Chapter 5

"All right, I'll go with you," said Usopp. "I've wanted to sail with Dad my whole life. I'm sure they'll make me come back here fast but at least I may have some adventures to tell about."

Usopp wrote a note to his mother explaining the whole situation. If Kaya's family questioned her about the fruit she could tell them that Yasopp didn't know there was anything wrong with it when he sold it. Usopp slipped the note into his bedroom through a half-open window – having a stretchy arm helped.

Yasopp had given the backpack with the now-empty chest to Luffy to carry back unto the ship. The boys hid the chest and Usopp folded his flexible body into its approximate shape. Luffy carried Usopp onto the ship inside the backpack without anyone suspecting him.

The pirates didn't discover the stowaway until dinnertime, when they were well on their way to their next destination.

"Hey Luffy, why are you taking extra food from the table?" Lucky Roux asked. "Eat it here or leave it for the rest of us."

Luffy was no good at lying. "I'm taking it for Usopp," he admitted.

"What?" Yasopp shouted. "So that's why he didn't see me off! Where is that scamp?"

The pirates dragged Usopp from his hiding place in the cargo deck and soon the whole story came out.

"Luffy, I'm disappointed in you," said Shanks. "This stunt shows you're still just a kid. You ignored my warning about the Devil's Fruit, got your friend cursed, nearly spoiled our selling the fruit, and smuggled in a stowaway."

"I'm sorry I stowed away," said Usopp. "I didn't know if Dad would ever be back. It was the chance of a lifetime."

"I'm not sorry," Luffy said boldly. "Usopp got a cool power."

"It confirms my decision that you can't be a member of my crew, Luffy," Shanks added.

"I've already decided I don't want to be on your crew. I'll train for ten years, then form my own pirate crew and be King of the Pirates."

"As punishment, I'm assigning you both watch duty in the crow's nest tonight," said Shanks.

Later that evening, Usopp shivered as they sat in the crow's nest. "It's cold up here and I don't like heights," he complained.

"It won't hurt if you fall," Luffy pointed out.

"My mind knows that, but my nerves doesn't know it yet," said Usopp.

"Let's take turns keeping watch. You watch first and I'll sleep," said Luffy.

"You can sleep up here?" Usopp asked, but Luffy was already snoring.

Usopp used the spyglass to scan the horizon for patrolling Marines or enemy pirate ships. Suddenly his keen eyes spotted movement on a distant island. He put on his vision-enhancing sniper goggles and looked again through the spyglass to be sure. Out there on a small island a young man was waving his arms frantically.

"Ahoy!" Usopp called down to the men on deck. "There's someone waving for help on an island to starboard. He may be a castaway."

"You'd better be right," one of the men called up. "Cap'n won't like a diversion from course."

The ship turned and headed for the island, which was rocky and steep-sided. As they got closer they could hear the shouts of the young man.

"Help! We're shipwrecked!" the boy called. "Come save us, you crappy ship! My food's nearly gone!"

The crew put out a longboat and rowed to the island. When they got to the boy, he said, "Thanks for saving me. My name's Sanji. There's a old geezer on the other side of the island that needs help too."

After the castaways were brought on board and given some food, Shanks came up to talk with them.

"Well, if it isn't Red-Legged Zeff," Shanks chuckled. "How'd you end up out here?"

"A storm sank my ship," Zeff told them. "We're been stranded here about 20 days."

"What happened to your leg?" Shanks asked, pointing to the pirate's right leg, which was missing below the knee.

"I had to eat something to survive," Zeff said. "I gave the boy all the food."

"You did?' Sanji exclaimed in shock. "But you had that big bag of food..."

"It's not food, it's treasure," said Zeff. "I'll gladly pay you for our passage to shore, Shanks. Just leave me something to buy a new ship. I'm out of the piracy business. I'll make a new life with a floating restaurant instead."

"It's a deal," said Shanks.

"You were a student cook on your old ship, weren't you, String-bean?" Zeff asked Sanji. "Want to come work for me? We'll make a fine restaurant, you and me."

"Sure, crappy-geezer!" Sanji replied.

Shanks called up to Usopp in the crow's nest, "Good spotting, Usopp. You saved two lives and got us some treasure, too. You're earning your keep!"

Usopp grinned to himself, thinking of the wonderful story he would tell his mother... with a few added details about his glorious heroism, of course.