Alabasta, Grand Line
The desert sun hammered unmercifully upon the pirates fighting against the members of the Baroque Works, while the constant breeze warred against the air displacement caused by explosions that lifted high pillars of dust and dark smoke that seemed to stretch uselessly to try and choke the very sky.
Usopp stood in his desert-worthy garments: besides his nose, glasses-covered eyes, and a tuft of black, curly hair, nothing of his body was visible. He stood with his slingshot ready and his breathing heavy, but he stood firm, his knees quacking so much that they had reached a stability point of their own as he faced down the biggest man he had ever seen. Well, not counting the giants.
His opponent was none other than Mr. Four: he was rather tall and fat, had big lips that went well with his dopey expression, and wore a green shirt that c covered most of his body with black pants and gray running shoes. More threatening than anything else, however, was the casual ease with which the man used his four-ton baseball bat to redirect the explosive cannonballs sent forth by the living weapon that hopped in and out of the tunnels that Miss Merry Christmas prepared during the battle.
In the odd habit that Coby had underlined with his chat with Wapol before assassinating him, Miss Merry Christmas had revealed that Lassoo was actually a gun who had absorbed the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Dachshund. And a distant part of Usopp's mind had gone far into speculating about the possibilities that such an existence implied.
The Sniper of the Straw Hats shook his head and ran unpredictably across the field, avoiding by miracle the destructive cannonballs while he mercilessly slingshotted pebbles of every kind towards both the dog and its owner: the projectiles had a variety of effects, releasing hot Tobasco sauce, small explosions of their own, or a flutter of confetti that distracted the dog as well as the simple-minded, green-clothed goliath.
I can do this, I can make it! Usopp shot to his feet and ran to the side, avoiding once more to be dragged in a close-quarters kind of fight, only to be forcefully dragged underground by Miss Merry Christmas, who had up to that moment been busy with Chopper.
Before Usopp could truly realize what had been going on, he was tossed out of the ground, and barely managed to land on his feet when a big shadow was cast upon him: far too close for his comfort, Mr. Four swung his four-ton metal bat, aiming at his head instead of one of the projectiles that his dog, Lassoo, was spewing about thanks to the extra hot, extra spicy, extra painful sauce that the sniper of the Straw Hat pirates had managed to nail on of its nostrils with.
The bat was swung, and it crashed against the veil-covered portion of Usopp's face.
The Merry sailed smoothly under the moonlight, the sails aflutter with the freezing wind that was dragging them towards their destination, when Usopp left the Galley for his turn as a warden. Besides Zoro and Luffy, who really couldn't be trusted to not fall asleep as they wanted, every member of the crew cut off a few hours every night in order to make sure that the ship wouldn't go adrift without Nami constantly checking on its course.
Despite his recent wounds, Coby had insisted to keep his slotted role, and that had been coupled wonderfully with the lingering distrust about Miss Valentine, a.k.a. Mikita, who had been tasked with sharing the pink-haired pirate's turn in order to make sure that he wouldn't suddenly blackout because of the important blood loss caused by the gunshots of Wapol's men.
Usopp yawned, walking up to the middle deck, where Mikita was moving about erratically under the keen gaze of Coby. "I'm here!" the sniper announced himself while puffing out his chest under one of the several tiger pelt cloaks that had been prepared on Little Garden, "You can go and rest easy knowing that the great Usopp..."
"Yeah, yeah," Mikita cut him off as she immediately began to walk towards the entrance of the galley: "Spare me, long-nose." then she turned towards Coby who had made no motion to rise to his feet: "Oi, I'm not carrying you, pinky."
"You go ahead." Coby replied with his eyes no turned towards the moonlit sky, "I'll enjoy this night a bit longer if I can."
"Suit yourself." Miss Valentine left the deck with the sour attitude that pocked through every time she was forced to interact with Coby, leaving the latter alone with the sniper of the Straw Hat pirates.
The long-nosed man frowned as he walked next to his pink-haired companion, his tone suddenly a bit miffed as he talked: "She's kind of right, you know? I get wishing to stick through with your duties, it's just something you or Zoro would do despite your wounds, but you need your rest."
Of course, Coby cut to the heart of the problem with the casual ease of the truly wise: "I'm not remaining awake because I don't trust you, Usopp." there was a faint chuckle in his voice as he talked, "I wanted to talk with you without being interrupted, and it's not the kind of conversation that you have with everyone else, since it's a bit... personal."
Usopp stared at his crewmember with a raised eyebrow: apparently worse than the bloodloss, was the battery of bruises that covered the entire visible parts of the pirate's skin, as Sanji had not taken kindly to using food as a weapon, no matter the quick resolution of the situation that it brought. The sniper fancied he could still recognize the single marks of the cook's soles in the oval-shaped marks of black and blue that were slowly fading into yellow. Yeah, Sanji didn't joke around at all when his triggers were pulled: "Personal?"
Coby lifted a small bundle of cloth from his side and unwrapped it, revealing a plum-like Devil Fruit with a mark of saw-like jaws running down its middle: "You know how I kept some fruits under ice since Whiskey Peak, yes?"
Before Usopp could reply, his pink-haired crewmember pulled out a pair of blood-red cherries that carried the same, hypnotizing swirly marks of the other Devil Fruit. "Both these fruits are paramecia, which means that their effectiveness depends only on the user's inventive, but it's easy to see how the cherries will be better suited for a first-line fighter." Coby spoke idly, only to turn his attention towards the plum-based one: "This one, even an idiot like Wapol had been able to use to great effect by combining different stuff together, something that you've got a mind for."
"Why are you telling me this when there's nobody else around?"
"Because on the sea, the one that finds the Devil Fruits has absolute rights upon them." Coby spoke with a certainty that wouldn't be out of tune with Luffy: "Eat them, sell them, toss them into the sea, nobody can tell me what to do with these: but while I've demonstrated how useful these little cherries can be, I would part with them if you wanted to eat this Explosion-Explosion Fruit."
"Why?" the hurt tone of the sniper made the pink-haired pirate sigh tiredly as he shifted his shoulders.
"I'm not saying that you can't become strong without a Devil Fruit." Coby gesture animatedly, "This is not some form of cheating: it is a kind of power that will be up to you to discover and develop, with the price of being weak to seawater and sea stone while spending a great part of your time in the middle of a rowdy ocean... even if I'd like you to think about how often you find yourself in the sea in the first place before shutting out this opportunity."
Usopp suddenly gulped as a shiver went through him: he was a good enough swimmer, but eating a Devil Fruit would mean the certainty of drowning if the wrong situation came about. Then again, Luffy had been chucked out of board several times, only for Zoro or Sanji to fish him back quickly enough.
"Do you recall our chat on being prepared?" Coby waited for Usopp to nod before answering, "With this fruit and a bit of clever training, you'd likely be able to use carefully crafted explosive bullets, or to move about with the speed of an explosion. Also, it would guarantee some measure of defense if you're ever cornered in close-quarters combat. With the other, you'd have to keep up with the method we've devised to help you become a brave warrior of the sea, if only on a bigger, and admittedly weirder, scale."
Usopp's face scrunched up imagining himself with the steel-like jaw he had seen on Wapol's corpse when he regained his senses after their boarding: it really wasn't something that would work well with the sniper's features. Instinctively, one of his hands stretched towards the cherry-like fruits, his mind already soaring towards all the great things he would do with that kind of power at his disposal, only for Coby to cover them both, his knowing gaze fixed on Usopp's.
"If you're thinking about the close-quarters benefits, I'll remind you that Wapol explained how he could merge with both objects, that he had to eat in a span of 24 hours before the effect faded, or living beings." Coby shrugged, "Frankly, I think he was simply too stupid to fully push what his fruit could do: what could you accomplish as a sniper if you had, I don't know, wings? Or maybe you could push the fruit towards... I don't know, making permanently yours the strength of a beast that Luffy will beat up to defend his meat, who knows? With Paramecia, the sky's the limit, as they say."
"But he had that ugly steel jaw..." Usopp was hardly concerned about his looks, but that sounded nasty.
"Okay, I should make clear that appearances mean very little: I mean, did you see Zoro's face?" Coby's eyes shone with inner laughter as he rose to his feet and slowly stretched, grimacing when his wounds pulled his skin taut: "He's as evil looking as one may go. While Mikita is malice wrapped in beauty: don't let a fear as silly as one about of how you'll look hold you back from taking what you want."
"In any case, this is a choice that takes bravery." the pink-haired pirate spoke as he slowly walked towards the entrance of the galley, finally he too yawning deeply, "Eat a Devil Fruit, or not eat it? Eat the obviously powerful one based on explosions, or take up the challenge presented by the other? Just make sure to give me back the Devil Fruit, or Fruits, that you decide on not using."
The sniper felt a cold shiver that had nothing to do with the falling snow as he was left alone under the moonlit sky. The Going Merry sailed forward smoothly, but he felt like he was on the edge of a precipice as he stared at the bundle of cloth holding not one but two Devil Fruits: he had some thinking to do.
The bat impacted Usopp's jaw with enough strength to collapse a building, but instead of the wet crunch of bones shards tearing through flesh, only a loud, metallic clang resounded across the area where the Straw Hat pirates were facing against two members of Baroque Works.
The only thing that hit had been able to break was the clasp that kept the veil in place under Usopp's nose, and with a flutter, the cloth fell to the ground, revealing a steel-like cylindrical jaw that reached down halfway of the sniper's neck. Smiling suddenly with metal-like teeth, the sniper tilted his head, and chomped down: his teeth worked through the bat with unnatural ease, leaving behind only a munched-up handle and a dumbfounded expression on the simple-minded Mr. Four.
Even as he munched on the heavy lump of metal, its density giving way under the power of his recently obtained Devil Fruit, Usopp backtracked quickly, the material being reshaped in an unusable lump only to be spat aside. If only I was stronger I could have used that myself!
The sniper hid a grimace as he began again to use his slingshot: while Wapol had been manipulated by Coby into revealing much of the potential uses of the Chomp-Chomp Fruit, Usopp simply didn't have the time to get used to all of its nuances just yet. It was hard enough to hold back on the instinct of biting everything that passed him by, reconfiguring his body would take several tries that he didn't manage just yet. Following the planned list he had already prepared, the long-nosed, and now steel-jawed, pirate had merely worked through his contingencies: producing pellets in great quantities was now a joke, and he had even worked on a project that Coby asked for, realizing a double barrel shotgun just before the Straw Hat pirates made land in Alabasta.
"Usopp!" the battered form of Chopper was flung out of the ground not far from the sniper while Miss Merry Christmas gave a stern talking to the slumped form of Mr. Four: apparently, the loss of the bat had left him at a complete loss about what to do.
"Chopper!" the sniper forced himself to grin with his metal teeth, knowing that his inhuman appearance was greatly appreciated by the blue-nosed human-reindeer: "How are you holding up?"
Emboldened by the battle that was for once not a one-sided beatdown, Usopp managed with his mood to lit up a little the medic that was panting heavily at his side: "Not... well, she has too much combat experience with her fruit, I can't..."
"Want to swap?" Usopp grimaced as he offered: he had been faring rather well, all things considered, against the duo of dog-gun and goliath-like human, even if besides forcing the living-mortar into blasting randomly and by sheer dumb luck destroying the four-ton bat, he hadn't made much of a leeway. Still, Chopper might have an easier time above ground, and if truly the Chomp-Chomp allowed him to eat everything, maybe he'd be able to move freely himself underground.
"Yes!" Chopper had stars shining in his eyes as the Sniper ran face first into the ground only to munch on it: with the speed of legs that had been trained for running away, and the power of a Devil Fruit capable of eating everything, the long-nosed sniper worked to complete the contingency plan 4-B: reworking the terrain to his advantage.
The doctor of the Straw Hat Pirates turned towards the simple-minded goliath, who had, under Miss Merry Christmas' guidance, chosen to take the dog-gun on one shoulder in order to start blasting away with no need for the sneezing living weapon to aim on its own. And then a brilliant idea sneaked its way into his head.
Chopper worked quickly and cleanly, as Doctorine had taught him, while he fished out the last bullet that his patient had apparently carried in his gut for the past three days.
"Uh, so that's why it hurt." the voice of the patient was a bit tight with pain, but the human reindeer didn't let it distract him. Unlike his teacher, he had excellent bedside manners, and if talking kept the human's mind away from the pain, he'd take it upon himself to make meaningless conversation.
"Of course," his horns didn't wobble while Chopper nodded, "but the internal bleeding also didn't help at all: we had to do a lot of cleaning up before coming to the point of healing you properly, you're lucky the bullet didn't graze your liver."
"Well, blood is meant to stay inside, isn't it?" the pink-haired boy laughed slowly to not stress his wounds: "So it wasn't that bad."
Only then the doctor realized that his patient was awake despite the sedative he had been given expressly to address the unbearable pain she surely was feeling!
"Argh!" frightened out of his skin, Chopper jumped away from the patient, who looked at him with an arched eyebrow.
"Hey doc, I know my voice is kind of annoying, but until puberty does its magic, I can hardly do anything about it." the pink-haired boy made a half-shrug, "Come on now, the internal bleeding joke was a good one. And could you please finish stitching me up before going? Otherwise, I'll die for real this time."
Training took over once more, and Chopper nimbly stitched up the openings on the pirate's gut: "Y-y-you're not freaking out about me?"
"Why would I freak out about you?" the pink-haired pirate tilted his head: "Neither the blue nose or the fact that you're some sort of raccoon-zoan would bother anyone on our ship. Besides the fact that you're kind of cute, we've seen way freakier stuff."
"Oh, that makes sense." Chopper found himself nodding while his body moved without his consent to make a little happy dance, "Even if I'm not happy about you complimenting me, you bastard..."
The medic small body then exploded into a hulking creature that was easily as tall as one man sitting on the shoulders of another as he shouted: "I'M NOT A RACCOON! I'M A REINDEER WHO ATE THE HUMAN HUMAN FRUIT!"
"That's cool!" the unconcerned tone of the patient who had apparently worked his way through the sedative with sheer will smiled widely: "Does that mean that you can transform into every role a human has ever covered? Swords-man? Fire-man? Bar-man? Chair-man? Ombuds-man?"
"What?"
Flabbergasted by the reaction of his patient, Chopper could only listen as he kept talking: "Hey, as you are clearly a great medic, did you also study psychology?"
"A bit." the human-reindeer replied while his body returned to its smaller, more instinctive form and began to oddly dance being referred to as 'a great medic', "But it's not a branch of medicine greatly developed: in this world, the main interest has always been in the more immediate threats that can be handled with surgery or vaccines."
"A pity, even if it makes sense." the pink-haired pirate hunched forward despite the obvious pain it cause him as he offered his hand: "I'm Coby, by the way, how do I have to call my savior?"
The human-reindeer shook his hand with both of his while his hips shook and his legs moved like the choppy waves around Drum-Island: "I'm Tony Tony Chopper!"
"So, Chopper," Coby smiled widely as he kept shaking his hand, "Ever heard of hypnotism?"
Quickly assuming his leg point, Chopper darted ahead, nimbly avoiding the somewhat predictable trajectory of the cannonballs, only to swap into his Brain Point and take out a flat ring tied to a string when he landed in front of the goliath: with a sudden smile on his face, Chopper spoke with a soothing, clear and alluring voice: "When I'll say Jango, you'll feel very tired, and will walk towards that cool shade to sleep with your dog!"
A frustrated female's scream rang out in the distance when a series of wobbly towers made of dirt began to collapse when struck by a sniper jumping among them, his literally steely smile glinting menacingly under the desert sun, but Chopper didn't allow that to break his rhythm: "One, Two, Three... Jango!"
And just like that, the greatest threat of that couple of Baroque Works officers had been dealt with. Chopper turned back towards the ongoing battle with a smile on his face while he turned into his Leg Point. Not it was the pirates who held the advantage.
In another area of the kingdom of Alabasta, a woman dressed in yellow desert garments was having the time of her life, as despite the forced choices that brought her to join the Straw Hat Pirates, she was a person that enjoyed crushing her enemies, and an opportunity like the one she had just been given didn't happen every day.
The fight was exhilarating: lighter than a pitcher of water, Mikita danced around the countless spinning kicks of the Okama that had been pummeling Sanji into the ground thanks to his use of Nami's face.
When she was certain of landing a hit, she punched, her arm moving with the insane speed granted it by muscles meant to move a much bigger weight, only for her power to turn her hand into a weight of several tons at the moment of impact. An instant later, she retreated, fluttering about with her lighthearted laugh ringing in Mr. Two ears.
So fast she had grown from being paired with Mr. Five to being able to go toe to toe against the third strongest male of Baroque Works? So much could a subtler use of her fruit change the tide? So quickly had Coby dissected her potential, and so far-reaching were his suggestions?
Spinning not unlike her opponent, Mikita let his kicks pass her by, the violent movement of the air surrounding the Okama's limbs enough to push her to the side, only to kick out herself in a large sweep: faster than ever, her foot became weighted five tons when it impacted against the uncovered liver of her opponent, which was sent careening off down the road.
Given her success, the answer to her previous, rhetoric questions could only be a resounding yes.
The Merry sailed smoothly under the moonlight, the sails aflutter with the freezing wind that was dragging them towards their destination, and Mikita was beginning to sweat under the keen eyes of the pink-haired pirate that had casually assassinated a king.
"You should work on the speed of your changes, and to change the weight of only a part of your body." she had hardly anything better to do than to listen to his suggestions, and moving at least kept her from freezing to death under the snow that fell on the deck despite the clear stretch of sky that showed the full moon.
"What?"
"You can go from one kilo to ten thousand, yes?"
The rhetorical question could only be met with an annoyed nod, which received another answer that seemed to be dissecting her whole being with its precision: "When you weigh 10.000 kilos, is the weight distributed evenly across your whole body? Or are your hair less dense than your bones, maintaining the ratio of your normal body?"
"I... I don't know."
"Figure it out." Coby shrugged, his glasses glinting in the moonlight as he briefly looked at her long legs: "If the answer is yes, you should figure out a fighting style that makes use of knees and elbows more than kicks and punches, as they're the hardest parts of your body that it's safe to use in a fight. Also, try to push past those limits, maybe they're not hard caps."
"And if the answer is no?" she grimaced at the thought of the veritable mountain of work Coby was casually planning for her. Her task for the night was in theory to keep an eye on him in case he keeled over, but he had begun to talk, and of course, he immediately pointed out that her fighting style, completely reliant on an umbrella, was no longer an option now that there wasn't a Mr. Five doing the grunt work for her.
"Then learn to turn your feet into something that weighs a couple of kilos, and put the rest on your punches." he spoke with a clear image in his head, and despite herself, Mikita felt her blue eyes widen at his words: "Without using your power, try to spin on yourself with your arms stretched, and then bring them close to your chest."
"Why?" she narrowed her blue eyes in a glare that had made grown criminals shiver, but that didn't even manage to make Coby quirk an eyebrow.
"Do it and see for yourself."
She did, and spinning on one foot, she felt her rotational speed grow greatly when she brought her harms close to her chest. "What?"
"You're welcome." Coby's smug voice made her head whip towards his seated position, "Don't do it on the ship least you break the deck, but you should try to begin spinning when you weigh as much as you can, only to decrease the weight to you minimum, and moving this and what way, you'll become that much more dangerous, especially if you can concentrate your power on a specific part of your body. If that's the case, I suggest talking with Saji to teach you how to kick: long legs are excellent as leverage to augment the force of impact, and if you bat those blues at him, he'll help you."
"Why?"
The pink-haired pirate tilted his head as if he hadn't understood the question: "Basic mechanics has fantastical applications, and your Devil Fruit is well suited to..."
"No," she interrupted him while taking a step forward, "why are you helping me?"
"Do I not destroy my enemies when they become my allies?" the smile he offered her then was as sharp as the one he had shown when greeting her the first time she awoke on the Going Merry.
Seeing the Okama jump to his feet and charge her once more, Mikita flexed her fingers, her weight moving as if a liquid through her body, and let out her unique brand of laughter: "Kyahahaha!"
Robin hadn't exactly hoped that it could happen: her actions had merely been yet another contingency plan. That was how she survived: by being useful to those capable of holding back those hunting her, only to betray them before her usefulness could grow to an end. Every element that could harm Crocodile, or even distract him, was something that she'd empower as much as she could without giving away her true aims.
And maybe she saw something right in Monkey D. Luffy, but she hadn't hoped. Hope was for those that didn't drag themselves from a sinking ship to the next, it wasn't for her. Hope abandoned her completely when the one Pneglyph she had to read for Crocodile revealed itself as another useless thing, and there was no hint of true history.
What one hopes and what one expects are two different things. She knew that much: her whole life had been a lesson about that exact point, and after yet another failure, after twenty years, whether Monkey D. Luffy won or not, she simply found herself beyond her breaking point. She was slumped against the ancient stone of the room that had kept the Pluton Poneglyph hidden for countless generations, and watched with glazed-over eyes at the fight between the bloodied, naive rubber-kid and the ruthless, experienced sand-Logia.
"I am the man, who will surpass you!" conviction thundered through the dust-filled air, and the voice of the pirate rang louder than the falling debris, stronger than the Shichibukai.
Despite herself, uncaring about her fate, Nico Robin watched the battle unfold: life was the furthest thing from fair that existed, she knew that much, but Monkey D. Luffy's victory would be what the older man deserved. Even if she had no stake in the result of the battle, seeing Luffy's win would bring a smile to her face before the debris fell hard enough to kill her.
The two dark-haired pirates stood in front of one another, ready for their last round. In the distance, war rumbled, and even King Cobra was spellbound to witness the fight: there was simply something other, something greater at play there. Something...
*Ka-Blam*!
The gunshot exploded loud enough to make Robin's ears ring painfully, and she saw that another had joined the fray: the pink-haired boy who had reacted without an ounce of fear or mistrust during her first appearance on the Going Merry stood behind Crocodile, a double-barrel rifle smoking in his hands, and his interruption, more than anything else, managed to stretch the pause between the last bout between Luffy and Crocodile.
*Ka-Blam*!
The second barrel exploded its projectile, and Robin's eyes widened despite herself.
It had been too fast to follow, too fast to make sense of: but Crocodile, who had been already moving to squash the fool that had attacked him with such a meaningless weapon, grunted with pain, and keeled over, letting Nico Robin see fully the grinning shape of Coby: "Well, say what you want about Usopp, but his fruit is just too perfect for him."
"How...?" blood spurted from Crocodile's mouth as he fell on one side, the sudden blood loss quickly bringing him towards unconsciousness.
"Double-barrel Shotgun." the pink-haired pirate explained with a smile: "Compressed air for the first shot, which sprays the liquid kept in the handle, in this case, seawater, and a normal, flat-headed bullet meant to shred upon impact."
The Sand-Logia quickly lost consciousness as the leg that had been blown away kept weeping his life-blood, leaving standing only the shooter and his captain, who wasn't pleased about the situation.
"Coby." Luffy's eyes darkened, and even if Robin couldn't see it perfectly, she knew that the other pirate had straightened up at the serious tone, "This was my fight."
"I thought that we were meant to fight as long as Vivi didn't give up." Coby spoke seriously, before looking around at the falling rubble: "But we could have this conversation once we aren't about to be buried alive."
"This was my fight!" Luffy's fists tightened as he glared at the first person who joined his crew: did he not know when he didn't have to meddle? It was a fight between captains! Coby hadn't butted in between Zoro and Hawk-guy, so he should know!
Coby scratched his head with the butt of his weapon: "Sorry captain... I won't do it again. Even if... Isn't a crew meant exactly so that you don't have to fight alone?"
That was when the poison in Monkey D. Luffy's blood became too much, and he stumbled into unconsciousness, only to be immediately caught by the unrepenting first mate, who hoisted the straw-hat-wearing boy on his shoulders before turning towards King Cobra, who staggered to his feet.
Nico Robin tossed over the antidote the pirate would need to survive the venom of Crocodile's hook, and received a grateful smile in turn.
Still, she knew bullshit when she heard it, and looking meaningfully at the fallen Shichibukai, she gave in to the dull, distant curiosity that had raised its head in her mind, and asked: "Why?"
"Because I'm an asshole." Coby gave her a wan smile, making no aggressive gesture at all towards her, "Because the Grand Line is dangerous, and we have Logia-marine hunting our asses: I merely thought I'd better test this weapon now instead of later. And you saved Luffy's life twice over now."
The pink-haired pirate looked around with his faint smile not wavering: "If you feel like resting on the Going Merry, feel free to use Nami or Mikita's clothes, they'll hate it, and make me laugh."
Robin's eyes widened at the complete lack of lies on the pink-haired pirate's face: all of her experience told her that he was genuine in his offer, and her surprise could only grow as he extended a hand with which he helped her to her feet. "Also, I have the idea that you'd make for a great chess player, and it's something that I've been looking for on the side for quite a while now."
AN
Okay, this chapter is a bit more like the Loguetown one, even if its split in three scenes (Usopp-Chopper, Miss Valentine, Coby). There is action in all three of them, and all three have that quick flashback thing that I'm using to enrich with past interactions among characters that otherwise would be utterly unremarkable.
I get why Oda kept Usopp as comedic relief as long as he could despite his clearly massive potential: Elbaf will be his arc, and we'll see him become the one with the greatest Observation Haki ever, but I always wondered about Wapol's fruit true potential, and the setting up of the previous chapter allowed me to reveal this particular shift in the paradigm.
The use of Hypnosis is also something that I'll keep around for a while longer: I mean, where there is an opportunity to do so, I'll use it to allow a selected few characters to bypass an otherwise lengthy fight with an idiot. Jango is OP in a world where idiots can be stupidly strong.
Little to say about Chopper for now, but there is a meaningful connection with Coby already, and his brain point has suddenly another effective weapon ready.
Miss Valentine has basically been on the receiving end of training devised by an SI with precise knowledge of basic physics, in particular, about the conservation of momentum, and that stuff applied with the Kilo Kilo no Mi is fucking hardcore, as you've seen.
And there was just no way for the MC (which is Coby despite his being on Luffy's adventure) to not butt in during the fight with Crocodile, that's just not his nature, besides, he wanted to try out the weapon that he had Usopp realize with the exact purpose of dealing with Logia-type devil fruit users (I wonder what kind of set up this might be, uh?).
Of course, we also have Robin jumping on board, avoiding that moment of almost suicide that is the basis for her self-sacrifice at Water 7, without taking away Coby's genuine expression of concern.
I actually threw a coin to choose between which fruit Usopp would eat, let me know what you think about the growing differences from canon!
I've avoided mentioning Ace for now, I'm still deciding if Coby would try to keep him on the Going Merry sprouting some bullshit with his 'crystal ball' knowing that Teach is at Mock Town, or merely give out a warning that is really unlikely to be listened to. Ace is one of those characters that are mysteriously strong (does he know Haki and not use it deliberately?), impulsive, and at the same time, not complete dumbasses. So having Coby use some obfuscation and mystifying to try and direct Portogas D. Ace would likely be ineffective. I'd appreciate a suggestion here!
Also, I was thinking about taking this fic, copying it up to a divergence point, and then continuing with two completely different adventures, but that option is largely based on whether there is more interest in seeing something completely original coming out of this fic, or if you'll all prefer me to keep up a canon with extra ribbons sort of story, which is what I've been doing up to this point.
Let me know what you think!
