Here I am back with a new installment - I'd like to thank snake screamer for the first review. I do intend to continue this story, even though uploads may take a little while from time to time. I hope you'll bear with me and continue to enjoy it, nevertheless...

Bad weather kept Nami inside Arlong's cabin - the only suitable place on the ship where she could work without harassment. She was close to meeting her quota of ten maps a day and had taken a break to peer out the windows to the shore. She'd desperately hoped to be able to visit Nojiko later, but the rain would make it difficult since she had no umbrella.

To her relief, most of the crew was away - either extorting tribute from any of the 20 towns under their boot or overseeing the construction of a new giant headquarters that Arlong was currently using said tribute to build. Nami wanted nothing to do with the "Park" as it was referred to, and had yet to visit the work site.

She turned back to her own unfinished work with a groan. The one thing she'd loved to do, and now Arlong had warped it into something despicable that made her regret ever having learned cartography.

"Rain or not, I have to get out of here."

000

Choo stood with his arms crossed defiantly as rivulets streamed down his body. Being a fishman, impervious to both rain and cold, he silently stewed that he'd been selected to guard the ship all day. He took no apparent notice of the soft plop of Nami's shoes as she scurried over the deck behind him.

The girl smirked to herself as she passed him by.

"Hold it," a cross voice halted her escape.

She turned with a sigh, "Yeah?"

Choo faced her with a frown on his protruding lips. "Are you sneaking off before you finish your work?"

"No, I finished all the maps already - I just want to go now."

"And what are you going to do - swim to shore?"

"Maybe."

"Chu - In the middle of a storm," he admonished, "That doesn't seem like a very smart idea."

She made a face, annoyed by his solid reasoning, "Well, why don't you let me worry about that?"

"What would Arlong-san say if I let you drown on my watch," he tsked.

"I won't drown," she huffed.

Choo continued staring down at her with arms crossed over his chest.

"If you're worried," she suggested helpfully, "then you could swim me over."

"Oh no I won't - chu! You can just go back in there and draw ten more maps if you have so much free time." He pointed back at the cabin, "Now go before you catch some kind of cold!"

She curled her lip at him, stomping her foot on the deck with a splash, "Shut up, Choo - I don't take orders from you; I've already done my work for the day, and I want to go!"

He gave a dismissive shrug, "Unfortunately, we don't always get what we want; otherwise, I wouldn't be standing here arguing with a noisy brat like you - chu!"

"I've got my own stuff to do," she ground out impotently between her clenched teeth, "don't take it out on me just because Arlong made you stick around on this ship all day!"

Choo's normally rosy cheeks flushed a shade darker than usual as his lips parted to deliver a retort. At that moment, a remora-man stepped over to them, inserting himself hastily between Nami and the other fishman.

"Hitchin - chu! I haven't seen you around for a while," the pirate officer exclaimed, his argument with the obstinate child momentarily forgotten. "Where's the fire?"

"Choo-san," the smaller fishman gasped, "I've got big news, who else is around?"

"You're looking at us," grumbled Choo.

"I just swam here from Stringers Island - I got a tip there's a merchant ship heading this way with some extremely valuable cargo. She's fast on her way to the Grand Line and there's another crew - The Kreig Pirates - with designs on raiding her..." Hitchin babbled breathlessly.

"Slow down," Choo butted in, "First of all, what kind of 'extremely valuable cargo' are we even talking about? Gold? Jewels? berries?"

"Probably those, but I'm talking about something far better! There's something they want to keep a secret, but it's the main reason they're even making the voyage."

"Chu! Well spill it, already!"

The remora-man glanced around before leaning furtively toward Choo. "A devil fruit."

Nami watched Choo's eye pop out almost as far as his lips.

"Devil what," she demanded.

The two looked offhandedly at her for a moment, suddenly remembering her existence.

Choo immediately fixed his fellow fishman with an intense stare, "Are you sure about this?"

"I have it from a very reliable source," insisted Hitchin.

The officer in charge paced back and forth several times as he wrestled with his decision. "How much time would you say we have before we miss our chance?"

"We'd have to leave now if we wanted to catch her. Where's Arlong-san?"

"Who knows - chu! He may not even be on the island at this point. I know he had several errands to run."

"Not to knock your skills, Choo-san, but I don't think we can pull off a raid like this with just the two of us - especially when there's a whole damn pirate fleet involved! Even if it's only a bunch of rookies like the Kreig pirates, I'm not a strong enough fishman to take on those kinds of numbers."

"And I'm in charge of the ship while Arlong-san is gone," sighed Choo, "I can't abandon my post..."

"I'm an officer here too, in case you forgot," Nami piped up, "I can guard the ship while you two go off."

"Shaddup!" Choo glared at her. "No one's leaving you in charge of anything!"

"But we could leave the ship with Momoo," suggested Hitchin.

"We may need Momoo if we actually want to pull off this raid - chu!"

Hitchin looked doubtful, "We're talking very delicate cargo, here. We need a lighter touch than Momoo - he'd be like a bull in a china shop."

"Hmm, true," agreed the other thoughtfully. "We don't even have a plan; I don't see how this is going to work."

The deck fell into a dejected silence.

"I might have a plan," offered Nami.

The two gazed skeptically down at her.

"But I want a favor if it's successful," she continued.

"I'm not going to tell you again to get your ass back in that cabin - chu!"

Nami scowled defiantly up at him. "You'll be sorry! I know a way for you to get that stupid thing you want without anyone even knowing you're there!" The girl studied their expressions as their skepticism slowly shifted to begrudging curiosity.

000

While Momoo guarded the ship and the two fishmen lurked somewhere underneath the waves, Nami lounged languidly in a small dingy. Her soaked dress still clung to her shivering body as the wind blew her aimlessly over the surface of the sea even though the storm had subsided substantially as the waters cooled. The girl's ears pricked as she picked up the sound of an approaching ship. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she maintained her position at the bottom of the boat and waited.

"Boat ahoy," came a distant cry.

On cue, Nami hauled herself up to a sitting position and turned toward the vessel, waving her arms in a frantic, exhausted manner. "Help," she weakly wailed.

Men rushed to the bow for a better look at the unexpected flotsam. Nami got up on wobbly knees and waved with even greater urgency. "Help, help! Oh, please help me!"

Within minutes, she was hauled aboard. The captain made his way over to the shivering girl now seated on the deck and wrapped in a blanket.

"Where did you come from, child; where's your family?"

"We got caught in a flash storm," she sniffled, "I was able to make it to the dingy, but my dad got stuck in the ropes and w-w-went down with the sh-sh-ship." She buried her face in the blanket, whimpering.

"Ah, you poor kid!" The captain tossed a burly arm around her. "Don't worry, we're going to make sure you get back safely where you belong. You just go with Pauly, and he'll take you somewhere where you can rest and get warmed up."

Nami was brought to the lower deck and offered a hammock which she curled up into with her blanket. She listened as the sailor's footsteps went back up the ladder. As soon as she was sure he was gone, she sat up and crept to the hatch leading down into the hold.

She found, to her surprise, casks of all sizes packed and stacked closely together. She hadn't imagined a scenario where she'd have no idea how to begin searching for her target once she'd reached the right location. Pushing the momentary setback aside, the girl carefully scrutinized the assortment of barrels, trying to decide which was the most logical container for a perishable, yet extremely valuable item.

According to Hitchin, she was supposed to be looking for a very rare kind of fruit that gave whoever ate it a special ability.

"What ability," she wanted to know.

Hitchin didn't have that information.

"Well, what does it look like?"

Hitchin wasn't sure: It'll look like some fruit with a kind of swirly pattern - was all he could supply.

"If you don't even know what it does, why do you want it so badly? Why would anyone be dumb enough to pay a fortune for a piece of fruit no one knows anything about? What if the ability it gives you is stupid?"

Don't be ridiculous, she was told, there were no 'stupid' devil fruit powers!

"Then why, if it gives you such amazing power, don't you just eat the fruit yourself rather than sell it?"

Hitchin had, at this juncture, advised her to shut up and just worry about getting the damn thing.

Fine. The whole notion of magical fruit sounded made up anyway. As long as they didn't forget the favor they owed her, she'd get their stupid demonic fruit - even if she had to steal from people who'd tried to help her. At least it was only something useless.

After several moments of creeping along and scanning barrels, her eye was caught by a conspicuously small cask pushed back into the furthest recess of the hold. A few more minutes of hasty searching did not reveal any other containers of the same size. Nami's heart rate picked up at the thought that this might actually be what she was looking for. She reached for the pin cask - light enough for her to pick up - and carefully shook it. Nothing happened. It must have been packed with padding. She shook it harder. Something inside rattled lightly.

Slamming the pin back down, she scrabbled vigorously at the metal band holding it closed. She broke several nails, two of them past the quick, but couldn't manage to budge the fitting. Panicking slightly, she thought about simply bolting with the parcel despite not being sure if the fruit was inside. Before she could decide, however, a faint creaking noise above alerted her to someone approaching.

Nami scrambled back through the hatch and into her hammock once again just in time for the ship's cook to reach the lower deck with a mug of hot broth for her. She gratefully accepted the offering, sipping on it appreciatively until the man had once again disappeared back up the ladder. Once she was alone again, she dashed back toward the storeroom to retrieve her cask. Devil fruit or not, it would have to do for the fishmen. Even if it didn't turn out to be the mystery fruit, hopefully it was at least something they would still consider valuable enough to agree to her terms. She was risking her life, after all.

Her foot had only just touched the floor of the hold once again when the entire ship rocked with a deafening boom. Nami clung to the ladder in terror as the thunder of cannon fire exploded all around. Shouts and screams from above were quickly drowned out by yet another round of cannons. The promised pirate attack was officially underway it seemed, and she was trapped below deck. Lunging for the item she'd returned for, she hurried back up only to slip off a rung and come crashing back to the bottom.

Nami lay stunned for what seemed like several moments. Gradually she registered the ceiling, swimming hazily back into her star-filled vision. With a groan, she turned her throbbing head to see the cask rolled out of her reach. Pushing aside the pain and forcing herself up, she began crawling after it, but suddenly froze as stomping footsteps rapidly approached the opening of the cargo hold. She made a desperate dive for the larger barrels, squeezing herself behind them as pirates started filing down the ladder.

"Alright, start grabbin' 'em!"

Through a gap in the barrels, she could make out at least three of them as they fanned out and started hoisting the larger containers on their shoulders. She'd also be discovered, she realized, if she didn't think of something quickly.

"Oh? What's this?"

Her heart thundered as she swallowed a shriek trying to claw its way out of her throat, but then an arm reached out and snatched up the pin she'd been struggling with only minutes earlier.

A wave of relief passed over her, quickly followed by a stab of dismay the moment the pirate pulled out a small hatchet from his sash and used its edge it to effortlessly pop the band off the container. The lid, followed by a shower of straw, spilled to the floor. Lastly, a gourd-like object landed in the pirate's open palm. Nami immediately noticed the swirl pattern on its skin - just as Hitchin had described.

"Well fuck me! Here it is!"

"You sure?" Another one came up for closer inspection, blocking Nami's view.

"You sure," repeated his comrade mockingly, "What does it look like to you, Gin - Whitebeard's fuckin' left nut?"

Nami hated pirates.

"Well, do we need to keep loading up these other casks?"

"Of course we do, asshat, Don Krieg wants everything!"

Nami began to silently pray to any god that could hear her as they continued lifting barrel after barrel. Squeezing further back into the crevasse she'd wedged herself into, she felt her hand brush against a coarse fabric - a tarp? An old sail? She gripped it tightly. As the last large cask was lifted away from her, she slid unnoticed under the canvas, disappearing into its folds while hot tears of anger and disappointment stung her eyes.

She waited for the sound of retreating footsteps back up the ladder and then waited several minutes more before daring to emerge from hiding. Slowly she crawled out of the hold. The sleeping deck was empty, but she could still hear sharp voices rising from above. Peeking her head out cautiously, Nami found the entire ship's crew bound and bloodied on the main deck as the contents of their vessel were removed to one of multiple war ships surrounding them.

"And lastly, gentlemen," A grand-looking, armored man - clearly the pirate captain - pontificated from the forecastle down at his literal captive audience, "we are taking this ship in the service of Kreig's fleet; which of you will be joining us?"

The merchant captain, his kind, leather worn face now a swollen pulp slowly oozing blood down his chin from a crushed nose, slumped very noticeably in the girl's peripheral view. Nami felt sick at the sight of him. The cook sat on the man's far side and leaned solicitously toward his captain who appeared to be muttering softly. Nami crawled a little further out to hear what he was saying. No one had taken notice of her yet and she hoped to keep it that way.

"Let 'em finish me off; I'd rather die than serve under that piece of shit. You can do whatever you like - all I ask is that you don't let 'em get his hands on the real one. Drop it in the ocean before you let him have it, you hear? Better yet, keep it for yourself - eat it and kill that dog-jowled son of a whore..."

"He's not getting his hands on it, Captain, I promise you," swore the cook under his breath, "No one but me ever looks in the place where it's hidden."

"That poor kid we picked up must have also found somewhere to hide," groaned the captain, "I don't care to think what'll happen to her once she gets discovered by these ass-pimples."

Nami shuddered. She didn't care to think of that either. Not for the first time since boarding the merchant ship, her resolve wavered, but not due to fear for her own safety. She wondered if any sailor who refused to join the pirates really would be killed. She watched helplessly along with the captain and the cook as one man after another reluctantly and shamefully stood up to pledge their allegiance to Don Kreig. Much like the two of them, she couldn't bear the injustice. Unlike them, however, she still had a chance to save herself, and more importantly, she had a whole village of her own people back home to worry about saving.

While her heart went out to the unfortunate sailors, she couldn't help the sudden flutter of hopeful elation she'd felt when she'd heard the cryptic comment from the cook about 'the real one' being 'hidden where no one but me ever looks'. Putting two and two together, the girl ducked back below deck in search of the galley. Time was running out.

With every drawer pulled out, every cabinet opened and rummaged through, every garbage pail, pot and pan overturned, Nami stood panting and bewildered in the middle of the ransacked kitchen. There were precious few fruits to be found - only common apples or the occasional lemon. She'd looked through all the stores as well and found nothing.

"Where could it be," she breathed, glancing frantically in all directions, "am I looking in the wrong place? Did I misunderstand what he said somehow?"

The creak of approaching footsteps startled the bemused girl back to the realization that she wasn't the sole occupant of the ship. She darted for the first hiding place she could find and crawled into the cabinet below the sink, knocking over one of the few remaining items still lurking inside. Nami knew what it was. She'd noticed the small box labeled 'Rat Poison' at the beginning of her search and hastily dismissed it, but now something prompted her to pick it up.

The box felt rather heaver that she'd expected. Squeezing it on either side, she thought she felt a slight bulge in the middle. Her heart thudded as she fumbled with the corners and pulled the top open.

"What the hell happened in here," thundered a voice from the other side of the pitch-black enclosure she'd stuffed herself into. The noisy rustle of cookware and other debris being kicked violently aside caused her to immediately freeze. Nami quivered in dread.

A moment later the cabinet door flew open and a large, grimy face grimaced in at her. Nami shrieked and kicked at the intruder, but the pirate grabbed her by the leg and yanked her out.

Nami's free hand closed around a nearby meat fork as she was dragged from her hiding place; with all her might, she thrust its sharp prongs into her would-be abductor's forearm.

"Fuuuuuck! You little Bitch," he screamed, and flecks of his spittle hit her in the face like the spray from a crashing wave.

Breaking loose, Nami bolted past him out the door while he struggled to dislodge the utensil, but soon the enraged brute was up and barreling after her.

The box clamped between her teeth, the child flew up the rungs of the ladder leading to the main deck, her pursuer hot on her heels. He made another swipe at her leg as she reached the top and Nami stumbled forward onto her face and rolled to the edge of the ship.

"I'm gonna kill you, bitch," she heard directly behind her.

She glanced up in time to see one of the captured sailors, still tied up and awaiting his fate, casually stick his foot out to trip the irate pirate, who slammed headlong onto the deck.

The greatly appreciated interference bought her just enough time: Hoisting herself up and over the side, she hurtled into the sea.

Nami began to swim as hard as she could while another loud splash announced the Krieg pirate's ongoing pursuit to murder her. With expert long strokes he quickly overtook floundering girl, snatching the back of her garment and spinning her around to face him.

"Help me, help me," she screamed as his hands closed around her throat and her vision began to blur. A silvery jet suddenly shot out of the ocean to the man's left, striking his temple. His grip immediately fell from her neck, and he collapsed lifelessly below the waves - a red cloud of blood engulfing his stunned and hideous face.

She noticed another figure zipping beneath the water and Nami quickly took several deep breaths as she was pulled under by Choo. She'd never been happier to see his stupid, permanently puckered countenance. Arlong's sniper dove rapidly beneath Kreig's pirate fleet. Hitchin, who'd been busily drilling holes in all of the ships, quickly caught up to them as well. As soon as they were a safe distance away, Choo once again surfaced. Nami gasped for breath, her arms wrapped around his neck, her fist still somehow miraculously squeezing onto the tattered rat poison box.

"Are you alright," the smelt-whiting fishman asked, eyeing her over his shoulder in what could have passed as concern.

"Did you get it, Nami," demanded Hitchin popping up moments later.

Wordlessly, Nami held up the small soggy box.

Choo took the box from her and unceremoniously reached inside. He pulled out what looked like a little tangerine with swirls covering its skin.

Hitchin gasped, leaning in closer. "Ha! I don't believe it. The genuine article - this is going to fetch us a fortune!"

"Yeah. Let's hurry up and get out of here while our luck still holds - chu. This was almost a disaster, and I don't even want to think about what Arlong-san would've done to us if we'd gotten Nami killed. I never should have let the two of you talk me into this!"

The girl in question collapsed weakly against Choo's back, too tired to argue, and allowed herself to be carried back to the Conomi Islands and her pirate overlords.

000

"Where's the ship?"

Nami's head bobbed up, startled out of her dose buy Hitchin's sudden exclamation. Fishmen and girl gazed in bewilderment at the spot where they'd last left Shark Superb.

"Maybe we should ask Momoo," huffed Choo.

"Look down there on the beach." Nami pointed toward a pile of dismantled beams lying on the sands. Nearby stood a pair of figures gathering and lifting the massive strips of lumber.

"Kaneshiro - chu!"

The lean goldfish fishman spun around in surprise at the sound of his name being called. "Oh, there you two are - and the little human brat too. Where've you been?"

"Nevermind that! What have you done to our ship," cried Hitchin, as he and Choo hurried up the shore toward the crew's shipwright.

"Arlong-san's orders: We're usin' the lumber from Shark Superb to build Arlong Park." He then turned back to his apprentice, a young betta fishman, "hurry it up, Aka-Mushi!"

Choo gave another weary sigh as he watched them go, "Leave it to Arlong-san to be too cheap to buy some extra lumber." He turned to Nami and Hitchin, "Speaking of which, let's go ahead and bring this to him," he held up the strange small fruit.

Nami, however, hung back. Weary and having done more than her allotted duty for the day, she had no inclination to meet back up with Arlong and the fishman crew that evening. Instead, she headed in the opposite direction.

By now, the sun was beginning to set, nevertheless Nami was careful to avoid walking down the main thoroughfare as her presence in town was no longer a welcome site. She still managed to pick up a few cold stares from neighbors who'd once smiled and waved at her, but Nami tried her best not to feel too hurt by it. It was only natural - anyone who willingly joined up with their own mother's murderer deserved nothing but contempt. She was a traitor, she reminded herself, and had to learn to embrace it.

Picking up her pace, Nami veered away from town and headed for the outskirts and the groves beyond.

Nojiko met her at the door before she'd even reached the porch.

"Nami, what did they do to you," she exclaimed, running up to her younger sister.

"Is it really that bad," the other girl stared self-consciously down at her torn, wet, soiled clothes and blood encrusted nails. "It's not what you think, Nojiko..."

"You can explain inside," interjected the twelve-year-old, taking her firmly by the wrist, "first you need to get out of those damp clothes and into a warm bath."

"That sounds magical," Nami sighed as she allowed herself to be pulled into the house.

"So do you really think Arlong will agree to what you want," Nojiko called out from the kitchen after listening apprehensively but silently to Nami recall her terrifying day.

From the bathroom, Nami paused in the midst of toweling off, "Well, it's the only shot I have - he has to take me seriously after all I went through today!"

"I'm not so sure I want him to."

Nami appeared momentarily from the hallway, pulling one of Belle-Mere's old t-shirs over her head. "Don't say that Nojiko, this is for you and everyone in Cocoyasi!"

Her sister whipped around from the stove, fixing her with an appraising glare, "You should worry about yourself! Look at you - you're as pale as wax; you look half dead."

"That's just because of this shirt," dismissed Nami, pinching the baggy material between her fingers, "Yellow always makes me look sallow."

"It's not the shirt!"

"Hey, what are you making," deflected Nami casually as possible as the delicious aroma hit her nostrils.

"I've been learning some of Belle-Mere-san's recipes," replied Nojiko, still eyeing her disapprovingly, "This is orange chicken stir fry. It'll be ready in a minute."

"Don't worry about feeding me," Nami insisted, "save your resources - I can take care of myself."

The older child quirked an eyebrow beneath her lavender locks. "Really? When was the last time you ate?"

Nami paused, caught off guard by the query. Before she could answer, her gut emitted a low growl. She quickly slapped her arms around her midsection as if to stifle the noise. "Look, I've been pretty busy all day, so I haven't had much of a chance - but I eat fine."

"Oh, I'll bet," an unimpressed Nojiko turned off the stove, "Now go get some bowls."

Having dinner with her sister, talking and laughing like old times, almost allowed Nami to forget for a moment about pirates and berries and grief. She could imagine Belle-Mere just in the next room putting clothes away or rummaging through the closet for something and at any moment she would walk in the kitchen and join them. She wished she could freeze the moment in time forever like a scene in a snow globe and never have Arlong's hideous memory darken their lives ever again.

000

The girls started awake at the heavy wrapping from the front door. Nojiko immediately sat up, reaching for a hammer she kept beside the bed. Nami merely rolled over, emitting a soft groan.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's for me," sighed the smaller girl, pulling herself begrudgingly up and rolling out of bed. "I'll be right there - just let me get dressed!" She shouted for the benefit of the fishman waiting outside.

Aka-Mushi, the apprentice shipwright, gazed at her from beneath one long red strip of fin that flopped from behind his head and across his eye as she opened the door three minutes later and loped past him down the pathway from Belle-Mere's house. The earliest rays of dawn touched the horizon, providing her just enough light to see the path leading to her looming appointment on the other side of town.

"You don't look so great; sleep okay?"

Nami balked at finding the young fishman walking apace with her.

"I know how to find the place, thanks. You don't need to take me there or anything," she shot back, walking faster to get ahead of him.

"It's fine. I'm going to the same place too," he stated, taking no notice of her extremely barbed hint.

After a long pause, he abruptly let out a loud yawn behind her.

"As for me, I hardly slept at all," he responded to a question she'd never asked, "We've been working all day and night to finish Arlong Park, y'know. I was sorry we had to dismantle the Shark Superb, but the new digs're turning out even better than I expected. I bet you never seen a building so big in your life. It's way bigger than anything else on this island."

Nami bit back an acerbic retort before it left the tip of her tongue. She didn't have the energy to deal with him. Truthfully, she hadn't slept well, and she did feel terrible. Her head pounded and chills racked her entire body. She must have caught a cold after all from being damp so long yesterday. So, instead, she simply tuned out the betta-man's chatter and focused solely on her pitch to the pitiless shark holding every human life on the Conomi Islands in his hands.

Just as the junior shipwright had promised, Arlong Park was certainly impressive in size. It easily dwarfed any of the buildings in Cocoyasi. Nami followed Aka-Mushi through a side gate in the great stone wall surrounding the pirate fortress. Once inside, a grid of walkways and pavilions divided the water into several separate pools - making up the "courtyard" leading to the grand sea entrance. The rest of the compound was taken up almost entirely by the massive five story tower in the center. What seemed like the entire crew bustled in and out of the structure, carrying materials and supplies, climbing scaffolding or having discussions in small groups. Kaneshiro single-handedly oversaw the whole endeavor like the ringleader in a circus, shouting orders in all directions.

"Pretty amazing, huh," Aka-Mushi suddenly spoke up beside her, obviously mistaking her slack-jawed horror for admiration, "Arlong-san came up with the design; it's just like the one at-"

"Aka-Mushi, hurry up and get over here! I need your help," the senior shipwright yelled over at his protege.

"Oops - sorry Kaneshiro-san!" He threw Nami an apologetic wave before jogging away, "I'm coming!"

The girl gratefully watched him leave, then turned her attention to her gaunt reflection in the pool. It could have been the distortion of the ripples, but she suspected the talkative jerk was right: she looked terrible. Hastily slapping some pink back into her cheeks, she reflexively jumped as an ominous shape appeared in the water, behind her.

Nami had to suppress a primal urge to run screaming at the sight of Arlong's steel trap grin. On either side of him stood Hachi and Kuroobi. Choo, she noticed, was conspicuously absent from the usual foursome.

"There she is," chuckled the shark, "our fearless surveyor. I heard all about your big excursion yesterday."

"Then hopefully you also received the fruit of my labor." She immediately cringed at the pun that popped unbidden out of her mouth.

Arlong, however, seemed amused. "Shahaha! Yes, I did. And while I applaud your gumption to go fetch it for me, I can't say I was thrilled to learn about you going on this fool's errand that nearly got you killed."

Nami stiffened.

"Now don't worry," he laid his large hand on her shoulder, squeezing a bit too tightly, "I don't blame you - you're only a child. Choo and Hitchin should have known better, but I've already dealt with them."

Nami noticed Hachi and Kuroobi exchange tense glances on either side of their captain.

"What matters is that you know better than to make a decision like that on your own anymore." His stare intensified as he continued gripping her shoulder. Nami resisted every urge inside her to squirm, remaining ramrod straight and meeting his gaze. "I would consider it a great blow for our crew and even all of fishman kind to lose out on such gifts and talent for the sake of one fancy piece of produce. You're worth even more than money, kitten."

Seeing an opening, her face fell into a sullen pout, "But I did give you a gift - and you don't even appreciate it! I thought you'd be happy I tried so hard - Hitchin promised you would be!" With glee, she threw the remora-man, again, to the sharks.

Despite himself, the captain appeared momentarily put on the back foot by her emotional blackmail, "That's not what I said."

"I only did it because I wanted to prove to you how committed I am to the crew..."

Behind Arlong, Kuroobi let out a loud snort. Admittedly, that was going a bit too far for anyone to swallow.

The shark-man offered his own toothy smirk. "No doubt you are."

"But if it's possible, I would like to ask for one little thing," she pressed.

Arlong's brow quirked beneath his hat, "Ah, here it is at last - what do you want?"

"You remember how you promised me I could buy Cocoyasi Village if I was able to collect the 100 million berries, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." He gave a short laugh, "Don't tell me you've already come up with the money!"

She threw up her hands in frustration. "How can I if I never get a chance to go out and make any? I'm always stuck here drawing maps! I need to have the time to go out and collect berries. I need a boat. I'm just asking that you give me a free week or two every now and then where I don't have to meet a quota - where I can travel off island - which is the only way I can make money. I promise you don't have to worry about me running away."

"I'm not worried about that," he smiled nastily, "but your first responsibility has to be your cartography duties; I'm not gonna let you slack off for your hobbies."

"I won't be slacking off," she insisted before being suddenly seized by a racking cough that she quickly pressed through, "I'll still draw as many maps as I did before. I'll just make twice as many when I'm here to make up for the time while I'm gone. And if I can do the same amount of work, what reason do you have to say no to what I'm asking?"

Arlong scratched his large chin contemplatively, finally shrugging as if making a very benevolent allowance, "Alright. If you really think you're up to it, I'm willing to let you have a trial run. But your work had better not suffer even a little bit - or else."

Good, it was settled. Nami refused to show him any gratitude. She'd damn well earned some privileges and they both knew it.

"Which brings me to what I really wanted to see you about," Arlong continued. He gazed admiringly up to the top of the palatial monument the fishmen had so quickly erected for themselves upon the conquered island. "I've got a surprise for you, Nami."

She was subsequently taken on a whirlwind tour of the many floors that made up Arlong Park. All along the way, Hachi flailed his six arms enthusiastically, pointing out where everything was eventually going to be located. Nami hardly cared. Finally, as they reached the top floor, Arlong appeared to grow suddenly very eager.

"Here it is," he announced, throwing open a door to the left of the stairway landing.

Nami hesitated, eyeing him warily.

"Nyu, go on Nami," Hachi ushered her forward, "Arlong-san set up a room just for you."

The girl stepped cautiously past Arlong into a modestly sized room with one large arched window. She walked over to it right away to peer wonderingly down at the antlike fishmen bustling below; it was the highest she'd ever been in her life. She stepped back again, suddenly dizzy. Unlike anywhere else in the building, she noticed this room was already furnished with fully laden bookshelves along the walls as well as a desk and cabinets right beside the window. Even one of her large maps of the archipelago hung impressively in a frame just above the desk.

"From today on, this'll be your room!" announced Arlong like she'd just won a grand prize. "Over there's your desk and pen! Anything you might possibly need is all here."

Through eyes watery with fever, she looked slowly around while a steady drumbeat pounded inside her seemingly cotton-filled head. What she needed right now was somewhere to lie down, but one thing she didn't see anywhere in the room was a bed. Instead, a single chair pulled up to the desk with all its neatly arranged tools and utensils beckoned mockingly to her. On top of dizzy, Nami now felt slightly queasy.

"Now, I'll expect you'd like to get straight to work, seeing as you've got a lot to catch up on." He gestured at a stack of heretofore unnoticed books and papers pushed back into a corner on the floor as an ugly added bonus, "Even in the middle of all this construction we didn't forget about our dear little cartographer, and we made sure to gather up plenty of data for you!"

He chuckled as he and the other two officers shuffled back out into the hallway, leaving her standing in stunned silence. "We'll just get outta your hair now and leave you to it - be back to check on your progress later! Show me you can make twice as many maps!" The door slammed behind them with an ominous click. Below, the pounding of construction and bellows of pirates echoed jeeringly up at her.

For several minutes more she remained motionless, staring in a fevered stupor at the stack of tomes as tall as she was. Abruptly, her empty stomach gave a shrill gurgle - sounding off like an internal factory whistle alerting her it was time to get to work. Taking a deep, resolute breath, Nami willed her legs to move toward the awaiting chair.