A/N: This chapter starts off a few hours after Part 4, but wraps up after the events detailed in Part 5. Hopefully that's not too confusing.
-o-0-o-
There's a saying in Cocoyashi; Nothing travels faster than the speed of light. Except, perhaps, bad news.
So when a strange ship pulls into port during the middle of the night, flying no colors but that of a merchant vessel, the entire village naturally knows by morning.
Nojiko's having lunch with Genzo and Dr. Nako later that same morning. She's admittedly picking over the food they'd all but foisted off onto her, too busy sulking to notice the concerned looks the two men keep shooting her between bites of their own lunch. It wasn't fair; Nami finally coming home, only to crash face first into bed, and then having to run as soon as the sun was up. She'd been unable to do anything more than give her big sister a fleeting hug goodbye, lest Arlong came looking for her.
She thinks the bitter taste it left in her mouth would be enough to ruin anyone's appetite.
"I don't know what the hell they're thinking, stopping here." Genzo's grumbling, the words quite literally flying over her head as she works on clearing the table.
Nako makes a vague noise to show that he's listening, but in Nojiko's opinion, he seems to be paying far more attention to the newspaper in his hands than the village's morning gossip.
The sheriff huffs, standing up to pour everyone a mug of their usual morning brews. "It's not like we've any money to spend, and I doubt Arlong will take kindly to visitors."
Nako sighs. "Who knows. Perhaps they've run out of supplies, or are looking for repairs?"
"Doubt it. A vessel that size?" Genzo scoffs. "Any decent quartermaster could keep a galleon like that on the water for weeks! As for repairs… the boat's not listing, so it can't be that much of an emergency."
Nojiko gets bored of the conversation pretty quickly, and makes her excuses to head home early. Why should she care if some idiot outsiders were going to get all their merchandise stolen? If anything she should be happy. A satisfied Arlong was a lazy Arlong, which meant less trouble for the entire island.
It was nice of them to invite me, at least. She sighs, kicking a rock down the road as she walks home. Being in that house, alone, is depressing enough when Nami's gone off to gods know where.
To have her sister back on the island and yet still be out of reach… Hurt. It hurt so much, and yet still couldn't be even half of what Nami must be feeling.
Grin and bear it. Nojiko tells herself. She wanted to be able to greet her sister with a smile when she finally could spare a moment to properly come home, and it wasn't like sitting around sulking ever accomplished much anyway.
She rounds the corner of her house, and stops dead.
There's a man she doesn't recognize sitting on the bench outside her house, muttering to himself. He stops and looks up as she notices him, before pushing himself slowly to his feet, like he's trying to avoid spooking her.
"Ah. You're… Nojiko, right?"
Nojiko can only nod numbly. She can't think of who the hell this person could possibly be. She knows every person in Cocoyashi, and while it was possible he was from one of the other villages, he wasn't dressed the part. His clothes were far too nice for that, for one, but also of a style one just didn't see in these parts: A wine red dress shirt, a loose black tie, expertly made suit pants, and good quality boots.
The man's either oblivious to her conundrum, or is politely ignoring it.
"Ahh, that's a relief! I was starting to think I'd gone to the wrong house."
"You were looking for me?" She asks warily, unsure if she should start running now, or wait to see what the hell this guy wanted first.
The man hums in consternation. "Eh, sort of? It's more that, well." He frowns, tipping his hat back, and Nojiko's not sure what to make of his expression. It's some mix of discomfort and concern, and that, more than anything, is what makes her finally relax a bit.
"This is Bellemere's house, right?"
Oh. Oh that explains it. Nojiko had known, intellectually, that her mother had been a marine, that she must have sailed all over and met lots of people, but she'd never thought that one of them would come looking for them.
Nojiko nods, and tries to strangle the feeling of hope rising in her chest, even as tears begin to prick at her eyes.
"Y-yeah. We lived here, with her." The man's frowning at her now, even more obviously concerned, and Nojiko swallows. "She's… She's dead. Bellemere… She protected us… And." She bites back a sob. "Arlong killed her."
If he hadn't already known, he'd certainly suspected. There's no shock in his face at the news. Just a slow brewing rage.
"Hey, Nojiko." His voice is still so gentle though, and he places a delicate hand on her shoulder as she tries to stop crying. "Where's your sister?"
"Eh?"
"Bellemere told me she had two daughters. You're here. Where's Nami?"
Oh. Right. He wouldn't know. How could he? He likely only just got here, perhaps by way of that mysterious merchant vessel that had Genzo scratching his head so thoroughly.
"Nami's…"
Anger and fear and a dozen other emotions crawl up her throat, and his grip tightens slightly on her shoulder. He's expecting more bad news, she realizes. After all, if all he'd heard was that Nami had been 'taken' by the Arlong Pirates, it wouldn't be strange to assume she was dead or worse too. After all, it wasn't like Arlong normally accepted humans into his crew.
"She's alive. Arlong tricked her into working for him." Because Nojiko didn't really believe for a second that Arlong was going to hold up his end of the deal. She hoped he would, they all did, but.
It would be a cold day in hell before that shark relinquished his grip on anything he felt rightfully belonged to him.
"Where is she?" He repeats, still calm, still refusing to show even a drop of his anger to her- But Nojiko can feel it there, bubbling and building up dangerously beneath the surface.
"At his base, probably. It's down by the shore, east of here."
He nods in understanding, and straightens up before grinning at her. It's fierce and warm and confident; and somehow, from that grin alone, Nojiko can see how this man might have been friends with Bellemere. He seems like the sort that would be hard to not become friends with, once you've met him.
"Right. Thanks, Nojiko. I'm gonna go check on her, alright? And then maybe we can all have supper together! Clemens might not be as good of a chef as- Ah. Whatever. It'll still be good."
Check on her? Nojiko couldn't have heard him right. There's no way…
Except the direction he was heading in now was undoubtedly towards Arlong Park.
"W-wait! You can't seriously mean to-"
"Eh? Course I can." He turns back to face her, blinking bemusedly down at her as she gapes at him. "If Nami's there, then I'm going."
"But Arlong's… He's really strong and-"
"Yeah. I know." There's something in the way he says that, without fear or dismissal, that makes her stop. "He's a monster."
He says it in the same way somebody would comment on the weather.
"So am I."
He's smiling again. This time, a little more crooked, a little rueful, a lot vicious, and Nojiko finds herself shakily smiling back.
"Let's all have supper together, alright? I'm sure Clemens will make something great. Maybe you can bring some of Bellemere's tangerines? I always wanted to try them."
She nods, the hope tangled up in her throat making it hard to speak, and he waves as he turns and walks away once more.
She's not sure if she actually expects him to come back or not. That doubt stays with her the entire day, hanging over her head even as she pulls out the basket and pruning shears. It's because she wants him to, Nojiko realizes, wants him to come back, grinning, bruised and victorious, with her little sister in hand. She wants to believe in that easy confidence he'd held, wants to have faith in that strange friend of her mother's.
She wants to hope.
-o-0-o-
He comes back.
Grinning, clothes slightly tattered but victorious, and with her little sister in hand.
Nami's laughing and crying and Nojiko understands why perfectly, as she's doing the exact same thing as she all but tackles her little sister in a hug. She would think she was dreaming, if it weren't for the fact that they had managed to knock their heads together in their combined enthusiasm. It's given her a pounding headache, and she couldn't be happier.
"Arlong's dead," Nami gasps out between slightly hysterical giggles, "He's dead, Nojiko. He's really dead."
It's too good to be true, surely, and yet it is. They're not dreaming, her sister's not a liar, and even from way out here they can hear the growing ruckus from Cocoyashi as the good news reaches the rest of the villagers.
Impossible news travels almost as quickly as bad news, it seems.
"Hey, Nojiko, Nami."
They both look up at the man, barely pausing to hastily scrubbing away happy tears before meeting his grin with their own.
"My name's Luffy. I know I said we'd all have supper together, but ah," He laughs, a little sheepish, but not sorry in the slightest as he continues, "I think my crew's making it a party. Wanna come?"
"Yeah!" Nami cheers, and Nojiko claps her hands together in excitement before remembering his earlier request. It takes her just a moment to go and fetch the basket she'd filled nearly to the brim with ripe tangerines.
"Awesome~!" Luffy laughs, easily hoisting the loaded basket up with one arm. "Let's go, let's go! I'm sure you're gonna want to fill everyone else in, right?"
Nojiko's pretty sure everyone already knows the rough gist of it if the growing commotion in the distance is any indication, but even she's excited to hear the details. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, if she's really lucky, she'll get to hear about how Luffy met Bellemere as well.
(She's not, but it's hard to mind when the entire island is filled with laughter for the first time in years.)