Arisa's initial strategy - concocted based on the now-defunct assumption that the Reis Gavros and his officers were still absent - had been to simply sneak in and out through the vents, evading detection by using several strategically placed Horned Transponder Snails to disrupt the Basilisk Pirates' surveillance network.

Using the original as a basis, the revised plan was significantly riskier, requiring more face-to-face interaction with the enemy out of the both of them. The Basilisk Pirates' hideout was essentially an underground bunker built into the cliff on which Yamizo Island's main lighthouse was located. There were multiple known entrances, one of which was through the basement of the lighthouse itself. The main entrance was a large tunnel which fed into the forest bordering the coastline. This was level to the bunker's highest floor. The fourth and final floor was at sea level with several small exits feeding out onto the island shoreline. A sizable concrete pier also hugged the cliff at this elevation; it was here where the Basilisk Pirates docked their mothership and subordinate vessels.

If their activities were of any indication, the Basilisks would no doubt spend their night celebrating their safe return. It would be natural to presume that festivities would be taking place both in the bunker and onboard their ships, though if she were to bet, Arisa suspected that most of the crew would prefer the latter over the dreary confines of the underground. This meant that it would be relatively easy to enter and search the inner bunker without risking detection. Should nothing of value turn up, she and Riyu would sneak aboard the main ship and create a diversion. If all went well, the illusionary effects of their Kyōki would give the Basilisks a false impression of being attacked by a rival crew or even the Navy, prompting most of the expendables to flee into the bunker. At that point they would split up, with one assigned to distract the crew's headliners while the other searched the ship, hopefully undetected in the ensuing chaos. A direct confrontation with Reis Gavros was a last resort, reserved only for the occasion that nothing pertaining to the Kaku-Kaku no Mi turned up in the prior two searches.

The plan was by no means foolproof, but it was sufficient given how short they were on time. And like most other good plans, it met the fate of complete derailment within the first hour of execution.

──────────────────

Something was about to go horribly wrong.

Arisa wasn't sure exactly how long into the mission that this feeling had first taken root; in fact, its onset had been so gradual that it had been easy for her to dismiss it on account of her nerves. But by the time she and Riyu had infiltrated the third and midmost floor of the bunker, the premonition was so palpable she could no longer ignore it in good conscience.

Riyu had to have noticed as well. In the days they'd spent here, they both had accustomed themselves to Yamizo Island's baseline Kyōki signature. The levels she'd detected back in the village had been slightly elevated which was to be expected for densely populated locales, but as was the case for naturally occurring Kyōki, the signature carried the strength of weak static, only marginally chaotic due to its dispersion. Here, however, she felt the whisper of a presence significantly more acute and magnetic in its draw.

Something inexplicably powerful lurked just beyond the brink of her Observation, she could swear on it. Perhaps it was a stray yōkai. Or even worse, a new gateway could have formed naturally...

The sharp thud of a body hitting the floor snapped Arisa out of her thoughts.

"All clear," Riyu whispered with a grin, dragging an unconscious Basilisk into a side room. Judging from the fellow's bloodless state, she must have pounced on him from behind.

Arisa scanned the hall for any more stragglers, her free hand flitting up to rest atop the hilt of Kagerō, her katana. She turned on her heel and followed the Mink into what looked to be a cartographer's office.

"Don't you notice that?"

"Notice what?" Riyu had already gone to one of the desks. She looked up with a frown. "Oh...you mean the Kyōki?"

There was an array of cabinets in the far end of the room. Arisa nodded as she eyed the array of locks securing the latches on the doors. Suppressing a sigh, she unhooked one of the three kōgai needles she'd secured to Kagerō's handguard beforehand and set to work picking the lock.

"It feels... off," she murmured. "Too different compared to the rest of this island."

Riyu shrugged.

"I just assumed it was 'cause of that guy's abilities, now that he's here. Ta-chan told me once that some Devil Fruits can have some really wacky signatures, you know?" She made a face and tossed a file over her shoulder. "Ugh, this Gavros guy needs to fire whoever's in charge of organizing his maps! Any luck on your end, aneki?"

"Just one moment." The lock popped open with an audible click. Tossing it out of the way, Arisa pulled open the metallic drawer and eyed the documents held within. Mostly receipts and outdated bounty posters. Clicking her tongue in disapproval, she moved on to the next lock.

"Nothing?"

"Nope." The unblinking eyes of a Video Surveillance Snail mounted on the upper corner of the room caught her eye. Arisa paused to watch the creature for a second, before slanting an inquisitive look over her shoulder. "...are you sure that the Horned Snail is covering this range?"

"Yep!" Riyu answered cheerfully, now surrounded in a sizable pile of discarded documents. Eyes narrowed, she scanned another sheet of paper before tossing it over her shoulder. "This room and the two next to it."

Arisa nodded and started to turn back, only to freeze in place when she felt it again - that unmistakable ebb in the surrounding aura, swifter than before and pronounced enough to momentarily disrupt the calm of her own Kyōki signature. She opened her mouth to point it out when she felt a faint vibration ripple beneath her feet, accompanied by the muffled roar of an explosion. The sound was mostly suppressed through the reinforced walls, but she could have sworn that a blast had occurred in one of the floors directly beneath her.

Riyu blinked and tilted her head slightly, the slight downward tilt of her lips a sure indicator she'd heard the same thing.

"What the actual -"

The walls trembled when another explosion sounded from below, effectively shattering all that remained of the two's combined incredulity. It was precisely at this inopportune moment that the emergency sirens began to wail from the hall outside, swiveling lights activating and bathing the surrounding network of corridors in a sea of blood red.

Arisa swore sharply beneath her breath and sprang to her feet.

"Come on," she snapped, making a beeline towards the exit.

Riyu followed at her heels, eyes wide.

"I don't even get how...!" She shook her head frantically. "Is this even for us?"

"Don't know."

Arisa stopped at the doorway and peered out after casting cursory pulse of Kenbunshoku Haki over the near vicinity to confirm that they were momentarily in the clear. The sound of frantic voices and sprinting feet swelled from around the bend in the hall.

"Hurry, block the exits - !"

"- downstairs and to prepare to engage!"

"We're under attack!"

"...under attack...?" Riyu repeated incredulously. Arisa opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off again as another volley of explosions - unmistakably canonfire - reverberated from beyond the bunker walls. She started to beckon Riyu to follow her lead in making a break from the doorway. But another distant voice pierced the air as soon as the sound cleared:

"It's the Heart Pirates!"

Arisa stopped short in her tracks, her breath stalling at the back of her throat. All coherent thoughts revolving around the Kaku-Kaku no Mi careened to a screeching standstill as she scrambled to process the utter catastrophe presented by those four words. For a moment she found herself doubting what she had just heard.

There's no way.

My luck is pretty bad, but surely it can't be this abysmal. Right...?

"Aneki...?"

Riyu's tentative voice sent her plummeting back to the present. Arisa drew herself up sharply and set her teeth in a paltry attempt at garnering resolve.

"Stay close," she heard herself say, voice scraping harsh and unfamiliar past her throat. "Forget the Devil Fruit. We can get out the way we came in."

Looking almost sorry for her, Riyu assented with an uncharacteristically faint nod.

"Okay."

Another muffled explosion shook the bunker as they broke out into a run, dashing away in the opposite direction of the voices down the length of the corridor. A booming thud of impact was soon to follow, accompanied by a low rumbling sound and an eerily animalistic howl. Visibly flinching, Riyu slowed her pace momentarily.

"What was that?"

"Don't stop!"

"I'm not! It's just..." The Mink scrunched up her face again as another deafening roar sounded from beyond the walls. "Ugh, there it is again - I hate it!"

Arisa suppressed a shiver.

"If I had to guess, someone's just activated his Zoan form."

"Oh, God."

Another explosive crack of impact reverberated through the outer walls - this time directly from below. The entire structure trembled from the collision, bits of debris dislodging from the ceiling. A chorus of disjointed shouts echoed from the stairwell just past the corner they'd come from, presumably a consequence of several fleeing Basilisks losing their footing.

"What the hell is going on out there?"

Riyu's outcry was punctuated by a sharp gasp and a sudden cease in footsteps. Arisa turned to respond and found herself stiffening in shock as she stared at the Mink in alarm. Riyu's entire body looked to be awash in an unnatural hue of pale blue.

"Riyu. What did you -?!" She cut off abruptly and dragged her eyes away. Brought her hand up to her face, before turning in a slow circle the glass her surroundings. No, it wasn't just Riyu. In the blink of an eye, the entire hallway appeared to have been engulfed in this strange blue light.

No more than two seconds had passed before she felt another distinct shift in the once-stagnant Kyōki aura around them, this time as violent as a churning riptide. Her senses immediately screamed in warning of an oncoming attack. The same must have registered to Riyu, because her expression immediately turned grim. She started forwards, one hand outstretched.

"Aneki, watch out -!"

The floor between them split like a tearing seam as the entire front facing wing of the bunker detached itself from the face of the cliff. The Mink, still left residing on the fragment now hovering midair, let out a cry of alarm and clung to the edge for purchase.

"Riyu!" The cry tore past Arisa's throat before she could help herself. Staggering to regain her balance as the structure tilted and groaned, she hurled herself close to the edge of the newly-severed precipice. Now exposed to the open air, the blistering coastal wind whipped her cloak back and stung at her eyes. She watched in horror as the dislodged chunk of the bunker slowly rotated midair with her friend still inside. Her gaze shifted downwards, following the trajectory of several dislodged pieces of debris that fell hundreds of meters down to the rocky shores below.

Heart racing in her chest, Arisa looked back up and reached out with her free hand.

"Riyu, you need to jump down here!"

Riyu's knuckles shook over the jagged edge as the fragment continued to hover outwards until it hung suspended over the general vicinity of where the Basilisk's main ship was moored. She gave her head a slight shake. Too far away - she couldn't hear.

No... Please.

Swallowing down her panic, Arisa leaned over the edge as far as she could, her hand still outstretched.

"Jump!"

The floating segment canted sharply upwards again, maneuvered as easily as if it were but an inflatable toted along by a string. Riyu tore her gaze away from the ground, wide brown eyes meeting Arisa's for a split second. In that brief moment, a single wavering snapshot from the night before slashed bleeding stripes across the canvas of her mind's eye. Riyu's happy-go-lucky smile, bits of anko smearing the corners of her lips as she held a half-eaten taiyaki in her free hand.

Heh... it'll be such a waste if these were to go cold...!

The fragment tilted once more, then began its final plummet.

"Riyu!"

Riyu jumped off the ledge. Arisa hurled herself forwards, a feeling of suffocating weightlessness crushing her chest.

The world resumed its motion as Riyu's hand locked around hers in an iron grasp. Gravity took its hold in the next second, nearly dragging them both off the edge. Riyu let out an audible hiss as the strain of her weight jarred her shoulder. Arisa quelled a gasp of her own, fighting to maintain her grip on the Mink dangling below her.

"Hold on...!"

Planting her free hand into the ground for support, she strained to haul Riyu up over the ledge. The wind screamed at her ears, nausea seizing her frame as her gaze flitted over the Mink's shoulder in a brief moment of distraction.

Another explosion reverberated from the distance. Riyu's eyes widened in alarm.

"Aneki, look out!"

Reacting instinctively, Arisa activated her Busoshoku Haki just as the cannon blast completely obliterated the exposed floor above them, the force of the explosion sending them both hurtling off the ledge amidst a rain of debris. Pulse screaming, she twisted sideways midair and withdrew Kagerō from its sheath with one smooth motion. The only sensations that registered to her now were palpable in their combined intensity: her own heart shoving against her ribcage, the ebb and flow of her breathing, the magnetic draw of Kyōki radiating off from the battlefield below.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as she fixed her gaze to the massive bunker fragments hurtling down upon her. Tightening her grasp, she channeled a perfunctory pulse of Kyōki and aimed a single decisive cut straight above her. Ribbons of glowing violet energy danced along Kagerō's blade, rippling through the air in a miniature shockwave as the slash planted itself up the length of the bunker portion mid-spin, desiccating the ceiling off the hallway fragment entirely in a shower of sparks. The force of the blow was powerful enough to knock the both halves off their trajectory towards her, scattering them in opposite directions.

Less than a split second later, a harsh jolt of impact rattled her frame as she was sent slamming into the ground in a small explosion of dust. The momentum, though mitigated somewhat thanks to the armament shielding her body, was crushing enough to send her both rolling several meters before finally coming to a stop between two fallen slabs of concrete. A muffled crash registered just milliseconds later as the dissected bunker fragments plowed into the shore, each landing at a safe distance.

Letting out a groan of pain, Arisa slowly sat up and squinted through the clearing dust. The harsh ringing in her ears quickly gave way to the cacophony of an ongoing battle. Disjointed shouts punctuated the soundscape of clashing blades and gunfire as what she could only assume to be two opposing companies of pirates charged at each other from the smoke.

"Riyu?" she called out, scrambling to her feet. "Riyu!"

There was no response.

A small frown tilted Arisa's lips as she turned once, very slowly, to take the scene in. Down here, the anomalous Kyōki signature that had been bothering her before had grown exponentially stronger, even when taking into account the heightened levels one might expect in combat. It couldn't be a fluke. Whoever was causing it had to be close. Which made it all the more necessary that they get the hell out of here as soon as possible.

"Riyu!" She broke out into a run, weaving her way through the smoking ruins in search of the Mink. "Where are you?"

The ground shuddered as a cannon went off in the distance. Arisa cast a frantic look over her shoulder, fighting down a rise of panic. Her head came whipping back around as another violent tremor reverberated beneath her feet, followed by an animalistic roar and a deafening crash.

A pale blue light washed over the vicinity, sprouting outwards in a dome from somewhere past the boulders.

Apprehension immediately spiked in her chest. That could only mean one thing.

"-ver here!"

Arisa's heart dropped to the pit of her stomach as Riyu's disjointed cry came echoing from over a fallen slab - exactly where the other noises were coming from, if she were to guess.

Her blue eyes opened wide in shock when she mounted the ledge to investigate the cause of the commotion. Terror and awe intermingled in a fraught storm of chaos which seized her entirety. Sheer panic effectively locked her muscles in place. Air fled from her lungs.

A flash of coruscating ebony scales. Powerful, streamlined wings unfurling lazily from a massive, centipede-like physique. Slitted avian pupils radiating a malicious aura. A serpentine tongue flickering spastically from between a wickedly hooked beak -

Now fully morphed into his gargantuan Zoan form, Reis Gavros flung back his head and let loose a gurgling hiss, mouth stretching wide to bare a set of fangs glistening with venom. Arisa took an instinctive step back, faltering momentarily to adjust to the sheer brunt of raw, unchanneled Kyōki emanating from his general direction.

So Riyu was right in thinking that it was because of the Devil Fruit -

The thought had barely formulated when the creature let loose another ear splitting howl, lashing forwards to deliver its first attack. Arisa flinched as a barrage of fuming projectiles was sent spewing forth from Gavros' fangs, rocketing to the ground before it like artillery fire. The poisonous droplets were huge - with the smallest easily eclipsing her size - and glowed with an acidic green sheen, kicking up a cloud of dust which obscured Arisa's view of the beast's intended targets.

Surrounding them, the wavering blue aura glitched and momentarily faded. A sickening sense of foreboding churned at the pit of Arisa's stomach. Gritting her teeth in frustration, she momentarily relinquished control over her Kyōki and concentrated entirely on her Observation. Envisioned the telltale Haki signatures which blinked and wavered and darted frantically about over the expanse, like little wisps of flame suspended in an infinite void. Sought to capture them all in their entirety. Felt the ephemerality of it.

A familiar aura darted within range.

There!

Arisa's eyes snapped open just in time to catch a flash of snowy white fur amidst the pandemonium. Horror rang hollowly in her chest. Locked in a vicious choreography of evasion, Riyu's nimble frame flitted in and out of view as she scrambled to dodge the slew of poison Gavros was lobbing her way.

Planting a Haki-imbued kick into the ledge, Arisa hurled herself forwards. But a tug of alarm halted her in her tracks as soon as she landed, alerting her to an impending flutter of movement from her right. Pure instinct kicked in as she felt the shift in Kyōki signatures. She jumped back, Kagerō immediately coming up in a defensive stance. In the next instant, a stranger blinked into existence and crashed into the ground just a stride away from where she'd once stood. Apprehension immediately froze Arisa's limbs when their gazes locked through the dust.

Trafalgar Law's piercing grey eyes slitted to a knife's edge. The look of bewilderment on his face quickly faded into a suspicious scowl.

"You."

Of course he'd recognized her. The taint coursing through her veins was indisputable, the sins she'd inherited so blatant that they might as well have been emblazoned into her skin in crimson ink for all the world to behold. The face she'd inherited ensured that, didn't it?

Arisa maintained a careful distance as the surgeon rose to his feet. Her eyes glued to the nodachi that he kept hovering precariously in the air, she fought to keep her expression neutral as he took a step closer. The powerful, entropic draw of his aura confirmed her suspicions regarding the anomalous Kyōki signature.

This presence. It almost reminds me of...

"What's your business with Reis-ya?" Law demanded. "Are you here to sabotage me again?"

"Sabotage you -?"

Arisa cut off short, eyes darting up to meet his gaze. In a flash she recounted all the times she'd spotted the Heart Pirates' submarine in the last couple of weeks. She had always assumed that they had been trailing her and Riyu. Instead, could it really have been a coincidence? Had they just so happened to be going after her targets instead? The thought occurred to her once more:

Is my luck really that bad?

The basilisk's angered roar broke the short lived clash. Teeth clipping together in irritation, Law turned and raised a tattooed hand as the beast bore down upon them.

"Room!"

But the surgeon's signature blue dome just barely had spiraled out past his outstretched fingertips when the beast's massive tail came flicking outwards in a wide arc. There was no time to think. Not even sparing a glance in the pirate's general direction, Arisa dove for cover as the heavily scaled appendage swept overhead, leveling the surrounding outcroppings which dotted the rocky shore and crashing into the base of the coastal cliff. A chorus of screams pierced the air - no doubt from both defending and attacking pirates who were now currently clashing for control on the shore.

Another deafening crash sounded behind her as she scrambled up to her feet and took off into a spring; the transparent blue barrier surrounding them wavered before flickering out of existence altogether. Arisa glanced over her shoulder in time to see Gavros commence his signature long range attack on Law. By all appearances they were locked into a fruitless cycle of striking and evading, with the Basilisk pirate captain clearly exploiting the visibility of the surgeon's Room as a predictive counter. Every time Trafalgar would attempt to generate one, he'd preemptively quash the move by blitzing an attack of his own and forcing the latter back on the defensive.

Arisa cast a desperate look over the shore, before turning back to the one-sided fight. Law's movements were a blur as he teleported himself repeatedly to avoid the basilisk's blows. Slowly but surely, the onslaught was wearing him down, if the dwindling size and consistency of his Rooms were of any indication. The brute-force strategy, however crude, seemed to be paying off in Gavros' favor. In a way, the dynamic reminded Arisa of many of her previous battles with yōkai. Hybrids in particular. If it came down to durability alone, the average yōkai hunter couldn't hold a candle to a Kyōgui due to the sheer difference in the amount of Kyōki immediately available to them. The key, then, was to hone skill over strength, focusing on building swift, powerful attacks to avoid prolonging the fight.

Arisa flinched involuntarily as she watched the surgeon blink in and out of existence, narrowly avoiding getting clipped by the sweep of Gavros' tail. The rational part of her screamed for her to get moving, to find Riyu and get the hell out of there before the situation devolved any further, but a nagging sense of unease kept her rooted in place. Trafalgar Law's anomalous Kyōki signature was a complication she hadn't anticipated, and now that the prospect was staring her straight in the face, she was left uncertain of how to proceed.

During that encounter a few minutes ago, she could have even sworn that the surgeon's aura resembled that of a hybrid's. But that didn't make any sense. Law was a Supernova. If he were a Kyōgui or harbored even the remotest sympathies for the Kodera-Ikki, there was absolutely no chance someone as recognizable as him would have made it this far into the Grand Line without being targeted by yōkai hunters from the Amatsuki and Tenkū-jō Uzuki clan remnants. 

A yōkai possession was the only other thing that came to mind, but even that was a distant possibility. Possessions were exceptionally rare - all the more with salvageable cases for the sad fact that most victims didn't survive. Besides, from what Arisa could observe, nothing in the Surgeon of Death's behavior indicated that such a thing had taken place. All she had to go off of was that bizarre Kyōki signature, and the uncertainty of the prognosis was nothing short of infuriating. Maybe it was nothing more than a fluke of nature. It could also be something dangerous enough to warrant a kill order.

If the latter were the case, then her window of escape was still wide open. She could simply carry on, leaving the battle to play out to its expected conclusion. Let Gavros finish the job, and nobody would be any the wiser.

But just like with Jasha...there's no way to tell for sure, right?

Arisa's nails bit into the beds of her palms. Another surge of memories churned forth, threatening to choke her. She suddenly felt, once more, the bitter chill of rainwater leaching through her skin, the stench of stale blood curdling atop her tongue. Envisioned his face leering into hers, small and pale and warped beneath the dancing shadows of the overhanging rafters. Even now she could feel the ice of his fingertips digging into her skin, the curl of his upper lip as he spewed his malicious accusations.

Her free hand dropped to her side, slotting a spare kōgai between her fingers.

You need to see this out. That's the very least you can do to repay your selfishness.

With the superhuman durability lent by Gavros' Zoan abilities, victory would be all but secured should he stall until Law depleted his abilities. If he was to ever let down his guard, however, she was sure the tables would turn in the surgeon's favor.

A distraction, then. That was all she needed to contribute in order to get the Basilisk captain out of the picture.

Should be easy enough.

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By now, Shachi felt it was safe to conclude that the situation had gone entirely haywire.

Landing from a spinning kick he'd sent plowing into an opposing pirate's face, the auburn-haired man ducked for cover behind a boulder as another cannon roared in the near vicinity. Clutching at his hat, he peered over the rock and took account of his crewmates. Bepo, Penguin, Azarashi, Clione, Kurage... Methodically, he cycled through their names as his eyes trailed over each of them. They plowed their way through their opponents in a flurry of feints and kicks as wave upon wave of Basilisks poured through from the smoking crater torn into the bunker's belly.

There was no end in sight. Not until Captain prevailed over Reis Gavros and attained his heart.

As if right on cue, the flickers of blue light emanating from beyond the immediate foreground drew his attention once more to the main battle at hand. Captain's silhouette, etched starkly amidst the background of smoking rubble, was dwarfed several times over by Reis Gavros' monstrous transfiguration. Shachi could barely keep track of his maneuvers as he teleported himself repeatedly to avoid the rain of poisonous attacks the latter maintained.

Subconsciously, his hands balled into fists.  Watching on, Shachi was only reminded of the sobering reality that became abundantly more clear to the crew with every new target they took on in this quest for the Shichibukai seat. The progression curve was precariously steep, with each opponent they faced revealing themselves to be stronger by several orders of magnitude compared to their predecessors. Compared to many of their victories early on in their ventures into the Grand Line, the last several battles had stretched them thin, pushing them to the maximum extent of their capabilities.

Delaying entry to the New World had been the right call - Shachi understood this now. More important than the need for the one hundred hearts was that they got strong enough to contend with Doflamingo and his allies. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to fulfill Captain's dream.

(There was also the disaster at Ikijo Island to consider. But like the others, Shachi refused to dwell on that incident for long. Not yet. Not ever in all likelihood.)

"Shachi, your arm!" Ikkaku's frantic shout broke him out of his thoughts. Her black curls bounced as she wove expertly through several knots of grappling combatants and skidded to a stop next to him, already in the process of shrugging off her first aid pack.

"Eh?" Shachi glanced down at his left arm, blinking in mild surprise at the blood which had soaked through his sleeve - the consequence of a blow delivered by one of the Basilisk's officers he'd defeated only a short time into the attack. The cut was shallow, and the pain had dulled a long time ago. "Oh, that's nothing!"

This earned him a light jab to the forehead. He recoiled with an indignant yelp.

"Hey!"

"Don't be so careless, you idiot!" Ikkaku scolded, packing gauze in hand. "Here, now hold still!"

Another explosion shook the ground beneath them. Shachi warily peeked out beyond the rock as Ikkaku set to work wrapping his arm.

"Still no end in sight?"

"Nope." He paused, taking note of how Ikkaku's movements visibly slowed. "Don't worry - Captain'll win this. He has to!"

She didn't say anything for a while, a slight frown tilting her lips, and a slight feeling of misgiving churned at Shachi's gut. Even for how childishly sulky Ikkaku could get, it felt strange to see her sport such a grave expression.

"How are the others?" he asked lightly, as a way of changing the mood. "I need to step up my game - I'm guessing that I'm the only casualty so far?"

"Not even close." Ikkaku secured the final knot and drew back. "Rakko, the moron that he is, kicked a petrol bomb and singed his foot."

"Rakko did?!" Shachi's jaw dropped. It wasn't like their cook to be so careless.

"Uh huh. Of course, he told me it was all a part of his master plan to awaken his Haki or whatever." Ikkaku snorted. "As if you can teach yourself something like that!"

"Don't be so pessimistic now, nee-san! Anything is possible if we believe in ourselves!"

Tossing the unconscious bodies of two Basilisk rookies over his shoulder, Rakko materialized over the boulder and leapt down somewhat clumsily via the bandages encasing his right foot. Otherwise, he looked untouched, save a few strands of black hair knocked askew from its usual sideways slick.

"Speak of the devil," Shachi muttered, sweat dropping.

"You got dust everywhere!" Ikkaku complained, pawing frantically at the bandages. "Rakko, what the hell? Didn't I just tell you to get back to the Tang?"

"Me, retreating? For this? That wouldn't be cool at all!" His coiffeur bouncing, the cook wagged his bandaged foot with mock arrogance, before raising both hands in an apologetic gesture when Ikkaku's eye visibly twitched. "Sorry, sorry. I swear I was on my way back, but Bepo sent me back to tell everyone that he saw her. She's here - the Nightingale."

"What?"

"Well, a doppelganger. You know what I mean." Rakko scratched his head. "Doesn't take an idiot to guess why she's here, so just keep your eyes peeled, all right? We can't afford to have her interfering with Captain, not when we're so close."

"Right, right." Shachi nodded earnestly, mind racing through all the possibilities. "Shit, what do you mean by doppelganger, though? Is this a copycat we're dealing with? Or were those rumors right in saying she had a kid?"

"Don't know. Bepo didn't say." Rakko wrinkled his nose. His brow furrowing in concern when he glanced over at Ikkaku. "You all right, nee-san?"

Ikkaku's face had grown dangerously pale. Her spine went rigid at Rakko's words, knuckles marbling over the strap of her medicine bag.

"What? Of course I am!"

Rakko raised an eyebrow but didn't prod any further.

"Our safest bet is to keep a distance unless she forces our hand. At the very least we should try to hold out from a confrontation while Captain's still got his hands full, but... Well, we'll see." He shot a worried look over his shoulder, then gave them both reassuring pats on the shoulder. " "I still gotta go warn Kurage and Seiuchi. Be careful out there! Tell ya what - let's celebrate with some delicious seafood hotpot when this is all done and over with, eh?"

Expression blank, Ikkaku stared after the cook as he whisked himself off into the smoke with a theatrical flourish.

"Why does that guy always have to be so dramatic?"

"Seafood hotpot sounds really good right now..." Shachi mumbled, drooling at her side.

She immediately bristled and gave him a stern shake of the shoulder.

"Since when did Captain swap out your heart with Bepo's? Focus! The thief is here, right this minute! We gotta find her before she gets to -!"

A fuzzy white blur went streaking across Shachi's field of vision, cutting Ikkaku off mid-harangue and crashing into the boulder with enough force to send a spiderweb of fissures blooming over its face. Ikkaku released her grip on Shachi's collar, face working in horror.

"Bepo...?!"

Spitting out a litany of colorful obscenities, the creature hopped up to its feet, fur bristling dangerously through clouds of dust. The two stared blankly. Judging by that voice alone, that certainly wasn't Bepo.

"Crap, crap, crap! I ran way too far, didn't I? Where the hell am I? Is this even the same beach?!"

Shachi continued to gape, still struck dumb in disbelief.

A...weasel Mink? On this side of the Grand Line?

"That stupid freaking lizard, running me off all the way over here! Just wait until I get my ...oh," the Mink paused her rant, quickly trailing off upon realizing that she had an audience. An awkward stretch of silence settled between them. Then she blinked and, straightening her posture, bobbed her chin low in a respectful bow. "Garchu."

The propriety was so abrupt and unexpected that Shachi found himself bowing automatically in return. "G...Garchu...?"

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Ikkaku hissed.

"I-I dunno. Some part of me figured it sounded like a greeting, so....?"

The weasel bristled.

"Yes, it's a greeting - of course it's a greeting!" she shouted, shedding her courteous facade in an instant. "Talk about uncultured! Isn't one of your officers supposed to be a Mink?"

"Who are you?" Shachi demanded, recovering his scattered wits somewhat. "And what the hell is your problem? Are you a Basilisk?"

"A Basilisk!" The weasel's face worked in disgust. "Pah, as if! I'm an innocent bystander! And of course I have a problem with your ilk - guess who nearly got flattened like a pancake in that stunt your captain pulled earlier? Me and aneki, that's who!"

"You were in the bunker?" Ikkaku narrowed her eyes incredulously.

Exactly, Shachi thought. Some bystander you are.

"Shachi! Onee-san!" A frantic voice sent both their heads swinging up to attention. Rakko came barreling in from the direction he'd left from at a full sprint, red faced and wide eyed. Shachi swiftly sidestepped to avoid collision as he came skidding to a stop, kicking up a tornado of dust at his wake.

"Rakko! What's wrong? Did something happen to the others?"

The cook shook his head wordlessly as he strained to catch his breath. 

"T-t-the Nightingale girl," he finally sputtered.  "I swear... I swear I just saw her!"

"What?!" the three shouted in unison. The weasel Mink lunged forwards with one leaping bound and latched onto the front of Rakko's shirt.

"You saw aneki?!" she exclaimed, shaking the poor man like a rag doll. "You really saw her? Where?  Tell me!"

"Hey, get off of him!" Ikkaku snapped, trying and failing miserably to pry the little Mink off of her friend.  

Aneki?  Shachi blinked slowly, squinting at the weasel over his shades. Did I hear that right?

Rakko's eyes were spinning in circles.

"...just over there... - she's going... for Gavros' head... - have to go... tell others... !"

He had no sooner raised his arm to point when the weasel went rocketing off in the indicated direction.

"Don't worry!  I'm coming, aneki!!!!"

"Oi, wait a minute!"

Aneki.

This time, there was absolutely no mistake about it. Shachi leapt to his feet and went charging after the Mink in blind pursuit.

"Get her!" he hollered over his shoulder. "She's an accomplice!!"

Translations:

Kagerō (陽炎): Mirage

Kōgai (笄): A hairpin needle samurai carried in the guards of their katanas.

Azarashi (アザラシ): Seal

Kurage (クラゲ): Jellyfish

Rakko (ラッコ): Sea otter

Seiuchi (セイウチ): Walrus

There are so many Heart Pirates who have been featured in the manga but have been left unnamed, so I've given some of them names for this story. The canon crew has 20 members, so expect a handful of others to show up later!

To help visualize, you can refer to the graphic I made below.

Thanks for reading,

-shiba