Chapter 4: Vanity

The moon glimmered in my vision. Daylight had escaped us about an hour ago and filling the skies were droplets of light. My body felt heavy, my eyes were watery with exhaustion, and my mind was drifting in that strange half-dream state right before you fall asleep.

See, I would have fallen asleep as soon as the sun had set, but the guilt I felt from sleeping early last night kept me awake. If I had it my way, I would get rid of the sleepy haze in an instant. Not only that, but Nami told us we weren't far from the Gecko Islands. We could find a place to stay there and all would be well. What I didn't tell her was that if I had to wait any more than ten minutes, I would go unconscious whether she wanted me to or not. Zoro was ahead of the game in that regard. He tapped out ages ago.

The island's shore breeze was warm and soft, lulling me into a calm trance. All of us, including Nami, walked slow with no distress through the trodden paths. The island was hushed, but unlike with Orange town— in which it's noiseless streets were unsettling— the silence was far more tranquil. This only applied to the rural side anyway, because the village was surprisingly abuzz with conversation and mellow lantern light. The first house had a group of friends sitting outside giving a toast.

I leaned in to Zoro and Nami. "You think we should ask around for a place to stay?"

"We don't have many other options," Zoro said. That was good enough for me.

Walking up to the group— probably in their twenties, they looked like One Piece versions of college sorority girls and fraternity boys— they paused their conversation to look at us. I tried to manage a smile.

"Hey there! We're travelers and we were wondering if there was any place to stay the night? Today was a rough day," I explained.

Many of them looked at each other and hummed. One of the women with a bottle in her hand shook her head, giving me a small frown.

"'fraid not. We don't get many visitors in these parts so you'll have to forgive us for not having any inns."

Another man leaned against the railing. "Yeah, sorry about that," he sighed, "but maybe you could ask around. Someone's bound to have room somewhere in this town."

My smile lessened some and the others frowned. Waving them goodbye and wishing them a good night, I suddenly didn't feel too hot about walking through this friendly town. We continued through the village with small grimaces, realizing within every person we talked to that finding a temporary home to stay in wouldn't be easy. Most people either didn't have the room to house three extra people or they expressed worry about letting strangers stay over. Of course, anybody who wasn't awake was off the table too. Our options dwindled as we neared the edge of the village.

Our last hope sat on a rosy porch, weaving flowers into a hat. She didn't notice our approach until we spoke up. I asked the same thing to her, if there was any place to stay for the night. Her weaving slowed while she thought and then explained that she sadly wasn't available. However, she did say that there was a boy a little ways away who may have the space for us.

We paced away from the village, back into the naturally moon-lit path. Within another five to ten silent minutes, a small house came into view. There were hardly any decorations or trees surrounding it. Hell, there was hardly any living grass on the lawn once we got up there, so I suppose gardening wasn't exactly one of Usopp's strong suits. The lights, unlike most of the houses in the village, were off, but we had to try.

I took a deep breath in and knocked on the door.

"Just a second!" a voice rang out. I heard a bang, a crash, and an "ouch!" all in that order before the door clicked and opened, revealing Usopp half dressed for bed.

Usopp stood silent for a moment. "O-oh, well, hello!" he said, eyes rapidly shifting between us, "are you new here?"

I nodded. "We were hoping you had some extra room for us to stay the night. We're travelers and nobody else in town could house us."

He turned away briefly, looking into his house, then turned back to us, tight lipped. "Of course!" he exclaimed, "th-the great captain Usopp is always willing to help others out!" He then opened the door.

We walked in with great doubt that there'd actually be enough room to comfortably house us. There was only one bed, for starters, and probably only one or two spares of pillows and blankets. It didn't look like there was any pantries or place to store food, so we'd have to go someplace else for breakfast, and it seemed most of what Usopp owned were clothes and random tools. There were a few books on the shelves and a couple of picture frames on the wall with Usopp and his mother— even one with his father— but looking at that made me sad, so I looked away.

Instead, I padded towards Usopp and smirked. As he gave Nami and Zoro what bedding material he had, he raised his eyebrow at me.

"So" I started, "captain Usopp, right? Are you a pirate?"

Dropping the pillow in his hand, his eyes widened. "W-Wh... Why, yes I am! I'm captain of the Usopp pirates! I have eight thousand followers under my command! I'm sure you've heard of me."

Nami placed her items down near the wall and turned towards us. "A pirate captain with eight thousand members? That's obviously a lie!"

Usopp's face fell and he sulked. "How'd you know?"

I coughed into my hand to hide my laughter while Nami and Usopp exchanged banter. In that, I realized we were short in pillows and blankets. Since Nami was hoarding her items, Zoro and I were forced to lean against the wall, wrapped up in a shared blanket. The world slowed and quieted, letting the warmth finally guide me to sleep like I had been waiting for the entire day. Zoro's heartbeat was the last thing I heard before I tapped out...

•

...and the first thing I heard when I woke up.

I only blinked a few times before my vision cleared and my senses started up again. The light flooding in made me squint involuntarily while I gathered myself, remembering where I was and what was going on. Usopp's bed was disconcertingly empty, causing me to slip out of the blanket cocoon I was wrapped up in to pace towards the door so that I wouldn't wake the other two.

Slipping on my sandals, I reached for the door handle only to realize the door was already open. I nudged the door open a crack more to peer around the corner. Usopp was reclined against the wall. His arm was shoved into his satchel, rummaging through and producing a large amount of noise. He was quite so invested in his actions that he didn't even notice my presence until I bent down next to him and tapped his shoulder. Then I got a frying pan to the face. A cast-iron frying pan to the face.

"A-ah, sorry Luffy, I didn't know you were up" Usopp said, putting down his frying pan.

I sourly smiled and rubbed my nose before shaking my head clear. "'s'alright, I think I might have forgotten I was up too. But whatever, what're ya doing?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning. "I'm going to see someone named Kaya. She lives in the mansion up the hill but the guards that live up there don't like me, so I was checking to see if I had my slingshot and Lead Stars to protect myself, just in case."

"Those guards oughta be real assholes if you have to bring weapons just to talk to someone," I said, mimicking his frown. "I mean, you don't seem like a bad person, so what do they have against you?"

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck again. "I'm a bit of liar— more than a bit. And my father is a pirate who left the village a long time ago."

"I thought you looked familiar, you've got to be Yasopp's son!" I exclaimed in attempt to change the subject.

His jaw dropped and he no longer appeared downtrodden, only shocked. "You know my dad?!" he bellowed, waving his arms out. "Some people don't even know I have a dad!"

"Well, I haven't seen him in like, forever. Last I knew, he was riding on Shank's ship, so your dad is kind of a big shot," I said. His eyes bugged despite the way I casually delivered the words, as if I was the one lying this time. While, yes, I never met Yasopp directly and probably wouldn't for a long time, I had no reason to believe he wasn't on Shank's crew in this universe. I'd have to start worrying about the consistency of this timeline if that were the case.

"That's amazing! I can't believe my dad's on a Yonko's crew! I... I can't believe you met Shanks." Then he paused. "You're a pirate too, right?"

I nodded and rocked back and forth. "Yep! In fact, I'm gonna be the pirate king," I said, sticking my tongue out.

Usopp made to respond, but we were interrupted by Zoro opening the door and looking at us. He probably just woke up, because he had a strong bitch face, some bedhead, and a trail of dried drool on his mouth he only half cleaned off. I heard the grass shuffle as Usopp deflated behind me, especially when Zoro walked towards us.

"There you are," he huffed out. "You got any food in this house, long nose?"

Said long nose peeked out over my shoulder and shook his head. "N-no. There's a restaurant down town, but I was planning on going somewhere else this morning."

I turned to face Usopp with a thoughtful hum. Then I tapped his nose and said, "we could always take the food with us and go with you. I wanna meet this Kaya person! Maybe we could bring her some breakfast."

The proposition startled them both at first, but Usopp came to think it wasn't such a bad idea. We went to get all our things ready; waking up Nami, stretching and getting dressed, and walking back down to the heart of the village. The experience was just as pleasant during the day as the night. There were, however, more people out, and therefore more people asking about us and why Usopp wasn't running down the streets screaming about pirates. At least the restaurant owners didn't question anything and shoved the food our way so we could hightail it to Kaya's place.

And Kaya's place was a beautiful sight to behold. It reminded me vividly of the mansions in Charleston, with the multicolored flora and matte black gates. Even the bushes Usopp led us through were trimmed perfectly. The beauty certainly didn't distract from the uppity vibe, but fine decor aside, Usopp's mood seemed to have improved as soon as he saw Kaya's window.

With one rock thrown, Usopp and I climbed the tree. The window opened in mere moments, displaying Kaya in all her sickly glory.

"Usopp-san?"

"Hey Kaya!" Usopp greeted. "I brought some new friends over. They're pirates just like me!"

Her eyes lit up and she leaned over the windowsill, taking a look at Zoro and Nami. She said, "What? Really?"

"Really really," I confirmed. Then I waved to Zoro, who held out the bagged food for me to grab. "We brought you some food since Usopp said you liked it."

I handed the bag to Usopp who handed it to Kaya. Her pale face grew a rosy tint as she took the food and smiled. From there, the introductions went on with no trouble. We told her about the few adventures we've had so far, entertaining both Usopp and Kaya, and made ourselves more familiar with the two. Kaya herself was sweet. Maybe a little naive, but her vitality was there, so I understood why Usopp enjoyed coming over other than to just simply cheer her up. I found it both funny and sad that Kaya liked the villager's food more than the stuff served to her because her food was normally so bland. The cooks only cooked "safe" things due to her condition, so when she ate anything else, it felt like a delicacy. It spoke on behalf on how boring other parts of her life could be.

The whole time, though, I was anticipating something bad to happen, like Kuro popping up out of the blue and making a fuss... but that didn't happen. Nothing happened. We talked, we left, and I was pulled somewhat out of my element; almost as if, subconsciously, I was still afraid about changing canon. I redirected my thoughts instead.

"So Usopp," I said, after we were a ways away from the mansion, "is there, uh, any other interesting places on the island you could show us? We saw most of the village last night but we didn't do much exploring."

He hummed, pressing a finger to his nose. "I suppose there isn't much to see, but I could show you the cliff side! I usually go there to think about things, but it is pretty, especially at sunset."

After that, we started walking all the way the opposite direction of Kaya's mansion to the shore cliffs. Specifically, the cliff that we could watch Kuro spill the beans to Jango on. Along the way, we ran into the "Usopp Pirates"— Carrot, Onion, and Pepper—and they joined us on the ride. Zoro practically pretended they didn't exist, but I didn't mind their company all too much since they resembled my brothers in personality. By the time twenty minutes passed, we were at the shore cliff; the breeze picked up and the sky was cloudless, quiet.

The anticipation caused me to become a silent observer of the conversation between everybody else. They hadn't need my input, so I sat near the edge of the cliff. That way, when I caught movement in the corner of my eye, I could scramble backwards to hush everybody up.

"What's going on?" Onion whispered. The others huddled next to him.

I pointed towards the ground below, where Kuro and Jango came into hearing range. Having not seen either of them yet, making out their features was a little difficult, but Usopp seemed to have no trouble recognizing "Klahadore" from atop the cliff. His face went from joyful to scornful in seconds.

"That's one of Kaya's butlers or whatever, Klahadore," Usopp said, furrowing his eyebrows. "I don't know what he's doing here, because he's almost always with Kaya or at the mansion."

Nami knelt down besides us to listen in as well and squinted. "That one in the glasses looks a little strange, is he a butler too?"

Usopp shook his head. "Never seen him."

We all quieted to eavesdrop, straining our ears to make sure we were hearing correctly. At first, they were so faint we could only hear a couple of words, but then they got louder.

"Wait, so why am I here again?" Jango asked. "Can't you just kill her if you wanted to?"

Kuro sighed and pushed his glasses up in that weird way. "No, I can't just kill her if I wanted to. You need to hypnotize her into giving up her fortune in her will so that it all goes to me! This is an assassination, not a mindless murder!"

I glanced over to Usopp, biting my tongue. His lips were drawn in a tight line, his eyes were wide, and his hands were shaking as he gripped at the grass. At that point, I stopped focusing on Kuro's conversation, since everything sounded exactly the same. I only focused on how Usopp's eyes honed in on Kuro like a laser pointer. Another gust of wind blew past, sweeping his curly hair out of the way so I could see the sweat rolling down his face and how his shoulders continued to tense up. He was transfixed.

As Kuro and Jango walked away, we all sat, paralyzed, letting their words sink in. That was, until, Usopp shot up and startled the stars out of me.

"What are you all doing!? We have to go tell Kaya and the village about this, they're all going to die!" he screamed.

A sharp pang shot through my heart and I hastened myself to my feet, grabbing his shoulder. I could feel him tense up still.

"Wait! Let's think this through," I said with strain, "it wouldn't be good to rush into this!"

He didn't calm down, still shaking and shifting his gaze between me and the others. Another sharp pang shot through me when he shrugged my hand off and shook his head.

"Why shouldn't we tell them as soon as possible?! Kaya could be killed any minute!" He then pointed at me. "I know you're all new here, but the townspeople are my life! I can't watch them all die!"

"But wouldn't that cause panic?" Nami cut in. "Kuro has a whole crew of blood thirsty pirates coming here, and having the townspeople run amok would only make it harder for you to protect them. Acting crazy about this isn't going to help you"

"She's right." I scowled and held my hands out. "You... you said yourself we're outsiders and that you're a known liar, so why would any of them have to trust our word? The only person I could see believing us is Kaya, but then we'd put her in more danger than before." My frown deepened. "Besides, this Kuro person is no joke, he was a pretty infamous pirate back in the day. He could easily brutalize the whole town by himself if he got wind of us trying to ruin his plans."

Zoro tapped his blades, getting me to turn around to see his grimace. "From what I remember, he had a 16 million beri bounty. I heard rumor he was captured a while ago, but I guess that wasn't the case, and instead he's been hiding here. I don't know much about him other than that," he informed.

With all of us dog-piling him with information like that, Usopp was immobilized in thought. For a moment, I thought he was going to run, but then his his tightened features sagged, and he curled in on himself, eyes shining with fresh tears. This time, a deep throb made my heart ache. People crying made me really uncomfortable. But people crying usually meant they were feeling really shitty. I shuffled over to him and cradled his arms, getting him to face me so I could pep talk him better. His long eyelashes collected the tears.

"Hey, hey," I soothed, "I didn't say we weren't going to help you. We still have plenty of time to think this out, alright?"

He blinked a few times and I continued. "Look, we have the advantage! Kuro doesn't know we're here, so if we tell Kaya about this and she believes us, we can deal with him then and there. If she doesn't, then we'll just deal with him in the morning, and it'll be fine okay?"

Once again, he blinked a few times, but then he sniffed and nodded. I gave him a smile for reassurance and patted him on the back and in seconds he wiped away his tears, grinning to the rest of the crew. There was a good second of relief, until I faced my crew. They all stared at me like I performed a magic trick.

"What?"

"Are you like, secretly a huge softy or something?" Nami questioned, completely serious.

I gave her a weak chuckle. "No? I can kick ass and provide emotional support at the same time, the two aren't mutually exclusive"

"You said the same kinda thing with that dog at Orange Town," Zoro teased, getting him a certain rude gesture in response. Usopp and the kids seemed to think it was funny, making me roll my eyes. At least the tension was mitigated enough for us to all think clearly.

We decided (with no small tweaks at my suggestion) to keep Onion, Pepper, and Carrot away from the pirates and from us, unless they needed to warn us of something. Telling Kaya the truth wasn't a guarantee she'd believe us, but the odds were stacked in our favor. The villagers, on the other hand, were probably going to be more trouble than what it'd be worth, so they'd be left in the dark. Worst case scenario for the crew was basically my fail safe: canon. I did assure Usopp that no matter what happened, Kuro and his crew would be getting their asses handed to them.

All we had to do was talk.

•

Kaya laid in bed. That's all she ever really did nowadays. There were times she could go out with Klahadore or she'd study some medical textbooks that Merry gifted her every so often, but those times seemed to get rarer. Usopp was often the one who made her happiest, because with someone as lonely as her, anybody new to hang out with was a gift. And even then, Klahadore and the others didn't approve. They saw him as a delinquent. On some days, she could see how that projected image of him impacted his self esteem; he didn't crack as many jokes or didn't reference being a pirate as much.

But today he seemed particularly happy, bringing over those real pirates and hearing about their stories. She was amazed! They sounded just like Usopp's stories, and yet they were definitely real. The red vest one— Luffy— he couldn't have faked his powers, now could he?

Kaya got up to get a drink of water, but her window rattled and surprised her. Usopp was back again?

She rushed over to the window and threw it open, gazing at her best friend sitting in the tree. Not only him though, Luffy was also back, and down at the base of the tree were Nami and Zoro. All four of them were stoic, not even a hint of mirth glazed on their faces like that morning. She was confused but also concerned.

"What's going on?" She asked, voice already unsteady.

Usopp swallowed and scowled. "Kaya, we need to tell you something. It's about K-Klahadore... he's a pirate."

She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, saying, "what are you talking about?"

"Kaya," Luffy broke in, making her flinch, "we're not lying, we're not joking. You're in serious danger right now, Klahadore isn't who you think he is and we don't want you to get hurt. We need you to leave with us."

This time, she backed away from the windowsill; eyes burning, face heating up, and throat constricting. Her chest started to hurt as her breathing grew uneven and yet she was still so confused. Luffy remained calm. Usopp remained calm. They were serious, weren't they?

"I-I don't... that can't be true. Klahadore isn't a bad man! Why are you saying these things?!"

Usopp inched closer and her heartbeat quickened, taking a few more steps back. He said a few words, but she couldn't pay attention as her mind reeled and tears spilled out of her eyes. She felt nauseated with fear. All around her, the world began to slip away, yet Usopp kept talking, holding his hand out to her. Luffy nodded along, with his shifty eyes occasionally glancing past her head, behind her. Like he was waiting. Like they were both so desperate.

Kaya's heart nearly sprung out of her chest when she heard the door click and swing open. Her body turned in slow motion, eyes widening.

"Klaha-"

"Kuro?!"

Whipping her head around, she looked at Luffy, who had his hands slapped over his mouth. Sweat poured down his face and Usopp was twitching in place.

When she turned back towards Klahadore, his jaw was clenched. "What is the meaning of this? What are they doing to you?!"

"I— they're not doing anything-!" she stammered, mind continuing to reel.

"Nonsense!" he hollered. "Your complexion is completely off! Get over here before they do some harm to you."

This time, she backed away from him, a sudden spike of dubiety piercing her mind. Klahadore continued to call for her while Usopp and Luffy persisted in getting her to run with them. Eventually, they began to yell at each other, but she hardly noticed the shouting match over the pain of her head pounding. She slightly flinched when she realized she backed all the way towards the window, pushing her sweaty palms against the cold windowsill to stay upright.

In a haze, the shouting abruptly stopped with something Luffy said. Klahadore— that blurry, dark figure across the bright room— disappeared behind the door. Luffy shot off past her, following his lead, and she felt warm arms wrap around her.

Her feet lifted off the ground. She blanked.

•

As soon as Kuro turned tail, I told Usopp to grab Kaya and run with Zoro and Nami, throwing my hat down to them.

I bounded off the tree branch and leaped into Kaya's room, bolting past doors and down flights of staircases to keep up with Kuro. With all the fancy decor, it was difficult to keep from smashing into things and wrecking the place— including trying not to run over the bewildered residents who were cleaning or cooking. Unfortunately, I lost sight of Kuro halfway through. I caught my breath, standing in a spacious room with a large chandelier hanging from the ceiling and a few more familiar objects.

Kuro was no doubt getting his cat claws, and I wouldn't be able to prevent him from getting them now. I just hoped he'd come back before the guards showed up or else they'd be put in harms way. Kuro was arguably the first villain of the series that gave the crew some serious trouble, especially with his Shakushi attack. Fighting indoors was already a questionable move, but fighting indoors with innocent people nearby was a bad one.

In the deafening silence of anticipation, the door across the room nudged open and out stepped Kuro, cat claws already equipped. His walk resembled that of cautious cat.

"You're quite cunning, aren't you?" he said.

I lowered my gaze. "What a compliment, coming from someone like you," I scorned.

He adjusted his glasses and smirked at me, making me snarl back. "I must say you've done well for yourself to catch me off guard, but it's the end of the line for you. I'll complete my mission no matter how much you claim you'll stop me."

"I'd like to see you try."

In the blink of an eye, Kuro went from across the room to almost slicing me in half. I rolled along the floor and pounced under the table, kicking it up in the air to block his attacks. While he was momentarily distracted, I kicked the window and shattered a hole for me to jump out of, but he had recuperated in that time and forced me away from the window. I kept my eyes locked onto his claws. We cascaded about the room and practically destroyed it, until I finally managed to jump out the window into the grass.

Kuro followed me in hot pursuit. As he landed, I revved up an attack and uppercut him in the jaw. He landed flat on the grass and spluttered blood, but I didn't wait for him to recover, launching myself in the air to slam down on him with my feet.

The second before I landed, however, he raised his cat claws in defense and my attack failed. I was sent skidding along the dirt. Before I could recover, I was kicked into the wall face first; I dropped to the ground pressing my hands to my stinging eyes and tasting the blood trickle from my split lip. Though my vision was blurred, I registered Kuro coming at me once more and I hopped to my stumbling feet, watching him slice into the wall. I would have gotten another hit on him, but he dodged and swung his blades, scraping my collarbones.

We both jumped away from each other. My hands trembled as I grasped my wounds— warm, slick blood sliding down my chest. He wiped his own blood from his mouth, looking down at me kneeling on the ground.

"Why are getting involved with this island's affairs?" he suddenly asked. "I had not the slightest idea you existed until just now, and yet you're fending for these strangers?"

I shook my head and narrowed my eyes. "They're not strangers to me, but that doesn't matter. I'm not going to let some arrogant prick like you kill a bunch of people because you're a coward."

He raised his eyebrows. "A coward? Those are bold statements, boy. Who do you think you are?"

"I'm a pirate," I said, rising to my feet and wiping off my shaking hands, "and unlike you, I'm not ashamed of that. Get with the program, Kuro."

He chuckled for a second before scowling, glaring at me with this strange hatred. I saw, deep in his dark eyes, an intelligent man who was taken by his own ego and lack of empathy. How unfortunate it was.

Only a few more moments passed before he lunged at me. I dodged and catapulted myself over the bushes, out of the area and away from the mansion. Kuro sliced his way through the bushes, towards me, making me duck and reach out for his leg. He nipped my arm as I pulled him up into the air and tried to swing him into the ground, but he latched onto my arm and spun himself out of my grip. We tousled for some minutes, realizing both of us were getting nowhere.

Eventually, he jumped away from me and closed his eyes. I was perplexed until I saw his shuffling movement, causing an immediate panic to shoot through my nerves. The Shakushi attack wasn't nearly as deadly with only me here, but that didn't take away from the fact I'd be fucked if I let him go through with it!

The only problem was... by the time I got myself ready, I blinked and he was gone.

A strong breeze left in his wake, sweeping through the empty field and through the rustling grass. I tried my best to detect his movements, but every time his form flashed in the corner of my eye, he vanished, leaving a carved marker of his presence. Then, when I turned around, a faded figure consumed my vision and a wave of pain surged up my face, knocking me backwards.

"Fuck!" I howled, squeezing my watering eyes shut.

Kuro sliced my face up right open, just nearly missing my eyes by a fraction. I felt blood pour down over my right eyelid and over my lips; it stuck to my eyelashes and made it difficult to see. But, it wasn't over. He got me one more time on the back before my adrenaline and pain crazed mind drove me to stand up. As he slowed, I body slammed him into the ground, wrapping my legs around his torso.

With one eye shut, I saw him squirm under me. I kept his wrists pinned down so he couldn't cut into me and I slowed my breathing, blood dripping off my chin onto his dirtied suit.

Kuro frowned. "What do you think you're accomplishing with this?"

I didn't respond, merely tightening the grip on his wrists. The anger on his face angered me.

"Have you given up?"

My heartbeat started up again as I tightened and tightened and tightened. I think he soon got the picture as he grit his teeth in pain and started to squirm again, but between my firm grasp and his weariness, he couldn't shove me off. Soon enough, my hands started shaking with how hard I was griping and he yelped in pain, a sonorous crack snapping me out of my violent trance. Kuro shoved me off, gripped his limp left arm, and growled at me.

"You absolute bastard! Can't you just die already?!" he roared.

I wiped the blood off my eye and gave him a blank stare. "If I die, they die. So no."

He pushed up his cracked glasses. "You're a pirate," he spat, "not a savior or hero. What do you care what happens to them?"

"I never said I was a hero, I don't want to be, I don't really need to be. I doubt I'll ever be a hero." I wiped more blood off my face. "But these people are important to Usopp. What person would I be if I left them helpless?"

"I suppose there's a mentality here that I don't quite have" Kuro murmured. Then he got into stance. "A mentality that will be your downfall! Shakushi!"

He disappeared once more but I stood, almost tiredly, feeling the wind lap at my open cuts. This time I could see him in my peripherals more often, probably because he was low on energy and injured. Every time he came close I back-flipped or roll-jumped out out of the way. The pain throbbed down my body, but I willed myself to ignore it to the best of my ability so I didn't get injured even worse.

In the end, I punched him out of his downgraded version of soru, causing him to hobble backwards, holding his nose and shattered glasses. Amidst his pained squinting, he didn't see me stretching my arms back for Gomu-Gomu no Bazooka, and once he did, it was most certainly too late. My arms snapped forwards into his chest and as his eyes widened with the realization that he was completely screwed, flying off against the breeze and crashing into the walls of the mansion we had strayed from. His tiny speck of a body peeled off the wall and behind the bushes, where I'm sure the residents would find him rightfully defeated.

Yet, with all the proud triumph that coursed through my veins, the thrumming sting of everything pressured me to my knees. My body tingled with excess adrenaline or perhaps the emotion. I took in a deep breath. Even if it hurt, I protected the village— and Kaya and Usopp, of course— successfully; I was learning. I wasn't a failure.

That didn't mean the job was done... buuuuut it was pretty much done. The main baddie was already down so dealing with the Black Cat pirates wouldn't be an issue by any stretch of the imagination.

All I had to do now was meet back up with everybody else and get cleaned up.

•

"Hey guys! I'm back!"

I grinned as everybody turned around and rushed towards me, a range of expressions on all their faces. Zoro was mostly neutral as per usual, with a slight smirk, Nami appeared quite winded and distraught, Usopp was freaking out, and Kaya looked the most concerned, a frown shadowing her darling face.

"D-Did Klaha- I mean, Kuro... do this to you?" she whispered, pupils dilating.

My grin slipped, so I turned it into a bashful smile and rubbed the back of my neck. "Yeah," I admitted, "but it's all okay. Kuro can't hurt anyone like this anymore, so that's all that matters. I'll get better in no time!"

She kept her puppy-dog eyes on me for another moment before looking away and nodding. I sighed in relief, Usopp then catching my attention by slapping his hand down on my shoulder and making me flinch. His eyes were also watering.

"Thank you so much. You guys didn't have to do any of that!" He wiped his eyes and gave me a wink. "Though if it were me, I could have totally beat Kuro too."

Nami rolled her eyes and removed his hand from my shoulder. "Yeah right, you were babbling non-stop ever since we left the mansion!" she said. She gave me a once over before handing my hat back over. "Be glad I was keeping it safe and not those other two."

"Hey!" Zoro grumbled, glaring at Nami, "Luffy gave me his hat last time and nothing happened to it, so what gives?!"

"And why am I included?" Usopp spoke up.

I smiled as I heard Kaya start giggling behind Usopp. Their bickering carried on all the way to Usopp's house, where Kaya helped clean off my face and got all the blood out of my hair. I decided to wash my vest while I had the opportunity, since that poor thing was stained inside and out— not to mention the dried bodily fluids were starting to reek and make it all itchy. Thankfully, with a good scrub down and Nami patching up some of the tears, it was practically good as new. Not really. But it was either that or wear one of Usopp's extra pair of overalls; which in Nami's professional opinion apparently "couldn't look uglier on any other person." It was a pretty valid opinion.

Kaya left back to the mansion and we all crashed at Usopp's place for the night again. Once morning came, we all booked it to the shore to intercept the Black Cat pirates. It was possibly the easiest task we did all week, since they stood no chance against all four of us and their captain was taken out of the picture before the picture was even conceived. The funniest part about it was Usopp being the biggest damage dealer next to Zoro. With the 90% of the threat gone, Usopp had no hesitation about feeding the Black Cat's dirt until they got the memo and left in disappointment. Not before Nami managed to swipe their measly quantities of cash, of course.

And after shrugging them off, we went to check up on Kaya, who in turn said she wanted to give us a little gift. She and Merry led us around to the nearest shore where the Going Merry floated along the sudsy waves.

Ah, the Going Merry. She was a delightful work of art. Merry, the person, explained the mechanisms of the ship to Nami and I, however I only absorbed about a third of what he was saying, much too busy being awestruck. I went to explore as soon as I could, disbelieving the fact I was truly walking around on the Going Merry, my new home. Her woodwork was polished, the sails were pristine, the rooms felt cozy, and she was prepackaged with supplies for the journey. She was perfect. It was a perfection that, in the back of my mind, I had to give my life to.

Usopp was there exploring with me, actually. We discussed beforehand briefly about having him join the crew, but he gave me a vague answer. Seeing him prance around with a wide smile convinced me his answer has definitely changed. Although, the same happiness he radiated drew out a pinch of guilt as something that I'd have to deal with when we got there, far into the future.

"How about it?" I asked, walking to Usopp and leaning over the railing. "This ship is pretty damn cool, you can't deny."

He snickered and nodded. "No I can't. I have a feeling I'll be really happy here, but I'd probably be happier if I was the captain!"

"Not a chance, moron," I instantly rejected. He pouted and I giggled, patting him on the shoulder.

For a moment I thought he was going to walk away to see more of the ship, but instead he smiled and said, "I'm proud I'm going out to sea. I'm finally going to become a great warrior like I was always meant to be... all thanks to you and your crew!"

I flushed and shook my head. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything! But... thank you." I held my hands out to give him a hug. "I'm sure you'll be a perfect part of our crew."

He embraced me and we headed off to explore the ship together. This was his home for as long as I could save it.

[Yikes. 2020 kinda sucks so far]