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Chapter 3 – Current: Reacquainting

"Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness, I need to calculate what creates my own madness." – Getting Away with Murder – Papa Roach

"Borsalino-kun, stop poking me. We're still supposed to explain," Serenity scolded the admiral lightly but she could not help the slight smile that curled her lips.

"They can hear later. I want… no. I need to catch up with you," Kizaru smirked as he offered his arm. "Walk with me."

"If you insist," Serenity sighed dramatically before flashing a smile towards the admiral's subordinates. Several of them gave goofy responses before giving the two space to talk. "What's on your mind, love?"

"I've missed you saying that," he sighed quietly before reaching for her hand. "How many years was it? How many years have we been apart without contact?"

"Twenty," Serenity answered quickly. "By the time I managed to escape Whitebeard's crew, five years had elapsed. I… I was here. The whole time after I was stuck on Sabaody."

Borsalino's brow furrowed almost in anger. "Fifteen years where there was a marine base? You never were one to procrastinate, Serenity-chan. Especially in matters of the heart either. Unless you didn't care for me?" he asked in a hurt tone. "Was there a reason you told me to essentially abandon you if I hadn't heard from you in a year?"

"Borsalino-kun, I know you heard what I said when I came out of the rubble."

"Something about memory stuff being bullshit?"

"Exactly. Borsalino-kun, for fifteen years I did not know anything about myself other than my own name and one other important fact that you don't know."

"Being left in the dark isn't pleasing to me," the logia scowled in annoyance. "And the memory loss seems a bit too convenient."

"The old me would want to say 'fuck you if you don't believe me' but I know how you work. You need to see it to believe it. So my love, believe me." Extending out her arm, Borsalino's eyes widened comically as feathers started to extend and grow out of her skin quickly. Her own eyes seemed to sharpen like a hawk's but then she quickly receded the transformation as it was apparent that she felt uncomfortable. "Your eyes make me nervous when you watch me so closely."

"Devil fruit?" he asked with his voice sounding choked for a moment as she nodded slowly. "You never wanted to eat any fruit. Well at first you did until you thought we would drown in what?"

"Your own ego and sea water," Serenity hummed until she rolled her shoulder. "Someone had to be around to save your ass if you ever fell off the boat."

"And your marine clothing looked very flattering on you when drenching wet. How it clung to you… Damn it, you distracted me!" Serenity's flush was not missed however and Kizaru grinned widely. "You know if you wanted to reacquaint me with your body… Actually wait. How do you look so damn young?"

"Devil fruit," she responded with slight irritation. "If you actually let me finish, you'd know how but I suppose you're as impatient as always."

"Would you have me any other way?" he asked but before he could respond, he lifted his head as he heard an explosion and therefore he felt out with a bit of Observation Haki. "Seems Sentomaru-kun is confronting the threat. Let's go. Best way to integrate yourself back to active duty."

"Sentomaru? I had his newest outfit ready in the shop. Oh what's that's look for? Oh yeah, I need to explain. I was in Sabaody five years after my disappearance as it was the first place I could go to send a message to headquarters when I lost my memory. I was taken in by a kindly old woman who said I reminded her of her dead daughter and when she soon passed away, I took over her shop. I am or was, a tailor for Sabaody's various residents." She paused before pointing at Borsalino in outrage. "You destroyed her shop! You asshole!"

"It was an accident," he held his arms up as if in surrender. "Shit happens, Sere-chan, and you know that."

"Hmph. We'll see. I'm going to ask Sakazuki if this is a common occurrence when I see him. How is he by the way?"

"Other than being grouchy with an ever increasing stick up his ass, we're still best friends," the logia reported cheerfully before becoming slightly grim. "It took a while after your disappearance for him to calm down and not let his anger cloud his judgment. Kuzan didn't handle your disappearance well either but at least it didn't rear its head during a mission. Like Sakazuki's."

"I miss Kuzan too. He was like the little brother I never had," Serenity reminisced before looking down sadly. "I know you're angry at me but what's been going on with you? With me, there's still a lot to explain but I didn't realize I was missing something until you demolished my shop."

"What can I really say? I was heartbroken, damn it all. The woman I loved vanished and her crew mostly dead. Well, completely dead once your navigator committed suicide. Heard no news of you and any marine crew trying to get close to any of Whitebeard's vessels were silenced. That is until recently. Something big has happened and it has stirred that old pirate into action." Borsalino sighed as he really did not care about pirate politics in general but he noticed how hostile Serenity's stance had become. "I'm glad not everything about you is the same. If anything, you seem even more murderous when it comes to pirates. But in hindsight, I'm not sure if that's a good thing."

"If you didn't interrupt, you'd know why I can't stand those pirates. Whitebeard himself or his crew. There is one that is even worse though. Just the very thought of him disgusts me more than anything." Borsalino raised an eyebrow with curiosity as he could feel the raw venom pouring off Serenity and just being close to her was starting to make him feel angry on her behalf. "Tell me, Borsalino, do you know what happened with a Whitebeard pirate named Marshall D. Teach?"

"He's the newest Shichibukai that was picked but he formed his own crew: the Blackbeard Pirates. I believe Fleet Admiral Sengoku had the displeasure of meeting him already but myself, haven't heard much about him."

"Sengoku-sensei is fleet admiral… Heh. I feel like I would have vaguely known that from living as a civilian but it didn't strike me until now how significant that is. Damn. We really were taught by the best." Her posture did not ease up though despite the admiration she had spoken of in regards to her sensei. "Just warning you, Borsalino-kun. No matter what Teach is, if I see him, I'll kill him."

"You've threatened Shichibukai in the past, Sere-chan. What could possibly make you actually follow through on this threat?" the light user wondered but he swore he saw her eyes sharpen like a bird's. "Your eyes are colder than I remember them last. Hell, they are even colder than when you joined up."

"That'll have to wait. Look! That's Sentomaru isn't it?" The admiral sighed as he nodded. Despite normally enjoying to see his subordinate, that was the last thing on his mind when the missing love of his life had surfaced after two decades of being missing. That plus the fact she obviously showed even more emotional damage than before was particularly worrying for the admiral. "That kid standing near him… or on the ground rather… That hit looked like it hurt. Haki isn't it? That kid looks familiar."

"You're acquainted with Monkey D. Luffy?" the admiral asked with no small amount of surprise before groaning. This amnesia of hers is going to be troublesome, isn't?

"A few hours ago, he asked for directions to a 'place with a lot of meat'. I gave him directions. Trust me, I'm not too thrilled knowing that he's an obvious enemy now but now I'm thinking of it this way. How many other pirates did I help out over these years without realizing I was a marine? This sickens me. I have so much to make up for."

"Sere-chan…" Borsalino started but he was cut off when Serenity rose her hand to silence him.

"I'll make up for him and reenter the marines at once. Let me take down Monkey D. Luffy under your lead."

"That would please the World Nobles, one of whom he struck. Would you really follow my orders though? We may have come to an understanding before but for us to have such a dramatic difference in rank now…"

"Don't rub it in please. I know you're more than pleased to be able to order me around in more ways than one," Serenity teased as she dropped her joking demeanor once they came within earshot of the bulky marine with a broadaxe. "Oi, Sentomaru-san!"

The man with the bowl cut looked up and frowned. "Eh? Uncle, why do you have one of Sabaody's tailors with you?"

"Oh you're that sewing lady," Luffy coughed from the ground but a laser beam shooting over him made the rubber man quiet. "Run!"

"I don't run from my allies or my enemies," Serenity scowled and Luffy almost shuddered at the cold tone. "Sentomaru-san, are you in charge of this creepy thing?" She motioned towards the bulky robotic man on standby a few meters away. "It's obviously not a person."

Admiral Kizaru was pleased that despite her body being physically behind in the years, at least her mental senses were sharp. "That is a pacifista. Modeled after Kuma if you remember him. He's a Shichibukai too."

"Fucks sake," Serenity swore as she looked at the creepy facsimile of a human. "Seriously, the World Government picks the creepiest and most insane people to be Shichibukai. Maybe I'll just kill him too and make it look like an accident."

"You're a tailor though…" Sentomaru looked in shock but he realized something was different about the woman that had tailored the uniforms and clothing for many of the marines throughout Sabaody as well as some of the nobles. Her stance was a lot more firm and commanding as well as the coldness in her eyes. "Serenity-san, what's going on?"

"You heard the rumors about the Immediate right, Sentomaru-kun?" Kizaru asked quickly, making his subordinate's eyes widen with shock. "And the woman I was going to propose to twenty years ago?" Now this statement caught Serenity's attention and made Sentomaru's eyes widen. "They're one and the same."

"You were going to propose to me?" Serenity sputtered out of shock, temporarily shaking her out of the determination she had to eliminate the rubbery pirate still sprawled on the ground. "We need to speak on this later. For now, shall I focus on this paramecia or disable his crew?"

"Leave my nakama out of this!" Luffy roared, unintentionally releasing a burst of Conqueror's, which pushed all the marines back.

Sentomaru stumbled slightly but the gradual push that Kizaru received made him smirk. "Well isn't this generation of pirates scary?" He then noticed that although Serenity was pushed back quite a distance, she had stopped any further movement as wings ripped through the back of her clothing, the dark feathers shimmered in the light. The rest of her body remained a human's however. "But it seems my woman is even scarier."

"Conqueror's Haki… You truly are a threat," Serenity's tone now was hollow and single minded in a dangerous sort of way. "I'll make up for my prior mistake and erase the danger you present." With a flap of her wings, Serenity propelled herself forward past the admiral and his subordinate.

"Serenity!" she heard a shout but she was zoning in on the rubbery pirate until she saw what appeared to be a paw pad come towards her from the side, forcing her into a nearby mangrove. "Kuma, you attacked a marine and vanished a pacifista!"

"I am only under the orders of the World Government," the partially modified human muttered coldly before glancing to the groaning winged woman. "I didn't send her off the island but merely off to the side into that tree. Be thankful. She still has a use."

"What?" Luffy coughed as he looked up at the man who had protected him from a potentially dangerous assault from an unknown fruit user. "What are you talking about?"

"Where would you like to go, Monkey D. Luffy?" A swipe of a pawed hand later and the rubber man was gone.