Five minutes ago the weather had been so peaceful. The waves were gentle, the wind a mere breeze, and the sun shining on a clear blue sky had washed an overwhelming feeling of calm over the seven people on board the Going Batty.
But there was a reason the initial stretch of the Grand Line was a feared legend among sailors. Before anyone knew it, the skies had clouded, the waves began reaching over the railing, and intense winds tossed the ship back and forth.
Chopper was standing on a barrel, shouting into a megaphone so everyone on the ship could hear him. The Straw Hats and their two passengers ran back and forth across the deck, following Chopper's instructions to keep the ship from tipping over. Every so often, Chopper would look at the Log Pose on his left wrist to make sure they were still going the right way. Besides the Log Pose, the young Mink was also dressed in a pair of maroon shorts and an open dark red leather jacket. The fur on the top of his head was flat against his skull because of the rain.
"Waah, this is way too much!" Lotta cried out, the rabbit lady scurrying across the deck.
"Didn't you come through here earlier?!" Franky grunted, rapidly moving the rudder lever from side to side to keep up with the ever-changing currents. Despite the poor weather, Franky was insisting on wearing a revealing outfit as always. His current blend of open Hawaiian shirt was a yellow shirt with green palm trees on it, and his trusty black speedo was the only thing he wore on his lower body. Dangling from his neck was a gold chain, and a pair of black triangular sunglasses were resting on his forehead just below his big blue stylish pompadour. On each of his otherwise unremarkable forearms were tattoos of a blue star.
"WE WENT DURING THE CALM WEEK!" Tim yelled as loud as ever, the bulky, bearded shirtless man struggling to hold onto a rope attached to a sail. "IT HAPPENS ONCE A YEAR! NO BAD WEATHER DURING THAT TIME!"
"Of course you did," Usopp groaned, then whirled his head around to see a large incoming wave. Except this was not just any wave, but a Grand Line phenomena called a Fist Wave. It's when a wave forms a shape akin to a fist rising up from the sea, going straight towards the closest ship. Many scientists have proposed various scientific explanations for how the currents interact to cause this strange behavior, but the explanation most people use is that the sea is just kind of an asshole.
The long-nosed pirate jumped onto the railing facing the Fist Wave, clutching his large five-ton hammer. His toned arms were bare, as he wore no shirt underneath his iconic brown overalls. Said overalls stopped just below his knees, exposing a bit of his shins before his brown boots. He had an olive green plaid bandanna on his head, a blue and white striped armband on his left arm, and a white sash tied around his waist like a belt. Also, a light brown band slung across his right shoulder and left hip, made so he could carry either of his two hammers around. Usopp waited patiently as the Fist Wave drew closer, then swung his hammer at it right before it reached the ship. The fist fell back into the ocean, disappearing into regular seawater once more.
Then, the skies suddenly cleared. In seconds the rain stopped and sunlight beamed down upon the haggard seafarers. After a few cautious seconds, many butts fell down upon the nearest flat surface to let the owners of said butts catch their breath.
"Heeh, even sailing is a fun adventure!" Luffy grinned, sitting on the ship's bat-shaped figurehead. The cook's chest was bare as usual, but he at least wore a red cape that had given a bit of protection from the rain. He wore dark blue wrestling tights decorated with a black flame pattern, with his feet covered in dark red wraps and a pair of sandals. Black bands were wrapped around his elbows, and he had never been seen without his luchador mask on. The mask's design resembled a blue flaming skull on a black background, with dark red wispy flames surrounding it. Said mask had had the top cut off, allowing his hair to fly free.
Before anyone could comment on Luffy's usage of "fun adventure" to describe the agonizing experience they had all just gone through, the ship started tilting. Just as quickly as they had disappeared, rainclouds covered the sky in the blink of an eye and unleashed a torrent of rain. Strong winds battered the side of the Going Batty, almost sending Luffy tumbling into the water. And just as he managed to regain his footing, blue skies were upon them again.
This time, everyone was more cautious to take a breather. And their worries were proven right soon, as another shower of rain and winds fell upon them… for about a second, before calm winds once more. Then, another second of a typhoon, followed by a picturesque blue sky. A few seconds after that, the skies blackened and everyone braced themselves… only for a single raindrop to fall onto Usopp's nose.
Luffy couldn't help but laugh, only to be silenced by a hailstone the size of a baseball smashing into his face and knocking him on his back. Usopp couldn't help but laugh at that, only to also be silenced by a hailstone. When the two got back up on their feet, they roared to the heavens and rolled out one of the ship's cannons, pointing it straight up.
"WE'RE GONNA KICK YOUR ASSES, CLOUDS!"
Once more the two were sent to the floor, but this time it wasn't by hailstones. Rather, it was the fists of their cyborg captain Nami.
"Stop being idiots," she ordered in an annoyed tone. Her crew's titular straw hat rested on top of her head, looking remarkably undamaged for having gone through such a storm. Nami's current outfit consisted of a black sleeveless shirt with the word MODE written in pink on the chest. The part of the ship above the MODE was pink with a mesh-like design. She wore thigh-length blue denim shorts with two ring-designs on either side, as well as flat brown sandals. The current iteration of her robotic left arm looked a bit bulkier than normal, with a thicker forearm and an overall sturdier-looking construction.
"The weather could change again at any moment," Nami reprimanded the two pirates rubbing their heads. "Can't afford to waste time and effort on… whatever it is you two think you were doing."
"Actually…" Chopper spoke up, glancing between his Log Pose and a map. "I think we're past the worst of it now. It's just the first part of the Grand Line that has weather like this, because of all the different climates and currents meeting there. But once we get through, we shouldn't have to go through anything like that again."
"Really? What a relief…" Usopp sighed happily, sitting with his back against a wall. "I feel like I've aged five years."
"Hm, dumb that we won't get to do anything fun like that again," Luffy grumbled, cupping his chin in his hand with a sour expression.
"STOP EQUATING DANGER WITH FUN!"
"Hey! I see an island!" Franky suddenly called out. The blue-haired grenadier was near the front of the ship, pointing at a faint landmass in the horizon. The rest of the crew and their two passengers were quick to rush up and get a look themselves.
"Looks like… cactus?"
"YES! CACTUS ISLAND!" Tim confirmed with a mighty yell that made everyone around him cover their ears. "THE ISLAND WHERE WHISKEY PEAK IS! WE'RE FINALLY HERE!"
"I'm just so happy that I have to swim over and say hi to everyone," Lotta smiled. She had already dove into the water before anyone could even say anything, and began swimming freestyle. She was only slightly faster than the ship, but slowly managed to inch further and further away from the rest.
"So… you gonna join her, or…?" Usopp asked Tim, not wanting the headache of questioning the rabbit Mink's actions.
"NO. I'M BAD AT SWIMMING," Tim admitted, looking ashamed.
"Could you PLEASE say one sentence without yelling? I think I'm going deaf," Nami groaned, rubbing her temples.
"I'M YELLING?!" Tim asked, reeling back in shock.
A significant amount of Whiskey Peak's population had come out to greet the Straw Hats as they arrived. A dripping wet and exhausted Lotta laid sprawled over a bench, while some other town residents took care of her and gave her carrot juice. ("It was a lot longer to swim than I thought!")
However, the Straw Hats' attention was being firmly held by a single person. A man in an open dark gray blue suit with golden buttons, with a light blue vest and white shirt underneath. His pants were of the same color as his suit and only went down to just below his knee, revealing his tall white socks. He had a black western style tie and big black shoes. However, his attire was hardly what anyone was thinking about. The most eye catching thing about the man was his massive size and musculature. He was over seven meters tall, and almost as wide as he was tall due how much muscle he had. His head looked disproportionately small on top of his gigantic frame, blanketed in a black mane of unruly hair that formed strangely rectangular locks. Jutting out from his hair was a pair of large, curved horns. His face was notably wrinkled, and he had both a beard and a mustache. His mustache was notably long, and had been braided together at two points to form an 8.
"I… am Mayor Carl," the man introduced himself, in a voice that sounded like an earthquake and thunderstorm had a baby. "Lotta told me about you, Straw Hat Pirates."
"Yeah I did," a delirious Lotta groaned, raising a thumbs up from her bench before letting her arm drop back down.
"I appreciate you giving Lotta and Tim a lift…" Carl started, at which point Nami furrowed her brows.
"Here comes the 'but'..." she thought to herself.
"But!"
Nami inwardly sighed, closing her eyes. "There we go."
"If you want to stay here to reset your Log Pose, you'll need to… prove yourselves."
Carl held up a hand in front of his face and clenched it into a fist to emphasize his point.
A cold sweat ran down Franky's back, while Usopp slowly sank into a cross-legged heap with tears streaming down his fearfully grinning face. Chopper took a step back with a frightened expression, as Luffy stepped forward with a confident look on his face. Nami gulped. Whatever this monstrous-looking guy meant by proving themselves, it was unlikely to be anything good.
The Straw Hat captain finally built up the courage to have Carl clarify his challenge. "In what way?"
"A drinking contest, of course!" Carl declared with his arms spread, a huge grin on his face. A collective sigh escaped the Straw Hats' lips, shoulders sinking and tension fading. Carl could help but laugh. "Why do you think this is called Whiskey Peak?! Worororororo!"
It didn't take long for the drinking contest to turn into just drinking and then a full party, during which most of the Straw Hats ended up separated. Franky had gotten a bit too competitive and passed out, Chopper staying next to him to make sure he was ok. Luffy had been a bit miffed when the cooks at Whiskey Peak insisted on doing the cooking instead of him, but those thoughts quickly faded when a giant piece of meat was rolled out. Usopp was busy regaling tales of strength and bravery, seemingly not stopping to breathe as he was either talking or drinking at all times.
Only Nami was still actually participating in the drinking contest, primarily because of talks about a cash prize. She sat across from Mayor Carl, the final opponent who had yet to slump over in a drunken stupor.
"Fuhihihi…" Carl laughed, slamming down a now-empty barrel of booze. "You sure can drink a lot for such a small girl!"
"Might as well just hand me the prize money right now, because I'm nowhere near done," Nami grinned, patting an equally-sized empty barrel of her own. "Doesn't matter if a sip for you is three mugs for me, I refuse to lose!"
Carl chuckled, as more drinks were brought in. "Well, good luck with that. In this town we have a saying; if it's a drinking contest, always bet on Carl!"
About twenty minutes later, both of them were speaking so slurred that nobody could even understand them. Judging by Nami and Carl's reactions and laughter though, it seemed like they understood each other. Or at least interpreted the other's rambling noises into some form for coherent speech.
However, right then, something that nobody in Whiskey Peak had ever seen before occurred. Mayor Carl swayed from side to side, a goofy smile on his face, before his body started slowly tilting backwards. The partygoers around him stared stunned for a moment, before suddenly freaking out. They all fled the area, bringing as much food and other stuff as they could with them, to save themselves from the incoming impact! With the sound and feel of a colossal tree being felled, Mayor Carl fell on his back with such a resounding smash that the wooden floor beneath him splintered into a crater. Tables were flung in the air, people stumbled and fell, and the entire building shook. As the dust settled, there was a moment of silence… broken by a drunken shout that could possibly be interpreted as "I win!" followed by Nami collapsing as well.
A crescent moon hung shone over Cactus Island. The party had died down, and the Straw Hats had each passed out. Inside one of the many houses Usopp was sleeping on his back, with his arms and legs spread in the same position they had been in when he fell down while laughing a while ago. Above him were some wooden rafters, where his smaller hammer was hanging precariously after having been accidentally thrown up there during a particularly spirited retelling of a story. Slowly, gradually, the hammer was nudged closer and closer to the edge by gravity and the occasional wind that blew in through cracks in the walls, until it finally fell down.
Usopp was rather happy that nobody else seemed to be awake in the room. He didn't want anybody else to see where the hammer had landed. Although by being in a fetal position with his hands covering his crotch, he wasn't exactly being subtle about it. After trembling in place for a while, he slowly sat up with a miserable expression. Around him were about a dozen people fast asleep, those he had been partying with before he went out like a light. It seemed like it was still night, but Usopp felt like he would have a hard time going back to sleep. Any sort of sleepiness or drunkenness in his body had been quickly ejected by his… unfortunate accident.
His eye was drawn to some silhouettes passing by outside a window near the door. Huh, what an odd headshape. Looked like an axe… and that guy is so skinny he looks like a sword! Oh, wait…
The door was flung open, revealing several townspeople carrying various forms for weaponry. The one in front quickly looked about, but couldn't see Usopp anywhere. He marched over to one of the sleeping townspeople and woke them up with a light kick.
"Hey! Where'd the long-nose go?"
There was plenty of groans and head-rubbing as the rest began waking up as well. "Don't know… he seemed pretty out of it. Didn't look like anything short of a meteor was gonna wake him up."
"Well, guess a meteor struck and nobody noticed." the man huffed before storming out of the room.
The main street outside the building was crowded with townspeople, most carrying some sort of weapon. Mayor Carl was sitting in the middle of the street, rubbing his head and groaning. The people from the building jogged over to inform him of the recent developments.
This only made Carl groan some more, rubbing his eyes with his hand. "That's two missing now…"
Lotta was standing next to Carl, wearing some clawed furry gauntlets that resembled rabbit paws. "At least we got the other three. That's got to count for something, right?"
"Not really, the captain's the other one missing. And she's the only one with a bounty so far," another townsperson pointed out. "Speaking of her, can't believe she managed to outdrink Mr. 8! Nobody's ever even come close! She must have been cheating in some way."
Usopp gulped, watching the discussion intently from his hiding place on the roof of the small building he had been in earlier. Lucky for him the building was sturdy enough to hold him even with his five-ton hammer strapped to his back. "Mr. 8? Is that a codename or something? Codenames are really cool, but right now it's making me really nervous! Gah, I hope the others are ok… sounds like Nami managed to get away though."
A sudden clack behind him was all Usopp needed to suddenly throw himself forward, off the roof and into the street. Good thing too, as the roof behind him exploded from a bazooka blast. He got into a roll as he hit the ground, stopping in the middle of the street… with all eyes and weapons trained on him. He gulped, slowly standing up with his chest puffed up and his hands on his hips in a cool pose… while his knees shook like the strings of a guitar played by a madman in a sugar rush.
And true to form when he feels frightened, Usopp decided to start bluffing. "S-so! My suspicions were correct! I knew from the start you had unsavory plans, so I only pretended to fall asleep!"
"Fuhihihihi," a still drunk Mr. 8 laughed. "So you figured it out, then? That we're all bounty hunters working for Rococo Works?"
Usopp nodded enthusiastically, hoping to hide the fact that he had no idea what he was talking about.
Mr. 8 grabbed a large, spiked iron club that laid beside him, and used it as support to help him stand up. He then pointed the metal club at Usopp, a cruel grin creeping onto his wrinkled face. "Too bad knowing won't do anything for you now. You, and all your little pirate friends, are going to die tonight."
"Ah, if I got a Belly every time I heard something like that, I'd have a treasure greater than the One Piece."
Usopp laughed and shrugged. On the outside he appeared totally nonchalant about the situation. On the inside he was screaming. Just, screaming so much. There were significantly more people with pointy, blunt and generally very dangerous objects than he felt comfortable with, even as a brave warrior of the sea.
Mr. 8 reared back with his weapon, clearly getting ready to strike. For the moment, Usopp needed to think about one thing: how to survive. First step was getting more mobility. As strong as it was, his giant hammer did slow him down. So, he needed to get rid of that. Usopp reached back and grabbed the handle on his five-ton hammer, then stepped forward while spinning once to get some momentum. His muscles tensed and slightly bulged from exertion as he hurled his hammer as hard as he could towards Mr. 8. The giant mayor's shirt ripped as the oversized carpentry tool buried itself into his abs, making him lurch forwards while knocking him off his feet. Some spittle escaped his open mouth, his eyes bulged and his weapon dropped from his hands.
Every member of Rococo Works stared with wide open jaws and eyes popping out of their heads as their titan of a mayor was knocked on his ass. It was only when one of them shouted "HEY" to Usopp running by that the rest were shaken out of their stupor.
"After him!" "Don't let him get away!" "What the…? How is he so fast?!"
The bounty hunters chasing Usopp were quickly left in the dust as the overalls-wearing pirate hauled ass away from them. Seeing that their melee fighters had no chance to catch up, their gunners rushed to the front to take aim.
One large man with a gatling gun grinned as he revved up his weapon. "I've yet to see a man that can outspeed bullets!"
And indeed, even a scared Usopp wasn't so fast as to actually outrun bullets. As a flurry of lead soared in his direction he quickly made a turn into a nearby alleyway, the barrage of gunfire continuing for a few moments after he disappeared around the corner.
"Circle around him!" "You can't get away, you boasting piece of crap!"
Usopp nervously chuckled to himself, mostly to lift his own spirits, as he darted through the alleyways between various buildings. "Hah! Thinking they can outmaneuver the great Usopp! I'll just run in a complicated pattern to throw off their chase, then find the others…"
Two minutes later…
"Where the hell am I?"
Usopp whipped his head back and forth so fast his own nose threatened to whip him, as he tried to get a handle on where exactly he was going. He had underestimated just how maze-like the alleys of the little town were, and at this point he didn't even know where any of the bounty hunters were.
"HYAAAAH!"
Oh. Well there's one.
Usopp took a step to the side to avoid being cleaved by an axeblade the size of his own body, then promptly sent the bounty hunter wielding said axe flying with a swing of his regularly-sized hammer. Running around randomly clearly wasn't working. Time for a different approach.
As several more bounty hunters rounded a corner to attack Usopp, the one in front suddenly found their face used as a stepping stone for Usopp to jump onto one of the nearby buildings. He ran across the flat stone roofs, leaping between houses as he tried to use the big cactus-like mountains to orient himself. Then the roof he was on collapsed, brought down by an explosion triggered by someone within the house itself. As Usopp fell down, he could see several figures through the smoke and dust cloud, wielding spears, clubs and swords.
Luckily for him, several large chunks of rubble also fell down with him. While still in the air he spun around, kicking a football-sized bit of stone at one of the waiting bounty hunters. As soon as he landed he was forced to bring his hammer up behind him to block an incoming sword, and caught a club being swung at him with his other hand. With one swift motion he pulled the club out of the bounty hunter's hand and smacked him across the face before hurling it at the bounty hunter right behind Usopp.
Outside, several more bounty hunters lined up with their backs to the wall, surrounding the door to the house Usopp was in and getting ready to pounce. What they didn't expect was for one of the windows to suddenly shatter as one of their flew through it. What they certainly didn't expect was that Usopp appeared from behind that same bounty hunter, having used him as a shield to leap through the window. Before any of them could properly react Usopp had already flung his unwilling and unconscious shield at them, making them stumble enough for Usopp to quickly finish them off with a hammer swing each.
"Phew, there's a lot of them…" Usopp sighed, only to have his thoughts interrupted by a sudden need to duck.
A spiked iron club, looking like a smaller version of the one Mr. 8 used, swung through the air where Usopp had been moments prior. Usopp gulped, sweating profusely. He had dropped down into a bridge position, and slowly turned his head to get a better look at the bounty hunter holding the club that had threatened to turn him into paste.
The club was easily swung up to rest on the shoulder of a tall, obese woman standing over Usopp. Atop her wavy black hair was a white cowboy hat with a red plume. She was dressed in a pink plaid shirt, white shorts, brown shoes, a purple sash around her waist, and a blue captain's coat. The edge of her coat collar was yellow, and resembled a sideways M. Beneath the collar on each side was a yellow circle, and the area around her buttons was decorated with three lines, two straight and one diagonal. Altogether they spelled MON on either side of her coat.
Some other nearby bounty hunters cheered. "YEAH! Get him, Miss Monday!" "That pipsqueak's got no chance against an ogre like that!"
"Who're you calling an ogre?!" Miss Monday roared, pointing her club at the offender who quickly covered his mouth with his hands. "After I'm done with this guy, I'll-HEY!"
Usopp had already bolted, running down the street he had found himself in. It looked like had ended up back in the main street, a suspicion confirmed by him spotting his own five-ton hammer on the ground. But no Mr. 8 in sight.
"Ah, crap… he's still up after taking a hit like that?"
Suddenly, the ground shook as Mr. 8's voice echoed across the area. "Worororo! There you are!"
Usopp looked up, and had no qualms about screaming like mad at what he saw. A gargantuan, long monster looming in the air above the rooftops, staring down at him with malicious intent. A fearsome serpent straight out of myth: a dragon. Blue scales, small arms with claws, and circles of flames around his shoulders. And taking a closer look, as frightening as it was, revealed some familiar parts of the terrifying leviathan. Specifically the black hair and the unique 8-shaped mustache.
It didn't take much thought to realize Mr. 8 was a Zoan user, and a quite frightening one at that. Of course, Usopp didn't verbalize this conclusion. He was too busy blubbering and sputtering in fear, his eyes becoming white orbs with waterfalls of tears.
Mr. 8 lurched closer, revealing a scary fanged grin. "Scared stiff, are you? Don't worry, we'll make this quick."
Yet despite appearing scared stiff, Usopp ducked down to avoid Miss Monday's club once more, throwing her slightly off balance. She looked down, where Usopp was clutching his five-ton hammer with both hands. He held it behind him like a baseball bat, gritting his teeth. Miss Monday immediately realized that she stood in the way of a swing, not that that realization helped her much. Usopp's giant hammer sank into her gut, making her eyes and tongue bulge out of her head for a moment before she was launched into the air like a baseball. A few cracks formed in the ground beneath Usopp's feet from the sheer force of the strike.
Mr. 8 grunted in disappointment, then widened his eyes as he realized that Miss Monday was on a collision course. "Oh no god damn i-"
The obese woman slammed into Mr. 8's draconic face, bouncing her straight up as Mr. 8 reeled back from the hit. Mr. 8's pupils vanished as his massive dragon body slowly fell down, disappearing behind the rooftops with Miss Monday following.
"Time for me to disappear again."
Usopp ran into a different alleyway, battling more bounty hunters as he went until he ended up in a bigger empty space. A sudden, familiar shout from the roof of a two story building drew his attention.
"HEY!"
Tim was standing on a roof and holding a large weapon. It resembled a demi-cannon ordinarily used for ships, but converted into a hand cannon. Said cannon was, predictably, aimed at Usopp.
"THANK YOU FOR HELPING US GET HERE BUT ALSO DIE NOW! GET HIM, MISS WEDNESDAY!"
On the other side of the area, Usopp could see Lotta run out from an alleyway. Her clawed gauntlets were crackling with Electro.
"Let's do it, Mr. 9!"
Usopp sighed, as Mr. 9 readied to fire and Miss Wednesday leaped towards Usopp. Holding one hammer in each hand, he flung his smaller hammer at Mr. 9 and simply held his larger hammer vertically. The small hammer struck Mr. 9's chin with the sound of a gong, sending the large man on his back. Miss Wednesday, on the other hand, couldn't stop her leap midair and so simply collided face to face with Usopp's hammer. When Usopp pulled the hammer back, Miss Wednesday hovered in the air for a moment. Her face was completely flat, her expression twisted into an odd open mouth smile with eyes pointing different directions and missing several teeth. Gravity then took over and let her fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Usopp sighed, looking around and not seeing any more bounty hunters at the moment. He held up his hand. When he had thrown the hammer at Mr. 9, he had put a certain spin into it, allowing the small hammer to act as a boomerang. And indeed, the hammer soon flew straight into Usopp's hand. "Now, maybe I can-"
His thoughts were interrupted as a nearby wall was smashed into pieces, and a hulking figure emerged. Usopp whirled around to look and saw Mr. 8 was not only still ready to fight, but had now transformed into some kind of hybrid of his two forms. He was taller than his human form, covered in scales, and had both claws and a full tail. And, much to Usopp's horror, a fiery glow was starting to emerge from his mouth.
"BOLO BRE-GAGH!"
Mr. 8's attempt at a fire breath was hampered by Usopp leaping at him with surprising speed and smashing his face with his hammer. Mr. 8's head was turned by the force of the hammer strike, though at this point the firebreath had gone too far to be stopped. A conical blast of explosive fire burst out from Mr. 8's mouth, flying into a distant building and blowing it up. As for the draconic man himself, he whirled around once from the hit before falling over.
Usopp landed on the ground beside Mr. 8 and sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Now please please PLEASE stay down."
The sounds of many footsteps getting progressively louder was more of an annoyance to Usopp than anything at this point. He spun his hammers in his hands, preparing to battle more bounty hunters.
A while later…
Usopp took a deep, relieved breath. He sat on the edge of a rooftop of a single-story building, watching the night sky above him. Around him were dozens of unconscious bounty hunters, most of whom had had an unpleasantly intimate experience with one of Usopp's hammers.
"Ok… I really need to get to finding the others…"
But before he could stand up and begin searching, he heard another set of footsteps. Gazing down, he saw a pleasant sight: Nami. The Straw Hat captain had her axe strapped to her back, casually walking down the street as she looked up at Usopp.
"There you are, I was getting worried," she called out, waving to Usopp who waved back. "Looks like you've had a wild night."
Usopp grinned, ecstatic at being reunited with one of his crewmates. "So, you passing was a trick I guess? But anyway, yeah! Turns out this whole place is a front of bounty hunters working for something called Rococo Works! But, me being the brave and strong warrior that I am, easily dealt with all of them!"
Nami sighed and shrugged. "Figures they were up to something. But say, did one of these bounty hunters happen to have some kinda fire-weapon?"
"Oh that's the craziest part! That mayor guy? He could turn into a whole damn dragon! He was just about to cook me with his fire breath when I heroically struck him with my hammer, redirecting his deathly flames!"
"So… you were the reason that building blew up earlier?"
"Hm? Yeah, I guess. It wouldn't have blown up if I hadn't hit the mayor in the face."
"Did you know that was their bank?"
Usopp only now noticed that Nami was looking a bit singed.
"And that they had a few millions in notes? That are now ash?"
Nami had a big smile on her face, but a huge pulsating anger vein on her forehead. She slowly reached up to grab her axe, as Usopp nervously scampered up on his feet.
"H-hold on! W-we gotta make sure the others are ok!" Usopp nervously babbled, as he began taking a few steps backwards.
"Oh I already did. But you really shouldn't be worrying about anyone else right now… Usopp~"
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
