Disclaimer: As far as I know, I'm not a Japanese male manga writer.
"TRAFFY!"
Usopp winced at Luffy' shout. He rubbed his ear in annoyance, and watched as Luffy sprang up to run towards a tall, dark man. Usopp instinctively shifted closer to Kaya. The man had a strange spotted hat, and had a mildly amused expression on his face as Luffy stood in front of him and attempted to make conversation.
Trafalgar Law.
Usopp had met him only once, when Kaya left with him to explore her new workplace. His first impression of the man was not a good one. He had an eerie, intimidating air about him, and Usopp wouldn't trust him for one second with Kaya. He tried to keep her away from him as much as possible, inviting her to spend time with him and his new friends, but it was futile to try and prevent any and all contact.
The doctor was to be Kaya's mentor, much to Usopp's dismay. He had been told that Trafalgar was an incredible doctor—a prodigy, they said—but that did nothing to ease Usopp's fear of him.
He shuddered as Trafalgar walked over to them, Luffy still chattering on about one thing or another, and flinched as a polite smile was directed his way. Trafalgar turned to Kaya.
"Marco just arrived with the new herbs I inquired about. We've plenty of time before lunch; I'll show you each of their properties, so that tomorrow you can attempt to create simple medicines."
Kaya nodded while Usopp bristled at the constant, subtle condescending tone to his voice, but he didn't dare say anything. Luffy complained that it was too soon for him to leave. No, Usopp thought. It most definitely is not too soon for him to leave.
Trafalgar gave the childish teen a look and replied, "I have work to do, Straw Hat."
Straw Hat? It made sense, he supposed, seeing as how Luffy never let that thing out of his sight. It was practically a part of him, an extra limb.
"But, Traffy—"
There was a slight eye-twitch at the nickname and a firm, "No."
Luffy huffed, but consented. "As long as you eat with us." Before Trafalgar could argue, Luffy smiled and commented, "They'll have bread today."
The younger male received a glare, albeit a grudgingly amused glare. "How, exactly, do you expect that to convince me?"
Luffy shrugged.
With a snort, Trafalgar shook his head and took his leave, motioning for Kaya to follow.
He watched, greatly entertained, as Kaya persistently tried to convince Luffy to allow her to do a checkup on him. Trafalgar had told her to do an examination on at least three people before they would continue her studies. For experience, he'd said. She had already examined Nami and Zoro—Trafalgar had forbid she inspect Usopp so she could gain experience treating strangers—and now she was focusing on Luffy. For reasons that Usopp couldn't comprehend, Luffy was stubbornly refusing an examination from her. Kaya had even resorted to guilt tripping him, claiming that he didn't trust her with a hurt look on her face. Luffy seemed a bit uncomfortable at that, but remained adamant. He said he would only let 'Traffy' do his checkups.
They were sitting in the lounge, Nami looking mildly curious about Luffy's obstinacy, Zoro snoring obliviously on a recliner, and Usopp merely observing the events. Kaya seemed disappointed, but eventually relented. She went to find another patient to inspect, Usopp trailing behind her.
"I'm worried about him," she confided.
Usopp glanced at her, not really surprised. Kaya was too caring. She worried about everyone, for everything. "He's fine. Even if I haven't known him for too long, I can tell he's a strong guy. He's just being stubborn—probably has some birthmark he's embarrassed about," he joked. "Why, I myself have a birthmark shaped like the runes of—"
"I don't want to talk to Sogeking right now," Kaya interrupted. "I want to talk to you, Usopp."
He faltered, and came back to himself. "Sorry, Kaya." He said sheepishly.
She looked at him sympathetically. "It's fine; not your fault." She shook her head. "You don't deserve this," she muttered. "None of these people do."
Usopp looked at her oddly, but she continued before he could reply. "Anyway, that doesn't make sense. You know Luffy isn't that self-conscious. He wouldn't be embarrassed by a silly birthmark."
He thought about that. She was right, Luffy would never be so defensive if it was only a skin blemish. Hell, he'd probably think it was cool. "I don't know, Kaya, but I don't think you should pry."
She opened her mouth to protest, but he quickly continued. "He'll tell us if he wants to, if there's even anything to tell at all. It's probably nothing, yet if it is, it's probably something he has a good reason for keeping hidden."
She looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled fondly at him. "You're right, of course. I won't poke into his business. Now, let's find someone else to bother with medical procedures."
Usopp looked up at the tree before him. The thing was enormous. Its branches were spreading out toward the sun, nearly touching it, while others scraped the ground. The trunk was large enough to hollow out and live in. The knobby, twisted branches looked perfect for climbing. However, the awe-inspiring grandeur of the tree was not what caught his attention. It was an old, makeshift tree house sitting comfortably on top some of the branches.
The planks of wood used to make it were nailed haphazardly together, somehow looking as if it would fall apart at any moment yet, at the same time, looking sturdy as a rock. There were nails jutting out, as if the builders hadn't been able to get them entirely through, or didn't care enough to. There were a few open spaces, probably meant to work as windows.
Usopp felt the inexplicable urge to fix it, to make it inhabitable. It looked sturdy enough. It only needed a ladder to make it reachable, and probably some minor fixes. At the moment, it looked sad, somehow lonely. He wondered who had made it. Maybe, he thought, if he could fix it, then they could hang around in it—him, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami. And Kaya, of course. It would be their own little hideout, a getaway.
That decided, he reentered the institute to seek out Marco. Marco was the most likely of the employees to actually get him what he wanted. He found him at the front desk, after searching every other damn place in the facility. He had his legs propped up in front of him and his arms behind his head, looking unbearably bored.
He tried to force himself to be confident without resorting to Sogeking's presence. He walked forward and stood in front of Marco.
"I-I need some w-wood and—"He faltered. "an-and building supplies."
It came out much shakier than he would have liked. Marco merely raised a blonde eyebrow.
He crossed his arms. Shit, he thought. No. Sogeking scoffed. "If you deny me, I'll only go get them myself."
Marco's expression didn't change. "And how do you suppose you'll do that?"
He smirked. "I've already found secret ways out of here. I've snuck out every night since my entry, and no one's been able to catch me."
"With Kaya?"
Usopp flushed. "T-that's not...Kaya's not…"
Marco laughed. "Good, it's Usopp again. I don't like Sogeking all too much, even if he does tell some amazing stories." He smiled genially. "So, what's this about building something?"
Usopp reeled in his surprise and forced himself to reply. "I want to fix the treehouse out back. I saw it during the outside social hour, and…I want to fix it."
The blonde's eyes widened somewhat in surprise. "That's what you want it for?" Usopp nodded uneasily. Why was he so shocked? Marco leaned back into his chair. "You're friends with Luffy, correct?"
The sudden change in topic bewildered him, but he recovered quickly. "Yes," he answered with some trepidation.
Marco nodded and stood up. "Alright, I'll get you the supplies. Don't tell anyone though. It's probably not a good idea for me to get hammers and nails for someone in a mental institution, so I'd get in a lot of trouble." Usopp started to respond, but Marco interrupted. "Keep the treehouse a secret too, will you? Don't tell Luffy until you're finished. Surprise him."
"Why?" He asked, confused.
Marco merely smiled. "You'll see." With that, he walked out the door.
Usopp watch their reactions carefully, paying special attention to Luffy, as he showed off his handiwork. He'd finally completed his renovations to the treehouse, after about a month. The work itself didn't take too long, but he seldom had a chance to work on it, hence why it took a month. He hadn't changed too much. He'd left the lopsided planks of wood as they were—he thought they added to the charm. He'd only changed out the broken or otherwise unsafe planks and made a ladder much like the ones seen on old ships. Afterwards, he added more nails to make sure they structure held, then cleaned away the dead leaves and mold that had gathered in the nooks. All in all, while the small house looked mostly the same, the small changes certainly made a difference.
Nami looked mildly impressed, while Zoro had eyes only for Luffy. The younger male was looking up in shock. Dozens of emotions flashed across his face, ranging from sadness, to joy, to nostalgia, to gratitude. He attempted to be subtle when he wiped away the slight sheen of moisture gathering around his eyes. It was only a short moment of weakness, but Zoro turned away nonetheless, pretending not to see anything. Usopp followed his example.
He wondered why Luffy had such a strange reaction. Was he the one who had built the treehouse? It made sense when looking at how poorly constructed it was. He remembered Marco's advice about surprising Luffy with it. The guard clearly knew something about Luffy's relation to the treehouse.
Luffy had quickly gathered himself and bounded over to the base of the ladder. He looked over to them and grinned. All three of them were lightly surprised at the brightness of that one smile. Luffy was always bright and cheerful, his grins impossibly genuine, but this exceeded all of them. Usopp could have sworn the teen was glowing with that happiness.
Usopp quickly followed after Luffy, with Nami and Zoro close behind. They looked around as they entered the treehouse in awe. The view was incredible. They were high enough to see the faint outline of town on the horizon and, for whatever reason, the sky seemed an especially beautiful shade of blue.
"What's this?"
They turned at the sound of Nami's voice. She was looking at a wheel positioned just below the front opening. It was a wheel that one would expect to see on an old pirate ship.
"I don't know," Usopp admitted. "It was here when I fixed this place. I didn't want to take it off."
Luffy walked forward and touched the wheel almost reverently. He grinned and said, "Look, Ace! It's still here! Sabo, come look! It's in great shape." He took firm hold of the wheel, somehow looking perfectly natural behind it. "I'm captain!"
As strange as the claim was, no one denied it. Coming from Luffy, it almost seemed right. Usopp felt a niggling urge to claim the title of captain of their little band, but he kept Sogeking from saying anything.
"But you were captain last time!" Luffy was complaining to Ace, or possibly Sabo, looking indignant. "Why can't you be co-captain, and Sabo'll be navigator!" He turned to the left, supposedly at Sabo. "You too?" A frown formed on his face. "We can't all be captains."
Usopp speculated on Luffy's conversation. He was clearly arguing with his brothers about captainship, but there was a certain familiarity in his voice, as if he'd already done this many times before. Maybe Luffy had built this treehouse, and pretended to be sailors with his brothers? What would that be like, he pondered. Having imaginary people to play with? That you truly believed were real?
You know how Usopp gave me hell last chapter? Well, strangely enough, he was actually easy to write in this chapter. Weird.
I forgot to do this last chapter, but I'd like to thank Kitsunelullaby for suggesting that Usopp have DID. She/he's (sorry, I never know) the one who came up with that idea, and I really appreciate it, because my own idea wasn't nearly as good.
Also, I didn't say it outright, but Usopp also has anxiety disorder when he's 'Usopp,' but not while he's 'Sogeking'. More specifically, he has social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety disorder is when a person has a fear and nervousness about public scrutiny and interaction. I'd like to thank Scatteredphilosopher for inspiring that particular idea. I don't even think it was intentional, but her/his (once again, I apologize, I have no way of knowing) review inspired it.
Aren't my reviewers wonderful? They give me ideas, and I love them for it. :)
To my guest reviewer, not quite. I guess you could say that there's a bit of trauma there, but it's not PTSD. It's a very good guess, though. Thank you so much for the review!
I believe that's all I have to say. Until next chapter.
-Spoons
