Action
A few hours later Zoro realised it was probably time to catch up with the rest of the crew.
"Fox? Can you sense where the rest of the crew are?"
"Easily," his lover told him. "They're all moving around pretty quickly at the moment, except for Nami, Chopper, Franky and Sanji. Actually, the others are converging on those four now."
"Where are they?" Zoro asked as he led Fox out of another side door, one arm wrapped tightly around her waist.
Fox made a face. "Grove one."
"Isn't that where we left the Sunny?"
Fox snorted. "We left the Sunny in grove forty one, Asura-koi. Grove one is the site of the Human Auction House."
Zoro really liked his new nickname, but immediately understood why it was Fox so loathed the very idea of grove one. "Where you…" he trailed off.
"It is the biggest trader in the archipelago and belongs to Donflamingo," Fox confirmed through gritted teeth. "And Keimi is inside."
"She got caught," Zoro realised, "so the others have gone to rescue her."
"Nami's more likely to try and buy her back," Fox corrected, guiding his swiftly though backstreets and over rickety bridges in a more-or-less straight line towards their destination. "She understands that starting a fight is the last thing we want to do."
"Lisska," the swordsman said carefully.
"Hm?"
"Can you promise me that if it turns into a real fight you'll run straight back to the Sunny? Please?"
His lover sighed, mingled warmth and irritation coming through the connection. "Fine. Since I'm not in disguise I'll keep a low profile."
"That's not the same thing," Zoro pointed out. "Please, Fo- Lisska? I'm not sure I'll be able to concentrate properly otherwise."
"You fight dirty," Fox muttered. "Fine; I'll leg it if things take a turn for the worse. Are you sure you can fight properly on your own?"
"I'll manage," the swordsman assured her firmly. He had to.
"Good. Don't expect me to go inside that damned building though; just looking at it makes me want to go on a killing spree."
Zoro honestly couldn't blame her for that.
Eustass Kid had been about to leave the Auction House in disgust when there was a loud yell and the door was smashed in, revealing Straw Hat Luffy, Pirate Hunter Zoro, a concussed flying fish, some nameless man and a very, very angry woman; he could feel her projected aura of fury from a dozen yards back.
"What the hell was that?! Can't you land any better?!" the Straw Hat shouted.
"How was I supposed to?! The nameless weakling roared back. "This is a flying fish! You told me to get you in, didn't you?!"
The Pirate Hunter was rubbing his head with one hand and helping the woman to her feet with the other, completely ignoring his captain. His facial expression suggested he was expecting everything to go to hell in the next few seconds, which when Kid caught sight of the woman's face seemed highly likely: there was a glare to make Marine Captains shit themselves at fifty paces.
"Ah! Keimi!" Straw Hat Luffy said, noticing the mermaid on the stage and dashing down the steps towards her, ignoring the man who was trying to stop him. "Keimi, we were looking for you! Thank goodness!" He really was an idiot; how had someone like that survived this long, let alone made it to be a pirate captain with a 300 million bounty?
Then the man who had tried to stop Luffy was revealed to be an octopus fishman and was shot by one of the Tenryuubito, prompting the lunatic Straw Hat to turn around. Kid watched as the much shorter man walked quietly back up the steps towards the gloating World Noble, his formerly cheerful expression having been abruptly replaced by one of calm fury. Eustass Kid suddenly knew that Straw Hat Luffy was a pirate who did not care about consequences; that certainly explained Enies Lobby.
"Is he serious?" The violent redhead murmured as the newly arrived pirate pulled back a fist and advanced on the Tenryuubito.
"You piss me off, too!" Straw Hat shouted, punching the noble hard in the face and ploughing him through a dozen rows of empty seats. There was a moment of total silence, broken only by the cracking of Monkey D. Luffy's knuckles and faint but delighted snickering from the woman who'd arrived with him, who now had her face buried in the Pirate Hunter's shoulder. Kid grinned: the coming fight was going to be fantastic.
"Sorry you guys," Luffy said into the silence, facing those of his crew present from halfway down the steps. "I hear that if you hit one of these guys a Marine Admiral's gonna show up with battleships in tow…" Even Fox was there, though he would have to remember to call her Lisska since she wasn't wearing her bandannas.
"Why did you have to go and punch him?" Zoro complained, sword half drawn. "I wanted to slice him up myself."
Nami hurried down the steps to hover over Hachi, but Fo –Lisska moved smoothly past the octopus and down towards the stage, furled umbrella hanging from one hand and her face a mask of serene blankness. Luffy didn't like that face: it gave him the creeps. She'd been incredibly angry when he picked her and Zoro up and dragged them into the Auction House on the flying fish but now that burning wrath was nowhere to be seen. Luffy knew it hadn't gone away; Lisska didn't cool down that quickly. She'd just hidden it.
"Well I guess that settles our plan for now, then," Franky said.
"The key to Keimi's collar had gotta be somewhere over there backstage!" Chopper said. "I've gotta see to Hachi's wounds; good luck you guys!"
"Why you!" shouted a nasal voice from behind him. Luffy glanced over his shoulder to see another guy with a bubble over his head in a frothing rage. "How dare a lowly peasant such as yourself lay a finger on my son?!"
The rest of the crowd panicked, stampeding towards the exits.
As pandemonium broke out in the audience Fox stepped up onto the stage and knocked on the goldfish bowl containing Keimi. The mermaid jumped, having been too caught up in seeing her fishman friend shot to notice the white-haired woman's approach.
"Duck, Keimi-chan," Fox said, using fish-speech so the message would carry through the glass. The green-haired girl dived to the bottom of the bowl as Fox loosened the blade within her umbrella.
Shiiik.
The top of the bowl slid off onto the floor, releasing a small wave of water that the Devil Fruit User took several quick steps back to avoid; not that it would do her any harm, but she was wearing expensive shoes today. Her sword was once more concealed within her umbrella's handle, likely having been missed altogether by most of those present.
Then more flying fish crashed through the walls of the building, unloading those members of the Straw-Hats who hadn't already arrived. Usopp landed right on top of the Noble Goldfish who'd been harrumphing so indignantly, which was pretty awesome really. As the auctioneer started calling for guards Fox absently knocked him off the stage with her umbrella, not even bothering to reinforce it with Haki: he was weak. Considering her crew were winning the fight taking place, Fox leant over Keimi to get a closer look at her collar.
"Hmm… they really haven't updated the design at all, have they?" she mused, fingers playing over it. She was about to set the trembling mermaid free when another over-privileged twit with a gun marched up on stage and tried to push past her to reach Keimi. Fox didn't even think; she detested the Tenryuubito and all that they stood for with a cold and calculating malice that thought nothing of poisoning people in their sleep.
The highly focussed blast of her Colour of the Ruling Queen didn't quite kill the woman, though it had likely damaged her mind in all kind of messy ways. As the World Noble keened like a dying rabbit the stage backdrop tore from top to bottom, revealing a giant and a very spry old man with a massive grin.
"See? What'd I tell ya, Giant-kun? This place is total chaos!" He looked around. "The auction's over and I've stolen my money; guess it's time to head back to do some more gambling. Oh, hello Lisska. What are you doing in here?"
Fox sighed. "Ray. I should have known."
The man waved his hip flask at her. "That's Grandpa Ray to you, kid. Did you think I didn't know about your ma?"
Fox blinked. "You never asked," she replied reflexively.
Silvers Rayleigh laughed again. "I would never have got to be this old if I hadn't learnt to pay attention to the evidence of my eyes, my little golden girl: You inherited my hair." He glanced out over the wrecked seating area in a distinctly theatrical manner. "What's this? Looks like everyone's looking at us."
Fox growled. She hated being at the centre of attention and she knew that every last pirate in the building had heard that 'Grandpa Ray'. Since her captain would definitely stop her from ensuring this incident never saw the light of day Fox instead stalked off into the wings, looking for the guardroom. She could at least set free today's unfortunates.
And that's who Fox' human grandfather is, which explains how she manages to be sixteen different kinds of amazing. It also explains her mother; well, to point.