Conviction
After stuffing his face with all the meat Fox had prepared and listening to Usopp and Franky talk about what had happened to them on the island, particularly about Brook being Laboon's long-lost nakama, Luffy was more determined than ever to get the skeleton to join his crew. Zoro resigned himself to rescuing yet another shadow and, after being introduced to Fox' newest pet and kissing his lover goodbye, set off back towards the zombie-filled mansion. Fox stayed behind: Luffy had ordered her to after hearing how a load of zombies had come on board and tried to steal their food. The rubberman had also reminded her that the snake coiled round her neck was still just a baby and needed looking after. Little Calla seemed to like the captain very much and had trilled happily when he tickled her under the chin.
Fox had seemed about to protest, but a Sea Iguana had climbed up onto the rail at that moment and she had abruptly capitulated; Zoro intended to find out what that was about later. Now however it was the middle of the night, he needed his shadow back by dawn and Franky had mentioned a legendary samurai zombie Zoro really wanted to fight against.
Perona was nervous. She couldn't quite pinpoint the source of her concern, but she knew that something, somewhere was wrong. After coming back from raiding the Straw-Hat ship –not that there had been anything worth taking– she had been ordered by Moriah-sama to deal with the returning intruders alongside Dr. Hogback. Absolom was busy marrying himself to a woman he had abducted from the crew and so was not helping, but Perona had thought she could cope.
Instead she had found herself faced with a man so negative her Hollows had no effect on him; in fact trying to depress him caused her powers to be reflected back on her. She had therefore abandoned the field and was running for safety, the negative man in hot pursuit. As she ran however the creeping feeling that something was badly wrong only increased. Hadn't she had more zombies than the ones currently facing off against the negative man's comrades? Where had they gone? Why had she felt a thrill of terror when she heard the Straw-Hats were mounting a counter-offensive and been inexplicably relieved when she saw her prospective opponents?
Perona had good instincts and those instincts were telling her that running away was a good idea; running as far and as fast as she could, without looking back. Not that she would abandon Moriah-sama! Not even if part of her felt it sounded like a really good idea…
Fox knelt on the floor in her cabin, a slightly singed orange cowboy hat gripped tightly in her hands as Beastie croaked worriedly at her. This… this could not be happening. She had never considered Teach might have sunk this low. The despicable man's plan –or at least part of it– was clear now. Rather than trying to kill Ace the traitor had beaten him and handed him over to the Marines. Fox would have sensed Ace dying from the other side of the planet and dashed to his aid, but the hotheaded narcoleptic fell unconscious with depressing regularity and it was hard to tell the difference between asleep and knocked out. Now though, now Ace was stuck in Impel Down and scheduled for execution. Fox had to get him back; he was her nakama and she was very attached to her nakama, few though they were. She had felt kinship with him the moment she saw him, even though he had been trying to kill her at the time. Fox knew what it was like to live in the shadow of a powerful father, to fear his enemies and put all of your strength into making yourself your own person. She had achieved it by separating herself out, allowing part of herself to remain quietly in his wake while the rest of her set out to discover who she really was.
The assassin had done her best to forgive her parents for the hand life had dealt her and their part in it, but it was hard sometimes. Like when her father cut a bloody swath through her exes without even asking her first. Her mother didn't really get it; Pearl had never lived in a father's shadow because said father's identity was a secret known only to Pearl herself and Fox, Pearl's mother having died a few years before.
Fox shook away her rambling thoughts; now was not the time. She needed to help Ace, even if her first duty was to Luffy, her captain. She pulled a crate out of the shelf next to her, retrieved brush and paper and set about writing letters to everyone within a fortnight's travel who would be willing to assist her. Some of the letters included pleas to pass the message on further; others were simply requests for information or aid. Those complete, she placed each letter in its own travelling case, carried them out onto the deck and activated them before throwing them over the side of the ship. Massive flying fish leapt away through the tops of the waves, turtles swam just below the surface and strange, deep-sea creatures sank into the depths beneath her. Once reassured that her letters would reach their intended recipients, Fox returned to her cabin: she had one more letter to write.
Ace had to know he wasn't going to be abandoned.
Perona woke with a scream, her mind filled with the horrors of cockroaches and ten-ton hammers until her loyal minions were able to calm her down. When she took notice of her surroundings, the destroyed buildings and distinct shortage of zombies and the Oars zombie wreaking havoc, she knew she had to get off Thriller Bark before it sank and dumped her into the ocean. The pink-haired girl decided her best bet was to empty the kitchen and treasure room into the Straw-Hats ship and escape while she still could. With that in mind she ordered her remaining minions to move all the food and treasure from Moriah-sama's ship to the one Luffy and his crew had arrived on, then fled outside to ensure everything got loaded up properly. She should have done this earlier!
Fox perched on the yard beside Cho and Beastie with Calla coiled around her shoulders and watched the troupe of zombies hurriedly loading more food and masses of treasure onto the Thousand Sunny. She wasn't entirely sure why they were doing so but she knew neither Luffy nor Nami would ever forgive her if they found out she had prevented them from acquiring extra food and treasure. As another crash shook Thriller bark, Fox began to suspect that the reason their ship was being loaded up with plunder was somebody on the island had decided that now was a good time to run away; not that she blamed them. She'd seen the gigantic zombie thrashing around the place and was glad to be as far away from that fight as possible. Her captain and crew were all still alive and kicking so far, so she was better off watching over the ship and waiting for them to return. Abandoning her responsibilities was not something she could justify unless someone was actually dying.
The assassin paused as a strange life-sign appeared out of nowhere, just at the top of the steps the zombies were bringing the crates down. This newcomer was a Devil Fruit User and very strong, but he also had a similar echoing quality to Franky that lead Fox to believe his body was only partly alive. She reflexively tightened her Colour of Concealment, pretending to be part of the rigging. This guy she could not fight. Ambush successfully perhaps, but not fight. He was too big, too strong and too much of an unknown. Unless…
The man turned, giving her a brief glimpse of bear ears on his hat and a bible clutched to his chest and Fox went very, very still. This was Bartholomew Kuma, the Pacifista Shichibukai. Her best bet right now was to stay put and hope he didn't see her. Carefully wrapping her power around Calla and Beastie, Fox slipped into her full Logia form and let herself drift upwards into the crow's nest. From here she could watch and not be seen.
She watched Nami arrive and confront Perona –her former prisoner's name– then saw Perona be hit by Bartholomew Kuma's Devil Fruit Ability and vanish completely from her senses in an instant. Not dead, just… gone. The zombies instantly fled, leaving Nami alone with the Shichibukai who as a pirate had been referred to as 'the Tyrant'.
"You're the Cat Thief," Kuma said, his voice deep and oddly carrying. "One of Straw Hat's nakama." He paused. "Is it true that Monkey D. Luffy has a brother?"
Nami quailed, but answered coherently enough: "Y-yes, he does. Ace, right? What about it?"
"I see… it was true," Kuma mused, turning away.
Fox had no idea what Nami answered as she had stopped paying attention all together: she now knew why Teach had betrayed Ace to the Marines. For Kuma to know that Ace considered Luffy a brother meant someone who had been close to the Hothead had told him. A person like a former comrade.
Marshall D. Teach had used Ace to become a Shichibukai. Fox felt a fire flare into life within her, a fire that had been banked and smouldering quietly ever since she was fifteen. A cold, psychotic smile played across her features as Kuma walked away; those who took her nakama from her would be destroyed; so she had sworn on the cooling bodies of her patients and fellow slaves.
"I'll be coming for you and yours, Blackbeard," she whispered softly. "The assassin you need to worry about is the one you don't know is after you…"
Oops... Fox finds out about Ace' defeat.
