-Willow-

Ace was fun to talk to but all of the sudden, while in the middle of talking about how he hadn't liked Luffy at first, his head dropped down into the basket before him. The one that was filled with ketchup and a few remaining fries.

"H-hello?" I nervously asked as Evalyn and Ava put the check on the table, telling me to pay whenever I was ready to do so.

"Is he dead?" Ava skeptically asked examining him.

While Evalyn just laughed and said, "Wow Willow you really did bore him to death."

"He- he's not dead." I wanted to say the words with confidence but my voice came out shaky, unsure and I even stammered.

For a few minutes they stood and I sat there, all three of us waiting for some kind of response.

Was he even breathing? Eventually though he bolted upright and said, "Sabo and I tried so hard to get rid of the little bastard but. . ." I let out a sigh a relief as both twins fell back with a single screech of surprise.

Ace looked bewildered at them with a huge glob of ketchup smudged on his forehead. "What happened?" He asked looking from the twins and then to me as though I might have an exclamation.

"You . . . well you . . ." I didn't know how to describe what had happened so I just imitated what he had done earlier today. I just dropped my head for a second before looking up and handing him a napkin. Pointing at my own cheek I hope he'd figure out that there was something on his face.

Unfortunately my patience wore out as he gave me this blank look. I leaned over the table and couldn't help but feel like a mother wiping food off of her child's face. Oddly enough I had a feeling that my said child was older than me.

"Aaaawwww." One of the twins crooned as I sat back on the bench, my face warming up at that.

"She's blushing." The other twin said as Ace said thanks with a rather shy smile, looking rather embarrassed.

And this guy called himself a pirate. I had yet to see any pirate like qualities in him; well maybe eating like his life depended on it and I had found him passed out drunk in the middle of a forest and- ok so maybe he did in fact have some pirate like qualities but he still had manners.

Maybe I'd manage to remember to ask whose crew he belonged to at a later time.

"Hey, it's almost dark out." Ace said, my wrist was suddenly grabbed and I was pulled out of both the booth and then the restaurant.

Along the way through the restaurant and to the edge of the forest I ended up tripping over everything, starting at the legs of the chairs in the middle of the diner. Tripping over my own feet and then the threshold of the door followed. After that was the curb and then a few cracks in the street and after that absolutely nothing at all.

"A-A-Ace. . .slow d-down." I gasped. He was running and I was the poor person in tow. I was getting dragged along like a child's blanket or their favorite toy.

Unfortunately he don't obey until we reached his destination which was the edge of the forest. But finally he let me and my wrist go and when he did I stood there trying to sound mad as I asked, "W-what . . . was th-that . . . for?" But there was more fatigue in my tone than there was anger.

Suddenly two hands were placed on my shoulders and were pushed back so that I was no longer hunched over with my hands on my knees but facing him. And then I was earnestly asked, "You're not about to die are you?" He not only sounded concerned but I was a bit taken aback by the intensity in his eyes too.

"N-no, not about to die. Just let me catch my breath." I guess Ace was REALLY excited about that forest, which was understandable.

But jeez I think he's a bit too excited. I mean yeah it was a pretty awesome forest but he didn't know a single thing about what made it so awesome yet. "Anyway it-it's not d-dark enough." The sun had set, that much was true. But it had to be dark, the stars out and the creatures having awaken from their daily slumbers and have gotten up. And Ace hadn't given them enough time. That and I still needed to catch my breath.

He suddenly deflated with a quiet, crestfallen, half whined, half pouted, "Really?"

I grabbed his wrist and sat down, pulling him down next to me. "Yes really. But the wait will be well worth it." I hoped that he'd feel the same way when I showed him the forest and its hidden secrets.

"Really?" He asked the same question but in a completely different way, with a different tone and expression. This time he sounded both hopeful but dubious. As though he didn't believe me.

"Yes really. Think you can wait?" I asked.

He appeared thoughtful, as though he had to really think about the answer before vigorously nodding.

-Ace-

I was about ten minutes away from dying of boredom when Willow moved my head out of her lap before standing and facing the dark line of massive trees. She cupped her small hands around her mouth before making some kind of strange cry.

"Whoa!" I would be lying if I said that I hadn't been startled by that. I had not seen that coming. "What was that?!" I asked standing as well.

I couldn't believe that a noise like that had come from that mouth. But no matter how much I pestered and questioned her about what that sound was for she'd only smile and quietly shush me with her arm held out as if she were expecting something to land on it.

My efforts were bearing no fruits which sucked. But all of the sudden there was the loud flutter and flurry of wings that seemed to come out of nowhere before the noise settled and the silence returned. And when it did my name was quietly called. When I looked at Willow I saw this huge black bird with white speckles, beady eyes and sharp claws resting on her shoulder.

"Uh you're bleeding." I felt stupid because there was no way that she wasn't aware of that fact. I mean those claws were digging into her shoulders and her shirt was becoming stained, but she looked unfazed, unhurt despite the blood.

"Stroke its chest." She whispered to me, fondly running a single finger down the front of its body.

Was the bird purring? I wondered as I reached forwards and hesitantly did as I was told. Its chest was vibrating like that of a purring cat.

How strange.

"No, don't stop." Willow said when I began to drop my hand. "Not yet at least." She added. So I obeyed and not a few whole minutes later she whispered, "It's asleep." Before she reached up and pried open its beak. Once open the dark line of trees before us were bathed in a soft yellowish light.

I laughed. That was cool, I had never seen a bird do that before.

And where was that light coming from? I wondered trying to look down its throat, maybe it had swallowed a flashlight. Unfortunately I couldn't see the source of light. That was so strange. Most definitely one of the strangest things that I've ever seen and I've seen a hell of a lot of strange weird and awesome things. This bird was certainly near the middle of the list of weirdest things I've ever seen on both the Grand Line and in the New World.

"You know what Luffy did when he saw the bird?" Willow asked taking the first step into the forest with me close on her heels.

I had a feeling though that if I said that I didn't care and to shut up about Luffy- which I would never do- then she'd actually shut up. However I wanted to know what Luffy had been up to. The papers after all weren't the most accurate or reliable things and most of the time he was the bad guy.

I shook my head, giving up. "No, what did he do?" But I actually cared what Luffy had done, I wanted to know and even if she decided that she no longer wanted to tell me then I'd make her tell me.

"He ordered Usopp, his inventor/sniper, to build him a cage- no several cages. In the end he wanted one for every awesome animal he saw and that he thought was cool." She laughed. "And that was just about every animal."

Somehow that didn't surprise me in the least and I even ended up saying the last two words in unison with Willow.

She stopped us several times, shining the light on many strange animals and subtle things that I wouldn't have noticed on my own. Most of the strange animals glowed in some way, shape and or form.

The paw prints of a small fat cat thing that could walk through things glowed. The eyes of lemur like creatures that hung upside down in groups by ringed tails were not only large but also literally luminous. Even the ants and flying insects, some of which I recognized from a few drawings, glowed as well.

The veins of the plants glowed illuminating the leaves and petals. It was no wonder Luffy wanted to take all of this home. And though it all glowed we still needed the constant, non-moving, non-flicking, twitching or blinking light of the bird.

And despite the sound of us walking, the sounds of the animals and light breeze it was mostly quiet between us unless Willow wanted to point something out.

Having a guide was kind of fun. Not the dangerous, adrenaline rush, half drunken, wild and blurry kind of fun. Not the life threatening fun but instead the relaxed kind of fun that I hadn't had in a while.

"Pst Ace." She said breaking me away from trying to determine if the meandering thing with different colored glowing spikes was a porcupine or not because I had a strong suspicion that it was indeed what I thought it was.

"Huh?" Was it me or were the trees and their limbs moving? But I didn't ask because I felt stupid just thinking it.

She mentioned me through a bush and then into a clearing and pointed up whispering, "Watch." Looking up I was that above us were large closed up black pinecones. "These are my favorite flower in the forest."

"Flowers?" I asked skeptical. Pinecones didn't produce flowers. Pine trees, maybe but not flowers.

"Y-yes please don't laugh at me." She whispered in a nervous tone of voice.

"Why would I-" I began to ask but at that moment Willow chose to start singing up to the pinecones. "laugh?" I finished my question after a pause. Who the hell would laugh at a voice like that? I mean it wasn't the best voice I had ever heard, and I could easily think of when I had heard better. But it was still quite nice to listen to.

Light fingers under my chin lifted my head until I was no longer gaping at her but at the pinecones above us. The pinecone things were beginning to peel and curl away from the actual structure and started to glow. Her singing voice stopped and when I looked at her she was tucking hair behind her ear and muttering something about her mother and how she had showed her that trick when she was little.

After a long pause she walked over to the lowest hanging one and snapped it off its vine before motioning me over to her. She explained that it would no longer glow after it dried up, that it would die now like any other plant. Both the vine and the stem were bleeding electric blue from where she had snapped them apart. Once again I was surprised but this time by a giggle and sudden darkness.

"Aaaahhhh." Her voice said from my right and when I turned towards her all I saw was a glowing, bright blue tongue, more faded mouth and even glowing blue teeth.

"Whoa! Let me try that!" I wanted my mouth to glow too!

"Here. Your saliva will wash it away later." Willow explained that my mouth would not permanently glow blue at night that it would not forever glow like I had been hoping. "If you consume enough you'll be able to see your veins." She added.

Oooh that sounded cool as well! Maybe I spoke aloud again or maybe Luffy had been the reason that she knew but either way she said, "It'll also poison you in three days. If you don't get immediate attention or if the antidote isn't ready within those three days you're dead."

I stopped grabbing for the cluster of flowers when Willow said that. I didn't want to be poisoned and then die all over having glowing veins.

Now that I thought about it how would I even see my glowing veins anyway?

But maybe I could put the stuff in the crew's laundry and at night have all of our clothing glow! That would a pretty cool thing to see, just a bunch of floating articles of clothing. But then again no one would even notice because thick canopies didn't block out the starlight or the moon. Aww well that sucked.

She laughed, most likely at my expression at having two good plans fail before I could even act them out. "Sorry. But Luffy almost killed himself that way and I kind of like you. Plus I don't want to be charged with murder or have your crew coming to kill me because you killed yourself."

I smiled and said, "I like you too." Her company was quiet but not uncomfortable or awkward or tense, it just was. And that was enjoyable for now.

"Come on let's head back home."

"But-" I felt like a child who didn't want to go to bed, or didn't want to leave the candy section of a store. I wasn't ready to 'go back home' this forest was so cool. I could explore it for several nights straight.

"Please." She quietly asked opening the beak of the bird and shining the light to guide us back.

I didn't really give up; I just gave in when I realized that I had two weeks to explore the island, more specifically this forest at night.

"Hey is your shoulder going to be ok?" I asked looking over my shoulder into the slightly illuminated darkness behind us. I felt like we were being stalked by many pairs of eyes at once. If I strained my ears enough I could hear quiet growling. But it seemed that Willow didn't hear the growling so I ignored it as well, closely following her in case something jumped out at us.

I couldn't let some man eating vicious thing eat my guide!

I made the mistake of relaxing when the house was in sight. There were only a few meters between her house and us. Willow's house was in a small clearing that would have allowed the sunlight in if it had been daytime.

We were so close to that red door, the cozy living room. She paused and looked over her shoulder at me with a small shy smile. "I hope you managed to enjoy tonight. I'm sure you wanted to do more exciting things . . ." she trailed off tucking a strand of that teal hair back behind her ear. "Sorry I'm not really the best person you could have had but I still-"

A large snarling blur missed me by inches, drowning out the rest of Willow's sentence. As it flew past me a shrill scream in the form of my name reached my ears.

I smiled, whispered, "Mera mera no me." and lit my hands on fire. It was about time for some action.

/

/

/

Feedback. Thoughts. Opinions. Constructive criticism all of that is welcome and greatly appreciated.