Silmeria - Thanks for being patient everyone. Enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer - I claim no rights to One Piece or Sentinel.

Chapter Seven - Usopp - The Sentinel of Lies

As it turned out, the three children became more of a nuisance than Luffy predicted, but he couldn't help but watch in amusement as Zoro carried all three children up to him before dropping them to the dusty ground eliciting more than one colorful and rather creative curse word. Once they dusted themselves off, Luffy bent down to their height and took a look at each of them, stretching his empathy and smiling when the child with glasses hissed and Luffy was quite surprised to find himself against a shield that was rather strong for someone his age. He pulled his energy back and tried the same approach on the other children, his eyebrows shooting up when he encountered weaker, but efficient shields. These children were taught well and Luffy was reluctantly impressed.

"You're not supposed to do that, you know." the child with the glass spat out, his eyes flickering with anger behind his frames. "Guides aren't supposed to invade another's mind without permission. My mother says it's rude."

Luffy chuckled, his dark eyes meeting the child with a blank stare despite his amusement. "Well, I'm sure your mother told you that it's rude to throw rocks at visitors. What if we had been representatives of the World Government?"

"Dressed like that?" the boy with the Jolly Roger bandanna spoke up with a snort. "Yeah, right,"

"The first rule of being a Sentinel is never to judge one by their cover, boy." Zoro scolded lightly. "Even the richest of men can dress in rags. If you expect to make it in this world and travel beyond this village, then it's best that you get that thought in your mind now."

"Why are you here?" the boy with the goggles asked sharply. "What business do you have in this village?"

"We're looking for a Miss Kaya." Luffy responded, no use in lying when the three little boys could provide ample answers and Zoro would know if they were lying or not. "Would either of you happen to know if she was home?"

"Why?" the boy with the glasses spoke up again. "What do you want with her?"

"Well, my grandfather is an acquaintance of her family and he actually sent me to acquire a ship." Luffy spared each of them a glance, making sure to keep eye contact. "Now, is she home?"

The three children shared a glance before looking at Luffy and Zoro. "Are you pirates?"

"No." Zoro grunted out, his patience quickly running thin and Luffy placed a hand on his arm to silence the growing anger that was at the pit of his stomach. Stupid kids. "We're not pirates. We're just travelers trying to see Miss. Kaya."

"I can show you the letter." Luffy tried. "I'm sure you can read?" Luffy bent down again, showing them well worn letter that explained their visit. He handed it to the child with the glasses. "I'll trust you with this...?"

"Tamanegi." the boy with the glasses took the letter, his eyes scanning it before scowling and handing it back with a huff. "It's true. He does have a letter explaining why he's here-"

"What if it's fake!? We can't trust a letter, Tamanegi! What if he wrote it?"

"It doesn't have his scent, Piiman."

"But, Ninjin-"

"It. Doesn't. Have. His. Scent, Piiman." the boy, Ninjin stepped closer and took a sniff of the letter before turning away, his face wearing a scowl. "It's legit. It smells like gunpowder and the sea and that's Marine all over it."

"But, Ninjin, Pirates can smell like that too-"

"No," Ninjin denied reluctantly. "Pirates smell like the sea, gunpowder, and beer. Lots of beer. Whoever wrote that is probably a Marine."

"You have a strong nose, Ninjin, right?" Zoro stepped closer and bent down on one knee and took a delicate sniff of the small boy, rearing back when the boy blushed a vivid red. "Well, that's a surprise."

Luffy hummed in interest, titling his head to the side. "What's a surprise, Zoro?"

"This kid's an Alpha." Zoro stated, smirking when Tamanegi and Piiman released sharp gasps and stepped away. "I'm surprised your mom hasn't assigned you a Guide yet. Or has she have someone in mind?"

Much to Luffy's amusement, Ninjin's eyes immediately strayed to Piiman whose eyes bucked and stepped away and hid behind Tamanegi who let out a small laugh at the thought before he saw Ninjin's serious expression and sobered immediately.

"Ninjin." Tamanegi started gently, far too calm for a child his age, but enough for a Guide who saw a Sentinel in the throes of coming rejection. "We're too young, okay? We're too young."

"Tamanegi." Ninjin pleaded, stepping closer, stopping when Piiman released a small whimper. "I'm an Alpha Sentinel. How long do you think I have?"

Zoro, having pity on Ninjin, approached the child, bending down to ruffle his hair with a small, sad smile. "You have excellent control over your abilities, you have time, trust me."

Ninjin's eyes lifted and stared sadly into Zoro's sad ones. "You don't have a Guide, yet?"

"Not yet." Zoro seemed sad for a moment, before pulling another smile on his lips for the child's sake. "You don't need to worry about a Guide at this very moment, but once you get older, you're going to need one, alright? A Sentinel can't survive without a Guide."

"I-I'll be-be your Guide, Ninjin." Piiman spoke up softly. "W-when we're older, okay? I promise."

"I'll hold you that, Piiman." Ninjin responded solemnly, his eyes and nose taking in the fear of his Guide. It was going to be a long time before either one of them was ready. "We Usopp Pirates keep our promises, yeah?"

"Usopp Pirates?" Luffy repeated, as the children gathered around him once more, their faces now colored with curiosity. "Who are the Usopp Pirates?"

"We're the Usopp Pirates!" Tamanegi pointed himself to rather proudly, his chest puffed up with pride that would have sent Luffy into gales of laughter if it had not been for the serious expression the boy was bearing. "We protect Syrup Village from evil-doers-"

"We just signal if pirates are coming or not." Piiman spoke to Zoro in conspiratorial whisper that had the Sentinel grinning from ear to ear. "Although, the townsfolk get mad at us if we do it too much, you know?"

"Piiman." Ninjin gently knocked the Guide on the back of the head, but it was enough to get a whimper. "You're not supposed to tell. What if Usopp finds out?"

"He wouldn't be able tell if we were lying anyway! He only has one sense."

Luffy raised an eyebrow at that information. A Sentinel with only one sense online? He shared a glance with Zoro who had his brow furrowed. "An Omega Sentinel?" Luffy murmured, looking at the three of them with wonder. An Omega Sentinel, two Guides and one Alpha Sentinel protected this island? Amazing. Simply Amazing.

"So, that means you're the only Sentinel and Guides on this island? Except this Usopp person?"

"Right." Tamanegi responded, looking toward the manor with a conflicted expression. "Well, except Miss. Kaya, whose an Alpha Guide, but she's so sick all the time that her empathy doesn't work as well as it should, you know? She could easily keep Sentinels away from the island if she got well again."

Luffy would imagine so. An Alpha Guide could surround an entire island with their empathy alone, warding off Sentinels and pirates alike who deem it necessary to pillage islands that couldn't protect themselves. The power of an Alpha Guide could throw off Log Poses as well, even Eternal ones if the opportunity presented itself. But that left the question of just how sick Kaya was?

"Could you take us to her?" Luffy inquired once more. "I would like to meet her."

"Sure." Tamanegi, Piiman and Ninjin shot her each other hesitant looks before nodding. "But, you have to promise us something?"

"Sure," Luffy smiled, children promises weren't that hard to keep. "What is it?"

"Don't be too hard on Usopp, okay? He's only doing what he can." Ninjin spoke up solemnly. "There's only so much an Omega Sentinel with his sight sense activated could do, you know?"

He's only doing what he can.

Luffy blinked back the sudden helplessness he felt at the words. He was like that too, once upon a time. Doing only what he could, but he had Zoro now, someone who could help him do more and Usopp had these wonderful children helping him and the bastard was beyond blessed to have such loyal children looking after and up to him.

"I promise."

Usopp, son of Yasopp, was found in a large tree speaking tales that Zoro told him were the most outrageous, hilarious lies that he heard in his entire time online as a Beta Sentinel.

Luffy found the situation hilarious and a little adorable.

It didn't take long for Luffy to spot the pale skinned, blonde haired woman who looked sick, but felt sick as well. His empathy reached up and brushed against her shields, drawing a small gasp from her and caused Usopp to stop in his elaborate tales.

"Kaya?" Usopp's high pitched voice echoed in concern. "What's the matter?"

"It's-" Kaya looked down, past Usopp and the tree he was perched on and locked eyes with Luffy who pulled his lips into a comforting smile, and brushed against her shields again, gently and non-evasive and the gesture caused her to smile and allowed herself to wave down at her new visitors. "Hello!" she called down. "Good afternoon."

Usopp wasn't too welcoming.

The Sentinel jumped down from the tree and Luffy was faced with the tail-end of a slingshot that he seriously doubted that could do any damage, but he lifted his hands up in a surrendering gesture and pulled his lips into an unassuming smile.

"Hello." Luffy shook his head when Zoro stepped forward, one of his hands on the blade close enough to draw. "My name is-"

"I'm not interested in your name." Usopp murmured, drawing the string back ominously. "What I am interested in is why you're here and on this island."

"We're looking for Miss. Kaya." Luffy lifted his gaze up to the mentioned woman who met his stare with one of concern. "Your Pirates let me through. I earned their trust and no one was hurt. I have a letter from my grandfather who knows Kaya's family."

"Let me see it."

"And what would you do with it?" Zoro cut in mercilessly. "You wouldn't be able to smell a damned-"

"Zoro." Luffy interrupted swiftly, narrowing his eyes at the barely veiled insult. "This is enough." Luffy slowly lowered his hand and reached for the letter, rankling when Usopp took it, scanning before tensing and lifting his eyes to Luffy and then back to the letter. "You're Admiral Garp's grandson?"

"I am."

"I wasn't aware that he had a grandson." Usopp didn't lower his weapon. "You said it was Luffy?"

"Monkey D. Luffy, son of Monkey. D Garp." Luffy lowered his hands when Usopp finally lowered his slingshot. "Are you going to let us see her?"

"Fine." Usopp grumbled, much to Luffy's amusement. "Come on, but you better not try anything funny, alright? I'm not a Sentinel for nothing. I am the son of Yasopp."

"The sniper from Red-Haired Shanks crew?" Zoro sounded disbelieving and Luffy didn't blame him at all. From what he remembered, Yasopp was a Beta Sentinel who had his hearing, smell and sight activated. The lack of senses must have come from his mother's side.

"Yes, now come on, Kaya can't stay up for long." Usopp sighed at that particular problem. "Her empathy can't handle the world around her."

"Her shields are weak?" Luffy asked gently.

"No." Usopp responded, grim in the face of such a tragedy. "She has no shields, at all."