"Land ho!"

"Land 'o!"

Reese flapped his tiny wings as he basked in laughter and applause. Ignoring the group surrounding the toddler as she descended the rigging, Cassandra unhooked her HT snail's receiver. "Black Glove Pirates, get used to hearing this again: stay in groups of at least two until I've got a handle on the island. Oya, you're staying here with me. Theo, I want you with at least two others or wearing NYMPHE. There's no telling when Damien will be back to his usual self, so be efficient with your time. I want to know what everyone's general plans are so I can get at least a vague idea of where to find you if I need you or you go missing. Lyn, I know it's hard, but please hold off on getting new tattoos just a little bit longer."

"Theo and Aisha will be accompanying me to get groceries and other supplies," Morgan said. "Pong and Reese will also be joining us as we search for somewhere for them to be safe."

"I'll take HEROINE using HOMONOIA with NYMPHE inside."

Cain knelt beside Cassandra. "Lyn, Alexander, and Minerva will accompany me to make a forge."

Nancy steepled his fingers. "I believe I can best ply my trade on my own."

"You don't need to know where I'm going," Mitsu scowled. "I'm not going to run away."

"So long as you're available when I need you to be, your safety is none of my concern."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Cain asked. "Your bounty is sure to attract some attention."

"I'll be fine," Cassandra said dismissively. "I'm pretty sure we can hold off whoever might be interested in a seemingly defenseless ship until some of you get back. It's not like anyone knows that I'm inside. If someone is smart enough to determine the Black Glove Pirates have landed, they're also probably smart enough not to attack the ship without doing some investigation. Even if he's mostly dead, Damien and I should scare off any casual Observer. Am I wrong?"

Cain bowed his head. "As you say, Captain Libera."

"Psh! Like she doesn't want someone to attack!" Lyn said loudly. "She's pent-up in more ways than one!"

"That may or may not be the case," Cassandra said with a toothy grin. "Still, I'm not going to go out and make friends for at least a couple days. After that… we'll see."

Docking at Fizzlenaw was a relatively straightforward process. The dockmaster showed no signs of recognition as everyone filed off Fully Pardoned and dispersed through the streets of Ganelo, though Lyn only left after giving Cassandra an intense parting kiss and butt squeeze. Once they were beyond the range of her senses, Cassandra descended into the medical ward and sat on Damien's bed. "We 'ere?" he asked faintly.

"No thanks to you. How're you feeling?"

"A couple more naps an' I'll be fuckin' peachy."

"The last fish in a pond only crows in triumph until it encounters the ocean."

His eyes slid over to Oya. "O' course you pick up some cunt who's all talk and no walk."

"A telescope needs no tripod to reveal the depths of the universe, but a glass cannon can only be fired once even if it was designed to be forged in iron."

Damien frowned. "What spoogebrain makes cannons o' glass?"

"Eh eh eh. The world is too chaotic for even the rowdiest of stallions. Blinders calm and direct them so their simple minds need only worry about what lies directly ahead."

"You one o' them 'orse cunts who'd rather fuck one than ride one properly?"

Cassandra didn't know whom to be exasperated by more as they went back and forth, idly wondering how often Oya would physically be able to move more than Damien could. The real question was why Oya continued talking with him, as she could no doubt See how futile goading him was. There were a scant few topics that could actually provoke him, but if Oya was dumb enough to bring one of those up, Cassandra definitely didn't need her on her crew.

Perang returned from the bathroom and narrowed his eyes when Cassandra stood in his way. "Move, cunt."

"Are you really going to stay here until Damien feels better?" He tried to shove past her, but Cassandra was having none of it. "Did you fall in love with him? Is that it?"

"Love?" Perang barked with laughter. "Love's for pussies. Nobody can make him do anything. He fought both sides the entire time because he refused to bow his head to anyone. How could I not be interested in that?"

Cassandra chuckled. "He has always been difficult to manage."

"Then you come along with your 'Captain's Orders' and keep him from fighting? What's up with that?"

"I am his captain," she said as if talking to a child. "He is a member of my crew. Captains give their crew members orders. Where's the confusion?"

"He's not a follower. That's not who he is."

"You may have been with him longer than me, but I know him better than you ever will. See that gauntlet he's wearing? He could take it off at any time, but he doesn't. That's who he really is: a Black Glove Pirate - my subordinate - who will follow me until he dies."

Perang looked her up and down. "I bet he could kick your ass."

"Of course he can." Perang raised his eyebrows at the frank response. "He is and has always been stronger than me. I can't count the number of times he's kicked my ass. The very first interaction we had together was him kicking my ass. I have no doubt he'll kick my ass countless times in the future."

"But if you're weaker than him, why does-"

"You seem to be operating under the false impression that the leader is always the strongest person. A true leader is always the most powerful - not necessarily in ways related to fighting - and I am way more powerful than he is. Even if he were fully healed, I could snap my fingers and end his life in an instant. He's wanted because he loves fighting and is extremely hard to take down. One of the reasons I'm wanted is because I can tell him what to fight."

Oya's head suddenly rose up between them. "Only those with limitless hands rely on cooked grenades."

Cassandra pushed her aside. "I don't blame you for being fascinated with Damien's strength, but I am the one you do not want to cross. I don't care if you don't like it, but until I consider your debt repaid, you will obey all of my orders, not his. You owe me for getting you out of Heaven's Above, not him. If you run away, I will have him track you down and bring you back to me - dead or alive - because I can order him to do that."

Perang glared daggers at her before storming out of the sick bay. Cassandra waited until he was out of earshot before talking again. "Silly me, I forgot to mention that you don't listen to my orders most of the time. How could that little detail slip my mind?"

"Heavy taxation of subjects under new rule always stokes the embers of rebellion."

"That's his problem." She reclined on Damien's bed. "Do you think you would have followed me if my Conqueror's Haki was weaker than yours?"

He stared at her in confusion. "The fuck you on about?"

"No, I don't expect those bounty hunters on Rime would have mentioned it. The gods were just not playing fair when it came to you. There's only one reason people much weaker than you get nervous even if they don't see you, not to mention how you obscure your attacks from Observation Haki."

"Extractive metallurgy depends on dusty miners, not labyrinthine mines." Oya glanced outwards. "Particularly when such mines are created unintentionally by spelunkers who did not want their favored caves to be despoiled after they learned they were walking by ore deposits."

"I was getting to that. I can't speak for when you were in Eutopia, but you've never actively used that Haki. Have you ever tried to improve it?"

"That shit? The cuntin' fuck for? You want me t' improve blastin' cum too?"

She rested her head against his. "First legitimate question, Oya: does he blow me off because he has Conqueror's Haki? When I ask you something prefaced with 'legitimate question', I can guarantee your quality of life will worsen if you don't answer me honestly."

"Neither watchdogs nor watchmen enjoy cramped kennels."

"She said you're just a dick," Cassandra said. "Sorry, it's the Truth."

He rolled his eyes. "Anyone else get this rottin' chodechomper?"

Oya moved her head so she was looking directly down at him. "Idiocy sustained through idleness worsens cohabitation. So long as needles can be found in haystacks, round balers need not be dismantled."

"You'll get used to it," Cassandra translated.

"Photovoltaic-" Oya leaned in to peer downwards harder. "A gnat swarm descends."

Questions like how she knew, if she was lying, or even if Cassandra had interpreted her correctly flew straight through the captain's mind as she rushed to grab Haruspex and a handful of ammo from her armory. She grinned as she aimed up at the main deck. She did enjoy her kind of welcoming parties. "Dona Angeroniae!"

Bullets bored through three boarders before they knew what happened. With greetings out of the way, she cast her rifle aside and drew two knives. Once the intruders wrested the cargo hatch open, they dropped inside and paused when they saw her waiting for them. "Didn't your mothers teach you not to drop by unannounced?" she asked.

Pushing her system into overdrive, she dashed to the nearest person and drove her knife through his forehead before he could react. A sword bent over her black forearm, allowing her to stab its wielder in the gut. Three people lunged for her at once, but she tackled one before they could all reach her. She landed with her elbow on his throat and slammed her other arm on top to crush his windpipe, then deflected a sword with a kick and stabbed its wielder in the leg, heart, and throat.

"Talk about good timing!" she yelled merrily. "I've been getting a bit rusty!"

"Go tell the boss! We'll hold her off!"

Accelerating her thought processes and muscles until time slowed to a snail's pace, she wove between the intruders and stabbed the intended messenger's eye. Everyone's heads whipped around as she smashed the man's face against the wall, driving the knife through his skull, and turned to them with an evil grin. "Don't be like that. Stay and play with me!"

Her abrupt bursts of speed whenever one of them tried to escape only increased their panic. After she had stomped someone's spine into gravel, they realized they had to kill her if they wanted to leave. She intentionally took more and more injuries as their numbers dwindled, relishing their belief that they only needed to try just a little bit harder to take her down. She wearily slumped against the mast and slid to the floor, the penultimate attacker's heart rolling from her fingers. "Fuck. I didn't think you guys would be so good."

The final man held his sword in shaky hands, the deep gash on his leg preventing him from lunging forward. "I'll make you pay for this."

Her head lolled to the side so she could better look at him. "Do you know why they call me the Insidious Amaranth?"

"Is that really what you're called?"

"It's because I like playing mind games"-her seastone ring clattered to the floor-"and I bloom eternally."

Horror filled his face as she climbed to her feet, bullets falling from her body as she slicked back her bloody hair. "What the fuck…"

"You know what, I'll make things fair and disarm myself." She discarded all of her visible weapons and kicked them aside. His eyes widened when she hefted a nearby sword, then widened further when she pumped herself up and cut her arm off at the elbow. Forcing herself to hide as much pain as she could, she picked up the dismembered limb and pointed it at him. "That's a generous handicap, wouldn't you say? Let's finish this."

\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\

"I still don't understand what HOMONOIA is," Aisha said, glancing at HEROINE behind them. They were all ambling slowly enough to match Reese's pace, who was gazing around at all the buildings and people he was totally unfamiliar with.

Theo perked up. "Okay, HEPHAISTOS is best described as a subconscious I made myself. It thinks like me because it is me, but it also runs without me needing to micromanage everything it does. HOMONOIA is basically a version of HEPHAISTOS that lives in my suits. It could technically operate all of them at the same time, but that's like having your arms and legs all doing different things. When it's commanding one and maaaaaaaybe two, it acts like a sleepwalking version of me because it is me, just without my biobrain. I haven't spent much time working on upping their processing speed because I'm still trying to get TITANIDE fully functional."

Aisha and Morgan nodded, but Pong goggled at her. "How old did you say you were?"

"I'm twelve and a half!" she announced proudly. "That's why Cap let me get my ears pierced!"

"Don't worry," Morgan said. "We've lived with her for a while and still have trouble understanding her when it comes to certain topics."

"I miss Je- uh… the Fourth! She made better suggestions than anyone I've ever met, even those WG losers who thought they were smarter than me, and she actually helped me with a couple things I got stuck on when I was working on TITANIDE! Doc knows more than Cap, but she's really bad at making logical next steps."

Morgan chuckled. "Answering questions like 'why' and 'what can we do with this' have never been Doctor's strong suit."

"Because they're my strong suits!" Reese happily clapped his hands when Theo burst into a fit of giggles.

Morgan hid his smile behind his hand. "You stop paying attention to your words for a fraction of a second…"

Aisha patted his back sympathetically as they turned the corner. "I knew it would feel different, being a wanted pirate, but I was wrong about how it's different. I've now escaped prisons twice. I spent 24 years looking over my shoulder, knowing that I could be captured anytime no matter what I was doing or how well I was behaving, but this isn't like that at all."

"You have people willing to fight to keep you from being arrested again," Morgan said, "and the World Government holds much less sway on New World islands they do not control. The Janzian island Matarm was an example of this, though you were not with us at the time. Judging by the lack of flags anywhere, it's safe to say you don't have to worry about the Marines suddenly appearing to take you back."

"And now that you're one of us, Cap'll do everything she can to keep you from going somewhere you don't want to go!" Theo exclaimed. "And she never makes promises to her friends that she knows she can't keep, which is why she never said I won't ever be taken away. Do you know how much that meant to me when I joined, to have someone be that honest with me after everything I went through?"

Morgan lingered for a moment to look into a storefront. "Yes, albeit from the complete opposite angle."

"What do you mean?" Pong asked, helping Reese up after he tripped on an uneven pavement tile.

Theo choked and covered her mouth with her fist while Aisha grinned broadly. "I was a prince who was used to everyone pandering to me," Morgan said, sky blue eyes twinkling, "which included hearing only what people knew I wanted to hear. While not as spoiled as princes found in many storybooks, I was very used to getting my own way. Captain, however, is even more used to getting her way and delighted in reminding me that being royalty did not make a person inherently superior to others. Frequently. Often with force."

"Yeah, he mentally joined the crew after I did!" Theo emphasized. "But it doesn't count because he did everything Cap asked him to. I was the only one who joined immediately after meeting her, though! Everyone else knew her for at least a few hours first. Fighting her doesn't count."

Morgan waited until she was sufficiently smug before commenting, "Miserie barely talked to Alexander before Captain asked her to join a few sentences after they met, and I seem to recall you not fully trusting us for a while."

Theo crossed her arms and huffed. "A-Anyway, Pong, I never got to ask you: how did you feel when you learned about Minnow?"

"Ah," Pong said with the air of someone who had been asked that question countless times. "Min has always been someone who acts before she thinks, but she never said anything about Minnow until we had been dating for a while. I'm sure you can imagine how nervous he was to meet me for the first time as male. I'll admit it was difficult and confusing and took some getting used to but… I'm sure you can understand since you've been living with Lyn. I couldn't let someone so vivacious go."

A bittersweet feeling spread throughout Aisha's body. "I really thought Sasaya would think along those lines when the police showed up at our door. We had been through so much together, gotten past every rocky patch, shared a life, raised a son… The only time I saw her after I was arrested again was when she brought the divorce papers. Even then, I signed hoping we could work things out after I finished my sentence. I still love her, but she showed me how much she cared when she took Hirini and vanished completely."

She scratched her chins. "Do you know what got me to even consider joining the crew? Opening a book in Impel Down and finding a few quick notes about how Hirini's doing. Captain didn't have to do that."

"She did." Aisha frowned at Theo. "You gave up the Sheriff's protection and saved my life, even though you knew you'd get arrested or worse if we lost."

"Many parts of Captain's persona change depending on the situation," Morgan said, "but she makes it abundantly clear that helping her or her crew members will always be rewarded in kind. Springing you from Impel Down wasn't enough; that was just her apology for you being arrested in the first place as you were an innocent passenger at the time. Saving Theo at great personal risk, on the other hand, demanded a reward that would truly matter to you."

"Yeah, you gave up the Sheriff's protection for me!" Theo emphasized. "You knew the consequences of that and did it anyway. That's worth more than just a jailbreak."

"Unusually, she aided the Lustrateans by getting them here without them having first performed some service for her. Perang, Mitsu, Gwyn, and Nancy's aid in her escape from Heavens Above was rewarded with them not being in Heavens Above themselves. Oya is in a different position due to being a potential crew member. You and Reese are, in her eyes-"

"Hungry!" Reese announced at the mention of his name. "Want food!"

"-an annoying consequence of Min's repayment that she would prefer not to deal with."

"I'm aware," Pong said evenly. "Would taking a brief rest for lunch be too much to ask?"

"No." Theo's tone conveyed absolute seriousness. "We'll stop to eat. Everything else can wait."

\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\'/.\\

"So I have a question," Lyn announced. "You said you have three optimized battle forms: balanced, super fast, and super strong. That's why you want the sword, knives, and battle axe."

Min scarfed down the last of her food. "That's what the tutorial said."

"Ooh, what's a tutorial?"

"The series of windows that popped up when I ate my Fruit that explained how everything works."

Lyn remembered the semi-transparent floating rectangles she had drawn based on Min's descriptions. "But Cee said she shot you and nothing happened."

"I raised my defense stat as high as possible. Well, technically I don't have a defense stat; it's a number value based on how I adjust my other stats that varies depending on what kind of attack I'm trying to lessen."

"But why don't you have a weapon for being super tough?"

"I can only be that tough by sacrificing my speed completely, and the tutorial emphasized how important speed is in combat."

The quartet walked in silence for a while. "What about a ranged weapon?" Cain proposed.

Min tilted her head from side to side. "Like a bow and arrow?"

"No, that wouldn't work," Alexander mused. "Something more like an assault rifle. I would imagine you can carry a lot of ammunition in your inventory."

Lyn's eyes lit up. "Ooh, ooh, or a rotary cannon like ARTEMIS! Imagine you standing there, bullets bouncing off of you while you fire more rounds than any of Theo's suits because you can stack like a billion bullets in your invisible space! That'd be totally awesome! You just need to be strong enough to withstand the recoil, and no speed necessary."

"That… actually might work," Min said slowly. "Do you think I could ask Theo to make me one?"

The pirates glanced at each other. "Even if Captain allowed it, Theo isn't exactly enthusiastic when it comes to making anything for other people," Alexander said, "even something as simple as a gun. You can ask, but don't get your hopes up."

"She considers time not spent on her own technology to be time wasted," Cain explained. "Maintaining her original three suits kept her very busy, and now she has TITANIDE as well. That said, it is possible she has matured since we met her."

Alexander grinned. "I wouldn't bet on it, but you'll never get what you want if you don't ask. Could you chill this, please?"

"Hjarta Hrimthur is a sophisticated technique meant to be used in dire survival situations and occasionally in combat," Cain admonished.

"And it's time you joined the rest of us using our abilities in completely mundane ways," Alexander responded without skipping a beat. "Do you have plans to use it extensively in the immediate future and don't want to tire yourself out?"

Cain sighed resignedly and took Alexander's drink in his left hand. His fingers darkened in a way that had nothing to do with Haki, and Lyn finally put the pieces together. "Wait, are you giving yourself frostbite?"

"Yes and no. It's part of how Hrim works, but I'm not in danger of necrosis. I wish I could get in touch with Ymir; he's the best in my family by far. He claims to be using Hrim all the time, but"-he paused and rubbed the scar on his face before leaning in-"he secretly tattooed his fingers and only turns himself cold when somebody's about to touch him."

Alexander lurched slightly as Min joined Lyn in hearty laughter. "Who knows about it?" he asked after wiping his mouth.

"Aside from our parents and brothers? Just his wife, I think. I'm pretty sure his children don't know."

Lyn nodded. "I keep forgetting you have niblings. It sucks that I can't really make fun of you for being old anymore when Oya's three times older than you."

"More than three times. It would take a miracle for me to reach that age."

"I'm not the only one who thinks she's creepy, right?" Min asked. "I can't stand being around her."

The pirates exchanged fond grins. "We're used to it," Alexander said. "In West Blue, Captain was our captain in name only. She hid all sorts of things from us, told half-truths if not outright lies, and acted like we were the ones in the wrong for not blindly following her with whatever small amount of information she deemed important enough to share. You'll see just how much she learns in one day and start to believe she knows everything of any significance in any way happening on Fizzlenaw. We're also not worried about Oya getting too physical if she gets annoyed."

Min took a deep breath. "Got it."

Lyn couldn't believe she had never gone with Cain to see him make huge things before. Without any abandoned buildings nearby, they were forced to move out of the city and find an open space. She hadn't truly appreciated what he and Alexander could do when there was no shortage of materials to transmute. A rough but stable building practically grew out of the ground, and it wasn't long before a forge, a pair of anvils, a bellows, and multiple tools completed the makeshift smithy.

"That's crazy," Min marveled as Cain lit the coals in the hearth.

"Right?" Lyn said proudly. "This is how they help Theo with whatever she needs for her suits. Are you gonna do your ice thing?"

Cain hefted a slab of metal after Alexander withdrew his fingers. "That would only be detrimental. I know the temperatures I need while smithing, and chilling myself would make it unnecessarily harder to determine how hot things are. Hrim's also not meant to protect against constant heat in the first place. In combat, it's mostly used for grappling, but Morgan can use it as a catalyst."

"Seems like a lot of you serve him both in and out of combat," Min said.

Alexander laughed. "The more accurate statement is he doesn't perform nearly as well without our voluntary help."

Lyn wanted to use a greatsword she had made by herself, but in the meantime, she could at least use swords made with Cain's assistance. She immediately realized how bored she would be were she not working on her own weapon and was fully dedicated to following his constant instructions and demonstrations. Min stood awkwardly by the door while Alexander lay back and played on his flute.

As focused as Lyn was, she couldn't help but look over as Alexander propped himself up. "How can I help you?"

"Do you have a permit for this?" someone out of sight demanded.

"Must have gotten lost in the mail."

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"What specific permit do you want to see?"

Lyn poked her head outside as the official analyzed the makeshift smithy. "Building permit."

"It's a one-room structure with no gas, plumbing, or electricity that will be gone by the end of the day. That hardly counts as a building."

"Fire safety permit?"

Alexander gently steered the official away from the building. "We use the purest anthracite coal you'll ever find, which makes pretty short flames and practically no emissions. Even if an accident does happen"-he tapped the toe of his shoe on the ground, encircling the smithy in a ring of water-"nothing's not going to spread."

The official looked between him and the moat. "What did you do?"

"I'm a Devil Fruit User," he said, transmuting his flute into glass. "We're not hurting anybody. We just need to make some tools, but there are huge lines for every forge in Ganelo. We picked a spot out of the way"

"Tools, huh?" the official said skeptically. "You sure you're not making weapons?"

Alexander spread out his arms. "You're looking at all the weapons I've ever used. Hey, show her what you've been working on." Cain gingerly held out the unfinished halves of Gywn's scissors. "He's a big guy, so he needs bigger everything."

The official stared at him for a long time. "Let's say I believe you. You'll really be gone by the end of the day?"

"Come sundown, nobody will be able to tell we were ever here."

After another long stare, she shook her head. "I will find you if that's not the case."

"Take care now!" Once the official had disappeared from sight, Alexander turned the moat back into bare rock. "Guess we're going somewhere else next time, someplace a bit more hidden. That's why I asked you to start with Gwyn's scissors even though she isn't here."

"They found us more quickly than I expected them to," Cain said.

Alexander shrugged. "That means we'll just have to be more creative. As you were."