The only thing stranger than the rubberman's rubber powers was his voracious appetite. Already, he'd gone through two courses of food and there Merry was in the kitchen, toiling away at another dish. "Anything for the hero of the day!" he would exclaim whenever Victor would see about him joining them and getting a bite to eat himself.
Usopp just watched Luffy eat, somehow oblivious to the others in the room. Kaya kept giggling next to Usopp, which lightened the mood a bit, but Luffy's words were echoing in his head. "King of the Pirates." Huh. Usopp never would have pegged him for a pirate. Must not be a very good one, he thought, remembering how he found Luffy tied up in that brig.
"Are you doing alright?" Kaya asked Victor, placing a gentle hand on his arm. The doctors had delivered him not long after the Bellamy Pirates made their escape from the island, having patched him up quite easily; Bellamy's aim missed any organs, so it was just a simple flesh wound, but Victor would still need to rest of course. Victor now just shook his head at Kaya, a comfortable look on his face as he takes her hand quietly.
Luffy finished his plate then, sighing loud as he leaned back in his chair and clapped his hands to his stomach. "Wow! This is some of the best cooking I've had in a while! Thanks, Sheepman!"
Merry chuckled from the stove, bashful as ever as he muttered, "Actually, my name is Merry, sir." Luffy did not hear him, though, so he went back to cooking.
Usopp decided to act on the questions roiling in his head then, leaning forward and clasping his hands together. "So, Monkey. I have to ask now that you've had something to eat." He took a moment, worried what this pirate armed with a Devil Fruit would do to him. "You're a pirate, huh?"
Luffy chuckled, leaning forward himself. He doesn't read the tension Usopp feels, and Usopp realizes it at the same time. He's excited to talk about it, Usopp thought.
"Sure am! I left on my seventeenth birthday earlier this month to find my crew and begin my journey," Luffy said. He extended one of his whole hands wide. "I figure five crewmates should do the trick."
"Five crewmates? I dare say, that is ambitious," Victor chimed in with a laugh turned painful.
"Yeah, but they'll be the best pirate crew in the world that ever came from the East Blue," Luffy retorts. "I'm sure of it."
"I don't doubt they'd be formidable," Usopp agrees, "but what I'm curious about . . . those pirates, they didn't come here on their own accord. I remember you telling me it was your word that lured them here. So . . . why are you in search of Syrup Village, then?" Only Kaya noticed how his right hand slowly trailed down his side to where his slingshot was waiting, Usopp not taking his eyes off of Straw Hat.
Luffy wiped up some crumbs from his plate with his finger, licking them off, before responding simply, "Oh, well I'm looking for my First Mate. They're the first crew member you're supposed to find."
"There aren't many of the traveling type here, I'm afraid," Victor grumbled through a drink of his water. "You'd be hard pressed to convince anyone to leave the island."
"I'm not looking for just anyone," Luffy said. "I'm looking for a man named Usopp. I want him to be my First Mate!"
Usopp was taking a sip of his water then and spit it out across the table, shocked at what he just said no more than the others in the kitchen are. Kaya's eyes go wide and she stares at Usopp with a look even he has a difficult time reading. "Usopp, you say?" Victor said, furrowing his brow together.
"Yes," Luffy said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "I knew his father, you see. The great pirate, Yasopp! Do you all know where I could find Usopp?"
The kitchen goes silent. Victor, Kaya, and Merry look to Usopp, waiting for him to pipe up, but he doesn't, just frozen. It's not just the prospect of being a pirate's First Mate, though. The mention of his dad . . . it always brings him here, Kaya thought to herself, sneaking her hand under the table and taking Usopp's from his slingshot with a gentle squeeze. He returns it, finally looking to her with a strange look she can't read on his face.
"Well, he's right here," Merry finally says sheepishly, gesturing toward Usopp.
Luffy's eyes go wide and he nearly leaps across the table to get to Usopp, overjoyed, a simple but broad smile leaping from ear to ear. "You're Usopp?! I should have known! Of course you are! You look so much like your dad!"
Sunset hit the island before long, sending a beautiful orange glow across the island, a peaceful sunset in contrast of the violent day Syrup Village has had. Dinner was wrapped up an hour ago now, but Kaya and Merry took care of the clean up, giving Usopp a chance to speak with Luffy. The village boy brought Luffy to his favorite spot, the cliffs on the West, where they could watch the sun dip below the horizon line.
"So how long did you know him?" Usopp asked Luffy, knees tucked up as he leaned back on his palms.
"About a year," Luffy replied, dangling his legs over the side of the cliff. "His captain based at my hometown for that time. I think they were lying low from the Navy," he added with a mischievous grin.
"Wow," Usopp said, having to let a chuckle out at that. "So I guess you got to know him well?"
"I got to know them all well. They're the people who inspired me to set sail," Luffy said, staring up at a cloud that took him back to another day and time.
In his home of Fooshia Village, no time was merrier for Luffy than when the pirates used the town as a base. Luffy became fast friends with them all, coming down from his mountain home day after day just to hang out with them, a little kid tugging on the adults' coattails, but receiving similar affection.
"I got a child about your age," Yasopp revealed to Luffy one day while practicing his sharpshooting in an alley (though even Luffy knew he was showing off - just loved watching Yasopp's skill all the same). The sharpshooter aimed down the sights of his pistol as a party raged in the street at the mayor's chagrin. "I never met him though."
Luffy, sitting on a crate, swinging his legs back and forth and grinning wide as can be, stared at the apple at the opposite end of the alley. "Why not? Do you not like him?"
Yasopp laughed at that, clutching his gut. "Like him? What? He's my boy - I love him!"
At that, Luffy furrowed his brow. "That doesn't make much sense."
"Ah, you'll understand one day," Yasopp said, still chuckling. He took up aim again at the apple at the end of the alley. "At the end of the day, the sea called my name too loudly. My old lady understood." Yasopp took the shot, only blasting the stem off the apple from that many paces.
"WOW!" Luffy exclaimed, having forgotten about Yasopp's son. "That was incredible!"
"Please, that was nothing," Yasopp chuckled, suddenly aiming down at his side and firing into the ground.
"What did you - WOAH!" Luffy's confusion quickly turned to realization. Without even looking, Yasopp had shot the antennae off an ant walking past. "That ant is so tiny! How'd you even know it was there?"
"You get older, you get better at things," Yasopp said simply. He sat next to the crate Luffy was sitting on, grabbing a bottle of rum and tugging the cork from it with his teeth. "And you understand more. I hope you understand, Usopp."
"Who's Usopp?" Luffy had to ask, getting on his stomach to look at the ant and watch it freak out without its antennae.
"My son," Yasopp said before taking a hefty pull from his bottle.
"I have to go," Usopp suddenly said, getting up abruptly from Luffy's story as the sun continued dipping below the horizon. Luffy was cut off, confused why Usopp had a sudden change in attitude.
"Well, wait," Luffy said, jumping to his feet. He threw his arms wide, leaning his head forward. "What do you say? Will you be my First Mate?" He chuckled, throwing his hands on his hips. "I knew it had to be you since the day Yasopp mentioned you."
Usopp put on as brave of a smile as he could, but it was weak. Goodness, he thought, unable to conjure up better words just yet. The only other words circling his mind were those Luffy said Yasopp said, about loving him despite never meeting him, the love of adventure, and most raw of all, even mentioning his wife, Usopp's mother. "Look, Luffy, I really appreciate the offer and I've always wanted to be a pirate, sail the seas like my dad. I admit." Usopp stuffed his hands into his pockets, shrugging. "But I have to think. I'm sorry."
Luffy shrugged right back, far more jovially than Usopp's. "Well, that's nothing to be sorry for! Take your time - but I'm gonna leave the day after tomorrow, so don't take too long," he added with a cheeky grin. Usopp tried to return it with a chuckle, but it was weak, and he ended up just giving Luffy a small nod before turning and walking back to town.
Usopp's head was filled with emotion and confusion as he walked across the rolling hills. Luffy's story of his father was immense to process all of a sudden. Far be it from Usopp to have suspected a prisoner from a group of attacking pirates would know his father. He knows him better than I do, Usopp kept saying to himself in his head, over and over again. At times, it made him chuckle. At times, it made him frown.
His mind wandered to a day long ago in his own childhood, still in his small home of Syrup Village. Usopp was ten at the time, already sprinting through town to alert everyone of pirates every morning, though they treated it with far more grace at this time. It would be years later that Usopp would understand they were taking pity on him, a small boy about to lose both his parents. And you understand more, Yasopp's words said in Usopp's head.
Usopp's route began on the South Road, but stretched off to his home on the West edge of town. There weren't usually visitors there, but there were in Usopp's tenth year of life. They were visitors of medicine, doctors from all over the island and sometimes from overseas. His mother, Banchina, had come down with some flux and had been bedridden for months at this point. Of course it was months, Usopp recalled. You'd been crying wolf for at least seven months at that point.
Usopp remembered bursting into the house, exclaiming, "Mommy! Mommy! Did you hear? Pirates are at the shore!" The doctor scooted aside to let Usopp sit with Banchina, sweating all across her face, shivering and bundled up yet somehow hot to the touch. One small grace was that the doctors determined the disease was not contagious. Usopp could spend as much time with his dying mother as he wanted.
Through her coughing fits, Banchina always managed to smile her same warm, welcoming smile. "That's wonderful, Usopp. I can't wait to . . . to see your father again." She smiled all the wider at the mention of Yasopp. "He'll be . . . amazed! You're so grown."
Even then, I understood, Usopp recounted, as he just cried to his mother, telling her that Yasopp's return would make her better, that they could be a happy family, that once Banchina got better, they could follow Yasopp as a pirate captain together, all three of them, and sail the seas together. They'd have long lives together. Banchina would just smile again, and while her smiles were always sincere, there was no possibility to it. "That sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see what role you become!" she would exclaim back, taking both of her son's hands and swinging her arms up and down as he jumped for joy, ignoring the pain to see her son's tears subside.
Usopp sat at the cemetery, staring at Banchina's gravestone. Loving mother, wife, & friend her tombstone read. It was true. She was a better mother than Usopp could have ever asked for. Even in her death, she'd brought Usopp to Kaya, who had also just lost her mother to a different flux. Did you know I'd need her? Usopp thought, remembering how they'd met in this very cemetery, visiting their mother's graves. Kaya was accompanied by Victor and Merry, both still despondent over their loss themselves and all the more so to see the light having left Kaya's eyes.
Little Usopp had noticed her instantly as the cute rich girl from the mansion, but he was shocked to see how hard she was taking her mother's death, even harder than Usopp was if that could have been possible. The three of them hadn't noticed Usopp at first until he had approached Kaya, ignoring the adults. He had already cleaned his weepy face up a tad, and smiled through his red eyes to ask Kaya, "Do you know what happens to people when they die?"
Kaya was hesitant, naturally. They'd never met, and a strange boy was suddenly telling her about death. It made Usopp chuckle in the present. But at the time, he hadn't even considered it might be weird. As soon as Kaya shrugged, Usopp sat beside her and said, "Well, they say everyone gathers together on a big pirate ship in the heavens, and they sail together. The ship is massive so everybody has something to do, and it always has to grow to make room for more people."
Kaya scrunched her face up, slightly annoyed now. "Why would my mother become a pirate? She was a doctor."
Usopp was stumped only for a moment here. "Well, then she's the ship's doctor of course. One of them, at least."
"But pirates are criminals! My mother wasn't a criminal!" Kaya suddenly burst out, glaring at Usopp now.
Victor and Merry grew nervous here, not wishing for an altercation at the grave of Victor's wife, but Usopp had a response for this as well. Here, he expanded upon his lie with truth, for this story of death had never been told before. There was something his mother had once said about pirates, on a day where he could not rationalize why Yasopp would choose piracy over his wife and son that had just made complete sense, if not absolving Yasopp completely.
"Being a pirate doesn't necessarily mean being a criminal," Usopp explained gingerly. "There are plenty of pirates out there without bounties, who are just sailing the seas to live freely. They say the freest thing you can be is a pirate in this day and age! So . . . I guess I'm just trying to tell you your mother's free. Even if she's on that pirate ship, which you might not like, it just means she's free."
Kaya's chin trembled and then she started to laugh with tears of relief coming down her face. She turned back to the tombstone and asked, "Are you free now, Mommy?" Usopp, Victor, and Merry each began to tremble with emotion at that.
Kaya then turned to Usopp, gave him a giant hug, and said simply, "Thank you." She got up, brushed her dress off, and headed off to leave the cemetery. Merry followed after her promptly, leaving Usopp feeling like he did something wrong. "I'm sorry, Mister," Usopp said sincerely to Victor, left standing there at his wife's grave.
Victor raised a hand to brush it off. "No. It was the right thing. There's nothing to be sorry for." Victor sighed and kneeled down next to Usopp. "You're a very brave boy, aren't you?"
Usopp grew sheepish and small here, confessing, "No, I don't think so." He glanced over at Banchina's grave. "But Mom used to say so."
Victor smiled softly. "I can see why." He placed a warm hand on Usopp's shoulder. "I have heard you are going through much of what my daughter is, and then some. Son, if you should ever need anything, you need only let me know. You will never want for anything, is that okay?"
Usopp just nodded, staring up into Victor's warm, wrinkled eyes. "I only have one condition," Victor added, standing and dusting his knees off. Usopp still looked at him expectantly, wondering what some wealthy man from outside the village would want. But his request was easy. "Come to the manor sometimes and spend time with Kaya. Your words moved her, and she could use a friend on this small island." With that, he tipped his hat at Usopp and headed off finally after Kaya and Merry.
"But where were you for all this?" Usopp said aloud, back in the present with Banchina's grave, thinking hard of Luffy's offer to be not only a pirate but a captain's First Mate, He shook his head, stood, and placed a hand on Banchina's grave. In the last light of the day, he left the cemetery and made for his own home. It was dark inside and as unkempt as ever. Usopp hardly spent time here since Banchina died, in truth. It was a place to fall asleep, wake up, and store his things. Yet looking around at it now, he felt longing and a desire to stay in Syrup Village.
"What do I do, Dad?"
The next day, Luffy wandered the town square, where repairs were well underway but the stalls were still open to keep the money flowing. "If we miss even a day, how do we properly rebuild?" said one vendor, hammering away at a brand new kiosk he was building. Luffy just grinned to himself as he browsed the meat vendors, keeping it under wraps that Victor already planned to fund the reconstruction efforts entirely so the villagers could keep their profits.
The meat monger smiled at Luffy from behind her newspaper. "Not seen you before. New to the village?" she asked.
"Just passing through," Luffy replied. He pulled out a sack of money that Victor had given him as allowance to stock up for his journey tomorrow. He dumped the entire contents on the kiosk desk, separating the beris. "How much meat could this get me?"
The vendor's eyes just went wide and she smiled, rubbing her hands together and tossing her newspaper aside. "Well, let me just bag up everything I've got for you!"
As she set to wrapping the meat in parchment paper, Luffy heard a commotion to the side, looking over and spotting the three kids from the mansion there, shouting at another vendor six stalls down. "The Captain is an honorable man! He faced off against the pirate captain by himself at the mansion!" yelled the tallest one.
"Yeah, and I'm the King of Goa," said the same man hammering a new kiosk together. "Get lost, kids! Shouldn't you be in school?"
"It's Sunday!" yelled the shortest.
"And we aren't going to let you besmirch the captain's name!"
The meat monger scoffed, shaking her head. "He's right. That Usopp, always running through town, ranting about pirates but when pirates actually come, the brave young man is nowhere to be seen."
"Usopp? Captain?" Luffy said, leaving the meat monger to her work to join the kids still yelling at a congregation of vendors all on the same page. "Hey, you're those kids from the mansion, right?"
They're still bruised up, but they show no less sign of vigor. They're excited to see Luffy, immediately forgetting their quarrel. Pepper said, "Hey, Straw Hat Mister! Good to see you." Onion and Carrot both raved about how Luffy socked Bellamy clean off the island for a moment, imitating the fight for the vendors nearby (though they argue over who gets to be Luffy). "Knock it off," Pepper finally said to them.
"Did I hear that your captain is Usopp? What do you mean?" Luffy asked.
The three kids lined up in formation, saluting the air and staring at nothing officially. "We're the Usopp Pirates under the brave Captain Usopp, warrior of the seas! I'm Pepper!" "I'm Carrot!" "And I'm Chozuko! I mean, Onion!"
Luffy put a hand on his chin, twisting his mouth up. "Hm, he didn't mention that." Luffy kneels down, extending his fist to them with a grin. "By the way, you guys were something else defending that sheep guy and the rich girl like that. Very cool!"
The Usopp Pirates swoon over being praised by someone as powerful in their eyes as Luffy, acting suddenly bashful and twisting the soles of their feet in the dirt. "Aw, it was nothing," they all say in unison, barely keeping their excitement under control.
"Hey, ya want this?" the meat monger called, having finished packaging the meat. She is far less friendly now knowing Luffy's associated with the Usopp Pirates (even though he doesn't realize this) and Luffy hands her the entire sum of money before she has the time to give the right total.
Luffy gathers the meat, and walked past the Usopp Pirates one last time. "You all have a great captain. I hope to see you all on the high seas someday!" They cheered back similar things to Luffy as he headed out of the town square and up the North Road, wanting to get the meat tucked away in the refrigerator before it goes bad. However, halfway up the road, he bumps into none other than Usopp.
"Usopp! Hey!" Luffy said. "Just who I wanted to see. Look, I didn't know you already had a pirate crew! I'd never try to scalp another -."
And Usopp interrupted him with two simple words.
Later that night, the island slept soundly, the threat of pirates somehow already long forgotten as snores fill the village. Luffy has been posted up in his own guest room at the mansion, all splayed out and snoring loud himself. The only one not sleeping is Usopp, as he creeps through the broken front gate. At a small pebble garden under the den window, he gathers a handful of little gray stones, pocketing them and climbing the tree nearby. At the top, he found a sturdy branch to lean his weight on and got the pebbles back out. He tossed them at the window into Kaya's rooms with little pings.
It was enough to wake her, as she walked groggy from her bed to the window, opening it. She's still more than glad to see him, a broad smile growing as she leaned out the sill. "To what do I owe the pleasure, dashing stranger?"
Usopp tried to smile back but he lacked the energy. He dropped the rest of the pebbles to the ground and nodded toward the room. "Can I come in?" Kaya immediately read that something was wrong, and nodded, inviting him inside. Usopp hopped into the sill and landed on the floor, his boots thumping. "Shh, careful," Kaya whispered with a light giggle.
Usopp looked around the broad white room, as big as Usopp's entire home on the other end of the village. He was taking deep breaths by this point, the words unable to come out of his mouth, not to Kaya, not now. But there was only this night to let the news out, and Usopp didn't want her to find out in the morning as he was leaving. "Kaya -."
"It's okay," she replied, gently placing a hand on his chest. "You're going with Luffy, aren't you?"
Usopp's eyes threatened to erupt at that, welling up with tears. His breaths got even deeper and deeper, panic rising in his chest. Is this the wrong call? Am I just like my father? he kept repeating, worried sick over leaving Kaya and what would happen to the village or the Usopp Pirates or Victor or anyone without him.
But like always, Kaya knew how to calm him, kissing him gently. She pulled away and said, "Good. I'm so proud of you." She smiled up at him. "Are you going to find your dad?" Usopp gritted his teeth, simply nodding to answer here. She bit her lower lip, pride welling in her eyes for Usopp, on the brink of cheering if it wasn't so late. "Come on. Spend the night with me before you go."
There was no explanation needed, no wrong doing done as far as Kaya could tell. All their time together, Usopp had talked about becoming a pirate, finding money for a ship to sail the seas, maybe even the Grand Line. Usopp still had that freedom to choose that Yasopp didn't, yet Yasopp still chose the sea. "You'll find him, and it'll be good," Kaya would return to throughout the night, before the sun hinted at rising and Usopp had to head home to pack his things, not having gotten a wink of sleep. Kaya didn't either, now letting the anxiety and grief of him leaving hit her. But I am still proud, and excited for you, she would think, and I know you'll return.
The next morning, Luffy was treated to another magnificent meal by Merry before he, Victor, and Kaya exited the mansion and came to the front yard. Kaya looked around expectantly as she helped Victor balance on his temporary cane, while Merry brought out a small lockbox. Victor gestured to it, saying, "Luffy, as thanks for helping protect this island, my daughter, my friends, and just to make your journeys easier, please accept this humble token. It isn't much, but it should help create a foundation for you."
Merry opened the lockbox, showing thousands upon thousands of beri. Luffy's eyes nearly popped from his head. "WOW! I've never seen so much money in one place. That must be at least five hundred beri!"
The other three shared a strange look, unsure at first if he's being serious or not, before Victor explained, "Oh, ah, it's actually more like 100,000B." He chuckled sheepishly, blushing from the sum, but this only made Luffy's jaw literally drop to the floor (scaring them, as they'd forgotten the scope of his Devil Fruit powers).
"WAHOO! I'm gonna be able to buy my first pirate ship with that!" Luffy exclaimed. Kaya had already lost interest in the conversation, having turned to face the wrecked open gate.
"Well, well, look who it is!" Merry said, noticing what Kaya has. There stands Usopp, but he holds a massive backpack on his shoulders, packed to the brim with all his things. Kaya's face already reflects the knowledge she's absorbed, but it dawns on Victor and Merry at the same time. Their smiles disappear as they come to understanding, but they regrow softer ones, smiles of acceptance.
"You look all grown up, son," Victor said, the corners of his eyes wrinkling again.
Usopp strode forward, and extended his hand to Victor. "Sir, I want to thank you for everything." Usopp's serious demeanor suddenly dissolves, and he finds the groove, smiling wide. "You're an amazing man, and I've been lucky to know you."
"Ah," Victor could only manage, letting his cane fall to the ground and embracing Usopp in a full hug. "You take care. And you come back someday."
Usopp returned it quickly. "I will."
Merry began to weep openly, shutting the lockbox, handing it to Luffy, and embracing both Usopp and Victor. "Oh, Master Usopp!" Usopp included him in the hug.
"Thank you for making me a part of your family," Usopp said. "I wouldn't have made it this far without you."
The three let go of one another, and Victor purses his lips, clearly holding off tears of his own. He clapped Usopp on the shoulder as Kaya retrieved his cane, ready to hand it back. "You give yourself far too little credit, Usopp." He reached for his cane but suddenly realized the emotion was missing from Kaya. "You knew?" he inferred almost immediately, and she just laughed through her nose, unsure of what to say. "My brilliant daughter," he added, taking the cane back.
"We were just doing parting gifts," Kaya said, taking something out from the knapsack at her side.
"Yeah! Usopp, the old man gave us 100,000B!" Luffy exclaimed, trying to open the lockbox to show him but unable to figure out its mechanisms.
Kaya handed Usopp a package, shrugging. "I was saving this for your birthday, but since you won't be here . . ."
Usopp took the package, recognizing the labeling as the Ginga brand. "It's the finest model the North Blue has to offer, top of the line," Kaya explained as Usopp tore into it. "They called it the Ginga - something."
"The Ginga Pachinko," Usopp said, admiring the fine slingshot in the light. "Kaya, you shouldn't have."
She cocked her eyebrows and replied sarcastically, "Well, clearly I should have, because you're embarking on a dangerous journey." Usopp and the others laughed at Kaya's joke, except for Luffy, still struggling with the lockbox.
"Well, anyway," Luffy said, giving up. He shook the lockbox with a devilish grin, "we'll be able to buy a ship with this!"
"Well, the money is from Master Victor, and my gift is mainly for Usopp, but," Kaya began, gesturing to Merry, "I believe I overheard something about that this morning?"
"Of course, Miss Kaya," Merry said with a devilish grin of his own as he wiped the tears away. "Perhaps we have a way for you to save your beri for other expenses, Luffy. Come, follow me to the shore. I still have my gift to give."