Very Important Note: The following is a short side story to my current saga-fiction, Illicit Memories. This does not entirely mean that one has to read Illicit Memories to get the story, or vice versa. The setting takes place before Illicit Memories begins and is meant to foreshadow and show drama/romance deemed too off-topic or romantic for the main fiction storyline. As always, I do not own One Piece. Let the craptastic fluffiness with stupid endings begin!

Illicit Memories

Side Story: Life's Funny That Way

Makino sighed as she shut off the outside lamp and closed the front door to the tavern, signaling that her establishment was closed. There were no customers that needed board, so she was preparing for a quiet night alone. She settled down in a chair situated right next to the bar and sighed heavily. Since Luffy left, managing the bar had become more of a handful. Makino cursed for letting herself become accustomed to the teen's help with all of the odd errands that she now had to complete on her own. She wearily took a drink of soda from the glass she had on the table for herself and closed her eyes.

This past while had been rough adjusting, she thought. I wonder what Luffy is going to do now that he has that new bounty? She opened up her eyes and looked at the newspaper sitting next to her glass. It contained an article about the fall of something called "Baroque Works", which was apparently a group of people based in the Grand Line. The story went on about how one of the prides of the Navy, Captain Smoker, took down the former Shichibukai and his entire network of cohorts and was being considered a promotion to Commodore. Stuffed inside the paper was a bounty poster for Luffy, with a larger bounty than the one that had come in a few months ago and with the same goofy, broad-smiled picture blazing across the page.

Makino was no fool. She knew saying that some Marine had toppled Baroque Works was just a cover-up. How else could Luffy's bounty have climbed so high? Crocodile's former bounty had been less than what the teenager was worth now. It was too obvious to her. Then again, she knew Luffy since he was a small child and had every idea as to what he was capable of. She chuckled again and took another drink of soda. It had been a long day and she was not ready for the hypocrisy that was the daily newspaper. Makino calmly folded her arms and rested them on the table as she heard the back door jiggle open in a hurry. She knew that not many people could have known how to open the door without a key and they all happened to either be dead or away at sea, save for a certain mayor that came barreling into the establishment, panting for breath.

"Makino…!" Woop Slap panted. "There's something… that you need to know…!"

"Hang on there Woop Slap-san," Makino smiled wanly. "Here, let's sit down and talk. I'm sure we can…"

"That pirate's back!" the old man snapped angrily. Makino gasped.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive! That idiot's returned alright! You need to help me shoo them away! It was tough enough the first… time…?" Woop Slap's fierce roar dwindled into a rather weak question as Makino ignored him and rushed for the open back door, grabbing her shawl on the way out. He followed her long enough to see that she was headed off towards the pier, sprinting her hardest to get there.

Luffy!? Back already? How can that be? she thought as she ran past the dark houses in the street. He had to of been in the Grand Line only a few days ago! What could have possibly brought him back here so quickly!? Makino was so worried about the young man that she accidentally tripped over a piece of rope that had somehow gone astray from a storefront street display. She looked back at the rope and found that it had wrapped around her ankle on the way down, securing her in place. Makino let out a huff and went to untangle herself. She just began when a pair of hands came down over her own and a worn voice spoke.

"Here, Miss, let me help you with that."

Makino did not even have to look up to tell who was fingering the rope around her ankle. The deep voice, strong hands and the smell of sulfur and travel became a dead giveaway.

"What are you doing back here, Shanks?"

"Ah, so you do remember," the pirate smiled as he got the rope to release its victim. Shanks helped Makino up with his hand and gave her a hug. "Well, we were just in the neighborhood and were in need of a few supplies and were wondering how you and the boys were doing and…"

"It has taken you ten years to make a stop like that…?" Makino asked with suspicion. "Ace left over three years ago and Luffy hasn't even been gone six months. Both of them have bounties now. I thought you would know that."

"Let's talk about this somewhere else, please?" Shanks asked, looking about cautiously. Makino glanced up and down the street, seeing no one, but decided to humor the long-absent man anyways.

"Fine then," she sighed. "Lead the way." Makino allowed the red-haired man to hook her arm with his and they walked down the rest of the way to the wharf together.

"You don't mind if we talk on the ship, do you?" Shanks asked with a grin.

"No, I don't mind," Makino said, bringing her free hand up to rub some sleep from her eyes. Now, Makino could only remember being on the ship a few times to prevent Luffy from stowing away, but never any other time. She smiled as she stepped onto the deck and was greeted with a large, yawping cheer. Many faces around her she recognized, others she did not know and there were many that she remembered yet did not see.

"Hello there Makino-san," Ben Beckmann said as he bowed slightly. Makino bit the insides of her cheeks to prevent herself from laughing at the first mate's greying, cropped hair. She tried looking around to find either Lucky Roux or Yasopp, but failed as Shanks quickly had them both duck into the hold.

"Nothing against my crew, but I'd rather them not listen," Shanks explained as they entered a room at the end of the hall. Inside was a table with two chairs, random assorted kick-knacks adorning the shelves and a plain hammock hanging from the ceiling.

"Where are we?" Makino asked.

"My quarters," Shanks said casually, sitting down in one of the chairs. "This is the room where all of my important conversations take place on ship. You know, you've been in here once to fetch Luffy when he was small."

"Oh," Makino said, sitting down in the other chair. "I must have forgotten that. There were so many times that Luffy tried to run away with you that I lost count after a while."

"Seventeen," Shanks said, idly fiddling with a small panda figurine that was on the table. He kept his eyes downcast so that his face did not turn as red as his hair. "That little anchor tried to leave town with us seventeen times."

"That's how old he is now," Makino said, watching Shanks play with the figurine. "In a while he'll be eighteen. It's so hard to believe sometimes."

"I knew Luffy was gone," Shanks sighed. Makino looked up at his face. "I knew that Ace left, that Luffy left. A friend of mine told me when they went off on their own. Ace is now a vice-commander of a huge fleet. Luffy, well, he's doing just fine as the leader of six others."

"You knew?" Makino asked. "So then, why did you come here?"

"We're en route to the Grand Line," Shanks explained. "Yasopp wanted to see his wife, so he and Roux are off on that little side-quest as we speak. Since the rest of us have really nothing to do, I decided to stop in on you and see how you were."

"I'm not sure whether I should be touched or offended by that remark," Makino said sharply. Shanks looked up at her with playful eyes and a mischievous smile.

"You know what I mean," he grinned. "We haven't seen each other in so long and…"

"Is this what you do with every girl you've met while at sea?" Makino asked, crossing her arms and looking at the pirate captain sternly.

"No, only the pretty ones," Shanks joked. "I've been traveling a long time and the only other girl I've stopped in for is my older sister Kasumi, rest her soul." He let out a chuckle and smiled, trying to get Makino to let up. The barkeep raised her eyebrow and tried to decipher if he was telling the truth or not.

"If this is true, then how come this is the first time you have come by since leaving ten years ago?" she asked.

"Well, I've been moving up in my line of business," Shanks said. "Not all that easy you know; sort of dangerous. If I kept on coming back here, I'd never hear the end of it from Luffy and this village would have been in serious danger."

"So it's safer now?" Makino asked.

"More or less," Shanks nodded. "I had always wanted to come back after Luffy left, just so that I could see you without him constantly interrupting. I mean, he's a good kid, but we could never really just talk unless he was asleep."

"So that's the reason then, hm?" Makino sighed, rolling her eyes out of amusement. "You came back so that we could talk without Luffy?"

"Yes," Shanks said, quite resolute. "Talking like a grown man and woman would have been impossible with Luffy sitting there the whole time. Even getting one of my mates to watch him would have been useless."

"I know what you mean," Makino snickered. "Luffy always meant well though."

"Yeah, but, I sort of want to catch up to Yasopp, you know?" Shanks said with a sigh. "He's so far ahead, he's almost unbearable."

"What do you mean by that?" Makino asked.

"There are so many members of my crew that are the same age as me or younger with people to go back to," Shanks said with a sigh. "Then there's me. My sister's been dead for eighteen years and my niece missing for the same amount of time. No one's waiting for me to come home. Not Kasumi. Not Takara."

"Did you come back here to see if I was waiting for you?"

"…or at least to see if you would." Shanks took Makino's hand in his own and gently kissed it. Makino blushed furiously and jerked her hand away out of reflex, he face frozen in shock.

"Shanks… I…" she began softly.

"That's alright," the pirate said, standing up from his chair. "Ben did say that it would have been too sudden like this. If you would rather think it over for a while, I underst…" Shanks was cut off abruptly when Makino jumped up from her chair and smacked him across the face.

"'Too sudden'?! 'Think it over'?! I've had ten years for that Shanks! Now you just pop up out of nowhere and expect me to pick up right were we left off as if these past ten years were months or days!? You…! You jerk!" Makino's eyes began to waster as she stood there between Shanks and the doorway. "You've made me wait all this time for what?! I'm turning into the old bar maiden, waiting for you, the only reason anyone has for calling me a fool!" Shanks's expression filled with concern as Makino wiped her tears away with her bar apron. Without a word, he walked up to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She tried to push away, but his grip gingerly held fast.

"I've done many things in my life, Makino," he said grimly. "I've had to raid, murder, pillage… many of the basic things that pirates have to do in order to survive. Yet all this time, I have yet to find a woman out there that can even think about trying to replace you." He bent down and gently kissed her on the forehead.

"You are a jerk," Makino chuckled through her tears. She could feel a hand come and brush up against her face, though she knew all too well that his only hand was currently stroking her hair.

"Yelling is so unlike you," Shanks said comfortingly. "Let's talk this over. The last time I left a girl in tears, she was dead upon my return."

"Do your only other experiences with women happen to involve your sister?" Makino laughed morosely.

"Now that sounds wrong," Shanks said defensively. "I will let you know that I happen to have become good friends with Yasopp's wife Bankiina and when I was little I got to know a few of my sister's friends." Makino giggled and rested her head on Shanks's chest, taking in the smell of sulfur, sea and travel. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Shanks's waist, never wanting to let go. Having him leave once was bad enough.

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Fuscha Village awoke to the most unexpected sight in their wharf. The children and younger teenagers panicked. Those old enough to remember the gang of pirates were perplexed. The crew bought supplies and mingled with the villagers peacefully for the day, just like they did ten years prior. Many people remained curious as to why Makino had failed to open the tavern that day, instead being nowhere within the village limits.

As the sun was preparing to set, a small dinghy came into port carrying Lucky Roux and a tearful Yasopp. No one questioned the men, for the one with ridiculously long dread-locks appeared to be grieving. At the end of the day, Makino, of all people, came out of the ship and led the pirates down to her tavern, the red-haired captain's hand in hers.

The next morning brought the sight of the new couple kissing goodbye on the tavern's stoop, all of the other pirates having departed for their ship very early that morning.

Gossip spread and by the time Makino rushed down to the wharf to see off Shanks and his crew, everyone had at least some hint as to what was going on. Some agreed with Woop Slap, saying that the closer connection to piracy was nothing more than trouble. Many more, though, dismissed the thought when Makino smiled at them, her spirit higher than ever. The tavern owner rushed straight home after the pirates' ship could no longer be seen and immediately tacked up the new bounty poster for Luffy, right over his old one. It sat between the posters for Shanks and Ace, the small space on her wall becoming a grinning testament to her tavern's three most admired men and the fulfillment of their dreams.

Years would pass and Shanks would visit Fuscha Village a few more times. Sometimes he brought with him the entire crew and others he would come alone. After a while, the village would lose the realization of the pirate's visits, particularly when he came in disguised just for fun. Everyone the surprise was meant for always saw through it, which was fine by all means. All any of it would just set the stage for children that would eventually be thought of as more dangerous than his own.

That day when Ace floated back into town.