~ Mother of Little Bears ~

Further conversation was forestalled by the baby bear in Perona's arms (the one named Teddy... as long as Mihawk didn't decide to rename him as well) starting to cry again. Perona cuddled the baby bear and shushed him, but he only responded by crying louder.

"What's wrong?" she asked, an edge of panic to her voice.

"Maybe he's uncomfortable with the way you're holding him, or hungry, or frightened of being in a new place."

The blank look of shock she gave him at this pronouncement confirmed his earlier assumption that the ghost princess didn't know the first thing about childcare. And while Mihawk was aware of what the basics of it were, the warlord himself had no practical experience in looking after small children, either.

Scowling, Perona shifted her hold on Teddy so that she was cradling the baby bear in the same way as Mihawk held the other one. Despite his brother's cries, Damcyan was still sleeping peacefully, so the warlord must be doing something right.

Once in the new position, Teddy promptly chomped Perona's boob.

Mihawk forced himself to hold back his laughter as he stated, "He must be hungry, then."

"It's not funny!" Perona snapped. "Ow, his teeth are sharp. Teddy, stop biting me. We'll give you some food."

"Some milk, anyway. I don't know if they're old enough for solid food yet."

"They have teeth!"

"If they're still nursing, it's unlikely they've transitioned entirely to solid food yet. Anyway, why don't you use your Devil Fruit power to keep him from biting you?"

"Ah, right." She hadn't even thought of it until he mentioned it, but dematerializing her chest was a simple task which resolved the issue. It had the additional effect of halting Teddy's crying. Frowning (as much a bear can frown, anyway), the baby tentatively swiped a paw at Perona's chest, looking utterly baffled when it simply passed through her instead of meeting solid flesh. His bafflement was only compounded when he put his paw on her shoulder, and discovered that part of her was still solid.

A few moments passed in silence as they continued walking. Mihawk was halfway to the castle's kitchen before Perona finally caught on to what he'd meant with the comments about milk and nursing. She gave an indignant squawk as she caught up with him.

Mihawk quirked an eyebrow at her, but didn't comment on the strange noise she'd made as he held the kitchen door open and gestured for her to go in ahead of him.

Perona hovered awkwardly just inside the door as Mihawk went over to a cupboard. He opened it and reached in to take out some cups. After taking out the first one, he went to transfer it to his other hand, frowning when he remembered that his left arm was full of baby bear. He set the cup on the counter instead, and got a second down. He set that one down on the counter next to the other, then picked them both up together by grabbing them where the rims touched.

Perona noticed the strange way that he was carrying the cups with his fingers shoved awkwardly down inside them, and wondered why he didn't just ask her to hold Damcyan while he finished what he was doing. But apparently he was determined to do it by himself while holding the baby.

She scowled as she watched him set the cups on the kitchen table, then turn to the fridge to get out the milk. He awkwardly pushed the refrigerator door shut with his elbow after retrieving the milk carton from inside.

Really, this would be so much easier if he would just ask me to help, she fumed internally as he set the carton on the table and fumbled one-handedly to get it open. She was seriously considering just going over there and holding it down for him so he could get the spout unfolded when, apparently fed up with wrestling the carton top, Mihawk let go of it and drew the concealed dagger that hung around his neck.

He's not going to-

He proceeded to stab the carton with it... just once, carefully.

I can't believe he just did that! It seems more like something that green-haired idiot would have done.

Mihawk wiped the blade of the dagger against his thigh before re-sheathing it, then picked up the carton and attempted to pour milk into one of the cups. It didn't work out so well for him. The milk flowed out through the slit he'd created in the container perfectly well. It was the angle from which he poured it that was the problem. That, along with the fact that there was nothing (for example, anyone's hand) to stabilize the cup as it was being filled, which led to it tipping over.

Milk went all over the table. The cup rolled over the edge of the table and clattered to the floor, splashing milk across the stone... and also onto the warlord's boots.

Upon witnessing this event, Teddy began to cry once more - which had the unfortunate side effect of bringing the ghost princess to the warlord's attention once more.

"Perona!" Mihawk snapped. "Don't just stand there staring! Come over here and help me."

"Maybe I would if you asked me, instead of ordering me to!"

~to be continued~