A red-headed path

4. Something interesting

      Shanks slowly rose his hand to cover his slightly flushed face. 'Wow..' he stood a moment before shaking off the unfamiliar feeling. Remembering that booze was only a short walk away; he made his way off to Makino.

      Ace and Sabo had run off into the forest while still holding onto Luffy. Once they had felt they were far enough away from the village due to not sensing the red head anymore, they skid to a stop and held onto Luffy.

      "What's wrong guys?" Luffy looked at them with innocent confusion.

      "Uhg..." Ace exhaled. "You..." He stopped before he could finish, he was embarrassed. So he stepped away and adverted his attention from Luffy.

     But luckily Sabo continued on in place of Ace. "...really scared us!"

      Ace coughed.

      Sabo gifted Ace an annoyed look. "You really scared me." Sabo corrected. "Do you know how dangerous that was!!"

      Luffy looked up at his older brother who had still been holding onto him. "It was?"

      Sabo looked like he was about to yell, but Ace cut in. "YES! YES IT WAS!! YOU.." Ace whimpered and backed off. "You could have seriously gotten hurt..!" His shoulders slumped as he turned away and held one arm with the other. "Or worse..."
      Sabo's eyes widened, a tear started to form in the corner of Ace's eye. When was the last time he'd seen him cry...
      Ace bit his lip and completely turned away from them. Wiping his eyes with his sleeve he called out. "THIS WAS SERIOUS! HE'S DANGEROUS..I can feel it." He turned to face Sabo.

      "Ace...!?" Sabo held his hand out. Tears had been rolling down his face.

      "DIDN'T YOU FEEL IT TOO!?" Ace barked at Sabo.
      Sabo relaxed his body and looked to the floor silently. "I did.."

      "Well I felt the opposite."

      Ace and Sabo turned to Luffy to see if they heard him right. "What?" They both said.

      The winds blew through the trees, letting stray leaves roam the air. "He was nice." Luffy proclaimed. "And scary."

      Ace and Sabo turned to each other sharing glances, then turned to Luffy again. "Are you sure..?" They both said, as if knowing what the other was going to say.

      "Yes." Luffy said simply.
      Ace and Sabo shared silent glances at each other trying to figure out how they felt on the situation. 'His instincts have yet to be wrong.' They thought at each other.

      'I can hear you too.' Luffy thought at them.

      '!?' Ace and Sabo turned to Luffy. 'Hey, this is our thing, get out!' Ace thought.
      'How long..' Sabo worried.
      But Luffy just smiled and ran off yelling. "I'M HUNGRYYYYYY!!!" While heading home to the shack.

      Ace and Sabo sigh, then run after him.

      Shanks sat deep in thought while helping himself to the liquor. 'Those kids...'

      Makino placed a her hand on his shoulder, which helped him out of his thoughts. "Going to pay for all this?" She'd came to check.

      Shanks just smiled at her, which did little to comfort the idea. She just sighed and tugged his ear. "You better!" She walked off.

      One of the crew members came up to Shanks and asked what was going on in his mind.

      Shanks sighed, checking to make sure Makino wasn't in hearing distance. "Well.." He turned back to his crew member and spoke in a whisper. "You know those three kids from earlier? I wanna see about taking them to come along with us."

      "WHAT!?" The crew member shouted, catching everyone's attention.

      Shanks tugged the man's shirt and put his left hand over their mouth. "SHHHH!" Speaking in a whisper. "I don't want Makino or the villagers to find out. At least, just yet."

      The crew member sighed. "Ok but, captain, don't you think that this is a little crazy? I mean, you've never let kids on before." He turned for a moment. "Besides her.." he looked up again. "I have a feeling the green haired girl won't let that happen."

      Shanks narrowed his eyes. "It's Makino..."

      "Okok!" The crew member backed off. "Don't need to get so upset."

      "Anyway.." Shanks looked behind him then back. "We're pirates, we take what we want! Who cares what she wants."

      The crew member spoke under his breath. "I have a feeling you don't want to hurt Makabo in anyway..."

      "What's as that?" Shanks said

      "I didn't say anything."

      Shanks narrowed his eyes and stared, but decided he didn't care enough. "Anyway, the reason as to why I want em aboard is cause." He closed in. "Don't you think they're something interesting?"