Chapter 6

Luffy dodged as Buggy's knives flew past her face. She took a slice at the man's arm, but it merely split apart.

Buggy threw a set of daggers at the girl… only for one knife to catch her hat. He pulled it back with the hat still speared through the end.

"My hat!" Luffy exclaimed angrily.

"Hmm, this hat looks like the one that idiot Shanks wears."

"You jerk! Don't call him that, you clown!" Luffy yelled, clearly pissed.

…Flashback…

Luffy was tired. Very tired. If those pirates get any louder… A loud thud could be heard. That's it!

"Shut the FUCK UP!" Luffy yelled, quieting the bar. She glared with all the spite a six-year-old could muster. "Who in Davy Jones's Locker is responsible for this group?!"

Slowly, the people pointed to a red-haired man at the bar. Huffing, Luffy jumped over a large group of men and landed on the stool next to the man everyone had pointed out.

"Okay, listen here, tomato-head! I don't have a problem with pirates coming here and having a good time, but you and your crew are too loud! And you seem to spend most of your time here! Do you have any idea how hard it is to sleep with the racket you make?! Go play with the giant apes in the forest if you have so much free time!" Luffy yelled before turning smacking him across the face with her tail. She then jumped across the room, landing in front of the door.

"I'm terribly sorry about Luffy," Makino said, helping the red-haired man up from the floor.

"Hahaha, that's fine. I guess we have been causing a nonstop ruckus around here. But that kid… She a devil-fruit user?"

"We think so. Her grandfather dropped her off and left her in my care when she was four, two years ago. She's normally a sweet child. She's just kind of… temperamental when someone wakes her up. Anyway, you would have to ask her about her devil fruit," Makino said.

"Hahaha, I guess I'll make it up to the little munchkin later. Now then, she said something about giant apes?"

"In the forest, on the east side of the island, Captain." Makino giggled. No one had known that a certain black-haired girl on the roof of the bar was listening to them, hidden by the sign.

Over the next few days, the bond between Luffy and Shanks slowly grew. And in the months that Shanks and his crew was on the island, that bond grew into something that resembled a relationship between siblings. Though not without a few bumps in the road.

"Ouch! Jeez, Lilz, I was just teasing you," Shanks whined has his doctor bandaged his hands, one finger at a time. The little girl could bite.

"It's Luffy, not Lilyette, Lily, Lilz, or any bird-related nicknames. Luffy," Luffia said before looking up at the face of her current human throne. "I know that having a thick skull can save you on the battlefield, but really? Tomato-head's skull is so thick and hard to get through to, it's hard to believe he floats in the water instead of sinking like a hammer."

Ben chuckled as Shanks whined. Luffy playfully blew a raspberry at Shanks from her spot on Ben's lap.

"You do know that there are some great pirates and marines in the world that are hammers like—"

"Edward Newgate, Diamond Jozu, Sengoku the Buddha, and Aunty Wash-Wash, to name a few," Luffy said before her head hit Ben's chest as a narcolepsy attack hit her.

And then it happened…

"I'm going to be a great pirate when I grow up," Luffy cheerfully said while eating lunch with Shanks at the bar counter.

"Hahaha, you have a lot of growing up to do before you can make it in the pirate world, Anchor," Shanks laughed, using his favorite nickname for the girl… and the only nickname she wouldn't bite him for.

What could she say, it used to be her dad's favorite shirt, and it wasn't like they'd seen her swim before. Still, Uncle Hawkeye had given her lessons on how to be witty when she felt the need.

"If you have to be a grown up to be a good pirate, then what does that make you? You're a bigger kid than me!" Luffy laughed back.

Shanks pouted has his crew roared with laughter. It quieted down as a group of what was obviously bandits walked in. Luffy lost focus, only returning to them when she heard Shanks calling her name once the bandits had gone.

"Anchor?"

"Huh?" Luffy looking down at Shanks after quickly finishing the food off of both their plates.

"You okay? What happened here didn't seem to bother you."

"Yeah, but weaklings like that don't deserve too much attention. The leader was tacky, too. I mean, really, carrying around his wanted poster? How lame!" Luffy said, causing the pirates to chuckle then burst out laughing as a "My food!" whine sounded from Shanks.

...Later...

"Do you miss them, Luffy?" Makino asked one day when the pirates were away.

"No. Yes. Maybe. I feel like my brother/father and all my uncles left me and went out to sea," Luffy pouted.

"Don't worry, Luffy. It's okay to feel a bit lonely," Makino said.

No sooner had she finished her sentence than the bandits from before barged in, and Luffy spaced out at the sight of them. The lead bandit said something to her that she didn't catch. From the look of worried panic on Makino's face, she guessed that the bandit had threatened her or something similar.

"Grandpa Garp's scarier than you," Luffy stated bluntly, which the bandit took as an insult. Luffy only got angry when the bandit started to drag her by the back of her shirt. "Hey! This is my favorite shirt!"

They apparently had nothing better to do than beat up a kid that day. Granted, the hits hurt way less than her grandfather's, but it was still annoying to be used as a punching bag. She would have just jumped away, but the lead bastard had been eyeing Makino even before she'd made her comment. The sudden sight of a blade made Luffy's thoughts freeze. Luffia's skin was hard enough to dull the effects of a hit with a blunt object. However, she wasn't immune to knives and other sharp objects.

"So now I got your attention, eh, brat?" the leader said cockily.

"Yeah but thats because the blade is the only intreseting thing thats happened with you around you dipstick with an oversized ego." Luffy said. 'If I'm gonna die, you will face my claws, teeth, and my thoughts on you ya dumb idoit.' Luffy thought worried but willing to fight.

"What did you call me!"

"A dipstick with an over sized ego! You flaunt that wanted poster of yours like you're claiming to be the king of the world just because someone put a small bounty on your head because they couldn't bother to put effort into catching you! You want proof of that, that man you messed with yesterday with the red hair? That was Red Hair Shanks, captain of the Red Hair Pirates! Yiep!" Luffy slapped a hand over the side of her face where the bandit sliced the skin in anger, he also looked mad that the cut didn't go deeper.

"Shut up brat."

"Hey" a voice called out. The attention of everyone soon turned to a certain group approaching.

"Shanks!" Luffy called out happily.

"Always getting into trouble aren't you Anchor?" Shanks teased before turning his attention to the bandit learder with a grin that unsettled the bandits. Now listen here Higuma… You can pour drinks on me, you can throw food at me… You can even spit on me. I'll just laugh that stuff off. But… Good reason or not… Nobody hurts a friend of mine!" A sudden pressure came down on the bandits causing most to pass out.

"Shut up red." One of the underling bandits still standing said holding a gun to Shanks head.

"You know you should be careful where you aim those things," Shanks said with a grin." Pulling that trigger can end a life ya know."

"Tch," the bandit pulled the trigger. Soon after a body hit the ground to the shock of the villagers.

"Told ya." Shanks said looking down for a minute. Lucky Roo standing right near where the bandit had been with a smoking gun in one hand and meat in the other. He looked up to see something that made him panic. "Luffy's Gone!"

...A Bit later on a boat...

"And the fact that you have only a little one man boat, paddle, no food or water, in Lord Jasper's waters and the fact that we are now in plain view from the village dock only adds to your confidence huh?" Luffy said to the bandit who had gloated about no-one looking for a mountain bandit at sea. 'I have been spending way to much time talking to the Uncle Hawky over the Den-den Mushi this week...That and I should really tell this guy as long as we are close to water I'm stronger then normal.'

"Grr...Brat-"

"Shanks!" Luffy called out happily causing the bandit a bit of dred before he looked over to see that the red haired man was indeed following them on another small boat. Luffy felt the rumble under her and knew Lord Jasper was coming up. She bit down on her capturer's hand causing him to yelp before releasing his grip. As he recovered and tried to hit Luffy with his fist Shanks got close enough to hit him with a paddle. Which he did, Luffy jumped into Shanks arms before the appearance of a Sea King made things more complex. The end result was an eaten bandit and a pirate plus pirate to be riding on said Sea Kings head.

"So... The sea kings name is Jasper and people call him the Lord of the Coast, so you call him Lord Jasper."

"Yep."

"And you can speak to fish, swim despite having a devil fruit."

"Un-huh."

"So you started to help some Sea Kings out by pulling out either things stuck in between their teeth or some teeth themselves. Thus allowing you to know some Sea King's personally. Personally enough that you now have a few hidden treasure spots on the island with stuff they gave you." Shanks said, dizzy because blood was coming out of one arm thanks to part on a sea king tooth being in it.

"Yeah, I do."

"...Ok, I'm gonna take a nap now."

"NO! Not while you still have that tooth stuck in your arm! Shanks!" The girl said panicly while trying to keep the man from falling asleep. Later when the tooth was removed the doctor said Shanks could keep his arm, but it would be weaker then before and he would have to have it in a sling a lot.

...Day of The Red Haired Pirates Departure...

"Shanks I got some things for you and your crew!" Luffy said pulling a wagon up to the pirates waiting at the dock. Soon Luffy was handing out some things she made with the help of the village jeweler. It was mostly jewelry made from shards of the cleaned up Sea King Teeth Luffy had collected. The jeweler said the teeth of a Sea King was kind of like ivory and could be made into jewelry so he was teaching the artistically challenged girl. Luckily her Jewelry, while not perfect, was a giant improvement from her drawings. And that was because the most she did was break the teeth into small pieces and string the teeth together. It was mostly things like bracelets, necklaces and some rings. But she had something special for Shanks. Asking him to sit, take off his hat and close his eyes. He did so with a bit of humor shining in his eye. He felt the need to laugh grow stronger when he felt Makino playing with his hair and Luffy snap something on his bad wrist.

When he was aloud to open his eyes he looked down and saw a Sea King band on his arm with what he thought was a piece of red glass on it.

"That's not glass young man, it's a ruby." The jeweler when he saw the look he was giving the stone. "Lilynette ("It's Luffy!") asked me to remove it from her absent mother's locket to put it on her gift to you."

"Wha.."

"Mama always used to say that things made for family should be given to family. And your family to me." Luffy said with a big smile.

That both shocked and touched Shanks. He reached up to run his figures through his hair sheepishly until his fingers hit something in his hair. He blinked in confusion before a mirror was put in front of him. He saw himself but he hair was fixed and part of it was put into a hair...thingy.

"Its called a kenseikan, don't ask where Lilynette saw one of these things before, it was a pain to make." The jeweler said a bit grumpy.

"Lufffy said that it would look cool on you and I must agree." Makino giggled before kissing Shanks on the cheek causing his face to go as red as his hair. His crew was laughing until his original color came back.

"Well Anchor? Still want to be a pirate?" Shanks asked a few minutes after.

"Yep. But you know what? I'm not going to be a regular pirate. I'm going to be the freest pirate of them all. I'm going to gather the best crew ever. Even if I have to find One Piece and be the Pirate King!" Luffy said with a grin.

"Dahaha, want to conquer the sea's Anchor?" Shanks said ruffling Luffy's hair.

Luffy shuck her head, "Nah, I don't want to conquer anything. I just believe that the pirate king is the Freeest person out there." Luffy grinned widely.

Shanks eyes widened before he grined to. He put his straw hat on Luffy's head. Luffy pushed the hat up to see Shanks. "I'll be seeing you on the open sea one day then. Can you watch my hat till you reach your dream Anchor?" Shanks asked with a grin.

A gin that almost could split Luffy's face in two appeared. "You Bet!" Luffy said grabbing the sides of the to big hat.

...Present...

"What did you call me!" Buggy said angerly.

Luffy lunged forward and pulled back her fist. "I called you" Buggy moved so he could doudge a punch but Luffy slamed her palm on the ground and did a spinning hand stand and used her tail to hit Buggy into the nearest building "a CLOWN!"

Buggy coughed but pulled himself from the rubble. "You Brat!" Buggy split his body up into many parts and started to attack the girl. Dodging as quick as she could she waited for an opening and when Buggy needed to take a breath she ran word Buggy with a fist pulled back. Buggy got ready to counter a punch but she surprised him by making the fist slam into the ground and doing a upside down spin with her tail smacking him into the wall.

Buggy shakily got up but his attention was switched to two older girl carrying full sacks over their shoulders. He knew what was in those sacks. "My treasure!"

"No our treasure!" Buggy turned back to face his first opponent... Only to come face to fact with a very unhappy looking cat. And then be zapped with a large bolt of electric energy. Buggy jumped back only to feel a furmilar tail hitting him and sending him flying.

Luffy huffed tiredly and then started to rub her lower back. "Dang it. Need to work on my tail straight."

"I think you did well. Your tail isn't the type thats easy to swing around. Makes a goodcatapult though, and delivers some pretty funny slaps." Polo said both amused and a bit understanding. Devil help the poor souls that grab a zoans tail in hopes of beating the owner of said tail. He then scowled at the thought of someone pulling his tail.

Elsewhere

"#! $=! Bastard! Die!" Jyubura yelled as he started to maul the pirates that pulled his tail and tried to cut it off. His coworkers hid nearby watching the carnage. Many don't know it but Lucci learned some violent and painful moves from watcIing Jyubura in a rage after someone idiot pulled his tail. Lucci would deny it though, he would not deny wrighting down the curses that came from the older males mouth.

Polo grinned feeling oddly satisfied. It would be another week or two to see his wife and son though but that was ok. She was more then capable of defending herself...hell she'll have fun fighting.

AN- Sorry for the long wait. Schoolscoming up for me again, my uncle died too. He was great, although I didn't see him much before he died. He lived off the grid and he was nice, although I didn't always agree with his and my dads since of humor. Like that he fed me ham from the pig i actually could remember the name of and only told me after I ate it.*shakes head* Anyway please review and ignore any spelling or grammar mistakes.