Convergence

Mihawk had left Roronoa strict instructions on what to do for the next month before leaving Kuraigana to wander for a while; the World's Strongest Swordsman was not a person who enjoyed staying in one place for any amount of time, not even when he had something interesting to do. He had been at sea for a little over a week when the shrill cry of a Meteor Harrier rang out overhead, startling him from his doze and awakening a sudden sense of dread.

Meteor Harriers were native to the Grand Line, so named for their incredible turn of speed and irritating habit of preying on News Coos, the only other birds that travelled freely up and down the world's most unpredictable sea. Meteor Harriers were much rarer than News Coos, but his daughter had found a nesting ground once and coaxed one away, raising it and eventually binding it into one of her hairpins as an emergency measure. The hairpin worked like her letter cases did, taking on animal form and then travelling directly to its destination when required. However being a hairpin nothing could be carried by it: its mere presence was a sign that something had gone badly enough wrong that she needed immediate assistance.

The bird dive-bombed him, whizzing over his hat and losing its form just before it hit the deck of his raft to leave a jade-topped stiletto vibrating in the wood. Mihawk's jaw tightened. His daughter was in the New World; he'd have to travel through official channels to the new Headquarters in order to make the best possible time.

Ace arrived on the island of Spinoza an hour after sunset, knowing that Fox wasn't there anymore. However he knew that she was moderately safe right now despite being in the custody of a Marine Commodore –the same man who'd tried to arrest him on Alabasta coincidentally– so he could see to other things. Things like eating, sleeping and interrogating the bastards who'd tried to kill her. He also needed to see a chart so he could work out how far away the Marine base she was being taken to was and in which direction it lay. Sure, he could follow the tug in his mind that told him that his lover was over there, but the ship she was on might be following a current or not travelling directly to its destination. He couldn't afford to make mistakes, so he needed a plan.

The plan was simple: sleep somewhere quiet and out-of-the-way, eat –and run as he didn't have any money– then break into the Marine base infirmary and 'persuade' the few survivors of his lover's escape to tell him what the hell had happened. Fox hadn't been too sure of events herself, being badly concussed, and the flame Logia wanted all his facts in order for when Mihawk inevitably arrived and interrogated him. He would also get them to tell him more about this Smoker guy and where he was based. Then he would leave, possibly after stealing an Eternal Pose for the island Smoker's base was on. He wouldn't go out of his way to kill people since he was technically serving under a Shichibukai right now, but he fully intended to dish out as much pain and property damage as possible so as to hammer into these Marines' thick heads that doing this kind of thing really wasn't on. Not that he didn't want to kill every last Marine on the island: he was really, really angry about what that commodore had done to his precious Kitsune, but she didn't want him to make a mess so he wouldn't. Letting one of his fingers glow red-hot, Ace thought about what he could do to that scumbag without resorting to murder. His feral grin would have made any sane person run screaming.

Fox sat in Smoker's cabin in his battleship, a glowing hand lightly covering the bleeding wound on her head. Now that she could sit quietly and focus her attention exclusively on her injury she could work through the fog of her concussion to soothe the damage and knit the cracked bone together again. Not that she had left herself entirely defenceless: her hairpins were lined up next to her free hand –all of them sharp and two of them Kairoseki– and her Colour of Observation was running on automatic and keeping her informed of everyone on board, their strength and their nature. Smoker wasn't in the cabin with her but on deck bellowing orders; he had locked her inside in the interests of her own safety.

She felt a little bad in taking advantage of Smoker's strictly honourable nature but there hadn't been much else she could have done after he arrived on the scene. Killing him and those with him would have been a waste –his ensign had a good heart for all she lacked resolve– and he wouldn't have let her run away. At least this way her father would find her more quickly, as the White Hunter was certain to report her presence and condition to the Marine Headquarters.

As she worked on her injury, taking her time so as not to make careless mistakes while her mind was clouded, the cabin door opened and Smoker stepped inside.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" he asked her.

"My Ability enables me to mend as well as break apart, Commodore Smoker," Lisska said calmly, allowing the parts of her that made her the daughter of Hawk-Eyes and the Storm to come to the fore. "Given time and rest I will be well soon enough." She did not say that she wouldn't trust any doctor attached to the Marines even if her life depended on it; she'd sooner send herself to Trafalgar Law and place herself at his mercy.

"You mentioned an ambush by Kaido," the White Hunter said, moving to sit opposite her on the chair closest to the tray containing rocks sitting on a low table between them. "Where did it happen?"

"Smokestack Island," she told him shortly, most of her attention returning to sealing the cracks in her skull.

"How long ago?" he asked, reaching out to set one of the rocks in the middle of the tray and then picking up another one.

Lisska thought about it. "Nearly four days now. We stopped there for supplies and were cornered by four ships belonging to Kaido's fleet. Spadille destroyed their ships and made me leave as I was their target. We agreed to meet up on Spinoza as it was the nearest island that Kaido wouldn't follow me to, seeing as it is within Big Mom's territory."

Smoker grunted, balancing the rock in his hand on top of the one in the tray and picking up another one. "Spadille is your bodyguard?"

"Yes. He's my father's subordinate."

"I didn't know Hawk-Eyes had subordinates."

"I think Spadille's the only one; my father acquired him about two years ago." Spadille's cover story marked him a survivor of the Punk Hazard disaster. "He's a Devil Fruit User and very protective of me." It also encouraged people to believe he had a completely different Devil Fruit power to the one Portgas D. Ace had demonstrated, a fiction Fox had supported by taking the time to forge a Mera Mera no Mi based on Ace' memories. She had successfully transferred the Devil Fruit Curse –if not the associated powers– to it and then given it to her mother to leave somewhere or sell; she didn'treally care what happened to it now. What she had created using her own Abilities was essentially a 'dud' Devil Fruit that would simply curse the eater with all of the disadvantages and give their life-force the peculiar swirls that made Fruit Users so easy for her to spot.

"Acquired?"

"I didn't ask."

"I've never heard of him." Smoker's tower of rocks was five high now and the roll of the ship had yet to unbalance it; Lisska was impressed. Her vision was also returning at long last so she could just about see her surroundings.

"My father makes him keep a low profile, although killing Kaido's subordinates and finding out why I'm not on Spinoza anymore will likely bring him to the Government's attention," she said dryly. "My wellbeing comes first however so my father probably won't reprimand him for it."

Smoker grunted again, waiting for the ship to settle before adding a new rock to his tower. His presence was calming in a way Fox associated with Jinbe: someone who would protect her with everything they had, but not someone she felt physically comfortable with. She would probably manage to fall asleep with him in the room, but that was it. She'd felt the same around Kuzan, interestingly. Garp was too loud and brash to affect her that way, though she certainly liked the man and intended to let him know his adopted grandson wasn't as dead as he might have been as soon as she could think of a way to do so that wouldn't compromise Ace' new identity.

"Why were you being targeted?"

Lisska snorted. "You want a list?"

Smoker glanced over at her. "If you would, Lisska-san."

She huffed. "Fine. In order: I am obviously my father's daughter, so people wanting to get back at him occasionally come after me in an attempt to get some kind of indirect revenge. People wanting leverage against my father also come after me from time to time, Big Mom and Kaido in particular. Whitebeard was either too honourable to do so or just didn't care; Shanks has a history with my father so he doesn't bother. Blackbeard will probably try and hunt me down sooner or later once he's consolidated his power base." She paused to let this sink in. "Being a Pose Artificer also makes me a valuable asset and all manner of pirates and other, more covert kinds of criminal have tried to capture me over the years to make use of my skills. Then there are the people who just look at me and see a pretty face all alone and try to take advantage. This was all before I was pregnant, by the way. In my current condition everyone trying to kidnap me has gotten more persistent as they see me as being more vulnerable than before –which I am– and now some Marines have joined in the fun, seeing my taste in lovers as an affront to their sensibilities and my determination to protect my child as a crime." She sighed, closing her eyes. "I can't help who I fall for and my baby is innocent. I also cannot help who my parents are and have done my best throughout my life to make choices I can live with afterwards. I was forced to learn to defend myself from an early age due to the hostility brought against me for things beyond my control and though regret every death I cause, I refuse to die simply because others feel I do not deserve to live."

Smoker didn't say anything more, but Lisska hoped she had given him plenty to think about.

Events progress.