A/N: Well, this was a long time coming! So, a bit of backstory for why this chapter took so long. One excuse is I did crimp off of the OPLA with a plot point I genuinely agree is kind of neat. The second, I decided to try my hand and write the Veggie Trio Usopp hangs around with to have more character moments for Usopp.

It did not work. I really don't like those kids. Let's just blame 4Kids and move on.

Chapter 10: Grey Goose

The world this baby was born into was cruel and awful. One soldier who was all too aware of this fact, Douglas Grey, could not let a child in such a perilous situation. It would be heartless, merciless…wasteful. So, he brought the child into his fold, his unit – one of many in the war-torn state of Galzberg.

The child was small and very quiet, but his superiors were afraid he would be a hindrance, something that ultimately would die without any purpose. Grey promised he would raise the child to be their deadliest asset; that his size would make him prone to show how useful he could be. When older, Grey would give him assignments that would put him in enemy weak spots…a Bullet to their unprotected backs.

On the third day after forming a deal with the unusual duo, Nami had a clear idea of what her new travel companions were like. To sum them up in one word: they were idiots. Lucky, strong, short-sighted idiots. They couldn't navigate, they didn't know any nautical language, and they almost always got into an argument that she was very sure they were only doing because they were bored.

On the other hand, they had rolled sevens constantly. Silk was right that her wounds were better overnight (Somehow!? Silk just said she's always been strong like that was an explanation…), and didn't even need stitches by the day after. As for Hook, his luck was that there was a second boat. Why?

"Nooo! Not the Grey Goose!" Because the boat Silk had taken from Port Cisco was sinking if the water around his ankles was any indicator. "Our mighty vessel! Why is this happening again!?"

"Forget that!" Silk grabbed his arm. "Just get on this boat already!"

"Wait, again?" Nami looked up from her charts of the local waters to glance over at them. "What do you mean – whoa!" Nami, and Silk to some extent, stumbled a bit as the boat tipped over a bit as Hook got on. "W-w-what the hell!"

"I don't understand," Hook bemoaned as he watched the fishing boat capsize in the growing distance. "Why do all my ships keep sinking~?"

"All your ships?" Nami blinked at that news. "What do you mean by that!?"

"Yeah, it keeps happening!" Hook sniffled pitifully, comically rivers of tears pouring down his face. "My first ship, the Black Pearl, sunk after a few days! I had to hitch a ride on some weird beard's ship!"

"Oh, so that's why you were on Gally's boat!" Silk pounded her fist into her open palm.

"But more importantly!" Nami chimed in. "Why'd the first one sink? Or this one for that matter?"

"And what's with the names?" Silk added. "I never called that ship 'Grey Goose.'"

"All mighty ships deserve a quality name!" Hook stood proudly, his earlier despair vanished in an instant. "Plus, your ship was slightly gray, while my first was mostly black. What's not to get?" Hook's face fixed into a thoughtful expression. "I just wish I knew why my ships kept sinking. What am I doing wrong!"

As he mused on the last sentence, the Combo-man began pacing the width of the boat; whatever side he stood on, the boat dipped precariously to that side. Both girls had to brace themselves as the small vessel rocked back and forth. Latching onto an idea, Nami asked in a measured tone, "Hook? About your powers…?"

"Huh? What about them? This is no time for that, Figures."

"It's Nami," she bit out at the address, "and humor me."

"Well…" Hook smiled, leaped up, and sat on the railing. (This made the stolen boat bob dangerously, nearly causing Silk to fall over.) "In ten words or less: My Iron Shell is made from weapons I collected!"

"...Could you spare more words?"

Hook sighed theatrically. "What else?"

"Like, is it just a name?" Nami supplied, as Silk moved some of their supplies to the back of the boat to stabilize their slant. "Or, is really all metal?"

"Of course!" Hook smiled, leaning back like he wouldn't sink like a stone if he fell into the sea. "My Iron Shell is mostly iron, but some of it is silver-"

"Moron!" Nami snapped, causing him to flinch and nearly fall overboard. "Haven't you ever heard of carrying capacity?"

"Carrying…?" Hook cocked his head to side before his face lit up. "Oh, I see! Don't worry about that, F- Nami. I don't think there is a limit to how much I Consume-"

"Hook." Nami said in a pseudo-sweet voice. The same voice she used before trying to compress Hook's head with her bare hands just a few days ago.

"Er, yes?" Totally not afraid, Hook looked at Nami as his face paled a little.

"Do you know how much weight a ship this size can carry?"

"What's that got to with-" Hook paused mid-sentence as her meaning hit him. "Ah."

"Yes."

"So… it was me?"

"That's right."

The pair sat in silence for a while, Nami's eyes glinting dangerously as Hook looked anywhere but her eyes. "Ha… Ha… Well, it's a good thing we… solved that one, right?" Nami's furious energy snapped at that comment, and she reached out to grab the nearest object to smack Hook over the head with.

CRACK!

Turns out said blunt instrument was Dorado. "Noo!" Silk cried. "Are you alright!?" Running over to the downed pirate with his 'murder weapon' lying next to him, the brown-eyed blonde kneeled down to inspect the ax. "Are there any scratches? No dents? Are you okay!"

"I've… been better…" Hook groaned from where Nami's attack had planted him in the deck. "Clakaka… Nice one, Figures…"

"I swear, I'm the only sane one on this whole ship," Nami muttered, eye twitching. Taking a calming breath, she pulled out a map of the area, sat down on her knees, and began charting. "Okay, let's see… every small ship this iron lunkhead is on sinks after two days. We have one day to find the nearest island-"

"Hm? A map?" Having assured her ax was unblemished, Silk sat down next to Nami, leaning over the chart and blocking her view. "This looks pretty official. Where'd you get one, Red?"

"Nami!" Nami corrected, shoving Silk's head out of her light. "And I didn't buy this sea chart, I drew it."

"For real?" Hook popped up from his indentation, now replacing Silk in barring Nami's view. "You drew this yourself? Heh! I knew you were impressive, Nami!"

Huffing, and raising her hand to fake cough and hide a small smile of pride, Nami used her other hand to shove her new blockade out of the way. "Yes, but anyway, stop getting in my light! If we don't find a bigger boat, we'll be swimming to the Grand Line!" Taking the hint, both blondes sat on either side of the redhead, letting her work. "Where was I? Right, if we're here… Then the nearest dock is at the Gecko Islands."

"Gecko…" Silk blinked at the name, before smiling. "Ooh! I know that one! That place has the second-best shipyard in East Blue!"

"Seriously?" Hook chuckled. "Great odds!"

Silk added, "Port Cisco didn't get many visitors since the Great Pirate Era began – all the raiding, and whatnot – but those merchants that did pass by spoke highly of the Syrup Shipyard!"

"Awesome!" Hook cheered as he wrapped Nami in a surprise hug and lifted her up. "Thanks to our new navigator, our problem really is solved!"

"H-hey!" Nami snapped, rapping uselessly on a head of iron. "Put me down!"

Hook mostly complied, by balancing her on one shoulder as he celebrated with Silk via fistbump. "Onward! To our new ship!"

"Yeah!" Silk laughed. "Onward to Syrup Village!"

"I'm not kidding!" Nami yelled, even as she fought back a smile from the infectious atmosphere. "Put me down, you iron baboon!"

By the next day, the crew arrived at Syrup Village's rocky shores. (Good thing, too. Nami's private treasure hoard had filled with water, and her budgeted spending money was either floating on top – or sunk to the bottom – of the hidden drawer.) At Nami's insistence, rather than docking at the Shipyard itself, they dropped anchor on a sandy beach a bit farther than it. "I don't get it," Hook said as he dragged the boat onto the beach. "If we're going to the Shipyard, why are we parking away from it?"

Nami held up two fingers in response. "One, this ship belongs to a pirate. We can't sail up to some island and expect to do business with that," she pointed to the Buggy Pirates' jolly roger on the mainsail, "in clear view."

"Hm, I see," Silk nodded. "And what's the other reason?"

"The price!" Nami snarled. "They charge people to dock at most ports, and the prices are always too damn high! I can only charm them to go so low, and even that's still expensive! Price gouging bastards!"

"You know, you're right, Nami." Hook nodded with a grin. "If I want to show up officially, I got to have my own flag! We should think up designs while we look for a ship!"

"Nothing I said should have led to that conclusion," Nami sighed, noting internally she'd been sighing a lot recently, before leading the trek up the slope.

"Is that right?" Silk wondered as she fell in step with Hook, hands behind her back. "It's just… isn't a jolly roger only for pirates and all? Won't people think we're criminals?"

"Nah, you got it wrong," Hook shook his head. "Jolly rogers are a symbol! When people know my name the world over, they'll need a symbol to hang up over towns and islands as a sign of respect. Also, we did beat up a Marine already. So… we're probably criminals already."

The pair's discussion carried them through the forest at the top of the slope, and now found them walking down a lane with a town in the distance. As Syrup Village's quaint atmosphere greeted them, Nami whipped around and snapped at the casual two. "Will you two take this seriously!? Are you even thinking about this at all?"

"I'm always serious," Hook laughed off Nami's accusation, "and we'll be fine."

"You don't know that!" Nami pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting back the growing migraine. "The Grand Line is the most dangerous sea in the world! We're talking bigger islands, rougher weather, and powerful pirates. We're just three people in a sinking tub, looking for a ship that we don't even know we can get yet!"

Silk gave her an unimpressed look. "Red, I think you're worrying too much…"

"You're not worrying enough! Don't you realize what that ocean's full of!?"

"Excitement!" Hook smiled widely.

"Water?" Silk shrugged.

"PIRATES!" a third voice screamed out from up ahead of the group. All three of them turned around to see a very scrawny guy in overalls, with a nose so long that it could point North, buck it down the road as he yelled at the top of his lungs. "PIRATES ARE ATTACKING THE VILLAGE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" He was so busy sounding the alarm that he didn't even notice three people standing in the middle of the road. Not until he ran into Hook... and fell over backward on his ass, not even budging the sturdy young man.

"That looked like it hurt. Are you okay?" Silk squatted down to check on the dazed young man. There was little time to answer, though, as a crowd of people ran out of town, making a beeline for them. The unfriendly mob waved their gardening tools and other makeshift weapons, clearly upset and annoyed. "Whoa, what's with the crowd? A-are they all here to fight pirates?"

As the boy sat up, he took one look at the mob and jumped up immediately to hide behind Hook. "Gah! I haven't let them catch me in years!" He pointed his finger in Hook's face (bold move, since he was literally standing between the loudmouth and a mob.), and stated, "You! If you weren't standing here, they'd be eating my dust!"

Hook had no time to respond to that as the villagers arrived, faces screwed up in frustration. "Usopp! You lie every morning about pirates attacking!" Said an irate balding man.

"Cut it out already!" A middle-aged woman added. "Some of us like to sleep in, you noisy ingrate!"

Usopp, from the comfort of his human shield, responded by laughing. "You guys are too serious! I'm just adding some excitement to your dull lives!"

"WE DON'T NEED IT!" was their unanimous response. What followed next was absolute chaos; the mob surrounded Hook and Usopp – their unwanted and apparently dishonest town crier – and proceeded to try to wring the liar's neck, not picky if they smacked Hook in the crossfire. Rather than reach out and stop them, Hook clamped a hand around the compass at his hip and covering his face from rakes and spades.

After what felt like hours of swinging and clubbing, the fuming townsfolk grasped that Usopp had somehow vanished among the crowd. With no target, they began marching to their homes, leaving a crumpled Hook on the ground, his clothes dusty from the dirt road. Having jumped back to avoid the struggle, Silk walked over and poked Hook gingerly with a stick. "Hook… Are you ok?"

Hook didn't respond as he rose from the ground, he frantically checked his compass over… before noting a small scuff mark on its surface. "My compass!" Snarling slightly, the Combo-man looked around. "Where is that asshat?"

"Whew! I thought they'd never leave!" The unwelcome voice of said asshat came from the top of a solid oak tree nearby. Why he hadn't used that instead of Hook as a human shield was anyone's guess. "Thanks for the help back there! I mean, I was fine, but you showed great hustle out there! Nice work!"

The Combo-man's response to this 'praise' was to apply boot to trunk hard enough to knock the smarmy prat off the branch and right onto his face. "You're welcome," Hook stated dryly, feeling slightly vindicated.

"Captain!" Out of some nearby bushes came…attacking vegetables?

'No, hold on,' Hook did a double-take, rubbing the dust from his eyes. '…those are just kids with odd haircuts.' The one with the orange cap, maybe the ringleader, aimed his wooden sword at Hook's chest. "How dare you!? Stand down, villain, or face the wrath of the Usopp Pirates!"

One child with green hair ran over to the fallen prankster. "Captain! Speak to me! Are you still alive!"

Silk giggled at the sight. "Aww, That's so cute! They're playing pirates! Reminds me of when I – ow!"

Her humor gave way to confusion when the third kid, sporting bowl-cut white hair, poked her in the leg with his plywood saber. "Don't you dare laugh at us, witch! Call off your ogre, or else!"

"Carrot! Pepper! Onion! Cut it out already!" A muffled voice sounded out. As it turned out, Usopp had been trying to get up for some time; the problem was his nose had gotten stuck in a hole in the road. " I was just – hrk – messing with 'em! So – come on, come on – leave them alone and – grr! - help me out already!"

"Captain!" The Veggie Trio immediately dropped their "weapons" and ran over to help get their captain unstuck.

As Hook marched off in a huff, Nami matched step with him, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Hm. That was new to see on you."

"Huh? Whaddya mean?"

"Back there with Long Nose. I don't think I've seen you angry like that." Nami gave Hook a cautious side-eye masked by some genuine curiosity. "Back at Orange Town, the 'ass clown' didn't seem to bother you, even when Silk got stabbed." Truth be told, she had missed most of that fight, but he didn't seemed bugged when she arrived. "Even with the shop building, you didn't seem that mad."

Hook shrugged, hands in pockets. "Jerk scuffed my compass." Holding up said object, he glared at the mark on his wooden surface. "This thing's too important to get broken."

"Pretty sure it's just some dirt," Nami pointed out, wiping a finger over the mark and it did give way under her touch.

Hook blinked, just wiping it off never crossing his mind before saying, "Yeah, but… it's still too important to get busted…"

Nami's trademarked sly smirk grew on her face. 'Important' to her could only mean 'treasure.' "Oh, captain~ have you been holding out on us!"

"Huh? Holding out?"

"All this time, you're hanging on to that old thing, and I finally get-"

"Nah, Figures. You really don't." Hook's flat tone shocked the silver-tongued redhead into silence. Hook took the opportunity to smile widely. "This compass can't point for crap. But… it was a gift my mother gave me."

Nami's shocked demeanor froze on her face, the random string of words striking a cord within her she hadn't let into the light for years…

They're as much mine as if I gave birth to them! Those two are my-

"...Hey! Nami!" Hook waved his hand in the pirate thief's face startling her.

"H-huh!?" She blinked as she snapped back to reality and out of her memories. "What? What is it?"

"I said Where's Silk?" Hook pointed out, and Nami joined him in noticing that the uncommonly strong girl was missing. Looking back down the road, they watched as the blonde had just finished helping the kids free Usopp's snozz from the gopher hole.

Running back up to the group, she scratched the back of her sheepishly. "Sorry! Didn't feel right to leave him there! So, what next?"

"Like I said before," Nami took command of the group leading them through the town. "We need to go to Syrup Shipyard. Just follow my lead, don't look like complete nimrods, and we'll skate on through."

"Follow lead, skate through," Hook named off the points on two fingers. "Got it!"

"Whoa! Look at this place! It's amazing!"

"They're all so huge! They even make some of the trade ships I've seen back home look small!"

Nami's mortified face spoke volumes of what she was trying not to say as Hook and Silk made a scene running up and down the crowded docks of Syrup Shipyard. To be fair, it was impressive; 12 docks each holding two or three ships, but plenty of variety everywhere one would look. As for the dock, it was flooded with workers and other people shopping for ships. Both of those groups were looking at the over-excited blondes running around, pointing and screaming like lost children in a candy shop.

"Hey, Hook!" Silk waved the teen over. "Take a look at this boat! It's got three masts!"

"That means it's gotta be really fast!" Hook nodded sagely. "I wonder if they'll let us take it out for a test sail…"

"Hey, you two," Nami called out with forced calm. "Maybe try to stop looking so conspicuous. We're trying to avoid drawing attention to-"

"Wow, and this one's pretty tall!" Silk said as she stood in the crow's nest of another vessel.

"Wait a second! I wanna see the view too!" Hook was already halfway up the mast, clinging on like an ape hunting for fruit even as the shipwrights were yelling at the pair to get off the boat.

Nami wasn't sure what happened in the next second, but after she blinked the red out of her eyes, Hook and Silk were both on their knees in front of her, matching goose egg-sized bumps on their heads. Nami wasn't sure when she grabbed Dorado but decided to swing with it. "We're sorry," The Blonde Brigade said in unison. "We'll follow your lead."

"Good!" Nami gestured with the golden ax. "We need to look a little professional, so show some kind of self-control.

'She's one to talk,' thought the dock workers who had born witness to the 'redheaded witch' descend on the pair like a bird of prey and throttle them.

"Er, Nami?" Silk looked up carefully, in case Nami went swinging again. "How exactly are we gonna buy a ship? I heard a few of their prices, and…"

"It's part of my two-point plan," Nami smirked, lowering her voice as the other two stood up. "Once we find a decent ship three people can sail easily, we'll come back here tonight and take it!"

"Okay…" Silk looked confused at the explanation. "But, how do we pay for it?"

The sneaky teen rolled her eyes in exasperation. "We aren't paying for it, obviously! We're flat broke!"

"You mean stealing one?" Hook confirmed, a frown on his face. "Forget it, Nami. We aren't taking a ship! I'm not gonna be famous just taking stuff!"

"What kind of reasoning is that?" Nami questioned. "You mean, you'd be okay with it if people knew you stole it?"

"Well…" Hook looked like he was genuinely considering it.

'If I pull any jobs with these two, I'll be caught in minutes!' Nami groaned. 'It's times like this I miss - !' Catching herself, the redhead internally snarled at the stray thought. 'No no no! I don't miss her! I don't even trust her! In fact, I don't even know who I was thinking of-!'

"Uh, Red?" Silk caught Nami's attention. "Are you okay? Your face is all red. Do you need a drink?"

"She did that with me earlier," Hook added, arms resting behind his head. "I think she needs to sit down. Maybe she's coming down with something?"

Taking a breath, Nami calmed her mind and slid one of her many fake smiles on her face. "I.. am fine. Just… thinking. Since stealing isn't an option-" She looked at Silk who confirmed with a head shake. "-unless we plaster our faces everywhere-" Hook nodded, clearly happy she understood his 'interesting' way of thinking. "-then we should take a moment and think up a new strategy."