It's the 1 of December, it's dark in the morning and it's dark at night. The cold is creeping in and chistmas charols sound. And here is the last update of OTotW this year. Aaaaaannnnnnddd (drumsolo) ENTER USOPP!

How great it feels. A whole year and I've gotten through... a little more than... nine episodes of the anime... plus one since I added Gaimon earlier.

Malin; And how many episodes have you watched?

Me; I'm a bit behind, but 604...

Malin; Then you have your work cut out for you.

Me; Oh the things I do for love (of One Piece)

Anyway. Merry X-mas and Happy New Year, and I'll see you all again next year! (I hope;))

Part 6; The Honourable Liar

Chapter 1/7; Captain Usopp

Because Ruffy was impatient she had pulled out the oars to row the last distance. Nami, slightly annoyed for yet again being almost left behind, followed her friends. But all of a sudden Ruffy stopped rowing and locked her gaze at a large rock. Nami followed her unblinking stare but couldn't see anything there.

"What is it, Ruffy?" Zoro asked as he too tried to see anything about the rock that could have caught the girl's attention.

"I don't really know. A bunch of restless people I think," the girl captain said slowly.

The swordsman lifted an eyebrow. He didn't doubt Ruffy, but more often than not it was hard to understand what she said. And setting everything else aside they had begun to drift due to Ruffy not rowing.

"You want me to row instead?" he offered.

She looked back at him and blinked. An idea took form in her brain and she lit up. "We can row together," she beamed and held out one oar to her friend.

That just made Zoro shake his head and smile, but he took the oar and they started rowing. Watching them from her own boat Nami laughed until she cried. Zoro was taking twice as deep and strong swings as Ruffy which made the little boat move around itself. In the end Zoro took a hold of Ruffy's oar too, and the girl captain, not being the type to just let go of what she had in her hands, grabbed Zoro's oar too. It was uneven and the two were growling and working against each other all the way, but at least they were moving forward. Nami's stomach and face both hurt from laughing once the idiot duo finally landed on the shore.

The island was quiet and peaceful. The wind was gentle today and playfully rustled through the leaves of trees and bushes high above them. The three friends tied the sails and pulled their boats up on land.

"Is there really a village on this island, Nami?" Ruffy asked, looking around on the rocky shore and up the steep cliffs on both sides of a slope.

The other girl frowned over the edge of the map she was studying, thinking about how Ruffy hadn't cared about Nami's definite statement there wasn't a village on the last island they landed on. "Yes, there is a village here," she informed the girl pirate. "A little one, but a village."

Zoro got off the boat and stretched so that his stiff joints clicked. "Feels good to stand on solid ground again."

"Your own fault. You slept through the whole last island," Ruffy laughed.

"Not my fault. I need lots of sleep when I'm injured."

The captain just smiled. "Oh. So that's why."

Nami looked around while the other two went about, waiting for them to get going. The shore was surrounded by high cliffs and she could see trees growing high above them. If it wasn't for the slope creating a path up onto the island itself it wouldn't have been easy to land here. For all Nami knew, the slope might as well have been manmade. The walls were too flat for the path to be natural. It showed on the map as well, two of them in fact, but seeing it with your own eyes was something else.

She wanted to draw a new map over this island; one that better described the shores and slopes.

"Just a thought," Zoro suddenly said, turned to a cliff and pointed to the top of it. "Who are they?"

The two girls looked up, screams of young children running away were heard and a boy, probably closer to Ruffy's age, with black curling hair and a long nose, dressed in brown dungarees jumped out of the bushes at the top of the slope. He looked like a deer in the headlight for a second, staring at the pirates as he decided whether he should run or fight.

He took a bold stance with his feet apart and arms crossed. "My name is Usopp, the leader of this island's great pirate fleet! I'm praised by everyone, and they call me Senshou, Captain Usopp oyabun!"

Zoro exchanged a glance with Nami, Ruffy curiously eying the boy above them before she led her small crew up the slope to the top of the hill.

"I warn you," the long-nosed boy said, bravely trying not to look like the nervous tremor of his voice belonged to him. "I have a crew of… hey. What are you doing? Why are you so close?"

Ruffy had never fully understood the concept of personal space and comfort zones, so she walked straight up to the long-nosed boy and closely scrutinised his face with her brows furrowed.

She turned to Zoro. "Oi, Zoro. Have I seen this guy before?"

"Why are you asking me? How should I know?"

Ruffy turned back to the long-nosed boy with her arms crossed and sceptically stared at the boy, thinking hard. "Hmmm. I've definitely seen you before," she muttered.

The boy stumbled backwards, a safe distance away from the obtrusive girl, before he retook his bold stance, hands on his hips. "O-of course you have! I'm the world-famous brave warrior of the sea, Captain Usopp! And I have eight million men waiting for my signal."

Ruffy's eyes widened to double size. "Eight million?!" She looked around with her hands behind her ears.

"He's bluffing, Ruffy," Nami sighed with a shake of her head.

Usopp flinched. "What? How could you know?"

"How?" the tangerine-haired girl asked with a lifted eyebrow and slight smirk. "You just confirmed I was right."

The boy squirmed. "Oh no! She saw right through me! What a skilled tactician!"

Nami almost laughed. You didn't have to be smart to see through such easy lies.

Ruffy, still with wide eyes and her hands behind her ears, looked to her friends. "They must be well hidden. I can only pick up about a hundred hearts."

Zoro sighed and Nami (mentally adding that okay; you did need some sort of intelligence to do the trick of seeing through lies) hit Ruffy over the head. "It was a lie, stupid. Didn't you even listen?"

"Huh? He lied? The one hundred and some too?" the dark-haired girl lined up her questions as she straightened her hat.

The long nosed boy cleared his throat, both for recomposing himself and getting attention. "Y-y-yes. Eight million was a lie, but I definitely have a large crew to back me up."

Ruffy's dark eyes looked straight into the boy's, tilting her head, as if she only just noticed him, "Liar," she stated, causing both Nami and Zoro to slap a hand over their eyes. How could Ruffy be so… contradicting? Zoro wondered if that was really the word for it but he couldn't find a better one.

Ruffy didn't notice her friends. She was busy listening to this new boy's heartbeat. It was funny, because she was certain she had seen his face before but the heartbeat was unfamiliar. The heartbeats of… someone who…

The straw hat girl broke down laughing before she could stop herself. She couldn't help it! The heartbeat was just too cute; so full of colourful heroic dreams.

The boy in question didn't take Ruffy's laugher well. He gritted his teeth and yelled loudly. "Don't laugh at me! I'm a proud man! So proud they call me Usopp the proud, and not Usopp, that fraud."

"Alright, alright," Zoro interrupted putting one hand on his still giggling captain's shoulder and made a calming gesture at the furious boy with the other. "First things first. Can you take us to the village, captain Usopp? We're a bit hungry."

Ruffy stopped laughing instantly and pumped her fists into the air. "Yeah! Food! I could eat a horse whole."

"It's 'eat a whole horse', dumbass," Nami corrected.

"That too," the girl grinned.

The long nosed boy was staring at them, shoulders up in a frightened pose from Zoro getting too close looked about ready to bolt, and probably would if curiosity didn't keep him in place. "Are you… really part of Buggy the clown's crew?" he asked carefully.

Ruffy, Zoro and Nami all stared at him, right down offended by the suggestion.

"Do we look like clowns to you?" Zoro asked with an annoyed frown, and Zoro frowning in annoyance is a very intimidating sight for a poor small-village boy.

"N-no, of course not. Bu-but my-my-my friend said you sailed under his flag…"

Nami slapped her forehead as her friends sent accusing looks her way. "I know," she admitted. "I stole that ship from some of Buggy's men and haven't had the time to remove the mark yet."

"You… You stole a ship from Buggy the clown?!" Usopp shrieked in a remarkable high pitch. "What if he comes after you to take revenge while you're in my village?!"

"Won't happen," Ruffy assured matter-of-factly. Her stomach growled. "Can we eat now? Please?"

"Eh... food..." Usopp glanced at the three people in front of him. He had never been a cheap kind of person, and these people didn't seem to have come to cause trouble. Besides; hungry people need to eat. "Okay. Please follow me. My village isn't that far."

The boy started walking, leading the pirate trio on a pathway through the forest and into a small village surrounded by fields of still green wheat and yellowing rape.

"Wow," Ruffy said. "It feels like home."

"Oh. So you come from a small village, Ruffy?" Nami asked.

"Yup," the girl nodded, took a deep breath and stretched. "It was long ago. Hell makes you forget the world most of the time, so this is refreshing."

The boy they followed froze mid-step. "Hell?" he asked hoarsely, trembling slightly. "What does that mean?"

Ruffy scratched her cheek in thought. Zoro and Nami watched with a mix of curiosity and caution.

"I don't know. What does it mean?" the dark-haired girl asked, not really knowing what Usopp was asking for.

"Never mind," said Usopp with a wave of his hand, figuring he probably didn't want to know. He wasn't blind to the number of scars covering the straw hat girl's skin. And they had reached their destination anyway. "This is the village's only tavern. I know the owner, so ask for anything you like."

"Great!"

The four of them entered the tavern and came straight into the restaurant part. Placing their order; booze to Zoro, meat to Ruffy and fruit, bread and water from Nami to all of them, because her friends just couldn't make a complete meal with what they ordered.

Usopp sat with them, fear forgotten in the light of the thought that these people probably had some stories to tell which he could use for his telltales. "May I ask? Why did you come to my village?"

"Well, we need more people," Ruffy explained as she bit off a large piece of meat, "and a ship."

Nami sent Zoro a look that said; "Incredible. She made sense."

Zoro answered with a short laugh, knowing what she meant.

"You're looking for comrades?" Usopp asked, now very interested. "Comrades and a ship? Oooh, that sounds like an adventure to me." The boy leaned his elbows on the table. "Well, as you've seen this is a really small place. We couldn't provide you with a ship, but I'm sure she can."

"Who?" Nami asked, because Ruffy had her mouth full.

"There's a crazy big mansion off the edge of the village, and the owner… Well, I say owner, but she's just a little girl, sickly and bedridden she is, the poor thing."

Nami frowned a little at the information. "Really? How comes a girl like that owns a mansion?"

Zoro raised his mug. "Obaa-san. Can you bring some more booze?"

"And meat!" Ruffy called.

Usopp glared at them. "Are you even listening to me?!"

"We're listening," Ruffy assured as the elderly lady serving them came out with more meat and another bottle of rum.

"I doubt it," Usopp mumbled.

"Don't mind them," Nami said. "They're always like this. Back to my question."

"Hm? Oh yeah. I think it happened about a year ago. Both of that girl's parents died in a sickness, leaving her with an enormous heritage, the mansion and some ten or fifteen servants."

"That girl has no luck at all," Ruffy commented.

"Right," Usopp agreed with a sigh. "No matter how much money and luxury you have it doesn't exempt you from grief."

"That depends on how much heart she has," the dark-haired pirate girl said and cleaned the bone from the last scrap of meat. "If she doesn't have a heart to grief with, then the money is all she needs. But I don't think that's the case here."

Usopp, who had been about ready to explode before Ruffy said those last few words, paused.

"How can you tell?" Zoro asked.

"Because this village is cosy and loving," Ruffy explained, her smile almost fond as she glanced out of a window. "I haven't heard anyone being upset or the like, so I suppose nobody is being hurt here. If that girl was cruel this place wouldn't be so comfy."

The swordsman smiled, Usopp didn't really know what to say.

Nami made a troubled face. "No," she said firmly.

"Huh?" Everybody turned to stare at her, the pirates wondering what she disagreed with this time.

"Let's forget the idea to get a ship in this village," the navigator clarified as she crossed her arms and closed her eyes. "We can find one somewhere else."

Ruffy blinked in confusion, but then she smiled. "Okay Nami. We'll buy supplies here, that's good enough. We're not in a hurry after all."

Zoro wondered a bit what had made Ruffy agree so easily. As far as he was concerned Ruffy was the one most eager to move forward considering she wanted to move on to the Grand Line with only them and not a full scale crew. He couldn't help but wish he knew just how keen his captain was to her surroundings.

"Wait a second here," Usopp cut in. "You said you were looking for crewmembers too."

"Yes. Do you know a good one?" Ruffy asked immediately.

With the manliest face he could manage, the long-nosed boy pointed to himself. "If you insist, I can be your captain."

All three pirates bowed their heads down. "Thanks but no thanks."

"Why was that so easy to decide?!"

The clock on the wall chimed softly and Usopp sprung up from his seat. "Ah! It's time. Gotta go. Order anything you want and put it up on me, okay. See ya!"

The trio watched the boy promptly run out of the building like his underwear was on fire.

"What got into him?" Nami asked.

"I don't know, but he went to cheer up the lady in the mansion," Ruffy answered happily. "Put it up on me, he said. Obaa-san. Seconds, please."

Laughing to themselves, Zoro and Nami followed Ruffy's example and placed another order.

They had just poured up tea after finishing eating when the doors slammed open.

"Usopp's pirate crew is ready for battle!"

Behind the desk the owner of the tavern glanced up before he returned to his paper. Nami turned to the entrance to see three little boys posing with wooden swords high above their heads.

"What is this?"

"Stiffened boys," Ruffy said and sipped her tea.

The boys in question stared with paling faces at the girls, glancing around the room but not finding the one they were looking for. Their voices shook nervously when they spoke.

"Captain… Captain isn't here."

"Have they… could they already have killed him…?"

The boys ran up to the table and tried hard to look as tough as possible.

"Hey you pirates! What have you done to Captain Usopp?"

"Give back our Captain!"

Ruffy swallowed the last of her tea, put the cup down and sighed in content, patting her rounded belly. "Ah! That meat hit the spot right where I needed it."

"M-meat?"

"Have they…?"

"Captain…?"

The boys hugged each other as the straw hatted pirate girl held her thin arms out in front of her, looking at her hands before she turned to the only man in the company.

"Hey Zoro, do you think I'll get in better shape now."

The swordsman smirked evilly. "No. Not from such meagre meat. But I heard…" he pointed to the trembling boys beside their table, "that baby fat is especially good for the shape."

"Really?" Ruffy turned and looked at the children.

They fainted.

Zoro hadn't laughed so hard in some time, neither had Nami. Ruffy laughed too, once she realized that Zoro had pulled a joke on her. The old serving lady came out and poured cold water over the children to wake them.

"What happened?"

"You were scared shirtless," Ruffy answered them.

Looking up and seeing the pirate girl who had just been about to eat them, the boys jumped back screaming. "Onibabaaaaaaaaa!"

"Hey! I'm not gonna eat you," the girl said with a hurt face.

"You're looking for that Usopp kid, right?" Zoro cut in. The boys nodded a nervous yes. "He said it was time and ran out."

"Time?"

The boys blinked before their faces suddenly brightened.

"Oh, that means he went to the mansion."

Nami paused. "To cheer up the lady in the mansion?" she asked slowly, glancing at Ruffy.

"Yup," a boy confirmed happily.

"How?" the thief pressed.

"He tells lies."

Ruffy frowned. "He lies? Didn't his mother teach him not to do such bad things?"

"No! Captain's lies are great! I really like captain's lies."

"I like his nosiness."

"I like his silly leadership."

Zoro and Nami both wondered how such things could be admirable.

Ruffy tilted her head to left and right. "You don't lie…" A thought seemed to hit her. "So the lady feels better now?"

"Of course. Captain has gone to cheer up Kaya ojou-sama ever since her parents passed away. He's great."

It was as if the boys' words opened a door to Ruffy, because she instantly stood. "Yosh. Let's go ask her for a ship!"

"Ruffy! We said a minute ago we wouldn't!" Nami protested.

"I changed my mind since ojou-sama feels better now," the younger girl sang. "Where is the mansion?" she then asked the boys.

"This way."

"Follow us."

Zoro gently pushed Nami out of her seat to get out and mumbled in her ear as he passed. "Nothing to do about it. Stubborn is probably Ruffy's second name."

Nami shook her head and followed. Hopefully if she was there they would avoid a total disaster.

"My name is Ruffy," the dark-haired pirate girl told the children.

"I'm Piiman."

The boy, green pepper, had green cloths with a skull on his t-shirt, and a green hat that looked a bit like an apple, or a green pepper.

"I'm Ninjin."

'Carrot' had freckles and an orange hat with the skull on and a tuft of hair sprouting out on top. His attire was made up of orange shorts and a dark green hoody.

"And I'm Tamanegi."

The boy with specs, onion, also had a tuft on top of his head. A very little one. He wore a blue vest over his yellow t-shirt and brown shorts.

"Piiman, Ninjin and Tamanegi? Wow, you sound like you could make a really good soup."

The boys jumped away while Nami and Zoro almost doubled over themselves in hysterical laugher.

"But they do," Ruffy protested.

"You're going to cook soup on us?" Piiman asked from where he sat in the middle of the bunch of trembling boys.

"Of course not. Human flesh is disgusting."

Zoro stopped laughing as a disturbed feeling settled in his stomach. The way Ruffy said it sounded like she had actually eaten human meat.

He decided he didn't want to know.

The three boys didn't pick up on that particular notion. Instead they sighed with relief and continued up a small slope towards an iron gate flanked with high, green bushes.

"Here it is," Piiman said.

"Hello. Good day," Ruffy called.

Nobody on the inside answered, and nobody on the outside was prepared for Ruffy skilfully jumping over the fence with a cheerful; "pardon the intrusion".

Nami rested her head on her hand. "There is no stopping that idiot, is there?"

"Probably not," Zoro answered.

Ruffy worked on the lock of the gate from the inside. It clicked and opened.

"There's laugher coming from around the corner, so I suppose Usopp and ojou-sama are there. Come on you guys."

Following the unstoppable girl they rounded the corner, and sure enough, there sat Usopp leaning against a tree.

"Captaaaaaiin," the boys called.

"That's right. Cap…" Usopp spun around. "What? Why are you here?"

The three boys pointed to the girl with the straw hat. "We took this person here."

A pale blonde, ivory skinned girl leaned out of a window. "Who are they?"

"You the ojou-sama?" Ruffy asked and walked up to the window. "I'm Ruffy. Yoroshiku."

Usopp flung an arm around the girl's shoulders. Zoro tensed, but luckily the long-nosed boy's hand missed Ruffy's breast. Good for him or he would be out cold with a black eye right now.

"Don't worry, Kaya," Usopp reassured. "Allow me to introduce Ruffy. She's a pirate who came here this morning looking for crewmembers and a ship…"

"That's right!" Ruffy shrugged off the confused Usopp's hand. "Ojou-sama, I'd like to ask you a favour."

"A favour? Of me?"

The dark-haired girl opened her smiling mouth, but then snapped it close and sharply turned to her right, the smile gone and replaced with a cautious frown.

"Huh?" Kaya blinked in confusion at this straw hatted girl, until a familiar voice rang through the garden, making her cringe.

"What are you doing here!?"

A slim man wearing black and grey striped shoes and a black suit with golden designs walked up to them. Ruffy instantly didn't like him, not the sound of his heart and not his smooth, dark looks either. It didn't matter if his voice was silky even with the sharp edge of his temper or that his language suited someone in his position. His eyes and heart gave his cruelty away.

Usopp made a face turned away. "Damn. It's the butler."

"Kurahadol," ojou-sama confirmed nervously.

"This is not good. We don't like intruders here," the slim man said, sounding polite and proper even when he frowned in visible distaste.

"Um, Kurahadol. These people are…" ojou-sama tried, but the man held up a hand.

"Enough. I can listen to your excuses later. So you people, now please leave. Or was there something you wanted?"

Zoro and Nami expected Ruffy to speak up, and were therefore surprised when she didn't.

"Ruffy?"

Even though none of Zoro and Nami had known the dark-haired girl for very long, they could easily read her expression now. Ruffy's golden eyes had locked on an enemy.

"Seems like you are only intruding," the butler concluded and fixed his glasses with the heel of his hand. His eyes landed on the boy who had his back turned to in desperate hopes to become invisible, and smirked slightly. "Oh. Usopp-kun is it? I have heard a lot about you. The villagers speak of you all the time."

The long-nosed boy flinched and turned around, putting on a smile for the world to see. "Th-thank you. You may call me Captain Usopp. Everybody does."

Zoro lifted a hand, prepared to stop Ruffy in case she might attack the butler. Counting the wrinkles on her nose she definitely looked like she was about to.

"The guards have told me they have seen you sneak around here sometimes," the butler continued smoothly. "Is there something you want?"

"Oh… that's right. I saw a golden mole run in here and wanted to catch it."

The butler chuckled and straightened his glasses. "I find it amazing how the lies just roll off your tongue. I also know about your father."

Usopp flinched again, this time not only from the discomfort of being found somewhere he shouldn't be at.

Zoro grabbed Ruffy's shoulder as the girl tried to take a step forward.

The butler glared at Usopp. "You are nothing but a filthy pirate's offspring. I understand you are capable of anything, but you are to leave ojou-sama alone."

Zoro tightened his hold of his captain when she started pushing forward, but then she suddenly blinked and her bright gold eyes darkened a little.

"Usopp's dad is a pirate?" Ruffy mumbled to herself.

Usopp was by now trembling, gritting his teeth with held back emotions. "Filthy, you say…?"

"Ojou-sama and you live in different worlds. Is it money you want? How much?"

The lady in the window reached a limit. "That's enough, Kurahadol! Apologize at once!"

But the butler only spread his arms out in an innocent gesture, sounding calm and gentle as he glanced at his young charge. "Why should I apologize to a simple barbarian, ojou-sama? I have only spoken the truth."

"Look who's talking."

It was hard to tell who was most surprised by Ruffy's sudden remark. Everybody turned to stare at her.

The butler quickly recovered and composed himself. "Excuse me?"

"Calling Usopp a filthy pirate? Don't make me laugh." Ruffy scrunched her nose up so that she bared her teeth a little. "You're the only cold-blooded barbarian I can see."

Zoro, still holding the golden-eyed girl back, now by both her shoulders, hadn't forgotten about Ruffy's hearing ability, but he couldn't help but wonder now. The butler looked and talked and even held himself as a servant should. But Ruffy hadn't failed to pinpoint enemies before now. Either way it wasn't good to start a brawl here.

For a long while the butler stared straight into the straw hat wearing girl's eyes. He saw the sharpness in them, even though that shouldn't be enough for her to manage to see through him. He should be wary of her, he knew, but it didn't really matter if she had somehow managed to guess the truth. Between a stranger and a trusted person, it was obvious whose word would be believed.

He tilted his head thoughtfully to the side. "Brave talk. Are you pirates as well?"

"Yes we are."

The butler couldn't help but chuckle. "I see. A pirate siding up with a pirate's son is just what to expect, even though I feel sad about the way you lie about me."

Nami wanted to wave a denying hand and stat that Ruffy probably couldn't lie to save her life, but there was nothing to win in sharing that piece of information.

"But Usopp-kun," the butler continued with a sigh to his voice "I do sympathize with you. It can't be easy to have a father leaving home and family for the sake of gold hunting and his own avariciousness."

"Kurahadol!" Ojou-sama yelled again. Her butler was going too far. Way too far. Couldn't he see Usopp-san was actually hurt by his words?

"Don't dare badmouthing my father," Usopp snarled.

"Why are you getting angry?" the butler asked sweetly, smiling and straightened his glasses for the umpteenth time. "Isn't this the perfect time to tell a lie? That your father is actually a travelling merchant, or that he is not your real father or…"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Usopp hit fast and hard, sending the butler to the ground from the punch to his face.

Ruffy was the only one who didn't even bat an eye, but she could hear triumph in the dark man's heart. Usopp was doing exactly what the butler wanted him to. It made Ruffy clench her teeth.

The butler sat up with a hand to his cheek. "Just look. Violence and only violence. Like father like son I understand."

"Shut it!" Usopp screamed. "I'm proud that my old man is a pirate! He's a brave warrior of the sea, and I'm proud of him! Sure, I lie all day round, that's true. But that I have pirate blood and am proud if it I will never deny! I'm the son of a pirate!"

Ruffy's eyes momentarily faded back into their natural brown colour. "Usopp? So that's why… No wonder…"

The butler chuckled once again, shaking his head as he stood. "Brave warrior, you say? You sure have a way of twisting the truth. If nothing else you're only the proof that pirates are nothing but savages."

Usopp growled. Not that the butler cared. Ruffy could hear in his heartbeat how much he enjoyed stomping down on Usopp's pride and pull at his strings.

"You like lying, and resort to violence when enraged. Quite frankly I'm sure you keep pestering ojou-sama for the money…"

"Who the hell would?! I don't know what…"

"I don't need any more evidence!" the butler yelled. "That your father is a pirate is more than enough!"

Usopp grabbed the taller man by the collar and prepared to hit again. "I dare you to say another word!"

"Usopp-san, stop! No more violence!"

The long nosed boy hesitated. Everyone turned to look at the young girl in the window. Only Ruffy kept her eyes locked on the butler.

"Please," the pale girl cried. "Don't hit him. Kurahadol is not a bad person. He's just… overprotective of me…"

"Of you?"

Once again everybody turned to Ruffy whose wide, bright golden eyes stared unwavering at the pale lady.

"You think this guy genuinely protects you? Then you're in for a surprise, ojou-sama."

"Pirate girl. You are good at insults," the butler stated.

Ruffy shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing I'm proud of, but I learnt from the best of the best. Want to try me?"

"No." The man said and slapped Usopp's hand away from his collar. "I want you out of here this instant. Savages like you are not welcome here! Leave and never come back!"

"Sure," Usopp growled. "You don't have to tell me twice. I'd leave even if you didn't ask me to. Don't worry; I'll never come back to this place."

And so the boy ran off.

The three younger boys, Piiman, Ninjin and Tamanegi who had stayed in the background until now angrily stomped up to the slim butler.

"Damn you, bitter-butler! Captain isn't like that at all!"

"That's right, you baka!"

"Baka!"

"Ah!"

Zoro looked at Ruffy, who stood with her mouth open and eyes wide like she had just remembered something important.

"Bakaaaa!" she screamed and Zoro had to lift her off the ground to manage to hold her back. "How dare you insult Yasopp-otou-chan like that?! I'm gonna turn you in to the kitchen!"

Ojou-sama reacted. "Yasopp?"

Nami turned around. "Otou-chan?"

"Kitchen?" Zoro sputtered.

"All of you, I will ask you one last time to leave peacefully!"

Ruffy growled and spit to the ground. It offended the butler enough for her to stop fighting Zoro's grasp around her waist.

"Let's go Zoro, Nami. We're done here."

The two nodded and started walking, none of them missing that their captain never broke eye-contact with the butler. He answered the look with the same kind of hostility, and some sort of hunger.

Zoro narrowed his eyes in doubt. 'This guy. Could he really be a pirate?'