"'𝓒𝓪𝓾𝓼𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓷'𝓽 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓷'𝓽 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮, 𝓷𝓸."

***

Everything that Artemisia was seeing before her was insane. Multiple different spotlights flitted around the room, trying to showcase all that was going on. Lights of many different colors blinded Artemisia. There were many different people doing all kinds of different performances. It was hard to keep up with all that was going on. There was an audience as well, clapping loudly and cheering. However, if you looked closer, you could see looks of terror and tear tracks.

Just what the hell was going on? The answer didn't come to mind at all for Artemisia. She was too distracted by the sudden clapping that picked up beside her. She looked over to see that Luffy joined the audience in their applause. It was clear to Artemisia that he hadn't noticed the clear fear and despair of the audience members. Once Nami noticed the clapping coming from Luffy, she reached over and pushed his hands down to stop him.

Not long after that, a voice sounded from one of the many entrances of the huge tent that the group found themselves in. The voice was masculine, though it was more higher in pitch, and had a bit of rasp in it, "No. No, no, no, no. Stop clapping!" Slowly, the applause began to die down. People turned in the direction of the voice. Walking out into the open was a man with clown makeup on. He had the typical pirate hat with blue feathers falling from either side. He wore white gloves and a red coat with fluffy white trim. While he had a permanent smile painted onto his face, his expression showed everything but happiness, "No, stop! It's all wrong!"

All clapping ceased at the man's loud, booming voice. That was all it took for Artemisia to figure out that this man was the one in charge. There was one thing that confused her. This was obviously a circus. Artemisia leaned over close to Luffy so she could ask him in a hushed tone, "I thought you said pirates kidnapped us."

"We were." Luffy didn't try to lower his voice, making her shoot a sharp glare at him. There was a reason she was speaking so quietly. She didn't want anyone to hear them conversing. She had a feeling that the clown guy would tear them a new one if they were talking when he just told everything to stop literally everything.

Speaking of the said clown, he was studying all of the performers. The look on his face showed that he was not happy with whatever they were doing. His words spoke even louder than his expressions, "The spotlight was late. You completely missed my entrance," The spotlight was currently trained on a man who wore a poorly put-together white lion costume. The clown gestured to the man-lion and himself, showing that the spotlight wasn't on him. Upon hearing this, the spotlight shifted over to the correct position. Shining directly on the clown, "And where, oh, where," The clown slowly advanced toward the man in the lion suit, "Was the dancing lion?"

The dancing lion looked terrified of the clown. The lion man shivered and looked away from the clown. He had a sign in his hand that Artemisia wasn't able to quite read because it was pushed closely up against his body, not wanting to hit the clown in any way, fearing an even worse reaction if that did happen. For someone who was supposed to bring happiness and laughter to children, this clown was doing a very bad job. Artemisia was starting to see why some people feared clowns.

Suddenly, the human equivalent of an actual clown spoke up, "Hey," The angry clown and the lion man turned to Luffy. Luffy stared at the clown with a grin on his face as he pointed at the clown, "I know you. I saw your wanted poster in Shells Town. You're the clown guy," Artemisia's eyes widened in realization. He was right! They did see him on a wanted poster! Now that she remembered that, she also remembered her saying that she hoped she never encountered him... Looks like fate certainly wasn't on her side. Luffy looked up in thought, "Um, uh... Binky, right?"

The clown looked annoyed at Luffy's words. Artemisia could see why. The name was close, but not close enough. The clown, Buggy if Artemisia remembered correctly, looked even more pissed off when he heard the slight snickering from the dark-haired girl, "Buggy," Nami hit Artemisia's shoulder to get her to stop laughing. The last thing they needed was to draw more attention to themselves. Luffy was already doing way more than enough of that. Buggy stepped off the outer ring of the stage and smiled. He made a little gesture with his hands as he introduced himself, "Buggy the Clown," Zoro and Nami shared a look. Artemisia just stared at the clown with an amused expression. Now he was actually being funny. "Buggy, the Flashy Fool," Buggy slowly started to advance forward, "Buggy, the Genius Jester."

"He can certainly talk," Artemisia mumbled to herself. While she was trying to keep the words to herself, someone still heard her. Artemisia was met with another arm slap from Nami. This time, Nami shook her head to say, "Stop talking before you get us in more trouble!" Artemisia just gave her an innocent smile which made Nami roll her eyes.

Somehow, someway, Luffy was completely oblivious to the tone of animosity that Buggy had toward him. The same ever-present smile was plastered across his face as he spoke to the clown like he was speaking to one of his best friends, "Wow," He glanced over at Zoro for a moment before focusing his attention back onto Buggy, "You have a lot of names. I bet everyone in the East Blue knows who you are."

The words that came from Luffy seemed harmless enough. It was a compliment. He was complimenting the person who had orchestrated their kidnapping. Despite that, the crowd gasped loudly. Everything suddenly went silent. You could be able to hear a pen drop from outside of the tent. That's how quiet it was. Artemisia leaned toward Luffy and whispered to him again, "I don't know what you said or did, but take it back. Take it back." The boy only gave her a confused stare.

"What did you just say?" Buggy finally smiled. It was a lot more offputting than Artemisia was expecting. This was mostly because this was not a smile of amusement or happiness. This was a smile of, "I am going to beat this little shit's ass if he said what I think he did." Artemisia still had no idea what Luffy said wrong, but from how everyone acted, he might as well have committed a war crime or something.

Again, like he had nothing to worry about, Luffy spoke with no hint of anxiety in his voice. He sounded the exact same as when he said it the first time, "Just that everyone knows who you are."

This set off the clown even more. Buggy practically leaped forward. He grabbed Luffy by the face, squishing his cheeks with his fingers as he glared at him with a ferocity that Artemisia had seen on plenty of pirates before; in short terms, shit went down, "Nose?!" The performers around them walked forward slightly, looking ready to attack. Artemisia felt herself becoming more on edge, itching to grab anything she could use as a weapon. Sadly, there was nothing for the moment. The crowd murmured to themselves as they watched the scene play out before them. "Are you making fun of my nose?"

The look of anxiousness on Artemisia's face was replaced with the look of confusion. Was he upset about that? That of all things? Luffy also seemed to be confused himself. He spoke as best as he could with Buggy squishing his face, "Well... I wasn't." His voice came out muffled, which was to be expected, with his lips smushed together.

"He said knows," Artemisia spoke up. Buggy's head reeled over at her and the audience went dead silent again. With how fast Buggy turned his head, you would think he was close to accidentally snapping it off. Artemisia realized she was silent for a little too long and quickly added the last part of her statement, "Like k-n-o-w-s."

There was silence for a moment. Buggy seemed to study her, squinting his eyes at her. Artemisia was slightly put off by this, shifting her feat in nervousness. His eyes were drawn off her when Luffy spoke up again, "But now that you mention it, is that thing for real?"

100%, Artemisia believed that Luffy had some death wish. She not only believed that because of his question but also because of his next actions. He slowly reached his hand up to touch the big red nose that rested on Buggy's face. Before his hand could get anywhere near it, Buggy slapped it away, causing the audience to gasp. Buggy looked even angrier than before, "What's real is I've been scheming for months," Buggy let go of Luffy's face, practically pushing him away from him. "To steal the map from old Axe-Hand Moron..," The clown got up in Nami's face, "Huh?" A lone person in the crowd laughed, but Nami didn't look the slightest bit amused. She turned her head away from him to look at the others. "Eh," He walked away from her, "Only to find out that I was upstaged by four little nobodies-"

"If it's all the same to you..." Artemisia cut in.

It was now Nami's turn to believe that Artemisia herself had a death wish, "What are you doing?"

As if something possessed her, the next words to come out of Artemisia's mouth were, "I would like to be called, "Miss little nobody."" She even added a little curtsy at the end of her statement. After she realized what she said, she wanted to hit herself. Really? Did she really say that? Why? If she had to guess, she would say that it was her unconsciously trying to ease the tension she felt in her body. But did she have to do it as outspokenly as she just did?

For the first time in her life, the gods decided to smile down upon her. Buggy went along, acting like he hadn't even heard what she said to him, "Four little nobodies," An unconscious sigh came from Artemisia. She was happy to know that she didn't just sign her own death warrant. "who stole it from right out under my no-" Buggy cut himself off, physically reeling back in disgust, "No! It's in my head now. Ah!" The clown groaned and turned away from the four.

"Hey, I'm not a nobody," Luffy called out. Artemisia gave him a look that was asking him what he thought he was doing. The boy didn't even acknowledge the look; hell, he didn't even glance her way. He was staring at Buggy with a smirk on his face, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy. And I will be King of the Pirates."

This caused Buggy to laugh, "Oh!" The clown threw his hands up, laughing even more at the words that came from Luffy. "Now that's funny," Movement from Artemisia's right caused her to look over. The lion held up a sign toward the audience. She could make out the word "Laugh," which the crowd did. They laughed until Buggy gestured for them to stop which they did. He was quiet for a second before continuing on, "My bounty poster graces the marquee of every Marine outpost for miles," Buggy walked around the group and behind them. They all turned to keep their eyes on him, waiting to see if he would do something to them. "And my menagerie of outcasts and freaks is the most dreaded pirate crew the East Blue has ever known. I am destined to find the One Piece. And when I do..," He paused for, what Artemisia assumed, was dramatic effect, "I will be king."

Nothing stopped the words coming from Artemisia's mouth, "Someone's confident."

"I swear to God, stop talking." Give you one guess on who said that.

"No, you won't," Luffy said with confidence. "'Cause I'm gonna find it first." It was at that moment that Artemisia knew Nami was done with him, with all of them most likely. Nami placed her hands on her hips, and a look that said she was done with them graced her features. Unfortunately for her, she was going to be stuck with them for... A while.

"You? Don't make me laugh," Buggy stated. A performer laughed animatedly at the crowd. The audience followed suit, laughing as much as they could muster. Apparently, Buggy didn't like this. He turned to the crowd with an expression of annoyance, "I said don't make me laugh!"

The same performer who made everyone laugh gestured for them to stop. The audience immediately did. It was at that moment that Artemisia wondered just what Buggy did to them to make them so compliant. Fear was definitely a main factor. The chains on their ankles were another. But what else had he done to them? She dreaded to think. Thankfully, she didn't have to think much more on the topic.

The thoughts running through her head were interrupted by Zoro, "All right, listen up," He was at first standing with his arms crossed, facing away from them. He seemed to be addressing the performers and Buggy but he didn't look at Buggy specifically, focusing more on the actual performers, "I'm Roronoa Zoro. Drop your weapons now and I may let you live."

He stepped out from in between Luffy and Nami. The spotlight moved to shine down on him. Some of the performers readied their weapons to attack but didn't move toward him. Laughing erupted from Buggy, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a celebrity in our midst. Too bad I hate sharing the spotlight," Buggy looked up as the spotlight moved back to him. "Now, maybe we should skip right to the finale," He suddenly took out knives. They rested between his fingers and were definitely very menacing. "My freaks put quite a bit of rehearsal time into this little abduction," The performers took another step forward. "And if I can't reward them with that map..," A man with a mohawk and dark skin stepped before Buggy. The man snarled to reveal sharp teeth. Buggy grinned at the group of four, "I suppose I'll have to offer a pound of flesh instead."

Oh, that did not sound good. That sounded very far from good. The intimidation from Buggy was enough to get the wheels in Artemisia's head turning. She immediately jumped to trying to buy time to figure out a plan to get them out of what they found themselves in, "Why can't we work something out?" Buggy turned his head to look at her. "Why go straight to killing us?"

Thankfully, Artemisia didn't have to think too deeply about a plan. Nami seemed to think of something herself, "Misi's right," The orange-haired girl stepped in front of the other three. She successfully got Buggy's attention onto her, "What if I have something else to offer you? Something more valuable than the map?" Artemisia raised an eyebrow at this. Where was she going with this? Buggy seemed to wonder the same thing. He lowered the knives but still held them firmly between his fingers. "What if I give you a new freak for your crew?" She smiled nervously at him, "A rare talent. The most spectacular act in all of the East Blue," A grin appeared on Luffy's face as he leaned forward with anticipation. He too wondered what Nami was referring to. Nami stepped to stand on the other side of Luffy, "Besides you, of course." She laughed nervously.

"Go on," Buggy told her.

There was a moment of silence. For that moment, Artemisia thought that Nami was drawing a blank. Maybe she didn't think that far ahead. She was proven wrong, dead wrong. Out of nowhere, Nami grabbed Luffy's hat. The smile on Luffy's face dropped as she tossed it as high as she could, making the boy shout a, "Hey!" at her. That was when it happened.

For everyone in the circus and audience to see, his arm stretched up to the top of the tent roof to grab the hat that Nami threw. Everyone was focused on the arm that stretched way farther than it was supposed to. Artemisia's attention was dragged away when she heard footsteps against the ground. She looked over to see that Nami made a run for it while everyone was distracted.

Shock ran through everyone's veins as they stared at Luffy... And all Artemisia could do was stare at Nami's back as it got farther and farther away. She didn't call out to her, she didn't say anything to the others about her running, she just stared. There was no expression on her face. It was completely blank. Not in the way where there was effortlessly no reaction but in the way that the person was forcing for there to be no reaction.

There was no idea why Artemisia was so infatuated with Nami. She just met her. Artemisia wasn't the type to believe in love at first sight, but that's what it felt like when she met Nami. She was constantly flirting, and she loved how annoyed Nami got when she did. It honestly just felt like the dark-haired girl was messing with her. So why did it hurt to see Nami run away without them? It shouldn't send a pang to Artemisia's heart, but it did.

Artemisia wasn't the only one to notice that Nami left. Two performers noticed that the orange-haired girl ran away and immediately went to retrieve her. It didn't take long for them to drag her back inside with her kicking and fighting them. All Artemisia could do was blankly stare at the girl and say, "Look what the cat dragged in. Or... Cats, in this case."

Unlike usual, Nami didn't respond to Artemisia's quip. Tears were in her eyes. You could tell that they were tears of anger, "What did you do?" Her question was aimed specifically at Buggy. She spoke with rage in her voice though her voice quivered with sadness. The two performers let her go once she was finally inside. "What did you do to their town? You destroyed everything!"

The clown didn't look fazed by her angered tone. He was leaning up against a barrel like a parent waiting for their child's tantrum to be over, "Not everything," He took a bite of a snack that he got from the barrel he was leaning up against. "I let 'em keep their hands."

The lion held up an applause sign and the audience clapped upon seeing it. Artemisia crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at the clown, "Oh, yeah, 'cause that's what's most important."

As if the clown didn't notice the meaning behind her words, or maybe he did and didn't care, he grinned and said, "Now you're getting it," Buggy put the rest of his snack back in the barrel. He seemed like he was finally getting down to business, "Okay," He put his knives back inside his coat, "Here end the theatrics," Suddenly, all the lights pointed at their group. Artemisia squinted her eyes to try and see past all the rays. "I know one of you has my map, and I'm gonna get it back," His next words were directed toward Luffy, "What was it you said, Rubber Boy? That it was in a safe place?" Luffy looked surprised to hear him say that. Buggy noticed this, "Don't look so surprised, I've got eyes and ears everywhere," He grinned widely. Nami shook her head at the clown with a look of anger. " So," he turned to his performers, "Please make our guests," He looked back at the others, but Nami specifically, "Uncomfortable in the green room."

The green room? What was the green room? Artemisia did not want to find out. No way, "I'd rather not go-" She was cut off when she was grabbed and picked up off the ground by performers. Nami and Zoro were in the same situation that she was. "Okay," She shook her head, "Didn't think I had much of a choice." It was good to at least try.

Suddenly, just as quickly as she started to get carried away, they stopped. They only stopped when a certain clown called out, "Hold on," They stopped and turned to Buggy. Buggy walked over and looked intently at Artemisia. He had the same expression on his face as before when she first spoke up. She gave him a look that clearly asked him what he was doing which he ignored. He started to lean in closely. Artemisia didn't like this, so she leaned her head back as he got closer. Obviously, he didn't like this, so he grabbed her face like he did Luffy's before, "Stop moving."

"Can I help you?" Artemisia's voice came out muffled.

There was silence. Everyone was wondering what Buggy was doing, wondering why he was so interested in her. Eventually, Buggy finally let her go, which allowed Artemisia to breathe. He snapped and pointed at her, a look of realization on his face, "Her. You're her little brat. You act just like her."

It was at that moment that Artemisia knew what he was referring to. He was talking about her mother. He somehow knew her mother. The smallest bit of relief filled her body but was quickly shooed off when she realized she didn't know the context of this pirate and her mother's relationship. A nervous smile showed on her face as she stated, "I'm hoping that means you like her."

"She stole a million berry from me."

"So is that a no?"

No actual response was given to her question. Buggy only grinned in her face before saying to the performers holding her, "Freaks, why don't you put our special guest in a very, very comfortable place?" She hated to know what he meant by that. Unfortunately, she was about to find out. Zoro didn't struggle against the people dragging him, while Nami fought as much as she could. Artemisia couldn't really fight much with the way they were holding her. The last thing she saw before being taken away was Luffy trying to follow after them before more performers blocked him.

~~~

I couldn't sleep and I felt generous so... Another chapter for you! Hope you enjoyed it!