Chapter 6

Nami wasn't happy with Luffy. It turned out that when Luffy had grabbed Zoro to carry him to the boats, he had left behind half the treasure. Insisting that the village needed the money to rebuild their town didn't help matters, but by the end of the afternoon Luffy had convinced Nami to let it slide this time. She had been adamant, however, that he was never to do something like that again. Eventually, she gave up trying to get a promise out of him, but not until after Zoro had laughed himself silly about the matter and Taeyong had finished fixing up his wound again – something she secretly was not happy about.

It was a few days later that Nami spoke up about something that was bothering her.

"Are we really going to the Grand Line in this?" she asked, gesturing to their two dinghies. "It's a dangerous place. We're going to need an actual ship and better supplies if we want to have any chance of surviving."

"That's right," Luffy agreed, "We'll need a lot more meat if we're going on long voyages."

"And a lot more sake," Zoro added.

"Those are not the supplies I'm talking about! We're going to need a ship with enough storage for all types of food - not just meat - as well as water, medical supplies, tools and materials to maintain the ship, and any treasure we find. Not to mention we'll need more people. Four people can't run a whole ship by themselves, not for very long anyway."

"So let's get a ship and some more people," Luffy said, not phased by the imminent doom Nami seemed so worried about. Suddenly, he jumped up and ran to hang off the front of the boat. "Hey! I see an island ahead!"

Nami watched him go with foreboding. "What did I get myself into?"

When they landed on the island, Luffy immediately disembarked, surveying the beach and nearby cliffs for any excitement. Nami, meanwhile, was more cautious. Either that or she was too busy reading the map they had stolen from Buggy to go scampering about. Taeyong and Zoro were left, then, to pull the boats ashore. Since they didn't have anchors and there weren't any docks, the two had to jump into the water and anchor the boats in the sand, which left Taeyong with a dissatisfied feeling as water sloshed in her boots. When they finished with the boats, Taeyong took the opportunity to touch her boots and the bottom of her cloak and heat them up, drying off all the water that had soaked through. After she was done, she stood up fully to find Zoro giving her an amazed look.

"Well, that's handy," he said.

Taeyong looked down at his soaked boots and pants for a moment before taking aim and sending a blast of fire from her hand to wrap around the swordsman's feet. Watching the sudden burst of flames hit him, Zoro jumped up in the air and tried to put the fire out, shouting, "Wait a minute!"

"Stop moving. I won't burn you - I have more control than that - but your clothes might get singed if you keep moving about."

Immediately Zoro stopped jumping and froze, giving Taeyong's concentrated face a look over. She was now focused solely on his shoes and pants. It was only a moment or two later that the fire dissipated, and the swordsman was free to move and test out his now dry footwear. "Huh, they're still warm."

There was a pause before Taeyong spoke. "I'm sorry for acting without warning. I didn't realize it would make you jump like that."

Zoro mentally scoffed a little at the swing to his pride, but let it go. It was unintentional after all - at least he hoped it was. "It's not a problem. I'm sure we'll have to get used to it anyway, considering Luffy does the same thing."

They both looked over to Luffy and Nami, who had somehow gotten into another argument. Luffy wanted to look for food first, Nami wanted to look for supplies first, and Taeyong just mentally sighed. She could already see similar arguments happening in the future, and from the current state of things, Nami was losing the battle. Too busy watching the two bicker, Taeyong didn't notice Zoro tensing or reaching for his swords until he dashed towards Luffy.

"Watch out!"

"Eh? What is it?" asked Luffy, but before Zoro could answer Luffy was dancing in the sand, dodging the pinballs that rained at his feet. Nami ran ducking for cover, and Zoro jumped back a little as well, still ready to fight. There was movement at the top of the cliffs, drawing the group's attention, and then small pirate flags went up one by one until they had created a formidable line of defense in the brush.

"Woah," said Luffy, impressed. "That's incredible."

Taeyong was doubtful. The flags looked homemade and they didn't have any distinct qualities; even the cross and bones were generic. Their small size also didn't invoke the intimidation she guessed they were supposed to. It was most likely a group of kids playing around.

Eventually a person around their age stepped forward out of the brush with a slingshot in his hand, both disproving and proving her theory right.

Raising his head and arms high, he announced, "I am Captain Usopp, the leader of the great pirate crew that conquered this village! If you're thinking of attacking this village, you should think again, lest my 80 million followers crush you like a bug!"

"80 MILLION!" Luffy was flabbergasted, but the others just looked at him like he was insane.

"Of course there isn't 80 million. That's impossible," said Nami.

Taeyong nodded in agreement. "Judging by the body heat, I would say there are only four members, including the captain." She raised her hand as she spoke and pointed to the area where the other three members were hidden. "The others should be in there."

Suddenly the bushes rustle and three small figures began running away from the cliff's edge screaming, "We've been caught!"

"Don't abandon me like that!" shouted Usopp.

Taeyong lowered her hand. "Now there's just one left."

Nami turned to the firebender with an exasperated look, "Thank you, for stating the obvious."

Still looking up at 'Captain Usopp,' Luffy laughed, "You're an interesting fellow." This was, apparently, the wrong thing to do because the 'captain' suddenly raised his slingshot with a new pinball aimed straight at Luffy.

"Don't laugh at me. I'm a man of great pride, and because of my great pride, I'm called Usopp the Proud! As you saw earlier, my skills with a pinball are better than any pistol. I'm a first class sniper!"

Luffy stopped laughing and turned serious, though he still seemed a little amused to Taeyong. After a pause she could swear was for dramatic effect, Luffy locked eyes with the other captain. "Since you mentioned pistols," he smirked, "bet your life on it."

His statement thoroughly rattled Usopp, who started shaking where he stood. But to his credit he kept his eyes leveled with Luffy's.

Zoro, who also seemed to catch onto Luffy's ruse, glanced up at Usopp before looking over at Taeyong and muttering, "Think he needs a push?"

Seeing the pirate's mischievous expression, Taeyong couldn't stop the small smile that crept onto her face. Simply jerking her head towards the staredown, she said, "Go ahead."

Zoro schooled his expression before walking to stand beside Luffy, and after a quick look to his captain and another mischievous smile, he called up to Usopp.

"This person that stands before you is a real pirate. Do you really want a fight?" In a casual but deliberate manner, Zoro laid his right hand on the katanas, making sure the man on the cliff noticed the action. It seemed that was just the push needed because not long after Usopp fell to his knees, muttering about how much more intimidating real pirates were.

At this, both Luffy and Zoro burst out laughing.

"I just repeated what I had heard before," explained Luffy, "from Shanks, the person I look up to. You remind me of Yasopp. He's your father, right?"

Nami, who had moved to stand beside Taeyong, gasped. Turning to see the navigator, Taeyong noticed she looked like Luffy had dropped a bomb rather than mention a pirate he'd met in his past. Taeyong became even more confused when Nami repeated the name 'Shanks' in fear and slight awe.

"Why is this Shanks such a big deal?" Taeyong asked her.

Nami's head whipped over in shock, causing Taeyong to feel more confused. Nami stared for a moment before asking, "You don't know about Red-haired Shanks?"

"I heard his name a couple of times when I was a bounty hunter. I didn't find him interesting enough, though, so I never went after his bounty." Taeyong shrugged, "Why?" Nami, now even more shell-shocked, decided she didn't want to try and explain anything, so instead the navigator just walked away, leaving the firebender behind. Watching her leave, Taeyong became even more confused.

"What did I say?"

After Usopp learned about Luffy's connection with his father, he was more than happy to lead them to the best, and only, restaurant in the village. He kept a constant stream of questions going for Luffy, asking about Yasopp, how he was doing, how good his skills were, and Luffy was more than happy to share the stories he had about the pirate.

The conversation gradually shifted to what Luffy and the rest of the crew were doing on the island, and Usopp was quick to say there was a small ship they could use. He went on to explain that the richest person on the island had a small ship that might fit what they needed. Three of the crew members were excited to speak with the person, but Nami rejected the idea when she learned the they were an orphaned girl still sick with grief. Usopp then offered his services as a crewmember, so long as he was the captain, but was quickly shot down by everyone. When he reacted with shock and confusion, Taeyong simply pointed to Luffy, explained he was the captain, and left it at that. Usopp was in the middle of replying when he suddenly jumped up and left, exclaiming, "I almost forgot! It's that time again!"

After he left, the group exchanged looks. "Maybe he couldn't take the bad news," suggested Zoro. "You know, that he couldn't be the captain."

"I doubt it. He's probably used to rejection, so that shouldn't have affected him," said Nami.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that we get some more of this meat to take with us. This is good!"

Taeyong just looked over at the captain, who had spoken around his latest mouthful, and sighed.

They were still eating when three little kids burst into the restaurant shouting 'the great Usopp Pirates are here!' and running over to their table. Luffy was too busy finishing the last of his plate to pay them any mind, but Taeyong took in their determined faces and wooden swords. "Are you the kids we saw earlier?" she asked.

"Yeah, they'd have to be," Nami said, looking them over as well. Zoro just watched as the kids raised shaking swords and pointed them to different members of the group.

Luffy rubbed his stomach and sat back against the booth they were in. "Ah, that was some good meat."

Unfortunately, the kids took his words the wrong way and cowered together in horror, as though their worst fears had come true.

"T-the captain…," one of them managed. "Did y-you….What did you do?!"

"Huh?" Luffy looked over, confused. Zoro, however, thought quick and decided to have some fun. "Oh, your captain?" he inquired, leaning forward. The others watched as he made the creepiest, most evil face he could muster before delivering the punchline.

"We ate him."

Immediately the group cackled like hyenas, Taeyong included, which only spurred the kids' fears on more. Acting together, they all recovered from their shock and faced Nami, jumping away and shouting Onibaba*. This caused everyone minus the navigator to laugh even harder, but it wasn't until one of the kids fainted that the group calmed down somewhat.

To reassure the other two, and make sure they didn't faint as well, Taeyong explained an abridged version of what happened before their entrance into the restaurant. As an apology for scaring them, she also gave them what was left of her meal, and soon they were all back to normal and happily chatting with everyone. After recovering from being called Onibaba, Nami ordered them some juice from the restaurant's owner as well. When they heard about Usopp's reaction after the older pirates declined his offer to become their captain, the Usopp pirates weren't surprised and were quick to explain that the captain went to a mansion at the same time almost every day.

"Mansion?" asked Nami, "You mean where the sick girl lives? What does he do there?"

"Yep! He goes to see her every day and tells her lies!" The group exchanged a confused look at the explanation.

Another kid piped up, "And sometimes we follow him when he's not paying attention and listen in. You wanna go?"

Smiling, Luffy agreed. "Of course we'll go!"

*For reference, an Onibaba is a 'demon hag' or a 'demon witch.' In Japanese folklore, there are stories of them doing many different evil deeds, including eating small children.