Cocoyasi Village, the Orange Grove, outside Bellemere's house.
The fish-men of the Arlong Pirates had surrounded the place.
At their head, Arlong twitched his sawtoothed nose, a mocking look on his face.
Then he bit clean through the rifle Bellemere had shoved into his mouth, spun around, and hurled her hard onto the ground.
"Urgh!" Bellemere hit the dirt hard. Before she could get up,
Arlong's massive webbed foot came down viciously on her gun hand, grinding it beneath his heel!
"Aaaaah!!!"
The agonizing pain of her hand bones shattering drew a piercing scream from Bellemere, echoing over the village.
In the crowd, the village policeman Genzo and the other villagers closed their eyes in anguish.
How desperately they wished Bellemere would lie, would say, "I have no family," just to stay alive!
But Bellemere's gaze passed over the vicious Arlong and settled on Nami and Nojiko nearby, clinging tightly to each other, their faces streaming with tears, their bodies trembling with fear.
She could not bring herself to say something so heartless.
Through the searing pain, Bellemere braced her uninjured hand against the ground and shakily stood again. She looked Arlong straight in the eye, her voice trembling but unmistakably clear.
"That hundred thousand Beli... is for my two daughters."
"Bellemere!!" Genzo shouted in disbelief beside her, despair filling his eyes. "You'll die!!!"
Bellemere turned to Genzo, forcing a strained smile onto her lips, her voice choked with tears.
"I'm sorry, Genzo... I can't say it... I can't say I have no family."
"We may not be related by blood, but... but I'm their mother!
Even if it's only in words... I really... really want to be their mother!"
As she spoke, Bellemere's gaze turned tenderly toward Nami and Nojiko again, her tears spilling freely.
"So... they're my children!!"