The next day at school, the choir club sat together at lunch and discussed about choir practice later in the afternoon.
"So, what do you think of choir practice?" Nami asked Vivi, Robin, Franky and the Square Sisters.
"It was an interesting experience," Robin said with a smile.
"I thought there'd be more people," Mozu said.
"I guess people don't care about chorus as much as they used to," Kiwi said.
"Yeah, we have at least one of two of each vocal range, but it won't be enough to make a good choir," Nami said.
"Hey Usopp!" a female voice greeted.
Usopp turned around to see a girl with blonde hair that reached a little past her shoulders and slightly pale skin. "Oh, hi Kaya!" Usopp greeted. "How're you feeling?"
"I'm feeling better, but I'm still a little pale from being cooped up inside my house for so long," Kaya said.
"I'm guessing this is the first time you're back at school," Vivi said.
"Where've you been?" Nami asked.
"Oh, I had the flu for 2 weeks, but I'm better now," Kaya said. "But the bad thing is that I've missed two weeks of classes and I'll have a lot of stuff to get to work on."
"I'll help you get back on track. Good thing we have the same classes," Usopp said.
"You have the same classes?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, same teacher, same subject, same period! It's a rare but lucky coincidence," Usopp explained.
"Oh, do you sit together in class?" Robin asked.
"Um…sometimes," Usopp answered.
"Really?" Robin said.
Usopp was silent until he went on a little rant saying, "okay, just so you know, it's not like that! We're just friends! So leave me alone!"
"Okay," Robin said, giggling.
"So you and Kaya are just friends, eh? Then you wouldn't mind if I took her?" Doflamingo said as he grabbed Kaya by the arm.
"Hey! Let me go!" Kaya shouted.
"Doflamingo!" Usopp shouted.
"Come on Kaya, why don't you ditch these guys and join my group. I'll make you the most popular girl in school," Doffy told the girl.
"Sorry, but I like my friends, now go away!" Kaya shouted. "And let go of my arm!"
"You could threaten to scream. It worked for me," Brook said. "However my scream isn't high enough to cause any damage to the ears."
As Kaya struggled to get away from Doflamingo, another girl walked by and saw the scene. She had blonde hair up into a bun and glasses. She pushed up her glasses as she walked by Doflamingo and said, "That's sexual harassment."
Doflamingo stopped trying to take Kaya ad turned toward the other girl and asked, "What'd you say?"
"I said that's sexual harassment. Just grabbing a girl and trying to pressure her into being your girlfriend. Its sexual harassment," the girl answered casually.
"Actually, it's more rude and disrespectful than sexual harassment. Why don't you leave the poor girl alone and go about your own business?" said another voice. Everyone looked to see a teenage boy with ginger hair and a long square nose walked over.
"Hey! There are two Usopps!" Luffy gasped.
"There are not two of me!" Usopp shouted.
"Why are you getting involved?" Doflamingo questioned the two new people.
"Because it's not right. You shouldn't be picking on people like that," the square-nosed person said.
"Who are they?" Luffy asked, for he had never seen them before.
"I heard there are some new students at the school," Robin stated.
Doflamingo glared at the boy and girl before walking off.
"Whoa, I think you made him mad," Usopp said.
"Thanks for the help. I wanted him to go away," Kaya said.
"No problem," the girl with the glasses said.
"Who are you anyway? I've never seen you here before?" Luffy asked.
"I'm Kalifa Awa," the girl said.
"And I'm Kaku Hana," the boy said.
"Well, Kalifa and Kaku, welcome to Gol D Roger High!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Thanks for the welcome," Kaku said with a grin.
"So, are you the new students here?" Robin asked.
"Yes, we're two out of the 5 new students at this school," Kalifa stated.
"There are three other students?" Zoro asked.
"Yes, three guys. I hear they're related in some way, like brothers or cousins or something. We didn't learn their names," Kaku stated.
"So, Usopp, what have you been up to while I was gone?" Kaya asked Usopp as she took a seat next to him.
"Well, for a while nothing, until a few days ago, I just recently joined choir club," Usopp stated.
"Choir club? There's no choir club at this school," Kaya said, confused.
"Not until now! We just recently got one!" Brook exclaimed. "It's taught by my old choir teacher, Mr. Yorki!"
"Wow that sounds fun. Maybe I'll join," Kaya said.
"You should! We need a few more singers, mostly an alto and a soprano 1," Brook said.
"Sorry, I don't think I can sing that high or that low. I think I'm a soprano 2," Kaya said.
"That's okay, you can still join," Nami said.
Kalifa and Kaku seemed to listen to the conversation as they sat at a nearby table. Then, the intercom in the cafeteria came on, "Can Usopp Soge and Eustass Kidd in the office?"
"Oh no! I forgot Mr. Yorki was going to report what happened yesterday in the cafeteria to Principal Rayleigh," Usopp muttered as he walked out of the cafeteria.
"What happened?" Kaya asked.
"Kidd beat up Usopp for no reason yesterday. When he got to choir club, he had bruises and a bloody nose," Sanji told the girl.
"Oh no! Poor Usopp," Kaya said.
In the office, Usopp saw that Kidd wasn't around yet, so he sat down in one of the office chairs.
"So, I hear Kidd beat you up yesterday from Mr. Yorki," Shakky said.
"Yeah, and for no reason! I was just passing out some flyers for choir club," Usopp said.
Shakky sighed, "I miss how Kidd was before. He used to be such a softie until he met Doflamingo."
"Kidd was a softie!" Usopp shouted.
At that point, Kidd walked into the office, giving Usopp an evil look.
"The principal will you see you now," Shakky said, pointing into Rayleigh's office. Usopp and Kidd entered the office to see Rayleigh and Yorki were inside.
"Ah, Usopp, Eustass, please take a seat," Rayleigh said.
Usopp and Kidd sat in chairs in front of Rayleigh's desk.
"Now, tell me what happened yesterday," the old man said.
"Nothing," Kidd lied.
"That's a lie! Kidd and his friends beat me up for no reason!" Usopp shouted.
"What were you doing before Kidd beat you up?" Rayleigh asked.
"Well, I was handing out flyers for choir club when Kidd socked me in the face and his gang started to stomp on me and everyone in the cafeteria laughed at me!" Usopp cried.
"Eustass, you know the consequences of beating up other students," Rayleigh told Kidd. "Why did you attack Usopp?"
"I wanted him to shut up with this choir club crap. It'll never work out," Kidd sneered.
"Hey! That's my choir club you're talking about, you know!" Yorki snapped. "And just so you know, it's not going to fail like you think. We have 11 people already."
"If you say so," Kidd muttered.
"Kidd, you have afterschool detention today. I'll call your mother letting her know you got in trouble again," Rayleigh said.
Kidd glared hatefully at the principal and gave Usopp the death glare, meaning, "I'm going to get you for this!" Usopp gulped out of fear.
After school, Kaya got permission from her parents to stay at school so she could watch the choir club try out a song Yorki chose for them to sing called "Somewhere over the Rainbow". The first time it didn't go very well since some people couldn't sing the notes correctly, but they did pretty well. Usopp and Kaya live on the same street, so they normally walked home together.
"You know Kaya, the secretary told me Kidd used to be a softie in the past," Usopp stated.
"A softie! How and when? I don't remember seeing him being nice to somebody," Kaya said, surprised.
"I think it was during middle school or something. And get this; Franky said Kidd is also a hypocrite for hating choir. I don't know why though," Usopp added.
"Hmm, a mystery," Kaya said.
As the duo walked home, they thought they heard someone following them. They looked back a few times, seeing nothing every time, so they assumed it was their imagination until two people jumped into their path.
"Usopp, I heard you got Kidd in detention today," a tall teenage girl with long pink hair a piercing over her face.
"Kidd sent us a message to you to tell you not to get him in trouble again. He said since we're too far from school for you to cry for help, we could beat you up even worse than we did in the cafeteria yesterday," the other teen who had long brown hair tied into a thick queue said.
"Bonney, Apoo, if you lay a hand on us, we'll tell Principal Rayleigh on you tomorrow!" Usopp threatened.
"That is, if you can even get out of this fight alive! Apapapapapa!" Apoo laughed.
"Oh crap, we're in trouble," Usopp muttered. As Bonney and Apoo approached the two students, Usopp and Kaya started to shake with fear.
"What'll we do! What'll we do! Somebody save us please!" Usopp thought to himself. "HELP!" he screamed.
"That won't work. Nobody can hear you," Bonney told the long-nosed boy.
Apoo grabbed Usopp by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off the ground. "We'll start with you first," Apoo said.
"No! Don't hurt him!" Kaya screamed, about to stop Apoo, but Bonney grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground and stood on her back.
"Give it to him, Apoo!" she ordered.
Apoo was about to punch Usopp in the face when someone ran out of an alley and kicked Apoo in the face, causing the teen to release Usopp and fall to the ground.
"Hey! What the hell is your problem?" Bonney shouted at the mystery person, who was facing away from her.
The person turned around revealing to be a tall and slim, yet muscular teenage boy. He had shoulder length wavy hair, arched eyebrows and a little bit of a goatee starting to grow on his chin. He gave Bonney a creepy stare that gave the pink-haired girl a chill up her spine.
"Um…never mind. Come on, Apoo! Let's get out of here!" Bonney shouted, before she grabbed Apoo and dragged him off somewhere.
The boy watched them go and looked back towards Kaya, who stood there surprised, and Usopp, who was sitting the ground. Then a voice called out, "Lucci! Where'd you run off to?"
Two more teenagers joined the group of three. One was taller than the than the first one by a few inches and had dark skin and black hairstyle that reminded Usopp and Kaya of bullhorns. He also had some stubble around his mouth.
The other was a boy about the same height as the first boy, with long black hair in a thick queue, dark skin, and a little facial hair above his upper lip and on his chin. There was also a scar of his left eye.
"Sorry, these two were about to get beat up by some teenagers," the first stranger, named Lucci said, pointing at Usopp and Kaya.
The other boys looked at the students. "Are you two alright? You're not injured are you?" the one with the bullhorns asked.
"Don't worry, we're fine. You came just in time," Kaya said.
"I'll say! Otherwise we'd be dead by now," Usopp said. "Who are you two?"
"I'm Lucci," Lucci said.
"Blueno," the one with the bullhorns stated.
"Jabra," the one with the scar replied.
"Be careful next time. There are a lot of people that like to wander around at this time of night. We can't save you every time," Lucci told the duo.
"Okay, thank you," Kaya said as she and Usopp walked down the sidewalk.
"I've never seen them around here. I wonder if they're new in town," Usopp said.
"Well, whoever they are, they just saved our lives, let's be thankful for that," Kaya said.
Well, now Kalifa, Kaku, Lucci, Jabra and Blueno are now involved in the story. Things are beginning to get interesting. And Shakky mentioned a small fact about Kidd's past. I wonder what that was about...
Oda-san owns One Piece
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