I'm sorry it took so long again! My Halloween fic got a little out of hand and wasn't nearly finished by Halloween. I'm a little ashamed, since today, this story is exactly a year old, but I have only uploaded 7 chapters :( but I'll try to do better in the future!

Anyway, thanks to Aerle and Thérèse for betaing!

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 7: A friend like me

I cursed when I saw the guard on the inside of the gates that led towards the gardens. Last time there had only been someone outside. Besides, the doors were closed now. That could also be a slight problem. Especially if they were locked.

Hidden behind a pillar, I thought of the best way to get through the gates while drawing as little attention as possible. I could of course set something on fire again, but it would get a little suspicious, especially when it was inside the palace. They would know someone was there and it wouldn't be hard to guess it was me. If Marco didn't tell the others to begin with, but I would have to take that chance.

I was startled from my thoughts by a loud banging on the gate doors from outside. To my surprise, the doors were opened and three more guards walked in. "I'm afraid we've lost them. We've searched the whole gardens, but we can't find them anymore. If they were even here in the first place."

"I told you, I'm sure I saw someone!" one of the other guards argued. "But they're probably gone now."

"Yeah, maybe you could stand outside as well, just in case they're still somewhere, but I think we won't be necessary anymore," his colleague added.

The guard that had been standing inside nodded and accompanied the one on the outside, closing the gates again, while the others went into the palace and out of sight. The door closed again, before I could take the opportunity to slip through it. Well, it wouldn't have worked anyway, with the two men outside, but it was still a pity I couldn't use the fact that it was open any longer.

Looking around, I noticed a few small windows far above me, not too far next to the giant doors. I couldn't use them before, but now that there was no one guarding the inside of the gate, I could just use my devil fruit abilities to reach that height.

I landed inside the glassless window without any problems and got a good overview of the gardens. There were two guards outside the gates, as I expected, and two more walking along the wall that surrounded the gardens. I suspected there was another one walking around the palace as well, just like when I got here, but I couldn't see him from where I was.

I glanced at the tree where I had agreed to meet Izo, but didn't see him there. Or was it the other tree? I wasn't sure anymore, but the other tree that could possibly be the one didn't show any Izo either. So where the hell was he? Well, maybe he had hidden with all the commotion. That was a plausible option. I decided to just go for the first tree that I thought was the right one.

But how did I get there without being seen? The two men guarding the wall were pretty far away, so I didn't worry too much about them, but the two at the gates were much closer. I had to distract them, if I wanted to get down without them noticing me. But if I used my fire, they could trace it back to me. On the other hand, I didn't really have anything with me that I could throw either, except for my dagger, but I was not going to lose that for something like this.

I looked over my shoulder, into the palace, almost losing my balance. Maybe I could take something from the immense building to distract them. I was about to jump back down, when I noticed someone walking into the hall. Again, I almost fell down, but I could grab the edge of the window just in time. The man stood still for a moment, looking around, but – to my relief – not looking up. After he didn't see anything unusual, he shrugged and ascended the stairs towards the direction I had come from, a while ago.

When he was out of sight, I let out a deep breath and got down to the floor again. I had already seen a small vase standing in a fake window in one of the walls and snatched it away before someone could see me. Within a few seconds I was back in the windowsill, and ready to throw the richly decorated vase. My tongue stuck a bit out of my mouth when I was aiming for the lower palace wall on the other side of the gates, because it would make more sound if it hit stone than when it only hit grass.

With a loud crash, the vase broke into a thousand pieces, right at the spot where I'd wanted it. I gave myself a short second to be proud of my perfect aim, before I got into action. The guards hurried towards the broken clay – or maybe it was made of something else, but what did I know – and I could safely land on the grassy ground a few yards left of the gates. Soon, I reached the tree and no one had even seen me – the fools.

Pressing my back against the bark of the tree, I looked carefully around. Now where the hell could Izo be?

"That was about time!" a voice hissed from above me. Looking up, I saw my fellow thief had climbed into the tree. "I almost got caught because you are so late."

"You almost got caught because you weren't careful enough," I threw back.

Izo let himself down onto the ground. "You have a hard time sticking to agreements, don't you?" He studied his nails for a bit and then gave me an even more disappointed look. "My nails are ruined."

I rolled my eyes. "I just lost track of time, I'm sorry. Now, let's get out of here before anyone sees us."

The next day, I strolled through the city on my own. Izo and I had agreed to lay low for a few days, because the guards would be more on guard the coming time. After all, even though Izo hadn't stolen anything – or so he said – we had caused a bit of an uproar. At least the guards knew that someone had been there, and that wasn't a positive development.

I soon found myself walking through the darker part of the city – and with that I didn't mean there was little light. On the surface, there was just a normal market, but everyone who had something to do with the underworld knew the deals that were made beneath that surface were anything but legal. If you were looking for someone that could get rid of your bastard of a neighbor, this was the place to go. Or if you wanted to change something obviously stolen into money, there were more than a few willing marketers to buy your ware on this market. And of course there was the occasional prostitute, trying to lure customers as well.

The one thing you didn't have to try on this market, however, was stealing. You'd definitely lose your hand within a second. At least.

I liked to come here, even when I wasn't looking for something specific. 'Good' citizens didn't come here very often and even a big part of the city guard seemed to avoid this place most of the time. Only the stronger ones came by every now and then to check upon this area. So, with mostly criminals here, I could just relax and not have to watch my back constantly. People here didn't care for who I was. Or at least not for the fact that I was 'Fire-fist'. That I was the son of a demon was a whole other story. But they didn't know that, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Suddenly I saw a flash of purple and when I looked better, I spotted Izo in the crowd. I tried to get his attention, but he was too far away. I made my way through the crowd of people, but it wasn't easy, as there were a lot of them at the moment. I had almost reached him when the people started to move in panic, after someone had shouted, "Cop!"

The crowd quickly moved to all directions and within a few seconds, half of the street was empty. The people had disappeared as if the ground had just swallowed them. I too pulled my hood over my head again and walked towards a market stand, pretending to be very interested in the clothes they sold. A lot of us were wanted, after all.

However, when I cast a look over my shoulder to see if Izo had gotten away, I saw to my surprise that he was still walking in the middle of the road, as one of the very, very few people. And he was casually walking in the direction of the man wearing a city guard uniform.

Why? Was he out of his mind? Or… maybe he didn't have a price on his head? But the way he had acted, the way he had just cold-bloodedly shot those guards a few days ago, I couldn't imagine that he wasn't wanted. I had thought his bounty would be at least as high as mine.

Cautiously, I followed him from the side of the road, curious of what he was doing.

He soon reached the grumpy looking guard, a captain nonetheless. "Hey Smokey."

Wait, Izo knew the guard? He knew a captain of the city guard?!

Both men had stopped walking and looked at each other. "Izo," the white haired man acknowledged him. "What are you doing here?"

"Why, I'm just taking a walk," the cross dresser answered innocently. "What are you doing here?"

"Patrolling," the guard said curtly. "You haven't done anything… illegal lately, have you?"

"I wouldn't dare!" Izo said on a quasi-offended tone.

"Show me what's in the bag," the captain ordered.

Izo smiled at him. "I'd rather not."

The man in uniform – even if his jacket was casually hanging open – waited impatiently.

"Alright, alright, if you must." The thief opened the bag that had been draped over his shoulder. The guard looked inside the bag and raised his eyebrows as he reached into it.

I almost choked when he took out the candle stand from the palace. What was that idiot doing?! Why did he even still have that?

The white haired man studied the object in his hands. "Izo, care to explain why you are carrying a golden candle stand around?"

"I got it from a friend," he said in all honesty.

Great, so Izo was friends with a cop and was now going to tell him all about me?

"Since when do you have friends who can afford this kind of thing?"

Izo chuckled. "I never said my friend didn't do anything illegal."

I knew this should be my cue to walk away and hide, before either of them noticed me, but my curiosity nailed me to the ground. Why was my partner – or that was what I had thought he was – just spilling everything? Why didn't he just shoot the captain and ran for it? I knew he didn't have any problems with shooting people.

"Selling stolen ware is a crime too, and you know that perfectly well," the guard spoke.

Izo gave him a look that I'd almost call seductive. "So what are you going to do now? Are you going to arrest me? Lock me up? Handcuff me?"

The guard looked into his eyes for a moment. "Maybe I will. Now, tell me, who stole it and from whom?"

The cross dresser chuckled. "You shall have to interrogate me to get any of that information."

The captain looked very displeased with Izo, but didn't do anything, except burning holes into the thief with his eyes.

"Oh, look at you! You want to arrest me so badly, and yet you know you can't." Izo leaned in to whisper something into the man's ear, but I couldn't make out any words.

I turned around and walked away. I didn't know what kind of relationship those two had, but it was obviously one that a guard and a thief weren't supposed to have. One that withheld the captain from arresting Izo, apparently. But that would mean it had to be a really close relationship, right? Or there had to be another reason why he couldn't arrest him, but I really couldn't think of anything that could possibly be a reason.

By the time I had reached my tower, I had come to the conclusion that Izo was either good friends with the guard or they were lovers. Which would be fine by me, if it weren't for the fact that it was a fucking city guard. I was so angry. I had just been starting to trust Izo, liking him, seeing him as a possible future friend. But it appeared I was wrong.

Stamping a little more than necessary, I walked up the stairs, to the floor I lived on. I let out a frustrated groan. I should have known he wasn't to be trusted. Izo was probably even working for the government. He was somehow trying to set me up. I had no idea what the hell his plan was, but I was not going to fall for it anymore.

"Wow, easy buddy," Thatch floated towards me. "What's wrong?"

"Go away." I tried to push him aside, but my hand went right through his body. Weird. Though Thatch did get the hint and stepped aside. "I completely misjudged him," I said, not necessarily to Thatch, but it was nice I had someone else who'd listen to me, beside myself.

"Who?" the genie asked.

"Who do you think?" I plumped down into one of the chairs. "That fucking transvestite! He's teaming up with a cop! Or.. already worked together with him. Or at least is friends or something with a cop. I should have known I couldn't trust him."

"What, Izo?" Thatch sounded disbelieving.

"Yeah, if that's even his real name." I crossed my arms. "I don't know what he was planning, but I now know I can't trust him."

"Why? Friends with a cop, you say? I can't imagine that!"

"Friends, lovers, whatever. I don't know exactly, but I don't think I want to know either." I stared out of the window. "Fact is that they acted way more friendly than a guard and a thief should. Especially since the guy found out Izo was still carrying that golden candle stand I brought him the first time I went to the palace. He didn't do anything about it! Izo said something like the guy cared too much for him to arrest him, or something."

"Well, that doesn't sound like they're working together… not necessarily at least." Thatch seemed to pace up and down behind me, thinking about it. "Izo is not the kind of person who'd work together with the government or anyone involved with it! At least, he didn't came across like such a person, not even when you were away that time I was a dog."

"Well, I saw what I saw and I heard what I heard. I'm not wrong." I shook my head. "I already knew he was an actor, I could have known this all was just an act of him."

"I'm sure he has a logical explanation for it."

"Why? Why are you defending him?" I asked, turning my head towards my genie.

"I just don't believe he'd do that, that's all." Thatch said, shrugging.

"You weren't there, you didn't see them together." I looked in front of me again. I just should have known I couldn't trust anybody. The only one who I had been able to fully trust in my life was Sabo, who was dead now. Even Dadan I didn't trust a hundred percent. She was sweet in her own way and she did seem to care for me, but I wasn't completely sure she wouldn't sell me over for enough money. So I shouldn't have given Izo the benefit of the doubt.

I got a little sad, thinking of Sabo, however. He had been such a good friend. Well, the only real friend I'd ever had. His death might have been almost a decade ago already, but I still missed him sometimes. I sighed. "You know, I just wish I still had a real friend, like Sabo. Someone who really cared for me and would still love me even if they did know who my father was, someone who didn't even care about that, because I am not my fucking father!" I shook my head. "Not that I'm ever going to tell anyone that again, let alone Izo. I'll just probably have to accept I will never find anyone like –"

"Ace," Thatch interrupted me. "You know I can't change someone's heart."

Well, I didn't ask for that, did I? I was a little confused.

"But I can grant you that wish." He placed his hand on my shoulder.

Even more confused I looked at him, immediately noticing something different, but not realizing what it was. "Wait, wait. I didn't mean – "

"Your wish was very specific. You wanted a friend," he started to count on his fingers. "who cared for you, knew about your father, but didn't care about that…"

"It wasn't a wish! Not an official one, at least," I tried to bring into it.

"A wish is a wish," Thatch said, holding up a finger to show he didn't want to be contradicted. "No take-backs." He spread his arms. "Combining all your requirements, I found a perfect solution to grant your wish!"

"You… aren't see-through anymore," I finally noted what was different.

"That's because I'm the friend you wished for. The real friend. Not a see-through one." He placed his arm around my shoulder, grinning broadly. "Come on, you ain't never had a friend like me!"

I pushed him away a little to look at him, not sure what to think. "I… But you barely know me… I can't just accept… It was not even an official…" I sighed. "I fucked up my second wish, didn't I?"

Thatch was silent for a moment, but then looked hurt. "That's a mean thing to say."

TBC~

(Don't worry about the Izo/Smoker part. It won't get any bigger than this.)

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