Wolfy-tan: How are you this fine day? Here's the tenth chapter!

Ojou-sama* = title for the daughter of a high-class family

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

Chapter 10: Kurahadol the Caretaker! He's Really Captain Kuro?

"Excuse them, Kurahadol," Kaya said, "These people are-"

"You don't need to tell me now," Kurahadol said, pushing up his glasses, "I will listen to your explanation later. For now, I'd like all of you to leave here at once. Or do you people have something to say?"

"Yeah," Lucy said, "Yeah. We need a ship, you see-"

"Definitely not!" Kurahadol exclaimed. Lucy bent down in defeat, Zoro putting his hand on her shoulder as consolation.

"Usopp-kun!" Kurahadol yelled.

Usopp had been hiding behind the tree, 'Crap!'

"I hear rumors about you all the time; you're pretty famous in this village, aren't you?" Kurahadol asked sarcastically.

Usopp chuckled, "Really?"

"So you have faced so many dangers before," Kurahadol said with a tone, "That's something at such a young age."

"You may address me as Captain Usopp," Usopp said, pointing to himself, "That'll help me spread the name around."

"Captain, eh...?" Kurahadol muttered to himself, "I've even heard stories about your father."

"Nani?" he said, flinching. Kaya looked at his reaction.

"Kurahadol, stop this at once!" she yelled.

"You're just the son of a low-class pirate!" he continued, ignoring Kaya. Lucy looked at him under the shade of her hat.

"Although anything you do won't be much of a surprise, but I'd like to ask you to please stop pestering Ojou-sama*."

Usopp glared at him, "You called my father low-class...?"

"You come from a completely different world from Ojou-sama. Don't you want money? How much do you want?"

"That is enough, Kurahadol! Apologize to Usopp-san at once!"

"Kaya, that's dangerous!" Usopp said, referring to how she was practically hanging out of her window.

"Why should I apologize to such a barbaric man, Ojou-sama? I am only speaking the truth. I do sympathize you. You must be filled with hatred for your idiot of a father for leaving you and your mother to look for treasures as a pirate!"

"Kurahadol!" Kaya yelled, getting pissed at Kurahadol.

"You bastard, you better stop insulting my father!" he said, jumping from the tree.

"Why are you getting so mad?" Kurahadol asked, "It's times like these where you should do what you do best; lie. Just say you have nothing to do with your father, or that you're not really birth-related-"

SMACK!

"Shut up!" Usopp said, punching Kurahadol.

"See that?" Kurahadol asked, "He immediately turned to violence. No wonder they say 'Like father, like son'."

"Shut up! I'm proud that my father is a pirate! Being a brave warrior of the sea, I'm proud of him! It's true; I'm a liar. But pirate blood flows within me! That kind of honor cannot be imitated! I'm the son of a pirate!"

"Pirates are warriors of the sea, eh? You're pretty naive to have such ideaology."

"Nani?"

"But this does prove barbaric blood flows within you. You take pride in lying and resort to violence when you're angry. Your ultimate goal is to get wealth from Ojou-sama! That's why you work so hard to get close to her!"

"What are you saying? I-"

"Whether or not you have some secret motive, the fact you were born from a pirate is enough!"

Usopp grabbed him by the collar, his fist ready to punch at any moment, "You insulted him again!"

"Stop this, Usopp-san!" Kaya yelled, "Please don't act out of violence again. Kurahadol is not a bad person. He's only being over-protective of me."

Reluctantly, Usopp released him.

"Get out of here." Kurahadol said, "Don't ever come again!"

"I get the picture," Usopp said, "I would've left even if you didn't tell me," he walked past Kurahadol, "I'll never come back."

"Usopp-san..." Kaya said softly.

"You bastard!" Carrot yelled out, "Stupid caretaker! Our captain isn't that kind of person!"

"That's right, you idiot!" Pepper joined in.

"Baka!" Onion said.

"Baka!" Lucy yelled, about to charge, but Zoro picked her up by her collar, "Why're you butting in all of a sudden?"

Kurahadol glared at the children, causing them to hide behind Nami.

"Let go of me, Zoro! I'm gonna beat his ass!" Lucy said, trying to escape Zoro's hold.

"All of you shall leave at once!" Kurahadol yelled, pushing up his glasses.

~.~

"Hey, where did Lucy go?" Nami asked Zoro.

"Beats me," Zoro said, laying back on the fence, "Maybe he went after Usopp."

"Captain should be 'there,'" Pepper said.

Carrot nodded in agreement, "Yeah, at the coast. Whenever he's troubled, he goes there."

"Want to check on them?" Nami asked.

"I'll pass," Zoro responded, to busy lounging.

"Speaking of which, aren't you guys missing a member?" Nami asked the two kids.

"Onion always disappears to somewhere," Pepper said.

"And then he comes out of nowhere, screaming," Carrot added. Suddenly they saw Onion running to them, screaming.

"It's horrible!" he yelled.

"See?" Carrot said.

"A man doing the moonwalk!" Onion yelled, stopping to catch his breath, "A very weird man is doing the moonwalk!"

"Liar!" Pepper and Carrot said in unison.

"I'm not!" he pointed down the path, "See!" Just then they saw just that; a man doing the moonwalk down the path.

"Who was it?" the man asked, "Who's the man who called me weird?" he did a weird thing with his foot, "I am not weird."

"Looks like a wack-job to me," Nami said. He did the weird foot thing again.

"That's ridiculous," he said, "I'm just a hypnotist passing by."

"A hypnotist?" Onion asked.

"Can you demonstrate something?" Pepper asked.

"Yeah, show us something!" Carrot joined in.

He did the weird foot thing again, "Nani? You must be joking! Why would I show my hypnotic abilities to someone I just met?" he then took out an odd ring thing, "Listen now, just stare at this ring."

Zoro sweat-dropped, "He still does it."

"After saying, one, two, Jango, you will fall asleep. Got it? Here I go..." The kids stared at it intently, "One! Two! Jango!" They immediately fell asleep, but so did the man.

Zoro popped a vein, "Oi! What was that supposed to be?"

~.~

Usopp stared at the waves in frustration.

"Yo!" Lucy said, her feet hanging on the branch above them, "So this is where you were." Usopp spazzed.

"Oh, it's just you. Can't you greet normally next time?" Usopp looked at Lucy, "What is it? What do you want?"

"Nothing really," Lucy said, getting on a handstand and walking, but after a couple steps, she fell, "Ow..." a bit of time passed as she clapped her feet together from habit.

"That damn caretaker," Usopp muttered, "How dare he insult my father."

Lucy stopped her feet-clapping, "Yeah, I don't like him, either. It doesn't matter what people say about Yasopp. He was a great pirate."

"I know!" Usopp said, his excitement building up, "In the Great Pirate Era, my father sails without knowing what's ahead. I'm so proud of him. However, it pisses me off to see someone step on that pride. I'll never forgive him!"

"But will you ever get to see Ojou-sama again?" Lucy asked.

"Don't know," he said, his eyebrow twitching, "maybe if that caretaker comes and begs, I'll consider it."

"That caretaker?" Lucy asked, pointing down near the shore.

"Yeah, that caretaker." he said when he saw Kurahadol walking along the shore with some other man, "Wait, why's he here?" Usopp asked, watching him intently.

"Oi, Jango, didn't I tell you not to attract attention in this village?" Kurahadol said, "Yet, you fall asleep in the middle of the road."

"That's ridiculous," Jango said, "I don't attract attention at all. I'm not weird, either."

"Who's the weirdo with him?" Lucy whispered.

"I've never seen him before," Usopp whispered back, "Who is he?"

Kurahadol pushed up his glasses in slight frustration, "So, are the preparations complete?"

"Of course," Jango replied, "We're ready at anytime; the plan to assassinate Ojou-sama!" Usopp flinched.

"Did he say assassinate?" Usopp asked.

"Don't say assassinate. It makes it sound wicked."

"Ah, right, accident. It was an accident."

"What're they talking about?" Lucy asked, confused.

"Shut up! That's what I'm trying to find out."

"She can't just die. Ojou-sama has to die from an accident. Don't forget that!" Kurahadol said as he walked away. Jango sat on one of the rocks.

"Anyhow, we can't just wait for your signal to attack the village, and then kill Ojou-sama, right?" Jango added, "Then you'll take her inheritance. Kurahadol stopped walking and turned to Jango.

"Are you stupid? Use your brain! How can an outsider take her inheritance?" Kurahadol asked rhetorically.

"Work hard for it!" Jango replied.

"Listen, this is important. You have to hypnotize her to write a will stating she'll give all of her inheritance to me!" Usopp flinched.

"It will be the first step of my plan to take over the huge inheritance. It's...perfect. I wasted three whole years gathering everyone's trust so no one would be suspicious, even if the entire inheritance is to me."

"You became a caretaker for three years just for this," Jango said, "It really surprised me back then, Captain Kuro. Three years ago, you suddenly said you quit being a pirate. You got one of your subordinates to be executed, pretending to be you, just for the world to think Captain Kuro was executed. That marked the beginning of your plan."

"Don't call me that name again," Kuro said, "I gave it up three years ago. I just want lots of money without being hightailed by the Marines. That makes me a peaceful citizen.

Jango laughed, "I never thought you of all people would be a peaceful citizen. Just give the signal already. Our boat has been anchored nearby for a week now. My men are getting impatient.

'This is bad,' Usopp thought, 'We just overheard something really bad.'

"What's going on?" Lucy asked, clicking her feet together, "It seems like something bad is gonna happen."

"Weren't you listening to the conversation? We're done for, they're real pirates!" Usopp looked down, "Captain Kuro is said to be one of the most clever and cruelest among pirates. I heard he was caught and executed by the Marines three years ago. But he's alive, acting as the caretaker, Kurahadol! He's been planning to inherit Kaya's wealth for three years now! The village will be attacked! Kaya will be killed! This is REALLY bad!"

Lucy stood up.

"Oi, if you stand up, they'll see you!" Usopp panicked.

"Oi, you there, don't you dare try to hurt Ojou-sama!" Usopp fell anime-style behind him. Jango and Kuro looked up. Kuro nodded at Kuro.

"It can't be helped," Jango said, "Oi, look at this ring!"

"Okay," Lucy said.

"It's probably a weapon," Usopp said, "Duck down!"

"When I say one, two, Jango, you'll fall asleep, okay? One...Two...Jango!" Usopp, who was hiding, looked at Lucy, who fell asleep.

"Oi, what's wrong, you'll fall!" Usopp said, not knowing she was leaning toward the edge because she fell asleep. She fell down the cliff.

"Ah, she fell down head-first. I didn't mean to kill you." Jango said, "falling from such a height, you can't be saved."

'That guy just killed her...shit!' Usopp thought.

"What about the other one?" Jango asked, "Should I finish him off?"

"That won't be necessary," Kuro said, "No matter how many times he'll tell about this, no one will believe him. We'll set off tomorrow morning, Jango. Attack the village at dawn. Don't pay too much attention to the villagers. Make sure you make it look like an accident when you kill Ojou-sama."

"Tomorrow...?"

"Hear that, Usopp-kun? Nothing you do will affect my plan.

'Damn it!' he thought as he ran off screaming.

"DAAAAAAAAAMN!"

~.~

Done! Sorry I could only post two chapters today. Stupid school takes up time I could be using to type. The only class I like is language arts- that way I can learn more ways to write. 'Til then, R&R!

THANKS FOR REVIEWING THE LAST CHAPTER:

Pen-Woman

TheBlackSeaReaper

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