Ch.4- Usopp: The Story From Within the Cave
Disclaimer-I don't own One Piece. Sorry.
A/N: Okay, there will be a story told by Usopp in this chapter so when you see paragraphs in italics, that's the story being told.
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"Pirates! Pirates are coming!" seven-year-old Usopp screamed while running throughout Syrup Village.
A few of the townspeople quickly grabbed skillets and brooms and ran outside to beat the pirates the little boy was screaming about. Of course, they should have known that the boy was lying the entire time. He'd been lying about pirates since his father left.
"I was kidding!" the boy laughed, running away from the angry villagers and flying skillets. The villagers were pissed, but they couldn't do anything about him. They tried going to his mother, but she couldn't do anything about him. She knew that her child was still coping with his father leaving so suddenly.
His mother also felt sorry for him because he didn't have any friends at all in the village. All the village children grew either bored or afraid of his lies and refused to be around him. So maybe he wasn't just upset about his father, but also because none of the children liked him. Nobody knew.
"Pirates are coming!" Usopp yelled, running into a snow covered field where five children were playing.
"Oh, there's always pirates coming, ya big liar!" A ten-year-old boy named Vincent told him, throwing a snowball at one of the younger kids. The snowball hit its target: Four-year-old Saki, who was trying to make a snowman.
"Yeah, come on. Make up a new lie or something." Nine-year-old Ali told the little liar.
Five-year-old Shiro and six-year-old Rin placed the middle part of their snowman on the bottom part.
"The pirates are going to knock down your snowman." Usopp told the little boy and girl.
"They will not!" Shiro shouted.
"Yeah, there are no pirates and if there were, they wouldn't knock down a snowman." Rin added.
Usopp tried convincing the five children that pirates were coming, but none of them bought it. The boy walked home sulking.
Usopp came back to the fields five hours later and sure enough, Vincent, Ali, Rin, Shiro, and Saki were still playing. Shiro and Rin's snowman was completed, so was Saki's although it was a little lumpy and deformed. Now the five of them were having a snowball fight: the boys against the girls.
"What's the matter? Did the pirates come back?" Vincent asked, throwing a snowball at Ali.
She dodged it easily and threw one back at Vincent. Usopp's face got red.
"That's not funny!" Usopp screamed. The group ignored him.
"Come on, guys. Let's go home. We've been out here a long time." Vincent announced.
"But which way brings us to town?" Shiro asked.
"What!" Vincent shouted, looking around, "No way…"
In the few minutes since Usopp approached the field, a heavy snowstorm came. The storm was so heavy that it was impossible to see anything around them but themselves.
Saki gripped Vincent's hand, "I'm scared."
"It's okay." Vincent coaxed the little girl, "We'll get out of this storm."
"I think I see something ahead." Ali said, pointing ahead of her.
"Then, let's go." Vincent shouted, putting Saki on his back.
Ali led Vincent, Saki, Shiro, and Rin in the direction she pointed at. Usopp followed them. The six of them did not make it into town, but an empty cave instead. A campfire pit was set up and there were sticks and twigs at the other sides of the cave.
With relief taking over their bodies, the six children ran into the cave (actually, only five ran. Saki was still on Vincent's back).
Vincent placed Saki onto a nearby rock and grabbed some of the sticks and tossed them into the pit. With the help of Usopp, the sticks were lit and a large fire lit up the cave. The group of six gathered around the fire.
"How long are we going to stay here?" Shiro asked Vincent.
Vincent shrugged, "I don't know. Until the storm lets up…a few hours maybe." Saki, Shiro, and Rin slumped.
"So, what are we going to do?" Saki asked the group. Nobody said anything. Nobody even looked at her. All their attention was on either the fire or the snowstorm outside.
"I'm scared. I wanna go home." Saki started to cry.
"I'm scared, too…" Shiro and Rin cried.
"I'm not scared. I've been through worse when I landed on that cannibal island when I was four." Usopp announced. Nobody was impressed.
"We don't need any of your stories, Usopp." Ali sighed, placing a hand onto her forehead.
The group of six sat around the fire for an hour or so before Vincent left for the entrance of the cave. The snowstorm had stopped, but now there was a bigger problem. There was so much snow that not one of the kids would be able to walk to the town. He sat down by the fire.
Ali looked at him, "Did the storm stop?"
Vincent nodded, "Yeah, but we're trapped here."
"Trapped?" Rin asked fearfully. Vincent nodded.
"For how long?" Shiro asked.
"We'll have to wait until one of the adults comes and helps us." Vincent answered, "And that might take days or even weeks…"
"Days? But tomorrow's Christmas!" Saki cried, her eyes full of tears.
"I know, but we can't do anything about it. Sorry, Saki." Vincent told the little girl. Ali tossed more sticks into the fire, lighting up the cave.
Hours passed and Saki was still crying. Shiro and Rin were shivering, not from the cold, but from the fear that they'd never be found alive. Ali and Vincent were trying to calm down Saki, Shiro, and Rin, but were unsuccessful. Usopp was afraid also, but didn't want to admit it and now realized that it was a great time for one of his stories.
"Hey Saki, Shiro, Rin?" Usopp asked the younger children.
"What?" the smallest kids looked at him.
"Do you three want to hear a story?" He asked.
"Don't bother. It's going to be another lie." Vincent said from his spot. Ali agreed.
"I wanna hear one even if it is a lie." Saki announced, moving towards Usopp. Shiro and Rin followed her.
"If you tell us a lie, can you make it a new one?" Shiro asked the older boy.
Usopp nodded, "Okay." He thought for a moment before starting his story:
There was once a little town on an island in a large world. In that small town lived a small group of people. Amongst those people lived a warrior, a tomboy, a princess, an adventurer, a pirate, and a pixie. The warrior, tomboy, princess, adventurer, and pixie were great friends even though the warrior, who was the oldest of the six, was much older than the pixie, who was the youngest…
Saki smiled while Vincent smirked. They knew that those characters was actually the people in the cave: Vincent acted like a warrior, Ali was a tomboy, Rin acted like a little princess, Shiro was a true adventurer, Usopp wanted to be a pirate, and some of the townspeople called Saki a pixie because she was so small and playful.
Unfortunately, the warrior, tomboy, princess, adventurer, and pixie didn't like the pirate very much because they didn't like listening to the tales of his pirating adventures that he told. The pirate didn't mind, though. As long as he told the stories even if he did stretch the truth of some of his stories sometimes, he was happy.
"Now that's an understatement." Vincent grunted.
"Shhh…" Rin shushed him, "I wanna hear the story.
One winter afternoon the warrior, tomboy, princess, adventurer, and pixie were making friends out of the snow that had fallen the night before. As they worked, the pirate ran up with something important to tell them, but nobody listened to him or cared. He told the princess an adventurer that the enemies that were going to attack the village would kill their snowfriend, but they didn't believe him. The pirate walked off sulking.
Hours later, the pirate went back to the others to warn them that the enemies were at the village. The others had finished making their friends and started having a snowball war against each other: the princess, pixie, and tomboy against the warrior and adventurer. The pirate was going to tell them about the enemies when a deadly snowstorm came.
The group of six wanted to get home and assure their families that they were okay, but the storm completely blocked the town and everything else around them except for themselves from their view. The snow was starting to pile up so fast and the sky was getting darker. The group wasn't sure how long they'd be able to last outside.
Finally, the tomboy noticed something ahead. The warrior held the little pixie and started following the tomboy in the direction in front of her. The pirate, princess, and adventurer followed them. As they walked, a large white monster the group all knew as "Bigfoot" appeared, ready to attack.
Saki, Shiro, and Rin each gave out a fearful gasp. Ali and Vincent didn't tell him to stop, so he continued:
The warrior knew that he would be able to take out the monster easily, but not with the pixie on his back. But he also didn't want to put her down into the snow. The snow was up to her chin and she'd freeze if she sank. The warrior handed the pixie to the tomboy and headed towards the monster and beat it up.
Usopp stopped for a minute and looked around the cave. Both Ali and Vincent were out: deeply sleeping, leaning against the cave walls by the warm fire.
"So, what happened next?" Rin asked the liar.
"Yeah, come on. Tell us." Shiro said softly, not waking Ali and Vincent.
"Please…" Saki begged. Usopp nodded.
The monster was not killed, but knocked unconscious by the warrior. The warrior took the pixie back and continued walking. The warrior led the group to an abandoned cave, which is what the tomboy saw. The six ran inside the cave quickly. The warrior put the pixie down on a nearby rock and, with the help of the tomboy, pirate, and adventurer, made a warm fire.
The snowstorm went on for hours, but never once blew out the fire. The warrior went to the entrance of the cave to check and see if the storm was still going. The storm had stopped, but there was so much snow on the ground that not even the warrior would be able to walk through it.
The warrior walked back to the fire and told the others about the snow, how it may be days or even weeks before they would be able to get away from the cave. The pixie, princess, and adventurer almost started to cry. The next day would be Christmas Day and their families had no idea where they were.
Hours passed and the group started to grow homesick, cold, and hungry. They weren't at their homes, there weren't any warm blankets for anybody, and there wasn't any food in the cave. They all thought they were going to die until an elderly man stood in front of them.
"What's the matter, little ones?" the man asked.
"We're cold." The tomboy shivered.
"And hungry." The adventurer added.
"And trapped." The warrior concluded.
The elderly man nodded and snapped his fingers. The fire was relit, blankets covered their bodies, and food was on their laps. "Do not worry. There is always a way out." The man said before disappearing.
The warrior, tomboy, pirate, princess, adventurer, and pixie were shocked, but eventually shook off the shock and started eating the foods they were given. They finished their foods and all huddled around the fire. With a deep sigh, all six of them fell asleep.
Usopp looked at Rin, Saki, and Shiro. All three of them fell asleep before he even finished talking about the old man. Usopp waited for a few minutes to see if one of them would ask him what happened next, but they didn't. Usopp smiled, leaned against a cave wall, and, like everybody else, fell asleep before his story was done.
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Usopp woke up hours later at about 6:30am to Saki shaking his body. Saki, Shiro, Ali, Rin, and Vincent were awake. "What's wrong?" Usopp asked the youngest girl.
"What happened after the old man gave them the food?" Saki asked.
"Yeah, did the people escape from the cave." Shiro asked.
Usopp smiled at them and finished his story:
The next morning the warrior, tomboy, pirate, princess, and pixie woke up. A sound was heard from outside the cave. The snow was quickly pulled away from the cave and standing right in the cave entrance was the families of the six. Before the group ran to their families, they looked at their bodies. All the blankets were gone, but they shook off the thought and ran to their families, who had been looking for them since the storm ended. The End.
"I liked that story." Rin said out loud.
Vincent agreed, "Yeah. It's nice to hear something coming out of Usopp's mouth besides lies."
"I don't always lie!" Usopp shouted.
"Well, you almost always do." Ali told him.
"Do you think someone's going to save us?" Shiro asked.
Vincent shrugged, "Probably not. But anyways…Merry Christmas, everyone."
"Merry Christmas." Everyone said back.
Suddenly, like in Usopp's story, the snow was pulled away from the entrance of the cave.
"Is somebody in here?" A deep, male voice called.
Quickly, the group of six ran towards the entrance of the cave. Standing right there was the mayor of Syrup Village and a few other men including both Ali and Vincent's fathers.
"You've been in this cave all night?" the mayor asked the six kids. They all nodded.
The snow was still too thick for little Saki to walk through so she got a free ride to town. A trail was made into town and some of the snow was melted. Also, the town was just a six minute walk from the cave.
Before all the kids left for their house, Saki, Shiro, and Rin said to Usopp, "Don't ever stop telling your stories." Usopp nodded and walked into his house and dove into his mother's arms.
Usopp remembered the story he had told Saki, Shiro, Rin, Ali, and Vincent the day he was trapped in the cave with them. And it seemed as if somebody would want to actually listen to him when he stretched the truth for the story and because of what Saki, Shiro, and Rin told him, he had an even bigger belief that his father would come back and he learned not to ever stop lying.
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A/N: Well, that's chapter 4. I don't exactly know how old Usopp was when his father left or when his mother died, so I just made something up. R/R if you want, but please no flaming.
Next chapter: Sanji