I am so, so sorry about this huge delay in updating! My life went crazy and not in a good way, and at first I didn't have time to write, then I didn't have the willpower to do it - or to do anything else. Now I'm forcing myself to get better and I'm starting with stuff I liked to do, this being one of them. I'm posting this one with an apology message, and the next one as well! I hope readers can forgive me eventually!
Anyways, to the story :D
Usopp couldn't decide whether to feel Lucky or unlucky.
He had, after all, been attacked by a shichibukai, and expected to either die or end up in Impel Down (which he wasn't sure would be better than dying), but instead, he survived and ended up on an island with no Marines.
Except that the island was filled with gigantic creatures.
"I am not food! I taste like crap! I promise you, you don't want to eat me!"
That had been his chant since he got there and had to keep running and hiding from the creatures that seemed intent on catching him.
Finally, after Roger-knows-how-long, he fell, and was about to meet his end at the mouth of a giant spider when a man jumped in between them and sent the spider away, ultimately saving the sniper's life.
The man looked like a beetle, which Usopp found weirder than the actual giant beetles on that island.
"Thank you! On behalf of my crew, I recognize your worth."
"Your crew?" The man looked around curiously, "oh, have they been eaten?"
"No! They aren't here. As their captain, I took it upon me to venture alone in this dangerous place, but all my eight thousand men are waiting for me by the shore. Where is it again? I got lost!"
The beetle guy started to laugh.
"You are one weird dude," he spoke, and Usopp snapped. "You can't leave this island, the creatures get bigger and stronger as you reach the shore. They'd kill whoever tries to approach it. You're lucky to reach this area in one piece."
That's because I just showed up here in this area.
"Wait, I have to leave, though. My friends are all waiting for me," he protested, now worried.
"All your eight thousand friends?"
"Shut up!"
"With pleasure."
Silence followed, and Usopp soon wished to try and leave, but movement on the nearest bushes changed his mind. He had to figure out how to return to his friends, though. Unless…
"On second thought," he spoke, lightening up. "I think I'll stay with you for a while, beetle-man. My friends will definitely find me!"
If Luffy, Zoro and Sanji came to get him, he would definitely leave unharmed. A much better plan.
He started collecting seeds and improving his weapon through the next couple of days. The man also trained him a little, but mostly he'd just stay out of trouble. Usopp learned more about the plants in that island and even got stealthier as time passed - mostly due to his fear of anything that moved or made noises around him. He was sure he had learned to climb trees extremely faster, and eventually, his aim improved a bit - though he only attacked when he had no choice.
He lead the next few days like this, and started moving further from his and Beetle-guy's camp, looking for a way to the shore that didn't involve him getting eaten by a bunch of giant stuff. He wasn't getting anywhere though.
Until one day he heard voices approaching and a commotion somewhat near the shelter.
"Another pirate?" Beetle-man asked, walking slowly towards the noise. Usopp followed, excitedly expecting to see his friends – maybe the female voices were Nami's or Robin's, "maybe one of your thousand friends finally decided to come pick you up?"
"Shut up!"
They followed the sounds, walking carefully not to fall in any ambushes, and as they approached, he realized it belonged to someone he didn't know, and it also wasn't some person in distress. Instead, they saw a hurricane of red and silver cutting through beast after beast as if they were sushi. Usopp and Beetle stared in awe at the red-haired woman, dressed in a silver armor and branding two swords. Usopp rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't imagining it, and indeed, he wasn't.
"Oh, now I see why you say you have a thousand friends," Beetle spoke, watching the woman move about killing creatures with a serene expression, "that one is probably woth a thousand, huh? I'm guessing you have more friends like her?"
"I don't know her," he admitted, and was about to say that his friends weren't coming when a bunch of arms suddenly grew out of one huge ant and crushed it. "Wait! I know that attack!"
As he said that, Robin came out of the depths of the woods and easily tricked monsters here and there. Her fighting style wasn't so aggressive and heads-on, but she was a formidable fighter nonetheless, even if she didn't take as many creatures out at once as the mysterious woman did.
Her eyes fell on Usopp and recognition flashed in her expression.
"Long-nose-kun?" She asked, approaching him - in a way that would make any bystanders think she was walking on the beach, not a scary forest, "you've been here the entire time?"
"Robin!" Usopp nearly jumped with joy, relieved that he finally had one of his crewmates around. "It's really you! How did you find me here? I knew you guys wouldn't give up on me, I'm too important and..."
"I gather you're one of his thousand friends?" Beetle asked Robin, cutting Usopp's speech short.
"Shut up, old man!"
"I'm a Strawhat Pirate, yes," Robin confirmed, "we came here looking for food and supplies, and maybe a logpose," she informed them, and Usopp frowned.
"A logpose? What happened to Nami's?"
"Nami-san isn't with us," Robin informed him and he gulped, just as the redhead approached them, carrying a huge plant-like thing on her shoulder.
"We should go back to the ship," the woman spoke to Robin, "it doesn't seem to exist a civilization on this island."
"Indeed, there isn't," Beetle-man confirmed, "but getting to the shore is impossible... Wait, how did you survive coming here from the shore?"
"I just cut my way through," the woman answered simply. Her eyes fell on the two men, "are they your friends?"
Robin nodded.
"Usopp, this is Erza, she's searching for her companions as well," Robin introduced them, then her eyes fell on the beetle-guy. "I don't believe I've met you before, kabuto-kun."
"Indeed you have not, I am Usopp's friend..."
"YOU'RE NOT!"
"I'm friend number thousand and one, of course!" He protested, and Usopp hit him in the head. Erza and Robin exchanged a puzzled look before giggling.
"Anyways, we've got something we can use as food," Erza spoke, and Robin nodded in agreement, "we should leave if you wish to see your friends soon," she added, and Usopp's attention was suddenly solemly on those two.
"We're leaving?" He asked excitedly. "Finally! See, old man? I told you we'd get out of here somehow!"
The old man nodded with a smile and followed them to the shore, where a ship was anchored. Usopp frowned upon seeing it.
"Usopp-kun, you lied about being a pirate, too?" Beetle-guy asked, confused.
"N-No... Robin, why are you on a Marine ship?"
"Long story," Erza answered, "come on, let's board this already!"
Since when is she the captain?
Asking himself that mentally, he followed, along with Robin. It was only when he finished saving the "food" (alas, the stuff Erza killed and carried with them), he realized that Beetle-man was nowhere to be seen anymore.
Feeling weird about leaving the man, but knowing he chose to stay, Usopp smiled as they set sail.
xx
xx
Wendy and Charle reached the ships in a flash after they saw the explosion, and just in time, too, for one of the attackers used a type of air magic, which she could easily counter. A tornado was just forming itself around the ship when she arrived, aiming straight for its maker:
"Tenryuu no Hokko", the dragon's roar hit its target - whether because she was stronger, or because they didn't expect it, she'd never know. It was enough to make the tornado go away, probably due to the maker's loosing his focus, and as soon as it did, a green-haired man jumped off the ship and landed on the firing ship. Wendy proceeded to Lucy's side of the battle, without actually landing on the ship due to her motion sickness.
Lucy and Happy both looked excitedly at her.
"Wendy! Charle!"
Wendy recognized the other girl there as the catburglar Nami, from one of Shanks' posters. She looked at the entire situation with a mixt of surprise, tension and fear.
"Zoro! What's taking you so long? Sink them already!"
What does she think he is?
As Wendy was about to turn and help him, one enemy came out at her, with small hurricanes under his feet making him fly, and a drill-like air flow made sword around his arm, aiming for her neck. Her sense of smell and hearing abilities were enough for her to urge Charle to dodge, though, and he stopped midair to try again.
"Tenryuu no Kagizume", moving her arms, she slashed with the dragon wing attack just as he came with his air-drill at her. Whereas she could dodge midair – thanks to Charle – he couldn't since her attack had a higher area of effectiveness. and it nearly made him fall into the ocean.
"Wendy! Water is their..."
"Weakness," she finished Lucy's warning herself, aware of that as well. "Charle, let's fly closer to the ocean!"
Not questioning her friend, Charle took her near the water, and the overconfident attacker followed.
"You can't sink me that easily little girl," he warned her confidently, "besides, now we're both in a risky position."
He thinks I'm like him.
She focused on the water below her, hearing his approach, and waited for him to be extremely close...
"Tenryuu no Hokko!" the dragon's roar hit the water with full force and made a wave-like effect around the área it hit, with the watter hitting the man who was so close to her. It wasn't much, but enough to startle him and make him lose balance, ultimately falling into the sea.
"Crap! The captain's voice reached her ears, and he commanded a retreat, as their pirates, one by one, were thrown in the ocean or cut down by Zoro – along with huge parts of their ship. "Get us to the shore!"
"Not so fast, you're not..." Zoro muttered, with one of three swords in his mouth, before attacking once more. Wendy looked worriedly at the shore: she needed to keep an eye on Ace, if these people found out he were alive...
One of the pirates who Zoro threw into the water dove and retrieved the Wind user, but he wasn't ready to fight again, and she couldn't waste more time on that.
"Happy! Take Zoro-san to the shore, please," she asked the blue exceed, who promptly agreed. "Lucy-san, Nami-san," she turned to the two on board, "please hold tight to the ship."
Puzzled, they did as she asked.
"Tenryuu no..."
"Wait! Wendy! You'll blow this ship apart!"
"Hokko!"
She aimed at the ship, the gust of air sending it miles forward – and indeed Breaking it apart, but it still had enough pieces to keep Nami and Lucy aboard it as it reached the shore.
"Oi! Blue cat! I'll chop you if you don't let me go!"
"WENDYYY! I'M SCARED!"
"Sheesh, just take him to the shore," Charle scolded while doing exactly that with Wendy. They landed near Ace, who, gladly, was still there and unconscious. Charle let Wendy there and went to guide Nami and Lucy to that place.
Just as she heard Happy approaching with Zoro from the skies – after spending a few minutes arguing in the air about whether the swordsman would keep fighting or not – and as Lucy arrived with Nami, he opened his eyes.
"Who is that?" Lucy asked, looking at Ace, while Nami froze upon seeing him. His eyes roamed his surroundings and stopped on the blonde.
"An Angel?"