Johnny Spectre: Well I'm glad you like it. :)

Tonlor: Maybe they do, maybe they don't, that's all I'll say for now. As for Kuro, well...you'll see soon enough.

F-ckthesystem125: Thanks, and indeed he does.

Slight warning before you guys start the next chapter. This story is rated M for a reason. The subject matter will be, at times, of a darker nature. Not to mention language and depictions of violence, which I make as graphic as I possibly can. So...you'll get a taste of such things in this chapter, as well as the next chapter. I'm only telling you guys so you know to be prepared for slightly more mature themes when it comes to dialogue. In other words, covering my ass as much as possible. XD

With that said, onto the next chapter. Please read, enjoy and review.

Luffy finished the last of the food on the table as Usopp went to pay their bill, and as he did, three boys burst into the restaurant, exclaiming in unison, "The Usopp Pirates have arrived!"

They all appeared to be about roughly eight or nine, as for their individual appearances...

The first boy had freckles and short spiky light purple hair that covered his eyes. He wore what appeared to be a red hat with Usopp's jolly roger on it, though a hole was at the top, allowing some of his hair to stick out of it, a black hoodie, light orange pants and dark brown shoes.

The second boy had dark green hair in a peculiar style. He wore a light green, short sleeve shirt with the Usopp's jolly roger on the front, as well as dark blue pants, a light blue sash and black shoes with laces.

The third boy had straight brown hair with a tuft sticking up at the top, and smaller than average eyes. He wore square glasses, a yellow shirt with a blue vest jacket over it, dark brown pants and a dark yellow sash, as well as black shoes with buckles.

"Captain Usopp is gone." One of them stated, not realizing he was at the end of the restaurant.

The three rushed over to the table Luffy, Zoro and Nami sat at, another one of them speaking up then, "Fess up you jerks, what have you done with our beloved Captain, tell us now!"

"Yeah, tell us now!" The other two repeated together.

Luffy was all but ignoring the three as he leaned back and patted his somewhat bloated stomach, "That meat sure was good." a smile on his face as he did.

"What meat?" One of them inquired worriedly.

"Could these guys be cannibals?" Another asked fearfully.

"What have you done, you savages?" The third questioned, as he and his two friends began to tremble in nervousness and fright.

Zoro put his elbow on the table and rested his head against his hand just the right way, so as to cast a slight shadowing effect across part of his face, as he smiled wickedly at the children. "If you're looking for your captain, we ate him." His tone was playfully dark as he said this, though only Luffy and Nami could distinguish the playfulness of it.

The children proceeded to scream in fear, though as they did, their eyes drifted to Nami, as they cried out, "AHHH, CANNIBALS!"

Nami didn't take too kindly to this, the shark teeth neither of her childhood friends had seen in a long time reappearing as she shouted angrily, "What the hell are you punks looking at me for!?"

Seeing something like that caused the three kids to nearly faint, as they fell back and hit the floor, screaming still. And as they did, Luffy and Zoro burst into laughter.

"You just had to say something stupid didn't you!?" Nami was ignored as the two continued to laugh rowdily.

That's when Usopp came back over, "Why are you guys laughing? Wait, what the? Onion, Pepper, Carrot, what are you three doing on the floor?"

"You're alive!?"

Luffy walked step for step with Usopp, as Zoro and Nami followed along, the four heading towards the mansion Kaya resided in.

"You got them good! But, uh, did you guys really have to say that you ate me?" The long nosed teen asked his friends.

"I didn't even say anything and those brats pointed the finger at me!" Nami shouted. "I mean, do I look like a cannibal to you!?" No one dared to answer that question.

Luffy just proceeded to begin laughing once more, while Zoro smirked in response.

"Heh, I'm a-I'm guessing that's a yes."

After a few moments, the straw hat pirate's laughter tapered off, and as it did, he spoke up. "Those kids, were you guys friends when we met?"

"Well, yeah, we were. We had formed the Usopp Pirates about a week before you and I met actually."

"How come I never got to meet'em? They seem like fun! I would have liked to play too."

Usopp scratched the side of his head with his index finger, chuckling a little nervously as he did, "To be honest, with how serious you were about being a pirate and how determined you were to get stronger, I honestly thought you wouldn't be interested in a bunch of pranks, let alone actually playing pirate."

The rubber man's smile had fallen away, but no expression replaced it, as he listened to his friend go on. "And...I-I didn't want them to know I had agreed to become a part of someone else's crew. My pride wouldn't let me admit to being someone else's subordinate to myself, let alone-"

As Luffy opened his mouth to correct his curly haired friend, said friend beat him to it, "I know, you don't have subordinates, you have crewmates, friends. But I didn't realize you really, truly meant that until it was time for you to go."

Usopp stopped talking for a moment, as he gathered himself. Once he did, a smile crossed his face. "I'm past that though, which is why I told them everything before I sent them on their way. They reacted better than I thought they would to be honest. I half thought they would think I was going crazy when I told them I would be setting out soon to be a real pirate, one under someone else's flag no less."

"I see..." Luffy didn't react any further than those three words for several moments, before a smile crossed his face once more. "Well, okay then."

While his captain brushed the matter off without a second thought, Zoro would remember this, as while he trusted his friend, his brother, in who he picked for the crew, that didn't mean he could trust the people themselves. This was for one two simple reasons, first, Luffy was a very forgiving person, almost too forgiving. You could spit in his face, insult his dream and then proceed to physically assault him, and as long as you said you were sorry, if he thought you were being sincere about it, then he'd forgive you and even try to be your friend. And second, he was far too trusting. That one was self explanatory.

Though it wasn't like Usopp posed any real physical threat, nor did he seem like the type to double cross them, no, rather it was the fact that he might take issue with Luffy's authority somewhere down the line that had Zoro thinking on such a matter.

No more thinking on such a subject could continue however, as the four began coming up on the gate leading to the mansion. Before they could get too close, Usopp and Luffy led the other two to the secret way into the yard, removing the piece of cut out shrub, allowing them to crawl through, before placing it back into the empty space it usually filled.

When they turned around to face the mansion, they found the three boys from earlier waiting for them, nearly startling Usopp. "What the? Why are you three here!?" He whisper asked harshly.

The one known as Carrot was the one to answer. "We know that you'll be leaving soon, so, before the Usopp Pirates disband, we've decided to spend as much time together as a crew as possible."

"Now really isn't the time guys." Usopp whispered more calmly this time.

"It's fine."

All three boys and Usopp looked to Luffy, who had just said that. "You guys are friends, you should enjoy your time together as much as you can before you guys have to part ways."

Knowing they'd end up getting caught if he tried to argue with Luffy, the marksman gave up and let it be.

With that settled, Usopp did what he did almost every day, and that was climb the tree leading to Kaya's bedroom window, the other six staying on the ground as he did. Once he was up and sitting on the correct branch, he knocked as lightly as he could on the window, doing his best to keep from attracting any unwanted attention.

Though the tapping on the glass could barely be heard, it wasn't more than a few moments before the window was being opened, upon it doing so revealing an older Kaya. She was much paler than Luffy remembered, though she did look just as cheery. Her hair had grown out too, it now being just past the bottom of her neck in length. As for what she wore, a simple white dress. "Usopp, I'm so glad you're here. I wanted to see you."

Chuckling nervously, Usopp tried his best to respond without tripping over his words. "I-I wanted to see you too. How are you doing today Kaya?"

"I'm doing fine, no need to worry about me." She sincerely meant it, but all of them could tell she was sick, seriously sick.

Usopp was lost for words for a few moments then, only because he noticed something that concerned him. "She looks so much worse than she did yesterday. How is that even possible?"

"Usopp?"

Kaya's voice managed to shake him from his thoughts, so he could speak. "Oh yeah, guess who's here on Gecko Island?"

"Who?" She asked, her smile not waning a bit.

Not waiting for an introduction, Luffy stretched his right arm up until he had ahold of the branch his long nosed friend sat on, before letting himself snap towards it, though he slowed at the last second and managed to land almost gracefully on the branch, right next to his slightly older pal. "Hiya Kaya!"

Her smile got just a bit brighter then. "Luffy, it's so great to see you again. When did you arrive?"

"A few hours ago. I'm here to pick up Usopp." That statement was partly true, he had planned to go and pick up Usopp from Syrup Village right after he found a boat.

"I see. So...when will you and Usopp be setting out then?" The sadness was clear in her eyes as she said this, she didn't want the curly haired teen to leave. However, at the same time, the smile she was wearing was still genuine, she must have been happy for him.

"Well, uh, actually, that's kind of why we're here. We have a favor to ask of you." Usopp said nervously.

"A favor?"

Not one to beat around the bush, Luffy just came right out with it. "Do you think you could help us get a ship?"

"A ship?" She blinked in surprise at the question.

"Yeah, think you could help us out?" Luffy asked once more.

The blonde girl seemed to think it over for a few moments, before replying, her smile widening a bit as she did. "I think I have just the ship for you."

"That's great!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Kaya, I have some people I want you to meet."

"People to meet? Who..." She looked out and down, to see the three boys she knew by name that hung out with Usopp, as well as two others, a young orange haired woman and a somewhat older than the rest of them green haired man. "...wait. Are those two who I think they are?"

Luffy's smile widened a good deal at that. "Yep, they sure are." He looked down at them then, as he called out, "Nami! Zoro! Come up and say hi you guys!"

Usopp proceeded to smack the back of Luffy's head for getting so loud. "We're supposed to be quiet ya know!"

Before he could respond, another voice was heard. "You there! Just what do you think you're doing here?"

All eyes went to the one who said that, to see Klahadore calmly walking over to the five below, though his eyes were on the two above with Kaya.

"It's Klah-guy." Luffy said to himself, shocking both Usopp and Kaya a bit, for as far as they knew, the two had never met

Luffy hopped down, landing on his feet as he greeted the butler. "Hey there."

The butler did not look happy, that was for sure. "You didn't answer my question. Just what do you think you're doing here? Here, in my Mistress's yard!?"

Luffy, Zoro and Nami all seemed a tad confused by his tone and demeanor, as it was quite different from the man they had met.

"Klahadore, calm down, it's okay, they're my fri-"

"Get out! You're trespassing on private property!" He adjusted his glasses as he spoke these words, his anger evident even as he did.

Nami tried to reason with the guy. "Hey, what's your problem? Didn't you bring us here-"

"I said get out! This is no place for filthy pirates like you!"

"Quite the tune you're playing, even more so when considering the one you played earlier." Zoro remarked.

The butler's eyes narrowed at that comment.

"Klahadore they're just asking me for a fav-"

"Quiet Mrs. Kaya."

Usopp was down on ground level once more, having climbed down the tree, and took enough steps forward that he was almost in the older man's face. "This isn't your property, and neither is she! You can't tell her what to do!" The long nosed teen's anger was evident, as he was near screaming in the other man's face, it was clear this wasn't the first time he had seen something like this.

"What a loudmouth. I'm sure it's safe to assume you got that, as well as your temper, from that despicable pirate father of yours." Klahadore then looked over to the other six on ground level, keeping his eyes only on the three teens for longer than a moment or so, before continuing. "And it seems you follow in his footsteps, joining up with your own band of criminals."

Usopp clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, as he tried to repress all the anger he was currently feeling. It was a losing battle however, as the butler just continued to make it worse. "Is it money you scum are after? Is that why you're here? How much do you want?"

That seemed to even upset Kaya, "Cease this at once and apologize to these people Klahadore!"

"I don't believe there is any reason to apologize to these savages my lady. My goal isn't to slander, I only speak the truth. Pirates are wretched, insufferable beings, and I do not wish for them to be anywhere near you Mistress, lest they corrupt you, or even worse, harm you in any way." He was adjusting his glasses once more at this point.

"How dare you!" Usopp couldn't contain it any longer and lashed out, hitting Klahadore with as strong as a right straight as he could, knocking the butler to the ground.

Kaya couldn't help but gasp.

"Captain!" The three children called out in shock.

Klahadore was still conscious, and didn't seem very, if at all, hurt by the blow, as he spoke once more. "Case in point, he resorts to violence. I guess the apple never falls far from the tree."

"Shut up! This has nothing to do with my father! I'm proud of my heritage, and will never lie about it! I am the son of a pirate and damn proud of it! No, this is about how you dared to insinuate I would hurt Kaya!"

Klahadore got to his feet then. "Insinuate? Big word for a pirate. But yes, I know for a fact you'll hurt the young lady. She is kind and gentle, you however, are nothing but a brute. I've seen how you talk to her, act around her, how you charm her with your lies. You're either trying to cozy up to her so you can steal her fortune, or even worse...your attraction to her is real and your trying to lure her into a false sense of security, so that she'll drop her guard. And I fear for her, as I know what you'll do when she does drop her guard, you'll take her maidenhood through force, like the filthy scum you are."

"KLAHADORE!"

Usopp's eyes widened to the max as those words echoed in his mind, and from there...he lost it. "You fucking bastard!"

He proceeded to tackle the butler to the ground, knocking his glasses off in the process, before beginning to wail on his face with his fists, hitting him with everything he had in each individual punch.

Onion, Pepper and Carrot were completely speechless, frozen in their spots as they watched this happen.

Luffy and Zoro made no move to stop Usopp, in fact, their eyes were hard, showing they thought this bastard deserved as much. Nami on the other hand, looked ready to pull the long nosed teen off the butler, as whether he deserved it or not, it was upsetting Kaya, and the children didn't need to see this.

"Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it! STOP IT! No more violence, PLEASE!" Kaya was crying as she desperately screamed this at Usopp.

Another person came out of the mansion then, said person appearing to be a butler, two guards following behind him.

He had white curly hair with lamb horns sticking out, and wore a plain suit, nothing else about him really stuck out other than that. "Mrs. Kaya, what's wrong!?"

That's when he saw Usopp beating Klahadore's face in, his eyes widening in shock at the sight. "Usopp! Guards, Stop him!"

The two guards moved forward to do just that, however, seeing this about to happen, Nami pulled Usopp off of Klahadore, and Luffy grabbed ahold of the two, plus Carrot, Pepper and Onion, stretching his arms to wrap them all up and bring them close to him, before leaping over the fence that kept normal people out, and hoofing it away from the mansion, Zoro following behind him the whole way, making sure no one followed them as he did.

Luffy didn't stop until they were deep in the forest near the shore, where he first met Usopp at. Once Zoro assured him no one was following them, he put the other five down, three of whom, the children, sat down, almost falling down as they did, not fully sure of what had just happened, clearly in shock.

Usopp fell to his knees, tears prickling at the edge of his eyes, as he fought them back to keep them from falling. Seeing his friend in need, Luffy had Nami go and talk with the kids, not only to explain a few things, but hopefully explain away a few things as well, as they didn't need to understand everything that had just occurred. Zoro was to watch out for anyone who might happen upon them, he knew that was what he was to do without Luffy even glancing at him.

The straw hat teen came up behind his long nosed friend, placing his hand on his shoulder to try and offer some form of comfort, as he spoke to him. "Something's not right with that Klah-guy, we both know that. Nevertheless, what he said to you...I can't imagine how much it must have pissed you off. It's not something you can let go of, not for a while to come at least, I know that. But, you're going to have to put it aside, for Kaya's sake. If you don't, things are gonna be a lot harder moving forward."

Usopp remained silent, unsure of what to say, what to do. He was so very angry, but he was also upset, he wanted to apologize to Kaya for upsetting her, but he also wanted to pound on Klahadore until he was nothing but a bloody mess. But what could he do? He was weak, no one would want to help him, he was the village liar. They wouldn't believe a word he said, whether it was about how bad Klahadore really was, or about how Kaya just kept getting sicker, no matter what medicines she took, and that something wasn't right with that. "What do I do?" He wondered to himself.

Luffy tightened his grip on Usopp's shoulder slightly, and proceeded to answer the unasked question. "Trust in me, as your captain and as your friend, if you can do that, then I promise I won't let you down. You don't have to do this by yourself, I'm here to help you." He looked back at Zoro and Nami then, before returning his attention to his kneeling friend. "All three of us are."

At those words, the memories of the week the straw hat teen spent here with the long nosed teen passed through the latter's mind. This caused Usopp's eyes to widen in realization that Luffy was right. Coming to grips with this, he rose to his feet after his captain let go of his shoulder, turning around after doing so to reveal tears streaming down his face. "Luffy..."

"Yeah?"

"...thank you."

He grinned at that. "No problem."

His grin soon fell away however, as a image of how Kaya looked back at the mansion flashed in his mind, causing a thought to come to him. "Hey Usopp...Kaya, she seemed a lot sicker than she was when I was last here."

"That's because she is." He answered somberly.

"And she's been getting sicker for a long time now, right?" He inquired further.

The long nosed sniper lowered his head at that, "Yeah, she has. At first it wasn't too bad, in fact I'm not even sure she was actually ill, or at least not ill in the usual sense. I think she might have been depressed, not to mention lonely, but nevertheless, I think she would have been able to kick it in a few months time, what with a bit of sunshine and companionship. But then...her parents died in an accident at sea, and she took a turn for the worse. Ever since then, her condition's been steadily worsening. I've done everything I could think of to try and help her, Merry, that other butler you saw, has given her every medicine in the East Blue that treated illnesses with even remotely similar symptoms to what's plaguing her, but nothing works. She'd seem to be getting better for a few days, but would then return to her sickly state. It's happened so much that just about everyone has all but given up hope that she'll recover. They say she no longer has the will to live, and that that's why she can't get better."

Usopp began to clench his fists, just as he squeezed his eyes shut tighter, and his voice became more heated. "But I refuse to believe that! They don't see the way she smiles, the way she laughs, they don't hear the passion she has when talking about fulfilling her dream to become a doctor, they don't know just how strong her will to live is!" You could hear just how much he cared about this girl from the tone of his voice. It was obvious he cared for her greatly.

"Klah-guy, he's that butler you told me about when we first met, isn't he? The one who wouldn't let you visit Kaya?" The rubber man asked, said question seemingly voming out of nowhere.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Usopp asked, looking back up now, his eyes open once more, revealing the fresh tears.

Luffy's eyes narrowed slightly, as he thought about what he knew. He had a feeling something was up, however when it came to forming a hypothesis, the odds were stacked against him, as the last time he sat down to think critically about something, beads of sweat formed and slid down his face in mass quantities. In fact, the harder he thought, the more he sweat, and before too long, his face would turn red from all the mental exertion. He would prefer not to go through something like that again. He only thought about food, friends and adventure, that was how he was. But, thanks to Bellemere, he could come up with solutions to simple problems without much effort on his part. Conspiracy theories and even just complicated situations, that he couldn't solve with his fists, on the other hand, gave him pause. The thing was, Usopp was his friend, and he would do anything for his friends, even if it meant thinking until he had a migraine.

So he closed his eyes and began to think. This lasted for several long moments, surprisingly without incident, no sweat or redness, before he opened his eyes once more. "Something's not right here Usopp, I can't put my finger on it, but I'm certain it has something to do with that Klah-guy."

The long nosed teen nodded in agreement. "I've had a bad feeling about the guy since the day I met him."

"I can't figure out what's going on with him, but I bet if we follow the guy we'll learn something that could help us put it all together." Luffy stated, which let the others know that was exactly what they were going to do.

Seeing as the kids hadn't went home the last time they were told to, the four teens decided to escort them to the village, that way they knew they were home and wouldn't follow them.

On the way down the dirt path leading to the village however, they came upon a strange sight. It was a man walking backwards, coming towards them. Upon seeing this, all three children commented, "What a weirdo."

Once this man was a little closer, he turned to face them and asked, "Now which one of you people has the nerve to call me weird?" In doing so revealing his full appearance.

He had greyish blonde hair that just reached past the bottom of his neck, not to mention his much more distinguishing feature, a black and purple striped...thing attached to his chin. As for what he wore, he sported a blue trench coat over a white shirt, a big blue hat to match the coat and greenish brown gloves. As well as light brown pants, a black belt to hold them up, black shoes and long white socks, plus red lensed heart shaped glasses.

"I'm just a regular guy." The strange man said.

"Really? Because you look ridiculous, some might even say insane." Nami responded.

"Don't be silly. I'm just your ordinary run of the mill hypnotist."

"Hypnotist? Show us something! Show us something!" Onion, Pepper and Carrot near demanded in unison.

His demeanor became much more serious as he replied to that. "What? You fools, what makes you think that I would want to reveal my masterful hypnosis techniques to a bunch of roadside strangers?"

Only a split second later and he had a metal ring the size of a palm dangling from a chain out, as he spoke once more, his tone back to what it was before. "Okay, you've convinced me." Though they did no such thing.

Before the man could actually do anything however, Usopp and Nami began ushering the kids along, Luffy and Zoro following along as well. "That's great and all, but we've got things to do." Nami explained.

"Yeah, and before we can do those things, we gotta get these three home. Right away too or we'll be in hot water." Usopp added.

"Can we take a rain check?" Luffy turned around and asked, a smile on his face.

"Come on Luffy!" Nami and Usopp called out together.

"Coming!" Turning back around, the straw hat teen followed after his friends.

Before he got too far though, he looked back at the strange guy one more time, and asked him, "Oh yeah, what's your name?"

"You can call me Jango."

"Nice to meet you Jango, see ya!"

It turned out luck was in their favor, as when they came back down the road from taking the children home, they came upon that Jango guy, who was talking with Klahadore. Said butler had a few bandages on his face, obviously because of the beating Usopp had put on his face, but considering how hard he hit and how many times the glasses wearing man was hit, it was weird that he only had three bandages.

Forgetting about that, almost as soon as the four saw the two, they turned and began walking off, Jango actually walking the right way this time, not noticing them because they turned just as they came into sight.

Deciding to not let this go to waste, the four snuck after them, Nami doing her best to make sure Luffy and Zoro didn't trip up and ruin the plan by revealing their presence.

They managed to keep themselves hidden, following the two to the shore opposite of the one Luffy, Zoro and Nami arrived at, though to help keep themselves concealed, they stayed up on the cliffside with the trees, while the butler and the hypnotist went down to where the sand and water met.

"Why in the world are those two together?" Usopp questioned aloud.

"Good question." Zoro said.

"Klahadore doesn't seem like the kind of guy who could, or would, put up with that weirdo." Nami added.

"Maybe he wants to learn hypnotism?" Luffy offered.

"Doubtful." The other three replied in unison.

As the two below began to speak to each other, the four cut the chatter and listened closely...

"Jango, I specifically ordered you to keep yourself inconspicuous. Walking backwards like a buffoon defeats the purpose of that order."

"Relax man, I've perfected the skills of a chameleon, I blend in."

Nothing was said about that comment, the conversation continuing on as if that had been a valid excuse. "Right. Have all the necessary preparations been made?"

"But of course. We can start anytime...on the rich girl murder plan."

Luffy's, Nami's and Usopp's eyes all widened at that shocking statement.

"Don't call it murder Jango, I don't like the sound of it."

"Oh right, accident. It's an accident, that you planned."

"Yes, exactly. We can't simply kill her, it is critical to our plan that Mrs. Kaya perishes in an unfortunate accident, so don't screw that up.

Jango sat down on one of the larger rocks on the shore, placing his hands in his pockets as he did, relaxing basically, as he continued to discuss this murder plot. "So basically, on your signal, the men and I storm the village and manage to accidentally kill the little rich girl. Then you get her inheritance, and we all get paid, right?"

"You moron! Your ignorance is astounding! We're not related, so how can I inherit anything from her?"

"You'll work very hard to."

"No Jango, I won't. Now listen to me, this is the most important part, before you kill her, you'll use your hypnosis to make Kaya write her will, and it'll say 'I leave my entire fortune to my butler, Klahadore'." The dastardly butler took a few steps toward Jango then, leaning forward just a bit so he could make eye contact with him as his gaze hardened, "Then and only then will I have undisputed control of her enormous fortune...and no one will suspect a thing. I've spent almost three whole years gaining the trust of everyone around me, so that it would unsurprising for her to leave the entirety of her inheritance to me."

As Klahadore straightened his posture and took a few steps back from Jango, the latter stood up, as their talk continued. "All this time as a butler, for this huh? You sure had us scared back then, captain Kuro. Almost three years ago now, you suddenly said you were giving up life as a pirate. In no time at all you set up someone to be your double, then you let the world see 'captain Kuro' get executed. Only now do I understand that was just the beginning of this plan. You truly are the Man of a Thousand Plans."

"Never call me that again. I abandoned that name years ago. I now wish to attain my wealth without attracting the attention of the Government. In other words, I'm a pacifist."

Jango broke into a small fit of laughter at that. "Some pacifist you are. Murdering an entire family doesn't exactly qualify as peaceful."

The, recently revealed to be, Kuro adjusted his glasses as he responded to that remark. "It wasn't originally my intention to, however that girl's parents refused to forbid her from seeing that damn long nosed brat. I could barely restrain myself from killing them, if I had to deal with that punk all the time too, I'd have gutted him." Usopp squeaked in fear at that, thankfully the noise went unheard though. "It was bad enough having to run about with that damned girl, shopping with her, eating with her, laughing with her, waiting on her hand and foot, acting like I actually cared about her and liked to serve her, a little slice of hell all it's own, but I really might've snapped and ruined the plan if that stupid long nose had been with us all those times. I suppose I could have pretended to give in and let her see him after her condition began to continuously worsen, but I couldn't risk him hanging about and catching me contaminating her food."

"So that's why you had me meet with and pay that broker." Jango stated.

"Indeed. I was glad that when her parents were disposed of, I could have a break from visiting other islands with the girl, taking her where she wanted to go, shopping with her, holding her bags and just pretending to have a good time. I enjoyed the break so much, that I decided why not be done with such activities altogether? So using one of my contacts, I secured a poison, that when administered in small doses, weakens the victim's immune system, absolves most ingested nutrients and saps most of their strength in general. I had to be careful when giving her this of course, as too much would kill her, and that would raise too much suspicion. To make sure this didn't happen, I've been giving it to her once a week for a year and a half now, injecting it into her food, pouring it in her drink, doing anything it took to get it into her system. It's taken it's toll however, she's at her lowest, worse now than she's ever been. Given a few more weeks, she'll probably succumb to the poison. On top of that. she's fallen for that weasel Usopp, and now might as well hate me because of an incident at the mansion earlier today. I did my best to convince her I was only trying to protect her, but she's quite upset with me. If I apologized to the annoying pest, then it might get me back in her good graces. Thankfully however, all of that is irrelevant now, as the final stage of the plan will commence tomorrow, at dawn."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that Captain. Why'd you call us here so early? I thought we were to wait another four months. You never alter your plans, so why now?"

"Simple, I've found the perfect scapegoats."

"Who?"

"Three kids calling themselves pirates, you know the type, morons who play at being the real thing. I received word of them from the Mayor of Orange Town, he contacted me, thinking I could help them secure a boat for their voyage. Seeing an opportunity before me, I took it, and altered my plans accordingly. Now, when it's revealed that Mrs. Kaya was killed in her home by pirates, those three will take the fall for it, and all you have to do is make sure you're gone by the time the news breaks."

"Those bastard plan to pin the crime on us!" Nami whispered harshly.

Both of the men below shared sinister smirks then. "Understood."

Usopp was freaking out at this point, speaking aloud, though only to the point where the other three near him could hear. "What the hell!? I knew the guy was an asshole, but I never suspected this! This is bad, really really bad! What are we gonna do!? First they'll attack the village, then they'll kill Kaya! All for a bunch of stupid money! What do we do!? What do we do, what do we do, what do we do!?"

As Usopp freaked out, Luffy stood up and proceeded to yell down at the two, before the others could stop him, not that Zoro would have. "HEY DICKWADS!" Both Zoro and Nami both immediately knew that Ace was behind that bit of language. "If you dare hurt my friend Kaya, I'll kick your asses!"

The long nosed teen's eyes shot to his rubber friend then, as Nami asked incredulously, "What the hell are you doing Luffy!?"

Both men looked up at the cliff then, seeing the four, all of them standing at this point. "What are you guys doing here!?" Jango questioned.

"You've gotten yourself spotted idiot, we've got to go, now!" The sniper said, as he grabbed ahold of Luffy's arm and began trying to pull him away from the cliffside, to no avail of course.

"Well now, if it isn't my scapegoats. And with Usopp, the town liar no less. Judging by what you've just said, I'm guessing you've heard a few things. Though I wonder, just how much did you hear?"

"What, us!? We didn't hear anything, I swear!" Usopp tried to convince them.

"We heard all of it." Luffy stated bluntly, contradicting his long nosed friend's lie.

"Shut up!" Usopp said desperately, his voice filled with fear, his eyes wide with fright, as he smacked his straw hat wearing friend's chest.

Luffy fixed his month older friend with a small glare then. "Usopp, are you telling me you'd pretend to not have heard them and let them get away with their bad man plan to kill Kaya, just to save yourself?"

Said teen was taken back by that, "What!? Of course not!"

"Then don't."

The sharpshooter's eyes widened even further at that, realizing that his friend was, once again, right.

"Take care of them, but leave the swordsman and the straw hat one alive, we'll at least need them for the scapegoat part of the plan to work." Kuro order Jango, before proceeding to turn and begin walking away, apparently confident in the man's ability to deal with the four.

"Alright then, if that's what you want." Pulling the ring attached to a string from before out, he began to swing it back and forth, as he did he commanded the four, "Now, keep your eyes on the ring. On the count of Jango, you will fall into a deep sleep, one, two, Jango!" As soon as he finished, he himself fell victim to his own hypnosis, falling back onto the shore, snoring away.

Zoro, Nami and Usopp all sweatdropped at that. "What an idiot."

That's when the three realized that the weirdo wasn't the only one snoring, looking over to see Luffy asleep on his feet.

"The hell Luffy!?" They cried in unison.

As he tilted forward, looking like he was going to fall off the cliff, both Zoro and Nami caught him and laid him down on the grass. Once they were sure he was alright, that was when they realized Kuro was gone, and Jango was asleep.

"You guys stay with Luffy, I've gotta go warn everyone!" Not waiting for them to object or ask any questions, Usopp took off in the direction of the village.

The two left awake then saw that Jango was coming to, so both pretended to be asleep, lying next to Luffy as they did.

Jango rubbed his hat clad head as he got to his feet, as despite wearing it, it still hurt to hit the ground with it on like that. Looking up at the cliff, he could hear a bunch of snoring, though he couldn't see who the snores were coming from. Nevertheless, he assumed he had been completely successful. "It worked like a charm. I am truly a master of hypnosis."

With that he began to walk away, though he did so backwards.

As Luffy woke from his nap, he sat up and wiped the dust off of his hat, before placing it back on his head. Zoro and Nami had told him that he had fallen for the guy's hypnosis, and that Usopp had taken off to warn the island. The rubber teen in turn said that they would wait for him here.

It wasn't too long before he returned, though he was definitely worse for ware when he did.

He had a hole in his left shoulder, clearly a gunshot wound, which he was clutching with his right hand tightly to keep it from bleeding any further, the blood from it already trickling down in two or three lines all reaching down to his wrist, to add to that, he was covered in bruises. What really caught Luffy's attention though, was the tears streaming down his face, and the look in his eyes, as he came before the straw hat teen and fell to his knees in front of him. "They didn't believe me, no matter how much I begged and pleaded, they wouldn't listen. Not a single person would trust me enough to believe me, not a one, not even Kaya. This...this isn't what I wanted. I never wanted this! I don't want to be the town liar if it means no one trusts me! All I wanted was to bring a little excitement to the village, that's all! They beat me, Merry even shot me, all because of what I did to that bastard Kuro, it didn't help that I told them he was a pirate planning on killing Kaya. You know what she said to me!? She said I was taking things too far, that I was acting like-like the scum that asshole said I was! She said she'd never forgive me!"

Usopp broke down into unintelligible sobs then, it taking several moments for him to regain just enough of his composure to speak. "E-even still, I still love this island, I still love this village and all the people in it, and I-I, I still love Kaya! Even if they don't believe me, even if they beat me or shoot me, even if they hate me, I can't let them die! I refuse to! I have to protect them! But I can't do it alone, I'm too weak! I need help! I need your help! Please Luffy, I'm begging you, help me protect them!"

The two held eye contact throughout all of this, until Usopp spoke the final words of his plea, which was when Luffy broke the constant eye contact, doing so by standing up. Once on his feet, he reestablished eye contact as he spoke. "Of course."

Usopp's bloodshot, puffy red eyes, which were filled with fear, sadness, anger, and most importantly, determination, had a spark of hope ignite in them at those words.

Luffy offered his hand then, so as to help his long nosed friend up, which he took, allowing his slightly younger friend to pull him to his feet. "Now, let's go and beat those guys down!"

"Right!" The other three exclaimed in unison.

To Be Continued...