Redress

As the Straw-Hats and Admiral Aokiji watched the old man walk away across the ice said admiral had created using his Devil Fruit Fox had genuinely hoped everything would work out, but as soon as the nomad and his tall horse were out of sight everything went to hell without even a handbasket. First, Aokiji –who Fox' mother Pearl called 'Kuzan-san' whenever he visited her teahouse in Sabaody– suggested the Straw-Hats all die right now, explaining that while the government had dismissed them as a threat, he was of the opinion that they would become one very soon. The admiral then singled out Nico Robin and psychologically destroyed her in a few short sentences; Fox knew exactly who to blame now for the mental damage the archaeologist had suffered.

Fox was feeling horribly conflicted about this; she'd been living a triple-life since escaping slavery at fifteen, but after meeting Luffy and the rest of the Straw-Hats her ordered existence had begun falling apart. Dracule Lisska was a maker of charts and Eternal Poses, some of which she sold to the marines at slightly below the market rate, Fox was a nomad with pirate friends and an in to the largest intelligence network on the planet and the Phantom was an assassin who never left a single witness behind. But now, mere weeks after meeting Luffy, her selves had gotten all tangled up in each-other and she was revealing more and more of her true self –an amalgam of the three– to people she barely knew yet trusted completely. Her captain truly was a D.

Robin then snapped and tried to kill Aokiji; knowing the attempt was doomed to failure, Fox darted to stand between the admiral and his goal as he reformed from the shattered ice. Zoro also leapt in, parrying the admiral's ice sabre as Fox backed up, pushing Robin behind her.

"Why are you-"

"Shh!" Fox hissed, gripping her umbrella tightly. "You're crew. I'm crew. That's it. Oh God help me, Luffy's in my head!" she added with a whimper. "My father is going to be so cross with me!"

Sanji had joined in fighting Aokiji but the admiral partly froze both chef and swordsman as Luffy charged in and punched the tall marine, freezing his own fist. All three screamed. The admiral then approached Fox and Robin.

"Please step aside, Dracule Lisska," he said, air condensing around his body. "I have nothing against you."

"What kind of person would I be, Kusan-san, were I to simply step aside and allow a person relying on me to come to harm?" Fox asked, looking him frankly in the eye as her hands flickered with ominously jagged white light.

The admiral smiled. "I see. Admirable." He tried to reach past her, but Fox parried his arm with the umbrella, quickly drawing the sword from its handle and dropping the rest as it froze solid.

"You owe me a new umbrella," she frowned, "that was from San Faldo."

Aokiji smiled. "I will endeavour to have one sent to you. Now please, step aside."

Robin suddenly darted out from behind Fox, running for the ship. The admiral was quicker though and froze her solid. However just was he was about to punch her body and shatter her into a million icy shards Fox snatched up the ice statue and ran for her life towards the sea. Behind her she could hear Luffy shouting something about fighting him alone, but ignored it. Robin was still alive right now so thawing her was what she needed to do.

"Chopper! Run a bath so we can defrost her!" she shouted at the reindeer, who had followed her mad dash with Usopp.

"Roger!" Chopper shouted, changing into his 'Walk' form and dashing ahead.

Leaning over the bath full of lukewarm water, Fox placed one hand on Robin's forehead and the other on her heart and closed her eyes, skin glowing softly white. At first there was no change in the frozen woman, then she slowly started to steam and the ice to melt.

"I'm lifting her body's natural thermostat," Fox said to the listening Chopper. "Normally a temperature this high would kill her, but right now it is helping her defrost without developing exposure. She'll need lots of hot, nutritious broth once she's out of danger as this uses a lot of the body's resources but it is better than freezing to death."

The reindeer dashed out on deck as the others retuned minus their captain. Fox knew Luffy would lose against the admiral; all she could do was hope Aokiji didn't kill him. She ignored the fight that started between Usopp, Sanji and Zoro after the latter two managed to defrost their injuries by jumping in the sea, concentrating on reviving Robin slowly enough not to harm her but not so slowly she died.

"I warn you, Kuzan-san," she whispered though he certainly could not hear her, "kill my captain and I will be very upset with you. Honestly, there might be tears."

Just as she had got Robin to the point that her autonomic nervous system was running again –meaning she had a heartbeat and was breathing– when Sanji and Zoro dashed in, carrying a Luffycicle. She quickly placed her hand on her captain's chest.

"Not dead," she announced. "Sanji, carry Robin to the ladies' cabin, get Nami to dry her off and change her clothing, bury her under a mountain of blankets and get as much of the most nutritious soup you can make down her throat as possible." The chef obeyed instantly. "Zoro, help me get Luffy into the tub; careful now, he's fragile."

With her captain now in Robin's place, Fox set about defrosting the person in front of her all over again.

Three days later, Fox and Chopper's two patients were recovered enough for the crew's focus to have shifted from their health to the things Aokiji had revealed about their white-haired crewmate.

"So, Dracule-chan?" Usopp asked, flipping his catapult in a way that was probably meant to be menacing.

"Captain?" Fox inquired, eyes closed and not moving from where she was held firmly in Zoro's arms as the swordsman sat with his back against the mast.

"I don't really care about your name," Luffy admitted frankly, "but there are two things I do want to know."

"Which are?"

"Who's Eustass Kid? And when did you meet my Grandpa?" Luffy asked.

Fox opened her eyes a crack. "Eustass Kid is a new pirate going after One Piece like you are, except he has a bad habit of slaughtering civilians. And I see your Grandpa whenever he and I happen to be in my mother's teahouse at the same time."

"Your mother owns a teahouse?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, on Sabaody. I'm hoping we'll get a chance to visit as she wants to meet you all."

"Wait," Nami asked, "how does she even know about us?"

"I wrote to her," Fox said simply. "I write to a lot of people. Oh and Luffy, Ace says 'Hi' and sends his congratulations on the new bounty."

"Tell him thank-you!" Luffy grinned happily.