Thanks for the reviews. I still would like to know how many people are reading this story so please keep on reviewing. I think I'll be uploading monthly. Hopefully this will satisfy you until then.
You Cry
The crew wept. Nobody said anything. Somehow everyone knew that no words of comfort could ever ease the pain of their loss. However, their mourning was interrupted when the kitchen door slammed open.
"Everybody get inside!"
The captain ordered them shakily with his straw hat tilted forward covering his eyes. The crew just stared at him, anticipating ….something.
"NOW!" Luffy yelled in a broken voice.
The crew jolted out of whatever trance that had taken hold of them just then, and obediently made their way up the steps to the kitchen dining room. Luffy stood against the railing in front of the door so his crew could get into the kitchen. He was facing away from them, staring out at the bow. Silently the crew entered the dining room. Inside, standing in the back of the room was Zoro-his expression-unreadable. As soon as everyone was inside, Luffy turned around still not reviling his face.
"Stay inside" was all Luffy said before he left them, heading for the bow. Zoro followed him, but the second before he stepped out of the room, Luffy stopped.
"You too Zoro" he ordered him in a cold serious voice.
As soon as he heard the kitchen door close behind him, he continued forward
to his fallen nakama.
"Usopp" Luffy whispered shaking his sleeping friend, tying to wake him up. "Hey, Usopp!"
"Wha?" Usopp mumble sleepily opening his eyes.
"Get up! It's time to start getting ready for the secret pool party!" Luffy whisper excitedly
"Pool party?" Usopp asked groggily. "Oh, yeah! The pool party!" He sat up now wide awake. He got out of his suspended bed being extremely careful not to wake any of the others up.
"Let's wake Chopper" Luffy said tiptoeing over to the reindeer's bed. He leaned directly over Choppers sleeping form and was about to whisper 'Wake up!' into his ear when a hand clasped over his mouth.
"Wait!" Usopp whispered. Luffy looked at him quizzically, "You can't just whisper into his ear like that! It'll freak him out and he'll scream, which will wake everyone else up and ruin the surprise! You have to shake him gently" the sniper enlightened him "Like this" Usopp put his hand on the reindeer's small leg and gently shook him, "Chopper…Chopper wake up" the sniper whispered softly at the foot of his bed. Chopper stirred.
"Hmmm?" The reindeer lifted his head up and opened his eyes.
"It's time to commence Captain Usopp's Operation: Secret Pool Party!" the liar whispered with gusto
Chopper's eye shot open "That's right! We're doing that today!" Chopper said slightly louder than a whisper.
A "SHHHH!" came from both his crewmates
"You have to be quiet or you'll ruin the surprise!" Luffy warned him wisely
Chopper immediately put his hooves over his mouth and glanced nervously at his sleeping nakama.
"Yosh! First thing's, first! " Luffy stated beating his hand into his palm "We need to get our beach clothes and swimming gear."
"Without waking anyone up!" Chopper added
"Which won't be a problem for I, the Great Captain Usopp, having psychically foreseen this predicament, had already gathered all of our supplies last night!" boasted the long-nosed pirate. Usopp walked over to the couch that was covered by a sheet. Dramatically, he torn away the obscuration revealing all of their bathing suits, swimming gear, as well as other things that they forgot about, such as beach towels and sunblock.
"Awesome!" Luffy beamed elated that everything was off to a great start.
"You're psychic?" Chopper exclaimed in a whisper with sparkles in his eyes
"But of course!" said the liar "I saved an entire country from catastrophe using my psychic abilities. And I will tell you all about my adventure in the Island of Raining Light- but first we need to get our stuff and get down stairs before anyone else wakes up."
"Oh right!" Chopper said snapping out of his entrancement. The little reindeer scurry over to the couch after his comrades.
"Here Chopper, you can carry these!" Luffy said holding up half a dozen goggles.
"Okay!" Chopper reached for them but Luffy raised them out of his reach.
"No not like that" Luffy told the confused doctor, "Like this!"
Luffy took a pair of goggles and hung them off the reindeer's antlers.
Usopp grinned "Hey, I want to help!" Luffy gave him some goggles and together they decorated Chopper with a variety of different colored swim-specs, until all the goggles were hanging off the reindeer like Christmas ornaments.
"There!"
"Wait a second, Luffy! It's missing one last thing" Usopp reached over and grabbed Luffy's swim shorts and pulled them down over Chopper's hat. Then they took a step back to admire their work.
"Perfect" Usopp declared
"Yep!" Luffy agreed with a wide smile
"I wanna see! I wanna see! Where's a mirror?" Chopper swung his head to the side too fast and simultaneously all of the goggles smacked him in the head.
Clank!
"Pff!" Usopp and Luffy quickly covered their mouths to keep themselves from bursting out into a fit out laughter.
"Ow" Chopper said rubbing his forehead.
"Let's" Usopp gasped trying to regain some composure "Let's go outside!" he pointed to the exit.
Luffy nodded knowing he wouldn't be able to hold back his laughter if he opened his mouth. They gathered the remaining supplies into two pillowcases, then, being as quiet as they possible could, snuck out the bedroom door. The second they were on the deck Usopp turned to his fellow conspirators, held a finger to his lips and pointed to the crow's nest. The other two nodded understandingly. They would have to be super quiet when they crossed the lawn to get to the hatch. They were up before sunrise, so it was still dark out, chances were that whoever was in the crow's nest wouldn't see them sneaking across the lawn IF they didn't make a sound-that is.
Once they got to the hatch Usopp carefully opened the door and let his two friends go down first. Then he, himself, climbed down the ladder and quietly shut the door. Once the door was shut Luffy let go of the ladder and fell to the bottom deck unharmed.
"Chopper let go! I'll catch you!" Luffy told him
"Okay" Chopper said. Trusting his nakama completely, he let go of the ladder.
And just as Luffy promised, he caught the reindeer, goggles, swim shorts and all
As for Usopp he held onto the sides of the ladder and slid down to the deck below with ease.
"Alright men!" Usopp punched a fist into the air "To the Preparation Room!"
"Yosh" the other two exclaimed mimicking the sniper's hand gesture.
With that, they raced off to Usopp's Factory. Once inside they dumped the party supplies in the middle of the room.
"Right! Today we execute Captain Usopp's Operation: Secret Pool Party!" the liar exclaimed "Luffy!"
"Yeah?"
"What is the first step to successfully executing Captain Usopp's Operation: Secret Pool Party?"
"Tell everyone about the pool party!" Luffy answered confidently. Usopp shook his head.
"No Luffy" he sighed "Chopper you remember the first step don't you?"
"Get everything set up?" Chopper suggested
"Right! Then what do we do?"
"Wake everyone up!"
"No Luffy. Chopper tell Luffy why don't we want to wake everyone up."
"It will irritate everybody and they won't be in the mood for a pool party?"
"Exactly! Now, when do we tell them about the pool party?"
"Tonight!"
"…."
"Chopper?"
"After breakfast?"
"Right! Luffy, right after breakfast you are to announce to everyone that today we will be having a pool party-"
"And a Barbeque!"
Usopp looked at him "A barbeque? Where did that come fr- never mind" he sighed "Okay, right after breakfast you are to announce to everyone that today we will be having a pool party and a barbeque."
Luffy beamed.
"And that everyone needs to get their swim suits on and come to the bottom deck." The sniper finished
"Yosh! Let's set things up!" Luffy exclaimed reaching for a beach chair
"Wait a sec Luffy, before we do anything we need to make sure we have everything we need." Usopp explained as he pulled out a list "9 beach towels!"
"Check!" Chopper said under a bundle of towels
" 3 bottles of waterproof sun block!"
"Check!"
"9 pairs of goggles!"
"Check!"
"Hammer's inflatable safety gear!"
"Check!" Luffy said holding up inflatable duck tubes and blow-up rafts
"Beach balls!"
"…"
"Beach balls?" Usopp asked again
"They're not here!"
"What? I could have sworn I packed them!" Usopp exclaimed rummaging through the pile
"Maybe we left them in the bedroom?" Chopper suggested
"Yeah!" Luffy agreed
"Okay I'll go back and get them," Usopp said heading for the door "You guys start getting everything set up. I'll be right back!" He turned and smiled at them one last time "Let's make today unforgettable!"
There he was. Just as Zoro had said he would be. There he was, lying in a pool of blood completely motionless…lifeless…
Luffy ran to him, his heart pounding hard in his chest. Without even realizing he was crying he threw himself to his knees besides his nakama.
"Usopp!" Luffy choked
He wasn't prepared for this. How could anyone be prepared for this? Of course he had believed Zoro when he told him that Usopp was dead. But only now, holding his nakama's lifeless blood -soaked body in his arms, did Usopp's death become real. He had no idea what to do.
His nakama had been taken away from him. Usually when that happened Luffy would fight with all his heart and soul to bring them back, but this was different…This time, he knew, there wasn't anything he could do. Because-
you can't bring back the dead.
"GAHHH!" Luffy sobbed violently into his brother's shoulder
"You idiot! You're not allowed to die!" Luffy choked; his cries muffled by the liar's cold shoulder. "You promised you would never leave us again!"
Luffy had never cried so much in his life.
He held on to his beloved crewmate for dear life, never wanting to let go. He wasn't ready to let go. He wasn't ready to live in a world without him. He wanted to return to yesterday, when Sanji had finally got his hair back to normal after Usopp had put blue dye into his shampoo- making the blond's hair turn green. Or- or last week, when he put colorless hard candies in the showerhead so that when Zoro took a shower after his work out, he came out all sticky!
Thinking of these memories, Luffy was briefly able to smile through his grief- …that is -until he realized,
Usopp would never pull another prank. He would never tell another lie. He would never laugh again.
He's gone.
"AAAAHHHHHGGG!"
Luffy let out agonizing cry that echoed across the ocean.
It hurt! It hurt so much! Never before had Luffy ever felt such terrible pain. He knew it would hurt. People always told him how painful it is to lose the people you love. But this, this ache in his heart, he had never experienced anything like this. He had been stabbed, beaten, frozen, impaled, poisoned, he knew all kinds of pain. This was beyond pain! This … this was … despair…
It had to be ….because all he could do was hold his nakama close and cry.
…..
Luffy didn't know, nor did he care how long he stayed like that, holding his nakama in his arms. Somehow he had managed to stop crying, he didn't think that was possible.
Thunder rumble above them, as dark clouds conceal the mid-morning sun.
It began to rain.
Finally pulling away from the sniper's chest, Luffy looked up at the sky.
"Looks like we won't be having our pool party today" Luffy joked sadly with a lump in his throat.
Luffy closed his eyes as heaven tears fell upon his face. He never understood how rain works, and honestly he didn't want to know. The world is full of magic tricks, and like ordinary magic tricks, if you figure out how they work they won't be magical anymore.
Luffy looked back down at the fallen companion in his arms. He quickly glanced at his nakama's face before looking elsewhere. If he looked any longer he wouldn't be able to keep himself from crying… and he really, really didn't want to cry anymore. Luffy swallowed painfully
"We should get inside"
With that, Luffy stood-up holding the limp sniper in his arms. He walked off the deck where his friend's blood was already being wash away by the rain.
Luffy tried not to think about how cold he felt, as he made his way across the lawn. He tried not to think about how pale he was, as he climbed the stairs. He tried not to think about anything that would make him breakdown again. He was already starting to feel sick from crying so much.
Thinking that this was the right place to go, Luffy opened the door to the infirmary, then closed it shut behind him. Luffy pulled back the blankets on the bed and gently laid down his nakama, as if he was merely sleeping. Without really thinking about what he was doing, Luffy went to pull the covers over him so he wouldn't be so cold. He had only pull the sheet up to his chin and was about to let go- when he remembered. Usopp wasn't sleeping… he was dead.
It couldn't be helped; Luffy could no longer hold back his tears as he pulled the sheet over his nakama's face, before he fell into a chair and wept.