I am deeply sorry about the delay, but for some reason this chapter was hard for me, and bad news, the one that comes after the next it's resulting difficult to write as well. But, good news, the next chapter is almost ready to be released, it's pretty long and faster than this one, which I know it's kind of short and slow but (for me at least) necessary. Thanks to all of you who send me reviews and to the ones who follow and favorite this fic.

Chapter 6

The pain in her arm woke her up. It took her some minutes to get used to the thin strings of light coming through the curtains, illuminating the path of the floating dust moving duly around the room.

It hurted, but Nami didn't move.

It felt right. It felt peaceful. In front of her eyes, long locks of hair lay entangled over the pillow, glimmering like fire under the sun rays. Beyond them, she could see the shape of a table surrounded by three chairs. The rest was all empty space, barely filled with darkness. The air smelt of nothingness, and she could hear nothing.

Her mind was blank, refusing to picture a thing, too tired to work. Her whole body ached, specially her arm, while her palms burned when she moved her fingers. As her weary eyes got used to the lack of light, she got a glimpse of the long, smooth shapes lying over the table. The familiar smell of cheap ink reached her.

They were folios, ready to be drawn.

Her feet moved almost by themselves, taking her to the closest of the chairs that should have been replaced long ago. The pens they'd left her to work were the same she used to work with at Nojiko's house, as well as the ink.

Drawing maps always gave her moments of peace. It was something that she liked, despite of how difficult was the time she was going through. It was something she was good at, and it didn't involve anyone else. Long ago there was a time where she would leave Arlong's den just to put on paper some of the new islands she had visited, or the cities they had attacked, most of the times she wouldn't even wake her sister up, afraid of letting her see what she had become, but her maps remained in the same small study room, and it didn't matter how many materials she used, Nojiko always made sure there were more waiting there for her. Unaware of the moment in which her hands had started to move, soon there were black smooth lines over the paper, prematurely suggesting the overall shape of Doflamingo's casino.

Nami didn't look up when the door opened. She had no energy to pretend around him.

"I thought you'd be sleeping" His tone was polite, with a hint of probably feigned interest. The man didn't even ask her permission to sit down on the chair at the other side of the stained table.

Nami let him be. Drawing comforted her, the softness of the marker against the porous sheet of paper was hundreds of times more attractive than the sole idea of speaking to Trafalgar Law. She was not the one to start the conversation.

"I need to know what happened" It was a calm order, one that she didn't like, but what else could she do? she was the one to start that alliance, after all, if it could be called that way.

Giving herself some time to plan her answer, Nami left the pencil on the table and leaned her head over her now free hand, casting Law an annoyed glance.

"Smoker called me four months ago, he gave me this mission to infiltrate and investigate the abduction of twenty children from the red towns" Red towns was the name the government gave to the towns beyond the country boundaries, were nobody ruled, not even the mafias. One of those places were her friends were waiting for her now. "After two months I was supposed to be taken out of there by another infiltrated agent" It was a mechanical narration, as if she had been filling in a questionnaire, but she could see the growing frown in the man's face. "I escaped some time later on my own" She shrugged. "I didn't have any intentions of coming here, really. But you left me no choice".

"You should have told me that"

"We should have told each other one or two things, I agree"

"Right, because I failed to our deep friendship when you totally voluntarily confessed me who you were and I said nothing"

The girl shook her head upset, refusing to concede him that point "You could at least tell me you were expecting him soon"

"I didn't know a thing about it until five minutes before I called you"

The girl held his gaze, wondering whether he was being honest. It was kind of difficult to read those cold gray eyes, there was no way she could get the slightest hint of what was going on inside his mind, and she was certain that he was having the same problem with her right now.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that, I was more concerned about keeping him from taking you away"

That took her by surprise, for it truly sounded close to an apology. She would have believe him if it weren't for the fact that she knew he needed her with him to have some advantage over Doflamingo. At least he was honest with it, she'd lost count of the men that had approached her with pretty words just to use her.

There he was, frowning at her again, while his lips were slightly twisted in a concerned expression. His back was leaning forwards, his elbows over his knees, probably wondering what to do with her. For a moment, Nami's mind drifted back at the few good moments at the bar, wondering how would it be to trust him, how this whole situation would be if he was taking care of her because he actually cared, like Vivi had suggested when they met. It annoyed her to think of that, mostly because there was a part of her tired of running away, that was eager to trust him. But there was another one, older and wiser, that told her not to trust anyone, continuously bringing back of his estoic voice as her skin opened burnt.

She could not trust him, at least not now.

"Is that all you wanted to say?"

"No" the annoyance in his voice was evident "I need to know who you are calling today"

"Some friends of mine"

"So they can rescue you? Are you clear I'm not letting that happen?"

The slight smile pissed her off.

"Actually, I want them to cooperate" She took some pleasure as he raised a confused eyebrow. "Have you ever heard of Straw Hat?"

Law left his head fall slightly to the right as he thought. "Isn't he the guy blocking the way to Foosha Village?"

"Yes, he is" That didn't sound good, in fact, She'd asked a rhetorical question. She didn't expect Law to know him. "How do you…?"

"He's been becoming quite a problem for The Donquixote family" He shrugged "They even want the government to raise the bounty over his head"

"Again?!"

"Apparently he's attacked four marine officers, destroyed twelve special shipments and sent back around fifty seriously injured soldiers in the last two months"

Nami cursed under her breath and pressed the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "I'm seriously going to kill him"

"Will he really be useful, Nami-ya? It doesn't sound too promising"

That called her attention back to him. "Well, it is useful for me"

Judging by his threatening look, he didn't like that answer.

"Nami-ya?" Bepo's head peeking from the door caught them both off guard. Waiting no answer, as soon as he got a glance of her broken arm he entered the room, making the chair next to her crack under his weight as he sat. "Are you ok? Shachi wouldn't let me see you yesterday"

"Because she had to rest" Shachi was standing at the door, looking at the floor. I'm sorry Law, he'd been asking for her all night".

"Are you alright?" It was the second time he asked, but it was the first time Nami noticed the glowing in his eyes as he took her hand into his paw. He was concerned, but truly concerned, she had no doubt of it.

Bepo confused her, but it also made her feel a lot better. As if helping her hide her awkward silence the bear started to tell her how he and Jean Bart had escaped the city, but Nami was barely listening to him. Bepo believed in her, and that was a problem, for she knew there was no way she could betray Law and feel right knowing her actions could eventually hurt Bepo.

There was even a possibility that he was doing it on purpose.

Could it be?

Slyly, her caramel eyes moved to Law, capturing the now lighter, suspecting frown and the twisted smile of his lips as he also observed him, and then, in less than a second, their eyes met in a long, sharing glance...

Bepo wanted them to work together.

Law got up as abruptly as Nami herself broke eye contact. That was not happening, at least not in any other form than a temporary alliance. Not in the way Bepo wanted it.

Handing the bear a ruler, Nami interrupted him to change the subject "It's good that you are here, I need another hand". There was no need of saying anything else, for Law was already leaving the room with Shachi, giving Bepo a last suspicious glance over his shoulder as he closed the door.

Much to Nami's surprise, Bepo ended up being quite a good assistant, and even when his drawings had room for a lot of improvement, he showed some promising skills. Their work was developing faster than expected, only being interrupted when Violet brought them lunch. At such a pace, everything would be ready by tomorrow morning. Both were so tired and focused that none of them heard the door opening.

"So you are the new acquisition of The Death Surgeon. You are quite a beauty, no wonder why you aren't locked in the basement"

"Who are you?" Nami didn't even try to hide her hostility towards the woman glancing intrusively through the door frame.

"I'm Monet" there was something wrong in the way she put her hands on her waist, and something frighteningly familiar in the derisive grin of her yellow eyes. Gazing down to the map drafts, she walked until reaching Bepo's chair, leaning over him to have a better view "I see Smoker wasn't exaggerating when he said you had a talent for this"

"So, you spy for smoker?"

"I work for Crocodile" That made Nami drop a loud chuckle, the annoyance in Monet's voice was too evident, which proved her supposition was right. The green haired woman was there to keep an eye on them. The new alliance was probably not everyone's agreement, but Smoker was known for doing what he wanted asking no permission to the other rebel's heads.

Law would surely like to know that.

Getting up from her chair, Nami indicated Bepo to leave the room. The less they spoke with that woman the better.

After a brief discussion with Smoker and the display of the advance maps she'd just drown, she got the call she wanted. There was a constant monitoring from the Marine bases nearby, which forced them to make brief calls, that meant that she had no more than two minutes to speak if she wanted the call not to be intercepted. Her heart was craving for more time, but it was a better opportunity than any other she could imagine at the time.

It was already dark when Tashigi went for her to her room. There was a funny tickling in her stomach, she hadn't spoken to them in months. They probably didn't even know if she was alive, and now she was about to surprise them with a cryptic call. Tashigi took her to a small improvised office in the fourth floor. It smelt of humidity and enclosure, but none of those things mattered to her, for she would be finally able to speak to her friends.

She had to stop at the door frame for a second to take a deep breath, feeling weak all of a sudden.

"It's time already girl" Smoker was inside the room, hurrying her up, and still it felt scary to take that step. What if Luffy refused to help her?

Nami stepped in when a hand pushed her gently, barely able to hide her surprise when Law stepped into the room, casting her an encouraging look. She would have prefered him to stay outside, but there was no manner to make him leave without raising doubts about their fragile alliance. Trafalgar Law didn't want her to call her friends, she didn't want him to be there, but they both had to pretend they were fine with each other around. Closing the door before Monet could sniff into the room, Nami walked to her chair and dialed the number she had learnt by heart, trying to look as composed as possible.

"Thousand Sunny here, what can I do for you?"

Nami had to shut her eyes and grasp her shirt tight to keep her joy from showing. It was amazing how much she missed them.

"Hi Chopper"

It was so like him the way in which the eyes of the Den den mushi widened and his mouth dropped, she knew her friend was holding his breath, just like her.

"NAMIIII! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WE ARE SO WORRIED"

The girl chuckled happily while listening to the commotion forming on the other side of the line, barely noticing the distorted faces the device was making trying to convey all the voices at the same time.

"CAN I SEE YOUR P-"

"NAMIIIIII-SWAAAAAAAAAAN!, TELL ME WHERE YOU ARE AND I'LL GO RESC-!"

The laugh of the girl was so loud that drowned Smoker's growl, which was good, for it kept him from noticing Law's astonishment.

Trying to clean a tear with her fingers, Nami did her best to focus. She was running out of time "Guys, I'm kind of in a hurry here, I really need to speak with Luffy"

Zoro's answer was so fast it practically interrupted her "are you serious witch? you disappear for months and that-"

This time was Luffy's turn "NAAAMIIIIIIII WHERE ARE YOU! COME BACK, ZORO DRANK YOUR VODKA COLL-"

"HE DID WHAT?"

Smoker's non-casual cough reminded her why she was calling. Silencing her friends as they realized she was not alone.

"Luffy, listen to me, I need to ask you something"

"Is it about joker?" Her heart almost stopped when she heard him. It was really easy to tell what was going through the mind of her friend, at east to the ones who knew him, and that sole question, accompanied by the silence of her workmates, was enough to tell her they were with her.

"Yes, it's-" her throat hurt, forcing her voice not to break "I don't have much time, We have an opportunity to take him off-"

"We?" That was the first time she heard Ussopp through the Den den Mushi, knowing him, he'd been listening in case there was something strange.

"Smoker and "

"Nami, where are you" It was hard not to notice that Sanji was omitting the "swan" this time, it made her feel guilty to worry him that much.

"Let's meet in Alabasta" By then, Nami had almost forgotten the man leaning against the wall, it only took her half a second of eye contact to understand what he meant.

"Franky, Did you hear? How fast can you get them there?"

"Two weeks, maybe. I'm not taking the Sunny to open sea without you" The Sunny was his ship, but she had proven to be a better navigant, they seldom left the archipelago without her.

Violet's sudden presence into the room told her time was up even before she spoke.

"Luffy, there's something you need to know before accepting this. It is not only the rebels I'm working with…"

She spared a cold, calculating glance at the bored-looking man at the door "It's also the Death Surgeon"

Less than a second passed by, but it felt like a decade when the answer arrived.

"See you two weeks, and you guys better keep her safe"

As the threaten reached the two men in the room, the connection got lost.