While the presence of the two bounty hunters hadn't been bad, Nami dared to call it almost fated. They served to remind her why she was there, in a pirate ship, collecting all the berries she needed for her one-man mission. Somehow, she even felt a little thankful since they put her straight on the road again; the horizon as her only limit to finally reach her home island in the 'borrowed' Going Merry.

"They weren't so bad" she said out loud with a small smile on her lips, feeling the soft breeze blow her hair while resting at the rail. "Maybe after I finish here, they'll let me join them for real this time"

Her smile, while still present, started to feel a little too tight once she processed those words, very much aware that she was simply pretending on some wishful thinking; and the guilt she felt the last days while sleeping in the same room with Luffy, while enjoying some of the spend time with the goofiness of everyone, just piled up until it became a spilling mess of sadness. The full notion of how absolutely hopeless and trapped she felt. Her crying couldn't be contained along the tears, so she let them be in a miserable hug to herself in consolation at how much she had gained in this little trip of hers and yet the idea of losing it at the end thanks to this last stunt she pulled left her almost adrift.

"I'm sorry" Nami whispered to no one in glum. "I just wanna… I just wanna be free"

In a different circumstance, time and moment, the orange-haired girl would have loved meeting this crew of lunatics and not hesitated a second to join them. They were so odd and that just made her feel endeared to them the more easily. She had let her guard down and now she was finally presented with the results of it and yet, even throughout all the awful misery, she was sure that she didn't regret ever meeting this bunch of idiot pirates.

Irony has never felt this cruel.

For as much as his goodbye to the Baratie's staff and Zeff had been full of heartbreaking farewells and the usual smirk of the old geezer (that somehow had looked full of pride in that instant), Sanji didn't find any of the regret he thought he would feel once he sailed away from the place he had called for so long his home. It felt so odd and yet the breeze of the ocean gave him a new sense of freedom.

This is where he belonged all along.

The other good thing about taking this new life-changing decision came in the form of a very smiling and sweet looking dark-haired gem of the sea that just couldn't seem to stay still in her excitement.

"Will it be this way?! Or do you think it will be this way?!" she kept asking to no one while going around their small boat to watch all sides of the horizon in her uncontained happiness. "This is so exciting! I can't wait!"

"Luffy-dawn, you should be careful, you could fall from the boat" he said in his usual dreamy voice and an obvious pink blush, his eyes focused on his precious captain to make sure his warning didn't turn to be truth.

"Shishishi! Sorry, sorry!" and with that joyful answer, she went to be half hanging from her waist at the edge, to sit between Sanji and Yosaku while still kicking her legs in uncontrollable cheer. God, the blond could only gush silently at how immensely cute his captain simply acted. "I just can't help it! We finally got ourselves a cook, so now we just have to get Nami back to finally be on our way to the Grand Line!"

"Ah Nami-swan, huh?" now his dreamy voice became almost breathy at the notion that he was part of a crew that had not one, but two gorgeous ladies on it. Lucky! "Just thinking about her beauty makes me so happy!"

And of course, if Nami was the navigator that his adorable captain wanted, then he would go to sky and hell to bring the ginger girl back to them even if it was the last thing he did… Not that he had to be convinced that much. Even if the circumstance put the sunset-haired woman in a bad light, Sanji was absolutely convinced that she had a good or noble reason to steal from his cute captain.

But then, Yosaku dared to scream at his dear Luffy-dawn and there was no way that he will allow such thing on his watch (context be damned), so as much as he could stretch, Sanji kicked the bounty hunter right on the side of his face as a well-served punishment to dare talk like that to the black-haired girl, but even with half of his face mushed by the cook's boot, Yosaku still kept talking in panic at the prospect of getting near some Arlong guy to where his dear Nami-swan was heading to.

"Big sis's eyes were glued to Arlong's wanted posted and that's when she stopped acting like her normal self" well now that actually caught Sanji's attention, retracting his leg back down and paying attention to the anxious bounty hunter who could only hold onto his knees in contained fear. "Big sis Nami will try to take down Arlong and collect his bounty! She may be very well inside his compound as we are talking!"

To be honest, half-way through his explanation, Sanji stopped listening for the sake of admiring his captain's figure while she stretched with a loud yawn (how the hell her vest managed to stay on its place with only two buttons over her prominent chest was beyond him, but who was he to question fashion?) only to be immediately on board at her question about having some food. It seemed their nonchalance only gained a cry out of the poor guy, who seemed baffled about their lack of knowledge about this guy Nami-swan wanted to capture. Not that he cared much, though. If their precious navigator was in possible danger and Luffy-dawn wanted this guy taken care of, then he would not question the details.

"Never heard of him!" it was the straw hat girl's response, just like him, while now sitting at the very front of the boat.

They were only met by the horrified face of Yosaku who immediately blew a whistle, and like a strict ridiculous looking teacher walking side to side, started to explain the very basics about not only Arlong, but also about what that would be awaiting them at the Grand Line once they arrived there. He was well aware of the stories about fishmen thanks to the old geezer, but he couldn't help think about the mermaids that lived in there too (and the possibility that he could have the chance to meet one).

"Do fishmen look like this?"

"Hahahaha! That's a masterpiece!" he laughed out loud at the doodle of the black-haired girl, mostly amused at how she though that fishmen truly looked like that. Her happy smile told him enough that she found his reaction just as entertaining.

For as much as they got distracted that easily at every explanation the bounty hunter gave them, Sanji could pretty much summarize the basics, his captain only understanding that she finally could find strong people to meet to their destination, and while the logic of Nami-swan going for Arlong's bounty of 20 million berri made sense, he liked to imagine the ginger girl as a possible mermaid in search of fellow fishmen.

"Like this?" and with the doodle the straw hat teen made, the blond cook only managed to choke with his cigarette at the ridiculous image, not having the heart to tell the dark-eyed lady how her drawing was far from catching the real beauty of Nami-swan.

"Can't you take this serious?!"

And once again, Sanji found himself kicking Yosaku's face.

Frustration was an odd emotion; it could easily be a bearable annoyance to the most heart-wrenching feeling of powerlessness one could ever suffer. It was kind of sad that Nami had come to be used to such sentiment and its many shades during her young life.

She had genuinely tried her best all those years, from tricking to lying and stealing so she could finally give Cocoyashi its deserved freedom. She had done it to her best extent and abilities and yet… and yet… what good had it been?

She sacrificed so much and put up with so much that a part of her felt angry at her own naivety to believe that someone like Arlong would keep his word (technicalities be damned). She had been so stupid and gullible and now everyone was going to die at the hands of their long-time tormentor because she just couldn't stop them all.

She wasn't even able to keep her own promise of never crying again after all that bastard had took from her.

'Why, why, why, WHY?'

"ARLONG!"

Her violent breakdown was interrupted by a strong but small calloused hand holding her wrist and forcing her to drop the bloodied dagger, her mind already guessing the only person that had refused to leave against all reason; no matter what she said, the dirt she threw at her feet, Luffy still gave her blunt and honest response without any judgment, letting her cry more at the lingering despair in her heart while the girl's expression didn't betray any emotion even when the sobs grew in volume.

"Luffy…" she couldn't stop the tears; arms trembling while she cradled her injured arm as a sad imitation of a comforting hug, but her eyes gave away the desperation of her barest rock-bottom. "Help me"

Before she knew it, a weigh was placed over her head and a loud 'DAMN RIGHT!' echoed around the empty streets of the small village they still were at, the presence of Zoro, Sanji and Usopp waiting for their Captain to give away the one order they been waiting all day while a heavy curtain of seriousness carried around them with the small rubber girl on the front.

The sight of such small girl leading those three was an absurd sight, but Nami had seen all they could do on their own… and they were there for her too now. The very precious crew that had made her genuinely smile after so many years lost and she hadn't been able to kick out of her heart even when she tried. The black haired girl still had even gone to the lengths of leaving the one treasure she didn't allowed anyone to touch in her care.

And when the sky still looked cloudy that day, Nami felt a shimmer of light shine within her heart that only Nojiko and Belle-Mére had managed to bring to her.

It was kind of humiliating how much of the fight she had truly missed thanks to Arlong hauling her into the ocean while she had still been stuck on the concrete floor, but in her defense… she really wanted to show off the new move she thought thanks to that man's pinwheel.

It had looked very cool and even more so when she threw the sea king with said new move, but then again, she got stuck and almost drowned.

By the time the straw hat girl had spit all the water she had swallowed like some funny fountain, not only both Sanji and Zoro finished their fights (which it was a big bummer since the girl wanted to see her crewmates be all awesome), but the two of them where in really bad shape after being left with Arlong once she managed to get her body out of the water.

So she did the one thing that could only be understandable in that situation and pulled Zoro away from the fishman so she could take his place. The swordsman looked like he needed a long nap anyway.

In the duration of their fight at the attentive eyes of the villagers, Luffy had grew tired of the constant and long babbling that Arlong kept saying about fishmen being superior beings and that she was simply a weak lowly human to the core, blah blah blah. So much talking only made her want to kick the guy even more, let alone that he had already made Nami cry so much in her life.

That reminder still served to piss her off.

It had been all fun at first, jumping around Arlong's attacks after she answered his dumb question about differences ("Noses?" "Boobs?") and even though the guy kept shooting himself all around like a bullet against her without giving a chance to retaliate, the black-haired girl still figured a way to bring him close enough to her so she could tip the scale at her favor by delivering a well-placed Gomu Gomu no Spear all the way down with enough strength to knock him out cold.

Everyone looked bewildered at her handy work as if they couldn't even believe their eyes, but before she could touch the floor, a tight grip over her neck had her realizing that this was indeed a very different kind of fight from the ones she had before. Arlong still got up, wild eyes looking ready to spill blood, and spun her like some wet rag in the air until her rubbery body gained enough kinetic force to be thrown into the pile of rubble that the older pirate destroyed with his bare teeth.

"Damn pathetic girl!" yelled in fury the shark, his dangerous presence being poured into the weak hearts of the villagers and Nami, letting them see their mistake in defying him. "How dare you do this to me?! A fishman!"

It looked like the young pirate was done for in that moment, but she easily straightened up from under all that concrete with little more than a few scratches and a pout in her face.

"Phew! That was close!" the rubber girl made sure that her dirty vest was still on its place and checking if any button had been lost, not phased a little by the bloodlust within Arlong's eyes. "He probably isn't hurt, but he sure is angry"

Dodging became her main move, especially when the fishman pulled a huge sword with the form of the shark's own teeth ("Kiribachi!" yelled Nami in alarm at the sight of the weapon) and swung it using most of his upper body in each attack, not giving a single damn if Luffy managed to jump away just in time. The very instant any of those sharp edges even touched her, the young pirate knew she would be done for.

"Big sis Luffy! Run away!" she heard one of Zoro's friend scream in fear at her, all while she kept going up to the top of the tower in her constant dodge.

The problem came when she run out of floors once she was at the very top, only being able to cover her face and torso to avoid glass while letting the sword throw her into the room that had been behind of her in an attempt to keep getting away.

"Luffy-dawn!" screamed Sanji in worry at the sight of his precious captain being trapped in a cramped room alongside Arlong. Even if he wanted to leap up there and make use of his natural cavalry, the blonde knew Luffy would never forgive him if he decided to intervene in her fight like that.

"That was close!" the straw hat girl said all while trying to recover her breathing, not sure if it was because of having avoided the blade by one thin hair or exhaustion finally getting to her.

"Now you don't have space to jump around… " It was the cold greeting that the fishman gave her once he entered the room too. "The top floor of Arlong Park where you'll have your last moments"

Now that he mentioned it, the girl took a long look around the place; papers after papers littered all corners, some were hung like one would do with wet clothes and the rest simply placed in mountains all over the walls with just a small desk and a bookshelf decorating the room. It was an odd place, devoid of anything genuinely colorful or fun and it gave the rubber girl this sense that there was something inherently wrong about it.

Arlong called it the Map Room, Luffy called it Nami's room, but whichever name they decided to use the young pirate knew this wasn't anything but a prison cell.

'The place where he trapped Nami…'

"This is where that girl drew her maps… "

'There are so many… '

"All of these are sea maps that Nami drew for me… "

'Why does he sounds so proud of that?'

"Impressive, isn't it? Her eight years of work. My very treasure" the fisman hadn't let anything show on his face beyond smug proudness at the notion of owning this very room, as if the person behind it hadn't suffered through it all.

Luffy couldn't muster an expression at the shark's words, mostly because she didn't particularly care at his rambling (she had already dosed off to look closer at the room anyway). Arlong looked like he loved hearing his own voice and a small funny memory of Dadan telling her about that kind of men sprouted from within her mind. Now she got what the older woman had meant with that.

"Her talent is only worthy of serving us, fishmen!"

'There are tear marks in that desk… ' she thought idly, knowing how dried tears looked like since she had been quite the crybaby in her childhood.

"Nami… is our crewmate!"

That word again, the one word that Luffy held in high regard and instantly associated it with unflinching friendship. When the girl thought of that word, it came to her mind in the form of Nami brushing her hair at night, in Usopp's games and funny stories, in Zoro's resolute loyalty, in Sanji's pledge of never letting anyone starve… in Shanks lost arm. All of that and somehow Arlong managed to reduce it as the shackle he tied into Nami by force, as if the ginger girl was ever given a choice to be there and be at his service.

She wasn't pissed anymore… she was furious.

"Just be a good little girl and stay out of our way!" the fishman said, still smiling as if the victory had already been given to him from the start, until he sensed the sudden shift in the straw hat pirate. "Tch! What's with that look?"

"Nami… is our navigator!" she stated with conviction, not letting Arlong's words of wasted talent ring deep. The guy was so damn annoying.

It was easy to drift off when he decided to talk about useless facts but something caught her attention once the breeze blew softly over the desk, rolling down to the floor until it was at the reach of the rubber girl. A fountain pen, very old and very dirty.

"This pen… it has too much dried blood" she muttered to herself, something ugly and bitter bubbling inside her chest.

Nami's greatest happiness? It looked more like he had transformed the one thing the navigator felt the most passion about into a nightmare, not seeing anything but a tool in Nami that the fishman felt the right to crush dry.

He dared to even think that Luffy was there because she wanted to use the orange-haired girl in the same manner he intended to do.

She'll show him.

Leaving the pen on the floor once more, she took the edge of one of the dented blades that had been placed near her shoulder and neck… and held it there without effort, squeezing harder and harder at the same compass that her anger did until a loud shatter filled the cramped room, to the surprise of Arlong.

That's where the feral eyes of the fishman met the darkened and furious eyes of the petite girl in front of him, her stare scorching him deep with the amount of anger behind them but for as much the shark sensed her shift in demeanor, he didn't stop with his taunting. His own arrogance in strength difference encouraged him to keep throwing at her cold truths that he fully believed. It almost looked like he couldn't even sense the dangerous change in his opponent the more he kept talking, as if Nami was just an average pet that wasn't allowed to bite the hand that fed her.

"As long as she have everything she needs to live, she will never have to worry about anything else" the sharp smile in the fishman pirate only grew the more he spoke. "As long as she draws those maps for me, we all win here!"

And with such cynical claim, Arlong laughed as if nothing could ever stop him for reaching his ambition.

That's when Luffy decided to throw everything through the window and end this… literally.

The desk full of blood and tears was the first to fly off with a single kick, only for the fishman to help destroy even more of that room when he tried to stop her with his dented sword, a pile of maps perfectly cut diagonally to the horror of the older pirate. Luffy barely had a chance to kick another hole in the wall that sent the bookshelf and more maps flying out before the shark took her by the neck in a grip that would have snapped it in half, but she didn't let that stop her.

She was going take down the whole room no matter what. The place that witnessed and locked all the sadness that Nami (her friend) felt all those years.

The pervert even had the gal to bite her in the junction of the neck and shoulder as if she was the one in the wrong here.

"I don't give a crap how great you say fishmen are… or about some stupid maps!" Luffy said while taking Arlong's weird nose between her hands in a struggle to take the bastard off of her. "You keep talking and talking so much and I don't even know the story behind all of this…! But now I know what I've got to do to help her!"

She twisted even harder now, not stopping until the satisfactory crack of the shark's nose breaking was loud to hear even if her hands ended all bloodied because of that. At least it got the job done of getting the fishman off her.

"I'll destroy this whole room! Her prison!"

It was a fast succession of actions that reduced that very battle; the straw hat girl threw her leg all the way up the ceiling and let it stretch even further for a more devastating effect, but right when she was ready to let go her Gomu Gomu no Axe, Arlong leaped at her once again and took a big bite on her hip and waist to stop her, only to get himself in the perfect place to receive the full brunt of her move right at the center of his back. It could only be a guess if the blood he spat was hers from the bite or from him at taking the hit.

Like a beautiful metaphor, Arlong fell all the way down to the ground and, alongside him, the tower shook and crumpled to the bottom just like its owner, all while the villagers and Nami stood there at the incredible sight. The one thing they never expected to happen after years of terror and hopelessness.

And as if the weather sensed the unique occurrence in this small island, Cocoyashi was greeted by the sky finally clearing of any dark clouds.

It was the prettiest blue they ever had.

Thank you so much for reading!