While the others were descending into the cellar, Luffy was sprawled on the floor, complaining "I'm boooooored! Why couldn't I go on the adventure?"

"Had we some cards," said Brook, sitting down next to Usopp, who wriggled away from him, "we could play a game. Would that be fine, Luffy-san, Usopp-san?"

"Ah, I don't think there're any cards in here," said Usopp nervously. "I looked for some yesterday."

"That's so boring…" Luffy sighed. "No cards… no card games…"

"H-Hey," said Usopp, looking at Brook out of the corner of his eyes. "Why – how are you even alive? Skeletons don't normally come to life, do they?"

"Ah," said Brook mysteriously. "That is a story I must save for another day…"

"So you're not going to tell me right now?"

"Brook, come on!" said Luffy, sitting up. "Tell him! I wanna hear it again too!"

"Eh, well, if you insist. Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho!" he cleared his non-existent throat. "You see, Usopp-san, when I was alive, I ate a certain devil fruit… it is known as the Revive-Revive Fruit~! It allowed me to come back to life when I had tragically passed away! But by the time I found my body again, I was…" he opened up his shirt. "Nothing but bones! When I came to my body, seeing myself like that sent a chill through my skin… but of course, I have no skin, since I am a skeleton! Yo-ho-ho-ho~!"

"Eh!? A devil fruit? Like Straw Hat?"

"No… well, yes, but not the same fruit, of course."

Luffy laughed, stretching his arm across the room to poke Usopp in the shoulder. "Usopp, come on, I'm bored! Let's play tag or something!"

"Oh, cut it out!" snapped Usopp, batting away Luffy's persistent hand. "I'm not going to play tag with a notorious pirate like you!"

"Spoilsport…" Luffy pouted, letting his arm snap back. "I don't like that you don't remember me!"

"Tch! Even if we did meet at some point before I lost my memory, it would have been as enemies!"

"Muh… we were friends, though," Luffy pouted. "You sure that you don't remember anything at all?"

"Ah, Luffy-san, I believe that you've asked him that before…" pointed out Brook. Usopp, however, looked thoughtful.

"Yeah, I'm sure," he said. "But if we did ever meet (as enemies, of course) before, maybe there's something you could tell me."

"Yeah, sure! What is it, what is it?" asked Luffy eagerly, springing up and sitting next to Usopp, thus sandwiching him between himself and Brook.

"Er… you see, when I woke up in the Marine hospital… I said something strange when the lieutenant told me that I'd slept for two days. I said something like 'If he slept for two days, he'd say that he missed ten meals.' I had no idea who I was talking about—it just popped out."

"That, Usopp-san… may have indeed been referring to Luffy-san," said Brook with a small laugh. "You may have noticed that food is a hobby of his."

"Brook's right! It must have been me!" said Luffy, bouncing one foot up and down excitedly. "When we were in Alabasta, and I woke up after beating up Crocodile, you said that I slept for three days! So I figured out that I missed fifteen meals!"

"Eh?" said Usopp. "So… that would be ten meals in two days… wait, why are you counting five meals a day!?"

"Five meals a day? Why not? Breakfast, brunch, lunch, lunch-dinner, and dinner."

"Oi…" muttered Usopp. "Well, there's no proof I was talking about you. You might be making things up…"

"Uugh! Jerk…" muttered Luffy.

"Not a jerk," Usopp muttered back. Brook chuckled.

"Dear me, you two are getting along so well! Why don't I play a little song to lift our spirits?" he began to play. Luffy jumped up and cheered, while Usopp attempted to hide his enjoyment of the music.

"I wonder how everyone else is doing…" sighed Luffy after Brook had finished his song. "They're probably having lots of fun adventures without me…" he moaned dramatically and flopped down on his back. "I'm hungry… can we get some food?"

"I'm not sure that that is wise, Luffy-san," said Brook. "What if they come back while we're gone? We would worry everyone very much if that happened!"

"Yeah, but…" he looked up pitifully. "I'm hungry."

"I have a question, Usopp-san," said Brook, deciding to ignore Luffy's moans of hunger. "You say that if we ever met before you lost your memory, we would have been enemies, correct?"

"Y-Yeah," muttered Usopp, shifting away from Brook slightly. "What about it?"

"And yet," continued Brook, "you only joined the Marines after you lost your memory, yes?"

"Yeah…?"

"So if you were not a pirate beforehand, as you so claim, you would have most likely been an ordinary citizen. Why would we be your enemies?"

"Because pirates are the enemies of the World Government, the people, and everyone else," he responded promptly. "They stop at nothing to get what they want, whether it is treasure or lives. They will not stop at anything, not an attack from other pirates or even the Marines themselves. Pirates continue to defy the Government until they die."

Brook chuckled. "They certainly pounded that answer into you, Usopp-san."

"I want the old Usopp back…" Luffy muttered sulkily.

"Wait…" said Usopp, his expression shifting to one of angry suspicion. "It might have been your crew that took away my memory!"

"Why do you say that, Usopp-san?"

"You might have captured me," he said, working out a scenario in his mind. "And you tortured me for information, but since I would never give up any secrets, you hit me over the head, knocking me out and causing me to lose my memory so that I could never tell anyone that you captured me! A-And that's why you have that thing under the deck, the Usopp Factory or whatever, because you made that to keep me occupied so I wouldn't scream for help!"

Luffy looked at him quietly for a long time. So long, in fact, that Usopp began to tremble. "I-I've found out the truth, haven't I? I'm right, right?"

He got up and moved towards Usopp on the couch. Usopp whimpered and dived behind the couch, peeking out at the approaching pirate captain.

Luffy leaned down and dragged Usopp out from behind the couch. He thrust his face into his and the sniper started to quake.

"Usopp," said Luffy seriously. "Do we really seem like the kind of people who would kidnap someone and torture them?"

Usopp looked at Luffy. He looked at Brook. He thought of the rest of the crew. He slowly shook his head.

"Good. Remember that!" he set Usopp back on the couch and smiled suddenly. "Let's go get some food! I don't think this refrigerator has a lock on it like on the Sunny!"

Brook reminded him that they were still out of food and the others would pick some up on their way back. Luffy sighed and immediately lied on the couch and slept.

Secret message FTW