Well, here is chapter 50... Wow. I can't believe that this is chapter 50. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago I was writing the first couple of chapters with not much intention to continue this beyond a few chapters. I guess I changed my mind somewhere along the line. Anyway, enjoy!
"Stop! Stop!" Sanji ordered our bull that was flying along in the water, trying to find where Nami said Usopp was. Before the bull had even pulled up properly, I'd jumped out of the boat onto the sidewalk. Sanji and Usopp were not far behind. "Didn't Nami say that Usopp is somewhere around here?"
"Usopp!" Chopper called out as we all scanned the area.
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Zoro asked, his arms crossed over his chest.
My nose twitched when the smell of blood reached it and my stomach dropped.
"Like you're one to talk!" Sanji snapped back in the background.
'Chopper,' I whispered quietly as I pressed my nose close to the ground near the trail of blood. It was Usopp's blood.
"Look! Blood!" Chopper pointed it out to the others as my fur bristled.
"Did he go on his own?" Sanji gasped in worry.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" a loud voice screamed above us, and we all looked up in time to see someone flying at us from above. The flying missile hit the wall and bounced into the canal while we stood there watching. The body quickly resurfaced, spluttering, "HELP."
"LUFFY?"
'EVERY. FUCKING. TIME,' I snarled, jumping into the water without a second thought so I could save my stupid captain. I dove under the water, grabbed onto the back of his shirt with my teeth and then I dragged him back over to the sidewalk. Sanji helped pull Luffy and I back up onto the land.
"What the hell were you thinking!" Sanji lectured as Luffy knelt on the ground coughing up water. I stood back, shaking the water out of my coat. "Where did you jump down from?"
"I tried to fly down, like carpenter guy, and find Usopp," he coughed before jumping up really quickly. "Ah! That's right! Usopp disappeared! He was kidnapped along with the money!"
"We know! We're going to their place right now. Usopp got beaten and the money got stolen," Sanji explained.
"Did he feel responsible and went to the Franky's place alone?" Zoro muttered, asking the question that was on all of our minds.
'…Idiot. Bloody idiot.'
We found Usopp. Outside of the Franky's place. I went from being nervous and angry to being livid. I was so angry my body was shaking, my vision turning red. Usopp was in really bad shape, left to lay in a pool of his own blood on the ground. Chopper knelt down by his side to check on him, and the rest of stared solemnly at the scene.
"Is he still breathing Chopper?" Luffy asked quietly.
"He's still breathing, but he's unconscious," Chopper replied. Chopper straightened back up, Zoro put his bandanna on his head, Sanji lit a fag, Luffy cracked his knuckles, and I kneaded my claws into the ground, still shaking. Shit was about to go down.
"Wait here a little bit, Usopp," Luffy said as we all turned around and started to walk towards the Franky's house, forming a straight line. Chopper on one end, then Zoro, then me in the middle, Luffy next to me, and Sanji on the end of the line.
As we reached the front door of the building, it swung out, allowing the noise from the inhabitants to spill out. Standing in the doorway, staring curiously down at us was a giant man who looked like he was just about to walk out before he saw us.
"Huh?" He blinked behind his goggles, but before he could say anything Luffy's fist went flying into his face with enough force to send the large man flying back into the building, crashing through tables. The rest of the people in the building jumped up to their feet, crying out in shock and demanding to know who did that. As the dust settled, they all gaped when they realized who it was.
"Yo-You're Straw-Hat Luffy!" one yelled in shock.
"Wahahaha! Are you here for the money? Look how many people we have!" a large man challenge as they all rallied up for a fight. "You only have four! Four little guys at that! And a flea-ridden mutt! I'll teach you a lesson, and then turn in your heads for the bounty money!"
My angry blue eyes flickered over my opponents, searching for any signs of weakness. Some of the men here were massive, almost to an inhuman degree. I snorted, throwing up my head as a stepped into the building with the others, 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall.' At the thought, a sadistic and twisted smile stretched over my muzzle. I want to make these people bleed for what they did to Usopp. I wanted to hear them scream.
"So you're that soft long-nose's captain?" the big man continued to run his mouth. "You must have a death wish to break in here with that level of strength. I'll give you a free hit, shortie."
Luffy walked right up to him, throwing his fists repeatedly in the large man's armour. "Gomu Gomu no…"
"Eh? What's he doing?" the man asked in amusement and Luffy's fists bounced straight off.
"Wahaha! He's going to use his fists! Not even a cannon can scratch that super armour!" Laughs echoed around the room. "Haha! I'm going to laugh to death!"
'You,' I purred mentally as my eyes flicked over to the noisy bastard, 'are the first on my hit list.'
"That's enough, boy!" the large man finally called. "Let me show you how to fight correctly!" As he said that, Luffy slammed both his fist into the armour at the same time and a cracking sound echoed around the room. The men stopped laughing and started gaping as the giant man went flying back into the air, the front of his armour shattering under the hit.
"BAZOOKA!"
"AHH! HE BROKE THROUGH THE SUPER ARMOUR!" they screamed, scrambling out of the way of the falling body as it crashed to the ground. Some of the men ran behind some cannons that were set up around the room while others tried to stop us.
"My god!"
"What do we do!"
"Le…Le… Let's talk this out peacefully… Like gentlemen…."
Evil laughter filled my head, my blood humming through my body as my fury simmered. 'Oh, it's way too late for that now. The second you hurt my friend it became too late for talking.'
"FIRE!" a man ordered and the sound of cannons shooting echoed around the room. "Die suckers!"
The cannon balls flew towards us but no one so much as flinched as Zoro ran forward, his sword out and ready. "Santōryū Karasuma Gari*!" In a flurry of high speed moves, Zoro sliced all of the cannonballs evenly in half and they went flying to the sides of the room before they exploded.
Eyes bulged out of their heads as they gapped. "Th… Those cannon balls are made out of iron!"
Zoro didn't bother stopping there. Before they could even try and stop him, he sliced a cannon down the centre, rendering it useless.
"Oh my god! Even the cannon!" they squealed as they scrambled out of his way.
"This is bad! These people aren't normal! Escape through the back door!"
'GO FUCK YOURSELVES. YOU CAN'T RUN FROM THIS!' My last tiny of restraint snapped at the moment someone mentioned escaping and I charged toward the men as they tried to run away.
My body was a blur as I ran forward and Sanji ran with me as well. I dashed straight at the one that had laughed before and I jumped up onto his back as he tried to run, my front paws slapping on the back of his head with enough force to send his face flying down to meet the floor. The floor shattered under the impact of his face, blood flying out his mouth and nose. I bounced off, and twisted in the air as my back paws connected with another of the men's chins, my teeth lashing out to clamp onto the soft shoulder flesh of yet another man. A scream of pain echoed in my ears as the blood ran into my mouth and I could feel my heart thumping against my chest as my instincts ran rampant. While that was happening, I noticed that Sanji took out a large group of them as well.
"Go through the windows!"
I head-butted a man in the crotch as Chopper stepped in and cleared out the men that tried to run for the windows. Another well aimed bite and kick took down more men and I lapped up the satisfaction at the sounds of pain the made. I could have easily taken out more of them at once, and I could have done it faster, but it wouldn't be as painful for them. I was playing with them like a cat played with their food before they ate.
The men ran to the outside of the room to escape us and the five of us found ourselves standing in the middle of the room.
"Let's talk about this! We don't have to resort to violence!" one of them tried to reason, waving his hands in panic. "All you want is the money right. The 200 million we got from that Pinocchio guy? The truth is that money is not here anymore! Out boss, Franky, already took it and went shopping. He's probably already on his way in the sea train. We have no idea where he's going either! No matter how much havoc you wreak you can't get your 200 million back anymo-"
He didn't get to finish what he was saying because Luffy's fist flew across the room and slammed into his face, sending him back into the wall.
"You yap too much," Sanji hissed. "Also… It's not just about the money anymore…"
"That's right," Zoro agreed with the cook. If it wasn't for the circumstances, I would have been shocked. "You ticked us off."
Luffy clenched his fists. "We're going to pulverize you."
"Pulverize!?" one more cried out in fear.
"Idiot!" another scolded. "Don't get scared! That's what we're supposed to say to them! Don't forget that we're scavengers and bounty hunters! We're the Franky Family!"
"Eat this!" A large cannon was lit and it shot out a ton of different junk and weapons directly at us. "Anything Goes Shot Cannon!"
The five off us ran forward, either dodging or cutting our way through the stuff that was shot at us. I slipped and weaved between everything that flew at me with practiced ease, not even getting so much as a scratch as it exploded behind me.
"Here they come! Chop them into pieces!"
'Oh, this is going to fun. Get ready to scream little piglets.'
By the time we were finished the Franky House was nothing more than a pile of rubble with bodies lying all over the place. We were all lingering around, trying to figure out what to do now. I was sitting back on my haunches next to Zoro, trying to clean off all the blood that was matting my coat.
'Hmmm, did I get a bit carried away?' I wondered as I looked the splashes of red that colored my fur and drenched my muzzle. '…Nah.' I lifted up one of my paws and I started licking it like a cat would, trying to wash off the sticky substance. I didn't realize how much mess blood could make when it wasn't your own.
"Should we go after Franky?" Sanji asked.
"Where would we go?" Zoro countered.
"Dammit," the cook swore. "Those small fries really don't know the money is. And we can only take care of Franky after he's finished shopping…What now? Do we wait here? I don't think he'll be back any time soon…"
"Okay! I'm done!" Chopper called in the distance from where he'd been patching Usopp up. "Come help lift him!"
"We're just wasting time here. Let's go back," Sanji sighed. "Nami is alone on the ship and Robin is nowhere to be found. The ship itself is breaking down too…"
"The ship…" Luffy mumbled.
"Hm?"
"I've decided." We all looked up at out captain, waiting to see what he'd say. "It's time to say good-bye to Going Merry."
"I'm sorry, everyone! I lost our money!" the bandage-covered Usopp sobbed as he jumped out of his bed and attached himself to Zoro's leg. "We worked so hard to get that money and I just gave it all away like that!"
"Hey! Calm down!" Zoro protested, shaking him off.
'Get your ass back in bed!' I growled, hovering around him.
"Usopp you need rest!" Chopper panicked, shepherding him back on the mattress that was laid on the floor in the kitchen. He sat there crossed legged, and I laid down next to him, setting my head in his lap so he couldn't jump around like before. While that happened, the others filled him in about what happened at the Franky's place, and how Franky had run off with the money.
"…So in the end, we still don't have it…" Usopp mumbled quietly, shame written all over his face.
"We don't know yet. We're waiting for Franky to come back. Even if he doesn't, we still have 100 million. Don't worry about it!" Luffy laughed, trying to calm Usopp down.
Sanji sighed and scolded him, "You're lucky that you're still alive!"
"Lucky!" Nami snapped. "We lost 200 milli-"
"I'm sorry," Usopp mumbled again. I whined, flattening my ears. "So can we fix Going Merry with 100 million? We came a long way to get to this high class shipyard. We need to make this ship even stronger for us to conquer the sailing beyond."
"Nope! Usopp, I decided to change ships," Luffy chirped in a happy voice. "Going Merry helped us a lot, but its sailing days will end right here." I lifted up my head sadly, looking at Usopp's confused and upset face. Luffy reached over onto the table and picked up a magazine of ships. "Let's talk about which shop to buy. Most of the 2nd hand ships that we can buy with 100 million are bigger than ours."
"Hold on!" Usopp yelled. "Don't joke around! It's not funny at all! Do we not have enough money to repair the ship anymore because I lost the 200 million? We just don't have enough money, right? Since the world-class shipyard probably charges world-class prices…"
"No! That's not it!" Luffy yelled, his voice rising.
"Then what is it! Tell me! Don't worry about hurting my feelings!" Usopp screamed back, both of them going red in the face.
"I don't! It's nothing to do with the money!"
"Then why do you say such nonsense like changing ship!"
"Stop yelling, you two. Sit down and talk calmly!" Zoro ordered, trying to take control.
"How can I be calm after hearing such things!" Usopp snapped, trying to get back up to his feet. I jumped up, placing my paws on his chest in an attempt to keep him seated.
"We only decided on that because we have no other choice!" Luffy yelled back, trying to jump towards Usopp. Sanji rushed forward, restraining our screaming captain. "MERRY IS GOING TO DIE!"
Silence echoed through the ship as the loud words took time to settle in with Usopp. My heart clenched in my chest and I felt like I wanted to throw up. Seeing Usopp and Luffy going at it seriously have really unnerved me… And hearing my carefree captain yelling like that…
"No one can fix it, not matter what," Luffy continued in a tense voice, shrugging off Sanji. "I would never make that decision otherwise."
"But this ship…" Usopp roughly shoved me back, causing me to stumble and land on my ass, blinking owlishly as he then slammed his hands on the ground. "It took us all the way here, didn't it!"
"Yeah, but it's only a matter of time before it sinks…" Luffy argued.
"…"Usopp silently crossed his arms over his chest. "What are you talking about, Luffy?"
"I'm not kidding! It's the truth!" Luffy snapped. "The shipwright guy said we won't get to the next island with this ship no matter what!"
"Ah… He said you can't get to the next island… Do you always listen to strangers and trust everything they say?"
"What?"
"Just because a few carpenters say it can't be saved, it's going to die!" Usopp screamed, his voice rising again. "It came all this way with us! Be it giant waves or deadly sea-battle, the ship is a friend that came through it all with us! YOU'RE GOING TO LEAVE IT HERE TO DIE! THIS SHIP IS JUST A TOOL TO YOU, ISN'T IT, LUFFY?"
Usopp started coughing violently and Chopper and I scrambled towards him, "Usopp, stop! You need to rest!"
"What would you know?" Luffy questioned. "There is no carpenter on our ship. That is why we need them to take a look for us!"
"Big deal! We don't need them! I'll fix it like I always have!" Usopp scrambled to up to his feet, pushing me away roughly when I tried to stop him.
"Stop, Usopp!"
"It's decided then! Everyone give me a hand! First we'll buy wood from the shipyard. Time to get busy!"
"YOU'RE NOT A CARPENTER, USOPP!"
"Hey, Luffy!" Nami protested.
"Yeah, but so what! And so what if they are? It's not their ship! They don't give a damn! They're just bull-shitting us! I don't believe them! We'll fix our own ship!" Usopp argued. "I'LL NEVER GIVE UP THIS SHIP! ARE YOU ALL IDIOTS! DO YOU LISTEN TO THOSE CARPENTERS LIKE DOGS!" Usopp stepped forward and grabbed onto the front of Luffy's shirt. "The Straw Hats I know wouldn't give in to a marketing scheme! They would believe in Going Merry's strength and fortitude! Stop bluffing, damn brat! Don't say "I've decided" like you're a real captain. I've misjudged you, Luffy!"
"Stop, Usopp! Luffy didn't-" Nami tried to stop them, but Luffy held out an arm to stop her.
"Shut up, Nami!" Luffy snapped.
I snarled loudly. 'Don't speak to her like that.' I quickly placed myself between Nami and the fighting boys.
"I have made my decision! I won't change it no matter what you say! We're changing ship, and we're going to say goodbye to Going Merry right here."
"Bull shit! I won't allow that!"
"Calm down and stop yelling at each other!" Sanji protested.
"Listen, Luffy!" Usopp growled. "Not everyone can ruthlessly move forward in cold blood like you! I can't leave behind a wounded comrade and I won't!"
"That's stupid! Ships and people are two different things!"
"They're the same! Going Merry is alive! You probably wanted a ship since the start! You're just too careless about leaving Going Merry!"
"Don't talk like you know everything, punk!" Luffy finally snapped, tackling Usopp to the ground. "You're not the only one who cares about Merry!"
"Luffy!"
"If you care, you won't want to change ship!"
"Fine, if you don't like my decision, then just leave!"
"IDIOT!" Sanji landed a kick on Luffy's head, sending him flying across the room. I closed my eyes, whimpering as they fought between themselves. It physically hurt me to watch. I didn't know how to help and how to stop them. And yet they were all hurting. Everyone was.
"Sanji!" Chopper gasped.
"Luffy, what are you thinking!" the cook yelled. "Calm down! Watch what you say!"
"Ah…Sorry, I didn't mea-" Luffy started to stand back up.
"No. That's fine, Luffy. Since that's what you really feel," Usopp grumbled.
"What did you say!"
'STOP. PLEASE,' I begged, my tail tucked between my legs.
"Leaving behind the crew mates that are useless to you one by one, so you can keep moving forward! If you want to this ship behind, then leave me behind too!" Usopp said.
"Usopp, you're not serious!" Sanji protested.
"No… I am. I've thought about it… I knew that I would never be able to catch up to any of you… As of today, I am nothing more than a bad baggage boy who can't hold on to cash… In the future, I will probably get you into even more troubles… There's no doubt that you don't want a useless crew member like me. Luffy, your goal is to become the Pirate King, but I don't necessarily want to go that far…If you think back to when I joined, I only went because you invited me… The fate that brought us together is only so strong… Since we don't have the same goals, we should go our separate ways!"
Usopp walked out of the kitchen and down the steps onto the main deck of the boat.
"Hey, Usopp! Where are you going!"
I followed behind him, whining in the back of my throat. He couldn't leave, he just couldn't. He jumped off the ship and started to walk away from it, saying, "I go where I want to go. I quit."
SantōryūKarasuma Gari: Literally "Three Swords Style: Demon Crow Hunt" but translated as "Raven Hunt" in Viz manga and "Karasuma Raven Hunt" in the FUNimation dub. It's a pun on "kasumagari" which is slang for a leg cramp in several regions of Japan. Including the region where Eiichiro Oda is from.
Beta read by praeses