Chase
It took longer than Fox liked to extricate Chopper from the rubble, but once it was done she loaded Iceberg onto his back, grabbed Paulie and smashed the window overlooking the street.
"Jump!" she shouted over the roar of the flames. Chopper jumped, Fox sailing lightly after him with a cursed sword in one hand and a shipwright slung over the opposite shoulder.
Chopper landed heavily, stumbled and collapsed; Fox landed lightly, deposited Paulie on the grass and hurried over to Nami, placing her free hand flat on the younger woman's forehead. Fox knew Nami didn't like her, mostly because they didn't know each-other very well and the other woman saw Fox' refusal to share a room with the navigator as a rebuff. It wasn't, but Fox wasn't quite comfortable enough with the Straw-Hats –other than Zoro, who had never asked– to share exactly why she could not share a bedroom with other women without suffering screaming nightmares.
The navigator opened her eyes. "Fox?"
"Forecast-chan has broken bones," Fox said seriously, letting her eyes peek over the top of her sunglasses beneath the shadow of her hat. "Fox is fixing them."
Nami smiled. "Thank-you Fox. Why are you–?"
"Shh!" Fox said sharply. "Fox has people to protect. People mustn't connect Fox with her other self, the one the admiral named. There would be trouble all round and Fox would lose money."
Nami nodded. "I'm sorry; I understand needing to protect your family," she apologised sincerely. "So this is the new you?"
"Crazy Fox is public face," the assassin corrected. "Fox will be saner in private, Fox promises."
"Good," Nami muttered as Fox helped her sit up. "You are too creepy like this; watching you face off against those guys was terrifying."
"Fox apologises, but Fox can't help herself sometimes," Fox said candidly, pushing up her sunglasses. "Forecast-chan is fixed now; Fox will help Four-Legs."
Iceberg took Nami aside for a chat as Fox turned her attention to the Reindeer, but the navigator soon hurried back with the news that Robin had turned herself in so the Straw-Hats could leave Water Seven unmolested. As the only way off the island right now was the Sea Train, Nami was desperate to get to the station and catch Robin but knew they also needed to find Luffy and Zoro as quickly as possible.
"Forecast should go to the station with Four-Legs," Fox said firmly. "Fox will find her Greenie and Captain just fine."
"Oh, of course!" Nami exclaimed. "You can sense them, can't you?"
"Fox always knows where her Greenie is," Fox said snootily, "and Fox will find her captain too." She bounced off, rocketing up the wall of a nearby building then hopping from rooftop to rooftop towards where she could feel two familiar energy signatures.
She found Zoro first, stuck head-down in a chimney in the lower circle of the city. Fox poked his foot: "Having fun down there?" she asked, unable to suppress her amusement.
"No," was the muffled reply. "Get me out!"
Fox patted his knee. "Yes, yes, Fox will get you out: Fox has Kitetsu!"
"What!" there was definite panic in the swordsman's voice. "Just give Kitetsu to me and I'll do it."
"No," Fox hopped down from the top of the chimney to the ridge of the roof and made a note of where the end of Zoro's energy signature was. "Fox will get you out; Kitetsu won't mind this once. Apparently it likes the blood on Fox' hands enough to let Fox use it this once." She swung the blade experimentally; it was considerably lighter than Zanchou. "Hold still please." She relaxed, curving the blade over one shoulder then jumping upwards, slashing forward through the stonework to shear off one side of the chimney. Zoro tumbled out of the gap knees first, sliding down the side of the roof but catching himself before he fell over the edge.
"Next time just let me do it," he grumbled, scrambling up the roof to take the cursed sword back from her and resheathe it at his hip.
"Fox missed you too," the assassin quipped, kissing his cheek and running a glowing hand over the bleeding injury in his gut where Kakau had used Shigan on him. "Now we have to get the captain."
"If he hasn't made a ruckus yet he's probably stuck," Zoro decided. "Which direction is he in from here?"
"Fox pointed. "He is a bit higher than normal roof level over in that direction."
Zoro looked. "So," he said slowly, "he might be stuck amongst those taller buildings just there?" the swordsman pointed. Fox looked.
"Yes," she agreed, "he is."
Zoro frowned. "That's not a very wide gap, is it?"
"It's a very narrow gap," Fox confirmed. "Fox will go back up top to see what Nami thinks; Fox would like a second opinion and she's close by." Fox had sensed Nami and Chopper reach the station just in time to miss the train and double back to help look for Luffy and Zoro alongside the rest of the Gallery-La workers who had been hustled into helping by Paulie.
Zoro headed towards Luffy's position, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Delaying her departure just enough to ensure her swordsman had gone in the right direction, Fox then jumped onto the bridge then up to the upper level of the city to waylay Nami.
"Fox has found our captain, Forecast-chan," she said brightly, landing right in front of the navigator and making her jump, "but the captain is stuck. Come and see," she held out a hand.
Nami immediately climbed onto Fox' back and held on tight as the assassin bounced down to the rooftops of the lower level and across to the line of tall buildings where Luffy was stuck and Zoro was waiting.
"There, see?" Fox said, pointing over to the gap between the two wide towers. Nami immediately began shouting at their captain while Fox hurried over to where Zoro was looking out to sea.
"The tide's gone a very long way down," the swordsman noted, hands caressing his sword hilts.
"It will come back a very long way up then," Fox said flatly, taking in the flopping fish the retreating sea had left behind. "A very, very long way up indeed."
At the other end of the building Nami was telling Luffy about Robin sacrificing herself to the government for the crew and the stonework on either side of the rubberman was starting to creak ominously.
"Here it comes," Zoro said flatly, gazing at the massive wave that filled the horizon.
"Fox hopes Swift Hunter is alright," Fox muttered.
"I hope Luffy hurries up!" Zoro countered. "Hunter's probably gotten well out of the way, not like us."
There was a rumble, a groan and a crash the tops of the two buildings holding Luffy in were pushed apart. Fox grabbed Zoro's hand:
"Run!"
Paulie wasn't quite sure what to think of the Straw-Hat crew; a shapeshifting reindeer, a crazy navigator, an insanely strong swordsman and a swordswoman who was just flat-out insane plus their impossibly strong rubber captain. He was almost dreading meeting this Sanji guy who had boarded the Sea Train in order not to lose Nico Robin.
As the four Straw-Hats down in the lower city dashed towards the bridge ahead of the wave, the captain carrying the shameless redhead and stretching his arms to grab onto the stonework even as the two sword users dashed from rooftop to rooftop as though they had springs for legs, Paulie remembered what Luffy had told him while they were stapled to the floor in the mansion and what Nami has said to Iceberg afterwards. They didn't care about the odds against them; they just succeeded.
The shipwright dashed across the first level of the bridge and threw down ropes towards the four pirates as the Aqua Laguna crashed into them, waves higher than he had ever seen before. The Fox girl was actually laughing as the water tried to suck her away, the scowling swordsman dragging her onwards. Then the bridge cracked in several places under his feet.
"Run!" he shouted at them as they landed on the stone paving just ahead of the first break, turning to dash towards the high ground. The captain had the shameless girl slung over his shoulder and the sword users were hand-in-hand, perfectly in sync despite the five-inch height difference. The woman was still laughing, one hand keeping her hat in place. She spun on the spot as soon as they were out of the water's reach and whooped like a madwoman.
"Can Fox do it again?!"
"No!" The swordsman said instantly. Fox pouted, then walked over to Paulie and held a glowing hand to the side of his face. As soon as she did so the shipwright could feel his injuries knitting together.
"Is String feeling better?" she asked solicitously. Paulie ignored the silly nickname, deciding that objecting would probably not change anything.
"Much better, thank-you," he said gruffly, climbing to his feet.
"Ah! You're all alright!" The reindeer said, hurrying onto the scene.
"Captain still has holes in him," Fox said dryly, leaving Paulie's side to place a hand on Luffy's shoulder; the rubberman smiled at her, then looked around.
"Where's Sanji?" he asked.
Not so many updates today; I'm drugged to the gills. Bah.