Fight

Smoker paced on the deck of the G-5 Marine ship he was currently commanding, his cigars trailing thin plumes that slowly dissipated in his wake. He'd been out doing a normal patrol circuit with his new subordinates and Tashigi when the black Den Den Mushi had picked up a partial conversation between some Marines in pursuit of a criminal on a nearby island. Not much about the criminal himself had come through however as the Marines had been killed shortly after confronting him, the last one dying even as he called for reinforcements. Smoker had taken that as an invitation and had ordered the ship to make for Spinoza, where the call had originated.

As they drew closer to the island the signals picked up became clearer and the Marine Commodore had overheard the deaths of three more patrols. He had also learnt their target was not a pirate but a woman accused of collaborating with pirates. Smoker was suspicious of such an accusation: in the New World a lot of civilians collaborated with pirates to a greater or lesser extent depending on where they lived and the Marines knew it. This woman was clearly a highly capable fighter, but he'd determined that she had initially been caught by Commodore Henken and twenty Marines yet had fled the scene without actually harming anything other than the commodore's pride, in spite of being injured herself. That was not the behaviour of a hardened criminal. With this in mind, rather than sailing right to Spinoza's port he had ordered the navigator to take them around the rear of the island: this woman was trying to escape rather than fight, so they were more likely to find her far away from habitation. Smoker wondered if she was trying to protect someone.

"Commodore Smoker!" The look-out shouted. "Over there!"

Smoker hurried to the railing and snatched a pair of binoculars: indeed, there was a woman in a torn kimono with blood matting in her hair stumbling out of the thick thorny scrub that gave the island its name, her movements fumbling and her breathing heavy. The commodore stilled as she straightened up and rubbed her back, revealing the prominent curve of her abdomen; she was pregnant. Henken had attacked a pregnant woman. The White Hunter's hands tightened on the binoculars; this wasn't Justice. Henken was a hypocrite and a lecher, so this woman had likely gotten pregnant by a pirate and been found out. As she was a civilian it wasn't actually against the law for her to become personally involved with a pirate despite the ill-advisedness of such an action, but Henken clearly wasn't going to let that stop him.

The woman's slightly hesitant movements as she continued down the hill and the way she held her hands out as if to break a possible fall suggested she was suffering from a concussion; Smoker was impressed she'd managed to defend herself in spite of it. "Lower a boat!" he ordered. He would take the woman into custody and then ensure true Justice was done. This might even be enough to get Henken recalled to Headquarters for a formal reprimand, which the corrupt commodore certainly deserved.

As the boat was lowered and Tashigi joined him on deck, six Marines burst out of the scrub to the woman's left and chased down the hill after her, two of them shooting at her. They missed, the woman swaying as she hurried down towards the beach. As she stepped onto the sand she stilled, then turned like a bear at bay as her whole posture changed from prey to furious predator. Smoker had almost been killed by a mother wolf when he was younger and knew exactly how dangerous a woman with something to protect could be. He vaulted over the ship's rail into the boat and shouted at his men to hurry up; if they moved quickly enough he might be able to save a few idiots' lives.

They were almost close enough to shore for Smoker to cross the gap using his Devil Fruit when the Marines caught up with their target and rushed her. Smoker champed angrily on his cigars and frowned as she swayed between her first two attackers' swords like a reed, her hands reaching out with faintly glowing fingers to touch their faces. As she made contact with their skin both men's heads exploded backwards in a fine red mist, their bodies crumpling to the ground. The remaining Marines on the beach slowed in the face of such effortless destruction, giving the woman time to seize the nodachi belonging to one of her victims and raise it to slant across her body in a fluid, graceful manner. Beside him Tashigi stiffened; this stranger was obviously a highly capable swordswoman.

As he watched the fight unfolding before him Smoker bit down harder on his cigars: he'd seen that graceful, minimalist fighting style before only a few months previously, at Marineford. This woman wielded the oversized sword in her hand like the Shichibukai Mihawk had done during the Whitebeard War; she was less quick on her feet due to her pregnancy and less assured in her movements, but the essence was the same. He stared more closely, noting her unusual height and white hair. It was looking more and more likely that this was Dracule Lisska, daughter of Hawk-Eyes Mihawk and rumoured to have been the Pirate Hunter's lover. It didn't matter much to the White Hunter: despite her background she was a Pose Artificer not a pirate and so entitled to his protection.

Three of the remaining Marines had fallen, incapacitated by precise cuts across their joints. The last one had reloaded his gun and shot at her, but the overlarge blade in her hand rose and deflected the bullet with insulting ease. The idiot then drew his own sword and charged; Smoker leapt out of the boat and flew swiftly towards the beach. The Marine might be a fool but he was still a Marine. The woman sidestepped the charge, removed a hand from her sword and her glowing fingers made contact with the Marine's wrist, blowing his sword hand away in red mist before twirling to face Smoker as he landed on the beach, sword raised defensively.

Seeing her face to face Smoker was startled both by how heavily she resembled the Shichibukai and by her unresponsive, uneven pupils: her concussion had destroyed her vision. She had utterly obliterated five Marine patrols while visibly pregnant, blind and probably dizzy; an impressive feat for a civilian. He didn't move, crossing his arms instead.

"Logia," Dracule Lisska said aloud, tilting her head on one side. "Stubborn, strong sense of right and wrong, honourable. Smell of cigar smoke and leather." She stalked forwards, heavy on her feet and swaying slightly though the sword remained steady. Smoker calmly let her get within arms' reach and didn't flinch as a glowing hand approached his face; he'd never met this woman before but Vice-Admiral Garp had many good things to say about her, as had the recently retired Kuzan. The sword was swung backwards to rest across her shoulders as the hand brushed his face, taking in his hair, frown and the cigars in the corner of his mouth. Smoker stared patiently into fuzzy, unfocussed golden eyes, waiting for her to finish.

"Commodore Smoker," she said, stepping backwards and spinning the sword to plant it blade-down in the sand, "my apologies; I cannot afford carelessness right now."

"Dracule Lisska, correct?" Smoker asked as behind him the boat reached the beach and Tashingi jumped out, hurrying closer.

"Yes," she said, then lunged almost too quickly to follow and spun him around to face his men, the chill paralysis of Sea Stone against the back of his neck. "No closer!"

"Halt!" Smoker shouted harshly and holding up a hand, very aware of the fine tremor in the hand gripping his shoulder and the sharp point of a hairpin pressing between his third and forth vertebrae; what kind of paranoia prompted a Devil Fruit User to wear Sea Stone tipped hairpins?

"But Smoker-san!" Tashigi protested, her hand on her sword hilt as the rest of his subordinates crowded around behind her.

"That's an order, Tashigi!" Smoker roared, making his ensign cringe and step back.

"A-Apologies, Smoker-san!" Tashigi said shakily. Smoker grunted, his attention back on the woman holding him hostage.

"Dracule Lisska, would you surrender yourself into my custody until this misunderstanding is dealt with?" he asked gruffly, very aware of both the Sea Stone pressing against his neck and the pregnant woman's shaky breathing. They were both walking a knife-edge here and he rather hoped the situation did not deteriorate into further senseless violence.

"Can you guarantee I will not come to harm while in your care, Commodore Smoker?" the pregnant woman inquired quietly, her voice hard and bitter. "Guarantee I will not be harmed either by your subordinates or your superiors? I'm not much inclined to trust Marines today."

I promise I won't let anyone hurt you while this situation is being straightened out," Smoker said firmly. The chill of Sea Stone vanished and her hand on his shoulder slipped down to his bicep and pulled him around so he could look her in the eye.

"I place myself in your personal custody then, Commodore Smoker," Dracule Lisska said coolly, "until either this situation is resolved or my father comes for me; he assigned a bodyguard to me upon learning of my condition and insisted I inform him should I run into difficulties. My bodyguard was separated from me during an ambush by Kaido's forces several days ago but I sent my father a message as soon as I got away from Henken so it shouldn't take him many days to get here."

Smoker gritted his teeth but said nothing; this 'bodyguard' was likely a pirate and he would have to deal with an angry Shichibukai as well. Another thing to blame Henken for.

"Very well," he said as civilly as he could manage, placing a hand under her elbow so he could lead her forward. "This way please."

Dracule Lisska let him lead her over to the boat and load her into it, though she took care that he was always between her and his men. She didn't speak again until they had almost reached his ship.

"I trust your honour, Commodore Smoker," she murmured for his ears only, "but I have no faith in either your men or your superiors, so anyone other than you straying within arms' reach does so at their own risk. I will not tolerate any further threats to my child."

"Acceptable," Smoker grunted, recognising this was as he was going to get from his current charge. Privately he didn't blame her for her caution; G-5 was not a safe place for any woman to be, let alone an injured, pregnant woman with personal ties to pirates. He didn't want her straying out of his sight either.

Fox runs into Smoker; Alowl inspired me to write this, so kudos!