Hello everyone! Okay so from now on the pace of the chapters is bit steadier as I am officially on vacation! :D Though I wonder for how long exactly.. lol

Anyway, thank you very much to all the people who read and show their support to this story even though I'm such a bad author for uploading not regularly. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I read a review or I see someone putting it in their favorite or alert.

Quite a few things are happening in this chapter and I hope you'll like it. ;)

Enjoy!

"Aarrgh! That…! If I catch him I'm going to…!" someone yelled from the upper deck.

People immediately rushed up there to discover one of their crewmate with flamboyant pink and orange hair. He also seemed to have nail polish on both his finger and toenails. The man was cursing and yelling out any threats he could think of to the person that had done this to him without even knowing who had done it.

"What's going on?" the voice of Whitebeard rose from the crowd as he was walking toward them to see what all the ruckus was about, while it was still so early in the morning.

"Captain I can't take it anymore! Look at what they've done to my hair?!" the man complained with a frustrated voice, "It's been three weeks since these pranks have begun and they keep on going. We still haven't found who the culprit is and it's making me go crazy."

Indeed, the pranks had been regularly happening for the past three weeks on the crewmembers. It was making everyone restless and slightly on edge, as they had become more and more frustrated , at not having caught the person who was responsible for all this mischief yet. Tensions among the crew were beginning to be created and build up.

This was why Whitebeard made a decision.

"Everyone has been under a lot of stress recently with everything that happened in the last few weeks." He said after letting out a heavy frustrated sigh, "The next island is the summer resort island Ibusuki. Let's stop there to relax and get back some stamina for a few days."

At this announce the men became quiet for a few seconds before an excited murmur began to rise from the crowd at the idea of spending some time at this island. Ibusuki island was very well known in the New World for its resorts and spas.

Everyone became more and more excited at the prospect of spending some time relaxing under the sun. They all began to work harder to arrive sooner there and the ambiance on the ship became a bit lighter than before.

As soon as they arrived there they began to disperse themselves in groups in different directions after Whitebeard told them they would stay five days on this island, telling to relax and enjoy this short vacation. Harry, Ace and Marco went to get rooms in one of the upper resort hotels, Ace insisting on being the one to pay for it. They of course had to find one that was pet friendly as Harry had refused to leave his two familiars behind. After having settled down in their respective bedrooms, they decided to enjoy the hotel's swimming pool.

Marco and Ace were already in the swimming pool, swimming and fooling around with each other while waiting for their mate. When the petite male finally arrived it was hard for the two other men not to gawk at him and his exposed upper body.

"The water feels really nice in this hot weather." Harry commented with a blissful sigh as he stepped into the swimming pool.

"Ibusuki island has always been known for its resorts and beautiful weather." Marco said with a small smile, greeting the hybrid with a sweet kiss on his forehead.

"It is really a beautiful island. We should go a have walk around." The petite male said with a big excited smile.

"Should we do it tomorrow?" the blond proposed, looking slightly amused by the excitement that his younger mate was showing, looking at him with endearment.

"Yeah let's do it!" he replied, already feeling thrilled at the prospect of visiting the island.

"We should bring food with us tomorrow and do a picnic too." Ace said with an equally excited smile, snaking his arm around the slim waist of the phoenix hybrid.

"Deal." Harry said before they gave each other a high five to seal the decision.

Then suddenly both taller men's smile turned mischievous smirks and without warning the two grabbed the petite male by his arms and legs. They then swung him back and forth, threatening to throw him into the water while Harry shrieked and tried to threaten them that they should not do it.

They swam and played together like this for a while before getting out of the pool, when they heard their stomach begin to growl as they were starting to feel hungry. As such they went to the city center with the fennec foxes and went to a food market, where a lot of stalls with all different and delicious smelling food that was being cooked.

As they were strolling calmly in the alleys, looking for something tasty that would catch their eyes, Harry suddenly took off to one the stalls. Surprised at first by the sudden action of their mate, Ace and Marco joined him after a few seconds. Once they caught up to him they realized that what the young man was looking at were grilled rice stuffed squid on skewers.

The eyes of the hybrid were shining with excitation at the sight of the food, his nostrils flaring as the smell of the food was wafting toward him. Even Fred and George who were each standing on one of his shoulders were showing quite an interest in the food as they leaned forward.

Both older men looked at them with an amused expression. When it came to food it was hard to find someone as passionate about food as Harry was, except for a few exceptions such as Ace's brother Luffy. And it seemed that his familiars took to food as the same from their master, as they usually engulfed a rather large quantity of food for small creatures like them. They then both turned toward the stall owner.

"How much are these?" Ace asked as he pointed at the skid skewers.

"2 beri for one." The owner who was an old lady with a friendly smile answered.

"Give us five of them please." The freckled pirate said, taking his wallet from his pocket and taking out the money to pay for the food.

"Here you go." The old lady said as she handed them the five skewers.

Ace and Marco then gave one to Harry. At seeing this Fred and George began to whine at them to have theirs as well, jumping slightly on the young man's shoulders.

"Yeah , yeah you'll have yours as well! But unless you have opposable thumbs you can't hold those skewers yourselves so you'll have to wait that we find a place to sit." Ace told them in an authoritarian tone.

After that the two foxes calmed down and begrudgingly waited for a place to sit was found. Fortunately for them it didn't take them long to find one, where they quickly jumped down from Harry to enjoy their food that Marco and Ace had put down for them.

The place they were sitting at was a plaza with a few benches and a fountain in the middle. The sun was shining high through the leaves of the few trees that were providing some shading there and there was a slight pleasant wind to refresh them.

"It really feels nice to be here like this. " the young hybrid commented as he leaned his head back a bit and closed his eyes, enjoying the sun, "I wish it could stay like this for while."

"It is going to be like that for a while." Marco said, feeding him a piece of fruit that he had bought earlier.

"Hm I guess but it's just for five days." he replied with a small pout while munching on his piece of fruit.

"Well why don't we take a real vacation then? Just the three of us." The blond man proposed with a smile, stroking softly his petite mate's hair.

"That's a good idea but we'll have to do it later." Ace suddenly said while bickering with Fred and George about a piece of chicken, getting the attention of his mate and best friend before he lifted his head up to look at them with a serious expression, "I decided to start looking for Teach again."

"What?!" both Harry and Marco exclaimed at the same time with bewildered expression on their face, their eyes wide as they couldn't believe what they had just heard.

"You can't be serious." Harry said in a disbelieving tone.

"Ace, this is futile. There is something fishy going on with Teach. Everyone feels uneasy about the whole idea of you chasing after him." Marco told him, trying to stay calm and reason his friend.

Ace didn't say anything, just looking at the two of them in front of him with a closed expression as he was mulling over what Marco had just said.

"Still. I can't stay still while this murderer roams around free." He said stubbornly after a moment.

"Yes but now that you have us, you have to consider that fact into the equation as well." The phoenix man replied sounding slightly annoyed, "What are you going to do by leaving us, leaving Harry behind this early into the relationship? Right now our relationship, though we might feel strongly about each other, is fragile. Even though you were the first to get with Harry, we both still need to work on our relationship with him."

At the mention of Harry, the freckled pirate became quiet once again as he had this time a much more torn expression.

"Please give up on pursuing Blackbeard and forget about him." The blond man pleaded.

The dark haired man looked at Harry who had not said anything up until now. The latter was looking at him with pleading eyes, looking like he was on the verge of tears, which made his heart ache. Even the two fennec foxes were giving him a critical look.

"Alright." He said with a defeated sigh, looking up at them both, "I'll stay."

Almost immediately he was engulfed into a big hug as Harry flung himself toward him, making him almost lose his balance and fall over backward.

"Thank you." The young hybrid murmured in a slightly trembling voice.

Not really knowing what to say Ace just kept quiet and returned his hug. He held him tightly in his arms, tucking his head under his chin and stroking his back soothingly. They stayed like this for a moment before separating from each other.

After that the atmosphere between them became lighter again. They continued to eat for a while, feeding each other, talking of different things and just having a good time together. Once their belly was full with food and all, they began to head back to the hotel.

As they arrived near their bedroom, Ace and Marco were about to each go to their respective bedroom when they were both caught by the wrist and held back by Harry. Curious about why he was behaving that way, they turned to look at him with an inquisitive look on their face.

"Could you both sleep with me tonight please?" he asked in a hesitant voice, biting his lower lip in an anxious manner.

Sensing that their mate was very emotional right now, neither of the older men had the heart to refuse his demand. So they accepted, following him in the bedroom and preparing for the night.

When they finally made their way to bed, they each laid next to the young hybrid, making him lay between them, and getting as close to him as possible by spooning him and wrapping their arms around him. Feeling comfortable, safe and loved between his mates, Harry slowly fell asleep while snuggling up to them. After he drifted off to sleep, both Marco and Ace looked at his sleeping figure for a moment before they also slowly surrendered to slumber too.

The remaining four days were spent in a similar fashion of swimming, hiking around in the island , and strolling into the town where they stayed. Ever since Ace had accepted to give up on pursuing Blackbeard, the atmosphere between the three men had become much lighter and they were able to enjoy their vacation to its fullest.

They reluctantly left the island and went back to the life onboard of Whitebeard's ship, the Moby Dick. Everything went back to normal on the ship and everyone went back to their everyday tasks.

One day, Ace was giving some orders to his men when he suddenly heard something that attracted his attention. It was a soft melodious shrill that brought a lot of emotion to one's heart but also gave them a sense of peace.

To discover what the source of this sound was exactly he began to walk in the direction where it coming from only to discover that it came from Harry. The young hybrid was actually in his phoenix form and seemed to be doing singing practice from what it looked like.

Intrigued by why he was doing this, the freckled pirate walked over to him while some men of the crew were looking at the phoenix with a lost look in their eyes as they seemed not to know that it was actually Harry in phoenix form in front of them.

"What are you doing Harry?" Ace asked softly, wondering why his mate was acting like this.

At his question, the phoenix stopped singing and turned to look at him before he slowly transformed back into his original hybrid form, making the men gasp as they finally realized that it had been Harry all along.

"I'm practicing magical chants." He replied calmly, "Wind phoenixes can control the wind and as a consequence the sounds that travel through the air. So I am practicing to master them. Since I have lost all of my wizard's power I need to find other ways to use magic."

"Do you miss it a lot?" the dark haired man suddenly asked, looking at the petite male intently.

"What?" the latter asked looking a bit confused.

"Your wizard powers." The other clarified, "Do you miss not having them?"

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't." he replied after a moment of pondering, "I didn't actually spend most of my childhood around magic so I was not as dependent as others were on it. But I had started to grow used to it so not being able to use it or see it is something I miss a bit."

"You haven't grown around magic?" the second commander of Whitebeard's fleet asked surprised.

"My parents were killed by a mad man when I was one year old and I was sent to live with my aunt and her husband and son who were non-magical folks and they passionately hated magic." He explained, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing but had a hard time keeping the tremor out of his voice as he talked, "The first time I heard about magic and me being a wizard was the day someone came to tell me that I was accepted at Hogwarts, the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"I see." Ace simply said, feeling at a loss for words.

Later that day, in the evening after dinner, the dark haired young man went to Harry's room. The discussion that he had had earlier that day with him was bothering him and it kept replaying in his mind. It seemed as if the young hybrid's past had been rather hard and from the tremor that had been in his voice when he talked about his relatives, his time there seemed to have been anything but pleasant.

He arrived in front of the room and knocked on the door, waiting for the authorization to enter. Once he heard him telling him to enter, he quickly went in and made sure to close the door behind him.

"Hey." Harry greeted him with a smile.

"Hey." The other said with a smile as well though it was quickly replaced by a serious expression, "Can we talk about something?"

"Sure what is it?" the young hybrid asked curious, sitting at the foot of his bed.

"It's about what you said earlier today." Ace said cautiously, not knowing how the other was going to react and fearing that he would get on the defensive, "About you living with your relatives for most of your childhood."

As he had expected, Harry's immediately tensed at hearing this.

"What about that?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly defensive and even aggressive on a certain level.

"Well it seemed that there was more about that than you let on." The freckled pirate daringly said, watching attentively his smaller mate and his tiniest reactions.

When the young hybrid stayed quiet and his body stayed tense, Ace slowly walked up to him and carefully sat next to him.

"I know it's a touchy subject and maybe you even want to completely forget about all of it. But you need to know that I am your mate and I am here for you." He told him, finally daring to touch him as he grabbed him by the shoulders and made softly turned to face him, "I love you and I will always be there for you. Your burdens are my burdens and I will happily carry them for you."

At hearing this, the eyes of the petite male began to become wet as tears appeared at the corner of his eyes. Without any words, he buried his face into Ace chest. He then pressed his body against his, seeking as much comfort as possible while tears began to spill freely from his eyes as he cried.

After a few minutes, Harry finally began to calm down and all you could hear were a few sniffles here and there. Then, without warning the young man began to talk.

"My aunt envied my mother because she was magical while she was not. Because of that she grew to despise magic and everything related to it. She shunned my mother out of her life and never talked to her." He began to say, controlling his breathing to not be overcome by his emotions again, "I was sent to her house without her consent. I was basically forced on her. Since I was the son of her sister and as such a magical being myself, her husband and her treated me like dirt while their son grew to bully me as well. They made me live in a cupboard, had me made do all the house chores, and as well make the breakfast and other meals for them."

Ace listened intently as the young hybrid described his life at the Dursleys and how they had treated him all those years. He listened to him until the end without interrupting although there were a numerous amount of time where he had wanted to talk. He was baffled by how all the adults around him had done nothing to get him out of this horrible house, where he wasn't loved and where he was treated like trash.

And from what he had heard it was not like he had not seek any help. So why the hell had nobody done anything? The fire user began to feel a deep anger and hatred for the people from the young man's former world. What kind of people let a young boy fend for himself against such hateful relatives?

He was slightly taken out of his anger as Fred and George suddenly jumped on the bed and began lick and rub against Harry in a way to comfort him. With a grateful smile, the young hybrid scratched them under their chin and petted them a bit to say thank you before the two foxes went out of the room through the trap specially made for them so that they could go out whenever they wanted to.

Once the fennecs were gone, Ace focused once again entirely on his mate whom he took in his arms and held tightly against him for a while. The young man gratefully welcomed the comforting embrace and hugged back as fiercely as the other. After a moment they slightly pulled apart to look into each other's eyes.

But as their eyes locked, another kind of feeling began to go through them. They felt their heart beat faster and their palms began to feel a bit sweaty. As if entranced their face began to get closer from one another before their lips finally met one another. The kiss began slow and sweet, but passion and desire began to quickly be fueled in. The kiss then began to be fiercer and more needy.

Ace ran his hands up and down the sides of his mate, one hand going to his back pull him closer to him and feel his body. His hands then started to become more adventurous and slipped inside the light kimono that the other was wearing at that moment. Meeting no resistance or objection from the latter, the freckled pirate's hands continued their exploration of his body and stroked the deliciously soft milky white skin.

Breaking away from their kiss for some air, Harry let out a soft moan as his skin was stroked and caressed by the calloused hands of his dark haired mate. His body felt hot and he didn't know if he would be able to survive if his heart beat any faster. Then suddenly he let out a surprised gasp as Ace began to kiss and suck on his neck, creating hickeys here and there as if he was marking him as his.

He then threw his head back and let out a groan of pleasure as one of his mate's hands began to play with one of his nipples by rubbing, pinching and massaging it. Who knew his nipples were actually such a sensitive area. Ace then softly began to push him, to make him lay down on the bed completely.

Once he was lying down, Ace leaned down to once again to kiss him sweetly before kissing downward to his jaw where he reached his throat and collarbone He then went back up on the neck before taking the earlobe and suckling on it for a second. This action made Harry's toes curl under the sensations that those ministrations were giving him, his hands gripped the bed sheets beneath him.

Beginning to feel that the neck was not enough anymore and wanting to explore more, Ace began to lower himself further on his body. He removed softly the upper part of the kimono from the young hybrid's body, while tenderly kissing the exposed flesh of his chest. He then attached his mouth to one of his nipples and suckled on it while taking care of the other with his hand.

Harry was now writhing under all the sensations that were attacking at the same time. How many sensitive areas on his body did he have? If this went on too long he might lose his mind under so much pleasure. Even though he was not wearing constricting clothes, his shaft was already pulsing madly, aching to be touched.

After he was finished lavishing properly both nipples with his mouth and tongue, the freckled pirate decided to go even lower, kissing and nipping at the skin as he went down. He shortly stopped at the belly button in which he dipped his tongue in and out a few times in a very sensual but naughty manner. He then went down even lower, tracing the contours of his little mate's groin with the tip of his tongue, enjoying the way he moaned and writhed under his ministrations.

Deciding that he really needed to get rid of the kimono, he finished to undress him and threw the kimono in a corner of the room, before grabbing one of the young man's legs and kissing the calf down to the inside of the thighs. He then began to trail kisses on the groin, always avoiding the final prize, and kissed the inside of the other thigh reverently.

"Nnngh…Ace please…" Harry moaned in what almost sounded like a needy sob, as he raised his hips in the air desperately.

"Shh love. Be patient." Ace said as he went up and murmured in his ear before kissing the earlobe and capturing his lips in a sweet kiss.

He then went back down again and grabbed the other's buttocks with his hands and began to massage them sensually, while kissing his lower abdomen and inhaling deeply the scent of arousal and pleasure he could smell coming from him.

"Ace." The young hybrid said in a whiny voice, feeling like he was going to lose it from physical frustration.

"Is that what you want?" the dark haired man asked with a naughty smile as he palmed the petite male's erection, making the latter moan loudly and push his hips desperately upward as if to get more friction.

The young man was now a blabbering mess as his taller mate gripped his dripping member. He began to massage it from root to tip, thumbing the slit from time to time, which drove the other crazy with pleasure and made him let out more delicious sounds from his mouth. After giving two more strokes, the freckled pirate decided that it was time to prepare for the main event.

He released Harry's cock and took out a small bottle of lube that he had in one of his pocket. Don't judge him. It was not that he was a pervert. But this could come in handy if something important happened unexpectedly and it was precisely the case for this situation.

After having lubed thoroughly three of his fingers, he inserted one of them into his mate, breaching the virgin ring of muscle, which made the latter wriggle at the uncomfortable feeling. But before Harry could say or ask anything, he threw his head violently backward and let out a loud moan as the other took him into his mouth and began to suck him hard. His hands flew to the other man's hair, tangling his fingers into the dark locks and actually encouraging him to take even more of him.

The uncomfortable feeling of having something inside of him completely forgotten, Harry was now trying to refrain himself from bucking into that hot mouth, which was enveloping his length into a wonderfully warm and wet cocoon. In no time Ace was moving three fingers inside the young hybrid's ass and was stretching as much as possible. Once he had made sure that his mate was relaxed and stretched enough, he pulled out his fingers from him and released his shaft from his mouth.

Harry was about to protest and ask why he had stopped and when he saw that Ace had left the bed and was actually taking his shorts and boots off, leaving him standing completely naked in front of him. Gulping nervously, the young man now realized completely what they were about to do and it made him slightly nervous. It was his first time after all, and even though up until now everything had been really amazing, he couldn't help but feel slightly apprehensive about what was to come.

Noticing the apprehension of his smaller mate, the dark haired man went back on the bed, crawling up to him and capturing his lips with his in a sweet reassuring kiss.

"Everything is going to be alright love." He told him, kissing him sweetly on his forehead before going back to his lips and pecking them tenderly, "I'm going to make you feel even better than before."

Harry wondered if it was even possible to feel even better than how he had felt until now. But he didn't get the time to ponder too much on this as he felt something nudge his entrance. Realizing that it was Ace's cock, he braced himself by quickly putting his arms around the other's neck. He gripped him firmly while he slowly pushed inside of him, his face buried in the crook of his neck, breathing heavily as he felt Ace fill him inch by inch.

Once he was up to the hilt inside his lover, Ace stopped moving and waited for him to get accustomed to his size and having him inside him. When he felt him begin to wiggle slightly, a sign that he had become accustomed, he began to slowly move his hips back and forth. This brought a gasp to the young Harry's lips. He could feel Ace moving inside of him, the friction of his cock against the walls of his entrance sending delicious sparks of pleasure.

He could feel the other rolling his hips and angling them in diverse directions as if he was searching for something. It was only after a few more thrusts that he discovered what he had been searching for. Suddenly, a strong jolt of pleasure spread though all his body and his body arched under the intense sensation, making him let out a long moan. Realizing through Harry's reaction that he had found it, the dark haired man suddenly increased his speed, thrusting harder and faster into the petite male, while making sure to touch his prostate with every thrust.

As he felt him pummel his sweet spot, the young hybrid had more and more of a hard time staying quiet as the pleasure was too much. He gripped his mate as hard as he could, as he felt like he would fall if he didn't attach himself to something. He was so close. His body felt like it was on fire. His head was spinning from all the pleasure he felt.

Ace, who was also at his limit, felt the coiling sensation in his groin that announced that he was on the edge. He grabbed the forgotten length of his lover and began to stroke it in rhythm with his thrusts. This brought the young man on the other side as he was quickly brought to orgasm as he climaxed in a final cry, moaning the name of his mate. Seeing his mate come in such an undone and sexy manner pushed Ace over the edge as well and made him climax forcefully, emptying himself inside the petite male who was slowly coming down from the high of his orgasm.

After having recovered his senses a bit, the freckled pirate pulled out of the other and laid next to him, taking his petite mate in his arms as they both enjoyed the afterglow. Their breathing began to calm down after a while and Harry snuggled closer to Ace, hugging him contentedly after their intense moment.

What he didn't notice was that his whole body and his first mate glowed for a moment, enveloping them both in light, before it disappeared. They both fell asleep in each other's arms, feeling satiated and completely happy to be with someone they loved.

After that night of deep of intimacy between the two, Harry and Ace had finally completed their bond and they were now closer than ever. They obviously informed Marco of this fact who congratulated them although he felt quite a bit envious of them, wanting to complete his bond with Harry soon too. However it seemed that it was not time for him and Harry to do so yet.

One day, as they were beginning to run low on food, Whitebeard decided to stop at the next island and restock their ship on food and other supplies. They arrived at a small island and docked not far from a town that seemed to be famous for its fishing business. Groups were formed and given specific errands to do.

"We are going to stay as little time as possible on this island guys. So I expect you to be fast and efficient so that we can leave quickly. Got it?" Whitebeard told them before they all went to do what they had to do.

"Yes captain!" everyone responded in chorus before quickly departing the ship.

Harry, Marco and Ace were actually in the team in charge of going to buy food. They learned from a local that there was quite a big open-air market where they would be able to get some good fresh food. On the way there, one of the man from the group suddenly turned to look at the others.

"My throat is as dry as the desert of Alabasta let's go have a drink!" the guy said, receiving a few agreeing exclamations.

"Pops told us to be fast and not take to long." Marco replied, shaking his head negatively.

"Oh come on Marco! Just one drink and then we go buy what we have to get and go back to the ship." Another man protested.

Though both Marco and Ace were reluctant, after arguing with the others they gave in and agreed to go have a drink. Not far they found a tavern and went in it. When they entered it, they saw that the bar wasn't too crowded. There also noticed a group of pirates sitting a few tables away from theirs as they sat down.

"There seems to be another crew of pirates on this island right now." one of their man commented as he glanced at the other group of pirate.

"Yeah I saw their boat docked on the other side when we were arriving." Another said, while drinking the rum that they had ordered.

Feeling that they were being looked at, the other crew of pirates turned and looked at them suspiciously, with their eyes narrowing.

"What are you looking at?" one of them growled at the group.

"One hell of a ugly group of morons." The man who had glanced at them replied, making Ace and Marco look at him in annoyance for having said that.

"That's enough." Marco told him sternly through his teeth, looking at all his men seriously, "We are not here to start a fight. So shut your mouth and ignore them until we are out of here."

"Who do you think you are you bastards?!" another man from the group of pirates exclaimed as he stood up and looked at them in a menacing manner, "Do you even know who we are huh?"

"Nope. But I bet you must be from the local circus." The man replied agin, ignoring the order of Marco, his blood already boiling because of the alcohol they had just drunk.

"What?! Repeat that if you're a man!" one of the other pirates yelled, cracking the joints of his fingers menacingly.

Everything then escalated quickly and soon a fight had started between the two groups of pirates. Even Ace and Marco who had not taken part into the taunting and cursing hadn't had any other choice but to fight as they had been assimilated to that group. They had thought at first that it would be over and done with it rather easily as that group of pirates had looked like a bunch of pushovers more than anything.

However to their surprise that group of pirates was actually quite skilled and gave them more of a hard time than they had expected. Moreover, There were two of them who had devil fruit powers as well, and so Marco and Ace had to deal with them. As the fights became more intense, the different fighting pairs scattered a bit around the town so that they could fight without getting in the way of one another's fight.

However by doing this, Harry suddenly found himself left alone, as his mates and everyone else from the group were busy with one of the other pirates. Although he had also been fighting a pirate, he had managed to knock the latter off quite easily by using his phoenix powers.

He was now walking in the streets, looking frantically left and right as he looked for his mates. Though he knew they could hold their own in a fight, he still felt worried and uneasy whenever they were fighting and he wasn't by their side. He was so focused on searching for his mate that he didn't notice that someone was following him. It was only when he was hit on the back of the head and lost consciousness that he realized he had not been vigilant enough.

"I can't believe we got in trouble with another group of pirates just when we were told by the old man to be fast and not do anything stupid." Ace groaned, as he walked with Marco and the rest of group back to where they had been.

"We should have never stopped for a drink in the first place." Marco replied, looking rather annoyed by the whole situation and throwing a glare at the sheepish men who had started it.

Though they struggled a bit more than usual, they each managed to fight off their adversaries and make them run away rather rapidly.

"And now we have to find Harry." Ace said, a worried expression settling on his face at the thought of his mate, "I'm sure he didn't have any problems to deal with his adversary but still. I hope he is not hurt. It makes me go crazy that neither of us was there with him"

"Don't worry I'm sure everything went fine." Marco told him.

However when they arrived in front of the tavern where they had been separated, they saw no trace of the young hybrid.

"Where is he?" Ace asked, beginning to panic, as he didn't see his mate anywhere.

"Maybe he is on his way here or something." Marco tried to reason, although he was feeling as nervous and worried as his best friend, "Let's separate in pairs and go look for him. One will stay here just in case he comes here and we miss him."

They then began to search. Ace and Marco were searching together while the rest of the men had divided into pairs. They had let the remaining man stay in front of the tavern so that he would be here if the young man was to come there. They searched frantically high and low for the petite male, calling his name and looking in every corner of every street but with no success.

"Where could he have gone?" Ace asked more to himself than anyone else with a desperate look on his face.

Marco was about to say something when he stopped suddenly in front of an alley.

"What's wrong?" Ace asked, stopping as soon as the blond man had stopped as well.

Without saying anything, the phoenix man walked into the alley and stopped after a moment, crouching down and picking something up from the ground.

"Look. It's one of Harry's sandals." He said, showing the freckled pirate a small sandal that looked like the ones their mate was used to wear.

"What does that mean?" the dark haired man exclaimed, a panicked expression on his face as he realized what that meant, "He has been kidnapped?!"

"It would seem like it." The other man replied darkly.

"But by whom?!" Ace asked, having a hard time not to freak out at the idea that their mate had been kidnapped.

"I think it can only be those pirates that we fought earlier." Marco said, his brows creased as his mind was going full speed as he was trying to piece everything together, "They are the only outsiders on this island aside from us and I am certain that no one on this island would have an interest in kidnapping Harry. Moreover they clearly seemed not like the regular type of pirates…"

"Let's call the men and get back to the ship to tell Whitebeard." The freckled pirate quickly told him, not wanting to stay at the same place, "We need to chase after them and save Harry."

"Let's do that." The blond man said, quickly starting to run with the other to do what they had to do.

As they ran and called their men over and told them the situation, one single thought occupied their mind and it was to get Harry back by any means.

'Hang on Harry. We are coming.' They both thought, running toward the ship.

Meanwhile, on board of a ship that was getting further away from the island, Harry was slowly coming back to consciousness. As he was slowly awaking, his brain began to register people not far from him talking.

"This is a fine specimen. He is going to cost a lot." One of them said.

"Yeah. We can sell this beauty as a slave for a very nice amount of money. Those posh and nobles love exotic beings like this." Another one added with greasy laugh.

At hearing this, the young hybrid's heart rate increased and he opened his eyes fully as he was now fully awake. Those men wanted to sell him as a slave?! What was he doing here? Where was he? Where were his mates? All those questions kept spinning inside his head.

Suddenly the eyes of the men who were talking turned to look at him.

"Oh crap he is awake!" one of them exclaimed, "Quick give me the sedative. We need to keep him unconscious until we've put him in his cell."

Before Harry could do anything, he felt a needle prick his skin and let a liquid flow inside his blood, making him quickly lose consciousness again. Before he lost completely consciousness, he managed to look at his kidnappers' face, recognizing the pirates that they had faced earlier.

TBC