Here goes chapter 26! :D Thank you for new reviews, they have made me so happy! :3 I am trying to keep up with my studies, with my work and with my hobbies plus fanfics but it's really tough, I am doing my best thou...But I promise that I won't leave this unfinished, there is simply too much to write about! 3 I will try and write at least one chapter a month from now on! :3
HildyaOrul: I planned to reveal more about Sanji's past after few more chapters or in a fitting scene, I have already one scene written where some facts about Sanji's tortured past is being revealed and I am going to write a whole chapter of his memoirs at some point :P
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Luffy almost stormed out of Nami's aparment before Zoro stopped him. "Hey hey captain, how did you think to find those guys? We have no idea of their current location!" Zoro noted and Luffy's jaw fell.
"Ah! That's right! I can't kick their asses if I can't find them!" Luffy realised and Sanji made a mental facepalm.
"Well, we have few leads but we might not have time to check each and every one of them right now," Sanji explained and sighed deeply.
"I know where they are," Nami stated suddenly and everyone turned to look at her. "They are hiding in Cocoyashi village but if they see any suspicious behaviour, they will start attacking the villagers."
"That's why you said nothing to us..." Usopp realised. "You were black-mailed, weren't you?" he asked to make sure and when the orange-haired woman nodded, Sanji's curled brows twisted with rage.
"How can they treat a lady like this?! Those bastard deserve a good beating and few good kicks to their ugly faces!" Sanji cursed and Nami couldn't help but smile at that.
"So in other words we have villagers to protect and asses to kick, right?" Zoro pointed out. "We have no trouble beating up those guys but protecting the villagers at the same time is going to be pain in the ass..."
"Don't worry, I will ask Franky and Brook help us out here," Luffy said with a small grin on his face. "Chopper and Robin can look after the police station," he noted and for once, his thinking made sense.
There was a short, torturing silence before Sanji spoke up. "So, Nami-san, would you mind telling us where exactly are those hideous shitty heads hiding?" he inquired politely and Zoro broke to a wild smirk which reminded that of a expression of a wild beast hunting for prey.
...
"Brook, Franky, captain-san ordered you to meet them at Cocoyashi village, there is something going on there and they need your help, big time," Robin announced and the duo stood up with a tired expressions on their faces.
"Why do old people like me have to run from one place to another? Even though I am pretty suupeer I can't always keep up with my suupeernes!" Franky explained and Brook laughed.
"You are still young, Franky-san!" Brook noted.
"Damn right I am!" Franky said and laughed at the end of his sentence.
They took Franky's most beloved police vehicle and of course the great master himself had to drive it because only he was allowed to drive it - he didn't want any of those idiots to break his most beloved possession. The tension inside the car was huge when both of the officers knew that the situation must be pretty bad out there if they needed seven officers total to handle the situation. It was not like they weren't used to big scale operations but these kinds were pretty rare. Especially at their station.
...
"So...what's the plan?" Sanji inquired when everyone had gathered a bit outside Cocoyashi village so that they would not be noticed.
"What plan?" Zoro grumbled with excitement in his voice. "We never do plans and if we do, we don't follow them," he explained and Sanji sighed deeply. Even though he had worked with these idiots expect lovely Nami-san of course for around a month, he doubted he would never get used to them.
"Let me handle this," Nami suggested. "Even though Luffy is our boss, it doesn't mean he can take the lead okay?" she noted and Sanji fully agreed with her.
"That's our lovely Nami-san!" Sanji swooned and Zoro rolled his eyes behind his back.
"By the way, Zoro-san, are you fine already?" Brook asked curiously. "I though that the hospital would not release you so soon..." he wondered out aloud.
"He sneaked out, of course!" Franky noted. "This suupeer officer can't be stopped!"
"Maybe it has got something to do with his green hair?" Sanji suggested and everyone else expect Zoro approved the idea.
"Oi! What does that have to do with my green hair?!" Zoro argued.
"Well maybe it has got something to do with how stupid you are to dye your hair to green of all the colours!" Sanji stated and Zoro became visibly annoyed.
"IT'S MY NATURAL HAIR COLOR, CURLY!" Zoro noted and Sanji shoke his head.
"No way no way - - " he started but was interrupted by Nami.
"Actually it is..." she said calmly and Sanji blinked.
"And how do you know that, sea-witch?" Zoro inquired and Nami sticked out her tongue, indicating that she wouldn't tell all the details.
"Then it definitely has something to do with your hair color..." Sanji smirked and Zoro attacked him.
"STOP IT!" Nami shouted and punched both of them.
"That's right, guys!" Usopp joined the choir. "We have an important mission starting and you guys do nothing else but argue!" he tried to reason with them and the duo separated, still staring at each other vigorously.
"Okay, so Franky, Brook, you go and save the villagers, me, Usopp, Sanji and Zoro will go and beat those guys asses!" Luffy ordered and everyone gasped at that.
"What was that about Luffy not being able to take the lead?" Sanji asked from Nami who gazed at their captain.
"You didn't tell me what to do," Nami noted and Luffy rubbed his jaw for a while, probably thinking for a suitable answer.
"You can go with Franky and Brook but don't intervene with the main fight, okay?" Luffy ordered and Nami hesitated for a while before nodding. "I know it would be useless to ask you to stay back but that way you can help villagers of Cocoyashi village, right?" he reasoned and for once his logic made sense.
Nami wasn't completely pleased with the answer but decided to trust her captain this time around. "So, Arlong's crew hiding place is here," she pointed out after taking out a map out of her pocket.
"Hmm, seems easy enough," Zoro noted and Usopp rolled his eyes.
"Maybe for us, not you," he noted and feeling the death glare in his back, he decided to keep quiet.
"It would be a high time to make that leash for him, Franky-san," Brook pointed out and a vein popped in Zoro's forehead.
"I am not a dog!" he shouted angrily.
"That's for sure..." Franky admitted, not paying attention to the swordsman's argument. "That way he could not get lost when we have some important mission to take care of."
"Ooh, sounds good!" Luffy praised the idea.
"Yeah I have to agree," Sanji smirked but became serious again when they focused back to the task at hand.
...
*Fifteen years ago, Cocoyashi Village*
Cocoyashi Village was a quiet little village where everyone knew each other. Everyone where surprisingly happy an friendly even though the small village didn't offer many chances to work but because everyone liked it there, they did their best to survive.
That peace, however, didn't last long when a big company named "Arlong Park" wanted to build a new factor to Cocoyashi village. First, of course, everyone had their hopes up for work because they knew how big company it was but nobody knew what trouble it could cause them. Spirits were high and people were hopeful but the feeling lasted only for a short time.
"Nami, Nojiko, dinner is ready!" Bell-mére shouted and two cheerful, young girls rushed inside the small cottage in the middle of the mandarin farm.
Nami wrinkled her nose before she even took a single glare at the food bowl. "Is it that bad tasting food again?!" Nami complained. "We have eaten that stuff for many weeks already!"
"You should be happy to have something on your plate, Nami," Bell-mére sighed.
"Why won't you work at the new factory like everyone else?" Nojiko suggested. "That way we could have more money!"
"We can manage with my small wage just fine so I see no reason to start another job," Bell-mére explained but deep inside she was lying - well, how could she explain she didn't want to get involved with criminals and their odd business while only she knew about them.
They ate in silence while Nami refused to even touch her share of food. "Nami, please eat already. You will get hungry," Bell-mére advised but her adoptive daughter did not listen to her.
"Why should I?!" Nami raged. "It's boring and I never get anything nice because we are so poor! Why can't we be rich?!" she complained but her mother kept silent.
"Nami, that's unfair!" Nojiko argued as Nami's older sister. "You can't blame her for everything!"
"Then why did she adopt us even though she couldn't afford us?! I would rather have been adopted by some rich family!" Nami shouted and stood up from her chair before running out of the small house.
Neither Nojiko or Bell-mére sprang after her because they both knew where she would go and the village was a safe place for kids, after all - everyone knew each other and looked after each other's children. Bell-mére seemed upset though and Nojiko didn't know what to say but decided to try and cheer up her mother.
"Don't worry, she will come to her senses soon," Nojiko promised and Bell-mére stared at her older daughter, happy that she was more adult of the two.
"Yes she will," she admitted. "But still, would you go and get her before the food gets cold and tell her that tomorrow we will have something else okay?" Bell-mére offered and Nojiko headed straight towards Gen's workplace.
Later that evening, everything in that happy small family went upside down when Arlong's crew got curious about Bell-mére and found out she was a cop but they also found out she was not a normal cop: for them, she was a cop who knew way too much about their business.
They offered a deal, however - Bell-mére should work at the factory and stay under their surveillance of all the times. She was given some time to consider the deal but Bell-mére knew that even though she would agree, she would be killed inside the same day she started working abd therefore her only option was turn to Gen.
"Gen, could you please look after the girls when I am gone?" she requested when the man greeted her at the door. It was a late evening and girls were already sleeping.
"What are you talking about, fool?" Gen asked but saw the serious look on her face. "Don't tell me it has something to do with that case of yours?!" he panicked and Bell-mére couldn't lie.
"Arlong Park brings nothing but misfortune for this village," she said calmly. "Please, will you look after my kids when I am gone?" she requested again, her voice full of despair and sadness.
Gen didn't know what to do or what to say so he simply did what he was supposed to do by wrapping his hands around the woman and whispering. "I will protect Nami and Nojiko, don't worry," he said quietly and Bell-mére smiled, knowing that her girls would be safe.
The next day Arlong visited Bell-mére's house early in the morning and asked for her response but of course, she refused. It was not an option to agree to those ridiculous terms and die anyway so she refused as soon as possible.
"I am not going to work for you," she answered calmly even though she had seen the gun on Arlong's other hand which he tried to hide. Bell-mére only hoped that girls would still be asleep but she already heard the quiet steps on the stairs.
"Really?" Arlong said, sounding impressed that the woman had guts to tell no. "Then you leave me no other option..." he said and pulled out the gun before Bell-mére pushed him on the ground and stole the weapon from him.
"What's going on...?" Nami's sleepy voice came from the inside and Bell-mére froze instantly.
"Nojiko, take Nami and go to Gen's house okay?!" she requested and the girls stood there without reaction.
"Why do you expect they are free to go?" Arlong hissed and one of his underlings moved slightly towards the house.
"I have gun in your mouth, that's enough of a reason," Bell-mére smirked and Arlong agreed to the only term he would.
"Very well, let those girls go but you will die," Arlong said and Bell-mére let go of the weapon and stood up to let Arlong free. "But don't expect that you have rights to say your goodbyes to them - I am not that mercifull."
"I didn't even expect that," she said and just when Arlong picked up his gun, Gen appeared.
"Bell-mére!" he called out for the woman but seeing the look on her eyes, he knew what was going to happen.
"Gen, take the girls, I have some business to take care of these gentlemen," Bell-mére requested and the security guard knew immediately it was her final request.
"I don't want to go!" Nojiko argued but Bell-mére turned to stare at her.
"Go with Gen, please?" she asked but the girls didn't move so Gen picked up both of them. Both Nojiko and Nami were staring at her mother while they were getting further and further away, knowing that something terrible would happen soon and they could do nothing to prevent it from happening.
Then they heard the last thing Bell-mére would ever say to them - it was few words full of love and caring for two adopted girls Bell-mére had barely been able to take care of with her small wage and savings.
"Nami, Nojiko. I love you," she said quietly and smiled at the girls before girls could no longer see their mother.
...
Author's note:
I don't know if I succeeded in writing this flashback but it will continue a bit in the next chapter because we still have to explain why Nami ended up joining the group which killed her mother, right? :)