A/N: I'm sorry if any information is wrong and also this story has been an idea of mine for a while so….

Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece….cause if I did Ace would be alive…*glares at Oda*

P.S. - This is a re-publish because the first time I tried publishing this some weird coding happened so I deleted it and re-did it so….ta-da!

Shanks waited until Ace left to go back to his ship for the night. Once the kid was out of sight, he scrubbed a hand over his face and groaned.

He seriously wants to go after Whitebeard? The poor kid doesn't stand a chance against him, heck, Marco would probably stop him before anything else, he thought.

Only five days passed since Shanks met Ace, and while it was short amount of time, he felt close to the young man. Not only because he was Luffy's brother, but Ace was unique.

Shanks could already tell Ace had a rough childhood. From the stories he shared about him and Luffy, it sounded a whole lot like Ace raising the little rubber boy. Love and pride of a brother and parent burned in his eyes at every story.

"Cap?" Shanks turned his head around to see his First Mate, Benn. He waved his hand over, an invitation for his friend to sit with him.

Benn took the spot where Ace sat and patiently waited. "The kid wants to go after Whitebeard," he bluntly said. He wasn't surprised at the shocked expression Benn made.

"He won't stand a chance." Shanks rolled his eyes at that and said, "Don't you think I know that? The brat isn't thinking straight… There's something there that I can't place."

Shanks stroked his chin in thought while Benn eyed him. "There's something more, isn't there?" he questioned. Shanks looked at him slowly, after a moment he sighed.

"Ace… He reminds me of a woman I met long ago, back when I was in Roger's crew," Shanks trailed off in thought, but after a brief moment he continued.

"The Captain introduced us to a woman, she was force to be reckoned with my goodness," he laughed. His face grew somewhat distant and Benn was slowly putting pieces together.

"Now as far as I knew, nothing happened between them. But you could see something there, but I was young so I brushed it off but now…" Shanks looked back at Benn, with wide eyes.

Neither man said anything. What Shanks was saying was slowly making sense but they couldn't jump to conclusions.

"He has the same freckles as she does…" Shanks murmured. Suddenly he stood up, causing Benn to stand with him. "I think I have something, follow me." With that Shanks took off but at a casual pace.

Both men quietly stepped around and over their passed out crewmates. In a flash they were on their ship, Shanks leading the way to his quarters.

Benn shut the doors and made sure no one was lurking. Shanks began to dig through a trunk while having flashbacks.

Benn kneeled down next to him and silently watched. After what felt like forever, Shanks finally paused. He turned over a piece of worn paper and both men sucked in a breath.

It was a bounty poster of Portgas D. Rouge. Who Ace looked exactly alike.

"Just look at how much he looks like Rouge, and he has Roger's eyes… Benn.." Shanks looked at his friend with guilty and horrified eyes.

Benn met his gaze and frowned. "But the time, I mean Ace should be older. Unless… Unless she stalled the birth somehow but that would mean someone took Ace because she couldn't have survived the birth, but who?"

Shanks leaned back and sat down with his back against the wall. Benn sat across from him, carefully watching him while processing everything.

"Garp."

Benn sharply looked up at Shanks. "What? What does Garp have to do with this?" he asked. Shanks carefully set Rouge's poster down and wrapped his arm around his leg.

"Ace said that Garp was his and Luffy's grandfather. While Luffy and Ace look similar, there are little differences if you think hard enough. And Ace has Portgas as his last name not Monkey, Garp for sure never knew any woman with the name Portgas unless it was Rouge," Shanks was feeling desperate and yet fearful.

Desperate because if Ace really was Roger's son, then that meant he could have watched out for him. Could have mentored him and helped him with hearing the stories of the Pirate King.

Shanks wasn't an idiot. He's heard stories and rumors about Rogers and they weren't pretty.

He felt fearful also because if Ace was his son then that meant he failed him and his Captain. He failed to guide Ace, a young boy having to learn about his father from drunken men and women who knew nothing.

"Roger could have told Garp. It makes sense, Roger turned himself in to Garp and could have told him about having a kid. Garp is the most trustworthy man in the Marines and if I had to trust someone in the Marines to watch out over my kid, it would be him," Shanks said.

Both were quiet after that. For sure they knew now.

Ace was the son of the late Pirate King.

"So, what are we going to do about this now?" Benn asked seriously. Shanks looked away and sighed.

"I can't let Ace go after Whitebeard, and I don't also want to say goodbye… I want to get to know him Benn. I could have been a big brother to him or an uncle, I could've been there," he muttered.

Benn crossed his arms and sighed. "You got an idea going on, don't you?" Shanks looked at his First Mate with a gleam in his eye.

"Do you think Ace would like to join our crew?"