Lull
Fox was busy engaging in business deals under her true name when she detected Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp's arrival on the island, so she was not able to get to the temporary Gallery-La headquarters before he did. In fact, she arrived just as Garp was ordering his men to fix a hole in the wall of the building that was suspiciously vice-admiral-shaped. She interrupted his men's haranguing him about making the hole in the first place and greeted him:
"Vice Admiral! I wasn't expecting to see you here at all!"
Everyone turned and Garp grinned massively at her. "Lisska! Dear girl it has been far too long since you've visited me in Marineford. What have you been getting up to, hm?"
Fox serenely ignored her captain and crew's stunned silence. "I've been exploring, of course! I have new charts and a few interesting Eternal Poses, should Headquarters be prepared to part with the money of course. I already have a private buyer offering me eight hundred million for one of them."
"Feh! Not the boring stuff, Lisska! I'm asking whether you've done anything interesting!" the massive and jovial officer demanded.
"Well I've bumped into both your grandsons," Fox said slyly, "Ace made a point of dining on my budget for half a week; he hasn't forgotten his manners though so at least he was polite about it. He seems to be doing just fine. Luffy… well I see you've caught up already." She paused, taking in the bruise on her captain's head from the infamous 'Fist of Love'. "I've also finally managed to visit Little Garden: did you know there really are dinosaurs there?"
Garp chuckled. "I'll have to swing by sometime."
"Well, other than that it's been fairly dull," Fox said calmly, ignoring Sanji and Nami who were gaping at her. "Apart from getting caught up in the tail-end of the Alabasta mess. Oh, and Admiral Aokiji destroyed that nice umbrella Tsuru bought me, so he owes me a new one."
Garp roared with laughter, dragging her into a crushing hug. "Wonderful! If only you could join the Marines! You'd make a wonderful officer!"
Fox hugged the massive man back before extricating herself. "Well sadly my history makes it impossible so the point is moot," she said diplomatically. Have you been well?"
"Very well! I have two apprentices now and they are shaping up nicely!" Garp told her cheerfully. "Boys! Get over here!" he bellowed over his shoulder. A pink-haired boy with a bandanna around his head and a blond in thin sunglasses hurried over from where they had been watching the conversation alongside the Straw-Hats. "Boys, this is Dracule Lisska. Lisska, this are Coby," he cuffed the pink-haired boy, "and Helmeppo," He wacked the blond. "They're going to be fine Marines by the time I'm finished with them!"
"I'm sure they will, providing they survive that long," Fox said with a gentle smile to both stunned young men, who had clearly connected the dots and worked out who exactly she was related to. "Have you seen my father lately?"
"Meh," Garp grumbled. "He was in Headquarters a few weeks ago; I don't know why and I don't much care."
Fox sighed prettily. "He could be anywhere now. Oh well, so much for that. Maybe I'll catch him in Sabaody."
"Give your mother my best, will you?" Garp asked gruffly. "It's been a while since I've been able to visit her teahouse." He sighed. "I've never been able to find anywhere that sells donuts as good as the ones she makes."
"I'll see if I can have her send you a bento," Fox promised, greatly amused.
"Well, I suppose I'd better get on with fixing that wall," the Vice-Admiral grumbled. "Oh well." He walked over to the pile of lumber and box of nails his men had found. Fox wandered after him into the building, ostensibly to watch. She looked nothing like her pirate self today, wearing a swishy pink and orange sundress with her hair in two loose buns on either side of her head.
"Hallo Lisska!" Luffy said brightly, waving. "Where were you earlier?"
"I've been getting my work evaluated and registered," Fox said easily, not taking her eyes off Garp's repair attempts. "I made a few Eternal Poses for Skypeia and people are offering me silly money for them."
"Really eight hundred million?" Sanji asked quietly.
"Oh yes; there aren't any other Eternal Poses for there, you know," she pointed out, "and unlike Little Garden it's quite heavily populated with excellent trade opportunities. Anyone with an Eternal Pose could corner the market on Dials very easily and make an absolute mint." She grinned. "I'm thinking of charging a percentage on top of the usual purchase fee."
"I thought the witch was the money-obsessed one," Zoro muttered quietly.
Fox smiled. "That Pose I made is priceless, literally. It is so difficult to get up there that no other Pose Artificer had ever attempted it. I made it thanks to you guys, so I think a long-term source of income would be handy; think of it as a nest-egg against future disasters."
Zoro paused. "You want the money for us?"
"The way Luffy eats we'll need it," Sanji muttered.
"By the way, Luffy," Garp said, turning to look at his grandson. "I heard you met your dad."
Fox missed the next little bit of conversation due to Zoro asking her exactly how much money she was angling for from the buyer she had lined up. She did not however miss Garp's reply to whatever Luffy had said:
"Oh what, he didn't introduce himself? I heard he saw you off at Logue Town!"
"Luffy's dad was in Logue Town?" Sanji repeated, puzzled.
"I wonder what Luffy's father is like," Nami mused, not having heard Fox' quiet conversation with Zoro and Sanji about money.
"Your father's name is Monkey D. Dragon, the revolutionary," Garp told Luffy, his not-at-all quiet revelation stunning almost everyone in range. Fox kept her peace through the panic and disorder, leaning against Zoro's shoulder and humming a cheery tune. She'd met the Revolutionary Dragon a few times over the years and liked the man, though she was wary of his ideals.
"You knew?" Zoro murmured.
"Met him," Fox said succinctly. "Interesting man. Kick-ass fighter, too."
Zoro glanced sideways at her, raising an eyebrow. "You've fought him?"
"Sparred," Fox corrected. "He's very, very good." She smirked. "He pays well too."
Zoro caught the allusion to her fox-masked alter ego and frowned thoughtfully. "He knows?"
"Nope." Phantom Fox' work for the revolution had been paid entirely through intermediaries.
Zoro nodded, watching the chaos die down. Fox took the opportunity to corner Garp's right-hand man to give him the details of the Eternal Poses to share with Headquarters and suggested that Dr. Vegapunk might be able to find a reliable way of getting ships up to explore the Millennium Cumulonimbus and properly map the islands and populations in them. Marineford already had her Den Den Mushi frequency –something she only used for legal business– so could contact her at their leisure. She knew the World Government would not stand for an entire population living beyond the reach of its rule –or more accurately beyond the reach of its tax scheme– so there was no doubt in her mind that she would get the money she wanted from them.
She had three such poses: one would of course go to the Government, one to the merchant who wanted to trade in Dials who was wealthy enough to meet her price and scrupulous enough for her to consider his offer and the last one she would keep. She never sold an Eternal Pose she didn't have a spare of; it just wasn't the thing to do. Once the Marines found a way to get up to Skypeia they would take a Pose Artificer with them to make a few more, so it wasn't like she was seriously limiting access; she just wanted to give the locals a chance to get themselves back on their feet before the Marines visited.
Garp left after fixing the wall, leaving Coby and Helmeppo behind to chat with Luffy, who apparently knew the pink-haired Marine from before he enlisted. Fox went to change back into her pirate gear and climb the wall surrounding the Gallery-La outdoor swimming pool; she had a feeling in her bones things were going to hot up and wanted to be prepared.
The Shichibukai's daughter gets some more screen time.