A/N: Hey everyone! Because we're still in the East Blue saga, I've come to the decision to focus on wrapping up the saga in the next couple of chapters. That and YouTube of course.I'm no longer working with We The Celestials on their Venom series as I've wrapped it up for a while now and I've just been working on my YouTube channel for most of this time. I hit 1k so that's pretty much it I guess. You guys probably forgot about this story and apologies for basically abandoning the story for so long. I have no promises of when the next chapter will come out though.

Usopp looked down at the flintlocks. He realized what he had to do. He'd never done something like this before. His heart was thumping at just the thought of it. Well, that and what was happening at the moment.

*Line*

Luffy, Sanji, and Nojiko finally arrived a good couple of hours later. Luffy had formed half of his body into a cyclone during the time in between. This was urgent! He had to make it there as soon as possible. Usopp was surrounded by pirates and he needed help. It didn't take long for them to get a lead on where the enemy pirates were. There was actually a lot of commotion happening in the village. They rushed into the village only to find it was set ablaze.

There were several dead bodies scattered along the streets. From their attire, it seemed to be a mix of regular villagers and pirates. They were bleeding out. It was hard to not accidentally step on one. Nojiko looked at the dead bodies in fear. She wasn't prepared for this. She'd seen dead bodies before, but not to this extent. The stench made her want to puke. She forced herself to hold it in though.

Luffy looked at Nojiko and grabbed her by the shoulder. He had her look him in the eyes. She was surprised when this happened.

"Nojiko. Keep it together. You're a pirate now. You need to get used to this stuff."

Nojiko slowly nodded her head and kept up with Luffy and Sanji as they went further into the village. The further in the village, they went, the grimmer it became. Luffy's heart began to drop. Was he too late? He couldn't find Usopp's body so he felt there was still a chance the long-nosed boy was still alive.

While Luffy was contemplating this though, someone charged at the trio. Luffy saw this immediately though. He grabbed the pursuer by the throat and pinned them down to the ground. When he saw who it was though, Luffy's eyes widened. He released his grip on the person.

"Usopp?" Luffy questioned.

"Oh, my name is Sogeking, and my friend Usopp told me to look out for you. He said you were strong and that you could help in this situation. I wish you could have come earlier but the fact you're here is still good."

Luffy raised an eyebrow at Usopp. He was wearing a yellow mask but his nose was one of his most defining features. He couldn't hide it. He assumed this was his coping mechanism. He scanned the boy a little more and found he was holding two flintlocks. This intrigued him especially with how his clothes held splats of a red substance. It didn't look like it was his blood either. He decided not to question him and just observe the boy's mannerisms during the whole ordeal.

He directed them out of the village. They still stepped over the dead bodies. Usopp twitched a little when he saw them. It was a slight twitch, but Luffy recognized he was unnerved. He couldn't blame him though. The boy seemed to live on the island all his life and must've never been around blood before. He was trying to keep up a brave face, but Luffy knew he was out of his element.

"So, where are we going?" Luffy asked.

"There's no hope in saving the village anymore. I was able to take down a couple of the Black Cat pirates and rescue a few of the villagers, but most of them weren't so lucky. I managed to hide them in a ship."

"Ship?"

"The name of it is the Going Merry and we are going to its location before Kuro finds it."

This just raised even more questions for Luffy. Kuro? That name sounded familiar but he couldn't point his finger to where he heard it from. Luffy decided to keep silent about this though. When they made it to the ship, Luffy was impressed by the design. It didn't necessarily have an imposing presence like that of other ships he'd seen over the years but there was something about it that made it special. The maker of the ship put great care into the design of the ship. It was made for someone special. He could tell.

Luffy, Nojiko, Sanji, and Sniper King peeked inside the ship to see what Usopp was really talking about. A couple villagers. A fraction of the original amount that were originally alive. It was an unfortunate circumstance. They were being treated for their injuries but they stopped and looked over in fear at the small group. They got into fighting stances, but Usopp quickly calmed them down explaining the fact they were here to help. They were strong individuals he had met a while back who were willing to take down the rest of the Black Cat Pirates. Especially Kuro.

Some of the villagers were hesitant at first until one of them recognized Luffy's face. They saw his face on a bounty poster and immediately became alarmed. All they saw was another pirate. A dangerous one at that with an even higher bounty than Arlong! When they pointed this out, panic stirred up amongst the crowd. They were making too much noise and Nojiko realized that it was drawing attention. Some enemy pirates began to draw near.

She whispered this into Sanji's ear. He nodded and blew out some smoke before sighing. He turned around and spin kicked a no name pirate in the jaw immediately breaking it. They were knocked out but unfortunately they weren't the only one there. More appeared and tried to attack. A couple were beginning to overwhelm Sanji due to the sheer number of them. Nojiko saw this and began to look around for something she could use to help her in combat. She found a weapon among the pile of defeated foes and picked it up. It was a pole weapon which resembled a spear although it had a thick, curved blade. A bisento she believed was the name of the weapon although names didn't matter too much right now.

She impaled a couple of her opponents and swung the weapon around as if she were using a regular staff. Some got the flat side of the blade to hit them while others weren't as fortunate. Luffy himself didn't even look back at what was going on. All he did was raise his hand and snap his fingers. Suddenly, the remaining enemies fell on the floor unconscious with blood flowing out of different parts of their body. There were holes in their bodies courtesy of Luffy using his air bullet move.

Needless to say, the villagers believed Usopp's words now. They were beginning to cheer for their saviors but Luffy shot them a glare telling them to silence themselves. Usopp looked around in order to make sure everyone was accounted for but he noticed something off. Kaya. Where was she?!

Usopp began to freak out and he turned to Luffy.

"Luffy. Someone's missing! You gotta help me find them before it's too late!"

Usopp grabbed Luffy by the shoulders and started shaking the Straw hat. Luffy didn't show much of a reaction though. He was pretty calm but grabbed Usopp's arms after they stopped screaming.

"Breathe Usopp."

Usopp began following Luffy's instructions.

"Can you give us a description of the missing person? We'll look around and try our best to find them although having a name and face would make it slightly easier."

Usopp nodded in understanding. He explained that the name of the person was Kaya and she was a pale skinned blonde female with brown eyes. Kuro was trying to get his hands on her and attain her fortune.

"Well then let's go." Luffy said.

He ended up learning a lot about his devil fruit over the last couple of years and all the different uses that came with it. Something interesting he picked up was the ability to enhance his hearing and mix it with his Observation haki. He didn't know the proper explanation for how it worked although some Marines came up with a theory about it having to do with air molecule vibrations. Whatever that meant Luffy didn't know. That wasn't his biggest concern right now either. He listened carefully, filtering out any animal noises or sounds of fire before hearing two people having a sort of conversation.

"Now listen here. If you don't sign this will, I'll kill all the rest of the surviving people in this village. Do you really want that to happen?"

"Klahadore! Stop! Please! I'll sign over my inheritance to you but please don't kill anyone else! I'm begging you!"

The second person was crying. Luffy could hear it. He wasn't necessarily able to pinpoint the location per say but he managed to get the general location. Luffy grabbed Nojiko, Usopp and Sanji in his wind currents. Usopp didn't know what was going on. He didn't know much about Luffy's abilities but he figured Luffy knew what he was doing. Luffy brought all of them to just outside of where he heard the sound. He used his Observation Haki in order to pinpoint where they were.

"Sanji, you enter through the east direction. Nojiko you go through the west. Usopp-"

"Sniper King!"

"Now's not the time."

"Sorry. I'm just really nervous right now."

Luffy sighed.

"It's fine. You go through the North entrance. I'll enter via the South. Got it?"

"Got it." Usopp replied.

Each of them ran over to their given direction and found their target. A pale man wearing a black suit and what appeared to be cat paws although blades were attached to them. He held one of the blades up to the girl's girl fit Usopp's description. So this must've been Kuro. Interesting. Luffy recognized him now.

"Well well well. If it isn't Kuro of a Hundred Plans. I thought you were dead." Luffy stated.

"Don't address me by that moniker! I have no desire to be known as a pirate anymore!" Kuro yelled.

"Oh really? Is that why you burned down this village and are currently holding this girl hostage?"

"Shut it! You don't know what it's like to be a pirate! Having to constantly evade the Marines and never being able to stay somewhere for long!"

Luffy, in response, laughed at the man.

"What did you think would happen when you became a pirate? Did you think it would just be easy sailing especially with the society we live in? Kuro, you're just weak."

Kuro could feel his blood boiling. He felt the wind hit him for a second. It was a heavy amount and he had to close his eyes. When he opened them, he saw Kaya standing next to that brat Usopp who was wearing a ridiculous mask as if it was supposed to conceal his identity. His nose was too long for such a thing.

There was something he couldn't understand though. How did Kaya move from being in his grasp to suddenly being so far away from him. He was confused and aggravated. He got into his famous stance, the Nuki Ashi, and began to try and barrage the five people within the vicinity. He didn't necessarily know who the 3 other people were, but they caused enough trouble for them to not be allowed to live any longer.

What Kuro wasn't expecting though was for his movements to slow down. It was getting harder to breathe. He became sluggish and ended up collapsing to the floor before he could properly bust out his move. He looked up to see a smirking Luffy.

"What are you smiling about?!"

"Your pathetic state. Usopp, shoot him!"

Usopp looked at Luffy in surprise.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Either that or you let him live in order to cause more atrocities like with what happened to your village. So many people died here because of him and Kaya almost died as well. Are you really going to let this man live?" Luffy reasoned.

"Y-You're right."

Usopp gulped before pointing one of his flintlocks towards Kuro. His hand was shaking though. When he shot the pistol, he had his eyes closed. It missed by a couple of feet. Kuro smirked for a second, but Luffy kept track of the bullet and forced it to stop moving. It was just hovering in midair. Kaya's eyes widened in surprise. The bullet changed trajectory and shot Kuro in the back of the head.

Kaya gasped in shock. Sanji flinched. Nojiko looked over to Luffy. He looked over to her. He held up his finger signifying for her not to say a word about his influence over the bullet. Usopp needed this.

When Usopp opened up his eyes, he saw what happened to Kuro. In his mind, he thought he was the reason behind Kuro's death. He looked at his hands which were quivering.

"I-I killed him." Usopp whispered to himself.

He fell down to his knees. Sure, he may have shot those other pirates back at the town, but that was purely out of self defense back there and he didn't witness their deaths either. They bled out. This was different though. He shot Kuro directly in the head. He assumed that Kuro bowed his head in hopes of avoiding the bullet that clearly failed for him. He honestly didn't know how to feel right now. Not that he had much time to think about it though.

He started floating again. He looked around and saw everyone was floating again. This was Luffy's influence again. He breathed in and out in order to calm his nerves. He trusted that Luffy knew what he was doing. They flew back to the Going Merry and Kaya informed everyone of the good news. Unfortunately, they could no longer stay here after all that had happened. Even with Kuro dead, there was still a chance more pirates were here that they simply couldn't fight.

The villagers were upset but knew that was true. They pushed the Going Merry off into the ocean and jumped aboard the ship before going inside. They lifted the anchor up and set asail for the next island. Luffy had a good idea of where to drop them off though. Loguetown. He knew an old friend there that could help them out. Most of them had no desire of becoming a pirate after all and he wouldn't force them either.

The only person that was interested in becoming a pirate really was Usopp. He wanted Usopp on his crew anyways so this was no issue to Luffy at all. He was even impressed when Usopp made a jolly roger for them after he'd called up Nami telling her to inform the rest of the crew of where they were to meet up.

"You like?" Usopp asked.

"Do I like it? I love it!" Luffy exclaimed.

It looked cartoonish at first until Luffy saw the whole thing. It showed a simple smiling jolly roger wearing a straw hat but it began to crumble away to show the smiling skull of an oni. Horns and all. He liked the edge and he felt it fit perfectly with his theme. The title the World Government gave him and the jolly roger Usopp made were a nice combination.

A/N: I'm back and I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Some parts were rushed more than others but I wanted to get the writing over with once I got my mojo back for this series. Beyond that, how do you guys feel about Nojiko's new weapon? As for Usopp, I'm basically having it so he may still be a jokester but more willing to kill when it is necessary. I hope that's not a problem for you all. Bionic-TitanX out!