Disclaimer: One Piece belonging to me….what a scary thought.
"—and then I pounded him into the ground with my 5 ton hammer! After that, of course, his lackeys came after me, so I single-handedly kicked the asses of all one-hundred of them!"
He looked at the boy in front of him and grinned. His eyes were wide and amazed; he had an excited, open-mouthed smile on his face.
"Wow, really!?"
He swelled with pride, and put his thumb to his chest boastfully. "Of course! I'm the great warrior, Sogeking, after all!"
Sogeking was bragging to his newly found friend, Luffy, whom he had met yesterday. After he had been admitted into the institution and Kaya had gone with her mentor—whom he personally thought was a bit creepy—Usopp had been given a tour, and then left to his own devices in the lounge. He had looked about the vicinity, taking in the cozy atmosphere, fidgeting nervously. Would the people here be mean? Some of them looked frightening. Would he be able to find some friends? What if everyone hated him? His thoughts continued in this manner for several minutes, making him more and more anxious as the seconds ticked by.
Then he saw Luffy.
The teen had been sitting on a couch in the far right corner of the room, alone. Strangely enough, he was talking to thin air. As Usopp walked toward him—a strange pull making him irresistibly curious about the boy—he burst out in cheerful laughter, probably at something the invisible person had said. Usopp was terrified of meeting him, of meeting anyone, but the teen looked harmless. He figured he could get the boy to follow him, and he'd have an admirer, like Tamanegi, Ninjin, and Piiman.
He looked up as the long-nosed boy approached, and gave him an enormous smile. He looked at the empty space next to him and exclaimed, "Look at his nose! It's so cool!" He turned back to Sogeking. "Hi!" he said eagerly. "Who are you?"
Usopp was slightly taken aback by the boy's straightforwardness and almost gave up but, with a burst of courage, he pressed forward. He smirked confidently and announced, "I am the great Sogeking! The man who's slayed numerous monsters and courageously saved countless people!"
Brown colored eyes stared back at him in wonder.
The boy seemed to be naive and easily tricked, and Sogeking decided to use this to his advantage. "If you listen to everything I say, I might let you be my friend."
His expression immediately went blank, and he shortly replied, "No."
Sogeking was shocked. "No?" he faltered.
"I'm not going to let someone tell me what to do, stupid."
He promptly deflated, and fell into the spot next to the strange male. "I-I'm sorry," he stuttered. "I won't bother you again. P-Please don't hurt me." Usopp cowered.
"Oi."
The boy was obviously stronger than he seemed, and he would probably hate him now.
"Oi."
He'd bully him, and Usopp would have to live the rest of his time in the institution as an abused victim of this guy.
"Oi!"
He'd—
He felt a sudden sharp pain on the top of his head. His hands flew up to touch the mistreated part of his skull, and he turned to face the culprit. The boy was frowning at him, looking annoyed. There it was; the bullying had started. Now he'd go to bed every night with cuts and bruises, and—
"Don't make me hit you again."
The boy was still staring at him, although now Usopp could see the curiosity in his eyes as well as the irritation.
"I can tell what you're thinking. You have the same expression as Coby had whenever he thought he'd be hurt by Alvida."
Coby?
The boy suddenly smiled and thrust his hand out towards Usopp. "Let's try again. I'm Monkey D. Luffy! What's your name?"
Usopp warily took the boy's hand—Luffy, he told himself, what a strange name—and replied, "Usopp."
Luffy tilted his head, bemused. "Usopp? But I thought you said your name was—"
"LUFFY!"
An orange-haired woman was stalking in their direction, her expression thunderous, and vein popping in her forehead. She stopped in front of them and glared at Luffy, completely ignoring Usopp. Luffy cursed under his breath, but a smile stole over his face and he couldn't suppress a giggle.
"What the fucking hell did you do to my money?"
Usopp shuddered. Her tone was dangerous. She sounded like a demon.
Luffy burst out into laughter, literally falling onto the floor. After he caught his breath he replied, "Nami, I made them look pretty!"
Usopp finally noticed the beli held tightly in the woman's hand. The bills were dyed various colors, and some even had sparkles—fucking bright pink sparkles.
The woman—Nami, Luffy had called her—grabbed the hysterical teen's shirt collar and pulled him up in an uncharacteristic show of strength. Her eyes were covered by her hair, and Usopp could truthfully say that she sacred the shit out of him. Even Luffy seemed to have realized how serious Nami was, and stopped laughing.
"Dammit, Luffy! You don't understand how much I need that money!"
She lifted her face and Usopp could see the deep pain she had in those eyes. He felt an unexpected rage fill him at whatever had caused this woman so much grief.
Luffy looked her straight in the eyes. "No, I don't."
Nami, shocked, let go of his shirt and took a step back. Even Usopp, who had only just met the two of them, could hear the unspoken, but you can tell me.
Since that incident, Luffy had insisted that Usopp become his—their—friend. He met Zoro, whom he found terrifying, and only stayed in his presence unless Luffy was around. The intimidating man had a daunting aura that only seemed to soften around Luffy and, to a lesser extent, Nami.
Usopp told them stories in the lounge, with big gestures and grand confidence—the only situation in which he was so bold. Luffy alone was convinced of his extravagant deeds. Nami and Zoro were unfazed, although they seemed suspicious of these moments when he actually showed morale. He introduced them to Kaya, and she instantly took a liking to them. She seemed to admire their energy—something she had been denied for years.
Luffy pointed out various patients in the facility during different times in Usopp's first week. He specified Buggy—Usopp had to physically restrain himself from laughing at the sight of the man—Alvida, and Klahadore. Usopp shivered at the thought of Klahadore; the man had the same disease as him, but unlike him, Kuro was unnerving. The tall man's eyes were coldly calculating, and the detached intelligence behind them was spine-chilling.
Other than a few exceptions—like Kuro—the mental institution and its inhabitants were surprisingly welcoming. It became a sort of second home for Usopp.
Not too long after arriving, Nami, Zoro, and Luffy found out about his disorder. Not that it bothered him much—not anymore. When they had first discovered it, he was scared shitless. Sogeking had been telling them another tale of one of his noble endeavors although, just a moment before, he had been anxiously fidgeting and stammering at another of Luffy's blunt, candid insults. Nami had seemed to have enough of his sudden changes in psyche.
"Alright, I've had it. What the fuck is wrong with you? It's clearly part of your disorder."
Usopp felt his nervousness return, but he still somehow felt detached from his actions, and calmly inquired, "What do you mean?"
Her eyes narrowed. Zoro was stoic, and Luffy was oblivious.
"You know what I mean. One second it's as if you have anxiety disorder—which I thought you had, by the way—and then you're cocky and boastful the next."
Usopp felt himself become less isolated from his behavior, and finally he was in complete control again. "I-I—"
Nami rolled her eyes. "See? That's exactly what I mean." Her features softened. "Dissociative?" She guessed sympathetically.
Usopp forced down the lump in his throat. He tried to stop the flow of negative thoughts going through his mind. They all had disorders too; they wouldn't think badly of him, he told himself.
"His name's Sogeking. He's my other personality. He's the confident one, but whenever I'm 'in' that personality, I have mythomania too."
There, he had said it. He wondered if they would trust him now that they knew he was a pathological liar.
Luffy looked thoroughly puzzled. Zoro noticed, and whispered something into his ear. Luffy broke out into a laugh. Were they laughing at him? Were they making fun of him?
"That's funny! Lucky Usopp, you have a cool disorder!" Well, that was unexpected. Luffy puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "Why can't I have something neat like that?"
Usopp suppressed the relieved laugh he so desperately wanted to let out, and denied his hyperactive friend's claim. "There's nothing cool about it. But what do you have, then, if think mine is so interesting compared to it?" Knowing Luffy, he'd think any sort of disorder was exciting.
Luffy's smile disappeared, and Usopp promptly regretted his question. Luffy suddenly looked so tired. He didn't respond, and Zoro quickly changed the topic. Usopp was curious, but if any sort of prying caused Luffy to wear that expression again, he wouldn't ask anything. The look was unnatural on Luffy.
Usopp vowed keep the smile on Luffy's face. After all, who better for the job than the crew's storyteller?
I wanted to write this earlier, but didn't for multiple reasons. Them being:
Classes are a bitch. So. Much. Damn. Homework.
Usopp gave me a lot of trouble. I'm not sure why, but this chapter gave me hell. Can you tell?
I had a lot of interruptions. People don't seem to understand the leave-me-the-hell-alone-I'm-trying-to-write-dammit look.
Still, it didn't take too long, did it? It's only been about a week, right? It's about my usual interval between chapters.
So, Usopp has Dissociative Identity Disorder, otherwise known as Multiple Personality Disorder. So does Kuro. DID, or MPD, whichever you wish to call it, is basically a disorder in which two or more distinct identities or personalities exist in a single person, and alternately rule over the person's actions and behavior. In Usopp, they're 'Usopp' and 'Sogeking'. Usopp is timid and cowardly, while Sogeking is confident and proud. In Kuro, the personalities are 'Klahadore' and 'Kuro'. Klahadore is kind and helpful (like Kaya believed he was in canon while he was her butler) and Kuro is cruel and coldly intelligent. If this doesn't make sense, just let me know, and I'll try to explain it better.
His other disorder, mythomania, or pseudologia fantastica is, in fact, a real illness. Mythomania is compulsive and habitual lying. Makes sense, right?
What do you think the others will have? You already know Zoro, Nami, and Usopp, but what do you think Luffy has, or Sanji, Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Brook will have? What about other characters? Any theories? ;)
To my guest reviewer, Sacchan, thank you! It makes me happy to know you anticipate my chapters. :)
I think that's it, so until next time!
-Spoons