Chapter 1

l'm almost there Belle-mere-san. Almost. Only 7 thousand berries left. You'll see...

Weirdly those thoughts didn't help Nami brighten up her mood. After venting out her frustration on her sister's kitchen, Nami was silently sitting in the middle of her mess trying to erase from her mind memories of a certain crew. But the laughs they shared, the days they spent on that cute boat just kept on coming back to her. She couldn't help herself from picturing Luffy grinning like an idiot, Usopp spouting his ridiculous lies all the time. She could even hear Zoro's stupid snores in the back ground.

It took everything she had to stop the tears from falling. Would they welcome her after everything? Surely not. They thought she had stabbed their friend. Zoro had looked at her with such emotionless eyes. Even Usopp had glared at her in rage. Their expressions had killed all her hopes of one day sailing with them again. They even had already found a replacement. She had been shocked to see that blond cook with them. She had been even more shocked when the young man had stood up against Zoro for her. However she had quickly guessed his reasons. He was just a disgusting womanizer trying to get in her pants.

They had found that stupid playboy to replace her, but why did Luffy insist on staying. Why couldn't he just believe her lies. And stay out of her business. Why couldn't he just stop acting like her captain and just leave her alone? She had a job to accomplish. So now wasn't the time for crying. She'll be able to cry or laugh only after finishing her mission. Right now those four idiots were in the way. And she had to do something about it.

A loud crash from outside startled her out of her day dreaming. She quickly stood up and ran out of the house. Outside, she was stunned to see a dozen of marines searching around Bellemere's garden. A rat man was ordering them around.

" Come on men! We need to find those berries! Dig everywhere! The treasure shouldn't be very far."

Nami couldn't believe her eyes. Those damn marines were going to hurt Bellemere's tangerine trees while looking for the berries she worked so hard to find. She couldn't let this happen, not after all she went through to get this far.

" What are you doing! That is MY treasure. You can't touch it! I'm one of Arlong's top officers, if he hears about this ... "

But the man just ignored her threats and confidently smirked at her.

" You might be one of Arlong's crew mates, but you're also a thief that steals from pirates. So logically your 990 000 rightfully belongs to the marine. "

Nami's eyes widened in surprise at his words. Her voice started to tremble.

"How... How do you know the precise amount?" She half noticed Nojiko and Genzo approaching but she chose for the moment to focus completely on the marine's next answer.

" I estimated it would be equal to that by now. You see awhile ago your captain and I had a little agreement. I'm just doing my part." His smirk never leaving his face. His words could only mean one thing. All this time Nami had been working for a lost cause. Arlong was never really going to keep his promise. She had been completely fooled.

" You can't do this, those berries are meant to save the village!" Genzo yelled his face red from anger.

" You knew?" Nami asked her old friend in disbelief.

" The whole village knew. We didn't tell you because we didn't want to put pressure on you if one day you wanted to run away..." He told her gently.

The marines just kept on searching around them ignoring Nojiko's pleas to stop. Nami didn't know what to feel or think anymore. On one hand she wanted to crawl in a ball and cry her eyes out and on the other hand she was seething in rage, she wanted to yell at Arlong make him admit that he had broke his promise. Her rage won in the end. So she headed to Arlong Park.

The boys were laying on the grass not very far from Nami's village. Luffy and Zoro were sleeping completely oblivious to the world. Sanji and Usopp were discussing what they had just learned about Nami's situation from Nojiko who had come to give them some more bandages and medicine in case they had been hurt during their altercations with the fishmen . After discovering the truth, everything had become a thousand times clearer. From Nami supposedly betraying them to her saving Usopp from Arlong's men. Sanji blew out a puff of smoke before talking.

" Nami-san. She's been through hell these past eight years. We can't let this continue."

Usopp nodded in agreement. He went to wake up the two sleeping boys while Sanji picked up the bandages that were left.

" What is it?" Luffy asked his long nosed friend.

" Let's go and try and find Nami-san, she might be at the village. She needs our help." Sanji suggested while dusting off his pants. Luffy didn't answer directly. He just got up and started walking. He took the lead of their little group, a serious expression on. The others just followed their captain in silence.

As they neared the village, they could hear a commotion happening in the middle of the main street. They easily recognized Nami's desperate voice.

" NO. STOP! Please. You can't do this. You'll die!" she yelled at the crowd of angry villagers standing in front of her. She was facing them, arms wide open trying miserably to dissuade her friends from going to fight the fishmen. But it was no use. They all just answered her pleas with a determined look and walked passed her holding in their hands knives and pitchforks.

Nami couldn't believe what was happening. Her plan was crumbling. Everything she had spent years building and protecting was slowly burning to ashes. She couldn't stop all the anger and frustration from finally bursting out. She fell to her knees. In tears. In shock. In desperation. Her hand automatically reached for her tattoo. Her fingers violently gripped the disgusting thing. Every where she went the sick design that was carved in her shoulder would remind her of Arlong's power over her. It would make her remember of all the people that suffered under his cruel reign. And now it only served as a reminder of her loosing the dash of hope she had left.

Anger and hopelessness completely overwhelmed her making her pickup the knife laying next to her, and unceremoniously start stabbing her tattoo with it. Tears of anguish dropped to the floor, mixing with her blood to form a disturbing pinkish circle around the crying girl. She completely ignored the four men standing silently and still on the side of the street. Well three of them now, because Luffy had chosen to finally interfere. He walked behind her and grabbed forcefully her arm holding the bloody weapon away from her arm. He kept it in a steady hold above her head.

"Don't interfere Luffy!..."

She kept on yelling at them, insulting them, trying to make them go away. She threw sand in the boy's direction. She did everything to try and avoid the eyes of her former crew mates. It was so hard. Her tears doubled. And Luffy didn't do anything or say anything. He just kept on staring at her. But they weren't the usual brown full of mirth she always saw. No these ones were completely filled with determination and his will to help his crew mate in need. Nothing was going to stop him from saving his navigator.

At that realization, her shoulders dropped in relief. He wanted to help her they were going to help her. He was just waiting for her to ask.

"Luffy…please help me…" she begged between sobs.

"OF COURSE I WILL!" He yelled in reply pumping his two fists in the sky. She stared in awe at her captain, touching softly the straw hat that was now laying on her head. The captain was letting her wear his treasure. This could only mean that he had forgiven her.

They all one by one started to turn around and walk in Arlong Park's direction. Their somber gazes set in front of them. Except for one. Before following his new captain's steps, the blond cook chose to get something out of his pocket and place it in front of her. This action left her feeling confused. When her crewmates' backs were finally out of sight. Nami finally reach out for the object. Her eyebrows rose in surprise when she identified the object as a roll of white clean bandages and some medical salve.

Nami spent the next ten minutes patching herself up and calming herself down. He cheeks were not tear stained anymore. Her right hand was tightly holding her fighting staff whereas her left had been clumsily covered in the white cloth. She made sure that Luffy's hat was safely in place before running to where everybody else was.

Arlong is going to pay for ruining my and Bellemere-san 's life.

She could hear the fighting before even seeing it. Loud crashes and yells were coming from the huge building. All the villagers were standing at the entrance.

"What did I miss ?" she yelled to them while going to stand in front of the crowd so that she could have a better what was going on.

" Big sis Nami!" The two bounty hunters cheered at her arrival. They quickly caught her on on everything.

" So you see Big sis Nami, the mayor and your sister are down there trying to save Brother Luffy. The cook still has to fight that karate fishman and Zoro wants to do it but he' s to injured !"

Of course Zoro couldn't do it! He looked liked someone whose rib cage had been pried open ! How could he even still stand? She knew that he was ten times stronger than the average man but he was still human. He wasn't invincible to blood loss.

She was horrified to see that Kuroobi was still standing unscratched. This was not good. Between all of Arlong's crewmates he was the cruelest. She remembered all the times he had tried to convince Arlong to get rid of her in the worst ways possible. The others were strong but he was strong and smart, which was never a good combination for a sadistic person like him. An uninjured Zoro or undrowning Luffy might have had a chance of beating him. But that didn't seem possible right now. They needed Luffy out of the water.

" I need to go help them!" She mumbled. She was stopped by the two bounty hunter brothers.

"No Big sis! They are fighting for you right now, the last thing they would want is for you to get hurt. We normal humans don't stand a chance." They created a wall with their bodies preventing her from running to help her crewmates.

In a way they were right. She would only get in Zoro's way. But that didn't mean she couldn't at least try to distract Kuroobi from killing the swordsman. But it was already too late, Kuroobi was already behind the swordsman ready to strike. However his powerful move was interrupted by the blond cook's kick. Did he just stop the Fishman's punch with his foot?!