I realized that the snarling fur ball was a wolf. A snarling wolf with its hackles raised, its fur puffed out and its teeth bared at me. Like most of the animals of the forest it had a feature that glowed. And for the wolf it was the fur along its back and was the most normal creature I could honestly say that I had seen tonight.

Seconds after skidding to a stop, having missed its target, the wolf lunged at me again. Aiming straight for the kill, straight for my throat.

I reared back with a fireball in my hand and was about to throw it when something attacked me from my side, tackling me to the ground. We rolled around on the ground for a while, snapping twigs and ignoring the other wolves that had silently slunk out of the shadows when I was preoccupied with the first wolf.

I was surprised when I got the upper hand relatively quickly and easily. Just like before I pulled back a fist with a fireball spinning in my palm completely prepared to slam it into the squirming body beneath mine until I saw that the body that I was pinning to the ground wasn't that of a glowing wolf but instead that of Willow. She had her green eyes tightly closed with her face turned slightly away from me and her long straight hair was fanned out around her head.

"Willow?" I asked not only surprised but also kind of mad at her. "Hey, you could have gotten hurt." She was supposed to have run inside. She was supposed to have gone into the house and have left me to take care of the attacking wolf.

"L-let me h-handle this p-please." She stammered slowly cracking open her eyes.

"Why the hell would I do that?" I asked. There was no way in hell that I was about to let this soft and defenseless girl get herself slaughtered, not if I could help it.

"B-because you-you're an unfamiliar s-scent."

"What?" What did scents have to do with anything?

"I'll show you, j-just let me up please." She began once again struggling weakly under me.

"No." one of the last things I wanted to see was that wolf sink its teeth into the girl beneath me and then proceed to dismember her.

"Ace please." She begged. "The moment you're off of me they'll attack you, the entire pack next time. Alright?"

"Fine fine." The moment they attacked her or even made a move to do so was the moment they would no longer be a threat. The least I could for my guide was protect her. So I got up off of Willow, helped her up and watched as she slowly but confidently approached the wolf that had attacked me.

Was she out of her mind?!

-Willow-

Dammit! The night had been going so well, so smoothly and was so close to coming to a nice peaceful close.

I could feel Ace's eyes on me from the moment I had stepped towards the alpha and away from him. I held my hand out as I approached him. I knew why they had attacked and I should have seen this coming. While the wolves didn't mind strangers in the forest this was their territory. And though I was welcome Ace wasn't, he was invading the space that they had allowed my mom, dad and I to live on. The fact that they were out meant that the night was only hours from ending and that the fog was due to start settling in.

The larger than the rest alpha lifted hits wet nose up into my hand before I ran a hand back over its snout and through its thick fur before stopping at on its ears and began scratching. It barked, startling the bird out of unconsciousness and with a cry it flew off, leaving us in darkness.

But that darkness only lasted for a few seconds because a flickering light appeared behind me, casting long flickering shadows.

I dropped to my knees in front of the alpha and it began licking at my shoulder, at the spots of blood on my shirt from the had been sleeping bird. When the alpha began doing that I told Ace that it was fine and to come over to the two of us after putting his fire away. It didn't take long for my eyes to adjust to the dark, to be able to make out the wolf before me and the shadowy figures around us.

Cautiously he did as I asked but the caution showed in his demeanor and how ready he was to attack. I sighed and said, "Relax but show confidence." It was something that my dad had taught me about the wolves and how to be accepted by them. As Ace got nearer the alpha began growling but I told Ace to keep advancing and to hold out one of his hands.

I turned back towards the wolf and said, "Ace is my friend. Remember Luffy? Well their brothers. He won't hurt you."

"Have you gone mad Willow?! That damn dog doesn't know what you're saying." Ace shouted at me.

"Ace! Do-do you want your face eaten off?" If he kept talking like that then the alpha would attack him again and then he wouldn't be very welcome here, not at night at least.

"I'm a logia type." I was informed as if I was supposed to know what the heck a logia type was supposed to mean.

"So? Logia type or not you're a threat in their eyes at the moment. Your tone and aura are all threatening to them and their territory. You said that you're a pirate right?" I asked. He answered and then tried to say more but I quickly interrupted him, being quite rude as I did so. "Then think of it this way. They've invading your ship, waters, island, whatever and they're threatening you whatever they just invaded. How would you react to that?"

"I'd beat them." He said confidently enough.

"Exactly."

Either Ace finally saw the light or decided to stop arguing because he closed the space between him and the alpha and waited to be accepted.

I knelt there nervously and as I waited decided to stand. The growling had stopped and it was silent for a moment before the wolf threw back its head and let out a long howl. Ace looked around confused before leaning towards me and asking in a whisper, "What does that mean?"

I laughed and like I was a kid howled with them before leaning towards him and answered his question. "Come on try it. It's unbelievably fun."

And with that Ace joined in with a large smile and a small chuckle. I bet he thought that I was silly, that this was ridiculous but he was smiling as widely as I was so it meant that he had to be enjoying himself too right?

As suddenly as they appeared they shrunk back into the shadows and we were allowed to enter my house without further ado.

"So that my friend was the Forest of Lights." I said. I was ready to collapse in bed and to fall into a deep sleep. But we ended up sitting in the living room. Ace perched in the armchair and I was lying on the couch.

We ended up staying up and chatting until he had another one of those sleep attack things.

Sunlight woke me and I sat up with a jerk.

Crap, when had I fallen asleep? I wondered rubbing at my eyes and looking around my empty living room.

"Ace?" I called wondering when I had gotten up and grabbed a blanket from the linen closet and dragged it to the couch. I couldn't even remember having fallen asleep. "Ace?" I repeated the sleep draining from my voice and mind as I stood up.

Maybe he had decided to take a shower. So that's where I first looked but I didn't find him there. Looking around some more I said, "Hey, this isn't v-very funny you know?" But after searching my entire house twice I came to a stop at the middle of my living room. "Jerk." I muttered crossly with a frown. "You could have at least said bye."

Classic Ace. I thought almost bitterly. I thought that he'd at least say that he would be off and then thank me for showing him around because that how he had been yesterday, all mannerful and stuff. I hadn't taken him as the type to leave when someone was sleeping.

But then again he was a pirate . . . or so he claimed. I heaved a sigh but even then I had a few questions of my own to ask him, like whose crew he was on and how exactly he had spontaneously combusted last night?

With a frustrated shake of my head I decided to make breakfast reminding myself that he was a stranger and a pirate and therefore someone I shouldn't get overly concerned about. That he was someone who could take care of himself; if I should be concerned about anybody it should be Luffy, that foolish boy.

After eating I grabbed my bag and a change of clothes and headed towards the stream nearest to my house, the one that I had taken all of the good stones out of.

Rock collecting just wasn't as fun as yesterday. In fact I felt a little twinge of that loneliness that I usually didn't feel as I headed back.

But I quickly pushed that thought from my mind and got to work mixing my own cement before beginning to build up the wall of my art studio in silence that humming didn't even seem to be able to get rid of.

Around nightfall I called it quits and ate dinner before grabbing my charcoal and a sketchpad.

Stepping out of my house I called the bird from last night and let it rest on my shoulder, its claws digging into the exact same places. Once lulled to sleep and producing light I began walking until I found something that I wanted to draw and began sketching.

-Ace-

Ok so I shouldn't have left Willow's house in the middle of the night after a narcoleptic attack because while I could have enjoyed a nice comfy armchair I ended up camping out- unwillingly of course. I had been making my way back towards the city when I had yet another narcoleptic attack and had actually fallen asleep during that one.

I woke up to something growling and that something was my stomach.

I hoped up and said to myself, "Time for breakfast!" before getting the hell out of that forest, though I'd be back tonight and every other night until Pops was ready to leave this island in a few weeks. I wound up at the place that Willow had taken me to last night, the place with the really good burgers. Entering the establishment I licked my lips hungrily at the smell of syrup, bacon and coffee.

The smell was absolutely heavenly and my stomached agreed with me by growling not even two steps in.

When I sat down the twins from last night made a b-line towards my table. They asked me what they could cook for me today and I told them exactly what I wanted with these obviously fake smiles. It was kind of creepy but I proceeded to order everything off the menu give or take a few things.

"E-Excuse me?" the twin with the longer hair asked as if she hadn't heard me correctly.

"Did we just hear you correctly?" the other one asked looking confused.

I nodded. Why did everyone have such qualms about me getting everything off the menu? Did I have to be fat to enjoy food? My stomach was growling oh so loudly so maybe I needed two of everything. When I voiced that one of the twins nearly fainted.

The other just said, "My my Mr. Pirate don't you have one monster of an appetite." After a pause and a look at her sister she tucked the pad of paper into the apron around her waist and said, "We'll start you off with the appetizers when their ready alright?"

I nodded and grabbed an abandoned newspaper off a nearby table and opened it.

As they walked away I heard one of them say "I'm surprised that Willow even let him out of her sight."

"Well it's no surprise with him claiming to be a pirate after all. He's sure to ruin her good rep." There was a bit of laughter. And as they waited on other tables I half listened in on their conversation hand half skimmed over the paper.

"I know she's such a good doer. The pirate probably realized how dull she is and ditched her the first opportunity that was offered to him." They made their rounds, entered the kitchen and then came back out with three other people following them; all five of them were carrying steaming plates of food. And all of that food was sat on my table before me.

After the quickest word of thanks I could muster I dug in.

Not an hour later I sat back done eating and done listening to the girls who I had originally been under the impression were Willow's friends. Damn I had been wrong about that and I think Willow was as well.

Looking around I quickly got up and calmly walked out before bolting with a smile. That had not only been a fantastic meal but it had also been easy, oh so easy.

After that I meandered around town with nothing in mind to do, with no real destination. And for a while I was perfectly content in doing so.

But when the warm breezy day started to get to me I began searching for a good place to take a nap, a place where I wouldn't be bothered. And eventually I found the perfect place on the beach against a cool rock. Leaning back against it I adjusted my hat over my eyes and dozed off.

When I woke up it was once again because of my stomach and so I grabbed a quick bite to eat before running back into the Forest of Lights once again, this time without my guide.

I had lots of fun by myself that night and morning came far too soon.

It was a good thing that Pops had to stay here for two weeks. I didn't even know why Pops needed or wanted to stay here on this island for two weeks but whatever the reason I didn't really care.

As I walked around town in search of Marco so that I could have a drinking buddy when I went into one of the many bars Willow's name reached my ears a lot which I found was strange for such a quiet and relatively shy girl. And the things I was hearing about her were neither remotely true nor very kind.

"Hey!" I shouted running to catch up to the familiar head of blonde. When I reached him I put my arm around his shoulders like Thatch had done to me and said, "Join me in getting a drink." Fortunately for me he didn't protest as I turned down a street with a bar advertising the best something or other on the Grand Line. "Wanna have a contest" I asked with a smile but was quickly turned down with a stern no.

Humph. What was so wrong with a contest? Was a little friendly competition going to hurt anyone? I think not. But I dropped it at that raising the glass to my mouth and taking a large gulp.

That hit the spot.

So for a while Marco and I conversed and drank at the bar. People came and went, time passed and our glasses were filled, emptied and refilled a few times.

The empty seat beside me became occupied but I paid the person no mind even as a voice asked, "So you're the forest whores newest interest?"

Because there was no way the owner of that voice was speaking to me. So I continued my conversation with Marco.

"You're the pirate who had dinner with her before she took you home two nights ago right?" he paused and now I knew that he was talking to me. I held up a finger to put our conversation on hold as the voice continued. "But let me tell you something pirate," he spat the word in the venomous, unwelcoming way that I along with most other pirates were quite familiar with. ", she's mine and if I can't have her no one can."

I rolled my eyes at the idiot and turned to face him. The owner of the trying to sound threatening voice was a blonde haired hazel eyed guy about my age or a bit older.

"Yeah we had dinner and yeah she took me back home but I don't recall her having ever mentioned anyone like you." I could feel Marco's questioning look at my back. But I ignored it as I flashed the guy a smile just to piss him off even more. I had already evaluated him and by the looks of it he wasn't dangerous or any more harmful than a fly, something that I could easily take care of.

So pissing him off would only harm him and provide some entertainment for me. A win-win situation.

It seemed that my words and the added smile worked like a charm because he slammed his glass down onto the bar wasting about half of the glass of whatever he had ordered before demanding for me to repeat myself. I obliged happily seeing how mad he already was.

He turned an amusing shade of red in the face and reared back with a closed fist and threw the first punch. It was easy to read, evade and counter but where would the fun in that be?

The best part of bar fights was when their weapons of choice or their elbows, knees, feet and or fists passed through my body. Their expressions of surprise fear and sometimes even recognition were always absolutely priceless.

Not ten minutes and one good punch later and there was a new entrance/exit in the wall of the bar and the fight was over. Unfortunately I wasn't able to celebrate my easily won, could hardly be called one, victory because I got kicked out. Fortunately though Marco followed me out instead of staying at that bar.

"Who's Willow?" Marco lazily inquired behind me as he picked his way through the rubble and out onto the street where I began looking for a new bar to pay a visit to.

Looks like I had been right but he was probably thinking all the wrong things about her and who she was and probably what we had done last night if he had heard that last part. I shoved my hands into my pockets and said, "According to that guy the Forest Whore." I didn't even know who that guy was, how he knew about me and that Willow had gone out a few nights ago or why my words had made him so upset.

"So she's some kind of prostitute?" He said but I couldn't tell if it was a question or a statement.

I couldn't help but laugh in disbelief as I said, "Not at all." Before we walked into another bar. I couldn't imagine Willow as a prostitute or anything like that. She's probably too self-conscious.

One hour, several bars and a few bar fights later and Marco suggested that we stopped moving on to different bars once we got kicked out of the most recent one.

And I agreed.

I knew that word spread fast but the more absurd things I heard about Willow the more I found myself bashing in faces, knocking out teeth and punching out some lights. I even scorched a few people for her because I knew that even if she heard the things that they were saying she wouldn't do anything for herself.

The words Forest Whore just kept echoing inside my head as I was led to where the crew was staying. They had taken over a hotel near the beach and were congregating in an unclaimed room and were in the midst of a card game.

As we passed by the doorway of the room we were welcomed in, greetings were exchanged and then Marco and I were sucked into the game.

We soon found out that the game was strip poker.

/

/

/

A/N: I want to thank all of the people who have already reviewed. Like most authors they really encourage me to continue writing and whatnot.

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