Sorry that progress on this is really slow. It is what it is, I just don't have the time I used to to work on this. I really appreciate all the people who have stuck by this though, and I will try and do the best I can for you.

"Damn!" Zoro grunted, smashing his fist down onto the arm rest of the park bench he was sitting on. A single snowflake fell from the sky and landed on the green-haired teenager's nose.

Law looked seriously at Zoro. "Robin and I… We had a moment where we…."

Zoro stood up and began walking, figuring he needed to get inside now before he got caught in a blizzard.

"… It wasn't Robin's fault. I initiated it and she stopped me."

How could have not have seen it this whole time? Robin had been spending a lot of time with Law, alone with Law, how the hell couldn't he have seen it? He had trusted Robin, sure, and Law was his friend, but how could he have been so stupid?

Zoro grabbed Law by the collar and roughly shoved him against the wall. Law looked calmly back at Zoro. "I'm not gonna stop you. If you want to hit me, go ahead."

Why didn't she tell him?

Zoro pulled his jacket tighter around him, not really dressed for snow. After stumbling through the park, Zoro ended up walking for a while before finally finding a pretty deserted looking coffee shop, the person behind the counter the only one there. He sat down at an empty table and sighed.

What was he going to do?

Just then Zoro felt his phone vibrating. It was Robin, for what must have been the 50th time that day. He put his phone back down and ignored it, just like he did the other 49 times.

######

Law lightly touched his broken nose and winced in pain. Although that slight discomfort was nothing compared to the bad feeling he had in his gut.

He had thought coming clean to Zoro was the right thing to do and it would bring him some sort of relief. But now… Even though Zoro was the one who had punched him, Law could see that the green haired teenager was the one who was hurt more. Even though nothing had actually happened between him and Robin, it would seem the fact that Robin hadn't told Zoro had hurt him a lot and was making Zoro now question what feelings Robin had for both Zoro himself, but also for Law.

He entered the University cafeteria and looked around the room for a second before spotting Nami and Robin. Law quickly turned around to leave at the sight of the dark haired girl. She must be furious at him for telling Zoro about what had happened between them. He was probably the last person she wanted to see.

"Trafalgar, wait!"

Law turned around to see Robin hurrying towards him. "Robin…"

"Trafalgar, I was so worried. I haven't been able to contact Zoro or you all day and Sanji told me you two went somewhere alone last night. I thought something may have happened."

Law blinked in confusion before remembering he had turned his phone off that morning so that it wouldn't go off in his 11am interview. Wait, if Robin hadn't talked to Zoro… did that mean she didn't know what he had told Zoro? The fact she wasn't angry at him seemed to suggest that.

Robin looked expectantly at him. "Do you know where Zoro is?"

"Zoro… didn't come back here last night?"

"No he didn't, what happened-"

"Nothing. I'll find Zoro."

Before Robin could say anything else Law turned around and began walking away. This was all his fault and he had to somehow make this right.

######

Zoro was at the coffee shop for about an hour before he finally decided to hit the road again. He figured it was finally about time to return to the University. Luffy and the others were probably worried about him after all.

The only problem was the usual problem. Zoro's sense of direction had always let him down before and this time was no exception. Although it was a little more understandable considering he had barely been in Baltigo a day.

Zoro dialled Luffy's number, figuring he'd either need to ask his friends for directions or to even just come and meet him. However, Luffy didn't pick up. Zoro chose Usopp's number next and after a couple of dials the long nosed teen did answer.

"Zoro! Is that you?"

"Yeah, it is. Listen Usopp, I'm kind of lost and I-"

"Zoro, finally, I'm so glad you're alright! Where are you?"

"Uh I'm…" Zoro looked around. "Honestly, I don't know. Oh, there's a shop called Newkama Way fashion over there."

"Alright, I'll find where that is and me and Chopper will meet you there. Listen Zoro, something… Something bad happened last night. I'll tell you when I get there. In the meantime, just go and wait inside that shop for us."

"Alright."

With that Zoro hung up and turned towards the shop. In the window he could see brightly coloured flashy outfits and Zoro couldn't help but cringe slightly. He wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like that.

Nonetheless, Zoro went inside, figuring the warmth of the weird shop was better than the cold of the snowy Baltigo streets. Dance music was playing in the background and the interior walls of the shop were painted bright purple. It was completely empty from the looks of it, even though there had been a sign hung on the door saying it was open. Suddenly, Zoro heard a loud voice coming from the back of the store.

"Bon Boy! It looks like we have a customer! Go out to greet him!"

A door behind the front desk opened and out came none other than Bon Kurei, formerly Mr. 2 of Baroque works. However, Bon had never met Zoro and Zoro had never met Bon, so Bon Kurei merely beamed widely at Zoro who looked blankly back at him.

"Hello Sir!" Bon practically shouted. "And just what are you looking for today? We've got all the newest, flashiest, most beautiful Okama clothing in all Baltigo!"

Zoro winced slightly. "Uh… to be honest, this isn't really my thing. I'm… I'm just waiting for someone…"

"Oh, I see, and he's the one who wants to look at our fantastic, dazzling, merchandise?"

"Uh yeah sure…"

Bon edged closer to Zoro who took a step back. "Are you sure I can't tempt you sir? A strapping young man like you would look spectacular in our clothes!"

"I… I'm alright thanks…"

Luckily for Zoro, just then the shop door open and in came Usopp and Chopper. However much to Zoro's surprise, the two froze at the sight of Bon. Usopp pointed at the shop assistant. "You… You're Mr. 2!"

"Ahh, Zoro run away!" Chopper yelped, hiding behind Usopp.

Zoro looked back at Mr. 2, who looked confused for a second before gasping. "Oh yeah, I remember you two now! Aren't you friends with Luffy? How is he doing?"

Usopp blinked. "Huh? Aren't you… What?"

Mr. 2 beamed at Usopp. "It is true that I once was a member of Baroque works… but meeting Luffy and that blonde friend of his changed my life forever. Thanks to him I was able to escape Baroque works and pursue my dream of becoming a Newkama! I.." Bon Kurei sniffed, seemingly getting emotional. "I owe everything to those two!"

"Is this guy for real?" Usopp muttered. "Anyway never mind, Zoro we have to get to the hospital now."

"The hospital? Why? You said something bad happened when we talked on the phone as well…"

Usopp exchanged a nervous glance with Chopper. "We'll explain on the way. For now we have to hurry."

Before Zoro could ask again what was going on, Usopp spun on his heels and began walking. Chopper looked worriedly at the long nosed teenager before glancing back at Zoro. Usopp gritted his teeth as he walked, him wanting to get back to the hospital as soon as possible. He had to be there for Luffy, since Luffy had always been there for him. Ever since that first day…

######

A grumpy six-year-old Zoro glared at Luffy. "This is all your stupid fault again! Why did you have to try and sneak food into the class!"

Luffy laughed happily, not seeming to mind that him and Zoro had spent the first twenty minutes of their lunch break in the classroom, being kept back as a punishment for Luffy doing exactly what Zoro had just said. In terms of why Zoro was punished, it turned out that Luffy had hidden some food in Zoro's pockets without telling the green haired boy, with Luffy wanting to have as much to eat as possible.

"Yeah, I have 8000 men, all waiting under my command!"

A little bit away from Luffy and Zoro was a sizeable crowd of kids, all surrounding the person to whom that voice belonged to. Luffy and Zoro exchanged a confused glance before joining the back of the group. Once there they could see that the one at the centre of the huddle was a boy with long bushy black hair and a long twig shaped nose. He laughed once before he continued talking.

"So there I was, surrounded by three tigers, a couple of lions and a black panther. I thought there was no escape. But then I remembered my Super Strength. I picked up one of the tigers and whacked all the other cats with it. When I was done with them, I finished off the last tiger with my bare hands!"

"That's the dumbest story I've ever heard," Zoro said, more loudly than he realised. All the kids in the group turned to glare at Zoro before they realised who they were looking at and took a step back.

You see, ever since the incident with Alvida and Morgan last year, Luffy and Zoro had gotten a bit of a reputation on the playground, and not a good one. Alvida and Morgan used to be the bullies at the top of the food chain, but now Luffy and Zoro had taken their place. None of the kids seemed to realise that Luffy and Zoro had no desire to bully or harm anyone, but everyone was too scared of the two to get to know them to figure this out for themselves.

"Aah! It's those two!" One kid shouted. Everyone seemed to take a step back, leaving Zoro and Luffy isolated. Luffy blinked.

"I don't get it. Are we playing a game?"

Zoro rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure that's not it…"

Suddenly, one of the kids gasped and turned to Usopp. "Hey! Usopp! You're super strong, right? You can beat these two up, can't you?"

Usopp froze. "Uh.. I… uh… Yeah sure! Sure I can! These two bullies won't know what hit 'em!"

Luffy looked around. "Bullies? Where? Long nose, where are the bullies?"

Usopp stuck his finger out accusingly at Luffy. "How dare you call the Great Captain Usopp 'Long nose' you bully!"

Luffy stared blankly at Usopp before turning to Zoro. "This long nose sure has a high opinion of himself, huh?"

Before Zoro could respond, the crowd of kids turned on Luffy and Zoro. "You two are done for!" One shouted.

"Usopp will kick your asses!" Another yelled.

Zoro turned to look at Usopp, who was smiling confidently at him and Luffy. He sighed before turning to his goofy friend. "I don't know what this is all about Luffy, but it looks like this long nose wants to fight us. Should I go or you?"

Luffy's stomach growled loudly. "You should go Zoro, I'm soooo hungry!"

Zoro rolled his eyes and stepped towards Usopp. The long nosed kid's eyes widened. What… what was going on? Were they really not at all scared by his stories? Did… did they seriously want to fight him. Zoro continued to approach Usopp before he stopped. Usopp blinked. What was going on? Why was he just standing there?

It was then he noticed that Zoro was looking down, at his legs. Usopp followed his gaze down and realized what Zoro was looking at. Usopp's knees were like jelly, shaking uncontrollably. The long nosed looked up once at Zoro, who was staring directly at him. Their eyes were fixed on each other's for a second before Zoro turned around and began walking away. Usopp blinked. "Wh… Where are you going?"

Zoro didn't bother looking back at Usopp. "I'm not gonna fight someone who doesn't have any desire to fight."

With that Luffy and Zoro left, Luffy cheering about the two finally going to get food. Usopp watched the two, not knowing how to react when all of a sudden the kids around him started cheering.

"Did you see that? Roronoa Zoro was too scared to fight Captain Usopp! He just ran away because he was so scared!"

"With Captain Usopp around, we don't have to worry about those jerks again!"

"Three cheers for Captain Usopp!"

As the kids cheered, Usopp watched Luffy and Zoro disappear into the distance. Were those two really bullies?

######

"Excuse me! You two!"

Zoro and Luffy turned around to see Usopp running towards them. It was the day after the incident in the playground and Usopp had just about managed to slip away from his fans, really wanting to talk to Luffy and Zoro. "Oh hey, it's you Long nose!" Luffy said, smiling in such a way that Usopp could now tell that long nose wasn't actually the insult he thought it was yesterday.

Usopp turned to look at Zoro. "Hey. I was wondering why you walked away like that yesterday. I mean, you said you could tell I didn't want to fight you, so you… you probably know…"

"That all that stuff you were telling them is a lie and you're just a big scaredy-cat? Yeah, I know." Zoro said, completing the sentence, albeit not in the way Usopp was originally going to.

"Well yeah. But if you did know that, then why didn't you fight me! You could have beaten me up easily if you really are as strong as everyone thinks you are and then all those guys would think you're even stronger than they already think you are!"

Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Why would we want to do that?"

"Wh… what? Isn't it obvious? If people think you're strong, no one will want to mess with you! If you run away from fights like you did yesterday, people will think you're just a big wuss!"

"That's a dumb reason to fight."

Usopp blinked. He looked at Luffy. "A dumb reason?"

"I don't care what anyone thinks of me. The only time I fight is when someone hurts my friends."

With that, Usopp watched as Zoro and Luffy walked away again.

######

"So then I fired my slingshot straight at the giant goldfish's eye. It screamed in pain before falling back into the ocean, it knowing it had no chance of beating me!"

Usopp grinned as he looked around at the cloud of expectant children. He had only been at the school a few days now yet he seemed to more or less be the most popular kid in the entire school already. Things had worked out pretty well for him.

"Hey there, which one of you runts is the kid called Usopp?"

Usopp turned around to see a group of boys from the year above them approaching him and the rest of his classmates. He grinned confidently at the boy at the front of the group, the one who had just spoken. He had a sharp pointy nose and long messy hair. "That would be me, the great Captain Usopp! And just who are you?"

The pointy nosed kid jerked a finger towards himself and grinned back. "My name's Hordy. Hordy Jones. I've heard a lot about you 'Captain' Usopp. Apparently you beat Monkey D Luffy And Roronoa Zoro, the two who beat Morgan and Alvida from my year."

"Usopp didn't even have to fight those two!" one of Usopp's classmates shouted, running to Usopp's side. "They were so scared of the Captain that they turned around and ran away!"

Usopp nodded and looked back towards Hordy, expecting that slight twisting of the truth to scare him. However instead Hordy's grin deepened. "Is that so? I wanted to be the one to teach those two a lesson myself, however if you beat them then I guess that you're the one I've gotta beat up to prove a point."

Usopp blinked. "Wait, what?"

Hordy took a step towards Usopp, the long nosed boy seeing this now wasn't going quite to plan. "So what do you say, 'Captain', let's get this started…"

Usopp tried to take a step back, but a couple of his classmates nudged him forwards, in the direction of Hordy, who wasn't scared of Usopp in the slightest. This was actually happening…

However just then, luckily, the school building door opened and out came Miss Makino. "Alright Children!" She called out. "Time to come inside!"

Usopp breathed a sigh of relief. "Perfect timing…" he thought to himself. "Any longer and I don't know what would have-"

"Ah what a shame Captain," Hordy said, interrupting Usopp from his thoughts. "Guess we'll have to settle this tomorrow. Meet me here at the start of lunch and we'll see just one of us is top dog in this school."

Usopp gulped as Hordy turned and began walking away with his gang. Usopp's classmates cheered, all excited at the chance to see their hero in action tomorrow, not knowing that Usopp was inwardly freaking out.

######

Usopp sighed sadly. He was currently hiding behind a dumpster, this being his last resort. It was the day of his and Hordy's fight and he was doing the only thing he could think to do. There was no way he could take on that kid, he knew that for sure. He'd hide out here for the rest of lunch and then he'd have to think up something tonight. There was no way he could come back to this school ever again. Not when Hordy was waiting for him here.

"Oh hey, it's long nose."

Usopp froze at the sound of the familiar voice. He turned around mechanically, jumping at the sight of Luffy crouched down next to him, grinning. "Wh… What are you doing here?! Don't tell me you're looking for me!"

"What are you talking about?" Zoro grumbled, him standing behind Luffy.

"I… you don't know about my fight with Hody?"

Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Who's that?"

"He's this really tough kid, from the year above. Didn't you know, he challenged me to a fight yesterday." Usopp sighed. "It's over, there's no way I can beat him but these kids won't stop until we've fought. To be honest, the guy might kill me…"

Luffy frowned. "Say long nose, I've been wondering… Why did you start lying in the first place?"

"To be honest, it just sort of happened. At my old school, there were a bunch of bullies who always used to pick on me and my friends. But there was one bully who was the absolute worst. Every day, he'd terrorise us. But one day I overheard his mom at home time saying something about how they were moving next weekend. So on Friday I told all the kids that I was gonna teach this kid a lesson during the weekend. No one believed me, but when he didn't show up for school next Monday, I said it was because I beat him up so bad he was too scared of me to come back and they all believed me. From that point on, no one ever picked on me or my friends. I thought then that I had been wrong when I thought you needed strength to protect your friends. All you really needed was for people to think you're strong. Well, that worked for me up until now…"

Usopp's gaze dropped to the ground. However suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Luffy grinning at him. "I get it. You lied to protect you friends!"

"I… yeah, now that I think about it, that was why I did lie in the first place. All I wanted was to make sure they didn't get hurt again…"

Zoro smirked. "You're not so bad Long Nose."

Luffy patted Usopp heartily on the back. "Well good luck in your fight! See you later Long Nose!"

Usopp shook his head. "There's no way I'm fighting that guy! No I'm just gonna hide here until lunch is over and then I'll.. Well I don't know what I'll do about tomorrow, but I'll figure something out!"

Zoro scowled at him. "But if you did that, wouldn't this guy just pick on all the other kids? It sounds like they're relying on you."

Usopp froze. He hadn't thought of that. What would happen to the other kids if he didn't show up? Luffy stood up and nudged Zoro. "Hey, let's go. I thought of this new super fun game we could play!"

"But what about long nose and his fight?"

Luffy shrugged. "It's not our problem."

Usopp watched hopelessly as Luffy and Zoro left. What was he supposed to do? Hide here and let the other kids get beaten up? Or face Hordy and get his own ass kicked? What could he do?

######

Hordy laughed. "Well well, looks like your 'Captain Usopp' was too scared to show! What are you babies gonna do now?"

One of the kids glared at Hordy and his cronies. "Shut up! Captain Usopp will come and he'll beat all you guys up and you'll be sorry for messing with us!"

"Haha… I'm not gonna wait around all the day for that long nosed wimp. If he's not gonna show up, then I need to do something to kill time…"

He reached for the kid who had shouted at him, said boy freezing in fear. However just as he was about to touch him…

"Wait!"

Hordy turned around to see Usopp standing there, his knees once again shaking uncontrollably. He grinned. "Ah. 'Captain Usopp'. I was beginning to think you weren't gonna show…"

"Captain Usopp!" The kids cheered.

However instead of confidently strolling up to Hordy like the kids thought he would, Usopp fell to his knees and bowed in front of the older boy. "Please stop this. I can't fight you, there's no way I could. So that's why… I beg you, please beat just me up and leave the rest of them alone!"

All the kids watched shocked as Usopp grovelled. Hordy laughed. "Haha, I figured. You're just a wimpy little liar. You want me to spare the rest of your little friends? Pfft, as if. We'll beat up every single one of them you long nosed wimp…"

Hordy reached for the same kid, however just then Usopp reached into his back pocket and took out a slingshot. He reached into another pocket, and took out a fistful of small stones. He put one into the slingshot and fired at Hordy, hitting him on the side of his head. Hordy whipped his head around to glare at Usopp. He stomped over in Usopp's direction, the long nosed teen closing his eyes and bracing himself for the ass-kicking that he knew was coming.

However, it didn't come. Usopp's eyes slowly cracked open, revealing someone was standing between him and Hordy. "You're… Straw Hat…"

Luffy was staring evenly at Hordy, his back to Usopp. "Hey Long nose, so is this that Hordy guy?"

"Uh yeah but… why did you come. I thought you said… I thought you said this wasn't your problem?"

"The lying wimp that would ignore his friends who were relying on him. I hate people like that. But I saw what you said before, about how you wanted this guy to leave everyone else alone. And now…" Luffy turned around and grinned at Usopp. "I kinda like you Long nose!"

Usopp gasped. What Luffy had said earlier…

"I don't care what anyone thinks of me. The only time I fight is when someone hurts my friends."

"Does that mean you…. You'd call me your friend?"

"Yeah, totally!"

Zoro walked past Usopp and stood at Luffy's side. "The same goes for me. That took guts doing what you did Long Nose."

Usopp smiled, a genuine smile. It wasn't that Luffy and Zoro respected him because they were impressed by his lies like all the other kids. They knew those lies were false. They liked him because of what he'd done when he wasn't lying. "Oh… And my name's Usopp by the way…"

Hordy Laughed. "Monkey D Luffy and Roronoa Zoro! You were the guys that dealt with Morgan, aren't you? Heh, I ain't scared of you wimps! From what I've heard you actually believed this weakling's lies and were too scared to even try to fight him! Just what do you think a couple of runts like you can do to me!"

Hordy charged at Luffy and swung at him, but Luffy blocked it with the outside of his forearm. Before Hordy could blink, Luffy slammed his shin into Hordy's side, knocking to the ground. Hordy stuggled to scramble to his feet and swung at Luffy, but the younger boy caught his punch and finished off Hordy with a punch to the stomach.

Hordy's cronies stood frozen, unable to believe Luffy's strength. Zoro looked coldly at them. "Alright my turn, which one of you wants to fight m-"

Before Zoro could even finish his sentence the group of boy spun on their heels and ran away. "That was it?" Zoro grumbled.

Luffy looked down at Hordy, who was moaning in agony. "Why isn't he running away?"

"You hurt him too bad I guess…"

Just then, all the kids started cheering. Luffy and Zoro exchanged a confused glance as all the kids huddled around them and Usopp.

"That was so cool Straw Hat!"

"You kicked Hordy's ass!"

"Thank you for protecting us! You're a hero!"

Zoro scowled at them. "You know I liked it better when they hated us," he muttered, quietly so only Luffy could hear him.

Luffy glared at all the kids. "Hey listen! I don't want to be a hero! If a hero has meat, he'd share the meat with other people! I want to eat all the meat!"

Usopp's jaw dropped. "That's how you define a hero?!"

Zoro nodded in agreement. "Luffy's right."

Usopp's jaw dropped even further. "What the hell's wrong with you two?!"

######

Usopp smiled to himself at that memory. That was the first time he had met Luffy. Ever since that day, Usopp had been friends with Luffy and Zoro, him the second to join Luffy's 'crew' (That was what Mr Smoker referred to Luffy's friends as). And honestly, becoming friends with Luffy that day was the best thing that had ever happened to Usopp.

Yeah, probably not the direction you were expecting, but I wanted to write a little story for each of the Straw Hats showing how they met Luffy. I already did Zoro's in the last story and this was Usopp's. Robin obviously won't need one but the others, yeah.