Afloat

"Why are you here?"

Zoro glanced over at Luffy from his bunk. "This is the men's cabin, Luffy. Where else would I be?"

"In Fox' cabin," the rubberman said bluntly. "You haven't bunked with us since we left Skypeia. Why are you back now? Did you have an argument or something?"

"No, no argument," Zoro said. "I stayed with her after Skypeia because she was putting so much of herself into keeping Merry afloat that it affected her health. She's fine now."

"You shared a bed at Gallery-La, seaweed head," Sanji pointed out sourly.

"She can't sleep dorm-style unless she's actually sharing a bed with someone," Zoro said shortly, not wanting to discuss Fox' private issues. "She has her own room now."

"But aren't you two together?" Chopper asked innocently.

Zoro closed his eyes. "Yes. But on board a ship the captain is in charge and our relationship might get in the way of our duties as crew. So unless Luffy agrees with it, I'm going to be sleeping in here."

Luffy frowned. "Zoro, you aren't allowed to sleep in here anymore. Move your stuff into Fox' cabin."

Zoro sat up, turned and stared. "What?"

Luffy grinned. "Captain's orders! Shishishi!"

Zoro snorted, smirked, climbed out of his bunk and emptied out his locker. Then he walked out of the cabin, Sanji's faint and pitiful wail about the unfairness of the world music to his ears. Fox' cabin was just across the deck and Zoro pushed open the door with his foot, dumping his stuff on the floor so he could close it behind him. He then added his clothing to the partly-filled wardrobe and his swords to the brackets above the bed. Fox wasn't in; she'd gone for a bath after dinner and would probably be quite some time, considering how much she loved water. Stripping off Zoro crawled into the bed, but didn't let himself fall asleep. He wanted to be awake when his lover got back. In the meantime he had a good look at his surroundings.

It wasn't remotely girly, which was a relief; the carpet was green and the bedding was plain white. There was a wash basin with a mirror over it on one side of the door and a large wardrobe took up most of the space along that wall between the basin and the bed. On the other side of the door was a perch for Cho and a piece of furniture that looked like the bastard child of a bookshelf and a sideboard which was loaded with books, boxes, scrolls and other odds and ends including what Zoro recognised as Dials and an strange cage-thing containing an egg as big as his head. The walls on three sides of the bed had weapons hanging on them, including the trident she'd thrown him around with earlier. It had taken a while but he'd eventually managed to bypass the advantages of increased range and leverage and disarm her; they'd ended the fight there as it was nearly time for dinner but Zoro was keen to see how she held up fighting bare-handed with that fishman style.

The weapons were all interesting, though he wasn't sure how you were supposed to fight with the sheaves of six-inch needles. The chains, he could see how they would work, and that scythe looked pretty interesting, but most of what was on the wall was knives. Knives of all shapes and sizes and alloys, from tiny two-inch stilettos up to the matched swords she'd used at Enies Lobby. Her beautiful Kairoseki katana wasn't here, but that made sense as Fox would never risk any of the crew seeing it and connecting it to her masked persona. That was also why she'd left her Eternal Pose workshop on board Swift Hunter: so nobody coming on board would be able to connect the Angel of Death with Dracule Lisska.

Zoro smirked at the ceiling; Fox had gotten herself a truly fantastic nickname and a massive bounty. She'd confessed to him about her encounter with the Marine with the camera and was amused by the lengths she'd gone to in creating a back-story for her 'public face', as he considered it to be. 220 million and a list of crimes that had made Luffy laugh out loud and Nami go pale, but that were only a fraction of the things she'd been up to; Zoro was immensely amused by the fact that Fox had two completely different bounty posters and a total value of 930 million. Admittedly the poster for the Phantom Fox was just a photograph of a mask, but it counted.

Then Fox walked into the cabin and her face lit up at once:

"Zoro? I thought-"

"Captain's orders," he told her with a wicked grin, getting up and walking over to kiss her. "You're stuck with me now."

"I think I can come up with some ways to pass the time," she countered, her hands wandering leisurely over his chest. "Franky did say he soundproofed my cabin…"


The next day Usopp and Luffy fished, putting their catches in the massive fish tank Franky had installed so they would never be short of fresh fish. Robin was happily absorbed in the books she'd bought from Water Seven, sitting in the aquarium bar that had the fish tank the captain and sniper were adding fish to as its primary feature. Franky was just enjoying the ride, Chopper was exploring the little infirmary, Nami was in the library and Sanji was dividing his time between cooking, waiting on Nami and Robin and watching the fight taking place on deck between Fox and the shitty swordsman. The previous day Fox had thrown the marimo all over the place; today she was dancing, ducking and dodging around his two swords while trying to land a hit bare-handed. Sanji would have interfered, except Fox had asked him not to, saying that she enjoyed the thrill of a fight and wanted to test herself. The chef had seen her bright, hopeful smile and folded like a cheap card table.

It was interesting to watch, not least because Fox-chan was faster than the shitty marimo and was not above resorting to every cheap trick in the book. Well, almost every cheap trick in the book; Sanji noticed that while the duo did flirt during a fight neither went beyond words. Probably because this was practice for real combat rather than just for fun: Sanji had heard Zoro ask Fox to show him more fishman karate so he knew what to expect when they got to Fishman Island, in case of trouble. This was why Sanji was watching too.

It was an interesting style with a lot of distance hits that moved like shockwaves and strong blocks. Fox was also able to call water up from the sea to blast Zoro off-balance, which had utterly gobsmacked both chef and swordsman the first time she'd done it. Fox had pointed out that Devil Fruit meant she became a hammer when she fell into water; it didn't prevent her from manipulating it from a distance. She also added that she'd dispatched more than a few devil Fruit Users to the great beyond with a timely water blast, as they never expected the sea to come to them.

"Why fishman karate when you're a mermaid?" Zoro asked, jumping up out of the way of a punch and bouncing off the mainmast.

"I have legs," Fox said blandly; "and mermaid styles are not designed with legs in mind. My mother's second cousin sponsored me into the Karate Dojo on Fishman Island so I could learn to defend myself."

"How old were you?" Zoro lunged, but one of his swords was batted away and the other ducked under. Fox then launched a beautiful uppercut that hit him in the jaw, propelling him upwards into the air.

"Five; he resumed my training personally when I was sixteen." She grinned at the marimo, who was spitting blood. "Compared to him I'm a somewhat capable novice but he's the best I've ever seen, so it evens out."

"So your mother's second cousin is a fishman?" Zoro clarified.

"Yep; one of my favourite uncles growing up," Fox confirmed. "If we bump into him I'll introduce you."


Guess that fishman for fifty points!