Chapter Text
~Party's Bar, Foosha Village on Dawn Island in the East Blue~
A small seven-year-old boy ground his teeth as he glared at the bar counter where he sat on a stool, his hands clenched in his lap. He could feel something stirring beneath his skin, he ignored it though as he focused on those in the bar with him.
Behind him a group of bandits laughed at what their boss had just said, all of them thinking about how he'd recently made a fool of a pirate. Some of them jumped as they all turned to the counter where the small boy now stood by the stool having jumped off of it and landed with a loud thud. "Shut up, Shanks isn't weak, he's strong and he's not a coward, unlike you!," the boy yelled, "Shanks is my friend and I won't let you talk bad about him behind his back!"
"Luffy!," Makino gasped, "Please pay no attention to him, he's just a child." She looked at the bandit leader as she said this and paled as the man stood, his face shadowed by his hair. When he looked up Higuma was scowling at the little brat who glared back. Makino hesitantly took a step towards the bar edge her hands shaking.
~Meanwhile just outside of Dawn's Coast~
"Captain, I don’t see anyone at the docks!" A man with dreadlocks yelled from the crows nest. On the deck, a man with red hair and a sword on his hip looked to the island and frowned. "We’ll dock and go ashore anyway, be aware just in case." He said as his crew looked at him. "Aye Captain," they called out as they went to work. "Shanks," A tall man with black hair pulled back into a ponytail walked to the Captain's side. "I know Benn," Shanks turned his head, noting the worry in his First mate's eyes. "Somethings not right.."
As soon as The Red Force docked Shanks, Benn, and the rest of the Red-haired Pirates headed into town. Shanks using Observation Haki started heading to where he felt Makino and Luffy, other signatures around them. His crew followed him silently some of them like Yassop, the man with dreads and his sniper, frowned as they felt what he did. Then they all were putting up masks so as not to show how the situation they found angered them.
Mere moments later and they were all stock still as the bandit Higuma suddenly threw a smoke bomb and took off with Luffy. "Fuck!" Shanks cursed as he looked around his panicked mind not thinking about how easily he could find the boy. A sudden shout had his head whipping towards the sea and he took off with Benn on his heels.
~At the edge of a small dock for fishing boats on the outskirts of Foosha~
Luffy could feel that odd stirring again, it was getting stronger and harder to ignore. It made him think of how he felt when he couldn’t stay still for long, as if should he try to he'd burst with how much energy was contained in his small body. He focused as much as he could and saw the sea and struggled against the stupid bandit again, only to let out a yelp as the man hit him over the head. The stirring seemed to stop for a second but then it was all he could feel all over his entire body as scarlet red lightning with golden flashes sparked along his skin. A shout from Higuma was all he heard before he was falling and Luffy felt as his bones broke, a scream reaching his ears.
A voice shouted what sounded like his name but he could barely hear it, it was so far away... He heard another scream and felt his bones moving, his jaw ached and his head hurt.. everything hurt and for some reason, he couldn't hear anymore, the weird lightning danced along his skin. He couldn’t open his eyes either, then there was sharp pain all along his spine and it became too much as he blacked out.
Shanks was shocked, no beyond shocked. Laying on the ground where Higuma had dropped Luffy was what looked like a medium-sized dog, he knew better though. He felt as his crew, his 'Pack', gathered around him with Benn at his side. His first mate was looking at the small lump of fur, silent as the scarlet sparks and golden flashes slowly danced over the unconscious form. "He's a D," Shanks muttered softly, moving to the shifted boy who'd only ever said his name was Luffy. With how long they'd been with Shanks and how they'd become a 'Pack' a few of the Redhaired Pirates had taken on enhanced senses, like Yassop who could see in the dead of night and far better than a normal human in the day. A few others had shifted but they all knew the significance of what had just happened to Luffy and a few wondered if the boy even knew, he was a terrible Liar but it looked like he could keep a secret to himself after all...
Looking at Benn Shanks nodded at Makino, turning away his first mate went to talk with the bar owner and Mayor who stood with her before they could see Luffy and freak out. As the others continued to talk amongst themselves Shanks shifted and in his place stood a huge dark red Wolf with white fur on its chest, belly, and on its muzzle continuing in a stripe that ended between its eyes. The only obvious way to tell it was Shanks was because of his red fur, the three scars over his left eye, and the color of his eyes. He stood at around eight and a half feet, his Wolven body slim and well put together. Opening his mouth Shanks's sharp and deadly fangs flashed in the sunlight and a gasp was heard from behind the Pirates as he leaned down and gently picked the newly shifted pup up by the scruff.
Yassop and the others had stopped talking and were now stepping aside to allow their Captain to pass by them and then followed, all of them seeing how Makino had seemed to panic for a moment when he scruffed Luffy, though it didn't seem to be because of the Captain. Shanks continued making his way to the Bar, his precious cargo held high above the ground as he walked. A scream and crash from the sea had a few looking back, Lucky Roux and Yassop smiling viciously as the Lord of the Coast dove under the surface wood scraps left behind. Benn was still talking with Makino and the Mayor a frown on his face.
Just outside the bar Shanks put Luffy gently on the ground and shifted back, gathering the pup into his arms he headed inside. Walking over to the counter the redhead gently laid the pup facing the left wall from on top of it, his little ears flopped over. Shanks sat so he could see Luffy's face as everyone else entered the Bar and sat down at the tables as they watched their Captain. Makino, Mayor Woop Slap, and Benn went to the counter as well, the Mayor sat to his left and Benn on his right. "Is he alright?" Makino asked her voice breaking a little as tears slid down her cheeks. "He'll be just fine, the first shift always hurts the most," Shanks hummed thoughtfully, "in fact he should've passed out right away." Benn nodded along remembering his own First Shift and said, "It must be because of his Devil Fruit changing his body to rubber, it must have changed his insides as well."
Shanks cursed softly as he frowned, the pup's new Wolven scent starting to get stronger as Luffy’s body was once again changing. "Makino, does he have any family here? I don’t mean to be rude but he needs someone with him.." Shanks asked raising his hand when the young woman's expression became offended and her eyes hard. "What the Captain means is that Luffy will need an adult Wolven to teach him to shift back safely, he'll also need someone who is Pack or Family to explain the changes he's going through now, especially if he ends up being an Omega.." Benn explained calmly, giving a small smirk as he said, "A first shift explanation is like explaining puberty to a preteen but worse and therefore usually always left to the birth Pack."
Calmer Makino shook her head. "No, not immediate Family, Luffy is my second cousin, but Uncle Slap and I aren't shifted or enhanced and I'm not sure how he views our relationship with him. Uncle Garp isn't due back for a few months or so and I don't know where Luffy’s father is or how to contact him... Even if I did I don't think he would come here." She wasn't looking at them but watching as Luffy whined in his sleep, her eyes sad. "Dragon hasn't ever been back to Foosha since he first left, caused quite the commotion when Garp came to get him. If he had I'd of given him a good wack over the head!" Woop Slap said scowling at the floor. The Pirates were all stock still, shock and disbelief on their faces as a couple of them took a step back. Some of them were gaping and even Shanks was trying hard to process what he just heard.
Gulping he shook his head and looked at Makino a pleading look in his eyes. "You don't mean Garp the Fist, Marine Hero, and a Vice-Admiral, do you?" Makino nodded and wiped a tear away, "Yes, Uncle Garp is Luffy’s Grandpa and Dragon is my cousin and Luffy’s Father." Shanks sat down heavily and when Luffy seemed to sense the unease in the room he whimpered moving a paw in his sleep, his soft puppy ears laying back. Taking ahold of his paw Shanks asked, "By Dragon, do you mean the Revolutionary Dragon?" Woop Slap frowned as Makino nodded, both of them seeing the way Shanks all but went into a daze. "What is this, the Isle of Strength?"
Taking in the pup on the counter Shanks watched as the red lightning and golden flashes, which had calmed, sparked every thirty seconds or so around the pup's stomach, flank, and along his spine. A few minutes passed like that before the last sparks all traveled to the pup's face and with a bright flash of gold disappeared leaving behind a temporarily blinded group of people. Now that the process of change was over the group as a whole saw how most of Luffy’s fur was onyx black with a crimson red and tawny brown undercoat, swirled markings that started a dark gray and faded to a smokey gray around his shoulders, and a few stripes of a dark blue on his scruff to the sides of his neck. His chest, part of his belly, his two front forelegs, paws, left ear and the left half of Luffy’s face and neck were covered in fur that looked like Moonlight given physical form. The tips of the silvery fur were golden like the flashes and on both his ears and from the edges of the swirls, down his sides, the red lightning itself.
As they were all taking this in the marks seemed to brighten until a sudden flash again blinded them and they all heard a pained cut-off puppy cry. As one the Pack and the two villagers blinked their eyes frantically trying to see the young pup. Yasopp having sensed something and covered his face due to his Observation Haki was the first to recover and so when he looked back at Luffy was the first to see them.. feathered wings. On the pups back there were wings, right where the swirls of gray had been, all the previously seen markings gone from his fur, leaving behind his onyx and silver body and then there were the small wings. Yassop gaped and stared in shock. As they all recovered from again being temporarily blinded each gasped or stared outright at the onyx and silver pup with small feathered wings that started onyx black at the base and continued to fade into the dark gray and faded more until they were the smokey gray tipped in silvery Moonlight, the dark blue edging the sides of some of his feathers.
Slowly on the pup's small forehead a strange mark appeared. What looked like a golden hat made of straw with a scarlet ribbon and wearing it a smiling skull, on either side a silver paw print. Then quickly it too was fading away but not before Shanks saw it. He'd never seen such a mark before, but he knew that hat...
Putting a hand on the hat on his head Shanks couldn’t breathe for a moment, he couldn’t look away and he most definitely couldn't move.. but Benn did. Benn put his hand on Shanks's shoulder and squeezed lightly, telling him to breathe, his best friend was good like that. "Why does he have wings..?" Lucky looked over at his quiet Captain and next to him, Limejuice's head tilted. Makino who was in slight shock, her eyes filling with tears, ran to her room while the others contemplated the unconscious winged pup. "Dragon doesn't, neither does Garp nor did Garp's father have wings and his mother never shifted...," Woop Slap had a hand to his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Dragon did have blue lightning marks and a few light gray swirls on his shoulders but not like those. Garp had a few swirls too but on his front legs and they were a light blue-gray, also unlike the swirls Luffy has. It was Dragon's mother, my sister, who had the lightning marks... she chose to Shift and became a Wolf when Garp asked her to marry him, that was almost a year before they got married."
"She had such beautiful light blue lightning marks on her neck and shoulders, they practically glowed since her fur was a creamy white with tan on her belly and muzzle.." The Mayor reminisced softly as Makino quietly came back with a small wooden box in hand, "but then F-Freya became sick one day during the winter months and then died that spring when Dragon was about thirteen and Garp was away... he didn't return to Foosha until it was far too late. Dragon had been shifted for a few years by then and attacked Garp when he saw him at the docks. I tried my best to help him grieve, but he just wasn’t the same after his mother's passing. He stopped wanting Garp's approval for anything and started going up Mt. Colubo to visit Garp's bandit friend named Dadan. Dragon would sit at the docks more often just watching the water and eventually he made plans to leave. One day I woke to find him gone and a letter on the dining table asking me to wait at most a month to inform Garp of his departure... So I did, except Garp showed up a couple of weeks later."
A tear trailed down Woop Slap's cheek as he looked down and Makino brushed it away gently. "I never got to meet Aunt Freya and I've never actually met Dragon either since he was twenty-four when I was born and had left Dawn at sixteen. I... The house that belongs to Uncle Garp is at the edge of the woods and when I was younger I'd go and explore the area, even when I was by myself..." Makino admitted sheepishly and interrupted Woop Slap as he went to chastise her. "When I climbed one of the trees to the roof I realized that I could get inside because of how the attic window was made and so I did. I found a few boxes that held some of Aunt Freya's jewelry, a couple pairs of shoes, and clothes that Uncle never let go of, including her wedding dress... A few more boxes held some of Dragon's things from when he was little and there was a few chests covered in dust and when I opened them I found things that belonged to Great Uncle Finnigan!"
Woop Slap's eyes widened and he looked at the wooden box she'd set next to Luffy. "Is that..?" She nodded and pushed it toward her Uncle. "Who's Finnigan..?" Benn asked squeezing Shanks's shoulder again. Shanks glanced at him and listened as the Mayor explained while he couldn’t look away from Luffy. "Monkey D. Finnigan was Garp's father... Finnigan and my father became best friends after he moved here and settled with his wife Hana who was born here in Foosha. He preferred to be called Finn and before he came here he was more known as 'Finder Finn' a damn good bounty hunter, just like his own father according to him..." Carefully Woop Slap opened the box and removed a bundle of letters bound together by twine, a handful of pictures, and at the bottom found four labeled journals. Gasping he looked between Makino and the journal in his hand and back at Makino who smiled sadly before determination entered her eyes and she turned to Shanks.
Glaring at the redhead until he met her eyes Makino patted her hand gently on the journal Woop Slap had handed over. "These journals hold Family secrets, Pack secrets... Since my Uncles are not here and you are I am trusting you with the information in these journals, especially this one, and that you won't use what you learn to harm or in any way bring harm to EITHER of the pups whose lives would be endangered should it be spoken of in the wrong company." Shanks looked at Woop Slap and saw the same determination in the older man's eyes.
Rubbing Luffy’s paw and letting go he stood up and looked Makino in the eyes. "If they contain Family secrets why tell us?" Putting a hand on her shoulder Woop Slap spoke up, "I vaguely remember seeing the journal as it was something Garp showed me when we were young children, but these secrets I know for certain will help Luffy and the other pup... Seeing as the two of us aren't shifted we can't help them the way you lot can and I know it's an odd request but it would be greatly appreciated." Yassop raised his hand and waved it a little. "Sorry, but you keep mentioning another pup, who would that be and why aren't their parents helping them instead?" The Pirates were confused, wary, and extremely curious as the two Civilians shared a look and Makino took a deep breath before sending their minds reeling.
"The journal I'm holding goes into detail about things likely no one but those of the Monkey Family and friends who were trusted by the Family knows... Anyways, Great Uncle Finnigan's father was a bounty hunter from the 'White City' in the North Blue known as 'Polar Rio' who was also a Monkey and a D. just like his wife, his son, and his daughter. Great Great Uncle Rio only ever bore two pups with his Alphan Soulmate, Mei. Those pups were Great Uncle Finnigan and his younger sister Petal, both born on a different Island as they traveled the four blues together. Great Great Aunt Mei was a born native of Skypiea and because of her status as a D., she had wings even when shifted.. just like her only daughter Great Aunt Petal. When they each decided to marry they allowed themselves to answer 'The Call' and followed their instincts until they ended up here in the East Blue. Great Uncle Finn came to Dawn and as we've mentioned he settled here in Foosha after meeting Great Aunt Hana and they had Uncle Garp. Great Aunt Petal however had met someone earlier on.. in Loguetown."
"W-what..?" Shanks's knees buckled and his best friend caught him, his emotions all over the place as he searched Makino’s eyes. Picking up Luffy and holding him close Makino felt her lip wobble as she continued, "The journal goes on mentioning how they kept in contact. How excited Petal was when she realized she was pregnant and how she and Great Uncle Goro were looking forward to seeing their Nephew Garp and couldn't wait until they could hold their baby. Then the next year they were introducing their three-year-old nephew to their son, who was a D. just like Great Uncle Goro and Great Aunt Petal..." Gulping Shanks stood shakily. "W-what.. what was his name?" "Just like Great Uncle Goro, my Uncle was a Gol... Gol D. Roger.." The Red-haired Pirates were in different states of shock or grief all of them feeling the heartache and hearing how their Captain choked back a sob.
"There's just a couple more secrets if you want to read them.." Makino whispered holding out the journal, the words 'Family is Everything' emblazoned in silver on the faded blue cover. Shakily he took the journal and opened it, on the inside of the cover there was a sentence in neat writing.
'Priceless, Timeless, and made of more than blood and bones may the bonds that bind us to each other keep this Pack, this Family whole, and Hale to the last of us.'
Monkey D. Finnigan
Taking hold of the marker Shanks opened it to where the last two entries were written in someone else's handwriting and took in a sharp breath.
XX-XX-XXXX
'Today I write in this Journal of secrets a family secret just as my father did before me. I've returned home with someone precious, so very precious, I have hidden the child of my dear cousin who I transported to his end just a year ago. In this Journal I introduce to the Pack Gol D. Ace only son and longed-for and much-loved child of Gol D. Roger and Gol D. Rouge nee Portgas. May my little cousin an Alpha in his own right and his beloved wife, Queen, and bonded Soulmate continue to rest easy as I keep to the motto of our own.'
Monkey D. Garp
XX-XX-XXXX
'I never thought it would happen with how he is.. but today I write this secret and I still don't know what to do. I want to shout out in joy but I can't. The motto is there for a reason! Today in this Journal of secrets I introduce to the Pack Monkey D. Luffy, my grandson, the only child of my son Monkey D. Dragon and Edward Crocodile who is the biological child of Edward Newgate. Dragon said Luffy’s mother died in childbirth but my nose knows the scent that still lingers.. the scent of a 'mother's claim' can't be hidden that easily. So I know Crocodile bore Dragon's child and I bet he's likely been informed that Luffy passed away after he'd scented the infant.. now these secrets will stay here. Hopefully, someday Crocodile will be able to tell if they ever meet... may those of the Pack watching over us and 'The Call' guide that meeting... Should either of these pups hear 'The Voice' may they be strong enough to never be caught and shifted grow to be Kings.'
Monkey D. Garp
Reading through it all a second time Shanks swallowed back another sob as he closed the journal and placed it by the others. "The Captain's pup lives." He said and his crew cheered. "Benn I need you and some of the others to scout out the rest of Dawn for threats outside of the city gates that would be better off dealt with now. Take Yasopp and Lucky for sure, after you've done that come up to Mount Colubo... something tells me that Garp left him with his friend." Nodding Benn started putting together the group who would go with him and making plans to get the few supplies they'd take with them. "Makino, c-could you take me up the Mountain?" Shanks couldn’t help how his breath caught in his throat. Nodding the young woman stepped around the bar where she deposited Luffy into Shanks's arms and went around the corner behind the bar to grab the small cart she'd readied for the trip.
Leaving the bar Shanks took a deep breath to steady himself, glancing at Luffy he hugged him closer as he thought about what he'd read. Thinking about how Crocodile's scent he took in another deep breath but by Luffy’s scruff and blinked owlishly as he did it again. Underneath Luffy’s warm scent of Sunshine, Sea salt, and his developing scent of Peppermint, there were not one but two claims. One must have been Dragon's for it was as old as the other but not a scent he knew and made up of rain, pine, and something unique which reminded him of lightning. The other one was most definitely Crocodile's scent of warm sand, sea breeze, and lavender. Shanks couldn’t wait to see his Captain's pup and get to know him, he also couldn’t wait until he could go visit Croccy and send him here. He smiled, nuzzling Luffy.