Preparation

Fox had not taken part in the fight that had broken out when Kaido had tried to attack Whitebeard's fleet from behind and Shanks had intercepted him; Red-Hair had made it clear that she was to stay out of sight and trouble as much as possible. Fox had therefore slept through the initial manoeuvring and posturing then hidden herself below decks in the infirmary as the first shot was fired and a fight broke out in earnest. She knew her way around a first aid kit well enough and had a lot of practice at nursing, so she just did as the Red Force' doctor told her as the wounded trickled in. She patched bleeding wounds back together so the lightly injured could return to the fight, helped set bones and stitch muscle, slathered paste over burns and pulled out splinters until she was sweaty, bloodied and tired and the sounds of battle had faded away to nothing. Her last patient was Shanks himself, who was shoved at her by Beckman. The redhead was just a bit singed and had large wood splinters sticking out of his shoulder so Fox briskly went to work, ignoring the childish whimpers of pain as she yanked out the thin wooden spikes and disinfected the war wound.

"It's just splinters, you big baby," she growled as he twitched, preventing her from pulling the last one out all in one go. "It's not like you lost an eye or anything."

"But splinters hurt!" Shanks whined.

"Suck it up," Fox snarled, jabbing a pressure point in his neck and repositioning the tweezers once he was temporarily paralysed. With her patient no longer wriggling the last splinter came out easily and she disinfected it carefully, pulling out strands of fabric that had been pushed into the injury. Job done, she slapped a plaster over the open wound and freed up the pressure point so Shanks could move again.

"There, all done."

"That was dirty," Shanks grumbled, carefully rotating his shoulder and neck to get the feeling back, but Fox knew he was just playing around now.

"It worked though, didn't it?" she pointed out. "Is it safe for me to have a shower yet or do I need to wait a while longer?"

Shanks glanced at her, eyes flicking to take in the dried blood caked on her face, in her hair, up her arms almost to the shoulder and spattered over her front. "No, we won!" he said brightly. "Feel free to take as long as you like getting clean. Use the private wash house rather than the group showers though; I don't want anyone to walk in on you by accident."

"Fine." The bath house was just for Shanks and his elite rather than the wider crew and was very nice indeed. As most of those elite were currently busy making sure everything was shipshape and in order Fox would have time to bathe properly before they started thinking about more mundane things like cleanliness. Just as she was leaving however an arm caught her belt and pulled her back.

"Lisska," Shanks said quietly, meeting her eyes with a serious smile, "thank-you. You didn't have to help out."

Fox rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't be me if I didn't, Shanks," she told him. "How could I not look after my family?"

Shanks brightened ridiculously. "I'm family?"

"Of course you are; why else would I be here if you weren't?"

Shanks grinned wider, teasing humour seeping into his expression. "To drive your father around the bend, of course. Or to finally do something about that crush you never grew out of."

Fox flushed, but met his eyes brazenly. "Why captain are you flirting with me? A pregnant woman? For shame."

"Dahahahahaha!" Shanks laughed, letting go of her. "Off you go then."

Fox fled. She really thought she'd managed to keep that crush under wraps but Shanks was way sneaker than most people gave him credit for. Bastard.

Gol D. Spitfire perched on the top of Runt, her favourite Sea King, and pondered the situation. A number of her apprentices and foster siblings had agreed to do all they could to help her rescue her baby brother, but she knew Whitebeard and his allies would be trying to help too, so she had to make sure they weren't left hanging. Spitfire's original plan had been to rescue Ace by herself while he was being transported from Impel Down to Marineford, but with the currents being what they were she'd have to escape past the Marine base anyway and with Ace in shackles they'd have to find someone who knew how to use lock picks.

Kicking her fins idly, Spitfire wondered what to do. She was going to rescue Ace, of course; family came first after all. However not being equipped for a chase meant she had to grab him while the Marines were busy, which meant waiting until he was on the execution stand. She had enough capable merfolk and fishmen with her to be able to throw around enough seawater for Devil Fruit Users not to be a problem, so the trick would be drawing attention away from Ace until her sneakier helpers could smuggle him away.

Spitfire knew she wasn't sneaky. She nonetheless knew the value of sneaky. Sneaky was good for escaping and escaping was what Ace needed to do. The best way for her to rescue Ace was to show the Marines that she was a bigger threat than her baby brother, cause a commotion with her pets sinking ships and eating people and have the sneaky people get her baby brother off the execution stand while nobody was looking. Fox would probably be there, so she would help with the sneaking.

The angelshark mermaid sprawled back on her pet's snout, her twenty foot length dwarfed in comparison to his three hundred foot head. Runt looked like a cross between an eel, a hyena and a small mountain range to the casual observer; Spitfire had raised him from the egg and loved him dearly. Split tails kicked in the air idly as the bottle-green-haired mermaid's eyebrows dropped and her lips pulled back into a fierce, toothy grin that made her look way too much like her father. She knew what she would do; she'd get everyone to Marineford right now and have them lie in wait. Disguises would be necessary too, so they'd have to stop by Sabaody first to raid Pearl's closets for trousers and boots. Better to not have the Marines notice they were mermaids until the last moment.

Still grinning, the mermaid known among her kindred as 'the Queen of Kings' kicked her pet into motion. She loved showing off and this would be the biggest stage she'd ever get.

Ace was getting nervous. He wasn't too surprised that his rescue hadn't come yet –it would be way easier to get him away from the Marines once he was on the surface again– but the unexpected visit from Boa Hancock had rattled him. Why was Luffy of all people trying to break into Impel Down? He didn't want his little brother to die! Worry had completely taken over his mind and not even Jinbe's steady presence could soothe it again. Fox had said she was looking after Luffy, so did his little brother's presence mean Fox was here too? Or had they gotten separated?

Ace groaned. He hoped Fox wasn't here; Jinbe was oddly protective of the woman he called 'Scamp' and would be very cross with anyone dragging her into a hellhole like Impel Down. Ace still remembered the time Fox had broken up a minor slaving ring and been scolded by the Knight of the Sea for 'recklessness'. Jinbe took his duty to Fox as her sensei very seriously and a good number of less well-informed pirates had fallen foul of the whale-shark fishman as a result.

"Ace-san," Jinbe said, interrupting the other pirate's thoughts, "I don't know much about that woman but surely you'd be better off assuming she was lying."

"What, you want me to believe she came all this way just to lie to me?!" Ace exploded. "I'm sorry," he added more quietly, "but look Jinbe, this is just what my brother's like, he's always doing crazy stuff like this. Ever since he was a kid; he never does anything but make me worry about him. I though Fox was keeping an eye on him for me, but if he's here…"

"Scamp is with your brother?" Oops, Ace hadn't meant to say that. Jinbe sounded displeased.

"Fox is on Luffy's crew now, but if he's here… I really don't know," Ace sighed. "She promised she'd rescue me but I really, really hope she isn't here. She knows better."

"I should hope so," Jinbe muttered, looking as concerned as Ace felt.

Time drags on ever closer to the deadline.