A/N: I present to you the fourth chapter of my story's introduction. Please enjoy. *Bows*

Before we begin, I ask you- Who is best fit to counter an intelligent, detail-oriented man who thinks he's untouchable?
I submit the answer- A paranoid man who knows he isn't.

I have no claim to One Piece, only the ideas in my head.

Kuro sneered openly at his reflection, gaze disdainful as he took in the suit he'd been given.

Had every plebeian involved in the production process truly been so idiotic that no one noticed the emblems on the jacket resembled excrement?

He pushed his glasses up his nose, dismissing the grievance as petty. Especially given the returns awaiting him upon his plan's fruition. The manor, equipped with servants quarters, which he'd share for the immediate future, was comfortable without being ostentatious or grossly extravagant. He could easily fade into obscurity and never again concern himself with the tedium his piracy career had brought him.

He ran through the steps he needed to take in his mind, more as a mental exercise than any sort of necessity.

He would establish himself as a fixture of the manor- already done, as he'd procured room and board as a servant. With a few tactically timed comments about his skills (secretarial, perhaps), he'd pique the interest of the lord and lady. Once he proved his capacity by, say, improving the efficiency of household and personal care (a trivial matter, given his intellect), he'd rise to a position of leadership.

From there, the task of personal care for the family would, gradually, fall exclusively to him. A foundation of trust and respect thus established, he'd compound on it with interest over time. After he'd ingratiated himself adequately, he'd whittle away at his target with surgical precision.

"Klahadore?"

Kuro instantly schooled his features into a perfect mask- a little startled, slightly embarrassed yet composed, and a pinch of meekness to sell his story that he was still recovering.

The very picture of deference met Kaya's eyes when she appeared.

"Are you all settled?" She asked, her countenance open and exuding kindness.

"Quite comfortably, Miss Kaya," Kuro said, dipping his head low. "I must thank you and your parents again for your generosity towards me."

She smiled brightly and waved a hand.

"Oh, don't worry about that!" She said dismissively. "We were happy to help. I'm glad you seem to be feeling better."

Kuro smiled graciously at her.

The heiress would, naturally, have to lose her parents by way of unfortunate circumstances. He'd iron out the details of methods later, but she first must inherit the family fortune before she could pass it onto him. And why wouldn't she, once she became reliant on him in her grief? Who more fitting a beneficiary than the one responsible for protecting her from those who might take advantage of her vulnerable, emotional state?

"Kaya! Where'd you go?"

The girl turned from the door and called back.

"Here, Usopp! Just a second, I'm coming!"

Kaya left with a final smile cast over her shoulder at Kuro. He straightened and adjusted his glasses again.

The boy, Usopp, was an X factor in Kuro's plan. He was obviously of common birth, yet he and the heiress were so mutually familiar with one another that one could be forgiven for mistaking him for an adopted sibling. They were together often, and attached at the hip.

Kuro sniffed. The child could be removed from the equation, first by a fabricated series of betrayals against the heiress. Kuro would come around to eliminate Usopp once he inherited Kaya's fortunes. The boy would doubtless harbor too much suspicion for life to be peaceful. An accident could easily be arranged.

Still, he was getting ahead of himself. Resolved to bide his time, Kuro adopted his persona of Klahadore and stepped out to find Merry, that he would be shown around the manor and instructed on his new responsibilities.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Klahadore," Merry said with a smile, adding with a hint of humor. "Please treat me well!"

For all his modesty regarding his abilities, Merry's new colleague had proven an exceptionally quick study. Klahadore never needed to be told anything more than once, and within one week of his official employment, he worked with a competence and efficiency at least on par with Merry's.

Which had, actually, indirectly brought about the meeting with the master and mistress minutes ago. After years of tackling all household tasks essentially on his own, Merry found that there was an awkwardness to suddenly sharing his work. Over the past month, a lack of communication resulted in a few missteps, such as when the cook pulled Merry aside and asked why the kitchen had double the ingredients he'd requested.

Minor things, but as Klahadore pointed out, small things added up in the long run. Hence, his suggestion-

("If one of us were assigned a managerial role, a division of labor might be established, and thus, more organized, we'd be more expedient and better equipped to prevent future mishaps.")

Merry had been impressed at the initiative, and the master and mistress agreed. Klahadore was appointed head butler on the spot.

"I do hope you don't feel overlooked, Merry," Klahadore said. "You are in a position of seniority."

Merry tutted. He didn't harbor any resentment over it. Besides, he'd begun warming to Klahadore. He could be more expressive, perhaps, but his diligence in his work made clear that he was truly grateful to the family.

The new arrangement would also provide Merry with a bit of free time, so he couldn't complain. Maybe he'd dip his toes back into carpentry. He'd been meaning to dedicate some time to a pet project, a charming little caravel, for a long while. He considered taking the idea off the back burner.

"You are better suited to the position," Merry said. He chuckled. "Pride is rather unsightly on a butler anyway, don't you think?"

Klahadore gave a small, cordial smile. He adjusted his glasses with the heel of his palm.

"Quite."

Kuro patiently gathered information on Usopp as the months passed. Discreetly, and from outside sources, of course. He intended to sow doubt in the minds of his employers without calling attention to himself, after all. Gossip, and the dissemination and manipulation thereof, was the best means of doing so.

Casual prompts for small talk during errands in the village sufficed for a start.

("It seems a shame Miss Kaya does not have more young people her age to socialize with."

"Yes, she's plenty popular with the three local rascals. Then there's that Usopp, you know…")

Idolized by the village children, a reported prodigy with a slingshot, hardworking and a frequent taker of odd jobs.

None of these facts suited Kuro's purpose, and he found the scarcity of proverbial dirt on the child odd. Had he not lived in this village all his life?

He required an angle he could strike from. He required the means for arousing suspicion in the minds of Kaya and her family. They first needed to believe that a betrayal on the boy's part was feasible before mistrust could be exploited.

Hence, he approached the owner of the village produce market, one Mr. Root, during a shopping run.

"Pardon me," Kuro said once his purchases were in order. "But I wondered if you could clear something up for me."

"I'll see what I can do." Mr. Root replied.

"Are you familiar with that local boy, Usopp?" Kuro asked.

Mr. Root nodded, sorting out displays and glancing back at Kuro, clearly curious about the choice of subject.

"Yeah, he helps out here occasionally, carries in stock and some other odd labor bits- my back ain't what it used to be- good kid." Mr. Root said, curiosity giving way to something else. The shop owner narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. "What about him?"

Kuro made a show of shuffling his feet, glancing away.

"It's a bit embarrassing that I even have to ask," he said. "But to ask the lord and lady would be mortifying. Especially when it's coming up on six months since they helped me."

Kuro coughed, confirmed that Mr. Root had relaxed again, and asked.

"Is Usopp Miss Kaya's adopted brother, by chance?"

Mr. Root's eyebrows shot up, then the corners of his eyes wrinkled in mirth as he laughed.

"Nah, those two are just really close friends. Met when they were a couple of tykes and hit it off." He scratched one side of his face, looking thoughtful. "I reckon that was a major bit of good luck for the kid."

Kuro adjusted his glasses, sensing something potentially useful.

"How do you mean?"

"Well," Mr. Root said, rubbing the back of his neck. He folded his arms, suddenly uncomfortable. "Might not be my business to say, but Usopp's always been a real quiet kid, keeping himself to himself. Can't blame him, his Dad left him and his Mom when he was real little, off to be a pirate of all things."

Kuro filed that nugget away for later.

"And Banchina died a couple years after," Mr. Root shook his head. "Before the little lady showed up, seems like he only showed up in the village once every few weeks. Even now, he only really shows up if Kaya's walking around or to help me out once a week."

Kuro nodded, snatching the relevant pieces of Mr. Root's divulgence. The former pirate politely made his excuses and departed, already aware of how to initiate the next phase of his plan.

Implementation of his plan was simplicity itself.

A handful of days after the lord and lady returned to the manor, Kuro answered a summons for tea in their mutual study.

As he served them, he asked a question, despite knowing the answer.

"Begging pardon, but do you know where Miss Kaya might be?"

"Her tutoring ended a bit ago," the lady replied, while the lord perused a document pertaining to their business. "If she's not in the manor, she's as like to be out with Usopp."

"Ah," Kuro said. "Usopp."

A hum- ponderous, sharp enough for his employers to notice yet not quite obtrusive.

"Was there something else, Klahadore?" The lord asked, still focused on reading while he lifted his cup of tea.

"Oh," Kuro said, dipping his head. "Nothing important, just idle thoughts. I find myself curious as to how young Usopp occupies his time."

"Mmm."

The lord agreed it seemed unimportant. The lady nodded, only being courteous, Kuro could tell. He'd discarded the idea of attacking Usopp's heritage- such an outright remark against the boy, on his social standing, blood or otherwise, would be more detrimental to 'Klahadore' than Usopp. Instead, he chose to pick at a different thread.

"In all my trips into town," Kuro said, his tone level, to project the image of thinking out loud. "I have not run into him myself. Were it not for secondhand accounts, I should be inclined to say he only ever spends time in his home or Miss Kaya's quarters."

A careful lilt and enunciation on the last word was critical.

A word like 'bedroom' might have been too suggestive, after all.

The lord's tea cup stilled halfway to his lips, and Kuro knew he'd succeeded.

He pushed his glasses up his nose, face turned to hide a satisfied smirk.

Having a scheming, murdering bastard skulk around his island, hidden in plain sight, could not be doing Usopp's health any favors. And he needed all the health he could get, since his mental state on good days was questionable with his anxiety alone.

After waiting six months for Kuro to make a move, Usopp's nerves were frayed to the point of cruel and unusual. His trigger hand was developing a twitch whenever Kuro so much as blinked.

In some ways, Usopp brought that on himself by choosing to wait. With his Haki, and the advantage of surprise on his side, Usopp's odds of success were almost certain if he attacked first. It would sour his relationship with Kaya and her family, since he didn't have proof of what he knew outside of a shadow in an old bounty poster. Technically, he didn't need Kaya's friendship for the remaining years until Luffy arrived. It'd just be really nice to have.

His only practical (if questionable) excuses were that, one, he didn't have any surefire way to make sure Kuro stayed off the island once he got evicted. Two, and the weaker, was that Merry would be less amiable about Going Merry if Usopp's relationship with him took a dive. The ship could still be bought.

No, Usopp's only reason for continuing to wait, despite how much doing so flirted with masochism, was much more personal and less rooted in logic.

He had to have a confrontation with Kuro. A real one.

Thus, Usopp pushed for another day in the library with Kaya instead of running around the island. The same he'd been doing at least once a week. He knew that Kaya knew his behavior had changed, he noticed the way she narrowed her eyes by a millimeter before acquiescing to his request.

He couldn't exactly tell her it was so he could stem some of his very rational fear that Kuro would do something when Usopp was on the opposite shore of the island. He still remembered Kuro's insistence that he didn't kill Kaya's parents. The liar.

Instead of the truth, Usopp placated her curiosity by claiming he wanted to study chemistry for new bombs and weapons. And then he actually started studying a little chemistry for bombs and weapons. Because Kaya was scary perceptive when it came to Usopp. Probably inevitable after knowing him for seven years.

"Excuse me, Usopp?"

Which was how Merry found them in the manor's library. Usopp looked up from where he sat on the floor, hunched over a book on the coffee table. Kaya, who had spread out over the cushioned couch behind him, peeked over the top of her own book.

("I don't think ladies usually sprawl out like that if they're not in bed, Kaya."

"I would never judge you, Usopp, you know that.")

"Yeah, Merry?" Usopp said slowly, blinking away the fatigue that followed him now.

"The, ah," Merry said, pausing as though unsure. He cleared his throat. "The master would speak to you in his study."

Usopp took a few seconds longer to shrug at that information than he usually would. He heard Kaya move to get up with him, and Merry cut in.

"Alone, actually."

The sniper didn't have to look to know his friend narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose. He patted her hand, a silent 'I'll be back' and left with Merry.

Outside the door to the study, Merry murmured a quick 'Good luck' and departed.

The twenty minutes that followed were, in a word, excruciating.

Most of that time didn't even involve any dialogue. Kaya's father ushered him in, made him wait for two minutes while he sat at his desk and scrutinized him, then dropped a cannonball on the marksman's unprepared skull.

"How often are you in my daughter's bedroom?"

Even in Usopp's sleep-deprived mind, alarm bells sounded, and he chose his words very carefully.

"Not often," he said, allowing the rest of his answer to spill out all at once with the urgency of an avalanche. "Only when she invites me in, with the door as wide open as possible, in the broadest of daylight as possible, and as far from her bed as possible." He breathed. "Sir."

Usopp's interrogator sat for another full minute before he nodded, then began reading through a stack of forms with unnerving nonchalance. After fidgeting for a bit, Usopp rose to leave.

"Sit."

The man hadn't even looked up, and Usopp had just made it halfway out of his chair.

Only after a scream-

"DEAR KAMI, MOTHER, I BEG YOU, STOP TALKING!"

breached several walls did Kaya's father glance at him.

"You are excused."

Usopp may not have been the smartest, but even he could read the subtext.

'See to it this never needs to happen again.'

Which, Usopp thought as he tried to walk, not run, from the room, suited him just fine. He'd suffered through beatings that weren't as unpleasant.

'Where the hell did that come from?' Usopp wondered, putting his face in his hands.

He scoured over what he'd done with Kaya in the past few weeks, trying to pinpoint what triggered… whatever he'd just been through.

Neither of their birthdays had passed recently, it wasn't some rite of passage or milestone. Usopp groaned. The talk came entirely out of left field, and he'd been so preoccupied with Kuro that-

Click.

Went Usopp's brain.

"Rat cat bastard." He hissed into his hand.

'He's playing the long game.'

Usopp could have smacked himself. Of course Kuro was playing the long game. The crooked ex-captain played a bit part for three years.

'I've been going at this all wrong.'

Usopp tapped a finger on his face as he walked back to the library, so entrenched in his thoughts that he didn't notice Merry's sympathetic look.

A reactive strategy wouldn't cut it- the more time Kuro had, the more damage he could do, and the harder it could get for Usopp to intervene. The marksman needed to get proactive and make Kuro focus all of his attention on him. Force him to see Usopp as a threat, not just a hindrance.

He found Kaya on the couch again, albeit with her knees curled under her and trying to fit in as small a space as possible. When she heard him, she turned red, almost squeaked and hid her face behind a book.

She'd probably feel an awkward tension between them for a while, no doubt exactly what Kuro wanted.

Usopp clenched his fist, walked around the coffee table, and sat down on the floor near the opposite end of the couch to give her space. On the sheets he'd been taking notes on, he scribbled an outline for a plan.

Before Kuro made his next move, Usopp would be ready.

"Begging your pardon, Miss Kaya," Kuro said as he refilled the lord's coffee at breakfast. "I noticed during my rounds this morning that your desk drawer had been disturbed. I only ask out of concern, but did you leave it open?"

The heiress' stilled hand on her cup of tea and slight paling of her features answered him. She made not-quite-hasty excuses and left the table. Understandable given the contents of the drawer Kuro specified, the only locked furnishing in Kaya's room. And the one containing her diary.

The lord's gaze flickered, if only a moment, toward Usopp. The boy had fallen asleep on the couch in the library the previous evening, and owing to the rain, Kaya personally requested he not be sent home.

Kuro could hardly believe such an opportunity had fallen into his lap. With Usopp present, Kaya's parents would subconsciously make their circumstantial judgements all the more readily.

"Everything okay, Kaya?"

Kuro paused in the middle of collecting silverware as the heiress returned to her seat. He had thought, for an instant, that Usopp was glaring at him.

"Yes," Kaya replied, the color in her face normal again. "I was worried I may have misplaced something, but everything is where it belongs."

Kuro froze with tray in hand, grip tightening on the platter's rim. He'd planted Kaya's diary in Usopp's satchel! He planned things out so he could 'apprehend' the boy later that day!

"Thank you for letting me know, Klahadore," Kaya said, pouting a bit. "Though you did scare me for a moment."

Pushing down his confusion and annoyance, Kuro bowed his head and apologized.

"Now, now," Usopp said. "We all make mistakes, Kaya. Not even the marines are infallible."

Kuro's eyes flashed up. He was sure the brat emphasized his enunciation around 'marines'. The posing butler opened his mouth.

"Isn't that right, Klahadore?"

And he clicked it shut.

Because he did not imagine the lilt Usopp put on his assumed name.

'Irritating.'

Usopp crept his way into the servants quarters, checking again that Kuro's 'voice' was still in the village. He stole his way down the hall toward Kuro's room. He had to check each room he came across the first time, so he had the layout memorized.

Hop over the creaky floor board under the rug, mind the errant protruding nail head, turn right after the second (huge) storage closet, and so on.

He quietly entered the fake butler's quarters.

As dictated by his simple yet effective counter-strategy, Usopp had made aggravating Kuro his personal mission. He'd been successful, too, if his count of Kuro's new, throbbing forehead veins were any indication. The bogus butler had, after Usopp's previous excursions into his room (all of which were deniable, obviously) made a suggestion to Kaya's parents that they install locks. He did so within earshot of Usopp, flashing a glare at him.

Trolling a downright bastard was incredibly satisfying.

For all Usopp knew, Kuro's errand in town was about getting locks.

Not that it mattered- before the next day dawned, they'd have their confrontation.

Usopp didn't have to look for long to find a black duffel bag. He took two seconds to confirm its contents and then pinned a note to Kuro's pillow.

"Usopp?"

The sniper froze.

Kaya.

Kaya, who had tutoring in politics and history at this hour, whose room was on the opposite end of the house on the second floor, who Usopp hadn't checked for.

Kaya was calling his name.

The marksman hissed and loosed a tirade comprised solely of choice four-letter words in his head.

He grabbed the duffel bag and ran out, shutting the door as quietly and quickly as he dared.

He just had to get out, it'd be fine he could leave unseen-

"Usopp!"

'Shit.'

She was already at the other end of the hallway when he turned. There weren't any exits he could reach without passing her.

Body moving faster than his brain, Usopp snatched Kaya's wrist, ripped open the door to one of the storage rooms and threw her in. He not-quite-slammed the door shut behind him, his back pressed against the room's only exit.

Kaya stared at him for several seconds like he was a stranger. Her brow pinched in concern, and she opened her mouth-

"Why aren't you in your room with your tutor?"

Usopp asked, his anxiety sharpening his tone into something like accusation.

Kaya frowned and folded her arms, settling in for a longer talk than Usopp wanted.

"I told him I had to use the bathroom," she said plainly, not following up with any dry humor like she usually would. "Why are you skulking around the servant's quarters? And what were you doing in Klahadore's room?"

Usopp saw her eyes flicker down to the duffel bag- clearly not his, since he was carrying his own satchel.

"Why do you think I was in Klahadore's room?" He deflected.

Kaya scowled, and wrinkled her nose like she'd set off one of his stink bombs.

"Don't treat me like I'm stupid, Usopp. There's nothing else down that way, and I'd have to be blind to miss the weird tension between you two."

She let out a deep breath, expression a little softer, though no less determined.

"Tell me what's going on."

Usopp chewed his lip.

Ping.

He snapped his head to one side, towards the village.

Kuro was on his way back.

'Damn, damn.'

"Kaya," Usopp said. "I will tell you whatever you want real soon, I promise, but right now I"

"Screw that!" Kaya almost yelled. Fighting off a heart attack, Usopp hissed between his teeth and waved his hands, silently begging her to be quieter. "You've been acting strange for months and now you're stealing and you won't even say anything to me! I've had it, Usopp! Tell me what's going on, now!"

Usopp tugged at his bandana, one hand clenching and unclenching. Of all times for Kaya to call him out on being cagey.

After a minute passed, she glared and stormed up to him with clear intent to move him aside.

"Fine. I'll just get Klahadore's side of the story, maybe"

"NO!"

Usopp yelped, grabbing Kaya's shoulders hard enough that she flinched. He let go immediately, realizing his mistake, but he didn't let her past him. She stepped back, bewildered, eyes wide, but thankfully not hurt.

He planned on telling her anyway, after things were resolved. A difference of twenty four hours wasn't that big a deal, and far preferable to her going to a still agitated Kuro for answers.

"Okay," Usopp said, hoping his quick rationalization didn't get anyone hurt. "Okay, just- sit down and promise not to scream, all right?"

Kaya nodded, her mouth a thin line. She folded her skirt behind her and sat on a stack of lumber. (Usopp noted absently that they must have been for Merry's use.)

Usopp pulled out a rolled up poster and opened it.

"Klahadore isn't who he says," he said, and he handed over Kuro's bounty poster. "He's a pirate, a captain, actually, and he's dangerous." He plowed ahead, refusing to watch Kaya's reaction. "He's killed, led raids and pillaged, and taken down platoons of marines single-handed. They called him Kuro of a Hundred Plans."

"No…" Kaya whispered, faintly shaking her head. "No, no, that can't be right."

Usopp ignored the pang in his gut at having his friend doubt him again.

"Kaya," he said, voice even, though he felt hurt. "I've told you stories, but would I ever lie out of malice?"

Kaya looked up from the poster. Her face had gone pale, but she mustered the strength to halfway scold him.

"I believe you, stupid," she said, still quiet. "It just doesn't seem real."

She stared back at the photo. Her grip tightened, crinkling the paper.

"Why is he here?" She asked in a frightened murmur. Her eyes flew back up to Usopp.

"Why is he here?"

'To kill you,' Usopp thought, features darkening. 'To kill you, your family, Merry- to loose his crew on the village to do whatever they want, and then to kill all of them. All for some fucking money and an easy life.'

"Usopp!" Kaya pleaded. Her breathing grew shallow and harried. The poster fell out of her hands and she trembled.

Usopp cursed himself- he was scaring her, took too long to answer and she was letting worst case scenarios fill in the gaps. He squatted in front of her and took her hands in his.

"I don't know for sure," he said. He made himself breathe slowly, trying to calm her down. "I'm gonna find out."

"Call the marines," Kaya said between gasps, slowly coming back to herself. "I'll tell my parents and Merry- We'll…" she tapered off.

"Telling is too risky," Usopp said gently. "No way of knowing how he'll react. And, well, the marines won't help us."

"Why not?!"

"Officially, about a year ago, Kuro of the Black Cat pirates was captured by a marine officer," Usopp said. "The government won't want to own up to their mistakes unless they have to."

Kaya looked like she wanted to argue. She didn't, but her face stayed mulish a good while.

After another minute, she sighed. She stood up and rubbed her eyes.

"I don't like this," she said. She narrowed her eyes at him. "But you've got a plan and I can't stop you, can I?"

Once again, Usopp found himself amazed at how much tougher Kaya was. Sheltered all her life, and she was taking it all like a pro.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm going to be a pirate, guys like him will see me as competition. If things go south, I can handle him." He stooped down and rolled up the bounty poster again. "I just need you to act normal for the rest of the day. This will be figured out by tomorrow."

"Normal," Kaya parroted. "Yeah, okay, I can do that."

Usopp smiled a little for her and checked on Kuro again. It'd be a small window, but if he made tracks, they'd miss each other.

"Usopp?"

The marksman's feet were rooted to the floor, though, by the sound of Kaya's meek voice. Eerily similar to Kaya of the first time on her bad days.

"Can you remind me how normal goes?" She asked, hands fisted in her dress. "I'm scared."

Usopp tugged her into a hug.

"Normal is outpacing your tutors," he said. "It's wandering around outside because you want to whether or not anyone said you could. It's being kind to the local kids and the people in the village."

He held her a little tighter.

"Normal is knowing it's okay to be scared."

Kaya took several deep breaths. She nodded against his shoulder and he pulled back.

Just as Kuro stepped into the manor.

"Miss Kaya?"

Kaya hadn't noticed before, but given the context she'd just learned, Klahadore loomed over her even when he acted deferential.

"What were you doing in the servants quarters?" Klah- Kuro asked.

Before she left him, Usopp had given her one last bit of advice.

("Don't overthink things- think before you speak, but if you worry about everything you do, none of it will come across as natural.")

"I was looking for you," she said, not giving herself a chance to pause and lock up or be afraid. "I had a sudden craving for some of those cakes we had last week, and the call bell wasn't working."

Kuro pressed his glasses up his nose with his wrist.

"I assure you the system is fine," he said. Kaya tried to focus on anything other than his non-emotive face, how his lack of expression inspired fear instead of endearment. "I was out until a moment ago. I'll submit your request to the chef, but you should still be in your lessons, Miss Kaya."

'You should be on a ship, or in prison,' she retorted in her mind. 'You should be anywhere else, far away from my parents, or Merry, or Usopp.'

"Thank you," she said, her smile one of etiquette and not gratitude. "I'll head back now."

She walked up the stairs, surreptitiously making sure Kuro didn't move toward the servants quarters.

As a child, when Kaya resolved to be a better friend to Usopp, she had imagined sharing her home as a haven, or staving off loneliness, or lending a willing ear to his troubles.

Co-conspiring with him to evict a pirate, one with blood on his hands, from their island had never crossed her mind.

Despite that, despite the fear that nearly overwhelmed her, Kaya would persevere. She'd do whatever she could, however little, to help Usopp.

'Just one day.' She thought, recalling Usopp's promise. As ever, she trusted him, so she didn't allow herself to worry about anything beyond midnight that night.

Two months had seen Kuro's patience tested to his breaking point. Several times.

Since his botched frame job, the brat took every opportunity to send him a knowing, unbearably smug grin. He never got caught doing it, either, as if he could sense every moment he held Kuro's attention.

Highly vexing, but Kuro took it as just that- an annoyance, if in the extreme. The brat couldn't possibly have known Kuro's identity. The comment about marines and such could only have been a coincidence.

Then the little long-nose pest began leaving things in his room. No way to prove it, else Kuro would have rightfully complained to the lord about violations of his privacy.

But he didn't need evidence to know- no one else could have penned the list titled 'One Hundred Plans to Make a Fortune' that was on his bed. Kuro tore it into pieces on the spot.

The last straw came when Kuro retired at the end of the day to find a hand drawn Jolly Roger in his quarters.

A Jolly Roger tied to the back of a kitten.

A black kitten.

Kuro exercised an inordinate degree of restraint to keep from hurling the mewling thing out of the nearest window.

"The brat," Kuro hissed. "Needs to die."

He amended his original plan. He could justify a few alterations- the only ones who would mourn and potentially harbor suspicion, Kaya's family and Merry, would ultimately die at a later date.

Still, Kuro took preventative measures against potential future annoyances. He met with Jango the previous afternoon and instructed that he stay away for the remaining two years and four months. Kuro would handle any issues in the interim personally.

The poison Jango procured for him would expedite that. A trace amount in the next meal the brat shared with Kaya would incapacitate him, leaving ample opportunity to engineer his end.

Except the brat didn't make any appearances at the manor that day. Kuro had specifically granted Merry the day off so there'd be no chance of anyone interfering in his alterations to Usopp's food.

When questioned, Kaya sighed.

"He's probably caught up in his latest project."

Kuro cursed. Once again, Usopp made himself an annoyance. Kuro put it out of his mind, however, knowing there would be other opportunities.

The handwritten note he found on his pillow that night, however, prompted a tangible rise in blood pressure.

You may notice something of yours has gone missing. You want it back, I'm sure, before curious, nosy people notice what you keep around and start asking questions. Meet at the north beach, midnight tonight.

-U

Kuro snarled. After several minutes, he tempered his features, failing placid and just barely managing mechanically neutral.

'This changes nothing.'

The brat's death would be messier, that was all. Kuro no longer cared about discretion- he would address that detail after the fact.

Detached and cold, he made his final sweep of the manor. He paused in the kitchen and pushed up his glasses as he inspected the available cutlery.

Usopp walked, almost leisurely, along the cliff face on the north shore. Kuro's duffel hung from his hand, his satchel over his shoulder. His curly hair bound up tight, goggles around his neck, slingshot secure in his sash.

The sniper was possessed by a calm he didn't truly feel. His anxieties were curbed by his focus on the imminent confrontation. There were only two ways it could go, really, and with the absence of excessive 'maybes', he didn't worry as much over it.

The half hour he stood waiting, Kuro's duffel bag sitting between his feet, arms behind his head, was the closest to a peaceful waking moment he'd experienced since he came back.

He relinquished it with a reluctant sigh when he heard Kuro approaching.

"Nice night, isn't it, Kuro?" He asked without turning around. There was a pause, then another step. "That's close enough, I think."

Usopp still didn't turn to face him, only looking over his shoulder. The marksman doubted the phony butler's eyes were as good as his own, let alone in the dark, but just from his 'voice', Kuro was real close to snapping.

Exactly where Usopp wanted him.

"I know you prefer Klahadore these days," Usopp continued. He heaved a put-upon sigh. "But just because I'm good at making things up doesn't mean I enjoy the smell of bullshit."

Usopp faced him fully and pointed at him.

"And you, along with your whole act, have reeked of it since day one."

Kuro glowered, and Usopp noted the pulsing vein on his forehead with grim amusement.

"Your vulgar vernacular betrays your common birth," Kuro sneered, upper lip curled. "And your thievery indicates your heritage. It honestly baffles me that Miss Kaya voluntarily wastes her time with the bastard of a pirate."

Usopp came dangerously close to rolling his eyes. As far as a late entry into their goading game, it was laughable.

Trash talking his father wasn't the surefire 'trigger button' it was the first time.

After living through childhood alone a second time, with the grand bonus of traumatizing memories and immense longing for his nakama, Usopp's feelings toward his Dad were decidedly more nebulous.

His resentment still took a back seat to his admiration. If someone asked, though, whether he wanted to hug or punch his Dad, Usopp would answer 'Yes'.

"You're really gonna keep up with the whole butler bit?" Usopp asked. "I just called you out by name. What else do I have to do? And please, spare me the 'Captain Kuro was captured and executed' routine. Your first mate and acting captain is a hypnotist."

One of Kuro's eyes twitched. He nudged his glasses up his nose with his left wrist.

"Ooh," Usopp said, mimicking the motion. "There it is, your tell! Everybody here thinks it's just a quirky way to fix your glasses, but it's actually a trained habit so you don't skewer your face. The mark of a killer, sca~ry!"

Kuro froze, hand still obscuring half his face. Usopp let his hand fall, and flexed his fingers near his slingshot.

"Anyway," he said, channeling authority. "I called you out here to tell you that your business with Kaya and her family? You're done. And whether it's on a ship, a canoe, a raft- hell, you can swim for all I care- you're gonna leave this island and never come back."

"You," Kuro growled. "Haven't the slightest idea who you're dealing with. You're a brat, one whose only anomalous quality is persistently aggravating those superior to you in every aspect."

Usopp matched Kuro's glare.

"I don't care about the opinion of a small fish in East Blue."

Kuro chuckled darkly, right arm bent and poised behind him.

"What, exactly, does that make you?"

Usopp shrugged.

"I'm nobody, but even a nobody can deal with the likes of you."

Kuro's right arm snapped out straight, blade falling from his sleeve. A flash of metal from a kitchen knife.

Twang!

The ex-pirate didn't even get to move before the tool was shot out of his hand.

Kuro, face apoplectic, snarled.

"For the last time," Usopp said, picking up Kuro's duffel bag. "Take your shit and leave."

Usopp threw the bag Kuro's way.

He knew it was stupid, giving the bastard a chance- not to run, but to fight. He was gambling with Kaya's life, the lives of everyone in his village as well as his own.

He needed to know, though, that he'd made progress, that he could change something.

As much as he ached to see them, Usopp wasn't strong enough to lose his nakama again.

Kuro flickered forward. He retrieved and equipped his cat claws before the duffel even hit the ground.

Usopp, slingshot already in hand, loaded his ammo.

'Feint left,' he thought, Haki tracking Kuro. 'Circle around right, strike from behind!'

Usopp pivoted on his heel.

Exploding Star!

His modified explosive round erupted in Kuro's face. He rocked back. Usopp pursued, kicking up sand to dash for him.

Even disoriented, Kuro slashed one clawed hand at him. The sniper swerved outside, fist cocked back.

He felt cartilage break on impact with Kuro's nose. Heard the tinkling of his broken glasses.

Decisive, ruthless, Usopp pivoted again while Kuro's back was to him. He pulled out his hammer from his satchel and brought it down hard on his skull.

Kuro swayed drunkenly, staggering forward several paces before he managed to turn around. He stood, legs shaking, back bent, glaring with hooded, unfocused eyes.

Whump.

And he fell.

Usopp loomed over his prone form. He lifted his hammer above his head- and dropped it into the sand.

"You can spend whatever's left of your life," he spat. "Knowing you were outdone in every way by a dumb fifteen-year-old coward."

A couple breaths. The rush faded and it sank in.

'I did it.'

Usopp sank to his knees. A wet, trembling chuckle passed his lips.

In the grand scheme of things, it was damn near meaningless. There were people, real pirates, who could wipe out islands whole, their ambitions so macroscopic that Kuro couldn't even be compared.

Usopp only won a scrap.

But it was a scrap of hope.

And he'd protect it with everything he had.