Cassandra weakly pushed herself up, hackingly replacing the seawater in her lungs with dank, rancid air. Lyn was still clinging to her, but she was regrettably not Cassandra's top priority. "Py will light things up when she's done checking her hive. Sound off, oldest to youngest Sisters then first to most recently recruited pirates. Anybody who is in neither of those categories, remain silent." Everyone swiftly went down the line, Cain correctly speaking up after Alexander. "You may have noticed that Theo was not the last voice we heard. Care to enlighten us?"

"What choice do I have?" Aisha asked. "My life was hellish even before I had Impel Down on my record, so I'm going to keep sailing with you. It would be nice to reap the benefits of being with one of your crew members since I'll unavoidably suffer the consequences of being your associate even if I don't."

"Can't argue with that. Hear that, amica? Yet another person just forced their way onto my crew. Why do I never get to seek anybody out?" Lyn squeezed even harder and mumbled into her chest. "You all know what it's like around my dad? My mom is ten thousand times worse. Give her a sec. Okay, important topic number two: we are presently in a Sea King's mouth. He's doing us a kindness, so do not fucking hurt him. We'll transfer to the back of a different one on the surface after the warden gets flung back to Impel Down and some totally random dipshit comes back."

"I'm sorry," Morgan cut in, "did you say a Sea King? As in, a real Sea King? One of the aquatic beasts that grow up to several kilometers long? That kind of Sea King?"

"Morgan Zematsal, Pythia Teles. Py, the fool who is technically my chef. He can wrap elements, and all animals on the planet understand her and do everything she says. Sea Kings are exceptions in that they obey her orders the same way most of you obey mine. We caught up? Good. Important topic three: you may have noticed that Damien and Miserie are not here. Impel Down used to be the place where people disappear from history until some totally unimportant kid caused a mass breakout too big for the World Government to cover up. They created another facility to completely erase people: Heavens Above."

"I assume that name is ironic," Morgan interrupted again.

"Shut up, Momo," Jordan said. "This is serious."

Cassandra smiled. "Heavens Above is on a Sky Island named Lustrate, located in the White Sea seven kilometers above what's alternatively called the Blue Sea. I'm not kidding; there really is a sea up there. The World Government has gotten extremely good at creating self-sustaining areas completely cut off from the rest of the world and are therefore nigh on impossible to locate and even harder to gather information on.

"It will take over a week to drift over to a Knock Up Stream, and missing the Stream will make sneak attacking it almost impossible. Before you ask about how I found someplace that practically doesn't exist, Morgan, somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody I know found porn inarguably based on Miserie. Her tattoo is quite distinctive."

"Cupcake was… not happy when she found out."

Jen snorted. "And of course we were the only person with her at the time. Calming her down was not fun."

"I said I was sorry. I didn't think they'd overreact to my scouts and blanket the area with insecticide. I didn't even send that many!" Pythia cracked something in her fist and dropped several spheres onto the Sea King's tongue that grew brighter by the second. "There."

The Black Glove Pirates immediately rushed together, shouting happily as they embraced each other. Cassandra turned her attention back to the woman at her side. "See, amica? Everybody's here. Go say hello. There's one more thing I need to do."

Lyn heaved a deep breath and rubbed her face against Cassandra's shirt one last time. She unsteadily rose to her feet, but more and more of her usual exuberance returned with each step as she ran towards her nakama. Cassandra held up her arm for Raven to unlock her seastone cuff and pulled her knife from her belt. Turning away from everyone, she psyched herself up with several shallow breaths, deadened her senses as much as she could while remaining functional, and drove the knife deep into her eye socket.

She immediately fell on all fours, fighting hard to stay conscious as she forced her Fruit into overdrive. Once it was evident the regeneration wouldn't be enough, she stabbed her other eye even more deeply, her teeth cracking as she kept herself from screaming. Her limbs felt they each weighed as much as a Sea King when she regained her senses, rendering her unable to even roll over.

Several hands lifted her to her knees as her Sisters gathered around her. "We could have done something different," Shinobu admonished softly.

"As if I would ever ask you to do this."

Jen trimmed the black tips off her long blue hair and combed it out while Raven held out her gloves. Cassandra blinked spots from her vision as she clenched her fists, shivering with pleasure at the familiar creak of leather. "Ladies, gentlemen, and those who are neither!" Jordan shouted at her pirates. "May I introduce you to Cupcake, Libs, Cici, the First, the Lonely Faintheart, the Traitor Duchess, and the Insidious Amaranth, Captain Cassandra Libera!"

Everyone applauded as Pythia moved out of the way so her crew could get a good look at her and she them. Alexander and Aisha looked basically the same as they had when they entered Impel Down, and while Cassandra had seen Theo and Lyn's changes, she had not had the opportunity to appreciate her bandits' new appearances. Morgan's hair now fell slightly past his shoulders in gentle waves, and his beard fit his face surprisingly well. Cain, on the other hand, seemed to have forgotten how to use clippers. "What are you now, a mountain man?"

"Only until I find a mirror," he laughed.

"Oh good," Jen said, flicking a pair of scissors into her hand again. "We were worried that was your new look. Sit your ass down. We can't stand looking at you for one more minute." Cain seemed surprised to find himself with his legs folded on the floor.

"That is much better," Morgan sighed as Raven unlocked his seastone cuff. "Being separated from my Fruit has been more than frustrating."

Alexander nodded sympathetically. "Yeah, that definitely sounds like it'd suck."

Morgan sputtered in disbelief as Alexander's cuff melted away. "You- how-"

"It was easy," Alexander said off-handedly, rebalancing himself as the Sea King spat Jordan back to Impel Down to complete her deception. "I knew how to make fake seastone by Juhla, I think? A couple wrist injuries got me lots of good looks at the key, so all I had to do was perfect a copy little by little."

Cassandra hugged him and kissed his hair. "And you were never caught once, right?"

"Had a couple scares since fake seastone obviously isn't as hard as the real stuff."

"Speaking of perfecting, lemme tell you about HELIOS!" Theo interjected.

Yin reached for her hearing aids. "Oh fuck."

Satisfied that the conversation was flowing freely, Cassandra sidled up to her newest crew member. "How're you faring?"

"I made peace with my decision a long time ago," Aisha said, staring at the animated group. "Sasaya will never take me back, so I have to move on. God may have thought I would finally give up, but They severely underestimate me. I knew you wouldn't say no."

Cassandra smiled. "How similar do you want things to be compared to when you were my employee? If you want, I can omit you from plans unless your presence is either necessary or would make things significantly less complicated. I'm fine with you having independent finances, too. Morgan did for one and a half islands. Your own room? Not a problem."

Aisha chortled and shook her head. "It's remarkable how different your concerns feel now that I'm one of your pirates. I talked a bit with Cain about it."

"He really is the only one with an equivalent experience. You're going to be such a useful addition to my crew. Okay, that means I have my first and second mates, my doctor, my shipwright, my chef, my engineer, and my tutor. All I need now are my navigator and singer/lifeguard/aquatic attack force. Is there anything you need to talk to me about right now?"

"Not that I can think of."

"Let me know if anything comes to mind." They rejoined everyone else, and Cassandra took Lyn's hand. "Don't mind me. I need to borrow her for a moment. She just met a future version of me from a universe where I never reached out to any of you."

Lyn leaned heavily against her when they sat some distance from the others. "Cee-"

"Don't be sorry, and I'm not mad at you. This isn't even an 'I told you so' situation. If anything, I'm the one to blame."

"You tried to warn me-"

"That's not what I'm talking about. We both know you had to meet her. I meant I wish I had handled that differently. I just couldn't keep my head cool, which meant I didn't say what I actually wanted to say. I obviously haven't forgiven her as much as I thought I had."

"I can see why you hate her so much. You never told me how abusive she is. I didn't know how little she cares about you."

Cassandra sighed in frustration. "I wish it were that straightforward. I wish I just hated her and she didn't care about me. Then I would cut her out of my life like Theo did her progenitor, but no. She and I know we both love each other, and not in a 'parents must love their children and vice versa' way. She was my hero when I was a kid. I still want to be everything she was. I want a better relationship with her, especially now that I know all the details, but I'm evidently not very good at it."

"Still? After she said all that?"

"That's how my parents teach me to think critically and see things from angles most people don't ever think about. Dad gives me vague hints while I'm making plans while she shows me what I missed after deciding on a plan. I love their feedback. Mom has just always been harder on me if I'm overlooking basic information. She really wanted me or Helen to succeed her as head."

Lyn rubbed her thumb on the back of Cassandra's glove. "That seemed more like constant belittling than feedback."

"Well, I wasn't exactly being rational. I'm not excusing her actions, by any means. She could have communicated her feelings differently. I'm just saying I didn't grow up like most kids and the ways we show each other our love can seem odd. I still do want to beat her within an inch of her life."

"Like mother, like daughter," Lyn mumbled, a faint trace of humor in her voice. "I never got what people feel like when you hold information over them because you never did it to me. It's so demoralizing."

"She's me but more skilled in every way. I'm just more emotional."

"And cooperative. I don't think she could gather our nakama."

Cassandra briefly kissed her cheek. "I guess that's true. Do you want to talk about what she said?"

Lyn heaved a deep breath. "I'm Lyn Mojigata, just like how you're Cassandra Libera. Who were my parents?"

"Your father was a cashier, your mother was a waste collector, and nobody knew your paternal grandparents who died before you were born were infamous art forgers," Cassandra said eventually. "Your uncle ran with the kind of people who don't make threats like 'I'll slowly kill everyone you love until you pay me what you owe' idly. The nuns took you in to keep you safe after…"

Another deep breath. "Were you ever gonna tell me?"

"I honestly don't know," Cassandra admitted. "I only uncovered your past while you were away because I knew Mom would. Your uncle committed suicide shortly after he paid them back. It's not like anybody had a specific grudge against Evelyn Fischracci. Nobody cares about her anymore. Even the World Government doesn't know that's your birth name. On the other hand, it is your past. You had the right to know." They simply sat together for a while. "How're you feeling?"

"Weird. I want to spend time with my nakama and I want to fuck you so hard even your Fruit can't keep up, but meeting your mom was a surreal experience and I'm inside a Sea King's mouth and it's really, really loud and-"

"Loud?" Cassandra glanced around. "I don't hear anything unusually loud."

Lyn held her head. "I think I got tinnitus or something. Ever since I got to Impel Down, there's been this really faint constant noise that nobody else could hear. For some reason, it's super loud right now. It's not deafening, more like I'm in a full stadium."

"Raven's going to go over everyone when we get back on land. Anything else? Please tell me everything, amica, or we won't be able to fully enjoy tonight."

She was knocked back and pinned with a lustful kiss. "Oh, we are fully going to enjoy tonight. That's all for now. Let's join in the fun!"

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

"How exactly does Pythia and her hive obtain enough to eat while on missions?" Morgan asked as he flipped a skillet larger than Cain's mattress. They had been dropped off at a small island just outside of the Calm Belt currently maintained by the Predator and Changeling Assassins. The opportunity to dine under a clear evening sky had been impossible to resist, and they had settled in a field next to a mansion with owners who had been more than happy to vacate for the night in exchange for not being eaten by two salivating oni.

"It's a balance between being close enough to cities that handle the sudden strain of a thousand people showing up while being far enough away for them to be comfortable." Jen scattered a fistful of spices over her similarly-sized skillet. "People tend to get tetchy if a billion toxic animals appear out of nowhere."

"'You should see people's faces in Academy when I put on real clothes,'" Raven interpreted for Pythia. "'It's hilarious how confused they get. They're so used to me wearing only this and not walking upright, so their minds break trying to reconcile the difference.'"

Morgan's knife flashed as he diced up a pile of vegetables. "As I understand it, Academy was not built with giants or genetically modified humans as big as giants in mind."

Pythia giggled when his words were relayed, her slitted pupils so dilated that it looked like her eyes were almost entirely black. "'I wish I had had cameras when I went around campus for the first time. It took a while before people stopped running away from me.'"

"Running away from us all," Jen corrected. "Between a World Noble, a person so large they could carry more animals than anybody thought possible, a twofer mystical monster and walking epidemic, and the insane mooncalf trying to get them to cooperate, everybody wanted to be wherever we all were not."

Cassandra sipped her cider as she wandered away from the cook-off and to the rowdier group around the bonfire surrounded by lanterns. Two Cains sat across the table from each other, clean shaven and donning his regular crew cut, and one of them scowled as Yin broke the large stone tampon in his hand. "Those are the biggest problems with my Fruit: it doesn't copy Haki, and just because I have the ability to do something doesn't mean I can actually do it if I don't have at least a vague idea of how to do it."

Jordan shrunk down as Alexander handed over his new trumpet, then put the valve to her lips and blew a few unsteady notes. "Playing a trumpet is more than just thinking of sounds and wiggling my fingers. Muscle memory only goes so far, so I'd need a lesson or two on how to actually play before being able to bang out a piece as well as Alal. That's why I still need to practice being someone before I fully impersonate them."

"How long does that process usually take?" the real Cain asked.

"Depends on how long I have to be them and how the security is laid out." Returning to her preferred androgynous form, Jordan reached over to light a cigarette on the fire. "Simply getting to a target and getting out isn't so bad. You can only call yourself a Lovat if you can do a full ghost run, pulling off an assassination with nobody the wiser."

"Cee, please remember to make noise when you walk." Lyn finished gulping down her fourth drink. "I forgot your Family weirdly uses surnames as ranks. What's the difference between ghost and non-ghost runs?"

"The difference is like designing a catapult vs one of that twerp's battlesuits." She took a deep drag on her cigarette. "The easy way, people find out that the king's aide was seen walking around the palace while also being seen playing poker in the barracks, so they know foul play was involved. I not only had to completely memorize how eight people in Impel Down acted, but also where and when they would be. Realistically, I can only be someone for three hours a day and almost exclusively when they're sleeping. That way I can claim I was working late or up early to deal with something before work. If Olol didn't take midafternoon naps, the escape would have had to happen at night."

"Because Warden Olin would not be called if he were already in the prison," Cain said, "and our changes would have been significantly worse if he had been present."

"And that's why I'm the greatest," Jordan bragged. "Nobody can last as long as I can undercover."

Lyn blew a raspberry. "Isn't that just cuz you have your Fruit?"

"YoU wouLdn'T be aS goOd withoUt yoUR frUit," she said mockingly. "So what? Cici can only boost herself longer than the rest of her family because of her Fruit, but that doesn't change the fact that she's the Black Glove who can use that technique most effectively. I have the skills I have, and I'm going to use them. If you think you could do better than me if you had my Fruit, kill me, eat it, and prove it." Her smile showed far more teeth than human mouths usually had. "If you can."

"Jordan's right," Alexander said. "People expressing that kind of thinking is just part of our lives as Devil Fruit Users, like the envious bitterness many people receive for their innate strengths. We get resented because we didn't work to attain our powers; we were merely rich or lucky enough to come across some shit-tasting food. They don't care how difficult it is to suddenly have these new abilities and how much work it is to master them."

Taking care not to hit the casket jellies above her, Yin hurled something in the air, a gorgeous firework exploding a few seconds later. "The First and Third had it way easier than the rest of us. I accidentally blew up so much shit around me before I got it under control."

"Turning everything to stone and metal wasn't that bad, but accidental water transmutations were really damned annoying."

"I had to figure out how to copy someone and more importantly, how not to copy someone," Jordan laughed. "I could not keep track of what I had. Then came learning how to forget powers instead of needing to specifically overwrite them, and how to use muscle memory that I never built up."

"Wait, hold up. Pythia has a Devil Fruit?" Lyn asked. "I thought she naturally talks to animals."

"She does," Cassandra chipped in. "Her parents spent a fortune on the Omniglot Fruit in the hopes it would make her speak to Humans, and in any language to boot. Obviously, it did not. She can, however, read any language."

Yin popped another belladonna berry in her mouth. "Everybody thought that was totally useless until the First realized that secret codes are technically languages. Now all the other families are butthurt that they don't have their own unbeatable codebreakers, and she's widely renowned for translating ancient writing."

Lyn counted on her fingers. "What about Jen?"

The Moon Sisters held their stomachs as they broke down in hysterics. "Jen had no problems," Cassandra managed. "She never has. She's basically perfect at anything she applies herself to. She knows we admire her for it and only occasionally lords it over us. I mean, she awakened her Fruit in a matter of months."

"Awakening is when a User's mind and body catch up to their powers and they achieve complete understanding of their Fruit, vastly increasing the power and variety of their abilities," Alexander explained. "It's incredibly rare for that to happen at all and takes years if not decades of acclimatization with one's Fruit. For her though, I can believe it. I hear she wasn't terribly enthusiastic about joining the Moon Sisters, though."

Yin wiped tears from her eyes. "Oh, she was a complete fucking nightmare. Messing with her was definitely one of the highlights of my formative years."

"She hated us," Jordan said as she transformed into Yin. "And I was just a nominal Moon Sister at first, so pissing her off had the added bonus of making Cici's life harder."

Cassandra hooked her elbows around their necks and yanked them into a tight hug. "You assholes set me back months with her, and it was hard enough as it was."

"Can't imagine why," Alexander said into his mug. "You'd think two overly proud teenagers willing to resort to lethal force would get along swimmingly."

"We did. Eventually. How're your ears, amica?"

"Iunno. That sound disappeared when we got here."

"Talk to Raven about it later." Cassandra kissed her Sisters' cheeks and departed for the trio sitting farther apart from the rest. The day's excitement had caught up to Theo, who was dozing in Shinobu's lap, and Aisha was recounting a story. "Well, isn't this the gayest thing I've seen in a while."

Shinobu threw a handful of grass at her. "Begone, switch-hitter. You're contaminating these sacred grounds."

"This whole 'Moon Sisters' thing has been quite enlightening, Captain," Aisha said tentatively as if trying the word out on her tongue. "Seven kingdoms indeed. It certainly filled in some gaps in my understanding regarding Raven and Damien."

"Stop telling people he's like me," Shinobu complained. "I have an innate untreatable biological reason for losing control over my actions in battle. He's just nuts."

"Putting aside his probable brain damage and/or mental illness, he's just someone who's competitive, temperamental, wants to prove they're the best, and absolutely abhors sharing. Good thing we're not related to anyone like that."

Shinobu glanced at the woman squeezing a 500-liter bottle of sauce over her skillet. "Well, Gumdrop never suddenly assau-" She paused. "She's never turned on her allies when-" Another pause. "Her mood doesn't instantaneously change without warn-"

Cassandra smiled. "They'll get along like a house on fire. I honestly think they will. It's you I'm worried about. He won't like you until you fight him with everything you have."

"You mean like you did when we first met?"

Aisha looked between them. "I know you told me before, but exactly how many people did you befriend after beating the living daylights out of each other?"

"Only Shi, Jen, Jay, Raven, Damien, Morgan, and Theo."

Aisha looked around again. "That's half the people here."

"And it shows how awesome I am that they love me despite that."

"Why were Yin and Pythia different?"

Shinobu huffed. "Because like me, they were more baffled by what she was doing than hostile and distrustful. She only fought me and not them because she needed me to know she wasn't afraid of me despite the bloodrage virus. It still sucked."

Cassandra leaned against her. "And I am extremely fucking thankful you got your Fruit after you became a Moon Sister because I would have been totally screwed otherwise."

"And you hate being an oni because your bloodrage can be triggered more easily," Aisha restated. "I'm sorry you have such a Fruit."

Aisha jerked backwards as Shinobu doubled in height, her clothes growing to accommodate her larger size. Two horns sprouted from her head, her body hair thinned slightly as her skin turned blue, and her tusks grew into short fangs. "This form is nothing but beneficial. I can't fly or summon my kanabo, but I'm still stronger, tougher, and heal faster. It's the full oni form that's the problem."

Theo sat up in her arms, rubbing her eye as she yawned. She blearily took in her surroundings, then craned her head all the way back. "Where's your third eye?"

"Where's your second?" she asked, her tickles turning Theo's giggles into full blown laughter. "The third eye is another oni only thing. Maybe it's the source of my mystical powers."

Theo froze when her stomach grumbled, but relaxed when Cassandra put a hand on her shoulder. "Dinner's ready. We're just waiting for Morgan and Jen to decide whose dish is better. It would be nice if we got to weigh in!" she yelled at them.

"The margin between our dishes is far too thin for your unsophisticated palates to detect!" Morgan shouted back.

"It doesn't matter that your senses are good, Libs!" Jen added. "You don't know shit about culinary appreciation!"

Cassandra and Shinobu glanced at each other, a telepathic conversation occurring faster than the speed of light, before Shinobu fully transformed into an oni. Theo cheered from her shoulder as she walked over and seized the two chefs before they could escape. Jen would have succeeded had Raven not seen Cassandra's signed message and blocked her way. "You seem to have forgotten that your primary job was to feed us, not compare dicks," Cassandra scolded. "You can pick each other's dishes apart to your hearts' content, but the rest of the food actually has a purpose other than making your cook-off more spectacular. Let's eat, everybody!"

Cassandra couldn't remember ever enjoying a meal so much. Pythia warmed to the pirates the more comfortable they got with her hive, the Moon Sisters taking turns as her interpreter, while Aisha had accepted being surrounded by assassins. Morgan and Jen spent a good chunk of the time bickering with smiles on their faces, occasionally wrapping an arm in stone or producing several floating assault rifles for emphasis, before finally agreeing that no winner could be determined by the two dishes alone. Theo was ecstatic that Cain paid full attention to her rants, and Shinobu and Lyn exchanged tales of girls they had dated. Jordan, Yin, and Alexander enthusiastically enlivened the meal with only a few minor mishaps.

She loved her family.

People filtered off into the mansion as they fought losing battles to stay awake. Cassandra had no such trouble, racing alongside Lyn to the guest cabin, hoping the distance from the main building would be enough for any noises they made to not disturb the others. She laughed as the bedroom door slammed shut behind them and she was practically thrown across the room. It had been so long since she had last let herself be pinned to a wall hard enough to crack it.

Lyn ravenously bit and kissed Cassandra's lips, squeezing their interlaced fingers as she pressed their bodies together. She panted with desire when she finally pulled back, her lustful eyes boring deep into Cassandra's. "Spirits, I could never get out of my head how fucking sexy you are. Can you imagine how many times I jilled off thinking about you?"

"You're not the only one." Lyn bounced happily and darted in for a quick kiss. "I'm going to burn every bit of your body into my memory again, though it's unlikely we'll ever be apart for so long."

"We are never going to be apart again," Lyn stated, moving closer until their mouths were barely separated, "but you'd better burn all of me into your mind so deep that you'd forget how to fight before you could forget me. Just in case."

"That's a tall order," Cassandra murmured, every word causing their lips to briefly touch. "You're gonna have to work hard for that to happen."

Lyn nuzzled Cassandra's head. "Challenge accepted. Fair warning: once we start, you're forbidden from being more than an inch away from me until you literally fuck me senseless. Do you wanna start as top or bottom?"

"Do you know how much I've missed not being in control?" Lyn fairly vibrated with excitement. "I asked Raven to put toys and gear under the bed."

Cassandra started stripping as Lyn lifted the entire bed in her rush to get the box. She had barely removed her T-shirt before Lyn pounced, pushing her to the floor and crushing their lips together again. Three years of unsatisfied passion exploded forth, completely consuming both of them. They were truly back together at last.

"What about-" Cassandra managed in a rare moment where Lyn's mouth left hers.

"Can't wait that long." Lyn ripped Cassandra's bra apart and placed hickeys from her mouth to her nipple, gently biting between her teeth while she kneaded Cassandra's other breast. Cassandra didn't hold back her rapturous moan and threaded her fingers through Lyn's short hair, prompting her girlfriend to be rougher. Lyn felt around for Cassandra's mouth with her other hand and slipped her fingers inside. After Cassandra leisurely licked them clean, she ran them along Cassandra's body, smearing saliva down her chest and stomach before sliding them into her underwear. "Wow. I think the ocean is less wet than you are."

"Oh fuck," Cassandra choked out involuntarily as Lyn's fingers pushed through her hair and along the skin around her labia. She squeezed her legs together in a failed effort to get her girlfriend to go deeper as Lyn unhurriedly moved her fingers back and forth along the insides of her thighs. "How did I forget what you do to me?"

Lyn licked her way up so she could gaze into Cassandra's eyes. "Ooh, that means you broke your promise. I have to punish you for that." She tossed Cassandra onto the bed and straddled her chest, her knees by Cassandra's ears. "Hold my legs."

As Cassandra wrapped her arms around her thighs, Lyn lifted her skirt up to reveal she had already removed her underwear, her dripping lips just outside Cassandra's reach. "Gods, yes…"

"Never. Forget me. Again." She pulled her tank top off, letting her magnificent tits bounce free, and stared down over them. "Make me cum."

She lowered herself down onto her girlfriend's face. Cassandra slowly ran her tongue between Lyn's folds, savoring her heady scent and taste. Even if how Lyn loved to be eaten out hadn't returned in a flash, she sensed every reaction Lyn had to her movements and changed accordingly. Lyn didn't even try controlling her volume, her loud cries of pleasure spurring Cassandra onward. Lyn wove her fingers into Cassandra's hair whenever she gently sucked on Lyn's clit, holding her head in place while Lyn gyrated on her face.

Lyn shook violently when she came, but Cassandra had no intention of stopping. She tightened her grip on Lyn's thighs and lapped greedily away. Another orgasm ripped through Lyn's body and another, her passionate screams reverberating in the small room. Lyn tightened her grip on Cassandra's head instead of trying to climb off, however, which Cassandra took as a challenge.

"Stop, stop!" Lyn gasped eventually, falling forward onto her hands. "Enough!"

Cassandra was tempted to continue, but rolled them over and pushed herself towards the headboard so she could gaze into Lyn's sparkling eyes. "Made you cum."

Lyn held Cassandra's chin and licked her juices off Cassandra's face. "You didn't listen. I didn't say make me cum a thousand times. You really want to be punished, don't you?"

"Nobody punishes the Queen of Pirates."

She was rewarded with a throaty giggle. "Is that so?" Lyn stretched down to grab the box of gear, but paused as Cassandra pressed her lips against the top of her massive scar. Cassandra leisurely kissed her way down the wound and ran her fingers along it, relishing the different textures beneath her bare skin, but made a slight detour where it barely cut through the inner side of Lyn's left breast. "Stay focused, sweetie," Lyn admonished as Cassandra leisurely licked and sucked on her nipple.

Cassandra placed an extra long kiss on the scar's base when she finished going down it. "Make me."

She let herself fall onto the sheets as Lyn got out from underneath her and finished stripping down. Excitement rippled through her as her wrists were cuffed behind her back. Her girlfriend put a spreader bar between her wrists, pulled the connecting chain down, and bound her ankles to the ends of the bar. Lyn stared into her eyes while fitting her with a ball gag and kissed her forehead. "I'm never letting you go. You're mine, Cee. You belong to me. Never forget that. You. Are. Mine. And you always will be."

Cassandra shivered in anticipation and squirmed to test her restraints. Wearing them to check their durability while she was alone was obviously different than using them in practice, but she was glad they still restricted her movement despite her aroused strength. Lyn blindfolded her as well, something Cassandra had discovered she liked despite her other senses still providing a perfect mental image of her surroundings, and her seastone ring increased the physical strain of being bound.

Lyn stood back to admire her handiwork before selecting one of the double ended strap-ons. After covering it with lube, her breath hitched as it slid inside her and she pulled the straps tight before climbing back on the bed. Panting with desire, she knelt between Cassandra's legs, grabbed a fistful of blue hair, and yanked Cassandra's head back so she could growl in her ear, "And I can do whatever I want with things that are mine."

Cassandra moaned with pleasure as the strap-on penetrated her. After a few tentative thrusts, the volume of those pleasured moans sharply increased when Lyn started roughly pounding away. Lyn's heavier breathing had little to do with exertion, and her grips on Cassandra's hair and side tightened. "That's right," she hissed through clenched teeth, still remembering how Cassandra wanted her to talk despite their time apart. "Take it. You know you deserve it."

It was almost impossible to keep track of how much time passed, especially when Lyn turned the strap-on's vibration setting on. Cassandra strained against her restraints as hard as she could without being serious, elated that it didn't remotely feel like they were going to break. They were especially tested when Lyn ruined orgasm after orgasm as she fruitlessly moaned for Lyn to keep going. Lyn varied her thrusting speed and aggression along with the occasional hard spanking, and a jolt through Cassandra's body every time Lyn came.

After one particularly intense orgasm, Lyn finally slowed to a stop. She unlocked one handcuff and one ankle cuff before collapsing on top of Cassandra, sweat sticking their skin together. Cassandra's muscles burned as she went limp as well, too winded to move. Lyn rolled so Cassandra was facedown on top of her and simply stared at her for a while. She slowly removed the ball gag, uncaring of Cassandra's accumulated drool spilling onto her chest. After watching Cassandra work her jaw for a few moments, she undid the blindfold and lay back, captivated by Cassandra's face.

"I wish I could describe how much I enjoyed that," Cassandra murmured. "You were fantastic, amica. I loved being yours and yours alone. Gimme a sec." She lightly kissed Lyn's lips before unfastening herself and climbing out of bed. After turning the bathtub's faucet, she retrieved a few bottles of energy drinks and returned to sit against the headboard, gently moving Lyn's head onto her lap. "Did you go past your boundaries?"

"No," Lyn whispered.

"That's good, that's good. I'm so proud of you for doing that. I know how badly you wanted to fuck me and how bad you still want to fuck me, but you didn't lose control or go too far, no matter how close you got to that line. I know how worried you were about getting caught in the heat of the moment and going overboard, but you didn't. I feel amazing. Well, I'm sore and some places hurt, but I wanted you to do that. You know you can't injure me, and I'm not anywhere near the point where I need to remove my ring. You were wonderful."

After making sure Lyn drank at least a little, Cassandra gently led her to the tub and turned off the faucet. She helped Lyn get inside before climbing in, leaning back, and pulling Lyn's arms around her. "How're you feeling?"

"It's weird," Lyn said airily. "I've never thought about it before, being… Evelyn. I never realized how differently I acted when it came to you because I was just being me."

Cassandra kept as much venom as she could out of her voice. "Don't worry about a single thing that came from her mouth. She lives for playing mind games. You're my first mate and my girlfriend no matter what name you use or how you act. Don't think about what she said. You'll tear yourself up, trust me. Think about me and nothing else."

She was glad Lyn hugged her tighter so she didn't slide further into the tub. "Lemme see if I can try."

"Still not quite here?"

"It's going away." Lyn kissed her hair. "Also, aren't you supposed to be helping me level out? You choose the one way to relax where you can't do anything without me? This is even worse since you can't escape if you want to."

"Just how many times in the past three years do you think I trusted someone enough to let them have full control over me in situations like this?"

Lyn laughed and squeezed harder. "You're impossible. Have I mentioned how intolerably sexy you are, especially after you've been fucked? I never forgot. I can't."

Soreness ebbed from Cassandra's muscles as the hot water worked its magic. She acknowledged forcing Lyn to be wholly responsible for her physical safety again was a dick move considering the difficulty Lyn often had leveling out after being so rough, but Cassandra badly missed entrusting herself completely to someone. She intentionally squeaked whenever Lyn groped her, every time receiving a brighter smile, but the groans she gave while Lyn massaged her scalp were very real.

Lyn huffed as she absently rubbed her fingers along Cassandra's collarbone. "I hate not being able to make out with you in the bath because you can't move. Or pool. Or lake. Or ocean."

"Then let's get out." Lyn lifted her out of the tub and waited for her paralysis to fade before setting her on her feet. After toweling themselves dry and a quick snack break, they slumped down beside each other on their soaked sheets. Cassandra beat Lyn to the punch by leaning in and delivering a steamy kiss. Making out slowly and sensually was a lovely contrast to their initial uncontrolled passion. As much as Cassandra had enjoyed having the ball gag in her mouth, she much preferred Lyn's tongue.

This time, it was Lyn who had to fight for an opening between Cassandra's kisses, only able to get one word out at a time. "Can… you… wear… gloves?"

Grinning against Lyn's mouth, Cassandra leisurely drew back and licked her lips. She made a show of standing up, sashaying over to the gloves she wore during sex, and bending down to retrieve them. Lyn hungrily watched her flex her fingers as she pulled them on. She stalked back to the bed and got on all fours over Lyn, who took a trembling breath when Cassandra's thumb moved across her lips. "You okay, amica?"

Lyn threw her arms around Cassandra's neck and kissed her like they were about to be separated again, and Cassandra was more than happy to reciprocate. She set the pace, however, holding Lyn's chin in place and taking her time with every kiss no matter how much Lyn tried to speed up. She grabbed Lyn's wrists in her other hand and pinned them against the headboard. "Just what do you think you're doing? I'm savoring this."

"I need you right now, Cee," Lyn begged.

Cassandra gave her a deliciously long kiss. "I'm right here."

"I'm done with foreplay. I need you to fuck me right now."

"In a moment."

"No moments. Now."

An edge in Lyn's voice gave Cassandra pause. "I know that you-"

Lyn's eyes flashed. "No, you don't get it. You can't get it. You have your gloves. You're Cassandra Libera, the person with a place in my heart nobody else could ever fill. I have spent over a thousand days away from the love of my life, and make no mistake, you are the love of my life. Colors aren't as bright if you're not with me. Sounds aren't as clear. Food doesn't taste as good. I need you."

"That's not healthy," Cassandra said, releasing her and sitting back. "That sounds like you're too dependent on me."

"That's why I said you can't get it. You can't love me or anybody the way I love you, the way most people truly love their partners, and I have always known that. It's just the way you're wired. It's one of the things about you that frustrates me, but I've had to accept."

"Is that on par with me being a killer?"

Lyn propped herself up on her elbows. "I'm being serious, Cee. I need you in my life. I got a long taste of what it would be like if you could never be with me anymore for whatever reason, and I fucking hated it. Could I go on living if you weren't with me again? Of course. Could I still laugh and have fun? Absolutely. Could I date anybody? In the fullness of time. But my life wouldn't ever feel the same."

"But-"

"People don't say somebody's the light of their life or their better half because they like the way the phrases sound. That's what true love is to most people, Cee, and true love isn't easy to find."

"So I'm your one-"

"There is no such thing as a one true love," Lyn said shortly. "Everyone can have multiple true loves. Even if you meet a second one and love them as much if not more, you'll never be able to forget the first. I will never love somebody the way I love you, and I love the way I love you. I love what you provide for me. I also love how sexy you are and now that you're with me again… I. Need. You. To. Fuck. Me."

"Why not before?"

"You weren't wearing gloves before. Without them, you're my Cee, but with them, you're Captain Cassandra, the woman I fell in love with. I need both of them."

Cassandra couldn't deny her words. "I'm sorry."

Lyn flumped back and held her arms out. "Like I said, it's a part of you I've accepted. I just wish I could show you how much I-"

They stared at each other for a moment, then Cassandra laid down on top of Lyn and got herself comfortable. "Ready."

Cassandra fell into a whirlwind of memories. Lyn highlighted the day they met, Cassandra's faked death on Reichmann Island, their reunion, the day Cassandra confessed, and the battle on Sabaody Archipelago. She felt Lyn's anguish as Admiral Wedge brought his fist down and she disappeared in an explosion of blood, a mutilated Damien tumbling to a halt some distance away. Lyn had no idea whether Cassandra had survived, but there just wasn't enough time to dwell on that. She immediately surrendered, ordering her nakama to do the same. Fighting would only get them killed.

Lyn spent almost three weeks in Impel Down putting on a brave face while doubt and uncertainty ate her alive before finding a black glove drawn on her pillow. After her jubilation subsided, there was only the wait until she would be freed, the long, long wait without her love at her side. Cassandra had believed that Lyn had been exaggerating, but life really did seem a bit muted. There were periods of relief when everything seemed just fine, but that slight dullness inevitably returned.

They gasped for breath as they returned to the real world. "Fuck, Lyn," Cassandra wheezed. "I- I'm sor-"

She was drawn into a languid kiss. "Don't be. That's why I said your mind just doesn't work that way. I'm not alone, for the record. All of us feel the same towards you to some degree, except nobody else wants you to raw them until they walk funny for a week. You're the most important person in all of our lives. Well, maybe not those of us above thirty and you may be tied with other important people, but still. I know your Sisters felt like I did in Impel Down when you became a pirate. I'm glad you're encouraging them to visit."

"I got it, I got it. I'm irreplaceable. Especially the real me." She squeezed one of Lyn's breasts. "The real me that you need to fuck you senseless."

"Are you trying to seduce your way out of this conversation?" Lyn teased.

"Yes." She captured Lyn's lips in a deep kiss. "Is it working?"

Lyn giggled. "Uh-huh."

"Good, because I'm going to give you what you asked for. I don't think you remember exactly what being fucked by the real me is like." Cassandra lifted one of Lyn's legs and pulled her close so they could grind against each other, eliciting a pleasantly surprised gasp. "Forget walking funny. You won't be able to walk at all."