Written some vague time before Usopp rejoined the crew, this mostly sat around on my computer for months before I finally decided to dump all my stuff on here. I have a slightly different outlook on Usopp now, but I still think this is a decent fic, so it's going here.
Usopp wept silently as Luffy rose and walked away, the captain's body too tense, revealing the truth behind his outward calm. They had come so far together—across East Blue, far down the Grand Line into the City of Water. And now it was all over.
Everything was broken beyond repair, now—Merry had been the final nail in the coffin of Usopp's decision to leave the crew. The family he had been without for so long, the warmth he had felt as they laughed at his and Luffy's antics, the desperation he had felt when he saw them endangered at Little Garden—all of that had become him.
It was all over.