Double

Just as Zoro was about to jump onto the suspended cage and let the octopus out, his mind decided it was a perfect moment to forget how many legs he had. His brief stumble was corrected by Fox, who wrapped her hand around his right wrist and abruptly restored his awareness of where everything was.

"We'll have to do this together," she said quickly, hopping up beside the figurehead next to him. "Only way to make sure there are no relapses."

Zoro had fought the CP9 while handcuffed to Usopp; having Fox hanging onto one wrist was no hindrance at all.

After freeing Hachi and taking out a Flying Fish Rider who tried to attack the fishman during his emotional reunion with Keimi and Pappuang Zoro closed his eyes and tried a few quick moves, Fox flowing behind him. She had been right; training like this would really help. He already could feel things falling into place inside his head, his body memory peeling away from hers into two separate systems, just like fighting with two swords: one hand did one thing, the other did another but the overall result was smooth and seamless. Now he knew what it was they needed to do, getting back up to speed would be fairly easy.

Then Brooke landed on the raised jetty, panting and Zoro returned his attention to the fight. With Fox having to keep hold of him the Straw-Hats were effectively short a capable and independent fighter, but they would manage. It wasn't like these guys were even remotely challenging.

Zoro had been vastly amused that their enemy had looked exactly like Sanji's unfortunate bounty poster; even Fox had thought it was funny. However after the dumbass cook rearranged Iron Mask Duval's face the swordsman took advantage of the chaos to drag Fox away from a few minutes and practice moving across the ruined buildings. With enough open space to move properly and no need to worry about smashing things –it wasn't like these idiots would notice, considering how banged up their hideout was after being hit by the Gaon Cannon– Zoro was soon feeling much more certain of his abilities and limits. Not completely sure yet, as he would have to practice by himself to make sure he could manage without his lover hanging onto him in a fight, but much, much better than he had been. He'd been starting to worry that he might become a liability for Luffy, which the swordsman could not have stood for.

However all too soon it was time to leave, so Luffy agreed to give Hachi, Keimi and Pappuang a lift back to their floating takoyaki stand, Nami having agreed with her captain that free food was all that she wanted from the fishman. According to Nami, Hatchan was 'harmless', which fitted in quite well with Zoro's memories of the six-armed idiot. During the meal provided by the newly liberated octopus Zoro stayed on board the Sunny with Robin, Franky and Fox, partaking heavily of the barrel of Sake the swordsman had helped Fox to 'liberate' from the Flying Fish Riders.

"Zoro?" Robin asked, partway through the meal.

"Hm?"

"Had you noticed that half the time you put your takoyaki in Fox' mouth?" Zoro paused; had he been doing that?

Franky chuckled. "Well Fox seems to have the same problem so it evens out, right?"

Fox shrugged. "Eating is generally one of the last things to straighten out. At least we're starting to get the hang of fighting now."

"Did you have this problem before?" Zoro asked, noticing this time that is was Fox' chopsticks rather than his own lifting a takoyaki ball to his mouth. Not that it stopped him from eating it.

Fox shook her head. "I was a dancer, maidservant and healer before; I'd never actually killed anyone. It was fairly easy to separate myself out from the fighters as I had no practical experience outside of training. This is much trickier, but we are making decent progress." Her next takoyaki ball went into her own mouth. "We need more practice, but seeing as Sabaody is just around the corner it will have to wait until after I've introduced you to my mother."

Zoro froze. "You want me to meet your mother?"

Fox glanced up at him. "Well we could look for my father instead if you preferred…"

"No, I mean, why?"

Fox stared at him. "We are going to be like this for the rest of our lives, Zoro," she said gently. "I want my family to meet the man who made me go back on my decision to never, ever do anything this dumb ever again. Besides, it's take her to see you or get hunted down by her one dark night and if we make her do that she'll be angry."

"What is your mother like?" Robin asked, breaking up the argument before it could really get started.

Fox grinned. "Not at all the normal overprotective parent: she's always on my case to lighten up and enjoy life more. Very laid back, but strong regardless; strong enough to be a Shichibukai but she turned it down."

"She's a pirate?"

"No: the Marines have no evidence whatsoever of her ever breaking the law; she just beats up the pirates who try to start a fight on her property," Fox said mischievously. "Mother just happens to run a very nice tea house near the Marine base on the archipelago and another, rather rowdier one in the lawless area; she's just a simple business owner trying to get by."

"And I'm an angel; see my feathery wings?" Zoro muttered in patent disbelief. Fox giggled.

"What does she look like?" Robin asked. "And I'm not sure you ever mentioned her name."

"Mother's name is Pearl," Fox told her. "She's a little bit less than seven foot tall with wavy, navy blue hair and black eyes. She's usually smiling and likes to wear kimono. She's also very, very beautiful." The white-haired woman sighed. "She also has no respect whatsoever for social conventions, so prepare to be embarrassed."

"No respect how exactly?" Franky asked.

"The first thing she's likely to ask me on meeting you is how good you are in bed," Fox said flatly, "or else demand to know why I only have one lover."

Zoro choked on his sake.

Yep, Pearl's all kinds of outrageous... *coff* *croak*