[ Hua Cheng moves beyond the concepts she could let herself relate too if she tried, to a level of adoration and devotion Nami isn't sure she would ever be comfortable expressing – even if it still strikes a chord. Not that she doesn't appreciate it. For all he styles himself as the Ghost King, and a Calamity, Hua Cheng is a softie, and secretly she enjoys knowing someone she counts as a friend has such a good heart under all that elegant mystique.

He's talented, too, and how impressed she is with the portrait is evident in the slight way her eyes round after he turns the sketchbook around to reveal the fruits of his labor. Her pleasant look of surprise hardens into something more genuinely startled as he takes her up on her offer in spectacular fashion. Not that she can blame him for asking, exactly. ]

You don't mess around, do you? [ Nami pulls her notebook closer, pausing to tip her chin up at Hua Cheng. ] Sit how you're comfortable for this one.

[ Because there's no way she can get all, or part of this story out without something to do with her hands, and an excuse not to make eye contact, two things she waits to have before she begins to talk. ]

After my islands got taken over by the Arlong Pirates, after they almost flattened my village, and– [ Her pencil stills, but she makes it move across the page again. ] My mother died, I joined their crew, so – heartless witch.