Shanks pulled up in front of the house.

"Here we are, the same as always." He said with a laugh. Aisuru stared up at the house. The house she was born in. The house she lived in until she was seven when her mother divorced her father. The house she spent every weekend in until she was ten when her mother packed her up and moved her to the West Blue. Far away from her father.

"I haven't been here in six years..." she said softly. She felt Shanks grab her hand.

"Don't worry, sweet heart. You're going to be safe here. I promise, I won't let anything hurt you ever again." He said. Aisuru looked at her dad. She smiled up at him softly.

"I know, Daddy. I feel safer here already. I'm just worried." She said softly.

"About what, baby girl?" He asked.

"What if the people here don't like me?" She asked softly. Shanks leaned over and kissed her head.

"Honey, they will adore you. Just like I do." He said. She looked up at him.

"You really think so?" She asked.

"Of course. Come on. Let's get you moved in. And after that, how about we go to the Baratie for dinner?" He asked. Aisuru smiled. She hadn't been to the Baratie since her parents first divorced.

"Okay." She said. They climbed out of the car.

"Oi! Boss! Welcome back!" They heard. They looked and saw two men approach. Aisuru remembered them both immediately. They were her dad's two closest friends.

"Hey, guys." Shanks said. Immediately, Aisuru felt their eyes on her.

"Hey! Check it out, Beckmann!" Yasopp said. Benn Beckmann smiled down at Aisuru.

"Hello again, Little Captain." Benn Beckmann said, using his old nickname for the girl.

"Hi, Benn. Hi, Mr. Yasopp." She said softly. The two men smiled at the girl.

"How are you doing, Aisuru?" Yasopp asked.

"I'm... I'm okay." She said. Yasopp and Benn looked at each other as Shanks unlocked the door to the house.

"Aisuru, go on and take your things up to your room. I'll be up to help you in a second." He said. Aisuru nodded and grabbed two of her bags and pulled them up to the house and to her room.

"So what's the damage?" Yasopp asked with a frown. Shanks sighed and closed his eyes.

"He was beating her. She was refusing to sign the papers and let him become her step father. And he was beating her for it. He finally went too far. He tore of her shirt and burned markings in to her back with a dagger. Hope didn't even try to stop him." Shanks said. He heard his friends cringe.

"You're kidding." Yasopp snapped angrily. Shanks shook his head.

"Hono, that rat bastard. I knew he was a pile of shit, but for Hope to just stand by and let him hurt her baby?" Benn asked with a bitter scowl. Shanks finally looked up at his friends, but with a solemn look in his eyes.

"I've been given full custody of her. Hope can visit as long as Hono isn't with her." Shanks said.

"Good." Both men said.

"Now what about school, Shanks?" Benn asked. Shanks nodded.

"I've already enrolled her in New World. I'll be able to keep an eye on her." Shanks said.

"Well, in that case, I'll be able to send a friend her way." Yasopp said. Shanks looked up at him.

"My son, Usopp, goes to school at New World. He'll be back from the Bahamas with Luffy and his brothers a few weeks before school starts. I'll send him her way. And with Usopp's large friend group, she'll have plenty of friends in no time." Yasopp said.

"That would include Luffy. And after what Hono did to her, Luffy would be a good thing to have in her life. She needs friends that care and no one cares about his friends more than that boy." Benn said. Shanks nodded.

"I hope so." He said.

Time skip

Aisuru sat out in the back yard on the tree swing. Shanks was currently setting up a little work space for Aisuru in one of the spare rooms of the house. Aisuru sighed and stared up at the sky.

"Will I be able to make any friends here? I hope so. I mean, I wouldn't mind if it was just me and daddy all the time, but I heard Benn say something about a woman named Makino. I bet she's dad's girlfriend, and daddy would want some time with her." Aisuru thought.

"Heya." She heard. Aisuru looked up and over to the fence dividing her back yard from her neighbor's. Standing there was a girl about Aisuru's age. She had short brownish-blonde hair, lightly tanned skin and sparkling blue eyes. She wore an army green muscle shirt and black shorts. At her hip was a sword and around her neck was a towel. Something about this girl seemed familiar to Aisuru.

"So, you finally came back, huh? A lot has changed since your Ma took you away. But still, I'm glad your back. Now I'll have someone to hang out with when I'm too lazy to leave the house." She said. Then it clicked in Aisuru's head who this girl was.

"Ki?" She asked. The girl grinned.

"Oh good, you do remember me." She said.

"You still live here? Weren't your parents talking about moving out to the East Blue before Mom took me to West Blue?" She asked. Ki grinned.

"It wasn't long after you left that mom and dad decided that we were fine here, so we stayed." She said. Aisuru stood and walked over to Ki.

"Is that your dad's sword?" She asked. Ki grinned and patted it.

"Mine, now. After I turned thirteen, Dad started training me in sword fighting. Now I'm aiming to be part of the Sword Fighting team." She said. Aisuru's eyes widened.

"That's what you've wanted ever since we were kids." She said. Ki grinned and laughed.

"So how have you been?" Ki asked. Aisuru looked away.

"Well... things... happened with mom after I refused to let her terrible new husband adopt me. So, the judge put dad in full custody over me. So I live here again." Aisuru said.

"Yup. I may have eavesdropped on your dad, Benn and Yasopp." Ki said. Aisuru giggled.

"You're just as bad as when we were little." She said. Ki grinned.

"Guilty as charged." She said.

"From what I heard them saying, you and I will be going to the same school come fall." Ki said.

"Really?" Aisuru asked. Ki nodded with a grin.

"I'll introduce ya to my friends when they get back from the Bahamas." Ki said.

"All of your friends are in the Bahamas right now?" Aisuru asked. Ki nodded.

"One of my friends, Luffy, his oldest brother, Ace, is the Second Division executive of Whitebeard Industries. So Ace told Luffy to gather up his friends and took them to the Bahamas for summer." Ki said.

"Why didn't you go with them?" Aisuru asked. Ki grinned.

"Summer training of course. My boyfriend, Zoro, is also currently at a training camp instead of the Bahamas. But the rest of the group is all there." She said. Aisuru smiled.

"Hey, girls." Shanks's voice came. The two looked up and saw him.

"Hi, Daddy." Aisuru said softly.

"Heya, Mr. LeRoux." Ki said.

"Ready to go, baby girl?" Shanks asked. Aisuru nodded.

"Sure, Daddy. I'll talk to you later, Ki." Aisuru said. Ki grinned.

"Sure thing. Glad to have ya back, Aisuru. I missed ya." She said and headed back in to her place.

"Come on, I wanna show you your workspace before we go get dinner." Shanks said. He lead her in to the room across the hall from her bedroom.

"Ta-da!" He said. Aisuru's eyes lit up.

"Infinity lamps! And they look like little clouds!" Aisuru said as she walked in to the room. She looked at all the lamps hanging from the ceiling.

"I thought you'd like them." Shanks said. Aisuru smiled softly.

"I love them!" She said. After that, they went to the Baratie.