Kia woke up with a start, panting, trying to catch my breath, and seeing Dalton in front of her. He must have had to wake me up again, which means I had been screaming in my sleep, she thought.

"Are you all right Kiana?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she said between deep breaths, trying to get her heart rate back to normal.

"Another dream?" he asked.

"The same one, unfortunately," she answered, still not looking him in the eye. "Thank you for waking me."

"Not a problem," he replied, standing up. "It's a little early, but get ready, and we'll head out to patrol."

Kia smiled then, remembering the long months of first convincing Dalton to let her join the army or rather the volunteers that took to walking patrols to help guard the island from another attack; then the time spent training before he would actually let her help. Not to mention all the time of therapy once Dr. Kureha came and took off her cast. After all that, she had just barely been able to start patrolling, and was thrilled about it.

After all the devastation that occurred on the island, and the king running away from the fight to leave his citizens to die, everyone had come to a unanimous decision to change the name from Drum Kingdom. The problem now however, was no one could agree on a new name. So they all called it simply, Our Island, and decided to wait until they had a new king who could name the island. Everyone wanted Dalton to take the job, but he had refused.

That was when Kia spoke up and suggested they all vote, mentioning that was how her people got their leaders back in her homeland. The townspeople ran with the idea, and now they were a little over a week away from voting day. Dalton had been nominated, and no one else had even thought of another name.

After Judith's death, Zachary wanted nothing to do with Kia, and she couldn't blame him. She couldn't help but wonder if the man had been secretly in love with Judith, but either way his entire life had changed once he saved her, and not for the better.

Dalton came to the rescue, as he did for everyone. He gave her a place to stay, and then helped her get closer to her own goals. She wouldn't call herself strong yet, but she knew she was stronger than she had been. She could avoid his attacks when they sparred, and she could shoot straight. She would definitely call that progress.

Dalton even gave her a purpose, involving her in all of the preparations to protect the island, not only from marauding pirates, but from the eventual return of King Wapol. They were both are certain he would return; Dalton because he knows the king too well, and Kia because, well, because she knew from the story.

Getting dressed in her warmest clothes, she headed outside to meet Dalton. They grabbed their sled, and started the patrol there in Big Horn, where they lived. They would make a large half circle to the other side of the island, stopping in Robelli town for lunch, and heading back on the other side, being home in the late afternoon. They took turns with several other volunteers, though Dalton and Kia took extra shifts. This amounted to everyone having a patrol once every other week, with Dalton and Kia going twice a week. The others didn't think it was fair, but the two insisted, and often went patrolling times that they weren't scheduled.

The patrol was uneventful as always, and when stopping for lunch, Dalton surprised Kia by asking if she had noticed something strange. It was a game they sometimes played, testing her ability to be aware of her surroundings. He waited patiently, as was his way, but finally he gave her the answer.

"It hasn't snowed at all today," he said, and headed into the restaurant.

She scowled. "While that is a strange occurrence, that was definitely a trick question."

"True enough," he said with a small smile. "But now you are buying lunch."

She groaned in defeat, though since he gave her any money she had, he truly was buying lunch anyway. He walked over to the bar and sat, and she noticed the stool he left for her was right next to a guy dressed all in black.

She sat also, scooting her stool slightly closer to Dalton. Something about being too close to strangers had been an issue since the island was attacked. Dalton gave a look, which she ignored, and she started glancing through the menu, though she knew she would order ramen as always.

"The usual?" Chef Ryo asked as he came out of the kitchen, placing a plate full of food in front of the darkly dressed man on their right.

"Yes for me, Kiana?" Dalton asked with a smile since she was still looking through the menu.

"Yes please, chef," she answered, folding the menu up and handing it to him.

"Are you okay with waiting a bit?" he asked us. "I've got to make more noodles, since he's eaten my last stock," he said with a grin nodding to the man beside her.

The man looked over and smiled though his cheeks were full of food. "I'm shorry," he said with his mouth full. "But it's sho good!"

Kia could hear Dalton laugh, but she didn't move, just stared at the man, unable to believe what she was seeing. He thought that she was appalled, and he looked embarrassed, and quickly swallowed what was in his mouth, wiped his face on his sleeve and turned to fully face her.

"Where are my manners," he said smoothly. "I apologize." He gave a little head bow, tipping his black hat slightly. His eyes came back to meet hers, and she saw a smirk on his face. "My name's Ace." There was a pause as he eyed her curiously. "And you are…?"

She sat there still, and snapped out of her stupor when Dalton elbowed her. "Kiana!" she squeaked, then coughed to clear her throat. Why did I always freeze around good looking guys? The dark hair and eyes, the cute freckles on his cheeks… The smirk just added to his appeal, and I'm pretty sure he knows it. She succeeded in clearing her throat and tried again. "Um, sorry about that, I'm Kiana."

His smirk seemed to grow. "It's a pleasure," he said with another tip of his hat. She flushed and quickly turned back to face forward, mentally beating herself for looking so completely stupid. Her mind was racing as she thought of the implications of seeing Ace here. He had to be looking for Blackbeard, which meant that Luffy was soon to follow, and they would eventually meet up in Alabasta.

She tried, but couldn't recall how long it was between Ace's visit and Luffy arriving. As much as she was enjoying peeking glances at Ace, the thought of seeing the Straw Hat pirates had her mentally squealing.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ace asked. Kia turned again, as he had spoken to her, and realized that some sort of squeak had actually come out of her mouth. She could feel how red her face got, though she tried to keep some semblance of composure.

"N- nothing," she managed to say in a relatively normal voice.

"All right," he commented, but smirked at her again.

The food was soon brought out, and she tuned out the conversation Ace and Dalton were having over her head as she ate as quickly as she could. This was getting embarrassing, and I needed to get out of here before I did something even worse in front of the extremely good looking guy, she thought.

Hearing Dalton say her name had Kia tuning back in.

"- friend, her house was burned, and she had been shot. Kiana here carried her back to town somehow even with her leg in a cast, and her crutches gone. The doctor did what she could, but we ended up losing her," Dalton said sorrowfully.

Kia sat up straight, no longer hungry. I thought I had come to accept Judith's death, she thought sadly, but at times, it would just sneak up on me, and I had no defense against the pain. She could feel her eyes fill with tears, and pushed her plate of food away, and turned to stand up, wanting to get away before she bawled.

Ace looked at her face, his own heartbroken feelings over the death of a friend coming back full force. He couldn't help but feel connected to her, or wanting to take her pain away.

She could hear Dalton apologizing, but it was the hand that gripped hers suddenly that stopped her. She looked over at Ace, though he was blurry through her tear filled eyes.

"I'm so sorry for your pain," he said softly. "I wish that I had been able to catch him sooner. I promise, I will catch him, and he will pay for what he's done." He had such conviction in his words, that Kia wanted to believe him, even though she knew otherwise.

"Thank you," she whispered. She couldn't say more, but returned to her seat, and felt Dalton's hand on her shoulder, giving support. She moved to wipe her face, and found it stuck. Looking over, she saw it was still held in Ace's, and she blushed again as he smiled at her. She gave a small tug, and he released it, and she used her sleeve to wipe her face.

Once feeling slightly composed, she looked back at her food, and knew that she wouldn't finish it, so she pushed the plate over to Ace. He gave her a quizzical look, and she said, "I'm full, do you want it?" softly. He smiled gently, taking the plate and adding the food to his own, and continued eating.

"So, besides Blackbeard, have any other pirates come through here?" he asked them casually, changing the subject.

"No," Dalton replied quickly. "We have patrols set throughout the day to ensure pirates cannot land on our island again." He said it with such finality, but Kia smiled as she thought of the irony. Dalton didn't even realize he was telling this to a pirate.

Ace must have seen that she knew what he was, for he gave her a wink which caused her to snort with laughter. She immediately hid her face in her hands, knowing she was blushing again, as she heard Ace chuckle.

He didn't mention her embarrassment, but asked about Luffy, and gave us a message to give to him. Kia wondered where the men that he originally gave the message to were, and then freaked out about something changing in the timeline if Luffy were to actually get the message.

In her worry, she missed quite a bit of conversation, for when she tuned back in, she heard Ace giving his farewells.

"Thank you for lunch Kiana," he told her with another cute hat tip. "We'll have to have another some time." He started walking towards the door.

Chef Ryo came out of the kitchen at that moment, and yelled, "Hey!"

Kia and Dalton turned back to see Ace run out the door like a bullet. Chef turned to them, growling. "Looks like he stuck you with his tab."

"Wait, what?!"