AN: Please note that this is being crossposted from AO3. If you've seen it there already, don't worry, I'm the same person, just recently reacquainted with my account.
In such a busy, rowdy bar, nobody would notice a little redheaded shadow lurking beneath the tables and around the edges of the lanterns' light; A fact that Nami was counting on.
The Arsenic Angel was a very common meeting place for pirates to broker deals- An agreed upon 'neutral' place to work out payments, trades, and contracts. It wasn't easy to get into, either. She'd spent a week scouting this place out, working out all the back entrances, side doors, and unlocked (or easily jiggered open) windows. All leading up to today.
Nami swallowed, nerves making her hands shake. There was so much going on, so many voices overlapping, that it was hard to pick out a good mark amongst the chaos. She would only get one chance at this after all. One mark. One bag or case of treasure, and then she'd have to run. Everyone here was far too on edge for her to safely get away with anything more... And she had to be safe. She had to be careful. She couldn't save her village if she was dead.
A sharp glint of refracted light caught her eye, and the source of it, when found, caught her breath as well. A jewel, a diamond most likely, bigger than her two fists put together. Just how many beli would that be worth? That right there had to be her best bet. She just had to wait, and at the moment of opportunity, seize it and run.
The talks went on for what felt like hours. She couldn't see the clock from where she knelt in the shadows, couldn't even clearly see the faces of the two pirates bartering over the gem on the table. She studied them anyway, out of old habit if nothing else, looking for weakness or any sort of tell that would give her a desperately needed edge.
The owner of the gem, if she was guessing correctly, was the black-haired woman on the left. Thick curls framed her face, carefully tended ringlets that she occasionally wound absently around a finger in thought. Delicate silver-framed glasses reflected the flickering flames of the lanterns and hid her eyes from Nami's gaze, but the half-smile she wore spoke of an easy and relaxed confidence that few had. A glance at the pirate across the table from her revealed him as one of the regulars Nami had seen here quite often during her casing of the place. He was nearly a stereotypical thug- Small minded, all brawn with no brain, and merely a pawn to his uncaring and sadistic captain.
...A strange choice to send here to broker a deal with... Nami's eyes flicked back to the black-haired woman. No matter how you looked at it, she stood out nearly as badly as Nami did in this place. The women here were either female pirates, who showed off their power in wealth, ostentatious clothing, and expensive, heavy jewelry- Or prostitutes, dressed in flimsy, sheer silks and teetering, strappy heels. This woman wore neither; Not the expensive serpent-hide, nor the delicate silks. She instead wore garments of cotton and leather; simple, high quality clothes. Things that were clearly chosen not just for their aesthetics, for they were pretty in their careful embroidery and bright dyes, but rather for the ease of movement that they allowed.
Most telling of all however, was the ease in which the black-haired woman held herself. Nami had pinned her before as being confident, but when held up against everyone else here, it became obvious that it was more than that. There was none of the anxiety or... fear that the others held. Even the whores tittered and shivered under the pirates' harsh regard, but this woman only... Smiled. Not proud. Not afraid. Just... Calm. Nearly... Uncaring.
Nami shivered. This woman was dangerous. She'd made her choice in mark already, and all but locked it in by giving the signal to her paid distraction, but now she was beginning to regret it.
Nothing for it now though. Perhaps in the chaos she'd be able to slip away. She was small, after all.
The shattering of glass announced the arrival of her chance as surely and finally as midnight's chime marked the end of Cinderella's. The gem had been shoved into a leather satchel on the table at the first few angry shouts of a burgeoning bar-fight, and its handle was hanging off of the edge of the table by a couple of precious inches.
Furious and startled voices filled the air across the bar as the fight spread, the few yelps from her darting between legs and stepping on feet unnoticed in the din. Ten feet, five, two- Yes! She had it, the leather already growing slick in her sweaty grip, and she nearly stumbled in her haste to spin about and run for the door- It was even already open; the bouncer outside having come in to help break up the fight.
Good luck with that, Nami thought, unwilling to spare him any more than a single well-wish when the cries of "Thief!" were already rising up behind her.
Thirty feet. Twenty- the floor was slippery with spilled drinks and she nearly crashed into more than one pair of legs. Ten feet- The fight was already breaking up under the firm hands and orders of the bouncers and various bodyguards. Five feet- She could smell the fresh air, nearly feel the sunlight, almost. Almost. Two feet. One-
Her arm jerked, hard, her shoulder and wrist crying in pain as she stumbled and fell, face first into the dusty path just outside the bar door. Her hands were suddenly empty, and she jerked her head around, bewildered and desperate to find the satchel- And spotted it, just out of her fingers' reach.
Time seemed to slow as what her eyes were telling her was added together in her mind. A single, long bladed silver dagger was stuck through the leather, pinning the satchel to the door frame. The black-haired woman, arm still outstretched and eyes wide behind her glasses, the glint of silver now visible at the top of her thigh. Now standing, but otherwise unmoved from her table forty feet away.
Forty feet. In a crowded room. And she'd hit the satchel, not Nami, not the bigger target, not the easy one, but the satchel. At the perfect timing to pin it to the door-frame and free it from the little thief's grasp without injuring her more than a pair of scraped knees.
Somehow, that made the panic crawl up her throat even faster, and gravel turned under her feet, kicking up in the air as Nami tore out into the street, the bright sun doing little to thaw the ice that had wrapped around her heart.
What the hell? What the hell?!