South of Taiwan, Bashi Channel.

With the Kanmusu strikegroup:

Kongou breathed in the salted air deeply, glad to be out on the ocean again. The turret she'd had repaired felt wonderful, the new grease on her rollers letting her pan-floor glide over it like a... why, a well-greased machine!

Kongou giggled to herself softly as she held her arms out into the wind, her loose sleeves flapping merrily in the wind, a few of her Destroyer escorts laughing along as they kept pace with her. She wasn't going her full speed, Gambier Bay was only capable of 19 knots, and the varying speeds of the eclectic group of ship-girls meant going at a slower pace was advisable regardless, some rot about 'maintaining the cohesion of the fleet' ha! Nagato always tried to find some stern way to give the girls some back-handed break.

Said Battleship cruised along slightly behind Kongou, her arms folded as she stared ahead, ostensibly it was to look out for threats on the horizon (pointless of her, with Iowa on watch as well, her fancy American search radar would spot any enemy long before Nagato did!) But Kongou knew better, she was just trying to keep her eyes off of the little Mutsuki's and even tinier Akatsuki's Cruising around, lest she melt into a puddle of goo at the sight.

"So Iowa! We haven't really gotten the chance to chat before now, have we?" Kongou started.

The American Battleship glanced her way, before looking back at the horizon, "Nope! Not really, usually, when I'm in Japan I'm so beat-up from the trip I lock myself up in the repair bathes for the day, then I'm usually off again, sorry if I seemed a bit anti-social."

Kongou laughed, airily waving away the thought, "Oh no dess! I understand that completely, I was just wondering, how are your girls holding up?"

Iowa startled a little, before looking down at her breasts, then back at the Japanese ship confusedly, "I... well, I still haven't found a bra my size durable enough to survive the trip, but my shirt does well enough? It helps that Kanmusu hulls don't have back problems with our steel hull's and everythi-"

Kongou rapidly waved her hands, shaking her head wildly, her large bangs fluttering in the breeze, "OH! No Dess! Not 'those' girls! Though they are lovely as well. Your Destroyers I mean, it looked like they were in a bad mood till they spoke with Shannano ne?"

Iowa 'oh'd' in understanding, before giving a bark of laughter, "Ha! That's because Shinano has a good amount of the supplies for the trip, they begged some coffee off of her, most likely."

Kongou made a face, "Yuck! that disgusting bean-juice, give me an Earl-Grey any day."

Iowa turned to look at the Japanese Battleship fully, "Now I KNOW I didn't just hear you diss coffee, that stuff is a literal lifesaver!"

"But it tastes disgusting!"

"So does alcohol if you're not used to it! You don't drink it for the taste, but for the effect it will have!"

"Says the woman who boils Gatorade and calls it tea."

"That was ONE time!"

Meanwhile, as the two Battleships argued good-naturedly, the Carriers cruised behind them, they were in the center of the formation, the Destroyers, though playing and talking, kept to their general screening formation around the five ships.

"I wish I had a better top speed, I hate to drag the rest of you girls down!" Gambier said worryingly, she eeped a little as Akagi set her hand down on her shoulder good-naturedly, the brown-haired Carrier smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about it! We'd have to slow down for the Submarines anyway, Maruyu is carrying their supplies, and she can only do FOUR knots underwater!" Gambier gasped at that, as the Carrier continued. "They are gonna be lagging behind for most of the trip, I-401 is basically towing her, the poor thing is probably hanging on for dear life under there." Akagi nodded at the waves for emphasis.

Shinano, having only slightly been paying attention till now, jumped a little, the massive Carrier starting to look around at the waves nervously. "T-There are submarines here?"

Kaga took hold of the other Carrier by her bandaged left hand tightly as Shinano fretted. "Friendlies, Shinano, friendly submarines, you're fine, we are here with you." The massive woman relaxed.

"Y-Yeah, of course, it's just, its just I-401 and her crew, right?"

Kaga nodded.

The Carrier slumped, before seeming to realize something, she dug around in her voluminous green obi. She pulled out one of Gambiers FM-2's, gently holding it out for the escort Carrier. Gambier Bay cruised up to the other Yamato-sized Carrier hesitantly, before shakily taking it from the woman's hands, putting it onto her deck as gently as she could.

"Thanks, so, um, did you manage to copy the parts OK?"

Shinano smiled nervously, "Why don't you tell me?"

Gambier cocked her head in confusion, before taking another look at the FM-2 on her flight deck, now that she looked at it, it was... unpainted? The normal grey-blue with the white American star was absent, leaving the Wildcat a plain gunmetal grey, and all the parts looked rather new...

"Did, did you make this?" Gamby asked.

Shinano nodded her head, "Yeah, it was nothing really, I had most of the basic blueprints already from when I worked on White Plain's F4F-4's, she wanted the gun-count pared down to save on ammunition, so I uh, took them off for her."

"So you made them into FM-1's?" Gambier said, beginning to get over her fear of the Yamato with the common ground they'd found.

Shinano shook her head, "No, I didn't have the equipment to make the bombs for that model back then, I do now though, after my... Well, after I opened up my plated-over Barbettes again I was able to turn some of my powder-mixing rooms into bomb-making shops."

Gambier jerked away from the Carrier, somehow expecting her to explode, "Isn't that, dangerous?"

The massive Carrier simply shrugged, "No more than powder mixing rooms for 18" shells normally are. All the chemicals are separated till they are needed, a-and my crew was re-trained in proper safety in a seminar in Kyoto."

Chiyoda snorted at that, butting into the conversation, "Your crew was there too? I sent some of mine there as well, I still remember the instructors face when he realized he wouldn't be able to understand a thing our fairies said! I heard Katori had to go in and translate the questions they had!"

Kaga let out a rare smirk, "He should have known better, my own fairies took online courses instead, it was significantly faster, even though I had to bother the local electronic stores for a touchpad small enough for them to use."

Akagi looked at the other fleet Carrier in surprise, "Kaga! You know how to use a computer!?"

Kaga nodded, "Of course, it would behoove me to use any resource available to train my mind to the best of its ability, it was difficult at first, like anything worthwhile is. But I learned quickly enough, even if some of the subject matter I came across inadvertently was... Disturbing."

"l-like what?" Gambier asked. Kaga almost seemed to grimace through her normally unflappable exterior, before finally replying in a low voice, so that the Destroyers wouldn't overhear.

"...Did you know that there are people on the inter-webs that draw pictures of us in a salacious manner?"