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Sanji and Zoro helped Chopper carry Usopp back to the Merry, Chopper set up in the Kitchen and began his treatment on Usopp. It was much easier back at the ship, while the doctor was treating Usopp the others explained to Nami what had happened and how they had dealt with the Franky's.

Connor leaned against the railing looking towards Water Seven. He

"Hey everything alright?" Sanji asked as he came over.

"Robin's not back yet…I'm worried," Connor answered.

Sanji put his hand on the boys shoulder.

"Don't worry Connor, once we get Usopp fixed up we'll find her," Sanji said confidently "No one gets left behind,"

Connor looked at the cook and nodded, they were just simple words but they were

"Right…thanks Sanji," Connor said with a small smile.

Despite Sanji reassuring Connor that they would find Robin, the cook had a bad feeling that something had happened to her and the fact that Sanji knew that Robin was more than capable of taking care of herself. He could not shake the feeling that she was in some kind of trouble.

Chopper came out of the kitchen about ten minutes later.

"GUYS USOPP'S AWAKE!" Chopper yelled happily.

"Thank goodness," Nami sighed in relief.

All the Straw hats rushed in to see their injured crewmate who was resting on a make shift bed. Usopp was sitting up; he was covered in bandages and was looking rather down. He didn't even bother putting up his usual cheerful front.

"Hey Usopp feeling better?" Luffy asked cheerily.

Usopp didn't respond.

"You had us really worried," Nami scolded.

"Damn right," Sanji agreed. Despite the harsh words, there was no real power in his voice. "You could have gotten yourself killed. We're just glad you made it out alive."

"Think things through before you act," Zoro reprimanded.

"You're one to talk," Chopper muttered at Zoro.

"Usopp….are you okay?" Connor asked in concern as the sniper looked he was on the verge of crying.

"I….I….I'm Sorry!" Usopp cried.

"I've been nothing but a burden. I'm sorry." He suddenly got on his knees and bowed before the rest of the crew. He lowered his head so it was touching the floor of the ship "I'm so ashamed, guys!"

The crew was completely taken off-guard by the outburst.

"We needed the money and I...I..." Usopp was so upset couldn't finish his sentence.

"Stop it, calm down," Zoro said "the money isn't what is important,"

"But we had so much money," Usopp wailed looking up "and I lost it all…how can you ever forgive me?!"

It took a bit of time but the crew eventually got Usopp to calm down enough to talk about the situation. Once he had settled down, they told Usopp what had happened at Franky House and that the money was already gone by the time they arrived.

"So, then there's no way to get the money back?" Usopp asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Well, we won't know until that Franky guy comes back," Luffy said optimistically.

"I see," Usopp whispered solemnly, now feeling even worse than before. "I'm sorry,"

"Well, we still have one-hundred million belli," Luffy said cheerfully with his usual smile "So don't worry about it,"

"Money is always something to worry about," Nami snapped. It was only after the words had left her mouth that she realized that she said the wrong thing.

Everyone gave her disproving looks.

"Sorry," Nami whispered and looked away in shame.

"No, it's okay…But Luffy what about Merry?" Usopp asked desperately "Is one-hundred million enough to fix her?"

"We're here at a first-class shipyard, so they can do it, right? They'll make the ship stronger than ever and we'll keep sailing. She'll be as good as new! So, can we afford to hire them a one-hundred million?"

The snipers response was the rest of the Straw hats had saddened and sympathetic expressions on there faces. All except Luffy, who kept smiling, Usopp looked at his friends in concern.

"What are those faces for….we're fixing the ship…right Luffy?" Usopp asked, though he didn't sound so sure anymore.

"Well, the thing is Usopp, about the ship...I've decided to get a new one," Luffy informed him like they were going shopping for meat.

"Y…Y…Y…You're what?" Usopp asked and stared at Luffy in disbelief.

"We're getting a new ship. I decided while you weren't around, sorry" Luffy said, although he didn't sound too sorry.

Usopp couldn't believe what he was hearing.

All the Straw hats couldn't meet Usopp's eyes and there was a long silence to allow the young sniper time to take in the news.

"So look!" Luffy exclaimed as he held up the catalogues that Kalifa had given Connor. He flipped through several pages. "We got this catalogues from Icicle's place,"

"Iceberg," Connor corrected.

"Right, there are a lot of brand new ships that we could build," Luffy said as he flipped through the pages and stopped "Hey let's get this one,"

The Rubber captain tapped at the ship he had picked out and showed Usopp a picture of a big red Battle ready Gallon class ship. The rest of the crew maneuverered round to see the ship Luffy had picked out.

"Why that one?" Chopper asked.

"It's red, red ships are always faster," Luffy claimed.

"Really?" Chopper asked in awe.

"I'm pretty sure that's just a myth," Zoro said.

"Plus it's 70 million more than what we currently have," Nami pointed out as she saw the price.

"Aww…." Luffy whined.

"You know Luffy with one-hundred million, we could buy a really big used ship," Sanji suggested "It would be cheaper than building one from scratch,"

"That's not a bad Idea," Nami agreed "that way we're only paying for necessary repairs and might have some left over for our journey,"

"But I want the red one," Luffy whined.

"We could always ask the shipwrights to paint it red," Connor spoke up.

"Hmm…Okay," Luffy said, he picked up the Used Ship Catalogue and handed it to Nami.

"Nami go through that and find us a decent priced ship," Luffy instructed "Let's pick out a few from both catalogues and compare them so we have an Idea what we're looking for,"

"That's a good Idea, this way we know what we want and can talk to Iceberg about our options," Nami agreed and opened the magazine.

"Try to find one with enough space for training," Zoro said "The kid and I need a place to practice,"

"Let's just see what ships we can afford before we all put our preferences in," Nami advised.

Throughout the whole conversation Usopp hadn't said a word, he just stared at the crew in shock and looked at each of his friends as they spoke and added there opinions on what the new ship should be.

"Wait a second!" Usopp interrupted as he held out his hands. The crew looked at him.

"Wait, wait, come on, that's pretty tasteless joke, not to mention ridiculous. Right?" he asked as he addressed the rest of the crew "Your talking about Changing ships…and looking at price catalogues…that's taking it a bit far don't you think?"

The rest of the crew glanced at each other and gave Usopp an awkward look.

"Wait…you mean we're not changing ship?" Chopper asked.

"See, look, Chopper thinks you're serious! Our captain is such a kidder! Go ahead and tell him off, Nami." Usopp insisted.

No one said anything, and Luffy stared at Usopp with the smile gone from his face. The sniper knew that look, despite rarely seeing it. It told him that Luffy was serious.

"Wait…you mean you can't afford the repairs? We can't afford it because I let them take the other two-hundred million, right!? That's it, isn't it Luffy?" Usopp asked desperately.

Luffy closed the catalogue; he stood up and walked closer to the sniper while staring at Usopp more directly.

"A first-class shipyard is going to have first-rate prices!" Usopp continued "that's it…we can't afford repairs…so let's find another company that will take the job,"

"Usopp… that's not it," Luffy said regretfully.

"Then what is it? Why are you talking about getting a new ship?" the sniper asked.

The Straw Hats stood there in silence for a moment.

"Spit it out! Do you think I can't handle it!?" Usopp yelled.

"OF COURSE NOT!" Luffy yelled, he was coming close to losing his temper "LOSING THE MONEY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!"

"THEN WHY ARE YOU SPOUTING THIS SHIT ABOUT A NEW SHIP!?" Usopp demanded.

"Stop it, both of you!" Zoro intervened "What good is arguing going to do? Calm down and talk it over,"

Both Luffy and Usopp continued to glare at each other.

"HOW CAN I BE CALM ABOUT THIS!?" Usopp yelled. "THIS IS THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE HEARD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!"

"Usopp just listen…Don't get worked up," Nami tired.

"She's right, Usopp think about your condition," Chopper said worriedly. "You need to rest. Your body can't..."

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT MY BODY!" Usopp shouted, completely stopping Chopper in mid-sentence "THE CAPTAIN SIMPLY SAYS WE'RE CHANGING SHIPS AND I'M SUPPOSED TO ROLL OVER AND ACCEPT IT!?"

"IT'S NOT SIMPLE! IT WAS A HARD DECISION!" Luffy shot back.

Usopp got right into Luffy face.

"YOU MAKE A HARD DECISION AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!?" Usopp shouted he snatched the catalogue out of Luffy's hands. "DON'T YOU DARE WAVE THIS THING IN MY FACE AND TALK LIKE THAT!"

Luffy scowled in anger. He balled his fists and they shook for a second before they stopped. For a moment, it looked like he was going to punch Usopp in his already injured face.

Connor stared at Usopp in complete disbelief, he didn't know the sniper could get so angry and he could not believe that he would be so mean and disrespectful to Luffy and the others. Sure Luffy was easy going and led them on wild adventures on a whim; but he was still the captain of the Straw Hat Pirate.

A captain's order on a pirate ship was absolute, even Connor knew that. He also knew that Luffy was too nice to point that fact out to Usopp, especially since they were both emotional at the moment.

Connor remembered Alvida and had this been her ship and Usopp part of her crew…or any other pirate crew for that matter; Usopp would have been beaten, thrown overboard or worse shot by now.

Had Usopp been thinking rationality he probably would have noticed how he was acting and what he was saying. However he was too lost in his own insecurities and grief to notice anything outside himself. He threw the catalogue on the floor and stepped on it trying to crush it like a bug.

"What are you doing!?" Luffy demanded.

"I DON'T WANT TO SEE IT!" Usopp yelled. "IF THE REASON WE'RE CHANGING SHIP IS NOT BECAUSE OF THE MONEY WAS STOLEN, THEN WHAT IS IT THEN!? TELL ME! COME ON!"

None of the crew said anything which seemed to make the already emotional sniper angrier

"WELL WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING!? IF YOU THINK I CAN HANDLE IT, THEN DON'T HOLD BACK! TELL ME! IF YOU DON'T GIVE ME A REASON, I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ANOTHER WORD!"

"THE MERRY IS GOING TO DIE!" Luffy shouted, finally blurted out Merry's fate and shutting Usopp up.

Usopp had a look of utter horror on his face.

"What did you say?" he gasped.

"Don't make me repeat it," Luffy growled bitterly "The Merry can't be fixed,"

Usopp fell to his knees as Luffy's word sunk in.

"Usopp," Connor said softly as he approached. The sniper looked up at the boy "The Carpenters said there was nothing they could do to repair the ship… even with all the money in the world. The Merry will sink if it leaves this Island,"

"No one can repair it," Luffy stated, though it was easily seen how dejected Luffy was at admitting this "I would never make that decision otherwise"

"But this ship" Usopp sounding desperate "Took us all the way here, didn't it?"

"Yeah…it did," Luffy nodded "But now it's only a matter of time before it sinks,"

"But…But…It's our ship!" Usopp yelled as he patted the floor. "This ship we're all standing in it!"

"That's right we are...The ship will sink and there is nothing that can be done about it," Luffy said with finally.

Usopp stared coldly at Luffy.

"What are you talking about, Luffy?" he said in a cold voice.

"It's true. That's what they said at the shipyard," Luffy said. "It won't even reach the next island,"

"Oh, we won't reach it, huh?" Usopp asked almost mockingly. "So, you let some guy you just met feed you a line and you were happy with it?"

"What?" Luffy asked flatly.

"SOME SO-CALLED FIRST-CLASS SHIPWRIGHT SAID IT CAN'T BE DONE AND YOU BELIEVE THEM!?" Usopp screamed in an accusing voice.

Now Luffy looked really pissed.

"WE'VE BEEN TOGETHER FOR OUR WHOLE JOURNEY! THROUGH ROUGH SEAS AND BATTLES! SHE'S OUR COMRADE WHO HAS BEEN WITH US THROUGH THICK AND THIN! AND YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET HER DIE!?" Usopp shouted "THE MERRY IS OUR HOME AND YOU'RE JUST GOING TO TRADE HER IN FOR SOMETHING BETTER THE SECOND IT COMES ALONG?"

There was a long silence on the ship and both men were shaking in rage.

"Is that all this ship means to you, Luffy?" Usopp asked softly, although he might as well had shouted it.

"That's enough, Usopp," Connor pleaded. "I understand how you feel but think about what you're saying,"

"Shut up, what would you know about it anyway?" Usopp snapped "How could you understand how I feel?! You don't know what a real home is…you never have,"

Connor froze and stared at Usopp with hurt filled eyes.

"HEY DON'T TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT!" Zoro shouted.

"Usopp, please…" Nami tried, but stopped short when she saw how bloodshot Usopp's eyes were.

Usopp then tuned his focus back to Luffy.

"SO, YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THE SHIPWRIGHTS?!" Luffy shouted, he had finally lost his temper almost in a dare "YOUR NOT A SHIPWRIGHT…WE DON'T HAVE ONE ON BOARD!? THAT'S WHY WE HAD ASKED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"THAT DOESN'T MATTER!" Usopp yelled defiantly. "WE DON'T NEED ANY HELP FROM THEM! I'LL REPAIR HER, LIKE I ALWAYS HAVE! THAT'S HOW WE GOTTEN THIS FAR, AFTER ALL!"

"That won't work, Usopp," Sanji said firmly "It's not good enough,"

"SO NOW YOU DON'T THINK I'M GOOD ENOUGH?! MY REPAIRS BROUGHT US ALL THE WAY HERE!"

"THOSE TERRIBLE REPAIRS ARE PART OF THE REASON WE'RE HERE…MAYBE IF WE HAD A REAL SHIPWRIGHT THEN WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN FURTHER!" Luffy shouted.

"Stop it, Luffy!" Nami yelled, trying to calm her captain down.

Usopp walked towards Luffy. Once he reached him, he grabbed Luffy by the collar of his vest.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT! YOU'RE JUST SPOUTING SOME OVERSIMPLIFIED, SENILE BULLSHIT WHILE PRETENDING TO BE CAPTAIN. I MISJUDGED YOU, LUFFY!" Usopp screamed "YOUR TOO SIMPLE MINDED TO SEE THROUGH WHAT IS CLEARLY A SCAM AND YOU'RE NOT A REAL CAPTAIN EITHER,"

The rest of the crew gasped when they heard Usopp say that. They knew he had crossed the line.

Luffy looked like he wanted to punch Usopp across the room; however he kept his calm.

"I don't care what you say I've made my decision. I won't change my mind, we're getting a new ship and we're saying goodbye to Merry here," Luffy declared in a serious and no nonsense tone.

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT SHIT!" Usopp yelled while shaking Luffy. "I WON'T LET YOU DO IT! I WOULD NEVER KEEP SAILING WITH YOU IF IT MEANT LEAVING A WOUNDED FRIEND BEHIND!"

"YOU CAN'T TREAT A SHIP AS A PERSON EVEN IF IT'S OUR COMRADE!" Luffy said and grabbed Usopp's hands and threw them off of him.

"YES YOU CAN!" Usopp yelled angrily. "MERRY STILL HAS POWER TO GO ON! I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, YOU'RE HYPED UP ABOUT GETTING A NEW SHIP!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!" Luffy shouted as he tackled Usopp to the floor and pinned him. "DON'T MAKE IT SOUND LIKE YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE SUFFERING! WE ALL FEEL THE SAME WAY!"

"THEN HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT CHANGING SHIP!?" Usopp yelled as he struggled in Luffy's grip.

"IF YOU DON'T LIKE HOW I DO THINGS, THEN GET THE HELL OFF MY SHIP," Luffy yelled.

Sanji kicked Luffy in the face sending him flying back into the table. The kick was so powerful that Luffy broke the kitchen table on impact.

Sanji was breathing hard in anger.

"IDIOT, THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!? DON'T TALK SO CARELESSLY!" Sanji scolded.

Luffy slowly picked himself up from the rubble and put his hat back on. He was much calmer now and was able to think straight.

"I'm sorry," Luffy apologised "I didn't mean to say that,"

"No…it's fine Luffy" Usopp spoke from where he lay "That's how you really feel,"

"What did you day?!" Luffy asked.

"Leaving behind weak crew mates is what you do, right Luffy?" Usopp sat up "If you want to leave this ship behind then I'm staying as well,"

"Usopp, you can't be serious," Zoro said, he and the others were shocked by what he was hearing.

"Think about what you're saying" Nami begged.

"I have Nami," Usopp snapping at her "I knew, that I would never be able to catch up to any of you. Today proved that fact…If I can't even hold onto some cash then what good am I?"

"That's not true," Chopper tried.

"Yes it is, even Connor is stronger than me and he's a kid. I know in the future I'll only cause more problems," Usopp said and he stood up at full height and glared at the rubber Captain.

"Luffy, you said you wanted to be the pirate king. But I don't necessarily want to go that far…If you think back to when I joined;" Usopp went on "I only came aboard because you invited me. Since we don't share the same goals anymore, we should go our separate ways,"

With that Usopp turned to leave exiting the room, the rest of the crew followed him and saw him jump over the railing and land on the ground. Usopp winced in pain from the landing but he was too angry to care.

"Usopp wait…where are you going?" Connor called out.

"Wherever I want," Usopp said coldly "I QUIT!"

The moment Usopp said that Connor felt his brand pulse and he felt the connection to Usopp fade away into nothing.

"WHAT?!" Chopper cried out "WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?! ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO YOURSELF RIGHT NOW?!"

"Let's talk about this," Nami tired.

But Usopp wasn't hearing it; he just started to walk away.

"HEY COME BACK!" Sanji shouted.

Zoro watched from the back with concern in his eyes. But he did not try to stop Usopp or even call out to him.

"Don't leave us Usopp," Connor called out, he was on the verge of crying.

Usopp stopped and turned to look at Luffy who was still staring at him with a cold and angry expression.

"I won't hold you back any longer," Usopp said, causing Luffy to grit his teeth "However the ship belongs to the captain. Monkey D. Luffy… I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL FOR THE SHIP!"