"Ocean blue eyes looking in mine, I feel like I might sink and drown and die."
A simple girl, daughter of a pirate captain, meets the future "King of the Pirates" and begrudgingly decides to join him on his adventure to find the One Piece.
CO...
There were many times that Axel asked Artemisia what she dreamed about. The question was spurred on by just random talking. Artemisia asked the question first as a joke, she knew that Axel would ask her the question seriously. Of course, she replied with a joke answer. He hated how she never took anything seriously. "That's how you get killed out there," is what he would always say. But she didn't care. She wasn't out there. She was here... And that was the problem. The problem was that she was on a small island with Marines in the middle of nowhere when she could've been in the place she could only dream about now. The ocean.
That's what she always dreamed about. Artemisia dreamed about being out on the ocean again. Growing up on a pirate ship was one of the best things ever, especially if your mother was the captain. Everyone doted on the little girl and protected her as fiercely as they protected their captain. Artemisia thought of her time with her mother fondly. The way she was treated, how she felt, how free everything was. The late-night music and dancing, staying up to listen to ghost stories when her mother had already put her to bed. The rocking of the ship as waves hit lightly against the vessel as she tried to sleep.
To say that she missed that life would be an understatement. But she not only missed the life, she missed her mother. Despite being a pirate, Philippa Nightlove was known to be a very gentle and kind woman (at least she was to Artemisia). There were times when Artemisia wished that her mother would caress her face like she used to do when tucking her in at night. That was the hardest thing she had to deal with when being left on this island, not having her mother around anymore.
A close call with Marines was all it took for Artemisia to be dropped off somewhere. Artemisia could have easily gotten hurt very badly; Philippa knew that. She started evaluating how the pirate life would be with her child around. She couldn't stand the horrible things she thought of so she did the best thing she could think of. She dropped her only daughter off on an island in the middle of nowhere so her friend could care for her. Artemisia understood why she did what she did, but a part of her was angry.
Why couldn't her mother stay with her? Why leave her here? For years, Artemisia couldn't think of the answer. That was until now. Now she understood. While Philippa loved her daughter, she loved life at sea just as much. The only way Artemisia came upon this answer was by being out of the sea for so long herself. There were many times she thought about going back out to the ocean. To get that feeling of being free to go wherever, having no responsibilities, and also to find her mother.
