Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

"We're late! I can't believe that we're late! We really shouldn't have partied at the last village. Oh my god! If we're late, Usopp and his village will all die! We have to row!" shouted Nami in a panic, as she gave the rows to Zoro. They were sailing towards Syrup village, but it was past midnight and getting closer to dawn. They knew that at dawn, the Black Cat pirates would attack Syrup village.

Zoro and Luffy was rowing as fast as they could, which was pretty fast, to get to Syrup village before dawn, but as fast as they were rowing, it was getting lighter even faster. Luffy knew that things would change because of them remembering, but he didn't think that it would change so drastically and make everything so much worse. He couldn't believe that them being a little late would mean Usopp and everyone in the villages' death. Maybe what Nami said was right after all. Now that Luffy really thought about it, regardless of how it hurt, timing actually meant a lot to them. Most of the time the Straw hats came in the knick of time to save everyone. Just being a day late would mean death of a lot of his friends. Luffy had to be careful.

"How close are we to the island?" grunted Zoro with gritted teeth as he picked up the speed of his rowing. They were all worried that they would come too late to save Usopp. Zoro could see the beginning of sunrise and grew even more worried.

"We're getting closer, but not close enough. The Black Cat Pirates should attack at dawn. At the rate we're going, we're going to be late by more than half an hour. By then who knows what would have happened?" replied Nami anxiously. She was doing everything to make them go faster, but there was nothing much she could do except making sure that they had the best wind and was on the closest course.

Luffy was getting frustrated with the situation. He was usually pretty laid back but not this time. This time his friend was going to die because of his mistake, this time it was Luffys' fault. Maybe they really shouldn't have come back. He was just making things worse… No, Usopp won't die. Luffy won't let it.

"AAAAAAARGH!" screamed Luffy and he activated gear second. His rowing became 3 times faster and the boat just shot across the ocean. Zoro also sped up his rowing and they were almost flying over the ocean with steam coming out of their boat. It seemed like they were making good time, but unfortunately, Luffys' row broke, unable to stand the stress.

"Oh no, now we'll be even slower! What are we going to do?" exclaimed Nami with extreme worry. This was horrible. Everything was going unbelievably wrong. Usopp is probably dying by now. What were they going to DO?

Luffy took a hold of the boats back and using his Gomu Gomu ability, he used his legs as a paddle wheel. They went extremely fast for a while, but because of his devil fruit, Luffy began to tire. Fortunately they could see a speck in the distance.

"That's the Island! We can see the Island! We're going to make it!" yelled Nami euphorically. But they could also see that the sun was up. The pirates had began their attack. Realizing this, the Strawhats renewed their speed.

As soon as Luffy got close enough to the island, he stretched his arm towards the nearest tree on the island, while encircling Zoro and Nami with his other arm.

"NOOOOOOO!" screamed Nami and Zoro, as they sling shot towards the island.

"One day, I swear I'll really kill you," cursed Zoro as they got out of the tangle that they made, as always Zoro hit his head on a rock. Hard.

Luffy shot across the island towards the village. He wasn't going to get lost this time because he had Observation Haki. The island seemed to blur by as Luffy jumped, swinged and ran his way like a monkey on steroids. He had a singular purpose of stopping the pirates.

Finally Luffy came upon Syrup Village. It was a disaster. The pirates were attacking the villagers and destroying property everywhere. There were children crying and woman screaming, while the men tried to put up a fight and failed. Luffy punched and kicked the attacking pirates left and right, looking for a certain sniper. When he couldn't see him in the immediate vicinity, he used his Observation Haki again.

"No…" whispered Luffy as he realized Usopp wasn't at the village. Usopp was in Kaya's Mansion with Kaya, Merry, Jango and Kuro. Luffy could also feel that Zoro and Nami were getting quite close, so he left the village to them. Luffy didn't have the time to deal with the pirates. He changed directions and ran towards the mansion.

Zoro and Nami ran into the village in record time. It was mainly because Nami kept a hold of Zoro's shirt as they ran so he wouldn't get lost. It was a close call a couple of times. It was a complete mystery to Nami how Zoro could get lost even with Observation Haki.

"Where's Luffy?" asked Nami while hitting two pirates at the same time with her bo staff. Nami sure wished for her Clima-Tact. As soon as they got Usopp back, she would make him make her another one.

"He's going towards the Mansion. Usopp and Kuro are there. We'll go up there as soon as we finish these morons," replied Zoro emotionlessly. Like clockwork, as soon as he said the word 'morons', Sham and Buchi, the Nyanban brothers, jumped up and landed in front of Zoro and Nami.

"How dare you beat up our crew!" they shouted in unison. They looked ridiculous, just… indescribable. One had a hunched back, green hair parted to the side and curly at the end, cat make-up and cat claws, and looked like a weirdo. While the other was overweight with pale skin, tiny eyes and sharp teeth. He had an idiotic cape and an a hat which covers one of his eyes and cat ears as well as cat claws. Overall, they looked retarded.

"E-even if y-you beat up m-my crewmates, I-I-I won't be s-scared of you. I-I-I'll k-kick your ass," wailed the green haired retard and very sloppily tried to attack Zoro. Zoro just sweat dropped, as he already knew what they were trying to do. He sighed and readied his swords as the retard completely changed his demeanor and attacked him with a Cheshire grin.

"I see you blocked my claws. You shouldn't underestimate us! We're the Nyanban brothers! They strongest duo of the Black Cat Pirates!" boasted the idiot. The other Nyanban also tried to simultaneously attack Zoro, but he deflected both of them.

"I don't have time for you idiots," gritted Zoro. He wouldn't fall for their tricks this time and so he didn't lose his swords. Even without all three of his swords, he could beat both of them easily now.

"Tora Gari!" intoned Zoro and swung forth a forward descending slash at them. They both fell in a shower of blood.

"Heh, can't believe I actually had trouble with these two weaklings," muttered Zoro darkly and the other pirates that had stopped their fighting to see what was happening all gulped with a feeling of dread, as they witnessed Zoros' aura.

"It's the Pirate Hunter Zoro!"

"He defeated the Nyanban Brothers in a single strike!"

"He looks scary…" were the general consensus of the remaining Black Cat Pirates.

"If you want to live… Beat it!" snarled Zoro chillingly, with a terrifying look on his face.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed the pirates and they ran for their ship.

"That was easy," remarked Nami from the sidelines.

"That's because you didn't do anything, you witch," grumbled Zoro.

"I don't have my climatact, now do I? Besides, you obviously can fight them off yourself, you demon. I didn't have to get my clothes dirty," drawled Nami haughtily.

The villagers were coming out of hiding after it was apparent that the fighting had stopped. They looked around, trying to figure out exactly what happened.

"You defeated the pirates and saved us! Thank you very much!" were heard all around.

"Our saviors, exactly who are you? We haven't seen you before," were asked.

"I'm Nami and this brute is Zoro, we are the Straw-hat Pirates. The butler Klahadore was previously known as Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates, and they came today to destroy the village and make Kaya, who lives in the mansion, sign all of her wealth away to Kuro. Because Usopp, who is our crewmember, lived here, we decided to help you guys with the pirate problem. Our captain is dealing with Kuro right now," explained Nami. Just as they were speaking, a loud rumble sounded in the direction of the mansion.

"We gotta go Nami," said Zoro as they ran towards where the fight was happening.

As Usopp looked around for any way out of the mess, he concluded that it was the worst, and possibly the last day of his short life. Everything seemed so very hopeless and he didn't even know why he tried. He was never going to make a difference. Captain Kuro was way too strong for the likes of him to defeat. It seemed like a joke, how he, a worthless cowardly liar, could ever hope to save the beautiful and kind maiden Kaya. The only thing he could do was delay her death for a few seconds with his own insignificant demise.

With that depressing thought, Usopp looked back towards Kaya. Even at that dark moment, Kaya still looked as angelic as ever. Especially with that determined expression. All of his previous self-depreciating thoughts disappeared and was replaced by steely determination. Even if it was his last day and his last stand, he would prefer it to be to help Kaya, not pity his own lack of strength. He might be weak, but at least he was doing the right thing.

"Step aside, you worthless scum. Or do you want to die quickly? It won't be painless if you anger me," warned Kuro menacingly. Even though Kuro, or the Captain of the Black Cat Pirates, or even Klahadore, looked unassuming, with his glasses and rather proper attire, he had a certain presence, a presence that exuded malice and cold indifference. It was impossible for Usopp to hide his tremble. In fact every part of him was shaking and screaming for him to run, to hide, to get away from him as fast as possible, but he didn't run. He stood his ground in front of Kaya and refused to budge.

"Who d-d-do you th-think you're t-t-talking t-to? I-I'm the g-g-great C-captain Usopp. I-I have e-eighty m-million sh-ships awaiting m-m-my command. I-if you l-leave q-quietly, I-I'll let you b-b-be," stammered Usopp, with shaking legs. It was quite obvious that he was lying and Kuro didn't even deign that as a threat.

"The only thing that you could do was lie. With your pathetic stories and useless tales. A lie isn't going to save you this time," said Kuro and went to strike Usopp with his clawed hand.

"NOOOOOO!" screamed Kaya, as she reached out towards Usopp, but could do nothing, as she was too far. Even if she was closer, what could she do? She was a weak little girl.

Usopps heart raced and every nerve in his body screamed at him to do something, but all he thought was 'I wanted to go out to sea one day and meet my dad. I wanted to become a brave warrior of the sea, just like him.' He closed his eyes and waited for his inevitable death.

He waited a second, two and as it got closer to ten, he opened his eyes, confused. Instead of Captain Kuro attacking him, he saw a boy about his age, with a strawhat, a red vest, blue cut off jeans and flippers holding Kuros claw with his bare hand and stopping him from being cut to ribbons.

"Phew, just in time," exhaled the boy in relief. Usopp was in too much of a shock for any response.

"Who the hell are you? Want me to kill you too?" growled Kuro and went to strike the boy with his other claw. The boy effortlessly dodged his attack and and kicked him hard in the stomach. Kuro went flying at the wall.

"Thank god I made it in time," said the boy cheerfully. "Hi, Kaya, Usopp. Long time no see," smiled the boy. Everyone was extremely confused about what just happened and even more so about the boy who had flown through the window to stop Kuros' attack.

"W-who are you," asked Kaya confusedly.

"Oops, just forget what I said now. I'm not suspicious at all," said the boy in an extremely suspicious manner with the shifty eyes and extended lips and all. "Hey Usopp, look at me," shouted the boy suddenly, as if remembering something important.

"Huh," asked Usopp and looked at the boys' eyes for the first time. For the other onlookers it was as if Usopp was transfixed. He stood there, without moving a muscle and just stared at the weird boys' eyes for what seemed like a long time. Suddenly his expression turned enraged and he tackled the boy and started to strangle and shake him.

"Luffy, you bastard! How dare you leave me like this? I almost died, you hear me, almost DIED! Where the hell were you?" screamed Usopp in fury. Luffy just let him shake him and tried to articulate an apology, but failed due to strangulation.

"S-s-sorr-ry," wheezed out Luffy.

During the commotion, Kuro stood up from the ruble that used to be a wall and took his bearing. He couldn't believe that this scrawny little brat managed to kick him that hard that fast. 'No matter, I will deal with this annoyance as well,' he thought, and went to attack him again. This time though, he wouldn't hold back.

Kuro, in the blink of an eye slashed at Luffy and Usopp, who were busy with their antics and didn't pay him any attention. But at the last second, Usopp stood up and got away, while Luffy jumped up out of the way. The straw hatted boy jumped over Kuro and got behind him.

"What should I do Usopp? Do you want to take him?" asked Luffy nonchalantly.

"Nah, I don't have my weapon and my body is weak at the moment, so I'll everything to you," answered Usopp with two thumbs up. Luffy smiled in response and looked back at the Captain who was attacking him again. Or at least was trying to. The boy was avoiding all his slashes with unbelievable ease. He didn't even look like he was trying.

Enraged beyond belief, the Black Cat Pirate Captain looked toward Jango and ordered, "Do something, you imbecile. At least try to be of use."

Shocked out of his stillness, Jango got out his pendulum and tried to attack Luffy.

"When I say Jango, you will fall asleep. One, Two, Jango!" said Jango and promptly fell asleep himself. Usopp jumped toward Luffy and covered his eyes while closing his own eyes and Kaya was smart enough to understand that she shouldn't look at Jango.

"Imbecile," sighed Kuro, "I have to do everything on my own." He didn't even care if he hurt anyone in the house except for Kaya and even then as long as she's dead, he can acquire her wealth easily. Especially with everyone in the village dead, who else can inherit her wealth but her loyal, humble butler.

"Stealth Foot," intoned Kuro and slashed everything indiscriminately. Slashes appeared everywhere in the house, in the walls, the curtains, and the sofas, everywhere. Luffy picked up Jango, while Usopp carried Kaya towards a safe place farther out of he room and Luffy stood in the middle of the room with closed eyes.

The slashes came closer and closer to the straw-hat boy and as it came upon him, Luffy opened his eyes and caught the slash with his hand. He crushed the steel in his hand through brute force and didn't even have a wound for his trouble.

"I won't let you hurt my nakama," stated Luffy firmly and stretched back his hand to attack.

"Gum Gum Pistol," said Luffy and attacked with his most used attack.

"What?!" yelped Kaya, dumbfounded.

"What the hell are you?" asked Kuro incredulously, as a fist came sailing fast toward his face. Because of his stealth foot, he avoided the attack, even if it was subconsciously. Kuro tried to attack Luffy again and again, but every strike missed the boy. It was tremendously frustrating for the ex-pirate. The boy even had his eyes closed, for fucks sake! No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hit the boy.

Luffy, with his eyes closed avoided every attack using his haki. It might have looked effortless to the observers, but it took all of his concentration to dodge it all. It would have been a piece of cake if he had his previous strength, but his current body just couldn't keep up with his observation. Plus Kuro was exceptionally fast for a pirate in the East Blue. Luffy calmed his breathing and just reacted on pure instinct. Even if his body didn't hold his previous strength, his mind was exactly the same. His haki didn't get any weaker at all. He just had to get his body physically strong and fast again. It would be relatively easy because all of his fighting instinct and his techniques came back with him.

"Why can't I hit you, you freak! You can't be faster than me! Die, you imbecile!" shouted Kuro in frustration. He was clearly getting to the end of his wits. His slashes were destroying everything in the room with a speed that Kaya and Merry couldn't keep up. All they could see was a blur and the room getting destroyed. They couldn't see Luffy and Kuro at all.

Usopp on the other hand could see the fight in clarity. He could see every slash and dodge as if it was in slow motion, but his body, even his eyes couldn't really keep up. 'I really need to train my body again. I have to do the 2 years of hell in Boin Archipelago all over again!' cried Usopp in his head. His whole body just wilted and he sank to his knees.

"Usopp! Are you all right? Did you get hurt again?" asked Kaya worriedly. Everything was terrifying for her. She couldn't even move from her shock, but as soon as Usopp fell to his knees, her instinct came back and she checked over Usopp worriedly. Even after everything that she'd been through, her parents' death, her illness, and now this, she knew that in her heart, she wanted to be a healer. She might be terrified out of her wits, but if Usopp or anyone ever needed her help, she would provide it.

"No! No, I'm fine. The Great Captain Usopp wouldn't be hurt in this small scuffle. Did I ever tell you about the time that I saved a kingdom from an all-powerful dictator just by scaring the evil sorceress who was turning everybody into dolls? Everyone was so grateful, that they hailed me as 'God Usopp' and the dictator put a 500 million berries on my head!" boasted Usopp to Kaya. 'But most of them betrayed me after the bounty,' added Usopp to himself.

"Shishishishi," came the laugh from Luffy, as he remembered that incident as well as the photo for Usopps' new bounty.

"Oi! It wasn't funny!" yelled Usopp indignantly. Because of his brief lack of concentration, Luffy received a cut from Kuro, shallow as it may be. Kuro looked on in triumph while Luffy released a sigh. It was time to take the fight seriously and end it. Luffy had already got used to the speed.

Luffy, with his eyes closed, pulled back his arm using his Gomu Gomu power and finally got on the offensive.

"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" shouted the Straw-hat boy as he attacked. Since he was blindly attacking, Kuro didn't even have time for a last thought before he was knocked out cold.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," said Usopp dryly. "Your fight used to be dramatic and drawn out."

"I'm a lot stronger now. I don't really need any drawn out fights. Besides, these guys are weaklings," said Luffy with a finger up his nose.

"I know what you mean. I can't believe I lost my swords to those morons," added Zoro as he came up behind them.

"Usopp! You're OK," exclaimed Nami and she went to hug the young sniper.

"Where were you guys? I almost died, you know. Why were you so late? Did you guys party all night or something?" asked Usopp incredulously.

"Uh…" fidgeted Luffy, Zoro and Nami and cleared their throats simultaneously.

"No… seriously? I can't believe I almost died because of your partying! No, I absolutely can. Luffy!" screamed Usopp in displeasure.

"Umm… thank you for your assistance, but who are you people?" asked Kaya confusedly.

"Oh, I'll introduce you," replied Usopp excitedly.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw-Hat Pirates!"

"Roronoa Zoro, swordsman."

"I'm Nami, the navigator. Nice to meet you," answered the straw-hats pleasantly.

"I said I'll introduce you!" yelled Usopp in exasperation. "As you well know I'm Usopp, but what you don't know is that I'm the greatest marksman in the whole world as well as the Straw-Hat Pirates sniper," said the long nose sniper grandly.

"I-I'm Kaya. Nice to meet you," replied the girl politely.

"As a thank you for saving my life and this village, I would like to give this ship, the Going Merry, to you," said Kaya happily.

"Merry," whispered Luffy, as he looked at his beloved ship in wonder. He hadn't seen this ship in a long time and it was great to see it whole again. Merry was a part of the Straw-hat crew. Just looking at her made going back in time seem like a godsend.

"Merry, I'll take better care of you this time. I promise!" whispered Usopp with conviction. It felt absolutely marvelous, as well as melancholy to see the Going Merry again. Merry was his biggest triumph, as well as his biggest mistake. He knew he shouldn't have fought Luffy like that, and he knew that Merry isn't going to make it this time either, but it was still great to see her again.

"We missed you Merry," whispered Nami as she gazed at the ship fondly. They had great memories there and the ship took great care of them. How could she not be happy to see her again?

"I had everything you would need for a voyage loaded on this ship," explained Kaya cheerfully.

"Thanks for causing all this trouble," thanked Luffy jubilantly.

"That's 'for going through all this trouble'," corrected Zoro nonchalantly.

"So, are you going to the sea, Usopp-san," asked Kaya.

"Yes, I will be a brave warrior of the sea and become strong enough to protect everyone I care about. Then my stories will become reality," answered Usopp with conviction.

They boarded their new, but at the same time old ship, Going Merry, to start the same but different adventure all over again. It felt good to see familiar faces and places. This time they would definitely return here victorious with their whole crew. The next time they set foot on this island, they would be the Pirate Kings crew.

"Thank you very much Kaya! I promise we'll come back with amazing and true stories about our adventures that you can't help but believe," yelled Usopp as they sailed away.

"I'll be waiting Usopp-san," whispered Kaya with tears in her eyes. The rest of the village cheered and waved as the pirate crew that saved them sailed away.

"To an old friend and new adventure!" cheered the Straw-hats.

"Next stop, Sanji and yummy food," cheered Luffy, as they sailed away.

AN: Thank you for all the favorites, follows and reviews. I'm sorry to say that updates will be sporadic and I'm sorry if I don't answer your reviews. If you have a question, I'll be happy to answer, but otherwise, I don't know what to say.

To clear things up, there will be no romance in this fic (except for the comedic effect and maybe at the epilogue). The fight scenes will also be shorter at the beginning, because since the Straw-hats are a lot more powerful, it would be unrealistic and annoying to stretch out the one sided battles. Things will start to change from the next chapter, but not all that much though. I'm trying to make this as in character as possible, so there won't be any events too out of character. Mostly, the changes would happen because of the butterfly effect. The Logue town arc will be the really big change.

I also won't add a new straw-hat member. They all came back, so it would be unfair to add new members that don't know what's going on. If Oda adds a new member, I will add it. I'm still hoping for Jinbei.