Aisha drew Theo into her arms and gently stroked her head as she bawled. "I'm here, Theo, I'm here. I had a hard time keeping up with you, but I'm glad I did. I came as soon as I heard you had entered the 40s."

Theo messily wiped her face when she ran out of tears and took deep shuddering breaths. "Admiral Wedge made cracks that teleport you to random places. Makes you move somewhere else instantaneously. I tried to stay with Alexander, but I got sent somewhere else and I haven't been able to get to anybody."

"Well, you're with me now," Aisha said, using her sleeve to clean Theo's face. "Let's get you somewhere safe."

She wasn't surprised when Theo shook her head. "I have to go to them. I can't just sit here when they're out fighting for their lives. They're my nakama."

"Cassandra wouldn't want you to fight in this state."

Theo glared up at her. "Doesn't matter! What am I supposed to do if they lose because I wasn't there with them? What if somebody dies? Not only would I be captured alive, but I'd know that I could've helped and didn't! I know I'm risking my body. I know Whitelock was right about some things. I'm safer than everyone else because the World Government wants me to design weapons systems for them again if they can break Cap's so-called control over me. I don't care. I have to help them any way I possibly can."

Aisha knew better than to argue. "Then what can I do to help?"

"Huh?"

"Just like you, I can't sit by and do nothing. I'm no longer just a civilian. Any Marine can shoot me dead without fear of repercussions."

Theo's eye slowly widened. "You gave up the Sheriff's protection just for me? Why?"

"Am I to stand aside simply because an officer of the law apprehends somebody in such a sadistic manner? How could I remain a spectator when a child is about to be mutilated before my eyes?" She lowered her head. "I wish I could say those were my primary motivations. It isn't even that I'm reminded of my son when I look at you. No, the biggest reason is that I see too much of myself in you."

Theo gaped at her. "What?"

"Our first priority is getting you back to your crew. I assume your plan is to repair NYMPHE?"

"Yeah, but I need some resources and I can't exactly break anything here."

Aisha rubbed her chin. "What if I carry you in NYMPHE to the edge of Grove 73? We'll be able to see if Grove 8 is clear enough to gather material there."

NYMPHE rotated upright and met Theo halfway as she stepped backwards into it. After Theo killed Whitelock with her energy blade, Aisha held her close to her chest and took off towards the bridge. None of the few Marines scattered about spared them a second glance, likely because they didn't recognize the small battlesuit. She cursed her useless strength for the umpteenth time, unable to do anything but jog through the streets to conserve her stamina.

Upon reaching the bridge connecting the 70s to the 0s, she exhaled in relief when she saw the battle had been pushed towards Groves 4 and 5. The concentration of Marines was much higher here than in the tourist zones, and multiple triage centers had been established. They were even more disinterested in her as the other Marines. They didn't have time to worry about suicidal civilians.

"There," Theo said, lifting her finger towards a house. Aisha poked the deadbolts out and set Theo down inside. "Grab any electronics you can find upstairs, phone snails, televisions, whatever. I'll be in the garage."

Aisha wasn't entirely surprised when she walked in to see a car being dismantled by two short figures. "These are all I could find."

NYMPHE continued to work when Theo turned her head. "Okay, put everything over here. I need to jury-rig IKAROS, strengthen the armor, and drain the car's battery to top off my reserves. I really need to concentrate, so give me space."

Theo might as well have been practicing magic. Moving in perfect sync with her identically-sized battlesuit had a hypnotic quality to it. She would hand over to and take pieces from NYMPHE without even looking, lower her head at the exact same time it reached over her, and even detach her right hand to aid it while her artificial eye evaluated something held up with her left hand. Aisha briefly went to the kitchen to retrieve several mugs of water, placing half of them just outside of Theo's workspace.

Only when Theo began operating on the battlesuit itself did she speak again. "You're like me?"

"Drink first. You need to stay hydrated." The girl downed several mugs before turning back to her battlesuit. "I ran away when I was eight because being gay was incompatible with my family's plan for me. I spent a couple years fending for myself before I was picked up by a gang. For the first time in my life, I felt like I belonged. I'm sure you know how much more slack children receive and how easily we can pull on heartstrings to get out of trouble. Your 'alive only' situation is different, I know, but I got away with a lot of things."

She chuckled slightly. "Obviously, that came to an end. I went to juvie for the first time when I was 14. I was in and out for a bit until two motorcycle clubs scouted me out. Back then, I was light enough to ride. I should have gone with the Imperatrices, but the Leather Valkyries looked way cooler to me. They were hardcore. They didn't let anybody stop them from what they wanted to do, which as you know is just another way of saying they broke the law. I thought the Imperatrices were soft for doing things like community fundraising, helping abused women, and ensuring proper distribution of water and other necessities. It seemed like such a drag.

"Never before had I felt more at home than with the Valkyries. Not only did I feel truly appreciated as an individual, but I had never seen so many gay adult women before. A generous fraction of the gang were queer. I thought I would never be happy because of my sexuality, but no. I saw straight women who were actual friends with lesbians instead of being repulsed or afraid being hit on or assaulted. I saw fat women, women with short hair, women who preferred masculine clothing, and none of them felt ashamed of their appearance. I learned that I could be proud of being a dyke."

NYMPHE held a piece in place while Theo carved out the shape. "Then what?"

"Got arrested. I was 17, so I was tried as an adult. I went to jail a few more times before getting a real prison sentence, 6 years. Do you see why I'm so concerned about you? I've walked a path similar to yours. I know what it's like to find a real home with lawbreakers after not having one for so long. I can't count how many times I wished I had gone with the Imperatrices. I wouldn't have become a criminal. Right now, I'd have a nice house I could return to from my nice job and kiss my nice wife and it wouldn't be perfect, but it would be comfortable. I threw all that away because I was just a typically shortsighted teenager."

"But I'm different. I don't have another choice. I don't have a different path to go down that winds up with me being happy." NYMPHE lifted off the ground for a moment, and Theo clicked her tongue. "I can't hide anywhere. I'll go back to him if the World Government gets me. I'm not Cap. I can't live with someone who wants to literally torture me to the brink of death. That's not fun for me."

Aisha sighed. "And that's the other reason I protected you. I didn't fully grasp the reality of your situation before. The Black Glove Pirates are not just a home for you; they are a haven. You truly are safest with them both emotionally and physically. It isn't fair, it isn't right, but life rarely is. Even your most antisocial, belligerent, and caustic crewmate protects you to the best of his ability, as I experienced firsthand."

Theo's giggles became unsettlingly mechanical as her battlesuit closed around her. "I Know, Right? He Really Cares Even Though He Doesn't Act Like It. Anyway, I'm Going Back To Grove 59 Where Morgan Is. What're You Gonna Do Now?"

That very question had been occupying Aisha's mind for some time now. "Right now, my only real option is to go with you. The Marines will soon figure out what I've done, and I'll be a sitting duck if I stay here. The only people I can count on to defend me on this archipelago are you and your crewmates."

NYMPHE tipped straight back and hovered in the air like a bench. "Sit On Me." Aisha eased herself on, and while the ambient temperature increased considerably, the battlesuit remained at the same height. "Okay, I Can Carry You."

"Good. Stop floating so I can carry you back out and jump off the edge of the mangrove." She hustled out the front door cradling Theo in her arms to the continued indifference of the Marines around them. Only hesitating a little as she reached the end of the street, she stepped off and pushed Theo away from her. The battlesuit came to life, quickly flying underneath her and spreading her limbs apart to stabilize Aisha as comfortably as possible.

"Flying Just Underneath The Mangroves Will Minimize The Chances Of Us Being Targeted. Stay As Still As You Can So We Don't Accidentally Drift Into A Crack."

"Of course," Aisha said while she screamed internally. She logically knew that she was safe, but she was going way too fast not to feel like she would slip off at any second and fall way too many meters down to the waters below. Seeing the cracks up close for the first time proved to be a welcome distraction. Despite the exoticism of being a Devil Fruit User, she had largely gone through her life without interacting with people with unusual abilities. The surreality of seeing fissures suspended in midair like she was inside a glass globe almost made her forget about how she was about to set foot on a real battlefield.

Theo's flying became much more erratic as they approached Grove 59, where more and more fighters filled the seas and hung on the roots. Aisha yelped as she was tossed up and to the side, Theo rolling to avoid a projectile and positioning herself back underneath her. They curved along the edge of the mangrove's roots, only rising up to ground level once they found the place on the edge with the least amount of fighting. Aisha was assaulted by the sounds and smells of battle, churning her stomach even more.

She gaped in amazement when she beheld Morgan's elemental, a colossal mass of stone and exposed metal too large for her to even guess its height. Theo gasped as well, but didn't go directly towards him. She slowed to a stop next to an armored fighter and twisted to let Aisha off. "Lyn! Are You Okay?"

Lyn hastily struggled to her feet and lifted her visor. "Theo? Aisha?"

Aisha cleared her throat as Theo hugged her crewmate. "I'm here to guard Theo since she's been reduced to NYMPHE. I forfeited the Sheriff's protection to keep her from being maimed."

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Lyn's armor dug into Aisha's body as she kissed her face. "Miserie's here too, but she's still fighting. Warlords Soren and Mako are here, but Fly threw his flying thing upwards and left."

"To Chase Me," Theo explained.

Aisha looked around and motioned Lyn closer. "Let me return the favor."

The first mate leaned in, letting Aisha kiss her offered cheek, only to jerk back. "No! Why did you do that?"

"Better me than you." Aisha gave a deep breath as the pain from Lyn's injuries set in. The swordswoman had only received cuts, bruises, and scrapes, but they all added up in a way that had surely restricted her movement to some degree.

Indeed, Lyn moved much more fluidly despite her obvious exhaustion. She looked down at her body, then bent down and grabbed her broken hilt, seemingly pulling an enormous sword out of the ground. "Okay, we're going into that construction yard. Stay close. Theo, behind her."

They made it to the yard unmolested, but opened the door to the office to find a handful of Marines recovering inside. Caught on the back foot, the Marines only barely managed to dive under Lyn's swipe. Theo's right hand made a strange rattling noise as she waved it at the Marines. One of them got by the pirates and sliced across Aisha's arm, but she knew better than to try exchanging injuries given the color of his shirt. He was partially knocked through the wall by the desk she swung, and Theo's tackle pushed him the rest of the way through. The flat of Lyn's blade bowled the others over as well, and she left them for Aisha to throw outside.

"Sorry," Lyn gasped as she slumped onto an undamaged chair. "I tried to stop him."

"Merely a scratch." Aisha tore her sleeve off and wrapped it around her wound. "Are we going to hide in here?"

"For now." Aisha looked at her with mild surprise. "Morgan and Miserie don't need us right now and are drawing all the attention. Teutania and Wimundi are with them, couple others too. Right now, being here and catching our breath is best."

Only the fighting outside could be heard before Theo emerged from NYMPHE and started looking it over again. "I don't need to catch my breath. Damien's fighting his ex-girlfriend, who lived and became a Marine."

The others' heads snapped towards her. "Say that again?" Lyn said incredulously.

"Yeah, I've had a really wild time. So, I first met her when I found Alexander…"

\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\

"Boy, they don't call you the White Mountain for nothing, do they~?"

Cain tried to blink sweat from his eyes as he stood over Rockstar, his bident pinning her neck to the ground. He had managed to crack the shell on her pincers in several places, though not enough to see any flesh underneath. "Will you now stand down?"

"How're you gonna make sure I do~?"

"I can't." He leaned in. "But if I see you fighting again, I will not be trying to subdue you."

She pulled her antennae out from beneath the bident. "And what if you don't see me?"

He planted his foot on her claw. "Then I'll remove you from the battle right now."

"Okay, okay!" She raised her six arms in defeat. "You win this round! Next time will be different~!"

"Next time?"

She grinned widely. "Everyone knows about Cassandra's dream, not that anybody believes her no matter how much she says it~. If she keeps going though, there's no way she won't get the Warlords sent after her personally."

He was glad his visor hid his own small smile. "I suppose you're right. Do you promise to remain in the ocean until the battle's over?"

"In exchange for not hurting me more? Sure thing~. I knew being nice to you guys on Fyuchrzend was the right move~."

He pulled his bident out of the ground, allowing her to scuttle away. He returned his attention to the battle, but Captain Theresa and Paulinesgrave were nowhere to be seen. Sue had managed to reach the Marines, who were just as baffled as Cain had been and equally unsure of how to deal with it. He leapt onto one of the few remaining intact buildings to get a better view of the clash between Captain Bol and Admiral Bow. Neither of them had the clear advantage, especially since she wasn't transforming into plasma.

The entire battlefield slowed to a stop when the world sounded like it was breaking asunder. The cracks originating from the center of the fighting vanished, replaced by a huge hollow cone that surrounded the mangrove. Everyone looked up to see Admiral Wedge far above the ground, repeatedly falling between two tight rifts to keep him suspended in the air as he hit the same spot more and more to increase the density of the cone. A significantly thinner one formed around Captain Bol and Admiral Bow, isolating them from the rest of the battle.

With a cry that could be heard throughout the area, he spun around and brought his fist down, sending cracks shooting throughout the archipelago. The dense rifts forming the cone spewed out hundreds if not thousands of people. It looked like Wedge was trying to bring back all of the combatants he had initially scattered. Two giants Cain hadn't previously seen tumbled across the ground, but both of them were significantly shorter than the rock elemental that landed heavily on its back. Astonished pride shot through him when he saw metal moving in the places Morgan's elemental had broken.

KYKLOPS, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't hard to distinguish Damien's flames from all of the other manifestations of unusual abilities. Warlords Fly and Florin stabilized themselves before they hit the ground and swooped back upwards to get a better handle of the situation. Cain frowned. Warlord Florin? When did he join the battle?"

Cain leapt off the building and traversed the battlefield in long jumps, trying to locate his crew. Warlord Fly predictably angled towards him, forcing him back to the ground. With the thorough mixing of coalition pirates and the army fielded by the World Government, Cain could no longer charge everywhere with impunity.

Something hit him in the back of the head, sending him face-first into the ground. He rolled to the side and pushed himself up to lock eyes with Warlord Fly, who skidded to a stop. "What's the rush, baby batter? Late for getting your asshole gaped?" He quirked his lips at Cain's complete lack of reaction. "Don't tell me you don't know what that is either. At least that poona fish and bottomboy had excuses. Or does that cocky lesbo only pick up retards?"

Even if Fly's use of the past tense indicated something had happened to his crewmates, Cain remained still. He almost completely focused on the Warlord in front of him, but was unable to prevent a tiny part of himself from wondering how Captain Libera would react to Warlord Fly's provocations. Nevertheless, the longer he stalled, the longer Warlord Fly wasn't attacking other coalition pirates.

"Fine," snapped the shorter man at last, turning away. "Let's find out what the tranny thinks."

"Vald!"

Warlord Fly laughed with delight as he deflected Cain's thrown spear with his own and opened his trident dagger. "Oh, so it's that trap Theodorus! Did that slut captain of yours want it because she thought it had a pussy? She must be sad she can't groom it!"

He ducked under Cain's twin axes, his spear scraping the side of Cain's helm. The large pirate backed off, his grip tightening and loosening on his axes. He hoped Warlord Fly would interpret his exaggerated breathing as anger. "Do not insult my crew."

"Really? That's all you have?" Warlord Fly threw his head back and laughed. "Tsetsetsetse! Clearly that dykopath only uses your tongue for mustache rides, not wordplay!"

"Floerd!" He threw his axes and followed up with a swung halberd, which was caught by Warlord Fly's trident dagger as expected. "Be silent!"

The Warlord twisted his wrist, easily snapping the halberd as Cain made another one. "Make me, pillow-biter, or I'll convert Captain Lickalotapus with my cock! Actually, that sounds fun!"

"I will defend her honor!" Thankfully, his visor covered his face as his lips twitched upwards despite the gravity of the situation. He really was a bad liar.

"Oh, please. My jizz has more honor than she does." Cain doubted any Black Glove Pirate but Raven could refute that with a straight face. "She'll make a good prison breeding sow!"

Cain swung and stabbed with his polearm, but all of his attacks were dodged or deflected. Warlord Fly did try to block once, but was sent staggering backwards beneath Cain's strength. He managed to avoid Cain's follow-up attacks despite being off-balance, then caught the halberd in his trident dagger again. Cain pulled the halberd back, converting it into a spear before it could be snapped, but got nowhere with his subsequent flurry of thrusts.

"Yeah, I think it's time to go do that." He dashed forward and thrust his closed dagger at Cain's groin, which was barely parried to the side in time. Cain made a hasty retreat, wincing whenever Warlord Fly slipped through his armor. "'White Mountain', my dick. You can't call yourself that if you flee like a quim!"

Waiting until he was about to be completely overwhelmed, Cain planted his foot behind him to halt their movement. Warlord Fly shouted in triumph, only to realize his dagger had been completely stopped. He watched as blackness spread across Cain's armor like spilled ink until no trace of white remained. The stripped spear and the shield he had crafted while retreating turned black as well. Cain was under no delusion that he could now go toe-to-toe with the Warlord, but that wasn't his goal anyway. "Krellr Herkloedi."

"Fine, you can't call yourself that at all," Warlord Fly continued. "You think that'll save you?"

"No, but it'll help."

They had barely exchanged a few blows when the warlord dove to the ground, several darts bouncing off Cain's armor. "You simpering fuckhole. You're supposed to be on my side!"

"You've been dodging us," the woman said, pulling more darts out of her belt. "You and Captain You have unfinished business."

Cain gripped his weapons so hard he nearly crushed them. The arrival of the Abyssal Pirates alone had been an unwelcome surprise. The arrival of the Necrophage Pirates had significantly worsened the situation. The arrival of the Keg Stand Pirates had drained the hope of so many coalition pirates. If the Boggy Pirates were coming as well, winning the battle was all but impossible.

"Fuck off. That deal is horse jism and he knows it."

"The deal isn't done."

Warlord Fly leered at her. "Tell that doped-up dope to meet me himself if he can be bothered to stop 'enhancing' his product by knocking up his drug mules."

Cain let loose the breath he had been holding and hoped his enemies hadn't noticed. "So you can continue to dodge us?" The woman scoffed. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"I have no words to describe the magnitude of my answer."

"Funny. You're coming whether you want to or not." Her unsettling smile reminded Cain of cracked porcelain dolls. "Pick not. It'll be more fun."

The warlord lunged at her, but she danced out of his reach and brought her blowpipe to her lips. Cain immediately leapt away, another layer of exhaustion sweeping through him as his armor returned to its normal color. Considering the regularity with which he used his Haki to solidify his weapons, he wondered how long he had been able to infuse his armor. Somehow, he had never even thought about trying to. So few people had managed to get through his armor that bolstering his defense hadn't seemed necessary.

He tucked and rolled as he landed so he could make a spear to throw through the Marine forcing Lyn downwards. He followed up with a longsword, cutting through another enemy as he skidded to his crewmate's side. He had thought he could no longer be surprised by unusual sights in this battle, but he had been sorely mistaken. Why Theo was in NYMPHE guarding Aisha would have to wait. He and Lyn swung their swords simultaneously, and Marines scrambled to get out of range. He twisted around to cut through the people on Lyn's side while she and Theo dealt with the people who had ducked under his attack. Lyn's exhaustion was evident; she would undoubtedly be sore for several days on top of any wounds she had sustained.

Cain was about to bring his sword down when a thick feeling overwhelmed him. His head filled with fuzz, making it impossible to think. Although he remained on his feet, almost all of the other combatants sank to the ground. After looking around to see who was still standing, he looked at the two fighters in the center of the battlefield. They had stopped fighting and were both focused on something in the distance, the origin of this powerful feeling.

He wondered how many surprises were in store for him.