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"Your charm is truly not to be underestimated, whether it's the male or female Marines. I can't help but want to marry you myself, Astolfo," Gion said, resting her hands on the railing with a smile.
"Marriage?" Astolfo tilted his head, then smiled. "That won't do. I want to stay by my Master's side forever. If I were ever to marry, my husband would have to be him."
He gave a bright grin as he said it.
"Ikki really is popular, isn't he? Though isn't it a bit inappropriate to say that to someone who likes him as much as I do? What if I got jealous?" Gion laughed.
"Hehe, you won't be jealous," Astolfo said, laughing.
"Why do you say that?"
"You already know I like Ikki, don't you?" Gion said.
"Call it instinct, I suppose," Astolfo said, a hand at his lips, laughing softly.
"Hehe, you really do have a keen sense for these things. Or maybe that was just an unnecessary question on my part," Gion said, shaking her head.
Everyone knew Ikki had other women in his life, and Gion had fallen for him regardless. That much was common knowledge by now. Since she was still relatively new among his circle, jealousy or resentment toward the others wouldn't have suited her, and Gion simply wasn't that kind of person besides. She was only grateful that his senior partners hadn't stood in the way of her getting close to him.
"Let's get down to business, Mr. Astolfo. I've just received the latest intelligence. The Gate of Justice between Marine Headquarters and Impel Down was forced open, which confirms what we suspected. Blackbeard really has taken his crew there," Gion said, her expression turning serious.
Her fists clenched, and a surge of anger toward Blackbeard rose in her. That this black-bearded man held a grudge against her beloved Ikki was already enough to make her dislike him.
Now he was planning to tear Impel Down apart as well, which only deepened that dislike further. At this point, she was more than ready to leave Blackbeard buried there, if it meant keeping him from ever dragging Impel Down's criminals into causing Ikki trouble down the line.
Ikki and his companions were formidable, of course, and Gion herself considered his own strength close to that of a Marine Admiral. Even so, she couldn't shake her worry that Blackbeard might still find some way to make trouble for him.
The prisoners on Level Six were genuinely terrifying, and if Blackbeard truly allied himself with people like that, the result would be a force worth fearing. Confident as Gion was in Ikki's strength, she still didn't want him anywhere near a group like that. Even if it wouldn't cost him his life, the thought of him getting hurt was enough to worry her.
"So Blackbeard Teach is already headed for Impel Down? But we're still a long way off. What should we do?" Astolfo asked, sounding concerned.
He didn't dwell on it quite as deeply as Gion did, but he shared much the same worry, that Blackbeard might do Ikki harm. As a Servant summoned by Ikki himself, he had no wish to see his Master under any kind of threat, and even without much history with Blackbeard personally, he wanted the man dealt with as quickly as possible.
"I've already thought this through," Gion said, composing herself. "Fleet Admiral Sengoku wants us watching Kaido and Shanks, and I also need eyes on Impel Down. At our current speed, we can't properly manage both at once, so we'll need to move faster."
Astolfo nodded. "Right, so how do we do that?"
Gion smiled. "I've thought about that too. Don't you have the power to summon that creature of yours? I think we could use it to get where we're going."
Astolfo set his hands on his hips. "That's not just any creature, that's the magnificent Hippogriff! You want to use the Hippogriff to carry us straight there?"
"Exactly. I want to make use of its speed. It should get us there far faster than this ship can manage."
"That's doable, but what about everyone still on this warship?"
"Already handled. I've spoken with them. The ship goes to my second-in-command, and we focus entirely on Blackbeard, Kaido, and Shanks."
"Alright, then." Astolfo nodded. "Ikki did tell me to follow your lead when I set out. Summoning the Hippogriff will draw on my own magic continuously, and once mine runs low, it'll start pulling from his. But it should only be for a short while, so it shouldn't cause any real problems."
"Right, absolutely no problem," Gion agreed.
She knew as well as anyone that if Astolfo drew on his power for too long, it would eventually eat into Ikki's own reserves. And Ikki was about to throw himself into the war between Marine Headquarters and the Whitebeard Pirates, a fight that would likely demand a great deal of his strength. If Astolfo drained too much of it beforehand, that could leave Ikki at a real disadvantage once the fighting started.
That was exactly why Gion had no intention of letting Astolfo overextend himself. If it had been possible, she would gladly have offered her own strength in Ikki's place to help power the summons. But she lacked the aptitude to form a contract with a Servant like Astolfo, so there was nothing she could do to help him on that front.
"Well, if that's how it is, let's not waste any more time," Astolfo said, drawing a deep breath and stretching his arms out before him. "Come forth, Hippogriff!"
A radiant light shone before him as he called out, and a moment later, that light took the shape of the sacred beast itself. Astolfo and Gion exchanged a glance, then leapt onto its back together. With a single beat of its wings, the Hippogriff carried the two of them off into the distance.
The sailors on the Marine warship panicked for a moment at the sight, but Gion's remaining second-in-command quickly relayed her decision to the rest of the crew, and the commotion settled just as fast. They returned to their duties without further concern.
The Hippogriff was swift. Before long, with its help, Gion had already located the target of their first mission.