Chapter 7: Yasopp Finds Out, Usopp is Argumentative and the Paparazzi are Out

"Your son made the front page again." Hongo sat beside Yasopp on the galley bench, throwing the newspaper in his hand beside Yasopp's table canvas.

"Yeah?" Yasopp blindly reached out for his cup of tea and brought it to his lips; he sputtered, pulling the cup away, grimacing. He'd taken a drink from his paint cup once again.

Hongo chuckled and took the cup out of Yasopp's hand, sliding over the proper cup that held his tea. "It's an interesting article." He pulled the paintbrush from Yasopp's hand and replaced it with the newspaper. "Take a look."

Yasopp glanced over the front page as he took a drink from his proper cup and spit it all over his painting. "Oi, If you are going to keep spitting stuff out all over my kitchen, get out!" Lucky snapped, hitting Yasopp over the head with his wooden spoon when he approached. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

He glanced over Yasopp's shoulder to the newspaper in the sniper's shaky hand. On it displayed Usopp and Trafalgar Law, the Heart Pirates Captain. The picture had obviously been taken to make it appear as if they had just kissed.

"How dare that bastard touch my baby!?"

"Baby?" Lucky rolled his eyes and walked back to the stove to stir the stew he and his helpers were making for dinner. "He's nineteen, hardly a baby."

"He's baby enough not to be sleeping with a twenty-seven-year-old!"

Lucky hummed, "Good for Usopp. He's cute."

"He's a murderer! Did you see what he did to all those poor people?" Yasopp exclaimed. "He left 100 hearts at the door of the Marines, just the hearts."

"Yasopp, they were hardly poor people. They were bloodthirsty criminals." Lucky reminded him, "He also saved Luffy's life, so he can't be all bad."

"He's nineteen."

"Yes," Lucky said, leaning over to take a sip of his stew before reaching over to grab spices. "We've established you're old."

Hongo looked over Yasopp's shoulder to look at the picture. "Your kid is gorgeous. I can't say I blame Law for going after him." Hongo studied the picture for a moment longer before looking at Yasopp and back to the picture. "Are you certain this is your kid?"

Lucky snorted, hiding it behind a cough. "There was that drama with Vista before Usopp was born, wasn't there?"

"And that court case a decade ago where he claimed to be Usopp's father," Limejuice added as he entered the kitchen. "Boss says to stop riling Yasopp up."

"He's no fun," Lucky clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Yasopp grumbled and put his teacup into the sink where they had soaking dishes, purposely splashing Lucky with the soapy water. "Fuck you guys."

He grabbed his canvas and art supplies off the table, along with the newspaper and stormed out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Limejuice called out, eyebrows knitted together in confusion as he watched his fellow officer leave.

"To talk to Shanks." The three men and Lucky's helpers listened with wide eyes as Yasopp stomped his way up the stairs and across the corridor. They winced, in unison, at the loud slam! of Shanks' office door opening and hitting the wall.

Lucky, Hongo and Limejuice sighed heavily.

"I'll go tell Building Snake that we are changing courses," Limejuice said as he pulled his long hair back into a ponytail. "Shanks won't deny him once he brings up Uta."

Well, family drama aside. At least they'll get to see Anchor again.

~o0o~

"Usopp, come on," Franky begged as he tried and failed to catch up with the sniper.

Usopp gritted his teeth and kept walking. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he needed to get away from Franky. He had been insufferable since their little tiff on the Sunny the night before.

The Straw Hat's landed on a quaint little island that morning, and Usopp had spent the morning at a table in front of the island's only cafe. He had been people-watching and sketching in his book when Franky approached him about Law again. Usopp couldn't really pinpoint why, other than this specific time, it being about appropriate times and places to talk about sex, but Franky trying to have a conversation about Law with him, specifically one involving safety around sex, angered him.

"Leave me alone, Franky," Usopp growled, ignoring Franky's pleas to slow down. "I told you that I don't want to talk to you about this."

"You have to talk to someone."

Usopp took a deep breath and turned to glare up at Franky. He could see Zoro, Sanji and Robin in his peripheral and could hear Brook's music slow down into something much softer, likely so he could hear what they were talking about. Usopp was not quiet about it. "I appreciate that you want to be someone I can come to talk to, but let me make it perfectly clear, Franky. I would talk to my father about my relationship with Law before I would talk to you. And he's not even on my list of people I would talk to."

"Usopp!"

Usopp whipped around, a slight bubble of hysterics slipping from his lips. He shook his head in disbelief. "Now? You decide to show up now, of all times?" Usopp snapped, throwing up his hands in anger.

Yasopp opened his mouth but immediately closed it when Usopp levelled him with a glare. "No, absolutely not. I don't care what you have to say. You don't get to show up after thirteen years and think you are allowed any say in who I date."

He looked between Franky and Yasopp with his heart pounding in his chest and a massive headache coming on between his eyes. "I can't handle this anymore."

"Why are you so angry at me?" Franky sighed, "I didn't do anything."

Usopp froze. "Why? You are asking me why I am so angry at you?" Usopp sighed heavily and laughed humorously. "Let me reassure you, Franky, that I am not angry at you." He paused for a moment to consider. "I definitely am annoyed because there is a time and place to talk about sex and in front of the entire crew OR out in public are NOT those places, but I am not angry.

"I am upset because not a single adult wanted anything to do with me since my mother died thirteen years ago, and now all of a sudden, every single one in my life wants to dictate what I do and who I do it with. It doesn't get to work that way. I won't allow it to. I was forced to raise myself at seven, which meant making all of my own decisions. I made a lot of mistakes too, but they were my own because I had no one there. I am not angry at you, Franky. I am angry at the situation where adults now think they can suddenly override everything."

"I am not trying to tell you not to date Law. I just want you to be safe!" Franky shouted in frustration.

"Well, stop it!"

"Stop what? Stop caring about you? I am not about to do that."

"I am not asking you to stop caring about me. I am asking you to trust me. If I were unsure about sex or anything like that, I would go to Chopper. He's the doctor, isn't he? Law is a doctor. We are literally surrounded by doctors. I will come to you if I need it. Just please stop."

Usopp turned his heel, stopping short when he met Robin's stare. Her face was blank, and he couldn't quite tell what Robin was thinking, but he could almost taste the disapproval coming off of her. "I need to go."

He stalked away, ignoring Luffy's call for Usopp to play soccer with him, Shachi, Bepo, Chopper and Penguin.

Luffy watched him leave before turning to look at Franky. He threw the soccer ball at Penguin and told them to start without him before he walked over, hands shoved in his shorts pockets. "Usopp's having a hard time right now."

"Usopp's being a brat," Sanji snorted, taking a drag from his cigarette.

Luffy cocked his head to the side, "Is he?" With a shrug, Luffy said, "I think it's hard having to raise yourself from the time you're seven and then have people try and tell you what to do when you are an adult. Even I had adults looking after me. They weren't the best, but they were there when I needed them. Who did Usopp have?" Luffy rocked back onto the balls of his feet. "I wouldn't trust adults much if I had to grow up like him. Did you, Robin?"

Luffy looked up at her with wide eyes, awaiting her response. "No," Robin said. "I suppose I didn't trust another adult for a long time." 'Not until I came across the Straw Hats' went unsaid.

"So, why is that okay, but we are giving Usopp such a hard time about it?"

"Because he knows us."

Luffy shrugged, "We don't get to tell him when he is ready."

There was a fluttering of feathers that caught Luffy's eye. "Usopp is a lot like that bird."

"Usopp is a bird?" Zoro asked, confused.

"Stupid Marimo," Sanji muttered under his breath.

"The fuck you just say, Pervert Cook!?" Zoro snapped, turning to glare at the cook.

"Usopp is like a bird," Luffy continued, ignoring their bickering, "because if you want to catch a bird, you can't just go up to it. If you do, it will just fly away." Luffy bent down and went to grab at the nearby pigeon, only for it to squawk and fly away. "See?"

"However," Luffy pulled pieces of bread from his pocket and scattered the crumbs on the ground, leaving some in his hand.

"Why the hell do you have bread in your pockets!?" Sanji screeched.

"I was hungry," was Luffy's defence.

He stayed still, waiting until several pigeons approached him. "See? If you give them something they are interested in and approach them slowly, they will begin to come to you." He cooed at the pigeon that ate from his hand before giving a short rub to its neck.

He stood, wiping his hands on his shorts. "It's the same thing with Usopp. Usopp responds well to Law because he listens to him and asks questions. Usopp doesn't feel like Law is trying to force him to do things his way. He might give Usopp his opinion but makes it clear that it's just something for him to think about." Luffy shrugged. "Usopp's really not hard to figure out."

"Luffy! Come play," Chopper called, waving his hoof in the air. "Shachi and Penguin are kicking our butts."

"Coming!" Luffy called over his shoulder. "I'll check on Usopp later, but maybe we should just leave him alone for a bit?" He suggested before turning to Hongo, Limejuice and Yasopp. "It's good to see you again! Say 'hi' to Shanks for me!" He called to them before heading back to play with Chopper and the others.

"Don't worry, Franky. Usopp loves you. He will come around," Robin said with a pat to his forearm.

"Do you really think so?"

"Doesn't he always?"

Franky thought back to when he met Usopp and their various adventures over the years. He nodded, "Yeah, I guess you're right," he admitted with a heavy sigh.

"Excuse us." Robin and Franky looked up at the three men that approached. Sanji and Zoro walked up and stood on Franky's right.

"Who are you?" Zoro asked, eyes narrowing.

"We are from the Red Haired Pirates. Yasopp was worried about Usopp and thought we should pay him a visit."

"Your Usopp's father," Robin said with a smile. "I heard a lot about you when I was with the Revolutionary Army."

"Good things, I hope."

Robin shook her head, "No."

Yasopp scrunched his nose in distaste as Hongo and Limejuice coughed to hide their laughter.

"I will admit, I am a bit confused about what is going on," Yasopp said carefully. "I heard something about Usopp raising himself since he was seven. How is that possible?"

"She-"

"This isn't the place to talk about it," Franky said gently as he pulled Robin back to keep her from finishing what she was going to say.

"I'll go talk to Usopp." Zoro said, with a sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair. "You have things here?"

Sanji scoffed, "You?"

"You have a problem with that, Pervert Cook?" Zoro asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I remember correctly, you flipped when you found out about Law and him."

"You weren't much better," Sanji said with a roll of his eyes. "Your swords were out before he even got a word in."

Franky sighed and turned to the three men, who had been watching the exchange incredulously. "Sorry about that."

"And we thought our crew was insane," Limejuice muttered to Hongo and Yasopp. Both of them nodded in agreement.

Yasopp cleared his throat, "We would appreciate talking to you a bit about Usopp before we leave." Yasopp asked Robin and Franky. "I'd prefer to actually speak with him, but that doesn't look like that will happen."

"Sanji can make us some tea." Robin offered. "Come back with us to the Sunny, and we will try to answer all of your questions."

~o0o~

"Usopp!"

Usopp stopped and looked over his shoulder, giving his friend a weary smile. "Luffy, good day?"

"I played soccer with Shachi, Penguin, Bepo and Chopper. We missed you. We could have really used you. Shachi and Penguin kicked our butts!" Luffy laughed, throwing himself into Usopp's arms to hug him.

Usopp hadn't been able to brace himself and stumbled backwards with an armful of his hyperactive captain. He just caught himself on the railing of the docks before falling to the floor. "What brought this on?"

"You've been so angry lately; I've missed you," Luffy admitted, hugging him tighter. "And I know you like hugs when you are upset."

Usopp smiled and pressed his face into Luffy's shoulder, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

Luffy pulled away and grinned when he saw the small smile on Usopp's face. He leaned over and pressed his lips against Usopp's quickly. There was a flash of light, and he giggled as he pulled back, finding Usopp's taken-aback expression funny.

Usopp blinked rapidly, eyebrows and mouth moving in confusion, "Luffy, wait… what!?"

Luffy leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek, pulling Usopp close. "There are some paparazzi following us. This way, tomorrow's article will get the topic off you and Law." Luffy pulled away and smiled brightly. "See you later, Usopp!"

Usopp continued to stare at him in disbelief. He felt a presence beside him and looked up to see Zoro. "I'm not… me and Luffy aren't..." He was at a loss for words. He looked up at Zoro, hoping he could explain to him what had just happened.

"What was that about?" Well, there went that hope.

Usopp worked his mouth, "I think he was trying to help?"

Zoro chuckled. "At least he tried?"

Usopp giggled and closed his eyes, bowing his head towards the floor. "Yeah, I guess in his own way, he did." He sighed heavily and kicked his heel back into the post. "I needed that."

Zoro leaned his hip against the railing and folded his arms, "It seems like a lot has been going wrong with you. Do you want to talk about it?"

Usopp scoffed and turned to fold his arms. He leaned them against the railing and placed his chin against them. He was quiet for a minute as he stared into the dark waters in front of them. He listened to the waves as they hit the rocks around the bottom of the pier. "Nothing is wrong with me."

"So Franky is on the ship crying for no reason?"

Usopp's face scrunched up, and he turned to peek at Zoro, "Is he really crying?"

"Whining," Zoro corrected. "He thinks you hate him."

"I don't hate him," Usopp shook his head.

"I know."

Usopp breathed heavily through his nose. He pressed his eyes into his arms and groaned. "I just feel so angry. Everyone is making such a big deal out of me dating Law, and I… I don't see why and it makes me so mad." Usopp threw his head up and slapped his hands against the railing when he caught sight of the Red Force bobbing across the pier from them. "And now my father has shown up…"

"We can handle your father. You don't have to see him if you don't want to." Zoro said quietly.

"Shouldn't I want to?"

Zoro shrugged, "Don't know. Not my place to say."

Usopp sighed and leaned into Zoro's side, "I'll apologise to Franky."

Zoro smiled and wrapped his arm around Usopp's shoulders. He pressed his forehead to the top of Usopp's head and squeezed him tight. "I'm here for you."

Usopp shifted and wrapped his arms tightly around Zoro's waist, "Thank you."

There was the sound of a click and several flashes of light, causing Usopp to curse under his breath. "How the fuck am I going to explain this to Law?"

Zoro hid his face in Usopp's hair and laughed, wincing slightly when Usopp hit him in his stomach. "It's not funny."

"You're right. It's hilarious."

Usopp snorted, laughing along with him. "I hate you so much."

"No, you don't."

"No, I don't."

~o0o~

"Ugh, if they are going to claim a love triangle, they should at least know the definition of it," Usopp growled in disgust, throwing the offending newspaper onto the table.

"Yeah, the way they are presenting it, it's closer to a love quadrilateral," Nami said, leaning her chin on his shoulder and looking down at the front page. "Who knew you were such a slut?"

"Why are they doing this to me?" Usopp turned pleading eyes to Luffy, "Can you start another war? I think they are bored."

"Oh! Yes, turn it into a Helen of Troy situation!" Nami said with a clap of her hands. "Now, that would make for a good news story." Nami's eyes twinkled. "Luffy fights Law for Usopp's love and exiles Zoro from the Straw Hats." Nami playfully shoves Zoro to the side.

Zoro chuckled and took a deep drink from his grog.

"Helen of Troy," Luffy cocked his head to the side. "Who's that?"

"Helen of Troy was said to be the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Well, Usopp is really pretty," Luffy mused.

Usopp rolled his eyes, "Think more like Boa Hancock. So beautiful people stop in their tracks and can hardly believe such beauty can exist in human form."

Luffy blew a raspberry, "How is that any different than what I said about you?"

Usopp held up his hands and leaned back in his chair. There was no use fighting with Luffy.

He stared down at the article, worrying his lip. He hoped Law found it as humorous as everyone else seemed to.

THE GRAND LINE TIMES

The Love Triangle

Usopp of the Straw Hat Pirates makes headlines once again. Not for his relationship with Trafalgar Law, the Heart Pirate's Captain, but for the rather unorthodox one that he seems to share with his very own captain, Monkey D. Luffy.

The two were seen kissing by the docks last night, several hours after a confrontation with several of the top crewmembers of the Red-Haired Pirates. A confrontation that seemed to leave Franky of the Straw Hats in tears.

Captain Red Haired Shanks was seen drinking and flirting with waitresses at the local bar with his first mate, Benn Beckman, while the confrontation was going on. No news at this time on whether the Red Haired Pirate officers were working on personal agendas or something for their captain.

Revision: After writing this article, the author was notified that Usopp was seen snuggling up to another member of his crew, Roronoa Zoro, age 21, by the docks later that evening. The boy certainly does get around. One wonders how he has any time to do his actual job when he seems to spend all of his time galavanting with various men in this messy love triangle he has gotten himself into. Perhaps it was time Captain Monkey D. Luffy found a replacement?