Whew-part 2 done at last! I'm so hyped about this story it feels like ages since I updated.

I started writing this and somehow ended up writing about a funeral, so I had to start over. This is still my fastest update ever-yeah, I'm slow.

I know the story doesn't have that many hits, but it's always nice to have some reader response. If you like the story (and even if you don't) feel free to review :)

This part is Usokaya rather than UsoNami. In fact, it hasn't got much to do with the first part at all, but I feel like they both go together.


Love and the pirate life II

Usopp was back at last.

It had taken six years to place that crown on Luffy's head, but they had done it. Found One Piece, completed their ultimate missions in life. Or almost: Zoro had yet to defeat Mihawk, Sanji to find All Blue and Nami to map it. Those three had decided to continue sailing the seas together—along with their captain, who was not about to miss the new adventures. But first, they were saying goodbye to their nakama as they dropped them off one by one.

Usopp? Nah, Usopp was good, thank you very much. The Straw Hat Pirates had closed a chapter of their lives together, but he would be opening a new one separately. He was returning to his birthplace, and staying there. He had met his goals, so that was the end of adventures for him.

They came one afternoon, when the children were playing out in the street and the old ones sat gossiping outside their houses on wicker chairs. The news spread like wildfire and they were soon being carried to the central square on the shoulders of a half the village. The crowd cheered for them like they were heroes. A barrel here, a trestle table there, and soon a welcome feast was on the way.

His nakama settled in well enough—as they always did when there was food to be had—but Usopp soon slipped away. There was someone he had to see.


His heart was pounding as he arrived at her mansion, and not just because he had run all the way. It had been six years. How much prettier, smarter, sweeter would she have grown? He couldn't help but examine himself: stronger, buffer, a little taller than when he had set out. Would he be good enough for her?

He thought of going in through the window (the tree was still there, waiting for him) but decided against it. That had been as children; now he was going to use the front door like the man he was. It was time to say things that, perhaps, he should have said before he set sail all those years ago. But that was then. He had come to make it all perfect, now.

He knocked on the door (what if she wasn't home?), because it was quieter than the doorbell (what if she didn't really want to hear that knock?) and he didn't want to startle her (what if she had moved somewhere, far away, to study medicine?).

"Usopp!"

A gasp, and he found himself surrounded by a familiar scent of lilies. He hugged back tightly, eternally, afraid his legs would give way. He breathed her in, soaked in her warmth. Letters and pictures had helped, but nothing could ever compare to this.

Eventually she separated, "Let me look at you!", and he saw her in all her glory. The years had made her into a...a goddess. A pale, bright-faced goddess wearing glasses and dressed in pure white. There were tears in her eyes; joyful tears which, beyond comprehension, seemed to be on his account.

"Kaya," he breathed, and just her name seemed to be a spell for healing any ailment.

"Oh, Usopp, you've grown so much! And you came back... I was starting to think you wouldn't."

In that moment Usopp wanted to say something about how, no matter what, he would always return to her, but all that came out was:

"I—god."

"Come in! Oh no, I'm so sorry, I really haven't prepared anything. Why didn't you—why didn't you warn me?"

That, at least, he could answer.

"It was meant to be a surprise," he said.

"That it certainly was! We never expected you back, not so soon! Of course, I heard—we all did—about One Piece and all, but somehow I assumed you'd keep going, fighting monsters and all those pirate things you do..."

He shook his head quickly.
"The others might—some of them, at least. I just want to settle down, y'know, retire, I guess..." he laughed nervously, "form a family..."

And there it was. He puffed out his chest, readying himself for the big speech.

"Kaya..."

"Kaya? Who is it?" A voice floated down from upstairs.

She turned to him, her eyes bright.

"I guess I have a surprise for you, too. I didn't write to you about him because I wanted to introduce you first—didn't imagine it would be so soon." She laughed nervously. "We've only been engaged for a few months, Usopp, but he's..."

The rest of her words were drowned by the sound of his heart ripping in two. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He convulsed once, twice, then Usopp the warrior broke down and he was back to what he had always been: Usopp the coward, running from the mansion, from his beloved, from the nameless, faceless stranger who had taken her away.


I feel bad doing this to Usopp. Now that I'm posting this parts 1 and 2 seem to be less related. Oh well.