The Long Con [[ Nami x Law ]]

Ch 13 - Control

It had only been a few hours when Nami was removed from the cells. She kept as calm as she could as Diamante unlocked her handcuffs in the next room, not wanting to tip him off to how furious she was inside. She nodded graciously as he complimented her on how good of a job she did with the prisoner. He was whole heartedly impressed by her acting abilities and what an incredible show she put on in there.

It became clear rather quickly that Diamante wasn't aware of everything that happened to Nami while in Germa. Either that, or he was too dense to put together that her reaction was completely genuine. Either way, she wasn't going to hold her anger against him. There was only one person she was angry with right now, and she was about to make sure he knew it.

They came to a stop in front of Doflamingo's office, and Nami turned to address Diamante. "I just want to say thanks for having my back during all of that. I know that it's your job but I appreciate it none the less, and I'm sorry for what's about to happen." Before he could get out a response, she looked over his shoulder, eyes widened in surprise. "What the- Is that Vergo in a chicken costume?"

The second Diamante turned back to look down the empty hall, Nami mustered all her strength and kicked open the heavy door to the office.

"Kaido isn't going to wait forever for you to-" Doflamingo promptly hung up the den den mushi, cutting off the voice coming through the transponder snail as Nami stomped up to his desk.

"Lair!" she growled between clenched teeth. The accusatory finger she pointed at him was shaking with rage. Diamante was quick to follow. He pulled her back by her wrist and waist, halting her just before she reached the king.

"That's quite an accusation." Doflamingo's smile was slight, annoyance threatening to overcome his amusement at her display.

"You said you didn't know his name! You knew exactly who he was, you bastard!" She was scrambling and twisting with all her might to break free from Diamante's grip.

"I told you he hadn't spoken his name, not that I didn't know it." Doflamingo stood from his desk and calmly made his way around to her. "You already knew that, though, didn't you?"

Nami stopped struggling but continued staring daggers into the king.

"I understand why you are angry with me, but to be fair, I don't think either of us knew the extent to which you would be affected by him." His gaze fell briefly to her neck before moving back to her eyes, reminding her of her actions in the cell. She pushed a heavy sigh out through her nose, pursing her lips as she looked away from him. She hated how right he was. He knew she would have some kind of reaction, but she hadn't even known herself that she would become so afraid. She really hadn't had any time to process all that happened in Germa, and she didn't want to. She just wanted to move on and forget.

"You could have warned me." Her voice was softer now, shifting from anger to defeat.

Doflamingo sent Diamante a pointed look. He immediately released Nami and moved himself to the back of the room.

"We could have done a lot of things differently, Kitten, but it doesn't do any good to dwell on the past." He put a friendly hand on her shoulder. "What you should be focusing on is what incredible success you had despite it all, and in just a few hours."

She moved out of his reach and slid into a chair with a huff. As much as she was angry with the situation, she had to admit that he was right. She knew it couldn't have gone better. She could have Sanji eating out of her hand in days. She was just angry that it came at her expense. Her stubborn side was winning against reason, though, and she folded her arms across her chest as she pouted like a child. She was ready for him to scream at her, even punish her somehow for the way she boldly insulted the king, but instead, he was comforting her. Arlong would have chained her to a desk or taken to hurting her loved ones. Whether Doflamingo was manipulating her or not, she found that she preferred whatever this was.