Welcome to this new fic! Please leave a review to tell me what I did right and what I did wrong. Just roll with this duo for a bit. They'll warm up to you.
The battle is over. The Mink-Samurai-Pirate alliance has beaten both the Beast pirates and the Big Mom pirates. Now, at the Flower Capital, everyone is celebrating. Brook is playing music so good that you literally couldn't not dance to, Luffy is eating enough meat to make people start calling him a protein shake, Zoro is out drinking all the samurai, Nami is winning all the bets from Zoro drinking, Chopper and Carrot are going crazy from all the ninja that are at the party, Franky is currently rebuilding the Franky Shogun and giving it some seastone weapons, Robin is learning all of of the history of Wano and Oden from both the Wano historians and Yamato, Sanji is, as always, falling in love with every woman in the radius of his Observation Haki, and Jinbei is just enjoying the sake and company of his new nakama.
All of the Strawhats were there, except one.
"God" Usopp was out training in the forest side of Kuri. He couldn't help himself. All of his nakama did something huge during the raid, whether it be taking down a Tobi Roppo, killing a Calamity, or killing Kaido. They all did something amazing like that, while he did nothing. 'All I did was play baby sitter with Nami' He thought back to how Nami turned Zeus, one of Big Mom's biggest allies, against her, and to how Tama single handedly gave the alliance about 4000 more troops. Meanwhile, Usopp was just their bodyguard, 'and a terrible one at that' he thought as he remembered Ulti, he thinks that's her name, nearly killing Nami, and how he watched helplessly as she nearly made Nami disobey her captain. Not only that, but the two people he was supposed to guard managed to secure allies in the raid. Nami got Zeus and Tama got the gifters. Meanwhile, Usopp couldn't even make anyone believe he was lying about how Big Mom's Conqueror's haki was his.
"Wow Nami! You and Tama are great at gathering allies!"
Usopp knew that he wasn't useless, he learned from his mistakes at Water 7. But he just couldn't help but think what he could've done better. After he got back from the Boin Archipelago, he thought he was strong. He actually thought he was telling Nami the truth when he said that he was no longer part of the weakling trio. Turns out he was wrong.
Which is why he's training right now. He's trying to reach Okobore town from the Kuri jungle with his Observation haki. That's about 10000 kilometres. Obviously something that won't happen, but that's the point. He's going to give himself an impossibly huge objective, inevitably fail, and see how far he actually got. Wash, rince, repeat. It's a simple cycle, but he feels like he's up for the challenge. Anything to help his nakama.
So, he reached out his Observation haki again for what felt like the hundredth time and tried to reach out to Okobore. Again, only about 5000 kilometres. Not bad by any means, but if he is going to be a sniper, then he's going to need Observation Haki that is much stronger than that.
And so, Usopp reached out his Observation haki once again. He was about to bring it back when he felt a presence at the beach of Kuri. 'Probably a civilian' he thought to himself, until he remembered how crowded the Flower Capital was. No way there would be a civilian out in deep Kuri while everyone else was out partying like it was the end of the world. So, he ran towards the beach a bit and activated his Observation Haki again. From what he could tell, it was a woman that was in her late teens to early twenties, and she had long hair and something on top of her head. From what Usopp could feel, the girl was unconscious.
Usopp pondered for a moment on what to do, before deciding to help her. As he got closer to the beach, he started to recognize that thing on her head. And when he got to the beach, he was surprised. Ulti of the Tobi Roppo, lying down unconscious, clothes torn, multiple open wounds, and overall looking like shit. Not surprising, considering how she was not only beaten like a dog by Big Mom but also shocked by Nami. But still, when she wakes up, she'll probably want to kill the Straw Hats and the samurai considering how she was as big of a Kaido fan as Yamato was of Oden, as Usopp had come to learn over the last few days. So, Usopp had to do something about her. Thankfully, Usopp brought his satchel with him and grinned. He has been meaning to try out this bondage gear. 'Wow Usopp,' he thought to himself, 'I mean, she's hot and she's an enemy, but you still gotta have standards!'
/./
Ulti woke up to the sound of rain and fire. She tries to get up, but realizes she is wrapped in rope and can't feel her wrists. She then looks around to see that she was tied up in a cave with a man. "Oi! You! Get me out of here right now and I'll only bash your skull so much that you'll still live!" However, she got no response from him.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" No response
"Oi!" Nothing
"Why you- I'm gonna kill you!" but right before she tried to go into her hybrid form, she got a response from him.
"I doubt you can do anything in that state right now. And don't try changing forms, I gave you seastone handcuffs." The man said to Ulti's annoyance.
"I don't need my devil fruit to kill you! My headbutts are still strong with haki!" Ulti yelled at him.
"And yet you can't even reach me from here," the man said as he got up and took his cap off, "Now, bow in the presence of your god!" He said with as much bravado as when Queen starts to sing. But then Ulti recognizes the man, or more accurately, his stupid long nose.
"Aren't you that guy I beat earlier?" Ulti asks in a flat tone that was completely different from the one she used less than a minute ago.
When she said that, Usopp fell backwards in a comedic fall, "N-no I'm not! I'm a completely different Usopp than the one you headbutted in the skull earlier!" Usopp said as he got back up and waved his hands constantly.
"How did you know I hit your skull?" She asks
"Of course I know, I'm still feeling it right now!" He says as he rubs his still healing skull with his hands. He was still feeling all of the damage he took from Onigashima, definitely including Ulti's headbutt.
A few seconds go by as he realizes his mistake. 'Dammit' he thinks as he puts his palm back up to his face. Meanwhile, Ulti has to stifle her laughter at the liar's failings.
"So, 'god', would you mind telling me why I'm like this?" Ulit asks in a patronizing and questioning tone.
"What ain't it obvious?" was Usopp's reply before Ulti shook her head. "Okay, fine. I found you out on Kuri's beach, tied you up, I was going to go to the Flower Capital and send you to jail before it started raining like hell. So, I figured to hunker down here until the rain stops." Usopp explains.
"What I meant was, why are you here and not in prison or dead with your crew? What, did Kaido-sama take pity on you?" Ulti clarifies, not believing for a second that the invincible Kaido could be defeated let alone killed.
'This is gonna be either awesome or terrifying' Usopp thought as he prepared himself for the inevitable outrage that's about to take place. 'Here goes'
"Kaido's dead"
.
.
.
Silence
That was all that was heard in the cave as the rain dropping onto the jungle beside them and the fire crackling in front of them all but ceased to exist as Ulti seemingly couldn't comprehend what Usopp had just said for a minute until suddenly two words came from her mouth in a whisper, each striking Usopp like a haki infused sword cuts through an overconfident logia; "You're wrong"
"Look, I-"
"You're wrong" Ulti repeated, "You're wrong. You're wrong! YOU'RE WRONG!" She yelled out as she tried to wiggle out of her rope but to no avail.
'Welp, I guess I'm terrified' Usopp thought as he tried to calm her down but to no avail. So, he figured to just let her be mad and wait it out.
During her whole charade about how Kaido is/was "The greatest captain ever!" and how he "Would never lose to a squirt like Strawhat!" And then she said the saying "if it's a 1v1, ALWAYS bet on Kaido-sama" Usopp understood what Ulti was going through. When he lost his mother, all he could do was cry. And cry he did. So, Usopp gives Ulti time to herself and looks out the cave to watch the rain.
It's been an hour since Ulti had her meltdown, and Usopp finally built up the courage to talk to her again. "Hey." he says trying to get a response from her to no avail, "Look, I know you hate me because I helped kill Kaido, but can we at least talk?"
"He's not dead" was all he got from her.
'Figures I'd get that response from her.' Usopp thinks as he takes out his watch to check the time, it reading 10:30 pm. 'Has it really been an entire day since the raid started? Wait, when was the last time I slept?' Usopp thinks to himself as he decides it's time for dinner. He then took a pop green out of his bag and threw it on the ground, startling Ulti.
"What the hell are you doing you idiot?" Ulti asks as the pop green grows into a large flower with what seems to be meat coming out of the center. Usopp then moves to pick the meat out of the flower and digs into it.
"Eig" Usopp says in a muffled voice as he was currently munching down on the meat in his hand. Then he takes out another pop green and throws it her way. It erupts into another flower with the same piece of meat in the center. "Go on, you should eat it."
"Not like I can" Ulti says with venom in her tone as she gestures to her tied up body and cuffed hands.
Usopp sighs, "one sec," and searches his bag for something. After a bit, he finally finds what he's looking for, and throws the pop green out to her feet.
After a second, it starts to burst into smoke and Ulti fails to notice Usopp putting on a gas mask until it's too late, and she slips into unconsciousness after saying a few words in a low whisper, "You… bastard…"
/./
Ulti woke up to find herself tied up but this time her hands were in front of her instead of behind her. Then she noticed Usopp looking out the cave entrance while eating his meat. 'I wonder if I can get the jump on him?' she thought as she moved slowly toward him.
"Wait you're up? I thought you'd at least be knocked out for twenty minutes. Turns out it was just ten." Usopp says as he looks back at Ulti, who was actually shocked that he sensed her.
'Does this shrimp know haki?' Ulti thought before shaking her head, 'No way, he would have used armament on his plants when we fought.' She then noticed the new flower with meat, 'Is this for me?'
"Don't worry, it's yours." Usopp says as he takes another bite out of his meat, "It's not poisoned or anything, Chopper would kill me if I poison anyone."
"Why?" was all Ulti could muster as she watched Usopp eat his meat in peace.
"Why what?"
"Why are you feeding your enemy?" Ulti asked him genuinely.
"Well, put simply," Ulti didn't know what to expect when he added in a few pauses, "My chef would kill me if I let a lady go starving." And with that, Ulti realized that he was actually being honest.
"Say," Usopp starts as he realizes he needs something to pass the time until it stops raining, "do you want to hear the tale of how we killed god?"
'Yeah right' Ulti thought as she bit into her meat, 'As if god even exists.'
/./
"-and then, just as he was about to strike Nami down, Sanji got up and laughed saying 'Sorry, but I was just about to ask you for a light'" Usopp exclaimed with his right hand in a pose where it mimicked Sanji's pose, "and you know what Enel said? 'You dare say that to a god?'" Usopp said in an over the top Enel impersonation.
"There's no way he actually did that!" Ulti said in between fits of laughter, "He couldn't actually have believed he was god!" Ulti tried to regain her composure, but failed miserably, once again turning into a laughing mess, "If he- if h-," Ulti paused herself for a bit, "if he actually came down to the New World, he would've died in his first week!" And again, Ulti started to laugh. Usopp then laughs with her, each of them comforting each other as they drink and eat as the night goes by.
Maybe this won't be as bad as she thought.
/./
"And so, Hordy Jones challenged us to a great battle in the middle of the plaza. And there, we slowly but surely marched towards the troops that ranged within that of 100,000,000,000!" Usopp exclaims with his arms stretched as far as they could go to simulate the wideness of the army much to Ulti's active imagination already giving herself a nice depiction of it. "However, Luffy then stepped up, and used his conqueror's haki to wipe out 25,000,000,000 of them!" Usopp dramatically exclaimed with his arms stretched out again as Utli was beginning to suspect that was his thing. "Of course, I took out another 25,000,000,000 of them with my conqueror's haki." He slyly said.
"Yeah right. As if you have conqueror's." Ulti snarkily says. "He probably did everything himself."
"Well, I may have helped him out a little bit." Usopp sneakily says.
"Sure you did." Ulti deadpans. Soon enough though, she laughs as Usopp continues the story of Fishman Island.
/./
Usopp checked his watch. It says 1:19. As Usopp looks out to the still raining outdoors, he makes a decision. "Let's sleep here."
"Hm? Why?" Ulti asks as she bit into her third meat stick of the night, "Here I thought you were going to send me to prison. Is it really just some pathetic rain you're scared of?"
Usopp turned to her, "It's not just the rain, it's also that it's 1 in the night. So," Usopp says as he stops the fire in the cave they were in, "I'm going to sleep. Feel free to sleep too."
And like that, the only person that's been around Ulti for the past 2 hours had fallen asleep, leaving Ulti completely alone with her thoughts.
Ulti knew she couldn't get out of this rope. The seastone cuffs on her hands aside, this rope is unnaturally tough to break through. Whenever she moved it tightened and she felt like it was moving around her like it was alive.
Not only that, but she doesn't know if she can kill this guy. Sure, he's an enemy and is going to take her to prison, but he also entertained her for the past two hours. He fed her too, something you don't normally do to prisoners. 'Killing him is up in the air, but I'm definitely killing that Straw Hat brat! How dare he say he'll be King of the Pirates! Besides, why am I thinking of sparing Usopp? If Straw Hat's his captain, then he deserves to die too.'
Even if she's thinking it, Ulti can't say she 100% believes those words. After he was so nice to her, after he fed her, can she really go with killing him? Ulti just can't decide what to do with him.
So, she thought about her current predicament. Currently, Ulti's in a cave with an enemy(?) who has her tied up and claims that the assassination attempt on her captain and father figure was succesful. 'Yeah right,' Ulti scoffed at the thought, 'as if the man who survived falling 100000 feet down the sky could die.'
Still, Ulti couldn't help but wonder why none of the Beast Pirates at least attempted to find her. Why wouldn't they? Because she might be dead and it's not a bother looking for her? Well Pay-Pay has her vivre card, so he should've found her by now. 'Unless…' She began to think.
'No way! My Pay-Pay would never die to some no name rookies who had trouble with Doflamingo of all people.' Ulti thought as she shakes her head repeatedly before her mood shifts into that of anger, 'He's probably just dozing off! And when his sister is missing! Why that little- I'll kill him!' she thinks before her mood changes back to her cheery self, 'Oh, he's probably sleeping because he spent all day looking for me!' she thinks before yet again changing into what the pleasures and waiters refer to as anger mode, 'If he's been looking for me all day, then why did that shrimp find me before you did Pay-Pay?' Ulti asks as if Page One was right in front of her. She then went back and forth between emotions thinking about what happened to Page One.
However, one thought still lingered on Ulti, 'Why hasn't anyone found me yet?'
With the exception of her brother, Ulti didn't expect any of the Tobi Roppo to look for her. She couldn't see any of the All Stars coming for her either. Not like any of them cared for her, and she couldn't give less of a shit about them.
Yet none of that was true when it came to Kaido. He cared for her and Page One. He took them in after their dad died. He raised her like the daughter he always wanted. So, why is Kaido not looking for her? Because she's expendable? No way. He may think that way about waiters, pleasures, and even some gifters, but no way in hell would Kaido think a member of the Tobi Roppo is expendable. Especially not his surrogate daughter.
So, again, Ulti asks herself the same question before she drifts off to sleep, 'Why hasn't anyone found me yet?'
/./
Usopp woke up to see the rising sun, although just a small fragment of it, considering how the jungle and cave is covering him and his prisoner from the sun. Usopp checks his watch and sees it read 5:40. He decides now's a good time to make breakfast. He actually talked to Sanji when they reunited after two years asking for him to infuse some of his meals into his pop greens. When asked why, Usopp just said "In case we're on an island and Luffy suddenly wants food." Honestly, how could Sanji not say no? And so, Usopp takes out one of his food pop greens and gets ready to eat.
It was the sound of the pop green that interrupted Ulti's beauty sleep. Well, that and the smell of bacon and eggs. 'Wait, you can make bacon with those things?' Ulti thinks as she starts to get up, 'I have to get my hands on those someday.'
"Well look who's awake." Usopp says as he notices Ulti with what she now definitely knows is his observation haki, "One sec, lemme get you some of that as well" Usopp says as he rumages through his bag looking for another kind of the pop green. After a bit, he finds it and throws it on the ground a few feet in front of Ulti. "Dig in." He says as he goes to town on his breakfast.
Ulti was hesitant at first, but her rumbling stomach got the better of her and she proceeded to eat. It tasted amazing. Like the god of cooking had graced her mouth. She was silent the entire time she and Usopp ate together.
It was 6:57 when Usopp decided to lighten the mood and tell one of his stories as he and Ulti were walking through the Kuri jungle. He was telling her about Thriller Bark and how he, Nami, and Chopper went in solo and survived.
"And just as we got to the gate, a three headed dog came out viciously against us!" Usopp says in an exaggerated tone as he did his trademark move where he stretched out his arms. Ulti, meanwhile, wasn't believing him for a second.
"Yeah right. What's next, the dog has a personality for each head and they finish each other's sentences?"
"Well, you're half right. Turns out, they all were different dogs that were stitched together for some dumb experiment." Usopp explains noticing that Ulti isn't buying any of it for a second, so he decides to say other things from Thriller Bark that he knew Ulti wouldn't buy, "And don't even get me started on the zombies!" Again, only a deadpan from his prisoner.
"Yeah, and pigs fly."
Usopp then smirked, "Actually, the same guy who made the zombies and three headed dog actually made a flying pig." Then Ulti realized that Usopp was being completely serious.
THAT got a reaction from Ulti, "Wait zombies are real?!" she asked as the rope around her tightened from her sudden excitement, "That's amazing! I've always wanted to meet one! Do they really eat brains? Are they really dumb? What's their weakness? Are they the same person as before or are they completely different?" Ulti rampantly and excitedly asked.
"No, they don't really eat anything. They are actually revived with the Kage-Kage no mi. They need a shadow from another person to come to life, and they can only be as strong as they were if they had an equally strong shadow. They're about as smart as their stolen shadow, so I guess some were dumb and some were smart. They just have to swallow salt and their shadows leave their bodies. And no, zombies take the personalities of their shadows. Actually, Zoro fought Ryuma because he had Brook's shadow."
"Wait, THE Ryuma? Like, Holder of Shusui Ryuma? Protector of Wano Ryuma?" Ulti incredulously asks, "a guy with only a 100 million berry bounty beat the Sword God?"
"Well, not necessarily the Sword God himself. Remember, zombies can only be as strong as their shadow. Since Moria stole Brook's shadow, Ryuma was a lot weaker than he should've been. Not only that, but Brook was more of a fencer than a samurai. So, Ryuma couldn't fight to his full potential and he was using a sword style that didn't match up with Shusui." Usopp said as he remembered Zoro secretly telling Brook about his fight with Ryuma.
"Anyways, that's not even the best part!" Usopp says as he hypes up his big moment.
"Oh? And what could that be?" Ulti asks with stars in her eyes as she looks towards Usopp, anticipating what's going to come next.
"How about how I stopped the ghosts that made others depressed by being depressed myself!" Usopp dramatically exclaims as he does his signature move.
"Okay, the zombies I believe, but there's no way you beat the ghosts because you were too depressed." Ulti deadpans in the mood shift that Usopp had come to expect by this point.
'Yeah, I guess me beating anyone sounds pretty dumb.' Usopp thinks as he comes up with a lie.
"Okay, okay, you got me. The person who actually beat her was Franky!" Usopp then proceeds to lie about how Franky built a staircase to get to Perona's room and punch her when he got there.
It was 7:28 when they got out of the jungle and into the desert. After a bit of walking, they make a pit stop at Okobore Town. Or at least, what's left of it. "Wait," Ulti says as she thinks about why she remembers this town. 'THAT'S IT!' She realizes, "This was the home of that brat who made the dangos!" Ulti says in anger, not realizing that she's speaking out loud, "Looks like she got what was coming to her!"
It was only after the glare from Usopp that Ulti realized she said that out loud. "You're lucky I'm respecting Sanji's rules on never leaving a lady hungry." Was all he said before he pulled out two pop greens and threw them right next to the two, "Now eat" he said with enough venom in his breath that could make Wano rivers look clean by comparison.
They were silent the whole time they ate, Usopp never taking his piercing eyes off Ulti.
It was 30 minutes after they left Okobore Town when Usopp went to the washroom that Ulti realized that this was probably her only chance to make a run for it. No way was she going to let Usopp just take her to jail. So, she made a break for it.
When Usopp noticed his new invention tugging at him, and two figures his observation haki picked up, he looked over the rock to see Ulti running away. 'Does she really think it's that easy?' he thinks as he tugs the rope tied to his left arm. Immediately, the rope came reeling back towards Usopp with Ulti screaming as she suddenly got pulled back to the rock.
"Like my new invention? I modified this rope with a mix of pop greens that make it reach to lengths around 120 meters long! Not only that, but if I feed it enough pop greens, it can reach lengths that are at least 10 times that. Not too shabby if I do say so myself." Usopp gloats as Ulti couldn't move because the rope kept tightening around her. "Now, time to get back to the Flower Capital. Can't hold you here forever."
"When Pay-Pay finds me, you're going to wish you let me go." Ulti angrily replied as she tried and failed to break free from the rope.
"Pretty sure he's in jail too." Usopp casually replies.
Ulti huffs, "As if any petty jail cell can down my Pay-Pay! When we get to the Flower Capital, it'll probably be burned to the ground!"
"Really? Cause last time I checked, the Capital was full of people drinking and partying. Hell, I think they're still going!" Usopp smugly says. It was at that moment that Ulti felt a presence rising in the distance of her observation haki. She figured Usopp must've felt it too, because he suddenly tensed up.
'Dammit. I hoped it wasn't coming this way.' Usopp thought as he tied Ulti down to a nearby boulder. As he pulled Kuro Kabuto out from his hip, he couldn't stop his hands from shaking as he extended Kabuto's length and loaded some Green Stars into the pouch.
As the beast came out of the horizon, Usopp could see that it was a wanizame, a crocodile shark. It was approaching fast, and Usopp could feel the bloodlust coming towards him. From the looks of things, it was coming for food. And Usopp knew who it's prey was.
'Just calm down Usopp.' He thinks as he aims his shots at the approaching beast, 'You are brave. You are strong. You've been strong since you got back from that hell.' He remembers his nights in the Boin Archipelago. How he had to climb from mountain to mountain to find different pop greens. How he had to keep his eyes open at all times to dodge Devil plants. How he had to train like hell for two years straight to finally be strong for his nakama.
He aims Kuro Kabuto right in front of where the beast will be with the help from his observation haki. He takes a deep breath, breathes out, and fires.
"Green Star: Devil Garden!"
And six venus flytraps spring up around the wanizame as it tries to bite through them. Big mistake, as that just angers the now massive and hungry venus flytrap. Soon enough, it begins to return the favor with the help of it's brothers.
"IT WORKED! IT ACTUALLY WORKED! YES! I KNEW I WAS STRONG!" Usopp yelled out in satisfaction as his Devils go to town on the recently-turned-prey predator. As that was happening, Usopp was too distracted to notice Ulti turning her back to him and placing her foot on the boulder she's currently tied to.
Ulti knew she had to get free. She doesn't believe Usopp is telling her the truth that Kaido's dead and that all of the Beast pirates are captured or dead. There were probably some stragglers like her out in Wano. She just needed a way to get out of these handcuffs, and she'll just turn into her full form to get out of this stupid rope. Fortunately, the opportunity to run has just presented itself to her.
Believe it or not, Ulti is actually pretty smart. The entire reason why she and Page One rose through the ranks of the Beast pirates was because she was smart enough to steal two ancient zoans from the treasure room. She knew their rules. Survival of the Fittest. So, if they each got two devil fruits from one of the strongest categories, they'll be able to live. Ulti also has strong armament haki. In fact, when it comes to pure power, Ulti's armament haki is the strongest out of all the Tobi Roppo. Ulti is also really resourceful, being able to use whatever is around her to her advantage. Case in point, Usopp, a boulder, and her armament haki.
As Usopp was busy celebrating his victory, Ulti was currently using her foot to charge the boulder in front of her with armament haki. Then, she raises her wrists up, and smashes them on the stone.
*SMASH*
Usopp turns around, and sees a now seastone free Ulti transforming into her hybrid form, breaking free from the rope. "AHHH!" Usopp panics as he looks into his bag frantically searching for his pop greens. 'Whereisit Whereisit Whereisit' he frantically thought.
"YOU" Ulti says in an angry tone as she charges her head with enough haki to hurt Usopp.
'Found it!' Usopp thinks as he finds his pop green stash. Just then, Ulti charges at him aiming for a headbutt. At the same time, Usopp takes out a specific pop green.
"Ulti Mortar!" she aims for his chest
"Green Star: Trampoline!"
Just as Ulti's head nearly meets Usopp's hand, a flower blooms out of his hand and an elastic-like substance meets Ulti's head, bouncing her back to the ground. 'What the hell? How did it stop my armament haki?' she thinks before she gets off the ground, before noticing Usopp has his slingshot loaded behind a bamboo.
'So this is going to be a standoff?' Ulti thinks as she remembers how she would've lost to Usopp if it wasn't for Page One tearing the venus flytrap off of her back on Onigashima. 'All he has to do is shoot me before I get to him, and I win.' Easier said than done, considering how fast Usopp can shoot his pop greens. 'And to make things worse, his armament might be as strong as mine.' She thinks as she looks at the flower in front of her. 'Is his haki stronger than mine? Maybe I'm just overthinking things and that flower just got the jump on me?'
Usopp then moves out of the flower and aims at Ulti, 'Here goes nothing'
"Green Star: Devil!"
The pop green lands right where Ulti was before she was dashing towards Usopp, head charged with haki. Little did he know, she thought this would be enough to hurt him but not kill him. As payment for helping her.
"Ulti Mortar!"
Usopp braces himself for the incoming hit. His skull still hasn't healed since Ulti smashed her head into it in Onigashima, so he'll probably die from this. 'Guess I'm not strong.'
Usopp remembered his entire life. How his mom died when he was young, how he met Kaya and told her stories he made up, how he met his crew and how they protected his home from Kuro, how he joined the Strawhat pirates and his life changed for good, how they entered the Grand Line and met Laboon, how he met Dorry and Broggy, how he left the crew because of what happened to Merry, how he burned the World Government's flag at Enies Lobby, how he got separated from his nakama when Kuma came to Sabaody, how he trained like hell in the Boin Archipelago, how he and his nakama entered the New World, how he became a god to the Tontatta tribe, and how he and his nakama raided Onigashima.
'I regret nothing'
.
.
.
'Why am I not dead?'
Once Usopp opened his eyes, he could see that Ulti was trapped by a pair of green teeth. 'Devil!' he thought as he looked down to see the rest of the root coming out of the ground.
Usopp began laughing like a maniac. He thought he was dead! He actually did. 'I'M THE LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE!' he thought as he knew that no one could be as lucky as he is.
/./
Meanwhile, on Elbaf, a certain red nosed pirate was talking to a certain red haired pirate when suddenly the red nosed one sneezed, cursing out anyone who was thinking of him.
/./
"Now," Usopp says looking to Ulti, "time to re-tie you."
"Keep praying! Once I break free again, I'm going to offer your head to Kaido-sama!" Ulti bluffed, "But that's before I kill your nakama!"
And with that, Usopp finally had enough and snapped, "When will you accept that Kaido is dead!" Usopp says with a raised voice at Ulti. "He was beaten up by Luffy, and dragged and dropped down to Mt Fujiyama where he was burned alive in a volcano! HE. IS. DEAD!"
And with that, Ulti was silent for the first time in a while.
/./
The sun was setting as Usopp prepared some things to use for a makeshift bed. Meanwhile, Ulti was just sitting at the corner, new seastone cuffs on her wrists, even tighter rope tied to her, looking down.
Ulti knew she should've died. She really should be dead. Usopp could've left her in that plant's mouth and just ran away and no one would've been the wiser. And yet he saved her. He already saved her when she was left for dead on the beach of Kuri, hell he even fed her and kept her entertained with some stories of his adventures. So, when she was going to headbutt him, she was going to make sure to weaken her haki to make sure he lives. It's the least she could do.
But Ulti got caught by Usopp's plants. She knew this was going to be the end. She made her attack look like she was going to kill him to get him to back off. Turns out, he won't need to.
And yet, Ulti is alive. Usopp chose to let her live. Even after he went on his little tirade about how Kaido's dead. As she was offered some meat from a pop green, she was just left with one question in her head.
"Why?" She mumbled, Usopp only barely hearing her.
"Why what?" Usopp said, getting the sense of Deja Vu.
"Why are you feeding me?" Ulti asked with tears in her eyes.
"I already told you, my chef wouldn't let a woman go hungry, and neither will I." Usopp said with confidence in his voice.
"But after all I did to you!" Ulti said in a half pleading, half questioning tone, "After I nearly killed you and that red haired girl back on Onigashima, after breaking your head, after trying to run from you twice today, and after I tried to knock you out a few hours ago!" Ulti said as Usopp perked up at the last bit, "Why are you letting me live?"
"Wait, what was that last one?" Usopp asked Ulti as he gave her his full undivided attention.
"Do you mean how I was going to knock you out?" Ulti asks, "What? Do you think I was actually going to kill you after how you treated me? You fed me, kept me company, hell you even patched me up. Not killing you is the least I could do."
"What are you talking about? I thought I was dead back there. You easily would have killed me if my Devil didn't save me." Usopp sincerely says.
"But you could've just used your armament haki against the attack! I gave you plenty of time to react." Ulti points out.
"Why do you think I have Armament haki?" Usopp asks Ulti as she realizes something important. For whatever reason, Usopp can't use armament haki.
"Why do you not know haki? Your captain is the Fifth Emperor and he never thought about teaching you haki?" Ulti asks Usopp with a look of genuine confusion, "You'd think he would at least unlock it for you."
Usopp prepared to argue with her, until he realized that Ulti was actually right. 'Why hasn't Luffy at least unlocked our haki?' He thought. He thinks about how Nami doesn't really need armament, since she uses the weather for her attacks. 'At least with Nami it makes sense,' he thought, 'but what about the rest of us? Even if mastering haki takes a long time, unlocking it shouldn't take THAT long. Better we at least have it half-assed than having none.' He then remembered something, 'Robin went to the Revolutionary Army right? She's also good friends with Sabo. Why didn't Sabo teach her haki? She'd be a beast!' He then got back on track, thinking about Ulti
Ulti notices Usopp thinking over her question. Then she remembers back to the night before, how he made her laugh even when she was grieving, how he fed her even though she's his enemy, and how he patched up her wounds when he didn't need to.
Ulti sighs, 'I can't kill him.' she admits, 'I just can't bring myself to do it.' Ulti then looks to Usopp, and comes up with an idea, 'but I can thank him.'
"Usopp," Ulti starts, "I want to thank you for letting me live."
"Where are you going with this?" Usopp asks, not knowing where this is going in the slightest.
"I'm going to teach you armament haki." Ulti says with firmness in her voice.
It took Usopp a second to understand what she said. Him? Armament? It sounds too good to be true!
"What's the catch?"
Ulti then sighs, "I want you to release me from this rope and shackles and release Pay-Pay from jail, and," Ulti readies herself, "And let me visit Kaido-sama's grave."
Usopp thinks for a moment, before accepting, "Alright, I can get you to Mt Fujiyama, but I don't know if Page One is alive. Knowing Wano, he's probably alive just so they can execute him later." Usopp explains.
"That's fine, Pay-Pay is alive." Ulti says like it's a fact before thinking, 'He has to be'
Usopp then loosens the rope around Ulti, untying her and taking off her seastone handcuffs. He then reaches his hand out in front of her, "Partners?"
"More like student and teacher." Ulti says as she takes his hand and gets up. "Now come on, we'll start tomorrow morning."
Aaaand scene! I hope you enjoyed it, because there are two more chapters coming out. When they're coming, eeehh TBD. I have the last chapter done, but the second chapter is just a pain in the ass to write. Mainly because it has a lot of fight scenes, so it's hard for me to correctly choreograph the fights. Speaking of, next chapter is going to be a training montage where Usopp learns CoA, so look forward to that. See ya!
