In reply to riffin121294: I'm glad you enjoy the story. LuRo is indeed quite rare to see on the site, it's also one of my favorite pairings. Anyway, glad you enjoy the story, hope you keep on liking it.
In reply to : I'm glad you like how this story is going, thank you for the compliment. I do hope you keep reading the story, it's gonna be a long one.
In reply to Guest(1): Thanks for the review, it makes me feel overjoyed that people read this and enjoy it. I hope you keep enjoying this story. Feel free to review more.
In reply to Guest(2): I'm happy you enjoy the story, I'll keep updating this as much as possible.
In reply to Guest(3): I'm glad you enjoy the story, I'll see if I can dumb down Luffy's strength so that he isn't godlike. He'll still be overpowered, though. I hope you enjoy the future chapters.
In reply to Guest(4): Thanks for the review, I appreciate every review I get. (Unless it's a flame.)
In reply to bloodyrose: Thanks for the praise, I'm glad you're enjoying it. I'll keep this story going, it will never be brought down and I will keep updating when possible.
In reply to .1: I was already told this, Hyo Hyo is actually another spelling of Hie Hie. Although this isn't really saying much about the story, I still appreciate the review, hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
In reply to coduss: I'm happy you're enjoying the story, I'm also happy that you and everyone else has followed the story. I do hope you'll keep enjoying the story in the future.
In reply to .3950: Even though not enough people voted, I'm still putting her on the crew, because I do what I want, but Kuro didn't get the estate, I hope you still enjoy the story despite that. Anywho, please continue to read the story and review on later chapters if you feel the need to, I really hope you enjoy the story.
In reply to BloodyFangKing95: I've edited the story and description and changed the mistake, I do hope you enjoy the rest of the story.
Sub-Zero Strawhat has broken the 90 follows and favorites mark with 97 follows and 95 favorites! I am so elated at this achievement! I hope you guys enjoy the story, I'll keep getting chapters out as fast as I can and when I'm able to. I hope you've all enjoyed the story thus far, and hope you keep doing so.
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
Luffy groaned as he woke up from a sharp jerk. 'We must've landed.' he concluded, placing his hat atop his head, bringing his sword back down to his hip and standing in the small boat.
"What island are we at, navigator?" he heard Zoro's gruff voice from the shore.
"I told you, my name is Nami, not navigator. Anyway, this island is called the Gecko Islands, it has a small village called Syrup Village on it, remember, we're going to get a ship and some supplies, not cause trouble." Nami's reply came.
Luffy felt four presences on the cliff ahead of them as he walked onto the shore. He put his hand on his hilt along with Zoro. "We're not alone."
The green-haired swordsman grunted in affirmative from his left while Nami looked confused before seeing four people spying on them from the ridge. "They're over there." she said, pointing at the top of the hill.
Three of the people hiding there screamed out. "AHHHHHHHH! THEY FOUND US!" the three kids shouted, seemingly running away, Luffy sensed the children move to some bushes to the right of him and his crew.
The last presence stood to his full height. He was a tanned teenager with a long nose, dark curly hair reaching his shoulders and a bandanna around his head.
"Pirates, leave this village, now! It is under the protection of the Usopp Pirates, if you attack this village, you will have to face my fleet of 8,000 men!" the teenager, presumably 'Usopp' spoke out with a tinge of fear in his voice.
'He can't be serious.' Luffy thought, a drop of sweat rolling down the back of his head. The reason being that dozens of pirate flags came out of the bushes at the treeline and only six of them started moving up and down.
Luffy exhaled a bit and looked over at the bushes the six moving flags were at. He pointed and grinned smugly. "You mean those three brats?" the aforementioned children jumped up from their hiding spot and ran for the hills.
Usopp looked shocked at his front being seen through, he quickly recovered though. "Though it's true I don't have that many people, my skills with this slingshot," he pulled out a green slingshot from his satchel and held it in front of him, ready to use, "outmatch anyone's skills with a regular pistol." he said, readying his slingshot to fire.
Luffy shadowed his expression with his hat. "If you say that, put your life on the line."
Usopp looked a bit confused at this, but readied a shot anyway.
The straw-hatted captain levelled a serious glare at Usopp. "That weapon in your hand isn't a tool for threats, it's a tool for action. As soon as you let that pachinko fly, it's on." he flicked his sword out of its sheath just a bit.
Zoro flicked his out as well and smirked. "This man before you is a real pirate."
Usopp looked terrified at the three pirates below him. They weren't even trying to intimidate him, he collapsed to his hands and knees, trembling in fear. "Alright, do your worst." he closed his eyes, expecting the worst, but he soon heard the three pirates laughing from the bottom of the slope.
Luffy managed to calm down enough to speak a slightly coherent sentence. "We're not gonna do anything, I took that line from somebody I idolize and tweaked it a bit." he said, Usopp relaxed a bit at that.
"Your name is Usopp, right?" Luffy asked, getting a nod from the teenager. "Do you know a man named Yasopp by any chance?"
Usopp looked shocked by the name 'Yasopp' before jumping into gear and rushing down the hill, falling on his face in the process before recovering quickly, he was in Luffy's face and asked hurriedly. "How do you know my father, is he alright?"
"Yeah, he is, how about we go to a restaurant and talk about this more?" Usopp immediately agreed and started walking to the village he lived in. "Zoro, Nami, come on." they just nodded and followed behind Luffy.
(short skip)
Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp were sitting in a booth at a restaurant called "Meshi" talking about Usopp's father. "Your dad is an honorable man, he talked about you so much, I practically know you by now." Luffy said, taking a swig from his saké bottle.
"My dad is at sea, huh?" Usopp spoke proudly. "Where is he now?" he asked curiously, leaning on the table.
"I don't know where he is exactly, he could be anywhere from Paradise to the New World with Shanks, but I know he's doing fine out there." Luffy said, emptying his bottle and placing it on the table.
"With Shanks, huh?" Usopp said quietly before getting a shocked look on his face. "Wait, Red-Haired Shanks!?" Luffy nodded, ordering another bottle of saké. "One of the Yonko, that Red-Haired Shanks!?"
"Yep, the one and the same." Luffy said, taking a few gulps of his alcohol. "Now, do you know where we can get a ship around here?" he asked, putting the bottle down on the table.
"Sorry, but there isn't a place you could get a boat." Usopp said, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "You said you were looking for a new crewmate, right?" he took up a smug looking expression.
"Yeah." Luffy said, raising an eyebrow at the teen's behavior.
"I'll join you, but only if I can be captain." Usopp said looking self-prideful.
In response, the small crew said, in a deadpan voice. "No."
Usopp looked taken aback at the nonexistent hesitation they took to deny his offer. "Anyway, there isn't anywhere to get a ship here, sorry." he said after a few moments.
Zoro looked out the window and noticed a large mansion on top of the hill. "Then what's that, a summer home?" he sarcastically asked, pointing to the mansion.
Usopp suddenly slammed his hands on the table and standing up. "NO! Do not go there!" he shouted out, before regaining his composure and started sweating nervously. "W-well, would you look at the time, gotta go!" he said, dashing out of the restaurant.
"Wonder what that was all about." Nami muttered, looking at the door with a curious gaze.
"Yeah." Luffy agreed before shrugging and ordering more alcohol and food from the waitress, politely of course.
The three sat, ate, and drank for a few minutes then the three kids that were at the shore with Usopp burst in through the front door, screaming out. "THE USOPP PIRATES ARE HERE!"
The kids ran up to the table just as Luffy was having some Fetzer Crimson Red wine(A/N: It's real, I did my research.), wanting some variety, and was curious how it tasted.
'It's pretty good.' he thought offhandedly, pouring more for himself from the bottle.
The children held their wooden swords in front of them, trying to look threatening. "Where is the captain, what did you do to him?!" they asked, still trying to look threatening.
Drinking out of his wine glass, Luffy smirked, a mischievous plan forming in his head. Pretending not to notice the children, he looked at Zoro and spoke. "This wine is delicious, you should have some, Zoro." he didn't notice that some of the wine dribbled out from the corner of his mouth, making it look like blood dribbling out.
The kids looked frightened at this, and started trembling. "W-w-what did you do to him?" the middle one spoke.
Luffy gave a maniacal grin and spoke with a dark and evil voice. "Your captain?" he gave a slight evil chuckle, he looked down at the kids with an insane glint in his eyes. "We drained him of his blood!" he shouted in their faces, scaring them shitless.
They screamed and pointed at the laughing Nami. "AAAAHHHHH! OGRESS!" Nami took exception to that and rounded on them, glaring.
"WHY ARE YOU POINTING AT ME?!" she shouted at them with an angry tic mark pulsing on her head. To 'discipline' the children for their remark, she pounded their heads into the ground while Luffy and Zoro kept laughing at their prank while Nami scolded them for the 'joke' they pulled.
"Who are you three, anyway?" Luffy asked after he and Zoro calmed down enough to speak. The three kids answered individually.
"I'm Piiman." the child that first spoke had dark green hair shaped like a pepper, a short sleeved shirt, and blue shorts.
"I'm Ninjin." this child had short spiky purple hair that covers his eyes, a red hat atop his head with a tuft on top making his head resemble a carrot, and he was wearing a black hoodie and light orange pants.
"And I'm Tamanegi." the final child spoke, he had straight, light orange hair with a tuft on top, making his head look like an onion. He wore square glasses on his face, a yellow shirt with a blue vest jacket over it, a pair of brown shorts with a dark yellow sash around the waist.
"OK, well, I'm Luffy," the straw-hat teen pointed to himself, "that's Zoro," he pointed over to his first mate, "and this is Nami," he pointed to his navigator, "it's nice to meet you three. If you're looking for Usopp, we don't know where he is, he just dashed out after we mentioned that mansion up there."
Realization dawned on the childrens' faces and Piiman spoke up. "He went up there to talk to the ojou-sama that lives there. He goes up there all the time to tell lies to her."
Luffy choked on his wine a bit at hearing that. "What the- why would he do that?" he was very confused at why the children would be so proud of their 'captain' lying to a girl's face.
"He tells her fake stories that make her feel better. You see, the ojou-sama is sick and Usopp goes over there to make her feel better by telling fake stories that make her happy." Piiman explained.
Luffy stood silent for a few seconds, pondering what to do when he stood up. "Alright, come on guys, we know where to get a ship and I won't feel like an asshole trying to get one." he walked out of the restaurant with the kids and his crew following him. Nami was muttering something about not cursing around kids.
(short skip)
Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Piiman, Ninjin, and Tamanegi were standing near the mansion, trying to find a way in. Luffy wanted to knock the guards out quickly, but Nami said no.
"Just let me do it, it'll be quick and painless." Luffy tried to compromise again with knocking the guards out which got him Nami's fist crashing on his head.
He then felt a familiar presence on the other side of the fence along with a second unknown one, he put his hand up in a 'shut the fuck up' fashion."Usopp's on the other side of this fence." he said
"So? What's that got to do with it?" Nami asked a little grumpily.
"Just grab on, I'll do the rest." Luffy said, turning to the gate. Nami and Zoro hesitated, remembering last time, but did so anyway while the children grabbed on without hesitation. "Geppo." Luffy said, jumping up and 15 meters above the fence.
'Shit, messed up.' Luffy thought, berating himself for his mistake. "Nobody let go! I've got this!" he said, feeling their grips tighten around him at his words.
The six people fell to the ground at an alarming rate and when they were about to hit the ground, Luffy kicked the air again to slow their descent down enough to not get hurt. When he landed, everyone let go of him and collapsed, taking in large gulps of air.
"Who are you people?" he heard a curious voice come from above him, he looked up and saw a frail blonde woman looking at him with her head tilted to the right a bit in a curious motion.
Usopp looked to panic a bit before responding as if on instinct. "T-they're here to join my crew, obviously."
Luffy just ignored him and jumped onto the tree branch Usopp was on, landing next to him. "I was actually wondering if you could do us a favor, ojou-sama." he said politely, remembering the manners beaten into him by Shanks.
"A favor?" the young woman asked, tilting her head again to the side in curiosity.
"Yes, a favor. I was wondering if you could sup-" he was about to request for a ship when he was rudely interrupted by somebody.
"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING HERE!?" an angry voice sounded out.
Everybody looked over and saw a lanky man with dark, slicked back hair, slim glasses, a pinstripe suit with matching dress pants and striped dress shoes.
"Oh, Klahadore these ar-" the blonde girl was just about to tell Klahadore who the people were, but was interrupted by aforementioned butler.
"No need to explain, Kaya-ojou-sama, I'll deal with this riff-raff before long." Klahadore said somewhat rudely and ordered the people before him. "Now, I believe it is time for you people to leave." he said, pushing his glasses up with the heel of his hand.
Before anyone could say or do anything, Luffy spoke out. "As far as I'm concerned, Miss Kaya, was it?" he got a nod of approval from Kaya. "Miss Kaya, here, owns this house and property, so we are staying until she says otherwise." Luffy said calmly, angering the butler.
Seeing no progression with Luffy, Klahadore switch to target Usopp. "Oh, it's you, Usopp. I have heard your name a lot throughout the village."
Usopp rubbed his nose proudly. "Of course the whole village knows me, they love me."
"Usopp the Liar, Usopp the Thief, Usopp the scoundrel. Must I go on?" Klahadore sounded condescending towards Usopp. "I do believe it is because of your worthless father."
Usopp flinched at the butler's remark. "What did you say about my father?" he growled out, glaring harshly at the butler.
"Klahadore, apologize, that was rude." Kaya scolded, frowning at her butler's choice of words against Usopp.
"I'm only speaking the truth, this is best for you, ojou-sama." instead of sounding caring like his words insinuated, his voice was highly condescending and he had a smirk on his face.
"It makes sense that Usopp would act like he does and get a bad reputation in town, his father is a scumbag pirate that knocked up some whore on the island." Klahadore continued on with his verbal onslaught against Usopp.
"Klahadore, you have gone too far! Apologize to Usopp right now!" Kaya screamed out, angry at Klahadore's attitude toward Usopp.
"I have nothing to apologize for, ojou-sama. It is the truth, after all, Usopp is just the accidental child from an unruly family." the butler said still with the annoying smirk on his face.
This seemed to enrage Usopp as he dropped down from his place in the tree and dashed to the butler, grabbing him by his collar and getting in his face. "Don't you dare badmouth my family, you bastard." he growled out, eyes swimming with rage.
"Why would you want to defend your family? Your father's just a piece of worthless pirate scum, and your mother allowed herself to get knocked up by a criminal." Klahadore mocked with cruel enjoyment.
This seemed enough to break Usopp, he pulled his fist back and threw it forward, hitting the butler in his face as hard as he can, shouting out in a rage. "SHUT UP!" the butler fell back and hit the ground, blood on his lip.
He slowly sat up, wiping the blood from his lip, chuckling a mirthless laugh. "Jumping right to violence, huh? Like father, like son."
Usopp was about to rush forward and hit the butler again. but stopped at Kaya's voice.
"Usopp, please stop." she said, lip trembling.
"Yes, stop and leave this area immediately, same with the rest of you!" Klahadore ordered. This angered the children and they didn't bother to hide it.
"Jerk!"
"Idiot!"
"Meanie!"
The children were immediately 'reprimanded' by Nami and told to leave with her and Zoro.
"Fine, I'll leave and never come back." Usopp said, storming out of the. Luffy frowned at Usopp taking Klahadore's words without a fight.
Luffy just sighed and dropped down from the branch. "Alright, come on guys, let's find Usopp and have a talk with him."
The three kids, Zoro, and Nami obliged and followed him out. They soon saw Usopp walking down the street, grumbling obscenities under his breath. Luffy put his hand on Usopp's shoulder, making him jump in shock.
He whipped around and calmed down at the sight of everybody. "Hey guys, what's up?" he asked casually.
Luffy pulled his hand off of the liar's shoulder and sat down on the fence that was near the path they were on.
"I was actually thinking about extending an invitation to you about joining my crew, Usopp." Luffy said with a grin, looking Usopp dead in the eye.
Usopp looked shocked for a quick second, before he narrowed his eyes at Luffy.
"No, I won't, I can't." he said defiantly, shocking Luffy and the rest with the slight hostility in his voice.
Just as Luffy was going to ask again, Usopp threw down a smoke pellet and when the smoke cleared, he was gone.
"He can run pretty fast." Zoro said blandly.
Luffy hopped off of the fence and turned to the kids. "Do you three have any idea where he could've gone?" the three seemed to think for a bit before answering.
"There is one place." Ninjin said.
"Yeah, the coast." Tamanegi quipped.
"He always goes there to think." Piiman said.
"It's in that direction." they all said, pointing southward.
Luffy nodded and started walking off. "I'll go talk to Usopp, you guys wait over here." he said, waving back at them.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO!?" Nami shouted at Luffy, a tic-mark pulsing on her head.
"You're nakama, bond a bit!" Luffy called out carelessly, still walking off.
Zoro and Nami stared at each other for a second before speaking.
"Asshole."
"Bitch."
There, bonded.
(at the coast)
Usopp was sitting at his thinking spot on the coast when he startled by Luffy's voice coming from behind him.
"The view here is great, no wonder you come here to think." he said, sitting next to Usopp. He was silent for a few moments before he spoke up again. "Is there any particular reason you don't want to leave?"
Usopp was silent for a few moments before speaking up again. "There are a couple of reasons. One of them is the village, I've made too many happy memories here to just up and leave. The second is…" Usopp trailed off at this point, but Luffy had a pretty good guess at what the reason was.
"It's your girlfriend, isn't it?" he said, almost teasingly. Usopp flared up like a radioactive tomato.
"She's not my girlfriend!" he shouted defensively, though his red face wasn't helping much.
"Whatever, you ever gonna talk to Kaya again?" Luffy asked Usopp with a quirked brow.
This turned Usopp's mood sour. "Not until that damn butler apologizes to me for badmouthing my father." he grumbled, an angry frown on his face.
Luffy looked down and saw the butler standing across from a strange looking man. "You wanna talk to the butler, he's right down there." he said, pointing at the coast.
"What the-! Why is he all the way out here?" Usopp exclaimed, muttering the last part.
"Let's listen in, this doesn't seem normal for someone like that butler." Luffy said, laying on the ground and pulling Usopp down with him.
"Jango, I told you to not draw any attention towards yourself, but I heard talk of people seeing a strange man sleeping in the middle of the street." Klahadore told Jango.
Jango just put his hand on his hat. "I didn't draw any attention to myself, and I am not weird." he complained slightly.
'Sure looks weird to me.' Luffy thought, sweat rolling down the back of his head.
"Whatever, how is the progress with the plan to murder the young mistress, Kaya, Captain Kuro?" Jango asked the 'butler' across from him.
"Kuro, Kuro. Wait, isn't he supposed to be dead?" Usopp muttered to himself under his breath.
"I told you not to call me by that name anymore, Jango. You're captain now, unless you've forgotten, and don't use murder, that's too crude." Kuro warned, pushing his glasses up by the heel of his hand.
"Oh, yes, I meant 'accident' of course." Jango said, putting his hand up to his mouth.
"Is the crew ready for tomorrow, Jango?" Kuro asked, pushing his glasses up again.
"Yes, of course, though they're a bit anxious captain." Jango told Kuro.
"Let's go over the plan again to make sure you remember." Kuro said, pushing his glasses up again.
"OK then," Jango cleared his throat a bit as he explained the plan to his captain, "me and the crew will attack the village at dawn, causing major damage. I will then proceed to go into the ojou-sama's mansion, and hypnotize her to write her will so that she would give everything to you after her 'accident'." Jango said.
"Remember, you have to hypnotize her to write her riches and property over to Klahadore, not Kuro, and make sure to make her death look like an accident." the fake butler reminded.
"Of course, of course." Jango waved off his worries.
Luffy and Usopp silently slipped away from the cliff and walked to a small clearing where Usopp started freaking out when he fully computed the situation.
"They're gonna kill Kaya and destroy the village, what should I do?" Usopp muttered frantically to himself as he paced to and fro.
"Usopp, calm down and think things through, alright?" Luffy said to Usopp, trying to get him to calm down, but it didn't work.
"I'm going to warn them, I've got to, especially Kaya." Usopp said with hardened resolve and dashed off before Luffy could stop him.
Luffy cursed silently to himself and walked off, looking for Zoro and Nami to tell them about Kuro. He spread out his haki and found them not in the same area, but in a clearing near the path they were on earlier with the three children.
Without another thought, he dashed his way over to the clearing, arriving in front of them and scaring the living shit out of the kids and startling Zoro and Nami.
"Hey guys." he said without a single care in the world.
Nami hit him on the head. "Don't do that again, you scared me!" she shouted, a tic-mark on her head.
"Whatever, there are more pressing matters ahead of us." Luffy said in a serious voice, gathering attention immediately.
"Well, what is it?" Zoro asked from his position against the trunk of the tree he was resting on.
"Klahadore is actually a pirate, Kuro of a Thousand Plans, to be exact and is wanting to attack the village tomorrow at dawn." Luffy bluntly stated, sitting down and crossing his legs.
Everyone stared at him shocked, before Nami noticed an absence. "Where's Usopp, wasn't he with you?"
"He ran off to tell the village before I could stop him." Luffy said, slightly irked at Usopp's inability to keep his panic down. "Right now, though, we can only wait for Usopp to show up again to see what we'll do, seeing as the invasion is in half a day."
Everyone agreed with that statement and started to wait for the long-nosed liar, so they all slept, all except for Luffy.
(few hours later - 9 hours until invasion)
Luffy and the others were walking to the village when they saw Usopp walking down a path clutching his left arm with his head down.
"Hey, Usopp!" Luffy called out, Usopp seemed startled to being called out to so suddenly, he moved an armband he had over a wound near his shoulder and turned around with a fake smile on his face.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" he greeted cheerfully.
Before Luffy could speak, the children spoke out. "Captain, we heard about Kuro attacking the village tomorrow, let us help you!"
Usopp shadowed his face so that no one could see it before he snapped his head and let out a boisterous fake laugh. "HAHAHAHA! I sure fooled you guys, I lied about that to get back at the butler!"
The kids looked shocked for a second before their faces dropped.
"You really got us captain." Tamanegi said, slightly impressed.
"Yeah, you sure did." Piiman said emotionlessly.
"I know you didn't like the butler, but that was too much." Ninjin said, disappointed with Usopp's 'lie'.
"I'm disappointed in you captain." Piiman agreed.
"Yeah, that was low, captain." Tamanegi put in his own two cents.
With those final words, the three kids left while the three pirates kept their eyes on Usopp, who sighed sadly after the kids left.
"You lied to keep the kids out of it, didn't you?" Zoro stated more than asked.
Usopp sat down against the fence on the side of the trail, sighing. "I had to, they'd die otherwise." he said, covering his face with his hand.
Nami took notice of his bleeding arm and rushed over. "Why is your arm bleeding?" without waiting for an answer, she pulled the armband back and saw a bullet wound on his arm.
"I got shot when I tried to warn Kaya." Usopp explained before he was roughly dragged to his home, which he explained where it was, and got it stitched, cleaned, and bandaged by Nami.
"I tried to warn everybody, but they didn't believe a single word I said." Usopp said miserably but then continued on with determination. "But, I'll still protect this village until my last dying breath."
Luffy looked pensive before he looked up and straight at Usopp. "Alright, we'll help you." Luffy said with a smirk, shocking Usopp.
"W-what? Why?!" Usopp questioned.
"For one, you're hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned." Zoro blandly stated.
"I'm not going to let you die." Luffy said with a grin on his face.
"And you have fear all over your face." Nami said with a slight smirk.
At the last statement, Usopp jumped up and thumped his chest, exclaiming that he wasn't scared of a bunch of pirates, which was all ruined by his shaking legs, which he tried to get under control before falling on his knees.
"Fine, I'm scared, but who wouldn't be, it's a whole crew! I know I can't handle a whole crew, but I'll do it for my village!" Usopp shouted out with confidence.
"That's why I said we'll help." Luffy said with his grin.
Nami was silent for a few moments before she sighed and put a smile on her face. "Fine, but I get first dibs on their treasure."
Zoro smirked and flicked one of his swords out a bit. "I've been itching for a fight, anyway."
Usopp's confidence suddenly increased ten-fold. "Alright, I've got an idea, but what are you guys best at?" he asked the three.
"I freeze people and kick ass." Luffy said, punching his open palm.
"I cut." Zoro blandly said.
"I steal." Nami said with a smirk on her face.
"And I hide." Usopp said flatly, earning him a smack upside the head from Luffy, Nami, and Zoro.
"NOT THIS TIME, YOU'RE NOT!" they shouted at the same time.
"Alright, alright." Usopp whined, nursing the bump on his head. "Whatever, it's time to get my plan underway!" everyone yawned at that, though.
"We should probably get some sleep though." Luffy said, leaning against the wall and falling asleep. Everybody else agreed and found a comfortable enough spot and fell asleep.
(Dawn - invasion commencing)
"This is a risky plan, you know that right?" Zoro asked his captain, who was standing next to him at the southern slope of the island that was covered in oil.
"Yeah, I still don't feel comfortable about leaving those two alone. I'm not saying they're weak, but Nami isn't much of a fighter and Usopp seems more like a distance fighter, which puts them at a disadvantage against a large horde of charging, bloodthirsty pirates." Luffy explained with a thoughtful look on his face.
"You thinkin' about training them in haki?" Luffy nodded in response.
"Yeah, it'll have to wait until we get a bigger ship, though, the training sessions for haki take up quite some space." he said, noticing the sun starting to peak above the horizon. "The pirates should be attacking soon."
Luffy and Zoro waited on top of the slope for five minutes before Luffy felt presences on the northern side of the island.
'Don't tell me.' Luffy thought, looking in the direction of the northern slope.
"Shit! They're attacking the northern side, Zoro, come on!" Luffy got an exclamation of approval from Zoro as they started running north.
However, Luffy noticed Zoro was starting to veer off to the left, so he reached out and snatched him up.
"What the- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Zoro shouted at Luffy with an angry shark-tooth expression.
"You were going the wrong way, so we're going to take the express ticket." Luffy said with a glint in his eye and paired with Luffy's famous grin, Zoro didn't like it one bit. "Soru."
Luffy dashed ahead still carrying Zoro, who felt as if all of the air was sucked out of his lungs in a split second. Although it was a short trip, it felt like eons to Zoro, when they stopped, Luffy dropped him on the ground.
The green-haired swordsman was about to snap at his captain but heard sounds of battle just outside of the forest they were in.
On a silent countdown, Zoro and Luffy dashed out and cleared out all of the pirates with one of their own techniques, launching the enemies down to the bottom of the slope.
"WHAT? You're that strong!?" Usopp's voice shouted out in shock.
"Of course, I gotta be to be the pirate king." Luffy said with his 'D' grin on his face, shocking Usopp with his proclamation.
"What!? Pirate king, you really must be crazy." Usopp said, muttering the last part and scratching his head.
Luffy looked to the bottom of the slope and saw the pirates surrounding Jango. "That weird guy is doing something over there." he said, pointing at the pirates.
"He's a hypnotist, don't let him do anything." Nami said cautiously.
"When I say 'One, two, Jango' you will all be super strong, your wounds will heal and you feel no fear." Jango said, swinging his pendulum blade in front of the crew. "One...two...JANGO!"
"There's no way that's going to work." Nami said unconvinced by the trick.
Suddenly, the pirates started roaring in beastial rage, their muscles bulging, eyes rolled up into their heads. One of them ran to the cliff nearby and smashed it with his fists, knocking a huge section off.
Nami and Usopp were hugging each other, screaming in fear while Luffy raised an eyebrow and Zoro put his guard up.
The pirates started a mad dash up the slope at the four. Luffy sighed and walked forward. "Zoro, I'll take care of them, you hang back." he said, lowering his hat to guard his eyes.
Zoro looked like he wanted to argue, but relented and let Luffy do what he wanted.
Luffy stopped halfway down the slope, still looking down. He brought his head up and glared at the incoming pirates, letting out a wave of Haoshoku Haki, knocking them out.
The pirates collapsed unconscious, foaming at the mouths, leaving only Jango conscious but scared shitless.
"It's not over, we still have those two." Jango muttered to himself before calling up to the ship. "Buchi! Sham! Come down here, we need you!"
A few moments after Jango shouted up to the ship, two figures jumped from the Black Cat pirates' ship and landed, cratering the ground. "Yes, captain what do you need us to do?"
The figure that spoke was a skinny man who was dressed like a cat, he had on cat ears, a pair of gloves with short cat claws on the finger tips.
"Yeah, captain, what do you need us for?" the other figure looked like the scrawny one, but really round and fat. Luffy shortly wondered if he could roll the fat one like a ball.
"I need you two to defeat those four." Jango commanded pointing to Luffy, Zoro, Nami and Usopp. "But mainly, that one." Jango pointed to Luffy.
"W-w-what, we can't do that, he looks too strong, captain." the skinny one stuttered out.
"Y-y-yeah, we only watch the ship, we're not supposed to fight." the fat one said fearfully.
"Whatever, now Sham, go!" Jango commanded the skinny one.
Sham jumped from being called. "Wh-why me?"
"Just go!" Jango shouted.
Sham complied, albeit very hesitantly. "A-a-a-alright then, get ready I'm gonna slice you into ribbons." he stuttered out, swiping in front of him with his cat glove.
Luffy was a bit skeptical at the scene and raised an eyebrow. "You sure you wanna do this, you'll get hurt badly if you do."
Sham suddenly grinned wickedly and lunged at Luffy full speed, swiping his claws down at him.
Luffy reached for his sword, but found that it wasn't there, he looked up and saw that Buchi had his sword, he couldn't block the swipe and had to take it head on.
Sham slashed Luffy across the chest, leaving four jagged, deep claw marks going from shoulder to hip.
Usopp was shocked by the scene, not knowing of Luffy's abilities. Zoro and Nami looked a bit worriedly at the scene, but noticed no blood from the cuts and relaxed.
"Heh, looks like his sword is all ours, Sham." Buchi said cruelly, holding Luffy's sword in his paws like it was a prize. This angered Zoro but he stood firm, knowing it was still Luffy's fight.
"You know, I'm offended," Luffy said, standing up, his 'wound' closing up, "it's not nice to treat somebody's sword as a trophy, just because I'm down doesn't mean I'm dead, and finally, I'm not defenseless without my sword."
"What the- HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?" Sham shouted, surprised at the turn of events.
"Now then," Luffy started, going down into a battle stance, "let's get started, shall we?" Luffy smirked before disappearing and reappearing near Sham.
"Busoshoku." he infused haki into his right elbow, turning it a sleek metallic black, and drove it into Sham's ribs, making him cough up blood and launching him into the cliff wall.
Usopp was amazed by Luffy's speed and strength. "Wait, why isn't he bleeding?" he questioned Nami, who stood next to him.
"We'll explain later, anyway I'm going to go plunder their ship." Nami dismissed the issue and ran towards the ship and nearly got hit with the flying body of Buchi.
She looked over at Luffy and saw him adjusting his sword on to his hip without a care in the world.
This seemed to have pissed Nami off because she snapped at Luffy about being careful where he sent his enemies flying with a shark-tooth expression.
Luffy, though, just waved her off. "Just go plunder that ship, that's what you were going to do anyway." he said, pointing to the pirate ship.
Nami didn't waste any time and rushed towards the ship, jumped aboard, and started her quest for loot.
Luffy turned to Jango and saw that he was frozen in place and sweating bullets, but he could tell it wasn't because of him.
"C-c-c-captain Kuro!" Jango shouted out in fear and surprise, looking to the top of the slope.
"It is past dawn, why hasn't the plan gone underway as I have ordered!?" Kuro shouted out, he had a small duffel bag in his left hand while his right hand pushed his glasses up
"W-w-well, it's these kids, captain. They're causing trouble." Jango stuttered out. He shut his mouth though when Kuro's glare hardened.
"I can see the crew is starting to wake up, tell them they have five minutes to kill these kids, or I'll kill all of you here right now." Kuro said coldly, the statement causing all of the pirates to go wide-eyed and snap awake in fear.
Jango clicked his tongue in slight annoyance and called the crew over. Luffy and Zoro didn't do anything to stop it.
"Guys, why aren't you stopping them?" Usopp called out in confusion and fear.
"We might be able to have some more fun." Luffy reasoned with a smirk, and Zoro wholeheartedly agreed.
"When I say 'one, two, Jango' you will all become exponentially stronger, have absolutely no fear, and all of your wounds will heal." Jango started swinging his pendulum blade in front of the crew. "One, two, Jango!"
Just like before, the pirates roared with beastial rage, their eyes rolled into their heads, and their muscles bulged, but it seemed to be intensified tenfold.
"Zoro." Luffy called out, drawing his sword and walking to stand next to Zoro, who drew his three and tied his bandanna around his head.
"Yeah, this is gonna be fun." Zoro said with a wolfish smirk, tightening his bandanna around his head.
Luffy gave his own wolfish grin. "Damn straight it will be." He and Zoro started to run at the hypnotized pirates who charged straight back at them.
"Santoryu: Tatsumaki!" Zoro shouted out, creating a whirlwind by spinning rapidly, slashing his three swords.
The pirates were thrown in all directions with dozens of minor, but fatal, slashes on their bodies from Zoro's attack.
"Fubuki hadō!" Luffy shouted, slicing the air in front of him, sending a long, pale blue wind blade at the hypnotized pirates.
The ones in front took the most damage from the wind blade with deep slashes on their chests, blood spraying out of their wounds in a small fountain.
The pirates behind were only knocked out or barely conscious from the aftershock of the attack that made their skeletal frames shake and rattle.
The large crew fell to the ground, all either unconscious, dead, or just conscious enough to register things around them.
By this time, Kuro was furious, his face darkened with pure rage.
"It seems that not even giving you a fighting chance would let you live, I guess I'll just kill the rest of you." Kuro coldly said, putting his cat gloves on that were in his duffel bag.
"KLAHADORE! STOP!" a feminine voice shouted out. everyone looked over and saw Kaya standing in front of the forest line.
She looked more pale than when Luffy and his crew had met her, she also had slightly flushed cheeks and was panting heavily.
The three(Luffy, Zoro, Usopp) were extremely surprised to see Kaya there.
"Kaya, what are you doing here!?" Usopp shouted out at her from behind the butler.
She ignored Usopp, though. "Klahadore, if what you want is my fortune, then I'll give it to you, just please leave this village alone." Kaya said determinedly.
"No, Kaya, he won't listen! Get out of here!" Usopp yelled in a panic, trying to get Kaya to listen to reason.
"You don't seem to understand, ojou-sama, " Kuro said with his plain voice, "I don't only want your fortune, I want your fortune and a peaceful life that has nothing to do with the sea." he said, turning his cold gaze over to her.
Kaya then pulled out a pistol and aimed it Kuro with shaky hands. "Klahadore, stop this now!" she shakily shouted out.
Kuro put on a dark smirk and spoke with a mocking tone as he brought back memories of him taking care of her and going out to the village with her over the course of three years, making Kaya tremble with and drop the flintlock pistol she was holding as she fell on her knees, sobs wracking her body.
Luffy narrowed his eyes into a glare at the butler. 'I hate this guy even more.' he thought bitterly, seeing how Kuro manipulated Kaya's feelings.
Zoro side-eyed his captain and stepped away a bit, knowing this was going to get ugly, fast.
"Kuro!" Usopp shouted in a rage, holding up his slingshot that already had a lead pachinko ready to fly.
"Oh, Usopp-kun, I didn't notice you there." Kuro said carelessly.
This enraged Usopp more as he let the lead pachinko fly straight at Kuro. Without much effort, Kuro disappeared and reappeared behind Usopp with his claws touching the young lads face.
Usopp was trembling in fear and sweating bullets.
"That punch you gave me hurt quite a bit, and I don't like being hit." Kuro said mockingly.
Luffy's eyes gained a dangerous glint to them as he watched the scene before smirking.
"Soru." Luffy disappeared from his spot near Zoro and reappeared behind Kuro, and backhanding him to the treeline.
"If you hate getting hit so much, you're gonna hate fighting me." Luffy said, grinning widely.
"Y-you, how did you get here?" Usopp stuttered in shock, wondering how he suddenly appeared behind him.
Luffy just ignored Usopp as he cracked his knuckles with a smirk on his face. Luffy's expression changed to shock and surprise along with everyone else's when the three children jumped out of the forest and started beating Kuro with miscellaneous objects.
The children shouted insults and threats at the pirate captain as they hit him with their 'weapons'.
The three little ones stopped 'beating up' the pirate and turned to Usopp panting.
"We did it, Captain!" Tamanegi shouted proudly, holding up his shovel.
"Yeah, we beat that butler!" Piiman exclaimed with a large grin.
"Because we're the Usopp Pirates!" Ninjin shouted out, thumping his chest.
The kids seemed to want to impress Usopp, but it didn't work, seeing as Usopp looked horrified at what the kids did.
"You three need to get out of here, now!" he shouted at them, ending their celebrating, Usopp noticed that Kuro stood up fixing his glasses with a murderous look in his eyes.
Usopp saw this and knelt down. "You guys can't stay here, so I'm giving you the most important job. I need you three to run into the forest and keep Kaya safe, understand?" Usopp told the children.
"But, cap-" Piiman started, but was interrupted by Usopp.
"Do you understand!?" he exclaimed more forcefully. The kids all got resolute expressions and nodded in determination as they ran to Kaya and pulled her into the forest.
"Jango go after the girl." Kuro ordered his hypnotist.
"Yes, captain." Jango said, running to the forest.
"Also, take care of the little ones, they're annoying." Kuro said coldly. Jango nodded in affirmative and disappeared into the forest.
"Zoro, Usopp go with them, I'll take care of this butler!" Luffy ordered, turning to Kuro with a smirk on his face.
Usopp didn't hesitate and ran into the forest, Zoro hot on his trail.
Kuro saw this and tried to cut them off, but stopped due to a massive windblade that sailed along the ground, cutting his path off. He turned and glared at Luffy, whose sword pointing at him.
"Your business is with me, Kuro." Luffy said with a grin.
"What is your reason for helping Usopp?" Kuro questioned, pushing his glasses up with the heel of his hand.
"I don't want him to die." Luffy simply stated, pulling his sword back for a thrust.
"Fubuki jūdan!" he shouted, thrusting his sword forward and sending out a pale blue windbolt (A/N: Think like Ryuuma's thrust, but only pale blue and not as strong, but still pretty strong).
Kuro looked shocked for a second before he vanished and reappeared behind Luffy and raised his claws ready to strike Luffy. "That's a ridiculous reason to help someone." he said as he brought his claws down on Luffy.
Luffy quickly brought his sword around and blocked Kuro's claws easily, sparks flying from the point of contact. "That's what you think." he said, swinging his fist at Kuro, who dodged by vanishing again.
Kuro reappeared at the bottom of the slope in front of his former crew, who was now fully awake. Kuro looked at his crew as if they were trash. "I still haven't gotten to killing you yet, have I?"
This caused the still conscious pirates to reel back in fear and shock. "C-c-captain Kuro?" one of them, who were still standing, questioned apprehensively.
Kuro's face seemed to darken immediately as he disappeared again and reappeared behind the one that spoke and slashed across his back, causing his body to fall to the ground in multiple pieces with blood pooling below his cold lifeless corpse.
Luffy's eyes widened in outrage and shock as Kuro killed one of his crewmates. Luffy saw Kuro going for another and disappeared. He reappeared in between Kuro and his next victim as his claws were blocked by Luffy, letting sparks fly.
The lucky crew member fell back in shock at what happened.
Kuro raised an inquisitive eyebrow, still holding his cat claws against Luffy's sword. "Why did you protect him, boy?"
Luffy's expression was shadowed by his hat and spoke quietly, but the entire crew still heard what he said.
"You treat your crew like disposable toys, Kuro?" he spat out Kuro's name like a sour lemon.
"They are only mere pawns in my plan for an everlasting peaceful life that has nothing to do with the sea." Kuro said, jumping back from Luffy to get some space.
"You became a pirate without real conviction? God, you're such an idiot." Luffy said mockingly.
"What did you say, brat?" Kuro all but growled out in a rage.
"When you become a pirate, that's the moment you devote yourself to piracy. But to give up not even halfway through, now that's either cowardice, or foolishness." Luffy said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Kuro's eyes darkened in rage, and then let his upper body dangle limply and sway from left to right as he took slow steps forward.
"No, captain, don't use that!" one of the pirates shouted in fear.
'What's so bad, he's just swaying.' Luffy thought to himself as he cocked an eyebrow in questioning.
"Shakushi!" Kuro disappeared after a few tense moments as the pirates were all now trembling in utter fear.
"GAH!" one of the pirates screamed out in pain as he got slashed across the chest by Kuro.
This caused the pirates to tremble in fear even more as they sweat and some looked close to insanity.
Luffy's rage and hatred at the butler came back in full force as he could sense some of the attacked pirates die instantly.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU TAKE YOUR MEN FOR, YOU SON OF A BITCH!?" he shouted in a rage. He suddenly felt an attack coming and put up his logia defenses to take the attack.
Two large gashes appeared on Luffy's leg, but closed up as soon as they appeared.
'Two dead, three dead, four dead.' Luffy unconsciously counted out as he felt the pirates behind him get slaughtered.
Having enough of what Kuro was doing, he dropped down into a handstand and quickly swung his legs around in a circle.
"Rankyaku: zen-en!" he shouted out, sending out a ring airblade all around him.
The blade crashed into the cliff walls and slope kicking up large clouds of dust. Kuro got smashed into the wall by the airblade, cracking some of his ribs and making him cough up blood.
Luffy smirked and dashed at Kuro, brought his leg up, brought it back down onto Kuro's cat claws on his right hand, breaking them off at the fingertips.
"WHAT!? He broke Kuro's claws!?" one of the still unharmed pirates shouted out in shock.
Without wasting any time Kuro jumped back on his feet and started his technique again.
"Shakushi!" he disappeared and random slash marks appeared on the rock faces and more of the pirates, making them scream in pain as blood sprayed out in fountains from their wounds.
Luffy narrowed his eyes at the display. "Soru." he disappeared and reappeared a moment later holding Kuro up by his throat.
Luffy's expression was shadowed by his hat as he didn't flinch at Kuro's attempts of clawing his arm off. "I do believe I've had enough of this Kuro." Luffy said in a cold voice as he tightened his grip on Kuro's neck.
The butler pirate struggled even more and started thrashing in Luffy's grip as his attempts at slicing the straw-hatted man's arm off.
"I'd kill you right here, but that would be too traumatizing to three people here." Luffy said still with his cold tone of voice. He sensed Usopp, Kaya and Nami watching ever since he broke Kuro's claws.
"So, instead, I'm just going to beat you near death." Luffy said with an evil smirk on his face. Luffy threw Kuro into the cliff wall at breakneck speeds, kicking up a dust cloud.
Luffy jumped into the air and pointed his arms where he sensed Kuro. He froze the moisture in the air into dozens of ice arrows.
"Hyōya arashi!" he launched three arrows down at Kuro, which he barely managed to dodge by dashing to a different position.
Luffy continued to track him though, using observation haki and continued launching the arrows at Kuro.
The last arrow pierced Kuro's leg and pinned him to the cliff wall, making him scream in agony and nearly pass out from the pain.
Luffy wasn't finished though as he drew his katana and drew it back, ready to thrust. He thrust the sword forward, shouting out. "Fubuki jūdan!" but he stopped short as Kaya stepped in front of Kuro.
"What are you doing? You could have been killed!" Luffy shouted out, angry at Kaya for doing something so foolish.
Luffy's eyes widened slightly as Kaya glared defiantly into his eyes. "Even though he caused so much, I can't just let you do this to him!" Kaya shouted out with the utmost conviction in her voice.
Luffy sighed and sheathed his sword, causing Kaya to relax. "Fine, I won't beat him half to death." Luffy said in resignation. "That doesn't mean he won't be hurt, though."
Luffy disappeared and reappeared in front of Kuro. "Busoshoku." he muttered, causing his fist to turn a dark shade of metallic black.
Luffy launched his fist into Kuro's gut, causing him to cough out blood and lose consciousness. Luffy un froze the arrow in his leg, causing it to turn back into water vapor.
"He's still alive, so take your living back and don't bother the village again!" Luffy shouted, tossing the unconscious body of Kuro at the pirates.
Needless to say, the pirates didn't waste a second gathering the bodies of Kuro and the Nyaban brothers and sailing back out to sea.
"Everyone good?" Luffy asked, looking around at his crew, Usopp and Kaya.
"Tired, but fine." Zoro said, yawning and stretching his arms.
"Yep." Nami said with a smile on her face as she hugged the bag of treasure she got from looting the pirate ship.
"Yeah." Kaya and Usopp said in unison, though Kaya looked a little flushed and tired.
"Ok then, that's good. Let's get back to the village, get supplies, and rest up, I'm a bit tired myself." Luffy said, already making his way into the village with everyone following him, and Kaya leaning Usopp for support, causing the long-nosed liar to blush.
(The next day)
Luffy and his crew were sitting at a table in the restaurant, talking over their next course of action.
"Looks like we didn't get a ship, I guess we'll have to go to another island, then." Luffy said, taking a sip from his wine glass. He was slightly disappointed that he couldn't get a ship on the island, but excited at the same time for the next adventure.
"There you are, I've been looking for you guys for a while now." Luffy and company turned to the voice that came from the door and saw Kaya in her regular gown with a brown coat that was unzipped over it.
She looked a lot more healthy compared to when they first met her, which was a plus. "Kaya, what are you doing here?" Luffy questioned, putting his wine glass down and standing from his seat.
"I wanted to gift you all for helping Usopp protect the village." Kaya said with a smile on her face.
"Gift us?" Zoro asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Is it money?" Nami excitedly asked, clasping her hands together while her eyes were replaced with Beli signs and had an overly-cheerful smile on her face.
"Come with me down to the coast, and you'll see." Kaya said with a small wink of her eye.
"Alright, come on guys." Luffy said, taking the wine bottle with him and tossing some of his money at the yelling bartender.
Nami and Zoro shrugged and followed after.
(scene skip)
"Is this really ours now?" Luffy asked hopefully, looking at the caravel before him.
"Indeed it is, it's called the Going Merry, I designed it myself when I was a young lad." Merry, Kaya's butler, said with a proud smile on his face.
Merry walked up to Luffy who was admiring the ship with a grin on his face. "If I could have a moment of your time, I'd like to show you how to steer the ship and control it."
Luffy looked a little surprised at Merry. "You should tell Nami, she's the navigator, and she could tell me later, anyway." Luffy said with a grin on his face.
Merry nodded and walked over to Nami and began explaining how the ship worked.
"AAHHHHHHH! SOMEBODY STOP ME!" everybody present heard a loud shout coming from the slope and saw a big rolling green ball heading straight for the ship.
"Zoro, we gotta stop that thing, it's on a crash course with our ship." Luffy ordered, running to the ball with Zoro to stop it.
They put their feet up and stopped it, only to find out that Usopp was strapped to it, and that their feet were on his face.
"T-thanks, guys." he muttered from underneath their feet.
"No problem." they said nonchalantly, dropping their feet and letting Usopp get his balance back.
A few minutes later, Usopp took off the giant ball, which was his backpack, and put it next to his dinghy, he looked up at Luffy and Zoro with a smile on his face.
"Looks like this is where we say goodbye, see ya guys on the sea someday." Usopp said with a grin on his face.
"Eh, what the hell are you talking about?" Luffy asked rudely with a slight frown on his face.
"What are you talking about, we are going to see each other out there, right?" Usopp asked with a raised eyebrow and a confused frown on his face.
"Just quit your babblin' and get on, you're practically part of my crew already." Luffy said leaning on the railing.
Usopp's eyes widened in surprise for a second before he broke out in a huge grin and started dancing a happy dance, and Luffy thought he heard him singing a bit under his breath.
Usopp's dance was cut short when he heard Kaya spoke out. "I do hope you keep yourself safe and strong, Usopp-kun." she said with a smile on her face, and seemed really giddy for something that no one could pinpoint.
"You're darn right I will, I'll be the bravest warrior on the seas!" he proudly exclaimed, jabbing a thumb at his chest with a large grin on his face.
"Good, you'll have to." Kaya's smile became even larger, along with Merry's, as if they knew something Luffy and the others didn't. "Because I'm coming with you all." she finished off happily, shocking everyone present except for Merry.
"B-but, you can't, right?" Usopp stuttered out in surprise.
"Merry and I had a long talk about this already and he's approved of it. I've also thought about this long and hard, so don't try to stop me." she said with confidence and that same smile on her face.
Before Usopp was going to argue again, Luffy spoke out. "Seeing as how steady you are in your position on the matter, what can you bring to the crew?" he asked curiously.
"Well, I do have some medical knowledge, I can't fight very well, though." Kaya said, letting out a sheepish laugh at the end.
"Well then," Luffy let out a large grin, "welcome to the crew, Kaya, Usopp!" he shouted out, ending it with his classic laugh.
Ahhhhh, finally done. I'm sorry this one took a while, I've had things with school and some family stuff to deal with. Anyway, review if you want, follow if you want, or favorite it if you want, it'd be greatly appreciated. Flames will be ignored.