Lia's POV;

I woke up with a stinging stomach and needed a few moments to remember what happened. I lost my fight against Sabo. I could argue that the cards were not in my favour, with me more limited than him, but in the end, it still comes down to the fact that I am weaker than Sabo.

But only if it is close combat!

I sat slowly up, resting my back against the wooden frame of the Shadow's medical bay bed, yet did not open my eyes. Josef must've stitched me up. I wonder how good Sabo fared against my last attack, everything after is somewhat blurry.

I felt as if I weren't alone, someone was nearby and I could hear slight snoring. One of my eyes cracked open and I saw the sleeping form of my Lara. She was sitting, almost lying in a chair, her head had fallen forward, now resting on her chest. Her mouth slightly open and drooling. She looked cute and beautiful.

Why wasn't she sleeping with me in the bed? Normally she would have laid down next to me. Maybe my stomach wound was worse than what I thought and Josef told her that she might aggravate the wound if she sleeps next to me?

If that's the case, then she must have been worried sick over me. It kinda pained me to think that I might have caused my Lara unknown amount of worry. She must have sat there, looking at me, and waiting for me to wake up.

I softly touched my stomach and felt the bandages. The hole was fairly large, I had to press the blood and some intestines back during the rest of my fight. Josef is a good doctor, the wound does not feel to have worsened since the fight. It's in the process of healing, I don't think it will need more than four days to fully heal.

Still, I don't think I am allowed to stand up, but how else am I to reach Lara and wake her like I want to. With a kiss.

I wasn't able to come up with anything, so I did the next best thing. I used my Devil Fruit power to slightly poke into her side. She woke up after the third light poke, whipped the drool off of her face and then looked over at me.

Her eyes widened in happiness and she was instantly next to me. She gave me a careful hug and kissed me deeply. “I was worried, the hole was deep and you were bleeding. Sabo apologised, but I am still angry and want to cut him into tiny pieces.”

The worry in her voice pained me, I gave her a stronger hug. “We can kill him once his use is gone.”

She smiled, acceptingly, yet then frowned. “And you should have stopped the fight earlier. Either by surrendering or by using overwhelming force. We don't need the Devil Fruit. Jonny and Noa did not fight for the same reason. You know that the Marines will be on our asses the second this tournament is over, so why did you fight to the bitter end?” This time her voice was worried and with some anger. I felt bad for being at the receiving end of it, and for giving her a good reason.

I thought about what she said. Why I continued the fight, why I did not escape into the sky earlier, why I allowed him so close, did not use stronger attacks or other kinds of pebbles.

The answer was easy, I lost due to my own hubris.

Every single enemy, except Lara, was easily defeated. As Kurama, everything died quickly and with ease, the Reaper won because we were only two but lost every single fight against us personally.

Even Crocodile fled way before I could even go full out, or really start. It must have made me think myself to be undefeatable. But the fact is that I do have my weaknesses. And Sabo is the exact opposite of me. His only strength lies in close combat. Whereas my only strength lies in fighting from a distance.

“I'm sorry”, I finally said. There was not much else I could have said. Lara is almost immune to most thoughts of pride. Her [Calm Mind], if not actively suppressed, allows her to do the, for her, most logical during times of stress. It does not make her think more logical. Her acts are without anger, sadness or other emotions. What she does are her basic wants, uninfluenced by emotions. She has to suppress her skill if she wants to feel something. Only her love to me is strong enough to constantly be above the influence of the skill. She once joked that she would have been obsessed with me without her skill, probably mentally ill and not able to have a relationship at all. A true yandere. But I'm the same, she is the first to love me for being me, did so much for me, only to be with me and hurt herself so that we could be together. I would and will do anything for her.

Even if it means losing or giving up. I will not like it, yet for my Lara I will do anything!

She gave me an accepting smile, another deep kiss and then sat down next to me. For a moment she was thinking about something, before placing my head on her chest. She was warm and her scent calming. I really love to sleep in this position, while hearing her heartbeat. She began to stroke my hair and started to explain what we will do against this problem. “We're going to think up a few strategies for our respected weaknesses. I'll ask Fiara for a gun that will allow me to energise the electrons of a metal tube and then use it as a gauss-gun.

While you can try to use multiple metal pebbles as a flying defence. Let them rotate around your body and use them to deflect or attack incoming attacks. You could add knives or condensed metal as well. Use this air wall, but with more than one layer.

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Your goal should be an impenetrable defence, while I will try to at least distract or wound an enemy in the distance. My work with sound is progressing nicely after that comes light. And just because your attacks on the mind did not work on Sabo does not mean that you should stop working on them.

Not a lot of people can maintain their Armament Haki for such a long time, with Sabo's strength and on their whole body. It will be the perfect attack against large groups of low-level enemies.” I hummed in agreement, not really listening to everything. The sound of her heart, the soft fingers between my hair, her warmth and her secure hug made me sleepy.

She said something else, something about the adjustment of our training regime, but I was no longer listening, too tired and comfortable to do so. I think sleeping some more like this will be great.

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Sabo's POV;

I had the strong desire to scratch the itch under my bandaged hands. But Josef, the doctor of the Kage Pirates, somehow always knew when I wanted to try and glared at me. He ripped the patch up from this islands doctors right off, cursed these quacks to heaven and hell and then bandaged me all over again, after cleaning my wounds and putting a salve on it. The salve is going to help to heal my bones, I got a jar with it and, if it works, am so going to give some of it to the doctors in our base.

We were on the Shadow, sitting on a table in the kitchen. Jonny, Yosaku, Josef, Hack and Koala were with me. Nojiko was planning some new course, the Tontatta girl, Fiara, said she will tinker some more with the dials and the hen was taking a bath in her sand bath bowl.

Koala was watching me like a hawk, taking care that I am not using my hands. “I can't believe how stupid you are. Sure, we need the Devil Fruit, but not enough for you to fight to the death, against a friend!” She was raging at me for not stopping the fight earlier, claiming that I could have beaten Lia faster.

“Koala, there was no way for me to win faster or with less damage to both of us. I thought she will be able to evade my [Dragon Spear], at least not get stabbed in the stomach. How should I have known that she would continue the fight with such a big wound?” I retorted for the first time, slightly annoyed at her.

Lia was unrelenting and slippery. Getting a hit in was almost impossible. She was using Observation Haki and Kami-e at the same time. Only my training against Marine Skill users and my own, way weaker, Observation Haki made it possible for me to hit her at all. And even then it was almost never where I wanted to.

I'm grateful for my high stamina, otherwise, I would not have been able to keep a full body Haki coating for such a long time. Having seen the fight between Lia and Koala, in combination with Lara's explanation, also saved me from an early loss.

The things she can do to someone's mind or body are frightening. Dying because your heart can't bring up enough pressure to pump the blood is the perfect assassination. Everyone would think it was a simple heart failure.

Her pebbles were as strong as a cannonball, only faster and harder to catch. And those were her standard attacks. Her last one, I'm not counting the half unconsciousness throw, pierced a full powered [Dragon Guard]. And her shoulder was wounded at that time. I would be dead if she was unwounded or a single second slower.

That one was the only attack that seriously tried to kill me. While I had to use serious [Dragon Claws] from almost the start, and even then only managed to break one shoulder and wound the other. And my [Dragon Spear] is also no slouch in its piercing strength.

And then there was Lara after the fight. My Observation Haki screamed at me to do nothing and say nothing. The air and ground around her were vibrating and trembling. I knew, simply knew, that she would have killed me, had I said anything else but an apology. She wasn't even aware of it, but some pebbles next to her were disintegrating into dust.

If Lia is stronger in the distance, and even this good in close combat, then I don't want to know a serious Lara in her element. Her use with weapons was good, and she had used a wide variety during her block fight. And those were without Haki or her Devil Fruit. Her bounty poster said she was a sword fighter, how strong is she with her sword? Her shirasaya looks to be at least on par with the Wazamono grade swords, yet I have never seen or heard of it.

“You'll have to apologise to Lia when she is feeling better”, started Koala again. It was the third time she said that I had already agreed after the first one.

"It will be hard to evade the Marines after the tournament with you being this wounded. And there will be Marines, your face is known and the Kage Pirates themselves have a high enough bounty. We need their help in escaping,” I nodded at the right places and was about to scratch my hands when another glare and cough of Josef stopped me.

“I wouldn't apologise to Lia if I were you,” advised Jonny. He and Yosaku were so far silent. Glaring at me for hurting one of their own, but also understanding that there was no other way to stop Lia. They still had the aura of an older brother that promises agonising pain if you hurt their sister again. Both may be weaker than me, but the determination in their eyes was real.

“Why?”, asked Hack, he had finished the main job we came here for and was using the Shadow as our base. Lara said yesterday that she wouldn't mind, as long as we don't damage anything and leave our rooms clean. Is that offer still standing?

“Lia is prideful, apologising for winning against her will further wound her pride. She will take it as an insult. It would be the best to say nothing, but also don't act as if nothing happened. You'll better evade her, don't seek her out. You won't stay, so solving a possible problem between you two has no priority. Give her time and she might accept her defeat.” Explained Josef.

“Yeah, she will either act as if nothing happened or she will carry a grudge against you. If that's the case then you are dead. If Lia doesn't kill you, then Lara will for sure. Lara got hurt once, in a fight between her and a Vice Admiral, at that time Lia was also enraged. The island we were fighting on is now rubble. She destroyed the whole thing. Hurting one of them will put you on their to kill list.” Added Yosaku, it did not make me feel better.

But his words also stirred a memory, there was a Marine research facility we had under watch, even had a spy inside. We lost contact with him and later found out that the whole base was destroyed. Apparently, the Vice Admiral Momonga was so badly wounded that he needed a long time to recover. We never found out what they researched, we were satisfied with the destruction of the facility.

Our spy was most likely killed by one of them, he would have to fight alongside the other Marines to not blow his cover. An unfortunate loss, but that is something we all risk while being undercover.

“Okay, I'm gonna evade her, any idea of how I can speak to Lara?”, I asked. Evading Lia is okay, hopefully, she won't hold a grudge.

All three thought for a moment and then sighed. Jonny answered my question. “You won't be able to. Lara will hover around Lia for the next few days. She won't leave her side willingly. Maybe during the tournament, but then you have to fight her. Which risk being killed by her.”

Great, what now? I wanted to ask her to take us with them, at least until we can contact a ship of our own or to the next island. But asking her with Lia nearby won't be good. I was contemplating a possible solution when I found one. It had orange hair and wide eyes, it was also kinda liked by Lara. “Koala, you will have to speak with Lara. Make sure she will give us passage until we can reach our allies.”

Her large eyes grew some bigger at the prospect of speaking to an angered Lara. She was kinda wary of Lara after the hands-off warning she got from her, for flirting with Lia. “Do I have to? Can't Hack do it?”

“Nope, she does not know me enough”, answered Hack.

“You might want to let her suckle on your fist, Lara has a strange fixation on them. Do they taste so good?”, asked Jonny with an amused grin.

“No! She was just doing that all the time during our time on Tiger's ship. She was teething at the time and it must have soothed her gums,” protested Koala while waving around with her arms. Koala told me about the time on Fisher Tiger's ship and how she had met the twins. Said that both were eerily mature for their age and that Lara often used her as a hug pillow, even when she was unresponsive at that time.

“You'll have to, you are the only one that can ask them. I'm not exactly on good terms with them and Hack is right, they do not know him enough.” I said, half ordered. Koala sighed and nodded in acceptance.

“But only when Lia is good enough to stay awake. I am not stupid and ask Lara when it is still unknown how Lia feels”, she conditioned. I agreed, speaking with them before that would not bring any positive results.