Wow, you guys rock!

It's been two years and I still get reviews on this story. That's major. Thank you. Thank you for your kind words and your persitence. I feel honoured to have such dedicated readers (and with such good taste, too :D). I know this chapter is kind of short and over these past two year I kinda forgot the plot ;) sorryyyy. But I have a new one in mind already. I have written more (not ff though) and have bit more experience, so I hope it plays out for your benefit as readers.

Thank you and ENJOY 3

Cherry

"You simply can't stay out of trouble, can you?"

Nojiko looked into his always grinning face and could not help but smile herself. "Me? Now where would you get that idea from?"

They had left the harbor only a few minutes ago, but when Nojiko looked she could not even remotely make out the shape of the island. And there was not even fog that could have explained why she could not see where she had worked the past couple of weeks. The only thing hindering her view when she looked back was her own hair. Although short it was still long enough to send strands like whiplashes to her face and eyes. It was proof of how fast they went on this tiny, tiny ship. If you could even call it that.

Nojiko looked down. She had noticed how small it was before and she assumed her mind must have reacted instinctively by jumping onto the pirates back. For a split second she thought about climbing off of him and getting herself seated somewhere on this little contraption, but the flames burning at Ace's feet made that idea go up in smoke.

"What in the name of the flying dutchman it that?!", she half screeched in surprise while clutching her arms a little tighter on the man's neck and moving her feet and legs a little higher around his upper body. 'I must look like a monkey climbing a tree.', Nojiko thought, off-topic for a moment.

The flames decreased in height and intensity a little while her proverbial tree's face turned to meet hers. "What?", Ace asked her sounding a bit concerned.

"What?", she looked at him not knowing what he wanted to know.

"Yes, 'what?'. You said something."

"Ah, un, yeah. Your feet. They're kinda burning."

He looked at her funny for a moment then laughed as they went faster again. Nojiko did not feel like she was taken serious and it bugged her. She took a closer look at the flames. Either this was some sort of new invention and the flames were not hot at all or she had run into yet another devil fruit (ab)user. She would have liked to get down from his back and stand or sit between him and the stick-like mast, but the flames licked over the deepening making it impossible for her to get down at all.

"HEY!", the woman shouted over the wind. "STOP!"

Immediately the vehicle stopped very abruptly pressing her harder into his incredibly warm skin. "Uff.", she exhaled at the sudden impact.

"What? What's the matter?", he asked sounding concerned again looking around for fiends and foes that were not there shaking her in the process.

Nojiko's world was spinning until she repeated "STOP!" into his ear. She got off as soon as he stood still for a second and leaned against the mast for a moment before facing him. Ace had turned around and looked at her with a quizzical and a bit annoyed look on his face.

"What are we stopping for?"

She looked at him with a glare. "I don't know about you, honey, but I wasn't exactly comfortable traveling like that."

He laughed again. "You should've said so. Sit in front then."

"Hell no, I'll fall off at that speed. How are you even... Did you eat a devil fruit?" She looked up at him watching his grin widen.

"Yep." He held out his fist and when he opened it his palm seemed to be burning. "I ate the mera mera no mi. I'm a fire fighter (stupid pun very much intended )."

She was not phased. "That's great for you. Now, about that little traveling problem."

"Why don't you just stay back there and hold on to the mast?"

"Because my feet will get burned to a crisp and besides this thing looks quite breakable given – again – the speed."

Ace did not even think about it. He grabbed her, turned, put one of his feet on the yellow part of his ship in front of the deepening, sat her on it and while holding her in place he started the engine with his remaining foot. All of this under her struggling and cursing him every name under the sun. And as the wind piped against his ears again drowning her insults, he thought about what weird creatures women were.

Yeah, it's short, but sweet (at least I think so). I want to continue this story to the end. YOU can kick my ass into 'Gear Second' by writing a review. If so, then you'll have your next chapter before the end of the week!

I hope you liked it :3