Awkward

Sharing Swift Hunter with Fox had been easy to adapt to, pleasant and highly enjoyable for Ace. Sharing the submersible, semi-sentient vessel with Fox and an Admiral was however cripplingly awkward. The first problem that emerged was that the small ship only had one bedroom and one bed. Fox thankfully was able to solve this by producing a hammock and bedding from the hold and setting up a place for Aokiji to sleep on the main deck, as the largely empty room with the hatch that connected to the outside world was called. The second problem was that the admiral was almost ten feet tall: Swift Hunter had relatively high ceilings throughout so as to improve airflow, but while an eleven-foot clearance is fairly generous for a person only slightly more than six feet tall and perfectly acceptable even for someone who is eight feet tall, Aokiji –Kuzan, Fox had said his name was– found the space rather cramped. Ace was guiltily grateful that the man was injured and wouldn't want to move around much; being in close quarters with someone who'd tried to kill him and would try to kill him again if he recognised Ace was wearing on his nerves. Never mind that it was strange to see Fox tending to someone who a little over a month ago he had watched her repeatedly try to kill.

The third problem was that Kuzan seemed to know Fox rather well and on seeing her had addressed her as 'Dracule-chan', then asked her if the Straw-Hats had disbanded. Ace hadn't been expecting an admiral to know that his lover was a Straw-Hat when the Marines seemed to believe the Angel of Death and Dracule Lisska were two completely different people. Fox hadn't actually answered Aokiji's question, saying instead that she'd been in the New World since leaving Sabaody and had no idea what Luffy or his crew were up to. Kuzan had nodded, then told her that Sengoku had resigned his position as Fleet Admiral following the World Government's decision not to publicise the escape of numerous prisoners from the sixth level of Impel Down to prevent losing face. He had nominated Kuzan as his replacement, but several other high-ranking officials had nominated Sakazuki. The crippled admiral admitted he wasn't interested in being Fleet Admiral, but stated that the very idea of Sakazuki running the Marine Forces had been so abhorrent to him that he had been prepared to accept the promotion. However he had lost the battle and so intended to resign.

Fox had let the ice Logia speak, nodding in the right places as she soothed his burns as efficiently as possible and deadened the nerves that would previously have connected to his now-missing leg. When he finally ran out of words –by which point Ace had gained considerable insight into both the Marine infrastructure and the varying states of decay of most officers' morals– Fox gave the soon-to-be-ex-admiral a considering look and spoke:

"Kuzan-san, you have noticed I hope that my mother likes you?"

"Pearl-san is always very welcoming when I visit the Flashing Fins teahouse," Kuzan said, naming Fox' mother's more reputable establishment that was located in Grove seventy one, right next to the Marine base on Sabaody. "She is a most conscientious host."

Fox smiled slyly. "Kuzan-san, my mother likes you. She sent me a message asking me to detour to Punk Hazard because she was worried about you. Please take this into consideration when you are deciding what to do with yourself after you tender your resignation."

Ace watched the admiral's slow blink through his lover's eyes as her words registered. "I had not noticed," he admitted.

"My mother is highly gifted at dissembling; I am unsurprised that she managed to hide it from you," Fox said candidly. "That she was always there when you were should have been a clue though; my mother does have two different businesses to run in addition to her many other investments."

"Thank-you for bringing it to my attention, Dracule-chan," Kuzan said quietly, shifting in the hammock.

"You need to rest, so I will leave you to it," Fox said mercifully, leaving the deck towards the kitchen, where Ace happened to be lurking. "Dinner should not take me more than an hour; I'll have Spadille bring you your share."

It took them four days to reach Sabaody with Swift Hunter swimming as quickly as she was able; very good time indeed. Ace however sincerely wished it could have taken less time as all three people on board were twitchy and ragged around the edges by the time they surfaced at the edge of Grove sixty to drop Kuzan off so he could get into the Marine base. The admiral had worked out how to use his Devil Fruit to make himself a prosthetic lower leg out of ice, so he did not need to be helped into the base; a small mercy. Once he had left Fox had Swift Hunter take them to Grove twenty two, then promptly fled into the ship's bedroom, threw herself face-down on the mattress and just lay there, tension gradually fading from her mind and body. Ace flopped down next to her; neither of them had slept very well since bringing Kuzan on board.

"Your mom really likes him?" Ace asked after a while, turning on his side and pulling Fox into his arms.

"I think she might love him," Fox admitted quietly. "She gave up on my father years ago, well before he even made us go back to Fishman without him; I think about when I was two, but I'm not sure. She's had a lot of lovers since and she cared for some of them at least a little, but I'm certain she was never in love with any of them. Kuzan though…. she does care about him very much. I think he likes her too actually, but being a Marine admiral means certain obligations and maintaining a particular image. I hope they can work it out now."

"You're fine with how that might turn out?" Ace couldn't tell how she felt; her feelings on the subject were very complicated and bounced around all over the place.

"I want my mother to be happy," Fox said quietly. "My father is happy; he enjoys his solitude, enjoys the freedom of the sea and enjoys his strength and skill. My mother enjoys her work and loves looking after all her people but I can tell she'd be happier with a special someone in her life even if that special someone wasn't actually a lover."

So Fox didn't much like the idea of her mother liking the soon-to-be-former-admiral, but would put up with it for Pearl's sake. "What are we going to do now, considering we're in Paradise?" Ace asked instead.

"Well, since we're here I thought we should stop by and see my mother," Fox said, "then we can check up on my caches on this side of Fishman. It will also give me a chance to visit my father and see Zoro."

Ace knew that Fox missed Zoro terribly despite the asura's regular invasion of their mental space, particularly when they were physically intimate. Ace would have objected to it, but the triple sensory echo caused by their third's mental presence when he was touching Fox felt too damn good to pass up. Ace was no stranger to good sex, but sex with Fox was the best he'd ever had –the mental bond amplified everything– and not even Asura's blatant, shameless voyeurism could dampen the sheer ecstasy that was sex while all three of them were mentally 'present'. The first time he'd experienced it he thought he'd died and gone to heaven, it was just that incredible. He knew he'd been giggling like an addict on a trip for almost an hour afterwards but couldn't really bring himself to care.

There hadn't been much sex while Kuzan was on board Swift Hunter with them; the ship was not soundproofed and both of them had been too tense to really be in the mood. They'd made the most of early mornings but it had been quick, mostly quiet and more a matter of satisfying urges than having fun. Ace intended to make up for that as soon as possible.

"Will Mihawk even let you see Asura, considering he's supposed to be learning? Discipline and all that?" Ace asked.

Fox shivered. "He should allow it, but it will be only this once," she whispered unhappily, "which is why I want to do it before I really start showing." She was showing now, just: a faint curve of her abdomen that was mostly invisible under her clothing. Much more noticeable was that she had gone up two cup sizes and couldn't close most of her shirts at the top. That side-effect of pregnancy Ace really liked; her obsession with eating rice pudding, honey and umeboshi for breakfast he could have managed happily without, never mind that her sense of taste proclaimed the dish delightful. He would have been happy not knowing that combination could be considered pleasant under the right circumstances.

Sensing that he'd brought up something that was making Fox unhappy, Ace leant down so he could kiss her and ran a hand up her back under her shirt. "Even if you only get to see Asura this once in person until the two years are up he'll still haunt us both every hour he can spare," the flame Logia reminded his lover ruefully. "He's shamelessly persistent like that."

Fox huffed in amusement, her own hand moving to tease the hair at the nape of his neck. "So, so true Kajin; I warned you he was insatiable."

"No more than you are, Kitsune," Ace countered teasingly, "and I'm not exactly reluctant myself. Speaking of which," he leant in to nip her lower lip playfully, "since we have the ship to ourselves again…"

Fox giggled and rolled on top of him, hands moving to unbutton her shirt. Ace took over, kissing her again as he did so. Now he could really make her scream without worrying about waking someone up!

Aftermath of 'rescuing' Kuzan. Swift Hunter is a very small ship: just eight rooms, one of which is the hold. It has no windows, no upper deck, nowhere to retreat to that is really isolated from the rest of the craft. Hosting someone you consider a potential enemy in such a small space is therefore stressful.