Nami let out a sigh of relief when they returned home. She pulled off her shoes and went to the parlor, falling onto the couch.

"That went better than I had thought," she said with a smile while Usopp kicked off his boots at the door and came in, sitting next to her. "Your friends are weird, but nice."

When Usopp said nothing, she glanced over and found a despondent look on his face.

"What?"

"I didn't . . . expect him to come back," Usopp murmured. "He hasn't seen me as myself for so long . . ."

"Well, you're going back tomorrow, aren't you?" Nami said, a bit bossily. "Trust me, you've got to tell him who you are."

"I know, I know!" Usopp fell back onto the cushions, staring at the wall. "I need to mentally prepare for that."

"I'll start making dinner."

"Thank you."

"How are we supposed to find out where they live?"

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy stood in the street, awkwardly looking around.

"I think the tavern's still open," Sabo said suddenly. "Maybe Koala knows."

"You just want another chance to see your girlfriend," Ace muttered, poking him.

Luffy grinned. "Sabo's got a crush."

"Don't act like it's a secret!" Sabo exclaimed. "Really, she might know, so it wouldn't hurt to check."

"Uh-huh," Ace said, grinning. "Lead the way."

They reached the tavern to find Koala locking the doors.

"Hey," Sabo said. She turned around and raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Hey again," she said, smiling. "What is it?"

"Do you know where Usopp lives?" Ace asked, yawning.

"Sure, why?"

"King Sanji—"

Luffy's words were cut off by Ace slamming a hand over his mouth.

"Dunno if we're exactly allowed to say," he explained.

"I . . . see," Koala said with a frown. She gave them directions. "It's nothing bad?"

They looked around at each other.

"Dunno," Sabo admitted. "I hope not."

Koala stayed by the tavern and watched them leave before departing.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Who could that be?" Usopp muttered as Nami stiffened. He finished putting the dishes in the sink. "Just a sec . . ."

He went to the door and opened it.

"Ah, we got the right house this time," Ace said in relief.

"Told you it was this one," Luffy muttered.

"You did not!" Sabo exclaimed. He cleared his throat, turning back to Usopp. "Um, could you get your housemate? We need to see her as well."

"What's going on?" Usopp said in surprise, eyes darting between them. "What happened?"

"Can you get her here and then we'll explain?" Ace said impatiently.

Usopp shrugged and turned. "Hey, Nami! The guards are here! They want to see both of us!"

No response. Usopp sighed. "Come out!"

Nami slowly came around the corner, demeanor calm but hands shaking.

"Well?" she said, holding Usopp's arm again as if reassuring herself.

"This is kinda weird, but you guys are under arrest," Luffy announced.

Nami flinched and Usopp's eyes widened. "What?!" he exclaimed. "What'd I do? What'd she do?!"

"We dunno, only King Sanji asked us to come get you both," Ace explained.

"I'm sure it's nothing bad," Sabo said reassuringly. He frowned. "He did say something about Ms. Nami's abilities . . . ?"

"But—!"

"I see," Nami interrupted with a smile. "I guess we'll come along. Excuse me for a moment, let me get my coat."

She suddenly slammed the door shut and locked it, leaning against it and snatching her wand from her sock.

"Hey!" Luffy exclaimed, banging on the door. "What's the deal?!"

"Shut up or I'll send you flying!" Nami yelled, clutching her wand to her chest.

"What the hell?!" Usopp exclaimed. "This is worse than before! This is so suspicious!"

"Usopp, do you think the King knows?" Nami hissed, now using the door for support.

"Huh?!"

"They mentioned my abilities. If the King's somehow figured it out—and that law is still in place—"

She looked as if she might be sick. "We have to go. If it is that, you might be arrested for being an accessory."

"How would he have figured it out, though?"

"I don't know! But I can't risk this!" She raised her wand and pointed it at him. "All this will have been for nothing, and Vivi will have died in vain!"

"What are you doing now?!"

"I have a plan to get us out. I'll faint, but not for long this time." She took a deep breath. "You've ten minutes as Sogeking; I have two of invisibility. Get us away from here."

Before Usopp could protest, she muttered the spell she had used so many times before, and he was transformed. Already she looked shaky, but now she pointed her wand at herself and said something else in a language Usopp did not know. Before his eyes, she vanished from sight, and he hurried forward to catch her before she fell.

"I got you," he whispered, shoving her wand up his sleeve and trying to be inconspicuous as he could about carrying someone unseeable.

He slowly unlocked the door, and the banging on the other side finally stopped as it swung open.

"Sogeking?" Luffy said in surprise. "Hi! Where'd Usopp and Nami go?"

Usopp cleared his throat. "Ah, greetings! Were you all looking for them? I'm afraid they've just left out the back door. I was visiting, you see, and they asked me to come talk to you in their place—dear me! Don't tell me they're in trouble?"

"Hope not," Sabo said. "But thanks. Any idea which way they went?"

"I lost them once they left the house. My apologies." Usopp shifted. "I should be heading back to my own home at this time, however."

"Okay," Ace said after a moment, eyeing him curiously. "Have a good night."

"I'll keep an ear out," Usopp said cheekily. They grinned, waved, and went into the house, shutting the door behind them.

Usopp waited for a moment before bolting down the street. As he ran, he looked down and found Nami becoming visible in his arms once more, but she hadn't yet stirred.

"Where to go, where to go," he murmured.

"I'm gonna go to bed," Chopper said, yawning.

"I'm telling you, it's weird!" Franky exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "Bro Usopp's been telling us those stories about a guy named Sogeking, and now it turns out that that's actually what he calls himself?"

"We can ask Usopp tomorrow," Chopper pointed out. "I'm going to bed."

"There's something fishy here!"

A knock came from the door. Franky, caught up in pacing and muttering, didn't seem to hear it, so Chopper rolled his eyes and went to answer it.

He found himself looking up at a familiar masked figure, carrying a familiar woman in his arms.

"Sogeking!" he exclaimed. "You are Sogeking, right?"

"Yes, young Chopper," Usopp said quickly. "Begging your pardon, but may we take shelter here for a time?"

"Is she okay?" Before Usopp could answer, Chopper spun around, exhaustion gone. "Come in!"

Usopp came inside and followed Chopper to the living room, where Franky froze in his pacing upon seeing their guest.

"Sogeking's here," Chopper announced. "And . . . Nami, right?"

"What did you do to her?" Franky said with a scowl sent Usopp's way.

"Nothing! She'll wake up soon—" Usopp protested. He laid her gently on the couch, and she began to stir at last. "She's fine."

"Why do you need to stay here?" Chopper said curiously, watching her. "And . . . were all those stories Usopp told about you . . . were they true?!"

Usopp hesitated. "Parts were true," he said at last.

Nami sat up, looking around wildly, and eyed Franky and Chopper warily.

"We got away?" she said abruptly.

"I think so," Usopp said.

"Got away from who?" Franky demanded. He scowled into Usopp's masked face. "You're mighty suspicious, you know. Take off that mask."

"What?"

"I ain't having a guest here who suspiciously hides his face! Take it off!"

"I can't! I—"

Nami got Usopp's attention. "Where's my . . . ?"

Usopp passed her her wand, and she held it close.

"A stick?" Chopper said.

"A lucky stick," Nami murmured.

A knock came at the door, but no one heard it.

"Then why can't you take it off?" Franky demanded at last.

"It's a curse—"

"Bull!"

Chopper looked around, thinking he heard someone say something at the front door, but he stayed in the living room.

"Don't make him take it off," he said to Franky pleadingly. "He's a secret agent!"

"Oh, no . . ."

Franky and Chopper stared, and Nami's eyes widened, when Usopp's mask and clothing began to shimmer.

"Oh, god," Usopp exclaimed, turning around.

"It was magic after all?!" Chopper exclaimed in shock. Nami stood, clutching her wand, as Usopp's clothes transformed back into his regular ones.

"Hey, wait," Franky said slowly as the mask vanished and Usopp's ears returned. He took Usopp by the shoulder and spun him around, and his eyes widened.

"Usopp," Chopper said. "Usopp! You're a secret agent?!"

"Bro, it was you?" Franky said blankly. "I—"

"Hey," Luffy said, striding into the living room with his brothers. "'Scuse the barging in, only we think we saw Sogeking coming in here and we need to ask him—"

Nami jumped, and Franky, Chopper, and Usopp looked around.

"Oh," Ace said. "There they are. Never mind about that first thing."

"I dunno how you guys got away, but just come quietly," Sabo said in exasperation. "There wasn't even a back door—"

"Wait, what did they do?!" Chopper exclaimed.

"I dunno, I swear I don't," Usopp exclaimed, backing away. "Guys, I'm sorry for lying, I'm so sorry—"

"Why do you want us?" Nami said, voice trembling as she raised her wand threateningly.

"Swear we don't know," Ace said, eyeing it apprehensively. "King Sanji said to get you, but not to hurt you."

"Not to . . . hurt us?"

"Yeah, there's no way he'd want to hurt either of you," Luffy said matter-of-factly. "He likes girls too much, and Usopp, you're you."

Nami slowly lowered her wand and approached Usopp.

"Those two," she whispered as Franky and Chopper looked between the guards and them, utterly confused. "The King's advisor and that girl. They're both magic-users?"

"Yeah," Usopp whispered.

"If worse comes to worst, they might help us escape, right?"

"I don't doubt it."

"Okay." Nami took a deep breath and turned back to the guards. "Okay," she said again. "We'll come."

Usopp stared at her in surprise.

"Let's go." She stowed her wand in her stocking and looked at Franky and Chopper, inclining her head in a polite bow. "Thank you. Pardon the intrusion."

Usopp gulped and went with her and the guards out of the house, leaving behind a very confused Franky and Chopper.

"Usopp was Sogeking all along," Chopper exclaimed, staring at where the five had left the house.

"I feel like such a jerk," Franky groaned, falling onto the couch dramatically. "So not super."

"But what'd he and Nami do?" Chopper asked. "Why were they being arrested?"

"Can't've been anything bad," Franky said. "We know them, or at least Bro Usopp. He loves tall tales, but he's a good guy at heart."

Chopper frowned. "How come we didn't know it was him before?"

"Huh?"

"They . . . they've got the same nose," Chopper said slowly. "And the same hair. And the same body. The only difference was the clothes and the mask."

Franky sat up. "That is weird. Usopp mentioned . . . a fairy godmother or something in his story, yeah?"

"Yeah?"

"That girl was pointing a weird stick at the guards," Franky said, scratching his head. "You don't think . . . that would explain it, what with the clothes straight-up vanishing . . ."

"She's the fairy godmother!" Chopper exclaimed. "Oh! Then maybe it was a magic disguise, and that's why we didn't know!"

"Okay," Franky said. "So . . . Usopp and his friend have been arrested, probably unfairly. And this part's a little more personal, but I feel like I gotta make it up to him, being a jerk and all."

"What do you mean?"

"We're gonna storm the castle," Franky said, leaning forward with a gleam in his eye. "But we'll need backup."