Struggle
The first thing Zoro saw on waking after almost drowning in the tunnel leading to the Bridge of Hesitation was Fox leaning over him, one hand flat over his heart and the other pressed to his forehead. Neither hand was glowing, but the swordsman still felt a sudden rush of energy. Fox then moved on to Sanji, who was blathering about how their rescuer could not possibly be a mermaid. That the chef failed to notice the assassin unbuttoning the top of his shirt so she could place a hand directly over his heart gave Zoro a good idea of how distracted dartboard-brow was by the revelation that the ugly, drunken Kokoro was half fish. The swordsman was revolted, but he'd also seen Fox' photo collection and knew this, this female was an aberration he could safely purge from his mind.
After checking on Sanji Fox ignored Usopp completely and attended to Nami before making a beeline for Chopper, carefully cradling the reindeer in her arms and lifting him into her lap.
"Poor little Origami, all pulled out of shape. Origami needs to take more care in how he folds himself," she said sadly, hands running over Chopper's face and torso. Zoro noticed that the sniper in his carnival mask was completely devastated at being overlooked. The idiot should have thought things through before insulting her like he had; Fox was nowhere near as soft as her easygoing façade lured people into believing.
"Kokoro-san, thank-you very much," Nami said to the train conductor as Sanji lunged towards Robin, only to hit the mast as Chopper and Nami got there first. Fox slunk back to lean against Zoro, her arms around his chest as her forehead pressed against the top of his head.
"Fox has killed a lot of people today," she said sadly, "lots of sons, brothers, fathers and friends. Fox would do it again for her nakama, but not for anyone else." She sighed. "Fox enjoys killing very much, but Fox does not like tearing apart people's families. Everyone should have someone who cares."
Zoro hugged Fox, then took her by the hand and led her back up the steps to the bridge so he could see what was going on. There wasn't much he could say in response to her observation on the consequences of killing, so all he could do was be there for her. Usopp and Franky followed them up to talk to the swordsman about what was happening both on Enies Lobby and with Luffy, but Zoro told them to wait rather than interfere with the captain's fight. Fox just went on ignoring both men as if they weren't there, swinging the hand clasped in Zoro's back and forth while humming a tune the swordsman thought he recognised from some bar somewhere.
When the broadcast was made regarding the deaths of the other 'pirates' –the Franky Family and gallery-La shipwrights who had come with them– Zoro bowed his head but noticed that Fox seemed oblivious; it was possible then they weren't as dead as they seemed. He didn't say a word though, so as not to arouse false hope.
"Fox?" he asked, a thought having occurred to him.
"Fox hears you," she acknowledged.
"Could you have killed Rob Lucci?" Both Franky and Usopp stiffened as he spoke the words, turning to look at the two of them.
"Fox could have," she admitted candidly, "But Captain wished to and Captain promised to win, so Fox went ahead to save Blackbird."
"You could go help," Usopp suggested. Fox ignored the sniper completely.
"Why don't you help?" Franky asked. Fox glanced at him.
"Captain promised he would win," she repeated flatly. Only Zoro heard the quiet murmur that followed that closing statement:
"Fox does not want to have to rescue Captain; Captain should not need Fox to look after him."
Zoro agreed with that statement and knew that if it came to it Fox would save Luffy, though her doing so would probably destroy the crew for good. The captain was supposed to be the strongest person on the ship, or failing that the one who made the best decisions. For Fox to have to rescue Luffy would prove that Luffy was both weaker than her and not capable of making good decisions. The swordsman really hoped it wouldn't come to that.
As the first half of the bridge crumpled, Fox stepped away from Zoro, adjusting her hat.
"They come," she breathed, hands reaching for the hilts of her swords. Zoro stiffened, hands reaching for his own blades as another announcement was made over the Den Den Mushi.
As the Captains and Lieutenant Commanders flooded the isolated bit of bridge she and the others were trapped on, Fox flipped her swords into reverse grips to reduce her range, let her Devil Fruit Power coat them again so that death came to everything she touched and started to sing once more. Most of the songs she knew were drinking songs, or songs that got sung once everyone was drunk enough not to care too much about dignity. Which was why she knew forty-three verses of this particular ditty, most of which had been made up on the spot:
"What shall we do with a drunken pirate?
"What shall we do with a drunken pirate?
"What shall we do with a drunken pirate,
"Early in the morning!"
She cut through the Marines mobbing her with ease and they fell around her like chaff, piling up on the bridge and making the footing uncertain. Fox took to kicking fallen bodies at the people attacking her to increase her mobility and ensure she wasn't wandering too closely her comrades. She was barely relying on her eyes now, using them only to keep track of her enemies' weapons, monitoring the ebb and flow of bodies around her with her Devil Fruit Ability and Haki. A good half of the corpses on the bridge were her doing, as she was the only person killing indiscriminately rather than maiming, injuring or incapacitating.
She was barely paying attention to her ears at all until the Den Den Mushi announcement pierced the haze of battle, shouting for all to hear that Luffy had beaten Rob Lucci. She ignored the following unofficial announcement, one from the Franky family and the Gallery-La shipwrights who had managed to survive the Buster Call somehow, instead taking advantage of the slight lull to dart closer to her crew and take out the sneakier Marines who had the smarts to attack her nakama while they were distracted.
Fox was monitoring her Captain's health despite the chaos; she wasn't surprised when he shouted that he couldn't move at all. She was clearing a run-up so she could fetch him when the ship behind them was blown to smithereens, ruining that getaway plan. The assassin was perfectly ready to board one of the warships and empty it of Marines for the crew to sail off in, but they had backed off as the last of the assault force landed on the prop; Fox guessed the Marines intended to just blow them up from a safe distance. She was about to board anyway when a familiar presence tickled her senses and Fox laughed like a lunatic. Shaking the blood from her blades, she sheathed them and started a new song, pitching it just right to cut through the sounds of battle:
"Sing ho for a brave and gallant ship,
"And a fast and favouring breeze,
"With a bully crew and a captain too
"To carry me over the seas
"To carry me over the seas me boys
"To my true love far away
"For I'm taking a trip on a pirate ship
"Ten thousand miles away!"
Fox ignored the panic of her crew and the guns of the warships aimed at her captain, wild and giddy glee buoying her up and overflowing over like fine sake; right now she was untouchable in her triumph, dancing out of reach of her enemies' blades and laying them low with the slightest touch.
"Then blow, ye winds and blow and a roving I will go
"I'll stay no more on an Island's shore
"To hear sweet music play
"For I'm on the move to me own true love
"Ten thousand miles away!"
With that she launched herself over the edge of the prop into the sea, laughing like a maniac. Today was a good day: the Going Merry lived!