(A/N) Has it really been more than a month since I posted another chapter? Wow, I just disappointed myself. Due to the extended (and purely accidental) break, I attempted to write a longer chapter, but I feel like the first half is kind of redundant. So what's more important, word count or contents? Now when you're writing a five paragraph essay, I say word count. But when it comes to fanfic, it's usually content. My usual expectations were a bit blurred this time around, but in the future I will keep to my beliefs! (or at least I'll try)

LB

Chapter 24

Third POV

In times like these, Mila savored her devil fruit. What would have ended up being a painfully long and awkwardly silent trek to the ship to meet Whitebeard, was shortened with a quick blink to the ship while Marco flew Izo and Thatch ran. Marco could have easily carried both Thatch and Izo, but Thatch thought he could outrace both Mila and Marco. He may or may not have been still buzzed from the party, which happened to be cut short by the Marine's arrival.

Mila naturally reached the ship before both Marco and Thatch. She appeared atop the mast, balancing on her toes to avoid falling into the calming frenzy buzzing below her. The constant hum of activity that the ship was lacking earlier was made up with the hectic state of the deck now. Her crew brothers were hurriedly rushing from place to place, every so often someone would dive from the ship and head to the island for battle or someone would leap onto the ship, giving reports on the raging war taking place on the island. No one stayed still for long. The comforting chaos of home.

Mila let her legs hang over the edge of the mast as Marco's shadow descended upon her. The people on the desk cleared a landing strip for Marco and Izo. The nice sense of clam that had blanketed Mila was dispelled as easily as it had wrapped around her. The moxy that Thatch had dubbed upon her was nowhere in sight. Mila pushed herself off of the mast and fell to the deck, blinking to the deck before she could make impact. She fell into step besides Marco as he transformed into his human form. Izo not lagging far behind. Crew brothers pelted Marco and Izo for instructions or reports, but the two stayed solemnly quiet, their steely gazes locked on the path in front of them. A super freaky and scary duo.

Crew brothers shot Mila a questioning look. Mila could just shrug her shoulders. She didn't actually know what they were questioning, could they be wondering why even Marco looked like he had a stick up his ass or could they be questioning why the Marines wanted her so badly. The only thing she could do was shrug. What else could she possibly say or do otherwise.

Most doors on the Moby Dick were tall, better to accommodate their huge captain, but the door to his office and personal quarters were straight daunting. A perfect size to make a small girl feel even smaller.

Using his sturdy arms, Marco heaved it open. Mila had never once opened those daunting doors manually, always opting for the quick blink inside, and to be honest, she probably couldn't open them if she tried. Whitebeard sat in his custom made chair from some far away island in the New World, tailored to fit his giant stature and support his ailing back. It was a gift from some of the commanders' years back. All his medical equipment was stationed in there, it rarely went onto the deck and saw the sun, only on his bad days. Thankfully they were few. Right then, Whitebeard's nasal cannula was placed in his nose, providing oxygen from colossal tanks next to his chair. IV stands stood off in the shadows along with multiple machines and sensors. Familiar objects in the familiar room. Mila enjoyed spending time in there with Whitebeard, just them talking one on one, but there was one invading factor today. Knight of the Sea, Jinbe, the warlord.

He was discussing something fervently with Whitebeard when they entered. Mila shrunk back at the sight of him on the ship, her ship. Jinbe also noticed her, scrunching his yellow eyebrows as he scrutinized her. He looked as if he was trying to decide what he wanted to do to her.

"Ah, the brats have arrived," Whitebeard said, pulling away from his conversation with Jinbe.

"Onii-san, what is he doing here?" Mila whispered as she hugged closer to Izo, he seemed the safer option between him and Marco. Even after buttering Izo up by using onii-san, all he did to acknowledge her was allowing her to hide in his kimono by pulling her closer.

Marco stepped forward, "So Jinbe, I assume you are here clandestinely, considering your connection to the marines and all." Marco's said, leaving a slight threatening air in the room.

"To the government, I am not even on the island." Jinbe said solemnly.

"Jinbe is here while we deal with this marine situation." Whitebeard said, his voice had the opposite air of the grave and menacing air of the room. "Speaking of which, Mila," Mila peaked out from behind Izo, "congratulations on the bounty, the first one is always the most memorable." Whitebeard smiled like a proud father, and for all intents and purposes, he was.

"So," Mila began, afraid he would have the same reaction as Marco "you're not mad?"

"And why would I be child?" Whitebeard said, sounding slightly amused, "I didn't get my first bounty till I was almost twice your age, these is an impressive feat and I'm glad to have someone like you in my family."

"Oh," Mila let her shoulders fall, she had expected something . . . more, like a bang, but all she got was a whimper. Not that she was complaining, she didn't want to get yelled at yet again today.

"Pops, really? You don't see anything wrong with this situation at all?" Marco probed.

"Nothing dangerous or suspicious?" Izo supplied. Whitebeard stared blankly, unaware to the problem, Izo frowned and continued for Whitebeard's sake, "So you're not concerned about bounty hunters or rivaling crews, or, I don't know, the government?"

"Why would that even matter, who in their right minds would trifle with us?"

Marco frowned, "Edward Newgate, are you still drunk?"

Jinbe stepped forward to interject, "He's better than he was an hour ago."

Running a hand through his yellow tuft, Marco grimaced, "Pops, you need to focus. There is a slight problem outside having to do with the Marines and their demands for your daughter." He shrugged, "Any suggestions on the course of action?"

"We deny them, of course."

"It's never that simple," Marco sighed, "if it was you'd already be King of the Pirates."

Whitebeard dismissed the comment with a wave of his hand, "That's not important. Mila what do you think?" He asked, turning towards her, who was still concealed partly by Izo.

"Me?"

He nodded, "You have a bounty now, I think that means you have a say now too,"

Marco groaned and turned away, "I can't even listen to this," He was two steps away from slamming the door off the hinges when he collided with a sweaty Thatch.

Heaving, Thatch short of tackled Marco while trying to get though the door. After taking a great swan dive and entangling Marco in his sweaty clutches, Thatch's pompadour head popped up, "What'd I miss?"

Whitebeard gave a low, mild chuckle, "We just started brat,"

Grunting unintelligently from the floor, Marco forcefully nudged Thatch halfway across the room. "Oh yeah, we just started going nowhere," Marco replied, his voice poisoned with sarcasm.

Thatch's eyes flickered from Marco's steely stare to Whitebeard's relaxed smile, "So I did miss something?"

He was ignored. "Could we focus?" Izo butted in, "Back to the real problem, the Marines?"

"We already resolved this, we're denying them,"

"THAT'S NOT A SOLUTION!" Marco cried, remaining on the floor.

Thatch stepped forward, "Now isn't the real question why they want the little chicky so badly in the first place?"

All eyes swiveled to Mila, who had taken her place out from behind Izo. Mila jumped under their gazes, "What? I know as much as you guys!"

"Actually," Jinbe stroked his goatee thoughtfully, "you know more than any of us combined. I have a feeling that's exactly why they want you."

"My devil fruit?"

Jinbe nodded, "I believe you're probably one of very few that knows everything."

Towards Mila, Izo said, "What exactly is everything?" he treaded carefully, knowing the government was a sensitive topic.

Mila's eyes wandered up in the direction of the ceiling, deep in thought, accessing the files stored throughout her mind, "There's a lot about the Cipher Pol's missions, all the assassinations and espionage. I also have the reports and debriefs on their reconnaissance missions, all the info they gathered. I've got the records from Impel Down and Enies Lobby. There's stuff about Mariejois. I know everything about every allied country on file," everyone stared in awe, but she continued, "I know every single government employee's schedules and history, then their family history too. I've got most every famous pirate and their crews, bunch of bounties are floating up there too. It gets jumbled sometimes, but the stuff about ancient weapons and the poneglyphs are usually pretty clear. The endpoint stuff are is pretty cool too."

There was a stunned silence as Mila continued to stare at the ceiling, lost in the endless halls of her mind. They stared at the child as her eyes glazed over and her face went slack.

"Aren't endpoints a myth?" Thatch muttered nervously.

"Endpoints, that's what you're concerned about?" Izo asked, "I'm more shocked about the poneglyphs and the ancient weapons."

Finally sitting up, Marco said, "Fuck Mila, that's some serious shit," when she didn't look away from the ceiling, Marco called her name again, but louder.

Mila jerked towards Marco, looking completely surprised to see other people were in the room with her, "Hmmm? Did you say something?"

Whitebeard spoke before anyone else could comment, "No dear, nothing to fret over," Whitebeard smiled calmly.

Mila returned the smile, her tensed up muscle relaxing. The rest of the men shifted uncomfortably, wholly unaware on how to react to Mila's 'episode', they, mostly Thatch, was extremely shaken.

Marco cleared his throat, standing, "So we know why they desire her so much, but we have yet to come to a solution."

Izo sighed, "Basically."

"So direct confrontation is out of the running?" Thatch asked, his tone verging on hopelessness.

"Why?" Mila asked, shaking the last few cob webs from her mind, "It seems like a plausible plan, confront the man leading the charge and give him an ultimatum. One which he couldn't refuse, we are the Whitebeard pirates after, with the limited forces they have at the moment and our numbers, we could certainly threaten them into submission. Right?"

"More troops are coming, probably with an admiral not following far behind. I don't doubt they would do anything to retrieve you, with the information you retain, they wouldn't stop short of destroying the island." Jinbe affirmed solemnly.

"And those ass holes would never give in to the demands of a group of pirates," Thatch commented bitterly, "too high and mighty for that shit."

Mila frowned, not exactly pleased that her plan was vetoed so fast. With that one tossed into the waste bin, Mila's thinker wavered to another strategy, one that would not be wise to share with her elders. Switching to a nonchalant attitude, Mila turned towards the door, "Whatever, you boys figure out something, I'm going to go get fixed up," she tried to keep her expression uncaring and casual, as Marco turned a frown her way.

"Okay," he said cautiously, "don't do anything stupid."

"I'm just going to the med wing," she replied, chuckling. Marco was too inquisitive for his own good. With a casual wave of her body hand, she blinked away, changing her directions a tad though.

Rear Admiral Cale POV

It had been exactly 42 minutes and two sixths of a seconds since I proclaimed my annunciation to the Island, demanding claim on the child who escaped our clutches. I've sat at my desk within my battle ship, assessing each individual aspect of the small child six times over. Six inches away from the files that were distributed to me from the beginning of the surreptitious mission, was a pure sea prism stone collar, ready to place on the moment of capture. Alive.

Till a few days ago, I had no conception of the girl, or her foretold fortunes within her adolescent mind. And to be completely truthful, I was more than a little intrigued. Both by her information and position within the Whitebeard pirates, each as perplexing as the other.

As the stormy haired girl ran rampant throughout my head, my thoughts manifested right in front of my eyes. The same girl from each file appeared upon his 600 count rug. The few deviations from the standard military photo and the real deal were stark. Her hair was wind swept and free, dried blood was crusted up one arm, a thick metal brace adored the other. Her eyes looked beyond her ten years, pure passion filled them to the brim. She was no longer the timid child under the governments thumb. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to let her escape.

"The Blinking Child, is this Whitebeard's way of saying he is giving up?"

The girl absently brushed a stray hair from her forehead, "No, I'm here on behalf of the crew for negations,"

I smiled dryly, "Negotiations? On what exactly?"

"You retracting all your forces from Fishman Island peacefully, without me of course."

Her confident air only increased my amusement, "And I'm going to do this because otherwise your crew will commence an attack?"

"No," she replied smoothly, "or I'll reveal your dirty little secrets."

I held back my frown with a scoff, "What could you possibly reveal that is so incriminating that I would retract my ships. I am on orders from Sengoku himself."

The tiny girl wandered over to my desk, running her finger over the surface, so very close to sea prism stone, "Well, there's your severe case of OCD, you have to have everything in pair of sixes. Even the number of men under you, the total is always a multiple of six."

I cringed, I struggled with my OCD since joining the marines, but have managed to keep it a secret from my comrades. "So? It's not like that would affect my career."

"But," she started, "you killing five of your own men to even out your numbers of kills certainly would."

I lunged, my hands ready to wrap around the cocky child's throat. She evaded using her devil fruit, leaving my blood thirsty hands empty. "How do you know that?" I hissed. I had the official report destroyed soon after it was filed, very few knew even of that night.

It was one of my first attacks on a pirate ship after receiving my current title. I had gone a killing rampage, slaying the pirate crew with no mercy, but once the crew had been alimented, my number of kills had been one over a perfect multiple of six. And with the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I had nearly no control over my OCD impulses. I killed the first five of my men who approached me. I would have been immediately arrested under normal circumstances, but my mentor helped cover it up to the best of his ability, making my blunder but a small foot note in the official report.

"I get a stack of files each month to memorize, apparently you didn't dispose of the evidence fast enough," she said flippantly, "How easy it would be to out you, your whole career down the drain in the blink of an eye." She snapped her fingers to make her point. "The only way to avoid that extremely probable outcome would be to obey my demands and retreat."

I sunk back into my chair, chest heaving. I had worked so hard to get to where I am, I did everything right. But it was that one mistake, that one damn mistake I thought I was free of, that could ruin everything. "Ok, I agree to your terms," I said through clenched teeth, "But remember this Blinking Child, you won't always have secrets to hide behind."

She smiled, a sweet innocent smile, a smile that would normally belong to an innocent ten year old, not a mentally corrupt pirate. "I know," she slinked away to the door, even though it served no function to her since she disappeared a moment after she uttered the next few words, "the names Mila by the way, Mila of the Whitebeard pirates."

(A/N) Back story behind Rear Admiral Cale's name! So I didn't use my awesome technique of combined two items this time, instead I borrowed it from a comment from ichigo1508, (I hope you don't mind!) I've been really bad at replying to comments lately, so this was my way of saying I will answer more! BTW Cale is a combination between cake and pineapple, just reading ichigo1508 comment made me hungry! Maybe I should take more combination names suggestions from readers? So readers out there, if you're up for the challenge, come up with a combination name of two objects and post it in a review or PM me, if I like it, you could see it in an upcoming chapter!

LB