"𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓪𝔂, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓘 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀. 𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓪𝔂, 𝓘 𝓯𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀. 𝓘'𝓶 𝓫𝓮𝓰𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭, 𝔀𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓴 𝓶𝔂 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓼."

***

That's initially what Artemisia thought. This proved to not be the case when a new person joined their conversation, "Usopp!" Artemisia turned to see a woman. She looked like what could be the equivalent of an angel. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and a bright smile. Her skin was also very pale like she was sickly. She wore all pink and she held the arm of a butler. She let out a breathy laugh as her eyes stopped on Usopp, "What a wonderful surprise."

As Artemisia studied the woman, she could see obvious signs, "She does not look well." She murmured to herself. Nami was the only one who heard her. Hearing the statement made Nami look the woman up and down to see what Artemisia was talking about. She found the brunette to be telling the truth. Her skin complexion wasn't that of a healthy person. Not only that, she was basically leaning onto the butler who she held the arm of.

A hum of satisfaction came from Usopp. He shot a smug grin at Buchi and made him release him. With a more genuine smile, he walked toward the woman, "Kaya!" The woman, Kaya, chuckled. "Happy birthday."

The smile Kaya had on her face could melt the heart of any person, "You remembered." It was enough to put a smile on Artemisia's face as well. The way she smiled at Usopp was so wholesome.

It could be said the same for Usopp as well, "Of course I did." There was something there and Artemisia could see it. She found it to be very adorable. It was something she wanted for herself. For someone to remember things about her. Someone to smile at her like she lit up their whole world. Artemisia cast a glance at Nami and hummed. That would probably be far in the future.

As always, something needed to ruin the moment. The butler who stood beside Kaya cleared his throat to remind them of his presence. He adjusted his glasses with the heel of his palm. Kaya glanced at him before staring down at the floor. The butler addressed Usopp directly, "Usopp. We've had this discussion. You mustn't show up unannounced."

This caused Usopp to rub the back of his head with a sheepish expression. Kaya took the butler's arm once more and stared up at him, "Nonsense, Klahadore," Kaya turned her attention back to Usopp. She seemed to have brightened again as she looked at the man, "Have you come to tell me another story? I do love hearing about your adventures."

"I'll do you one better." Usopp grinned. "I brought some of my crew." He turned and gestured to the four behind him. The Straw Hats stared at him with confusion.

Luffy glanced back at the others, "Is he talking about us?"

"Your what?" Artemisia questioned.

There was no way he was talking about them, right? They'd literally just met. Was he lying to her? Why? What was the point? Nami glanced at Zoro, who did the same, with the same expression. It was safe to assume that they were all puzzled by the man's words. Still, Kaya didn't seem to catch on to any of this, "It's so nice to meet you. You all must stay for dinner." That was all it took for Luffy to completely forget about what Usopp said. A grin grew on his face. It didn't even surprise Artemisia anymore. Luffy had a one-track mind for food.

While Luffy was happy about this offer, the butler, Klahadore, looked to be against it, "Miss Kaya, it is a bit last minute," An expression appeared on Usopp's face. He expected this to happen. Artemisia soon connected the dots. The butler hated Usopp and Usopp didn't exactly care for the butler. That was to be expected in this situation. It sounded like Usopp snuck in regularly so obviously the butler wouldn't like him. "I'm afraid the kitchen hasn't prepared for any extra guests."

A pleading look was given to Klahadore from Kaya, "Please, Klahadore," The sound of Kaya's voice made Usopp smile once more. It was cute to Artemisia. She loved watching people who were clearly infatuated with each other. Kaya smiled up at her butler, "It's my birthday. Can't be too much trouble, can it?"

The two stared at each other for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye, Artemisia could see the female employee roll her eyes at the sight. She was curious as to what that was about. She kept her mouth shut. She may have been looking into it too much. Klahadore eventually caved, "Of course, Miss Kaya," Both Kaya and Usopp smiled at this development. "Anything for you."

"All right!" Luffy exclaimed. "When do we eat?"

"You don't," Klahadore was quick to say. Everyone turned to look at him. Artemisia was curious as to what he would say seeing as he just agreed. Klahadore looked Luffy up and down with a look of distaste, "Not dressed like that," He turned to the staff member who rolled her eyes earlier, "Sham, kindly show Usopp and his friends to the guest suites," Guest suites? Now that caught Artemisia's attention. "You will bathe and change before dinner."

Upon hearing this, Usopp smelled himself. Artemisia found herself snorting at the sight. Sham hummed in confirmation of Klahadore's orders. A smile appeared on Nami's face at the thought of the butler's words, "A bath does sound nice."

Nodding, Artemisia agreed, "And I could do with new clothes." She cast a glance at her clothes. They had been dirty for the past few days. She'd pretty much been wearing the same clothes for a while and now all of them were dirty.  It was bound to happen if you were doing everything they'd been doing for the past few days. She just hoped that Kaya had clothes that suited her style.

The group of five followed Sham to where the guest suites were. Luffy looked to be very excited about this. Artemisia knew that was only because he was going to be getting food later. Usopp ended up separating from the group at some point which Sham was annoyed by. She continued to show them where they could bathe, choosing to worry about Usopp later.

It felt nice to get all the dirt and grime off. Their ship didn't have anywhere to bathe so they tried their best to make do with what they had. Unfortunately, they didn't have a lot. They surely didn't have as much as Kaya. Artemisia headed to where Sham told them the closet was and she found clothes covering a huge room. Closets were usually small spaces. This was definitely not small.

The first one there had been Nami. Artemisia was the second and Luffy joined after. They were just waiting on Zoro at this point. Nami went first to try on clothes she had found. Luffy lay on the chest in the middle of the closet and studied the room, "Why would anyone even need this many clothes?"

Artemisia chose to lie on the floor because there were no other surfaces to lie on. She looked up at the ceiling in shock, "There's even clothes hanging from the ceiling." A few clothes lie on the floor beside her. It was a few outfits she was planning on trying on once Nami was finished. Nami sure knew how to take her time. It was obvious that the woman was trying to savor every minute of this. Who knew when they would get another chance to do this?

"It's not about need with these people," Nami stated, referring to Luffy's previous question. Luffy sat up, still admiring all the clothes that hung around them. "It's about want." 

A new question came to the boy's mind, "What are we even supposed to wear?"

Now that was something that Artemisia had trouble with initially... Correction, she still had trouble with it. She had a variety of clothes that she picked out. She had no idea if this dinner was supposed to be fancy or casual or anything. She was just hoping that whatever she liked the best would fit with whatever theme would be going on.

"Anything you want," Nami responded. Luffy turned to look at where she was. Nami was currently changing her clothes behind a screen so they couldn't see her but they could hear her. "When are you ever going to get the opportunity to wear something this nice?" Lufy shifted his full body to face in the direction of the screen. Seeing this, Artemisia sat up and did the same. Nami steppped out from behind the screen with a grin, "Well?" The girl wore a blue and black dress. She turned from side to side with her hands on her hips, showing off the dress to them, "What do you think?"

What do you think? What does she think? Luffy only shrugged, "You look like Nami."

That was just about the biggest understatement of the day. Artemisia thought she looked amazing. It was hard for her to take her eyes off her. Artemisia smiled at Nami, "Well, I think that you look gorgeous, gorgeous." The only thing about it was that it didn't really fit Nami. It looked great on her, sure, but it didn't seem like something Nami would wear.

It was silent for a moment. Nami blinked a few times before saying, "I'm changing." She went back behind the screen to find a different outfit.

Mouth dropped open, Artemisia whined, "I just complimented you."

"Exactly." Damn...

The atmosphere suddenly became more stiff. That's all it took for Artemisia to know that someone else, a certain someone, had join them. When she turned, she found she was exactly right. Zoro walked past the doorway but stopped when he saw Luffy and Artemisia in the room. He was dressed in a robe and had his swords with him. Not surprising in the slightest.

A grin grew on Luffy's face at the sight of the swordsmen, "Hey, Zoro!" Zoro walked into the room, taking in his new surroundings. He had almost the same reaction as Artemisia when he walked in. The only difference being that he had his usual straight face on. "What you gonna wear?"

The question made Zoro stop for a moment. He took another look around before looking at Luffy, "Something black." He spoke in his usual dark tone. He walked to one of the clothes racks and started to look at all the clothes to find something fitting for him to wear. Luffy followed Zoro's form with his eyes. Nami made a comment on Zoro's style but Zoro ignored it. He had something else in mind to talk about, "Hey, does that butler seem familiar to you guys?"

Peaking her head out from the side of the screen, Nami sarcastically replied, "Yeah, I think he was at the last dinner party I attended." She ducked behind the screen once more.

"I swear I've seen him somewhere." Zoro stated.

The statement made Artemisia curious. She thought about the butler in her mind. She tried to see if she could understand what Zoro was talking about. The longer she thought about Klahadore, the more she realized the truth of Zoro's statement. Artemisia shook her head, "No, I get what you mean. He does look familiar." She couldn't remember from where though. Where would she even see a butler? She had never been to this island before so there was no way she could be remembering him. And yet, she and Zoro both were remembering him somehow.

A nod was Zoro's answer to Artemisia's statement. He sat his swords down beside a chair in the corner of the room and sat down. Nami stepped out from behind the screen once more. She was wearing a different outfit this time. She wore a black dress with a black and white/silver sequin jacket. She placed her hands on her hips with a smile, "How's this?"

"Still Nami." Luffy shook his head. A snort came from Artemisia. He sure was helpful, huh?

If there was someone who was even more helpful, note the sarcasm, it was Zoro. The green-haired man crossed his arms and gave a stern glance to Nami, "I said I'm wearing black."

This caused Artemisia to stop. She turned her head to look back at Zoro with a raised eyebrow, "You don't own the color black," Zoro said nothing. Artemisia sighed and faced Nami with a grin, "And I think anything looks great on you... But the jacket is a bit much." And that's how you give constructive criticism. Goodnight, everybody. Artemisia will be here all week.

Unfortunately, Nami didn't appeaciate the feedback. Her smile fell, "I hate you guys." Instead of heading back behind the screen, she started looking around the room for more clothes. Artemisia didn't doubt that she could find more clothes to where. The amount of clothes in this "closet" was crazy. Artemisia had never owned this many clothes in her life. It must've been nice.

The statement didn't bother Luffy all that much. He was none the wiser. He was focusing on something else that had been rattling inside his brain, "I feel kind of bad for Kaya," Artemisia glanced at him with a curious look. Luffy stood and looked around at all the clothes, "All this stuff. All this space. It's gotta make a person feel... Lonely."

Now that was something to think about. Artemisia hadn't begun to think about it that way. As far as they knew, it was only Kaya and her staff that lived here. This place was too big for just four people to live here. There was too much stuff for just four people. Artemisia would love to have this many things, this big of a house, but she at least had people to share it with. Kaya only had her staff. The thought made Artemisia frown.

Some people don't think about it that way, "Rich people don't have the same emotions we do," Nami said. Artemisia glanced over at her. She was still looking through the thousands upon thousands of clothes. "This stuff doesn't make her feel lonely," Nami moved her gaze to Luffy, "It makes her feel important."

"A little superficial of you, babe." Artemisia commented.

"Don't call me babe." Nami rolled her eyes.

"Well, Usopp likes her. And she invited us to dinner," Luffy smiled. Artemisia stared at the straw hat boy with a smile of her own. He was so amusing to listen to. He had such a simple way of thinking. Not that she was calling him dumb. She had no doubts that Luffy was smart to some degree. He just had a one track mind and his mind was almost always on food. "I'm sure we can work out a way to get that ship."

"No way," Nami was quick to shoot it down. "Rich people don't stay rich by giving things away." Some rich people gave away things to people in need. Granted, they usually only gave a small portion of what they had. It was hard to find goodhearted people who also had money. Having money was almost bound to make someone have questionable ideas and/or morals.

Grinning even wider, Luffy glanced at her, "You want to bet?"

That was all it took for Nami to stop. She had a grin of her own as she looked at Luffy, "What are the terms?" Sighing, Artemisia laid back down on the ground. She can already see how this was gonna go. She shared a look with Zoro. He seemed to be thinking the same thing. Glad to know they were on the same page.

The other two weren't conscious of the silent agreement Artemisia and Zoro had. They were too wrapped up in this deal of theirs. Luffy walked over to Nami so they could talk easier, "I bet I can convince Kaya to give us that ship."

"And when you can't?" Nami didn't look convinced by his idea.

There was a thoughtful look in Luffy's eyes. He locked eyes with the girl as he set up the second half of the bet, "We go with your plan. Steal one and move on."

The smile on Nami's face became even wider. She held out her hand for him to shake, "You're on." And that solidified the fall of Nami's ego. This was something that Artemisia knew all too well about.

If you remember, she herself made a deal with Luffy. Their deal was that if he could beat the Marines that took over her island, she would join his crew. If he couldn't, Artemisia would stay exactly where she was. The only reason she made that bet with him was because she was convinced he wouldn't be able to do it. She was expecting him to get locked up by the Marines or for him to run with his tail between his legs. She was very surprised to find the Marines leaving the very next day. Nami would come to find out just how well things work out for Luffy real soon.

Said-boy sat back down on the chest in the middle of the room. Nami found an article of clothing and threw it at Zoro. Neither said anything at first. Zoro studied the clothes while Nami went back behind the screen. He ended up being pleased with the clothes she picked out despite the fact it wasn't black. It took what felt like forever until Nami finally found an outfit. When she walked out from behind the screen, Artemisia perked up, "Can I try on my clothes now?"

"Sure. Go ahead." Nami nodded.

"Finally!" Artemisia exclaimed. She scrambled up, picking up the clothes that were laying on the floor with her, and rushed behind the screen. From the corner of her eye, she could see Nami shaking her head at her. But, what she also saw was a slight smile on her face.

While Nami took a long while to find the perfect outfit, it didn't take Artemisia took long. Once everyone was ready, they headed to the main area where they waited for Kaya. Sham had directed them there and let the group alone right after. Artemisia took the moment to see what everyone had dicided to wear.

Starting off with the simplest outfits, Usopp. He wore an open black blazer with black pants. Luffy wore similar, but he wore a vest instead of a blazer. Zoro wore a black blazer with black dress pants and a silk front undershirt. Nami wore a tight, red dress with gold detailing on it. Meanwhile, Artemisia chose to wear dark blue. She wore a slightly-ruffled dress that hugged her body and showed off her collarbones. The dress stopped mid-thigh and it had sheer long sleeves. Safe to say, they all dressed up a little for the occasion.

The staff handed out snacks for everyone to feast on while they waited. Usopp and Luffy were helping themselves to it with no complaints about the waiting. Luffy must've really liked what he was eating, not surprising in the slightest, because he turned and called out to Zoro, "Hey, Zoro. You gotta try this!" Luffy hummed while stuffing his face, accidentally getting food on him in the process.

Not a single glance was spared to him by Zoro. Zoro picked up a champagne glass with half a lemon slice in it, "I've got all I need right here." He drank the drink, seemingly pleased with it.

"Is all you think about food?" Artemisia inquired, looking at Luffy.

The boy still didn't get the bit of sauce that dripped down his chin, "More food? Where?" He looked around wildly for the food he thought the girl was talking about. Artemisia chuckled at the reaction.

When she looked away, her eyes stopped on a particular figure. Namie was talking with a man who looked to be part sheep. He was wearing a suit and had ram horns coming from his head. Nami reached up and placed a hand on the man's arm, clearly trying to flirty with him. Artemisia knew that she was trying to get something out of him. That didn't stop the little feeling of jealousy that creeped up inside her. She turned away from the sight.

At that exact moment, the guest of honor finally appeared. Kaya stood at the top of the staircase with Klahadore by her side. The butler cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "May I present..," He held uot his hand for her to take, "Miss Kaya."

The woman took his hand greatfully. Kaya wore a pink dress with polkadots. Klahadore helped her down the stairs and the man Nami had been talking to walking up a few of the stairs ot meet her, "Kaya, you look absolutely radiant."

A smile took over Kaya's features, "Merry, I'm so glad you could make it." She took the arm that the man, Merry, offered to her. Artemisia glanced over and saw Usopp. He looked stunned at the sight of the woman. The sight was enough to make her grin.

"This is a milestone I wouldn't miss for the world," Kaya laughed softly at his words. Anyone could tell that they had a close relationship. It was sweet to see. Kaya's eyes shifted to look at the others for a moment. She looked back to Merry as he started talking once more, "Your parents would be so proud."

Now that Nami was alone, Artemisia used this as her chance. She joined Nami's side and smiled at her. Nami returned it back but no words were exchanged. Artemisia moved her gaze to Kaya, "I can see what Usopp sees in her. She's beautiful. And really nice."

For some reason, Nami didn't look to pleased with the statement. A sour look took over her features which made Artemisia raise an eyebrow. Nami still chose to say nothing. Once Merry and Kaya made it to the bottom of the staircase, she looked eyes with Nami and made her way over to the girl, "Nami, I love that dress on you," Nami thanked her. Kaya stroked the arm of the dress, "It belonged to my mother. It was one of her favorites."

Hearing this made Nami freeze. She was completely speechless, "Oh, I'm sorry. I-"

Kaya was quick to cut her off before she freaked out too much, "Not at all," Kaya shook her head, showing her that it was all right. "I'm sure she would agree it suits you splendidly," Nami smiled at this. Kaya then looked at Artemisia's outfit, making the brunette smile, "And your dress is beautiful as well, Artemisia. I had a feeling you would choose something blue."

"You look really good too," Artemisia complimented her. "Pink is definitely your color."

The three girls continued to converse. Artemisia liked having another girl to speak to. She had mostly grown up around men. She hadn't really been close to another girl besides her mother and Lizbeth. Unfortunately, we know how those turned out. After that, the only other girl she would consider herself close with was Nami but their relationship was much different than any other one that Artemisia has had.

The conversation was quickly broken up when Merry leaned closer to Kaya and spoke, "Kaya, I wonder if I might have your ear?" He talked in a soft tone. It made Artemisia wonder what he was trying to hide and who was he trying to hide it from. Maybe he was trying to hide it from the two girls but if that was the case, he wouldn't have been so openly talking about it in front of them. "There are matters concerning the transfer of ownership of the shipyard we need to discuss."

Before they could go any further, Klahadore walked over to the group, "Merry, dear friend, it's always business with you," Merry sighed at this. "Tonight is about celebration," Klahadore turned his gaze to Kaya, who smiled brightly. "Shall we all move to the dining room?" He gestured to one of the nearby rooms.

A look of pure euphoria appeared on Luffy's face, "Yes!" He exclaimed loudly. The reaction made Kaya smile wider in amusement. "Oh! Oh, I'm so ready for this..."

"It's just dinner, Luffy," Artemisia commented. "Not your first beer."

The other two staff members, Buchi and Sham, gestured for them to head inside the dining room. Everyone filed into the room and took their seats at the long table, waiting for the food to be served. Once it finally was, Luffy looked like his whole life had been leading up to that very moment. It wasn't long until he started stuffing his face. Everyone else at the table ate their food as well, but not as messily as he was.

Holding up his bottle of alchohol, Zoro addressed Sham as she walked in, "Keep this coming."

Not saying a single word to him, she took the bottle from him. As Sham walked by Kaya, the girl turned to her, "I'd love to try the fish tonight."

Almost as soon as she said this, Klahadore was against the idea, "I'm sorry, Miss Kaya," he walked over to her, "But that is not possible."

"Maybe just a small piece?" She continued to request.

Still, Klahadore refused, "Now, you know that certain foods can affect your constitution. Here, Buchi has prepared your special soup." A blue soup was placed in front of her. Artemisia stared at it with curiosity. What kind of soup was blue? Was there any kind of blue soup that existed? She didn't remember hearing anything about it. Maybe it was some kind of rich people food.

Seeing the unhappy expression on her face, Nami spoke up to her, "Kaya, it's your birthday. You should be able to eat what you want." Artemisia agreed with that statement. Sure, she had some kind of illness but Klahadore just seemed like he was being weird about it. Why does she need to eat that oddly colored soup?

"Miss Kaya's medical condition necessitates that I closely monitor her dietary needs." Klahadore stated. He stared at Nami with a stare that made it seem like he was drilling into her.

It was something that Nami noticed as well, "Does it mean you also speak for her?"

"She's right," Artemisia agreed. "Kaya's 18 now, she can make her own decisions."

Nothing was said by Klahadore after that. Artemisia knew that it wasn't him giving in, it was him standing his ground and not entertaining them anymore. Luffy took this as his moment to speak for the first time since the dinner was food. He raised his hand and said something that no one was surprised to hear, "I'll take her fish."

Immediately, Artemisia shook her head at him, "Not the time."

Gulping down his food, Usopp turned to Luffy, "Luffy, isn't there something that you wanted to talk to Kaya about?" And here it goes everyone. A miracle was about to be performed in front of everyone and none of them would know how it would work out for him.

"Oh, yes!" Luffy remembered. "Usopp told me that you own the whole shipyard."

Once more, the smile returned to her face, "Well, actually, my parents founded the shipyard, and Merry's been running the business since..," Kaya trailed off. Artemisia pursed her lips in sympathy. She said nothing and let the girl continue. Upon hearing Merry's name, Luffy turned to him. The man was raising his glass to the girl. "Well, since they passed. But all of that's about to change. Tonight, at midnight, I will become the sole owner." Kaya moved her attention to Usopp who smiled at her.

"Ah. Well," Luffy started. "That's great, because we want to buy a ship from you." He took a sip from his drink.

The smile on Kaya's face because less polite and more genuine, "I see. Usopp mentioned that you're sailors." Did he now? Artemisia turned her gaze to the boy. He gave her a sheepish smile and Artemisia took a deep breath. It was probably better anyway. Who knows what Kaya's views were on pirates? She already knew that Klahadore would be against the idea-

"Nope, not sailors," Artemisia froze when Luffy said this. It got even worse when he kept talking, "We're pirates." Usopp almost choked on his drink. Nami froze like Artemisia and looked at the boy in the strawhat.

Meanwhile, Zoro seemed slightly entertained by the whole thing. He took a drink of his alcohol, "This ought to be good." A quiet scoff came from Artemisia. You're telling her.

Kaya looked a little confused by this, "Pirates?"

~~~

Hey... How y'all doin'? I know I disappeared for like... months, but I'm baaaaack. *Cue the jazz hands*. But I bring you a new chapter, and also good news. I have officially finished writing the original story arc. So, once we get past season 1, you don't have to wait months for me to write again! Huzzah! Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter!