Undertow

Tempest, Striped Eel Catfish mermaid and eldest biological daughter of the Yonko Whitebeard who had just been murdered by a former member of his crew, was a very kind and even-tempered woman. She had known Gol D. Spitfire all her life and the two were best friends, just as their mothers had been. However despite being generally a forgiving and motherly woman she was ruthlessly protective of the people in her care, regardless of whether they were lifelong friends or casual allies. People who got caught up and inspired by Spitfire's natural charisma and cheerful fearlessness were frequently persuaded to stay in her vicinity by Tempest's acceptance and caring nature, especially as they were tempered by even-handed discipline and an amazing ability to ferret out the truth.

It was to her enemies' misfortune that Tempest had been blessed with a cool head and the ability to make sensible, rational decisions even when deeply upset. So it was that when her father was killed she simply stayed at her post loading pirates and allies onto Snouty, Spitfire's personnel transport Sea King, until she noticed Admiral Aokiji descending to the waterfront. Perceiving at once the man's intentions, Tempest ordered Snouty to dive, redirected the people headed her way to the other ships anchored nearby and hefted her bisento thoughtfully as in the bay the waves froze once more.

Part of what frightened this particular mermaid's opponents was that she remained calm, rational and pleasant even when she was hacking through your forces like so much wheat; she had no killing intent to speak of and came across as comfortably motherly even when she was knee-deep in your allies' blood and cutting your head off. So it was then that Aokiji almost failed to notice he was being attacked when she lightly dropped off the waterfront behind him, swinging her massive weapon down to chop him in half.

"Sorry Jimbe," the admiral was saying as Tempest fell towards him, his attention on Pearl's second cousin who was trying to get a catatonic Luffy away from Admiral Akainu. However Aokiji had not gained his rank by being careless and managed to sense the weapon swinging down towards his skull in time to dodge a blow that cleaved the ice beneath his feet like butter, the shockwave generated travelling deep and carrying forwards over forty feet.

Despite being a polearm user, Tempest was a student of the Way of Destruction that was more common to powerful swordsmen. Raising the long weapon in both hands she swung again, eyes not straying from the Ice Logia even as Akainu caught up with Jinbe.

"Greetings, Aokiji-san," she said politely as she aimed a flying slash at his head, trimming his hair and cutting a deep gouge in the ice behind him. "It is a pleasure to meet a man Lisska-chan speaks so well of. I trust you have been enjoying the tea she found? I know she went to a lot of trouble to obtain it for you."

"It is very good," the admiral admitted, his voice slightly strained as he ducked another highly accurate shockwave attack. "I trust she is well?"

"Very well despite the inconvenience that recent events on Sabaody caused for her," Tempest responded, ducking under a barrage of ice and swinging her bisento like a bat to swat Aokiji out of the air. "I believe you are aware of the incident involving the Human Auction House?" she added as he pulled himself upright, aiming a further cutting blow at the ice between them.

"It was mentioned to me," Aokiji admitted as the ice around him cracked and shifted. Tempest took the opportunity to quietly order Snouty and the nearby Snapper to batter the ice around the stranded ships so the pirates could escape, then aimed another blow at where her Kenbunshoku Haki indicated the admiral was going to move to.

"You are highly skilled," Aokiji complemented her as the ice beneath her booted fins started to vibrate under in precisely timed blows. "I am surprised not to have heard of you before."

"The Marine forces are more concerned with policing the surface of the seas than what occurs beneath them," Tempest said calmly, "and rarely bother with what occurs in the Calm Belts. We have up until now largely abided by the World Government's laws, so our obscurity is unsurprising. Had Ace not been sentenced to death, we would likely be law-abiding still."

"What unfortunate circumstances these are that pit us against each-other," the admiral lamented, attacking again.

"Indeed; there are so few people in positions of power that Lisska speaks highly of," Tempest agreed as out beyond the raised steel walls a submarine surfaced. Tempest had known it was there, as she'd overheard Spitfire telling Runt not to eat it. Across the bay ice cracked and shattered, freeing several ships, and a Marine vessel collapsed under the weight of Trudi, who had taken it upon herself to reduce the chances of pursuit.

Tempest then lost sight of her reluctant opponent as the whole island rocked and returned to help evacuate pirates onto Snouty, who had battered a large enough hole in the ice to get his head through and was dutifully taking more people on board. The fourteen-foot mermaid patted him appreciatively on the side of the jaw and set about getting the new arrivals to line up neatly to reduce the time it took for Snouty to bubble them and fishing the occasional unfortunate out of the sea.

She would have time to grieve later, when everyone was safely away.

As Red-Hair Shanks arrived on the battlefield Dracule Mihawk turned away from the fight, heading back to where he'd left his raft on the far side on the island.

"Hawkeye! Where are you going?" a Marine captain called after him. The swordsman turned.

"I consented to warring against Whitebeard," he said coolly, "but Red-Hair is outside the scope of our agreement." It was bad enough that his suspicions regarding how his daughter had escaped slavery had been confirmed today; seeing the infamous Phantom Fox in action had filled him both with pride and great pain. She had grown into a magnificent swordswoman despite her open preference for knives and deplorable lack of ambition, but her skills were largely to be credited to a man he had never met and could not find. Nonetheless, despite Lisska's remarkable skill in muting her presence and disguising her appearance, Mihawk had recognised her. He was however certain he was the only one who had; his daughter's incredible affinity for Iaido was not something most people were aware of, nor did they know he had taught her as much as he could about it as a child when he witnessed for himself her talent.

Mihawk had not expected to see his daughter today, but was grateful she had kept herself clear of the melee. He would not have been able to stand aside had she drawn the attention of his fellow Shichibukai, particularly Donflamingo. She had also left as soon as Fire-Fist had suffered a fatal blow, not that any blow could be guaranteed to be fatal where his daughter's Ability was concerned. He would likely see Portgas D. Ace again.

In the meantime however he trusted her to stay well out of sight and out of trouble until things died down again. She was very good at hiding and sufficiently pragmatic to do so religiously at this point. If only she showed similar good judgement when it came to selecting her lovers…

Mihawk shook his head as he made his way between the ruined and partly-flooded buildings towards his raft. Lisska had proved herself to truly be her mother's daughter and gotten pregnant by accident. Her choice of partner irritated him, largely because he had had high hopes of the young Santoryuu user and was now conflicted. He couldn't kill the boy without severely harming her and it irked him to have his options limited; hopefully the young man would prove himself worthy enough to keep alive regardless.

Pearl had mentioned that Roronoa was serious about fulfilling his responsibilities, so that was a decent start. Enough to keep him from maiming the boy on sight, at least.

This was a challenge, as I find it hard to get inside the heads of these two. I hope I managed to make it work.