The next day the Going Merry set sail.
Tearful goodbyes and the chaos of settling in later Usopp had some time to wind down and contemplate. He was a pirate now. Just like his dad was, something he'd always been proud and envious of. Now he had taken the first step towards becoming like him, his role model and father, and he wondered if Yasopp would be proud of him too.
He was a liar, a coward, and excited out of his mind. This was him, starting to live his dream. His adventure. And he decided now that nothing, nothing would spoil it for him.
Still, he couldn't help but feel… inferior to the ones he'd set on the journey with.
Luffy was charismatic, strong and dependable in a fight. Someone who could stretch his limbs to infinity because of a fruit, a devil fruit of all things. The captain of the crew may have been childish but he had the will and the conviction. He wasn't cowardly at all.
Not that the others were either. Zoro seemed like a wall of steel, his eyes cutting and determined. Very much willing to lay down his life for whatever he thought worthy of it. He found the swordsman admirable.
Nami was the only woman of the crew, if scary and also willing to protect that which she cared about. All the stories he'd heard about her from Naruto gave a picture of a weather reading genius who seemed to love her trade. One who could rob you blind in a blink without you noticing.
And lastly the kid. The kid. Who was a ninja. Twelve years old and gallivanting with those three as an equal. A tough fighter who wasn't afraid of wounds and had so many tricks up his sleeve Usopp had a hard time knowing what he could and couldn't do. And yet he found himself gravitating towards him the most. Perhaps because of the small pretend crew he was leaving behind, maybe because of the fellow prankster energy, or maybe…
Maybe because of the sorrowful air around him, the eyes that said he'd been rejected one too many times, lost something too precious. Because he got it, having lost his mother, not feeling like he belonged.
He got it. And that made him wonder what had put the look on Naruto.
Why would people shun such a cheerfully good child?
He lost the thought once the kid himself landed on the railing beside him, making him screech and jump out of his skin.
"Yo, Usopp! I saw some crafting tools and equipment in your things when I carried them over. You any good with them?"
The sharpshooter breathed in deeply, "Don't do that! And who do you think you're speaking to? I, the master crafter Usopp, have excellent skills at creating-"
Naruto hopped down and grinned up at him, "Good! Now let's go make Nami give us room for tinkering with our stuff!"
"Wah!" he was dragged towards the head of the ship with a slightly unconventional speed.
Also, the blond boy built stuff too? That was very surprising. He was twelve! How would he be any good at it? But then, he was a very good fighter. Both of those, though? What was wrong with Naruto's upbringing!?
In the end it didn't take much convincing to get them a space cleared in the storage room. It was for a good cause. Luffy even approved on the grounds that they made cool stuff and mystery weapons for the crew.
This, Usopp decided, was the most amazing crew he could have ended up on. And if building things was how he could pitch in, he would do it as masterfully as he could!
xXXx
Zoro was glad to finally have space to train in his daily life. It had been a long time, perhaps a little under a year, since he'd had a bigger ship under his feet and people to spar with. Well, maybe not more than one person. And a kid at that.
Whatever you could say about Naruto, it wasn't a lack of work ethic when training.
He was a tenacious little bugger with enviable stamina, speed, and the wildest of plans. The first time Naruto had pulled a wire trap, then threw a bunch of the strange knives called kunai he'd made earlier, and somehow manifested an army behind Zoro. Once the kunai turned back into clones the swordsman had to yield. It had been frustrating to lose to a trickster of a child but he had to admit he respected the blond's creativity a lot more afterwards.
The first mate of the crew insisted he would have won if he didn't need to worry about accidentally cutting the real Naruto. The ninja was offended about the lack of trust in his skills.
Nami was the one who put a stop to him demanding a rematch to prove a point.
"We don't have a doctor on board. If accidents happen we won't be able to fix you!"
Naruto scowled, "I heal fast!"
"And I don't want to mend bloodstained clothes all the time!"
"I can do it myself!"
The rematch was forgotten in favor of another fight, though verbal. Nami baited the ninja into proving he could sew clothes and dumped a lot of them at his feet with a grin and a promise of discount in future debts. Naruto insisted Nami was evil after that, and Zoro was inclined to agree.
Even still, Zoro got a good fight at least once every day now. Sometimes with a mass of clones, normal sparring sessions, and others with Naruto being a massive prankster.
The prankster bit was also what started many of their spars. Because-
"Naruto…," Zoro growled. "Why is my face covered in ink?"
Luffy and Usopp were laughing with the little devil, rolling on the deck in hilarity.
"Cause you needed- hahaha! -to look like the tiger you c-claim to be!" the ninja gasped out. "Going all Three Sword Style: Tiger Hunting!"
"Then why-," he ground out, "-do the stripes look like eyelashes and blushing!"
Everyone burst out in new peals of laughter, making Zoro's eye twitch violently. He grabbed his swords, face shadowed.
"You want me to be a tiger? I'll show you how tiger I can REALLY be!"
The trio screamed and scrambled away, laughing and yelling in terror as the greenet prowled around the Merry. Nami usually just shook her head and ignored them by reading the day's newspaper. Unless they disturbed her. Then there were debts to pay and bumps on heads. She then went back to whatever she had been doing.
Sometimes Zoro wished he could do the same when his naps were disturbed. Unfortunately, things tended to evolve into chaos once he responded to the annoyances.
It was worth it, though. He actually wouldn't mind if life stayed like this for as long as it took to reach the title of World's Best Swordsman.
Not that he'd tell any of the idiots he threw his lot with.
xXXx
Naruto woke up to the absence of a snore he'd been getting used to hearing. He squinted at the ceiling. The deck. The boards were blurring together and he tiredly rubbed at his eyes to make them focus. A noise caught his attention.
He groaned quietly, wondering if it was worth getting up. It might not have been the absence of his Captain's snores but this that woke him.
…Luffy's singing was not pretty. He doubted he could get back to sleep.
The ninja sighed and quietly slipped out of his hammock, traipsing on the floor with the quietness of one to go get dressed. He grumpily took off his nightshirt and pants to shimmy in his new almost black shorts and white t-shirt he'd yet to sew his red spiral on. The brown jacket had been salvageable, though it looked more used now than ever before. The slashes of Kuro's swords didn't show anymore since he really was a steady handed crafter and had had to patch up his clothing since young.
Then he climbed the ladder up to the deck, emerging next to the mast to look at what in the world Luffy was doing.
He was greeted with the sight of a black piece of fabric and cans of paint, the pirate captain cheerfully swinging a big brush about while singing badly off key. It didn't take a genius to see what he was doing. Naruto hopped up and walked over with morbid curiosity. He at first couldn't even figure out what was taking shape.
The next second he was staring in fascinated horror at the start of a monstrous jolly roger.
It was exactly what you'd expect from a four or five-year-old kid.
"That's terrifying," he blurted out. In a humiliating way, he didn't say.
"Thanks!" Luffy cut off his singing for a second to reply.
Naruto shook his head and decided he wanted breakfast more than getting into why they couldn't have this as their flag. He wanted to wake up properly now that he couldn't get more sleep. Shame they didn't have ramen. He missed it. So much.
After an uninspired piece of bread and butter the ninja felt a bit more awake and went to start on some morning exercises. It didn't take too long for the ship to become more lively. Nami woke the boys by hollering at Luffy to quiet down. The youth had sung for an uncomfortably long time. If Nami hadn't done it, Naruto thought he might've gone and kicked Luffy's face onto the caricature of a pirate flag.
Zoro was up and situated in the crow's nest. He'd been with Luffy the longest, so it wouldn't be out of place to assume he was desensitized. Naruto kind of doubted it though. Usopp was the last to climb out and he cheerfully announced that fact for the world to hear.
"Captain Usopp is ready to take on the day!" he yelled.
Luffy stretched a hand to slap him upside the head. The teen yelped.
"Oi, what was that for!"
"Felt like it."
Naruto poked his head over the reiling, "It's 'cause you still forget you're not the captain!"
"Ahaha, well- What is that!?"
The horror in that statement drew everyone's attention, even if they didn't react just yet. Then Luffy opened his mouth.
"This is our pirate flag!"
In moments everyone was on deck to look at what drew such a noise from Usopp. Except for Naruto who was too busy snickering up the stairs at the half-incredulous, half extremely unsurprised reactions.
"That's a disaster," Zoro stated, plain and simple.
"I don't know, it could be some form of abstract art," Nami mused.
Usopp stared for a moment, then straightened up with a smile that was slowly becoming familiar. It was the smile he wore when he started tooting his own horn.
"Why didn't you guys come to me for this? I'm a master painter! Why, I've got over 50 years of expe- Ack!"
Naruto had thrown the brush at his head. "Hurry up and do it, Grandpa!"
Luffy and Nami laughed as Usopp whirled around to give a glare before sighing and asking for another piece of black fabric. Lo and behold, he was a pretty good painter… If he just painted what he was supposed to. Naruto stared, unimpressed, as he presented his own flag to the crew. Zoro got the final empty black flag for painting and that one…
That one turned out nicely. Everyone fawned over it and Luffy decided they needed it on the sail too. Usopp looked at the daunting task, sweat on his brow.
"Er… Ahaha, fear not, I'll do it before you can say-!"
A puff of smoke from behind them cut him off. Everyone turned to see around ten Narutos, all holding a paintbrush.
"At your command, Artist Long Nose."
Usopp stared at the unexpected source of help. Then he grinned. "Let's get started! My Army of One, get the sail down on the deck!"
Operation 'Paint the Sail' was on!
xXXx
"What the- Naruto!?" Usoopp gaped up at the ninja.
"What? I'm doing like you said and getting the sail down!"
"No, I- You walked up the mast!"
Zoro glanced up blandly. "He does that."
Usopp let out a weird wheeze as though to emphasize the impossibleness happening in front of him. In the end he let it go and just decided to appreciate the sheer awesomeness of it all.
xXXx
"No, no, go to the right, right!" Usopp instructed, only for every Naruto to shift towards the right. "NOT ALL OF YOU, JUST THE RIGHT ONE!"
Everyone on board turned to him.
"WHICH ONE!?" they snapped.
"THE ONE AT THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE CHI- You know what, you need to be color coded."
That was an actual good idea. Everyone but the now colorful Narutos looked impressed, which kinda frustrated Usopp. His ideas were almost always good, thanks!
xXXx
"AAAAH! WATCH OUT!" a yellow marked Naruto clone yelled as a bucket fell.
Luffy yelped and stretched an arm to snatch it away from the sail. Unfortunately, that leaked some paint. The yellow Naruto gasped and, thinking quickly, threw himself into the falling paint to gather it all on his person midair. He smacked into a wall, spread-eagled, and red paint splashed around him. The clone poofed, leaving behind a vaguely person-shaped red mark.
Everyone stared for a moment. Then burst out laughing. The real Naruto groaned.
"Whoever knocked the bucket over will clean that up," he said.
It was Luffy. The rest of the crew watched with growing dread as he took out the cleaning supplies with splashes of soap and grand gestures. Immediately, it was decided the cleaning would be left after the sail was painted.
xXXx
They stared at the finished sail flying overhead, under the flag proudly proclaiming their pirate status.
Whatever Naruto had ever thought he'd become, 'pirate' had not been on the list. Life happened and here he was anyway. Looking for a way home to become Hokage… If they even wanted him. He shook his head and slapped his cheeks.
Of course they would! He'd promised! He'd never go back on his word!
With his resolve once again reignited he turned to the front of Going Merry and stared at the sky. Out there, somewhere, he'd fulfill his dream.
Luffy keeled over with a thump and a warbling groan.
"I feel weeeeeaaaak…"
The crew looked at each other. Their captain had stuck both his hands deep into the soap water bucket and hadn't dug them out. Seemed like the yellow clone's 'blood', as Zoro had dubbed it, would never get cleaned if someone didn't step in.
Unfortunately, that seemed to fall on the ninja's shoulders as the one other person involved. And someone who could make clones.
He argued that he was the one who died. Those protests fell to deaf ears and he was left babysitting a hopeless hammer.
Well, until Zoro and Nami dumped Usopp to help since he'd wasted their other black fabric for his own design. Naruto was somewhat mollified.
xXXx
They raised the anchor to get somewhere closer to the Grand Line before night fell. Tomorrow, Luffy declared at dinner, they'd test the cannons. Naruto was looking forward to it. He'd never seen cannons fired before. Usopp neither, so he was excited too.
"Just don't get too excited to sleep," Nami cautioned amusedly.
"Pssh, as if!" Usopp waved her concern away.
xXXx
Usopp was too excited to sleep.
xXXx
Ok so no Sanji yet. I'll get to it. Some day... Hopefully.
Either way, I hope you liked the daily-life-on-the-Merry-plus-flag chapter. I wanted to get Johnny and Yosaku here already but had a hard time writing that part. We'll have to see if I can get that to happen smoothly in the next one. Or if it all bursts in my hands and I'm reduced to writing it into a single paragraph.
Oh well. Thanks for reading and for being patient!
Um.. Did something here manage to be funny? Cause I tried but no idea. No? Okay, sorry bye-