A sky shark swims up the milky road, cutting its way through the cloudy river. It stops at an alcove in the forest and rears out of the water. A drenched form slides from its mouth and falls limply on the shore where a man with a cross shaped sword is standing. "So I ran into that Kami person. What have you been up to?"

"He had no murderous intent in his attack." The man exhales at her. "Did you realize your cloaking Haki slips when you're with your crew? That's rather careless of you."

"Duly noted, Uncle Drac. It's hard to keep reversing observation Haki all the time, though. And it's useless if someone's staring straight at you before you use it." Karmen tries to move her hand, but her fingers just twitch. "This is worse than having tranquilizers and deadbolt in my system." A shock of electricity runs through her, causing her muscles to spasm wildly. "I wasn't able to walk right for days after that."

Mihawk picks up Karmen and throws her over his shoulder unceremoniously. "It will pass. Stop being dramatic."

"Thanks, Drac." Her arms sway uselessly as he walks. "No murderous intent. So the others are ok? Even Nami?"

"They will live. The girl fared better than the men. What made you think you could fight someone at his level?"

"He hurt Usopp… and Sanji." Her hands twitch as she tries to ball them into fists. "I knew there was nothing I could do against a Logia, but I…" She gives up on trying to move. She can't even feel whether or not she has hair matted to her face. "I need sea prism. Then I can fight guys like that."

"A lack of equipment and a lack of skill are not equal failures. If you could use armor Haki you wouldn't need gimmicks."

"Jeez, Mihawk. Kick a dog while it's down, why don't you? It's not like you guys ever gave me any combat training. I only know where to decently stab people from my visits to Dressrosa. My fighting style consists of poisoned quills and dancing. I do better in a dress." Karmen starts to shake and she thinks she is having another spasm, but the tremors are not coming from her. "Are you laughing at me? You are, aren't you?"

"I find it humorous that you focus your observation Haki while dancing."

"You have to be in sync with your partner, you know. Haven't you danced a tango before? Paso Doble? Salsa? A waltz?" She spasms again. "Are you smiling? Turn me around. This is a once in a lifetime view and I'm missing it. Drac, are you even listening to me?"

She hears him unsheathe a blade. "How dull are your senses, girl? We've had company for some time now."

"I can't lift my head so all I can see is this drab vest coat of yours. Describe them."

"Weak goat creatures who use gimmicks." There are a few angry bays of protest.

"Hey. I think I just moved my ankle."

"What did I tell you?"

Karmen could hear the goat men spouting something about being the Kami's warriors and how every intruder would perish. Dracule never breaks his stride. He swat them away with the same tiny knife that he had defeated Zoro with. After a while, Karmen was able to lift her head and see the creatures he was leaving behind. "Why did you never teach me how to fight?"

"Your father would not allow it."

Karmen grits her teeth. "He allowed plenty. That's why I left."

"And yet you're in such a hurry to get back."

She's able to curl her fingers into a shape that resembles fists. "If he's alive then I'm going to save him."

Mihawk drops Karmen on the ground. She tries to push herself up on her elbow but falls onto her back. "You can't even take the force of one measly lightning bolt. How can you help anyone? You're weak."

Karmen tests her hands again. "So what?" Her eyes focus on Mihawk fiercely. "I've gotten stronger already. When I get back I'll be stronger still. What is it that the idiot swordsman said when facing inevitable defeat? 'To retreat, even an inch, my ambition, my vow, everything I care about will be shattered, and all my dreams will be lost forever.' Our goals may be different, but our resolve is the same."

"So you too, would rather die than accept defeat." His eyes narrow down at her.

"Pierce was ready to die to give me my freedom, Mihawk. I'm simply returning the favor."

"And if he did die?"

"Then, granted I can get away for a second time, I'd have to ask him why he left Pierce behind."

"You haven't asked him already?"

"I haven't seen him in nearly two years. When I asked him then he just looked at me like he does." She watches the breeze cut through the leaves overhead. "Do you know how little attention the government gives Gekko Island? I was surprised to even see you at that restaurant." She forces herself to sit up, despite her muscles protesting at every angle. "If you see him before I do… tell him I miss him."

"You don't resent him, then?"

"Pierce may have been by my side and sacrificed himself for me that night, but he kept me human while I grew up. If it weren't for him, I would have ended up like those people. Those monsters. He may have left Pierce behind, but he carried me to the others safely. I owe him everything. Thinking of him makes me want to do my best so that I can help him in return."

"And how do you plan to help a warlord?"

Karmen doesn't answer right away. "I'll figure something out." Southbirds call overhead, filling the silence between them with unspoken uncertainty.

"If you can walk, we should return you to the ship. The air pressure is changing unnaturally." Karmen looks up at Mihawk. He's not the kind to make unnecessary commentary, but the softened look in his eye says that he acknowledges her feelings in both situations.

"Give me your butter knife." He hands it over without a word. Jerkily, she cuts the laces from her boots and peels back the leather. "You should take me shoe shopping." On the inside of her left ankle her knife is fused to the skin. Framing the flesh of her right ankle are two metal tipped quill pens. She grits her teeth through the pain and uses his knife to silently cut the metal free, thankful that Mihawk keeps his blades razor sharp.

He watches silently as she drops all three items in a pile next to her and drags herself over to an aloe plant. She cuts it up and scrapes the inside out to put on the scorched streaks on her legs. Finding large leaves, she wraps her injuries and binds them with thin vines. He cuts down two "Y" shaped saplings and ties leaves to the intersections. Karmen tucks her knife and quills into her waistline even though they still have bits of her charred flesh stuck to them. She cleans his knife off on her still damp skirt before returning it to him. She gratefully accepts the improvised crutches and a hand to her feet.

Once standing, Karmen leans on the crutches to check her poisons. The seals on the bottles are cracked but holding. She wonders if extreme heat denatures extracts and tastes each one. The deadbolt is charred beyond all recognition but the sunblade seems fine. The Plucharon is untouched but tastes off somehow. The antidote to the sunblade is shot so she takes dabs of the other two and lets her tongue burn from the earlier sampling. It reminds her of Usopp's tobacco star. "Was it you who repaired our ship last night?" He gives her a look. "Didn't think so."

"Thank you for the alcohol, though." His eyes peer into the overhanging branches. "Why don't you take care of this one."

A goat man jumps from the trees and aims an axe dial at them. Mihawk jumps to the side and leans against a tree. Karmen barely swivels enough to the side to avoid the attack. "What's with you warlords and testing people?" She had shown that she could bear through pain, now he wanted to see if she could fight through it.

"Don't worry. I won't let you die. The other one would have my head if I did."

"Like I'd get myself killed by a guy like this." Unable to stop to acknowledge that he just made something resembling a joke, Karmen avoids another blow from the dial and sweeps a crutch at his feet. The creature dodges nimbly using his waiver shoes. She dips a quill in the sunblade and chunks it at him. He dodges midair and lands nearby. She blocks an axe dial blow with her knife and it goes flying. Performing a limping half turn she dodges another blow that grazes her arm and knocks her down. Karmen dips her last quill in Plucharon. She shoves it into her bandages and pushes off the ground towards the goat man with her hands. He tries to dodge, but the quill stabs him in the shin like a spiked heel. "Stiletto Necrosis!" The impact tears open her burn wounds. The necrosis starts almost immediately, spider-webbing blackness out from his wound like blood poisoning. She lets out a curse as the creature falls to the ground baying painfully. "The electricity accelerated the toxins."

Karmen quickly binds the creatures' leg above the swelling. She pulls the axe dial from his hand and uses it to slice the wound open before pouring antidote into his leg. She also forces some into his mouth. "Mercy for your enemy?" Mihawk asks.

"It was supposed to slow him down, not kill him." She removes his weapons and breathes a little easier when the antidote starts to take effect. "I'm sorry. You may lose your leg. I'd inject you with the antidote, but my supplies are on the ship."

Mihawk steps in and inspects the wound. "The concentrated poison is effective, but your actions have saved his life."

"A wise man recently told me that it's easy to kill, but killing your enemies is a sign that you lack faith in your own abilities and strength." Karmen wonders how Alabasta is faring as she dries the goat man's sweating brow with a patch of moss. "Just because I'm a pirate doesn't mean I have to kill unnecessarily."

Mihawk regards her with just a slight shift to his eyebrows. "With a heart like yours, it would be best to keep that philosophy. Life is precious and should not be wasted." Karmen briefly thinks back to how he had said he cut up Krieg's ship to kill time but decides to let it slide. Krieg was a jerk. The sky has grown dark while they wait for the creature to recover. She sits with the goat man until the swelling starts to go down and releases the binding on his leg to prevent excess clotting. She wraps his leg like her own and lets him sleep off the remaining effects of the poison. Mihawk holds out a hand. "I'll carry you back to your ship. Keep your Haki up so that man doesn't sense your presence."

She accepts his hand, but puts the crutches under her arms once she is standing again. "The crew still doesn't know. With everything that's happening, I don't know if I'll have time to tell them at the moment. They might wonder why a warlord came all the way to Skypia to chat with me and you know Zoro won't pass up a chance to take another swing at you."

"Only the two unconscious men are on your ship at the moment. The others are fighting this false god."

"Just how developed is your Haki?"

"I have eyes."

"Hawk eyes."

Despite her insistence on making her own way, Karmen finds she can't use the crutches to climb the giant tree roots. She and Mihawk compromise on calling Teeth to give them a ride back. The warlord protects them from other sky sharks who smell Karmen's blood and when large lightning bolts start to tear the island apart he deflects them with his Haki infused sword.

When they arrive at the ship, Sanji and Usopp are gone. Only Conis and her white fox remain on board. Mihawk remains out of her line of sight while Karmen climbs on board and performs a head count. She looks over to Mihawk for confirmation. "They're all alive and conscious," he whispers before disappearing into the forest. Not long after, a sack full of freshly acquired garlic and aloe are tossed aboard followed by the remains of her boots.

It takes Karmen a moment to realize what he was suggesting. "Burn cream!" She remembers Chopper making it the night before at the bonfire. She looks up to thank him, but he is gone. This time, she cannot feel his Haki.

"Who threw that?" Conis asks.

"A dear friend."