Chapter 6: Long-Nose and Long-Nails.

AN: Hey guys! Here's a new chapter. So, yeah, he's quite short, sorry about that. I tend to write 2K Words chapters for this story, and this one would have been supposed to be the exception, but, oh well.

I rassure you: the thing is divided in two parts.

So this is the start of the Kuro arc.

Or, should I say, the 'Usopp takes a level in badass' arc.

Enjoi :D

The atmosphere was heavy; next to the mansion of Kaya, the two pirates were looking defiantly at each other. Usopp and Kuro, the village's famous liar and the mansion's butler, were in fact respectively the sniper of the Strawhats Pirates and the infamous Captain of the Black Cat Pirates.

'How does this punk know about my name?' Kuro wondered in his thoughts. He seemed completely calm. 'Oh, but in the end it doesn't matter. My plan cannot fail.'

"Kuro?" Kaya asked in confusion. "Isn't your real name Clahador?"

'This kid must be incredibly stupid for letting out that piece of information so carelessly.' The sociopathic butler thought. 'Well, that's fine for me. If he knows the truth, then I'll take the lead.'

Kuro gave the feeble lady one of his most well-executed fake reassuring smile. "He's right, Ojousama."

Usopp's eye twitched in surprise.

"My first name is Kuro." Kuro continued with a tone of assurance. "But it is also the name of a feared pirate of this ocean, which is why I changed my name. I didn't want to be confounded by a pirate, you know?"

Kaya stared at her caretaker with relief. "Oh, but you could have told me the truth earlier."

Kuro gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Ojousama."

Usopp gritted his teeth. 'How can he lie that easily?' He thought. 'The tone of his voice, his facial expression and everything, to be faked at the point of being convincing… To think that Kaya lived a man like this for three years is…'

The long-nosed sniper opened his mouth. 'Oh, I didn't know! I said Kuro? I was just too lazy to say your name entirely…'

That was what Usopp wanted to say. Surprisingly, the words died in his throat.

Because… for once, Usopp the coward and liar was not in this place.

"Don't play dumb with me." Usopp said to Kuro with an exceptionally calm tone.

The butler's glasses slipped a bit from his nose, so he pushed them up with his palms. "Your presence is not desired here, son of a Pirate." He said calmly. "If you want to cause confusion by spreading lies, then do it elsewhere."

"I still haven't told any lies yet." Usopp replied, smirking. "And, contrary to you, I have nothing to hide, Pirate Captain Kuro."

Kaya widened her eyes in shock.

That was when a fourth person decided to enter the scene. It was another butler but he had a completely different personality than Kuro's. His hair made him look like a lamb. Merry entered Kaya's room and realized that there was an intruder.

"Ah, it's that kid from the village!" He exclaimed. "He's been climbing the fences again."

Kuro smirked. 'Three against one. You're not very lucky, are you?'

"Merry, where are the guards?" Clahador asked, even if he knew the answer.

"They're still in vacation." Merry replied.

"It's such a shame." Kuro said. "That was why this trouble maker managed to enter that easily."

Merry approached the window where his mistress was leaned on.

"My lady!" He exclaimed. "You shouldn't hear his eccentric stories, it's bad for your health…"

"Merry." Kaya interrupted him with a calm tone. She made a step backwards, and turned to her servant. "Do you know anything about a Pirate Captain named Kuro?"

The Pirate in question gritted his teeth in anger. 'Oh, I am losing my patience, I am losing my patience…'

Merry was completely unaware of the situation. "Well, I remember a Pirate who held that name." He said after a few seconds of thinking. "It was a very dangerous Pirate of East Blue, known to be incredibly ruthless and clever."

Kaya raised an eyebrow. "What happened to him?"

"I think he had been executed." Merry replied. "Yes, it was three years ago."

His last words resonated in Kaya's mind. 'Three years…' She thought. 'Tomorrow it'll be three years that Klahador …'

"Don't move!"

Kaya made an U-turn upon hearing this injunction. It was Usopp who shouted; her friend just drew a weapon from his bag – a black slingshot- and aimed at Clahador. She had never seen Usopp giving such a stern look to anyone.

"Showing your true colors already…" Kuro said with a calm tone. 'A slingshot? Really?' He thought with amusement.

Kaya couldn't explain it, but she had the impression that Kuro's voice was threatening, as if…

"Stop it already!" Kaya shouted, to the surprise of everyone. "What's happening to you, all of a sudden?!"

The Oujousama was afraid, Kuro could sense it. It took a big effort for him not to smirk.

"Kuro- I mean, Clahador, stop provoking Usopp." She commanded. "And you, Usopp, don't point this weapon on him; threatening people will not lead you to anything."

Usopp stared at the young lady. She was oblivious of the danger, or rather she didn't want to believe that her caretaker was a Pirate aiming for her life. Usopp understood it completely; it had been extremely hard for him to acknowledge that the Going Merry was dying…

"I'm sorry, Miss Kaya, but I cannot." Usopp began. "You see, this man is the infamous Captain Kuro."

Kaya fell on her knees. For a long time Usopp had told her amusing and thrilling stories and she didn't care whether they were lies or not. But now, it was neither thrilling nor amusing.

"He faked his own death and, for three years now, plans to take your life along with your inheritance." Usopp continued.

It was such a despicable thing to tell stories like this, and even if he was provoked it didn't excuse him. It was disrespectful towards Clahador…Kuro.

It was also terrifying, because, if there was the tiniest chance that Usopp was right, then it meant…

"I know it is not easy for you to accept that." Usopp continued. "And I know that you may want me to stop, but I can't."

Kuro stayed silent. His opponent was not worth his anger. Kuro observed Usopp and saw that his legs were shaking. 'And this is the son of Shanks' lieutenant? What a disgrace.' He thought with disdain.

"You were right earlier." The son of Yasopp said to Kaya. "Threatening people will not lead me to anything."

Kuro narrowed his eyes. 'He's going to attack me.' He thought. 'Well, what can he do with a slingshot anyway? I'll just dodge, or even take the hit and Ojousama will see how violent and uncivilized this Usopp is.'

"Hissatsu…"

Usopp stretched his Kabuto.

"…Midori…"

Kaya gasped. "No!"

"…Boshi!"

Usopp released the projectile.

Kuro smirked.

"Devil!"

The green ball transformed into a giant carnivore plant and stuck at Kuro.

"The hell!" Kuro screamed in shock.

Kaya and Merry screamed too.

And as the devilish plant was trying to eat his prey, Kuro, the Captain of the Black Cats, woke up. His survival instinct overcame everything else. Using his 'silent step' technique he went three meters away from the plant, then searched for his weapons. It took him less than three seconds to search from his 'deadly gloves' hidden in Kuro's uniform. In an instant, the metal blades on Kuro's fingers and slashed the plant, or rather the threat to his survival, again and again and again until it remained nothing to the carnivore plant than inoffensive bits of grass lying on the ground.

The expression on Kuro's face was sufficient to scare any normal adult.

"You bastard!" He shouted angrily. 'Damn!' Kuro thought nervously. 'He almost got me by surprise. This kid is no joke.'

Usopp couldn't help but smirk.

Kaya had been struggling from fainting –unlike Merry, who lost consciousness-, and it took ten long seconds to regain her composure after what she had witnessed.

"W-W-Why?" She asked weakly. Why did Clahador have these claws? Why did Usopp have those deadly plants? Why were they obliged to fight?

"I'm sorry you had to see my 'Green Star Special Attack'." Usopp said apologetically while looking at her. "But Kuro wouldn't have shown his true nature otherwise, he'd have stayed close to you and you would've been in danger."

Kaya then stared at Clahador, her trustworthy servant, the one who took care of her with devotion…

Clahador wasn't there.

At his stead there was this monster, with these deadly claws and this murderous gaze, unhidden this time.

Kaya was sure now.

Usopp had been telling the truth.

"I don't know how you heard of my plans." Kuro said calmly to the long-nosed sniper. "But if you knew who I am, you know that I'll kill you right here and right now, along with all of the witnesses."

Usopp aimed at Kuro again. "You can always try."

Kaya's eyes were filling with tears.

"I won't let you and your crew lay a hand on Kaya, nor on any of the villagers." He said with resolve.

Kuro gritted his teeth in frustration. "Don't get your hopes too high, kid…"

It was this moment Kaya chose to speak. "CLAHADOR!"

"Uh?" Kuro looked at her former mistress, the heiress of this beautiful mansion and a colossal fortune. That was pretty much the only thing she represented to him.

"How could you…" She said weakly, holding her tears. "How could you…"

To her surprise, Kuro simply laughed. "How could I what?" He asked with a cruel smile on his face.

Kaya gulped.

"Do you remember?" Kuro asked rhetorically. "A lot has happened in the last three years. Since your parents passed away, we've been together for quite some time. We took boat rides together, went to town together… when you're down with a fever, I always stayed by you to take care of you…"

Kaya had a hard time fighting her tears. "Enough…"

"I suffered taking care of this noisy little ojousama…" Kuro confessed, mostly to himself.

"Shut up!" Usopp shouted.

"I suffered waiting for too long…" Kuro continued, ignoring him. "All this is so that I could kill you one day!"

Usopp gritted his teeth and prepared his next attack. "I said, shut up!"

Kuro turned to see his opponent. "I admit that you've surprised me earlier." He admitted, before chuckling out of disdain. "But look at you; your legs are shaking in fear."

'Damn he's scary.' Usopp thought. 'I know he can be as fast as those guys from the CP9… if I fight him I will get high chances of losing or getting injured badly, but…'

"You don't seem to want to use this attack again, do you?" Kuro asked calmly.

Usopp nodded, to his surprise. "Yeah, I don't really want to mess up Kaya's Mansion."

"It is MY Mansion." Kuro corrected.

Usopp didn't avert his eyes from his target. "But you wouldn't want this place to be destroyed, are you?"

Kuro sighed. "You're right." He admitted. "It would be troublesome."

Usopp smirked. "I, too, have my reasons for not fighting here."

Kaya stared at her friend. Usopp seemed to have an incredible amount of confidence to stand up against someone as terrifying as him.

"Go on." Kuro said calmly. He didn't like this situation where he know he'd be obliged to make compromises, but … oh well.

After all, the end justifies the means.

"You and I are both waiting for our Pirate crew to come to this island." Usopp revealed. "You need your men to arrive here so you plan can be complete, and I need my friends to join me so we can continue our lives as Pirates."

Usopp's declaration made Kuro twitch in anger.

The one who dreams to become a proud warrior of the seas took a deep breath. "I, Usopp of the Straw Hat Pirates, challenge you, former Captain Kuro, to a duel to the death!"

AN: So, liked it? Hating the cliffangers already?

Next chapter is the duel between Usopp and Kuro, so we'll all encourage him! Yay, you can do it, Usopp ! :D