Author Notes:

- Hi, I'm not dead. I mean, I'm Hetalia-addicted, but I did say I wouldn't abandon this, didn't I? Still, Hetalia-addicted, so updates here /will/ be harder to come by. Especially cause my PruCan Hetalia stuff is mostly done by role-play so I don't have to think near as hard. Ah hah. Anyway, the important thing is here you go, another chapter, wee~

- Also, I have weird ideas of monsters/creatures/etc. I blame my addictions to RPGs, especially Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy ruined any semblance of "normal" monsters my mind could have construed. Then again, One Piece isn't exactly known for its normal-looking creatures, is it? Guess it's not too weird, after all.

~!~

Superstar

~!~

Ace whistled as he walked, hands in the pockets of his shorts, taking a hand out only occasionally to tilt his hat back and look around at where he had wandered to this time. The forest was pretty confusing. Everything looked the same after a while, and he wasn't even sure where he had come from at this point. Not that any of it mattered. He would find his way out eventually, and somewhere along the way he might find his brother and Zoro.

He could hope, at least. He really wanted to see the green haired swordsman again. He wanted to make that face blush. He wanted to toy with him and make him stutter. Luffy's first mate was too much fun. Innocent, too, if his reactions were anything to go by. Which made it all the more fun.

Of course, he had to find Zoro first, and then he had to win his heart. The letter was hilarious, but he didn't have much faith in it in the end. Zoro seemed to have a loyalty to Luffy, a strange loyalty, a different kind of connection. It was going to be hard to break through that one. Incredibly hard.

But fun all the same.

"Do you even know how to get back?"

And then there was Sanji, the blond-haired cook of his brother's crew. He grinned just at the thought. Whether or not the cook would admit it out loud, there was a third competitor for Zoro's heart in this game. The somewhat annoying cook had been following Ace everywhere since he'd split off from the group. There could be several reasons for that, but when Sanji kept asking about Luffy and Zoro it made things even more obvious.

The competition just added to the fun, though. Ace was pretty sure whatever the result ended up being, this was going to be one hell of a ride. One hell of a game. And one hell of a good time.

"No, but it doesn't matter," he answered.

The cook spluttered, stomping up beside him. "How are we supposed to get back to the rest of the crew?"

Ace shrugged, continuing to walk, noting the strange vegetation of the area. Jungle. Forest. Whatever this was. Islands were strange. A desert island. A snowy island. This one had strange indigenous growth – which he was avoiding, of course. He didn't want to go and step in something that would cause problems. He almost had to wonder what other forms of life existed here. Were there creatures that they would have to fight off? Would there be an actual adventure involved or would they just keep walking until the end of time?

He was hoping for adventure.

"Would you at least try to have some sense about this?" Sanji snapped beside him, still walking with him even as he complained. "Even if we find them now, how are we supposed to get back?"

Ace shrugged, for what felt like the thousandth time. Sanji was always asking questions, always the first to distrust him, always quick to get mad at his spontaneity. "It'll work itself out," he answered, stopping suddenly, hearing voices.

"What do you mean 'it'll work itself out'? Reality doesn't work like that!" The cook exclaimed. "And why did you stop?"

Laughing a bit, he held up a hand, waving it in the air. "I hear something, that's why."

Pushing his hat up, Ace glanced around the area. Tree. Tree. Tree. And that was a snake. Weird flowers. Prickly bushes. A pathway. Another pathway in the other direction. Crossing paths. Interesting. Birds were chirping. Insects were buzzing. Tree branches were shaking.

The area was muggy. Like a rainforest. Cool down here. The sun hardly reaching them at all. If he actually cared, he might have tried to get a jacket, but he could heat himself up without issue if he wanted to, so he wasn't exactly worried about the cold.

"Hear what?" Sanji questioned, his voice seeming incredibly loud because he was standing right next to him.

Ace cursed. "Shut up and you might hear it, too." It really was starting to get annoying. The cook was always bugging him about something-or-other and it was making it difficult to actually focus when he wanted to.

There. A voice. Again. Followed by another one. Still, pin-pointing the direction was difficult. It was like a little murmur against the backdrop of a very active rainforest. Animal life everywhere was getting in the way of finding the voices.

"Is that the wind?"

...or it could be that...

Cursing again, Ace chose a path and started walking. Thankfully, this time, Sanji was silent. Maybe he trusted in him to pick the right way. Maybe he thought this was the right way. Whatever the case, Ace was simply glad for a little silence as he tried to follow the voices.

Because it had to be voices. Damn it all, it couldn't be the wind, could it? That would be too unlucky. He wasn't used to being unlucky.

To his delight, as he walked, the sound of voices got louder. Two of them. And they sounded familiar. Familiar to the point where Sanji stopped walking altogether. "Is that Zoro?"

Ace grinned, chuckling to himself. Clue number one. The cook didn't say a word about Luffy's obvious higher-pitched excited voice. No, Sanji noticed Zoro's murmur. Clue number fucking one.

Oh, yes, this would be quite a lot of fun.

~!~

Little did Ace know, Luffy and Zoro weren't just talking to each other. They were fighting. No, they weren't fight each other. They were fighting one of the crazy creatures of this island jungle. Nothing was allowed to be normal, after all. Not on the Grand Line. Especially not out here.

The monster they were currently up against was a giant flower. A giant tulip, with long green vines for arms – several of them in fact, all flying through the air. It walked or crawled or whatever it was doing on the roots, having been disturbed from its sleep or nap or whatever. It had popped up, attacking, the bell of its large tulip...body...growing in size until it was nothing more than a gigantic flower monster.

At first, Luffy thought it was cool. Taking something girly like a flower and making it into a bad ass looking monster. Then one of its vines scraped against his arm, leaving a long scratch. That made him mad. That wasn't a very nice way to say hello, after all. Stupid gigantic flower monster. Not cool.

Zoro jumped to the attack pretty quickly, pulling his swords out, taking a stance, even as he said something about how ridiculous it was to be fighting a flower of all things. Luffy would have been fighting, too, but he was starting to feel funny. Dizzy. Out of it.

Zoro must have noticed, because he kept talking to him. He would jump in to attack and then move over to stand next to him, asking what the problem was. Honestly, Luffy wanted to fight, too. He wanted to punch the shit out of that stupid monster for cutting him up, but he couldn't seem to move.

First, his vision went fuzzy. Then, his hearing went out. Then...well...there wasn't much else he could remember after that...

~!~

Following the voices, Ace and Sanji arrived on the scene just in time to see Zoro fall to one knee in front of a giant flower. Really. Ace blinked. Actually, the both of them froze, but Ace couldn't help but stare at the strange circumstance. He was used to seeing strange things; after all, he had been on the Grand Line longer than any of them, but what he was not so used to was seeing the green-haired swordsman growing weak against an indigenous wildlife creature.

"Stupid marimo, what are you doing?" Sanji snapped, breaking out of his confusion first.

Zoro glanced over to them, gritting his teeth around the sword in his mouth. His eyes flicked behind him, then, glancing over his shoulder, and when Ace looked in that direction he saw his brother. Luffy. Sleeping? While a fight was going on?

"Something's off."

Zoro popped the sword out of his mouth just as Sanji spun to face him and snap, "What do you mean 'something's off?' Of course something's off! It's a fucking flower! And Luffy is -"

But Ace was ignoring Sanji. He was focusing on Zoro. On the way the man seemed to be breathing heavy, the way that chest heaved as if gasping for air. The way sweat rolled down his face. The way his eyes were blinking, squinting, like he was trying not to fall asleep. Then he noticed the several cuts all over Zoro's body, from the vines of the gigantic flower thing. Yeah. Something wasn't just off, it was wrong. It was serious.

With a grunt, Zoro managed to speak. "Don't let it hit you, or – you'll -"

Hearing the pants, Ace began to feel a warmth spread through his body. He couldn't take it. Not for much longer. Luffy was asleep anyway. He wouldn't care. He wouldn't even have to know. First of all, though, he had to destroy the creature before Sanji jumped in there like an idiot. Holding a hand up, pointing it toward the giant flower monster, Ace called on his fire power and let it shoot out, ripping down his arm. With a quick motion, he shot the fire toward the creature, but he barely watched as it crumpled and shriveled and burned its way to death.

No, instead, he sprang over to Zoro's side where the green-haired swordsman was on his hands, the swords no longer gripped between his fingers, panting for air and looking. For all the wrong reasons, of course, but it still... "Fancy seeing you here," Ace murmured.

It got Zoro to lift his head, and then Ace leaned in, leaned in enough to press their lips together, to catch that panting mouth open and waiting. So perfect. He couldn't help himself. It was just such a great opportunity. Zoro's breath hitched and he actually fell into it for a second. One beautiful blissful second. But then of course the swordsman pulled back, his eyes caught in a haze of trying to glare or maybe he was just stuck in shock. Something. Whatever it was, it made those green eyes look incredibly tasty, especially with everything else going for the man right now.

Ace licked his lips...and then felt a pain in his side as he went flying through the air, hit the ground, and slid along the dirt for a good couple meters. Of course, he shot to his feet as fast as he could, calling on his fire again, ready to attack whatever...

"Sanji?"

The cook was glaring at him. Zoro had passed out at some point, now lying on the ground instead of sitting on his hands and knees, but the blond-haired crew member was standing over the unconscious swordsman, a cigarette in hand, puffing out smoke as he all but seethed his pissed off aura toward Ace.

"Back the fuck off. Seriously. This whole game is getting sick and ridiculous now."

Ace blinked. Of all the times...well, if the cook wanted to play, too, then so be it. He had suspected and had really know that Sanji would join their little game eventually, even if he was still refusing to admit as such. Brushing himself off, Ace tilted his hat up – amazing how that thing managed to stay on his head – and smirked.

"Well, if you wanted in on it, you should have just said so," he said, making his way over to his unconscious brother. Even if this game was all focused on Zoro, he still wanted to make sure his brother wasn't poisoned or anything. "I mean, honestly, it's been pretty obvious that you wanted to join our game for a while now."

Sanji just seethed some more, nearly spitting at him. "It's not a game!"

Stopping by Luffy's side, Ace tilted his face up and grinned. "Sure, sure, it's not a game. It's a competition, though. I wonder who's winning?" He paused then, kneeling down by his brother in order to pick up the smaller kid. "You have a lot to catch up on, you know. What with your obvious denial and pretend hatred toward him."

For a moment, Sanji looked like he was about to snap something back, but then those eyes – or at least, that eye that wasn't covered up by his haircut – softened and turned from glaring at Ace to staring down at the unconscious green-haired swordsman. "Hate is a strong word..."

~!~

While Ace picked up Luffy and set the captain of the Strawhats on his back, easily able to do so because Luffy weighed next to nothing, which must have been a nice trait that came with being made of rubber...Sanji instead found himself staring down at the green haired marimo idiot. The stupid, stupid idiot who had gone and gotten himself cut up by poisonous vines. Or at least something strong enough to knock out the two strongest members of their crew.

Once again, he was left to wonder why he cared. Especially when Ace started talking about this game or competition or whatever he wanted to call it. This absurd fight over Zoro's heart, as if the marimo was someone to covet. Who the hell wanted to fall in love with this idiot?

Who the hell would think the loyalty of the green-haired dumbass was something to admire? Who the hell would stare at the marimo idiot whenever he came back from a battle all torn to shreds, and worry? Who the hell would worry for his sorry ass? What was wrong with him? Even now, Zoro was obviously going to be fine, because Zoro was always fine. He wasn't even bleeding out like he normally was; it was just some kind of toxin that caused the two strongest members to...

He was worried. He was fucking terrified. He was...That was just because they were on the same crew, right? Sure, hate was a strong word. He didn't hate the guy. No, he couldn't hate the marimo idiot. There was too much between them, even now, especially now.

"Shit," he said, not knowing what else to say, not knowing what else to think, as his heart started to beat erratically and he found himself frozen to his spot, his eyes trapped staring down at the damnable idiot...

"Are you going to just stand there all day, or are you going to pick him up and find the way back?" Ace's voice cut through him like a knife. Ace. Fire-fist asshole who had just kissed Zoro when the marimo couldn't even defend himself.

His eyes radiated a new hate when he turned his glare to Ace. Jealousy spawned in his stomach and he puffed on the cigarette, pulled it out, blew some smoke into the air, before setting it back in his mouth. Jealousy? What the fuck was wrong with him? Admitting it felt strange, too. He was jealous. He was pissed off at Ace not because of what the guy said, but because of what he did, because of the kiss.

Jealous of a kiss!

There was definitely something wrong with him, but at this point, he didn't even care. At this point, he was going to accept it. Feelings were something one couldn't control, after all. And this blasted game fighting for Zoro's heart. Sure, he'd join it...if only to keep Ace away from Zoro, if only to keep Luffy away...

Even Luffy? He was annoyed at Luffy? For having feelings too?

"This is so fucked up," he grumbled.

Ace grinned at him and then reached out to pat him on the back. "Glad to have you on board. It's always more interesting with more people." But before Sanji could smack Fire-Fist Ace, the man frowned. "Seriously, though, we need to get back. There's no telling what's running through their veins right now, but if I could guess..."

"It's not good," Sanji finished, putting aside his anger, his jealousy, in order to bend down, scramble to get the unconscious heavy set man on his back, and then take a deep breath and start making their way out of the forest, jungle, whatever-the-hell this place was... "Let me lead this time. You're as bad with direction as the marimo."

Even when he turned his back on the annoying devil fruit user, he could still see that same wide grin. And he could still feel his heart beating erratically...And for some reason, it felt incredibly...awkward to have Zoro's face pressing against his shoulder. Even if the man was unconscious.

~!~

A/N: Whew! Well, I did it. See? See, see, see, it's still alive! Little by little by little ~ I promise. I just can't promise it quick.