"𝓢𝓸𝓵𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓻 𝓭𝓸𝔀𝓷 𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓲𝓬𝔂 𝓰𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭, 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝓾𝓹 𝓪𝓽 𝓶𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓸𝓻 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓽𝓱, 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓴𝓮𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓫𝓵𝓾𝓮, 𝓼𝓸 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝓸𝓯𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓸𝓹𝓼. 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓘 𝓷𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓵𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾. 𝓘 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓘 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾."

***

Now, Artemisia had been in plenty of questionable situations in her life. She was happy to say that she has rarely ever had a gun pointed in her face. Her streak had been broken on this very day that she and the others stared down the barrel of a shotgun. She quickly sidestepped, not wanting to endure the torture of what could happen if the woman let her finger grip the trigger of the gun.

The only other person smart enough to do the same was Usopp, "That's what I've been saying." The only difference is that he decided to hide behind Zoro instead of just getting out of the way. Also, Artemisia had just now noticed that he had something in his hand. It was a tangerine. He must've grabbed it when they were going through the grove.

"Hey, I saw you earlier," Luffy spoke up. The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "I think maybe you and I have something in common." Artemisia wasn't sure how he thought his words were going to get him anywhere. He wasn't getting to the point.

And the girl looked to think the same. She cocked the gun in her grasp, "I've got the gun, and you're standing in front of it. What could we possibly have in common?"

Casting a glance over to her captain, Artemisia was surprised to see that he didn't look scared. She knew that at this point in time, she probably shouldn't be surprised. Luffy did a lot of crazy things. It made her wonder if he was doing it out of zero fear or out of naivety, "Let's start with Nami. Seems you know her very well."

The response came out of her mouth easily, "She's a thief with no conscience," Artemisia couldn't help herself. She gestured to the woman with a look on her face that said that she told them so. The girl glanced at her before turning her eyes back onto Luffy, "And when there's no more left to take, she leaves and doesn't turn back. Now get off my property."

"Well, you heard her," Artemisia shrugged. "Nami's bad, she uses people. Let's go."

No one made an attempt to move. Especially since Luffy said, "Nami's part of our crew," He grinned and did a shrug of his own. "She's our friend." The words made Artemisia angry. She didn't know why he had so much hope in the girl. She told him to his face two times that she was just using them and he still called her his friend. It made no sense to her.

Thankfully, Artemisia didn't appear to be the only one who thought so. The girl shook her head, "My sister doesn't have any friends," Okay, that was a new one. Artemisia's face shifted into shock as she stared at the girl. Her eyes were wide. She started to wonder if she had just heard it wrong. She looked to the others to see that they were reacting the same as she did. "The sooner you realize that, the better."

A smirk grew on Sanji's face, "Sisters. That makes sense. Both as beautiful as each other."

"Give it up," Zoro told him. Sanji shot Zoro a dirty look.

"I can tell she really did a number on you guys," The girl locked eyes with Artemisia. Artemisia found herself shifting. Nothing could deny the fact that the girl was attractive. Even Artemisia had to admit that. The blue-haired woman shook her head, "You're not special, and I can't help you."

"How about a meal?"

The girl reacted the same way Artemisia did, "What?"

"An exchange of sorts for your valuable time and information." He responded.

By the look on her face, the girl seemed to be interested, "You cook?"

"He's a waiter."

"Best cook in the East Blue," Usopp corrected Zoro. "You never tasted anything better in your life," He raised the hand with the tangerine in it. "Usopp's word!"

"I do have to admit," Artemisia started. "His cooking's not half-bad."

It wasn't hard to see that the girl was drawn in. She was interested in the offer. Artemisia would say that the villagers haven't had good food in a while. It didn't sound like they had much money. She doubted they would with Arlong taking most of it. Artemisia's thoughts were confirmed when the girl replied, "Ain't got much to cook with."

The expression on Sanji's face showed how cocky he was, "You'd be surprised how much I can make with very few ingredients," If there was one thing Sanji was arrogant about, it was his cooking skills. Artemisia didn't blame him though. If she cooked as good as he did, she would be the same way. If you got it, flaunt it. Sanji smiled at her, "What do you say? We have a little dinner, a little conversation."

That finally had her lowering the gun, "Fine," Luffy grinned at this. "But there'd better be dessert."

"I'm down for dessert too." Artemisia followed the girl into the house. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sanji grin and shoot a wink at Zoro. Zoro looked to be annoyed at the development. Artemisia knew that he was hoping Sanji's plan would crash and burn so he could rub it in his face (in his own way).

It felt like it took forever for Sanji to cook. With how little he actually had to work with, it was a little surprising how long it took. Though, it was probably only the tension making it feel like time was passing slowly. They had some nonchalant chats with the girl. She introduced herself as Nojiko but she hadn't told any vital information yet. Most likely, she was waiting for Sanji's end of the deal to be completed first.

"Dinner's served."

That was all it took for Nojiko to start scarfing down the food. It wasn't hard to tell that she liked it. Usopp noticed as well. He stared at her with a grin. She seemed to notice him staring. He focused back on his own food, but not before saying, "Told you."

Once she was done, Nojiko placed the bowl down. She shook her head with a satisfied smile. Her eyes glazed over the group before finally stopping on Sanji, "You know, this is the best thing I've eaten in my entire life." Oh, yeah, that was definitely going to go to his head.

There was no doubting that when Artemisia saw the smug look on his face. He was standing beside the doorframe with a bowl of food in his own hands. Sanji shot a smug grin over to the crew before looking back at Nojiko, "Listen. There's plenty more where that came from, but..," He trailed off as he looked at Luffy and Zoro. "First, we really need to know about Nami."

Almost instinctively, Artemisia shifted in her seat. The conversation, even just the idea of it, made her uncomfortable. Nojiko reacted the same way. She took a deep breath as she stared down at the table, "The truth is..." That was when Nojiko told them the story of how she and Nami met Arlong.

The pirate had infiltrated the village, making them pay for them to live there. Nami and Nojiko's mother sacrificed herself to save them. And Nami was now working for that pirate. Artemisia felt her jaw clenching. Nojiko was a mess at the end of the story. Her eyes were wide as she breathed heavily. Artemisia knew what that look was. She was reliving it.

A sniffle could be heard from behind Artemisia. She turned to see it had come from Sanji who covered it up with a cough. The only one with questions was Usopp, "Wait. Nami's working for the pirate that killed your mother?" Nojiko nodded in response.

Suddenly, Luffy stood from the table. Everyone turned their gaze to him. There was a dark look on his face as he walked outside of the house. No one stopped him from leaving. Zoro followed after him, probably to talk about what happened. After a moment, Artemisia couldn't handle it. She stood up and followed them as well. She caught a glimpse of them on top of the roof. There was no movement made to go up there with them. She only stood there and watched. She listened.

The first person to speak was Luffy, "She was just a kid."

There was a moment of silence. Zoro managed to say, "She's not anymore. She made her choice."

"I'm tired of hearing about Nami from other people."

"She told you to leave, Luffy." Zoro tried to reason with him.

If she looked past the leaves and tangerines, Artemisia could see Luffy pursing his lips. He shook his head slightly and gave a grin to Zoro, "So did you."

"How do you know she's not one of Arlong's crew?" Zoro asked.

"Same way I knew you weren't gonna kill me when I cut you down from that cross. Same way I knew about Misi, Usopp, and Sanji." Luffy's answer was open-ended. Artemisia didn't like it. In fact, she hated it.

"Yeah," Zoro started. "I don't know about that waiter."

"I know Nami's good. She needs to know it too."

Silence fell among them. The only thing that could be heard was a dog barking in the distance. Artemisia didn't get it. She was hoping that if she listened to them, she would get some kind of answer. Some reason as to why Luffy was willing to hold out for Nami like he was. All she got was, "I had a feeling." That's what it sounded like to her at least. In her mind, it was a decision that was rooted in emotions. It wasn't based on fact. It drove her crazy.

Before she knew it, Artemisia was at the top of the ladder. Neither of them knew she was there until she spoke up, "I don't get it," The two turned in the direction of the voice. They were met with Artemisia who had an angry and disbelieving look on her face. "How could you have so much faith in her? She betrayed us. She used us for the map. Once she had what she wanted, she left. We had nothing more to give her and she took off. That was her only plan this whole time. She didn't care about us. She doesn't care about you, or Zoro, or Usopp, or Sanji. She didn't care about... She didn't care about me. Yet, you still want to chase after her despite what she's done."

Despite everything Artemisia said to him, Luffy stood strong in his stance, "Nami didn't betray us. I know she didn't."

The grip Artemisia had on the ladder tightened, "Luffy! Please! Just get it through your head! Nami doesn't-"

"Go on a walk, Artemisia." Zoro cut her off.

The girl turned her attention to the swordsman, "Zoro, you know-"

"Go."

There was no room for her to continue. Zoro made it clear that he wasn't going to let her talk anymore. Artemisia huffed and made her way down the ladder. With her arms crossed, she went to stalk off in a random direction. Maybe she did need a walk. She needed to get away from everyone. That idea was postponed when she noticed Sanji was watching her. The two were behind the house now. He stared at her as he leaned up against the house.

Something about the way he stared at her expectantly made her even more annoyed, "What?"

"Why is it so hard to believe that Nami has her reasons?" Sanji had a curious expression on his face. Why did he believe it so easily? That would've been the better question.

But Artemisia wasn't one to answer a question with another question, "If she had her reasons then she would make them known," Sanji didn't seem to be convinced by her answer. Artemisia didn't care whether or not he believed her. She knew the truth. "She doesn't care. She doesn't care about us. She doesn't care about her sister. She doesn't care about the people in the village. She only cares about herself."

"Misi," Hearing the nickname from him was something that Artemisia wasn't expecting. He probably picked it up from the others. That's what they mostly called her. "You have no way of knowing if she would actually tell you her reasons for doing everything she's done."

In reality, Sanji's statement made sense. There was always a possibility that someone could do something different than what you expected. If she wasn't so wrapped up in the feelings she felt, Artemisia could probably see the truth in his statement. But all she saw and all she felt were emotions, "Yes, I do!" She exclaimed. She felt herself tearing up a little. She wanted to kick herself. She wiped under her eyes to stop any tears from falling. "You haven't been around long, Sanji. Zoro's right to assume that you don't know Nami as well as you say you do. I thought I knew her. I thought that I saw through the cold facade that she put up. I thought I broke through it multiple times. I told her things that I had never been comfortable telling anyone before. I trusted her and let her in completely when I said I wouldn't do that again. I said I wouldn't let anyone get that close again, not after what happened last time. But I did. I let her in, I got too close, I..," She couldn't finish her sentence. She wanted to say that she loved her like she did when she was drunk. But things have changed since then. The word love seemed to rot in her mouth as she thought about saying it. The look on his face let her know that he knew what she meant. She took a deep breath, "The only thing I got was watching her leave with Arlong after she shattered the perception that she gave off to everyone, to me. So I have to come to the conclusion that this is all her fault because if I don't then that just means that I was stupid again and I am not stupid! Moral of the story, don't assume things that you don't fully understand anything about."

At the end of her rant, Artemisia was breathing heavily. She had almost lost her breath from saying so much. There was no response from Sanji. She didn't want to wait for him to think of one. She needed to get out of there. So the girl turned and left him standing there to think about her words. She headed into the forest that was behind Nojiko's house.

It was starting to feel suffocating. Artemisia took off the scarf wrapped around her head. She shed the layers of clothes until she was left in a tanktop and pants. If she had been on the boat, she wouldn't taken her shoes off but she wasn't. She didn't want to risk stepping on something so she kept them on. She breathed in and out like she was trying to remember how to breathe. The girl didn't stop walking until she heard something.

It sounded like talking. She turned in the direction of the talking. It was coming from behind some bushes. The girl got down low and went up to the bushes. She stared through the leaves and saw a shocking sight. Nojiko was standing with her arms crossed and was looking at someone sitting on a log.

That someone was Nami, "I told Arlong I'd work for him under one condition," Nami stated. She was fidgeting with the strap to her bag. "That he let me buy back Coco Village. And he said he would for a hundred million Berry."

"A hundred million?" Nojiko inquired. "That would take a lifetime."

"I have the money. All of it," Upon Nami saying that Nojiko's eyes went elsewhere. Artemisia followed her gaze to see a chest. The chest had gold, jewels, and diamonds spilling out of it. "And now I can buy the freedom of the village and everyone in it." The words made Artemisia's eyes widen.

Nojiko sat down beside Nami, "So... This whole time, you were trying to help," Nami remained silent. She had tears in her eyes but didn't let them fall. "Why didn't you tell me?" Nami shrugged. "Nami, I'm your sister. Why didn't you-"

"I couldn't lose you too. Or anyone else."

The brunette in the bushes found herself backing away. She stood up and felt tears gathering in her eyes. Here she was, saying every bad thing about Nami under the sun in her head. Talking about how she was selfish. Only to find out that she did everything she did out of the good for the people she cared about. She didn't have some twisted greed that she used others to satisfy. She was only trying to help people.

Footsteps caught Artemisia's attention. She turned to see that a group of people were coming toward Nami and Nojiko. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was Marines... And a lot of them. There was no way she would be able to take them all on by herself. She needed the others. So Artemisia ran as fast as she could back in the direction of the house. As soon as she made it, she burst into the hut.

Everyone turned to her, seeing how panicked she was. Zoro was the first to ask questions, "What's up, Misi?"

"Marines. They're after Nami," Artemisia explained to the group what she had heard in the bushes. When she was done with the explanation, she could see the same smug smile on Sanji's face that he had before. She rolled her eyes at him, "Stop with the look, Sanji. I get it, you were right. Now let's go!"

The group went through the woods at first. They were going to go where Artemisia had seen Nami and Nojiko previously. They all stopped when they heard something. It was coming from the path that was between the grove. Artemisia was the first to see what it was. It ended up being the exact person they had been looking for.

In the middle of the path, Nami was on her knees. She was screaming Arlong's name as she stabbed the shoulder that her tattoo. She stabbed it over and over again. Artemisia could feel a lump in her throat as she watched. Slowly, she advanced toward the girl. Once she was close enough, Artemisia grabbed the wrist which held the knife.

A moment of silence. Nami looked up slowly. When she saw who it was, she looked down at the ground, "I told you to get the hell out of here."

"I know."

Dropping the knife, Nami ripped her wrist out of Artemisia's grip, "Then leave. You don't know anything about what's going on here."

"I do," Artemisia's response confused Nami. "I overheard you talking with Nojiko."

There was silence again. Artemisia heard someone walking up behind them. She glanced behind her to see it was Luffy. He looked more than angry. She turned back to see Nami staring up at her with tear-filled eyes, "Misi," Nami looked past her to glance at Luffy, "Luffy... Help me."

The boy took off his hat and placed it on Nami's head, "Of course we will," Luffy turned and walked back to where the others had been waiting. Artemisia could move herself from her spot. She only stared at Nami with regret. She couldn't believe that she let herself get so wrapped up in the hurt that she didn't even consider any other options. "Of course we will," Luffy threw his fists in the air. "Of course we will!" Nmai covered her mouth as tears fell. Luffy spoke to the others, "Let's go."

"Right."

Standing, Usopp noticed something in the distance, "What's that?" Everyone could see fire and smoke coming from the direction of the village. "They're attacking the village."

~~~

I kind of hate this. I hope you guys liked it at least. Don't know what else to say so here are some memes: