#anyway rayleigh calls garp for withholding his step son

[jasontoddiefor]

Summary: Rayleigh and Shanks are drinking at Shakky's bar when a Rookie pirate with a bright orange cowboy hat steps inside.

Rayleigh had gotten used to taking cues from Shanks years ago, so when his son raised his head, snapping out of his previous drunken ramblings, Rayleigh sat his glass on the counter and waited. The door to Shakky's bar opened hesitantly and a young man stepped inside, three others following behind him. A bright orange cowboy hat caught your attention first, though the rest of the youth's apparel wasn't any less interesting. Bare chest, an oversized floral print shirt that matched his black shorts and boots. A dagger at his hip and an iron pipe were strapped to his back. A bit mis-matched, but nothing too unusual for a Rookie.

"The owner's not in," Rayleigh said.

"Ah, I know!" the boy said. "Uhm, I met her on the way here. She pointed me to you, actually! I wanted to speak with Shanks."

Shanks, not Red Hair, the Rookie had to have guts.

"Mhm, I'm not in the mood for a fight, kid. Come back later."

"I don't want to fight either. This... urgh." The boy groaned and Rayleigh thought he'd heard him say something like 'would be easier', but he wasn't sure.

"I'm here to say thank you," the boy said and then actually bowed.

"Captain!" one of the companions hissed, crew mates then. "What are you doing?"

"Saying thank you properly," the boy answered and straightened up again. "Expressing my gratitude. Honestly, did nobody teach you manners?"

The circus act was comically enough that Rayleigh was tempted to offer them a drink for free, even if Shakky would be displeased with him later on. Oh well, he'd just toss her some of the coins he'd found at the shipwrecks around Fishman Island.

"That was nice, kid," Shanks said and leaned back in his chair, amused. Rayleigh had seen much more of his son since Luffy had given him back his crown (even if his crew had stolen it right back, claiming right by conquest). It felt good to see Shanks regularly again, under non-drastic circumstances. Rayleigh still remembered seeing his twenty-year-old son stumble into his home, short an arm and a hat, talking about boys and dreams in East Blue.

"But I still don't know what you're thanking me for?"

"Oh! Right! You saved my big brother from downing when he was a child," the boy said. "He told me that story like once a day growing up."

"Your big brother," Shanks repeated slowly. "Luffy?"

The Pirate King's name cut through the silence like a knife.

And Rayleigh thought back to Rusukaina, Luffy talking about his friends, his crew, his family. The half-sentences cut off because it's a secret! and how fondly he'd spoken of everyone dear to him. When the news about the RA's chief of staff had come out, Rayleigh had assumed that was the reason, but the boy in front of him was most certainly not the Firebrand.

"Yeah!" the boy said.

He wasn't lying. Rayleigh's Observation was keen enough for that and the boy's brown eyes were honest.

And painfully familiar.

"Fire Fist Ace, is it?" Rayleigh questioned. He hadn't paid much attention to the new Rookies, focused on what was going on in the New World. "I didn't know Luffy had a younger brother."

Ace grimaced. "Ah, yeah. Gramps told him not to and I suppose it kinda stuck."

He didn’t look much like his grandfather.

"You're not Dragon's son at all, are you?" Shanks asked.

"No, I'm—" Ace paused, exchanged a look with his crew mates. They patted him on the back, then left the room, only the three of them remaining. Neither of them said a word until Ace sighed. "I thought this would be easier. Luffy said it didn't matter."

"He does take things very easily," Rayleigh pointed out.

"Yeah, always did. Even as a kid. I don't really remember the day Gramps dropped him off. I was four already, but it just seemed like he'd always been there after a couple weeks, dragging me through the jungle, on an adventure, teaching me how to read even though he was shit at it as well and Magra always had to correct him and when Gramps told me the truth, he just shrugged it off and so did I. If big brother says it’s not important, it isn’t, y’know?” Ace laughed nervously. “I didn't really get it until I was much older and by then it just didn't really matter. I think Gramps was hoping for that outcome, he would have bothered us into becoming marines anyway."

Ace was obviously rambling, talking around whatever he truly wanted to get out.

"I just— I'm sorry. I didn't want to take up so much time. Just a quick in and out, maybe ask if you'd coat our ship, I'm supposed to meet Luffy at Fishman Island and—"

"Ace, kid, take a breath—"

"—he's Pirate King now anyway so who cares about Gold Roger's son, right?" Ace finished with a slight huff.

"Gol D.," Rayleigh corrected automatically before the words truly hit. "What?"

"Gol D. Roger is my father," Ace said, face suddenly clearing up. "Oh. Luffy was right. This was easy."