Archive of Our Own

Buggy was lying sprawled across a pile of sails on the deck, soaking in the afternoon sun, when suddenly a shadow blocked the warmth from his face.

“Move,” Buggy grumbled, not even opening his eyes, already knowing who it was.

Shanks chuckled above. “Skipping chores again?”

Buggy detached one hand and shoved Shanks in the stomach, while his other hand continued gently patting the baby resting on top of his chest. Ace was fast asleep against him, tiny fingers tangled in Buggy’s shirt.

“I am doing chores. How do you think Ace hasn’t cried for an entire hour?”

A couple of months ago, the Oro Jackson had welcomed a new member. Shanks and Buggy had immediately protested, complaining that they had been working on the ship for years and were still treated like cabin boys, so Ace should have to work his way up properly too.

Shanks caught Buggy’s hand, bringing it toward his lips with a grin. 

“Don’t you dare–” 

Buggy thrashed dramatically, trying to yank his hand away. He just wanted to enjoy his peaceful nap a little more before Ace woke up again and started crying for milk. 

Roger and Rayleigh were usually the ones who took care of Ace, but they had gone off on a mission last week. And out of the entire Roger Pirates, only Shanks and Buggy could hold Ace without making him cry, a fact Buggy had bragged about at least twice a day to the rest of the crew. So the two of them had been excused from chores and assigned babysitting duty. 

Unfortunately, the movement was enough to wake Ace up. The baby blinked a few times, tiny face scrunching up and a second later, loud crying rang across the entire deck.

“Damn it, that’s your fault!” Buggy shot Shanks a glare while quickly sitting up to settle Ace properly against his chest. “Go make his milk.”

Shanks looked completely unapologetic. He only laughed and leaned down to press a loud kiss against Ace’s chubby cheek before jogging off toward the kitchen.

Still grumbling under his breath, Buggy carried Ace around the deck. There were no actual tears, but at this age crying was the only way Ace knew how to tell them he was hungry. So by now, the crew had gotten used to it. None of them even looked up as Buggy walked past with a fussy baby in his arms.

With a tired sigh, Buggy detached both his hands and carefully let Ace float a few inches into the air. The trick worked immediately. Ace’s cries faded into excited little noises as he stared around with wide eyes, tiny hands reaching eagerly for more. Usually, Buggy would toss him through the air or spin him around, but not this time.

“Not now, little brat.” Buggy poked Ace’s nose with one floating finger. “I am not dealing with you throwing up all over me again.” 

Honestly, Buggy was pretty sure the real reason Ace liked him so much was because of the Chop Chop powers. 

“Your favorite big bro is here to save the day!” Shanks quickly hurried back onto the deck with a warm bottle of milk in his hand.

And the little traitor immediately forgot all about Buggy. Ace kicked excitedly toward Shanks, making grabby hands at the bottle.

Buggy rolled his eyes fondly before handing him over.

“He obviously likes me more.” Buggy crossed his arms while Shanks settled Ace against his chest and started feeding him. Ace quieted down almost instantly, happily drinking while clutching onto the bottle.

Shanks grinned. “Doesn’t seem like it.” He bounced Ace in his arms, laughing when the baby made a pleased little sound around the bottle.

“He likes the milk, idiot, not you. And don’t bounce him around unless–”

Buggy didn’t even get to finish his sentence. Because the moment Shanks bounced him one more time, Ace immediately spat up milk all over the front of Shanks’s shirt.

“Dumbass! Give him to me!”

***

Late past midnight, Buggy collapsed onto their bunk bed with a groan. As good of a baby as Ace usually was, taking care of him through the night was still far worse than watch duty. Their cabin constantly smelled of warm milk and baby powder, spare diapers were scattered everywhere, and between the two of them, Shanks and Buggy had barely managed more than four hours of sleep a night lately.

Shanks dropped down onto the bed beside him a moment later, reaching an arm around Buggy’s waist and pulling him closer. They had only just managed to get Ace back to sleep, so they knew they needed to take advantage of the precious few hours of rest they were lucky to get.

“Tired?” Shanks murmured while tucking Buggy against his chest.

Buggy let out a dramatic sigh and buried his face in Shanks’s shoulder. “I could die for a full night of sleep right now.”

They could have asked Gaban to help. The navigator was still learning how to handle kids, but he was surprisingly patient. Buggy was convinced the man had gotten a little jealous after watching Roger play with Ace. So every time the ship stopped near Elbaph, he made sure to spare some time to visit his wife. 

But they didn't ask, and Buggy would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy holding Ace in his arms, especially when Ace stared up at him with wide sparkly eyes. 

Buggy shifted more comfortably against Shanks before detaching one of his ears and letting it float over to rest beside Ace’s crib across the room. It was the easiest way to make sure he would wake up the second Ace needed something.

Shanks watched the floating ear before pressing a soft kiss into Buggy’s hair.

“Just rest, Buggy.”

…

Buggy stirred awake, still half-asleep as he blindly reached an arm to find Shanks. But the space beside him was empty. Buggy scrunched his face and pulled the blanket tighter around himself. Where the hell was the idiot when Buggy needed his body heat?

The cabin was quiet, filled only with the distant sound of waves crashing softly against the ship that almost lulled Buggy back to sleep… Too quiet. Buggy’s eyes snapped open. He pushed himself upright and looked toward the crib across the room. Ace was gone too.

Was he really so exhausted that he had slept through Ace crying?

With a groan, Buggy flopped back onto the mattress, knowing Shanks would take good care of Ace. But after a few minutes, Buggy realized he couldn’t fall back asleep without Shanks wrapped around him, which only made him more annoyed. Maybe he should stop complaining about Shanks being the clingy one.

Buggy forced himself out of bed with a yawn. Checking on them for a minute wouldn’t hurt.

As he walked past the crib, Buggy suddenly stopped in his tracks. Slowly, he leaned down and picked up his detached ear… There was a small wad of cloth stuffed into it. No wonder he hadn’t heard anything.

Buggy stared at it while swearing quietly under his breath. Though a warm feeling settled in his chest despite himself. They were both exhausted, Shanks didn’t have to do stuff like that, idiot.

***

Buggy found Shanks inside the captain’s cabin. He carefully pushed the door open with a soft creak and peeked inside.

Shanks was pacing around the room with Ace asleep in his arms, gently swaying back and forth. The dim lantern light made the whole scene look too soft.

Shanks glanced when he noticed Buggy.

“Go back to bed,” he whispered. “He probably misses Roger. Wouldn’t stop crying until I brought him here.”

Buggy softened. He walked over quietly, looking down at Ace sleeping peacefully against Shanks’s shoulder, tiny body curled up inside the captain’s coat Shanks had wrapped around him. 

“Aw, can’t sleep without me?” Shanks grinned. “It already took me forever to get you to sleep. I can’t handle two babies at once.”

Buggy hissed, heat creeping into his face. “I’m not a baby!” 

It was a little too loud in the middle of the night. Ace stirred in Shanks’s arms, and both of them froze.

After a while, Ace only snuggled deeper into the coat and continued sleeping peacefully. Shanks and Buggy finally let out relieved breaths before glancing at each other.

“Should keep him asleep for at least another hour,” Shanks whispered. Then he carefully shifted Ace into one arm so he could reach out with his free hand and grab Buggy’s. “Let’s get back.”

Buggy let himself be pulled along, knowing Shanks probably planned to stay awake a little longer for Ace, but still wanted Buggy to get some proper sleep.

Buggy’s chest felt annoyingly warm. He muttered, “Idiot,” while squeezing Shanks’s hand back.

Shanks glanced down at him, then whispered to his ear with a teasing grin. “Don’t tell Ace. But you’re my favorite baby.”

“I-if you call me that again–!” Buggy sputtered, but he didn’t let go of Shanks’s hand.

***

Roger and Rayleigh returned a couple of days later. The crew didn't have time to react before Roger leapt from the small ship onto the deck of the Oro Jackson, hard enough to make the entire ship dip.

“How’s my little boy doing?” Roger’s laugh echoed across the deck.

Buggy had been sitting nearby with Ace in his lap and immediately detached both his hands, floating Ace into Roger’s waiting arms.

“He crawled two inches more than yesterday,” Buggy reported proudly. “And almost managed to bite Shanks this morning.”

Roger burst into laughter as he caught Ace against his chest before burying his face into Ace’s soft cheeks, his thick moustache brushing all over the baby’s face.

Ace let out an offended cry at the scratchy feeling.

Roger only laughed harder. Then, with his free arm, he reached out and dragged both Shanks and Buggy into a crushing hug when they ran over.

“And how are my two little troublemakers doing?”

“We’re not little anymore!” Shanks and Buggy protested, squirming in Roger’s grip. Even though they had grown taller over the years, Roger could still haul both of them around with one arm like it was nothing.

Fortunately for them, Ace decided to rescue the two brothers who had spent the past few days feeding and carrying him around. He grabbed onto Roger’s moustache with both hands and tugged hard.

“Ow–boy, hey, easy there…” Roger quickly released Shanks and Buggy so he could try prying Ace’s tiny hands off his face.

Rayleigh’s laughter came from behind them as he stepped onto the deck, just finished docking the small ship.

“Who’s been missing me that much?” 

Ace immediately forgot about torturing Roger. His entire body leaned toward Rayleigh the moment he saw him, little arms reaching out eagerly. Roger could only stare in betrayal as Ace happily played with Rayleigh's hair.

Buggy scratched his chin thoughtfully. Ace seemed to really like blondes. Maybe he should try dyeing his hair... Buggy imagined himself with bright blond hair and cringed so hard. He immediately shoved the terrible idea out of his head.

“How’s Tom?” Shanks asked, chuckling at the scene.

Roger’s expression turned more serious, though he looked relaxed. “He refused to come with us. So we helped hide him somewhere far away.”

Tom had been sentenced for building the Oro Jackson, and naturally the Roger Pirates could never stand by and let one of their friends suffer because of the World Government.

“But then Iceberg and Franky can’t see him anymore?” Buggy frowned.

“For now, no.” Roger sighed. “It’s safer for the kids if they stay apart.”

Both Shanks and Buggy looked down. They weren’t especially close with Iceberg and Franky, but they still understood the feeling if they were separated from the Roger Pirates because of the evil World Government. 

“I already explained it to them.” Roger patted Shanks and Buggy on the shoulder. “They’re strong kids. They were already talking about building some kind of train that could travel across the sea and meet Tom again one day.”

Roger laughed proudly like he fully believed they would make it happen one day. 

Gaban came to stand beside them. “Not surprising. They’re Tom’s sons, after all.” Then his expression turned more serious. “We shouldn’t stay around Water 7 for too long. We don’t want Cipher Pol sniffing around those kids because of us.”

Roger nodded. “We’re setting sail tomorrow morning. So try not to cause too much trouble today.”

Then, almost immediately moving on from the serious mood, Roger leaned over and stole Ace back out of Rayleigh’s arms. Ace let out a protest cry and grabbed desperately for Rayleigh again.

“I know, I know,” Roger laughed while bouncing him lightly. “Your old man missed you too–ow, Ace, stop pulling–”

Gaban burst out laughing at the sight. “Not bad. But my son’s definitely going to be stronger.”

Rayleigh raised an eyebrow, considering Gaban didn’t even have a kid yet, but Roger was already enough of a bragging dad to turn it into a competition. 

“Bigger maybe. But Ace is definitely gonna be stronger!”

Shanks tilted his head. “How big is a giant baby? How would you even carry your son around?”

Gaban puffed his chest out. “I could hold a twenty-foot baby like it weighs nothing. Why do you think I’ve been training all these years?”

He immediately lunged forward to grab Shanks and Buggy, since the two cabin boys had always been his favorite targets whenever he wanted to show off his strength.

Buggy had already darted behind Rayleigh for protection, while Shanks bolted across the deck with Gaban chasing after him.

“Come on, boy! I’ve been carrying you around ever since you were a baby!”

“Idiot,” Buggy muttered, making Rayleigh chuckle, shaking his head.

“I was a normal-sized baby though!” Shanks shouted while dodging Gaban’s grab. “And I prefer normal-sized babies!”

That dragged the entire crew into a loud conversation about babies. According to them, they hadn’t been around a baby since Shanks himself almost seventeen years ago, so all the older men were treating Ace like some kind of rare treasure.

Everyone got caught up talking and laughing around Ace. Everyone except Buggy.

He stayed quiet beside Rayleigh, though no one else seemed to notice.

“...”

“Buggy?”

Buggy startled slightly and looked up to find Rayleigh frowning at him.

“Yes?!”

Rayleigh sighed softly. “I was saying you should move Ace’s crib back into our cabin.” His expression softened as he studied Buggy’s face. “Did Ace cause you lots of trouble? Those dark circles–”

“No! Ace was fine!” Buggy answered quickly. Then he hesitated. “…Yeah. The crib. I’ll go move it.”

Rayleigh looked like he wanted to say something else, but Buggy had already turned away and slipped out of the noisy crowd gathered around Ace, heading quickly back toward the cabin alone.

***

Buggy stayed late in the navigation room with Gaban, helping work out the route for tomorrow. The Roger Pirates weren’t afraid of Cipher Pol, or the World Government itself, but they wanted to draw the Government’s attention away from Water 7. 

Gaban was still stuck on the topic of babies. Buggy only responded with hums every now and then.

“Ripley’s over seventy feet tall herself, which honestly only makes her hotter.” Gaban scratched his chin with a grin. “But it does make preparing for a kid complicated. We’ve gotta figure out sizes for everything, and trying for a baby–”

Buggy immediately cut him off. “I hope you succeed soon. I don’t need the details, really.”

Gaban burst out laughing, shoving him lightly. “Aw, still getting shy? You’re almost eighteen already. Plenty of people your age have kids! Though I definitely wouldn’t recommend it.”

“Don’t worry,” Buggy said quickly. “I won’t.” 

He hated kids. Well… maybe Ace was kind of cute sometimes. But that was a very rare exception.

Gaban only snorted and continued rambling happily about all the things he and Ripley had already planned out for their future child over the next twenty years.

Buggy kept his eyes on the map for a while before finally speaking again, not looking up.

“You… really want a kid that badly?”

“Of course!” Gaban answered like it was obvious. “A man’s greatest treasure is his family. His wife, his kids… that’s more valuable than any gold!” 

Buggy’s grip tightened slightly around the pen in his hand, though he kept his expression neutral.

“That makes no sense. You can’t buy anything with a baby. Gold’s way more useful.”

Gaban snorted. “You’re still a kid yourself, after all. I mean, I used to think the same way. I spent my whole life chasing adventures and never imagined settling down.”

Then his expression softened. “But then I met her. And as much as I love our crew, eventually I started imagining the day I could go home to her every night. One day you’ll understand it too, wanting to have a child that looks like the person you love.” 

Buggy lowered his head. 

The room stayed quiet after that except for the scratching of pens against paper as they worked. Eventually, Gaban glanced toward the moonlight outside the window and pushed himself to his feet with a stretch.

“It’s late. We can finish the rest tomorrow.”

“…I’ll stay,” Buggy replied without looking up. “I wanna finish this part first.”

Gaban frowned slightly, noticing the tense look on Buggy’s face, but he didn’t push further.

“Alright. Just don’t stay up too late.” He started toward the door. “And turn off the lantern when you leave.”

It was quiet again until Buggy heard footsteps approaching down the hallway. He clicked his tongue before the door had even opened.

“Buggy! Why are you still here? I’m sleepy.”

As expected, Shanks walked in and immediately drifted toward Buggy like some clingy dog that had tracked him down.

“…I’m still working,” Buggy muttered without looking up. “Just go sleep first.”

Of course, Shanks ignored that. He started whining while tugging insistently on Buggy’s sleeve.

“What’s so urgent? You’ve been complaining for days about wanting one full night of sleep without Ace crying. Ray-san already took him back.”

“I’m almost done. Just wanna finish.”

Shanks pouted at him, but after realizing Buggy wasn’t even glancing his way, he seemed to accept that arguing wouldn’t work. So instead, he flopped down right behind Buggy on the bench.

“Hey!”

“I won’t bother you.” Shanks rested his chin on Buggy’s shoulder from behind while wrapping both arms tightly around Buggy’s waist. “I’ll just wait here.”

Buggy tried squirming away, but only succeeded in crumpling half the maps spread across the table. And it wasn’t like he could focus anyway, so Buggy let out an annoyed groan.

“Alright, you win. Let’s just go back…”

Shanks immediately cheered in victory and scooped Buggy up by the waist.

“Let go! I can walk by myself!” Buggy squawked.

But Shanks had already made it halfway to the door without slowing down.

“C’mon! Time to get my baby to bed.”

That made Buggy explode in embarrassment. Within seconds, he detached every part of his body, pieces flying wildly in every direction to escape Shanks’s hold. But unfortunately for him, Shanks was already too used to dealing with Buggy’s powers. He grabbed Buggy’s floating feet out of the air and kept running down the hallway laughing.

“Put me down!”

Buggy could only keep floating helplessly behind him, dragged along by his captured foot until his powers reached their distance limit. Defeatedly, all his scattered body parts snapped back together into Shanks’s arms.

By the time they finally settled back into bed, Buggy’s irritation had faded into exhaustion. Shanks curled around him from behind, one arm wrapped around Buggy’s waist while Buggy rested his head on his other arm.

Well, he did need a good sleep. Besides, Shanks had started gaining some muscles, lying against him felt perfectly comfortable. Buggy had basically abandoned his pillow now that he had a much better replacement.

For a while, Buggy simply stayed there listening to the quiet sounds around them. The Oro Jackson creaked softly with the movement of the waves as the sea rocked the ship through the night. Beside him, Shanks’s breathing slowly evened out, warm against the back of Buggy’s neck.

Buggy closed his eyes. He was exhausted. But sleep wouldn’t come.

Buggy shifted slightly in Shanks’s arms, staring into the dark cabin wall. After a while, he let out a long breath, knowing he would never fall asleep unless he got it out of his head.

“…You want a child?”

“Hm?”

Buggy nearly jumped. He twisted around in surprise, not expecting Shanks to still be awake.

“I-I thought you were sleeping?!”

“I am,” Shanks mumbled sleepily as he nudged closer against the back of Buggy’s neck. “What’d you say?”

Buggy pressed his lips together, not answering.

Shanks sighed against his skin. “Are you gonna tell me what’s bothering you so we can both sleep, or do I have to drag it out myself?”

Buggy elbowed him in the ribs, but Shanks only grunted and tightened his arms around Buggy’s waist instead of letting go.

Buggy stayed stubbornly quiet for another few moments before finally muttering,

“…Do you want kids?”

“Yeah,” Shanks answered easily. “Maybe one, two, or a lot. Dunno yet.”

“A lot?!” Buggy yelled, before lowering his voice again when he remembered it was the middle of the night. “You can’t even feed Ace properly without making him throw up!” 

Shanks snorted quietly behind him. Then the room fell silent again.

After a moment, Shanks sighed softly. “Why? What about you?”

“I hate kids,” Buggy answered immediately.

“You volunteered to help with Ace.”

“So I could skip chores! That has nothing to do with liking kids!”

They both knew taking care of a baby was far more exhausting than their normal chores, but Shanks didn’t point that out. His fingers tapped lightly against Buggy’s stomach before he asked more hesitantly.

“…You really don’t want any?”

Buggy stayed quiet at first.

“…Doesn’t matter anyway,” he muttered after such a long silence that Shanks had probably fallen asleep again, voice so small it was barely audible. “It’s not like I could ever give you one.”

The second the words left his mouth, Buggy wanted to die. Damn stupid warm bed and stupid Shanks for making him comfortable enough to say embarrassing things.

But before Buggy could squirm away and pretend he never said it, Shanks suddenly rolled them over in one quick movement until Buggy was sprawled on top of his chest.

“…What?” Shanks stared up at him, completely dumbfounded.

Buggy was forced to look directly into Shanks’s eyes now. Fuck it. He had already said the worst part.

“…Well, I’m a man…” 

Shanks blinked. “I’m pretty sure I’m very aware of that.” One of his hands drifted lower against Buggy’s hip with a teasing grin. “I’ve done some pretty thorough research myself, yeah?”

Buggy immediately pinched him hard in the chest. “I’m being serious here!”

Shanks chuckled, hands resting against Buggy’s hips. “Yeah, yeah. So what’s about it?”

Buggy’s fingers tightened in Shanks’s shirt, forcing the words out.

“…I can’t give you a child. And if that’s your dream…”

When Shanks didn’t answer, Buggy looked up again… only to find Shanks staring at him with actual teary eyes. 

“B-Buggy…” Shanks whispered shakily. “You want to be pregnant with my child that badly?” 

Buggy’s entire face exploded red.

“That’s not even close to what I said at all!” 

He grabbed Shanks by the collar and started violently shaking him back and forth on the pillow.

“There are all kinds of weird powers in the world, you know?” Shanks managed to ask through Buggy’s shaking. “Maybe we could find–”

“I am not getting pregnant?!”

“Then I can do it.”

Buggy stopped shaking him so suddenly that the bed creaked. “...What?”

Shanks’s hands slid lazily along Buggy’s hips. “How’s that sound? If I stay home with our kids, then you’d have to come back to us every time.” He enjoyed himself a little too much. “You’d have to take care of me. Feed me, tuck me into bed, give me kisses–”

Buggy exploded. “Stop talking about pregnancy before I throw you overboard!” 

Shanks burst into loud laughter, deciding he should stop messing with Buggy if he still wanted cuddles tonight. 

Buggy glared hard at him until Shanks’s laughter finally died down. Then Buggy slumped slightly where he lay on top of Shanks’s chest.

Shanks let out a quiet sigh, his hands coming up to cup Buggy’s cheeks.

“Hey, Buggy. Roger and the others didn’t give birth to us either, right?”

“Why are you still talking about this–” Buggy grumbled.

“Do you think they love us any less because of that?”

“What?” Buggy looked up immediately, actually offended. “They’re the best… parents we could’ve asked for!”

Shanks smiled, pinching Buggy’s cheek gently. “Exactly. They can be our family without sharing blood with us. So why are you worried that a child has to look like us to really be ours?”

“W-who said I wanted a kid that looks like you?!” Buggy stuttered, but the way his face burned red completely gave him away.

Shanks only hummed. “But I do want kids that are like you. Maybe a little girl who’s obsessed with treasure and scams everyone…”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Shanks kept going with a dreamy smile. “But I’d love them as long as they’re ours! Even if one’s terrible with maps unlike you, or trips over themselves for every pretty girl, or even a coward…” 

Buggy’s outrage returned. “Why the hell are all our kids so dumb?!”

“Dumb?” Shanks looked genuinely offended. “I think they’re all adorable!”

Buggy scoffed, but Shanks looked so sincere about it that Buggy suddenly couldn’t think of anything to say back.

“D-doesn’t matter. It’s not like I want to build a family with you!”

Buggy puffed up his cheeks stubbornly, but was relieved when Shanks didn’t bring up the fact that Buggy had nearly spiraled into a breakdown over them not being able to have biological kids together a few minutes earlier. Mostly because Shanks was yawning so hard his eyes watered. 

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not planning on kids anytime soon anyway.” He leaned up to steal a quick kiss from Buggy. “I still have way too many things I want to do with you!”

Buggy’s face immediately heated up all over again, but this time he only grumbled under his breath before collapsing onto Shanks’s chest. He felt so stupid now. They were only seventeen. There was no point worrying this hard about some distant future that hadn’t even happened yet.

He could just focus on the person right in front of him first.

“…If you ever tell anyone about this conversation–” 

Shanks chuckled softly and pressed one last sleepy kiss into his hair. “Yeah, yeah. It’s on Ace for ruining our sleep. Night, Buggy.”

***

The next morning, when Buggy stepped onto the deck, Ace immediately spotted him from where Rayleigh was carrying him. Tiny hands reached out, letting out loud excited noises for Buggy. 

Buggy softened. He had kind of avoided Ace yesterday after all his stupid overthinking. Babies couldn’t understand much, but Ace could probably sense his moods. He didn’t want Ace to think he suddenly hated him.

“Morning.” Buggy took Ace from Rayleigh’s arms. “Already so loud this early?”

Ace immediately nuzzled into Buggy’s neck with a happy little sound.

Rayleigh smiled softly at the sight. “Just play with him. I’ll go finish the route.”

When he walked off, Buggy adjusted Ace more comfortably against his chest. After checking that nobody was nearby, Buggy quickly leaned down and pressed a kiss against Ace’s chubby cheek.

“…Sorry. Didn’t mean to avoid you yesterday.”

Ace immediately started squirming excitedly, kicking his tiny legs while small hands tangled themselves into Buggy’s hair. 

His hair was still soft baby fluff, but the black color was already unmistakably Roger’s. He would definitely grow up looking a lot like him. And one day, Ace would probably become loud and reckless just like Roger too.

Buggy wondered, suddenly, what a kid like Shanks would be like. 

They would have Shanks’s bright smile and endless energy. A kid who laughed loudly, cried loudly, and loved just as loudly. The type to run barefoot across the deck, befriending strangers five minutes after meeting them. And the kid would definitely inherit Shanks’s effortless way of making people gather around him.

Buggy absentmindedly played with Ace’s soft hair when someone suddenly squeezed his shoulder, yanking him out of his thoughts.

“Buggy?”

Buggy startled slightly and looked up to find Gaban staring at him.

“…Uh, yeah?!” Damn it. He really needed to stop thinking about hypothetical children with Shanks.

Gaban studied Buggy’s reaction, but eventually just shrugged it off. 

“I was asking everyone on the crew.” He held out a paper covered in messy different handwritings. “Ripley already picked out some girl names, so now I’m choosing boy names.”

Buggy blinked down at the list. 

“You want me to help…?”

Gaban answered like it was obvious. “That’ll be your little brother! You should help too.”

Buggy suddenly felt his eyes burn. He had never doubted that Gaban cared about him. But Gaban had his own family now, his own wife and even a future child to care about. Watching him get so excited talking about them, Buggy had thought…

“Hey, Buggy?” Gaban squeezed his shoulder. “You alright, son?”

Even Ace stopped playing with Buggy’s hair and grabbed at his face instead, looking up at him worriedly.

“Yes, uh… sea salt got in my eyes.” Buggy blinked hard before taking the pen from Gaban’s hand.

He thought hard about it for a moment. Honestly, Buggy had never really cared much about names. But when he remembered the first time he met Gaban’s wife, she had been so ridiculously huge, even by giant standards, that Buggy had nearly snapped his neck trying to look up. And even then, all he could see had been endless giant legs.

Buggy huffed to himself before lowering the pen and starting to write down Colossus.

But he didn’t even get halfway through the word before the pen was suddenly snatched right out of his hand.

“Why didn’t you ask me first?” Shanks leaned over Buggy’s shoulder. “Buggy’s terrible at names. Let me–”

“Hey! Give it back!”

The two of them immediately launched into shoving and yelling at each other, while Ace happily squealed in the middle of the chaos.

Gaban only shook his head at the scene before picking the paper back up, then smiled softly to himself. He picked up the pen and circled the messy word Buggy and Shanks had accidentally smeared together while fighting, Colon.