"During your last mission, Cervantes and Dumas were sent to Wano. You were involved and even sliced Dumas' arm, correct?"
The incidents in Wano are still revered in her mind. Dumas de Montecristo wasn't a man she had shared a lot with during her childhood, but it was someone she well enough to realise something wasn't right with him that night.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Didn't you notice something wrong with him?"
After a moment of consideration, Hawk-eye came back with a conclusion, "He didn't recognise me, his swordsmanship way more dull and lifeless than I remember and the control of his devil fruit was lacklustre at best".
"I see".
"Although I only faced him once during a spar, he was far weaker than what I'd expect from a Knight of God. My father always spoke marvels about his strength, so... I was disappointed to realise it took little effort from me to defeat him".
"The truth is, Dumas de Montecristo died twenty years ago in an incident that took place in South Blue it was related to Gol D. Roger and one of his infamous rivals at that time, his name is Bryndi World and he's currently imprisoned in Impel Down... the two of them together slay Dumas in the South Blue".
"..."
"That was what we believed until he appeared in front of us once again a few months later... as if nothing had happened. But he acted oddly ever since. It wasn't only him... Hendricks, Davi, Dorian, Hugo... Maximus. All of them, the comrades I once knew are gone one way or another died under unknown circumstances only to come back like completely different people... most recently, Maximus. I can't even hold a regular conversation with them about the past... and I don't know where they are most of the time. There is a lot of secrecy and I feel like I'm the only one kept in the shadows, when I ask Garling he evades me".
"Isabel..."
"I no longer feel safe in Marie Geoise, Mihawk... I feel I'll be the next one".
With the expression she was making, even Mihawk was not cold enough to just ignore her, she walked to her side and sat next to her reassuringly.
"You know I don't care about my own life... I have lived enough. But if I'm gone... what will happen to my family? The Donquixote, the Dorotialis... your Dracule Family-"
"Can't you let go?"
That mere question made Isabel flinch and she bit her lips before releasing her hand from within Mihawk's in protest.
"You know I can't. My honour is at stake".
"What's the use of honour... for a cause you no longer feel proud fighting? Not that thing that's currently in his body. Would my father have approved of the current Marie Geoise?"
"Your father approved the massacre in God Valley".
"My father followed orders, Isabel. Don't confuse yourself, no... don't fool yourself".
"..."
It was clear Isabel wasn't willing to attend to reason any time soon.
"My father... could it have been some sort of heretic resurrection technique?"
"I don't know..."
"Have you seen Cervantes since that incident?"
"I only know that he lost his life against Veyron's devastating onslaught of Onigashima. That white lightning-"
"That's a lie..."
"Huh?"
Mihawk's eyebrows flinched as she gnashed her teeth, recalling that night.
"It is a lie. I saw him... I saw Garling carrying Cervantes' deceased body and he wasn't murdered by Veyron's attack, he was murdered by the sword... Garling's sword".
!!!
"Garling... killed Cervantes...?"
For her it was inconceivable. It was a sin among the order. As the head of the knights, Garling had the right to prosecute the other knights under a royal court. But he didn't have the authority to slaughter a knight in cold blood, that was just a crime.
'He committed that crime and kept it shut! How many have you killed, Garling!?'
She felt her blood begin to boil and that was when Mihawk took her hand again.
"Before this, what did Cervantes think about those incidents? About the deaths of the other knights, didn't you try to talk to him about that?"
"He and I haven't ever been the best friends. We held radical opposing views of the Ancient Kingdom's Conquest centuries ago, that hatred had only prolongated to the modern days. Even if I suspected something, he would be the last person I'd talk to... I spoke to Maximus because the first to die a hundred years ago was Hendricks but at that time I could have never thought there was anything shady behind it. It could have been an accident... with the D clan gaining momentum, we could be getting targeted..."
"It is possible that Cervantes may have been moving his own deck of cards behind yours and everyone's back?".
"What do you mean?"
"The national tribute, Donquixote Doflamingo, Kaido... there is something there we aren't seeing, we're not the only players in this chessboard, Isabel. Perhaps you coming to me was the best you could have done".
"I didn't come to you... Veyron came to me".
"..."
'I guess I can't judge him for this'.
"What are you plotting with Garling? I know you two had been in contact behind Lord Imu's back for the years you served as the 2nd Knight".
"We weren't plotting anything. I owed him favours... I naively thought my father would be proud of me if I held that title... but not any longer, that's why I resigned. I no longer care about Marie Geoise. As you can see there is something more important for me here".
She spread her arms and the cosiness of the mansion seemed to irradiate from her all the way to Isabel.
"I understand... you have your own family. I wish mine was this warm".
"You're welcome here".
"I'm stained and dirty. Veyron wouldn't accept me... those snake girls wouldn't accept me. We are incompatible. Leave things as they are, Mihawk. If something works, don't fix it".
The ninth knight then stood up.
"Where are you going?"
"I'll find a room for myself... I don't want to be in the way of a husband and wife's evening".
With clear steps, she walked two strides before disappearing from the room as if she had never been there.
"..."
Mihawk looked at the place she had been and regarded her own hands and their origin.
'I'm also a celestial dragon... even if I'm not like her... I'm stained too'.
**
**
Veyron had been lying down calmly on the bed, looking at the ceiling when the door opened smoothly, giving in the sight of a lady standing at the edge of the room, looking at him.
Mihawk looked neutral, he imagined by now she would be a bit stricken by the fact that her father was still alive. But she didn't look even a bit stumbled.
"Mom? How are you feeling?".
"A bit odd..."
His eyebrows flinched thinking she was so sad that words couldn't even portray it. Using his powers he made her levitate towards him until she was sitting next to him on the bed. A warm hug received her and shocked her a little bit.
"It's okay Mom".
"Veyron-".
"Everything will be okay. I'll make sure you don't have to deal with it-".
"I'm not sad".
"A-Aren't you?"
She shook her head and separated from him a bit, taking both of his cheeks in her grasp before a firm loving kiss was planted on his lips for longer than estimated.
"If it is about my father... I have already mourned him for years. I've come to terms with his departure, just like my mother's... his being alive now doesn't change anything. That thing is not my father... and when the time comes I'll eradicate it before it can even think about staining his noble name".
"Is that... so?".
"Yes... what I see in front of me is what I really care about, not the past, son".
"Then why do you feel odd?".
"About that..."
!!!
He felt a hand grasping his crotch and disbelief inundated his mind. Was this the place and time?!
"I feel odd that until now I hadn't looked at you that way. I have loved you for years like a mother and like a wife. Ever since I found you I never thought about it, even after it was confirmed".
"..."
"You're a half lunarian... you're the enemy of my ancestors. I never participated in that fight, but my ancestors, the primal members of the Dracule Family, once were mortal enemies of the wing race living on top of the red line. The Lunarians. Their skins were dark like yours and they also had white hair like you do... but they had wings that you don't have".
"M-Mom".
If there was ever a time he felt like a lamb in front of a predator, it was now. Her nose was subtlety rubbing along his cheeks and face as if sniffing.
"And to know my current husband and son is somehow related to that ancient enemy race. Veyron... it is making me really really horny~".
"..."
"It seems you and I have committed every taboo that could be committed, love".
"I guess we are a bit... helpless" He gulped, clawing onto her breast with a mild blush while her sinful hand began discarding his trousers.
"When love blazes like fire, it can't be controlled. I have been having some ideas after I saw Nemea's kitten today. Every time I see them, I think of the same thing,"
The lust in the room was escalating like never before with each word and each touch. Veyron thought her hawk-like eyes had never looked at him so intensely and passionately.
It was a complex gaze that made him feel like prey but in a different context.
'I can overturn the tables anytime... but for tonight, I'll let you do what you want~'
It was the message the gaze seemed to be conveying and it only materialised in whispering words that threatened to corrupt his sanity. With her hands running loose and playing with his gradually hardening member, she let out the keywords to open Pandora's box.
"Tonight it is only the two of us... so how about you fill mommy's womb up with your baby batter.. and we can have our own kittens?~ for tonight, you can do whatever you want, I won't resist... do me as you like".
Those insanity-inducing words were accompanied by her lustrous body falling on the bed and discarding her robes only to remain in that black see-through baby doll with her eyes closed and waiting to be devoured.
All she heard before the party started was a slight gnashing swallowing gulp of saliva that could only be elicited by a thirsty beast.
'Say no more...!'