"Islands ahead-yoi!" Marco called down to the ship.

He had done a partial transformation, his arms had taken the form of large, blazing blue wings and his feet turned to bird-like talons. The change gave him the ability to fly so he could get a better look at what was ahead than anyone in the crows nest.

"Islands?" Ace cocked his head to the side. "Like plural? More than one?"

"Yeah." Marco grinned as you jumped up to try and catch him, teeth nipping at his shirt. He stayed just out of reach, playing along with your little game. "Looks like a collection of about five small ones. Half of them have people on them. Are we docking pops?"

"For the day." Whitebeard smiled. He was happy to be somewhere new. "Restock on what's needed and the rest of the day's yours."

The second the ship hit dock, the deck cleared out. Crewmates left in a hurry to finish errands that they seemed to know while you didn't. You guessed since you didn't go inside and lacked the ability to talk, they all assumed you couldn't do much to help with restocking supplies. You waited till most of the crew had sped past you before staring down at the dock, debating whether going into town would be a good idea or not.

The general consensus strangers had on you was that you were down right terrifying. No amount of pretty colors would change that. You didn't want to cause any trouble by spooking the townsfolk. And then you had an even more worrying thought. What if the crew decided to leave you stranded like your old one did? They could already be tired of you and want you gone.

With that, you sat down. You could wait for everyone to return. Even Whitebeard himself had gone so it'd just be you and the cabin boys.

"You coming-yoi?"

You'd forgotten about Marco. He landed beside you, wings turning back to arms and talons back to feet. He motioned to the dock with his head.

"I'll go with you-yoi."

Some days he looked sleepier than others and today was one of those days. But he still smiled at you invitingly. Maybe if someone as important the the crew as him was with you, you could go. They wouldn't leave him behind. You nodded and followed him off the ship.

"This all must still be difficult for you to adjust to." He started talking as you walked shoulder to shoulder into the quaint town on the first island. "Pops likes us to take care of our responsibilities first in case anything comes up and then any spare time is for fun. Usually the guys like hitting up the bars and such-yoi."

That all made sense. It was normal procedure for a lot of crews.

"Some of us have turned it into a game to see how fast we can get things done."

That explained the initial rush off the ship. Though now you were wondering what Marco's errand was. And he seemed to know you'd be curious about that.

"We need to make a stop at an apothecary of some sort. Some of the other guys are getting my basic doctor's supplies but there's some herbs I'd like to see if they have here."

That was as simple as it got. He wouldn't even need your help but you appreciated him letting you tag along. Marco kept chatting you up, probably to fill the empty air. The locals seemed to be pretty pirate friendly and didn't mind having the Whitebeard pirates around. They didn't go out of their way to greet you and Marco, but none of them shied away either. The most annoying thing they did was give a lot of looks and whisper among their groups occasionally. You could deal with that.

It took some searching and Marco asking for directions but you found their apothecary on another island of the archipelago. The building was small, so much so there was no way you'd fit in it comfortably.

"I'll make this quick-yoi." Marco pat your side, noticing the same problem. "Then we can go check out the rest of the place."

You nodded and flopped into the rather tall grass by the shop as he went inside. This area was hot. You assumed that meant it was a collection of summer islands. There was no hint of a breeze inland and the air was humid. If it wasn't for your fur, you'd be sweating up a storm. It seemed silly that it'd keep you cool but fur worked great for all around temperature control. You were still hot, but it could've been worse. If you found a body of water later, it'd help cool you off completely.

It'd have to be freshwater though. There were a lot of devil fruit users on the ship and everyone had a habit of giving you pats. It'd be almost mean to let them touch you if you were covered in salt water. Not to mention it left your fur feeling gritty when it dried off. Ocean water was not kind to your coat.

You were so lost in thought about finding a place to take a dip in, that you didn't see the collection of children slowly creeping towards you until one was directly in front of you. You blinked at the little girl who was staring up at you curiously. With you laying down, she could almost look you directly in the eye. Two boys were with her, one was approaching you from the side while the other was engrossed with your tail. The tip of it was flopping around as it normally did when you were waiting on something or someone. It was an automatic action you went through without thinking about.

"Are you a good doggie?" The girl spoke up.

You returned your gaze to her. When was the last time you dealt with kids? It had to have been some time before getting stuck as you were. These three in particular didn't appear to be scared of you, simply curious.

You lowered your head to her level and nodded. If a grown adult would have asked the same thing, you would have given attitude. You weren't a dog and suggesting as much was insulting. But a kid didn't know any better so you'd let it slide.

She broke into a wide smile, showing off a couple gaps where she was missing teeth. Oh the joys of growing up.

"You're a smart one too!" She said gleefully. "Are you a pirate?"

Another nod.

"That's so cool!" One of the boys chirped.

They had refrained from touching you until now, but armed with the knowledge that you were apparently a "good dog," they no longer held back. Almost simultaneously, the girl held on to your neck and buried her face in the thick fur, the boy to your side started clambering up your back, and the last did what he could to lift your heavy tail and hold it to his chest.

You prided yourself in being able to handle any situation that was thrown at you but nothing prepared you for an attack of affection from a group of strange children. They squealed in delight as they started petting you and treating you like their own personal playground. All you could do was stay put and hope one of them didn't poke out an eye. If you got up, you were sure one of them would take a tumble and you weren't about to hurt a kid.

So you did your best to shepard them, keeping them from tugging at your ears or yanking too hard at your fur.

"Roll over!" One of the boys huffed, pushing at your hip.

You weren't about to do that. That was until the other to joined in on making the same demand, bouncing around and trying to drag you down to the grass. With an annoyed groan, you flopped onto your side and the onslaught continued. They moved on to marveling at your huge paws, poking at the pads and admiring the length of your claws. They weren't all that sharp, being on the move all the time kept them wore down and relatively dull.

From there they moved on to smacking your side like a drum and pushing at your lips to see your fangs. That was followed by shrill, excited giggles. The big bad wolf had monstrous teeth but was bending over backwards to let kids play all over her. It had to be a sight to see.

"What do we have going on here-yoi?" Marco walked out of the shop with a new pouch strapped to his hip. It smelled strongly of a mix of herbs you weren't familiar with.

You flopped back over, accidentally pinning one of the children under a paw in the process.

"We was playin' with your dog mister." The boy under you said, trying to wiggle out. You lifted your paw and he scrambled to his feet, giving you a pat on the muzzle.

"Really?" He had a sly look on his face that told you everyone was going to know about this by the end of the day. Great.

"Where'd you find such a weird dog anyway?" The girl asked, pulling at your whiskers until your face was close enough for her to smoosh between her tiny hands.

"Just some island all by herself. Pretty, isn't she-yoi?"

They all nodded eagerly in agreement. You let out a string of garbled growly noises in protest. Compliments were hard to take, especially ones like that.

"Thanks for keeping her company kiddos." He chuckled. "I think she's ready to head out."

You got up and padded after him as he headed out to one of the other islands, the sounds of disappointed children saying their goodbyes behind you.

"Kids huh-yoi?" Marco nudged at you as you approached a large bridge connecting one land mass to the next.

You huffed at him.

"They were quite fond of you."

It was your turn to nudge him, pushing your nose between his shoulder blades to make him stumble a bit.

"You liked the attention and you know it." He laughed.

With that, you marched ahead of him, thoroughly embarrassed.

"Oh come on, no need to pout-yoi!"

He jogged to catch up but you picked up the speed.

"Seriously?" He huffed, breaking into a run.

Now it was a game. The tip of your tail flicked around and your muscles were tense, demanding for you to go even faster. Instead, you kept just out of reach, letting out playful yips as he kept trying to catch up. You enjoyed having people around again.

----

You explored the uninhabited parts of the islands, stumbling across interesting wildlife among the wooded areas. Eventually you found a river and jumped into it, rolling around in the water until your coat was thoroughly soaked. Marco wasn't impressed when you shook yourself of and covered him in the water as well. At least it was fresh water.

The whole archipelago was built interestingly, each island connecting to at least two others with large, resilient bridges. The one the Moby Dick was docked at was one of three that was populated. The others were dedicated to plant and wildlife. You'd been to places like Sabaody but it just wasn't the same as this place. It was definitely much more relaxed here. But at the same time, that made it rather dull. There wasn't really anything of note. That didn't make it a bad stop though, you enjoyed having some time back on land, especially in a small forest. The wolf in you loved that kind of environment.

When you got back to the ship, most of the rest of the crew was already there. Whitebeard was back in his usual spot, Thatch was hidden away in the kitchen, making food for the evening, many of the others were gathered into small groups, drinking and trading stories they'd probably heard a thousand times before. They greeted you and Marco as you mingled and it made you question why you thought they'd even leave you behind. You all got along pretty well.

"Anyone want to hear about the run in (Y/n) and I had today?" Marco grinned mischievously as he earned the attention of half the men on the deck.

You let out a warning growl. They'd all tease you non-stop if they heard this story.

"What kind of run in?" Ace perked up. He was fast asleep sitting up on a barrel a second ago, now he hopped over, full of energy.

"Was it a fight? I feel bad for the guy who thought it was a good idea to take you two on." Teach, another one of the more seasoned members of the crew laughed jovially.

"Nah, it wasn't a fight. But you could say (Y/n) was outmatched-yoi."

"Let's hear it then." Whitebeard encouraged.

"Well, we went to the apoth–"

That ended in a grunt as you knocked him over and pinned him with your tail, sitting by him innocently.

"Ohhhhh I think (Y/n)'s embarrassed by it. We gotta hear this now." Ace started trying to push you away from Marco who was struggling under the weight of your tail. He could've slipped out from under it in his phoenix form if he tried.

You didn't budge no matter how hard Ace tried. You had weight on him.

"This shouldn't be so heavy-yoi!" Marco managed to lift your tail a bit before you forced it back down.

Crewmates watched it all happen like it was a show put on just for them, laughing and making bets on how things would end. You looked around at all the smiling faces and thought about how chasing down Whitebeard's ship was probably the best choice you'd made in a long time.

Things were more peaceful on this lively ship than they ever were on Hillrose. Or maybe even more so than they ever were before that. You could get used to this.