Gold and Red [Law × Reader, Kid × Reader]

Twenty-two (Both)

Over twenty years ago

Near Baterilla, a small island of the South Blue

"Come here, Ann!" laughs Roger, reaching for the giggling toddler opposite him. "C'mere now. Who's the most darling girl of the Four Seas?"

The child jumps a bit in happiness before she starts running towards the open arms.

On the thin barrier of her father's ship, a few centimeters away from the ocean.

"What the hell are you doing, Roger?!" shouts Rayleigh, rushing to them. "She will-"

"Don't sweat it so much," cackles his Captain. "She's my daughter, there is no way she would-"

And they both shriek when Ann yelps with a bright smile, successfully falling off the edge, clapping her small hands in excitement.

.

.

.

Roger spits out the water as he stumbles back to the deck, holding his little girl by her still-dry clothes.

They both laugh, as always when they are around each other, and they feel like they would never stop.

"See?" asks the King of the Pirates, and Rayleigh shakes his head as he takes the child from his hand when the father throws down his cape, squeezing the water out of it. "I caught her juuust fine-"

"Roger."

The man jumps up and spins, his smile growing ever brighter, his face flustered as he sees her.

"Rouge!"

"You dropped our daughter into the sea?" asks the woman, leaning against the main mast, crossing her arms with a raised brow.

"Did I tell you how beautiful you are today, love of my life?" grins her husband, and she smiles, even if she rolls her eyes.

"She jumped on her own, that being said," chatters Rayleigh absent-mindedly, and the parents turn pale.

Ann throws back her head and laughs again, the Dark Knight shouting scaredly as he pulls her back to him before she rolls out of the protective embrace.

"I swear even raising Shanks was easier!" he cries out. "To defeat a hundred enemies would be easier than watching her!"

"Did someone call me?" pops out a red-haired boy from the inside of the ship, and he runs out happily when he sees the child, who spreads her little arm towards him. "Ann's awake? Can we play? She's so cute!"

Rayleigh sighs and leans down, placing her back on the ground, and she starts toddling towards Shanks, who calls her proudly.

"She's growing up so fast," sniffles Roger, wiping away a tear from his eyes.

"Can we talk for a minute?" asks Rouge silently, and the man stops when he sees sadness on her usually so calm face. "Alone."

.

.

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Roger closes the door of his cabin behind them and takes a deep breath before he turns around.

"You saw a dream again, right?" he asks quietly. "Of the future."

She nods without a word, standing with a straight back despite the sorrow on her face.