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"That puts me in a difficult spot, Ikki."
Gion pursed her lips. "Even an ordinary Devil Fruit is hard to come by. Under normal circumstances, the Marines only pick one up here and there during pirate captures, and once we have one in hand it usually gets sent up the chain pretty quickly. There's rarely a window where it just sits on the ship."
She let out a short, regretful breath. "If only you'd asked sooner. I had a Zoan-type from my last mission. I could have given you that one without a second thought. But I've already submitted it to headquarters. Right now, there's nothing aboard."
"That's a shame." Ikki scratched the back of his head, feeling the missed opportunity settle in.
Gion watched him for a moment, something shifting in her expression. She seemed to weigh something internally, and then she made up her mind.
"Ikki, if you genuinely need one, once we reach Marine Headquarters I can put in a request to have it returned."
Ikki looked up at her, surprised. "Won't that cause problems for you? You already handed it in."
'If the fruit had still been in her possession,' he thought, 'she could have handed it over without anyone being the wiser. Her superiors might not even have known she'd come back from the mission with a Devil Fruit to begin with. But the moment it was submitted, that changed. Getting it back now meant going through official channels, making requests, drawing attention. And doing all of that for the benefit of someone who held no official standing in the Marines was a different matter entirely.'
"Hehe, it's fine. Given my record of contributions, requesting one ordinary Devil Fruit back shouldn't raise any eyebrows. Even if the reason I'm reclaiming it is to give it to you."
"I'd hate for this to land you in trouble," Ikki said. "Knowing Sengoku's personality, the moment he hears I have a need for a Devil Fruit he'll find a way to attach conditions. He'll probably make it contingent on me agreeing to train more swordsmen for the Marines."
"He would. Honestly, I'd want the same thing myself. But I also understand that one ordinary Devil Fruit isn't nearly enough leverage to get you to commit to training Marines. And without a truly excellent sword to work with, your ability to develop other swordsmen is limited to begin with, so the yield would be poor regardless."
She tilted her head slightly, a light smile on her lips.
"In my view, it's better not to let Sengoku tie the fruit to that condition at all. Better to handle this as a trade between the two of us. Something different in exchange."
"I see." Ikki raised an eyebrow. "And what would you want in return, Gion?"
"You already know," she said.
She smiled, held his gaze, and raised one finger to trace a slow idle circle against his chest.
'...'
He got it immediately. She wasn't being subtle about it.
"There are Marines standing all around us watching," he said, shaking his head. "And we can't be far from Headquarters at this point. Are you sure this is the time?"
"It's fine." Gion glanced over her shoulder at the Marines nearby, who had clearly been stealing looks at the two of them throughout the conversation. The moment her eyes swept in their direction, every one of them found something else urgently fascinating to occupy their attention.
She turned back to Ikki with a pleased smile. "Everyone in the Marines already talks about us like we're a couple. The men out here aren't going to make anything of it."
"As for Headquarters, yes, we're close. But that doesn't matter. If we move along, we can wrap things up well within the time we have."
Ikki pressed his lips together. "You're confident this will be quick, are you?"
Both his life force and Gion's had climbed to a considerable level by this point. If the two of them actually went at it in earnest, running dry quickly was not particularly realistic.
"Why not find out? I've worked out some new techniques recently. Unless, of course, you've decided you don't need that Devil Fruit after all."
Ikki was quiet for a beat.
'I never expected to be negotiated with quite like this.'
It wasn't a real threat, strictly speaking. But it was close enough.
"Silence means yes," Gion said, and before he could form a response she had slipped her arm around his shoulders and steered him toward the cabin.
As they walked, she kept up a light, easy conversation. Anyone watching who didn't know the nature of things between them might have assumed she was simply strolling with a close friend, or a younger sibling she was fond of. Of course, on this particular warship, very few people would have drawn that conclusion.
Some time passed.
While Ikki and Gion were deep in their thorough discussion of life, the warship steadily closed the remaining distance. By the time they had finished, Marine Headquarters had come fully into range.
Even in the middle of everything, Ikki had not let his Observation Haki lapse. Its reach extended outward at all times, steady and automatic, and through it he could feel the weight of numerous powerful presences already gathered at the port ahead, arranged as though they had come out specifically to receive the arriving ships.
Among those signatures he picked out Hancock without difficulty, and the one he had already identified earlier in their approach as Moria.
"We're almost there," he said.
He was lying across Gion's bed, head tilted back to look up at her. "Looks like our time is just about up. I need to head back and get ready before we dock."