Lara's POV;

I noticed that Lia was again asleep. I was just about to ask her if she wants to learn how to use a spear, it will allow her to keep her enemies at a distance. Well, I can always ask later. For now, she has to rest. Knowing that she is fine and understands that her false pride was stupid is good enough.

I moved into a more comfortable position while being careful to not wake or hurt Lia. And then closed my eyes as well. Speaking to Sabo or anyone else will have to wait until tomorrow. I still want to kill him, but most likely am not allowed to.

Lia woke me up in the next morning, she was giving my neck soft kisses and one of her hands was on my left breast, she was rubbing it tenderly. “Stop it, Lia, Jo said we aren't allowed to have sex until you are better. The muscle contractions of an orgasm can reopen your wound.”

She groaned angrily and started to give me a love bite. I grabbed her head and moved her up. She was looking at me with large pleading eyes while rubbing herself against me. “But I want to”, she pleaded, her tone needy.

It took me all of my willpower to not cave in but ultimately managed. “Not until Jo says that you are allowed to,” I said, gave her a quick kiss and fled the bed. She looked after me, one arm outstretched and a look of pure disappointment on her face.

“I know how much you like sex, but I don't find blood sexy, especially not yours. So bear with it, maybe Jo will allow you to do it tomorrow. We are healing a lot faster than a normal human.” I tried to placate her. She didn't look happy but stood slowly up as well. “I'll call Jo, he will take another look at your wound and then I will make some breakfast”, I said while pulling some pants on.

“Ask Nojiko for breakfast, you will only make fried chicken or grilled chicken”, called Lia after me. What is wrong with grilled chicken for breakfast?

I found Jo inside the kitchen, they have already made breakfast and were eating. I greeted them with a wave, glared briefly at Sabo and then turned to Jo. “Morning, Jo, could you take a look at Lia? She is good enough to move again, and wants to ask you something.”

He ate what he had left in his mouth and then stood up. “Sure, she will also need to eat to regain her strength.” I nodded and made two plates of food, before following Jo back to our room.

There I found a slightly red Jo and a disappointed looking Lia. She must have asked him already and he must have said no. Too bad for her. He had already taken her bandages off and was inspecting her wound. It wasn't healed, but the skin was starting to close and the colour was back.

“It heals well, very well. You might be able to do what you asked me to do in a day or two if it keeps up to heal this good.” Said Jo with a still slightly red face and a lot of wonder about our healing ability.

“It still amazes me how fast you two heal. I don't have any other long-ear humans to compare to, but I don't think that this is normal. Well, it is only good for you. But my order still stands, not more than kissing Lia. The tremors that can come during an orgasm can reopen your wounds. You were stabbed only yesterday. You should be able to live without sex for a week”, he then said and gave me a look as well, telling me to not cave into her desires. That's mightily hard, I don't know if I can do that. And I will not suggest that I might be able to stop the vibrations.

He gave me a weak smile, he must have guessed what I have thought. “Lara, Koala wants to speak with you. She wants to ask if they can stay on our ship until a ship of their own can fetch them. We all know that once the tournament is over this place will be crawling with Marines. And Sabo is in no condition to defend himself. If I'm honest then I think that Lia is already better than him.”

So they will send Koala, Sabo must not want to come near Lia. Good, I don't want him anywhere close to her as well. Not when I am not around. “She can come when she wants. And ask her if Sabo wants to surrender his fight.” I replied and sat the plates with food down on a nearby table. Lia had clothed herself in the meantime and sat down on the other end.

“Will do,” said Jo while waving over his back and walking out of the room. He still had half of his plate left to eat.

We were halfway done when it knocked on our door. It opened after a yes from my side and Koala peeked in. She looked fairly meek and unsure of what to do. “Morning, can I come in?”

I gave her a nod and she stepped inside. She had her hands clasped in front of her and was twisting her thumps. “Eh, good to see that you are better Lia”, she started. Lia grunted in acknowledgement. Not looking up from her book.

“Jo said you wanted to ask if you three can stay with us until a ship of your friends can pick you up?”, I asked and gestured for her to sit down.

She nodded and sat in the chair I gestured to. “Yes, the Marines will start to hunt anyone with a bounty the moment this tournament is over. With Sabo this wounded, we won't be able to escape unharmed.”

“Hmm, it's almost sure that I will get the Devil Fruit. You've said that your group wanted it. What if I want to keep it?” I asked. If it's useful I want to have it. Maybe one of my crew wants it. And if it is really cool then I will eat it myself.

“The fruit was our secondary objective. We already finished what we came for. Losing it is not the best, but at least it won't get into unknown hands.” She replied, sounding honest.

“You can buy it off of our hands if no one of us wants it then. But only if you tell me who's group you belong to,” I continued. Let's see if she will answer honestly. I can't see why she would not. We are pirates and also against the World Government.

She looked at me, unblinking and with way more serious than what I have ever seen her, when she answered me. “We belong to the Revolutionary Army. Sabo, Hack and I are a task group that specialises in sabotage and destruction, sometimes also information gathering.”

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“Called it”, chirped Lia from her couch. Koala looked at her, slightly bewildered that they were already found out.

“What did you expect? You've asked us what we thought about the Revolutionary Army. And were fairly pleased with our answer. And while Sabo may not be one of the highest members of your group, he is still a commanding officer. That makes someone fairly known and Sabo is anything but unrecognisable. His large hat and pipe weapon are fairly distinctive.

I'm kinda surprised that the World Government didn't try something already.” I answered for Lia. I went out and fetched a whole stack of active bounty posters after finding out that our own bounty rose. Sabo's was one of those, he currently has a bounty of 350 million. If I remember correctly then his bounty will have risen up to over 600 million during the Dressrosa arc.

Koala looked a little embarrassed. “Ehehe, well, you're right. The World Government might have wanted to sent more but we came in the last minute and made that impossible. Only what they already had on the island is going to fight us. And whatever they were able to gather from around the island in the four days since we came.”

At least we won't have to fight some Admiral then. Hopefully no Vice Admiral as well. “Which might be quite a lot. They knew about this tournament and might have more ships on patrol than normally. And Smoker will also be on our asses. Do you know Haki or are you good enough in fishman karate to hit a Logia user?”

She nodded. “Yes, both Hack and I are good enough for that. This Commodore Smoker is said to be a strong fighter.”

I had to laugh a little. Smoker may look strong for anyone who doesn't know how to fight. “Not really. The last time we run across him he was way too reliant on his Devil Fruit. He likes to enclose his enemy in a ring of smoke and then attack from within the smoke. His jute has a sea stone tip, makes it way harder than stone and also dangerous for Devil Fruit user.”

She nodded, happy to have some information on a possible enemy before she has to fight him. “So you'll allow us to stay on board?” She then asked, making sure that she wasn't reading to much in between the lines. I had not yet said that they could stay.

“You can, but Sabo's stay won't be a comfortable one. And he has to stay away from Lia and me if possible”, I answered. There are some things I will test out on him.

“That's okay, he deserves it for hurting a friend”, Koala agreed with a giggle. “But please don't do anything that really hurts him.” She then added after remembering that both Lia and I can be quite vindicated.

I waved her off, what I am about to do will be highly embarrassing, not much more. With that done I stood up and faced the still reading Lia.“Lia, we have to speak with the crew about a fighting plan. You are not allowed to take any physical part in the fight, but you can use your Devil Fruit powers.”

She nodded, put the book away and all three of us walked out of the room. We called a meeting and waited for everyone to come into the kitchen. The crew took a look at the way better looking Lia but said nothing. Knowing that it wasn't a topic that she will like to speak about.

“We're gonna give Koala and her friend's lodging until they can meet up with their friends. They are part of the Revolutionary Army and will be hunted more than we are.” I began once everyone was sitting. Jo wasn't looking surprised. Jonny, Noa, Yosaku and Nojiko were and Fiara didn't know what the Revolutionary Army was, so we explained it to her quickly.

“So what are we gonna face?”, asked Jo after everyone was in the know about the rebellion against the World Government. None of them was against them staying. Seems like Koala, Sabo and Hack were quite liked.

“Smoker, Tashigi and the local Marine base at the least. They will try and stop us from setting sail, most likely attacking the moment the tournament is officially declared over. And then a few ships out on the sea, those are the patrol ships that normally sail around. Their number is unknown.

There will be some captains and maybe a few higher ranked Marines on these ships. However, it is unlikely that we will fight them face to face. They will try to sink us with superior firepower.”

Fiara raised one of her metal arms and I nodded for her to ask her question. “Are those people who are bad and want to hurt us?” I nodded again and she began to smile brightly. “Then they will burn in a fiery death of napalm and splinters.” Ah, every crew needs a Tontatta, they are so loveable. Hack, who was sitting next to her, was staring at the tiny woman as if she has said something strange.

“Hack and Koala will mostly protect Sabo or man the cannons. I'll take the Devil Fruit and we will decide later what we will do with it. There is no need for any of you to be inside the arena as well. You'll have to protect the ship.

Mrs Chicken Wing, you'll take the third place. I'm gonna take your money with us and give it to you later. I'd like to ask you to protect Lia. She is able to use her Devil Fruit, but not allowed to move too much.” The hen puffed out her chest feathers and fluttered over to Lia, where she sat down on her head. Lia's left shoulder was still cracked and Mrs Chicken Wing doesn't know that the right one was already healed.

I then turned to Hack, Sabo and Koala. “I've seen Sabo use Geppo, are you two also able to use it?” They both said no, so I changed the plan slightly.

“Okay, then only Sabo and I will take the money. We will use Geppo to get back, mid-flight I will have to protect us from bullets or Smoker, but that should not be a problem. You can already set sail the moment we leave. Wait inside the harbour but be prepared to leave the moment we come close.”

All of them nodded. If this goes right then we only have to face the fleet of Marine ships.

Sabo was about to say something, but I started my tiny revenge. I applied some small vibrations to the hairs inside his nose. The tickle made him sneeze. He tried to speak again but had to sneeze for the second time.

I stopped after that, more and they might notice something. Sabo will sneeze a lot more while he is on our ship. And there are other things that will be annoying.

He opened his mouth, waiting for a sneeze that won't come, and then spoke. “I just wanted to thank you for taking us in. Escaping the Marines in our current condition would be hard without you.”

I refrained from telling him that it was his fault that they have this problem. Instead, I choose to say nothing. Yosaku and Jonny stated that this was the normal thing to do.

Sabo and I left soon after. We reached the arena and noted that there were way more Marines present than the days before. All of them were eyeing us and tense. “It's as if none of them even know the word of subtlety. They all are practically shouting that they want to apprehend us.” I only grunted, not in the mood to speak with Sabo. Is there some way to humiliate him now, without risking his death?

We both walked to the organisers and told them that Sabo and Lia are in no condition to fight. That will bring Mrs Chicken Wing the third prize, Sabo the second and me the first one. They, already expecting such a thing, agreed to call the fights off. There is no need for a great spectacle when there were no fights.

Sabo got his 50 million Berry, I got Mrs Chicken Wing's 10 million for safekeeping and I also got a small chest. It contained the Devil Fruit.

One of the organizers then brought a book out of a bookcase and showed me a specific page. “This is the Devil Fruit you've won. And while it might be possible to tell you what it can do, it would not have much credit. That is why we have here one of the rare Devil Fruit Encyclopedias.” I whistled in appreciation. That one would match well with mine, Lia's or even work well for Jo.

“Thanks, and sorry”, I said with a sweet smile and knocked the organizer out before he could even look up from the book. The other organizer began to scream, before being knocked out as well.

Sabo, not knowing why I did that, stayed silent for the moment. I appreciated that and tucked the book into my backpack. I only had enough time to close the zipper, when the door crashed open.

Two of this islands guards came running inside. One had a sword drawn, the other had his hands transformed into cat-like paws.

They spotted the downed organizers and got battle ready. “They are only knocked out. You can either fight and die or let us go”, I told them calmly. They hesitated but ultimately decided to attack.

I drew my sword, cut the blade of the swordsman in half, as well as his body. And then swished my finger at the cat Zoan user. It generated a small force blade, enhanced by my vibrations. The greenish-blue blade raced at the second attacker. He placed his claws in the was and cried out in pain, when his chest was cut open after his claws were cut off.

I glanced over at Sabo, who was still silent and then stepped over the bleeding men. Sabo followed me.