-Sabo POV-
We were making good time considering the distance we had to cross, the weights he had to carry (Ace and Lilith's Marine Uncle), and the explosions that popped up randomly every now and then. The strange okama whose name I never quite caught was carrying Ace quite easily, despite them being approximately the same size. I should have learned from training with Iva that okamas are deceptively strong. Jinbe had volunteered to carry Lilith's Uncle and his strength was holding up just fine as well. The only thing slowing me down was my conscience.
"Is it really okay to just leave Lilith like this?" Luffy asked me.
In all honesty, that's exactly what's bugging me at the moment, but… "Do you want to face the consequences if we stay? Lilith would kill us! Besides, it's most important that we get Ace out of here before he wakes up again!"
"Why before he wakes up?!" Luffy shouted. "Wouldn't him waking up be a good thing?! Why did Lilith knock him out in the first place?!"
"If Ace wakes up he'll try to keep fighting!" I explained. I'd forgotten somehow just how much patience was required in dealing with Luffy and couldn't seem to remember just how I'd possessed it before. "Our goal is to get out of here, not to fight! Lilith knew that and that's why she knocked him out!"
"Oh, okay," Luffy agreed, "That makes sense!"
Lilith would probably be horrified if she ever heard that Luffy had agreed with her on anything.
-Whitebeard POV-
Lilith had this ability, this uncanny incite, to be able to read people and know exactly what they were feeling. She could also convey exactly what she meant without needing to speak sometimes. Most notably the first time I'd looked her in the eyes. It was just after our first fight, which she'd lost. Lilith had several broken bones and would be bedridden for a week afterwards but she didn't seem angry, as though the thought didn't cross her mind. Instead, she conveyed something else.
Lilith gave me a look. There wasn't anything particularly remarkable about her expression. No frown, no narrowed eyes, no hint of a smile or smirk. But it said everything she didn't want to say aloud. Her sharp green eyes continued to watch me until I nodded at her, accepting what she was saying.
'If you hold me closer I'll run away.' She said with her eyes. And then, hidden deeper but not quite hidden, 'Please let me stay. Let me have this one small happiness. If nobody gets too close then I can be just a little happy.'
It was not the kind of thing that someone so young should be feeling, she was only fifteen or sixteen at the time. My first impulse of course was to make her one of my daughters, but then, looking at those sharp green eyes, I knew she wouldn't let that happen so easily. She wasn't like Ace, who just needed to realize we cared. She was almost the opposite. Lilith wanted a family, desperately so, but she refused to be that close. I didn't know why or for how long she'd been like this, but it was obvious. Lilith's feelings ran deep. She wouldn't run if we didn't chase her.
So she stayed. But she didn't stay close.
Now, Lilith was fighting Teach. She was doing that for me, no matter what reasons she spouted or excuses she gave. Lilith had let herself grow closer to my family than she had intended. It was likely a good thing. If she hadn't been here, many more of my sons would have died. Ace probably would have too. The thought hurt, but it also made me glad. Lilith might just admit she liked having a family when this was all over. She might just accept that she was loved without running away.
She really was a smart brat, despite how rashly she behaved when she was angry. Lilith understood why I had to die. She understood how this battle would work even before it started. She understood how to get what she wanted. Lilith understood a great many things. But she was a long ways away from understanding herself.