Chapter 21! I know that I love using cliffhangers but I can't do nothing else but love them ( well not if I am the one reading/watching something but when I am one writing them :3 ). So Usopp is in trouble and Nami is rushing to his aid but what's more? ;)
...
Usopp staggered quickly back to his feet and made a run for it. Well, as if he had nowhere to hide and his opponent was faster than he was so he would get easily caught without a proper plan.
"This is bad, this is bad!" Usopp cursed by himself. "Where is Nami in her shining armor to save me~?"
The long-nosed man ran the fastest he could and even faster but he started to slow down. He was a sniper, not someone who was made to run for more than kilometre or lift weights more than ten kilos for god's sake!
It was pretty clear for him that the person chasing after him was the person they were looking for, Choo Onosaka. Usopp had a pretty good look to his face while the man had tried to punch his paranormal long nose off and to him there was no mistaking it. The man had same weird mouth, sharp eyes and long jaw as in the picture.
"Damn it!" Usopp cursed again, slightly out of breath but finally he had at least some sort of idea, a very simple idea, to test and try to buy him some time to hide which was his exceptional talent - he used to train his abilities in hiding with his three children and hide-and-seek.
The officer took a sharp turn at the corner and outreach his leg to tangle his opponent. Luckily his plan worked and soon Choo Onosaka was tasting the ground.
"Hahaa, how did you like that?!" Usopp said and saw how the man tried to pull out his gun but Usopp was faster. It was almost the speed of wild west legends but Usopp had his gun pointed at the man in front of him almost in a blink of eye.
"Choo Onosaka, you are under arrest for assaulting police officer," Usopp said professionally while taking his handcuffs from his pocket. "Anything you say might be used against you."
"I have done nothing, chew!" Choo said but did no move to stop the arrest.
"You had done nothing but now you attacked a police officer out of blue and that's a crime!" Usopp explained and ordered the man to stand up.
It was only then when Nami decided to make her appearance. "Usopp! You found him!" Nami said, somehow twisted expression on her face. She seemed partly happy to find her partner unharmed but there was another expression mixed on her face too.
"Yeah and now we are taking him to the station," Usopp stated and Nami stared at Choo for a while.
"Why do we have to take him to the station? I mean, we were only supposed to find him and interrogate him!" Nami asked but Usopp shoke his head.
"That could have been the case IF he hadn't attacked me," Usopp noted and felt something warm falling down his cheek.
"Usopp, you are bleeding!" Nami gasped and saw that her partner had a wound in his head. "Let me take a look at it!"
"It's fine, Nami!" Usopp said, acting brave. "Just lets take him to the station, Chopper should be there to check the wound!"
"But we have to at least stop the bleeding temporarily because you know that Franky doesn't like blood in his vehicles!" Nami reasoned with her partner and Usopp realised she had a point. "And you are not driving!"
"Hai hai, whatever you say ma'am," Usopp sighed and gave Choo a slight push on his back to tell him to move forward towards the police car.
...
Nami and Usopp dragged Choo into one of their cells to wait for a while so that Usopp could have his head checked before the interrogation. Well, Nami said that she would look after Choo for a while and Usopp agreed since he knew the woman was safe and Choo couldn't reach her from her cell.
The long-nosed man knocked Chopper's room few times before the door was opened.
"Ah, Usopp, what are you - - Ah you are bleeding! Hurry up and see a doctor!" Chopper panicked and Usopp sighed.
"That's why I came here, you idiot," Usopp mocked and Chopper seemed to remember that he was a doctor.
"Come in," Chopper advised and Usopp took a seat while Chopper searched for first-aid kit. "Any headache? Shady vision? dizziness? Feeling sick?" he inquired the normal questions.
"Just slightly dizzy that's all," Usopp admitted and Chopper removed the temporary bandages from the man's head. "It's not deep wound...how did you get injured?"
"A can full of water was thrown on me from above," Usopp explained shortly and the doctor nodded.
"The dizziness is probably just from your loss of blood...head wounds tend to bleed a lot, after all," Chopper explained while cleaning the wound. "But since there might be a chance of concussion, you should go to hospital if any other symptoms shows up, okay?" he instructed and his patient nodded obediently.
"So I probably should ask Kaya to pick me up since driving is not the best possible option, right?" Usopp asked and the doctor fully agreed.
"Okay, done!" Chopper cheered when he finished cleaning and bandaging the wound.
"Thank you Chopper! I knew I could count on our super-doctor!" Usopp praised him and the doctor blushed deeply, staggering something about "praises don't make me the least happiest, you idiot" with a foolish grin on his face.
Meanwhile in the cells, Nami stared at Choo with a firm look on her eyes.
"You know that Arlong-san won't like this, Nami," Choo said quietly, not wanting other officers to hear them.
"Arlong might not like it but I had to do my job in that situation!" Nami noted. Her hand moved towards her left shoulder automatically. Then she saw the look on Choo's face and sighed deeply. "I will...come up with something to get you out, don't worry. I still have something to protect, right? I have no reason to betray you guys now," she said with a forced but serious smile on her face.
...
"So...Choo was caught?" Arlong asked over the phone. "What is that woman thinking? Does she want to trigger my rage?" he wondered out aloud with a slightly annoyed tone in his voice.
"Nami is not like that Nyuu!" Hachi noted. "She is a clever woman, she would never do something like that on purpose! It was probably just an act to fool witnesses, nyuu!" Hachi said, defending Nami slightly. "Besides, according to the one I got this information from it was her partner, that long-nosed guy who arrested him!"
"You are probably right..." Arlong sighed. "Let's just hope she will get him released soon or there is not telling what I might do...!"
"Should I inform Kuro-san that a small warning might be in place?" Hachi inquired since he knew his boss a bit too well.
"No," Arlong hissed. "You should do it. Kuro should move around as little as possible to not raise suspicions. He has the big competition coming around soon, after all."
"Whatever you say, Arlong-san," Hachi said politely. "By the way, how is that 'delivery' coming around?" he asked with a slight hinting tone in his voice.
"Everything is going as planned," Arlong laughed loudly, feeling confident that everything would go as planned.
...
"Hold on Nami, you let him go?!" Usopp gasped at his partner who had an innocent look on her face.
"Well, we got what we wanted from the interrogation and we told him to stay in touch," Nami reasoned and crossed her slender arms on her chest.
"But still!" Usopp argued. "He attacked a police officer!"
"AND WE DIDN'T WORK IN PAIRS AS ORDERED!" Nami hissed. "If he was to be trialed about it, the fact that you were working alone would be revealed and we would get into trouble!" she explained and Usopp realised that she had a point but he also had the feeling that the woman was hiding something from him.
The pair of police officers continued their usual work with files after their morning full of action. Usopp contacted Kaya during his break and asked her to pick him up from work as he had promised to the doctor due to his head-wound. Luckily his wife was a doctor too and if some symptoms of concussion would show up, she would know what to do.
Around two o'clock, Chopper visited the working duo before heading home.
"Remember to change the bandages at least once a day and clean the wound properly! You should also let me know about other symptoms, even the slightest of headache would indicate about concussion!" Chopper preached and Usopp sighed deeply.
"I know I know!" Usopp said. "You told me that three times already! Besides, my wife is a doctor too so if anything comes up, she can take care of me!"
"Fine fine," now it was Chopper's turn to sigh. "Nami, are you okay? You look slightly pale," he asked when he saw the orange-haired woman deep in her thoughts.
"What?" Nami staggered. "I am fine, just slightly tired!" she explained and the doctor decided to let it slip - it was no use trying to get a proper answer from the stubborn AND scary woman.
...
It was Monday morning and Sanji arrived to work as usual aside from the fact that he met a certain long-nosed officer before he even reached the station.
"Morning Usopp," Sanji greeted somehow cheerfully. "Did you follow our lead about Choo Onosaka?" he inquired and Usopp nodded his head, then pointed at the bandage covering forehead. "Ouch...so you met him also?" Sanji asked, feeling slightly sorry that his lead had caused his colleague to get hurt.
"It's nothing serious, just a strong bang to my head!" Usopp reassured the blond. "Yes we did and we arrested him but - - " Usopp stopped suddenly, not sure what he should say.
"- - but...?" Sanji spoke out, trying to lure the man to spit it out.
"- - Nami released him..." Usopp said quietly after checking that nobody was within hearing-range to them.
"She what?!" Sanji hissed but then remembered that he was talking about a lady. "Well, she might have her reasons but I think it would have been more reasonable to keep him arrested since he assaulted a police officer," Sanji reasoned and Usopp nodded. They had stopped to talk right outside the police station
"By the way, did you hear that Zoro was hospitalized?" Usopp asked suddenly and Sanji blinked.
"What did that Moss-head do? Get lost and fall of the cliff?" Sanji wondered.
"Just for you to know I didn't cause it myself!" they heard a voice from behind their backs and saw Zoro approaching them with a big bag on his shoulders.
"Zoro! Did you escape from hospital or what?!" Usopp shouted at the green-haired officer who plugged his ears.
"...I didn't!" Zoro tried to cover for himself but the moment of hesitation revealed that he was lying all too clear.
"...you are even worse than Luffy!" Usopp sighed. "And what's with that bag?"
"Well, if you didn't realise, my home is currently a scene of crime so I can't exactly stay there," Zoro noted. "So I need to find myself some place to stay until the police finishes investigating the scene and I have a chance to clean my apartment."
"Woah woah woah, slow down Marimo, what the hell happened and why wasn't I informed about this?!" Sanji hissed and Zoro sighed deeply.
"I was attacked right after I returned to my apartment yesterday evening," Zoro informed. "I was just about to close my door when the man barged in and attacked me out of blue."
"But why wasn't I informed about this?!" Sanji asked again and Zoro sighed even deeper.
"That's because it's not for our station to take care of since it's one of our own involved and second, my condition was not so bad that I had needed someone to hold my hand and tell me that I would be okay," Zoro explained and Sanji understood his point.
Usopp was not an idiot, however, and he caught something from what the green-haired officer had said. "Hold on Zoro, you spoke about 'the man', not about 'a man'...does it mean that you know who it was?"
Zoro ruffled his hair, not sure how to answer so he only nodded.
"Did you tell the police?" Sanji asked and Zoro shoke his head. "Why?"
"It's related to our case..." Zoro almost whispered. "If I told them who the attacker was, they might have gone and arrested him straight away and maybe ruined our investigations... Solving our case is more important than solving one assault and break-in."
"I can understand your point but..." Usopp admitted and stared at Zoro with serious look in his eyes. "...who was it?"
Zoro fell silent for a while, not looking at either of the men in front of him. "It was Hachi," he finally answered and Usopp's jaw fell.
"You mean that nice takoyaki seller?!" the long-nosed man staggered and Zoro nodded his head slightly.
"It's probably a warning not to mess with them," Sanji noted while pulling out a smoke. He felt stressed by the sudden chance in their situation and they were outside so why not smoke? "But Usopp, why did you know about this?"
"My wife insisted me to visit hospital due to the hit I received from Onosaka and I accidentally saw this idiot there," Usopp explained.
"Wait, you, hospital?" Zoro caught. He was yet to hear about the events with Choo Onosaka.
"Yes, we followed your lead and I found Choo Onosaka...or ratherly he found me first and attacked..." Usopp tried to be at least slightly humorous. "We arrested him but Nami released him after we interrogated him a bit."
"He shouldn't have been released so easily, not with assaulting a police officer," Zoro realised too.
"Yes but... we had no other choice actually..." Usopp sighed and stared directly at Sanji. "I knew Nami was worried about her family so I let her go and visit them...I did the job by myself..."
"Okay so now I get it..." Sanji said in between his drags of smoke. "In other words, if you had arrested him, the fact that you were working separately would have been revealed also and it would have caused trouble for you two too, right?" Sanji guessed and Usopp nodded.
"It was a stupid mistake I know," Usopp admitted and Sanji hit his back so hard that the man almost fell on the ground by the impact.
"We all make mistakes," Sanji said and grinned at his colleague. "And thank you for taking care of Nami-san."
"That was nothing!" Usopp said proudly. "Me, the brave police officer Usopp, would not let you down - - hey were are you going?!" Usopp was just about to start telling a story but Zoro and Sanji chose that moment to go inside.
...
Author's note:
Okay so as you can guess, it's soon coming down to action! I hope I did a good job and please send some kind of review :3 I would like to hear your opinions! :3