Reflection

As the Thousand Sunny approached the Flying Fish Riders' base Fox briefly vanished into her cabin and came back out with Calla around her shoulders and a wicked-looking compound bow in one hand.

"You can fire that thing?" Zoro had to ask, taking in the sheer tension the weapon was under. Fox smirked, knocked an arrow and pulled the bowstring smoothly back until the arrow's fletching was level with her ear. The taunt bowstring hummed eagerly for an instant and then she let fly, the arrow spiralling through the air with a distant whine. Zoro was about to ask why she'd wasted a shot when there was a scream from above and a very large flying fish plummeted down into the sea, familiar fletching just visible sticking out of one eye.

"Nice shot," Usopp complemented her.

The flying fish riders only made the one pass before swiftly vanishing over the horizon, possibly due Fox' swift dispatching of one of their mounts. The two still mounted thugs had briefly swept past to pick up the one in the water; their conger eel guide swiftly snapped up the dying fish and swallowed it whole. Luffy was a bit cross about that but soon cheered up when he remembered they were rescuing a takoyaki chef. Besides, as Fox pointed out, there were more flying fish where that one came from.

As the rest of the crew discussed how they might deal with such nimble aerial attacks Zoro sat quietly, contemplating the situation. On the one hand he was almost fully healed from his injuries at Thriller Bark, Fox having expended a great deal of time and energy putting him back together. On the other, the conflicting signals he got when he tried to fight were slowing him down; the real reason both he and Fox had been training like crazy during the past week was to reacquaint themselves with their individual capabilities and limits. Lifting weights and practicing stances just wasn't enough; he needed a real fight so he could show himself why he desperately needed to get his act together. Besides, it wasn't like most of his moves were the kind of thing he could really practice in the crow's nest gym: they were too destructive.

"We need to do some joint training," Fox said quietly, sitting down beside him with the bow leaning against her thigh.

Zoro accepted the suggestion without hesitation; she was the one with the most experience of their current situation after all. "Where did you get that monster?" he asked instead, nodding at the bow. "I doubt you learnt that from your parents." Or her Shishou, but Zoro knew better than to speak of the man who had moulded a frightened child into a deadly killer.

"Sako, actually," Fox told him. "He felt I should know my way around a weapon that I could hunt with."

Zoro considered it; it wasn't a bad idea actually. Hunting with swords was interesting, but not all that much fun. Mostly he just blundered about until he found something that attacked him and then he killed it and, if it looked edible, cooked and ate it. He could forage well enough, but hunting wasn't his thing. "He teach you?"

"Goodness no; Sako's an axe fighter. Completely useless with a bow, though he's a crack shot with a sling," Fox went on, her mood brightening briefly. "His wife taught me."

"Wait; he's married? I thought you two…" Zoro trailed off.

"He wasn't married when I first met him, but he did get married not long afterwards; just before I left, in fact," Fox said, smiling a little wistfully. "They taught me to shoot the next time I visited."

"Didn't she mind? About you and, well," Zoro wasn't sure how to put it. Amusement bubbled along their connection.

"Zoro, you're forgetting that Sako and his people are convinced I'm a deity. Sako's wife is incredibly proud of what her husband did for me; it's part of what made her petition her father to let her marry him. The people of Mystoria see me as being several steps above them, so why should they expect me to conform to their social norms? As far as they are concerned I transcend them. Sako is no great leader but he's a national hero, a bit of a mystic and a very dedicated acolyte of, well, me." Fox made a face. "I don't like being worshipped very much but I just can't make them stop! It's frustrating sometimes."

The swordsman patted her shoulder as the Flying Fish Riders' base came into view ahead and the conger eel slipped out from under the keel. "I know you far too well to ever think you might be a deity; no deity would drool in their sleep."

Fox glared at him. "You wouldn't care even if I was a goddess," she pointed out tartly, "it wouldn't stop you from having your wicked way with me at every available opportunity."

Zoro smirked. It was true; why deny it?

As Franky pointed out to Keimi and Pappung the starfish that their friend hanging suspended in a cage in the middle of the apparently deserted base was probably a trap –how naïve could you get?– Fox nudged Zoro. As her hand brushed against his skin he let his mental barriers thin slightly so he could see what she wanted to show him and received a complex parcel of images and words. It unfolded swiftly within his mind, rapid flashes of insight and calculation that when put together revealed that his lover and other half felt this would be a perfect place for them to spar together without worrying about the consequences of damaging anything. Sending her back his agreement, Zoro then turned his attention to the imprisoned octopus fishman. Something really wasn't right there…

Sanji then tricked the captive into revealing that he was indeed Hatchan, formerly of the Arlong Pirates that had so oppressed Nami's home.

"So wait, that takoyaki seller 'Hacchin' was you all along?!" Luffy bellowed. "That crazy octo-Hachi from Arlong's crew?! Like hell we'd come and save a man like you, dumbass!" He paused, apparently deeply torn. "But wait! Ah… your takoyaki… is it really that good?!"

"Oh, come on!" Sanji grumbled. "Getting caught between your appetite and your reason?!"

"Oh, for the love of…" Zoro grumbled at the farce playing out.

"You guys! Were you really Hacchin's friends all along?" the oblivious mermaid asked brightly. The swordsman turned to glare at the greenette:

"We ain't his friends!"

Fox stepped forward to put a hand on the distressed mermaid's shoulder. "Just because he made some poor decisions in the past does not mean we shouldn't rescue him," she said firmly, a hint of steel in her tone. "You can always beat him up later if you so wish," she added quietly to the swordsman. She then walked forward and caught Luffy's shoulder, turning him around so she could look him in the eye:

"Fox?" the rubberman asked, apparently seeing something in her face that clued him in to the importance of the situation.

"Captain, Fox will rescue Octopus, even if Captain does not wish it," she said firmly, slipping into her less balanced persona as a wave of fury-pain-frustration rocked Zoro from across the front deck. "Fox cannot stand by and allow another to be sold into slavery, Fox cannot!" She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Captain can beat Octopus up later or kill him if Captain pleases; anything is better than being sold."

Keimi was watching the interaction with wide, frightened eyes, Pappung hiding behind her tail; Sanji's cigarette had dropped out of his mouth to smoulder unheeded on the deck; Nami had gone white, clearly having put the pieces together; Usopp looked confused and Luffy was completely serious, looking Fox dead in the eye.

"Keimi! You should just go home! This is a trap!" drifted over from the suspended cage.

"Okay," Luffy agreed, still serious, "but Nami gets to decide what we do afterwards."

Fox slumped slightly and bowed. "Fox is very grateful." Luffy dragged her upright:

"It's okay to ask when you want things: how else am I gonna know what to do?" he pointed out with startling frankness.

The white-haired woman blushed and Zoro felt her embarrassment. "Fox apologises. Fox is not used to being around people who are interested."

"Your family doesn't care?" Sanji inquired, lighting a new cigarette. Fox turned to glance at him.

"Family doesn't need to ask; family knows Fox will do as she pleases and are happy to help should Fox need it, but Fox has a captain now and is not so free anymore."

There was a splash; Zoro turned just in time to see that the ditzy mermaid had decided they were taking too long –or the conversation had made her too nervous to stick around– and leapt overboard to save her friend. She and her starfish were instantly caught by three fishmen, who emerged to gloat over their prize.

"Ngyuu!" Hatchi shouted. "Keimi! Pappuang! I told you not to!"

"Well I guess there's no helping it then," Luffy said brightly, his eyes briefly turning into takoyaki before he leapt into action.

Things go a little differently. Thanks to everyone who sent their sympathies; being ill is shitty, as Sanji would say.