level so it was always fun to tease him like this. Ace had to give him points for putting up a decent struggle though.

"…"

"What? I didn't hear that."

"I said- I give up Ace!" Luffy finally shouted, his face red from both being pressed in the sand and from annoyance, and his messy hair sticking up even more than normal.

"That's all I wanted." Ace said cheerfully. He let go of Luffy and quickly darted back out of the cave. While he would have liked to go a few rounds with Luffy at any other time, he didn't want to do it in Luffy's cave. Luffy could hold pretty intense grudges and Ace didn't want to have to imagine what he'd be like if Ace damaged any of his precious human stuff. The benefit of their quick scuffle was that Ace was now a bit more clear-headed than he'd been after hearing Luffy's story.

Now, he would have been a raging hypocrite if he just went off on Luffy for getting that close to a human, since he visited Sabo every week or other so, but he was still worried about Luffy. "So, what are you going to do now?" Ace asked once Luffy had emerged from his cave. He had a good idea of what the response would be, but he didn't want to plant any ideas in Luffy's head that he wasn't having already.

Luffy confirmed his worries when he said, "I want to go back!" without any hesitation. He looked confident as he said it, unafraid of any of the possible consequences. Ace wondered if he'd even considered them.

Still, he knew his brother and he knew that this could go down a few ways. He could try and stop Luffy by threatening to tell Makino, or god forbid, Garp. On the plus side, it might deter Luffy for a while, but Luffy wasn't easily deterred under normal circumstances, much less when someone actually tried to force him to do something. If he tried to stop him this way, then it would also be a pretty big betrayal on his end. He didn't think that Luffy would tell Garp about Sabo out of spite, or anything, but Luffy wasn't one to forget someone stabbing him in the back for any reason, and the last thing that Ace wanted to do was hurt Luffy like that, so that was out of the question.

Of course he could also try and convince Luffy to not go or to entice him by promising to take him with him the next time he went to see Sabo, but he wondered about how effective that might be. Luffy had a pretty one track mind and he could keep this up for a while. Even if seeing Sabo distracted him at the moment, it would just be a temporary thing.

Which left the third option of just going with Luffy. Honestly there was nothing holding him back from just going his brother and seeing this human for himself. If he did that then at least he could make sure that Luffy didn't do anything extremely stupid.

With his choice made, Ace said, "If you want to go back there then I'll go with you." He said in a tone that left no room for disagreement. Not that Luffy had any. If Ace wanted to come along too then Luffy had no problem with it.

"Alright, let's go!" Luffy grinned before swimming back the way they'd came. "Gramps won't be here for that much longer right? Let's go after he leaves."

Ace nodded as he followed after. "Yeah, yeah, but don't get too far ahead of yourself." Ace quickly caught up to Luffy and ruffled his hair. "First we have to catch a few sharks, otherwise the Old Man will throw a fit. Then we go and see that human of yours."

Garp ended up leaving that night, earlier than either of them had expected.

Although pacified by the food that Ace and Luffy had brought back, Garp had still given the two of them a love tap each before announcing that he was leaving. Which was immediately followed by a real hit when neither of them had shown any emotion at the statement.

"Goddammit! Is it too much to ask for grandsons to actually care about me?" the old merman shouted, his booming voice frightening away mermen and mermaids a dozen feet away.

"Why the hell would we miss you, ya abusive bastard?" Ace snarled while Luffy rubbed at the bruise on his head.

Garp steamed and his face turned red, but before he could inflict a punishment on Ace, the colony elder, Woodslap, came over to talk to Garp. "Leave you two, I need to talk to Garp."

With that curt dismissal, Luffy and Ace quickly left before Garp could refocus is attention on them.

"Well aren't you lucky Luffy?" Ace smirked as they swam away. "It looks like you'll have a chance to go back even sooner than we expected."

"Go back where?" a calm voice popped up from behind them and the two of them jumped when they saw the dark green haired, green tailed mermaid swimming next to them.

"Makino!" they said at the same time, although Ace's cheeks were just a bit pinker than Luffy's. He couldn't help it. Even though it had been years since his crush on Makino- and years since those feelings had turned platonic- but there were still moments when he got nervous around Makino.

"So, where are you two going?" Makino asked again, and Ace and Luffy looked at each other.

"Nowhere." Luffy said averting his eyes, and Ace wanted to pinch the bridge of his nose. Even now Luffy was such an awful liar. One would have thought that eventually he would have improved, but nope. He was still entirely too obvious. Makino looked at Ace for the real answer and Ace shrugged.

"You know Luffy's human fixation. He wanted to go to another island so I'm going with him to watch over him. Keep him out of trouble." He said with a good natured grin. It wasn't a lie, but he couldn't exactly tell her that Luffy was looking for a human to chat up.

"Oh?" she said in a tone that made it obvious that she knew that he was hiding something important. "That sounds exciting." She said none the less. Makino didn't understand their fascination with humans, but so long as they played it safe, and they were together, she wouldn't tell anyone. "You two should be careful though. actually didn't want to leave this early. He was planning on taking the two of you to one of the nearby colonies and introducing you to some of the mermaids there."

Both Ace and Luffy blanched at the idea. Merfolk, being social creatures, had many types of relationships in their lives- including romantic ones. Although casual relationships happened all the time, the more serious romantic, and sexual, ones were preferred. It was why many merfolk were obsessed with finding that special person who they could call their mate; or mates, since polyamory wasn't exactly rare either. Even Makino had a few merfolk that she was interested in- although no one who she'd seriously call a mate.

Garp, although his own mate had died nearly a decade ago, was in no hurry to find a new mate, but he also seemed dead set on setting his grandchildren up. Not because he wanted great grandchildren, or anything, but because the merman seemed convinced that having a mate would distract them and keep them in line. After all, how could they go off exploring when they had a family to care for? At his best he dropped a lot of annoying hints around them, but at his worst he'd actually try and introduce them to others. While some of the 'possible mates' had actually been rather nice- Keimi and Luffy had built a nice friendship, while Ace had met a mermaid named Ishilly with a similar sense of humor- both Ace and Luffy had had too many negative experiences.

Makino saw their expression and chuckled before patting them on the cheeks. "Don't worry. I convinced him not to do it this time around. I think I've convinced him to put off any more match making until his next trip."

Luffy and Ace breath twin sighs of relief. "Thanks Makino." They say at the same time. Garp had good intentions- probably- but the merman was an absolute menace.

"We'll make it up to you." Ace promised with a smile but Makino waved him off.

"Don't worry about it. Just be careful out there. OK?" She tapped her finger to her lips and winked, a sure sign that she wouldn't tell Garp where they were running off to.

"Thanks, as always Makino." Ace told her with an affectionate smile.

They got a few hours of shut eye before they set off, swimming towards the island in an easy, companionable silence. For Luffy there was a shot of nervousness underlying his excited attitude, while Ace was trying to keep himself from thinking about the worst that can happen. Which was a bit ridiculous considering his brother's equally ridiculous luck and the fact that nothing bad had happened to him so far.

When the two of them reached the island, Luffy didn't take his previous path through the port, but instead made a beeline straight for the beach. The beach was bordered to one side by a steep rock outcropping, and once he reached it, he climbed onto a low rock and peered around it to look at the human sitting on the beach. Although he couldn't be sure, it looked like the same human. They had the same red hair at least.

Ace, pulling himself up onto one of the rocks next to Luffy, noted his reaction before peering around as well.

"So that's your human then?" he asked in a carefully blank tone and Luffy shrugged.

"It's hard to tell from here, but maybe. They both have red hair." Which was pretty unhelpful, but nothing that he hadn't expected from Luffy.

"You're right." Ace said in a dry tone. "He's wearing pant so it must be hard to tell." The joke came out of normal and Luffy burst out laughing in surprise. Ace had been so tense for a while now that he hadn't expected Ace to just crack a joke. A smile tugged at Ace's own mouth as his brother's reaction, and it did raise his spirit a little.

"So what do we do now?" Ace asked once he'd calmed down and Luffy looked at him with eyes that were shining with just the slightest hint of nervousness but a whole lot of excitement.

"Hey Ace, I'm gonna go talk to him."

Ace fought hard to keep back the 'no you're not' that immediately wanted to come out. While the human didn't look that dangerous just sitting there, he knew that humans had a variety of weapons that they could hide on their bodies. Just from Sabo he'd seen things like pistols and guns that were small enough to be easily hidden in jackets and coats. He wanted to pull Luffy back into the ocean with a strong 'Hell no'. But-

But he knew Luffy, and knew that 'no' just wouldn't be the end of it. Instead Luffy would sneak away and try to find the human again or he might try talking to other humans. At least in this case Ace could watch over the two of them. That's why he'd tagged along after all. Ace clenched his jaw, but said nothing in the end. Luffy, with a grin, slipped off the rock and into the sea.

Meanwhile Ace swore that he'd rip this human's throat out with his teeth if he made any suspicious move towards Luffy. It only made him feel slightly better about the whole thing.

Luffy approached the beach slowly, not quite reaching the shallow water before he poked his head up above the waves. From a safe distance Luffy observed the human, who just seemed to be on the verge of falling asleep. His cheek was cushioned in one hand and his eyes were listless. Curious, Luffy began to move closer, and he knew when the human had spotted him since he rubbed at his eyes and sat up straighter.

"Oh? Hey!" The human called out in his deep voice as he stood up from the sand and began brushing the sand off his pants. "So I guess that you were real then?" he said with a slight laugh. Luffy just watched him with wide eyes, just itching to move closer. "You know, I honestly thought that it was some sort of drunk dream, except when I woke up my coat really was missing and I had a red mark on face that hurt like hell and wouldn't go away for days. Benn gave me such a hard time over that, ya know." The man sighed, scratching at his head.

When he looked up again, Luffy could see the excitement in the human's eyes. "And now I'm just rambling on. You can actually understand me, can't you?" The human paused to ask, and Luffy, after a pause himself, nodded. The man's face absolutely lit up.

"That's amazing!" The human said with another breathless laugh, and Luffy decided that he liked that laugh. It was weird- kinda like his Gramps'- but when Garp was in a laughing mood it usually meant bad things for Luffy, like more intense 'training'. For a few seconds Luffy wanted to get closer, but, remembering that Ace was there, didn't- for now.

Instead he looked around the beach where the human sat. Besides a straw hat, and two dark brown bottles, it seemed like the human hadn't brought anything interesting with him this time around.

The man followed his gaze before calling out, "You can't have my hat if that's what you're looking at." He said before stooping to pick it up and put it on his head. "Unfortunately I haven't brought anything for you to steal this time."

Luffy frown at the phrasing, even though it lacked any real sort of ire. "I didn't steal anything!" he protested. He missed the way that the human's jaw dropped at the sound of his voice. "If you weren't protecting it properly then it's your fault if it's taken." After all, the ocean could be a really harsh place and you had to be strong enough to defend what was yours or have a colony that was strong enough to help. Besides, he took things from human shipwrecks all of the time! So what was the difference if he took something from a human that hadn't drowned yet? He waited for a response, but the man still looked shocked.

The human gaped for a few more seconds before bursting into laughter. Luffy tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Aye, aye, I guess you're right then." The man continued to laugh, as if Luffy had said something really funny. He must have seen Luffy's confused expression because he added. "I'm sorry. I spend this entire week coming back to this place, thinking that you were some sort of figment of my imagination, only to end up getting lectured." He chuckled again. "You gotta admit, it's a bit strange."

Luffy still didn't get what was so funny, but he finally chuckled along with the man. He felt the exhilaration in the pit of his stomach and decided. This human couldn't be bad if he was so cheerful right? Luffy swam a little more inland until he was in the shallower waters. He wasn't completely out of the water, and the waves rolling across his back and the sand under his tail were comforting.

The human looked surprised to see him coming closer, and Luffy could definitely feel Ace's eyes burning a hole in his back from the rock that he was sitting on, but he ignored it. He had a good feeling about this human- like he'd gotten with Sabo.

It'd be ok- he was sure of it.

"Hey human, who are you?"

The human's name is Shanks and he's easily the most annoying human that Luffy's ever met, and Luffy found himself wondering more than once if Ace had ever felt this way with Sabo.

For starters, Shanks teased him constantly. From treated him like a kid, despite his protests that he wasn't a brat, to making fun of his ignorance of human stuff just to get a rise out of him. Shanks would tell him all sorts of weird things about humans and then laugh whenever Luffy's face lit up with excitement, or he'd look at him with a surprised expression and practically shout, "You believed that?!" before bursting into laughter.

Not that Luffy's reactions ever seemed to help the situation. Even if he shouted or beat his tail against the sand in irritation, Shanks never seemed intimidated or chastened in the slightest. Quite the opposite. His smile never seemed bigger than when he was picking on Luffy or getting a rise out of him; although Shanks did seem to be able to read him well enough that he never pushed Luffy to the point where the merman wanted to leave.

Despite all that, Shanks was also really fun. Luffy quickly realized that even if he couldn't trust most of Shanks' stories or explanations, the man was still pretty entertaining. Plus he listened to Luffy's own rambling stories- the ones that even Ace usually tuned out halfway through- despite not knowing who anyone that he ever talked about was.

So Luffy liked visiting him, even if the island was quite a ways away from where his colony lived. Shanks was also busy doing whatever he did most of the time; Although Luffy didn't really know what he did for a living. He'd gotten every response from the man, from bar owner, to sailor, to even a teacher. And with every job, Shanks never gave away any clues to which ones were right or not, or if they were even close to his real occupation. Still, he told Luffy that he was never really busy until the afternoon at least, so they'd agreed to meet up in the mornings, once a week. If one of them hadn't shown up by the time that the sun had risen, then the other would wait for about an hour before leaving again.

Today Luffy laid stretched out on the beach with his head pillowed on his arms as he listened to Shanks' latest story- a funny tale about a guy, a barmaid, and two fishing hooks through the thumb. His tail was spread out in the sand behind Shanks. Sometimes he'd give it a little flick to keep the birds from getting too close to it. Occasionally one of Shanks' hands would trail down it, sending a nice shiver up Luffy's spine.

The touch felt nice and the man's hands were warm so Luffy couldn't complain about the occasional touch. Plus the contrast of Shanks' rough and callused hands on his smooth back and scales felt nice. The close proximity between them was a stark contrast to their first few meetings where Luffy maintained a bit of distance- sans the first one where Shanks had woken up with Luffy's hands nearly down his pants. Now he felt comfortable enough to be both farther away from the ocean and to let Shanks touch him.

Even Ace seemed to accept the human to the extent that he didn't watch over their meetings anymore. Since Shanks never knew that he was there in the first place, it seemed safe to bet that his behavior wouldn't radically change. Although he'd still warned Luffy from visiting Shanks too often- more than once a week really- but Luffy didn't really see the problem. So long as Garp never found out then there wouldn't be a problem, right?

Luffy's thoughts began drifting to the horrors that Garp might inflict on him for visiting a human. When he was younger the older merman had done countless things to 'toughen him up', including covering him in fish blood and leaving him in shark territory, pushing him into a field of aggressive stinging jellyfish, and even tying him to a whale's tail at one point. He was so engrossed in reliving those childhood traumas, that he didn't register the fingers sweeping his face, or when they stopped over his nose.

He did, however, feel when Shanks gripped his nose between the knuckles of his pointer finger and middle finger. "Ow!" Luffy shouted in a suddenly nasally tone. He jerked his head up, and glared at Shanks, who just stuck his tongue out at him.

"Hey hey, don't you know that it's rude to not pay attention to other's stories?" the human asked, cocking an eyebrow. "I know that my voice is pretty amazing, but I don't like just talking for the sake of talking." He said, finally releasing Luffy's nose.

"I was paying attention!" Luffy shouted, only to be met with a look of pure disbelief. "You were at the part where the human's foot got trapped in the net!"

He was surprised when Shanks stuck out his tongue. "Wrong! And foot in a net? Didn't I tell you that one last week?" Luffy averted his eyes. He didn't really know himself.

"Fine, I was just thinking about my Gramps." Luffy said after a second.

"'Gramps'?" Shanks asked. "Like grandfather? Like the father of your father or mother?" And Luffy nodded with a frown on his face. He knew what a grandpa was after all.

"Sorry," Shanks saw the offended look and correctly guessed at what had caused it. "I wasn't trying to insult you there. I still get surprised at some of the terms that we share." It wasn't totally surprising though, as Luffy had mentioned having a 'brother' several times before. It seemed like a testament to how intertwined their species were that they seemed to have so many similarities. A lot of the time it felt more like talking to someone from a different country or island, than someone from an entirely different species. "What's this Gramps like?"

"Scary." Luffy said without hesitation. "Like really scary. Like Benn level scary." And Shanks flinched at the comparison. Although Luffy had never met Benn, Shanks had shared enough stories of the man that Luffy knew that he had quite the temper sometimes.

"I'm sorry about that." Shanks said with a huff of laughter. "Although I gotta say, with a troublesome grandson like you, he must have his work cut out for him." he teased. Luffy shrugged but couldn't deny it. Ace was always calling him a handful anyways, so it wasn't like that was too far off. But, like always, Shanks didn't press on the subject.

"Hey Shanks," Luffy asked, moving over to Shanks' side again. "You never really ask about my family. Come to think about it, you don't really talk about yours either." Except for Benn and a few other humans who seemed to spend most of their time keeping Shanks in line. "Why's that?"

"Hmm?" Shanks stretched out the noise as he searched for a response. "I thought you wouldn't want me asking too many questions." Shanks answered with a shrug before brushing his bangs back from his face. "You seemed pretty twitchy at the start. Are you saying that you wouldn't have run if I'd asked too much too soon?"

Luffy frowned at the challenge in those words. Of course he wouldn't have run! He wasn't afraid of a few questions! Still, a small part of his brain clued into the fact that Shanks had only answered part of his question. "Why would I? I've told you lots of stuff about Ace and Makino and Gramps!" he huffed before thumping his tail down in the sand. "And what about your family?" He asked again and for the first time Shanks looked away.

"Ah, well, there's not much I can tell you there. Or, at least, there's not much there that would make an entertaining story." Shanks said with another shrug, although there was a look of steel underneath his usual careless expression. Even Luffy could tell that there was a lot there that Shanks didn't want to bring up. So Shanks had a bad relationship with his family then? It seemed impossible to Luffy because it seemed impossible that anyone would have serious issues with the man- despite how frustrating he could be at times. Was it that he didn't have a family at all? Or was there some other issue.

Caught up in his thoughts, Luffy didn't respond at first. He was still curious but if Shanks didn't want to talk about it then he wouldn't push… for now. If he let it go then Shanks might tell him at some point so he nodded and let it go, curling up against Shanks again with a, "Well, it's fine either way."

Shanks snorted at his sudden change of mood and went back to his story, with one hand stroking down Luffy's back all the while.

"Hey, come visit Sabo with me." Ace said one day, completely out of the blue.

Luffy looked up from the spindly crab he'd been messing with to see Ace swimming above him with a clear 'hurry up so we can go' expression.

"Huh? Really?" Luffy asked, the surprise clear in his tone. "Why are you inviting me?" Not that Ace never invited him along, but more often than not, Ace preferred being alone with Sabo. He was annoyingly territorial when it came to Sabo after all.

"Do you want to come or not?" Ace asked in lieu of an explanation. Although it wasn't like he could just say that he'd seen how down Luffy had been lately. He'd learned from Luffy that Shanks had become even more busy than normal lately and number of times that they could meet up had been reduced as a result. Luffy had tried to act like he wasn't bothered by it, but it was clear as day to Ace how bored and put out but it he was.

"Yeah! Let's go!" Luffy said immediately. He was still curious about the sudden change of heart, but he was never one to turn down an opportunity to see his other favorite human. Ace darted off ahead and Luffy pushed off the sea floor to follow after him. What could have been a leisurely swim turned into a race to Sabo's island.

The journey to Sabo's island took a bit more time than the one to Shanks' but it was also filled with the two of them goofing off and by the time they reached the island they were both in good spirits, unlike the human waiting for them.

Sabo sat on the secluded beach, staring out at the water with a frown on his face. His expression only brightened up slightly when he spotted Ace and Luffy. The mermen popped out of the water a good distance away from the beach but not so far that they might be seen through the area's thick coverage of trees.

"Ace! And Luffy?" Sabo added, surprise coloring his tone at seeing Luffy there too. "Hey, it's been a while!" he said with a wide grin, which Luffy returned.

"Yeah! Ace has been super stingy with letting me come with him lately." Luffy said, paddling closer to the shore until he was in the shallower water. Unlike the beach on Shank's island, this one had a much courser sand with chunks of rock mixed in and he didn't feel like dragging his stomach around on some rocks today.

"Shut up Luffy." Ace huffed, following close behind him. Luffy turned and stuck his tongue out at the other merman before quickly darting out of reach when Ace gave a half-hearted swipe at him. Of course he was already focused on Sabo, who was at the moment undressing.

Luffy turned and floated on his back as Sabo stripped out of all of the layers of clothing that he'd been wearing. Unlike Shanks, who wore a lot of really simple outfits, Sabo's clothing had a totally different look to it, and even Luffy could tell how much finer the clothing was. The colors were also sharper and more vivid and Luffy privately thought that he wouldn't mind add one or two things from Sabo's collection to his own hoard. Although if he did that then Sabo might get mad at him, and Ace definitely would, so Luffy held back.

He glanced back over at Ace, who was red faced but was at least trying to look like he wasn't staring at Sabo. Honestly, if Ace had shown even half of the attention that he focused on Sabo towards any of the merfolk that Garp had tried setting him up with, then the older merman might have died of happiness. By the time Luffy looked away from Ace and back to Sabo, the human was only wearing a pair of black underwear that had Ace looking even more intently.

The blond hadn't changed much since the last time that Luffy had seen him, maybe a few months ago. He still had a similar build to Ace, albeit without Ace's smattering of freckles. Instead he had a burn on his face that covered one of his eyes and left it a lighter color than the other. His hair, wavy like Ace's hung around his face in a similar style and Luffy said without thinking, "Hey Sabo, you have hair style!"

Sabo looked up from where he'd been folding up his clothes. "No I don't. Ace is the one who's been coping my style for a while now." He said in a light tone, closely followed by Ace's annoyed response.

"Shut it. I've had this style for way longer so if anyone's copying then it's you." Ace said before smirking at him. "Although I can understand why you'd want to imitate me Sabo-"

Sabo cut him off by dipping his hand in the water and splashing some in Ace's direction. "Oh wow- just shut up already." Sabo snorted, although a smile was tugging at his face. With his clothes tucked away so that they wouldn't get wet, he slowly waded into the water; which was warm for the time of year. He stretched his arms out and began swimming towards the pair and after a few seconds he was floating near Ace and Luffy. "I swear Ace, you're so obnoxious, I don't know how Luffy puts up with you." He stuck his tongue out before rubbing at Luffy's head.

"It's hard." Luffy agreed with a nod before looping his arms around Sabo's neck and draping himself on his back. His tail moved from side to side behind him so that he wasn't resting his full weigh on Sabo, but the two of them were pressed chest to back in the water.

"Shut up." Ace grumbled, flicking his tail to splash some water at the two of them. Another reason as to why he hadn't brought Luffy around for a while was that when the two of them got together, it seemed inevitable that they would, at some point, gang up on him. Sabo and Luffy, although they didn't spend much time together, had a very easy relationship and Ace couldn't deny how envious he was of how easily Luffy could get into Sabo's space and cling to him.

Whenever he tried, he'd get choked up with a lot of weird feelings and his face would turn red, which made for an odd tension between the two of them. Meanwhile Sabo accepted Luffy and that damnably cute face of his without a problem. Granted, there were only a few merfolk who seemed to be able to completely turn down Luffy.

Still, Luffy let go of Sabo before too long- instead falling back as Sabo started up a conversation with Ace, which was more of a rant about his family; The same as always. This time it was about his parents forcing him to go to a ball, and then his stepbrother, Stelly, trying to embarrass him the whole night. How Sabo had kept from punching the guy, Ace had no clue. Hell, he certainly would have torn into such an annoying guy.

Luffy, meanwhile, tried to listen to Sabo's story, but like always he found his thoughts drifting.

Although Shanks was the first human that Luffy had ever had a lot of extended conversations with, Sabo was the first human that Luffy had ever been face to face with. Ace had met Sabo first, back when he'd barely been able to swim through the ocean by himself. Years and years and years ago there had been a huge cyclone and Ace had disappeared from the colony for a week after it had hit. The older merfolk of their colony had all but given up on finding Ace alive, and Luffy had nearly cried himself dry, when Ace had come back at the end of the week, a little banged up, but looking fine otherwise. All he'd tell anyone was that he'd gotten blown to an island a long ways away and that it had taken him time to get back safely. Although many of the older merfolk had worried about him, they hadn't been able to pull anything concrete out of him.

After that, though, Ace had taken to disappearing for a day or so every other week. The older merfolk let it go, believing it to be Ace's growing desire for a bit of freedom. Luffy, being as curious as he was, had followed after him a few times. Or at least he'd tried. He'd tried a lot, and most of the time he'd had to turn back because he wasn't strong enough to follow Ace's path, but after a year or so, he'd finally followed Ace all the way, and he'd seen his brother talking to a human- the very human who'd saved and treated his wounds after finding him bleeding out on the beach after the cyclone.

At first the two of them had been livid at Luffy having discovered them and Ace had even threatened to feed him to sharks if he told Garp about Sabo, but the thought never crossed Luffy's mind. He'd been much too excited at seeing a human up close to even think of the danger. Now he still liked seeing and talking to Sabo, but their meetings had gotten less and less frequent as Ace had gotten more and more territorial and Luffy had begun exploring shipwrecks and islands more and more. Still, Luffy liked hanging out with him, even if they had a different chemistry than Sabo and Ace.

After all, even if Ace could barely seem to keep his hands off of Sabo- whether it was trailing his hand along his arm, touching his chest or waist, or pulling him close under the guise of play wrestling- Luffy didn't want to do any of it with Sabo. With Shanks maybe…

Luffy shook his head to clear it of such thoughts. Even though he'd been trying to stop, he couldn't help but compare Shanks and Sabo now, albeit not in a bad way. They were both interesting in different ways. Sabo, for all the times he'd mentioned being a noble, was rougher around the edges and treated him like a little brother; although he was usually kinder than Ace. Shanks, meanwhile, was rarely serious and enjoyed teasing him more than anything, but he also seemed to like making Luffy laugh too. It was hard for him to clearly rank them in his mind. Even if Shanks' stories were a lot better in Luffy's opinion.

But Shanks had never gone swimming with him. He couldn't deny that the idea of splashing around in the waves with Shanks sounded fun but he wondered if the fact that Shanks had never tried- had never really gone near the ocean either- meant that there was a problem there. With a frown, Luffy asked Sabo, "Hey, can humans swim?"

Sabo gave Luffy a 'are you serious right now?' expression before slowly saying, "Aren't I doing that right now?" Never mind the fact that Luffy had caught him and Ace mid-'wrestling' so Ace was actually holding Sabo up in the water more than anything else. Sabo's hands were resting on Ace's shoulders and Ace shot Luffy an annoyed look over Sabo's arm, but Luffy ignored it.

Instead Luffy shook his head. "I mean can a lot of humans swim? Like even the little ones?"

Still looking confused as to why Luffy was asking, Sabo just nodded. "I would expect so." He shrugged. "We're not born knowing how to, like you guys, but it's not terribly difficult to learn. Why?"

"Cause I don't think I've ever seen Shanks swim." Luffy said with a contemplative frown.

"Shanks?" Sabo asked, and Ace drew Sabo's attention back to him by chipped in with,

"Luffy's new human friend."

"A new human friend?" Sabo asked with a look of faux hurt on his face. "Am I not good enough to be your human friend anymore Luffy?" the look had morphed into a teasing smile by the end of the sentence.

"It's not that." Luffy said, drifting towards them on his back. "I just saw him sleeping on the beach one day and wanted to get closer." He said before telling Sabo an abridged version of the story, with Ace helpfully adding in the part where he'd attempted to look down the other man's pants. Sabo's ears turned red at that point and he muttered, "dammit Luffy", but Luffy ignored the remark.

Sabo interrupted again when Luffy began describing Shanks. "Red hair and three scars huh? Sounds kinda familiar." He frowned before stopping to think, leaning more heavily against Ace without even noticing it; not that Ace minded in the slightest. After a minute he sighed and shook his head. "It rings a bell, but I don't know. Maybe I've met him at an event before? Do you know what island he's from Luffy?"

Luffy tilted his head to the side and frowned. "No- why would I?" When Sabo turned to him, Ace just shrugged and Sabo scowled at the both of them. He'd forgotten that about merfolk- according to Ace they didn't really navigate like humans, and instead of following maps or stars, they just sort of 'felt around' the ocean currents. Ace couldn't even identify the cardinal directions, but he could always find his way back to this island- just like a message carrier pigeon. It fit that sort of logic that they wouldn't know specific island names either. Or maybe other merfolk did and Ace and Luffy just didn't care enough to learn. With the two of them, it was entirely possible.

Sabo sighed and pushed his wet bangs back from his face. "Well whatever. Anyways, the guy sounds a bit familiar. I know that there are some noble families around here that have a lot of red headed individuals in them. The prince of a nearby island actually has red hair, come to think of it. Although I can't remember his name." He sent Luffy a cheeky grin. "Who knows Luffy, your friend might even be a prince."

"Hey Shanks are you a prince?"

Sabo's words had been bouncing around his head for the past week, so he couldn't be blamed that that's the first thing to come out of his mouth. He leaned back on his hands, with his tail half tucked under him and the remains of a fish he'd caught for a snack clutched in one hand, and looked to Shanks for a reaction. Shanks, for his part, took the question with a straight face before sending Luffy a sly grin.

"Hmm," he hummed. "Who knows… Do I look like one?"

"You look like a burglar." Luffy said without a pause. It might have been the sudden answer, or Luffy's straight face- after all, who else could have said something so rude without hesitation- but Shanks' mask cracked and he tipped his head back and started laughing like Luffy had just told a funny joke. Luffy blinked up at him while he finished eating his fish, although he was faintly irritated at the fact that Shanks was laughing at him again.

"Well, why are you so calm then?" Shanks asked once he finally stopped laughing. His expression smoothed out from playful into something a bit more heated and he asked, "Aren't you afraid? I might do bad things to you…" his voice trailed off and Luffy knew that he wasn't imagining the suggestive hint there.

Luffy met the question with a cheerful, "Nope!" and a grin. "I trust in Shanks." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but it was the truth. He'd trusted Shanks for a long while now, and trusted that the man wouldn't hurt him- whether he was a prince, a burglar, or anything else.

He missed the blindsided expression on Shanks' face at his honesty, and the small smile that came afterwards. But he couldn't miss the man's weight suddenly pressed against him as Shanks leaned over onto him.

"You really are something, kid." Shanks' voice came as a warm huff from right next to his ear; quiet and deep. His weight and the warm press of his body was so distracting that Luffy missed the term 'kid' entirely. Instead he shouted,

"You're heavy!"

Shanks laughed, but didn't make any effort to move and Luffy wasn't really bothered by it, so he didn't try and move away either. It was these quiet moments that Luffy really enjoyed the most. He cared for Shanks. He really did. And it was a different type of care than what he had for Ace or Makino or Sabo. He cared even if, and despite the fact that, Shanks was a human. He knew with completely certainty that he wanted to stay right here, by this strange human's side, no matter what, and it was a warm and intense feeling.

They sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other's company before something occurred to Luffy. Shanks had never actually denied the question. "But hey," his voice cut through the quiet atmosphere surrounding them. "Aren't you too old to be a prince?"

"…Don't ruin the mood."

the worst part is that this could have been out, like, weeks sooner if i had just sat my lazy ass down and focused on writing... but it's here now and it's done! Praise Enel.

but i gotta say, writing this pairing was hella fun and i'll try to keep doing it in the future! it might take me a long time to get my butt in gear, but this pairing's wedged itself in my lil ol heart, so i can't exactly let go of it now