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"Press forward, children! Don't be shy with me,"

Shouted Itse from in between them, and Martina was only too willing to oblige. She sprang forward, lunging with her right and aiming at her wrist before giving up as Itse's cane came right for her head. On the other side Nico grunted as his swing was parried and was jabbed in the ribs with the reinforced point.

Martina could feel her breath rasping against her throat, her arms that were held up by sheer will, and her legs that were about ready to buckle, spasming from time to time like a small seizure. She held herself together simply by the threat that the old woman posed and all the pain she promised if they slacked.

Itse stood on the beam, resting her weight on her cane and looking at them in turn, she let her head give that little dance like a taunting snake before taping the wood twice as if checking how solid it was.

"You have enough space to dance on top of this thing and you two are so shy of falling that you keep turtling up. So tell me, do you two want me to strike those shells?"

Itse grinned across at them. She was loving it. Absolutely loving it, damn her.

They both went at it, her left knife cut into a curve towards the back of her knee while the right one was kept by her side to parry or block a blow. There was naught a mistake or a quiver in her arm as she slashed, the point aimed true to where she wanted to thanks to her [Steady Aim] but even with all the Skills she fell short. Without a notice her forearm was pinned between the beam and the cane and with a small twist that made her muscles bunch up and scream she dropped her weapon, following it shortly to the ground before staring upwards.

Nico stabbed at her from the side and turned it into a swing with just his wrist when he missed, Itse ducked under the motion and crossed his face with the stick before stabbing his ankle and pushing it off the beam. He fell like a drunk down the stairs, his back foot caught on the beam as the other one went down, his thigh and hip smacked soundly against the wood and he ended up sprawled on the grass under the bar they were fighting on.

The both of them refused to move an inch, taking as much air as they could before Itse prodded them with the branch she had taken a fancy to. Martina wondered if it had been a mistake or an excellent idea to ask the insufferable lady for help when his training started to fall behind their capabilities. It could be that good ideas require pain and sacrifice, but when the sacrifice became torture her resolution flaked a bit.

Their days were plagued with studying and training, to begin the day running up and down mountains and hills, weighted down by boulders like a pair of slaves. They then tied their bodies to a dingy that they had to tow as far as possible from the island, once there their lessons on how to use sextants and maps began and when they ended it was back into the sea. Only to finish with sparring over a beam against a New World pirate and be beaten black and blue and green. She was positive she looked like a flag with all these colours.

"I don't know what you are going to do when you have to fight on board if you can't handle a frail woman on land,"

She was done hearing her jabs, she was done three days ago when she ended up with two black eyes, so she spat at Itse from her place on the ground. She could have sworn a chip of a tooth went with that.

"Frail my ass, we saw you take down a gorilla twice Nico's size with a knife,"

"Oh, well. You know what they say, women can pull great strength in times of need. I must have been so scared I used everything I had,"

"Like hell you did,"

She sat up and ignored how her everything hurt, massaging a bad spot in her neck that felt as if someone had put a knotted rope under her skin. She must have pulled that dodging something. Looking at Itse as she took the cookie Nico offered her, she wondered out loud.

"How come I can't see your attacks with Haki?"

"I meditate,"

"And that means?"

Neck going limp as it started to sway softly to a silent tune, Itse kept them waiting until she finished her butter cookie with delight.

"Observation Haki is all about perception. You two, for example, have already taken the first step forward when you learnt how to project your intentions indiscriminately. Martina as if my very own shadow would strike me down and Nicolas as if a boulder was resting on me,"

She must have been talking about their Aura, she thought. A Skill they both shared, if to different effects, and it had come with their last levelling, the seventh. [Veteran's Aura] for him and [Stalker's Aura] for her, she hated the name and had lied and told him it was [Hunter´s Aura] instead. She couldn't be blamed for censoring such an embarrassing thing.

"But you are only changing the perception of your enemy, not of yourself. To hide your intentions, on the other hand, you need think nothing of the fight, take it as if everything is already set in stone. As if it doesn't concern you and hold no anger when hit and no pride when you strike,"

They both chewed on her words, they didn't think that Itse had it in her to be philosophical. Martina didn't think she even knew the word. The metal tip tapped her hard in the crown and made her wince.

"I don't need Haki to tell you just thought something rude,"

Tipping the bottle just a little further she eyed the last drop lazily roll down, it started racing forward once it was past the neck and she savoured the last of it letting it sit in her mouth for a second. It seemed they needed to buy more limoncello, she thought as she let the bottle rest on the floor together with the rest.

"That is the last you drink for today,"

"If you don't smoke, I don't drink. That's the deal,"

He hesitated for a second and bit on his cigar, a monster of a thing that stunk the whole place and then some around the house.

"No. This is the only one I had today, that is the fourth bottle this hour,"

"And yet I feel like I could go roll down a hill and not wretch,"

"There is nothing to be proud of in that sentence,"

A snort took them both by surprise and it turned into an ugly cackle as they both reached for their belts. She didn't know what Nico was going for, there were only his pouches there. Offer a sugar cube to the assailant and hope they were diabetic maybe.

"Peace, peace. It's just me,"

"We can see that,"

She commented dryly just as the old woman made her scoot over and let her sit together with them at the table. Puma grumbled and left to sleep on her couch as he was rudely awoken by all the moving chairs. Poor thing, she almost felt pity.

"A drink?"

Martina offered. Pulling a bottle from behind her, complete with three glasses. Nico pushed his away with the tip of his finger, as if it was stained by things untold.

"I am not drinking until I know where all this came from,"

"Don't drink then. More for us,"

"Cheers to that,"

The glasses clinked and came up to hide her grin from her brother, it was always funny to see him not catch onto her little sleight of hand. The three of them spoke and enjoyed the drink, the smoke, and the cold breeze that whipped the place from time to time at night and took away the heat like it was a nightmare of another day.

"Itse I want to know something. Nico told me that you were a pirate but I heard not another word about it,"

"And what is it that you want to know?"

"What's like living at sea?"

Her voice was but a crack higher than it should, a hum of excitement and forlorn almost making her sing the question that had intrigued and terrified her since they made their decision. And there was something infectious in it as a smile split Itse's face, her little wrinkles bunching up at the edges, and put a grin and an amused snort in Nico.

"Such a hard thing to put in words,"

And those eyes that always had a mocking smile in them, shined a little brighter, a little differently as she pieced together her words and found the memories of days past.

"The sea has a great many things to show you, and I just can't bring up a day I wasn't glad I took my captain's hand. She showed me such sights, islands I never thought existed, some floating loftily in the sky and others latched onto the back of animals from legends. But if I have to say what I loved most was the people, to see everyone take life by a different side, with a different face and attitude. Some were commendable and admirable and others less so, much less,"

There was something in her voice as she spoke, a fire that had not been quenched, that would keep her company till the day she breathed her last. Her desire and her wish had not aged, had not withered like her face or her hands had, it hang onto the rims of her heart with a grip that couldn't be betrayed by time. It was enviable and delightful to watch her speak about fountains that sprayed wine and islands that were surrounded by candy and cake.

"What was the name of your crew? I forgot,"

Asked Nico without the least bit of tact. For a man that preached so hard on manners he could be as rude as an ass sometimes.

"The Blackjacks. Led by Full-Deck Rouge,"

Martina's ears tickled when she heard the name and it seemed that it got her brother's head jogging by how still he went when he registered it. She was sure it was but a coincidence, after all Rouge was a common name. Right?

"Rouge? As in Portgas Rouge?"

Itse's eyes were about to pop from her face as they were filled with uncontrollable happiness.

"You know her? I was sure that her name was buried like many others by Gold's shadow, the detestable bastard,"

"We only know about someone hiding in South Blue,"

"Baterilla Island,"

She smiled as she spoke.

"It's the one and the same, my captain always talked about that place. Said it was where she was born and where she found her Devil Fruit,"

"She was a user?"

"Oh yes, one of the strongest at that. Went toe to toe with Big Mom too when she was just starting to wear the golden hat and calling herself queen of something,"

"An emperor? She went against an Emperor!"

Nicolas' voice went shrill at that revelation, it had blindsided the both of them. They weren't surprised about Portgas being a pirate, how could she meet the King otherwise, but being someone that went against Charlotte Linlin?

"Yes, and what a battle it was. They tore apart two islands, two! Both crews had to help in getting the civilians away, it was something out of stories. Big Mom battered Rouge with god's fury, lightning and fire savaging everything but my Captain, her anger a holocaust, but she shrugged it all. The thunder and flames alike did nothing but caress her clothes as they exchanged brutal blows atop castles and mountains that crumbled when they met, I had never seen her take on half as many forms as she did there, nor half as quickly. It was the one time I feared for her and I would have flung myself right in the thick of it if my mates hadn't held me back with rope and chain,"

The three of them shuddered as she was finished speaking, the siblings were thrumming with excitement as they heard of a witness how the pinnacle looked and Itse shuddered in bliss. Colour seeping from her and draping over her face like a bride's veil, and it would have been a beautiful sight had it not been the thick and bright purple of lust that escaped her. It wasn't nice to see an old woman get horny, not a one bit.

"I have never seen a more beautiful sight as her walking out of the flames, coat ripped and teared, her hair down and her hat in her hand. I am not ashamed to say I threw myself at her, only pity is she let me fall,"

"You loved her then?"

"That's right, I have loved her and only her in my life. Reason why they call me Faithful. I loved every form she took on, be it a mermaid or a giant I loved every single one,"

"She could turn into what now?"

"Mermaids, Giants, Long-Legs, Long-Arms, she could turn into any and all. She always said that the gods saw so much beauty in us that they could not choose a single mould for us, and so we were made with so many forms, she loved to change herself at every island to look the world with new eyes,"

She giggled like an adolescent at a thought before speaking again.

"There was one time I told her that if she stayed a Long-Ear for too long I might lose hold of myself, she laughed loud and clear as a breaking wave at that,"

They all smiled at that, there was an innocence to Itse when she spoke of her Captain, of her love that just made the both of them embarrassed and happy for a reason. But there was something that niggled at her in that last sentence.

"Long-Ears? Never heard of them,"

"You will both love them, they are simply beautiful. Not a single ugly tribesman in there. And they live longer than even Giants, so they can teach you a lot of new and interesting things,"

Questions answered they didn't press her for an explanation on that, she was not interested in hearing about what Itse had learnt with this tribe, not a one bit.

"Ah, but they are hard to find. Too much trouble when conceiving and then they have to wait for more than a year for the babe to be born, it keeps their population small and not for a lack of trying. I can testify to that,"

She gave them both a leer that made them scrunch their noses and hold their tongue on whatever they wanted to say about her, after all you should never bad mouth your host.

Laying down on the couch she stared at the rafters for a long time, it was already well past midnight and tomorrow would see her waking at the crack of dawn but for the love of it she couldn't sleep. Her mind twined around what she should do, Itse didn't know about Rouge's death but she couldn't tell her either because she wasn't supposed to know, hinting that they heard about her living in South Blue was already stretching it thin.

But she wanted to speak, she reckoned she owed her at least that much. To be the one that told her that the person she held close to her heart all these years was gone and that she had left a child, one that knew not a thing about his mother.

It was painful to hold herself back like this and she could feel the pit in her stomach eating away, but she couldn't talk. Not now at least, but she hoped that Itse could forgive her for it because she certainly couldn't.

Congratulations [Ranger] Class levelled up.

[Ranger] level 8.

It did nothing for her but put more guilt in her, to know that she was helping them, and she betrayed her with silence. Her gut would most likely be hollow with time.