"𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓰𝓻𝓮𝓽 𝓲𝓽 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓫𝓲𝓽, '𝓬𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓲𝓽 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰."

***

And trust me, the Marines did. While Nami was still working on getting the safe open and Luffy and Artemisia were waiting anxiously, their worst fear of the moment came upon them. It came to fruition through a knock on the door. Correction, a very loud banging rattled the large doors. The sudden noise caused them to panic. Nami froze upon hearing the noise while Artemisia jumped in her spot on the floor. Luffy didn't jump, however. Just looked in the direction of the doors.

To make matters even worse, the person who shouted through the doors was not the person they wanted to hear, "Open up!" Morgan. Captain Morgan. Axe-Hand Morgan. The only thing that Artemisia could think about was the fact that they were so undeniably screwed. More banging sounded out into the room as Morgan continued to talk, "By the authority of the 153rd Marines!"

The best decision would've been to keep her mouth shut. Anyone would be able to tell that. If she kept her mouth shut, hopefully, maybe, probably not, they would believe that they had already escaped. It would save them time if they believed that. Artemisia did not keep her mouth shut. She first stuttered, "Uh..," Nami glanced up at her, curious to see what she would do. Then, in a high-pitched voice, Artemisia called out, "Housekeeping! Come back later!"

The look Nami gave her made her want to go die in a hole. Housekeeping? Seriously? Unfortunately, Axe-Hand Morgan thought it was just as stupid of an excuse as Nami and Artemisia did, "Open the door, imposter." Yeah, Artemisia really should've just shut up and not said anything. It would've saved her the embarrassment of fucking up in front of a hot and beautiful girl.

Said hot and beautiful girl took a moment to look at her with disappointment, "Did you really think that it was going to work?"

The desire to curl up in a hole and die hit Artemisia once again. She covered her face in shame as a blush spread across her cheeks from the embarrassment, "I could only hope." A hope that she should've squandered herself instead of trying it out and seeing if it worked. God was she stupid sometimes.

The banging sounded in their ears once more. Luffy was sitting in Morgan's chair, something that Artemisia hadn't noticed until he spoke up, "You need to hurry." He bent down beside Nami as she worked.

"I can't rush this!" Nami exclaimed.

Despite this, Luffy still pleaded with her, "Please hurry!" Both he and Artemisia kept glancing over at the door, waiting for the Marines to bust inside. It looked like it would be any time soon from the way things were going. Especially since the hard banging against the door was causing it to start splintering. Artemisia looked at the door with wide eyes. They were so unbelievably screwed if they didn't find a way out of this. Fortunately, but maybe unfortunately, Luffy came up with something, "I have an idea."

Panic was setting in more and more inside Artemisia. She whipped her head around to look at him as she snapped, "Please, show us. We have literally all day!"

The orange-haired girl on the floor shared a look with Artemisia. Nami didn't seem too convinced by whatever plan Luffy had in mind. Artemisia just shrugged, telling her to give it a shot. Nami stopped messing with the safe and sat up. The door was splintering even more as time passed. Luffy got up to sit in a squat as he grabbed onto the knobs on either side of the safe. Artemisia raised an eyebrow at this.

She almost face-planted when she witnessed what happened next. Luffy yanked on the knobs and grunted as he tried to, somehow, lift the safe out of the ground. Artemisia wasn't the only one who was shocked by this. Nami was as well. She stared at the boy with a dumbfounded expression, "That's your idea?"

"Yeah."

It was looking like a really stupid idea at the moment. Luffy continued to try and pull the safe out of the ground. A loud sound caused Artemisia to turn her attention back to the door. She was frightened by the sight she saw. An axe had made its way through the door, pushing part of the wood out of the door. Artemisia looked back at Luffy to see his arms stretching, extending far more than they were supposed to. It was then that Artemisia had a little more faith in this previously far-fetched plan of his. Nami, on the other hand, looked like she was freaking out at the sight.

Pushing all fear aside, Artemisia stood up. She wrapped her arms around Luffy's middle and started pulling as well. More noises made her look back at the door. Axe-Hand Morgan was making a lot of progress when it came to busting down the door. Nami quickly joined in their efforts to pull the safe out, wrapping her arms around Luffy as well. Artemisia could only hope that this actually worked because she did not want to be executed today.

As soon as Morgan was reaching for the door handle through the door, they finally managed to get the safe up. On the downside, they ended up pulling so hard that they and the safe went flying out of the window, breaking it in the process. The three of them screamed as they plummeted toward the ground, several feet below them. The safe ended up hitting the ground first. It made a crater in the dirt from how heavy and far it fell.

Next, Nami, Luffy, and Artemisia hit the ground. Surprisingly to Artemisia, they were completely unharmed. She didn't doubt that they would be waking up with bruises tomorrow morning but, other than that, they were fine. They rolled to the side, away from the safe, and coughed as they stood. Hearing ruffling from beside her, Artemisia looked over to see what was causing the noise.

It was Nami, taking off the Marine uniform. Artemisia quickly looked away, covering her eyes so she didn't see anything she wasn't supposed to. Thankfully, Nami wasn't completely naked under the uniform. She wore a white shirt with red trim. She kept on the Marine pants. Artemisia decided to follow suit, taking off her own Marine jacket. She also made sure to wear a tank top under the uniform.

Now that they were out of a very stressful situation, Nami asked the question that she was dying to know the answer to, "How did you do that?"

"He's stretchy."

The response Artemisia gave didn't help Nami in the slightest, "Yeah. I saw!" Nami barked. Artemisia took a step back, holding up her hands in surrender. She just avoided one near-death experience, she didn't want to go through another. "But how?"

That question was going to remain unanswered for now. Marines came running into the yard, yelling as they did so. "I don't think we have the time to explain at the moment." Artemisia received a look from Nami that clearly said, "Yeah, I can see that."

The group got ready for a fight. Nami readied her staff while Luffy looked around wildly on high alert, watching for one of them to come running at him. Artemisia took out her crossbow and loaded an arrow into it. Then, the fight started. Nami took down any Marines coming with her staff while Luffy used his fists to fight against them. Artemisia was shooting at the Marines' legs and anything else that would incapacitate them. Killing wasn't her main focus at the moment. That would just put her in deeper shit if they managed to catch and try them.

At one point, Artemisia could've sworn that she saw a flash of green but didn't focus too much on it. It was probably not the best idea to get distracted while in the middle of a fight. The barrage of Marines seemed neverending. As soon as they took down what felt like most of them, even more, would come running in. Suddenly, the hair on the back of Artemisia's neck stood on end. Something was behind her.

She quickly turned around, swinging her crossbow around with her. A Marine was knocked to the ground by the crossbow hitting his head. A gash was on his forehead from the collision of the crossbow. Artemisia winced. She would be shocked if he didn't have a concussion. The sound of bodies hitting the floor caught Artemisia's attention. Turning around, Artemisia tried to search for the source of the sound.

The flash of green that Artemisia saw before had joined the fight. The green-haired man from the bar knocked a few Marines off their feet with his swords. Somehow, by some coincidence, all four of them ended up in the middle of the yard together. It was enough to make Artemisia raise an eyebrow.

Nami stared at the man with a curious gaze, "Aren't you that drunk from the bar?"

"Glad I made an impression." Was his only response.

The nonchalant attitude made Artemisia double-take, "Hard not to when you wiped out the Marines like you did." He acted like it was a regular Tuesday for him, taking down the Marines like that. He was a pirate hunter though... Maybe it was a regular Tuesday. She didn't know for sure. She didn't know many pirate hunters.

Then, the fearsome Axe-Hand Morgan came walking out into the yard. Most of the Marines were down by now. Only a few remain standing but, with Morgan's appearance, they remain completely still. It didn't look like any more of them were running out either. Morgan gave off an intimidating vibe as he slowly advanced, "The imposters, the pirate hunter, and the prisoner. Fancy that," Okay, maybe his ego was hurt that they didn't transfer because they looked up to him. But was this really necessary? "The four of you working together." Morgan stopped when he stood opposite them.

"Yeah," Luffy replied. "We're a crew!"

The words didn't sit well with anyone. The pirate hunter shook his head, "Nope, not a crew."

"Not together." Nami also said.

Artemisia bit the inside of her cheek as she glanced at them. She sighed and raised her hand, "Hate to say it, but I am actually with him." Again, if she knew how unprepared he was before agreeing to the bet to join him, she would've turned him down. When she found out, it was too late to turn back. Not having a good enough boat was something she could look over, but not having any plan besides the end goal? That's where she should've drawn the line.

The statements made Luffy glance at each of them, a grin still on his face. Nami responded with an annoyed glare. The pirate hunter and Artemisia didn't look at him, only focusing on the enemy in front of them. Morgan was sneering at them through his iron mask, "No enemy has ever escaped my wrath," A twisted and egotistical grin grew on his face, "I alone defeated the Black Cat Pirates. I alone captured Kuro of the Thousand Plans. And I alone keep Shells Town safe from the scum of the East Blue."

Roughly, Morgan took off his overcoat, tossing it to the side. He raised his fist and axe, ready to attack at any moment. Nami twirled her staff while the pirate hunter twirled his sword. Luffy readied his fists, cracking his knuckles. Artemisia just loaded another arrow. They all narrowed their eyes at each other, waiting for one of them to make the first move. Morgan was the first one to advance. The pirate hunter met him in the middle.

There was an unspoken plan between the four of them. The pirate hunter and Luffy would take care of Axe-Hand Morgan while Nami and Artemisia took care of any Marines that came running into the yard. As soon as the Marines saw their captain fighting, it didn't take long for them to rush into the battle. Once again, Nami was taking down the Marines with her staff while Artemisia was shooting them with arrows, kicking them when they got close, and hitting them with her crossbow as a last resort.

Everything was going smoothly for the girls. It didn't take long until they were back-to-back, waiting for more Marines to come running in to fight them. Both girls breathed heavily from the strenuous activity. The first to speak was Nami, "So it seems like you're useful for something besides flirting."

"Well, I had a lot of free time," Artemisia didn't have much to do on the island as a kid. She didn't need to have a job like Axel would even make her get one anyway. She learned how to fight a little from her mother and her crew but most of what she learned, she taught herself. A smirk stretched across Artemisia's face as she glanced at Nami over her shoulder, "I could clear my whole schedule for you."

The orange-haired girl did not appreciate the flirtation. Nami gave her a side-eyed look before turning her attention to the Marines who were filing into the yard, "Why not worry about the people attacking us?"

Moving the stray hairs from her face, Artemisia loaded up the last of her arrows, "Guess we'll save the small talk for after." Without even looking at the Marine that was running at her to her right, Artemisia elbowed them in the face when they got close and kicked them to the ground. The two girls separated as they fought the Marines coming toward them.

It didn't take long for Artemisia to take down her set of Marines. Looking over, she saw that Nami was preparing to take one down. She loaded her second to last arrow and aimed, before shooting the Marine in the shoulder. The arrow hitting the Marine's shoulder made Nami look over in the direction it came from. Nami gave a pointed look to Artemisia, "Do you always steal other people's opponents?"

"Wouldn't want you to get your pretty hands dirty." Artemisia grinned as she loaded her last arrow. It was always good to be prepared for whatever was coming. She wouldn't want to waste time loading an arrow while in the middle of a fight.

The comment was not appreciated by Nami, "My pretty hands are about to wrap around your ne-" That's when Artemisia saw it.

"Nami!" Artemisia's eyes were wide as she focused on something behind Nami.

Turning, Nami looked to see what Artemisia was worried about. A Marine stood behind her, ready to bring his sword down. Just as Nami was about to dodge, an arrow flew through the air and stabbed the Marine through the eye, causing the man to stumble back, grasping the injured eye with the arrow still lodged in it.

Using that as a distraction, Nami hit him down with her staff. Once she no longer had him to worry about, she took a moment to catch her breath. She turned her head to look at Artemisia, "Thanks."

"No problem."

No more Marines came toward them. It seemed like they finally ran out. Artemisia, with nothing to worry about anymore, focused her attention on the boys' fight with Morgan. She looked just in time to see the pirate hunter push Morgan's hands, or, well, hand and ace, to the ground. The sword in his mouth (which Artemisia was very shocked to see) was held against Morgan's neck. With Morgan incapacitated for the moment, it gave Luffy the perfect moment to strike.

"Gum Gum," Luffy spun and stretched his leg out with his power, "Whip!"

And just like that, Morgan was hit in the face by Luffy's leg. He went flying through the air before he hit the ground and rolled to the side. Nami turned to watch the scene during this moment. Luffy cheered at their success. Nami folded her staff back into itself while Artemisia put away her crossbow and collected whatever arrows were nearby. She wasn't made of money and materials. She needed to save up all the arrows she had.

Instead of complimenting Luffy for his help in taking down the Marine captain, the pirate hunter was focused on something else entirely, "Gum Gum Whip?"

"Yeah!" A big grin was on Luffy's face. It was clear that he didn't detect the slight insult in the man's tone. "All the great fighters call out their finishing moves."

The pirate hunter disagreed, "No, they don't."

"I thought it was pretty cool." Artemisia shrugged. Luffy smiled at the girl's comment.

It was then that Nami joined the conversation between the three of them. Her eyes were locked on the safe that was in the same place it was when they had fallen out of the window, "Hate to break up this beautiful moment, but we need to get this safe out of here," She stopped in front of the safe. Luffy and Artemisia come over to the safe as well. Nami looked around for something to help them move the heavy safe, "Maybe if we find some rope or something," She didn't have to look for long. The pirate hunter lifted the safe without breaking a sweat. Nami stared at him with surprise, "Or we can do that."

He lifted the safe like it was nothing. It was enough to surprise anyone, "Damn, he's strong."

Not wanting to stick around any longer, the four of them left the base. Nothing could compare to the relief that Artemisia felt now that they were out of that place. They were in the clear for the moment as long as they could get off the island. There was no way that the safe would fit on the small boat that Luffy, Koby, and Artemisia sailed in on so they decided to sail off in Nami's boat. Nami led the way and immediately got to work on getting ready to sail off when she reached the boat.

One thing caused her to stop what she was doing completely. The pirate hunter plopped the safe down onto the boat without a care in the world. The boat bounced a little at the weight. Nami shot him a glare, "Careful with that!"

It was like the guy had a look of emotionless nothing plastered onto his face all the time. He looked at her with that exact look, not caring that he could've easily put a hole through the bottom of the ship, "Whatever you say," He shifted the safe further onto the boat which allowed Artemisia to climb into the boat now that he wasn't blocking the way. "Oh, wait," The man gave her a pointed look, "I don't work for you."

As if he wanted to make the situation worse, Luffy stated, "I'm sensing a little bit of tension amongst the crew." Immediately, they responded.

"Not a crew!"

"Not a crew."

A sigh escaped Artemisia. They were wasting time at this point. They would waste even more if they continued arguing like this. Artemisia jumped to help Nami get the boat ready to sail off as she told them, "We can work out the details later."

Before they could get even farther, Luffy glanced around, "I can't leave without my friend."

That's when Artemisia finally noticed it, "Yeah, where is Koby?" He wasn't with Luffy when he broke into the base. He wasn't with the Marines when they were fighting them. He was nowhere to be found this whole time. Just what could he have been doing during that whole time? Artemisia doubted that he broke into the Marine base himself. He seemed like too much of a scaredy cat to do that.

Unlike the two, the pirate hunter couldn't care less, "Can't wait. The Marines will be here before you know it." And wouldn't you know it, one came. Thankfully, it wasn't one that they would need to worry too much about.

The footsteps caught Artemisia's attention, and a voice said, "The Marines are here already. You're under arrest." It was the man from the bar. The rich boy with shoulder-length blond hair who was acting like a complete douche to the little girl. Rika, Artemisia recalled her name to be. The one that the pirate hunter beat up along with the other Marines.

What she didn't expect was the man's current appearance. He still wore the same clothing. He wielded two guns instead of a sword like he did previously. Artemisia believed that he didn't want to embarrass himself by fighting against the pirate hunter again sword to sword. What surprised her the most about his appearance was his hair.

Luffy also laughed as he noticed the change as well, "What's wrong with his hair?"

"You look awful." Artemisia laughed as well.

His hair was now much shorter. It was still a little long, but it stopped a little past his ears. His hair was choppy like someone had taken a kitchen knife and just sliced it up without any real idea of what the result would be. For the first time since they had met, the pirate hunter smiled, "Yeah, I might've done that."

This enraged the spoiled Marine. He fired a shot at the pirate hunter but missed terribly. Instead of hitting the pirate hunter, he hit a lamppost in front of the man instead. Despite his failed attempt to scare him, the Marine still tried to come across as intimidating, "I won't let you make a joke of me."

Nothing stopped Artemisia from saying, "You're making a joke of yourself. That was a bad shot." She was sure that a child could shoot better than that. She sure could when she was that young. She was trained. He was a Marine; he was supposed to have been trained too. Clearly, he wasn't trained well enough if his shot was that bad.

"I'm taking you in and handing you over to my father," The Marine carried on, ignoring Artemisia's remark toward him. As soon as he mentioned his father, Artemisia knew everything she needed to know. He was Morgan's son. That's how he was in the Marines. His father was a Marine captain and had obviously pulled some strings to get him in. It was almost laughable. He grinned tauntingly, "I'll be the hero. I might even get a medal or something."

Surprising everyone, Koby came out of nowhere. He punched the man in the face and the Marine grunted at the sudden impact. The Marine fell to the ground with Koby standing over him. Luffy was just as shocked, probably even more, as everyone else, "Koby!"

"God, that hurt!" Koby exclaimed. Luffy ran over to him. "It also felt really good too." The boy was taken aback when Luffy wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

The straw hat started leading him to the boat, "No time to explain, but we gotta go. This whole island is trying to kill us." Luffy climbed onto the boat while Koby stood on the dock with a thoughtful expression.

The look on his face told Artemisia everything. Koby was very hesitant. If you couldn't tell by his face then you would be able to tell by his next words, "I'm not coming with you."

At first, Luffy was confused. Then, after a moment, that expression of confusion turned into one of understanding. He got off the boat and turned to him. Still, Luffy decided to ask one more to see if Koby had truly made his decision, "You sure?"

Unlike ever since Artemisia met him, Koby finally seemed sure of something. He didn't seem terrified by whatever choice he was making. He was absolutely sure, and nothing would be able to sway him away from his choice, "Before we met, every choice was made for me," Koby hesitated, swallowing, before he continued, "But now I'm gonna do what I want to do. I'm gonna be a Marine. I want to help people that can't help themselves," Nami, the pirate hunter, and Artemisia watched the interaction from the boat. None of them said anything, not wanting to insert themselves when they clearly didn't belong in the conversation. "Next time we meet, we might be enemies."

A huge grin was plastered on Luffy's face, "But for now... We're friends." Koby nodded at this.

Patting Koby's shoulder, Luffy smiled at him once more before he hopped onto the boat. Koby helped from the dock to make them start leaving. He pushed the boat to gain momentum and then watched the group sail away. Nami and the pirate hunter raised the sails as Artemisia secured the ropes. Luffy stood on the railing of the ship. Both he and Koby waved to each other as they got farther and farther away from each other.

~~~

Artemisia when seeing Nami fight:

The Marines seeing them fight together:

Me when Artemisia saved Nami:

This chapter is so much better than the last one. I love Nami and Artemisia already, and I know that they're going to get so much better later on. They just have to get through the angst first 👀, sorry not sorry- ANYWAYS! I hope you guys liked this chapter and I will write to you next time!