(A/n)
Took about an hour to do a headshot~ I made her palette a tad muted for it and it came out hella cute.

The men jumped as you knocked what had to look like your victim to the ground and sunk your teeth in his throat. If you could've talked, you were pretty sure you would have explained some things to justify yourself. One does not simply let their attackers go without punishment. Your punishment was just more strict than some people would probably like. It didn't matter. You were guardian here so your forest, your rules.

With the problem taken care of, you walked back to the river and did your best to clean your face off in it. You were supposed to be human technically but it didn't matter where blood came from when you were in this form. It all got to be enticing to you at times and you weren't sure you liked that. It was one thing when animal blood got you excited, and another when it belonged to another human. Your wolf side told you it didn't matter, a meal was a meal. But your human side was much more logical, had more morals. It made it harder some days to feel like a person than others.

When you were sure most, if not all the of your fur was clean, you shook yourself and turned back to the men. Water clung to your fur and made your already heavy coat feel heavier. Droplets fell from you and soaked into the earth below your feet.

"So you're not going to pick a fight with us?" The black haired man asked good naturedly.

You didn't expect them to stick around and actually want to try talking. You figured they'd high tail it. It was both amusing and interesting. You shook your head no. They hadn't given you a reason to fight so you'd let them be.

"What are you?" The brunette approached cautiously. You let him get up to a couple feet away from you and backed up a bit. Getting cozy with the pirates wasn't your goal but you could be civil. You'd planed on staying out of sight originally but that obviously wasn't going to work anymore.

You didn't know how to answer his question a yes or no was easy enough to give but you couldn't explain things. It took you a moment to think up a way to respond and you ended up doing so by getting a little closer to paw at his shoulder and sit down in front of him. You want to say you were human, like him.

"I don't get it." He frowned.

You repeated the action, placing a paw over his chest.

"She can't talk but she understands us well enough-yoi." The tired looking blonde said.

"Maybe pops will know something." The black haired man shrugged.

"Whaddya say, wanna head to town with us?" The brunette offered with a smile.

The idea of someone else understanding what you were was exciting. If they knew that much, they may be able to help you out. You nodded, not wanting to pass this chance up. They were nice enough to follow around for a bit and you knew the Whitebeard pirates weren't known for being overly aggressive. This could work.

"We still need to bring back food-yoi." The blonde said. "Pops will tan our hides if we go back empty handed."

If it was food they needed, you could help them with that. Hunting was your forte after all.

You got up with a huff and sniffed around, searching for the scent of a deer. Being by the river, it didn't take long to find a relatively recent trail. You motioned for the men to follow with a jerk of the head and they followed you off further into the woods. It was strange that they chose to trust you without even knowing what you were but it was also refreshing. You didn't spook them and they found no reason to start trouble. It was nice.

----

Maybe you'd gotten a little too polite with the pirates. They'd introduced themselves to you like it mattered that you got to know them and talked your ear off the whole time you were trying to help them hunt. You eventually had to shut them up by growling and nipping in their direction each time one of them opened their mouths. At least the blonde, Marco stayed pretty quiet. He seemed to understand the importance of keeping silent to catch anything.

It took a couple hours to get enough kills for them to be content and then they had the gall to ask if you could carry some for them. You wished you said no, but in reality you walked out of the forest with them, a couple deer flopped over your back. At least the kills were clean. You let them take care of the real work and they did it without actually shedding any blood. That meant your coat stayed clean.

It'd been a while since you last walked through town so the villagers were a little on edge but they didn't hide when they noticed you were with some of Whitebeard crew. They kept their eyes averted whenever you'd stare at one of them though, like you'd take eye contact as a challenge. That may be the case for other animals, but you weren't so aggressive.

"Pops is on the ship, we'll take you to him and see if he can set some things straight-yoi." Marco assured you as he fell in step beside you. The other two were a bit ahead, goofing off and shoving each other around playfully.

You nodded to Marco. It'd been forever since you'd last stepped foot on a ship and you were looking forward to it. You missed life at sea. After you lost the ability to transform freely, the crew you were travelling with left you behind. Sure you planned on spending time alone to figure out how to fix your issue, but you didn't want to leave your crew forever. They apparently had other thoughts and dropped you faster than yesterday's bad news. It left you moody for a while but you eventually decided they weren't worth moping over.

The brunette, Thatch, waited for you to get on board the ship before taking the deer off your back. He had the black haired man, Ace, take what he couldn't carry and they carted them off. You shook your fur back into place and trotted after Marco. He led you further onto deck, ignoring the stares from his crew mates.

"Hey Pops, we found something interesting." He called to a giant of a man sitting on a large chair.

The seat was near the end of the deck, far from the front. You assumed the man in it, Pops as Marco called him, had to be captain Whitebeard himself. He held a whole barrel of alcohol to his lips and was drinking it like there was nothing better. You sat by the blonde and waited for him to pay attention to the two of you.

"Indeed you have." Whitebeard balanced the barrel on his thigh and bent down a bit to look at you. There was a glint of interest in his eyes and a playful smile on his face. The man seemed good natured. "Your kind are hard to come by." He addressed you.

The man definitely could tell what you were and that was exciting. It was the closest thing you'd had to hope of getting back to normal in a long time. Your tail flicked around, showing your good mood. He chuckled a bit at the sight.

"You must be what the people have been calling the forest guardian around here. That makes sense, given your appearance."

"What is she pops?" Marco asked.

"A druid. They're quite rare and ones in her position are even more unheard of."

"In her position-yoi?"

"She's lost." Whitebeard replied gruffly. "Druids are human with the exception of the ability to take on strange animal forms. They're often considered to be the embodiment of balance between humans and nature. Sometimes they can lose that balance in themselves and when that happens, their inner beast takes over. They lose their power to go between forms freely and are considered 'lost' until they can find their balance again."

"I think I've heard you mention Druids before now that you mention it-yoi." Marco tapped his chin as he looked you over with understanding. "If she's technically human that makes sense for why she understands us so well."

Whitebeard seemed to have the answers you needed. You stood back up and huffed at him, shifting your weight from one paw to another with impatience. He'd get the picture. You hoped at least.

"You want answers?" He growled at you. "I can tell them to you, but it's your job to fix the mess you've put yourself in."

You nodded. It wasn't quite clear to you how all this was your fault like he was suggesting, but you could forget about him insinuating that if it meant knowing how to get back to normal.

"There are two ways for a lost Druid to find their way back to proper balance between their human and beast halves; either righting the wrong that caused the initial imbalance or traveling to the Druid homeland. There's said to be some sort of 'cure' there."

Great. You don't know what caused all this. As far as you knew, it just happened for no reason. That meant the first option wasn't really all that plausible for your situation. But the second could be doable if you had some sort of transportation. Maybe a certain pirate ship perhaps. The hard part was getting that you needed a ride across to him. You hoped he was good at charades.

You pawed at the ship deck and plopped yourself down, making a show of it as you pointed out to sea with your nose, pinning your ears back at the same time before looking back at him. Whitebeard frowned.

"Are you suggesting going out to sea?"

You nodded.

"On my ship?"

Yep.

"To find your cure?"

He wasn't half bad at this.

He erupted into a loud fit of laughter, startling both you and Marco. The blonde looked like he knew where this was going.

"You aren't a shy one." Whitebeard settled into chuckles. "But as I said, you're on your own solving this. I have no problem directing a lost soul but I won't babysit a foolish pup."

"She's not bad pops. The townsfolk seem to talk highly of her. If we're already out in the New–"

"The answer is no." Whitebeard cut him off. "She got herself into this mess, she can get herself out."

You didn't know how this even happened to you. One second you had full control, the next you didn't. He knew nothing about that and as far as you were concerned, that meant he had no room to base decisions on on information that wasn't right.

You began to lose your patience, letting a small, frustrated growl out and showing a bit of teeth. But this wasn't worth getting in a fight over, not if it was one you couldn't win. The best thing you could do was leave and give yourself some time to cool off. Then you could think things over and find a way for him to let you on his ship.

Marco stepped out of the way, almost stumbling over his feet as you shoved past and headed back down to the docks. No one said a word as you passed and you knew it was childish to be angry over this. Whitebeard owed you nothing. He was well within his rights to deny you a spot on his ship. It was out of the kindness of his heart that he told you what he did.

Or maybe kindness wasn't the right word. He could have pitied you. And somehow, that just made you more angry. You didn't want pity, you wanted solutions. And you'd be damned if you weren't going to find them.