Thrills

As the anchor dropped, seemingly all by itself, Fox emerged from her cabin with a predatory stalk and knives bare in her hands.

"Some-one's where they shouldn't be," she singsonged threateningly, her tone sending chills down Sanji's spine. "A Devil Fruit User has come to play; can Fox kill them?"

The deck hatch opened and Fox pounced, clearly hitting something despite there not being anything to see. A knife flashed, a man's voice cried out and suddenly there was a stranger with a lion's muzzle standing on the deck with Fox' knife stuck in his kidney.

"Fox does not like you," the assassin hissed as the stranger yanked himself away from the blade. "You smell like perversion and cowardice." She lunged again and the intruder fled, vanishing from sight again as it leapt off the ship's railing toward the edge of the island. Fox shook the blood off the blade before turning to Sanji.

"Stinker will probably be a problem," she said flatly. "Stinker is the sort to spy on girls in the bath and rape a woman in her sleep." That said, she went back to her cabin.

Sanji leapt into action as the ship rolled. Nami-san was on the island with that, that beast! He had to protect her!


Zoro was reluctant to leave the Thousand Sunny after it became entangled in a gigantic spider's web alongside Brook's ghost ship, but after checking in on Fox –who was babying a very large, leathery egg which was beginning to hatch– he decided to go with the others, if only to try and keep his captain out of trouble. Fox would be fine without him.

"Keep an eye out, will you?" he added to Cho, who chooo-ed agreement before flying up to perch on the yard above the deck. Zoro had come to an understanding with the South Bird: they would both keep a watchful eye out for things that might hurt Fox and make sure she was not just safe, but well. In recognition of their truce Zoro snuck fruit out of the kitchen for Cho and the bird stayed out of the way when he and Fox were having couple time.

Reassured that the ship would still be there when they got back, Zoro followed his captain into the island's interior.


Fox was utterly entranced as the baby snake's head poked through the leathery surface of the egg and blinked up at her. The white-haired woman had been emoting with the foetal serpent for over a week now, channelling positive feelings and acceptance to it. Seeing golden eyes gaze up at her and sensing the snake's recognition and adoration, Fox fell in love with the four-foot hatchling.

"Oh, aren't you beautiful," she cooed, "Just like your mother. Since mama was named for Montblanc Noland, I think I'll call you Calla, after Calgara." The baby snake, already twice as long as an adult viper from the Blues, trilled happily at her. "So welcome to the world, Calla. How about we find you some nice fresh fish to eat, hm?"

Calla draped around her shoulders, Fox went to coax her baby's first meal out of the fish tank. Normal fish were dumb enough that she didn't feel a smidge of guilt about luring them to their deaths. Her adorable little reptile had eagerly swallowed three small fish and gone to sleep, still coiled around Fox' shoulders, when the assassin sensed Zoro coming back.

While Fox monitored everything living in a five mile radius as a matter of course and had mental flags on the people she cared about so that she could leap into action if they started showing signs of dropping off their mortal coil, she did not actually pay much attention beyond that unless she was bored or doing something that could safely be left to continue on automatic, like sewing seams or knitting. She only really paid attention when things or people got within half a mile or were moving with unusual speed. Zoro had done the former alongside Sanji and Luffy, but they were in the company of a large number of things that were animated yet weren't alive and a Devil Fruit User. Her nakama were also unconscious and suffering some kind of shock.

The assassin frowned. Incoming enemy with hostages, intending probably to raid the boat down to the keel; leader with unknown capabilities, but likely a member of the Shichibukai's crew; accompanied by large numbers of minions of the disposable variety. She whipped her tinted spectacles out of her pocket, adjusted her hat and decided that instant overkill was the best way to deal with the situation; Fox wanted her Greenie back.

The assassin let the Devil Fruit User and her minions –were those zombies? The Grand Line never stopped being interesting– onto the ship, then once her fellow Straw-Hats were in no danger of being dropped overboard she stopped hiding behind her Colour of Concealment and let her Colour of the Ruling Queen crash down upon the Thousand Sunny until the boards creaked. Below her the Devil Fruit User collapsed in a boneless heap and the zombies dropped like stones, some actually falling into pieces. Fox then reined herself in again, locked the Devil Fruit User in the handcuffs she'd kept from the Enies Lobby Incident and set about the dreary yet necessary task of heaving the zombies overboard. Whatever was animating them was Devil Fruit related, so the sea would counter whatever it was that made them tick and they would cease to be a problem.

As she tossed the patchwork corpses over the rail, Fox wondered if all of Moriah's minions were this weak. If they were, no wonder her father thought so little of him. Her father didn't have minions at all, but then again he didn't need them. Most people had no idea that Mihawk even had connections, believing him to be completely solitary, which wasn't quite true. Her father simply found the vast majority of people to be petty, foolish, weak or a combination of those three things and therefore not worth his time. He was also brusque and antisocial; Shanks was his friend simply because Red-Hair was so charmingly sociable and easygoing that Mihawk had given up trying to fend him off. That the Yonko was neither petty, foolish nor weak meant the her father had not killed Shanks for the relentless assault on his boundaries yet, though there had been a few close calls, mostly involving her. The champagne incident for example. Or the first time she had sleepwalked into his cabin and promptly been found there by her father in the morning. Or when he had invited her to join his crew by saying, "come on sweetheart, you know you want to!" right in front of said father.

Sometimes Fox suspected Shanks was doing it on purpose. Others she thought he just didn't care about the consequences. Red-Hair had well-hidden depths she'd only glimpsed briefly once or twice, but that filled her with a feeling of safety mingled with apprehension. Safety, because she knew he would never, ever harm her unless she did something totally, insanely out of character and even then he'd probably pull his punches. Apprehension, because while he wouldn't hurt her, it was a big world out there and if the Yonko ever wanted to smash something or someone else into itty bitty pieces, it would get smashed and stay smashed. The sheer scale of his power and ability was staggering.

Kicking the last zombie into the sea, Fox moved her insensible prisoner into the Aquarium Bar and locked her in. Then she moved the three unconscious men into the dining room and contemplated how to wake them. She was about to try healing whatever damage had been done when she realised she didn't want to deal with the odd girl she'd taken prisoner at all. In fact, she didn't even want her as a prisoner; the girl had nothing Fox wanted, so why not dump her back on the island?

Perfectly content with her minor epiphany, Fox removed the cuffs from the pink-haired girl in the Goth Lolita outfit, tucked her under an arm and unloaded her onto the jetty next to the ship. When she awoke her mind would probably edit out what Fox had done to her and substitute something else more innocuous in order to protect her sanity. Taking the time to place the girl out of sight of the ship, Fox then returned to her patients.

A quick examination determined that they would wake up when they were ready, so the best way to get them up and moving was to convince them they were missing something. With this in mind Fox got the oven heating, removed some meat from the pantry and cut in into Luffy-sized portions. Then she put it in the oven, removed her sunglasses and shirt and set about waiting for her –slightly– evil scheme to come to fruition. So she was bored; it was a harmless little prank really.

She sensed Usopp, Chopper, Robin and Franky returning just as the meat finished cooking. Smiling naughtily, she opened the oven and said loudly:

"Cooking all this meat made me so hot I had to take my shirt off!"


Usopp opened the door to the dining room just in time to hear Fox' declaration; his jaw dropped as he took in her appearance.

She was wearing her bandanna and cowboy hat, but other than that all she had on her upper half was a string bikini that barely kept her… assets… in check and a four-foot snake draped around her shoulders. She was holding a tray of meat joints fresh from the oven and smirking in a way that suggested the joke was on you. Across the room, three heads lifted from the floor.

"…shirt off?" Sanji whispered hoarsely.

"Meat," Luffy moaned, sounding rather zombie-like himself.

"Fox," Zoro rasped.

All three opened their eyes at the same time and all three were looking in the right direction to get a good look at Fox, posing with the tray low enough to give them a good look at her chest. Their reactions were fairly predictable.

Sanji's eyes morphed into hearts and he wiggled on the floor like a hyperactive noodle, burbling about divine beauty and 'mellorine!';

Luffy lunged for the meat, juggled the first bit to stop it from burning his fingers and tore into it with gusto, barely noticing the siren holding the tray at all;

Zoro levered himself upright, carefully took the tray away from his girlfriend, set it on the counter and then graced her with a grin so toothy and eager it made Usopp turn around and look the other way. The muffled but very enthusiastic noises that broke out behind him told him that ignoring the couple was the best course of action for now; Luffy was engrossed in his meal and the chef was still insensible and wriggling on the floor. He stepped back on deck to let the others know he'd found most of their missing nakama; he did want to know where Fox' snake had come from though! It was huge!


A little bit of all sorts of things and Fox indulges her sense of humour.