AN: No I haven't forgotten this one. I've just been running around enjoying all the other stories I've been working on. Don't worry, this is still my baby. :P
I do not own One Piece or it's characters.
Chapter 26: In which Ussop defends Merry
***Warehouse under the bridge***
They stood fifteen feet apart. "I'm saying that I'll help you dismantle that ship."
So...He was just like everyone else then...Usopp knew he shouldn't be surprised by that but...he had actually...kinda liked the crazy man..."Shut up!!!" He snarled.
"Aniki!!" The girls began to plead with him but he shook his head in annoyance and ignored them. They were all being so blind...!
"I'm not gonna let you do it!!" The sniper yelled. "Going Merry...is my ship!!"
The tall blue haired maniac shook his head at the kid's stubbornness. "No...it's not a ship anymore!!"
The teenager swallowed hard. "What?"
Franky stepped closer to him. "I asked you earlier...'What're you gonna do once you fix this ship'...If you were going to throw your life away along with it then I couldn't have cared less. But you said you wanted to get back to your home in East Blue. That's why I'm stopping you, kid."
"!?"
He pointed one enormous hand at the ship bobbing behind him. "This ship ain't gonna even get to the next island." The dismantler said firmly ignoring the look on Usopp's face...people heard unpleasant news every day...
"I will carry you from this land to that land. Ships are born with that in mind!!" Franky jumped, catching hold of the railing. "When a ship can no longer carry people to the next island..."
"No!!!!" Usopp shouted desperately. "Stop!!"
"It's not a ship anymore!!"
He tore off the chunk of railing, including the ropes tying it to the mast.
"Stop-----!!!!" Usopp reached for the dismantler, intent on pulling him away.
"Bro--!!" The girls shouted from behind them both.
He threw the ripped away piece of wood behind him.
"You bastard!!" The kid shouted. "Get away from the ship!!" The shot from his sling was an enormous shock, enough to throw the dismantler off his feet. 'Wha...?' He stopped himself by skidding on the floor and looked up angrily. "You bastard..." He leaped forward and grabbed hold of the teen by one arm. "If you don't understand..!!!" He threw the sniper into the air and then jumped after him. "Then you'd better see it..!!"
Usopp realized what he was about to do just before the giant linked fists smashed into him, sending him violently down into the canal beneath Merry. "For yourself!!!" Franky landed next to the edge of the canal and glared down into the water at the dark shape of the teen, ignoring his sister's cry behind him.
Usopp fought the wave of dizziness, if he passed out now he would drown. That bastard!! He knew how hurt the teen was, his own men having done most of the damage. He looked towards the surface and Merry's underside. Then he clenched his eyes shut again...He didn't want to see this...Merry's keel....
"Haa...haa..." Franky watched impassively as the injured man hauled himself back out of the water, coughing and sputtering. At least he had seen it now...
The boy stumbled, Franky assumed in pain but...he bent and took hold of the edge of the hunk of wood the dismantler had just ripped away.
"Haa...haa...haa.."
The teen shook as he tried to simultaneously hold the broken piece and hammer it back into place. "Haa...haa...I'm sorry...Merry...Haa...haa..." His voice was soft but all in the room heard it. Kiwi and Mozu began to silently cry again...they cried for him and his loved ship that would die on her next voyage.
"Haa...haa...haa..."
Tears were running down his face as well, even his voice shook from exhaustion. "I'll fix you....again and again!!!"
"....!!" Why couldn't this kid get the picture?! "Hey, cut it out already, long-nose!! You saw the bottom of the ship right? The keel is broken, the outside plates are misaligned, and the ribs are in pieces!"
Usopp continued his work....he wouldn't...he...
"It could collapse with each wave that hits it!! Do you think the repairs of some amateur would-"
The hammer and box of nails fell to the ground and the sniper turned to shout at him with tears running down his face. "Shut up already!!! I don't want you telling me that!! I'll kick your ass if you don't shut up, you hooligan bastard!!"
Mozu turned and buried her face in her sisters shoulder trying to sob as quietly as she could. Kiwi turned her face away, unable to stand looking at the doom ship and the man who wanted to defend it. "What did you say!!?" The cyborg growled.
"I knew...all of the that." He sobbed to choking on tears and pain as he shouted. "I knew that Going Merry could not travel anymore!!!"
"!!?"
The pirate fell to his knees...the words were trying to stick in his throat and choke him. "I actually...knew all of that!! When I heard the result of the evaluation...I decided that it wasn't just my imagination back then..." He bowed his head to the floor.
"?"
"I thought it was a dream at first, I didn't think there could be such a thing, but...!!"
"....." Franky listened quietly to the boy's story, without a hint on his face of his own thoughts. Usopp didn't care...His tears continued to run freely and his body shook with more than exhaustion now but he didn't care...
"One night...I heard the sounds of hammering from the empty ship...!! The fog was really thick, but someone was definitely there. I never found out who, but the next day, the ship was repaired in a very poor fashion."
~"Usopp, it's not the flying model anymore." Luffy was looking at Merry's head, now back to normal. "How did the person who fixed the ship...know Merry's original shape?"~
"It was all so strange, but...I remember this one phrase...and I don't know if it was my imagination. Or maybe he really said it..."
~"It's alright. I'll carry all of you...for a little while longer."~
Franky jerked in surprise. "...!!" He looked back up at the ship that had been through so much. Could it really...?
"I know it sounds freaking stupid...!! But...I...I think that it was...the incarnation of Going Merry..!!!" He was still crying as tears were now forming a puddle under his bowed head.
"....." The blue haired man collapsed back onto his couch.
"The ship was probably already at it's limit...and wanted to warn us about it.." The teen continued, wiping his streaming eyes. "You probably think I'm crazy...I don't care if you don't believe me..."
The dismantler stopped him. "No need for that...he looked like a sailor, holding a hammer, didn't he?" The sniper's face whipped back up to looked up at the dismantler in shock. "...Huh? How...did you know that?"
The older man looked past him to the ship...with a new respect for it. "...'Cause kid, you probably saw a Klabautermann." He had never seen a ship that had one before.
"Klaber...?"
"Hn...No knowledge of ship-lore whatsoever huh? Alright I'll tell you...Klabautermann. A legend told among seafarers...It's a fairy that dwells on ships that are well cared for...It's basically an incarnation of the ship. It holds a hammer and wears a sailor's raincoat. When the ship's in danger it runs all over, warning every one about it."
"...." Usopp looked back up at Merry's head. 'That was...it really was Merry...that night..?' He listened silently as Franky finished his explanation. "It's said to help sailors in bigger ways sometimes...Seriously..." He looked the damaged ship over again. "This is the first time I've heard about it directly..." He grinned, pleased to know the stubborn kid was the type of person a Klabautermann would show itself to.
There was a sad kind of longing in his heart...what would it have been like...? To ride on a ship that was loved enough to manifest itself...? 'Ah ha ha...Guess I'll never know...' He looked back at Usopp who had gotten back to his knees.
"The more loved the ship is, the more gratitude it has for the farers. This ship...probably wanted to get you guys to 'the other side' no matter what. It must have been a very happy ship...To have met a crew it wanted to carry so much it even took on human form." He laughed quietly. The kid was right, this was no ordinary ship...What a waste...
"....Merry..." Usopp whispered as he looked back up at the ship lovingly. "I see...so then, the guy who talked to me...really was you...Merry." He stood again, feeling dazed, one hand reaching out to touch the damaged vessel. They were silent for a moment, all lost in their thoughts. The only noise was the quiet 'splash!' of the canal's waves against the side of the magnificent ship.
"This is amazing...!!" Franky leaned back comfortably into his couch, putting his arms up over the back. "So you...knew of the limits of the ship, and still had that big fight with your friends."
Usopp looked away from the dismantler, uncomfortable with meeting his eyes. "....It's not like that." He said softly. Both men jumped as the square head sisters finally let themselves cry aloud.
"Men are so clumsy---!!" Mozu sobbed. "They're stupid---!!" Kiwi wailed next to her. Both women had thrown an arm across their eyes, their tears leaking down their faces. 'Sniff!' "Huh?" There was knocking on the warehouse door. "Bro, someone's here."
"Probably Zambai and the others. What's he doing here all the way from the 'sea side'? He usually uses the front door." Franky made no move to get up as his sisters sauntered away from the couch. "Maybe he brought the Strawhat with him." Kiwi looked back at her 'Aniki'. "Ah! Oh, yeah! I forgot we were using you as bait to lure out the Strawhat!!" He laughed it off, as if kidnapping and blackmailing was unimportant.
Usopp's face had hardened again. "They won't come, we're not friends anymore. I already told you that."
*Ding, Ding*
"Eh? Why isn't he coming in?" Mozu looked towards the door. "Alright, alright, we're coming!" Kiwi called. The two young women began moving towards the door on the back wall of the old warehouse, while the two men continued their conversation.
"Hey kid...."Franky looked back at Usopp seriously, forgetting the distraction at the door. "You...should go back to your friends."
*Ding, Ding*
"Alright! Shut up will ya?" The girls were halfway across the room now.
The sniper took in a deep breath as he turned back to his ship. "I can't do that now." He said flatly. "I fought with the captain...! And the problem with the ship...hasn't been resolved yet."
"Che! It's been resolved! If you know that the ship can't go on, the problem is already solved!"
Usopp looked over his shoulder at the cyborg frowning.
"Leave it to me. I'll take care of it however you like." The dismantler continued. "Think about it!! I was just thinking, what's best for you when I destroy the ship..!!"
"Don't butt in!! This is my problem!!!" The teen shouted at him again. Jeez, what would it take for him to get the hint?!! Usopp wasn't going to abandon Merry...no matter what....Even if...it would cost him his life, drowning with it...he would not leave Merry to die alone.
"Yeah, and I'm saying I'll solve the problem for you. Be glad!!" Now Franky was yelling too. 'Ungrateful punk!' "Don't you get it!? This is troubling for the ship too!! The ship liked you enough to show it's human form. The day it sinks with you on board...It's never gonna die, y'know!? It's not gonna go to heaven!!!"
The sniper had bent and retrieved his hammer, and now brandished it at the older man. "So if you had a friend who was dying you'd tell him 'It's okay, you can die now'!!?" The blue haired man shook his head in annoyance. "You're changing the subject!" Franky accused.
"I'm not!! This is the subject!!"
'Thud!'
"Huh!?" Both men simultaneously looked across the room to the door. Mozu had just been thrown towards them, unconscious.
"Mozu!!"
"Bro..."
Franky jerked his eyes back up just as his other little sister dropped from a kick to her neck. "Ki-Kiwi!!!"
The dismantler jumped up with a roar of rage. "Who is it---!!?" He lifted his glasses as the figures in the doorway came into the light and he recognized them.
"Sorry to interrupt..." Iceburg's secretary adjusted her glasses as she lowered her leg. "The girls wouldn't let us in..."
AN: I love how Franky and Usopp's friendship developed...they're both so wonderful. xD I'll continue trying to update but I'm starting my actual degree program next week so...(I've been running through and completing pre-requisite classes so far.) But please review and let me know what you think! ^-^