From Mafioso to Pirate
Chapter 15: A Butler's Secret
XXX
"Oh, Klahadore," the blonde girl called down from her window, a nervous smile making its way onto her face. "It's okay. These people were just-"
"There's no need, Lady Kaya," the man interrupted, causing the smile to quickly disappear from her face. He did not even look at her as he adjusted his glasses with the palm of his hand, eyes continuing their cold glare. "I'll listen to any explanation later. For now, you all need to leave here at once."
"Oh, hey!" Luffy exclaimed, his signature grin appearing on his face. "Do you guys have a ship we could-"
"Absolutely not!" The man shouted at them, causing the three children to immediately flinch and scurry behind the older pirates. Luffy just slumped in disappointment, Zoro giving him a consoling pat on the back. Lambo seriously doubted his strawhat-wearing captain would give up so easily, however.
Klahadore's gaze suddenly shot towards the tree, an expression of distaste distorting his face from its calmness. "Usopp!" He shouted. A yelp and some shuffling were heard as Usopp, who had somehow managed to hide behind the branch he had been sitting on, struggled back onto the tree branch. He gave a nervous smile. "Uh...hey."
Klahadore's cold gaze never wavered. "Ah, Usopp. I've heard many things about you. You're quite famous in this village, aren't you?"
Usopp's smile widened at that. "Oh, really?"
"They say you've been on many interesting adventures. That's something for someone your age," the butler continued, his glaring expression contradicting his words.
Lambo, along with the rest of the crew, stood back and watched the exchange with frowns. 'Is this guy being sarcastic or not? He's so stone cold that I can't even tell...'
Standing tall on the branch, the boy placed his hands on his sides, puffing up his chest proudly. "You can call me Captain Usopp! That'll help spread my name around!"
There was a flash in Klahadore's eyes. It happened so quickly that Lambo wasn't even sure if he imagined it or not.
"Captain, eh...?" The sound of soft laughter rang in the air as he once again adjusted his glasses in his strange way. "I've heard stories about your father as well. He also had quite the reputation." This time, he said it in a clearly mocking tone.
Usopp's smile faded and was replaced with an expression of anger. "Wh-What?"
"Klahadore!" Kaya's voice came down sternly as she cast a worried look at Usopp. "Stop this!"
Klahadore continued, however; glaring daggers at Usopp. "You are just the son of some filthy pirate! I demand that you stop pestering Lady Kaya this instant! I will not allow you to drag her down with you!"
"What did you say about my father?" Usopp growled, returning the glare full force, teeth gritted in anger.
"Hey, should we do something? This is getting pretty intense," Lambo muttered towards Luffy. Receiving no answer, he turned to see the other boy watching the scene wordlessly.
"You come from a completely different world than Lady Kaya," Klahadore continued harshly. "Why is it that you keep coming here? Do you want money? How much?"
"THAT'S ENOUGH, KLAHADORE!" Kaya shouted down at him in anger, leaning far out the window towards him, her face set in an almost panicked exrpession of anger. Klahadore's words had apparently struck a chord in her. "Apologize to Usopp at once!"
Usopp turned to the pale girl in concern. "H-Hey, Kaya, that's dangerous-"
"Why should I apologize to that savage?" Klahadore continued. "I am only speaking the truth. I do sympathize with you, however. For having an idiotic father who abandoned his wife and child for some mindless lust for treasure."
"Klahadore!" The blonde-haired girl shouted again.
"You bastard..." Usopp snarled, trembling. "You'd better stop insulting my father!" With that last shout, he jumped off the tree and towards the ground below.
"Usopp!" Kaya shouted in shock and fear as she watched him get closer and closer to the hard ground.
Her worry was proved to be unneeded, however, as Usopp pulled out a grappling hook and rope from his bag and, faster than anyone could blink, attached it to the branch, using it to land safely.
Once down, Usopp sent a hate-filled look at the butler, his fists clenched and trembling as Klahadore only smirked at the display. "Why so worked up? It's at times like this that you should do what you do best: lie. Just say that your father was a traveling salesman, or that you're not really related by blood-"
"SHUT UP!" Usopp roared, lunging forward. Klahadore let out a choked sound as Usopp's fist hit him square in the face and sent him sprawling onto the floor.
Several gasps were heard as Kaya clasped her hand over her mouth and the three children gaped at the scene. Lambo couldn't help but widen his eyes as well, where as Luffy, Zoro, and Nami continued to watch expressionlessly.
"Captain!" The children shouted. Usopp continued to stare down at the man, who pushed himself up to a sitting position, readjusting his glasses.
"See that? He immediately resorts to violence!" Klahadore continued to mock, even as he sat covered in dirt with a bruise forming on his cheek. "Like father, like son."
"SHUT UP! My father listened to his heart and chose a life of risk and adventure! I'm proud to say that my father is a brave warrior of the sea! You're right, I exaggerate from time to time, but I'll never lie about who my father is! I refuse to be ashamed of him! I AM THE SON OF A PIRATE!"
There was silence after that. Usopp's eyes were squeezed shut, his fists still clenched, his entire body trembling from the outburst.
It took only a few moments for Klahadore to laugh once again, however. "Pirates are brave warriors of the sea, are they?" He mocked. "You're quite naive."
Usopp's head snapped back up. "What?"
"You don't seem to understand that you are living proof of his savage blood," the butler continued, standing up and dusting himself off. "You run around spouting lies and using violence when you don't get your way. You're only trying to get close to Lady Kaya for her wealth!"
"You're wrong!" Usopp shouted, looking aghast at the implication. "I just-"
"Your father is a filthy, good-for-nothing pirate! Treachery is in your blood!" Klahadore cut him off, glaring back just as strongly.
"Why you...!" Usopp snarled, stomping forward and grabbing the other man by the shirt, his hand curling into a fist and raised into the air, ready to strike. "Stop insulting him!"
"STOP IT, USOPP!" Kaya's shriek pierced the air. The boy froze. "No more fighting! I can't take it! Klahadore isn't a bad person! He's only... He's only trying to do what he thinks is best for me and sometimes he goes too far!"
Usopp continued to glare bloody murder at the man, fist trembling in the air until he finally let it unclench and fall to his side, the hand holding Klahadore's shirt loosening. The butler slapped it away.
"Leave," he said coldly. "Never come here again!"
"...Fine, I get it," Usopp's voice was a forced calm as he walked past the butler. "You don't have to tell me twice. I'll never come back here again!"
"Usopp..." Kaya mumbled sorrowfully, watching him go.
The children snapped out of their stupor and ran up to Klahadore. "You bastard!"
"Stupid butler!"
"Our captain's nothing like that!"
"That's right, you jerkface!"
"Jerkface!"
"JERKFACE!" Luffy insulted loudly, being held back by Zoro and earning incredulous looks from Lambo and Nami.
'One minute he's a blank slate, the next he's acting like a five-year-old,' the cow-clad boy thought with half-lidded eyes, watching as Luffy struggled against Zoro. 'I guess I can't blame him too much, though. That butler's kind of an asshole...'
Klahadore sent the three children a cold glare, making them yelp and scramble back behind the older pirates. Luffy just continued to fight against Zoro's grip.
"Lemme go! Lemme go! Lemme go!"
"Luffy, cut it out!" Zoro grumbled in irritation, tightening his hold.
"No! Lemme go!"
Klahadore's expression grew even darker. "All of you leave this place at once! You are not welcome here!"
After being effectively kicked out of the manor grounds, the pirates and children found themselves resting on a fence overlooking a field, not having anything else to do at that point and being unable to find Usopp.
"So, hey," Nami spoke up, glancing over at him. "Where did Luffy go?"
The other two pirates blinked and looked around. Lambo groaned and facepalmed. "Great. When the hell did he even leave?"
"He's probably still out looking for Usopp," Zoro commented with a yawn. "I'm sure he'll be fine."
"Very reassuring," Lambo muttered sarcastically, casting him a side glare. "Seriously, though, I don't think leaving him alone in this place is a good idea."
Zoro scoffed. "You worry too much. He's not a little kid. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"
Lambo gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding me right now? The last time we took our eyes off Luffy he was kidnapped by a bird, almost blown up by a clown, and almost mawled by a giant lion."
"But he's alive, ain't he?"
"Zoro, seriously. For all we know, he could be falling of a cliff as we speak."
"Honestly, I'm more worried about the damage he'd do to this poor village than anything else," Nami said flatly.
"Yeah, that is a possibility..." Lambo muttered in agreement, looking up at the sky in resignation.
"It's probably already happened."
"Just stop talking, Zoro..."
"Hey, did all that stuff really happen?" Ninjin asked in awe.
"No way! He's lying," Piiman said with a scoff.
Lambo glanced at them with a frown, realizing something. "...Hey, weren't there more of you?"
"Yeah, but Tamanegi left," Piiman said nonchalantly.
"You're not worried?"
"Nah, he does it all the time," Ninjin said with a shrug. "He disappears for a while and then comes running back and shouting lies."
'These kids really take after their captain,' Lambo thought to himself in amusement, smiling a bit.
"I-IT'S HORRIBLE!" Everyone blinked and turned towards the sudden shout. In the distance, they could see the missing onion-haired boy running towards them as if the devil himself was on his heels.
"See?" Ninjin asked, seemingly untroubled by the panic his friend was showing.
Tamanegi stopped in front of them, trying to regain his breath. Once he did, he started gesturing wildly towards where he had come from. "I-I-I-I saw a man walking backwards!" He waved his arms frantically. "Seriously! He was seriously walking backwards!"
"Liar," his two friends called out flatly.
Tamanegi glared at them. "I'm not lying!" He turned around and pointed his finger at something approaching from the distance. "Look! See?!"
"Hm?" Everyone turned their heads to get a look at the figure as it slowly got closer. As it did, they could not help but stare in dumbfoundment.
There was indeed a man walking backwards. From what they could see of his back, he had long, grey-ish brown hair and was wearing a strange blue hat, a blue jacket, and long green pants. Once he was close enough, he turned around to reveal that he was also wearing strange heart-shaped sunglasses with red lenses and he had a beard that appeared to be striped.
"Which one of you was it?" The weirdo asked. "Which one called me weird?"
"...All of us," Lambo mumbled flatly, earning himself a glare from those heart-shaped glasses.
"I am not weird," he corrected them simultaeniously doing a strange movement with his feet. "I'm just a hypnotist passing by. Jango the Hypnotist."
"That's pretty weird," Zoro stated.
"A hypnotist?" The children asked in awe, making the man thankfully miss what Zoro had said.
"Wow! Show us! Show us!" Piiman shouted, jumping up and down in excitement.
The man glared down at them all. "You have to be joking. Why should I show my skills to a bunch of snot-nosed brats I just met?" He then pulled out a metal ring attached to a string and held it in front of them. "Now, watch closely."
"He's doing it anyway," Zoro muttered in disbelief.
"What a strange, strange man," Lambo muttered back, arching an eyebrow at the scene.
"When I say 'one, two, Jango,' you will all fall into a deep sleep," Jango said, letting the ring sway back and forth. "One... Two... Jango!"
And with that, the three kids, as well as Jango himself, flopped onto the ground, the sound of their snoring filling the air.
Zoro's eye twitched in irritation. "What the hell was that supposed to be?"
"He put himself to sleep, too," Nami stated incredulously.
Lambo sighed at the scene, rubbing his forehead. 'Is the world really this full of weirdos, or am I just unlucky?'
"When do you think they'll wake up?" The orange-haired girl asked.
"Don't know, don't care," was the swordsman's reply.
"...Yeah, okay. I think I'm just gonna go now. Maybe find Luffy and Usopp," the cow-clad boy finally said, jumping off the fence he had been sitting on and taking steps towards the village.
"Try not to get lost."
"I'm not you, Zoro."
"Hey."
As he looked around, Lambo quickly realized that there wasn't exactly much to see in the tiny Syrup Village. It looked like any other run-of-the-mill village, aside from the mansion looming on the hill.
As for finding Luffy and Usopp... That wasn't going so well either. Usually, Luffy would get himself into any number of crazy situations when left alone, so it would be easy to find him, but the village seemed peaceful. Perhaps not even Luffy could find something to do in this sleepy little place.
"That damn Usopp," a somewhat distant voice muttered in frustration. Looking over, he saw a man and a woman, presumably husband and wife. The woman was working on her garden, her husband helping her whilst muttering angrily. "I've had enough of him running around and spouting lies!"
"I'm sure he doesn't mean any harm by it," the woman said good naturedly as she plucked out some weeds.
"But he does it every damn day! It's always 'Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming!' What the hell does he expect to happen by doing that?!"
'Well, I guess that butler was right about one thing. Usopp seems to be pretty well known here,' Lambo thought to himself as he passed them. 'I wonder why he does it?'
Hearing enough from the couple, he began to walk again. As he walked, he passed by a few more villagers out and about. Most were talking about mundane things, but he heard some instances of Usopp's name being spoken. 'I should have asked those kids about it when I had the chance...'
Heaving a sigh, he turned his attention away from the various townspeople and back in front of him. He stopped short when he saw a figure in the distance, running towards the village at a rapid pace. As it got closer, Lambo blinked in recognition. "Usopp?" He opened his mouth to say something when Usopp got closer, only to close it back up when the boy ran past him, not even sparing him a glance. "...Uh, okay then?" He mumbled, watching him leave with an arched eyebrow. The townspeople also looked up as he passed by, confusion in their expressions.
He turned back to look at where Usopp had come running from and froze when he saw two other immediately recognizable figures walking from it. 'Is that... The butler and that weirdo hypnotist?' He thought, frowning. It had been a long while since he had left the others to look at the town. Jango must have woken back up from his stupidety-induced slumber and took off. 'But why the hell are they walking together?'
As he watched them pass by, he could have sworn the butler had sent him a glare. He was used to getting glares, but for some reason this one made him shudder. Shaking his head, a thought occured to him.
'Come to think of it, didn't Luffy go after Usopp? I don't see him anywhere...'
...
...
...
'...Crap, what happened this time?' He took off.
"When I said you could be falling off a cliff, I was kidding, Luffy," Lambo muttered as he stared disbelievingly down the cliff.
Of course, Lambo knew that his strawhat-wearing captain was more than likely fine, being made of rubber. Considering that he got clawed by a giant lion and sent through several buildings and turned out completely alright, this was probably nothing to him.
Once he made it down the cliff, he approached the comatose body of his captain. His eyes widened when he saw that the fall had actually managed to cause Luffy's head to sink into the rocks, making him appear headless (and simultaeniously giving Lambo a near heartattack).
"That, uh, doesn't look good..." He quickly grabbed Luffy by the waist and proceeded to pull. "Rrrrgh! Come on, Luffy!" He grunted, pulling with all his might. At first, all he succeeded in doing was causing Luffy's neck to stretch. Then, miraculously, he was able to dislodge Luffy's head from the stone ground, falling backwards as he did so. "Oof!" He groaned and pushed himself off the hard ground, rubbing his head where he hit it. "Ow... Luffy?"
"...Huh?" Luffy pushed himself up and looked around blearily. He blinked as his eyes stopped at Lambo before stretching his arms and letting out a long yawn. "Man, that was a good nap..."
Lambo felt his eye give an involuntary twitch. "Luffy, you fell off a cliff."
"Oh, really?" The boy replied almost nonchalantly, picking his straw hat up off the floor and brushing the dirt off of it. "That sounds pretty bad."
"...Why do I even bother?"
"I dunno."
"That was a rhetorical question, Luffy."
Luffy placed his hat back on his head and flashed a grin. "I have no idea what that means, but okay!"
Lambo just shot him an exasperated look before sighing. "How did you manage to fall off a cliff anyway?"
The other boy frowned and looked up towards the place he had presumably fallen from. He stared thoughtfully for a few moments before his eyes went wide. "Oh, crap, that's right!" He suddenly shouted, causing Lambo to nearly jump in surprise. "That jerkface's gonna kill that girl!"
The cow-clad boy blinked, not comprehending. "What?"
"That butler guy! Uh..." He trailed off with a frown.
"...Klahadore?" Lambo supplied.
"Yeah! That guy!" Luffy shouted, pointing at him.
Lambo resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Said eyes widened, however, when Luffy's earlier statement fully sunk in. "Wait, what?! He's going to kill that rich girl?!"
"Yeah!"
"How do you know that? And why were you taking a stone nap instead of telling us?! Seriously, a little fall like that shouldn't have been enough to knock you out! How'd you even fall in the first place?!"
"I dunno!"
Lambo groaned and pressed a hand to his face. "...Okay, Luffy," he finally said, giving a long sigh of exasperation. "Can you at least remember what happened before you fell?"
"Hmmm..." Luffy scrunched up his face as he struggled to remember. "...Um, I saw the butler guy talking to some weirdo..."
"...What did he look like?" Lambo asked, remembering seeing Klahadore and Jango walking together.
"Like a weirdo!"
"...I'm gonna need you to be more specific than that," Lambo mumbled, sighing once again, as he was prone to doing. "Was he wearing a hat? Did he have long hair?"
Luffy crossed his arms and scrunched up his face in thought once again. "Hmmm..."
"...Was he wearing creepy heart-shaped glasses?"
Luffy snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah!"
"Damn, it must have been that hypnotist then..." Lambo cursed, grimacing and looking back towards the way he had come.
"Hypnotist?" The other boy asked. "...What's that?"
"...I see how you got put to sleep so easily," Lambo sighed for what must have been the fiftieth time. "I'll tell you later. Right now, we should go and tell the others about what you saw."
"Luffy? Lambo? Hey! Up here!" A familiar female voice shouted from above. Both boys looked up, catching sight of Nami waving at them from atop the cliff, Zoro standing next to her with his arms crossed. The three children were there as well, peeking down at them.
"There they are!" Luffy proclaimed, waving his arms at them. "Heeeey! Down heeere!"
"Hold on! We're coming down!"
"Wh-What?!" Ninjin gaped. "He's going to do WHAT?!"
"The village is gonna be attacked?!" Piiman exclaimed.
"Everyone's gonna be killed?!" Tamanegi shouted in horror.
"Is that true?" Zoro asked, narrowing his eyes.
Luffy nodded with an almost ridiculously unconcerned expression. "Yeah, that's what they said. No doubt about it."
"Wh-Wh-What do we do?!" Tamanegi shouted as the three children ran around in panic.
Zoro gave them a half-lidded look before turning his attention back to Luffy. "So, why didn't you come and tell us?"
"Oh, that. I fell off a cliff," Luffy replied offhandedly.
Zoro opened his mouth to say something, closed it, blinked, and finally looked at Lambo. The cow-clad boy just gave him a shrug and an "I-told-you-so" look. "That Heart-Hypnotist probably caused it."
"Heart-Hypnotist...?" Nami mumbled with a half-lidded expression. "Are you serious?" She was ignored.
"So then...Klahadore really is evil!" Ninjin shouted to Piiman, who nodded in agreement.
"No wonder he's such a creep!"
"That must be why the Captain was running towards the village like a maniac!" Tamanegi joined in.
"This is a good thing, though," Nami spoke up. "Now we can warn the villagers to get out before the attack. They were too careless!"
"They must have thought the impact killed Luffy," Lambo stated, looking back up towards the cliff. "Lucky for us they don't know about his Devil Fruit."
"H-Hey, that's right, we can run away!" Piiman exclaimed in relief once he and the other two children finally stopped running around like headless chickens.
"R-Right! We should just take the important stuff and run for it!"
"Yeah! Let's hurry!" Piiman shouted, turning and bursting into a run towards the village with his two friends hurrying after him, leaving the four pirates in their dust.
"Well, there they go. Wonder if they'll be alright," Lambo muttered as he watched them disappear into the distance.
"Ah! Oh no!" Luffy suddenly shouted, jumping up.
Everyone quickly turned to him, eyes wide. "What is it? Did you remember something else?!" Nami asked.
"If we don't hurry, the shop keepers will be all gone and we won't be able to get any meat!"
Lambo and Nami just gave him incredulous looks while Zoro poked him in the back of the head with one of his swords. "This isn't the time for that, Luffy."
"Whoa! My hat!" Luffy shouted, springing forward to catch his hat, which had been knocked off by Zoro.
Lambo rolled his eyes at the boy's antics before turning his attention towards the sky. "It looks like the sun's gonna set soon. Let's find Usopp and warn the villagers."
"Oh, yeah, good idea!" Luffy proclaimed, grinning as he put his hat back where it belonged.
"We might even catch up with those kids."
"Let's go!"
"Captain!"
The first sight they had of the three children once they caught up to them was them running happily towards Usopp, who was lumbering out of the village towards them.
"Hey!" Luffy shouted with a grin, waving at him as well.
The moment Usopp spotted Luffy, his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped so far that Lambo was momentarily afraid that it would fall off. Rushing over, he stopped in front of him and stared at him as if he was seeing a ghost. "Y-You! How the hell are you still alive?!"
"Huh? I woke up, that's all."
"W-Woke up? You don't just wake up after falling off a cliff!"
"Well, I did."
"B-B-But-!"
Lambo heaved a sigh. "Just leave it, Usopp. You're not going to get a better answer out of him."
"But, anyway, Captain," Tamanegi interrupted, shaking his head. "We need to hurry up and warn everyone about the pirates!"
Usopp's eyes widened slightly and his mouth formed a grim line. "W-Warn everyone...?" Everyone looked at him in confusion as he fell silent, growing concerned when he started to tremble slightly.
"Captain? What's wro-" Tamanegi started, but was abruptly cut off when Usopp raised his head, laughing.
"Aw, guys, I was just kidding! I was pissed at Klahadore, so I made up a story that he's a pirate! It was just a joke!"
The children stared at him in confusion for a moment before realizing what he said and laughing along with him. "Oh, I get it!"
"So these guys got fooled by the Captain!"
Still laughing, the three children started walking. They walked past their captain, who looked at them in confusion, and towards the village. "Hey, what's wrong?"
The children stopped and turned around, their laughter gone and grim expressions on their faces.
"You know...I'm starting to lose respect for you, Captain," Ninjin spoke.
"Me too," Piiman agreed.
"And me," Tamanegi nodded, disappointment clear on his face. "Even if Klahadore is a jerk...I never thought you'd make up something like this to hurt someone," he mumbled before they turned away and continued their treck home.
Usopp's expression fell. "H-Hey..."
"To think that we respected you so much, Captain..."
"I'm really disappointed."
"Me too."
"Let's go. It's dinnertime."
"I wonder what we'll have?"
Their voices faded as they disappeared from view.
"...Well, that was harsh," Lambo said after a moment of silence. Looking back at Usopp, his eyes widened when he caught sight of a familiar red liquid dripping out from where his hand was clasped over his arm. "H-Hey, are you okay? You're bleeding..."
"Huh? Oh..." Usopp mumbled, looking down at it. "It's nothing..."
"We should still take care of it before it becomes infected or something," Lambo said with a concerned frown. "...And then you can tell us what happened."
"...Yeah. Yeah, okay."
"Ow! Ow!" Usopp shouted, wincing as Nami pressed the rag against his wounds, disinfecting them. "Watch it! That really hurts!"
"I told you it would sting a little," Nami said with a huff as she continued her work.
"This isn't a little!"
"Alright, there we go," Nami said, wrapping the now disinfected wound in pristine white bandages. Usopp quickly pulled his arm away from her and held it, wincing.
"You coulda been a little gentler..."
Lambo rolled his eyes slightly at the display before looking up at the pitch black sky. Once they had found Usopp, they had gone back to the cliff so as to avoid running into any villagers, or worse yet Klahadore himself. He looked back at the long-nosed boy with a frown. "So, what exactly happened?"
Usopp froze, hand slightly tightening around his wound, before relaxing and sighing. "...Klahadore, or I guess we should start calling him Captain Kuro, is a pirate. We overheard him saying that he's going to attack the village and kill everyone, including Kaya. He's been her butler for years preparing for this day... I tried to warn everyone, but..." He gestured at the bandaged up wound. "...It didn't work out so well."
"I see..." Lambo muttered, lowering his gaze. Obviously more had to have happened than just that. He decided against pushing the other boy, however.
"...Hey, why did you say all that stuff earlier?" Luffy asked with a frown.
Usopp blinked at him. "Huh? Oh, you mean Piiman, Ninjin, and Tamanegi?" Seeing Luffy nod, he looked down and sighed. "Because I'm a liar. No one would believe me. No one did believe me..." He laughed softly. "I was too naive..."
"Even if you were, you still told the truth," Zoro pointed out.
"Those pirates are really coming, aren't they?" Nami asked.
Usopp nodded grimly. "Yeah. There's no doubt about it. And everyone thinks that it'll just be an ordinary day tomorrow..." He gritted his teeth, hands clentched so hard that his knuckles turned white as he surged up to his feet. "But I'll stop those pirates at the coast! I'll make it so it really was just one big lie! It's my duty as a liar! Even though... Even though they didn't believe me, chased me, and even shot me..." He bowed his head, shoulders trembling, and Lambo quickly realized he was crying. "This is still my village! I love this village! I want to protect everyone!"
Zoro gave a small smirk and grasped one of his swords. "Heh. Never thought you'd be this kinda guy. Ditching your friends so you can fight that butler one on one."
"Let's get this straight, all the pirates' treasure belongs to me, alright?" Nami remarked.
Lambo glanced at them all. Somehow, he knew that it would have ended up this way. "I don't really know what I can do, but I'll give it a shot."
"Right! We'll lend you a hand," Luffy finished off.
Usopp looked at them with wide eyes, tears still leaking out of them. "Y-You guys...really wanna help me? Why?"
"'Cause they have a lot more people," Luffy stated.
"Yeah, if you try to fight them alone you'll get your ass kicked," Lambo said flatly with a nod, causing Usopp to freeze before slumping slightly.
"If you're scared you can change your mind," Zoro pointed out, seeing his reaction.
The long-nosed boy quickly wiped away his tears and stood up, a forced look of confidence on his face. "M-Me?! Scared?! No way! It doesn't matter how many of them there are! I'll be fine! For I am Captain Usopp! Brave warrior of the high seas!"
A chattering sound filled the air and the pirates looked down at Usopp's legs, which were shaking uncontrollably. He gritted his teeth and pounded his fists down on them, trying to get them to stop trembling. "Dammit! Dammit! Alright, fine, I'm scared! Why shouldn't I be?! These are Captain Kuro's men! I'm scared and I admit it! If you guys wanna help me just because you pity me, then just leave!"
"Would you calm down? We're not doing this because we pity you," Zoro spoke up. "We're doing this because we admire your courage."
Lambo nodded. "You've got a lot of guts. We respect that."
"Yeah! We wouldn't be risking our lives like this because of pity!" Luffy assured.
Usopp went completely silent as he stared at them in utter shock. Tears once again started filling his eyes, but this time for an entirely different reason. "Damn... You guys... Yeah, let's do it!"