Luffy's Terrifying Mom

by warp writer

Luffy has a mom like anyone else, but unlike most moms she's highly reputable and terrifying marine. He also has two cousins he was really close too when he was young and they're marines too. Luffy's mom is mad at him for becoming a pirate, but not for the reason everyone else thinks. What happens when the strawhats meet more of Luffy's monstrous family.

20. Nami and Bellemere

After a long while, I've returned, bringing you my longest chapter yet!

Random question, what real, Oda-created character would you like to see Lilia fight most?

Prepare for an emotional roller coaster with this one. Also, not so random question. How would you feel if you heard that you could never produce your own children?

---

Chapter 18

Nami and Bellemere

"Lily-chan, you've been laughing for 10 minutes straight," Nagika moaned as she watched her best friend laugh hysterically, rolling all over the sand. "Don't you think you should stop and spare Dragon-kun at least a little bit of his reputation? Come on, Luffy's watching for Oda's sake."

"Right, right," Lilia consented, catchinging her breath as she got up and dusted herself off. However, once she stood up, she stumbled on Nagika, held onto her shoulders, then started laughing again. "I-I'm sorry! HAHAHAHAHA! I tried! I really did! KYAHAHAHA!"

"Oi vey," the miko sighed. "This is really going to crush Oda's image of him…"

"Is… my dad weak?" Luffy wondered aloud. Seeing his mom laugh at his dad made him wonder. He also wondered why most of the male members, and some of the ladies, including that Jillian woman, were so sad. Sanji didn't really need any explanation, did he?

"He can't be, can he?" Nami said, equally confused. "He's the leader of the Revolutionary Army, The Most Wanted Man in the world, and, most importantly, he's a member of your crazy, insane family. How could he not be super strong?!"

"Sorry, but I need to hear it again," Ellie said seriously. Clearly, hearing that their Captain's lover was Dragon was a complete shock to nearly every Demon Unit member. Among the men, the only ones who weren't lying in a pool of their own sadness were Rizen, who already had Nagika, Kalako, who did love his Captain, but was more into teenagers, and Krisco, who was stone faced. "Dragon, the enemy of all marines, is Captain Lilia's husband?"

"I guess," Luffy shrugged. "That's what grandpa said, but he said it should be a secret. Oh, guess I goofed, huh?"

"Oh, you think?" Nami sighed. "That said, could they have actually gotten married? I mean, you need to officiate that kind of thing, don't you?"

"On paper, I've never been married, but we did have a ceremony." Lilia, who had finally stopped laughing, walked towards them with Nagika and her three students. "I wanted to at least walk down the aisle dressed in white before we were separated. It is any woman's dream after all."

"Well… that much is understandable," Ellie nodded in understanding, along with most of the women. "But Dragon?"

"Our relationship began before I enlisted and he started his campaign," Lilia explained after creating a chair for her to sit on with her powers.

"Is he weak?" Krisco asked.

"As usual, you only care about weak and strong, Krisco-kun," Lilia sighed. "No, he's very strong. One the biggest threats to the government. Even an admiral would need to be careful against him. I laugh because I know his true personality and I think it's funny that anybody could think he's dangerous."

"What is he like then?" Kimi asked.

"You'll all find out sooner or later," Lilia answered cryptically. "But, that aside, it occurs to me that I've yet to formally introduce myself to your crew, Luffy?"

"Hm? You've met them already," Luffy said.

"I just sent them to go play with Ren-kun and Shauna-chan," Lilia explained. "I never actually had a chance to talk to them yet, minus Franky-kun and my new sister, of course. Introduce us with a description of their personality."

'She calls forcing us to fight with her niece and nephew playing?' The Straw Hats wondered irritably.

"Okay, this is Zoro, our swordsman who likes swords, booze, and to train. A lot."

"I do like hard working kids."

"Uh, thanks…"

"This is Nami, our navigator, who likes money and tangerines."

"Nothing wrong with a girl who- did you say tangerines? And that her name is Nami?" Luffy nodded. The gears in Lilia's head began to move as she habitually placed her index finger on her forehead. In the recesses of her mind, she knew that the name "Nami" and the word "tangerines" should mean something to her, but was having difficulty remembering. She looked at the girl in question, who gave her a weird look. She was cute, no doubt, and would still grow more beautiful as she matured. She had orange hair… like a tangerine. A tangerine headed girl named Nami… tangerine… Nami… a baby… Belle-chan…? She glanced at Nagika, who also seemed to be figuring everything out.

Lilia had a flashback. It was before sunset that day, but the rain clouds made it look like it was almost night. She, and the Demon Unit of that time, had arrived at a certain island to meet a certain marine. The Unit was anxious to meet the marine because they had believed that she had died in a clash with pirates that had taken many lives from pirates, marines, and civilians. With her, were two men, a little girl, and a baby.

'Really?' Lilia wondered skeptically, glancing at her son. 'First you get Tom's student, then you find Robin-chan, not to mention you have Kureto's sister's student, and now this? Isn't this just a bit too convenient? Oh well, only one way to find out…'

"You wouldn't by any chance have a blue haired sister named Nojiko, would you?"

"You know my sister?!" Nami gasped. This provoked stunned reactions from Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji, the ones who already knew about her sister, and confused looks from Chopper and Robin, the ones who didn't even know Nami had a sister.

"Ah, So it is true?" Nagika muttered.

"You're Belle-chan's daughter, aren't you?" Lilia asked with a smile. "Bellémere's girl."

"?!" For a brief instance, Nami's world shook. She was not expecting to hear that name.

"Bellémere-senpai?" Ellie gasped. "You're her daughter? Oh, that's right! Senpai left the Navy because she adopted two girls. I can't believe I didn't recognize you. Your hair is just as bright as it was the day we met you."

"I thought I recognized you," Nagika said. "Your facial structure is basically the same except with some slight differences. Bah! Things like that always throw me off."

"Bellémere?" Yuki said curiously. "Was she a member of the unit too?"

"Yeah, she was here even before me," Ellie explained. "But she left us to become a captain in the East Blue, then she retired to raise Nojiko-chan and Nami-chan."

"You were her captain, Lilia-san?" Nami asked, emotionless. Did they not know? No, they probably wouldn't.

"Yes," Lilia nodded. "She was like a little sister to me."

"Ah!" Nami remembered.

---

It was a very long time ago, back when Bellémere was still alive and when Nami was still a very small girl at age 4. It was late at night and little Nami had suddenly woken up for no real reason and decided to get up and leave the room she shared with her sister. As she walked through the halls of their house, she noticed that a light was coming from their living room. When she walked in their living room, she saw her adoptive mother, Bellemere, sitting at the dining table. Illuminated by a lamp fire, she was was writing something.

"Bellemere?" Little Nami said.

"Nami?" Bellemere aid, noticing the girl. "Why are you awake?"

"Why are you?"

"That's not the way it works, little girl," Bellemere scowled.

"My eyes opened and I didn't feel sleepy anymore," Nami answered. "What are you doing?"

"I'm… writing a letter to a very special friend," Bellemere explained.

"Friend?"

"Yes, she was my superior back when I was in the marines," Bellemere smiled fondly. "Actually, she was like a big sister to me."

"So she's like my aunt?" Nami asked innocently.

"An aunt?!" Bellemere scream, frightenedly. "I-I'm not sure that that's okay. I-I mean if she's fine with it, the great, but if she's offended, I'm probably going to get it!"

"Are you… scared, Bellemere?" Nami had never seen her mother scared before. Up to this point, Nami had always seen her as a fearless woman.

"Of course I am," Bellemere admitted shamelessly. "There are very few people who aren't afraid of Nee-san and you shouldn't be one of them!"

"...So you are afraid of her?"

"Yes," she sighed. "However, I also love her, and the unit she captains. I was in a dark place before I met them. I did things I'm not proud of. It was Nee-san who pulled me out and made me a better woman.

"She sounds amazing," Little Nami said in awe, her eyes glazed with admiration over a woman she had never met.

"She is, the greatest woman anyone could ever know," Bellemere smiled. "You know, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that we met because I met her."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you when you're older," Bellemere answered, making Little Nami pout adorably.

"You always say that?"

"Do I?" Bellemere said teasingly. "Like it matters. Just go back to bed."

"Hmph!" Little Nami scowled before obeying her mother's order and start waking to her room, but just as she was about to exit the living room, she stopped. "Bellemere."

"Hm? You need something Nami?"

"Uh, well," Little Nami said awkwardly, her face a little red. "I never met this sister of yours, but, to me, your the greatest woman in the world."

"...Nami," Bellemere's eyes sparkled. "Thank you, but I could never be as great as Nee-san... " Bellemere paused before saying something. "Nami, one day you may find a group of people that you will see as family. When that day comes, know that you are blessed, because not everyone can have that. You, understand?"

"No." Bellemere laughed. What was she saying to a four year old?

"Well, you will someday."

---

"It's you," Nami said without thinking. "You're who Bellemere used to write to when I was little. Her superior."

"Eh, Nami's mom was one of my mom's friends?" Luffy said, surprised.

"That's right," Lilia nodded. "However, she hasn't sent me or any of us anything in such a long time."

"Luffy, this is getting too creepy," Zoro said. "Are you sure you never planned this?"

"Nope," he shook his head. "Mom never tells me anything about her job."

"Never…?" Kimi said with a sad look.

"T-That's somewhat cruel, Captain Lilia-san…" Nadeshika said somberly.

"My home life and work life should be as separate as possible," Lilia explained. Then, she took notice of Nami's, Usopp's, and Sanji's expression. They were very sad, especially Nami, who kept her head down and trembled. "I… take it there was a reason she never wrote another letter?"

"I-I'm sorry…" Nami's voice shook. "But my mom died. S-She was killed."

Nagika, Ellie, and Lilia's eyes widened. Looks of grief spread across their faces. The other members were also shocked,

"...Eh…?" Lilia squeaked. "You said she's… dead?"

"Yeah," Nami said unemotionally.

Various emotions were spread across Lilia, Nagika, and Ellie's faces. From grief and sadness, to confusion, to hate, to anger. It was clear to Nami that these ladies were very close to her late mother. Lilia pinched the bridge of her nose between her eyes, as if trying to hold back tears. "I see… her too, huh?"

"Mom…?" Luffy asked out of concern for his mother.

"I'm fine, sweetie," Lilia assured, quickly switch her expression to a more happy one. "Just a bit shocked. I can't believe that cockroach got herself killed."

"Cockroach?" Nami said. She wasn't angered or annoyed, just curious. When she thought about it, she really didn't know much about Bellemere's past.

"Ah, well, don't take this the wrong way, but," Lilia smiled. "Belle-chan was pretty weak-"

"Although, by normal standards, she was quite tough for a woman," Nagika interjected, having put herself back together. "You just have impossible standards, Lily-chan."

"They aren't impossible, just hard to attain," Lilia countered. "One must train in order to get stronger. If you want to go deeper into the Grand Line, then getting stronger is a must."

"Bellemere-senpai did improve," Ellie added, her voice sounding empty. She sounded completely "But the training here was super scary and she always ran away. Although, no one… can…" Ellie collapsed on her hands and knees, startling everyone.

"Ellie-san?!" Yuki cried out in distress

"W-Why…" She sobbed, tears falling out of her eyes and dotting the sand beneath her. "Why!" Ellie smacked the sand with her fist, causing a small quake that left a crater, surprising the Straw Hats. It was the first time they had gotten a chance to get a glimpse of what the 5th rank of the strongest unit could do. "Why!" She smacked the ground even harder, which caused an even bigger quake and left an even bigger crater. "Why!" She hit the ground again, this time causing some to lose their footing and stumble. "Why… is it always like this? Even her? Bellemere-senpai, was hotheaded yet sweet. Stubborn, yet forgiving. Cowardly, yet brave. She gave a pair of girls a home when they lost everything! She was living in peace! She shouldn't have died! But she did and now I'm one of the last ones left! It's not fair!"

The Straw Hats were shocked. The Demon Unit members, the ones who didn't know about Bellemere, were. This woman, who was so cheerful before, was now a crying wreck. As if revived by the tears of their weeping comrade, the Demon Unit members that were depressed over their captains marital status were now up and walking to their distraught sister-in-arms. Lilia got off of the chair she had created, which faded away like sand in the wind, knelt by her subordinate, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I don't know why," Lilia admitted hollowly. After a long silence, Lilia asked Luffy and his crew to leave them alone for a little bit, saying tis was Demon Unit business. "But first…"

"Woah… ahhh…." Franky went as he was spun continually with Tom by being tethered together on a pole that was stably attached onto the deck of their ship. It was designed to spin continuously and was solar powered. For at least twenty minute, the pair had been spun around in a circular at a moderate pace. It looked fun at first, but after a long time, it was painfully dizzying. Franky wanted it to stop already, but no one could stop it. It was light torture.

"Could you get them down? They're bothering me." They complied with her request and quickly got Franky and Tom off of their torture device. Franky looked dizzy and nauseous, but Tom, despite being just as dizzy and nauseated, went running to his weeping friend. With Zoro and Sanji lugging a disoriented Franky, Luffy and company were about to reenter their ship, when… "It never gets easier, you know? Losing a friend on the sea, someone you've fought side by side with. It hurts. A lot. And as a leader, it hurts the most."

It was sudden, what she said, yet it resonated deeply within the Straw Hats, especially Luffy, who those words were directed at.

---

"Man, I don't ever wanna be spun like that again," Franky moaned, his world finally still. It took several long minutes for the dizziness and nausea he was feeling to subside. On thing was for sure, the Cyborg could see a carnival ride the same way again!

"Ah! She really cut off your hand!" Usopp and Chopper screamed, seeing Franky's handless arm for the first time.

"Huh? Oh, I forgot," Franky admitted.

"You Forgot?!" They yelled. Then, Chopper asked, "Does it hurt?"

"Nah," Franky assured. "My Hand was destroyed years ago. She just severed a prosthetic. That said, it will be a pain to reattach a new one. But, dang, Luffy. All the ladies-"

"Franky, now is not the time," Robin hissed angrily. The crew was now gathered together in their dining hall. If it wasn't for the sudden drama, they would have certainly been happy to return to the safehaven that was their ship, but considering the current situation, none of them, mostly Nami and Luffy, felt very festive. Robin hated seeing her god nephew and friend so down. "Read the atmosphere."

"S-Sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Just trying to lighten up the mood."

"Honestly, I'm happy," Nami admitted suddenly, shocking her friends. "Not that Ellie-san is crying or anything like that, just that people care about Bellemere outside of me and my sister and the people from my village. To think that they're people from her days as a marine makes it even better. I never really thought about the relationships she had as a marine, never really had the time to think about it, but it's nice."

"I can understand that," Robin nodded. "It was… stressful meeting Saul's aunt and learning his relationship with Luffy and his family, but it really gave me closure. But not only that. Knowing that there were people out there, other than me, that remember him for what he was; a kind and brave soul that did what he thought was right."

"Hey, I'm just happy Tom is alive," Franky said happily. "It'd be nice if they guys who saved him didn't have sch scary ladies in their group, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Not that it matters as much as with you guys," Chopper spoke up. " But knowing Kureto is here too makes me feel like it was all fated."

"Fate is the only other explanation," Zoro said. "If Luffy didn't plan all this."

"I didn't," Luffy said uncharacteristically hollowly. What Ellie and his mom said… it was clear that his mother lost her friend. A lot of them, too, and it was crushing for her. It may not really be his business, but as her son, Luffy couldn't just not care about how his own mom was suffering. "You know, I can remember a while ago when mom, Yuki-nee, Aunt Nagika, and Uncle Rizen came home one day and they all looked so sad for a moment, but then they went back to normal instantly. I guess they didn't want me to worry."

"Luffy…" Nami said, looking at her captain sympathetically. As much as she wished she could, she just couldn't emphasize with him. How could she? His mother had a dangerous job, and while her mother once had the same job, Bellemere raised her and Nojiko as a tangerine farmer. He worried for his mom's life and feelings. She had worried for their finances and her mother not pushing herself too hard. It was just different.

"It's the Grand Line, I know that no matter how strong someone is, there is always danger, but… she's my mom. Knowing that she is getting her heart broken again and-"

"I've said this before, but I try to keep my work life and home life separate." A certain woman said, scaring the pirates.

"Ahhh!" Most of them screamed. Lilia, who had something in her arm, Yuki, and two other girls, Leoha and Akina, were now here.

"Sorry for barging in," Yuki said quickly.

"Wow, this is a really nice kitchen," Lilia said casually. "Franky-kun, you built this ship, right? You've got taste, I wouldn't've guessed. You certainly don't see the type."

"Uh, thanks," he said, feeling like that was a backhanded compliment.

"Er, not we're not happy you're here, but," Usopp said nervously. "Why are you here?"

"Shouldn't you be out there, Nee-san?" Robin asked.

"With Ellie-chan?" She scoffed. "Nah, even if her heart is shattered right now, she'll piece it back together herself… besides, no matter what I say, Belle-chan is dead, No changing that."

Silence.

"Speaking of which… here, Nami-chan." Lilia tossed a red album at an off-guard Nami, who clumsily caught the album and looked at it confusedly. "Take a look inside."

"Huh…?" Nami flipped open the red album and her eyes instantly widened. "T-These are…!"

Inside the red album were, obviously, pictures. Pictures of the Demon Unit from years, which included pictures of Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere. There was a group photo of the Demon Unit consisting of mostly men, but more women than you'd usually see in a Navy unit, which included a considerably younger Bellemere. She was surprised to see a Bellemere without a mohawk. It was a different experience looking at the younger Bellemere when compared to the adult Nami remembered from her childhood. This younger Bellemere had an innocent and childish expression on here face, while her older self had an adult motherly charm with confidence to match. She saw another photo with the young Bellemere in a Navy uniform with her arm wrapped affectionately another girl who looked to be in her early teens that had to be Ellie and a woman with blonde hair that seemed to have a noble aura. There was another with her and other marines running on a gravel road for training and her mom looked to be gasping for air. Another was one of her roundhouse kicking some big pirate. There was one where she was being unwillingly carried by her waist by some big guy. There were lots of photos, not just of Bellemere, but many people of the Demon Unit from her time there. An this was only the first page.

"That thing is basically a history album of the unit in its early days. Belle-chan was one of my first subordinates when I became a captain," Lilia explained. "It may sound a bit corny, but I had wanted to preserve our memories, so I scrapped book. It doesn't seem like the girls of this age enjoy this sort of thing anymore, but all of us ladies liked it in my time."

"Wait, that's an album of the Demon Unit in its early days?" Yuki asked, shocked.

"Like of Ellie-san, Jillian-san, and you all before we knew you?" Leoha gasped,

"M-May we see them," Akina asked, eyeing the red album like a child wanting a toy.

"Go ahead," Lilia sighed like a mother indulging her spoiled daughters. Swiftly, the three girls moved towards and surrounded Nami to get a glimpse of their unit's history.

"Oh, wow, it's Ellie-san as a little," Yuki said in awe. "She looks so cute. She's really matured, huh?"

"Hey, it's Jillian-san from back then," Leoha said while smiling. "Aw, look she actually looks shy around Master. When did that change?"

"Hey, there are action shots, too," Akina said excitedly. "Master, Nagika-san, and Rizen-san all look so cool. They haven't changed much."

Meanwhile, Nami was sandwiched between three girls she barely knew and was feeling quite uncomfortable. Luffy looked at the two girls he didn't know and noticed they called his mom 'Master'. Only Yuki calls her that… and Reisha as well.

"Girls…" LIlia smiled evilly, making her three students flinch. "Where are your manners?"

"Sorry!" They said immediately. Both Leoha and Akina quickly introduced themselves and all three apologized for getting carried away. Nami accepted their apology, knowing that she could empathize with them. After all, she was happy to see photos of Bellemere.

"Oh my! What beautiful pearls!" Sanji exclaimed in his love mode. "To think that two more

"So, you guys are mom's students?" Luffy asked.

"Yes… we're your m-mother's pupils," Leoha said nervously.

"I-It's an honor, L-Luffy-san," Akina said nervously.

"Why are they acting so weird?"

"Probably because you're Masters son," Yuki answered. She could understand. If she hadn't met Luffy before she had to endure all of the trauma brought by her training, she might've been wary of Luffy, too. "Anyway, you don't need to remember the lion idiot. So feel free to forget her."

"Hey, bird brain," Leoha said angrily. "What do you mean 'forget about her'?"

"See, she doesn't even understand basic english?" Yuki smirked.

"Hey!"

"Now, now, Yuki-senpai, Leoha-senpai," Akina said soothingly, waving her hands back and forth. "People are watching."

"Ignoring them, I meant to introduce you to these two, but by then you had run away from home," Lilia smile venomously.

"I-I didn't run away, I just didn't tell you I left," Luffy countered weakly.

"That's the same thing," Lilia sighed. "But let's that for later… Nami-chan, sorry for asking, but, please, tell me how Belle-chan died."

"...!" Nami's eyes widened, as did every other person in the ship. "A-Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes, I do," Lilia said unhesitantly. "I feel like I need to hear it. She was my subordinate after all."

"...Alright, I'll start from the beginning," Nami said, taking a deep breath. "When I was a little girl, I lived with my mother and sister in Cocoyashi Village. Bellemere, to make a living, ran a tangerine farm. It wasn't much in the way of income, so life was pretty tough, but we made it day to day. However, due to our borderline destitute lifestyle, I was always hesitant to ask her for things, so I stole-"

"How shocking," Zoro said sarcastically, causing Nami to glare at him and hit him.

"Anyway, one day I tried to steal a book on navigation-"

"Wait, weren't you just a kid then?" Yuki couldn't help but ask.

"Hph," Nami smirked proudly. "I'll have you know that, despite being a child, I could draw maps with the best of them. I'm probably the best navigator you'll ever meet."

"How modest…" Yuki said dryly.

"But she's right, Yuki-nee," Luff sai confidently. "If it wasn't for Nami's navigation skills, we'd all be dead!"

'Yuki-nee?' Leoha and Akina thought curiously.

"Anyway," Nami continued. "The day I tried to steal that book, I got caught by Genzo, our village leader and a family friend, and he dragged me back to Bellemere. Mom got mad at me for stealing, wacked me real hard."

'Try getting hit by Master, then try saying it was hard,' Lilia's students couldn't help but think.

"Later that day, Bellemere gave me a hand me down from my sister, but I always hated getting hand me downs since my sister always got new, although they were just from the thrift store, and then I was complaining with Nojiko, who was lecturing me. I found that so annoying, so I snapped and said that we weren't sisters… that got Bellemere mad and she slapped me…"

Hearing that made Lilia's eye twitch. It may have been better not to say anything, considering the situation, but that was completely immature for a parent.

"And after that she and I got into a fight. I yelled at her about how I wanted to be adopted by a rich family, not a poor loser like her… but I didn't mean it." Nami quickly added. "One thing led to another, and I ran away from home in the pouring rain. Genzo's place was the first place I could think of to go to. It was there that he told me something I didn't know before, that Bellemere was a marine. He told me the story of how the three of us became a family. He told me how she had risked her life in a dangerous storm to get us treated in after we got sick, not even caring about her own life. He also said that our bond goes deeper than any other family-"

"Well, certainly some families, but not others, right, Luffy?" Lilia said, gesturing to her son.

"Uh… right..."

"Continue," Lilia ordered nami.

"After getting over my anger at Bellemere, I went to go back an apologize to her… but that was when he came…" Lilia's eyes narrowed. This was what she came here for. "It was so sudden. No one saw it coming. Pirates docked came to our village and took over. Not just any pirates either. They were the Arlong Pirates."

"Fishmen…" Lilia said darkly. "No marine stationed in East Blue could be able to beat a crew of them. And Belle-chan was never much of a fighter."

"They ordered the villager to pay for their lives. 100,000 berries for each adult and 50,000 for each child. That was the monthly tax. It was bad and I was scared. As you can guess, we certainly couldn't pay 200,000 for even 1 month, let alone for all the months to come. My sister, who had come earlier to find me and take me back home, and I had hoped that they wouldn't find us since we lived so far away, but… on that day, smoke was coming out of our house because Bellemere was cooking. Then they went straight for it… and found Bellemere. She tried to resist, but..." Nami paused. "They were too strong. Nobody normal could take on a fishman-"

"I can," Yuki said.

"I can," Leoha said.

"I'm getting there," Akina admitted.

"Well good for you," Nami muttered bitterly. "Unfortunately, we couldn't. We were told to run, to leave the island-"

"That wouldn't have worked," Lilia interjected. "The Arlong Pirates might not be the strongest, but they' were still fish man warriors. The moment they noticed you and your sister leaving on boat, they would've easily sunk and killed you. Regular citizens wouldn't know this, but Belle-chan…"

"She had a hundred thousand. It was enough for either 1 adult or two children… that's why they wanted us to leave. Bellemere could never pay for us all month by month. There wasn't any real evidence that we were her daughters, since we weren't related by blood, so if we left, if Bellemere denied having daughters, then all three of us could live. Nojiko and I were prepared to leave, despite how we felt, but Bellemere didn't deny us. She confidently and fearlessly declared us her family… while we were in earshot. It was too much and Nojiko and I ran to her. We begged her not to die and she said that she wished she could've provided for us better. We didn't care about that, we just wanted her to live, but Arlong wasn't touched at all. Bellemere ordered him not to ever touch us, he agreed so long as she died… and she did. Right in front of our eyes."

There was a long, drawn out silence i the dining room. Her crewmates listened to her story in respectful silence. However, hearing it made them want to rip this Arlong person in half, even the ones who had already seen him get creamed by Luffy. Lilia's students were silent as well. Yuki was sympathetic with Nami, but she didn't pity her. She deserved something better than pity. Lilia merely stood there in apathetic silence. Here face was unreadable, but darker. However, those who knew her could tell that she wasn't just angry or sad, but also feeling a mix of emotions.

"I see… well, certainly, that's worse than I thought, however…" Lili began, a small smile on her face. "I just can't feel sad."

"Excuse me?" Some of them said.

"Obviously, I'm upset that Belle-chan is dead, but," Lilia continued, disappearing from where she stood and reappearing right behind Luffy, startling the pirates, then wrapped her arms around him affectionately. "She did what I would do. Do what's best for her kids. I know that that might conflict to what I said to Franky-kun before, but she did what she could with what she had. And she used her brain. She never used her brain back when she worked with me."

"I-I guess…" Nami said awkwardly. "But-"

"I know, you would have preferred her to live," Lilia continued. "But, I resect her for thinking of her kids… so what happened to Arlong?"

"Huh?"

"Naturally, I have to hunt down the SOB that killed y little sister figure and tear off his limbs," Lilia said with a disturbingly pleaseant smile.

"I appreciate the thought, but…"

"I already kicked his butt," Luffy said.

"You, really?" Lilia said surprised.

"Why sound so suprised mom?"

"I'm not really surprised but…" Lilia thought for a moment. "What happened after he killed Belle-chan?"

"Well…" Nami explained everything. How she was enslaved by Arlong. How she made a deal with him. How he paid off marines to keep anybody tough from stopping him. How for eight years he kept all of the Coconami Islands under his thumb. Anybody who couldn't pay his outrageous tax was killed. Before his reign finally ended, many towns were destroyed and many were killed.

"That… That really happened in East Blue…?" Yuki gasped, shocked. "Where we live… and we never heard about this?"

"It can't be helped, Yuki-chan," Lilia said, looking at the floor. "Though we may Live in the East Blue, we are stationed in the Grand Line. We wouldn't hear much from the outer seas. Besides, like Nami-chan had said, some corrupt so-called 'civil servant' was purposefully keeping information of Arlong's activities a secret. All to earn a profit." She added in disgust. Shem more than anyone, knew that there were more than a few marines as bad, if not worse, as the one Nami had told them about, but that didn't mean she had to accept it. Plus, the fact he did such a thing after her little sister figure sacrificed herself to save her daughters made her even more inclined to make sure he payed for his greed. "I'll make sure he gets his as soon as possible. That aside, you made a deal with that monster to free your village by getting a hundred million, certainly not an easy amount to get for anybody, especially for a little girl. How did you plan on obtaining that kind of cash?"

"I definitely couldn't rely on the villagers, so I stole from pirates-"

"Wait, pirates?!" Franky screamed. "That's insane! You were just a little girl!"

"It certainly wasn't easy," she admitted. "But I was prepared to give my life for the village I loved. I was prepared to fight all alone… maybe a bit too prepared." She smirked before glancing at Luffy.

"I'm sorry," Yuki said tearfully. "I'm sorry you had to go through something like that, as a child even. It is truly a grave error on the part of a marine like me."

"I'm not looking for a- gurgh!" In the middle of her denying of Yuki's apology, Nami felt and incredible pressure squeeze both her sides and her back. Black hair was tickling her nose. Yuki was hugging her. When they heard Nami trying to deny Yuki's apology, Luffy and Lilia's two students gave her their sympathy. Yuki was quite an emotional and affectionate girl. And she was strong as heck. A very dangerous combo. Her hug could snap an iron bar.

"Please, accept my apology," Yuki whispered, oblivious to Nami's agony. "Even if it happened from before I joined Master, it's still inexcusable for a marine like me. I'm a failure."

'S-She's an airhead!' Nami panicked internally, her face going blue. 'I'm going to die through some over emotional girl's monstrous bear hug!'

"Y-Yuki-nee," Luffy spoke up, concerned for his navigator. "Your hurting her."

"Yeah, you bird brained monster," Leoha yelled. "You'll kill her."

"Hm?" Yuki grunted. "But she hasn't accepted my apology yet."

"I don't think she can accept anything when she's gasping for air," Akina said, panickedly.

"Oh, good point," Yuki nodded, letting go of Nami, who collapsed on the floor, gasping for air.

"As entertaining as that was," Lilia giggled.

'That was not entertaining!' Nami hissed internally.

"I really do apologize on behalf of all marines, Nami-chan," Lilia said seriously. "There was no reason that should've been allowed to happen. Especially not for eight for 8 years. I'm truly sorry."

"Well… I can't exactly say you did nothing," Nami said. "Becaused, in a way, you did help me, us, Lilia-san?"

"Eh? How?"

"Tch!" Nami clicked her tongue in frustration. "I have to say it? It's because… you gave birth to Luffy."

"...Huh?" Lilia said skeptically.

"What do you mean you don't get it?!" Nami screamed.

"I mean, what Luffy accomplishes has nothing to do with me," she answered, confusing them. "You don't get it? Honestly, what children you brats are. Alright, say Luffy managed to build 100 houses for homeless people out of the kindness of his heart. That would be his accomplishment, not mine. Next, say I managed to keep 100 pirates from pillaging a helpless island. That would be my accomplishment, not his. Understand?"

"I-I suppose, but-"

"Obviously, I'm proud of Luffy for doing what he did," she continued. "But that's what he did. Not me."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Besides… parents who try to make their kids lives, their lives don't seem to be good at raising children," Lilia said in a slightly depressing tone. Luffy instantly guessed that she was talking about Sabo. That made him think.

"What are you saying, mom?" Luffy asked like she was talking nonsense. "Of course what I do is because of you. I owe everything that I am today, because of everything you did for me when I was a kid."

"..." Lilia was caught off guard. She really didn't expect such sentimental words to come out of her child's mouth. He must've gotten it from his father.

"If you weren't my mom, I wouldn't know that I'm not supposed to use a porcupine as a pillow."

"...kiddo, that's-"

"Or that raw meat isn't just really tough meat."

"Right, that-"

"Or that I still have to wear clothes in public even when it's really hot out."

"Sweetheart, I-"

"Or-"

"Okay!" Lilia swiftly covered Luffy's mouth with both of her hands to keep him from revealing any more family secrets that were better left locked in a closet. Meanwhile, her 3 students were shocked to see their master look so frazzled and the Straw Hats began to realize that as bad as Luffy was now, he could have been much worse if Lilia hadn't taught him things. After a sigh, Lilia removed her hands from Luffy and rubbed his head from over his hat. "You're a sweet one, but a bit… thoughtless."

'That's one word for him,' The Straw Hats and Yuki thought together.

"Belle-chan's kid, please, continue," Lilia requested. She still needed to hear everything from beginning to end.

"Alright," Nami nodded. "Well, for the first couple of years, I relied on my wit and the fine art of running away like hell. It wasn't a perfect system, I would mess up from time to time and get hurt, but I always managed to get away with the pirates treasure. Hehehe…. Fortunately, as I got older, I grew even more beautiful and my figure came in, giving me other assets to use."

Despite the situation, some of the Straw Hats couldn't help but dryly scowl at Nami's confident smirk, while Sanji sang praise of Nami's beauty and such. At the same time, Yuki came up with a rather scandalous thought.

"Er… you didn't have to s-sleep with anybody, did you?" Yuki asked, her face red with embarrassment.

"W-What?!" Nami looked scandalized at the thought. Sanji's heart broke at thought of Nami having to sleep with other men for their money. Meanwhile, Luffy was confused on what Yuki meant by "sleep with". "N-No! I never had to go that far. I just played the helpless damsel card and played on their vanity. I did occasionally have drinks with pirates to get them drunk, but I have one of the highest tolerances you'll ever see. I assure you, I'm still a virgin!"

…

Nami's face now looked like a ripe tomato in the face of the now awkward atmosphere. Sanji's heart grew easy knowing that, or assuming that, he would be Nami's first. Lilia was resisting the urge to laugh but was failing. Luffy and Chopper, par for the course, were still clueless on all this illicit talk.

"Oh, well, that's good," Yuki nodded stiffly after clearing her throat. Nami silently vowed to get Yuki for humiliating her.

"But does make me curious," Lilia said, a dark tone in her voice that made those around her shiver. "How exactly did you meet Luffy?"

"I-I didn't get close to him trying to do anything wrong to him or anything like that," Nami assured hurriedly, quickly trying to make sure Lilia didn't get the wrong idea.

"Didn't you now…?" Zoro said, eyeing Nami suspiciously, who glared back threateningly at him.

"If that's the case… why not tell me the story of how you two met," Lilia requested, although it sounded like an order to her. "Uncensored, if you don't mind."

"O-Okay…" Nami conceded, nervously. She tried to think up a way to make it sound as sweet as possible. "It all started on a typical sunny day in East Blue at place called Orange Town. I stole a map of the Grand Line from a pirate called Buggy The Clown. His goons were chasing me and gaining steadily, that's when Luffy fell from the sky like some kind of-"

"From the sky…?" Lilia asked, looking for clarification. She and Yuki glanced dryly at the young man, who looked unusually guilty.

"I-I'm not lying," Nami assured.

"Oh, I believe you," Lilia nodded, holding up her hand. "I believe you too well, actually. By any chance, did you see any sort of large bird fly by?"

"I-I can't say I did…?" Nami admitted.

"Oh, there was a bird," Zoro confirmed with annoyance. "This moron tried to catch a bird for us to eat, but got caught instead."

"Thought so," she said before looking at Luffy. "Stop getting your head stuck in things-especially birds- you brat. I should only ever have to say that once."

'You shouldn't have to say that at all…,' the others thought.

"You know the drill," Lilia said, holding out her hand. "Cough it up."

"Ah, come on, it was such a long time ago," Luffy complained.

"Do you want me to tell your friends about how your head got stuck in the middle of your birth," Lilia threatened.

"Not that! Anything but that," Luffy panicked and reached into his pockets, but the only thing in them were two big pieces of meat, much to the confusion of Leoha and Akina. "Nami, please give me 100 berries. Now!"

"O-Okay…" Nami agreed, handing him a 100 berri coin in an awkward fashion.

"Here, are you happy," Luffy asked irritably as he gave his mom the money.

"Not really," she admitted, taking the money. "I just think you're so intelligent. You shouldn't be doing silly things like getting your head stuck in cookie jars, or shower drains, or alligators, or birds, or-"

"Okay, okay…" Luffy groaned like a teenager being scolded by his mother.

"Do not take that tone with me, little man," Lilia said threateningly.

"Yes, maim!" Luffy yelped fearfully.

"T-This is a weird scene…" Leoha whispered.

"Can't say I don't like it though," Akina grinned playfully. "The others wouldn't believe what were seeing."

"This is a question with an obvious answer, but what-"

"For a long time, Luffy has always gotten stuck in things," Yuki explained before Nami could finish asking. "Master got fed up and made a system where Luffy has to give a 100 berries every time he gets stuck. It's called The Stuck Jar."

"That's a really good idea," Nami whispered to herself. "Maybe I should do that for everybody here…"

"Uh-oh…" Usopp groaned fearfully.

"Sorry for the interruption," Lilia said after finishing her talk with Luffy. "Please, continue. What happened after Luffy fell?"

"Well, uh…" Nami needed to tell this right or else who knew what Lilia would do. "Luffy saw that I was in trouble and saved me from those goons."

"Funny, that isn't how-" Nami quickly covered Luffy's mouth with her hands to keep him from tell the "unnecessary parts".

"Oh, Luffy, there's no reason to be so humble," Nami said, forcing a giggle. "I would've been in a real pickle if you hadn't shown up. I can't ever thank you enough… hahaha…"

If anyone bought a word of what had just come out of Nami's mouth, they would have to be the most gullible person in the world.

"Wow, Luffy really did that," Chopper said in awe. "You're really cool."

"You can't be buying this, Chopper," Usopp sighed.

"I know I don't," Lilia sighed. "Let me see if I can guess the real story, okay? After Luffy dropped in, you saw your opportunity and convinced those thugs that he was your partner, or may be a boss, not knowing that he was as strong as he was. Then, Luffy defeated them to defend himself, or maybe even because they touched his hat. I'm sure you know by now how important that thing is to him. So, was I close?" She asked with her trademark evil smirk that said she knew it all while resting her face on her hand.

"...I'm sorry," Nami conceded to the mother of her captain, knowing that she completely saw through her lie and even deduced what she was hiding right down to the letter. The only way out was to beg for her forgiveness. "It was a spur of the moment decision back then. I never wanted to get Luffy hurt."

"Bell-chan was a pretty sneaky chick herself," Lilia sid, lightly giggled. "However, she could never lie to me properly. It was actually quite cute in a way. I don't like what you did, but it seems that Luffy holds no grudge towards you, so I won't either."

'She's planning something…,' her three students thought confidently. There was no way there domineering master would just let something like that go.

"Besides, even if I chose to resent you for what you did," Lilia continued casually before her face contorted into a look of pure disgust. "I could never loathe as much as I hated Squeak…"

"Squeak?" The Straw Hats, minus Luffy, who was suffocating because Nami was covering his mouth, Leoha, and Akina said together inquisitively.

"Who is Squeak?" Nami asked before noticing that Luffy was flailing and begging for air as his face went blue. She quickly released her hands from Luffy's mouth. "Oops. Sorry, Luffy."

"...Aaaah," Luffy breathed in as much as air as he could and breathed out. "Squeak is my friend from back home. He's cool."

"The word 'cool' must have changed it's meaning since my day," Lilia muttered bitterly.

"A friend of yours, huh," Usopp said, curious. "What's he like?"

"A scummy, shady, dodgy, disgusting excuse for a boy," Lilia answered. "And those are the good things."

"Ah, come on, mom," Luffy said. "Squeak isn't that bad. He's got good points too. Right, Yuki-nee?"

"Uh…" Yuki looked uncomfortable and was unable to look into Luffy's eyes. "M-Maybe... you could tell us about Squeak-kun's g-good points, Luffy?"

"Me? Okay," Luffy agreed as he crossed his arms and started to think and think and think until his face grew red, as if he was struggling.

"Is he okay…?" Leoha asked. Was that steam coming out of his ears?

"Luffy, stop!" Lilia commanded desperately. "You can't force your thoughts out like that! You'll catch a fever!"

"That's not how you catch a fever!" The Straw Hats couldn't help but yell.

"No… I can think of one… I know it…" Luffy assured in a strained voice. His body was actually shaking from the effort he was putting into this thought. The Straw Hats, Leoha, and Akina were actually starting to worry for him. They wondered if this Squeak person was worth it. "GaaaaaAAAHH...!"

"Luffy! Please, stop!" Yuki begged pitifully.

"IIII… got it!" Luffy shouted out at the top of his lungs before collapsing onto his back on the floor. The poor guy was actually panting for breath. "He's… he breathes carton dice… that stuff is good for plants… right?"

…

They were all now very confused, especially Leoha and Akina, who had only just met Luffy for the first time.

"I think you mean carbon dioxide, sweetheart," Lilia sighed, smiling tiredly. "That's good. You remembered one of the things I taught you. Yup, all life is connected and no one life is greater than another."

"Right, so you'll take back what you said about Squeak?"

"F-Fine," Lilia conceded reluctantly. She still believed that Squeak was a no good, mouth faced rat, but she'd rather say nice things about him than watch her little boy think himself to death. "But he is still never allowed back into our house for the rest of my life and you must promise that you shall never think again. Got it?"

"Got it," Luffy nodded.

"Now, Nami-chan, please continue from where you had left of, if you please," Lilia asked.

"...Okay," she sighed. It was Exhausting watching the mother and son in a way. "After Luffy beat up Buggy's goons, I was impressed with his strength, so I asked him if he wanted to join me, but he wasted no time in flatly refusing me. I was pretty surprised that a teenage boy would just flat out refuse to team up with a fine specimen of womanhood such as myself."

"Once again, how modest," Yuki groaned, as some of her crewmates rolled their eyes and Sanji swooned in agreement with Nami.

"After that, I offered him a meal to try and win him over," Nami continued.

'It's almost frightening to think about how well that could've worked,' Yuki thought dryly. Luffy was known to do just about anything for a decent meal.

"At the time, Luffy didn't know I was a navigator and I didn't know that he was a pirate, but once we found out, our desires very literally switched," Nami said with a sad smile. Due to her experiences, she developed a strong hatred of pirates that went much deeper than the average persons. Once they found out each others occupations, Luffy immediately wanted Nami to be his navigator, but Nami wanted nothing to do with pirates, Luffy included. However, they ended up working together to help take down the Buggy Pirates (Naturally, she will embellish the story from here on out to avoid making herself look even worse in front of Lilia). At the time, 'pirates" and "destruction" had always gone hand in hand for her, but Luffy was different. Throughout their struggle against the Buggy Pirates, he made evidently clear that he was strong, but he didn't abuse that strength, nor did he look down on others who were weaker than him, rather he defended them. After they finally defeated Buggy and his crew, Nami felt that maybe Luffy was different from other pirates. In the end, she formed a partnership with him, meaning she wasn't officially a pirate, but she would travel with his crew and navigate for them. "I was so sure that it would be temporary, that, sooner or later, we would go our separate ways, but…"

She was happy. Much happier than she had been in the past 8 years working for Arlong, who had, in no uncertain terms, enslaved her. For the first time in a long time, she could smile from the heart and laugh from her soul. However… she would soon remember her true mission and that those happy times would not last forever.

Soon after defeating Buggy, they met Usopp and eventually recruited him as their sniper. After that, they met two of Zoro's old friends, a pair of bounty hunters named Johnny and Yosaku, who had needed their help because the latter had gotten scurvy. After he was healed, they eventually revealed a huge stack of bounty posters, one of them was of Arlong's. Until that point, Nami had actually forgotten that she was under that monster's thumb. She had fooled herself into thinking that the happy times she wa sharing with the crew could last forever. But the dream was over and she had to wake up to her nightmare.

Later, they met Sanji at a restaurant and Luffy was trying to convince him to join them, bu he was very stubborn about it. At the same time, a pirate called Don Krieg showed up with his crew and started causing trouble for everyone by attacking. Nami used that as her chance to take the ship they had acquired from Usopp's friend and escape to where Arlong was, her home, which he was holding captive.

She had thought that Luffy and the others would just forget about her and find a new navigator, but, admittedly, that was too naive. An ordinary pirate captain would almost certainly want to hunt down someone who had stolen and betrayed him and Luffy was certainly not ordinary. To her shock, Luffy and the crew had followed her to where Arlong was. To be honest, that made things harder on her for a variety of reasons, one of which included Zoro getting captured and then Uspp as well. "Excuse me for a second."

Nami made a sour expression as she she turned to face Zoro, who she grabbed by the ear, then Usopp, who she grabbed by the ear, and pulled them both them both, causing them to smack their heads together.

"OW!" They screamed in pain. "Why'd you do that?!"

"You two caused me so much trouble getting captured the way you did," Nami shouted at them frustratingly. "If that wasn't enough, Zoro actually had to go and try to drown himself!"

"Drown?" Yuki said, confused.

"It wasn't my fault," Zoro insisted. "It was Usopp's and Johnny's fault for leaving me tied up on a boat and runny away that got me captured."

"Don't blame me, it was an emergency! An emergency!" Usopp screamed in his defense.

"And you!" Nami turn to face Usopp, hold up her right hand right in his face, which made Usopp flinch. It was that hand. "I actually had to stab my hand to save you. You're lucky it didn't scar!"

"Stab her hand…?" Yuki said, even more confused. What the hell was going on with this crew?

"S-Sorry, but I couldn't help but get captured, so…" Usopp weakly defended himself, unable to look Nami in the eye.

"No excuses!" Nami ordered, hitting them again. Meanwhile, as Lilia watched this humorous skit, she couldn't help but think a certain thought.

"This crew lacks discipline," she said dryly.

"I apologize for them, Lilia-neesan," Robin said as she approached her god sister. "Things are always like this, but that is what makes things interesting, I believe."

"Perhaps," Lilia sighed while smiling. "I know better than most that in these dangerous times, a more flexible system is needed to survive, but… some discipline never hurts." She added as she watched Nami beat up her crewmates. "They may not be related, but Belle-chan definitely left her mark on that girl."

"I'm sorry for the interruptions," Nami said sincerely as she left the battered bodies of Zoro and Usopp on the floor. "Anyway, after I had to fake Usopp's death, I eventually ran back into Luffy and the guys, who had thought I killed Usopp…"

Naturally, he majority of them were wary and infuriated with her for what she did, especially Zoro. However, aside from Sanji, there was one who still seemed to believe in her no matter what he was told. Feeling emotional, Nami glanced at Luffy. When the Straw Hats followed her all of the way to her village to get their navigator back, she honestly thought they were a nuisance, they annoyed her, caused her grief, mad her life harder, nearly ruined eight years of work, but despite all of those feelings… what she felt the most was happiness that she had friends that would actually fight for her. "Despite all that happened and all that I did and all of the rude and cruel and disrespectful things I had said, Luffy still believed in me. I never asked about it before, but now's my chance… why did you still believe in me? Did you really only sympathize with my story?"

"I didn't," Luffy said, picking his nose.

"Don't pick your nose while I ask you something so important?!" Nami screamed, infuriated with him.

"Uh, actually, Nami, Luffy didn't listen to Nojiko when she was telling us your story," Usopp revealed, surprising Nami.

"What…?" Nami snapped her head in Usopp's direction.

"Sanji and I heard it, and Zoro just slept through it, but Luffy didn't even try to listen and left, saying he didn't actually care about your past. After you stabbed yourself to save me, I knew something had to be up, so when I heard about your childhood and what that monster did to you, I knew I wanted to help and, of course, Sanji would've helped you regardless of it all, and it's hard to tell what goes on in Zoro's head sometimes, but Luffy-"

"I just thought you wanted help, so I figure you'd say so when you needed it," Luffy explained a bit too casually. "If you ask, I'll help you. Knowing your past wouldn't change how I feel about you. You are my friend. That's reason enough. You're reason enough." Luffy smiled his typical ear to ear smile. "But, honestly, it's because I like you. Plus, when that guy was calling you his crewmate even after abusing you, I couldn't just let him get away with it."

'I knew this…!' She though as her face trembled with emotions.

Nami knew the reasons behind Luffy's actions all too well. Who wouldn't? You didn't need the analytical skills of a detective. You just needed to know him.

'I knew his reasons ever since that day… but!' Tears welled up in her eyes.

Hearing it now, after all this time, from his mouth hit her hard. He was the first to fight for her and the only one who could truly believe in her even if no one else could. He was her hero and her captain.

'It was already a while ago, getting emotional now is pointless and dumb, but..' As hot tears trailed down Nami's tears, she slowly walked a couple paces to Luffy, completely closing the distance between them, rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped both of her arms around his waist, much to his surprise. 'You were right Bellemere-san… I have met people that I can see as family and I am blessed. I will cherish them for as long as I live!'

"N-Nami…?" Luffy was of unsure of what to do as he was embraced by Nami.

"T-Thank you…" She sobbed as the tears just kept coming and dropping to the floor. "Thank you for believing in me… thank you for trusting in me… thank you for caring about me… thank you for saving me… thank you for not giving up on me… for defending me… for saving my village… for giving me a home… for being my family… for every gosh darn thing!"

"Nami…" Luffy was stone faced for a moment, before ginning and wrapping his arms around Nami; hugging her back. "Right… you too. Thank you for coming back. I can't imagine anyone else as my navigator."

In the sight of this beautiful moment, the more emotional Straw Hats couldn't help but cry. Franky was the worst, bawling his eyes out like a geyser, followed by Chopper, whose tears fell like a waterfall. Lilia's students, Leoha and Akina, were also crying, although the former claimed something was in her eyes. Yuki was also tearing up, but she felt mixed. She was genuinely happy that Luffy saved Nami, but that in turn created this new intimate relationship between them. She knew it was stupid, but Yuki couldn't help but feel jealous. Meanwhile, Lilia looked on blank faced, unsure of how She should feel as well. Certainly, she was proud but… her child was truly growing up and that made her truly sad.

Regardless, today was a day filled with tears. Both of joy and of sadness.

"S-Sorry," Nami said, suddenly, breaking the embrace between her and Luffy, then swiftly wiping away her tears. "I got emotional and caused a scene. W-We're talking about-"

"That's fine, Lilia assured, holding up her hand to stop Nami. "It's pretty obvious what happened next. You finally asked for Luffy's help and he and his crew defeated Arlong and his crew. Am I wrong?"

"W-Well, yeah, that's basically what happened in the end," Nami said.

"Then that is all I need to know," Lilia said before standing up and facing the crew in a formal way. Her students took that as a cue to to step away from them."Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, not as a mother, but as Captain of the Demon Unit and Bell-chan's- no, Ex-Captain Bellemere's former captain, I thank you." What she did next surprised everyone on the ship. She got on her hands and knees and lowered head to them. She was bowing to show thanks. "As long as I live I shall never forget that you avenged my little sister figure and saved her daughters and her home!"

There was a long drawn out silence. None could believe that a marine was bowing down to pirates. The silence was broken by a shaken Luffy.

"M-Mom, please get up," he begged desperately. This was far too weird for his tastes. "I-I didn't even know who this Belle lady was until a minute ago. I did it for Nami, so you don't need to thank me. Come on, get up. The floor is filthy."

Sanji was too stunned to retort that his kitchen wa always 100 percent clean.

"I-Is it okay for a marine to bow down to a pirate like this," Zoro couldn't help but ask. Of course, he'd seen something just like this in Shell Town, but they were just low ranked marines, she was a marine superpower. One of their faces.

"Of course it's not!" Lilia's students snapped.

"Please, Master, get up," Yuki urged her master desperately. "Even given the circumstances, you are one of the marines most important figures. It isn't proper for you to just bow down to pirates like this."

"Considering that I shamelessly admit to being Dragon's lover and bearing his child, as well as offer to train pirates who are a growing threat to the World Government, have I not already done things that have put my position in more than a little bit of question and danger?" Lilia asked without ever lifting her forehead from the floor of the ships kitchen.

"T-That's true, but…"

"I must do this for Belle-chan, who died like a true mother."

"T-Then…" Luffy knelt down on one knee in front of his bowing mother. "You are welcome. We did it for Nami, but still you are welcome. So, please, get up, C-Captain L-Lilia."

"Hmph," Lilia smirked as she rose her head and sat on her knees. "Calling me by my first name? You've grown quite cheeky since you became a pirate. Should I punish you?"

"Y-You're the one who made me do it," Luffy stuttered in fear.

"I was just teasing you," Lilia giggled as she leaned in and kissed Luffy's cheek, causing some to be shocked.

"I've never seen Master kiss Luffy before!" Yuki screamed overdramatically.

"We've never seen Master kiss anyone before!" Leoha and Aki screamed.

"I'm so jealous of that rubber idiot!" Sanji screamed.

"That's his mother, moron," Zoro shouted.

"To think that that evil woman could show affection like that…" Franky said in disbelief.

"Franky," Robin said in a dark tone as she held up her arms. "Please do not insult Lilia-neesan or else I will actually crush them."

"W-Wha…?!"

"Yeah, don't insult the her, Franky, Nami joined in angrilly. "She was just being a mom."

"W-Wait, I didn't mean-" Franky was getting scared.

"Our Master is not evil, Franky-san," Yuki assured furiously. Her eyes were actually glowing red.

"Any punk who mocks our master, will get torn a new one," Leoha threatened. Akina was silent, but clearly ready to deal some punishment.

"H-Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it," Franky assured, backing away from the angry women. "H-Hey, guys, back me up."

They turned their back on him.

"Don't turn your backs on me!"

"No… all children lack discipline," Lilia sighed, as chaos ensued the ship. "No… all children are immature." Lilia go up from the chair she created and spoke aloud. "Nami-chan, sorry to treat this like a side note, but look at page 18 of the album."

"18?" Nami said, confused. She picked up the album and flipped through the pages. She didn't notice before, but the pages were numbered. Once she got to the eighteenth page, Nami was shocked by what she saw. "Wha…?!" What is this?!"

"Something the matter," Yuki asked as she and the others crowded around Nami to see what was up. It was several pictures of Nami's mother, Bellemere, with a very handsome young man. The two looked very close, evident by them holding hands, taking a walk, having a picnic together, and even one with two having a candlelit dinner together. It was clear that they were romantically involved.

"The man in the photos with Belle-chan was Logan Mikael-kun, Belle-chan's lover," Lilia revealed, much to Nami's surprise.

"Eh…?! Bellemere-san's lover?!" Nami's jaw dropped at this shocking revelation. "She never said anything!"

"Of course she wouldn't," Lilia said, unsurprisingly. "You wouldn't talk about things like a lover with your kid until they themselves start developing feelings for the opposite sex."

"I-I suppose that makes sense," Nami said, feeling a little weirded out. She wasn't sure how to feel about her mom having a lover. She looked so happy… it was nice seeing this side of her, she had to admit. "Wow… it's surreal. W-What was he like?"

"Hm… as you might be able to guess, he was one of my subordinates," Lilia began, looking nostalgic as she spoke. "Mikael-kun was a talented swordsman with remarkable strength and skill, perhaps he could have grown one day to surpass Rizen himself."

"Perhaps…?" Nami didn't like the sound of that.

"...Let me think," she continued, ignoring Nami's concerned look. "Mikael-kun had just enlisted and Belle-chan had been a member for about 6 months. For his first mission with us, the unit had to go deal with a bunch of kidnappers that were hiding out in a forest. We searched for them in five small groups. One of those groups included your mom, Mikael-kun, myself, and three others. I'm not sure why, but your mom and him were really buting heads over and over during the pre-stages of their relationship. It was probably because of their similar personalities. You know, earnest and straight forward? Anyway, I had to command them to stop their bickering more than a few times during that mission and infinitely more times after. Thinking back, they were quite cute together.

"It's part of my policy to let my subordinates, especially the newer and inexperienced ones, to figure things out and deal with problems on their own, which was I did with them, and they knew the expectations on them. Of course, being as competitive as they were, Bell-chan and Mikael-kun took this as an opportunity to contest themselves. Mikael-kun was clearly the superior fighter, but Belle-chan had more knowledge on typical criminal behavior and the best places to hide a large group in the forest, putting her in the lead. However, Mikael-kun, as I said before, was a great swordsman, and could easily defend against all of the wild animals that threatened us. Why somany beasts attacked us, I'll never know. Quickly enough, we found their hideout, but the crooks were quick to react and attacked as wildly, if not more, as the animals we had encountered prior. The grunts were easy enough for the five of them to fight off, even for Belle-chan, who had always slacked off during combat training. However, there top fighters were a different story. Four of the five of them were very tough could match Mikael-kun and the 3 others we had with us in close range combat. The fifth one was a skilled sniper who used a specialized crossbow that shot out multiple arrows at once at different angles from the trees. It was clearly a pain in the butt to master, but he did it, much to the irritation of my men.

"Fortunately, I'm somewhat paranoid and had anticipated such a situation. You see, I have my subordinates go through a type of training specifically designed to train them to be able to fight at their best while avoiding sniper attacks. It was certainly nice to see that the training was effective, however, Mikael, who was a new recruit, had yet to receive such training yet, and was struggling to fight against his opponent, who was the boss and much stronger than the others, while avoiding the arrows. It wasn't looking good for him, so I was about to join in, but the… well, let me say this first. Bell-chan was no good in close combat. She had a decent kick and was at least good enough to fight normal guys, but that was it. Her real usefulness came in the form of her knowledge, quick thinking, skill with rifles, and… her calm thinking."

"Calm thinking?" Nami, who had been listening attentively to Lilia's story, said in surprise. She could call Bellemere a lot of things, but a calm thinker? It certainly wasn't the first thing she'd describe her as.

"I guess it never showed up outside of a fight," Lilia mused. "But in a fight, well, even I was a little surprised. Realizing things were looking grim for Mikael-kun, Bell-chan took action and shot the arrows in midair before they could reach him. She shouted to him, "Don't worry about those arrows! I'll shoot them down, so you just focus on taking down the opponent in front of you! Trust in your comrade!". And boy did she deliver. Despite the sniper responding in turn by making his shots more unpredictable, Bell-chan could easily intercept them with the calmest of acuity. It was weird, actually. I don't think she was like that prior to then. I really do wonder how she got like that. Was it experience?"

'It was probably because of you, Master,' Yuki couldn't help but think.

'...If you get abused by Master enough times…' Leoha was thinking long the same lines as Yuki.

'...Then everything else feels inconsequential in comparison,' Akina thought, thinking the same things as her senpai.

These three young girls could undoubtedly sympathize with the deceased senpai that they had never met.

"Regardless, Bell-chan's actions changed the tide of the battle in our favor," Lilia continued. "My guys were getting pumped due to Bell-chan's support, while the enemy was growing frustrated in response, making them sloppy. And none of them was as frustrated as the sniper who couldn't land a single, successful blow due to Bell-chan's interference. Obviously, if they hoped to win, then he, the only one who wasn't being held back in a fight, would have to take Bell-chan out. However…" Lilia smirked evilly. "That proved to be his greatest mistake. That crazy crossbow he used had a fatal flaw. It need to be switched to a straight shot mode. The moment he tried to shift it, bang. Bell-chan aimed a bullet right at his crossbow, casing it to blow up right in his face, making him fall off of the tall tree he was in. Painfully, I might add. Pretty sure the dork broke his arm and had a face full of splinters. At that moment, the enemy grew shocked and my guys took their opportunity to finish off their foes in four consecutive final blows. In the end, Mikael-kun finished his first mission with no casualties and taking down their boss with only a six man team; a complete win, if I do say so myself. Of course, since I was there, that's how it would have ended regardless, but since I didn't need to step in, it was their victory to enjoy."

"Wow!" The 'audience' shouted in awe. They were on the edge of their seats listening to the story.

"So even back then, the Demon Unit was bada**," Leoha cheered. "I'm not surprised one bit."

"No doubt," Yuki nodded, agreeing with a girl she loathed. "It's clear that Master's training was effective for all who took it even its developing stages."

"It's rare to see you two agreeing on things," Akina giggled.

"Whose agreeing with whom?!" They shouted angrily.

"It sounds like this Mikael guy was a pretty tough swordsman," Zoro muttered, intrigued.

"Wow, Nami, it sounds like your mom was really cool," Chopper said in awe, his eyes sparkling.

"Of course," Sanji sighed dramatically. "It only makes sense that the mother of Nami would be so great. Truly, she was an angel on the battlefield."

"I have to admit, I'm surprised," Nami confessed. "When I heard that Bellemere-san was a member of this unit, which is filled with monsters, I thought she had played a more background type of role. I know she was close with her fellow marines, but… well, it was really great hearing a story about how awesome she was. So, did she and Mikael-san…?"

"Not immediately," Lilia answered, accurately guessing what Nami was asking. "Certainly, that first mission got them very close, but they were pretty stubborn. They kept insisting that they hated each other, but in reality they were crazy for one another. They did, however, spend a lot of time together. Partly because I always put them on missions together, but mostly because they liked being together. Unfortunately, they were really hurting themselves by delaying their relationship. You see, Mikael-kun was a very handsome guy and was quite popular with women, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"Hmm…." The girls looked intently at the photos of Bellemere and Mikael. They could certainly agree that he was an attractive man. He had red, spiky hair and dark eyes and a slim, muscular built. He had a sort of wild man appeal. Based on the photos of them taking walks together, it seemed he was only a little bit taller than Bellemere. Nami could see why her mother, and other women, would be attracted to him. He wasn't really her type, but she could see his appeal.

"I'll admit, he's kinda hot," Leoha noted. "If he was closer to our age, I might even go for it."

"H-He isn't really my type, but I can see why women would be attracted to him," Yuki said awkwardly, embarrassed in this kind of girl talk.

"Oh, what is your type then, Yuki-senpai?" Akina asked curiously.

"Oh, come on, Akina-chan, " Yuki said nervously, twiddling with her fingers and subtly side eyeing Luffy. "We can talk about that sort of thing later."

"I don't really see the appeal," Sanji muttered bitterly as he watched the girls call some man in a picture attractive.

"Anyway," Nami said. "Mikael-san and Bellemere-san did eventually…"

"Yeah, they did become couple," Lilia answered. "But only after a series of entertaining drama where Bell-chan would get jealous of Mikael-kun, and him getting jealous of her over her popularity with men. Eventually, their pent up feelings came out and… they became Mikabell."

Silence.

"M-Mikabell…?" Luffy was the first to respond to his mother's shipping name for Bellemere and Mikael.

"What? Don't all you kids give nicknames like that to couples these days?" Lilia inquired, not at all embarrassed.

"W-We do, but…" Yuki couldn't bring herself to say that it sounded wrong from the mouth of her master.

"You know, it really doesn't matter because I know someone would have said it later," Lilia laughed, before her face shifted to a grim expression. "It really would have been nice if those two could have continued being happy together, but… life can be cruel."

A chill went down Nami's spine. She could tell that she wasn't going to like what she was going to hear.

"It was a year after they became a couple… pirate activity was rising de to Gold Rogers execution and it was becoming difficult keeping up with everything. One stormy day, we received a distress call that a cruise ship was being raided by pirates, but we were already engaged in combat with another powerful crew. We could've beaten them with time, but during that, the passengers could have all been killed. I-I was frustrated at that thought, bu then… Mikael-kun volunteered to go and deal with them. It was a risky, yet doable idea. Our enemy was strong, but not that strong. Certainly, we could spare five men. I allowed it, putting Mikael-kun in charge. He took 4 soldiers, including Bell-chan, and went. I sometimes wonder if I made the right call…"

The depressed expression on Lilia's face spoke volume bout the fate of that mission. "I heard the rest of this story from Bell-chan. They swiftly arrived at the cruise ship, but not fast enough. Five were killed already… a family consisting of a husband and wife and their three children. This enraged my just subordinates. They were able to mow down the grunts like the fodder they were, but the captain was a different story. He was very strong. Bell-chan described him as stronger than Mikael-kun, but not hopelessly stronger. There was a chance. She described Mikael-kun's fighting as much more desperate than she'd ever seen. It was probably because… he knew that if he died there, then there would be nothing from stopping that monster from killing Bell-chan. She couldn't help, the man was too strong and the others were busy fighting the rest of the crew. It was just him and Mikael-kun. The fight was relatively short, only lasted twenty minutes, but each of them gave it their all. It ended with Mikael-kun getting cut in half horizontally… and, in a split second, a miracle happened. Mikael-kun's flying upper half flew upwards, right to his killers face. His upper half gripped his beloved sword and impaled the brute right through his head, killing him. It ended in a draw."

The room was silent. They needed a second to process it. A person, after being cut in half, was able to summon enough strength to actually move his arms and stop a mad pirate from killing his love, his comrades, and a boat full of innocent civilians. Hearing that… they all couldn't help but be in awe of deceased Logan Mikael.

"That day… only 1 marine and 5 civilians were killed. It could've been much worse, I know, but when I saw the destroyed, broken hearted look on her face… I could never see it as a win, just a completed objective," she continued on grimly. "For a week, she stayed unseen, hardly eating or seeing sunlight. We all wanted to give her, her space. She had just her true love after all, but we needed to see her, to know she was still alive, but then… she made her first appearance in public in a week sporting a new hairdo. She shaved half her head, creating a mohawk. It was a sign of change for her. She announced to all of us that she was planning on leaving the Demon Unit."

"What?!" Lilia's students screamed in shock.

"Leaving the Demon Unit… but you were a family, weren't you?" Yuki questioned.

"We were," Lilia nodded. "But she reasoned that she allowed herself to be spoiled by the superhuman and needed to grow up and move on from the unit that brought her up. We didn't like it, but none of us stopped her. The next day she was transferred to a unit in East Blue, where she eventually became a captain."

"W-Wait!" Nami instantly realized where this story was heading and she was horrified by the conclusion she had drawn up. "A-Are you saying that the only reason that the reason that the three of us,met- me, my sister, and Bellemere-san- is because she lost her lover?!"

"...I wouldn't say that," Lilia said, stonefaced.

"No, I mean she was only at that island as a marine, because she transferred to East Blue after losing the one she held dear?!"

"True, if Mikael-kun hadn't died, then she probably would have stayed with us," Lilia said hollowly. "If she did, then she'd probably never had met you and maybe she'd still be alive? Who know?"

"T-Then the happiness that we experienced together was at the cost of…" Nami felt like her whole world was being turned upside down. She and Nojiko only met Bellemere because she lost the love of her life.

"You could look at it like that, sure," Lilia continued coldly. "But where does it end? If this didn't happen, then that wouldn't have happened? If I had turned left instead of right, he'd still be here/ If I went there instead of here, then I wouldn't have broke my leg. You shouldn't just ignore those reasonings, but you can't let them control you. Good things can just be good things and the bad can just be bad, but the good can also lead to bad things which can also lead to good things. I'm sure everyone here has a bad experience that has lead them to where they are today."

Lilia hit it home with that one.

If Shanks hadn't sacrificed his arm to save Luffy, then he'd be dead. If Kuina hadn't kept beating Zoro over and over again, would he be the same as he is today? If Usopp's father had actually came for him and his mother, then would he be a Straw Hat? If those monsters that Sanji called family hadn't treated him like garbage, then he may never had gone on his with his dream of being a cook. If Choppers reindeer family hadn't kicked him out, he'd never have met Dr. Hiruluk or Doctorine, nor the Straw Hats. If Robin's home wasn't blown up, then she may never had gotten a chance to meet her friends. If franky wasn't abandoned, than his current life may never be possible. If Yuki hadn't lost her brother and sister to those devils in human clothing, then she'd never had become a Demon Unit member. Leoha and Akina were thinking the same as everyone else

Their tragedies lead to their happiness. It wasn't necessarily good, but it wasn't wrong. It was life and it was the life they chose to live.

"I, too, have wished several times to have died so that someone else could live, but when I think about that, I think that Luffy wouldn't have ever been born if I was dead," Lilia said, smiling happily.

'A world where Master died and Luffy was never born?' Yuki thought, horrified at the mere idea. 'I would never want to live in such a place.'

"Yeah… I guess you're right, Lilia-san," Nami admitted. She could never wish that Bellemere had never found her. After all, despite the hell she had to live, she truly had no regrets in her life. She glanced at Luffy, blushing a bit. 'If the things that had happened, hadn't happened, then I'd have never met Luffy… I wouldn't want that.'

"I remember thinking that Bell-chan shouldn't have raised you," Lilia suddenly said.

"Eh? Nami went.

"Yeah, I remember the day I first met you and your sister," Lilia began. "It was a dark and stormy night and Bell-chan had just contacted us for the first time in years. She asked us to come meet her some place. Heh, it was a neutral island that wasn't where she was planning on raising you two. Guess she didn't want any of us to know where she lived, the little weasel. Honestly, I was pretty annoyed that she chose now to schedule a reunion, because Luffy was born a few days prior-"

"Wait, What?!" They all screamed, shocked, even Robin was surprised.

"But we had also heard that Belle-chan and her squad were wiped out in their last mission, so I was very anxious to see her," Lilia continued, ignoring, but enjoying their shocked faces. "Quickly enough, the Demon Unit and Belle-chan reunited with a few guests as well. An older man with a pinwheel on his hat."

"The Pinwheel Guy!"Luffy realized excitedly.

"A doctor with sunglasses."

"The doc!" Nami realized, suddenly missing him and Genzo.

"And two little girls."

"Nami-swan and Nojiko-chan!" Sanji swooned.

"After exchanging our greetings and niceties, Bell-chan said she want to adopt the two girls,as you already know, much to our surprise. As she was telling us their names and explaining that she was going to leave the Navy to raise you two, I got annoyed. I was only a parent for a few days, so I was a hardly an expert, but…" To his surprise, Lilia yanked Luffy by his arm and held him in her arms.

"M-Mom!" Luffy said incredulously, looking very embarrassed.

"When I held him in my arms for the first time when he was born, I fell in love," she confessed, stroking his cheek. "But then I realized that he was also my responsibility. I would be the one to feed him, to clean him, to cloth him, to educate him, and to bring him up. Children are a blessing, but they are also a huge responsibility. I had seen countless cases of unprepared women and adults jump into parenthood only to realize too late that it's lot more work than they thought it would be and neglect them or abandon them or even abuse them. Not that I would ever accuse Bell-chan of that sort of despicable behavior, but I thought that if Bell-chan was just going to wake up one morning realizing that she was in over her head, then I believed that it was better for her to just give up on raising them and hand them over to the Navy, or better yet, me."

"You?" Nami's eyes widened. "Y-You mean you would raise me?"

"No, not me," she shook her head. "If she consented, I was considering asking my cousin to adopt you and Nojiko-chan. She had gotten married several year prior to our meeting and was having difficulty conceiving a child. She is a very good and responsible woman, especially when you compare her to the irresponsible Bell-chan."

"Y-Your cousin," Nami stuttered, anxious. "You mean… I would be a member of yours and Luffy's family?"

For some reason, Nami found that thought terrifying.

"Pretty much so, yeah," Lilia nodded. "That is… if Bell-chan had consented. After I told her my opinion, she stayed silent, then said, "I understand your concern… Lilia-neesan. Even I feel that I won't be the best parent… however, I will definitely treat them well!". Then I said, "Do you realize that you are standing up to me?". Then she became whiter than a ghost. I have no idea why though?" The sadistic tone implied that she definitely knew why she became frightened.

'To stand up to Master requires Nagika-san levels of bluntness and shrewdness,' Yuki thought, very literally terrified at the thought of ever standing up to the most terrifying woman in the world. Her two fellow pupils were thinking the exact same thing, quivering in their boots at the very thought.

"After that, she hid behind the two men with her," Lilia added, giggling to herself.

'Like mother, like daughter…' Zoro and Usopp sighed internally.

"However, I was impressed," Lilia admitted. "Or rather… reassured. There will never be such a thing as a perfect parent. I know after 17 years of motherhood that I still don't know what I'm doing. If there's one requirement to be a parent, it's compassion. It's a bit corny, I know, but if you have compassion, then no matter how many mistakes you make as a parent, that feeling will allow you to move forward… at least that is how I see it. There are other import factors to consider, such as being able to discipline them properly, being attentive, being financially conscious, and so on. Bottomline, I felt Bell-chan could be trusted to take care of you two, so I left it at that and wished her luck."

"W-Wow… I don't really know what to say, Lilia-san," Nami said, feeling tenderhearted. "I'm really happy that you cared enough to concern yourself over my sister and I. It means a lot. But, trust me, Bellemere-san was truly a great parent."

"Wow, mom, you really worried about Nami's mom quite a bit, didn't you," Luffy said, still in Lilia's arms.

"Of course," she said. "Wouldn't you be concerned for the kids that your crewmates suddenly decided to adopt?"

"My crew, huh…?" Luffy mumbled as he stared inquisitively at his crew, thinking about whether or not any of them would make good parents. He stared at them so long and so hard that they actually wondered what he was thinking. "I think… Aunt Robin would make a good mom."

"Oh, why thank you, Luffy-kun," Robin said, feeling both surprised and flattered by her captain/god-nephew's words.

"What about us?!" The rest of them shouted, feeling uncharacteristically insulted.

"Hm… if Zoro tried to be a single parent, his kid would just sleep, drink, and train all day," Luffy said, causing the green haired man's eye to twitch. He couldn't really deny any of that. "If Usopp became a parent, his kid would lie a lot." Usopp felt an invisible arrow pierce his heart at the sound of Luffy's cold prediction. "Nami's child would be obsessed with money."

"Don't just focus on my greed!" Nami shouted, but the look in her face said that Luffy's words couldn't be completely wrong.

"Sanji would make his kid into a girl-crazy weirdo."

"Liking the opposite sex is not weird!"

"Chopper is a kid."

"I'm a man!"

"And Franky is a pervert."

"Thanks for the compliment, Captain/"

"That wasn't a compliment…"

'A lazy drunk and training addict, a liar, a greedy slut, a womanizer, a reindeer doctor, and a pervert… what kind of people is my baby hanging out with?!' Lilia thought, panicked. Her more violent side wanted to turn in everyone here, minus Robin, erase Luffy's memories with her ability, and make him start over with her watching over him to make sure he was picking mre appropriate friends. However, her more logical side knew that Luffy was a smart kid and was a great judge of character, who knew that the person he would ask to join his crew would be trustworthy. 'Calm down, lady. You could tell from the beginning that they all had a few quirks, and it isn't as though you can really criticize. Besides, 3 out of 7 of them are related to 3 of your own men… why does that make me want to hurt them even more?! Oh well, they are at least better than Squeak, although that isn't saying much.'

"A-Anyway, there's something I need to tell you, Nami-chan," Lilia said suddenly.

"Something else?"

"I realize I've told you a lot of things involving your mother, but," Lilia said. "This is probably the most important, as well as something you should absolutely know. It's about why Bell-chan hit you earlier in your story."

"Eh?!" Nami's eyes widened/ She was not expecting to hear about that "T-That's just because I said something tactless."

"Yeah, but… it was the truth, was it not?"

"It wasn't!" Nami snapped, shouting louder than anyone was expecting.

"Even if it was or wasn't, the fault lies with Bell-chan with that one," Lilia continued, unphased by Nami's outburst. "Not that I condemn her for it. All parents make mistakes, including me. The biggest was letting Garp watchover Luffy while I was out on duty. I'm sorry, my boy." She added, stroking Luffy's head as he was still in her arms.

"It's okay, mom," Luffy assured her "It wasn't your fault."

"Thank you, dear," Lilia smiled. It was Leoha and Akina who were confused this time. Neither of them knew about Lilia's family history aside from what had just been revealed. "But the thing that you need to know, Nami-chan, is that Bell-chan and Mikael-kun did it."

There was an awkward pause as Nami and the others took a few moments to process what had just been said.

"E-Excuse me? I'm not sure I heard you right."

"Come on, kid, you are a mature young adult," Lilia said in a tone that illustrated her years. "Surely, I don't have to explain it? They did it. More accurately, they did it a lot. They must've done it 30 or 40 times at least. Probably much more than that even."

Except for Luffy and Chopper, who had no idea what she was talking about, and Franky, who was well acquainted with this sort of subject, everybody in the ship kitchen had varying degrees of red on their faces. Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji were reasonably blushing, Robin lightly blushed due to the bluntness of her sisters words, but it was Nami and the marine trio who were the most scandalized, shown by how every inch of their bodies were steaming red.

"W-Why… why would you even know that?!" Nami exclaimed.

"She told us," Lilia answered.

"She told you?!" Nami and the marine trio exclaimed.

"B-But they weren't even married, were they?" Yuki asked hesitantly.

"No, but I myself ended up having Luffy 3 months after my own ceremony," Lilia revealed casually, placing her hand on her cheek. "I suppose you do reckless things when you're in love."

"Wait…" Nami lowered her gaze back at the album filled with photos of Demon Unit member from the past, which included several intimate pictures of Bellemere and Mikael. "The pictures of Bellemere-san and her lover… they weren't consensual, were they?"

"Nope," she admitted, smiling mischievously. "The snail camera was just released and I guess I just caught the photobug. At least, I never went beyond their private dinners, right?"

"...Is there a point to what you're saying," Nami asked tiredly.

"Despite repeated nights together, she and him never conceived their own child," Lilia said in a serious tone, grabbing the attention of her audience.

"That's… that sort of thing isn't abnormal, is it?" Yuki said. "Lot's of couples take several years before they can have their first child."

"And others only need a single night," Lilia retorted. A cold chill fell down the spine of Nami. She could guess where this conversation was going. The question was, would she like it's destination? "But you are right, some women just need to wait longer than others, but Bell-chan was getting anxious, so she got herself tested… she didn't like the results. It turned out that she was unable to get pregnant."

There it was; the biggest reveal any of them had heard all day. The bombshell dropped on them was indeed a large one. The majority of the audience were basically kids in their late teens. All of them had their whole lives to think about things like getting a lover, settling down, and starting a family (although most of them probably believed they would never get the desire to do such a thing) and they thought that if the time ever came… they'd just do it. None of them ever considered it never being a possibility.

"You are all still you," she continued, sadly stroking Luffy's cheek. "I'm sure the majority of you have never even thought of starting a family yet, so maybe you can't yet understand, but… I eagerly looked forward to hearing that I was going to have my first baby and when I finally heard that I was going to be a mother I was so happy that I didn't even laugh when Dragon fainted after I told him- the big lug. That desire made me understand what Bell-chan was going through. After she heard that she wasn't meant to bear her own child, she- the tough girl, who whined a lot about how tough training was, but seldom cried- bawled her eyes out in her pillow for 3 straight nights. I imagine that, while she certainly wanted to provide a home for you two, when she met you and your sister, she saw it as her chance at finally living her dream of motherhood. You understand, don't you? If the children she adopted wouldn't accept her as their mother, than she had no chance. You get it, right? As much as she save the two of you from the darkness of feeling all alone with no family. She was an orphan, you know? You two were all she had left after Mikael-kun's death. I know you don't really think about the things that happened right before her death, but I just wanted to tie up the last of her loose ends."

"...Lilia-san," Nami whispered, her eyes covered by her bangs and Franky sobbing loudly in the background. She didn't know how to feel. She and Nojiko were Bellemere's dream. The thing she wanted more than anything. She couldn't have children of her own, so she adopted them. Nami remembered how she said that she and Nojiko weren't sisters and that Bellemere was just some lady that adopted them. She wanted to slap her child self. Of course they were sisters and Bellemere was not just some lady. She was their mother. The mother of the family they had created by fighting through all of the hard times. She met the man she loved, tragically discovered she could never become pregnant, lost her lover in the line of duty, left the family she had in the Demon Unit, nearly died at that island, saved her and Nojiko, risked her life to get them to a doctor, and even stood up to her scary boss so they could stay together… when Nami thought about all of that… the tears wouldn't stop. The huge, waterfall of tears dropped from her cheeks like rain and onto the floor. "Th… Thank you! Thank you fob tellim me all ob thab!"

"Nami-chan…" Lilia smiled. Not evilly or sadistically, or cooly like she had been before, but widely. Very widely, matching that of a certain strawhat wearing pirate. "Yeah! No problem!

---

Even if it's more than a week late, consider this an update for mother's day. Love you Mom!

So, yeah, I put in a lot of stuff for this one didn't I? I hear I'm becoming more and more known for my crazy plots. That thing about Bellemere never being able to give birth is a personal theory I had onto why Bellemere snapped at Nami during their flashback. I'm probably going to receive some hate for giving Bellemere a dead lover, but I always kind of thought of Genzo as an older brother to her.

Also, it's pretty clear that the Demon Unit has its own dark memories aside from the loss of Bellemere and Mikael, and when Luffy hears the full story, he's going to go beast. And you, the readers, will cheer for him and hope that he or Lilia or Dragon or somebody punches the sick antagonist that will soon show up right in his pretty little face. If I can promise nothing else as a writer, I can promise you that!

Until we meet again...