A/N: I really just kept thinking about interactions with Doflamingo, Nami, and Law, and then I wanted to make it as realistic as I could to the canon, so... Here you go. I have another little epilogue-like scene I want to put in, but I'm posting this as is and will hopefully add that later. I'm just trying to finish out my WIPs. Again, warning for non-con events, but they're brief and not graphic. Also non-con voyeurism for part of that. I don't know, don't look at me. (If you have to look at anyone, look at Odacchi-he said in an SBS Violet calls Doflamingo "Doffy" because they had an adult relationship, and that was just... too weird.)


Doflamingo whips his head around and narrows his eyes towards the Straw Hats' ship. He feels a strange energy on the vessel, familiar but somehow completely new. As he searches, his gaze lands on the woman with sunset hair. Preposterously, she has her back to him, and she's staring out at sea where there is only calm ocean and pleasant skies. But now he has no doubt: the mysterious presence he feels is her.

If it's what he thinks it is, he's not going to pass up this opportunity.

Deftly, and completely ignoring Law and a blond in a suit, Doflamingo catches the girl in his strings. The others on deck scream and the small one, apparently a Zoan type, suddenly transforms into a large human-animal monster, lunging in an attempt to grab for her. Of course he's not quick enough and the Devil Fruit eater can't chase her once she's above open water.

The well-dressed boy screams and strikes with a speed and strength that impress the warlord, but with a little more concentration and effort, it's a simple thing to hold him back and secure the girl under his arm. He keeps his strings around her waist and her arms tied behind her back, but her long hair tickles his side, prompting him to grin down at her. The ferocity in her eyes holds his attention a moment longer than he would've spared, but those glaring eyes just serve to further pique his interest.

-/\\/\-

Law clenches his fist on the deck of the Sunny. "Is there any reason Doflamingo would know Nami-ya?" Law asks Brook and Chopper. "Why would he want her?"

The small doctor shakes his head, too overcome with tears and fears to answer verbally. "No, nothing I'm aware of, Law-san," Brook responds.

Law grits his teeth. A difficult situation just became more complicated. He needs to keep Doflamingo away from the ship so he doesn't get at Ceasar or Momonosuke, but with the navigator suddenly a hostage… He'll just have to do his best to protect her.

"Stay here!" He shouts at the Straw Hats. "Under no circumstance will you come back to the island, do you understand?" Remembering something, he grabs Bepo's vivre card from a pocket and tears off another corner, handing it to the musician. "Between you two and Sanji-ya, you can sail the ship, right?"

Tiny reindeer and tall skeleton share a look. "It'll be tough, but I think we can manage," Brook responds, but Chopper, eyes large and filled with tears, looks devastated. "We're leaving Nami?"

"Yes," Law says. "I'll keep Nami-ya safe." He recalculates his plan, but above all else Caesar has to stay out of Doflamingo's grasp or all of their efforts will be for nothing.

He moves over to Giolla and pulls her up. "You're coming with me."

He glances once more at the whimpering Straw Hats. "Get to Zou and stay safe! We'll follow after you as soon as we can."

With that, he looks up to the sky and swears. Sanji is stalling and he can just make out Nami with her head forced backward at an unnatural angle. Her throat and shoulders appear discolored... possibly with blood. She's too far away to be in range of his Room, but he might be able to rescue Sanji.

With that, he calls out to Doflamingo to break whatever impasse they've come to and, smirking, he holds his sword up to Giolla's neck to be sure he has the warlord's undivided attention.

-/\\/\-

From his side, the woman shouts to her crewmates to leave without her and from their protests Doflamingo can tell that is something they aren't willing to do.

The Straw Hat bouncing in the air, Sanji apparently, has been sticking close and watching for an opening. "Nami-san, there is no way in hell I would ever leave you in the hands of this shitty bastard!" Sanji's hard voice cuts through the whistling in the air and Nami's objections.

Doflamingo can hear so much information in that sentence. 1: the boy feels responsible for the woman; 2: he thinks of himself as her protector; 3: he's already imagining the suffering that could befall the woman; 4: he will fight to the death to get her back.

These insights just make taunting and destroying him that much easier. With a manic grin and even wilder laugh, Doflamingo lifts the woman in front of him and, with an arm tight around her waist, he lifts the other to grope her chest. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of her for you."

The woman stills in his arms and twists to glare at him over her shoulder. "You stop that right now, you perv!" Doflamingo delights in her daring.

The fury in the Sanji's eyes and the fire that explodes around him, however, are so satisfying and made even more so when Doflamingo viciously attacks him with his strings, slicing into him so many times the other man screams and his blood shimmers and hovers in the air for a few moments like mist. Doflamingo keeps his onslaught random; some cuts are just stings while others cleave to the bone.

"Just go back to the ship! I'll be fine!" His captive pleads, but the other Straw Hat just snarls in response, unsuccessfully attempting to avoid the assault.

"Sanji-kun, please! Stick to the plan! Luffy's on the island, you know I'll be fine!"

Blood all but rains down as Doflamingo continues to attack Sanji in the sky, keeping them high and away from Law's Devil Fruit abilities. His opponent endeavors to counter but with his crewmate in Doflamingo's hands he ends up simply taking untold damage. Screaming at both men, Nami strains against her captor's hold and cries-also very satisfying-but as the Sanji loses stamina Doflamingo decides to end the irrelevant duel, if it can even be called that.

He loops a string around the woman's neck and pulls sharply. He hears her sudden inhale as she immediately freezes, going limp to move with the motion of the string. "Hey," she says in a thin, shaky voice, "there's no need for this." He tightens the string, making her back bend in an effort to relieve the pressure at her throat and the movement and pose, with her chest thrust forward, seize Sanji's focus.

"That's enough," Doflamingo states. "If you don't want me to take her head off," he stops and momentarily makes his string sharp, cutting a shallow line in Nami's neck and causing blood to trickle down her chest, "get back down to that ship and hand over my friends."

Sanji struggles to catch his breath but Doflamingo knows he'll do as ordered. The warlord can practically taste the fear emitting from Nami at this development, and Sanji isn't going to endanger her any further.

With a glare hot as fire burning at his leg, Sanji opens his mouth to respond but instead instantly vanishes. Law yells to get Doflamingo's attention from the deck of the Thousand Sunny where he holds a sword to Giolla's neck in a stalemate.

Nami can feel the growl reverberate from Doflamingo. The smile slips from his face for a moment but then he hoists his captive back under his arm and surges forward to attack Law. The brat shouts angrily at the remaining Straw Hats before he turns to face Doflamingo and prepare himself for battle. The fear and determination in Law's eyes warm Doflamingo's heart and when he runs back to Green Bit Doflamingo doesn't hesitate to chase him. He will end this ridiculous rebellion and come out of it immortal. His power is too vast and his connections too high to lose any ground; his manipulation of the news should have already taught Law that lesson. Well if the boy needs a physical reminder, that too is fine with him.

-/\\/\-

Law succeeds in drawing Doflamingo's attention away from the Thousand Sunny, but the fight does not go well. Doflamingo is too large a figure in Law's eyes and he never really believed he could defeat him. Him, the man who killed Corazon, the only person who'd shown any inkling of care for Law once he'd lost everything and the only one whom he allowed himself to love. Doflamingo took that away from him, centering himself in Law's life as both a father figure and his personal villain.

When your enemy is the world government or a warlord who doesn't hesitate to kill even his own brother, how can you hope to win?

Law shakes his head, hitting it against the tall back of the throne where he's restrained in sea stone cuffs to the heart seat in Doflamingo's courtroom. To his credit, Doflamingo runs an empire where he's indisputably in charge, but power and decision-making is well distributed. A mockery of a family and mostly a band of ruthless anarchists, but Doflamingo doesn't run a dictatorship. For whatever reason, he holds his executives in high esteem, though Law has always hated the lot of them.

From his position on the heart seat, Nami is settled on the floor below a window across from him. Doflamingo's strings have been replaced with rope secured behind her back, wedged between her body and the wall. Sitting on the floor as well, the old King Riku is similarly tied up on the opposite side of the room. Buffalo is also present, lounging against a different sill closer to aged monarch, staying quiet as Doflamingo interrogates the Straw Hat navigator.

"Why am I here? Didn't you have more important people to capture?" Law's throat immediately closes up; why would she remind him of something that would ruin their plans and all of their hard work? Law feels frustration and anger burn through his chest-these stupid Straw Hats! And the mouth on this woman is unbelievable. Who talks to Doflamingo like that?

"Ugh! And you got blood on my new top! I just bought this top on your stupid island" Nami says, her voice surprisingly striking fear in Law; she is in no position to be threatening, but all the same something about her tone and commanding delivery has him shivering. Maybe it's because he's heard this rant aimed at certain crewmates, followed by blows that fell those same pirates the government has been trying to subdue for years.

Doflamingo disregards her words, taking the proffered bounty sheet from Baby 5 as she enters the room. "Cat-thief Nami," he drawls and crouches down, invading her personal space and looking her over. To her credit, Nami doesn't move and her glare doesn't waver even as her cheeks darken at the inspection. For a moment her brows scrunch together in surprise, but the sentiment is wiped from her face by a harsh flinch when Doflamingo runs his fingers over the tattoo at her shoulder.

"Not the best work I've seen," he remarks, the lull after the observation clearly inviting an explanation. Nami does not reply, so he needles more directly. "Whose mark was there before?"

"What makes you think it was someone's tag?" She retorts. Doflamingo simply waits, giving her a patronizing, impatient look.

She rolls her eyes and answers nonchalantly. "Arlong's."

"The fishman? He doesn't like humans."

Nami holds herself still, her eyes still cold. "No, he doesn't."

Law is familiar with Arlong insofar as he knows taking down that criminal was Luffy's debut in gaining a bounty. He had no idea there was a connection between the fishman and the navigator. Doflamingo's mind turns over the information as well. She's a young woman and the scar is years old, and she's been with Luffy for years already too.

"A fishman gang leader kept a human child for a slave? You must have been with him for a long time, prized enough to wear his symbol. Now why would he do that?"

Nami shook her head, looking away. "I wasn't a slave. I was an officer in his pirate crew. I'm a thief; I stole him thousands of belli and gathered intel."

"Hmm… I don't think so, kitten. I'm sure you're an accomplished thief, but I don't think that's why he kept you." Doflamingo taps a finger to his chin. "Plenty of scoundrels can do that, especially fishman in the East Blue. But he kept you, and I doubt willingly. Did he tell you what you can do? Did he know?"

"Did he know what? What is it that you think I can do?"

The warlord just hums contemplatively and stands. "That's a no."

"Look, I'm certainly an excellent navigator, one of the best, but there's no reason for me to be here. And once Luffy gets here he'll be extra mad you have me! Seriously, you're just setting yourself up for a worse ass-beating."

Her crude language and vague threat make Doflamingo laugh, but the other occupants in the room bristle. Buffalo and Baby 5 growl and even Law tenses at her insulting him to his face so openly.

"That little shit stain of a pirate isn't going to get anywhere near me. My family will make sure of that, so whatever hopes you have riding on him, the sooner you give those up, the better."

Law feels jealousy swell within him at the fire blazing in Nami's eyes; she is nothing if not unconditionally loyal to her captain, all of the Straw Hats are. How can Luffy inspire such strong conviction from his crewmates? Most of the time he's an obtuse idiot who's only thinking about food, yet here his beautiful navigator, normally the first to scream and run in fear, doesn't hesitate to stand up for her captain to Don Quixote Doflamingo, one of the most terrifying and powerful people in the world.

"You can say that all you want, Luffy won't lose," Her voice turns vicious as she bites out her threats. "He'll beat you so bad your face'll-" Nami's taunt cuts off when Baby 5 smacks her across the face with a rifle for an arm. "Don't you dare threaten the young master!" Nami's thrown to the floor and looses a soft grunt from the force of the blow.

Baby 5 fists her hand in Nami's hair and drags her up as Nami's own hands fly up to grab her wrist. "Don't you dare talk to him that way!" Baby 5 yells and pulls her opposite arm back, now in the shape of a spiked club, ready to strike Nami once more despite the girl's protests. Law's own shouts join the mix with King Riku, and Buffalo jeers, egging his sister on.

Doflamingo puts an end to the altercation with a hand on Baby 5's arm to check her attack. "Thank you, Baby 5," he says evenly before turning to Nami. Doflamingo's eyes run over the navigator's face, tracking blood dripping from a cut by her ear and another at her lip, resting for a moment at the bruise darkening on her cheek. Despite her squealing, her eyes are stony as she meets Doflamingo's gaze. The hit was not gentle but it clearly hasn't bothered her, evoking both respect and excitement in Doflamingo, which Law reads easily on Doflamingo's demeanor.

He opens his mouth to intervene, but Doflamingo's next statement effectively steers the conversation away. "Weren't you tied up, cat-thief?" he asks, nodding toward her hands, which are still wrapped around Baby's forearm.

She blinks innocently at him before she lets go and shrugs, casually smoothing her hair with her unrestricted hand. "Not many restraints can hold me."

"It appears not. You're just full of surprises, aren't you." Shit, Law thinks. And we're back to this. Doflamingo's always flirtatious but this feels different from his normal charming persona and more… sincere, perhaps. He knows the warlord is always performing, but he seems genuinely interested in Nami.

Doflamingo waits until the girl has straightened from untying her ankles, merely watching and calculating. He takes her hand and leads her to the throne of diamonds, beside Law. She sits delicately and crosses her legs, while aiming a haughty scowl at the warlord.

"I'll get straight to the point. I'd like you to join my family. I'm always on the lookout for promising young talent, and I know something valuable when I see it. And like you said, you're an excellent navigator. I can see how your skills can benefit my enterprise. With me at your back, whatever you want, you can have. There's nothing outside my reach."

Whatever Nami had been expecting, it wasn't that. Her face goes slack at the proposition. "Your crew? You want me to join your family?" She looks around at the ragtag group of people in the room; several of her allies in chains, Buffalo, Baby 5, a smattering of servants… She lifts a hand to her face, feeling to the shape of her swelling bruise. "You've got to be joking."

Doflamingo affects an aggrieved grimace. "I do have my regrets about our hospitality thus far. I should have known better than to treat you like an ordinary pirate."

Strangely, Nami bristles a bit at the word 'pirate,' but Doflamingo makes no note of it. "Baby 5, go grab something for our guest to wear. Buffalo, some water and a washcloth," he orders his people.

To Nami he says, "You're staying right where you are. If you're able to get out of those ropes right here in front of me, there's no coming back once you walk out those doors."

Nami tries to give a cavalier grin, but the direction of the conversation has clearly shaken her and she covers the tremble of her lips with a well-placed hand.

Doflamingo doesn't give her time to process. "You're from East Blue, but is that where Arlong found you, kitten?"

She blinks and her mouth opens to reply but nothing comes out after a moment. Law quickly covers for her. "What do you need her whole life story for? She'll either join you or she won't-you don't need to know if she took a shit today or not."

Doflamingo hisses and curls his fingers, lightning-quick. Law moans as he feels a few fingers on his left hand break. Law rolls his head off his chest and bares his teeth at the warlord, breathing hard through his clenched jaw. They both know he picked his non-dominant hand in the event that Law agrees to go through with the Eternal Youth surgery.

"H-hey! Leave him alone! It's not important! I'm just another war orphan; a marine found me and adopted and raised me." Doflamingo and Law both stare blankly at her for a heartbeat before Doflamingo breaks into laughter.

"Another brat raised by a marine who turned pirate. What would your loved ones think?" His voice is cruel and cuts at a wound Law knows will never truly heal. But he looks at the girl beside him in a new light-how could she have been raised by a marine? Everything he knows about her, besides her willingness to defend children, screams pirate, shouts noncomformity.

Something of his thoughts must show on his face because Nami's eyes harden on his. "She quit being a marine after she found me because their justice is a joke. And once Arlong came along… Well, she didn't make it past him. And the marines only made the situation worse.

When all the world is full of assholes, I'll pick my own way and I'm not going to take orders from anyone. I decide my future."

-/\\/\-

"Doflamingo's returned to the island," Violet comments to Luffy and Zoro, but there's a warning in her tone. "He's got Law in sea-stone cuffs and he brought back a young woman, probably from your ship..." she glances worriedly at both boys, who themselves share a look. Luffy and Zoro speak at the same time:

"Big boobies?"

"Orange hair and a tattoo?"

"Oi!" Zoro smacks Luffy upside the head. Violet's a bit appalled at the language and the easy violence between them, but she finds it endearing and ends up laughing. Luffy rubs a burgeoning bruise and glares at Zoro, but straightens, a sober cast darkening his features.

"If he has Nami, we need to hurry."

"No shit," Zoro agrees. He turns to Violet. "How does she look?" She hesitates before answering, which immediately fills his chest with icy dread. "A little roughed up, a lot of scratches-probably from Doflamingo's strings-but nothing serious." She reassures the Straw Hat captain and first mate. However, the new information has transformed the pair and the killing intent radiating off them makes her breath catch and remind her how strong these unlikely allies are. Once again, she's glad she's on their side. She only hopes she's misread Doffy's body language...

-/\\/\-

Nami smirks at Baby 5 after receiving the bowl of water, towel, and loaned dress. She wets her face, then carefully washes the cuts to her cheek and mouth. What she does next, however, is anything but expected.

Law's jaw drops in tandem with Nami's clothes. The room is so silent everyone present can hear the shluff of the bikini top as it hits the floor, baring the young woman's back to the room. King Riku sputters and Baby 5 gasps, while Buffalo gets a nosebleed and Law feels a couple warm drops drip traitorously from his own nose.

"N-N-Nami-ya! What the hell are you doing?"

She glances at him over her shoulder. "I wasn't going to stay in blood-stained clothes. It's unsanitary. Also, the faster I get that in cold the water, the easier that stain'll come out." Nami doesn't stop or cover herself as she talks. She dips the washcloth in the bowel of water and rinses the blood off her torso and arms, hissing as the scratches sting. Law's eyes watch every move in silent awe; he's never seen a woman bathe before and the way she twists and turns to run the towel over her shoulders, arms, and chest… His heart is thumping as he drinks in her mundane movements, eyes peeled, and possibly drying out, to catch a glimpse of her breasts. Once she's finished and throws the borrowed maid dress over her head, pulling her arms through cap sleeves, Law blinks and breathes hard, remembering he's in a room full of other people. Now covered, Nami reaches under the skirt and shimmies out of her shorts, before turning and adjusting her bust in the generous peep-hole neckline. Her hands play over the white ruffles that trim the edges of the garment as she surveys the ensemble.

Nami lifts her arms and twists her heads around. "I don't like black outside of special occasions, but it's kind of cute I guess." She smiles over at Baby 5 with a tongue-touched grin, even going so far as to give an "ok" hand sign.

"Kitten, I like you more and more." The low tone of his ex-captain's voice effectively douses whatever lust had been building in Law.

Doflamingo's eyes are alight with interest and desire. He'd watched her show with held breath; it'd been years, decades-maybe never before-that a woman has so completely caught him off guard. What should have been a humiliating experience only placed the rest of them ill at ease and given his captive more confidence.

He's seen hundreds of pretty girls with rough childhoods, wrapped in suggestive clothing and a matching shitty attitude intent on giving the world the finger, but there's an extra bit of spirit to this red-headed navigator that, instead of disgusting him, he finds intriguing.

Nami dips her stained bikini top in the bowl of cold water, rubbing and swirling it a bit to rinse out the blood, and scoops her shorts to hold in the crook between her side and arm. "What's not to love?"

Law feels shaky from the tumult of his emotions and his mind is blank as he drinks in the sight of a beautiful woman in a form-fitting, provocative maid's outfit. Life is so unfair that he gets to see her like this but while chained and in the same room with Doflamingo.

Speaking of which, the warlord's laughter seems to have gotten to the girl. Though her eyes keep up the facade, there's a flush to Nami's cheeks that spreads down her neck. She'll take the attention, she'll take his reaction because it's what she expects, but she doesn't like it even as she purposefully elicits the response.

Then those eyes fleetingly catch his. He knows her fairly well, and everyone in the room knows she's working hard to manipulate the game, but no one knows what the result will be; her brown eyes, when they lock on his, are carefully clear, showing only a girl demurring at attention. As if Nami didn't like attention! She must have nerves of steel because Law knows she's not dumb-she certainly understands the danger of the situation. He is shocked at how adept she is in handling this situation.

Completely ignoring him, Nami perches on the armrest of the chair to which Law's chained. "So what kind of incentives do you propose for enticing me to the Donquixote pirates?"

Doflamingo frowns. "Not killing you isn't incentive enough?"

Nami pouts. "I thought you were playing nice." She sighs, then twists slightly and runs a hand over Law's shoulder, then up his neck. She tilts his head back, looking at him with a hum, and Law has to work hard to get control of himself. He knows she's only playing the game, but her touch is light and no one ever touches him like this. He hasn't been with anyone in a long, long time. Her fingers sink into his hair and he can't help but close his eyes.

Doflamingo's voice ruins whatever fantasy Law could've concocted behind the comfort of his eyes. "Are you implying you want me to free this brat?"

"I haven't decided what I want to ask for yet," Nami says after a pause. "But I know I don't want to carry around my old outfit and he's as good a pack mule as any other boy." Her hand skims down his torso before finding an inner pocket of his coat. She stuffs her shorts and damp bikini in it before turning back to Doflamingo with the flare of an ankle as she recrosses her legs.

"I won't be letting Law go. He's family after all, as much as he may want to run from it, and now that he's back he's going to take up his responsibility or die."

Law glares at the warlord, pointedly ignoring a questioning glance from Nami. "Well I won't set my sights there then," she says simply.

"So tell me about your operation instead-you make smile fruits for Kaido, among other black market ventures I'm sure. But for what? What's your goal?"

"My goal." The warlord is completely thrown.

"Yeah, your goal. Luffy's goal is to be the King of the Pirates, Law's is…" she looks to her side, their eyes meeting for a moment, "well, I think it was to take you down."

Doflamingo laughs. "I'm sure it was. Such an ungrateful boy, after my brother and I practically raised him."

"Don't you dare talk about him," Law barks, his whole body hot with fury in an instant, all of his love for Corazon condensing into a blackhole of hate for the man who killed him. Nami settles a hand on his forearm, and the touch surprisingly helps to calm him.

"We were talking about your goals, Doflamingo. What would I be a part of if I joined you?"

"Stop questioning the young master!" Baby 5 has stayed quiet for as long as could. "Who are you to ask him such questions? To dig into his reasons? Who are you to know his thoughts? Be grateful he hasn't killed you, that he finds you useful at all!"

Instead of being rebuked, Nami relaxes against the back of the chair, surreptitiously brushing Law's shoulder with the back of her hand in a show of solidarity.

"You can't answer, can you, Doflamingo."

Law has rarely seen such anger on the warlord's face. "My goal? My goal is to watch the world burn, to watch the filth that is humanity destroy itself and throw fuel on the fire while they kill each other for whatever inane reasons they have for their insipid wars and squabbles. These weak, disgusting creatures think they should run the world when all they deserve is death."

Nami is scowling now. "You talk like you aren't human, too."

"I'm not. I was born better, although my imbecile father made some unfortunate choices that landed my family in the pit of this hell that is humanity. And if I have to live amongst them, then I will help them implode."

"Revenge. You live for revenge and hatred. Your power and money aren't for you, they're for destruction."

"What better purpose is there? Do you think there is a higher calling in this world?"

Nami shakes her head. "You live in the greatest sea here on the Grand Line and think there is nothing else the world has to offer? Have you never looked around and wondered what you might find?

This is why you will never be able to win against Luffy. Destruction is easy-knocking over toys, burning homes, ruining lives… it doesn't take much to destroy. But to build something? To live for a dream... That takes strength and courage and an unshakeable belief. Luffy doesn't lose because he has a dream he believes in and people who believe in it with him. Compared to him… you have nothing."

"Oh kitten… You sweet, stupid girl. Did Arlong treat you so well you don't know how the world works?" For the first time, Doflamingo takes a seat on his own throne, opposite the set of four where Nami and Law sit. He lounges, leaning his jaw against a fist. "We both know there's no chance of that, so where is this naivety coming from? A few good years under a lucky boy? I have an alliance with the strongest person in the world, an unkillable beast. I am a warlord who can change the world with a call, who tells the world what to think if I feel like it-isn't that right, Law? You know how high up my influence reaches.

"How about this, Cat-Thief Nami, after I've killed your captain, I'll send the rest of your crew to labor in my factories instead of killing them, too. That sounds quite magnanimous. I won't leave you with… nothing, as you say."

-/\\/\-

Nami's fingers are pinching where they grip Law's arm. They both know his threats are true, and Law feels despair well up his lungs, threatening to choke him. He knew they shouldn't have tried to fight Doflamingo head-on. They should have been quieter, stealthier-what had he been thinking, allying with Straw Hat? That monkey never thought through things, never made plans or strategies, just jumped ahead first, shouting noisily with giant rubber fists cocked. As if his fists could solve everything. He'd thought too highly of himself and those with the name of "D." And here he sat, in his worst case scenario, except with Nami mixed up in it.

"And let's not forget one small thing, kitten," Doflamingo says after Nami declines to answer. The warlord's fingers take up those half-bent, nightmarish postures and Law feels Nami's body freeze before she's standing and walking forward. She stops in front of Doflamingo and curtseys low, her head bent, one leg bent behind the other, her hands gracefully holding out the skirt of her dress.

"What are you doing," she says, her voice low and furious. Her body twirls once, twice, her arms outstretched, but Doflamingo simply sits back to watch, even as he orchestrates the show. The others in the room laugh, Buffalo clapping, but Law looks away. He's seen it too many times and this small show of total domination makes him feel sick, ice creeping over skin and settling in his stomach.

Doflamingo reaches out to grab one of Nami's hands where it's proffered and kisses the back of it, although the salacious grin he aims up at her pierces the guise of chivalry. "You seemed to have forgotten who you're dealing with."

He nudges to the side a bit and pulls her down next to him, dwarfing her frame with his 3-meter tall body. Her feet end up in his lap but they look about the size of his fingers. He's not quite across from them, but Law can see Nami's narrowed gaze. She opens her mouth, presumably to tell him off, but it snaps shut and her eyes stretch wide, the white nearly swallowing her pupil. "There, that's much better. Some fear in those eyes seems more appropriate, don't you think?" He pats her head before running the hand down her hair, but her chest is pumping with tight, shallow breaths, belying the comforting gesture. His other hand continues to flex and move asynchronously.

His voice is low but Law catches it. "It's just a demonstration, not unlike the one you put on earlier."

Closest to him, Nami's arm is frozen at her side, her fingers a fist in the folds of her skirt, but he can't make out much of anything. She grunts and knocks her head against the armrest. With the leg closest to him half-drawn in, the dress is long enough past her bent knee so that she's completely covered. Wherever Doflamingo's Devil Fruit ability is touching her, Law can't tell. He can only watch as she shudders, squirming as much as his puppet strings will allow, but the distressed noises she's making raise his blood pressure and strum up his adrenaline in the desire to rush in and put an end to whatever's hurting her.

"Stop it," Nami growls. Doflamingo chuckles, reclining back, one hand lightly but possessively stroking the navigator's knee under the dress and the other still twitching with the power of his Devil Fruit. Law is so thankful his hand doesn't have to look like that to activate his room; the crooked, jerky movements make his stomach turn.

"Why are you... doing this? Why- bother with me?" The words, choppy between tortured and shuddered breaths, are her attempt to distract either the warlord or herself or both, however in vain.

"Strange that you don't know, or that your crew doesn't. What did you do for Arlong, kitten? Why would a fishman need a human child for a navigator? I'm sure you're a very capable thief, but to brand you so young and fight Straw Hat over you, to the point of losing everything… I wonder if he knew."

Law can tell Nami is truly afraid now; she is shaking and has given up on any pretense of following the conversation in order silently overcome whatever pain Doflamingo is inflicting on her.

"Tell me, Law, how long have you been with the Straw Hats? Have you ever felt anything strange from our dear Nami here?"

Why is Doflamingo still needling this point? "What the fuck are you talking about."

"That's a no." He huffs a laugh. "All of these boys moving in your orbit, heralded as star rookies, even the brilliant Nico Robin..."

Nami's back arches, her head curling down over the arm of the throne and Law can see the flush that stains her cheeks and spreads down her neck. Her teeth dig into her bottom lip in an effort to keep from making any noise, but he's been hearing the whimpers and pants. Law gasps; Doflamingo isn't hurting her, he's using his strings to sexually assault her.

"Leave her alone, Doflamingo! Why are you-How can you even?"

The glee on the warlord's face is unmistakable now that he's been caught. The man is seriously deranged. "Sometimes I find pain a tedious form of torture, especially with a guest as beautiful as our cat-thief." His eyes fix back upon Nami. "I don't want any suffering here at the start to ruin any chance of a pleasurable relationship between us in the future."

"There is no future where you and I will have a relationship, Doflamingo," Nami says, her voice strained through clenched teeth and flushed face. "Luffy's going to put a stop to whatever it is you're doing here on Dressrosa," her words break off slowly as she squirms, twisting her hips and her head as far away from the warlord as she can.

As if on cue, a scream echoes from far away, but it is a voice Law recognizes instantly. "Naaaamii!" Straw Hat Luffy has made it to the castle. Nami sighs in relief, "about time," she says under her breath. Doflamingo glares at her before nodding to Baby 5 and Buffalo with the instructions, "Do not let that pathetic child cause any more of a disturbance than he already has."

Then his hands each encircle an ankle, then slowly caress up her legs. "Shall we continue?"

Nami, still catching her breath, shakes her head and ends the game. "What do you want to know?"

Doflamingo's grin has a hard edge to it, but he complies, although his hands remain on her legs, cupping her calves. "Pity. Back on the ship, what were you doing before I attacked?"

"I… I was watching the weather," she replies, as if this couldn't be more obvious. "I was hoping something would come up that would help us escape."

"On a brilliantly sunny, clear day like today?" Doflamingo's hands tighten their grip. "I don't think so. Explain. Explain why a fishman, the very race who excel in all things related to the ocean, would need you as a navigator."

Nami falters here, but Doflamingo's patience has run out long ago. His hands slip further under the skirt of her dress and Nami screams, backing up and almost toppling off the arm of the chair if not for one of Doflamingo's arms that comes around to grab her. His hands are as large around as barrells and, with one gripping around her shoulders and the other having moved to lock her knees together, Nami isn't going anywhere.

She glares up at her captor and then sighs, her eyes moving to the window behind the warlord. Her words lack all emotion when she answers. "My maps. Arlong wanted me for my maps. I have always been talented with them and he had me draw thousands. Not just islands and land-I can map currents more accurately than the fishmen could. He used them to take over East Blue." She blinks. "Well, that and using my money for some well-placed bribes to the Navy. Assholes."

Nami twitched in his grip. "Maps, hm? And ocean currents. Then on the ship earlier, you were…?"

Nami fidgets with her fingers, tracing the nails and rubbing her fingers, as if pretending she weren't giving up information she was intent on hiding. "I was reading the weather. I can… predict it."

"You can predict the weather." Now that he has her talking, Doflamingo is careful to get all of the information he wants and confirmation of his theory.

"Yes. Winds, storms, cloud formations, everything."

The warlord can contain his elation no longer. With another manic grin, his hands tighten their hold and he tilts her head to look at him. "Even here in the Grand Line?"

Law cannot believe his ears. How can a human know ocean currents better than fishmen, let alone be able to predict the weather? And how the hell did Straw Hat find her?

Nami answers with reluctance, but answers all the same. "I'm getting better here, not as good as the rest of the world yet."

"Again, all of these "supernovas" around you, and I'm assuming Straw Hat even knows your talents, and he's never suspected that you use Haki?"

Law and Nami both gawk at him, but it's she who blurts out, "Haki? Are you crazy?"

"Does it seem less likely than you predicting the weather? Or reading the ocean better than a race that resides there?"

Nami's gaping mouth snaps shut.

"It must be a type of observation haki, my dear. But truthfully," Doflamingo's voice all but purrs, "you are even more than what I was expecting, kitten. I can't wait to see what you can really do.

"We'll get you a Devil Fruit-there are so many that would work well with the weather… Predicting the weather's just a step away from controlling it, and I've already heard about what you can do with that baton." As he talks, his fingers stroke the side of her face, brushing sweat-slicked strands of hair from her face.

Even obscured by his sunglasses, Law knows by the tone of his voice that Doflamingo's eyes must be delirium-bright with the promise Nami has provided. Law still feels overwhelmed by what he just writnessed and everything he's learned. The tidbits of Nami's past and her skills, not to mention the depths of depravity to which Doflamingo is willing to sink… He can't fathom how Corazon, sweet and steadfast and good, was related to this man. He can't decide if he wants Straw Hat to hurry up and get here or to just disappear and let them all quietly yield to their fate-him to death and Nami to become another pawn of Doflamingo.

Nami breaks Law's hopeless line of thinking. She's a Straw Hat after all and apparently they all have backbones made of the strongest steel or are just too stupid to know when to give up. "Don't plan a future for me like it's going to happen. I'm never going to live under someone else's authority again." Her voice is chipped glass, cutting and bloody from a childhood spent as a slave.

"You have a captain," Doflamingo points out.

"Luffy isn't like that." And Law knows firsthand that no, Luffy isn't anything like that; he's not authoritative in the traditional sense the way most captains are-the way he himself is. Straw Hat's crew is his nakama; they are a family that's more similar to a circus than a caste system, but somehow it works and in the end, his crew always listens to him and they protect each other to the death.

"I imagine a reckless idiot like Straw Hat wouldn't know how to use an invaluable asset like you. Not to worry, kitten. I'll take good care of you." Doflamingo puts his thumb to her lips to cut off her retort before standing and picking her up. Cradled against his chest she looks like a child, albeit a furious, miserable one. She takes a moment to give Law a pointed look, first meeting his eyes and then making a show of looking towards the pocket where she stowed her belongings.

"I have a call to make," he announces to the various underlings that remain in the room. "And I'm going to secure our newest family member in some more comfortable lodgings. Be back shortly."

-/\\/\-

Already drained and on edge from his power play in the throne room, Nami's blood runs icey when Doflamingo brings her into a beautiful, spacious bedroom. Dark wooden beams run across the ceiling, light sand-colored tiles form geometric designs on the floor and halfway up three of the walls. Across from the bed, the fourth wall opens onto another courtyard with a large fountain and two shallow pools. Ivory curtains billow through the open shutters leading to the courtyard.

The navigator pushes against her captor's chest. "What are we doing here? You're in the middle of a rebellion!"

Nami feels the rumble of Doflamingo's chest as he snickers in response. "Hardly a threat, my dear. And I gave them a fun game to amuse themselves with for the time being." He sets her on the bed, a giant representative of the otherwise prosaic piece of furniture, and Nami makes to scoot as far away as possible the moment her bum touches the mattress.

The warlord outright guffaws at her antics and lazily twirls a finger, looping an invisible string first around one wrist and then another. At the first touch of the unseen restraint, Nami freezes. Her whole body stiffens as Doflamingo methodically ties her wrists together and then through one of the eye-holes in the intricate design on the wooden headboard.

"These strings won't cut, kitten, but don't struggle too much," he warns. "I don't want those pretty, map-making, weather-controlling hands of yours to be damaged."

Nami grunts in disgust. Of course he only sees me as how I can benefit him. I'd almost forgotten what this was like. Feelings of being less than human, reduced to two hands and an ink and stylus, the scratch of the nub across parchment, a heavy weight settled at her ankle, chaining her to the desk… She blinks away the memories and Doflamingo's face-blond hair, pink wing-shaped glasses-and fuzzy jacket adjust back into focus. She can't keep the rush of hatred out of her eyes, whether for him or her childhood, she doesn't distinguish.

"Now, now. I'm not like that fishman Arlong. You'll be happy with me, all of my family members are. We look out for each other." He pets her head before thoughtfully fingering a few soft locks. He's quiet but there's a weight and intensity to his consideration that gives Nami goosebumps; he's hard to read and stronger than anyone they've faced. Her instincts and tricks have gotten her this far and she knows she's relatively safe because he's interested in her, but that same interest puts her in danger.

On the bed, he's sat beside her but he's just so much larger than her… She swallows and looks away, trying not to think about what he did earlier and what that might mean for them here, alone, with her already tied up.

Of course Doflamingo catches on immediately. "Naughty thoughts, kitten?" he purrs.

Nami's head whips to meet his gaze. "No! I don't want you and I don't want to join your crew! I've made it clear that I'm with Luffy."

He grins his satisfaction and then leans forward to say his next words against the skin of her neck. "I find that loyalty very attractive, though, Cat-Thief."

Nami groans in annoyance, to his words and his actions because her neck is very sensitive. She can't move her shoulder to brush him off since her arms are already above her head, so she just looks away and kicks at him instead.

Doflamingo laughs, using a hand to catch her ankles. "We don't have time for fun now anyway," he says but strokes her legs with his thumb all the same.

Nami is beyond frustrated. "We will never 'have fun' together! I don't want you! And besides, you're huge-it would never work!"

For a heartbeat Doflamingo just stares at her, and Nami, with her face darker than the pink of the warlord's sunglasses, wants to crawl under the bed and die. She is mortified that those words came out of her mouth but her face is resolute, probably because she immediately denies to herself that she ever said such a thing.

And then… Doflamingo is howling, laughing so hard he doubles over and his arms come around to hold his sides. It is a laughter that further embarrasses her, making her neck and shoulders hot because she knows he's laughing at her, but she's also a bit amazed because it is sincere and pure and… boyish. She feels this way often enough watching Luffy and her nakama, but it's very strange when directed at her and so out of place here with this man who kidnapped her.

Doflamingo calms down, but giggles keep escaping him. He actually has to wipe his eyes a few times. "Fuck, kitten, that's just about the best thing I've ever heard." With a much more genuine and open smile than the others he's given today, he cups the side of her face and bends down, ensuring her focus is entirely on him. "This is the Grand Line, love," he says in a deep, quiet tone, swiping his thumb across her lips. "Anything is possible here. That's all just part of the magic of it."

Nami blinks, nothing more than a breeze sweeping through the silence of her brain. Doflamingo reaches into the drawer of the bedside table and retrieves a vial.

"Open up," he directs.

"What? No!" Nami thrashes. "What the hell are you doing?"

He grabs her chin with one hand and her legs with the other. "I get the feeling if I leave you alone you'll find a way to escape." He waits, as if expecting her to answer but she just rolls her eyes. "That's what I thought.

So this is a sleeping drought, which you're going to drink. Then I'm going to beat your captain, enslave your crew, and we'll all live happily ever after."

She bites at his hand as he says this. "Yeah, good luck! Don't say I didn't warn you when you lose to Luffy. And what kind of creep has a sleeping potion on hand like this?"

Doflamingo smirks again, the mischievous one she knows well on other faces. "Don't insult me, kitten. All of my partners have always been willing-and satisfied-no matter their shapes and sizes."

And this time when he grabs her chin and puts the vial to her lips, she drinks. Well, she lets the liquid enter her mouth and then she spits it out over the side of the bed, making Doflamingo sigh. He grabs another vial from the drawer.

"I've got plenty of these, and we can play any manner of game you want, but please don't waste anymore of my time."

Nami mulls this over and concludes there's no way out. She takes the sedative, but she shrieks when Doflamingo uses the moment she swallows as an opportunity to give her a quick kiss. Despite their difference in size, his lips feel normal against hers, soft and warm like any other pair of lips, but she bucks against him and he laughs. He stands to leave but, as if he can't help it, he leans down one last time and whispers "sweet dreams," in her ear before biting her neck and giving the spot a quick suck and swipe with his tongue. She tries to curse at him, but she's already half-asleep.

-/\\/\-

Regrouped outside, Law sits with his manacled hands in his lap, disoriented and a little weak with panic from the knowledge that Doflamingo has initiated his Birdcage. He knows what's happening, what will happen, and how futile doing anything other than what the madman wants will be. Everyone is already dead.

He hears Straw Hat and Violet and even Roronoa conversing behind the wall of static buzzing in his head and it takes a few tries for their calls to penetrate.

"Tora-o!"

He looks up into anxious eyes all trained on him.

"Where is Nami?" Straw Hat is crouched in front of him with his hands grabbing at his coat. From behind, Roronoa's arms uncross and his face flushes as something falls out of a pocket.

"Is that Nami's bikini?"

Violet looks away, but Luffy snatches it up quickly. "Yes," Law answers. "She… had to change clothes. She gave me that and her shorts..." He lifts a shoulder to indicate which side pocket housed said item.

With both in his hands, Luffy doesn't try to make his own assumptions. "Why would she give you her clothes?"

"I don't know. She… uh, she changed in front of everyone. I thought it was a diversion tactic or something, but I have no idea. It was not going well."

Zoro stomps over to his captain. "Give me those!" He tries to stick his hands in the pockets but then snarls "Why are girl pockets so small!" before fishing a finger in each. Then he begins running his fingers over the seams of the clothing.

Wicca pops out of Zoro's jacket and watches him for a moment. "What are you looking for, Zorolando?"

"Nami sewed bits of our vivre cards into our clothing. She's gotta have hers somewhere on these… Aha!" Before he rips the whole garment, Wicca scrambles down his arm and carefully pulls at the thread of the make-shift pocket inside the bikini cup, then holds up a fragment of Luffy's and Nami's vivre cards, with an "L" and "N" written on their respective pieces.

"Where is Nami now?" Luffy asks Violet, who'd anticipated this question. "She's asleep in one of Doflamingo's rooms in the palace. It's impossible to get there now with Pica still guarding the corridors and Doflamingo using it as the center of his birdcage."

Zoro disregards the end of her statement. "How could that witch be asleep right now?"

Violet shakes her head. "The young mast-Doflamingo has trouble sleeping; I'm sure he gave her a sedative. She's the safest of us all since she's in the palace and Doflamingo's set on keeping her."

Zoro and Luffy exchange a look, knowing just how unsafe Nami will be under the authority of someone she hates. Zoro sighs. "I'll take care of the rock guy while you go after Doflamingo. I'll grab Nami when I'm done and meet back up with you."

Luffy's answering grin and reckless laughter make Zoro chuckle as he takes out his transponder snail to check in with Robin and the rest of the crew.

-/\\/\-

Breathing hard and covered in blood and sweat, Zoro stands over Pica's defeated form. He wants to wind down from the fight, catch his breath, get some water-or better yet, booze-to drink but he knows Nami is still out there in who knows what kind of condition. Violet had made it sound like she wasn't in danger, but her face had left him unsettled. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he wrangles control of his body and spirit, then opens his eyes to stare down at Pica one last time. He allows himself to relive the heat of the fight; the bursts of adrenaline, pain, bliss, and victory rush through him and his eyes glow red for a moment. He licks the blood from Wado Ichimonji before shucking the rest of it off and reverently resheathing each of his swords.

Once he's caged the beast inside him again, he pulls out Nami's vivre card and scratches his head. Thankfully, Wicca scurries up his leg from somewhere-she must have hidden nearby and kept track of Zoro during the fight-to join him and help lead him to the palace. Even with the vivre card to guide him, he is not so proud as to refuse her service.

"Well, she doesn't look too bad."

Frowning, Zoro does not reply to Wicca's statement. Upon finding the room, the two of them had rounded the large, dark wooden bed to find Nami asleep half-reclined with her arms tied at the wrist with enough slack against the headboard that she has them curled next to her head. She lay on her side facing them, giving Zoro an unobstructed view of her bruised and swollen cheek, scabbing where the skin had torn. His eyes continue to scan her, noting some red stripes at her knees and wrists, which spoke of struggle to escape or fight. Very unlike her.

He simply grunts as he takes a step back and unsheathes Shusui, settling it in front of him with both hands and drawing in a deep, steadying breath.

Wicca scrabbles in his suit pocket, trying to catch his eye and understand why he's brandishing a sword at his unconscious crewmate. "Z-Zorolando, what are you-!"

With singular control, Zoro raises Shushui and swiftly cuts through the headboard-and bedpost-where Doflamingos' strings had secured the navigator.

Wicca recovers from her shocked silence and beats her fists against Zoro's chest. "Warn a person before you do something so dangerous!"

"Eh? Why would I do that? That'd just waste time," Zoro replies as he slides Shusui back into its scabbard.

Zoro leans down to scoop Nami up and when he pulls back to lift her with him, her head falls away from him, presenting a set of teeth marks at her neck and stopping Zoro mid-lift. He drops her legs back onto the bed to run his fingers over the bite mark as fury floods him, boiling hot and fast enough to burn. It wasn't enough to kidnap her, to torture her and bring up her past, to tie her up and drug her in this room, but the warlord had to go that far? A flash of a similar situation with a wedding dress and a zombie comes to mind and he shakes his head. How did the creeps always find her?

Zoro takes a deep breath. Luffy will take care of him. And that is all there is to it.

Eager to get out of the warlord's castle and back to the battle, Wicca squirms at his chest. "Zorolando?"

At the same time, Nami groans and pulls her knees in, trying to get comfortable in her sleepy state, but Zoro seizes this as an opportunity.

"Nami?" He grabs her shoulders and shakes her gently. "Wake up!"

She swats at his hands and doesn't bother to open her eyes. "Leave me alone, Zoro." Her voice is thick with drowsiness. "You're not allowed to tell someone they can't sleep."

Zoro glares at her. "Tch! Of all the times to scold me," he mumbles. "We're on Dressrosa, in Doflamingo's palace. We have to get out. Now."

Nami's head shoots up off the bed and almost collides with Zoro's. "Shit! That's right!" Her quick movement, however, makes her head ring, her vision blurring and pain swirling behind her eyes. Zoro gives her a moment to cradle her head in her hands.

"Yeah, it looks like he drugged you."

The ice in Nami's gaze strikes Zoro as hard as any of her physical blows. "Obviously. You think I could fall asleep in his goddamn bed otherwise?"

"Hey! Don't get mad at me!" Zoro shouts as he throws his hands up in his defense.

Nami flops back against the pillows with a dramatic sigh, but Zoro is quick to catch her.

"Not now, Nami-we have to get out of here!"

"I can barely sit up, Zoro!"

Knowing exactly what she wants, the swordsman rolls his eyes but pulls his hands away to crouch by the side of the bed. "Tch, you are such a spoiled brat." Nami gives a small, victorious smile behind his back, before rolling to her side and using Zoro's shoulder to hoist herself up onto his back. She can't help but groan, however, when the motion makes her head resonate with pain once more.

Unconsciously seeking comfort, she hugs her arms around her crewmate's neck and massages her temple into the back of Zoro's head, hoping to mitigate the ringing ache. "Goddamn warlord not taking 'no' for an answer," she whispers, more to herself than the swordsman.

Zoro's glad she can't see his blush and takes a shaky breath, narrowly avoiding a coughing fit from a possible gasp at her closeness. Which he would certainly never do. Because women, especially Nami, don't fluster him the way they do the noodle-prone ero-cook, even when they press themselves tight against his back, when their soft arms are wrapped around his neck or their soft, bare legs are clenched against his hips and his hands are grasping their thighs. Not then either, nope.

"Are we done here?" He asks, his voice gravelly, before standing and gently maneuvering Nami into a more secure hold.

"I think so, Zorolando!" Wicca pops out of his pocket to answer, causing Nami to screech and nearly fall. Zoro manages to catch her, but only by quickly shifting the back of a hand up onto the very small of her back, at the top of her bum. No one moves for a moment. Then, with no warning, Nami hammers Zoro on the hand with a fist and indignant holler.

"Excuse you!"

"Oi! Do you want me to drop you?"

"No, but I don't want you to cop a feel either, pervert!" She pulls at an ear. "Honestly, I never expected it from you!"

"You were going to fall; I just caught you!"

"What, fall onto a bed? Oh no!" Nami pauses to look down at Zoro's chest. "And… who? Who is that, anyway?"

The Tontatta smiles brightly and waves. "I'm Wicca! Nice to meet you, Namilando."

The navigator winces. "Just Nami, thanks. Nice to meet you, too, I guess," she finishes before smiling. "Are you the reason he found his way here?"

Zoro grits his teeth and probably his hands, too, but says nothing as he stomps out of the room, feeling like a donkey with two passengers instead of a deadly swordsman with a very respectable bounty.

Truth be told, he's a little relieved his crewmate seems to be okay.

Nami passes out again during his mad dash to help push back the walls of Doflamingo's birdcage. Setting her down on a cart in the street far enough back to be moderately safe, he works with the others to overcome the warlord's sick game, bolstered by the belief that he's as strong as any man, Devil Fruit or no, and Luffy's stronger than them all.

He glances back at his sleeping nakama every now and then, but Wicca stays by her side-or at least, nestled in her chest-to watch over her. One such time he finds her eyes open, head propped up on a hand and body still reclined, and she gives him a playful show of her tongue and a wink when she catches him looking. He smirks; a weight he hadn't known lifting off his chest. He returns his full focus to the damn strings of this abominable birdcage. His captain won't lose, but it's his duty to give Luffy the best chance possible, so he pushes against the warlord's manipulation with all the strength of his body and soul.

-/\\/\-

"NAMI!" Their captain shouts as he launches himself at her and wraps his rubber arms around her several times, squishing their heads together. She laughs at first, but when he doesn't back off she yells and pounds him, the strike strong enough to dislodge the monkey that is her captain. The adrenaline spike leaves her a little breathless, especially after the sprint to the giant ship, and she sways, but Robin steps up behind her and grips her shoulders. Bartolomeo's mouth hangs open, complete with drool, at the sight of the newest Straw Hat to make her appearance and the mundane exchange between them.

Before Luffy can speak with his navigator, the friends Luffy's made on Dressrosa step up and beg his attention, exchanging sakazuki and pledging their fealty to the young man as his subordinates. It isn't until much later, aboard Bartolomeo's Going Luffy, that they're able to catch up.

"So Mingo thinks you use observation haki?" Luffy summarizes, skipping over details as he normally does. Nami nods as Zoro mulls over the idea. Nami does have an uncanny ability to detect the most minute changes to the air and sea around them, reading weather and current alike, not unlike his ability to read his opponents once he gets a handle on them. He thinks of all the training he's put himself through to get his haki where it is now; could Nami just naturally have that kind of talent? Did she practice reading the weather growing up?

Zoro isn't one for caring about his nakama's past, but nonetheless he imagines a child-Nami sitting on a hill above her village, looking out at the sea and the sky. He thinks about his promise to Kuina to become the greatest swordsman in the world, how that had been his sole drive in life. Had Nami had a similar drive? To devote all of her attention to the weather, to the sea… it must have been a drive to leave, to be free on the ocean. Yeah, he could see it, thinking back on the Nami he first met, who couldn't emphasize enough that they were temporary traveling companions and she wasn't joining their crew. He looks over at the young woman, a slight frown on her face and a crease between her brows, so he tunes back into the conversation.

"Can we please keep it down? It's not like I want this information advertised, true or not. Even if I do use haki, it's not like I'll ever use it in battle-I don't know how and I don't want to know." She swipes her hand in a motion that gestures to her nakama. "That's what all of you are for; I can hold my own well enough not to be burden… most of the time, but I'm not a fighting force on the crew and I want to keep it that way! I don't want a bounty at all!"

Luffy just laughs. "Don't worry, Nami, we won't make you fight. But how cool that you use haki!"

Of course Luffy can accept this in stride, not a foot out of place or out of beat. Zoro thinks again to the drive she must carry inside her; it could make sense, she's a Straw Hat after all. And she always seems able to knock him, Luffy, and Sanji around when she wants to...

Law goes back over something that's clearly been bothering him. "Weren't you tempted at all, Nami-ya? How could you think this idiot would beat him?"

"Hey!" Luffy protests, but Nami just smiles, small and maybe a little patronizing, but the moment feels surreal to Law with the setting sun backlighting the young woman. "I learned my lesson a long time ago. I have everything I could ever want: my nakama, my freedom, and the chance to follow my dream. Luffy made that possible." Her smile falters for a moment, her eyes growing wide with tears she doesn't let fall as she looks at her captain. Robin steps in and gives her a hug and, after a shaky breath, she looks back at Law with eyes that sing of determination and pride. "There's no doubt in my mind that Luffy will become the King of the Pirates; that's his dream, nothing can stop him, and we're gonna make sure it happens."


A/N: I hope you liked it : ) I didn't want it to get too bogged down with the canon narrative, so I glossed over that a lot. Anyway, please read and review if you get a chance!