Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Mariejois arc: part 17: Usopp and Rachnera

Usopp started to wake up from the injuries he received with his battle against Vermin. He looked around and he was on the couch back at the house where they were staying. He mumbled to himself, trying to recall what happened after the fight.

"He's awake!" Chopper said sitting on footstool looking over him. Everyone else came into the room to see him. Usopp noticed that Rachnera was standing at the end of the couch watching him without any sort of expression on her face.

"What happened?" Usopp asked with pain in his voice.

"this Spider woman brought you here, and you were both badly injured." Chopper explained. "she had a gunshot in her shoulder and you were suffering severe internal bleeding. She saved your life." Chopper stated. "Luckily I was able to patch her up and treat your internal injuries with my medicine."

Usopp looked at Rachnera, confused by what Chopper told him. "You saved me? But….I thought you didn't care about humans like me." Usopp asked.

The rest of the straw hats looked at each other with a concerned face, Nami signaled them to leave the room, she could tell it was important that Rachnera and Usopp have a private talk.

"Lets give them some time to themselves" Nami stated. Everyone agreed and went to their own respective rooms.

After they left, it was just the two of them. Rachnera and Usopp, things were silent for a few minutes until Rachnera broke the ice. "That thing you said…during that fight. About being a liar…" Rachnera started, Usopp could see she was getting emotional over what she was trying to say. "You said you lie to protect those you care about…how can I tell if that's true!" she said, with tears of sorrow and anger running down her face. "Why should I believe that a human like you who admits to being nothing but a lying trickster?!" her tears were coming out ever harder now, and her voice was rising. "You say you lie for noble cause, but when things get tough or don't go as you planned, I'm sure you'll just abandon the ones who need you because that's all that liars are capable of!" Rachnera shouted, she turned away to hide her tears, but she finished her rant with the sentence "You're just like them….my old host family. I won't be tricked again."

Usopp looked incredibly worried and concerned for Rachnera. He was hesitant to ask about why she was so mad, but he wanted to try and help her. "W-What happened with your old host family?" he asked.

Rachnera wiped her tears, still not facing him. But she figured she at least owed him an explanation for why she was accusing him of being like them. "When I first came here, I moved in with a family that had a decent home, it was a married couple and their daughter, your typical image of a happy family. However, when they enrolled for the liminal exchange program, I'm sure they wanted someone more cute and cuddly, not someone like me. They tried to act all nice at first, but I could tell they didn't want me here at all, they were liars. And then one day, I accidentally harmed their daughter. That was the breaking point, that's when I was forced out. Ever since I have being living on my own throughout the city, doing as I please." Rachnera explained. Her tears finally stopped and she looked more serious and saddened by those memories.

"They didn't have what it took. They couldn't handle the 30%" Usopp stated, his face now stern and upset after hearing how that family treated her.

Rachnera looked at him, confused by his words. "What do you mean…30%?"

Usopp looked at her. He wanted to explain to her why he was different from that family, and why he could be trusted. " I am a liar, yes. I'm also a pathological coward in most cases. But," Usopp paused, taking a breath. "I know which moments matter the most. I may be a cowardly liar 70% of the time, but the other 30%, when things get serious and the choices you make matter the most in those circumstances, that's when I man up and take one for the team. I won't let my friends be harmed and I will die fighting to protect them. Those are the moments that define who you are, those 30% moments in life are the ones I know I have to live up to. Because If I ever want to achieve my dream of becoming a great warrior of the sea, I know that those precious moments that I call the '30%' are what truly define who you are. Just like when I fought Vermin earlier today, it wasn't just to protect me, it was also to protect you. That was one of those special moments in life. That was in the 30%" Usopp finished. From the look on Rachnera's face, he could tell she understood what he meant. "When your previous host family abandoned you after the accident, that was one of their significant moments in life, and they made the wrong choice." Usopp said, smiling at Rachnera, "You never leave anyone behind. That's what my friends have taught me."

Rachnera started to become teary eyed again, but this time, they were tears of happiness. She asked with a bit of a nervous tone, "Would I be allowed to stay here with you?" Usopp gave her a warm smile, "I'm sure I can work something out with Ms. Smith." He said.

Rachnera was pleased to hear that Usopp was welcoming her into their home to live there. She climbed on top of him and spun him up in her webs, she leaned forward just close enough to where they could feel each others breath. "Won't this be fun?" Rachnera asked in a seductive tone. "Now I can be your sexy spider mistress and you can be my webbed bundle of fun. Right honey?"