The bell on the door of the bookstore chimed as a small, 4 and ¾ year old girl stepped in.
"Welcome!" said Terewah, the owner. He walked to the doorway to greet his newest customer, but found no one there. Nami had already snuck to the side shelves, where the reference guides were. Terewah scratched his head and returned to the checkout counter. Nami crept towards her favorite section; navigation. She'd visited the store many times before, and loved it dearly. Bellemère knew the owner well. Both of the girls had been homeschooled all their life. This was where Bellemère picked up their paper-thin textbooks. But Nami always lusted over the forbidden books. The gold trim, leather back, red stitched books. The Atlases. One of the many things that Bellemère could and would never afford. Nami did not want to think of a life where she could never have these precious things. And she would stop at nothing to get them. Which is why, for the first time ever, she was going to steal something.
Her small fingers trailed over the spine of the Atlas. She brushed over the gold lettering, and traveled to the cover. She lifted the leather to reveal binded parchment underneath. She shivered in excitement. The book was on a music stand, so she had to be careful. If she made even a single noise, Terewah would hear her, and it would all be over. Her other hand's index finger snuck under the book, lifting the back off the stand. She added finger after finger until all 4 of her digits were underneath the book. She pressed her thumb to the cover, and lifted the atlas slowly off the stand. She bit her lip. It was heavy. She'd gotten the book halfway off when the stand shifted and gave a whining squeal. Nami froze. She shut her eyes tight, regretting this entire expedition. She waited for what seemed like an eternity, but Terewah did not appear at the end of the aisle. She allowed herself to breathe, and continued lifting the atlas off the stand. She'd finally achieved her goal. The Atlas was resting against her stomach, under her shirt. Nami could feel the bulk of the book, and gold trim pressing into her skin. Her heart began to beat rapidly as she realized what she was about to do. The book
But just as she began padding towards the entrance of the store, the bell chimed. Nami cursed under her breath (something that Bellemère always did, but scolded her for doing). Two people would be more difficult to evade.
"Ah!" she heard Terewah say, "Welcome, Bellmère!"
"Hello Tenki-san!" said Bellemère, using the shop owner's nickname. "The girls are going to start on weather and climate this month, do you have anything for that?"
"Maybe something in the navigation section?"
Nami swore once more. She edged to the side of a bookshelf that divided the navigation row from the biology section. She strained her ears trying to here something, anything. There was no sign of the two adults approaching. She couldn't hear their footsteps, their breaths, nothing. She was panicking. 'Breathe' she said to herself, inhaling. As Terewah and Bellemère reached the end of the aisle, Nami snuck around into the Biology row. This was perfect. The two adults were talking at the back, giving Nami a good chance to sneak out before they noticed her.
As Bellemère and Terewah chatted happily, Nami crept towards the door. What was she going to do about the bell? Ringing randomly once was weird enough. But twice in less than half and hour? She would get caught for sure. Nami thought about it. She could try crawling out the open window. But… It faced the main street. It would seem awfully suspicious in broad daylight to any passerby. She could wait for another customer to enter the shop. But... they would see her running out and they might tell Terewah. Besides, the store was not visited often. It wouldn't surprise Nami if Bellemère was Terewah's only customer today. No, she had to do it herself. She spotted some cloth lying near the entrance. 'A dampener!' she thought, giving herself a mental pat on the back. She could wedge the cloth between the bell's mouth and clapper. It was foolproof. She set the atlas down in the window display carefully. Tip-toeing to one of the bookshelves, she picked up the stool which leaned against it. As silently as possible, she brought the stool to the doorway, and stepped up onto it. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the fabric strip. She wrapped it around her thumb several times, to achieve the same shape as the clapper. Satisfied, she slipped the fabric off her finger and tucked the clapper into the cloth. It fit in snugly. Nami tensed herself, preparing for retribution if this somehow went terribly wrong. She pushed the bell forward, and then let go. The bell swung back, and Nami winced, expecting it to chime. But it made no sound until it slowly swayed to a stop.
Nami smiled deviantly, and stepped off the stool. She brought the stool back to the bookcase where she'd found it, and then inched towards the window display to retrieve her prize. She slipped the Atlas under he shirt, and with one hand, grasped the door knob. She opened the door slowly, grinning as she saw her device working perfectly. And then, the door grated onto the floor, making a deafening screech. Nami's heart dropped to her stomach.
"Nami?" called Bellemère behind Nami. Nami turned to see her mother's head poked out from around a bookshelf. She waved and smiled sheepishly, desperately wishing that she could just slip out of this entire situation.
"What are you doing here, rascal?" said Bellmère, smiling widely at the girl. The guilt began to seep in. Nami felt sick, like her insides were slowly spilling out of her.
"Ah…Just looking around!" said Nami, praying that Bellemère would take the bribe. But her mother was no fool. Bellemère had been a marine for years. Even the slightest lie would not escape her. Her smile turned sour.
"Nami," said Bellemère, keeping her tone sugar sweet. "Come over here and help me pick out some textbooks."
"No thanks," said Nami, faking a yawn, "I think I'm just going to head home and take a nap."
"Oh but you love navigation, don't you?" exclaimed Bellemère, walking towards her guilty looking daughter. "Come now, it'll only take a second!"
"I really don't feel like it," said Nami, her words strained and tense. Her eyes darted between her steadily approaching mother and the main street. But even if she did run outside, Bellemère wouldn't hesitate to make a scene. Nami weighed her options carefully. She finally decided the play the part of the 'poor, little, brat starved for attention'.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" wept Nami, dropping the Atlas onto the floor, and running over to Bellemère. She clasped her mother's leg, sobbing into her jeans.
"BRAT!" yelled Bellemère, ripping Nami off her leg, and holding her up by her shirt collar. "Why are the youngest always the most troublesome? Nojiko was never like this when she was your age!"
"B-b-but," cried Nami, "N-nojiko is Nojiko. And N-nami is Nami!"
Nami broke into more tears, the drops staining the front of her shirt and falling onto the wood floor. Terewah rushed over to Bellemère.
"What happened?" he asked, worriedly.
"This little thief just tried to steal one of your atlases!" said Bellemère, pinching Nami's cheek. Terewah picked up the Atlas that Nami had dropped.
"Is this true?" he asked, brushing off the cover.
"Y-yes…" said Nami, sniffling.
"Why would you do something like this?" asked Terewah, frowning.
"I-I j-just wanted to learn about the world," cried Nami.
"Oh Nami," said Terewah, shaking his head. "There are so many other ways to learn about the world. You don't need to steal things."
"Don't worry, Tenki-san," said Bellemère, "I'll teach her how the world works. You're grounded young lady. And no dinner for you tonight!"
Nami turned towards Terewah, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Now, now Bellemère," said Terewah, "there's no need to punish her so severely. As dishonest as her actions were, they were in the pursuit of knowledge. This is something I can understand well."
Nami widened her eyes, trying to push for that little glimmer of hopefulness that usually sealed the deal. Terewah noticed, and smiled at her. Nami gave him a small smile back. Deal sealed.
"Tell you what," said Terewah to Nami. "I'll lend you this book for now, and when you're done with it, you can just give it back to me."
"Really?" said Nami, her mouth forming a little 'o'.
"Really," said Terewah, patting her on the head. "But you have to be a good girl and listen to mommy, ok?"
"Ok!" said Nami cheerfully, "Thank you!"
"No problem," said Terewah, giving her the book. Nami clutched the atlas to her chest, feeling comforted by its weight. Success.
As soon as they stepped out the door, Bellemère gave Nami a knock to the head.
"I saw right through that y'know," said Bellemère, kissing Nami where she'd hit her. "If you're going to do something like that, at least go all the way."
"I'd like to see you conjure up some fake tears," said Nami. The girl turned around to stick her tongue out at her mother before racing up the hill.
"Why you!" exclaimed Bellemère, chasing after her.
It is not something that is easy to forget. Neptune remembers it well, against his will. The first time he experienced that type of hatred was not a pleasant memory for him. It was something that he never wished for his children, and something that drew him so much to his wife and queen. It happened when he was only 8 years old.
"You Majesty?" asked Neptune, stepping into the King's court.
"It is time for you to place judgement," said his father, gesturing to a large steel cage placed at the center of the room. A man stood inside. He was a human, which was extremely strange. How had a human gotten to the very bottom of the ocean?
"This man," said his father, "has committed a great crime. You are to assess the gravity of his actions, and sentence him accordingly. This will be a daily occurrence when you are king, and I am training you for such a thing right now."
Neptune nodded. He was young, but his father was old. In 8 more years, his father would be too old to rule the kingdom, and the responsibility would fall to Neptune.
"What crime has this man committed, Your Majesty?" asked Neptune.
"He has kidnapped and sold several of our people above land as slaves. He is what one would call a _."
Neptune could not contain his horror. In a civilised world, where Fishmen were recognized by the world government as an entire race, how could this be happening?
"You're usin' some fancy lingo for a fish-brain!" exclaimed the prisoner suddenly.
Neptune felt confused. He felt belittled. He felt angry. He wondered what this feeling was called.
"Yeah I sold some of you suckers," continued the man, "what about it? Gonna punch me up? Gonna kill me? I'd like to see you try, fish-tail."
Was that an insult? It was… Factually correct. Neptune was indeed a coelacanth-tailed merman. But the way he said it. The condescendence that dripped from his mouth. It sounded so poisonous. As if Neptune has done something wrong, simply by exsisting. It hurt. It made him mad.
"Come 'ere," said the man, beckoning Neptune with his finger, and forming a fist with his other hand, "I'll show you how the superior race does things."
The man was stretching his words. Superior became 'suuupeeeriooor'. Things became 'thaaangs'. Neptune had heard of this. Regional drawls and accents. He loved hearing these different voices over the tone dials. But this man's voice… It was nothing like the long and then clipped voices he heard in media. This was harsh, and rude. Neptune hated it. He hated it.
"Don't let him affect you," said the King, "make your judgement."
Neptune was fair. He was righteous, and he knew what punishment the man deserved.
"Death by injection, Your Majesty," said Neptune, staring the prisoner in the eye.
"Is this your final judgement, my son?" asked the King.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Very well then. Judgement has been indicted. Neptune, you will handle the execution details at 3:00 with the Minister of the Right. Dismissed."
Neptune nodded, and began exiting the door.
"That's it huh?" said the prisoner, "Gonna kill me off like a bunch of barbarians? I was right about y'all. You're nothin' but stupid, fucking fish brains! Fish brains with fish scales, and that's all you'll ever be!"
Neptune froze. He turned around to face the man, his eyes blazing
"You, who have sold living beings' lives, have the nerve to call us barbaric?!"
"Neptune, calm yourself," said his father.
"My apologies, Your Majesty," said Neptune, breathing deeply and continuing. "We are being completely benevolent towards you and offering you a quick and painless death. Would you prefer to be tortured for the rest of your life? In which case, I would not hesitate to change my judgement. You are the epitome of evil, and yet we are allowing you to escape this world you've tainted without a single scratch. It is you who is barbaric, and saying otherwise would be an entire lie."
Neptune now knew that feeling as 'racism'. It was something he detested, but something he couldn't help but add on to. He wished for a day when this strand of hatred would be abolished, it could not come too soon.
A.N.: I got really carried away with this. Haha. I just love Nami too much. I didn't even realize how long this was until I uploaded it to my document manager. There are just so many things about Nami that make her amazing, one of which is her amazing development as a character. She used to be so greedy. Harsh. Selfish. Now look at her. She's level-headed, calm, and so kind. She still has her flaws, but she's scumbled them into her, so that they aren't as bold and bright as they used to be. She shows that with perseverance, and a goal, anyone can improve for the better. I struggle with that sometimes, so I admire her a lot for that. In any case, please note that the rest of my one-shots might not be this long(^w^) I hope you enjoyed it though! Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, Birthdays, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated! See you on the 8th for Paulie!
P.S. Somehow, I messed up the Neptune's birthdate, so I added it in. So sorry for the mistake! I'll be more careful in the future. Anyways, I love how One Piece covers racism. It's such a taboo subject, but it has to be discussed. I wanted to throw my own little thing in there. I hope you enjoyed!