What.
What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What. What…
That singular word repeated over and over again inside Nami's head as her mind tried to process the information that she had just been told.
But she couldn't acknowledge it.
How could she?
The girl whose name Rama had blurted out said that Usopp was dead.
Usopp.
Dead.
Usopp dead.
It was a sentence that could not be real. Those two words could not be real; there should not exist a reality where that sentence could be spoken outside… outside…
Nami buried that memory.
The thought that…
That Usopp had died.
That he had died before they had arrived.
Before they all set out to sea together.
If he was to die… if any of them were to die, it could only happen one way.
All of them…
Together… just like…
It was a lie. It had to be a lie.
Nami went over what Ruby had said once more as her mind still ran at a thousand knots a second.
She said that his house had burned down, that it had burnt down! That Usopp had died in that fire.
That was a lie.
It was a lie.
And why did Nami think it was a lie?
Because Usopp died because his house burnt down.
It said that Usopp was neglectful, lacked caution, forgetful, and many other things her mind could not put words to at the moment as her head was spinning.
But Nami knew Usopp; he was not any of those things.
"House," Nami spoke, her voice filled with cold dread that spooked the girl. "Where is the house?" She asked.
"Huh?"
"The house?" Nami repeated. "Where is Usopp's house."
"It's just up the road and to the right; you can't miss it," Ruby answered, and Nami quickly stormed off.
"Uh, Nami?" She heard someone say her name, but she ignored it as he power walked to her destination, and it did not take long for her to find the brunt down house; even from just looking at the foundation could tell that it was a small house, a living room and kitchen combo with an attached bedroom, just big enough for a single mother and young child to live in, and then a teenager once the mother died.
Nami felt a sting in her heart as she recalled what Usopp had told them about his mother.
The entire roof was, of course, gone, and so were most of the walls, but even so, even if two years had gone by, there must still be something.
A last message of some kind; there had to have been something that he must have left behind.
"Nami, what are you doing?" She heard Zoro ask.
"Looking," She answered as she tried to remove the ashes that still lay here; yes, Syup village didn't get a lot of wind, and the house that located in such a way that the rain wouldn't wash away the ashes.
"For?" Ryuko asked.
"Clues," She answered. "Because I refuse to believe this, refuse to believe that Usopp died from a house fire, it is an insult to him, he would have survived easily if were to happen, he is not lazy, careless, neglectful and forgetful or any of that, he would have turned off any lamp." Nami could feel tears form in her eyes. "I should have, I should have visited, have come by, talked to see if he was okay, I knew where he lived, so why? Why didn't I?" Nami asked as she fell down to her knees.
And she quickly found herself being hugged by Rama; for a second, she had thought Luffy would have, but… but she didn't remember. She didn't remember, unlike them, but Rama seemingly knew… It made her wonder if Luffy's memories had jumped into something because she didn't want mystery spoilers.
"Usopp is a friend, right?" She heard Luffy ask.
"Yes, he was a friend, a nakama, no not was, is, should have been," Zoro said, her tone one of stone as Nami could tell it was taking all the might of the swordswoman to hold back her killing intent.
"I am confused…" Ruby spoke
"Will make sense soon enough, Ruby," Rama stated.
"If that is the case," Luffy said as Nami saw her take a few steps before kneeling down and reaching into the floorboards that were, at this rate, almost fully rotten through. And from it, she pulled out what looked to Nami to be glass?
Two pieces of glass.
That had what looked like molten-
Nami felt a wave of killing intent flow from Zoro. She turned to look at her, and Nami could tell that she was mad.
"That… Bastard!" Zoro growled. "That son of bitch Kuro."
That was when it clicked in Nami's brain.
It was his glasses.
It was his fucking glasses.
"Did you find something out?" Bulma asked.
"Yeah, we did," Zoro responded.
"Well, if that is the case, let's go and deal with them then," Luffy said. "They took a Nakama from us before we even could ask them if they could join."
"Yeah, let's go and deal with them right now," Rama spoke. "Nami, Zoro with me and Luffy. Sieg."
"Yes?"
"There should be a pirate ship on the west coast; you and Caenis are going to go deal with that if it is there," Rama commanded.
"Understood, Captain," Sieg replied.
"Yeah, I could use some chew toys after that."
"Ryuko and Bulma, bring Ruby up to speed," Was the last order he gave as they left to deal with the one that had taken their Nakama from them.
Xxx
"Okay, I am confused. Can somebody explain to me what just happened?" Ruby asked the remaining two members of the group that had shoved up. Said her name, wasn't from Remnant and then mentioned something about a guy named Kuro, who they somehow had figured out had actually killed Kaya's boyfriend, not having died due to the fire.
Oh, and there were apparently pirates on the coast.
"Also, who are you people?" Ruby, as she just got straight up done with thinking.
"My name is Bulma Briefs, and we are the Strawhat Pirates," began to explain. That immediately made Ruby go for Cresent Rose. "Not that kind of Pirate."
"What other kind of Pirate are there?" Ruby asked. "Pirates are what they call criminals."
"I am Matoi RyukoYes, some are like that," Ryuko said. "Believe me, I learned that firsthand when I arrived."
"But you still joined a pirate crew?" Ruby asked.
"You're new to this world, right?" Bulma asked right back at her.
"A month, but what has to do with anything?"
"A lot because things aren't as cut as dry as you might think," Bulma said. "This world is ruled by terrible people called Celestial Dragons; they think other humans are trash and are willing to make everyone their slaves, no matter the race."
"But slavery is illegal," Ruby said back.
"It is for everyone but them, and the Marines are complicit in the crimes they commit against their fellow Sapients," Bulma stated, with Ryuko nodding her head in agreement. "And they are willing to label anyone that doesn't obey them a criminal, butting bounties on children if they know something they shouldn't."
That shook Ruby. "That, that can't be true."
"It is; you can just ask Luffy and Rama; they saw the rulers of their country burn down an entire slum town just to get rid of the 'trash' when the Celestial Dragons came to visit for an audit," Ryuko stated with venom in her voice, she had been so disgusted when she had this explained to her.
"Which is why we are pirates," Bulma asked. "Because to Luffy and Rama, being a pirate means that you are a free person."
"I… I need to think," Ruby said as she could not feel any ill will coming from the two. But she hadn't felt anything bad coming from Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald either… she couldn't really trust her gut instincts anymore. "But how does that Rama guy know about me?"
"Well, that is a more complicated thing," Bulma said.
"Bulma and I are like you; we showed up in this world, either through a portal and falling out of the sky or magical dragon balls," Ryuko stated-
"Wat?" Ruby asked.
"Not important, the important thing is that Nami and Zoro, the two that just left with Rama and Luffy, our Co-Captain, they are from this world, but… they got all the memories of a future timeline version of themselves. And in that other timeline, Usopp was a part of the crew and so came here to recruit him back into the crew. Even if he didn't remember the previous one as he was a friend, a crewmate, nakama-" There was that word again. But Ruby was starting to catch up to the fact that it was a special word for friends who were very close, but best friend didn't cut it. "-But instead, we find out he had died two years ago."
"Okay…that all of that sounds made up, but I am in a different world, so time travel sounds plausible," Ruby said. "So what about Rama and Luffy?"
"Well, Luffy doesn't remember the other timeline. No clue as to why, just theories," Bulma said. "But out of all of us, Rama is… the most special, let us say, as he didn't get transported to this world or mentally time travel. But rather, he is a reincarnator and was born into this world not once but twice. First, he was an epic hero from one world before reincarnating into an ordinary world as an ordinary person. No powers of any kind, just normal." Bulma emphazised. "Then, from there, he reincarnated into this one, but then they thought they had lost an important person. He unlocked the memories of both of his previous lives."
"Okay, I am following so far, but how does that mean he knew my name?" Ruby asked.
"You see, in the second world, the normal one, instead of having fantastical things in it, people made a lot of fiction to compensate for it, and that fiction matches what exists in a lot of other worlds, so you were a fictional character in that world.
"…Oh, like the plot of that comic book where one of the huntsmen got transported to an entirely different world, but it was filled with all the characters of the fairy tales she read as a kid?" Ruby asked.
"I don't know what you are precisely talking about, but yes, it is kinda like that, or you know, just the fantasy of reading a book and then wanting to insert yourself into it," Bulma said.
"Yeah, I did that a lot as a kid?"
"Kid, but you don't look any older than me?" Ruby asked, and now that she looked at Ryuko, she had to admit she kinda looked like her, with the black hair and the red highlighting.
Huh? Was Ryuko another universe-world version of her?
"Heh, I've got a very special body, so I still look like I did when I was sixteen, even though I am thirty-seven years old," Ryuko informed her, which made Ruby's jaw open up like a hinge.
"You're old enough to be my mom!" She stated in shock.
"Please don't say that," Ryuko said with a groan.
"Sorry," Ruby immediately apologized. "So what do we do now?"
"Well, if you have more questions, we can do our best to explain, but for now, let's follow our Captains," Bulma said. "Though I am also curious about you, Ruby, and about what I assume is a weapon."
"My weapon!" Ruby squealed as she took out Cresent Rose, and it unfolded, shooking Bulma and Ryuko as they stared at the magnificent weapon. "This is Cresent Rose; she is an Anti-Material Sniper Rifle and Scythe Mecha-Shift Weapon capable of compacting into the box; the blade is modular, of course, so the blade segments can be individually switched out if they get broken; the blade is also capable of rotating around and even going full war scythe." Ruby gushed.
"Where did you get such a thing?" Ryuko asked.
"Got? No, I made my weapon myself," Ruby stated.
"So you say you are pretty damn good at engineering?" Bulma asked.
"If it has anything to do with guns and putting things into guns when I am a pretty good engineer," Ruby answered.
"Oh, we are going to be the best of friends," Bulma said. "Now, what kind of improvements have you thought of`"
"Well…" She began.
And with Ryuko was mentally left behind and she wished now she had been sent alongside Sieg and Caenis to deal with the pirates.
But that wasn't the case as they left the burnt-down house behind and went into the village proper, which allowed Ryuko to see the out-of-place mansion that was located at the top of a hill.
Xxx
"Bastard could give better direction than 'west,'" Caenis grumbled.
"But Master was correct in them being here," Sieg said as she looked down at the pirate ship that was docked on the beach.
"That he was, but you know he is not our Master, right?" Caenis asked Sieg. "He lacks Command Seals."
"I know, but he still serves the same role, doesn't he?" Sieg asked back.
"I guess you are right," Caenis replied. "But even so, calling him 'Master' in this world probably isn't a good idea."
"You are right, it really isn't," Sieg said as she was reminded of the fact the word Master in this was basically synonymous with Slavery.
"Well, if you want to feel better, we've got some raping and pillaging bastards down there," Though that was probably a glass house that Caenis shouldn't be throwing a stone at as she had once been pillaging and raping bastard herself.
It was only after she had died that fact had set in.
Which just made her more mad.
Fuck it, she was going.
Caenis jumped from her position on the cliff and jumped down on the deck, landing with a thud that shocked the crew that had been chilling on it.
"Intruder!"
"Who the hell are you!"
"Do you have any idea who you are messing with?"
"Yeah, we are the Black Cat Pirates!"
The riff-raff shouted as they pulled out their weapons, as Sieg followed her.
"You? Well, do you have any idea the ass-kicking your Captain has brought upon himself?" Caenis asked as she spun her spear around.
"Yeah, it was quite a stupid thing he did," Sieg said. "So we are here to take care of all of you."
"If you think-"
"-Such a thing-"
"-Will be an easy task-"
"-You are sorely mistaken-"
Two voices spoke as they landed before the two Incaranted Servants.
Grggh.
Caenis felt several of her brain cells die as she looked at the clowns; now, they weren't clowns; that would be an insult to clowns.
The two men before them looked like they had been rejected from the local furry convention for being too cringe.
She knew they were called The Black Cat Pirates, but she thought that just referred to Kuro, who, according to Rama, had used glows that had swords on the fingers, which left marks behind that looked similar to cat's scratch marks.
How he fought with that, she didn't know and probably never would.
But that didn't mean the others had to dress like cats with their own shitty cat claw gloves.
"-For we are-"
"-The Nyaban Brothers!"
They shouted as their little intro routine.
"Are you done?" Caenis asked, almost wanting to puke her guts out at the display before her.
"Nya, we are done, little invader," The fat one said.
"Okay, killing you first," Caenis said.
"Killing wha-" The fat one began to respond but was cut off as a high-pressure beam of water and electricity collided with his body, and he was sent flying into the central mast of the ship, the wood cracking right open as it collapsed to the side. "Urgh."
"Damn, people here are tougher than I expected. That should have killed him, not knocked him out," Caenis said. But even so the fact she had thought that she meant for it to be a killing blow spoke to how weak these people were. As Rama said, Kuro had been doing the butler routine for three years, and in the meantime, they had just sat on their asses and not done any training in preparation for the big plan.
It insulted her warrior pride deeply.
"Buchi!" The thin one shouted in shock. "You are going to pay for that, you hear me!"
"Yeah, no, you are not going to do any revenging here; you are all too weak." Caenis boasted while Sieg just rolled her eyes at her comrade.
"Such noise you are making," Another voice spoke, and out from the deck came another person who actually looked important, in Caenis' opinion. "But you are kinda right; they are weak, left on their own devices for three years, and they did nothing, even with orders to improve. Honestly, at this point, actually letting you kill them and starting over with a new crew would be better."
"Uhh, Jango, that isn't funny," The scrawny cat -urgh- boy said.
"Right, sorry, that was a terrible joke, Sham," The man who was wearing a blue overcoat over a white t-shirt, spoke as he adjusted the wide-brimmed hat that he was wearing. But Caenis could tell that he had not been joking at all and had meant it.
This meant he was actually somewhat competent and dangerous, and Caenis could tell.
"So, are you the guy in charge here?" Caenis asked. "I hope you're tougher than the fat one."
"Yes, I am Jango, the First Mate of the Black Cat Pirates, and current acting Captain," Jango introduced himself. "As for tougher, I am not sure, but a fighter…"
His hands moved with a surprising speed from what Caenis had seen of the East Blue so far.
But still too slow for her as she quickly parried with her spear the two chakrams he had thrown at her.
"Was that all?" Caenis asked with a smile and frowned as she saw that she was now looking at a swing pendulum.
"One, Two-" Was this loser actually trying to hypnotize her? "Jango!"
What an idiot…
Caenis's thoughts trailed off as her entire mind went blank.
She heard some one speak her name…
What was she doing again?
"Caenis attack your friend there will all your might!"
Oh right.
She was going to kill Sieg.
"Did you just hypnotize her?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Through the power of eating a mushroom that had grown on my chin!"
"That is the stupidest thing I have heard so far," Sieg said as she parried her thrusting spear once more; for being a Caster, she was surprisingly skilled with the sword, though considering that she had all the skills of Siegfried even if she couldn't assume the form of the Servant, that made sense.
"Though if it wasn't for the message I had gotten from the Captain two years ago to train, I wouldn't have been able to get someone as strong as her."
"So how do I break it?"
"As if I would tell you!"
"If it is to save my comrade, I have no choice but to kill you," Sieg stated as she slammed her hand down into the deck of the ship, and with a burst of magical energy, she alchemically destroyed it, sending everyone below except for Jango who had quickly shouted for Caenis to save him(as Jango realized what was about to happen.) which she followed with by jumping away from the deck with Caenis obviously following her, Jango under her arm as they landed on the beach.
And as they did not even a second later, the entire ship blew up as Sieg's spell had ignited all stored gunpowder and ammunition that had been stored down below the place Sieg had been standing.
"Ah, Caenis, you can put me down," Jango said as he was summarily dropped onto the sand, and the hypnotist could only just sigh as he looked at the remains of the Bezan Black as it went up in flames. All the while, he could hear the screams of his dying crewmates as they burned to death. "Well, I got what I wanted, I suppose."
"And you will be joining them soon enough," Sieg stated.
"Hey, Sieg, focus on me, not this loser; we are fighting like Servants should!" Caenis shouted as she branded her spear. Electricity charged through it as the power of Poseidon fueled her.
"Fine, I will give you what you want for now," Sieg stated as she branded her sword.
"Now we are talking!" Caenis shouted as she went on the offensive.
Xxx
A/N: If you like this or any other of my stories, you can donate to my SubscribeStar. Adult or my Pa Tre on at pa tre on. com (slash)StreamingViking776 and read commissioned stories and chapters before they are released publicly and where you can participate in polls, that determine which story is written next or determine things in them for only 3$ a month or for 10 and up see character at work for the stories. Pa tre on money goes towards more artwork