AN: A warning to Usopp lovers, he is far from my favorite one piece character. In fact, I borderline hate him… there will be Usopp bashing in this chap.
A few days later
In the last few days the group had integrated Buggy quite well. While he was originally left out due to his being the only guy besides Luffy, when he revealed he was once a part of the pirate king's crew and started telling them stories of his time in the new world, he ended up fitting in.
It took a while for him to get used to Luffy's Darkness but once he realized it was a devil fruit and not some power straight out of the depths of hell, he managed to calm down a bit.
Currently their ship was approaching their final stop before Rifco Island. Gecko Island was rather isolated, much like Orange town, yet much smaller. The island had only a few hundred inhabitants and was mostly the private island of a rich merchant family.
As the crew landed on the beach of a cove on the south side of the island, Buggy stayed back to guard the ship along with Nami who didn't fully trust him yet and feared he would run off. Seeing Nami stay on the ship, Hancock grew suspicious that she might attempt or start planning something and decide to stay behind to keep an eye on her. 'What if she sabotages my cooking utensils?', she had explained matter-of-factly. While Luffy did love Hancock, he had to admit she could be very… irrational, at times.
As he, Robin and Kuina disembarked, a shrill voice sounded.
"Stay back, foul pirates! This island belongs to the great captain Usopp!"
"Who's that ?"
"Fufufu, you haven't heard? I'm the greatest pirate in the world! I have a million men under my command!"
But Luffy wasn't asking the voice, he was asking Robin.
As far as he was concerned, Robin knew everything, which wasn't far from the truth. Robin's photographic memory allowed her to memorize the names of every single pirate known to the public as well as a few that weren't thanks to her unrivaled ability to spy on others. Before they left Dawn Island, she left few eyes and ears in the Marine's East Blue HQ using her Hana Hana No Mi. Thanks to them she could hear and see everything going on there in Realtime.
Which made it all the more believable when she answered:
"There is no such captain, in the East Blue or else were. One 'Captain Usopp' was indeed reported six years ago in the West Blue, Bounty of 3 000 beli. It was collected by a 14-year-old who found him dead in an alley of Los town. I do have a few pirates named Usopp, the most prominent of which is Dral Usopp. Bounty: 60 000 beli. Navigator to the Misc Pirates, operates in the South Blue, captain: Gesto the eye, Bounty: 100 000 beli."
After that thorough report, a few seconds of silence reigned. Before the shrill voice sounded once more.
"Y-you're mistaken! If you want proof, here are a few of my men!"
Immediately, six flags rose up by twos and started waving awkwardly. Luffy simply rolled his eyes and moved forward, followed by Kunia and Robin. Suddenly, a projectile flew towards and hit the ground right in front of him.
"Don't come any closer!"
Luffy looked up bored, yet with slightly murderous eyes, and spoke.
"Listen kid, because I won't say it again. Fuck with me again, and I'll bash your face in."
The bushes began to tremble and when Luffy resumed walking, no projectiles came flying again. But as they reached the end of the path leading out of the cove and towards the village, a weirdly dressed kid with a long nose stood before them. He tried to look brave, but his legs were trembling like twigs in a storm.
"I can't let you harm the village!"
"... what makes you think I want to harm your village?"
"You're Pirates, you came with a marine ship, yet you don't wear any uniforms. You can only be pirates in disguise trying to sneak up on us!"
"Perceptive… but wrong. We just need supplies, that we'll pay for."
"Huh! Why didn't you just say so, come with me."
And with that the boy led them towards the manor onto of a hill in the distance.
"So, who are you?"
"I'm Captain Monkey D. Luffy, this is my swordswoman Kuina and my information officer Robin."
"Nice to meet you! I'm the Great Captain Usopp! I'm sure we'll meet again when I sent out to become a brave warrior of the sea!"
Luffy simply ignored 80% of what he said and shook the kid's hand as they continued walking. After a few minutes of silence, Usopp spoke once more, this time to say something useful.
"The Island belongs to Kaya's family, most of the people here worked for them. But they died a while back. All of the food produced here belongs to Kaya, the manor consumes a part of it and the rest is for the villagers. If you want to buy food, you need to talk to Kaya."
The group walked through a large plantation on their way to the manor, prompting Luffy to ask.
"What do you grow here?"
"Aside from wheat, there are sugar, coffee and cotton plantations across the island. A merchant ship comes through here to buy it up once a month."
Luffy rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the kid for telling that to a pirate… Soon they arrived at the manor and a strange looking butler who looked like a sheep greeted them. They were promptly led to the master bedroom where a sick looking blond girl sat by the window.
Luffy politely greeted the girl after he was introduced. But as he was about to begin discussing buying food, a black haired, bi-spectacle butler barged in.
"My lady apologies, there was a mistake. These filthy peasants were let in without my permission. I had explicitly forbidden the long nosed one from setting foot in the manor."
"It's okay, Klahadore. This is captain Monkey D. Luffy. He's a pirate, how exciting!"
The butler's eyes narrowed.
"Pirates? Them? They are either scammers or the most pathetic crew on these seas."
"Hey! I wouldn't have brought them if they were scammers!" shouted Usopp
"How dare you speak back to me you filthy vagabond. I-"
"Whatever get lost. I was talking over here." interrupted Luffy
"My word, such rudeness could only come from the most uneducated of baboons. Definitely a pirate." retorted the butler.
At this Luffy, finally took a step towards the butler.
"What did you call me?"
The butler grinned victoriously.
"An Uneducated Baboon…"
Luffy stayed silent for a while looking into the butler's eyes, before nodding his head towards him and saying.
"Kuina, separate that fucker's head from his body."
With a quick 'yes, captain', Kuina unsheathed her blade and swung at the butler's neck. The blade drew a perfect trajectory and would have cleanly decapitated its target had Klahadore not unexpectedly dodged.
"Stop this!" shouted Kaya
But both Luffy and Kuina ignore her pleas. Only after the butler had dodged two more swings, did he pulled a pistol and aimed at the swordswoman.
"I warn you, stop this or I'll shoot!"
Kuro cursed the absence of his claws, if he had them, the fight would have been over quickly. He hadn't expected the kid to order him killed! He thought he would get punched and could act like the victim. In a way, this worked too but had he been a step slower, he would be dead.
"Drop the sword"
Kuina looked at Luffy questioningly. Luffy sighed and let out a simple 'Robin?'. In less than a breath, Klahadore was on his knees, held in place by four slender arms that sprung from his back.
Kuro's eyes widened as the sword claimed his head before he could even begin to beg for his life.
Blood squirted everywhere, Kaya fainted and Usopp was paralyzed with fear. Recognizing any negotiation was over, Luffy simply made his way towards the cellar. After kicking the door open, Luffy's darkness spread, absorbing half of the food stored in the small space.
And as quickly as he came, Luffy made his way to the exit.
But before he could leave, he was stopped by an enraged Usopp with narrowed eyes.
"How dare you! EGG SHOT!"
In less than a second the boy pulled a slingshot and fired a projectile towards Luffy. But in a single swift hand movement, he caught it inches before his face. Contemplating the object before throwing it to the side he asked amused:
"A rotten egg? Seriously?"
"You think it's funny! I'm very serious! This is my way of fighting! Red star!"
A red projectile was fired once more towards Luffy's mouth, but the target simply shifted his head and the projectile went right past him.
"Listen Luffy! I'll defeat you for sure and avenge Kaya!"
"Too bad kid, but I had warned you…"
Suddenly Luffy became a blur. Less than a fraction of a second later, his fist collided with Usopp's face. The long-nosed boy was sent crashing to the ground. Luffy walked over to the fallen boy, grabbed him by the collar and began bashing his face in with his fist.
"You think you can act tough? After what I did for you! That fucker insulted you too!"
Usopp made an attempt at fighting back that was mercilessly crushed with a knee to the stomach.
"You're so weak! You lie about being some great pirate, but you're just a coward who'll get beat up by the first bandit that comes walking- wait a minute."
With Usopp's trademark nose broken into a mash, he looked exactly like Yasopp, from Shanks Crew.
"Are you Yassop's kid?"
"Y-you k-k-know my f-father?"
Asked Usopp with difficulty.
"Yeah! He ran with a Crew back when I was a kid. Use to brag about his pregnant wife he had to leave behind, at the time I thought it was cool. 'He gave up on his family because he loved adventure so much' I though."
Luffy said with a nostalgic expression.
"But I woke up real fast. The truth was he abandoned his wife and unborn son, out of a selfish desire to get drunk with his mates while cruising around the world. I bet the bastard didn't even send money back to help out. Probably never sent a letter either."
Usopp began tearing, and not because of the pain.
"I guess I can't blame you for how you turned out… But let me tell you this: The world isn't all sunshine and roses, kid. People die, most of the time when they don't deserve it. If you want to live on the seas it ain't enough to be tough no more, you gotta be mean. You gotta become a killer. Don't let people step on you or they'll eat you. And no matter what, ditch the false bravado. If you're weak, own it and get stronger. If not… you'll be dead in a week. Ditch the slingshot too, you got good aim so buy a gun."
Luffy got up and out of the house before turning his head one last time.
"Who knows, we may let meet again."
AN: So, I Bulldozed trough here again. As you might notice, the fight against Usopp was similar to the one for the Merry. That's because I was SUPER frustrated with that episode. I mean seriously, Usopp holding out against Luffy?! Plus it was just so ridiculous I felt like I was suppose to laugh, but it he was just so pathetic. Anyway, that's how I wish it would have gone.
Also, am I the only one to find Yasopp is kind of the most irresponsible dad ever…
Please Review.
