I was almost there, almost off the ship and therefore almost out of the reach of anyone who was going to try and stop me.

Off to my left I heard a quiet, "Go." before Willow stumbled across my path, my backpack in hand.

I stopped but was still prepared for the order, for the crew to jump me. If I had to I'd fight my way off of this ship. The blood on her clothes only added to the flame as I clenched and unclenched my fists at my sides. Despite my barely containable rage I wasn't going to push her aside, god only knew I'd end up pushing her overboard, which was something neither I nor the crew needed to deal with at the moment. But I also wasn't going to let her stop me either. If men half my size and Pops couldn't do it then she definitely couldn't.

"I-I'm-" She began stuttering, looking up at me with sad eyes.

"Get out of my way." I interrupted her taking what I hoped to be a menacing step forwards. My goal was to make her move on her own so that I could get going so that I could be on my way. Because the last thing I wanted to hear right now was some kind of please stay plea with large watery eyes and folded together hands. Teach was getting farther and farther away the more we stood here and talked.

"T-take me with-with . . . you?" It wasn't even a demand, more of a question than anything. Willow just barely managed to get those words out of her mouth. And instead of being spoken in a strong, convincing and determined voice she sounded scared and timid.

Plus I couldn't do that to her. Granted I was going to come back but if something to her I wouldn't be able to forgive myself. And what if something happened to me? That would leave her alone and vulnerable, open for attack from Marines, pirates, sea kings, creepers and weirdo's, ANYTHING. God only knew she didn't know how to find her way back to the Moby Dick or back to Pops and she didn't know half of our ally so she couldn't rely on them either.

Why was I not surprised to hear those words come from her mouth?

"You're supposed to be stopping him!" Cole's voice hissed from somewhere to the side of us. But that fact hardly registered in my mind. I was planning what I was going to do when I caught up to the damn traitor and how I was going to go about things.

I shook my head. "No."

"But I-I could be of-of great help . . . to you." Willow weakly tried to argue.

Unfortunately now my mind was made up on two things. One leaving and two leaving without her. So I just let out a forced laugh as I shook my head at her and said, "No."

"B-but-" She began.

"Stop playing pirate Willow!" I shouted at her. She was not coming, end of story. "This isn't a game anymore!"

"Ace I-" She now looked on the verge of tears.

Shit! I mentally cursed. The last thing I needed now was tears.

But then she continued talking. "Since you won't take me and I-I know I can't stop you from going-"

"Damn right. Now get out of my way." I took another step forwards, this time though it was only half of a step, leaving only inches between our bodies. I was now looking down at her. I was glad she realized that she was not coming with me.

"I want . . . I want you to . . . kick his a-ass for us alright?" Willow said in a voice that had gotten quieter and quieter.

I nodded. That exactly what I was trying to do but I couldn't do that from the deck of the Moby Dick!

"A-and I want you to know that I-I-Please be safe and I-I lo-don't forget to keep in touch." her voice had gone from its usual quiet tone to a hoarse whisper, her face a bright pink as she pressed my backpack into my arms and stepped aside, gesturing out towards the open sea, towards my boat that awaited below.

I nodded at her before shouting, "I'll settle this!" There was without a doubt in my mind that I was going to settle this and avenge Thatch. I quickly hopped onto the side of the ship and jumped down onto my boat. The crew behind me was silent at first with Marco's voice telling me to wait, to come back. I bet he wanted me to think 'rationally' or something. Then the rest of the crew began shouting at me, for me to listen to Pops.

But I was finally on my way.

After a while of following leads around to different islands on the Grand Line I cooled down. I had infiltrated a marine base, helped a milkmaid, and gotten the information that I had needed. After that I visited a winter island. Only to find that the damn bastard wasn't there, that I had missed him. So I told some people that I happened by to relay a message to Luffy and then had to run because someone from the restaurant I had eaten at realized that I hadn't paid for my food so I had to make a quick getaway. I really hope that they did so. Ten days, I'd wait ten days for the little idiot on the summer island. I really hoped that he'd be able to meet me there. He made a big brother worry so much.

I was going to wait for Luffy in Alabasta, which was now on the horizon, a place I'd reach sometime tomorrow. But for now I was just bobbing on the waves of the sea relaxing. Since I was doing nothing I figured that I'd call up the crew, see how everyone was doing.

-Willow-

I knocked on the door of Marco's quarters nervously. I had been spending a lot of time with him and Cole in the training room but I was still a bit nervous to ask for help. But he was a good opponent for practicing with my crescents because I could slice at him all I want and not hurt him at all.

"You lookin' for me?" A voice asked down the hall as footsteps approached.

I jumped and whorled around reaching for my weapons. After drawing them I realized that the voice belonged to a rather looking amused Marco. I looked between him and the weapons in my hand. "Uhh sorry. Y-yeah."

"Do you need something?" He asked.

"W-well I was hoping that you would do a bit of weapon training with me."

"I suppose I have a few minutes." He teased with a smile. That was a yes. "But you know Ace didn't mean what he said."

"Of course he did. Something made him say it." They had to have come from somewhere right? So I was going to get stronger so that when he saw me next he wouldn't be able to say that I was playing pirate, that I could prove that I had never viewed being a pirate as a game.

"He was mad. You know now that I think about it you've never seen him get mad like that have you?"

I shrugged unsure if I had or hadn't seen him like that before. Because I know I've seen him mad but I didn't know if I had seen him quite that mad.

"Well he didn't mean it trust me Willow. You might not know it but he cares deeply for you."

I snorted at that even as his words made my heart race and a smile quiver on my lips.

"Or don't believe me, your choice." He looked at the weapons I hadn't yet put away and with a smile asked, "So are you going to stand there on guard or are you going to attack me?"

"We're not in the training room." I said. I wasn't just going to attack him in the hall.

"That's fine. No real fights are going to start or get finished in that room."

"Right." I nodded and lunged at him. This was one of the few times since Ace left that I had been out of the training room. I of course ate, showered and slept but that was mostly at night. I spent most of the days training and if I wasn't training so that I could get stronger, then I was searching for certain commanders and crew members to help me. Most of the time they agreed to do so or were annoyed that I had taken Ace's words to heart.

While I swung more than just my fists he threw in commentary, tips and criticism. Somehow we 'fought' our way to the training room and then into the room itself. I smiled at him as he allowed himself to be backed into a wall. Not bothering to avoid an attack he reached over and pulled a sheathed katana off of the wall and began countering and blocking my attacks with that, forcing me to block, evade and counter his attacks and advances as well.

This went on for a while before Cole popped her head into the room and said "Hey girlie I got someone on the line for you."

"Huh?" I asked stopping and wiping my brow.

"Come here and take this thing off my hands." She held up a transponder snail which was the thing she was referring to.

I looked at Marco to make sure that it was ok since we were in the middle of something.

He nodded with this 'I'm not stopping you' look.

I smiled at him and jogged over to Cole. Once within arms distance she held out the snail and quickly handed over the snail. "Uh hello?" I asked unsure of exactly who this could be.

"Howdy!" A familiar voice greeted my ears.

A large smile spread across my lips as I accidentally screeched, "ACE!"

"Phoenix let's give them some privacy." Cole said jerking her head towards the hall.

Marco just shrugged and as he walked past me he said, "We'll resume this when you're done if you want to." And with that he walked out and the door was closed, leaving me alone in the training room with a snail and Ace's laughter.

"I'm glad to hear you too." He managed as he collected himself on the other end. I could just see him smiling.

"Yeah me too." I just wish that more than his voice was with me. "I miss you." I couldn't stop the words before they stealthily slipped out.

"I know. Don't worry. I think I'm really close."

"Yeah?"

"Yup and then I'll be back and I'll tell you all about it."

"I look forwards to it." Really I did. I could just see the wild hand gestures, sleep attack interruptions and his wild stories filling my head. I could almost hear him telling me how he had taken care of the traitor and say that since he had done that Thatch could rest in peace now.

"Good. So I um . . . you see I wanted to tell you that . . . when I see Luffy and his crew I'll call you up so you can say hi."

I gasped, now jealous that I hadn't gone with him. "You're going to see Luffy?"

"Yeah if he gets here on time." He said with a laugh. "Do you think ten days is enough time for him?"

"No."

"Yeah me neither. But I'm hoping that he makes it."

"Me too. I definitely look forwards to that too."

"Yeah I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from you. I mean the last time he saw you hadn't- you were the shy artistic introvert who couldn't even say a sentence without stuttering." There was a little chuckle from Ace as if to trying to make sure that I didn't think that he was trying to offend me with the truth.

"Yeah and look at me now. You know you stole his artist. He might be mad at him."

"That's true. But don't worry I won't give you up without a fight and he can't take me. I don't even know if he knows that I have eaten the Mera Mera fruit."

"What?" How could he not know? Ace was known as Fire Fist after all. But then again we were talking about Luffy. He wasn't very knowledgeable about many things.

"Well I left our home island before I ate the fruit." He said in an understanding voice. "So um the real reason I decided to call is that I was bored and didn't know what else to do."

"Oh really?" I asked. From the tone of his voice he had something on his mind.

"No." A frustrated growl reached my ears. "Not at all."

"Oh then why did you-"

"Look I don't really know why this is so hard for me to say but-"

"Just say it." I suggested realizing how much Luffy I must have sounded like.

"Easier said than done alright." He grumbled at me with a heavy sigh following his words. "I mean I know what I want to say but-"

"Ace." I interrupted him.

"Yeah?"

"You've wrestled sea kings, dine and dash on a regular basis, we raid ships for fun and play pranks on the crew members of the strongest pirate crew on the Grand line and in the New World, you fight marines like a child eats candy and you're having trouble saying something?" Of course. It was all the big things he didn't have a problem doing but when it came to something small he had troubles doing it.

Why did this come to me as a surprise?

He laughed. "True. Alright then here it goes." There was a pause and then the words, "I'm sorry."

"E-excuse me?" I hadn't been daydreaming right? I wondered if I had indeed heard him correctly or if I had imagined his words.

"You head me. Don't make me say it again."

"I-I'm sorry. But I- did I-"

"Yes."

"For what?" Was he sorry for not taking me with him? Or was he sorry for something else?

"What I said." Ace paused and when I said nothing elaborated for my sake . . . I think. "Before I left. I didn't really . . . . . I was just-you were in my way and I wasn't, not that I do so much anyways, thinking .It's just that you were in my way and I was pissed to say the least. You're a pretty good pirate you know that?"

"Uh thanks?" Oh now I get why it was so hard for him to get to the point. Pride, a deadly sin, had been getting in his way. That or embarrassment or something along that line.

Ace let out a breath and with a grin in his voice said, "Whew, glad I got that off my chest. It was bothering me."

"Wanna know something Ace?" I said with a smile that he couldn't see. I knew he did and he instantly said so. "When you get back I'm going to challenge you to a fight and then you'll see that I'm not playing."

"I look forwards to it." He said.

There were now several reasons that were contributing to my impatience for his return. I looked forwards to it so much. I couldn't wait to see his freckled face, his half clothed body and his silly grins.

"I lo-"

"I gotta go. But be prepared to get a call from me again soon. I'll even let you talk to him a bit, say hi to the crew. Bye." He said before the line went dead.

I threw my head back with my eyes squeezed shut before letting out a groan of disappointment. I had been so close. I just had the last two letters of the first word and one more word to say. Letting out a heavy sigh I stood up and walked to the closed door. When I opened it in fell Cole and Marco was leaning against the opposite wall with one foot against the wall and his arms crossed.

"Have a nice chat?" Marco asked pushing away from the wall.

"Yeah." I smiled a bit and handed the snail back to Cole. "He'll be calling back within the next week or so."

"Really now?"

"Yeah." I nodded and with that Marco and I walked back into the training room and resumed fighting. Only this time there was more conversation, mostly about what Ace and I had talked about and other things that didn't really have anything to do with what we were doing.

-Ace-

I was enjoying myself at a bar, not making any trouble when some marine named Smoker walked in. I wasn't interested in fighting anyone at the moment.

Well one moment we're talking and the next he's flying towards me as though someone slammed into him and then into me. I watched and by time I realized that he was going to fly into me too it was too late for me to move. We slammed through several walls before coming to a stop under some rubble.

I began walking back through the tunnel of holes in the wall back to the bar where we had started from. Once standing a besides the bartender I saw Luffy there shoveling food into his mouth, stuffing his cheeks so that he looked like a chipmunk or something of the sorts.

I grinned and was about to step forwards when something landed on my head and slammed me face first into the ground. And by time I got up all I saw was Smokers retreating back. So I followed them out, following smoker who was following Luffy.

God my little brother was such an idiot. He was running from a hoard of Marines and he leads them straight to a small group of people who I was just going to assume were his crew.

After the Marine launched a smoky attack at Luffy that's when I stepped in. let me just say that guy was not happy to see me again.

Unfortunately though my intervention stopped Luffy and the people who I was calling his crew in their tracks. I smiled a fight between fire and smoke was pointless really and we both knew it, even before I verbalized it.

When he realized it was me I turned around and offered him a grin. "You never change Luffy." I told him. I doubted that he'd ever change to be honest. Turns out he also didn't know that I had eaten a devil fruit either, which is something you'd think he'd know by now. As we conversed Marines lined up in front of me and were awaiting orders from Smoker.

I rolled my eyes. "Anyway we can't talk like this." I'm sure they realized, even with Luffy not being the brightest of people. The others looked as though they might have some common sense. "I'll catch up later." I told him. It probably wouldn't take too long. "You guys make a run for it." I turned my attention back to the marines before me. "Go!" I shouted at him. Jeez did I have to tell him when to go? Several pairs of running footsteps faded into the distance behind me.

The marine sure liked talking. I wish Willow or Marco could have seen the look on his face when I told him that Luffy was my brother. It was near priceless. But I was starting to wonder if we were just going to talk or if we were going to prove that a fight between us was really pointless.

"Move! Portgaz D Ace." He grumbled at me, as if he thought those words were enough to make me move aside.

I couldn't help but let out a laugh. "I don't think so." After those words I lit myself on fire. It was funny how scared the lower marines were of a bit of fire. Of course Smoker wasn't affected at all, which was good. It would have been a shame if a bit of fire had scared him off. I stood there grinning and waiting for him to attack and eventually he did. He sent a column of smoke my direction. His smoke and my flame mixed and were sent skywards, twisting together and dissipating.

But he just didn't know when to give up. Nothing was going to happen if we fought with fire and smoke. But oh well I was buying time for Luffy so I was having a bit of fun myself.

The mixing smoke and fire created black smoke that was more or less my chance to escape. So I did.

Now to find Luffy.

Turns out he wasn't too hard to find. He wasn't too well hidden or anything. While he looked for his ship in the water the marines found us. I frowned. They really didn't know when to quit. He wasn't even paying attention to the marines, which would be bad for him if I weren't here and forget listening to me.

As I caught up to him and his ship I pulled out the transponder snail and called up Willow. We weren't going to have much time to say 'hi' so I wanted her to be ready at the very least.

"Hello?" Cole picked it up again.

"Get Willow."

"Love you too Fire Fist." She grumbled in a teasing tone.

I heard her move around, a door open and close and a few other things before a breathless, "Ace?" Whispered in my ear.

"Hold on just a minute ok?" I kindly requested of her.

"Ok?"

"But if I fought him now, I'd win!" I head Luffy say as I reached his ship. It was small compared to the Moby Dick but then again most were. I was rather impressed that Luffy had a crew and a ship. That's a lot of responsibility for that kid.

"That's a groundless statement." I said jumping onto the side of his ship and perching there.

"Oh Ace these is the nakama I was telling you about." He said.

I greeted them and politely declined an invitation inside. I was happy for Luffy and was very glad that he had found a good lot of people to take care of him and for him to occasionally take care of. But then again he was very charismatic and charming when it came to other people.

"Oh hey before I forget." I fished around in my pocket for the transponder snail I had shoved back onto my pocket. "Someone wants to talk to you."

"Whaaat who?!" Luffy asked looking around as if he expected someone to pop up out of either nowhere or a cloud of smoke on his ship or next to me.

"Just say hello." I said pulling it out of my pocket and handing him the thing.

"Yello?" he asked into the receiver then shouted, "Who the heck is this?!" There was no doubt that Willow stammered out an answer on the other end from her place hopefully safely on the deck of the Moby Dick. Luffy's eyes suddenly lit up and his face cracked into a huge grin. He laughed and looked at his crew saying, "She says to tell you all hello."

"Who?" everybody asked looking confused.

"Artist-chan!" he exclaimed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, Willow?" The orange haired girl asked her attention caught.

"That shy girl from that one island?" The green haired swordsman asked as the blonde whose cigarette I had lit began dancing around with hearts in his eyes muttering something about her beauty and the way she had looked under the lights of the forest.

"Who?" Both the . . . reindeer? . . . and the blue haired princess asked.

"Yeah. We're all doing great aren't we guys!" He grinned, answering Willows question as though everything was fine and dandy. Which according to the ships that were now facing us we weren't. He didn't bother to explain who he was talking to, to tell the people who obviously didn't know who Willow was. "Don't forget that when I'm pirate king that I'm coming back for my artist, which is you by the way. So sit tight just a bit longer ok?" He said as though he thought Willow was still on the little island he had found her, as though she were still living in that cute little cottage in the middle of that awesome forest that glowed.

"Oh you are? Well that changes noting alright." He then told her completely oblivious to the things his crew were saying. "Bye." He said hanging up and popping back into the conversation at just the right moment. "See? Don't they just crack you up?" He asked. I resisted the urge to hang my head. Of course. But then again this was Luffy for you. "Here ya go." Luffy said handing the snail back to me.

I nodded and said, "Thanks." As I shoved it back into my pocket.

"Them again?" He asked with a frown.

"Luffy." I said getting his attention. Once I got it I told him that I'd take care of them. It's the least I could do. Plus well I wanted to. So without waiting for him to agree or argue with me I jumped down into my boat and sped off, well aware of what they must be thinking. I couldn't really hear exactly what they were shouting at me as I sped towards them but what did it really matter? They were probably threatening me and thinking that I was going to be the victim and then Luffy.

This was not only going to be fun but easy, a piece of cake really.

Even when I jumped over their ships they were yelling things at me. Stupid them. On the other side of their fleet I landed on my boat and sent a large fire fist their way, burning through and destroying all of their ships and the people on them.

Pushing up the brim of my hat I smiled. Not too shabby.

-Willow-

After the first call from Ace and then the very short conversation with Luffy where I didn't get t chance to tell him that I was a part of Whitebeards crew or that I was no longer just sitting tight on my island waiting for rather thick headed pirates to come back for me in god only knew how long, I got many more updates from Ace. He told me to tell Pops and the rest of the crew what he was relaying to me and that he was getting closer and closer to Blackbeard and to coming home.

I was training hard with Cole who was having fun playing with me because today she was armed with tattoos galore that she kept pulling off of her body and slapping them back on. She alternated between hoards of spiders, blades the length of her arm, a pair of black brass knuckles and a chain whip. She pulled these various weapons from various parts of her body. Her bare legs, the arms, knuckles and even her torso.

"You're doin' a lot better lately girlie. You should feel proud of yourself." Cole grinned at me. We were in the middle of a breather. Both of us were covered in sweat with rapidly moving chests. We were both sprawled out on the mats of the training room.

There we were in all of our messy sweaty glory when Vista walked in. He seemed unfazed by the sight of the two of us in our current state. In his hand was a transponder snail. Upon seeing it I sat up and asked in a voice that sounded far too hopeful to even my own ears, "Is it Ace?"

He nodded and handed it to be before saying something that I didn't get the chance to catch because I was already talking to Ace. "Please tell me you're coming back soon." I begged. God I wanted to show him how much stronger I had gotten. I wanted to hear the stories that he had promised me. I wanted to wrap him in a hug and steal his hat. I wanted to see his face as he talked to me. I wanted to party hard upon his arrival. But he had to defeat Teach first and foremost.

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A/N: All I have to say is that I have plans for these characters. But that's all I'll reveal. I hope you liked this really long chapter.

:D

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