A/N: Please enjoy the third act of my story's introduction. *Bows*
I own not the characters, nor the world of One Piece.
Usopp mulled over his dilemma, flipping a pencil in the air. He'd come to a hitch in his training.
His coordination and eyesight had not, thankfully, regressed a mite, and his observation Haki remained intact. There were several crucial components for weapons, both his and Nami's, that required Grand Line technology, but his imagination hadn't suffered. He had a stack of sketches and notes for improving on his initial designs.
No, his problem lay in his physique.
The boy sniper stood up from his workbench and threw on a coat. Light snowfall had visited the island. Nothing as cold as what he'd endured before, obviously, but Kaya scolded him when he showed up without an extra layer. She had a budding interest in medicine, and she loved applying her tidbits of knowledge from reading to Usopp whenever he showed symptoms of… well, anything. Which happened often enough as to be indicative that his habits were probably not healthy for an eight-year-old kid, but Usopp was of a mind that health, at least, his health, was overrated.
Anyway, his physique- Usopp knew his hard earned muscle from the first time could be won back. Cardio and pushups weren't going to cut it, though, let alone elevate him to a higher level.
On an island as tranquil as his, threats were limited to the wholly hypothetical scenario of a pirate attack. Nothing local, not even the natural predators (Usopp thought he'd seen one wolf, singular, and he'd been looking), could pose a challenge to him, and Kaya was the only kid his age, so he couldn't even conceivably wrestle with anybody.
'I wish I had some of Zoro's weights.'
Usopp stomped bootprints in the snow, wracking his brain to figure something out.
"Usopp!"
The future pirate temporarily shelved his musings as he came upon Kaya's house. She had extended an open, indefinite invitation to join her for hot chocolate during the winter.
Merry stood outside the gate to meet him, and Usopp cast a perplexed look at the axe the butler held.
"What's that for?"
"Ah," Merry said. "There was a hiccup in the shipment of wood for the fireplace. I'm about to collect some lumber for the house."
Usopp digested that, gears turning in his tired brain.
'Chopping and hauling lumber.' He thought. 'That could actually work.'
"Got another axe?"
One week after helping Merry collect wood, Usopp had his workout put together.
One thousand squats and one thousand shoulder presses, both in ten alternating sets of one hundred, using firewood as free weights, and fifteen laps around the island with the weight of one tree lashed to him.
… All right, he'd work his way up from one wood burning log tied to his waist until he could sprint with the weight of a tree attached.
No breaks, and by the time he finished, he could pass out for a couple hours before he set to his workshop. By that time, he was too exhausted to even have nightmares. A regimen so borderline suicidal, it was brilliant.
'Perfect.'
A spring storm passed over the Gecko islands, and Kaya hadn't seen Usopp for two days since. The heiress came down with a fever, though, dashing her plans to sneak off the property and investigate his absence. Laid up, she was miserable, and without her tutoring sessions during her illness, her only distraction was her books.
They didn't hold a candle to her friend's stories. Usopp had spoiled her with his thrilling narratives. She pleaded with Merry to ask around the village, to find some news about him.
"I cannot leave you unattended, Miss Kaya," Merry said gently, ever diplomatic, for he had never talked down to her. "I will make the appropriate inquiries in town after your fever breaks and your temperature comes down."
Kaya pinched her brow. Merry smiled at her and smoothed the creases on her forehead, replacing a cool, damp cloth.
"I'm certain he's fine, Miss Kaya," Merry assured her. "He'll drop by in another day or two, chipper as ever, and make you feel silly for worrying."
Kaya bit back the retort on the tip of her tongue, that Usopp always visited on stormy days. It was the only time she saw her friend genuinely nervous, and she remembered the first time so well because it struck her that she didn't know him as well as she thought.
Instead, she begged off of being called for dinner and requested rest. She waited a few minutes after Merry left to extract herself from her blankets and quilt. Crawling on top of them, she tugged until the hospital corners fold came free. She pulled them to the edge of the bed, and, leaving them hanging, she pulled her desk chair near the frame. As Usopp showed her, she tossed her pillows between the bed frame and her chair, lay the quilt over those, and situated her sheets so they draped over the whole arrangement.
"This is how you construct a fort!" Usopp told her. "Impenetrable and unassailable from all points! Nothing bad can happen inside the fort!"
That being the case, Kaya crawled inside, curled up and tried to ignore the fact that her friend was missing.
A barely waxing, almost new moon, clouds obscuring the sunlight as one day bled into the next, and intermittent rainfall- reduced visibility to hone his eyesight and Haki, softened ground and mud to test his stamina.
Perfect conditions for Usopp to train. Nonstop, because training was equally a perfect distraction.
Usopp needed to not think about the fact he'd turned nine. Because that meant Nami would be ten in a couple months, and then-
The boy sniper couldn't dwell on that, and therefore he couldn't stop. If he did, he'd despair.
The government was corrupt, the distance too wide to traverse, his combat skills prodigal for his age, but inadequate. Asking for help amounted to sending more people to slaughter, and there were only two marines he could think of that could contend with the imminent threat to East Blue. Not even the legendary Straw Hat luck could bring him any means to communicate, though, let alone a way to prevent his messages being intercepted, and so instead, Usopp ran himself ragged until he was incapable of thought.
Because there was nothing he could do.
As he promised, on the morning after Kaya's fever broke, Merry inquired after Usopp. He found, to his surprise and slight irritation, that the boy hadn't been seen in the village for several days. Surprise, because what was the boy doing all that time? Irritation, because why hadn't anyone checked on him? Self-sufficient as he'd proven to be over two years of acquaintance, he was still a child. One that Merry had begun to see as his charge in equal measure to Kaya.
Thus, when Merry arrived outside Usopp's home and found the front door ajar, the butler ignored decorum and barged in.
The house interior was, mildly put, in a state of disarray. Pots and pans seemed to occupy any space that wasn't the stove, papers littered every visible flat surface, and a damp spot near the entrance suggested Usopp didn't lock up properly during the storm. The only clean furnishing, the mattress, appeared so only by virtue of all sheets and blankets having been stripped from it, which suggested Usopp slept elsewhere.
As for the boy himself-
"Usopp!"
Merry found him lying face down on the floor beside a workbench, the aforementioned sheets and blankets wrapped around one leg. It seemed more like the boy had gotten tangled in them by accident during a fall than by design. The remainder of the sheets only covered half his torso, and one arm lay stretched out, loosely gripping a pen. That it looked like a scene from one of the mistress' beloved mystery novels brought Merry only greater unease.
"Usopp!"
Merry knelt beside the still unresponsive child, his face obscured by a straw hat. Merry moved to remove it-
Whap!
Only to find his wrist caught in a grip with surprising strength. Usopp slowly raised his head, and Merry found himself on the receiving end of an impressive glower.
One made all the more eerie once Merry realized the boy was still unconscious, his eyes glazed over.
"Usopp?" Merry prompted once more.
Usopp blinked. Twice. Recognition flickered over his features and his grip immediately slackened.
"Merry," Usopp said, eyes half-lidded, voice thick with the dregs of deep sleep. "Good morning… it is morning, right?"
The boy sat upright, craning his neck to see out his window and confirm the time of day.
"Are you well, Usopp?" Merry asked, absently massaging his briefly abused wrist.
"Hm?" Usopp murmured. "Yeah, I'm all right. Do you, um… tea. Would you like some tea?"
"No, that's all right," Merry assured him. The butler shook his head, steering the conversation back to the reason he'd come. "Rather, if you don't mind my asking, Usopp, where have you been?"
"Training."
Usopp perked up and stiffened as soon as the word tumbled from his mouth. Merry might have puzzled over that reaction if the boy's answer weren't so confounding (and mildly alarming) by itself. He'd been training for five days, and no one had seen him?
"I mean," Usopp said before Merry could question him further. "Practicing with my slingshot."
Merry raised an eyebrow at that, glancing when the boy pointed toward his bench where, indeed, there was a slingshot handy.
Still.
"And this occupied your time and attention for five days?" Merry asked, more than a bit incredulously.
Usopp's eyebrows shot up, apparently surprised that he'd been absent that long, but he nodded.
Merry sighed.
"That's pretty concerning behavior, Usopp," he said, looking back at the wet spot by the door. "To say nothing of leaving your front door unlocked, let alone open."
Merry swept his hand out, indicating the whole house as if to say 'I won't even mention all this'.
Usopp had the sense to look abashed, looking down at the floor.
"You had a few people worried about you," Merry said, taking care to be delicate. The butler may have been frustrated by Usopp's actions and by his own uncertainty as to what steps to take, but he doubted raising his voice would help. "Miss Kaya most of all. I suspect if she hadn't been bedridden until today, she'd have come to seek you out herself."
Usopp's head snapped back up, eyes wide.
"Kaya tried to…?" He whispered, disbelief all too evident.
Merry couldn't imagine why the boy was so shocked. It was obvious to him that the young heiress considered her friend truly precious. He nodded.
"Well, she would have if I hadn't been keeping an eye on her," he said. "She was rather concerned."
Usopp looked away, fidgeting with his fingers.
"Sorry," he murmured. "I'll try not to lose track of time again."
Merry pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.
"That will do for a start, but if it is truly unavoidable, at least let someone know in advance. Someone in the village, Miss Kaya, or myself, ideally."
"Sorry." Usopp said again, dipping his head. The boy stood and stretched. With a care Merry did not fail to notice, he placed the straw hat on his mattress and walked toward the door. He paused midway and smiled wanly at Merry. "I'm guessing you wouldn't be willing to explain things to Kaya for me?"
Merry closed his eyes and smiled back at the boy.
"Absolutely not."
Usopp spared no effort in apologizing to Kaya. She was relatively quick to forgive after he told her all about the exploration he'd undertaken in the woods, and told her half a dozen new stories.
He also sacrificed a day and a half of training to spend time with her, even sitting in (silently) on her tutoring sessions. He suspected her teachers spent every minute looking for a reason to kick him out for being a 'distraction', but he never gave them one. Instead, he worked on one of his tame projects (those that didn't carry any risk of exploding.)
Finally, he promised to visit at least once every other day, and to tell her if he'd be busy with one of his projects ahead of time. ("Those are secrets of the highest order! I can't tell you here!")
Kaya clearly didn't quite buy his explanation. For good reason, since his 'exploration' (training) found him out of his house for five consecutive days. The puddle Merry mistook for rainwater at his doorstep was the result of Usopp wringing out his soaked clothes before he passed out. But-
"You think a little rain could bring down Usopp-sama?!"
She rolled her eyes, giggled, and didn't pursue the subject.
He got lucky. He knew that. His wits returned to him before he said too much to Merry, and while the butler asked about his health a little more often, Usopp more or less retained the leeway of an adult who lived alone.
Being a child again meant he had to avoid drawing too much attention, or else one of the 'real' adults might try to 'take care of him.' He needed the agency he had, he didn't have time to circumnavigate well-meaning people telling him his projects and training were too dangerous.
He resolved to be more careful.
Kaya paid closer attention to her friend after his short disappearance. His more frequent visits aided in her observation (she felt more comfortable calling it observation than 'study', though she wasn't sure why.) She also endeavored to do more with him than listen to his stories. For as much as she loved them, the feeling of helplessness when her friend vanished had severely vexed her. She was sick of being limited by her constitution, and she wanted to make sure she could help Usopp should he ever need her.
"Hey, Usopp," she said one day while they were lazing in the library. "Wanna play hide and seek?"
In small increments, she introduced more regular physical activity into her daily life. She became proactive in suggesting games of tag and others that Usopp helped her make up.
Slowly, steadily…
"Hey, Usopp," she asked in the yard, glancing around. She leaned in and whispered. "Will you help me sneak outside the gate?"
A little determined coaxing on her part, and her friend showed her a hole in the fence, large enough for a young adult.
Her attention during tutoring sessions was more prone to wander, and her weekly hours in the library diminished, but Kaya found she didn't mind at all. She still mastered her subjects, and, to her surprise, she didn't feel tired quite as often.
Their games of hide and seek expanded to cover more and more ground. Every few weeks, she pushed further out of her comfort zone.
"Show me how to climb a fence."
"Show me the beetles you told me about."
"Show me where you live."
'Show me who my friend is, Usopp.'
Kaya enjoyed a small thrill over the course of the year, sneaking away with her friend and broadening her scope of what was possible. Something shared just between the two of them. Not quite a rebellion against her parents, but a token expression of independence.
Merry noticed. Of course he did, he had to wash grass stains off Kaya's dress for the first time. And every time after that.
He almost put a stop to the whole thing within the first month, after the heiress came home with a bruise on her right arm. (Kaya was outraged when Merry asked, as tactfully and indirectly as he knew, if Usopp had any role in the injury. She was… quite frightening when angry. Merry apologized profusely for the slight.)
But how could he tell them to stop, when he saw a pinch of color in her cheeks that had nothing to do with illness? The butler couldn't bring himself to intervene, despite how deep his protective instincts ran.
So, instead, Merry advised caution in the future, treated her bruise to the best of his ability, and counted himself lucky the lord and lady of the house weren't due back from their latest business venture for several weeks.
The months that followed were ones of firsts- first time Kaya re-entered the house barefoot, first dirt under her fingernails, leaves in her hair, first-
"Merry, did you know our island is home to a unique species of Hercules beetle?"
Merry very nearly dropped the heiress' lunch onto the floor.
Thus, by the time the master and mistress asked their daughter if she wanted to join them when they left home for a traders conference, the butler almost wasn't surprised.
Kaya looked across the table pensively, lips quirked upward, and asked a few things about where they'd stay, where they'd go, and what they could see, then-
"May I invite Usopp?"
(At this, Merry truly wasn't surprised.)
"I don't see why not," her father replied with a stately shrug. "His company will certainly help keep you entertained while we attend to all our stuffy business."
The mistress rolled her eyes in a show of exasperation, one betrayed by her own small smile.
After the meal concluded and Kaya excused herself, her mother commented.
"She's looked much healthier this past year."
Her voice held no small amount of joy.
"I thought so, too," the master concurred. "Merry, whatever you've been feeding her, see to it you keep doing so."
Merry smiled and nodded, privately marveling at the blessing that he'd met years ago in the guise of a young boy.
Usopp scanned Ms. Root's garden with his keen eyes, and crouched to pull another batch of weeds. As far as odd jobs he could do for cash, it didn't pay too well. He'd need to press for some labor work soon, help stock at the restaurant or the market or something. His thoughts turned to Kaya while he performed the mindless task.
He could barely believe how different Kaya was turning out to be from the Kaya he remembered. He didn't know how much of his memory from 'before' was accurate, but the old Kaya never had a developed, playful, sometimes sarcastic sense of humor, and definitely never left the manor on her own regularly. The boy sniper grinned, recalling the game of hide and seek they'd played last time he visited.
While not quite athletic, Kaya was healthy and hardy enough that she could cover almost a quarter of the island by the time Usopp counted to one hundred. His Haki would have made the game child's play even if she could choose any part of the island, but he preferred tracking her with his eyes and ears and wits. He felt gratified knowing that the parts of his brain that weren't connected to lifting heavy objects, shooting, making various flavors of bomb (and worrying) hadn't shriveled up entirely.
"Hey, you!"
Usopp looked up from his fistfuls of weeds. He blinked. Twice. Rubbed his eyes and blinked again, struck by a wave of deja vu.
"You're Usopp, right?"
Three kids (his kids, his 'crew', holy crap) stared intently at him as one unit.
'So tiny.'
Usopp, indecisive and caught off balance, both nodded and shrugged.
"Who wants to know?" He asked, as if he didn't know them already. (If it was this tricky with people he hadn't seen in years, how would he manage with his nakama?)
"The pretty lady" Piiman began.
"Kaya-nee!" Ninjin interrupted.
"Kaya-nee told us about you!" Tamanegi finished.
Yet another drastic change- Kaya ventured into the village regularly, even without Usopp. Often enough, in fact, that the villagers knew her by face as much as reputation.
"Are you really a master marksman?" They demanded, Piiman regarding him skeptically. Ninjin held his hands behind his head in a familiar pose, and Tamanegi scrutinized him.
"Well yeah." Usopp answered casually. He didn't have to boast- it was the truth, and just about the only skill he had steadfast confidence in.
The three kids huddled and exchanged heated whispers. Usopp folded his arms and waited, smirking.
"Prove it!" Tamanegi said, pivoting back to face him.
Usopp raised one eyebrow. They had to confer for that?
"Okay." He agreed. "Name your terms."
"I'll put this tin can on that stump," Piiman said, holding up the target and pointing out about fifty paces. "You can do at least that much, right?"
"Of course." Usopp said.
"Show us!" Ninjin insisted.
"Nope."
"Huh?!"
"That's too easy," Usopp said before they could start protesting. "I mean, a stationary target at that distance? I'll tell you what, one of you kids go running with your can."
Usopp pointed at the stump with his thumb, pulling out his slingshot with his other hand.
"Hold it up over your head. Once you're past that stump, keep running, and I'll sink this pachinko ball into the can."
The kids conferred again, throwing wide-eyed looks back at him amid their whispering. Tamanegi was entrusted with the task and started running.
Usopp tracked the kid's speed, factored in wind resistance, liable drop off- all without really thinking about it. Once Tamanegi was past the stump, he loaded his slingshot.
"I see you've met my boys." Kaya said in a deliberately loud voice.
Instead of flinching, (Usopp had sensed her 'voice' a while ago) he slowly turned his head to face her, slingshot still loaded, and fired without looking.
"Hm?" He asked nonchalantly, inwardly laughing at the floored expression on her face when Tamanegi let out a huge exclamation of amazement and confirmed that Usopp hit his mark.
"Oh, hello Kaya." Usopp said with a poorly suppressed grin.
She shook her head, huffed and rolled her eyes.
"Showoff." She muttered.
"Try not to fall in love." Usopp said, posing as he pretended to buff his fingernails against his overalls.
"Oh Usopp," Kaya swooned. "You should have warned me sooner."
They held eye contact for all of five seconds before Usopp broke down in laughter, followed by Kaya's giggles soon after.
"What's up?" Usopp asked after he calmed down. "Aren't you usually in your tutoring sessions around now?"
Kaya shrugged.
"I got bored, so I finished early and decided to look for you." She narrowed her eyes at him and wrinkled her nose. "I still say you cheated last time we played hide and seek."
Usopp sputtered and pulled his best indignant face. "I did no such thing!"
It wasn't his fault he could hear her 'voice' a mile away. Or that he had twice the experience she did with hiding spots on the island.
"Pro~ve it." Kaya challenged with a smile.
Compared to the kids, Usopp didn't feel quite as confident taking on whatever Kaya had in mind.
But, it was Kaya, so-
"Name your terms!"
'Usopp has a lot of quirks.' Kaya mused on her way to her friend's house. She'd turned twelve a while ago, and her parents were finally letting her leave the house unescorted.
More specifically, they'd finally given her permission to leave the house unescorted. She'd been sneaking out under her own power for years. Of course, then her parents started trading looks when they asked what she did on weekends and afternoons after her tutoring sessions.
"I visit Usopp at his house. He usually has something interesting to show me."
Kaya rolled her eyes. If her parents were being weird about Usopp's 'common' birth or something, she could just yell at them and storm out. It'd almost be preferable to them making her feel awkward about her best friend of six years just because he was a boy.
It wasn't as if someone could change Usopp's sex.
.
.
.
Which brought her thoughts around again to the boy in question. Usopp had ample eccentricities, enough for several characters by Kaya's estimation.
During the trip off the island with her parents a couple years ago, he'd taken the few thousand beri she'd been allowed for shopping, pulled her into a clothing store, and bargained the owner out of seven dresses for her for the full retail price of three.
When she commented on it, he waved his hand dismissively.
("That was actually a pretty amateur job.")
On the rare days she still got sick, they'd hole up in the library. Kaya usually fell asleep, but each time she woke up, without fail, Usopp would be reading (and re-reading) volume one of Rainbow Mist with a profoundly sad look on his face. She had to call his name multiple times before he heard her. Despite how deeply she wanted to, and how much his apparently random instances of turning cagey bothered her, she didn't ask.
Kaya wrinkled her nose at the memory. She continued down her mental list, absently noting something spicy on the breeze, which made her squint in distaste. The cook had fallen sick a couple weeks ago, and Usopp volunteered to fix lunch for the two of them. Curious, she persuaded Merry to allow it. That, unfortunately, was how she found out her friend was fond of very spicy food.
("Whoops, sorry, that one's mine.")
Speaking of food, Usopp also had an adamant belief against wasting anything that could be eaten. He had yet to call out her parents on the rare occasions all four were present for a meal, thankfully, even if he almost visibly strained with the effort. (Although, honestly, Kaya imagined their reactions might be pretty funny.) When just the two of them ate, however, Usopp refused to let Kaya's plate return to the kitchen until it was clear of food, even if he had to wolf it down himself.
As Usopp's house came into view, Kaya waved to one of the villagers she passed and pondered what they would do for the day. She smiled, recalling Usopp's occasionally hilarious attempts at 'peeking out' from hiding places. Instead of poking his head around a corner, he'd put his whole body out in the open, leaving just half his face obscured.
("You're doing it again!"
"Ah! No way! I got mixed up!")
Kaya snickered at the memory as she came to Usopp's doorstep. She lifted one hand to knock, the other reaching preemptively for the handle.
Bom!
Only to jump back when a small explosion rattled the door. Half a second later, Usopp burst out from inside, sporting a clothespin on his nose and a wide grin.
"SUPER!" He shouted, his own variation of 'eureka'.
"Hi, Kaya!" He said, voice a bit nasally with his nose pinched.
Kaya gagged and threw her hands up to cover her nose and mouth.
"What in Kami's name is that smell?" She asked, eyes watering at the foul odor now wafting out of Usopp's home.
"Homemade stink bombs!" He declared proudly, hands on his hips. "I tested them personally!"
"You don't say," Kaya deadpanned. She fanned a hand in front of her face, still covering her nose. "Didn't you tell me you perfected those last week?"
"I improved on my designs," Usopp said. "I can't just settle when I get as far as 'good enough', Kaya. I'm going to be a pirate, after all."
Kaya paused and looked askance at him, stench momentarily forgotten.
"That's news to me." She said neutrally.
Usopp cocked his head, eyebrows pinched together.
"I didn't tell you?"
Kaya shook her head. She knew about his father, of course. Usopp was always willing to talk openly about his Dad, the pirate on Shanks' crew, a warrior of the sea. She hadn't thought Usopp planned to do the same, though. She thought-
Actually, she didn't think anything. She'd never considered the future that far out all too seriously before. She couldn't rightly be upset at Usopp for thinking ahead when she hadn't, even if the idea of him eventually leaving hurt and did odd things to her stomach.
Kaya took a deep breath.
And immediately and violently coughed, the offensive odor crashing into her senses again.
"You can tell me about it now, then," she said, snatching Usopp's wrist and dragging him away from his front stoop. "But first, we are going to the shore and you are going to soak in sea water until you smell like salt, instead of… whatever's in that cloud following you around."
Usopp stumbled after her for a few seconds before he fell into step.
"I get to keep my head above water, right?" He asked after a pause.
Kaya threw a smirk back at him.
"Depends on my mood when we get there."
Her friend might be weird in a lot of different ways, but Kaya still wouldn't trade him for anything. And pirate or not, she knew she would always trust him.
The day was another unassuming one. Usopp had been dragged away from his workshop by Kaya before lunch. The heiress' tutoring sessions had been short, and her parents were home, so the cook put out something a little special for the meal, even spicing Usopp's plate specifically to his tastes.
Afterward, Kaya wanted to take a walk on the beach while their food settled. Her parents, after exchanging a look that made Kaya's cheeks turn a little pink, decided they'd join them.
'They're so obvious.' Kaya mouth-whispered to him.
Usopp could only smile sympathetically. Her parents didn't explicitly state they were chaperoning, but, yes, they absolutely were. They put on some pretense to the contrary by walking ahead of Usopp and Kaya, but, well, he didn't need his sniper's eyesight to notice the regular backward glances.
"Just ignore them," Kaya sighed, tracing a line in the sand with her toe. "Hey, tell me the adventure of your crew going to Fishman Island again."
"Marksman, Kaya, they weren't my crew," Usopp gently corrected her. He'd been careful to omit the names of his nakama from his narratives, but unlike last time, they were no longer the adventures of 'The Great Captain Usopp-sama'. "And do you really wanna risk your Dad overhearing me 'sell you on flights of fancy'?"
Kaya swatted at his arm, rolling her eyes.
"Whatever! It's not as though he can do anything about it anymore, I'm not a child. Besides, you live literally fifteen minutes away. Unless I get shipped off the island, I can see you whenever I want."
Usopp made a show of raising his eyebrows.
"Why, Kaya, I had no idea you were so willful!"
Before the heiress could do more than cheekily poke her tongue out at him, Kaya's mother gave a startled cry up ahead of them. Usopp and Kaya jogged to catch up.
Usopp barely bit back a growl at the prone, pale form of Kuro on the sand. The pirate captain was soaked and shivering, but his 'voice' remained appropriately cold-blooded.
The sniper had to make a physical effort to school his features into an expression of concern, or at the least, something neutral, rather than the scowl he internalized.
Reluctantly, he helped Kaya's father lift Kuro onto his feet. He scoffed at the cat pirate's acting.
'Klahadore.' Kuro said. Hah!
And was this really his best impression of a poor, wounded soul in dire straits? His form sucked! Usopp INVENTED the damn technique!
If he had his way in the world, Usopp would have found Kuro alone, with no witnesses to interfere with the thrashing the bastard deserved. Instead, he silently bore Kuro's weight as they all headed back to the manor.
One way or another, Usopp's litmus test for how much stronger he'd become was imminent.