Hello, Thank you for all the support for the last chapter, I really appreciate it! It made me very happy knowing you were enjoying it. I have read the comments and am working on incorporating your suggestions into my next chapter. This chapter explores Nami's past a little and might have some triggers for abuse. My descriptions are light, but I don't want any uncomfortable situations for readers. That being said, I hope you enjoy.

Wednesday morning came much too quick for Nami. She loved her little nephew and always enjoyed having him around. She missed him when he had to go back home.

She was in the kitchen making some of her special orange pancakes when Chopper shuffled into the room. Robin and Franky already sat at the table munching on pancakes and sipping tea. Chopper went straight for Nami and hugged her legs, his face pressed to her hip.

"I don't want to go home yet." he mumbled, his voice even more muffled by her legs.

Nami gently lifted his head so he could speak clearly. "I'm sorry hun. You know I would love to have you longer, but you have school starting soon. Plus, I know your mum misses you very much."

"I miss Mum too, but I don't want to leave." Chopper's eyes were filled with tears, his little voice wavered. "I wish you could come live with us."

Nami chuckled. "I know, Chopper. I would like that too, but I have to stay here for a bit longer because of my job."

Nami flipped a pancake onto a plate and sat Chopper down at the table. Just then the doorbell rang.

"That must be Zoro. You stay here and eat up."

Nami jogged down the stairs, down the hall and opened the door. There was nobody at the door, only a letter sitting on the step. She picked it up and was halfway through ripping it open when she saw Zoro walking up the pathway.

"Good morning Zoro!" She waved at him. "Thanks for coming today."

"Morning. Wanted to come see the little guy off."

Nami led Zoro through her office space and upstairs into her home, setting the letter on the side table by her front door.

"Zoro, would you care for some pancakes? They're my specialty." Nami sang the last word.

"Sure. I won't turn down free food." Zoro strode into the kitchen/dining area and sat at the table. "Morning." he directed at everyone. To Chopper he continued, "Are you all pack and ready to go, little guy?"

Chopper looked up at his role model with his big brown eyes, already starting to fill with tears. "Mhmm. " He nodded. "But I don't wanna go. I wish Auntie Nami and You and Robin and Franky could come and live with me and Mum on the orange farm."

Zoro looked very uncomfortable, cleary not knowing how to comfort the crying child.

"There, there." He patted Chopper's hat. "We can always see each other next summer. And as my dad used to say, 'You can't say hello if you don't say good-bye.'"

Chopper smiled at Zoro. "Yeah! Next summer!"

Nami looked over at the man and scowled. She highly doubted that he wanted to be anywhere near here next summer. Why would he get Chopper's hopes up like that?

"Yeah Chopper," Robin added smiling warmly, "we will all be here to welcome you to your second home next summer."

Chopper beamed at them both through even more tears.

Nami's anger softened as she looked at them all around the table and eventually smiled. She knew this would be one of her treasured memories. She would have to convince Robin and Franky to have a kid. They would be such great parents. She smiled a sad smile at that thought, knowing that children were not in any of their futures. Not without a drastic career change. This was as close as it would get.

She glanced at Zoro again, a feeling of deep nostalgic sadness washed through her. She wished she could tell him how she felt. Wished he would return her feelings. Wished she could have her own little family around this table. She took a deep breath and released the feeling. This was as close as she could get. She was so happy that she had little Chopper, and now Robin and Franky. She would be content watching.

The morning passed quickly and soon they were headed to the train station. Zoro said goodbye at the house and headed in the opposite direction. Robin and Franky had to take a different train to the airport, so they said goodbye at the entrance of the station. That left Nami alone on the platform waving off Chopper. She stayed there until the train chugged around a corner and out of sight.

It was only 2pm but she was tired. She trudged back home with a distinct empty feeling in her heart. She knew she would be back to normal in a couple of days, but until then, she planned to throw herself into paperwork.

It wasn't until much later in the evening, when she climbed up to her rooms, that she remembered the letter from the morning. She tore it open the rest of the way and pulled out a single page. Although it was only two words, it felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped on her head.

We know.

Underneath was a circular picture of a saw-nosed shark, as if jumping out of water.

Nami stared at the page without seeing it, her breath started coming fast and shallow, her heart raced. No. How could they know? She had covered her tracks. If they knew, that meant…. She shuddered and didn't want to think any further of that. A quick death would be too much to ask for if they ever caught her. She started to calm down a bit more when she thought about the letter more critically. It didn't say what they knew, she had filled that part in. And anybody could have drawn the symbol of the Arlong gang, it was common knowledge that she had been a member. Yeah, there's no way that the gang ever figured it out. And this many years later? She was overreacting, someone just wanted to scare her to postpone their payments. That had to be it. However much she rationalized though, she still couldn't shake the deep seed of panic.

She walked into the rest of her rooms still on edge. She went to the broom closet and grabbed a broom. She took the head off and gave the handle a couple swings. She used to take bo staff lessons but it would take a while to reacquire her skill. Why had she stopped?! It would be better than nothing for tonight, but she planned on buying a baseball bat tomorrow. She decided to try to sleep right away and wake up hopefully less scared in the morning.

She tucked herself tightly into bed as she berated herself for giving up self-defense lessons. In her line of work? How stupid was she? She had relied too heavily on Robin and Franky and it had come to bite her. She wished that someone was nearby. She wished that Zoro was with her. She didn't know if he could fight or anything, but his muscles weren't all for show. Having him with her would make her feel much safer and calmer. Nami desperately wished that Zoro was there, holding her close to him, murmuring that it would be okay. That only made the emptiness of her bed that much lonelier and the emptiness of her house that much scarier. For the first time in perhaps years, she cried herself to sleep.

Nami opened her eyes to a noisy, run down motel bar. There were many large, rough looking men drinking and talking. She looked around, slightly confused. She saw an old, well used dart board in the corner, the shelves behind the bar filled with cheap whiskey, and a large map on the wall with coloured pins marking different small towns. Nami instantly recognised the headquarters of the Arlong gang.

At a table near the map, Nami saw Chew and Kurobi heatedly discussing something; there was a box and a letter between them. Nami froze when she saw them. They would kill her if they knew. They knew. How did she even get here though? This must be some sort of messed up dream, right? She bit down hard on her lip, enough to normally draw blood, but felt no pain. She breathed a sigh of relief, it was just a dream.

She ran for the door, opened it and collided fully with Arlong himself. She remembered doing this. This was a memory in a dream.

Arlong looked down at her and laughed. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

She looked back at Chew and Kurobi who were now looking at her and Arlong. She remembered what happened on this night, this was the night….

"Sir." Chew stood up and beckoned for Arlong. "There is something we need to bring to your attention."

Arlong was just about to step past her when Chew spoke again. "And her."

She felt a tingle of dread and fear run down her spine just like she did that night many years ago.

"What's all this about?" There was a distinct, sharp edge to his voice now. He grabbed her by the the base of the neck and pulled her to the table.

"We found this," Chew indicated the box and letter, "in her room. It was hidden under the bed." Arlong released her and reached for the box and flipped it open. It wasn't much but there was some cash and a few bits of gold jewelry. A growl formed in the back of Arlong throat as he grabbed the letter and ripped it open. It only took him a moment to scan it.

"So, you think you can steal from us to try to get forgiveness from your sister? Think you can run back to that shit hole one day? That almost seems like treason to me. Do you remember what we do to traitors here?" Before she had a chance to reply, he backhanded her so hard it sent her sprawling on the floor. He stood looming over her with a wicked, angry expression on his face.

Nami woke in a cold sweat gasping for breath. She turned the light on and sat up, trying to calm down. She had survived that beating. She wasn't 12 anymore. Arlong didn't have power over her; Arlong was dead.

She kept repeating that in her head until she felt a bit calmer. It must have been her anxiety over the letter that had caused such a dream. The clock on her bedside table read 4:30am. She wasn't going back to sleep, and 4:30 wasn't too early to start her day. She would get a jump on her built up paperwork.

She got up and put a pot of coffee on to brew. She splashed water on her face and wrapped up tight in her housecoat. With her coffee she trudged down to her office.

By 5am she was starting to feel tired again. She downed the rest of her coffee; as useless as it apparently was. By 5:30 weariness started creeping into her bones. At 5:45 she was struggling to stay awake.

Nami was back in the bar. She had a stolen gun tucked into her skirt under her oversized jacket, the weight pressed into her skin and hung heavy. She made her way through to the back of the bar, toward their rooms.

Suddenly Chew cut her off . "Going somewhere, little lady?" He was drunk out of his mind.

"None of your business, old man. Go back to drinking." Nami spat at him.

"That's not a nice way to treat your superior." He lurched toward her backing her into the wall. He leaned against the wall pinning her in place, he reeked of alcohol. The gun in her skirt dug sharply into her back. If Chew found it, she would be in major trouble.

"What's say I show you how the Captains of this gang roll." His hand traced her head and combed through her hair.

She shuddered and shoved him as hard as she could. "Get away from me. You're drunk."

"How dare -"

"Hey Chew," Harry, another captain, interrupted him and put his hand on Chew's shoulder. "Why don't we let the poor girl go to bed, eh?"

"But she! Did you hear?" Chew spluttered.

"Teenagers, whatcha gonna do?"

"19 is hardly…" Whatever Chew was trying to argue didn't matter, Harry was already steering him away by the shoulder.

Harry looked back over his shoulder and mouthed 'sorry'. Nami nodded and mouthed 'thank you' back before scurrying through the door. Some of the guys were terrible and abusive, like Chew, but some of them were nice and looked out for her. That didn't change her desire to get out of the gang though.

She got to her room and locked the door. She kept the light on and paced a few times, pretending to do her nightly routine. It was unlikely that anyone was there, but there could be no holes in her alibi. She finally turned the light out and crept to the window.

She was on the second floor, so getting down silently was a bit of a challenge, but the gang had taught her stuff like this for the past nine years. She waited on the ground motionless for a moment to ensure nobody had heard her. After she was certain, she slunk through the allies toward where she knew Arlong would be. He always took the same path home from the Red Lantern. He was always drunk and in good spirits too, so this would be the best opportunity she would ever get.

When she heard him, she grabbed the gun out of her skirt and clutched it in front of her. They were closer to the motel than she would like. It would be more dangerous, but she couldn't back out now. She stood in the middle of the ally and steeled herself.

Arlong rounded the corner and stopped when he saw her. "What are you doing out here, Nami? Want to put some basis behind the rumours about you and I?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively and then laughed.

Nami ignored the comment. "I want you to release me from the gang." Her voice was harder and more confident than she felt.

Arlong's bark of laughter rang through the alley. "Really! And what makes you think I would ever let you go? You are still very useful to me, Nami."

Nami raised the gun level. There was no mistaking the gleam. "I will not ask again. Release me from the gang."

Rather than looking scared or compliant, Arlong looked amused. "A gun? Really?" He walked toward her. "I might be more intimidated if I thought you had the guts to use it."

Nami cocked it, the click loud in the now silent alley.

"Nami, I will never let you go." Arlongs voice had an edge of steel in it. Nami had rarely seen him this livid before. "Pulling a loaded gun on your boss. I thought you had learned your lesson already." He took a step toward her.

Nami pulled the trigger. The kickback threw the gun out of her hands and scattered a few feet beside her. The bang echoed in the narrow alley deafening her. She looked at Arlong who had sunk to his knees. Clutching his stomach, a large red stain forming fast beneath his hands.

"You Bitch…" he growled.

Nami could hear a commotion from the motel. Any gun shot within this range would be investigated. She grabbed the gun and walked right up to Arlong. She brought the gun right up to his head and cocked it once more.

"You will pay for this, Nami."

She looked him dead in the eyes as she pulled the trigger a second time. His head knocked back as if in slow motion. Blood and skull fragments sprayed the pavement.

Her hands felt weak and she felt sick to her stomach. This was no time to lose it though. She took a breath and ran down the alley. She ran as fast as she could until she was 3 blocks away. A spot she had decided upon in her planning. At the end of the alley there was a dumpster in front of a wall, blocking the exit.

She rummaged in the corner behind the dumpster for a second and found the paper bag she had hidden last week. She pulled a cheap bottle of whisky out and poured some on her sleeve and wiped down the gun. Then she emptied the chamber into the sewage grate and dropped the gun in after. She shrugged off her jacket and dropped it. She took a big swig from the whisky bottle before pouring the rest on the jacket. One match set the pile alight quickly.

She climbed on the dumpster and hopped over the wall. She walked away briskly. She hadn't really thought past this part. She would have to hole up and sneak back into her room in a few hours when things settled down a bit.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. I think we are approaching the end of this story. Please stay tuned for the next chapter.

~Tanima