Mask

Zoro hadn't shown it, but he'd been worried when Fox didn't reappear alongside Luffy inside the whale's stomach. She'd admitted to him while they were steering up Reverse Mountain that she could breathe just fine underwater –a perk of being a mermaid's daughter that eating Devil Fruit hadn't taken away– but she still sank like a stone. He knew she wasn't dead, though he wasn't looking forward to having to tell the rest of the crew what had happened to her.

He was therefore pleasantly surprised when, on emerging from the Whale with the assistance of Dr. Crocus, Fox was sitting on the shoreline waiting for them.

"Where were you?" Luffy asked as soon as he spotted her.

I fell overboard when Laboon swallowed the Going Merry," Fox said. "However I washed up here, so no harm done."

"You know the whale's name?" Nami asked.

Fox smiled. "I sailed the Grand Line for four years before arriving in East Blue, Nami-chan. Of course I know his name." Her smile turned wicked. "I know more about navigating the Grand Line than most, actually. I'm shocked you haven't tried to pick my brain yet."

Nami spluttered.

After Luffy's brief battle against the island whale Fox used her Devil Fruit Ability to reattach the Merry's mainmast without leaving so much as a join, which impressed Usopp very much. The long-nosed sniper had been ordered to put it back together despite not being a shipwright and had been very depressed about it. Zoro had napped, at least until Nami's shrieking roused him –again– and he looked up at the lighthouse to see what the fuss was about.

"This compass!" Nami was wailing. "It's broken! It's pointing all over the place!"

Zoro noticed Fox standing off to one side of the deck and giggling behind her hand, so he moved quietly over to stand next to her.

"You knew this would happen?"

She nodded as on the cliff top Dr. Crocus lectured the abashed navigator about why compasses were useless on the Grand Line. "Nami's got a true instinct for navigation," Fox whispered between giggles, "but she's so ignorant it's ridiculous. She doesn't even realise how ignorant she is!"

"Heh," it was pretty funny, considering how Nami hated to be contradicted about anything. "You're better then?"

Fox shrugged. "I'm not the natural she is, but I've more practice and understanding. Oh, and charts. Lots of charts, mostly ones I've made."

"On your ship."

"Yep."

"Which is…"

"Around."

"Of course." Zoro realised that he actually enjoyed these little verbal spars with his most enigmatic nakama. She wasn't a coward like Usopp, dense like Luffy, volatile like Nami or a dumbass like Sanji. Instead she was very sharp and a bit quirky, but steady as a rock when it mattered. She also didn't mind silence, which was a massive plus on the Merry.

Zoro did not trust the passengers Luffy had picked up at all, partly because they set his nerves on edge, but mostly because their presence had prompted Fox to retrieve her sunglasses and a scarf to wrap around her head before the odd duo regained consciousness. He knew her instincts were sharper than his due to her wider range of experiences and her resuming her disguise indicated they were not to be trusted. However as his captain had accepted them there was nothing he could do except wait, though their names did set off alarm bells in the back of his mind for some reason.

The sighting of Whiskey Peak however meant he had to put his concerns aside for a little while. Not long though, as the townspeople's' behaviour was deeply, deeply suspect. Fox had vanished below deck as soon as the cheering started, whispering in the swordsman's ear as she passed that she would catch up with the rest of the crew once things had quieted down.

As Nami was the only member of the crew who seemed to be treating the situation with the suspicion it deserved, Zoro quietly informed the redhead of Fox' words before allowing himself to be led off towards the party.

On the far side of the Going Merry, out of sight of the town, a wooden deck surfaced from the river. Fox slipped silently out of one of the cannon hatches onto the damp wood, opened a hatch in the otherwise featureless boards and dropped inside. The hatch closed and the deck sunk beneath the waves once more.

As Zoro confronted the forces of the Baroque Works head-on, he noticed a white shadow flitting between buildings at the back of the crowd. None of the bounty hunters had noticed it yet, mainly because it was picking people off one at a time and hiding the bodies between kills. Considering his battle partner's preference for back alleys and secrecy, the green-haired swordsman decided not to be too concerned about stealth.

Just as well, as his temporary hiding spot had just been discovered. Oh, well: being the centre of attention was rather fun. Even though there was a real chance that the longer he prolonged the fight, the fewer opponents he would have by the time they cornered him. He could already see the gaps in their ranks, gaps they were too busy chasing him to notice. Fox was good.

In fact, the next time he paused for breath all that was left of the hundred or so bounty hunters in Whiskey Peak were three of the four Frontier Agents of the organisation. Considering he'd only taken out sixty people at most, it was kinda pathetic that they hadn't noticed he wasn't their only opponent. Then again, Fox was really, really good. Even he hadn't seen her again after that first time, which had probably been on purpose.

Sadly Nami showed up after he'd beaten the Frontier Agents and hidden the still-unconscious Luffy from the newly-arrived Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine's Day, which meant Fox would be sticking to the shadows for a while longer. He had been hoping for a chance to spar against the white-haired woman's alter-ego. Though, if he'd read her right she was probably shadowing the princess Nami was trying to extort a protection fee for. Which was the reason why Zoro actually chased after the blue-haired former Miss Wednesday when Nami asked him to.

Though not before informing the redhead that he was doing it because he wanted to rather than because of anything she happened to say.

When Zoro got back to the boat Fox was already there, back in her everyday clothing plus sunglasses and petting the large duck belonging to the princess.

"Have a good night?" he asked dryly.

"Very peaceful," Fox told him with a smile. "Oh, and Miss Valentine sadly did not survive her run-in with you and Luffy: she landed on something sharp and bled out."

The swordsman grinned. Oh yeah, Fox was fantastic.

Born killers flirt slightly differently to normal people.