Race
When the Zoro and the rest of those who had recently escaped from Crocodile's trap rejoined Chopper, they found Fox sitting on top of the giant crab alongside the camel and the reindeer. The swordsman said nothing of the white-haired woman's part in their recent adventure, simply leaping on board the crustacean and sitting down right next to her.
"Nice sword," he murmured into her scarf, his words not travelling beyond her ears. The gentle snort he got in return made his distinctly evil grin widen further. He hadn't known she was a swordswoman, though considering her parentage he should have guessed. Her style however was completely different to Hawk-Eyes' own, being based on speed rather than brute strength. Well, speed and the hardest, finest katana he had ever seen. He'd recognised the sheen on the blade; it was forged from Kairoseki like her knives were, but treated so as to be slightly flexible as well as harder than diamond. Its deep, all-consuming song still rang in his bones, making his blood race with the promise of battle.
Had that sword belonged to anyone else, Zoro would have cheerfully killed them for a chance to have it sing for him. Sharper than Kitetsu without the cursed blade's bloodthirsty nature, a weight in its song that reminded him of the deep sea and a pure tone that held the cruel, uncaring neutrality of nature, it was as close to the essence of what it meant to cut as was possible for a sword forged by human hands.
As the crab set off and Luffy was left behind due to Crocodile's interference, Zoro realised that for the first time in his life he wanted something. Wanting to be the strongest swordsman in the world was something he wanted to be rather than have, a standard he had to meet in order to remain true to himself. Following Luffy was much the same, a bar to mark his adherence to his own high standards and prove his own worth. But now, now he wanted something he couldn't win with loyalty or hard work.
He wanted Fox. But he knew enough about women to know that the only way he'd ever get her was if she gave herself to him, never mind that her father would probably kill him if the man ever found out Zoro's intentions. Gently resting his head against hers, he sighed quietly.
I'm completely fucked.
When the crab eventually dumped them in the river and they bumped into the Sandora Rarecat Fish, which according to Vivi had human beings as its favourite food, Fox talked it down somehow and persuaded it to give them a lift. The sudden arrival of the Kung-Fu Dugongs probably helped, but the fish seemed as taken with Fox as the crab from earlier had been with Nami and carried them to the coast directly east of Alubarna in record time. Then, shortly after their landing, Carue arrived with the Super Spot-Billed Duck Squad to give them a lift to the city. Zoro was glad to cut short Fox' cooing over the massive fish that had tried to eat them, though Nami seemed to agree that the beast was rather cute-looking.
As they raced for the capital, Fox –who seemed to have finally adapted a little to the heat– insisted on staying with Vivi just in case something went wrong. Sanji didn't have the backbone to deal with a forthright woman and Zoro was still reeling from his revelation, which he was now making an effort to repress for as long as was humanly possible. As a result, when they were within sight of the city Fox and Vivi split off from the rest of the Straw-Hats, who in turn charged on in full sight of any potential watchers to act as bait.
Fighting Mr. 1, the man made of blades, brought Roronoa Zoro closer to death than he had ever been before. He didn't know it, but being that badly damaged reawakened the latent energy left behind from the previous times Fox had healed him, energy that kept him alive and in doing so granted him the opportunity for a sudden insight into the nature of reality.
Not everything lives, but everything breathes.
In order to cut something, you must strike at a weak point, a join between two areas of strength. All that breathes, all that expands and contracts, does so along these weak points.
Roronoa Zoro killed Mr. 1, having learnt to cut through metal. He then fell flat on his face, the pain overcoming him.
Vivi didn't know Fox, the Straw-Hat's 'master of disguise', very well compared to the rest of the crew. She didn't even know what the older woman looked like, as Fox always wore a head-scarf and tinted spectacles. She was also by far the quietest member of the crew as well as the most inscrutable by a very wide margin. Zoro was actually fairly upfront about how he felt about things compared to Fox, for whom calm, empty watchfulness was her most defining characteristic.
Fox did not trust her like way Luffy did, believe in her the way Usopp did, protect her as Sanji did, sympathise with her as Nami did or care like Chopper did. She didn't even encourage the princess like Zoro tried to do. She was just there, watching. Vivi knew she wasn't without a heart as it was Fox who had made her hot chocolate when she woke in the middle of the night after Igaram's death and held the young princess tightly while she cried. The older woman had never said a word, just held her tightly and rocked back and forth until Vivi had no tears left and felt empty yet somehow better. Fox had then carried the princess back into the cabin she shared with Nami, tucked her back into her hammock and kissed her forehead before leaving the room. The next morning Vivi had tried to thank Fox, but the inscrutable woman had simply said that nobody should grieve alone and wandered away to find Zoro.
Still, the day's events had proved Fox was just as capable as the rest of her crew: she had protected Vivi from being trampled as they tried to prevent the fight from starting, kicked Mr. 2 in the face when he tried to trick them into coming with him and delayed the okama until Sanji arrived. Vivi had then been hustled off towards the palace, escorted up to the sandbag barrier the palace guards had set up.
"Aren't you coming, Fox?" the princess asked, pushing back the guards for a moment and turning back. Vivi thought the slight hitch in the woman's shoulders might be a chuckle.
"You'll be fine, Vivi-chan; my crew needs me more."
Vivi nodded firmly, remembering the contract signed in blood even as the other woman vanished back towards the fray. Her father had taken a great risk in order to protect her; she would have faith.
As the princess hurried towards the palace, a fox-faced ghost shadowed her from the rooftops. It followed until Crocodile revealed himself and King Cobra, still nailed to a wall, saw his daughter. Then it left: mission complete. No-one saw it.
The Phantom Fox slipped through the battlefield like a wraith, killing those marked as belonging to Baroque Works. Most fell without ever realising what had happened to them. She stalked the battlefield until she felt the life of Monkey D. Luffy slipping away, and hurried after him. She found him almost dead, lying outside the main temple complex. Sighing softly at his idiocy, she knelt beside him on the grass and set about the challenging task of healing him without changing his outward appearance in the slightest. It took several long, difficult minutes but by the end her captain was sleeping peacefully and almost completely well, discounting the various bleeding wounds. The masked spectre then used her power to poke his brain into wakefulness and hurried off to find the rest of her crew.
Luffy would be just fine; he was a D after all. More worrying was that she could feel Zoro slowing down as his body had trouble keeping up with his sheer bullheadedness and there was only so much she life-force she could channel through the thin connection she had to him.
She arrived at the clock tower just as Pell, the falcon who had taken her message to the king, took to the sky with a massive time bomb gripped in his feet. Bowing her head, the fox-masked assassin paid her respects to the man as it exploded, taking the time to mark on her mental map where the spontaneous recreation of his Devil Fruit had occurred. Then the rain fell.
She dropped down to ground level to shadow her crew, needing to keep them from harm until they could be healed. Not one was unscathed, but their enemies were dead; she'd ensured that all save Mr. 2 had lost their heads. She spared the okama because she'd found him snivelling about how Sanji had called him a friend, which was reason enough. The man hadn't seen her.
Once King and princess had left, the Straw-Hats collapsed and the masked assassin stepped out into the open.
Sergeant Tashigi was facing a serious dilemma. Her squad had rounded a corner and spotted the Straw-Hate pirate crew, then been knocked out from behind by a lone, fox-masked assailant. Said assailant, the infamous Phantom Fox, had drawn a sword and produced a letter with his other hand, which he offered to her. On reading the letter –a contract Captain Smoker had signed in blood– she realised she had a choice. She could abide by the contract Smoker had signed in light of him being her superior officer, or she could die.
What a way to die though, by one of the twelve supreme-grade swords; she'd never even seen one before and this was the legendary Zanchou, the Severing Tide. It was believed to be lost, yet here it was in the hands of a legendary assassin!
But…
"I can't see anyone," Tashigi said, keeping her eyes firmly on where the mask should have had eye-holes. "So I don't need to do anything."
The Phantom bowed, gathered the Straw-Hats together and vanished in a small flash of white.
The marine sergeant let out a slow, shaky breath and collapsed to her knees. That had been the most terrifying experience of her life, including watching Roronoa Zoro almost lose his arm on a whim. She had seen the Phantom Fox and lived!
A very full chapter.