"Mom." Usopp whispered silently as he looked up at his Mother, Banchina, laying in her bed, drenched in sweat.
Slowly Banchina swallowed and turned around, to look at Usopp with glazed distant eyes. "I erh.." Usopp swallowed. "You wont believe this, I just fought a sea-king."
Banchina blinked, and then turned to Usopp looking questioning at him.
Usopp smirked as he straightened up proudly. "Right in front of white-beards crew, they asked me to become their Captain, but I had to refuse for the moment." He told.
Banchina looked wide-eyed at Usopp, then suddenly, she had to bit her lip, but it didn't help she was smiling any-way, even chuckling softly.
And Usopp noticed at ones as he brightened up. "A shame you can't come out-side, the entire island is completely overrun by pirates."
Banchina chuckled again. "I don't hear any-thing darling."
"That's because they don't dare to make a sound." Usopp told. "I told them not to, my mom needs the rest I told them, and they all cowered in fear."
"Is that so?" Banchina asked amused.
"Absolutely." Usopp smirked as he made a pose, standing with his small hands on his hips, closed eyes, and a proud smile on his lips.. which gave Banchina the opening to lay a silent hand on Usopp's neck he didn't see coming, making Usopp scream as he jumped up, and looked wide-eyed around as he shook in shock, making Banchina laugh out loud.
"Hey, you are cheating mom!" Usopp hissed stamping in the ground. "That was a sneak attack! A brave warrior of the sea wouldn't do that!"
"Is that what you are now?" Banchina asked. "A brave warrior of the sea? Just like your father, my you grow so fast Usopp."
"Of cause I am, I am just as strong as dad!" Usopp told, before he tried to crawl up on the bed.. which was a bigger fight as he wasn't to tall, but finally he was there and sat beside his mother, making sure her pillow was nice and fluffy, and the blanket covered all of her.
Banchina smiled amused. "Then you should have some prober adventures, Syrup island is simply to little for such big people." She commented.
"Oh I will mom." Usopp told. "Some day, I'll be a pirate, I'll travel the entire world as a brave man of the sea, just as brave and strong as dad." He told as he laid beside Banchina, his head just next to hers so they both faced the same way to the ceiling. "Dad will come any day now, and he'll take us with him, to see every-thing. You'll see mom." He told. "Then we'll all be together! Having real adventures."
"Oh Usopp." Banchina sniffed, and then she cried as she turned to him and embraced him tightly as she cried. "What would I do without you?" she asked in a smile.
"Mom…" Usopp whispered. "It'll be all-right, you'll see." He whispered.
A few days after that.. Banchina was dead.. But Usopp would still claim that the pirates could come any-day.. he would still continue his stories.
And it would continue for a long time, until some-one came, and took Usopp with him, the straw-hat pirates.
They gave Usopp every-thing he had ever dreamed about! Dreams, adventures, support and a family! A big, caring family, which Usopp loved with all of his heart.
Together they travelled to the grand-line and had many adventures together, eventually, after two years struggling, they came to the new world.
And there Usopp stood, on top of the proud ship the sunny, feeling the wind in his hair, the ache in his shoulders after a long day of working and training, but he was happy, he was very proud.
This around him, was beyond any-thing he could have imagined or made up.
If there was some-thing Usopp knew, it was that if he were offered a do-over, he wouldn't have done a single thing different, in his mind, every-thing was perfect just as it was!
But then.. It started..
It started out as some-thing very casual and minor, Usopp was complaining about a sore throat, and blamed it on how much he had to yell at Luffy all the time, because Luffy would never listen.
Chopper had ended up giving Usopp some tablets for the throat, in case he had any further problems, just to be on the safe side.
It was hard noticing, because Usopp always gave his work it all, and did his best, but at some point Franky pointed out that Usopp didn't work as quick as he used to. Usopp told he was just a little tired, that he just needed to rest up.
"Oi Usopp." Sanji looked at the sniper over dinner. "Don't let Luffy take your food now." He pointed out.
"What?" Usopp looked up at Sanji with drowsy eyes. "Oh." He looked at his empty plate in front of himself. "That's all-right, I'm really not that hungry." He at last told in a vague smile.
Sanji blinked.. Usopp was always hungry. "Are you all-right?" he asked.
At that Usopp send him a flashing grin. "Yeah I'm fine!" he told.
"USOPP COME PLAY TAG!" Luffy demanded as he jumped up and down, and Usopp took himself to the head.
"Maybe later." Usopp mumbled. "I'm just not up to it right now." He told.
There were signs all around the place, and it didn't take long for the entire crew to start kicking themselves for not notice when it finally all collapsed.
It was doing a storm, Usopp did what he always did when there was a storm, he took care of the sails and the mast together with half the male crew. "PULL!" Usopp yelled leaning backwards to pull in the rope with all of his might as the rain clashed down on his face and clothes.. Then suddenly, a dizzy spell hit him. "Argh… arghh.." Usopp's hands loosened around the rope.. and then he fell, he didn't even yell for help, he just fell.
"USOPP!" Luffy screamed as he was the first one to notice what had happened, in a jump Luffy jumped down, and managed to catch the sniper in mid-air before he landed on the deck on his feet's. "Usopp!" Luffy exclaimed shaking the sniper in his arms. "Usopp wake up!"
Usopp groaned as he squinted his eyes.
"LUFFY WHAT HAPPENED!?" Nami asked as she came running towards Luffy.
"Usopp.. he fell." Luffy swallowed as he turned to Nami. "I don't understand, he never falls."
Nami squinted her eyes, then laid a hand on Usopp's head before her eyes widened. "Luffy he is burning up." She realised.
"what does that mean?" Luffy asked in a blink.
"It means he is sick Luffy." Nami responded. "Remember that time you had to get me to a doctor?" she asked.
"But.. we'll be all-right now wont we?" Luffy asked. "Afterall, we do have a doctor now." He pointed out.
"Yes we do! And you should use that and get Usopp to the infirmary, right now!" Nami hissed. "Get going!" she pointed at the infirmary door.
"HAI!" Luffy yelled and then ran to the infirmary with Usopp in his arms.
As the storm had taken off, Chopper had been with Usopp while the others worked on the ship.
Quickly all of them ran into the infirmary, thankfully Usopp was awake by then, and sat up-right in the bed beside Chopper. "I'm fine, it's just a little sickness." Usopp muttered. "Nothing to be worried about."
"You could have told us you weren't well!" Nami hissed annoyed as the others nodded.
"I told you it was nothing!" Usopp hissed.
"Usopp don't strain yourself." Chopper asked. "Please give us some room." He asked the others. "I just need to run a few tests."
Nami blinked. "It's just a common cold isn't it?" she asked.
Chopper frowned. "Probably.." he hesitated. "Come back a little later please." He asked.
By the evening, Nami went to the informary again, Sanji went with her, and there was Chopper, sitting by Usopp's side, looking pretty worried.
"Chopper?" Nami asked.
"Oh, hallo Nami, Sanji." Chopper nodded at them.
"So you found out what happened with our shitty sniper?" Sanji asked as he offered Usopp a single glance, then sat down.
Usopp pouted, then crossed his arms looking away.
Chopper how-ever, but his lip as he looked down.
"What is it?" Nami asked in a blink.
Chopper didn't answer as he averted his eyes, neither did Usopp as he wrapped his arms around himself and looked away. Making Sanji look at him with a squinted eye.
"Well.." Chopper hesitated. "It could be a few different things, I need to run some more tests before I am entirely sure.." the hesitation in the reindeers voice was enough, he had a suspicion.
"Chopper." Nami said in a warning voice. "What is your thoughts." She asked a bit more sternly.
Chopper exhaled. "Well, it shouldn't be possible unless.."
"Unless what Chopper?" Sanji asked, now also looking at the reindeer in a more serious frown.
"The illness I think I am detecting in Usopp, it's not an illness you can contract." Chopper finally told. "It's purely genetic so unless Usopp can tell me about any close family that came down with a similar illness."
Nami silenced, dead silenced as she looked at Usopp.
Sanji blinked. "What is it?" he asked confused.
"Usopp.." Chopper frowned. "Did any-one in your immediate family, come down with a similar illness?" he asked.
"Well erh.." Usopp swallowed as he averted his eyes to his left.
"Usopp I need you to be honest with me!" Chopper demanded, in a surprisingly stern tone, when it came from the reindeer.
"My mother." Usopp finally admitted in a sigh. "It was the exact same things that happened to my mother."
Nami gasped as she held a hand towards her mouth. "Oh no."
"What?" Sanji asked confused.
"And what happened to your mother?" Chopper asked in a serious tone.
"Well she.. she died." Usopp finally told. "From the fever."
Sanjis eyes widened. "What are you saying Usopp?" he asked. "You got an illness from your mother, an illness that killed her!? And you went on working as if nothing was wrong!?" he asked.
"I was never sure okay!" Usopp hissed. "I had hoped it was just a cold!"
"You knew all along you might get the illness one day." Sanji realised. "Usopp why didn't you tell us!?"
"We don't even know if it's that yet." Usopp returned. "The key word is might, I might get the illness one day. And if I do, I'll maybe be very old any-way. I didn't want to make that control me or my life." He muttered as he crossed his arms. "And even if that is what happened, there is nothing any-one could have done about it any-way, I just I just…" he took in a deep breath as he squinted his eyes together, obviously trying to keep back some tears. "I'm not weak just because of this!" he stated. "I do the things I always wanted to do."
"Of cause you are not weak." Nami told as she gently embraced Usopp. "You are one of the strongest people I know." She whispered.
Chopper sighed. "So it is possible.. please, I need to run some more specific tests." He asked Sanji and Nami. "I'll be with you when I know for sure." He told.
Sanji and Nami swallowed, but at last nodded, as they excited the infirmary.
It couldn't be any wonder, that the mood was heavy in the galley that evening, people were barely poking at the food Sanji had cooked, even Luffy had seemed to have lost his appetite as they were all waiting for Chopper.
It seemed to take for-ever, Sanji both managed to serve main-course, desert and a coffee, which Robin was silently drinking, before the door opened.
Every-one looked up as Chopper silently entered.
"Chopper!" Luffy exclaimed. "What is it!?"
Silently Chopper lifted a hoof before he looked up at the others. "Usopp has scarlet fever, which he inherited from his mother."
Every-one sat in shocked silence as they wide-eyed looked at Chopper.
"How bad is it!?" Luffy asked.
"You all-ready know his mother died from it." Chopper pointed out in a frown. "And that's the illness, usually it is fatal."
"Chopper, isn't there some-thing you can do?" Nami asked panick sneaking into her voice.
"I can ease the symptoms for a while." Chopper hesitated. "But I can't cure the illness."
"Oh no." Nami whispered as she held her hands to her mouth, then turned to Robin and leaned into the older womans embrace.
"Isn't there any-thing we can do?" Sanji asked the same question all over again.
"You can cook the food I am pre-scribing and make sure he eats it." Chopper told Sanji. "He has no appetite, and as the illness progresses his nausea will just grow worse, so you may have to force feed him." He told. "Rest of you, just be there for him." He asked.
"Wait a minute, usually fatal!?" Luffy asked as he stood up. "So there is a chance of survival?" he asked.
Chopper blinked. "A slight one." He admitted.
"How!?" Luffy asked. "How can we help him?"
"We can't, Usopp is the one whom has to make it." Chopper told. "See, what he has is a fever, and it's the fever that kills the patient, his body temperature will gradually rise and rise to deal with the illness, but suddenly it'll be more than what the patients body can take, and he'll die." Chopper swallowed. "How-ever, there has been some cases where the fever broke before it killed the patient. And if that happened, he would be all-right. Ones the fever broke, it has never returned again."
Every-body looked at Chopper, there was hope. "So Usopp is going to be all-right then?" Luffy asked excited.
"Luffy listen, that the fever broke among patients with scarlet fever is very rare, it happens in one out of a thousand times." Chopper told seriously. "It would be a miracle if Usopp's fever suddenly breaks."
"He is going to be all-right!" Luffy stated hammering a fist into the table, as if he had just decided. "This is Usopp, the guy who defies odds, so many times every-one said it'll be impossible to win, but what does Usopp do?" he asked. "He wins any-way!"
"Luffy! Don't you think I want to believe that!?" Chopper asked. "I would do any-thing to cure him, but I don't know the cure for all illness's yet! if only we could find the cherry treess.." he whispered as he looked down with tears in his eyes.
Nami swallowed. "So erh.. how long.." then Luffy looked annoyed at her and Nami sighed. "Assuming Usopp wouldn't make it, how long would he have?" she asked.
"His fever is all-ready pretty high." Chopper mumbled. "Could be a week, maybe a month if we are lucky."
Wide-eyed the entire crew looked at the reindeer.
"You gotta be kidding, no more than that?" Sanji asked.
"it's a fast working illness, it's the fever that kills." Chopper sighed.
"Dammit!" Franky hissed as he hammered a robotic fist down in the table. "And you're sure there's not some miracle cure on a nearby island we can go get, and give to him in the last possible moment?" he asked.
Robin sighed. "That would be rather convinient wouldn't it?" she asked, and then she looked down, clearly her heart was heavy to.
"I told you Usopp wont die!" Luffy stated surely. "I wont allow it, so he wont!" he stated.
"Luffy..." Nami tried.
"I AM NOT ALLOWING IT!" Luffy shouted.. and that was it.. no more objections, and the rest of the straw-hats, turned back to each other, in silence.