Update info: Okay, so I'm a little late on updating this month, and because of my current situation in life I have an announcement to make; I need a break. I really desperately need a break. This sadly means I won't update this or any of my other stories in a while. Can't tell how long but hopefully things will calm down soon and I'll be able to write again, because right now I can't. All the energy I have left will go to finishing the epilogue of the Star. I hope you will forgive me for this, but I will come back, I can promise that much at least :)
Please enjoy the rest of the summer now and this last update for now :)
Part 7; Bonds
Chapter 1/2; Usopp's heart and a pirate flag
The island Usopp had been born and raised on was long gone. The now four pirates had celebrated their new ship and nakama until they fell asleep. Well, not really drinking themselves to sleep. Zoro and Nami had a high alcoholic resistance, and Ruffy seemed that way too, so for the most part they had been drinking and trying to cheer up the sad Usopp who was drunk as a duck after only his fourth mug of beer. So in the end the only one who had actually drunken himself to sleep was Usopp.
After the poor boy had fallen asleep Zoro had taken him under deck where he had found some hammocks earlier. Nami had searched the ship and found a few buckets at the bottom of the ship.
"In case he needs to throw up," she had said and handed the bucket to Zoro. Thus the swordsman had been put on watch-drunk-Usopp duty. He could have found better things to do with his time. Like making sure Ruffy slept. Because when a happy "Good morning, Zoro" greeted him from Going Merry's figure head the next day, he could tell the young captain hadn't slept, not only from her face that was nearing a ghostly pale hue.
"Ruffy. Why are you out here?" he asked with a strained smile, hearing how well he covered up his great annoyance with a parent-to-child voice.
"I'm on watch duty," the girl answered cheerfully.
"Oh?" Zoro continued with the same smile and voice. "So you and Nami have taken turns watching the ship while I watched Usopp sleep?"
Ruffy blinked at him. "Nee Zoro, are you alright? You look kind of funny."
"Just answer the question, Ruffy," the swordsman growled, losing his strained expression.
"Oh, that face is more like you, and no; after you tucked in Usopp, we pulled in the sails and anchored, and then Nami told me to wake her when it was time for her shift before she went to bed."
"So, seeing you are alone out here, you didn't get Nami for her watch?"
The dark-haired girl blinked at him and her eyebrows knitted together in a troubled expression. "About that, she never told me when that is."
Zoro slapped a hand across his eyes. "Remind me we'll have to tell you that from now on."
"Okay."
It took a lot from the swordsman not to strangle his captain right then and there. Seriously, how could she be so dense?! She didn't react like a normal person at all, especially when her responses were so smooth. Really, resisting when you thought you'd have your way and letting up when a normal person would resist, or answering rhetoric questions.
Zoro realized it was going to take a lot out of him to get Ruffy to open up and tell him why she wouldn't sleep. Yesterday she had quite flatly refused to answer why. But if she was afraid of sleeping at night, then maybe a morning nap?
"Ruffy, you didn't sleep last night either. Why don't you take a nap now?"
"No! I want to wait for Usopp to wake up. I wanna listen to his heart."
"He won't disappear. You have time to sleep," Zoro argued.
"But if I sleep for a long time you might go for adventures without me."
The swordsman felt how the muscles in his right eyebrow started twitching from annoyance. "We're in the middle of the ocean, so the chance of us going on adventures is close to zero."
"If it's not zero there's still a chance!"
"But for the love of…! Geez!"
Zoro gave up. Ruffy wasn't going to take a nap when asked, that much was clear. The only thing left to do was wait her out, and Zoro wasn't good at waiting. Not when he wanted a clear answer to if his captain trusted him or not. If it was a pride thing he could sort of accept it, but it had been pushed to the limit of ridiculous.
The door to the storeroom opened with a slam.
"Oi, Ruffy!" Nami called and stomped over to Zoro and Ruffy. "Why didn't you wake me up for my shift?"
"You didn't tell me when your shift should have started," the captain answered with a pout, making Nami facepalm, much in the same fashion as Zoro had earlier.
"You are an idiot. Since there's only two who could do watch duty, then your shift last through half the night."
"Oh…" Ruffy blinked a few times. "How do I know when half the night has passed?"
Nami answered that with her fist. There's a limit to how much ignorance is tolerated. Ruffy passed that limit way back.
The dark-haired girl sat up and rubbed the tender mark on her forehead. It was quite obvious that the crew members, minus Usopp, had noticed her reluctance to sleep, but she didn't want to tell them the real reason behind that. She couldn't lie about it, but she could give them truthful excuses. She really didn't want to sleep through any adventure like Zoro had some days ago. But Usopp's heartbeat still sounded like they were fast asleep and Ruffy couldn't really wake him after what happened yesterday. She needed something to pass the time.
Zoro had seated by the railing with his hands behind his head and started snoring and Nami had disappeared into the kitchen. Ruffy glanced through the slightly ajar door and that was as close as she would go, which meant that Nami was out of reach and Zoro wanted to be alone.
Ruffy pouted with disappointment, but was quickly hit by a brilliant idea. She was the owner of a brand new ship; the Going Merry, and she hadn't had the time to take a proper ship tour yet. So that's exactly how Ruffy spent the next twenty minutes. Only twenty because Zoro found her and said Nami was calling them in for breakfast.
"Geez, Ruffy. Didn't you hear me calling?" Nami complained when the two came out on deck.
"No, not at all," the dark-haired girl answered truthfully and smiled.
The thief sighed, thinking that whatever Ruffy had found below deck it must have consumed all of her attention. Food was the only thing that Nami had noticed the young captain never ignored.
"Well, come in before the food gets cold."
Zoro followed the navigator, but for some reason Ruffy stood rooted on the spot, staring at the door the swordsman was just about to walk through when he turned and stared at her.
"Aren't you coming?"
"Can we eat outside?" she asked back.
"Huh? Why'd you want that?"
As if on cue, the hatch that lead to the men's cabin opened and a pale, slightly green Usopp slowly crawled onto deck.
"So that Usopp won't retch in the kitchen."
Zoro glared. It was not the real reason as to why his captain wanted to eat outside, they both knew that, but it was also true that Usopp probably needed as much fresh air as food and water.
Nami, wondering why she was still alone at the table came back out. "Hey, what's taking you?"
"Ruffy wants to eat outside, for Usopp's sake," Zoro explained, keeping Ruffy's lie between himself and the captain.
Nami took in Usopp's pathetic state and Ruffy standing above him, making sure he was covered with as much shadow her thin body could cast. The navigator had 'visited' older pirate ships in the past and had always been able to tell from the smell some pirates puked in the galley.
Yes, eating outside was probably for the best this morning.
"Zoro, help me take the food outside."
Inwardly sighing with relief Ruffy looked down at the newest crew member. He seemed to have come to enough to realize he was partly lying in a shadow. Slowly he looked up and blinked watery eyes at her.
"Whaddye doin thea?" the long-nosed boy asked. Seemed like his tongue hadn't really woken up yet.
"Giving you some shade," Ruffy answered sweetly, talking quietly. "It's hot in the sun, you'll definitely puke if your body gets too hot, and I don't want to clean up after you."
"Hey, Ruffy. We're eating in the alt," Nami called out before she disappeared around the corner.
"Okay," the captain called back and picked up Usopp over her shoulder with ease. His body was quite hot already.
"Ah, Ruffy! You're cold!" Usopp exclaimed, the chill from Ruffy's body distracting him from his hangover.
"I am?" She never noticed much, having long since learnt to ignore the pains of her body until she couldn't anymore. She hadn't reached that limit quite yet. "Well it was a bit chilly tonight."
"What? You were up all night?" Usopp asked with disbelief.
"Yup."
Even though Usopp still felt sick and dizzy he realized Ruffy's body, even if she'd had an all-nighter, shouldn't have gotten this cold. Her blood counts must be overall dangerously low. When she put him down in the shadow Usopp also noticed how Ruffy's skin was almost transparently pale. She needed a good few hours' sleep in the sun.
Since it was still fairly early there was a slight crisp of chill in the air. That, some food and a lot of water made Usopp feel better in minutes. An hour after breakfast he even deemed himself back to normal.
"I don't believe you," Nami stated noncommittally, flicking through the newspaper when Usopp told them he was sober.
"What? Why not?"
"Because that was your first time drunk," Zoro said from where he rested against the railing, Ruffy sitting an arm's reach away from him on it and nodded in confirmation.
Those words were like an arrow to Usopp's pride. "How'd you know that?" Usopp asked with disbelief.
"You told us so," Ruffy deadpanned, rubbing Usopp the wrong way. She already stood with one foot in Usopp's black book, and working against him now didn't help her out of it.
"Sorry Usopp, but please take it easy today. If not, you're cleaning up after yourself," Nami threatened. "And you're forbidden inside until evening."
Usopp crossed his arms, pissed and sour. "I'm not gonna get sick. Don't treat me like a kid. I'm a brave warrior of the sea! And I…"
The ship rocked due to a playful side wind and a slightly stronger wave. It was sudden, but the sickness washed over Usopp and he ran for the railing opposite of Zoro and Ruffy.
The captain walked over the deck to the sick boy, sitting on the railing beside him, keeping her eyes at the horizon. Nami sighed and joined them leaning against the railing on Ruffy's other side in a perhaps unconscious show of consideration.
"You know, Usopp," the navigator said surprisingly gently. "Since this was your first time drunk you don't know how hangovers work or how to deal with it, you should listen to us who've been drunk and hung-over numerous times in our lives. We ought to know what we're talking about."
"Hai. Sumimasen," Usopp groaned pathetically.
"As long as you understand," Nami said mercilessly and left, back to her ordinary attitude.
The captain watched her go back to her chair and newspaper. Turning her head around further to directly behind her Ruffy noticed Zoro had fallen asleep again. She wondered if the swordsman ever had nightmares. It didn't seem so the way he always slept so soundly, snoring his life away.
Ruffy envied him.
"I'm sorry Ruffy," Usopp moaned.
"Hm?" The captain turned the rest of the way around, spinning her whole body so that in less than one minute she had made an unintended full three sixty degrees turnaround.
"About yesterday," the boy clarified, his gaze stubbornly locked on the waves below. "Even if you hadn't kissed Kaya, all that would have happened was me setting sail without knowing she likes girls. I should thank you."
"Hm? Why should you thank me?"
Usopp fidgeted, still refusing to look at the one who was now his captain. "In all of my dreams where I left the village for the sea and adventures, Kaya would be waiting for me. Then, when I imagined how it would be to return, Kaya was to welcome me back and we'd be together."
Ruffy listened. Usopp's mumbling made it hard to hear, so she had to lean in closer, but she liked what she heard. A feeling of nostalgia welled up inside her.
"It won't be the way I've imagined," Usopp continued, thankfully a little louder and lifting his head up a little. "Though I still feel stupid about it, at least now I know Kaya won't be waiting for me the way I've dreamt. When… If I ever return, maybe she will have… have found…"
The black-haired girl by his side placed an understanding, friendly hand on his shoulder, making him look up at her with surprise. There was sadness in her eyes, even though she still smiled.
"I know, Usopp. Rejection hurts a whole lot."
Usopp blinked. He hadn't expected this from Ruffy. On the other hand, maybe he hadn't actually thought about it. Looking again Usopp had to say his captain wasn't ugly or anything. That scar on her face might be a bit of a shame, but it didn't completely ruin her looks.
"So you've been in love too, huh?"
Ruffy's smile broadened a little and looked to the horizon with eyes full of memories, good and bad alike. "His name was Almen," she said quietly. "He told me to save my feelings for someone… someone else." She laughed a little sheepishly. "Actually, I know he never liked me much at all, so I was surprised…"
Usopp waited, but it seemed Ruffy's voice had stuck in her throat. Her head lowered and the brim of the hat hid her eyes. Even though the smile never left her face, she was so close to tears, and Usopp found he definitely didn't like that.
"Ah, yeah, I understand, you don't have to say any more. But at least you got to tell him."
Another sheepish laugh and a hand lifting to scratch behind her ear, Ruffy looked almost apologetic. "I didn't exactly tell him. I let him hear it."
Now Usopp lifted a sceptic eyebrow. "You didn't tell him but you let him hear it? Tell me the difference."
The girl's face instantly lit up. "So I can listen to your heart?"
Today's update on Usopp's mental state; lost. "Don't suddenly change subject!"
"Huh? I didn't change the subject anywhere."
"Yes you did! What do you mean, 'so I can listen to your heart'? I asked about the difference between telling someone and letting that someone hear what you want to tell them."
"You did?"
The poor boy almost tore his hair out. He liked Ruffy better when she just listened because she didn't make an ounce of sense when she spoke.
Usopp sighed and rested his hurting head in his hands. "I don't get you."
"You would get me if you'd let me listen to your heart."
"And what does that mean?"
"A bond," the straw-hat wearing girl answered with a grin. "You let me listen to your heart, and I'll let you listen to mine. A bond of nakama."
Nami glanced up from her paper. Some part of her wondered if the captain had explained herself properly only to Zoro, because right now Ruffy was talking like Usopp should know what she was saying already. In fact, the younger girl made even less sense now than she'd made when she asked Nami.
She shook her head with a sigh and returned to her newspaper.
Usopp, while still not grasping much about the listening to hearts thing, did understand that a bond of nakama was of outmost importance.
"Okay, so how do you do this? You have a stethoscope?"
"Sit down and hold me against your chest," Ruffy grinned, not noticing how suspicious that sounded.
"Okay…?" Usopp drawled out, giving the girl captain his best look of doubt. Though when Ruffy only lifted her eyebrows in an innocent "what?" way Usopp slowly eased himself down in a sitting position. Ruffy wasn't late to put her ear against his chest, and Usopp tensed. It felt weird to hold a girl he had no such romantic feelings for to his chest. It felt more than weird as the girl made herself comfortable; half lying on him and holding him around his torso, glued onto his chest.
"Prideful."
"Huh?" Usopp looked down into Ruffy's dark eyes.
"You're a prideful man. But you care a lot." She closed her eyes. "You care a whole awful lot."
The boy leaned back against the railing, sinking into himself a little. "'Course I do," he mumbled and closed his eyes, looking back at his life. "Who'd I be if I didn't care?"
"Dad left to be a pirate?"
His mother's soft voice gently filled his ears and her warm hands stroked his head. "That's right, my boy. I'm afraid he won't come back, at least not for a long while. Pirates don't like being tied to one place."
"Why did daddy leave?"
His mother sighed deeply, but she still smiled. "He said the pirate flag beaconed to him, and he had to answer its call."
His dad was a pirate. That made him the son of a pirate. Usopp had never been so excited before. He was the son of a real pirate! The brave, adventurous warriors of the sea his dad had always told him stories about. And one day his father would come back and take him along on the journey across the world. His mother too of course. He'd stand watch at the beach every morning, so he would be the first to see when his father's ship appeared at the horizon.
"The pirates are coming!"
He ran screaming through the village towards his little house. His mother was pale. She couldn't even rise from the bed anymore.
"The pirates are coming!"
Lying on that bed for days. Her hands weakly stroked over his hair and cheeks.
"The pirates are coming!"
The doctor was in the house. The doctor was in his house! His mother was so thin now. Her hands weren't as soft as before. The horizon stayed the same each morning. He imagined the sails of a ship flying the skull and crossbones.
"The pirates are coming!"
"Don't scream, boy," the doctor scolded in a harsh whisper and held him back from reaching his mother's bed.
"Dad's ship is coming! Dad's come to get us! He'll take us with him to the sea when you get better, mom!"
She couldn't move. His sweet mother only smiled and glanced at him.
"Don't speak nonsense, Usopp." Her voice was weak. "Your dad isn't coming home. Still…" She just lay there. Her breath sounded painful, but she still tried to talk. "…I'm proud that I married him. I wish I could be there to see you… when you grow up… to be as brave as him."
Wish she could be there? But she was there. She was right there in front of him on the bed.
"No. Don't talk like you gonna die…"
The doctor. Why didn't the doctor do anything? Maybe he didn't have the right medicine?
"Have you heard about the legendary medicine? It can cure any illness!"
She smiled! Did she feel better now?
"My silly boy. You dream too much." Her breath sounded strange when she breathed in. "Please listen now. If something happens to me…"
"I want to be silly!" he yelled. He had been crying for a long time, but now the tears came out faster. "I don't want to hear you speak like you're dying!"
His mother smiled sadly, he thought he could hear her say she was sorry, but then she closed her eyes and didn't open them again.
"I'll keep dreaming! I'm the son of a pirate!" he cried, smiling best he could at the still form of his mother. It was hard to tell that the face was hers; it looked so different when she weren't inside the shell.
"The pirates are coming!"
His house was empty.
Every morning he rose before the sun and went to the beach. Sometimes it would rain, and it was cold in the winters, but for the most part the mornings were clear as the horizon brightened.
"I remember this place."
He turned his head to the side and blinked.
"Ruffy?"
She was seated on a rock with her arms wrapped around legs pulled up against her chest. She was chained to the rock, her wistful eyes on the ocean.
"We used to go here all the time. The sea has such a calming effect, don't you think?"
He looked back over the calm water. It did make him feel calmer. It made him dream. And then a ship turned up in the horizon.
She ran through the village down to the dock where her friends had just anchored.
"Shanks!"
A man with a straw hat over his bright red hair turned and smiled brightly, opening his arms to welcome her into them. "My girl!"
"Shanks, Shanks, I missed you so much!"
He laughed and ruffled her hair. "I've missed you a lot too."
"That man is Akagami no Shanks?!"
Ruffy turned to him. They were still at the beach in the early sunrise and soapy bubbles were drifting in on the winds. Why was she chained? He tried to take a closer look, but a bubble floated past his nose and popped.
Her head hurt so much and her ears were ringing. Makino's new serving girl really hadn't held back and the serving tray had been really hard. It was cold out too and she was scared.
"Hush, hush, Ruffy-chan. Don't cry, Yasopp is here, I won't let anybody hit you anymore."
Yasopp-otou-chan was so nice and his arms so strong and warm. She wished she could stop crying, because that hadn't been the first time any of the villagers had hit her.
"Why would that girl hit you? I don't get it. You just happened to stumble and pulled her skirt a bit. It didn't even come down. Very mean. Here, let daddy take a look at your head."
She didn't want to let him. What if he didn't like her anymore? She loved him. She didn't want him to hate her.
"There, there, Ruffy-chan. I won't hurt you now or ever. You were shocked too, right? It's alright. Come now, show me where it hurts."
Still sniffing, but she let him move her from his chest to sit further out on his lap where he turned her head to the side.
"Not so bad. It probably throbs a bit but there's no blood. You'll have a nice bruise in the morning though."
He didn't hate her. His face was still the same smiling one, and she cried from relief.
He rubbed his eyes free from tears. Waves hit the shoreline with a splash. Ruffy sat chained to a rock in front of him, smiling fondly at him.
"What was that?"
"My feelings," she answered simply. "The memories within my heart. Memories brought up by this place."
He looked around at all the bubbles, big and small. Then he noticed one in particular. One that was different from the others.
"Why is that bubble red?"
"Don't go there," Ruffy warned softly. "You won't like it."
A cold wind blew. It was growing darker. Shadows danced around them. The blood red bubble, as big as the rock Ruffy sat on, floated in behind the girl and popped with the sound of a gunshot.
Usopp awoke with a start. The sunlight immediately blinded him and he closed his eyes again, rubbing them free from the burning sensation. "What? What happened?" he asked groggily as he tried to look around again.
"Welcome back to the land of the living."
The long nosed boy blinked a few times before he managed to focus pm the one who spoke. "Oh, Nami." He looked around. The sun was much higher in the sky than before. "How long was I out?"
"A couple of hours. I was just about to start with dinner."
The black head that had rested on Usopp's chest perked up. "Dinner?"
Ruffy looked sleepy and her hair stood out in every direction. Her straw hat had slipped off and now rested on her shoulder.
"It'll be done soon enough, Ruffy. You'll have to wait," Nami told her before she disappeared into the kitchen.
Usopp felt Ruffy shiver slightly against him.
"Ruffy, are you still cold?"
"Hm?" She looked at him with half-lidded eyes, blinked a few times before she rubbed them. "What?"
She was half asleep. It made Usopp wonder if what he had just seen; believing he was a girl in Yasopp-otou-chan's… Yasopp-otou-chan? No, in his own father's arms on the way home, wasn't just a fragment of his own imagination. A very strange dream. But his dad had clearly said "Ruffy-chan".
"Ne, Ruffy. Was that one of your memories or…?"
The girl rubbed her eyes again. "It was. A place in between your heart and mine."
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
Usopp was getting excited and pulled his sister away from him by her shoulders so he could look at her properly. "How did you get us there? You said you'd listen to my heart but that wasn't anything like it."
"It wasn't?"
"No! I didn't hear anything that sounded like a heartbeat."
Ruffy stretched her thin body and Usopp noticed how her loose top became even looser from her chest down. It was almost frightening how skinny she really was.
"I think Nami said something before," Ruffy said once she let her arms down and shook her head almost clear from the sleepiness. "What does a heartbeat sound like to you?"
Usopp blinked. "Thump-thump?"
"Yes! That's how Nami said it sounds!" Ruffy said excitedly.
"But it doesn't to you?"
"Nope. I've never heard a heart sound 'thump-thump'."
Usopp scratched his head. "Then… when you listen to my heart, what do you hear?"
"You."
The boy looked at his captain expectantly but she didn't say any more. She just sat there smiling obliviously.
"And?" Usopp pressed.
"And what?"
"How does it sound when you listen to my heart?"
"Oh…" Ruffy made a thoughtful expression glancing upwards. Then she closed her eyes and leaned closer to Usopp's chest, brows furrowed in concentration. "Nervousness…" she started "excitement… a little confusion. Lots and lots of pride, but I can't really tell about what." She tilted hear head the other way. "Some hurt feelings…"
"Yes, yes," Usopp cut off. "But what does it sound like? You know, a sound effect."
Ruffy blinked stupidly at him. "Sound effect?"
"Yeah. Can you mimic the sounds from my heart?"
"Of course not," Ruffy scoffed. She was about to say something more, but Nami beat her to it.
"Dinnertime boys, Ruffy."
The girl captain immediately jumped, fists pumped into the air. "Let's eat outside!" she shouted excitedly.
"Again?" Nami said rising a sceptical eyebrow.
"Yup. Because the wind is nice."
The navigator sighed. "Alright, whatever you say, captain."
After dinner Nami took care of the dishes while Zoro went back to sleep and Ruffy and Usopp went under deck to play or explore. Nami didn't really care. She was alone with a thought that was troubling her more than she wanted it to; Ruffy's "subtle" refusal to eat in the kitchen.
Nami shook her head and placed the last plate on the rack. She didn't want to worry about the captain of this ship. Nami wasn't even an actual part of the crew, but she felt how she was getting too involved. Ruffy was just so… vulnerable. Sure, she had defeated both Buggy and Kuro without too serious injuries, but her foolish carelessness and easy trusting nature was sucking Nami in. Ruffy needed constant looking after so that she wouldn't get into trouble or worse; trust somebody who'll hurt her in ways Nami wouldn't wish for her worst enemy. There was also the fact that Zoro was apparently born without an inner compass and that Ruffy seemed to go where the winds happened to take her. Nami hadn't questioned Usopp yet. Or rather, she hadn't thought about asking him about his navigation skills, because Nami knew she was better and could take them to the next island safely. It was about her own life too in that matter, so in fact she wouldn't leave the navigation to anybody else as long as she was on the ship.
Nami sighed and sat down at the still unused kitchen table, safely secured into the floor.
It was such a nice ship. Old fashioned and a little rough and simple, but Nami loved it already. This ship would take them to the Grand Line. There wasn't much left now. She had almost reached the end of the nightmare. Soon she had collected a hundred million belies and she would be free. Almost there. Maybe with Ruffy's help this would be her last journey before she returned home. Even with the girl captain's screw-up leaving five million belies behind, and the fact that Buggy was one of surprisingly few pirates who knew what valuables was worth. Nami had figured out quite early that most pirates just took everything that glistered. If she was to put pieces of polished, gem shaped glass in a treasure box, pirates would steal it. Nami sighed. Ruffy would certainly be one of those pirates. The gullible little idiot.
A roar of excitement outside broke through Nami's thoughts.
"Nami!" Ruffy's voice yelled. "Come out! We found paint and a black flag! We're gonna paint our mark and finish Going Merry!"
"I'm coming," the navigator answered. "But I'll leave the painting to you, captain."
"All right Nami!"
The tangerine-haired girl left the kitchen and closed the door behind her, hearing Ruffy laugh. She had a nice laugh, Ruffy. It made Nami's constantly wary heart ease just a little.
She went into the storage room and took a stool, a deckchair and her maps and brought it all outside to where she worked the best while their mark was being painted.
With Usopp hanging over her shoulder Ruffy began to splash paint across the black material that would soon be their flag.
"What the heck, Ruffy?! Is that supposed to be our mark?" Usopp suddenly protested.
"Don't distract me. I'm not done yet."
Usopp left her and went straight over to Nami. "She can't draw," he told her. "Ruffy can't draw at all. Wait until you see that creation. You're gonna be surprised."
"Okay," Nami just said with a shrug of her shoulders. She didn't really care.
Usopp continued over to the napping swordsman and tapped his shoulder.
"What?" Zoro slurred when he woke.
"Hey Zoro. Right now Ruffy's working on our mark. You've gotta see this."
"Huh?"
"No seriously. You have to see it."
Zoro rubbed his eyes and sat up straight, yawning.
"Done!" Ruffy's voice declared loudly and she eagerly turned to her crew to show them her pride on a black flag. "Our skull and crossbones!"
Nami and Zoro stared at the creation with wide eyes.
"That… is our mark?" the swordsman asked with disbelief.
"What do you think?" Ruffy asked excitedly. "Nice, isn't it?"
Nice wasn't the right word. Ruffy had said it was a skull and crossbones mark but there was no way anyone would have figured that out. There was just some white with some black dots and lines and then yellow with a red line through it like a finishing touch.
"The pirate flag is supposed to be a symbol of death and terror, but this…" Zoro decided it best to leave that sentence unfinished.
"I do feel terror, but for a different reason," Nami said with her head tilted and resting in her hand and her look of dread mixed with disbelief.
"I told you so," Usopp pointed out. "Now it's my turn, Ruffy. I'll show you how it's done. Actually, you should have let me do it to begin with!"
"Do what?"
"Drawing the mark, you idiot! Hurry up now. We must wash out the colour before it dries so that we can start over."
"Okay," the girl captain agreed and let Usopp take the flag away, a little dejected. Her well thought out mark didn't have quite the reaction she had hoped for. But alas, she had enjoyed painting and was sure Usopp knew how she wanted it.
But Ruffy didn't have the patience needed to wait for Usopp to finish washing the flag, and so she went to the store room and picked out a blank black flag, more paint and another brush. Ojou-sama had been really thoughtful when she packed.
Nami sat in her deckchair and Zoro against the mast, for once not asleep, and Ruffy sat herself on the open deck as they waited for Usopp.
The newest crewmember came out with the now clean flag and looked at them all as they stared at him.
"What?" he asked.
"Do you really know what you're doing?" Nami was first to ask. If Usopp couldn't draw either then Nami wouldn't stay on this ship for another second.
Usopp waved a finger at her with a confident smirk. "How very naïve you are. How could you not know about me; the genius painter? I have fifty years of experience painting on walls. In this world nobody can paint better than I," he bragged and proudly stuck his nose in the air.
"Amazing! Fifty years!" Ruffy exclaimed.
"That means…" Zoro began, "you're an old man?"
Usopp's nose came back down as he gave the swordsman a surprised and slightly indignant look. Nami couldn't resist.
"Maybe he's got six or seven grandchildren already."
"That's even more amazing!" Ruffy cried out.
"Oi!"
Even though the crewmembers' laugher admitted to the joke, Usopp didn't find it that funny, but let it pass. He would show them his naturally innate and developed talent and leave them all stunned.
Ruffy held up the blank flag she'd brought out. "Here. Since the one you have is all wet, you can paint on this while I hang the other out to dry."
"Where'd you find that?" Usopp asked surprised.
"Where we found the first one," Ruffy answered as if it was obvious. "I brought out more paint too."
The long-nosed boy swallowed a chunk of pride and changed his wet flag for Ruffy's dry one. She was probably being thoughtful, but Usopp couldn't help but feel like the girl captain pointed out a flaw in him. She who couldn't even paint a pirate mark!
"Alright! This will only take a moment," the youngest crewmember declared as he sat down with a brush in hand.
Ruffy tied the wet flag to dry in the rig before she went over to Nami and sat down beside her on the deck. Zoro preferred standing or else he knew he'd not be able to stay awake. Boats were just like cradles to him, their constant rocking cradling him to sleep in an instant. While he could sleep pretty much anywhere, boats were always going to be his favourite place to sleep.
It took about fifteen minutes for Usopp to complete his task and he stood with a confident smirk.
"Now this is what a pirate flag should look like. Come and take a look at this masterpiece!" he called and everyone got closer.
Usopp turned and showed them what he had made; a long-nosed skull with one bone and a slingshot crossing.
Nami slapped her forehead, she should have known.
Ruffy didn't like it either. She scowled. "Who told you to make your own mark?" and she and Zoro both hit the younger boy over the head. "One more time, and make my mark this time."
"Okay, okay. Can't you take a joke?" Usopp whined.
"That wasn't a joke," Zoro pointed out and the younger boy bowed his head to hide his ashamed blushing.
"I'll wash that," Nami sighed and took Usopp's flag with her into the bathroom. 'Why am I with these fools anyway?' she asked herself rolling her eyes. Those were some real idiots she had ended up with. But at least Usopp seemed to know how to handle a brush. Except for it being his own mark, the work itself wasn't half-bad. In all honesty it was actually quite good.
But that was nothing to dwell on. She quickly washed out the paint and returned to the deck where Usopp was once again painting, this time with the captain looming over him. Nami tied the clean flag on the rig for drying before she went over to take a look herself.
"Wow, that looks great," she exclaimed with surprised delight. It was much simpler than Usopp's own mark, but in difference to Ruffy's you could see what it was; a skull and crossbones, wearing a straw hat. Of course. Since Ruffy treasured that old hat and since it somehow characterized her.
"Looks better at least," Usopp nodded.
"Yup. That's our mark," Ruffy said with a pleased smile. She knew she could trust Usopp.
"So this is our mark from now on," Zoro stated, he too smiling in appreciation.
"Great. Usopp, let's paint it on the sail too!" the captain demanded loudly.
"Okay," the long-nosed boy said and looked up. The sail was not a small job he realized instantly. First of all there was the troublesome fact that they were in the middle of the sea and the sail was moving.
"There seems to be a reef portside of us. We can anchor there," Nami announced as she too realized the trouble of the work ahead.
'God bless Nami,' Usopp thought gratefully. Once they anchored they took down the sail and spent almost two hours painting the mark under both groans and laughs. Once the sail was finally up again, proudly showing the new mark, all of them admired their work.
Ruffy came down from the crow's nest after securing their new pirate flag in the main mast, smiling from ear to ear. "Okay, she's finished! The pirate ship Going Merry is complete and ready for action!"
She wanted to dance or at least jump around a little, but she was so tired she fell down, closely followed by the rest of the crew. That hadn't been the easiest task on this journey. There were spots of white, black, red and yellow all over the deck too. Looking at each other now they also realized they were all as covered with paint as the sail. Ruffy started laughing. Usopp laughed along. Even Nami and Zoro were tired enough to let the laugher rub off on them.
"I'm first to the bath," Usopp announced and started to rise.
"Only if you beat me to it!" Nami challenged and bolted.
"Hey! No fair!" Usopp yelled and dashed after her, catching the bathroom door only to hear the click of the lock. "Damn!"
Inside the bathroom Nami was still laughing. "Don't worry, Usopp. I'll be sure to make it quick."