1 - Crocodile and Yvonne

It was the strangest feeling - to want Crocodile to keep holding her for a bit longer and at the same time wish that he'd let go of her faster. Yvonne silently got up from the bed on the opposite side, momentarily lost in her own thoughts.

She blinked, slightly turning towards him when he was the first to speak. When his first words to her turned out to be a greeting. She was taken by surprise - up until then, the first thing he'd say as soon as they were both awake would be something regarding their next move, the direction to take, the following island. The instinctive little smile that tugged at the corner of her lips surprised her even more. "Good morning", she answered in kind.

She turned back to face away from him again, proceeding to wear her gloves back on her hands and slip her shoes on. "Will you have breakfast here?", she asked then as she picked up her jacket from the nearby chair. It wasn't an invitation, she just wished to know if his men would be there already to fetch him.
That's what she sternly told herself.

Crocodile wished he heard the hint of a smile in Yvonne's answer, but he didn't turn around to confirm it, instead finishing to dress himself up.

Once he was done, he finally faced her again, and arched a brow at her question. "Well. Unless your colleagues are to stop by before my crew, I'd better eat something there until I get their signal."

He paused, and let out a slight smirk. "Are they?" Eh. They might have spent two weeks together, but they still had a betrayal and two years of resentment behind them as well. He wouldn't blame Yvonne if she tried to capture him, even after learning about how the Marine too had deceived her.

Yvonne had been buttoning her jacket back on when Crocodile had turned back towards her to answer her question. She glanced at him, raising a brow as well - and threw him a small smirk as well.

Ah. Right - wall back up it was, then. Some bricks could be missing now, maybe, but indeed - two weeks weren't really enough to forget how much the previous betrayal had stung.

"They're not", she answered lightly, crossing her arms on her chest. "They should get here quite late." Her smirk stayed in place. "I thought I'd heard you say I was intelligent, Crocodile. Do you truly think I'd risk having to fight you and your crew with just a handful of soldiers at my side? I'm a little offended", she added playfully.

Crocodile let out a laugh. "You're right. You'd be at a clear disadvantage." He threw his new coat on his shoulders and opened the door of their room once he was sure she'd follow him, so that they may get downstairs and have breakfast.

By the end of it, he got a brief call from Daz telling him they had reached the island. After hanging up, he looked at Yvonne for a long while, lighting himself a cigar.
"Are you going back to Marineford?"

Yvonne didn't answer right away. She silently finished her coffee, then rested the cup back on its little plate in front of her. "Yes", she answered in the end, a neutral expression on her face. "I have thought about making a little... detour towards Impel Down. Try to see if I could get those two soldiers to talk." She sighed. "But knowing the place, I doubt they're still alive or in the condition to talk at this point. My best shot is Marineford - I'll try to get some insight there. And then - then, who knows." She paused again, lifting her gaze to look at him. She offered him a little smile. "I suppose it's useless of me to ask where you're headed", she added.

Crocodile quietly listened to her, and then smirked. "Indeed, that's not the kind of information I'd give out to a Marine Officer." He took a long drag on his cigar, and then slowly pushed his snailphone towards her. He exhaled some smoke slowly before he spoke again.
"The last registered number on it is my crew's phone. Should you need someone to help you disappear... Send out your coordinates." His eyes met her own. "Needless to say I'll make sure you'd regret using it to set me up for the rest of your life."

Yvonne didn't flinch when some of the smoke of Crocodile's cigar reached her. She was too busy keeping her eyes on the portable snailphone he had left in front of her, on the table. She didn't let his last words intimidate her - not when the rest of them had been such a clear offer of help.

She smiled at him. "Promise?", she quipped back softly, poking at him for his threat. "I think we both know that's not the way I play, Crocodile. But..." She paused, reaching for the snailphone. Taking it for herself. "... I'll hold onto this, then."

Crocodile let out a slight smirk, and finally got up from his seat. "Then good luck to you, Commodore. Maybe we'll see each other in a near future." He looked at Yvonne one last time, as if he wished to remember the way she looked in that moment, and then he started to walk past her, with the intent to get out of the inn and vanish into sand as he'd get back to his crew.

"Maybe." Yvonne held Crocodile's gaze, carefully looking at him. For some reason, this goodbye felt a little more bittersweet than she had expected.

Well. For one, she was quite certain there wasn't going to be any backstabbing this once. So she could argue this was the best parting they had.

"Good luck to you, as well", she added when he turned away. "Even though I'm sure you won't need it." Luck had favored him already quite a number of times, after all.

Crocodile smiled to himself when Yvonne wished him good luck as well. He almost threw a glance over his shoulder to look at her then, but stopped himself through the motion and just got out of the inn, to vanish into sand and fly away towards the harbour, where he met with his crew again.

And when Daz asked him how things went, he remained quite evasive about it. No one needed to know that he had met with Yvonne again yet. Their past relationship had remained a secret to many, and he intended for it to stay that way.