(A/n)
My dumbass made a mistake with the new CS for Annie. The gold on her face is supposed to extend to her lower jaw, not stop at the upper one. I'll fix that in the future as I was at least smart enough to save a file of that piece without the collapsed layers. It'll be an easy fix when I decide to stop being lazy and work on some art.

"Are you boys heading out to the forest?" A sweet looking older woman asked the pirates.

"Yeah, we were thinking of seeing if we could take some of the wild game with us if that's alright-yoi" The blonde one responded with a lazy smile on his lips.

They'd been on the island for three days now and were preparing to leave in the morning. Now that they had a few of their provisions restocked, they were almost ready to go. All they had to do now was get some food and then they'd be good to set sail.

"I don't think that'll be a problem, just don't get carried away and steer clear of the castle ruins."

"What's at the ruins?" The younger, black haired pirate asked. His freckled face was alight with curiosity.

"That's were our guardian lives. She's not keen on visitors usually." The woman looked the men up and down. "I'm quite sure she's been keeping an eye on all of you."

Now that she mentioned it, the blonde could definitely feel that something was indeed watching him, or at least the surrounding area.

"Is she pretty? The guardian?" The third and final pirate asked. His brown hair was tucked into a neatly styled pompadour that was too stiff from product to move much. He peered out into the woods, like he'd catch sight of this fabled guardian.

"Oh very. But-"

"Well would you look at the time! Why don't we hurry up and get started? Don't want to make pops wait too long for us." The brown haired man said as he rushed his friends in the direction of the trees.

When they were out of earshot, the black haired man turned to him excitedly. "We're totally going to go see her, right?"

"Why can't you two just leave the woman alone-yoi?" The blonde sighed but went along anyway.

----

Three days of watching the town non-stop. In that time, the pirates had partied with the townsfolk, wandered around the nearby fields, spent time huddled up on their ship, and basically did nothing of interest. It made you almost regret staying awake the entire time to watch them. You were beyond tired now but at least you were sure that the pirates didn't pose a threat.

You'd spent most of the time hovering around the offering spot as it was the best place to watch the pirates without drawing attention to yourself. It was best if they didn't see you or saw you as little as possible. And your plan was to keep it that way. You felt it was fine to leave them to do their own thing without supervision and decided to head back home. A good rest was well overdue.

You took your time heading back, moseying along as your body moved sluggishly. It took some serious effort getting up to your sunbathing spot and the second you were there, you let yourself sprawl out comfortably and almost immediately passed out. You weren't worried about the pirates coming into the forest if they even decided to do that. They probably wouldn't bother you and it's not like they could spot you from down below as it is.

----

The early morning had faded into a warm afternoon and you woke for the second time in only a few short days, completely on edge. It was a little different this time though. Last time you knew there was something new on the island without knowing it's purpose. This time, something felt dangerous. Your hackles rose as an involuntary growl passed your lips, teeth baring at the unseen trouble.

This was a lot more change going on at one time than you were used to and it was beginning to get under your skin. You got up and sniffed the air. There were definitely a couple new scents. Both were mixed, like they were comprised of groups of people. You couldn't break it down to how many in each group but you could say the first was farther off and coming from the direction of town. That was probably Whitebeard pirates.

The second came from the opposite end of the island and was a bit closer. That confused you. Hillrose was sloped and if the scent was coming from that direction, it meant the people had to climb some rather sheer rocks to get on the island. Anyone going that far out of their way to avoid the town had to be trouble and that was probably what had you on edge. It didn't make sense that they'd do that.

There was nothing else of note here. If they wanted to pillage they didn't need to sneak up on the townsfolk and there were no Marines to hide from. That was unless they were avoiding something else entirely. Possibly a certain guardian. Maybe news of you had spread to other people making their stops here. That seemed like a somewhat plausible reason.

It was worth investigating at least. You wanted the townspeople in one piece and you didn't tolerate sneaks. The nap you took wasn't long, but it made you feel good enough to chase off a few pirates no problem. You could rest again when the job was done.

With that, you hopped down, moving quickly so you could go around the group and catch them from behind. If they wanted to sneak around, you could too. You circled around widely and took your time picking through underbrush to get in closer behind them. With each passing minute, the one large scent had broken down into five distinct ones and you were able to catch glimpses of the people. Three men and two women. All were armed with guns and knives and moving pretty quietly for a bunch of humans.

Still, their footsteps seemed heavy in comparison to yours. You were bigger but paws made much less noise than their boots and you knew the terrain so much better than they ever could.

You were surprised to see they had other things with them. Chains and nets. It made your lips curl into a silent snarl. They sure knew about you and from the looks of it, you were actually their target. That pissed you off. If they thought they were tough enough to take you on, they had another thing coming.

Now was a good time to show them how outmatched they were. You'd start by giving them a bit of a spook. You let your feet fall heavier with each step and made just enough noise to draw attention while being fast enough to stay out of sight. Soon enough, they were all looking for the source of noise. Heads whipped about, hands gripped the stocks of guns tightly. A couple went for their chains, letting them sway back and forth and clatter together, like that was supposed to scare you.

It was working for you though. They all slowly gained wide eyed, fearful looks and gravitated towards each other for protection. You circled a little closer, letting them catch flashes of your colorful hide so they'd know just what was hunting them. Now they got jumpy. One of them, a male, pulled out his gun and shot frantically wherever he caught sight of you.

The others tried to stop him so he'd conserve ammo but they couldn't do much to keep an armed man from doing what he wanted. If you were in your human form, you would've been laughing at them. They came around to catch you, yet they jump at the slightest glimpse of your fleeting form.

When they were all pressed together, forming a tight outward facing circle, you moved in even closer. You brushed your body against them with each pass and they brandished their knives in response, hoping to catch you with their blades and deter you. It wouldn't work though. The knives were too small to get past your coat properly. They were more like annoying stickers that clung to you.

Now it was time to get the job done. You circled them once again, out of sight until you were sure they were thoroughly confused. Then you rushed in, knocking one of them off their feet and dragging them away from the group. The man in your teeth screamed for a moment and then was quickly silenced as you bit down into the soft flesh of his throat. Your fangs sliced through him like a knife through warm butter. It was easy and quick. Probably almost painless for the man as well.

You wouldn't tolerate pirates coming to fuck with you. But you could show enough mercy to give them a fast death. As soon as he slumped over in your hold, you released him and disappeared from the now smaller group's view again. And you kept going at them the same way, one by one until only two were left, a woman and a man. They stood, back to back as they shuffled around, heads whipping from side to side in hopes of catching sight of you before you came in for another kill.

Their breath came in quick pants, almost gasps, as their fear ran rampant. You debated just chasing them off, but this was one of those times when it was better to be seen as ruthless. You didn't care for it but it'd mean people would think twice before bothering you. And that was what mattered. People could call you a monster all they wanted, as long as they did it from afar.

With that in mind, you lunged at the last two intruders and made to grab the woman. She seemed to be a little more collected than her partner so it made sense for her to go down first. But right as you got close enough to see the whites of her eyes and make out the finer details of her face, something wrapped around your neck and yanked back. Hard.

You were jerked backwards and sent tumbling a few feet before you regained your footing and looked down. There was a heavy metal chain pressing tightly into your fur and at the other end of it, was a large man. He looked like nothing more than a muscle bound idiot but said idiot had a hold on you.

You wondered what that made you.

Fury bubbled up as you realized there was more than just him. Five others were circling you and you didn't even notice that they were there. What kind of sad excuse of a predator were you?

With a snarl, you snagged the chain in your teeth and pulled the man towards you. He fell to his knees and skidded across the forest floor, completely taken off guard. You made one mistake but you wouldn't make a second. Play time was over and everyone present was going to be ripped apart by your fangs.

One of the others moved to stab you with a spear and you jumped out of the way, towards the man who still had a death grip on the other end of the chain. Your back paw landed on his head and it was quickly crushed under your weight. The last two people from the first group had fled which meant there was only five others left for you to fight, then you could chase them down.

The spearman lunged at you again and you twisted yourself to the side, snapping the weapon up in your teeth and breaking it like a dry twig. That didn't deter him though. He grabbed the head of the broken spear and jabbed it at your face. You went to crush him under a paw but you were dragged back by the chain again.

Someone else had a hold of it and this was really starting to get old. You whirled your head around and snarled at the culprit. The man with the spear was still attempting to stab through your thick fur and struggling. The one holding the chain had devolved into a terrified, whimpering mess but he refused to let go. You decided to take them both out at the same time. Your body twisted and your tail slammed into the one with the spear, sending him tumbling. At the same time, you snapped up the other by the middle and shook him roughly.

Your teeth shredded his belly and when you flung him to the side, he hit the ground limply, blood quickly pooling under him. The other you'd hit was still some distance away, out cold. That left the last four.

They were all circling you slowly. They'd dropped their spears and opted for guns and swords instead. It seemed they were smarter than the rest and were learning what wasn't effective quickly. Your hide was thick, but you weren't impenetrable. Bullets would definitely hurt and a well handled sword could cut if aimed at the right spot. You'd adapted to your weaknesses though.

They had guns drawn but you wouldn't say it was smart to have them pointed into their little circle they created. One bad shot and they'd hit a friend. That'd be a real shame. You focused on the one holding a shotgun. The range was short but the spray that'd come from a shot fired out of it would be no joke.

You growled at them, pinning your ears back and puffing up your hackles. Their finger went to the trigger and you leapt. The shot rang out and the other men let out screams of pain. Someone had gotten hit but it wasn't you. You landed right on the gunner, knocking his weapon to the side and crunching down on his skull as you raked your nails down his front. Three to go.

Before the rest could recover, you snatched up the chain still wrapped around your neck and whipped the end around. It hit two of them. The first took the chain straight to the shins, driving him to his knees while the second was clipped in the jaw and stumbled back, temporarily dazed. The last one was doubled over on the ground, grasping at their chest as it leaked blood. The shotgunner had ended up taking them out.

You shimmied out of the chains and made quick work of the remainder of them, snapping their necks for easy deaths. You weren't happy to leave the bodies lying about but the local carnivores would show up eventually to clean up. The smell of fresh blood would be too enticing to pass up on.

There were still the last two you had to hunt down and kill. They'd ran in the direction of town interestingly enough. If they were smarter they would have headed back to their ship but you weren't going to complain about them making your job easier.

You set off with a fast paced trot, working to catch their scents through the thick smell of blood. Your face was covered in the stuff and it made it hard to try picking out other smells. Lucky for you, it was easy to see their tracks. They'd stirred up a lot of dirt and trampled plenty of plants in their rush to get away.

As soon as you were certain you had the right trail, you picked up speed and started running after them. Stealth was pointless now so you sped towards them without caring about how much noise you were making. They'd hear you coming but wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

They soon came into sight and you threw yourself at one of them, tumbling over the forest floor and into the river they were about to cross. You'd caught the woman and lucky enough, you didn't have to do anything else with her. Slipping into the river had led to her hitting one of the rocks in it hard enough to split her skull. You pulled her body out of the water and tossed it back onto dry ground. It wouldn't look good to ruin the town's water supply with corpses.

The last man had stopped. He was panting hard, eyes wildly scanning his environment for an escape. But there wasn't one. You were actually surprised to see he was stuck between you and a group of three men who had stumbled across the scene. They had to be the ones you scented earlier, from the Whitebeard pirates. They looked to the man and back at you and one of them suddenly chuckled.

He stared at you through half lidded eyes and nudged the brunette beside him. "You know, the lady never mentioned if their guardian was human or not-yoi."

"Oh, yeah I guess you're right. She didn't." The brunette looked almost disappointed.

"Still pretty though." The black haired man of the group added.

You let out a huff of air in their direction and turned back to the matter at hand. You'd finish your job and then deal with them. After shaking the water from your coat, you lunged at your last attacker.