Rejoin

Zoro was looking forward to meeting up with Fox in Alabasta; he hadn't realised until now how wonderful it was to have another sane person on board. The crew had a new addition, a proper doctor called Tony Tony Chopper who happened to be a reindeer. Chopper was very interested in meeting Fox due to Luffy's enthusiastic descriptions of her healing ability and disguises.

Sadly, the crew's enthusiasm had been rather dulled by the lack of food on board in the past few days; Luffy's appetite was a monster. Then there was the rather embarrassing disaster involving Mr. 2 Bon Clay, which Zoro was rather glad Fox had missed. Now however Nanohana was visible on the shore of the upcoming island of Alabasta and they were closing on the port. Things were looking up.

Fox sat calmly in the eye of a storm of panicked babbling at the counter of the Spice Bean restaurant, scant feet from where Ace was fast asleep face down in his lunch, right hand still raised with a fork gripped in it. She had already informed her favourite hothead that she could sense Luffy's approach, so the fiery pirate had decided to eat at Nanohana's most celebrated restaurant before meeting up with his little brother. The teetering stacks of plates on either side of him stood testimony to his massive appetite and the tattoo in full view on his naked back declared his allegiance to Whitebeard to all and sundry. Considering Luffy would be arriving shortly, Ace had decided to dispense with secrecy altogether.

The accumulation of plates prevented Fox from sitting as close to Ace as she usually did and as a result he had been felled by his narcolepsy: right into a plate of curry.

All around her the rest of the customers were chattering about desert strawberries when Ace woke, abruptly rising from his meal with a splutter. "Damn," he said, straightening his hat, wiping his face and turning on his seat to take in both Fox and the assembled audience, "I fell asleep." He then turned back to his meal. Fox ducked her head and pulled her headscarf forward a little so people couldn't see her snickering. A few seconds later he crashed forward again, his narcolepsy apparently making up for all the missed opportunities three days spent in almost constant contact with Fox had caused.

After waking up for a second time and finishing his food, Ace asked the chef if he had seen Luffy today, showing the man Fox' captain's bounty poster. As he did so, Fox sensed a familiar Devil Fruit User enter the building behind them and deliberately turned her face aside so as to avoid notice. Ace wouldn't rat her out and if a fight started she would have a perfect excuse to flee the building. Of course doing so would count as eating and running, but Ace would find it hilarious that he had corrupted her to such a degree and likely boast about it to Whitebeard at the earliest opportunity.

As Captain Smoker faced off against Ace with appropriate banter on both sides, Fox sensed Luffy approaching the restaurant very quickly. Said straw-hatted pirate rocketed into the restaurant at high speed, crashing into Smoker and launching both the Marine and Ace through the counter and the wall. Fox peered sideways through the hole and determined that the bantering duo had been sent through several walls, which was impressive considering they were both Logia Users.

She muffled a giggle as her captain sat right next to her and demanded food; he didn't even notice her. Taking advantage of Luffy being the centre of attention, Fox set out to find the rest of the crew. Ace would have no trouble locating his little brother now and she needed to show the others where the supplies were.

The crew of the Going Merry minus Luffy was sculking at the edge of the town, waiting for Fox to find them. Sanji, being the only person who had not had his face copied by Mr. 2, had acquired outfits for the girls. Unfortunately, Sanji being Sanji, the outfits were skimpy dancing girl costumes. Zoro had been provoking another fight when Fox appeared, leading a camel.

"I've got all our supplies here," she said briskly. "Guys, here's some suitable clothing," she handed Zoro a stack of parcels, "and I have water, normal food and trail rations for all of us. Oh, and spare cloaks of course; the sun is too hot to be out in without proper covering."

Zoro, Usopp and Chopper –who was soon introduced to Fox– all changed in an alley behind the ruined building they were using as a meeting place, then returned to eat the food she had brought. Since Luffy was elsewhere, the meal was fairly civilised. Fox simply placed herself in Zoro's lap and seemingly nodded off while the others discussed their plans, Vivi taking the lead. The swordsman knew she wasn't asleep, but let her relax as he polished off the remaining food. Then Vivi dived for cover and Zoro got up to see what the fuss was about.

It turned out to be marines, chasing a pirate. Specifically marines chasing Luffy, who spotted his crew and soon had the marines chasing them too. The group instantly ran for it, Fox snatching the remaining supplies off the camel and abandoning the animal. Zoro noticed that the man in the lead was captain Smoker, which explained why Luffy had chosen to run rather than fight. Smoker was launching a blow at the fleeing rubberman when a stranger intervened, dispelling the marine captain's powers.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted. Zoro swiftly grabbed his captain and pushed him towards the Merry:

"We're running away, remember!"

"Man! I never thought I'd meet Ace here!" Luffy said, glancing back again but not stopping to gawk this time as the crew made a dash for the Merry's gangplank.

"What about your ship, Fox-chan?" Sanji panted.

"Swift Hunter can take care of herself," Fox assured him.

"Did you deliver the letter?" Vivi asked.

"I found a duck a bit like yours yesterday who agreed to take it to your father for me," the white-haired woman said, fanning herself with her sleeve. "I didn't want to leave the port in case I missed your arrival."

Vivi decided to send Carue to the palace as well, so after hauling up anchor and sailing down the coast a little they let the duck down with a flask of water before sailing further towards their destination: Yuba.

"So, who was that guy?" Zoro asked as they continued along the coast.

"My brother!" Luffy chirped. Zoro ignored the credulous shouts from Usopp and Nami.

"Well, I'm not surprised you have a brother," the swordsman admitted, "But why is he in the Grand Line?"

Luffy explained that his brother was a pirate looking for One Piece just like he was, but being three years older had left home three years earlier.

"What are the odds of you both eating Devil Fruit?" Sanji mused.

"I know! I was surprised too!" Luffy laughed. Zoro let the conversation continue without him and watched Fox instead, who was gazing out across the water down to the right of the railing Luffy was leaning on. Zoro couldn't see what she was looking at from where he was, but the soft smile on her lips indicated it wasn't anything dangerous.

A few seconds later their rescuer landed on the railing behind Luffy, pushing the Straw-hat forward onto his face.

"Yo."

"Ace!" Luffy shouted happily.

Zoro tuned out most of the following conversation after the older pirate thanked them for taking care of Luffy, until the words "…will you come join the Whitebeard crew? With your friends, of course," reached his ears.

"No way," Luffy said flatly.

Laughter from Fox placed her in the centre of attention. "I told you so, Hothead!" she teased, moving forward to flick Ace' hat off his head so it hung around his neck from its string, "He's going places!"

"But everyone is going to blame me when they find out you won't be visiting anymore!" Ace pouted. "Don't do this to me!"

"Ace, you know Fox?" Luffy asked.

"Hell yes: I've known her for years," Ace said bluntly. "One of the best friends I've ever made. Everyone on Whitebeard's crew adores her too, so take good care of her or we'll come and steal her!" the shirtless pirate placed a hand on Fox' shoulder, turned her around and planted a kiss in the corner of her mouth. "Look after yourself precious. Oh, and Luffy? Here," he tossed the younger pirate a scrap of paper. "I wanted to give this to you." He had not let go of Fox to do so, which made Zoro twitch. Not that he'd been happy about Ace kissing her in the first place.

Ace finally released Fox and shoved his hat back on his head. "Having a dumb little brother makes an older brother worry. He probably gives you guys lots of trouble, too. Take care of him for me." He dropped overboard.

Luffy peered over the railing, down at a tiny craft floating in the shadow of the Going Merry. "What! You're leaving already!"

Instead of rushing to the side of the ship to listen to the rest of the conversation, Zoro pulled Fox aside. "You know Fire-Fist Ace?"

Fox smiled. "I know a lot of people, Zoro. Ace is just the tip of the iceberg."

"How many of them are going to kiss you?"

She chuckled. "As many as believe they can get away with it, I suspect. I'm well-known in certain circles."

"Whitebeard's kind of circles?" the swordsman guessed.

"Yup. He and Shanks have been trying to get me to join their respective crews for years."

"Yet you picked Luffy." Zoro could hardly believe it.

Fox graced him with a soft, lopsided smile. "Like I told Ace, Monkey D. Luffy is going places and I don't want to miss any more of the adventure than I can help."

Zoro grinned fiercely. He had definitely picked the right captain!