A/N: This is from the batch of ideas the inspiration bunny dropped off for me that I first worked on. A nakamaship story for our favorite sniper and cook! Based on the cover of chapter 575!

I have no idea if Usopp is actually afraid of camels. Probably not. I know I would be absolutely traumatized if I met Eyelashes the camel like he did! And what/who exactly was he dreaming of in episode 131 that had caused him to toss and turn painfully in bed like that? Eyelashes, that's who. The idea was just too great to pass up!

Disclaimer: Belongs to Eiichiro Oda.

Of Camels and Fireworks

"Okay, they should be heading back soon."

"Would you calm down already? I'm right here. You're not gonna get hurt or anything."

"But those trees look so menacing! And I'm worried about the others. They should have been back hours ago."

Sanji walked over to Usopp and patted him on the shoulder—a little too hard since it almost caused Usopp to be thrown forward. "It's not too abnormal," the blonde said reassuringly. "Although I'm rather worried about Nami-san and Robin-chan, I'm sure they're all okay and heading back as we speak."

Usopp nodded, staring at the dark beach in front of him. He gulped slowly and blinked. "Right." He threw up his fists in the air. "Right!"

They were docked at an uncharted island to restock for food and water and any other resources they would need for the next few days. Not only that, but they had to wait for the Log Pose to set. From what they could see from the ship, the island was completely deserted except for the sounds of animals they could hear from time to time. Away from the beach, a wall of trees covered whatever was in front of them, though they could vaguely make out hills in the distance. The beach itself could be called odd: large dunes could be found scattered across the sandy ground. It rather resembled a desert.

From where the Thousand Sunny was docked, and where they now stood on the deck, they had a clear view of the island's front and above.

"Look at the stars," Usopp said as he glanced up.

Sanji did the same and whistled. "Lots of 'em."

"And a full moon too," the long-nose teenager examined.

"Yep."

They spent the next few moments just staring at the skies until a faint rustling could be heard coming from the island.

"Looks like we have company," Sanji said casually, reaching into his pocket for a lighter.

Usopp was already on guard and looking through his goggles. He mustered up his courage. "C-Could it be one of the search parties?"

"Can you find them?"

"W-Where…Ah, there—!" He pointed towards the clump of trees that were being tussled back and forth. "It's tiny compared to Oz, but it's bigger than a cow! I don't think it's them! Unless they bought a huge animal to take back or something but…"

"Whatever it is, if it's a threat, we'll take it on," said Sanji as he lit up a smoke.

The rustling grew louder and the trees became more shaken up. Usopp had his weapon out at the ready and Sanji himself seemed ready to hop off the ship and attack whatever was coming their way. The seconds of waiting were agonizing for Usopp, but finally, the something emerged from the trees.

Usopp screamed.

Sanji jawdropped.

"AAAAAAAAAH! NOOO, ANYTHING BUT THAT!" Usopp screeched, throwing up his arms.

"I knew the island looked like a desert from the front but," Sanji said, hand on his chin in thought. "But I didn't think that this would appear. The Grand Line sure is a mysterious place…"

"GET IT AWAAAAAAAAAY!"

It was a camel.

In front of them, clomping casually towards the two and out of the trees…was a camel.

There was silence as the animal, rather slowly, made its way towards the ship. Sanji didn't make a single movement to beat the living daylights out of the creature.

"I'll be in the bunks!" Usopp declared. And with that, he made his escape.

At least he tried to.

"Whoa there, wait a sec." Sanji grabbed Usopp by the scruff of his T-shirt and pulled him back. "It's just a camel."

Usopp tried to break free and clawed his hands forwards. "I don't like camels!"

"Huh?"

"Not ever since Arabasta!"

"HUH?"

"Get it to leave!"

"HUH?" Sanji exclaimed. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you telling you that you're still traumatized because of Matsuge?" He seemed to be holding back laughter.

Usopp stopped struggling and hung his head. "Y…Yes…"

Sanji couldn't help it. He laughed. He remembered the first time they met Matsuge—or Eyelashes— the desert camel from Arabasta, who would not let any males ride him and threatened to eat Luffy's face when the rubber boy attempted to climb on top of the animal. They had nearly been left behind by Matsuge countless times, who was carrying away Nami and Vivi proudly on his back. They had chased after him, of course, but not before Usopp fell flat on his face and announced that he developed the rare traumatized-by-perverted-camel-bringing-away-nakama-and-leaving-me-behind-in-desert-to-die-of-thirst-and-fatigue syndrome.

Sanji, unfortunately, had not taken him seriously. But Usopp was a liar, of course, and never failed to develop the rarest of his syndromes and illnesses, so who could blame the blonde cook?

Though he couldn't help but feel a little guilt building up inside his chest.

It was a couple nights after they left Arabasta that Usopp started moaning in his sleep.

He would say: "I-It hurts too much…stop it…Matsuge…" while tossing and turning and the likes.

And thus, here they were right now: Usopp sulking in front of Sanji, who could only blink in surprise after he had finished his laughter. He had slightly hoped that it would raise Usopp's spirits, but it seemed to do the complete opposite. On the contrary, the sharpshooter seemed to be sinking further into the ground, reminding Sanji of the split-head Foxy.

"U-Usopp! Pull yourself together!" Sanji grabbed his friend by the shoulders and shook him. Usopp hung like a lifeless doll.

"…Captain Usopp is on his way to the other world…" Usopp said softly, eyes on the floor.

Sanji sweatdropped. Wow, what a serious illness. "Come on, I'll help you."

"H-H-Help?" Usopp huffed.

Without any warning, Sanji tossed Usopp over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and jumped. While Usopp screamed bloody murder, Sanji grabbed onto the railing and launched themselves off the ship.

"W-W-Wait! Sunny needs protecting!" Usopp screamed while they were flying through the air.

"We can still see Sunny from here!" Sanji answered loudly over the wind. "Now you better close your mouth before we hit!"

Usopp did as told—he wasn't in the mood to taste bug.

And they landed into a dune with a soft thud.

Sand was tossed everywhere and Usopp could feel them in his clothes, making him feel more uncomfortable and hyperventilate. Not having the time to recover, he let out a squeak as Sanji grabbed his shoulder and forced him up. Against his will, Usopp quickly climbed to his feet. He waited for the sand to clear. He knew the camel was near.

In fact, it was right next to them.

"Uwooo…" it said.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Hello there, Matsuge Two," greeted Sanji, holding up a hand in welcome with a bright smile on his face. "Nice to meet you."

"You named it?" Usopp yelled at Sanji, who seemed unfazed by the fall and the fact that Usopp seemed to be frothing at the mouth.

"Well, I thought it'd help you get over your fear."

"I-I-I-I can't get over a fear over that…thing."

"Uwooo?"

"It looks just like him!" Usopp said frantically, trying his best to back away inconspicuously.

Usopp had a point, Sanji thought. It was actually quite amusing. This camel was larger and puffier, but it had the same eyes as Matsuge. The same perverted, thickly and long eyelashed eyes. And what unnerved the cook most was the fact that the animal was stretching its neck towards him, attempting to nip at his cigarette.

"Now, you're just overreacting," Sanji said as he removed the cigarette from his lips and held it away. "He looks completely harmless. And you're weird calling this camel by 'it'. You usually call animals by 'him' or 'her'. You're an animal lover, right, Usopp? ...Usopp?"

He glanced over his shoulder to see Usopp sprinting away towards the ship.

After retrieving the struggling long-nose, Sanji grabbed Usopp's hand and let it fall onto Matsuge Two's back.

"WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Usopp screamed, retracting his hand. "He'll chomp my head like Matsuge did Luffy!"

"You just said 'he'," Sanji mused.

"I…I did, didn't I?"

Sanji used the opportunity to bring Usopp's hand close to the camel's face.

"Calm down, Usopp," Sanji said, now gritting his cigar between his teeth. "He's not gonna hurt you."

"He wiiiiill! Just look, he'll bite my fingers one by one and I'm holding you responsible! Call my lawyer, this guy's trying to freaking kill me!"

Plop!

Sanji finally managed to get Usopp's hand on top of Matsuge Two's nose. Usopp seemed to have passed out and Sanji just waited for the animal's reaction.

It did not, indeed, chomp off Usopp's fingers one by one. Instead it nuzzled against the long-nose's fingers with its eyes closed.

"Am...Am…Am I dead?" Usopp breathed.

"No, you're not dead," Sanji answered, "and look."

Usopp saw that his hand, no longer being held down by Sanji, was still intact and looking healthy. The animal beneath it seemed to actually like what was going on. Usopp let out a small weak laugh, as if daring to believe as he let his fingers run through the animal's wool. A few moments later and Matsuge Two was already licking at his face.

"He-He likes me," Usopp said, still in shock as he continued the petting. "The camel—Mastuge Two… actually likes me."

"Just like any other animal does," Sanji said, grinning where he stood a few feet away. "They all love ya."

"But I kept having nightmares about Matsuge—"

"Oh, ignore that Matsuge One," Sanji interrupted. "That camel was a perverted idiot anyways."

"Hypocrite."

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing."

Half an hour later, the cook and the sharpshooter had already ridden on Matsuge Two around the beach and now lay on top of the camel. Comfortable between the fluffy animal's humps (and no that did not sound wrong), Usopp and Sanji were on their backs and gazing at the stars. While Usopp was kept busy feeding the camel a couple of fruits, Sanji retrieved a saddle they had kept from Arabasta from the ship and fastened it onto Matsuge Two's back. It would have been smarter to use it before riding the camel but the two weren't complaining.

Not only that, but Usopp suggested Sanji to take turns taking care of Matsuge Two while the long-nose himself headed back to the ship. Sanji was started to get ticked off by the animal attempting to bite his cigarette when Usopp came running back. Sanji squinted his eyes and saw the saddle's accessories—two twin necklaces— that he had had trouble finding.

"Nice," Sanji commented. "I was wondering where those were."

Usopp grinned as he threw one necklace over the camel's long neck. "These aren't the ones from Arabasta. I couldn't find them either. Made them myself. Sorry if they don't look the same as the real ones."

"Really?" Sanji asked, raising a curly eyebrow. "That's pretty amazing."

Usopp didn't try to hide his smile. "Thanks! Here you go!" He handed Sanji the other necklace and the blonde grinned.

After fastening both necklaces around the Mastuge Two's neck, Sanji declared, "And thus, our friendship with the camel grows stronger."

"Uwooo!" Matsuge Two said, leaning over before giving them both a big, slobbery kiss.

Another half hour later and Sanji and Usopp were lying down on their backs between Matsuge Two's humps again to stargaze. The saddles and cool wind kept them comfortable and the camel seemed to have been singing (which sounded rather odd since it sounded pretty much like: "Uwoo, woo. Uwoo…wowowowo~"). Sanji himself was having a good time and was about to share this thought with Usopp when the sharpshooter suddenly whipped out his slingshot and fired a shot into the skies.

The blonde wasn't sure what to expect. Imagine the look on his face when the small object Usopp fired suddenly exploded into a bright set of orange sparks with a loud POP! It lit up the area around them along with Matsuge Two and the people on board. The orange sparks separated to form into a shape that resembled…

"MELLORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!" Sanji cried, throwing up his hands into the air.

The sparks had shaped themselves into Nami. It was amazing. They could clearly see the navigator's smile, her hair that seemed whipped by the wind, and Sanji couldn't help but wail in joy when she held up a hand and waved at them.

Not giving Sanji a time to recover, Usopp laughed and shot another firework into the sky. A purple light engulfed them.

"DOUBLE MELLORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!"

This time it was Robin. She waved as well and soon was joined by Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, Franky, Brook, and Sanji and Usopp themselves. The fireworks stayed in the now colorful sky, jumping and dancing.

Sanji was speechless. No words left his mouth until the lights and sparks, one by one, dispersed into the starry night. What was left of their presences was a thin layer of smoke, which quickly whisked past them and disappeared completely.

Sanji's cigarette had already fallen from his mouth.

Usopp glanced over at Sanji and laughed out loud at the cook's bewildered expression. Matsuge Two (who, thank God, had stopped singing when the firework display started) reached over and snatched the still lit cigarette, looking rather pleased.

Finally the silence was broken.

"That…" Sanji said, his voice finally found. "…was absolutely amazing."

"Well of course!" Usopp said, pointing a thumb to his chest, grinning broadly and looking even more pleased with himself than Matsuge Two. "The great I made them, of course! I'm going to show Franky tonight! I hope it's enough to beat his giant cola fountain! Man, I still wonder how he makes those little people riding on the boats that sail over the cola river…"

"I have a feeling this is going to beat more than just Franky's cola fountain," Sanji answered, his eyes still glued to the skies.

Usopp blinked. "You-You really think so?"

"Hell yeah."

Usopp just stared at his nakama for a while. Finally he spoke. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"I," Usopp said after a few seconds of taking in the moment, "have more! And the fireworks before was just a taste of it all!"

Sanji finally tore his eyes away from the sky to look at him, pure astonishment etched across his face. "Seriously?"

"Yeah! Prepare to be even more amazed!"

So the three—Usopp, Sanji, and Matsuge Two—spent the night watching the long-nose's set of spectacular fireworks. Sanji, arms folded behind his head, lit another cigarette and soon he and the camel were smoking buddies (though Usopp did not approve). They no longer worried about any of the animals that could be lurking at the island. And they no longer needed to worry about their crew mates either, for group by group, they all returned. The fireworks had attracted and led them home.

Usopp knew that there was a story behind Nami's hauling a humongous sack of money on her back and Chopper proudly carrying a bear's carcass, and Brook and Robin bringing what seemed like an unlimited supply of berries and seeds—but that would be asked later.

The Straw Hats joined in and soon threw a party. A roaring bonfire was built and the food that the crew fetched were cooked and served. Animals from the island came and joined. They were accompanied by the grand finale of Usopp's fireworks, which blew Franky away so hard that he burst into tears and wrapped the long-nose into a big, proud cyborg hug.

Another night that they knew was impossible to forget.

The next morning and the Log Pose was set for the next island.

"I'll miss you, Matsuge Two!" Usopp said, holding back tears as he petted the camel for the last time. The Straw Hats—excluding him and Sanji—were on board and ready to sail. The three stood by the ship, the sounds of waves accompanying their farewell.

"Uwooo…" Matsuge Two replied sadly.

"Thanks a lot," Sanji said with a smile and a quick pat, "for curing Usopp's illness. Who knows how bad it could of gotten if it weren't for you. And me."

Usopp laughed and was soon sobbing. "Keep the saddle and necklaces, Matsuge Two. Those are a sign of our friendship. Don't you dare lose them or I'll beat you up with my hands tied behind my back!"

The camel nodded vigorously.

"Luffy says we should just take him with us," Sanji said while Usopp wiped his nose. "He sure found Matsuge Two amusing and loved him…"

"Nah," Usopp said, pulling on a shaky smile while he hugged his camel friend's neck. "Matsuge Two belongs here. Right, buddy?"

"Uwooo!" Matsuge Two agreed.

"Right." Sanji grinned and patted Usopp comfortingly on the shoulder. "Come on. We gotta get going." He held up a hand and waved. "See you later, Matsuge Two!"

"Bye, Matsuge Two!" Usopp said, the tears now free falling from his face.

"Uwooo!"

Just as they reached the ship, Sanji turned to Usopp. "See? There shouldn't be a reason for you to be afraid of an animal."

"Sanji, there's a tarantula on your arm."

"OH DEAR GOD, GET IT OFF!"

"Aww, it's so cute! Come here, little guy! Up my hand now!"

"GROSS, GROSS, GROSS! GYAAAAAAH!"

And thus… Usopp's next mission: cure Sanji's can't-be-near-spiders-or-will-start-screaming-like-a-little-girl illness!

Impossible?

Nothing that the great Captain Usopp can't handle!

end

A/N: Oh Sanji, you and your fear of spiders! Haha, reviews would be awesome ^^

Hope none of them were OOC…

~ Wondering how the other Straw Hats spent their day on the same island? Stay tuned to find out!

What do you guys want to see next the most? Zoro/Chopper, Nami/Luffy, or Brook/Franky/Robin nakamaship?

Banzai!