Hey there dear readers! the next chapter will take a little longer to upload, so to apologise I give you this lovely long chapter as an apology. (Sopleasedontkillme)*hides behind bed* hope you enjoy and reviews are always welcome. reviews. NOT Flames.

Disclaimer: I do not own one piece (I'm not that cool) eiichiro Oda does. I only own the plot.

ON WITH THE STORY!

Sanji's P.O.V

Something was rough underneath my body. Why was there…? Oh right, I was in my smaller form. Meaning scales. But on what? It was definitely not the sand from earlier… I blearily opened my eyes. What was going on?

The blue of the sky and something brown came into view. Blinking a few times to sweep the blurriness out of my vision helped and the brown thing that I was on turned out to be wood. Then I heard voices. It was just a murmur of noise, but it was a large group. As my hearing sharpened I heard a multitude of breaths and some nearby heartbeats. In fact, they were very close.

"I don't believe so Oyaji."

That voice stood out above the rest as the volume died down. It was…familiar somehow.

It didn't matter though. We were in an unfamiliar place with an unknown group. Even if I appeared to somehow recognise one voice that did not beat the number of others. I slowly shifted my head around so I could see exactly how many were there.

There was eighteen of them. Fucking fantastic. We couldn't fight them all in our state.

They had a wide range of sizes. The crowd seemed to be facing a scarred man in a chair. So he was the boss. My eyes narrowed and my scales scraped on the wood as I tried to see who he was talking to.

A person with yellow hair turned his head to face me. He looked drowsy I noted. He was also looking right at my open eyes. I tensed, but he only turned fully around and called over his shoulder. "Ace! Your animal is awake yoi."

I growled and surged to my feet when all of them turned. My rumbling kept them at bay but then a large one with a long beard stepped aside to reveal one of the smallest men there walking towards me. A hat, beads…

"Hey there little fella," he said.

It all came flashing back. Running, finally escaping that place with Marimo, hiding, but we were injured so badly, and shortly afterwards those people showing up promising help – one of them this guy – and then nothing else. But he…he had come to us with fire, and he was already burned. I curled over, my foot going to his chest.

Click.

I glanced down… There was only wood. No. Nonono where was he?! I spun around, stood up on my hind legs, looking frantically. Where was he?! He wasn't even near the boss. He… He was gone.

They…had taken him. I focused back on the man with the hat. He had taken him from me. My jaw opened. He would pay.

I lunged and pinned him to the wood, rearing my head back and roaring. A fragile threat. To my surprise he only grunted and raised a fist that burst into flames. "Easy – you're looking for your friend right?"

My maw closed.

He smiled at me. "I can tell you what happened to him."

The smile was still there, and at that promise I removed my claws as if he had burned me.

He sat up and only then did I notice that his other hand was outstretched to ward off the other seventeen people who had surrounded me. Well shit. I sat and shivered as a wave of coldness crashed down on me.

"Ace" had a small frown now. "Ok, we took your friend in for treatment and our doctor is dealing with him currently. I would take you to see him, but, well, you're a bit too big for the infirmary fella."

His smile changed slightly, but I didn't care to figure out how. I closed my eyes and focused within myself.

Zoro's going to kill me for this.

It hurt. All my injuries began screaming at me and when my transformation was complete I couldn't see. Even with my eyes open it was a blended mess of colours and I couldn't stop shaking. It was so cold.

Something was dropped on me and I clutched at it; it held the warmth I so desperately needed. Someone adjusted it around me, a soothing voice accompanying the actions. Eventually after a shit-load of blinking I could see the fire guy was the person.

My breathing quickened as I noticed how close he was and my eye darted around taking in all the figures surrounding me. Shit!

"Hey –"

I cut him off in my panic. "Zoro! Zoro, where is he?!" I spat at him.

He leant back and at no forthcoming answer I felt my eyes sting. "Where is he?!" I gasped out again, my voice hoarse. I wondered if it was from lack of use or from the fact that the last time I used it I was screaming. I met the gaze of every person for a second before returning to the one in front of me. To my horror I felt my lip begin to tremble and my eyes sting even fiercer. I ducked my head and curled in on myself. Shitty tears. "Please," I whimpered, "He's the only one I have left."

Silence. Then, "I'll take you to the infirmary."

My head shot up. The fire guy was smiling again. I nodded and he stood. I struggled not to react every time I walked by someone and to not flinch away from the man leading me to Zoro.

(Earlier.)

It was a struggle getting the man and beast pair back to the ship. Weight wasn't an issue surprisingly: the dragon was exceedingly light for its size, the only problem with it was its bulk. The man was heavier than the creature and the problem with him was ensuring he didn't bleed out. Somehow, they managed.

"Marco!" Ace yelled, seeing him on deck.

The pineapple head turned. "Ace, what have you got yourself into yoi? Hold on down there."

Soon enough the dragon was lying on the deck by the mast and the man was taken to the infirmary. So serious was the situation that none could find it in themselves to laugh at Luffy's yell of "So cool!" towards the creature after the man was taken away.

"Son, what is the meaning of this?" Whitebeard asked from his chair.

"Oyaji, Thatch and I discovered these two in the desert. As you could see the man has a severe injury and this creature here was with him. After we managed to reassure it that we would not harm it or its companion it fell unconscious and we brought them both here. The man tried to stay awake but couldn't."

Whitebeard's attention travelled to the dragon and back to Ace. "What is this?"

Ace rubbed the back of his head. "I think it's a dragon like creature Oyaji – it breathed fire at Thatch and I."

The other division commanders shifted at this and Whitebeard leant forward. "Does that make it a threat?"

"I don't believe so Oyaji."

Marco's voice interrupted what Whitebeard was going to ask next. "Ace! Your animal is awake yoi," he called as he turned. Ace turned with him but could not see due to Atmos' bulk. They all heard the growl though and he and Thatch recognised it as a defensive warning. "Hey Atmos let me by," Ace demanded.

Passage and clear line of sight was granted and Ace slowly walked forward. "Hey there little fella."

For a few seconds the dragon was frozen and then its claws clicked sharply on the deck as it curled. What followed was panic as the beast span around and stood up vertically as it looked for something. Or someone Ace realised. He also recognised when the fear turned into anger and let the infuriated creature tackle and pin him as it desperately needed an outlet otherwise the crew would need to intervene. Which they were planning to anyway in defense of him. He grunted as he hit the wood and hurriedly lit his fist and held it up, shooting his other hand out to halt any movements of the others. Even Whitebeard had stood and he eventually nodded after what felt like an age, approving Ace's decision. The flame had the desired effect of drawing the beast's attention as it had the first time.

Ace's eyes narrowed at the sheer emotion expressed in the silver eyes. Desperation, fear, anger, sadness and something else that he currently could not identify. "Easy – you're looking for your friend right?" Ace asked a bit breathlessly.

Its maw closed.

Glad that his hunch had been correct that the dragon was not a mindless beast and hoping to ease some of the raw emotions in the dragon's expression, Ace smiled. "I can tell you what happened to him."

The claws were removed from him so quickly he didn't even process it immediately and he frowned lightly at the shiver the dragon made. Being one himself he knew that creatures of fire shouldn't ever be cold enough to shiver. "Ok, we took your friend in for treatment and our doctor is dealing with him currently. I would take you to see him, but, well, you're a bit too big for the infirmary fella." His smile turned apologetic.

Then everyone who was on deck could not stop their lips from parting when the creature with scales a mix of blue and silver with a red undertone, double row of giant serrated teeth, stripes of red and yellow scales going down his spine and fin-like ears transformed into a boy. A boy with ribs you could play on with a stick he was so skin and bones. The second thing Ace took in about his appearance was that the boy was stark naked. Thatch threw him a blanket and he dropped it over the near-convulsing kid. "Shh, easy kid you're ok," he hushed while fixing the drape.

The boy was in a daze, staring blankly ahead, but when Ace saw his one visible eye refocus on his figure he relaxed slightly but still wore a worried frown. "Hey –"

The boy cut him off by spitting out, "Zoro! Zoro, where is he?!"

Ace leant back in surprise that this kid still had some fire left in him. However, he seemed to panic at the silence and his eye flitted around everyone. "Where is he?!" he spat again. And to Ace's and his surrounding officer's pain, his eyes began to water and he ducked his head, shoulders shaking even more than the rest of his body as he cried.

Ace flung his gaze to Whitebeard, silently seeking for an answer. His adoptive Father nodded and with no hesitation, he said "I'll take you to the infirmary." Seeing his head shoot up, Ace smiled in an attempt of reassurance, but it was thinner than normal due to the salty water flowing down the kid's face. A fast nod was his answer, and Ace stood, waiting to see if the boy could stand on his own. To all of their further surprise, he stands on stable legs and follows Ace in the direction of the infirmary. All of them notice how he tenses as they pass by every person.

And all of them wonder, what on earth had happened to the kid and more importantly, what was he?