Title: The Monkey's Uncle
Characters: Shanks, Ace, mentions of Roger
Pairings: (none)
Warnings: Spoilers for Impel Down and beyond.
Setting: Shortly after Ace goes to meet Shanks in the cave in episode 461.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

'I didn't know Luffy had a brother.' Shanks' words echoed in Ace's mind. The Spade Pirate captain restlessly turned over on his side, hoping to find sleep there.

"Something on your mind?" A calm voice asked him. Ace opened his eyes to see none other than the redhead himself standing close to him.

"Yeah, a bit." Ace sat up, and accepted the hand Shanks offered to help him up.

The two men carefully made their way through the sleeping bodies to the entrance of the cave in which the Red haired Pirates had chosen as a temporary base.

"…" Ace watches his brother's hero, expecting him to say something, but Shanks kept quiet. "Aren't you going to ask what's wrong?"

Shanks smiled slightly, but didn't turn to face him. "If I have to ask, then I don't need to know."

Ace thought about that for a moment, shivering slightly as a burst of cold wind swept over them. He barely had time to acknowledge that Shanks had moved before a warm cloak was around his shoulders, the fur lining brushing against his face. Shanks didn't seem to notice the loss, even in the biting cold. Ace didn't fail to notice that the older man had positioned himself so that his body blocked as much wind as possible.

"I'm not Luffy's biological brother." Ace spit out.

"…oh?" Shanks barely glanced at him.

"I'm the son of…a horrible man." Ace struggled to tell him. He didn't want this great man to think any less of him, and revealing that he was the son of Roger would do just that. "He was a notorious pirate, and he hurt so many people…"

Shanks said nothing.

"Everyone tells me that he deserved to die and that if he ever had a son that he should be drowned at birth. They say that he was a liar who never should have sailed the seas." Ace continued, desperate for a response, any response, from the man Luffy talked about so often.

"Do you believe them?" Shanks finally asked. Ace tried to peer into the darkness to see his face.

"Yes. No. Maybe? I don't know. He died before I was born." Ace admitted, his broad shoulders slumped.

"So all you know is what people have said about him."

"It's not like I could get to know him; he's dead."

"Have you ever asked anyone who knew him?"

Ace snorted. "Who should I ask? Garp? Whitebeard?"

Shanks turned to face him, and Ace could see his lips curl into a small smile, even in the darkness.

"What's to stop you if they know something?"

"It's not that easy."

"Isn't it?"

Ace shook his head. "Maybe not for Red haired Shanks."

"If it wouldn't be difficult for me, why would it be for you?"

Ace thought for a moment before answering. "You're Red haired Shanks. People respect you. You always know the right thing to say. Me, I'm the son of an infamously bad pirate who was raised by bandits. I shouldn't have even been born."

Shanks kept quiet, his hand idly resting on the hilt of his sword.

"…You don't agree, do you?" Ace asked after a few moments of silence.

"If you really want to know your father, find the people whose lives he touched, for better or for worse. He may no longer be here, but traces of him are in those who knew him." Shanks' eyes were on him, but Ace felt that Shanks was seeing more than the seventeen-year-old captain in front of him.

"How do I do that?" The Spade pirate cried.

"Don't try. Someday you'll have your answers."

Ace nearly growled in desperate frustration. Shanks' answers made sense, in an obscure way, but they weren't easy, and they weren't what Ace wanted to hear.

"Everyone says that any child of his should be shot."

Shanks shook his head, red hair swishing. "Every child deserves a chance to live. A child isn't to blame for his father's actions."

The two men stood in a comfortable silence as Ace mulled over what had been said.

"Thank you, Red haired." Ace bowed at the waist.

"No need to be so formal Ace." Shanks told him with a wide smile. "Call me Shanks."

Ace smiled back at him. "Thanks Shanks."

Shanks chuckled and reached out his hand to gesture to the bedrolls that were spread out all across the cave's floor.

"Off to bed with you, rookie." He ordered. A peaceful, sleepy Ace did as he was told.

That night, Ace slept well for the first time since forming the Spade Pirates.