-Whitebeard POV-

Honestly, what are my brats getting themselves into? First Ace going after Blackbeard and now Lilith disappearing. The minute Ace's vivre card started to burn I got an angry den den mushi call demanding to know what was going on in very colorful language. I had never been on the receiving end of one of these calls before but I'd seen her make some on occasion. Lilith could be quite intimidating when she put her mind to it. Apparently she hadn't heard about Thatch because she flipped out and had to force herself to stop ranting about how she's told him to give her a vivre card. When she finally understood the situation, which took longer than it had to because she kept interrupting me to swear loudly, I could practically hear her frowning.

'I can't just storm into this one' she said, 'I'll be right there. Give me five minutes.'

The second she arrived aboard the Moby Dick she started drawing a map of Marineford and barking orders, calling in all the Division Commanders and as many allied captains as could fit in the room, reaching some of them via den den mushi. She nearly broke Marco's wrist when he touched a corner and smudged it complaining that it would distract her forever now. Lilith spent a week planning or 'scheming' as she called it, recalling names abilities and ranks of what must have been half of the Navy. Her main complaint was that a lot of what she knew would be outdated, but the raw amount of information she was giving was remarkable. She knew more about the Navy than I did.

I'd asked her how she knew all this.

"Because," Lilith said, craning her neck slightly to look me in the eyes, "Akainu is - or was - my stepfather. He trained me for two years to become a Marine before we had a 'disagreement' and he tried to kill me. That was ten years ago, so my information is probably outdated, but it's better than nothing and most of the information I have on the Warlords is more up-to-date so it's the best I can do." She returned her attention to the map, "Now one of the first things we have to do is take out the artillery, they're located-"

"So you're just going to drop that bombshell and we're not going to talk about it?" Marco asked. "And why do you want revenge so bad over a disagreement?"

Lilith sighed and rolled her eyes at him. "If I didn't have a good reason then I wouldn't be training every day of my life you stupid pineapple."

"And that reason is?" Marco was being more inquisitive than usual, but nobody could blame him. Lilith had never talked about her past before. He even disregarded the pineapple comment.

"Here's the short version," she said. "He killed my mother and destroyed my life. He even kicked my puppy once. I hate him as much as a person can be hated. Now that your curiosity has been satisfied, can we please return our attention to the matter at hand? I would prefer to focus on saving Ace than my past." Marco stopped asking questions.

It was the first I'd heard of Lilith's past, anything having to do with Akainu and the Navy anyway. I'd always known she had a troubled past since day one.

"Oi, Pops, I brought a friend. Can she crash here?" Ace asked.

Ace was here with a girl? "Sure she can," I said. It wasn't like we didn't have enough space on the ship. "What's her name?" I asked.

"Lilith," he replied simply.

"Just Lilith?"

"She said that she refuses to accept the last name her stepfather gave her and doesn't remember her real one."

Now that was just curious. "Did she say why?"

"Only that it was a long story and she didn't want to bore me, though I think it's just that she didn't want to talk about it."

And then there was the time she'd told me about her father, or lack of father rather. It had started with me offering for her to be part of my family.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea." Lilith said simply. She'd obviously thought about it before. "I would like to - don't get me wrong - but I'd be more trouble than I'm worth. I plan on destroying Akainu and that would be a lot of trouble for you guys. Or I'd get too comfortable and forget what I'm training for. What he did is not something I will allow myself to forgive. Staying here permanently would mean either abandoning my revenge or knowingly putting my comrades in danger. I refuse to do either. And I value my independence. Staying would inevitably carry responsibilities that I don't want. So no. As tempting as it is and as much as I want to, no. I'm better off on my own."

I laughed. "You are a very stubborn girl."

She smiled, but it was a little sad. "My mom always said that I was like my father that way… I wouldn't know. I've never met him. He doesn't even know I exist." Lilith pulled out a necklace that I had never noticed because it was hidden under her shirt. She carefully unclasped it and showed it to me. I had to lean down to see. There was a small silver ring with two small diamonds framing a large sapphire in her hand, clearly meant for a woman. It looked like an engagement ring, but I'll admit I wouldn't know the difference. "This was a gift to my mom from my father." Lilith replaced the ring around her neck. Apparently, she'd everything that she planned to because she turned to the door. Reaching it, she paused. "Thank you. I don't think I said that yet."

"Always," I answered. Lilith turned to me and grinned before she left.

Looking back I should have known that Lilith was planning to go off on her own, although I still wasn't sure what she was doing now. She'd ensured that everybody knew all her plans and backup plans, not directly involving herself in any of them. She gave everyone an objective and a collection of warnings, people to look out for and ideal targets. Mihawk would, reportedly, not try to actually fight, just test the waters a little but Jozu might be able to block him. Kizaru would not have planned ahead and would jump at the chance to end it quickly and would likely attack me. Marco was under orders just to push him back and not to piss him off. Lilith's greatest concern of course was her stepfather. She called him a crafty shifty bastard among other things and insisted that he be drawn out at all costs, saying that the longer he could watch the more he would know and the worse the damage would become. Lilith even gave me orders, but I'll admit that forcing Aokiji to use Ice Age was a stroke of genius, opening the way for close-quarters combat and making it easier to reach the execution platform.

I felt sick at the thought. Nobody would be allowed to hurt my son. Not Sengoku or anyone else.


-Marco POV-

"I can't possibly eat this," Lilith said, staring at the fruit in her hands with the greatest seriousness. Her bangs obscured her eyes.

"Why not?" Ace asked, "Are you allergic to pineapple or something?"

"No, no," she said, "It's just that- I couldn't bear to eat Marco's children."

I think I choked on my booze. "What?!"

Lilith held the pineapple out to me earnestly. "This is your egg, isn't it?" Thatch and Ace were practically rolling on the ground laughing. So was everyone else.

"That is not my egg," I said frankly.

"There's no need to be shy about it," she said. Maybe she seriously thinks it's my egg. How else could she keep such a straight face? "Who's the mother."

"There is no mother," I was trying very hard not to yell at her, but it wasn't working.

"Really?" Lilith blinked innocently. "Then who's the father? I'll admit, I didn't know you swung that way, but that's fine. I don't judge."

"GIVE ME THE FREAKING PINEAPPLE!" I shouted and lunged forward. Lilith danced back, and somehow I ended up chasing her across the deck, much to the amusement of the rest of the commanders and crew. Lilith dove under stools and narrowly dodged moving limbs with the grace of a dancer, laughing all the while and holding the god forsaken pineapple to her chest like a medal of honor. I was significantly less graceful and managed to overturn more than a few people's meals and even a few people. Lilith dove under something and I dove after her, finally managing to grab her by the ankle. "Gotcha!" I shouted.

"What are you two doing?" Pops's deep voice came from directly over us. I realized Lilith had hidden under his chair. Lilith wiggled out of my grasp and stood before whitebeard. I think I saw tears at the corner of her eyes.

"Oh, Whitebeard, it's horrible! Marco's a cannibal who eats his own young!" she held up the pineapple. "And he won't tell me who the father is!"

Whitebeard just laughed.

Now, of course, Lilith was a year or two older and slightly more mature, but still. It was hard to believe that, wherever she was, that she would keep out of trouble. Despite the fact that she had always refused to join the Whitebeards, I looked on her like a little sister, and I wasn't the only one. Lilith was just as much family as anyone else. And I knew this was hard on her.

Not only was she worried about Ace, but I guessed that she was trying to protect everyone else too and that's why she was nowhere to be seen. It was hard on her to see people getting hurt, despite her strength, so she tried to do everything herself. Whatever she was doing and wherever she was I knew Lilith would be trying to protect us somehow. But this fight was inevitable. And, eventually, she would almost undoubtedly face Akainu. Lilith had always refused to tell me why she wanted revenge on the guy until just a few days ago. There was obviously more to the story but I felt like I couldn't push her right then. She had enough to worry about with Ace in danger, I couldn't dredge up the past then of all times. Lilith wasn't ready for this fight, and I think she knew it.

Lilith had taken Thatch's death badly. That is to say, she had refused to accept it or to even think about it. She had charged ahead, barking orders and drawing diagrams at a furious pace. I thought she was going to rip my arm off when I'd accidentally smudged a corner of one map. Before a week ago, I'd never realized how smart Lilith was. Her 'scheming' as she called it gleefully was nothing short of genius. But I could see a shadow in the back of her eyes, like something was haunting her. I don't think Lilith got a wink of sleep the entire week she spent on the ship, she just ordered everybody else to sleep and continued scheming, pouring over papers she'd drawn and written up from memory, ten years later.

"People not to be fucked around with," Lilith read off a freshly handwritten piece of paper. "Sengoku: I got punched once. It takes a serious defense just to survive. Akainu: Two fronts to worry about there. (1) The Magu Magu Fruit makes him a serious monster and (2) he's a strategist, a thinker. Reveal as little about your abilities as possible and don't listen to anything he says because almost all of it it lies or selective truth. Kizaru: the Pika Pika fruit makes him powerful, obviously, but he won't get serious unless you do. If you can avoid pissing him off you should be okay. Aokiji: Probably more powerful than Akainu but easily the least threatening of the three. He's actually a nice guy. If he freezes you max out on the Armament Haki and you should be fine. Doffy - er, Doflamingo: the Ito Ito fruit lets him control people. If you see anybody going crazy, you go after him, but be careful. He's clever but he likes to cheat, especially at chess…" Lilith spoke on for hours, briefly listing our greatest adversaries, their basic personalities and abilities. Then she sighed and sat down.

"What's up?" I asked, "Did you forget someone?" It seemed both impossible, considering Lilith's enormous brain, and likely because it was such a massive list.

"Sort of, but not really," Lilith was staring at the ceiling and making an uncomfortable face. "My uncle will probably be there, and I'm not sure how to deal with that."

"You have an uncle?" Vista asked.

"On my mother's side," Lilith explained not looking up. "I'm not sure how to react. He's a good person, but sometimes I fear that he's a better Marine, you know. I mean, he didn't look for me when… everything happened. But he was always pretty cool when I was a kid."

"If you like your uncle then tell us who he is and we'll try to make sure he doesn't get killed," I offered.

"Commodore Smoker," Lilith said simply, closing the subject. She didn't say that she was grateful but I knew we all understood it anyway. Lilith took a deep breathe. "On the subject of people who shouldn't die," she said sitting up and returning her attention to the table, "We've got to try and find a way to keep Oars from charging in. He makes too much of an easy target and I can think of probably twenty people who can take him out with a single blow if he gets close enough. The issue though is…"

Yeah. Lilith was a smart girl. And she was strong. And she was obsessed with becoming stronger, spending every second of her free time training. Free time was anytime that didn't include eating, sleeping or partying. She was incredibly dedicated and determined and that was admirable. But she had a tendency to push herself too hard too soon and overextend herself. Whatever she was doing and wherever she was I hoped this wasn't one of those times.