Volatile

After calming down enough to be told about the upcoming duel, Fox calmly cleared her room out down to the boards, getting Sanji to help her stow everything except clothes and a selection of weaponry back on Swift Hunter.

"Win or lose, we can't stay here," she told Nami when the navigator asked what she was doing, "the ship's on borrowed time. Is there anything you'd like me to hide in Hunter?"

Nami decided to entrust their remaining gold to Fox' ship, probably because it could guard itself and was very hard to steal from. Sanji helped both women stow it away, then watched Zoro kiss Fox goodbye as she headed into the city with her bag over one shoulder to hunt down Robin.

"I'll find you at eleven," Fox had promised Luffy, "and in the meantime I'll try and find where Robin's gone. I know she's still in town so it shouldn't be too hard." She'd paused then, hesitant. Luffy had hugged her.

"Good," he'd said earnestly. "You're both my nakama and I won't let you go." Fox had smiled before turning to the swordsman, who had made it clear that despite it being for only a few hours he was going to miss her. Sanji had been torn between gushing over the romance and sniping at the marimo, so stayed silent.

The remaining five Straw-Hats had then waited silently for ten o'clock to come around, Swift Hunter lurking somewhere nearby just in case.

Fox was did not spend very long looking for Nico Robin; most of her evening was spent shadowing the four very strong individuals she was associating with and going over in her mind what she knew about Cipher Pol's infamous –in certain circles– so-called assassination squad. Fox didn't think them worthy of that title; while they were clearly superior intelligence agents with good undercover skills, they lacked the assassin mindset. Arrogance was an unattractive trait, but in an assassin it was often a fatal one; in her mind they barely ranked above hitmen. Government hitmen, Fox decided finally, with good physical skills but no understanding of the psychology of death. No understanding of Haki either, which was a gaping hole in their defences but probably a deliberate one on the government's part. The shoddy emotional conditioning was another flaw in their training; not the shoddiness but that someone had tried to make them suppress their feelings. That was just a disaster waiting to happen.

A thought occurred to her, a wicked, naughty thought that made her want to giggle and find Shanks or Ace just so she could share it. It was almost a good deed, from a certain perspective: she could teach these oh-so-overconfident killers a little bit about the true art of assassination and the importance of taking opponents seriously. They had Robin snared somehow, probably due to her past being caught up in the Ohara mess, so Luffy would clash with them sooner or later. All she had to do was make sure nobody died.

Oh yes, Cipher Pol Number Nine and the Straw Hats could learn so much from one-another. Fox really did giggle evilly then, right before dropping down to eavesdrop on the oblivious agents below her. Maybe one of them would be able to give her a proper fight. If not she would have to hunt someone strong down soon to make sure she wasn't getting lazy. Maybe Ace; she could give him back his hat then. Or else she could wait until they reached Sabaody as there would be plenty of strong people there.

Fox blinked, suddenly realising that she was spoiling for a fight. Not an assassination mission, not a spar, but a bloody, frenzied melee where she could bathe in the blood of her enemies and laugh at the music made by their terrified screams. She hadn't lied when she'd told the Straw-Hats that her lack of bounty was a product of a lack of witnesses; she had destroyed a large number of entire pirate crews, a few towns and the odd secret base in her time. All had been doing things she considered so reprehensible that utterly eradicating them had seemed the best course of action. Several had been connected to the long arm of Donquixote Doflamingo, which she did not consider a coincidence as he was responsible for her sale at the Human Auctioning House at the age of nine, among other things. Personally responsible: he'd grabbed her off the street and carried herall the way there tucked under one arm. She didn't know why he'd done it, though Fox suspected it had something to do with her father. It might have been casual cruelty, but then again it might not as the man was insane in a cold, rational way that was rather frightening to watch.

She shook her head, putting the lanky Shichibukai out of her mind. Deciding what to do next was the important issue; everything else would follow on.

"What should I do?" she asked softly from her vantage point once the conspirators below had dispersed. Well, the obvious first thing was to make sure Iceberg didn't die; beyond that she would have to wait and see.

Fortunately ensuring Iceberg would not die of his wounds did not keep her out past the time she'd promised to return to her crew; she found the Straw-Hats moving their remaining possessions –including Nami's mikan trees– to a hotel and silently healed Luffy's injuries before pitching in. Nobody seemed inclined to sleep, but Fox managed to coax Zoro into snuggling up with her on the bed and drifted off in his arms, needing the security his presence offered away from the safety of a familiar ship.

She dreamed of the Whitebeard Pirates that night, of sparring with Vista on deck, playing cards with Marco and messing around with Ace while their massive captain Edward Newgate laughed at their antics.

"Did you find Robin?" were Zoro's first words to her in the morning.

"Yes." Fox said simply as she accepted the food he'd brought her and gulped down the mug of grog. Zoro waited patiently for her to continue, sitting across the room from her on an armchair.

"She's in the company of some very strong people I've never met before but have definite suspicions about," Fox went on, "covert, government-type suspicions, meaning we'll have to take care."

"Strong?"

"Very."

"As strong as you?" Fox thought about it.

"Physically, they are stronger," she admitted, "but they are not more skilled overall. A good deal less in fact, even in direct combat."

Zoro smirked darkly. "Should be fun then."

Fox smiled indulgently, though the expression likely had a predatory edge. She too thought the coming confrontation would be fun. She fixed her hair, re-tied her bandanna, put on her sunglasses and adjusted her hat; today already had a great deal of promise and it wasn't even properly past breakfast time. Never mind that the Aqua Laguna was due…

Zoro napped on the roof while the rest of the crew split up to either look for Robin or see how Iceberg was; Fox went for a quick shopping trip then found a stable of Rabuka Bulls to coo over: larger and fiercer than the Yagura Bulls but not as big as the gigantic King Bulls, she found them both intelligent and adorable. The stable owner was definitely startled to find her being fawned over by the biggest, meanest male in the building, but he was happy to expound on all his Bulls at length when she professed an interest. She was still there when someone dashed in claiming the Straw-Hate Pirates had tried to kill Iceberg, which was unexpected but not exceptionally so: Robin had been there when he was shot and she had a bounty, making her easily recognised. Luffy and Zoro would also be targeted as they had bounty posters as well, and since Nami was with the captain she would probably get caught up in the rush.

Sighing, Fox said goodbye to the Bulls she had been visiting, thanked their owner for his hospitality and set off back to the hotel for her weapons; her South Bird would make sure nobody messed with the clothing and other low-value items she had with her but the knives, twin swords and miscellaneous other tools for killing would not help their cause if they were found.

Fox managed to get in and out of the window of hers and Zoro's room before the Gallery-La shipwrights arrived to demand whether the hotelier had seen them. She wasn't worried about their stuff as it was more likely to be confiscated than anything else, besides Cho the South Bird had promised to guard it for her. She had made it clear that he was guarding it against damage and petty theft: if someone tried to move all of it, he was to accompany them. Considering Cho could summon and command insects, she suspected anyone trying for revenge would get a nasty shock.

Her weapons retrieved and hidden on her person, Fox staked out a rooftop and sat down to think.

Firstly, she had to take steps to avoid getting a bounty under her real name, as it would put her family at risk. Second she could not, could not do anything that connected her in any way to the Phantom Fox, as that would bring the full weight of the Gorosei down upon the Straw-Hats at once. Zanchou was back on Swift Hunter and would have to stay there; a real shame. She loved that sword.

Her current appearance was sufficiently different that, so long as she didn't lose the hat, bandannas and tinted glasses, she could get away with someone taking a picture of her and not connecting it to how she looked without the accessories. That however would mean said accessories would become a permanent part of her look for as long as she sailed with Luffy. Fox considered it; it was practical, comfy and she looked fairly badass, though a lot of people would recognise the hat and tease her about it later. However she needed a personality to go with the look, something that would inspire a certain kind of nickname that was a strong antithesis to steady, understated yet menacing Dracule Lisska. That meant she had to be at least moderately erratic, visibly violent and fairly flamboyant. Well, she was dressed for that last one.

A little thought had Fox putting together a mask that spoke in the third person like 'Black Cage' Hina, gave people disturbing nicknames, was very honest, utterly obedient to her captain and wildly bipolar. The bipolar part meant she could relapse back into her more gentle everyday self without undue comment, but become violent, bloodthirsty and visibly enjoy killing people whenever it was time to fight. She would also use the more destructive abilities of her Devil Fruit openly, leading outside observers to believe that all it was good for was killing. Fox giggled manically, trying it out.

"Fox will find her Greenie," she told herself in singsong tones, "so her Greenie knows the whys and wherefores. Then Fox will find the chef so he knows too. Then Fox will see what she can see and maybe my captain will let me kill someone." She licked her lips and giggled again. "Fun!"

Fox shows some of skills.