Welcome back ladies and gents!

Can you believe it? I'm updating! Hahahaha~ Well, as those who follow me as an author know, I've been rather busy with some of my other stories… However! I have not forgotten about this one, I've been simply switching fandoms… And, I kind of lost inspiration at some point… I simply didn't feel Ace or Ran anymore.. But! Here comes Christmas! And, I usually watch One Piece during that time (I have no idea why, I simply feel nostalgia for OP then), so…. That means I'll be writing a bit of this story, too! Not too fast, because I'm busy with exams, but I will be writing :D

I also have a very important announcement (a topic that I've touched in the previous chapters)! This story is almost finished… Simply, I have begun hinting at the second part of the plot, the main plot actually, and I will continue that in the sequel. This story was simply to get Ace and Ran a bit more acquainted before all Hell broke loose. Hopefully, you have enjoyed it!

As for the Zodiacs, they aren't my main plot here, but they will drop in and say hi from time to time, as will Sita and the twins :D

Now, to give my thanks to:

xXxFlAwLeSsLY iM peRFecT (your name didn't print well last time, sorry), Niino, korohoshi, ChaosDemon1129, Kelly corbeil2, linzi and MonochromeRaven for the alerts!

Allegra rogers13 (your name didn't print out well last time, sorry), Niino, korohoshi, ChaosDemon1129, Kelly corbeil2, KaitieAnne13, BarleyRice and linzi for the favs!

And of course, Wren and Lilikoikoi for the reviews!

Don't ever forget that (no matter my inspiration) it is you guys that keep me writing, that keep me wanting to share my ideas on this site! You are absolutely amazing!

Now, on to the story!

Chapter 30: (Oh my God... I can't believe it... Someone pinch me!) Emilie Autumn – Juliet (A little bit insane, but absolutely brilliant music!)

The Sparrow gently rumbled under the influence of the strong current as Ran guided it down. The singing in her head was normal by now. She knew that her friend was with her at all times. She could do so much more without fearing the heights. She knew that the Sparrow could hear her and that it would move by listening to her mind, not to her treacherous body. She had gotten completely used to the innovations that she had put on the bird merely a few months ago. Now, she couldn't think about flying without the golden helmet. Simply, it seemed like she had always flown with the soft song in her head.

Of course, Ran knew that core connecting was dangerous. She had grown up listening to all the terrifying stories. Those were the wives tales that were told to little children to make them go to bed on time. She still remembered the 'Tale of Young Li'. It was a short story, illustrated in many books, which followed the adventures of a small boy called Li. It started a long time ago, on a Sky Island, much like Arcadia. There was once a boy named Li, who was born in a time of Great War with a neighboring Island. He wanted to be a soldier for his city, his Island. However, his way to realize that was full of peril, as most hero stories are.

Li couldn't fight and he was terribly afraid of getting hurt. So, the book told about how he went to the center of the city, to the Great Spirit that moved the Island and kept it alive, and he asked for help. The Spirit was doubtful at first. He didn't want to grant power to this man. The Spirit had granted many wishes before, and they had all ended in corrupting people, making them mad for power. So, the Great Spirit denied the boy help.

Li was persistent, though. He went back, day after day, asking again and again for help. The Spirit finally caved. He instructed Li to make a helmet of pure metal and to come back. So, Li journeyed to find the right materials. He found his prize on a high mountain far away from his city. But, it was infused into stone, so, he didn't know how to bring it back and make a helmet.

Luckily, there was a wise old man living close there with his granddaughter. When Li begged him to teach him how to extract the metal, the old man agreed, under one condition. Li had to make their city accept the old man and his granddaughter, as they had lost their home. The boy agreed. Then, he learned how to get the metal and made the helmet.

When they arrived back to the city, the old man and his granddaughter bought a house and were accepted into the city by the kind ruler. Li went back to the Great Spirit, asking for the power to fight and protect his Island. The Spirit told him to put on the helmet and to enter the fire where he lived. The brave boy did so. When he exited, unharmed, the Spirit told him to go to the battlefield, because his wish had been granted.

And, the boy went to join the fight. The captain of the guard was doubtful, but he let the boy join. They needed all the help that they could get. Li was given a tank to man and a gun to shoot. He soon found himself on the battlefield, alone, to fight their enemies. However, when he needed help the most, he managed to fight off the intruders. His tank ended up leading the attack on the retreating enemies, saving his city.

When Li returned home, he was welcome graciously by his family and the old man and his granddaughter. He had come back a hero and the girl asked her grandfather to marry Li. There was a grand wedding and they started their own family happily.

However, the story didn't end there. Ran knew, because all the other fairy tales ended with a happily ever after. This story didn't. Li began talking about his time in the war. He told of an angelic invisible creature that had guided him home, and everyone thought that he had gone mad from the terror of the battle. He told them of the perfect instructions that the person had sung into his head, woven into his mind, and how it had saved his life.

The less people believed him, the more time Li began spending with his war helmet. He would sit for hours, talking to no himself, holding the golden helmet. His wife ran away to her relatives, taking their kids. Li was left alone, to talk and talk to his helmet, until he finally died holding it.

Ran remembered her mother telling her this story. The woman had read it over and over, reminding her little pilot-to-be of the perils of core connecting. But, Ran had also seen. She had seen the people who had lost their minds, just like Li Young. Before the rebellion, it was normal to go to the peripheral Islands, where the banished were.

Her aunt and mother used to go, sometimes bringing Ran, Bohai and Jinhai. However, the boys soon outgrew it and didn't want to go. Little Ran had always gone. She can still remember the streets and the people. The houses, small and dirty, made from clouds and then dirtied by the work that the residents did to make those Islands pull the Mainland. The hungry, barely clothed and often mad people in the streets. Ran remembers that picture well. Those were the people banished from the Mainland for core connecting illegally.

She remembers a girl, her age, really. The small thing, with dirt and soot all over her, standing, watching them. One of her arms had been missing, wrapped messily in a makeshift bandage. Next to her had been an older woman, similar to the small child. Her white hair had been matted and her eyes wild, looking at the visitors from Mainland with hatred. Ran remembers the bones on those two, stretching their skin instead of muscles. The image is burned in her memory, and she always sees it when someone mentions the periphery.

The Sparrow swiftly touched ground and Ran jumped off, banishing her dark thoughts. The Island that she had been born was simply that to her. An Island that she had been born on. It wasn't home. It wasn't somewhere that she went back to. It was just an Island.

The island that she had just landed on was fairly large, but she had never been there before. The streets were full of people, going left and right, talking to their neighbors, buying things. Ran kicked the wheels of her glider out and pulled the Sparrow down the wide street, making everyone move to allow the folded wings to pass. The pilot had received these coordinates the day before from Red Hair. She had finished her task in record time, even she was proud of it.

Frankly, she missed Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates. She needed to talk to him, and he wasn't picking up his Den Den Mushi. Ran wasn't worried, as Ace was strong, but she really wanted to talk to him. She knew that she had acted like a real bitch during her short depression. But, it had taken that life threatening experience for her to realize, she missed him.

It wasn't like the call of the sea or the skies. No, this was something else. The sea promised adventure and danger when it invited. It tempted her with the thrill of the flight. The thrill of the storm. The lighting that could hit anywhere. The ice that could break her in a moment. The sea gave her life in a dangerous, but delicious way.

But, Ace, he was different. Ran didn't know why she had fixated on him like this. True, she remembered meeting him. She had thought that he was a rather cute boy, freckles and all. Ace wasn't just that. He had so many sides. So many emotions that he showed so clearly. He cared a bit too much for his own good. And he was a tad too unsure of himself sometimes. Ran had seen it. He sometimes hesitated before joining his brothers in a drinking group on a deck. He often fiddled with his hands like he didn't know what to say. He laughed the loudest and goofed off the most.

Ran knew that kind of behavior. She knew a person like that. Shrimp. She remembered the, now quite eccentric, cousin from when they were kids. He had always been bullied and he had always been crying because he had been tall. Bohai and he, they thought that she didn't know, but she did. She had seen them, Bohai attempting to console the young boy who was crying waterfalls. Now, Shrimp was always loud and with a smile on his face.

Ran knew that only once you have cried until you had no more tears you were able to smile like that. She, too, smiled like that. But, it wasn't only those things. It was the way Ace talked. The way he subtly looked at her whenever she was near. The way she simply needed to find him whenever he was near. The way his skin would leave a scorching mark on hers whenever they touched. The way she craved him, since their first drunken kiss. She liked the warmth that he was.

She liked the way his eyes would light up with emotions. She liked the way Ace would goof off one moment and then be serious the next. She liked how he had depth in his personality. How he felt so strongly, no matter the emotion. She enjoyed Ace, simply, through and through. And now, she really wanted to see him. Well, maybe do a bit more than see him. And she wanted to make it clear to him that she would very much more than often like to do more than see him.

Ran stopped in front of the local inn and opened her storage to take out the cargo. With a bit of a struggle, she gathered all the boxes and closed the door with her foot. Then, she headed to the inn, using her leg once again to enter.

"Ran-chan!" Greeted Red Hair's voice from inside. Ran blinked a few times, making her eyes adjust once she had entered the shade of the room. There he was, arm missing and all, sitting like it was the best day of his life, Red Hair Shanks. His crew was everywhere in the old bar, drinking and eating. A band was singing in the corner, smiling happily at the Yonko's crew.

"Sir." Ran addressed him. "I have brought your order." The pilot said.

~~~~~pb~~~~~

"Where are we going, Thatch?" Ace asked for the nth time, getting ignored. The pompadour gave a sigh of annoyance, but he didn't answer. They had landed on an island a couple of hours away and then they had walked all the way around the island, much to Ace's annoyance. If Thatch wanted to get to the other side, why not dock there? The pirate was planning something, and Ace wanted to know what.

"Well, since you seem bored, brother, why don't you do me a favor?" The Commander stopped and turned to the raven, eyes glinting. Ace raised one eyebrow, but decided to go along with whatever the man was planning. He was going to kill Leo for nominating him for a Commander. He really was.

Stuck on an island with Thatch was one thing. It was often fun and insane, like the man in question. But, stuck on an island with Thatch on a mission. Well, that was hell. The Commander kept snickering to himself and refused to tell anything to Ace.

"What favor?"

Thatch snickered once again, but managed to stifle it. "Go and get us a room, would you? I still need to run some errands." Thatch looked around and headed in one direction. Then he stopped and walked back to his comrade. "Make sure we're in the same inn, alright? Separate beds." And with that, the Commander passed Ace some money and left him in the sunny street alone. The raven shook his head and began walking.

He was in the outskirts of a city, so the pirate headed for the center. He looked around, seeing the people slowly coming out of their houses and setting up their shops. The morning was crisp, but sunny. It reminded Ace of Foosha. He could remember the numerous mornings that he and Luffy had spent sneaking out of the house of Dadan, their caretaker. Then, they would of course head to meet up with Sabo and cause some mayhem. He missed those times. He missed them, but he never regretted not living in them now.

Ace didn't regret. He had made a promise to live a life without regrets. So, what he wanted, he did. He often thought of Luffy. He often talked about his little brother and the boy's silly dream to become Pirate King. After all, it was Whitebeard who was going to take that title. Luffy didn't stand a chance against his old man.

The pirate noticed a sign for inn and knocked on the door lightly before entering. The bell jingled softly as he did. The inside was dark, with sunrays hitting only the spaces that the window curtains allowed them to hit. The room smelled strongly of cheese and old people. There was a small counter and some shelves behind it. A staircase decorated with red frilly ribbons led upstairs to Ace's right. On the left side, there was a table with six chairs, also decorated with red ribbons. He could see the big, round cheese on the table, identifying the source of the strong smell.

"Excuse me?" Ace called out politely, just like Makino had taught him. He simply couldn't shake those lessons, even after becoming a pirate. His crewmates often teased him about it, especially Thatch. A polite pirate, he would say, ridiculous! Truly, it was strange. Ace didn't mind an occasional stealing or scaring. Destruction of public property. Burning of various items (including the deck of Moby Dick). But, he knew to always say please and thank you, even when he was committing a crime.

"Over here, young man." Called out an old voice and Ace whipped around, seeing the speaker. A small old lady, with her eyes almost closed and her hands clasped tightly behind her back wobbled over to him with a smile. "How may I help you?"

The raven gave the old lady a smile. "My friend and I are looking for rooms, Ma'am. I was wondering if you had any?" He had obviously been listening to Ran do her Den Den Mushi Sparrow line orders for a bit too long. He was starting to sound like her.

The old lady took a minute to answer. She tilted her head to the side apologetically. "I'm sorry, young man. I have only one free room." She told him. Ace grinned and nodded.

"That's alright. The two of us don't mind sharing." The pirate took out the money, preparing to pay some advance, before the woman stopped him.

"The sharing isn't the problem, lad. It's the single bed that is." The old lady explained, making Ace drop the money back into his pocket. He gave her a nod and headed towards the door.

"Have a nice day, Ma'am." The polite pirate left the inn. Well, it wasn't the first time that he had been rejected for a room. He continued down the street, searching for another inn. Some people recognized him from the wanted posters and didn't want to give him the room. Then, there were those who simply saw Whitebeard's mark and denied him. And, of course, there were the ones that inspected him up and down, decided that he looked like a pirate or a bounty hunter, with his no-shirt with a knife and pistol style and told him to take a walk. But, Ace was tolerant. He understood. Pirates and bounty hunters were quite known to make messes wherever they went. The raven tried to limit his to destruction of public property, or government property and employees, but, there were always accidents.

A bird called out somewhere to his left and Ace moved his head slightly to the right. The bird flew by, missing him by an inch. He smiled as he saw it fly off. He had gotten used to using some Haki in everyday life. The bird called once again and then another answered. They reminded Ace of Ran.

The mere thought of the attractive older pilot brought a smile to his face. She still hadn't returned his last call. Then again, he had left his Den Den Mushi on Moby Dick (because Thatch had kidnapped him during one of his narcoleptic fits). But, the last time he heard from Ran was after her little 'running away' fiasco. Well, more like 'flying off and making Izo angry'. She had told him simply that she wanted to talk to him face to face and that she needed to do some work before she'll be able to come to Moby Dick.

Ace had, as always, told her that he had money and that she shouldn't obsess over it, that it was irrelevant, but she had been adamant. The pirate had learned how Ran needed to be independent. She needed to be free to leave at any moment, and only then did she actually feel comfortable. Ran was a right mystery. He enjoyed her company, though. Ran was a girl, yet she wasn't too girly. She was also funny and open to adventure. She went along with some of his crazier ideas and she accepted his jokes and kept them going. Not to mention that she wasn't afraid to take what she wanted.

All in all, Ace had never been good with authority. He hadn't liked Garp telling him what to do. Nor did he like Dadan ordering him around. He had become a Captain to avoid those issues. But, with Ran, he didn't mind her taking the wheel sometimes. She knew about the seas and the skies and she knew about romance (a topic that Ace wasn't too well versed in). With a smile he thought about some of his fantasies about the pilot. Well, he would have to mention them to her sometime.

But, Ace stopped himself. That was wrong. What was he thinking? He was the offspring of that person. Of the Devil himself. How could he even think of defiling Ran, poisoning her with his evil? No, this was at far as it went. He needed to stay away from her in that way. Friends was alright. Friends was safe. But, romance wasn't for him. He simply wasn't worthy of such love and affection. Ran only liked him because she knew nothing. Who could love the Son of a Devil, after all?

~~~~~pb~~~~~

Business with Red Hair meant two things, money and booze. The Captain always paid her well, as he usually asked her to get premium items, and he insisted that she drank with them. And, how exactly do you say no to a Yonko? Especially one as charismatic as Red Hair?

So, Ran finished in record time, drinking with the merry crew and their loud Captain for only a day and headed out with an excuse of another order. She could bet that Red Hair knew about her lie, but had let it go. She was antsy around the crew, and she was sure that it showed. No matter, because the Captain had sent her off with a smile and best regards. Red Hair had even gone so far as to tell her the current coordinates of Whitebeard and told her to give him his regards. The pilot had flown off in the early morning, her last conversation with the Yonko replaying in her head.

She often compared Red Hair and Whitebeard in her mind. Why she chose to ally with the latter was always a question for her. But, Ran was a creature of impulses. She simply trusted the feeling somewhere deep in her head. And that had told her to accept that man's protection. True, she had planned to stay neutral, to serve both the Marines and the pirates. But, she had become a wanted person. With a bounty, came certain troubles.

But, the debate had always been there. Why had she gone to Whitebeard first? Ran remembered coming to the Blue Seas. She had been terrified. A lone glider pilot, with little to no money, and a small pile of supplies, she had believed herself to become dead in less than a week. After all, Arcadia told of the Blue Sea dwellers. The people who had gone down talked of savages with their guns and swords, shooting and killing each other. Ran had been terrified, alone, frozen and wounded. But, she had survived.

After hearing different stories about different people, she had chosen to go to the strongest man in the world to work for him. Simply, for her barely fifteen year old self, that had sounded like the safest option. The nobles in Arcadia were the strongest there and they held all the power. So, if she wanted to be safe, she needed to be supported by the top of the food chain. Her logic had been simple.

But, now she could see that her logic back then had been faulty. The world wasn't black and white. Whitebeard was no Arcadian noble. He sat with his crew. He loved the weakest of members in his crew as his sons. He drank with them, partied with them and laughed with them. He was no cruel ruler. And Ran's respect for the man had grown in time.

Red Hair, yes, he, too, was a man that Ran respected. But, he was too unpredictable. Ran liked the thrill. She liked the danger. But, not in this aspect of her life. She needed a stable place. A base of operations. Something that was there, no matter what happened. Red Hair simply wasn't that. She knew that she could rely on him to do business. She could maybe even ask him for a favor, by giving him free services, but, not protection. She wanted Whitebeard's protection. And when the man had offered it, she had accepted. She had become much closer to his crew during the past year, after all.

The silent whisper caught her ear like she had been honed to hear it. 'Zodiac' was being murmured as she passed. Ran glanced around, her eyes looking for trouble. She had landed on an island not too long ago for breakfast. So far, so good, but she had obviously been recognized. That was annoying, as she had changed from her suit and dressed in shorts and a tank top once again, her hair up in her chopsticks and goggles safely around her neck. It was strange to put her hair up now, as Izo had shortened and styled it, dying some bright yellow, blue and pink strips into it. Ran, personally, loved it, because it was rebellious, wicked and done by Izo. Also, it reminded her of Shrimp and his crazy hair.

"Zodiac!" Someone yelled then and Ran tensed, but didn't turn or run. She had left the Sparrow a little ways out of the city. She would make a run for it if it came to that. She had been working on her boots with some of the spare gearing. She could try that out.

"Idiot! She's no Zodiac!" Yelled back a woman. "She's just a girl!" The crowd began to murmur and people began stopping to stare at the arguing two. Ran kept her head low and tried to get out of the mess unnoticed.

"Well, a girl killed my son!" Various gasps could be heard. Someone screamed. Ran felt a pang of guilt go through her, even though she wasn't Zodiac. She could clearly see Sita's face in her mind, looking at her with that child-like curiosity and mysterious wisdom.

"Get the Zodiac!" Someone yelled.

"Killer!"

"Child murderer!" Ran ducked, and ran through the crowd in the confusion, trying to clear them before they went insane. She remembered this. She remembered this from Arcadia. The moment when the masses got fired up. They went blind with unescapable rage. Fear gripped her as she saw an image of Arcadia burning in the background, people crying out, as she flew away.

"Wait!" Someone yelled, but their voice was unheard. "Haven't you read that new article in the Weekly Wave? It's a lie!" The voice was persistent, but no one turned to listen. Ran heard the information, but she didn't have the luxury to stop and listen. She heard more shouts as she ran, head held low.

"Marines! Call the Marines!"

"Get her!"

The pilot looked up, her eyes immediately reading the crowd like one giant storm. She found the perfect way through in seconds, mind clear despite her tight lungs. The nearby house was rather tall, but there were some crates near the front door. Ran mapped out her escape in a second, all the information in her brain clear as day.

Her left foot landed on the first crate, missing its designed position by a bit, but she managed to climb further up. Her body couldn't keep up with her mind. Biting her lip in concentration, the pilot pushed herself up with her hands, struggling to get onto the roof. The crowd was chasing her, people yelling profanities and throwing things.

The, now bulky and slightly heavy, boots that she had modified clanked against the roof tiles as she ran on. Then, she reached the end of the house, stopping when she noticed the gap. She remembered jumping from roof to roof in Arcadia. But, Arcadia was different. The wind was always strong and it blew her over the gaps easily. Here, she would fall. A mosquito sounded somewhere to her left, and she swatted it away.

With a frown of concentration the pilot bent down and pressed some gears on her boots. It was time to experiment. If she fell, she was dead. If she stayed here, she was dead. There was no back. There was only forward. Looking to the horizon and seeing the sea, Ran smiled, her boots rumbling softly. Yes. The salty air hit her nose as the wind blew towards her, from the sea. Ace's face flashed through her mind. Yes. He always did smell of the sea. Maybe that was also one of the reasons why she liked him so much? Because he smelled like the storms that she loved a bit too much. Yes, she could do this.

Ran jumped, the AGT in her boots propelling her up, using the same mechanism as the Sparrow at takeoff. And then, she flew, arms spread wide like the wings that she craved so much.

~~~~~pb~~~~~

Ace was getting annoyed. Really annoyed. He considered himself to be a person with a fair amount of patience, but this was simply ridiculous! Every inn that he entered denied him. One didn't have a free room. The other only offered singles. The next was closed due to repairs. Simply, it seemed like the world had turned against him. Needless to say, Ace was feeling the pressure, his nerves at their ends. How hard was it to find one room? It was just one room, for two people, for one night!

Spotting a sign of a candle in its holder, signifying an inn, the pirate headed towards it, grumbling under his breath. He opened the door and entered, forcing a smile onto his face. It wouldn't do any good if he was rejected for being pissed off. He felt calm spreading through his mind and his muscles relaxing.

"Welcome!" The owner greeted from behind the counter. "I'll be with you in a moment." Ace smiled at her politely, inspecting the woman. She was in her thirties, fairly pale, but healthy looking. He could see the marks on her back from carrying a basket. She probably worked in the fields, too.

Then, the pirate noticed the two other people at the counter and inspected them, his paranoid pirate ways kicking in (Constant vigilance! Vista liked to yell at the crew. You're a pirate not a harmless old lady!). One of them was large, bulky, his muscles clearly showing through his ridiculous flower print shirt (in pink, red and white, mind you). He was also wearing shorts and some flip flops, with a hat on his head to complete the 'don't mind me, just going to the beach' look. The other was much shorter, his dark hair pulled up in a high ponytail (that looked like some kind of a sad palm tree to Ace), while he was wearing a traditional Wano Kuni male yukata (Izo had made sure that Ace knew all his Wano Kuni clothing by name and shape). Looking them up and down once more for good measure, the raven wondered just how in the world he hadn't noticed them before?

The pirate walked forward, giving the smaller man a polite nod when their eyes met. Then, Ace leaned onto the counter, waiting for the innkeeper to come back. An awkward silence ensued. The two men didn't talk. They occasionally looked at each other, and seemed to communicate that way. Ace studied their postures. The big one seemed relaxed, almost like he was having fun, and the smaller one (he was a head shorter than Ace) looked to be rather tense and pissed.

"Sorry for the wait." Said the woman, reemerging from the back room. She didn't have her apron any longer and her hair was loose around her shoulders now. "How may I help you?" The big man spoke without waiting.

"We're looking for a room. Two single beds." He spoke with a confident grin, sizing the woman up. She kept smiling, unbothered by the way he was looking at her. Obviously she had experience with his type. Then again, to Ace he looked ready to eat her alive. Maybe he should give up on the whole romance and flirting thing after all?

The woman nodded politely. "Well, I have one room free, and it's with two singles. You're in luck!" She smiled sweetly at the bulking man. Suddenly, something clicked in Ace's head.

"Wait, Ma'am, sir!" The pirate yelled out, causing everyone in the room to look at him. With both hands on the counter, his face serious he pleaded with the woman. "I'm also looking for a room like that!" The innkeeper seemed uncomfortable.

"Well, I have only one. If you customers would decide between yourselves…" She trailed off, looking at the large man uncertainly. Ace turned to him, too, ready to ask him to give up the room when he noticed the glare.

"As if, short stuff!" The large man said, glaring at Ace. The pirate felt his temper snap.

That's all folks!

If you haven't read the stuff in the beginning, please do so now :P

Onto the reviews!

Lilikoikoi: I'm sorry that I'm such a lazy author, but I get terrible writers block because I tend to jump from fandom to fandom… When I do that, I simply don't 'feel' the other fandom as strongly as I did before xD Hope you enjoyed!

Wren: Thank you very much! I tend to change my style of writing like an insane woman xD I hope that you guys will survive hahahhaha It's because I'm writing a couple of stories at once and I tend to try and differentiate them somehow xD

Jade and Marco… Well yep, hopefully he will come around… He's an old man like that :P We'll see how Jade will react, too. A crazy volcano woman getting rejected? Ohohohohohohooooo~ Oh the fun!

RanxAce is hot… Oh *blushes* Thanks! I will do my best to fulfil the expectations then! What can I do, Ran is a kinky thrill seeker and Ace is a hormonal teenager with whack Devil Fruit powers… How do you resist that?!

Thank you very much :) I suppose I'm not that bad of an author… I've been on this site for so long, and I've improved soooo much… I mean, English isn't even my native language xD I started this story on an impulse really, because I'm that selfish, and it ended up becoming quite popular (even though it's quite cheesy and definitely not one of my best ones)… I have no idea what to do now! *freaking out in the background, arms flailing* But! I've managed to plan the sequel, that was actually the plot for this, but I got distracted with developing all the OCs xD, soooooo there shall be more! I mean, I keep watching One Piece (the endlessly developing universe of it) and I simply can't resist… I have so much planned… And the fact that I can freestyle Ace from one point on well… That delights me!

I don't like it when characters become too Mary Sue (I hope that Ran isn't, because I'm not that good at keeping tabs on my own OCs), and I don't like it when fanfics become like soap operas, so, hopefully, I'm doing fine…

Anyways! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I wish you all the best! :)