"What about you, blue-haired pirate?" Vice Admiral Momousagi teased, a playful smile curling on her lips.

"I?" Esdeath pointed across the manicured green to a young man lining up his next shot. "That boy over there—Rhett Vane—is my husband."

"An older woman robbing the cradle? Interesting." Momousagi chuckled.

"Enjoy the joke while you can," Esdeath said coolly. "And you are…?"

"Vice Admiral Momousagi, Navy Headquarters." She tapped the hilt of her sword. "Codename Pink Rabbit."

"Vice Admiral, then. Let's go meet him." Esdeath's eyes gleamed. "I wonder how you'll fare once you step onto my ship."

"You mean you'd invite a Marine aboard a pirate vessel?"

"Invite?" Esdeath shook her head. "I'm here to capture you."

Momousagi laughed. "Capture me? You really think you can? Are you sure he"—she nodded toward Vane—"is even my opponent?"

"You'll know once we start."

Esdeath rested a hand on Momousagi's right shoulder. At the same moment, Kalifa slid onto the vice admiral's left, boxing her in. The trap was sprung.

---

Across the fairway on Gran Tesoro's lavish golf course, Vane sank another putt from distance. Vice Admiral Chaton whistled in admiration.

"Your game is impressive, Vane-san."

Vane offered a polite nod. "Thank you."

Chaton's orders were simple: keep the target occupied until backup from Marineford arrived. For now he played the genial sportsman, justice coat flapping over his golfing clothes.

"I've played for years," Chaton went on, "but I can't match that precision."

"Maybe you're looking at the wrong line," Vane replied, eyes still on the flag.

Chaton chuckled and tried another question, but Vane answered only when it suited him. The vice admiral found the young pirate courteous—and impossibly hard to read.

---

Back at the bench, ice bloomed from Esdeath's palm, sheathing Momousagi from the shoulders down in a crystal prison before the Marine could react.

"W-What…?" Momousagi's breath misted. She could not move.

"Surprised?" Esdeath's smile was razor-thin.

Kalifa produced a fresh towel—meant for wiping Vane's sweat—and pressed it past the vice admiral's lips, gagging her. Momousagi's protests died to muffled growls.

Around them the wealthy patrons of Tesoro's resort merely looked away. These VIPs understood their host: on Gild Tesoro's turf it was wiser not to pry.

"Did you truly think we couldn't take you, Vice Admiral?" Esdeath asked. "Overconfidence can be fatal."

Kalifa adjusted her glasses. "She's nearly forty, yet still unattached. A pity."

Esdeath chuckled. "Perfect. She can tend the decks, scrub the heads—whatever we like."

Momousagi glared, fury and disbelief warring in her eyes. She had underestimated the pair; now the cold bit into her very bones, and her Haki could not break Esdeath's grip.

Esdeath slapped her cheek—hard enough to sting, not to maim. "Lesson one: never judge a pirate by the bounty alone."

Tears welled but froze before they could fall, drawing a satisfied grin from the blue-haired sadist.

"Esdeath, enough." Kalifa motioned toward a waiting tortoise-drawn carriage. "Let's secure her in sea-stone before the ice thaws."

Esdeath hoisted the immobilized vice admiral over her shoulder and started for the carriage.

Kalifa remained to collect Vane when he finished his round. From a distance she watched Chaton and Vane converse, unnoticed. Soon, both would discover that one of their own had already been spirited away.

When Chaton finally turned, Momousagi was nowhere to be seen. He frowned, assuming she had wandered off on her own business—never suspecting that, this time, the hunter had become the prey.

---

Gran Tesoro's spotlights kept sweeping the glittering night, but no one sounded an alarm. In a city ruled by gold, silence could always be bought.

---

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