The Day God Usopp Became A Brave Warrior of the Sea
I don't own One Piece.
Usopp gulped when he stopped at his destination, his fingers twitching as a part of his heart tugged him forward while the rest of his heart tried to pull him away from the door.
He was having a war with himself and the worse part about the whole thing was that there was no truly happy outcome. In a way, it didn't matter which side of his heart won, because Usopp was going to hurt in one way or another.
But if he chose to run away, then someone, a nakama that he treasured more than his own life and well-being, could get hurt even more.
And that was not an option.
Especially not now.
So with a deep breath, Usopp knocked softly on the wooden door. When there was no immediate answer, Usopp inwardly berated himself for knocking too timidly and raised his fist to try again.
But then the door opened a crack.
"Oh hey Usopp," Chopper whispered as he peered up at Usopp through the very small opening, his dark eyes full of exhaustion and worry. "Is it your turn now?"
"Yeah, according to Robin anyway," Usopp whispered right back with a nod. "Is he...is he awake? Robin told me that he wasn't but...did that change in the last minute or so?"
"No...not really," Chopper admitted with a slight whimper, like it physically pained him that he couldn't give Usopp a different answer. "He's not even truly asleep either, he's just...in between."
"So...half-asleep?" Usopp asked. "In and out of it?"
"Yeah, exactly, I don't know why I didn't just say that," Chopper muttered as he finally opened the door wide enough for Usopp to walk through.
"It's no big deal, I still got what you meant, I just wanted to clarify it just in case," Usopp quickly assured him as he entered the sick bay. He turned his head to the side and what he saw almost made him bite his lip.
Luffy was lying on the bed, his face pale and sweaty as a single blanket covered his slightly shivering body. Usopp was a bit relieved to see that he hadn't been attached to a IV yet, but he knew that if Luffy got any worse, Chopper was going to have to hook him up.
Like a shipwrecked sailor hanging on to some floating driftwood, Usopp held on to the hope that Luffy wouldn't become that sick with the flu.
Even if the driftwood was seconds away from sinking itself.
Usopp saw Zoro sitting by the end of the bed, his working eye closed and his arms crossed with his swords hung by his side, just in case an enemy came to the sick bay to disturb his ill captain. Usopp expected him to keep his eye closed but before he could begin to sit down on the empty chair, Zoro opened it.
"How is it going up there?" Zoro asked quietly. Usopp sighed as he sat down.
"It's...It's been quiet," Usopp answered honestly. "Franky is busy brainstorming of the perfect, super gift to give to Luffy when he gets better, Jimbei is still at the helm, Brook has been playing gentle tunes on his violin for the last hour or so, Sanji was taking stock of the pantry the last I saw him, Nami is making sure we won't be hit by some sudden storm, and Robin is now reading a book up on deck."
"So everyone has been keeping to themselves huh?" Zoro muttered in a way that seemed like that sentence was for his own ears and not really Usopp's. Then he glanced at Luffy and something in his eye softened before quickly hardening with solemn resolve.
"Any updates on his condition?" Zoro asked, his voice strong yet even quieter than before as he looked at Usopp.
Usopp didn't have to ask who or what he meant by that.
Usopp just shook his head, feeling the regret on his face. The last time a news coo had visited the Sunny had actually been the last time Zoro had been up on deck so no, the Strawhats knew nothing new.
It was both anxiety-inducing and kind of relieving at the same time.
After all, while they had no news of Sabo recovering, they also had no news of Sabo dying either.
Zoro accepted this answer with a firm nod. Then his brown eye became like steel.
"What about him?"
Once again, Usopp didn't need to ask his nakama to specify.
"No, he's still missing as far as we know of," Usopp answered as he gripped his knees tightly at the mere mention of Sakazuki.
Also known as Akainu.
"Better missing than alive and well I guess," Zoro scoffed as he gripped his arms so tightly that his knuckles became deathly white.
Usopp nodded firmly in agreement, though like Zoro's mannerisms suggested, he really wished that they had news of Akainu's bloated body being washed-up on some beach already.
Then Luffy moaned, causing Usopp to look up at his face.
"Luffy?" Usopp called out hopefully as he reached out and grabbed Luffy's hand. Luffy groaned as his eyelids flickered. Then, after several agonizing moments, Luffy had opened his eyes to the point that they were half-lidded. Then he turned his head.
"U...Usopp?" Luffy asked as his unfocused dark-brown eyes landed on Usopp's face, his slightly raspy voice full of pure exhaustion.
"Yes Luffy, it's me," Usopp confirmed, a little bit of his emotion leaking out into his words as he lifted up Luffy's hand with both of his hands to bring it closer to his chest. "I'm right here."
"A-Are," Luffy began as he weakly gripped Usopp's hand. "Are you okay?"
"W-What," Usopp stuttered as he instantly felt like some enemy pirate had sniped him right in the heart. "Why...why are you asking me that?! You're the one who's sick! You're the one who's-"
"Usopp," Zoro warned, his tone even yet firm. Usopp gulped as he noticed that Luffy's face was beginning to crumple.
He has to get a hold of himself. For Luffy.
"I'm okay," Usopp finally uttered, his voice now calm and wearing a smile that Usopp hoped looked warm and not pained. "Everyone is okay. You don't have to worry Luffy, the great God Usopp will look after everyone until you are well again."
"That's...that's good," Luffy responded with an actual smile. It was small and tired-looking but it was real and it actually warmed Usopp's heart a little bit. But then Luffy closed his eyes and as he did that, his smile fell and disappeared without a trace.
Usopp gritted his teeth as he bent over and brought Luffy's hand to his forehead, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.
Three days. It had been three whole days since the news coo brought them the paper that had told them of the fight between Akainu and Sabo. The marines and the Shichibukai, led by the Fleet Admiral himself, had a long and mighty clash with the Revolutionary Army. According to the papers, this battle was even bigger and bloodier than the Battle of Marineford.
And at the center of it all was the battle between Sabo and Akainu. The article, which practically took up the whole paper, said that Akainu had been attacking Koala until Sabo intervened. Then, after declaring that Ace was his brother, Sabo fought Akainu. Their battle was intense and strenuous, with neither side losing or gaining ground. Then, either seizing an opportunity or frustrated from fighting Sabo for so long, Akainu shot a bunch of lava towards someone else's back.
That someone else's name was Dragon.
Whether Dragon would have noticed in time or not, the world would never know because Sabo took the hit. He had been able to block some of it, but not all of it.
The rest of the lava blast went through his stomach.
That didn't stop Sabo from fighting though, he continued to fight like the revolutionary and brave man that he was. However, his wound was too serious for him to keep on fighting, so it didn't take long for Akainu to turn the tide completely and defeat Sabo. Then, just when the Fleet Admiral was about to kill Sabo with one last move, another opponent suddenly arrived and punched him right in the face.
It was Garp.
The Hero himself, the one who fought on equal terms with Gol D. Roger, the one who hated pirates, and the one who absolutely loved being a marine..
And all because he didn't want to lose another grandson to Akainu.
With his act of defiance many marines, who truly wanted to protect the people but hated the corruption of the World Government, saw their chance. One by one, they all stopped fighting the revolutionaries and instead, foughtwith them.
Smoker, Tashigi, G5, Coby, Helmeppo, and Fujitora were among those brave marines. The Shichibukai also changed their targets, though whether it was because they were moved by Garp or they wanted to be a part of the winning side the reporters weren't sure. The papers said that even the previous Fleet Admiral, Sengoku, had eventually boomed 'screw it!' and joined in with helping the revolutionaries win the battle.
And win the battle they did. The revolutionaries, along with their new allies, turned the tide of the battle against rest of the marines and forced them all into submission in less than half an hour. Ryokugyu surrendered peacefully along with most of the marines under his command while Kizaru fought to the very end of his life.
As for Akainu, Garp ended up punching the bastard so hard that the Fleet Admiral ended up landing in the ocean, which was several miles away. There were currently search parties looking for him but so far, they hadn't found any sign of him.
And while there were obviously many details that needed to be sorted out, the Revolutionary Army had finally achieved their objective.
The World Government was no more.
Normally, the news that the organization that the Strawhats had declared war on the day they rescued Robin would have been fantastic and unbelievable. Sanji would have cooked up a feast and all of them would probably still be partying right now.
But unfortunately, the papers also said that Sabo had fallen into a coma and was very likely to leave this world at any time.
Usopp would never forget how pale Luffy's face had become they read that part of the article.
As soon as Luffy realized that he was about to lose Sabo again, his only living brother, he gave the order for the Strawhats to set sail for the Kamabakka kingdom, where the battle had taken place. The Strawhats had followed his orders without question and Usopp was sure he wasn't the only one who kept a close eye on Luffy, who had been battling a slight cold at the time.
Then, not even a day after they had first received the news, Luffy suddenly fell off Sunny's figurehead and straight into the water. Zoro got to him first and when he had brought him back up on deck, they all quickly realized that Luffy's cold had progressed into the flu.
So much for keeping a close eye on him huh?
Whether Luffy's flu was due to the...stress of the situation or it was just nature's course, none of them, not even Chopper, knew. All they knew was that Luffy was suffering, both physically and emotionally, and there wasn't much they could do about it, beyond staying by his side and keeping his fever down.
And Usopp hated it.
"Oh Luffy," Usopp muttered softly as he closed his eyes in an attempt to keep his tears at bay.
Even though Chopper had made it quite clear that Luffy wasn't in danger of dying at the moment, thank goodness, that didn't mean he couldn't get worse. And if Sabo actually died...
Usopp didn't want to think about it.
Seeing Luffy like this was bad enough without imagining that outcome.
"Please Sabo...please make it, if not for yourself then for your little brother's sake," Usopp pleaded. "I...I don't think he can take it, even with us here. Please..."
Despite his best attempts, few tears escaped his eyes.
"Please, he loves you so much."
After that, Usopp just couldn't hold it in anymore and cried bitterly.
I was originally going to have this as a long one-shot but at the rate it was going it would have been a bit too long so I decided to split it up into two, possibly three chapters.
I hope you guys like this start of a new story. So what do you guys think of it? Please tell me your reactions in a review and I will update shortly. Maybe by next week, maybe even by the end of this week. It all depends on work and if I get a writer's block or not.
Till then, stay safe and have a good day/night!