Pirates Are Coming!
Theme: #3 - Lies
Disclaimer: One Piece and its characters do not belong to me.
It was his first lie.
Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming!
He started it a few months after his father left, a week or so after his mother started looking tired. He ran through the village, hands cupped around his wide mouth, calling—
Pirates are coming!
People would come to visit his mother on her weaker days, and would hear him begin his cry. They would turn to her and ask, "Why does he do that? Why does he cry out such lies?"
Pirates are coming! Everyone, pirates are coming!
She would smile wearily and look out the window to see his small figure approaching from the distance. She knew what he was doing, how he was trying to make her happy, trying to remind her that Yasopp was returning home some day and she had to be there to greet him. She knew, and so she would say, "They aren't lies. They're hope."
Pirates are coming!
After his mother passed away, Usopp still ran through the town with his false exclamations. No one really knew what he was hoping for, then. The resurrection of his mother? The return of his father, to see what his absence had caused? The arrival of the crew that would be his escape?
Pirates! Pirates are coming!
He would continue to tell lies as life went on. He made up exploits to the three young boys he called his crew, hoping to impress them and gain their companionship. He told stories to Kaya through her bedroom window, hoping to make her laugh and forget her troubles. He boasted to his enemies, hoping to confuse or distract them or give them false impression. He lied, hoping to survive. But no lie, no hope, would hold more meaning for him than that very first one that he used to see the tired and chapped lips of his mother form even the smallest smile.
Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming!