Contact

Sanji had just sent Chopper to find Luffy and was wringing the last of the seawater from his shirt when Fox dropped down from the roof and bounced over to him.

"Fox has something to say," she informed him in a childish, singsong voice. The chef froze, taking in her radically different body language and barely-hidden assortment of weapons.

"Go on," he said cautiously, putting on his shirt.

"Fox is captain's nakama, so Fox will fight for him," she said seriously, eyes looking almost green behind the tinted lenses. "But Fox' other self must be blameless, because the other knows important people like Admiral Bluebird. So Fox must be different. Fox will be seen, because Fox' captain is a good person and won't let Fox kill everyone to keep secrets. Fox has told her Greenie and now Dancer knows too."

Sanji guessed 'Dancer' was him and this wild, childish persona that vibrated with barely-restrained violence was something he'd have to get used to. At least he got a better nickname than the marimo. "So what now, Fox-chan?" he asked.

Fox smiled a little too widely for comfort. "Fox will go with Dancer and then Fox will go back to her Greenie," she announced, hauling him upright. "Then Fox will bring her Greenie and captain and crew to kill meanies who took Blackbird." She paused, "Except for silly killer-people: Fox promised to teach them a lesson and dead people can't take their tests afterwards."

Sanji tried to make sense of that but got lost part-way through so just memorised it instead. "Let us be off then, fair lady," he said gallantly, offering her an arm. Fox giggled and accepted it.

"Dancer is funny," she confided, leaning into him like a small child. Wide, innocent eyes blinked at him from behind her glasses. "Will Dancer buy sweets for Fox?"

As Luffy struggled beneath the staples that held him to the floor next to the rope guy from Dock One, his invasion of the Gallery-La building having temporarily been foiled, somebody stepped into his line of sight from the corner of the room:

"Captain called for Fox?"

"Yeah!" Luffy said, wriggling as he tried to extricate himself. "Get us out! We have to go beat up those guys who took Robin!"

Fox nodded. "Captain wants to stop the silly killer-people from taking his Blackbird. Fox will get captain's friend out as captain can get himself out."

Luffy blinked. "I can?"

Fox smiled fondly. "Silly captain is stretchy."

"Oh! Right!"

Luffy extricated himself as Fox pulled out the bands holding Rope Guy to the floor with little difficulty. "Captain should be more careful," she scolded gently. "Greenie and Forecast and Four-Legs are inside too."

It did not take Luffy vey long to connect 'greenie' with Zoro and 'four-legs' with Chopper, which meant 'forecast' was probably Nami.

"Finally!" Rope Guy said as Fox pulled out the last staple. "Let's go!" He dashed out of the room, Luffy right behind him.

"Wait for me!"

"Fox will see you there!" his master of disguise called after him.

Right after Robin escaped out of the window after declaring she was leaving the Straw-Hats –a departure Luffy had declared he did not agree with– Fox materialised behind Rob Lucci and knifed him in the shoulder, making him throw Luffy aside and try to turn around.

"Hello Kitten," she crooned in his ear as she twisted the knife, staying behind him with ease, "did you mother never teach you how to play with you food properly?" She yanked the knife out and retreated a few steps to stand over Zoro. "Naughty Square, hurting my Greenie like that," she admonished Kaku, "just because he beat you at swords."

"Who are you?" Lucci demanded.

"Kitten doesn't know?" Fox tipped her head to one side. "Poor, ignorant Kitten. Fox is Fox and you stole my captain's Blackbird. Bad Kitten!"

"Who the hell are you guys!" Paulie recovered enough to ask. Lucci turned his attention from Fox to the rope-wielding shipwright to answer the question, going into considerable unnecessary detail in his arrogance.

"Is Kitten sure he is an assassin?" she asked cutely once the man finally finished his boasting. "Kitten sounds more like a hitman to Fox. Assassins talk less and are better at killing people."

"Fox!" Zoro hissed. "Don't provoke him!"

Fox pouted. "Greenie is mean. Fox is just trying to stop Kitten from-" she dodged Lucci's Shigan with obvious ease "-embarrassing himself. Kitten thinks he's the biggest fish in the pond but he's never swum in the sea before. Kitten needs to pay more attention to what lurks in the depths or he will get gobbled up and never see daylight again!" All through the second half of the conversation Fox had been dodging blows and dancing just out of reach, further infuriating the CP9 agent with every passing second.

Lucci assumed his gigantic Zoan half-leopard form and snarled at her. Fox raised an eyebrow.

"Kitten is cute, but Rabuka Bulls are cuter," she informed him seriously as smoke began to rise between the boards beneath their feet, dodging his furious lunge and tweaking his ear. "Kitten needs to work on his temper," she added superfluously.

"Lucci, the other shipwrights are coming," Kalifa said, drawing the angry Zoan's attention away from Fox.

"No, they can't," Lucci said, turning to fire a kick at the wall, "Rankyaku." Half the building crumpled and Fox wrapped herself in the Colour of Absence –as she called her variation on the Colour of Armament– so she could stay where she was without taking damage. However as she emerged through the rubble she saw Lucci send Nami flying and decided to mess the leopard-man around for a bit longer.

"If Kitten throws his toys away every time he has a tantrum people will stop buying them," she said helpfully, letting herself become truly physical again.

"You… who are you?" Lucci demanded again.

"Kitten does not remember?" Fox asked, raising an eyebrow and adjusting her hat. "Fox told you already. Captain wants to fight you for hurting Snowflake and String, so I think you shouldn't attack them," she added as she stepped between the Zoan and the shipwrights, his clawed Shigan piercing her shirt but not her Hardened skin beneath it. "Go away," she told the massive leopard-man flatly as he stared at her in disbelief. "Fox is bored of playing with you."

Fox drew her swords, letting the darker aspects of her Devil Fruit Power wrap around the blades. She then let one blade graze the nearby bedpost and as the entire frame collapsed into dust she kept her eyes on the CP9 agents. "Will Fox be killing you today?" she asked levelly, settling into a stance that would allow her to both attack and defend.

"We should leave," Kalifa said urgently as the flames around them rose higher. Lucci tensed, then stepped backwards and returned to his human form.

"We will find the blueprints, Iceberg," the would-be assassin said coldly, turning and vanishing out of the window. Once all four agents were gone Fox put her blades away and turned to face the shipwrights.

"Let Fox look at Snowflake, String," she said to Paulie. "Fox can fix things as well as break them." The shipwright stared at her, but didn't stop her from poking his boss' face with a glowing finger.

"Snowflake will be fine," Fox assured him after a pause, "but Fox needs to find Four-Legs before leaving. Can you wait a while?"

Paulie laughed a little hysterically. "Sure! As long as we don't burn to death before you find him!"

"Fox won't let that happen!" Fox pouted. "Captain likes you! Besides," she pointed out, "you need to be alive to clear our names, yes?"

"True," Iceberg coughed.

"Fox will be quick!" the woman promised, vanishing into the smoke towards the heap of fallen stone and picking up Sandai Kitetsu from amongst the rubble. "Hello, wicked one," she murmured as she headed towards where she could feel Chopper. "Bare with me for a little while and I'll get you back to your swordsman."

In her hand, the blade hummed gently.