WhIP

by footfungus

nederlands verhalen over mijn otp

182. Of green and tangerines 1

Main Content

of pop greens and tangerines.

ココダ- coco (arurun)

Summary:

After the world went to hell, Usopp and Nami find themselves just a few years before they meet Luffy again. This time, they're not going to be the cowards of the crew. They're going to save themselves, and they might as well drive everyone absolutely insane while they do it.

An expansively written time travel fanfic featuring a Blind Usopp, Metal Arm Nami, and two others.

Current Arc: Enies Lobby.

Notes:

Inspired by The Coward's Redemption by Brucenorris007

(See the end of the work for other works inspired by this one.)

Chapter 1: blinded (disabled)

Chapter Text

Sea Age 1527, Day 55.

Today, Robin and Chopper left. There are many more ruins to find, books to read, and patients to treat- and there are places only the most careful feet can go.

Usopp's going too. He's setting sail for Little Garden. His plan is to get Dory and Brogy, meet up with Cashew and Oreo Kashii and Oimo, then he's going to Elbaf, apparently.

On this blue sea, we'll definitely meet again.

Sea Age 1527, Day 91.

We reach the Red Line once again, and Brook reunites with Laboon. We partied to the light of day, drunk and giddy and never happier.

Brook stays with him. They're going on their own, long-overdue journey together.

Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Bink's brew!

Wave good-bye, but don't you cry: Our memories remain.

Sea Age 1527, Day 147.

Vivi's doing great. We took Zoro's suggestion this time and kidnapped her out to sea.

It's okay, we'll give her back before the next Reverie

Sea Age 1528, Day 10.

Luffy's missing. That fucking idiot.

Sea Age 1528, Day 12.

Apparently he went to visit Katakuri. Can you believe him? Apparently he destroyed a few fleets of Marines on the way and ate half of the island.

Dear lord that mochi bastard has a soft spot for the rubber glutton fuck knows why

For god's sake, we're the Emperors now! They're not just going to let him waltz up to Totto Land and say hi!

Sea Age 1528, Day 22.

We don't know what he talked about there, but now he's leaving for real.

He made sure to tell us his plans, he even talked to Coby though it's not the kind of plan I should write in the logbook before the day. It's a promise to us only in words, and he's going to find the others and tell them himself, before he does it.

No longer wearing his stupid straw hat, smiling like the sun.

Our Pirate King walks away.

Sea Age 1528, Day 68.

Zoro and Sanji stay behind in the New World.

I hope they didn't fight and drown once we left, that rowboat was small

Momonosuke is turning twelve soon, and Zoro's been commissioned to be his personal master in the sword. He's going to stay in Wano until Momo becomes king.

Sanji opens his own sea restaurant in the New World, and it's a big hit with only the most notorious of pirates. Of course, every worker in there packs a mean punch. Or kick.

Sea Age 1528, Day 111.

Franky leaves on a passenger ship toward Sabaody, leaving behind the Thousand Sunny in the Sea Forest ten thousand meters under the surface.

It's amazing how there are daily ships in and out now. Shirahoshi-chan's brothers are working really hard, aren't they?

Jinbei lords over the Fishman District now, approving efforts of bringing the island to the surface and the surface to the island. The Strawhat flag flies proud and strong at the entrance of Fishman Island, and Jinbei is the gatekeeper.

Everyone's settled down somewhere, and now it's my turn.

Today, I'm going to close this book, Sunny.

I still haven't decided where to go. I never knew I'd stay this long. Maybe I'll pay Gen-san a visit.

It really makes me wonder how Buggy decided to settle down where he did.

He may have been a wimp, but he watched his own captain die and stood back up.

The road we walked on narrowed, but as long as we're alive, there's always a way to keep going forward.

Even though our journey's over, we'll always be nakama, Sunny.

The Strawhats are Eternal.

There are happy moments in the log. There are sad moments in there, too. But what it doesn't have- is the truth of what comes after.

It's a deceivingly beautiful ending to a magnificent adventure.

With the execution of Pirate King Monkey D. Luffy, the era comes to an end. What comes next certainly lives up to the name of the previous generation.

Decades into the next era, someone will find the Thousand Sunny in the depths of the sea, and they will find their logbook.

And by the end of it, surely, they too, will mourn the bitter end of the Strawhats.

This isn't the story of what comes after. We don't have time for all that.

This is the story of two people who will make sure it never happens again.

Regarding the King of the Snipers.

Usopp's arms are bound on either side of the wall, and his legs are crossed in a way that was him trying to get himself comfortable as he slept.

He wonders if Ace felt like this too, before his execution. Man, his shoulders ache. Is that joint even still connected?

But Usopp knows that no one is coming for him. It's not something he particularly wants at this point- his time is over.

Speaking of time, it's hard to grasp the flow when you're in Level Six of a high-security prison. He wonders if the world is still intact out there.

He doesn't resist, and just waits for the next storm to take the world.

The world has really become more boring since Luffy's execution, hasn't it?

He would've been really disappointed. When will the successor of his legacy come by?

He wonders if Rayleigh felt like this, wearing those bomb shackles and pretending to be a slave in the human auction, just as a pastime.

He grasps some shred of news, every once in a while, from some newbie that wants to goad him into action. But Usopp is beyond that now. A brat's ramble is far from anything that can anger him.

"I heard Roronoa Zoro had to disembowel himself before the masses!"

He closes his eyes and he goes to sleep, not at all expecting the scenery to change when he wakes up again.

Usopp regains his awareness in the Spring of Sea Age 1518, nearly three to four decades earlier than he was supposed to be in. He doesn't know why or how he understood the precise date in such suddenness- perhaps it was the way the wind blew through his face- the way his limbs felt light- the way the stone before him felt distinctly like a grave- but he just did.

His hands are free. And small. And his shoulders don't have the chronic ache from being shackled to the wall for much too long. The agony of the muscle atrophy was no longer there- and he could breathe- because the walls weren't musky, the air was fresh- and sweet, and salty, like the sea.

The sea.

He was- he was outside.

Not in Impel Down's Level Six- truly, truly, outside.

His vision is blurry, as it has been for the past how many years since he was captured and chained to Level Six. But the world right now is bright and colourful and so many colours Impel Down evidently isn't.

Blotches of so many colours, yet he can't see the clouds.

For the first time in a while, he wishes he had his eyesight back.

(He still remembers the agony when those marines spilled acid over them, laughing in glee at the aspect of the greatest sharpshooter in the world, crippled forever.)

(Joke's on them, Usopp can shoot them down a mile away, blind or not.)

What's going on?

The sunlight is harsh against his head. The sea is a painful cobalt blue. The tombstone before him says Banchina, in loving memory of a beloved mother. He knows because he runs his hands over them and feels each carved letter, and he knows it's new.

He hugs himself.

He's too small. Too thin and soft and lacking muscles.

He closes his eyes (they're useless anyways) and his mind stretches. He thinks he's dreaming when he feels the amount of people in the town around him. The amount of gentle, good-coloured people.

His heart expands across the terrain, up strangely familiar roads, and rests on the girl that has always been his one lifeline.

(It's Kaya.)

Usopp buries his face on his mother's grave and sobs.

Sobs, because this isn't a dream.

It makes no sense, but it's real, it's happening, he's young again, and all his adventures definitely aren't his imagination. His blindness is proof of it.

He's back.

He may have lived alone after his mother died, but that didn't mean there were no adults to take care of him.

Shortly after realizing Usopp hadn't shown up for groceries a while, the local fishmonger's wife decided she was going to pay the poor kid a visit. She even brought along lunch and veggies from the supermarket ossan.

What they stumbled upon was a horrifically messy house, and Usopp sitting upside down in the middle of that chaos like a kitten trying to pretend this wasn't his fault.

Cue panicked screaming, fussy neighbourhood aunties, a doctor's visit, and a very nice house remodeling session courtesy of the carpenters in the village.

In his past life, his reputation was 'the boy who cried pirate'.

This time, by total accident really, he becomes known as the boy who cried himself blind. Apparently.

Sudden blindness doesn't quite occur so, uh , suddenly, after all.

"No sign of an external injury," the doctor says, "but it's not going to get better. I suspect it's something like what took Banchina… but instead of his life, it's just taking his eyes."

They can only theorize. Sudden blindness in one night? No way. But maybe it's a disease that takes away his eyesight? That is just a little more likely than time travel.

(They still don't know what took Usopp's mom from them, so maybe it's this, just a different form of it? There are plenty of diseases that only attack certain body parts. So maybe Usopp is absurdly lucky and it only took his eyes instead?)

All in all, Usopp is glad that they're going to explain this for them and he doesn't need to come up with a lie for it.

But if they do ask, it's not like they'll believe his tragic retelling of how his wife's jealous ex-husband from his last life's forbidden romantic relationship cast a curse over his eyes so he'd never be able to see his beloved's beautiful face again.

Usopp spends his first few days home trying to figure out where everything is.

Haki can only see souls, so Usopp can't see fixtures and furniture.

He sits on his bed, and he admires the colours of the world sky is a blue blur. His bed is a white blur. His desk is a brown, black, white and green blur.

And a bit of red. What's the red?

It's the wax seal from the letter Yasopp sent. Banchina had read it lovingly, and Usopp thought the wax seal was cool so he kept it like a lucky coin.

He can't even remember how the pattern looked like anymore.

And now he'll never remember.

He breathes out a heavy sigh.

Alright, he slapped his cheeks a few times. He blinked a few times, though his vision isn't clear at all. It's only going to get worse herein, and maybe, that's fine.

This time, he'll wait for his captain, and this time, he'll hold onto him tight.

Regarding the Burglar Cat.

Burglar Cat Nami had been a mercenary pirate for a few years before the purge began.

Current wealth? Insurmountable. Number of claimed islands? Every island that owes her money belongs to her. Including Cocoyashi, that's about thirty five in Paradise, Twelve in the New World, and one Fishman Island. Oh, and one in North Blue, because of Torao.

Treasures? Countless.

Maps? Priceless.

What about the map of the world? That's buried in the ground, completed and perfect, revered as a legend just like her Captain and the rest of everyone's dreams that have already come true.

Burglar Cat Nami led a fulfilling, successful, very productive life. As documentaries often say- she was a woman of fortune, a kitten of great wealth.

She spent most of her time in Fishman Island, being the core of human-fishmen relations, learning karate for fun, and occasionally mooting off Fukaboshi-chan's royalty.

It was a nice life.

Laying on the ground, her hair sprawled out over her figure as she lay on the cold, disgusting mud- unable to bring her face away from the soil. She feels the blood under her, gathering in a pool of sickening red.

She feels the burn of the tears in her eyes, but she isn't scared- she isn't frustrated, nothing like that.

She was just resigned- simply waiting, for the cold to take her.

(Has it really been so long since Vivi was executed?)

(Vivi died, high and beautiful and as mighty as Ace's death had been. She hopes they meet up there, princes and princesses in their own right, scorned for their dreams and dying for the ones they loved.)

Nami is different.

Nami's death is ugly.

(At least, she thinks she dies.)

Like a stray cat, she curls up in the corner of some trash, dirty and drenched and missing a few limbs. She struggled, she struggled until she was the last one left- but unlike the rest of her beloved crew, her death is one no one mourns.

No one she once loved existed anymore.

And no passersby approaches, because a dead body at the side of the road is just that.

Nami jerks awake in the Winters of Sea Age 1517, a scream at her throat and a rush of vomit churning in her stomach. She bites her fist, holding it back and shoving down the dissonance, praying and hiding and- hiding, from what?

She first cringes, reaching toward her arm stump and whimpering at the dragging, clawing, grinding agony. Phantom pains, not again. Not again. Not again. She has one foot less to brave against the soil.

No, something's wrong.

The stumps have been there for years. She's past the point of having phantom aches any time except rains.

Why do the stumps feel fresh and raw?

She opens her eyes to knees that are too small, too free of scars. She's between barrels, tucked under a blanket in a semblance of a shelter. She doesn't know where she is, but she knows, strangely enough, when she is.

(And it's not when she is supposed to be.)

Beside her, a bag full of beri.

There are sandals on her feet- sandals, something she hasn't worn since she'd lost one foot so many years ago- and a sleeveless shirt.

How long has it been since she's worn a sleeveless shirt?

Her tattoo was just too recognizable, so after a few years of gallivanting in a bikini top, she returned to the modesty of shirts.

Without her right arm (her right arm, her right arm, how is she going to draw maps without her right arm?) she can't lift the cloak that's covering her figure- but somehow, she knows what's hidden underneath it.

Arlong's mark.

She bites her lip, holding back a whine.

She's back.

She's back, and this time- this time she'll find them again, she just has to be patient.

She just has to wait, quietly, and she'll be back with them again.

She's the weakest, but when it comes to having a stubborn will to live, Nami wouldn't lose to Luffy.

The Arlong Pirates take her missing limbs hard, but she shows her stuff and she manages to convince them she's worth enough to stay.

(Cat Burglar Nami has drawn a million maps in her life. She could draw with her teeth and feet if she had to, and they'd still be the picture of perfection. Losing her dominant arm is a small issue.)

She's not sure how her missing limbs came back in time with her, but she isn't going to question it. Stranger things have happened in the New World.

She's missing her right foot from the ankle and down. She binds a contraption to it made of wood and stuck it in a boot, and it gives her enough leverage to walk normally. But not having a right arm will be tough, so she'll need to commission a prosthetic technician and get it fixed.

Okay then.

She'll first save up enough for a pair of prosthetics, and get at least some of her muscle and finesse back in her body.

Then, she'll find a way to slam Arlong back into the gutters.

Everything else comes after.

Chapter 2: adapting (enduring)

Chapter Text

Usopp can't read books anymore.

That's a shame, but it's fine. All he needs to know is already in his head.

He didn't really like reading, anyways. He's not sure if he remembers how the alphabet looks like anymore, actually. He hasn't seen one in... maybe a decade? Man, he feels so old...

He is thirteen where he arrives, and thirteen is the perfect time to get serious with his personal training.

After regaining his bearings, scouting out his living areas over the course of a few months- he was finally permitted to move about unsupervised (for the most part) and with it, he adapts to his new life.

He has been blind a long time, but he hasn't exactly been an active blind man for a long time.

He works out, runs laps around the island perimeters. The good thing about Gecko is that the beach shores the islands far and long, interrupted by a cliff before going downhill back toward the beach in one big oval of sorts.

He needs to get stronger.

Stronger, stronger, and stronger even more.

He has plenty of years to train now, not just two. And he needs it- he's lacking everything he used to have on Boyn. He doesn't have access to his Pop Greens, and that's already a big setback in strength.

(...No, he doesn't need them now. He's a New World level pirate.)

(New World Level pirates don't need their best weapons to win against the small fry of the East Blue. He needs to think calmly, slowly. No rush, no rush.)

He needs to get back to his basic level first. Baby steps. First he familiarizes himself with blind fighting, building up his stamina and power on the way.

Then, back to crafting.

"If you find a Strawhat, you either run, or you kill it."

A little after Robin's public burning, that rule became a permanent fixture.

None of the Strawhats could stay long in one place- that's why Zoro and Jinbei were the first to fall, standing proud and strong before the gates of the place they treasured most.

(For Jinbei, that was literal.)

When it came to Usopp, the marines didn't kill him.

With Elbaf behind him something he didn't want to discard, he was captured. And, because they couldn't think of a better way to trample over a warrior's pride, they spared him and kept him alive.

"Because only the small fry is left, " they mocked. "Surely, they'd pull a Mugiwara and break into Impel Down for you. Then we can capture them at once and you can all die together!"

"But if they don't, well maybe you weren't that important after all! Hahaha!"

Never once, not even once, did Usopp feel like that. Never once had he felt a single bit less significant and important to his one remaining comrade he knows is alive and he knows will not come for him.

He just wants Nami, at least, to live out there, running free and strong.

He wakes up with a start.

It's dark. It's blurry, His arms hurt. No they don't. He can't see, he can't see- where is he? The bed under him doesn't feel familiar under his hands, doesn't feel right- it should be hard. It should be chapped, broken bricks

It's so dark. Completely dark.

No gray. No red- just black black black black black -

(What's beside him? He's sitting down.)

On a bed. But why?

He claws at his head, squeezes his eyes shut, trying not to remember the burning, burning pain on them that he could never forget. He crosses his legs over each other, because things don't feel real, and that's how he's been comfortable for the past ten years, why change it now? He squeezes his shoulders in, a half-hearted attempt to remind himself he's no longer tied to the wall.

He leans forward, making himself small, as small as he can.

(Where's everyone? Who's there? Is anyone there? Anyone, please , anyone.)

He opens his eyes. It's still complete darkness.

He can't take this any longer.

In a few hours, the sun finally rises over the sea, and colour filters in again.

Usopp looks at his own hands,and sits there.

He breathes, in and out.

(It's another hour before he can will himself to move again.)

It's become commonplace to hear Usopp's walking stick click against the tiles of the streets. It's not paved, but people are careful to stay out of his way. Eventually, children learn how to swirl right around him when they play tag.

If they run into him, Usopp is quick to reach out and set them right back on their feet. And they're quick to gather themselves, giggling with a short apology before running right off once more.

He's gotten good at that, even without Observation.

And that's what happens.

The flutter of a girl's dress alerts him to his surroundings, the gentle pitter patter of flats against the sun-baked pathway- Usopp notices quickly who it is, but he doesn't quite know how to avoid her before she crashes into him.

She's distracted, probably playing tag with her very harried Merry, who just wants her to watch herself and not trip.

And trip she does. Kaya bumps into Usopp, shoulder to shoulder- and her toes catch on the edge of a tile- Usopp quickly releases his hold on his walking stick, extending a firm arm for her to fall forward on.

His other arm grasps her shoulder, keeping her upright as she regains her balance.

"I- I'm so sorry!"

Flustered, she gathers herself. The apology spills before she's fully upright.

Usopp smiles. "It's fine. Are you okay?" he asks, though his eyes wander toward the ground, trying to locate his walking stick.

He closes his eyes for a bit. It's one thing to look into the fog, but trying to look for something in it always makes him dizzy. Maybe he should keep his eyes closed more often- or get glasses, sunglasses.

He feels a gentle hand on his, and his cold cane is pushed into his hands.

"Here you go," it's Kaya's voice again, gentle and apologetic. "I'm really sorry to trouble you. Thank you for catching me."

Usopp closes his fingers over the walking stick. He opens his eyes to the platinum blonde and the angelic white, and he wants to cry because he can't see her anymore.

(He can't even see the face of the woman he loved, and she doesn't know their star-crossed magic just yet.)

(Right now, they are nothing.)

"Kaya-ojousama!"

When Merry the butler rushes forward, Usopp senses her stiffening slightly, as if she was caught in the middle of a childish prank. He smiles fondly as Merry begins to lecture Kaya for running off.

After a hasty apology from Merry for the trouble, Usopp finds himself waving shyly back at their general direction as they leave.

"I live in the mansion on the hill, by the way!" she says cheerfully, "My name is Kaya! Nice to meet you!"

She's a lot more energetic than Usopp remembers. Is this before she was diagnosed? That's quite a bit earlier than when Usopp originally met her.

"I'm Usopp," he barely remembers to say, "nice to meet you too."

Nami has plenty of experience trying to self-maintain her limbs. But right now, she's a growing girl- thirteen, if she's right about this. She'll need a lot more than just maintenance- she'll need more than one session of full surgery to change the fittings as she grows.

And fuck, they're heavy.

Mekani Isle isn't as advanced as they are in the future, so she'll have to handle them weighing a ton or more on her limbs until technology improves.

Who knows, she might get stronger like this. She'll have to, anyways- need some to sail on the Pirate King's ship, after all. For now, however, these limbs are way too fucking heavy to swim in. If she drops in the sea, she'll be a literal hammer, even more literal than Devil Fruit users.

She's having trouble walking, but she'll get used to it. She'll be having sleepless nights, horrible muscle aches, and incredibly lethargic runs for a while.

But she'll live. She's survived through worse.

(If only she could jump into Paradise, make her way to Baldimore, and get these limbs done there...)

But it's fine, beggars can't be choosers. Nami might love money and act spoiled, but she certainly knows when she can and can't be picky.

Man, Nami hates being poor.

She finally brings up enough courage to visit the tangerine grove. She's come back to Arlong Park a few times, but the town is a place she doesn't visit much.

She betrayed them, after all. She needed them to think she was a witch, she needed Arlong to think she really turned for money. So she stayed away- but now, now she's finally home. Home.

Her home, that's been burned to the ground- to her family, that were seared to ashes.

(How long has it been?)

Gen-san's reaction is just… hard to watch.

He just breaks down sobbing, then screams into the void, and then demands for his guns wait wait wait wait wait! Calm down! Calm down!

She's a little embarrassed. Thank god she showed up at the house instead of the village. She might just accidentally bring the Arlong Park confrontation up to half a decade too early.

Then there's Nojiko. She takes the metal hand in hers, holds it gently- and then she leans into Nami's shoulder and cries.

Nami is the younger sister. She doesn't know what to do when her big sister cries. (She doesn't remember the last time she's seen Nojiko cry.) She doesn't remember the last time she's seen Nojiko.

(The Marines took everything. Burned every island. Gecko. Conomi. Dawn. All of them. All the people, their severed heads lined up on the newspaper like a symbol and a warning for the world.)

So she cries too, wailing into her big sister's shoulder, because she's alive.

She's so glad she's back here, and her arm and foot was the only toll for this chance.

Princess Nefertari Vivi's execution was where the gears grinded and broke apart.

Even if Luffy was gone, this was a declaration of war against the Strawhats. There was no way any of them were going to cop out and let it happen.

But just like it had been when it was Ace, they lost her anyways.

And they lost Chopper while they were trying to escape.

History repeats itself, and the World Government will never not win.

Nami's known that fact for so long- and yet, she wanted to hope that this time, just this time, would be different… it wasn't.

Her food was tossed over her. Cream soup drenching her hair, seeping into her skin, leaving a stain on her clothes.

It wasn't even hot.

The door slammed shut with laughter.

Nami wondered if any of the maps were ruined. Perhaps a few specks here and there, but nothing unsalvageable. That's a relief. If only she could burn it all and burn herself along with it, too.

Not yet. Not yet.

She's a New World level pirate, but every Fishman here was too, once upon a time. She shouldn't push her luck just yet.

Just a little more. Just a little longer.

Her fist tightened on the floor, clasping against nothing.

(What am I waiting for? )

Luffy's not coming. Jinbei's not coming. They're all in different parts of their own pasts, unable to come and save her. Because they don't know her.

(No one came back with her. If they did, they'd cross the seas for her before Bellemere even died. She's alone.)

(She has to save herself.)

She stepped out of her room. Everyone was having their dinner in the hall, boisterously making noise for their latest raid nearby. Nami made her way to the front porch, and dove into the sea.

It's faster and colder than a proper bath.

She sinks letting the weight of her limbs drag herself to the bottom- looking up, to find the moonlight shining in. The ladders are on the edge of the wall- she wades over, lifting her flesh arm to grab it, dragging herself back up.

It's hard, but it's not the worst thing in the world.

"Ahhh, Nami, Naaaami, wait."

Hair still drenched and her sandals in her hands, Nami turns around. There's Hachi, looking less like an intimidating eight-armed man and more like a flustered little big brother as he scampered up to Nami, looking over her carefully.

"Was it Kaneshiro again? Oh man," his hand hovers hesitantly before the girl, "did you get hurt?"

Nami finds herself wordlessly shaking her head.

Was Hachi this nice before? She's only had bad memories of this place, never once thinking any of them were any form of good against the bad.

She doesn't quite remember Hachi ever coming by to console her.

Hachi reaches around himself, then rushes inside only to come back out with a towel, draping it over her head, though he removed his hand as quickly as he could, as if she didn't want to touch her too much.

No.

He didn't want her to be touched too much.

Because he's a Fishman. And Fishmen are big and brawly and scary.

(It's experience. Because no matter what Hachi says and who he follows, he's always got a soft spot for Koala and the soft spot stays and extends to Nami.)

The young Nami would have been frozen with fear and apprehension, worried for this deceptive moment of kindness. Bracing for a punch or a shove back into the waters.

But it isn't coming, Nami knows that. She recognizes this towel.

She remembers hiding it in the corner of her room and tossing it the first moment she could because she was disgusted by it, hating every moment of this fake family feeling. This fake, bargaining kindness that to her, was in no way, no possible way, true.

"Thanks, Hachi," she said.

She misses the way Hachi startles. She takes the towel gratefully, wiping her hair down and pressing the hem to the joint of her metal arm.

She'll wash the towel and give it back.

Back downstairs, Hachi watches Nami walk back to her room, leaving a faint trail of watery footprints.

"What're you doing outside, Hachi?" Choo sticks his head out the door- "wait, are you crying, Hachi? Seriously? You're drunk, aren't you."

"M'not cRYiNG"

Chapter 3: best friends (found family)

Summary:

Timeline wise, currently, Nami is a year ahead of Usopp.

Basically: Nami is 5 years pre-canon, Usopp is 4 years pre-canon. This will quickly meld together, so you don't need to remember that or anything- it's just to clarify if things get confusing.

Notes:

I'm gonna speed things up from the next chapter on! dsjaklsfjklasj I'm so honoured you guys are enjoying this, I hope you enjoy this chapter too! :) ️

Chapter Text

Usopp doesn't quite know what to think.

"Usopp-san! I came to visit!"

Sandalled feet against the soft shores and a strong flutter of a sunhat against the wind, a cheery bundle of yellow bounces up in his direction.

Usopp leans against the wall of his house, a wooden plank between his lap and resting on his shoulder, and a few dozen piles of chopped wood sprawled all around him.

"Don't step on the nails, Kaya," he warns.

In the corner of his vision, the yellow bounces a bit to the left, stepping daintily over the box of bolts before crouching down near him to inspect the little wooden cube in his hands.

"Kaya-ojou-sama," Merry calls from not too far away, "three paces away, please."

Yes Kaya, when someone is carving wood, you stay five steps away or get showered in splinters and whine.

"Good morning, Kaya, Merry," Usopp greets, "what brings you?"

He can hear Kaya pout from here. "I came to visit!" she says, emphasizing the visit in a way that means 'I came to play, obviously', "hey, what're you making?"

Hell if Usopp knows. The wood started off looking like a brown blur, and right now? it's just a smaller brown blur.

"Does it look like something?" Usopp asks instead, holding it out so Kaya could take it. "I'm just practicing how to not cut myself while carving it, so I didn't really think about the shape."

Kaya takes it to inspect, and Usopp gestures dramatically at the piles of firewood around him.

"That aside, look at all this!" he brags, "you see yesterday, a big brown mountain… bear, I think? that was two- three- ten! meters tall came down, saw me and he thought I was a tengu! So he chopped me a lot of firewood as an offering!"

"Really?" Kaya asks, hopping forward those three paces again. "That's amazing!"

"Do people give offerings to tengu, usually?"

Usopp can almost imagine the exasperated grimace on Merry's face. He huffs, opting to expertly ignore the butler, "and yep! He's coming down again to cook my dinners and keep my fires lit!"

Usopp's current tactic to avoid babysitting aunts and uncles from the village (because no one in their right mind leaves a newly blind child to his house by the sea, alone) is to make up the wildest stories to get them too tired to question it.

Because sure as heck they won't believe him if he says he's making his own meals blind and handling himself with the experience of an adult that hasn't been able to see for a long, long time.

He still has some babysitters though. They usually make sure he's not dead, ask him about his day, cook him a few meals, then they go. Merry wrote his name on the volunteer roster (upon Kaya's insistence) and today is his turn.

Kaya sounds like she's going to jitter right out of her skin, "then, can I stay the night and meet him? Pleeease?"

Usopp squawks, "oh, no, no, you can't!" he panics, "he's uh- uhhhh," his eyes dart around away from Kaya and then they close, "shy around girls!"

Before Kaya can deflate and Usopp can spontaneously combust, Merry pats them both on the head to stifle the growing fairy tale.

"As interested as we are in Mister Mountain Bear, I will have to remind you Usopp-kun- don't talk to strangers if you don't know who they are," Merry says.

Usopp hums. They think this imaginary bear is a man. Okay.

He hears the click of a pocket watch. "Now then, Kaya-ojousama, and Usopp-kun. Shall we head to lunch?"

"So this is Momoiro Cafe… oh! Koala-san!" Usopp felt the need to bow as he greeted her, "it's nice to see you again!"

Retiring from piracy, Usopp had plenty of time to dabble. He taught the kids on Elbaf how to shoot. He found a legitimate Island of Snipers and had a lot of fun there. He claimed a few islands for himself and visited them every few months.

And most important of all, he joined the Revolutionary Army on a part-time basis.

"Sogesopp-san, did you come by to play?" Koala says, sarcastic, but brimming with honest joy. "Oh would you listen to this? Sabo-kun and I were on a mission-"

Expertly, Usopp sat himself on the opposite side on the table, setting down his bag and leaning on the desk comfortably.

The agent he was talking to excused himself, and Usopp waved with a sheepish apology. A moment later, he was served tea in a pink and heart-painted cup. Almost comfortingly, he picked it up and took a sip, enjoying the warmth of peaches and roses.

"...Then when he showed up again he was holding the prince in his arms! Could you believe that?!" Koala gesticulated wildly. "The building was on fire and even though it was just a spying mission he went and blew everything up anyways!"

Usopp burst into laughter, "I take it that's the new guy in the East Division that's wearing the hat, right? Saw him on my way in."

"That's him! He's doing a great job, but man, could Sabo stop adopting every troubled kid he finds?" Koala complains, "he idolises Sabo so much we just know he's going to grow up into a pain in the ass."

Usopp sips his tea.

"Well, he has to pass the baton somehow," he says. "I can't wait to see how the new generation ruins the world."

"They're terrible," Koala says, scowling fondly.

"No," Usopp says, "they're the Worst."

Conversations like these were common now. Like old war buddies, Usopp sought solace in people of the previous generation, trying to get a semblance of closure in reminiscing.

"Sometimes, I wish we could go back to those times," Usopp says.

Koala smiles, a little sad, "optima dies... prima fugit."

The best days are the first to flee.

He sits on his bed, his stew cooking and his mind wandering.

Right now, he's about thirteen years old, give or take a few months. He can't read newspapers, so he can't know the exact date. Days are a blur now that sunrise and sunset are hard to tell apart, especially if he takes a nap.

He does ask Kaya to read the news for him, though. Just to keep a lookout on the workings of the world.

What's the plan? Is there a plan?

He needs a plan.

What should change and what shouldn't?

Honestly, Usopp loved every moment of his journey, the bitter and the sweet, all of them. The only problem was what came after, the cruelty of their strength and the despair they all felt as they were picked off, one by one.

Why couldn't they have a nice retirement life like Rayleigh?

The problem is the world.

Princess Nefertari Vivi loved her country. But her love for her country made her go obediently toward the execution platform. No one can say it was right to take her away from her throne- but if she wasn't on the throne, maybe she would have lived to see a daughter or a son take it from Kohza.

They have to hit the world harder than they did before.

(Is that even possible?)

Usopp laughs to himself. Is fighting the government seriously his calm-minded first choice? The old him would've just gone to sleep crying for his I-can't-blow-up-anymore-WG-flags-or-I'll-die-disease.

He's sure changed, hasn't he?

I'm so … he ran a hand through his arm. Smooth, clean, but he remembers the place of each and every scar that ran through this very limb. I'm so… wrong, right now.

He can't be the Usopp that Luffy met. He can't be that guy anymore- the guy that was the weakest, was the wimpiest, yet was so irreplaceable.

Usopp can't be that guy.

He has to be someone different. Someone better.

Nami's covered in oil and grease and surrounded by nuts and bolts.

"Nami, straighten your posture," Nojiko chides.

Nami makes a whiny sound. "But these things are heavy!"

Muscles are thick and ugly, but at this rate, she'll need a toned figure just to handle walking around for more than too long. The long-term strain will also give her joint issues…

Even right now, when she wore her metal arm in a sling when she didn't need to use it. It was just too painful to hold it up for long periods of time, especially coupled with the muscle strain that came with each day trying to get used to it.

"You sure bought a lot of stuff this time around," Nojiko says. The house, usually smelling like fresh dew and oranges- now it was filled with the slightly pungent odor of wax and oil. Not awful, just different.

"Sorry, Nojiko. Maybe I'll keep them at Arlong Park inste-"

"No, no, I didn't say that," Nojiko interrupts, "you can keep them here."

Where had her tomboy little sister, delicate and so adorable, gone? She looks so at home among gears, robots, and machinery. She would smear a handful of ink on her face, or fall asleep among the soil, to the smell of oil.

It was jarring.

It's like her lifelong dream of mapping the world has taken a back seat, and her priorities have sorted from map-money-beauty, to power-map-money, with the aforementioned beauty never to be seen again.

She now cares little enough about money that Nojiko gets a monthly bag of gold she can use to pay off their headcount taxes. Nojiko thought Nami was trying to save up. How is she paying for those limbs, investing in Nojiko's allowance, and saving up all at once? Where is she getting the money? (Easy, she just isn't saving up anymore. She's using all she has.)

She still cared about beauty, though. Nojiko's seen her frowning at the mirror at a new set of acne or a new scar, but she didn't think there was time to deal with it in her schedule. She wasn't taking care of herself as often, not letting herself be pampered until she truly had a moment of real reprieve.

Someday, when this is all over (if that day ever comes,) Nojiko is going to drag Nami to a massage parlour. And a hair salon.

She leans against the side of the door.

Nami's tattoo is in full view- something Nami used to try her hardest to hide when Arlong wasn't looking.

And Nojiko hates it. It's as if Nami is adapting, trying to become one of them by first numbing her heart. It's as if the naive and innocent part of Nami, the Nami that dreamed of maps and whined after being caught stealing books- it's like it was all lost, along with her right arm.

This Nami is stronger- so much stronger, tougher, and more resilient. So much, Nojiko holds back tears.

It's not necessarily a bad thing.

But is this still her Nami?

The both of us, we have to rely on our brains to survive. Usopp had told her before, and it's been her lifelong code.

You do what I can't do, and I'll do what you can't do . That's something Sanji said- it's the general rule of the Strawhats, paraphrased from Luffy's own rambles.

There's not a soul in the crew that doesn't love it.

Nami navigates. She keeps the crew going. That's her job, and it's been everything to her and her crew- it's the most important part, and it's her pride. But this time, that's not enough.

This time, she has to pull her weight even more. She has to be dependable.

She was the last to remain last time. It's not because she was strong- the strongest died first. She was the last because she was the coward, running and hiding.

What would adventure be without fun?

But what is adventure with only bitter aftermath?

"Hey, Bellemere-san," Nami says, looking out toward Bellemere's grave and praying for more than her mother's soul.

She put a hand on the grave.

"One day, I'll get strong enough to defeat Arlong. And then we'll all be free again," she promises. "Then I might have to leave, but it'll all be fine."

Because this time, she can't just be a damsel in distress.

"Watch over me until then, okay?"

Nami spent her post-retirement life in Fishman Island. She was a beaming icon for their interspecies relations, and picture books were made of their story.

Largely censored and sugared in, but it was the story that made a note in the world, showing people just how cruel both sides were, yet forgiveness was possible.

Fishman island was her home.

She even worked part time in Mermaid Cafe (she wasn't a mermaid, but people loved her anyways) with Caimie, and helped out with Hack's Fishman Karate lessons to the kids.

With a certain unexpected someone.

"Hey Bepo-chan, does Torao really not mind you coming by so often?"

The Polar Bear Mink straightened, then he nodded. "Captain is hanging around Punk Hazard recently. Trying to find new things. They're always on the fire side, but I'm bad with that. So if I'm here, they can stay there longer. Sorry."

"You're still apologizing a lot," Nami chuckled when Bepo followed with another apology. "What about back at Zou? How's Carrot doing? I heard she's graduated from the Musketeers?"

Bepo nodded. "Lord Nekomamushi and Lord Inuarashi are retiring, and we're not too sure who to pick as a successor. All the votes right now are between Carrot, Pekoms, and… me. Sorry."

Nami perked up at that last one.

"Sorry!" Bepo quickly covered up, flustered, "I mean- captain said he doesn't mind but- I'm sorry. I'm sorry- I mean- uh, sorry."

Nami laughed.

"A human and a mink learning Fishman Karate, talking about how one of us is going to be Lord next week." Nami muses, "a decade ago, this was unthinkable! Man, if Luffy saw this, he'd be so confused, wouldn't he?"

Bepo went silent at that.

"He'd call me a mystery Polar Bear again…"

Nami snorted.

"He definitely would!"

"Where's Nami?"

"She just jumped into the sea."

"Oh- wait, WHAT?!" Choo lurches forward in surprise. He swirls on Kuroobi, because dude you could sound a little more like you care! That kid's like fourteen! Or thirteen. A kid! A Human! Kid!

Plus, after Hachi kicked up a fuss about properly feeding the brat, there have been shifts on who looks after Nami and makes sure someone doesn't accidentally punt her across the town on purpose. It's currently Choo's turn and he only looked away for two minutes, he swears.

Kuroobi scratches the back of his neck. "I mean, she'll be fine. She's human, but she can swim, right?"

Choo kinda understands why Hachi kicked up a fuss now. All of these absolute morons need a lesson on the difference between fishmen and humans again.

"Nami has a metal arm," Choo grinds out, dashing toward the coast and trying to figure out if he should jump in, "and that thing is heavier than two of Hachi's swords, okay? Would you want to swim in the water with two of Hachi's swords?"

There's a pause.

Then, "fuck," Kuroobi says, "Hachi's going to kill us."

Choo explodes, "I'll kill you first!" he yells.

The threat goes unfulfilled though, because the next second, Mohmoo surfaces, a certain orange-haired girl on his head.

Nami's laughing. She's the happiest anyone has ever seen in her, in like, ever.

For Choo and Kuroobi, a very unsettling memory rises- and they shake their heads, dismissing it.

They chose to follow Arlong. No sense in being sentimental for that little girl anymore.

Drifting over with half his head above the surface, Mohmoo meekly delivers Nami to dry ground. He accepts a head pat, and then Nami bids him goodbye before he returns to his undersea nest.

Choo and Kuroobi just stare, wide-eyed.

"Nami, what were you doing under the sea?" Kuroobi asks, sounding less antagonistic than he usually did towards her but he wasn't in the state of mind for racist jabbing right now.

Nami swipes her bangs back. Oh hey her hair's getting longer. "Huh?" she notices the two as she picks up a towel at the side. Isn't that Hachi's towel?

"I went for a swim. Mohmoo almost ate me, but I think he smelled the metal and decided I was unappetising or something."

Mojmoo almost WHAT?!

"I thought your limbs were too heavy to swim in," Choo says, "they're fine now?"

Nami shrugs, "it's shallow here," she assures them. And her comfort in talking to them is something that unsettles them greatly. She sin't even shrinking away when they step closer. "I can climb up when the situation calls for it."

With the stairs along the edge of the shore, probably.

Deciding this conversation is over, she walks toward her room again, probably to get changed.

"Wait, Nami!" Kuroobi calls.

When Nami turns around, he finds himself at a loss for words. Just two weeks ago this kid was still a cowering little girl just as pitiful as Koala had once been. But now? There wasn't a shred of fear in her figure. She looks them in the eyes, and handled herself daintily, not trying to look tougher than she was.

Just tolerance, and a professional sort of camaraderie.

Kuroobi trails off. "It's… dinnertime soon."

Nami nods. "I'll eat after."

"No no no no nono," Choo interrupts quickly, "No." Then when Nami looks at him weirdly, he goes, "you're eating on the same table. No Kuroobi, don't look at me, do you want Hachi to explode on us again? No? Okay. Nami? You heard me."

Chapter 4: baby chick (seagull sail)

Chapter Text

It's becoming a habit now.

Usopp jerks awake, sweaty, breathing hard, crying- completely disoriented and confused, why is everything so dark? Where's the lamp?- not being sure of what's real and what isn't. The darkness definitely isn't helping. His heart hurts, his vision's a blur, and nothing is right.

But he's starting to get used to it all. Being stuck, unable to lift himself form the floor for a few hours at first, less than an hour soon, and eventually, he can get up and wash his face before the sun rises.

He sobs for an hour. Jogs for another. Then he works out until the sun rises, and he takes a shower before Kaya drops by.

Kaya's been dropping by really often now. Every day if Merry allows.

It's strange.

Usopp hasn't particularly done anything to make a real change in the situation, but it changed, simply because he's blind. And Kaya, the rich girl without friends, had a penchant for the strange blind kid without friends.

Usopp's honestly a little conflicted. But it's fine.

"Hey, Usopp-san! Tell me a story," Kaya says, sitting down beside him as he works on a slingshot, fiddling around blindly and trying to make it perfect.

Usopp smiles.

"Have I told you about the time we fought a dragon and then made a centaur friend?"

It's been a year since he came back now.

Usopp is slowly getting used to darkness. He still hates it, but when he feels the leaves under his bare feet and the gentle dew of leaves against his cheeks, he calms down just a little.

It's like self-imposed therapy.

He feels the world with his skin, breathes the world's air, hears the sounds of the night, and tries to tell them apart.

Standing between two trees, Usopp feels something crawl past his arms- but he's fine with it.

He's always been the best with arachnids and myriapods. He doesn't particularly care for what's on his fingers and what's skittering past his feet. They're part of the world, just like him- they're alive, just like everything else in the forest. He can feel them, with his Haki- and they're much more assuring than the things he can't feel, like the damp branches marred with the slime of moss, or the trees that crunch just a little too loud when he steps. Those are scarier to him now.

He stretches.

And stretches.

He's never managed it before- but in this life, he has more time to train. So maybe- just maybe, his Observation can become something that surpasses even Sanji, who can see miles and minutes into the future at his peak.

Maybe not in the aspect of how far he can see- maybe just in sensibility, in what Usopp does best.

He stops walking.

He stops at a tree, looking up though he can't see. There's a life force there- just one, very small, very tender presence, and it distracts him from his train of thought. Up on the trees- it's the nest of a bird that has been here for a while.

(...but the flock flew this morning, didn't it?)

Usopp starts climbing.

"It's a little ball of fluff!"

Kaya squeals out her greeting, making Usopp jump in fright. His Haki was active, but he wasn't focused and didn't notice her coming. The house is a mess and Kaya just charges and runs over a few things, and hopefully she didn't shuffle them too far because Usopp only vaguely remembers what's where, until she found herself before the little makeshift cushion on the cupboard.

It's a very small, freshly hatched seabird.

It's barely got any feathers, sleeping weakly in a nest made of twigs and vines and newspaper cuttings and a worn felt blanket. Usopp had found it in a nest, and presumably the mother thought it had been too weak to raise, so it was abandoned.

Usopp is in no way a bird expert, but there was no harm in raising a fellow weakling.

It's a recent development, but Merry has stopped coming over as a chaperone.

Dropping Kaya's name in restaurants is good enough to pay for the meal (man, being rich is nice...) so with how independent and responsible(™) Kaya likes to be, they've deigned to leave the kids to their daily playdates. She holds his hand and pretends she's the most responsible big sister on the planet. It's very cute, and the villagers have begun smiling warmly at the sight of them.

(Usopp still doesn't know that the village sees them as a little couple, though.)

(The villagers like to keep it that way.)

"Try not to yell too much at it, too. It's a baby, so loud noises might startle it," Usopp says, smiling as he sat down, a towel around his shoulders.

Kaya makes an affirmative sound.

"Do you know what kind of bird is it? Is it gonna get really big and cool?" she asks, "oh! Can I come help raise it? Please please please please?"

Usopp has to mildly watch her excited outburst, knowing she's very close to him sparkling with glee. It's a little awkward, when he can feel she's looking him in the eye yet he can't quite return the gesture and it makes him feel a little less sincere.

He turns away, reaching for the shades on his desk and bringing it up to his eyes so he doesn't have to worry about his gaze.

"Ah… I was planning to ask you anyways, cause I can't really raise anything when I can't see…" he mutters, which he briefly regrets for a second as she sparkles even against the blindness and he's momentarily unable to cope with the sheer radiation of sunshine from her. "As for what kind of bird it is… I'm not sure."

"You don't know?" Kaya asks.

There's a pause.

Then Kaya balks, flustered, "I'm sorry! I forgot you can't see!"

Khlahadore is here.

It was honestly about time, so he wasn't too surprised. Right now, the notorious pirate is recuperating from quite severe wounds and a certain degree of malnutrition in Kaya's mansion. Usopp even knows very well the layout of the first floor guest room he's staying in, and which window from Kaya's it was positioned.

(He may not be able to see, but he has been in that house a few times, and has had plenty of sleepovers while Merry taught him how to do chores. He knows the ins and outs of the mansion, even more so than last time around.)

As unsettling as it is, Usopp finds strictly nothing wrong with treating an injured pirate seeking refuge after a near-miss with execution. The problem is his ideal once he realizes just how much money Kaya's parents have.

(If Usopp wasn't blind, he could look for that wanted poster…)

"So there was potential water damage in the lungs from nearly drowning or something..."

If there was anything Usopp didn't know enough about last time around though, it was just how much of a medical enthusiast Kaya could be if left alone to pursue her passion with all her heart. Her anxiety never quite left her last time around, so her excitement was always a little subdued- but for this Kaya, unsuppressed and over-enabled, she let her dreams run wild.

Usopp loves it, though. This energy was very endearing, and he hopes it never burns out.

He listens to Kaya as she drones on about Khlahadore's very unnervingly-detailed injury report that she's managed to snatch from her parents. She was definitely not supposed to read it, the details were gruesomely depicted, in a way a little teenager shouldn't be exposed to.

"But papa doesn't know for sure yet," she's listing them off her fingers. She must have memorized it, because she can't take the physical copy out of the house in case of an emergency, "I also found X-rays! There were multiple compound fractures in the left tibula and-"

(For a girl that will eventually start worrying herself to the point of sickness, she sure is fine with very descriptive gruesome talk.)

Even Usopp felt a little queasy when she described the worst of the wounds, but that could be the fault of his overactive imagination filling in the blanks. Regardless- who is this very scary girl and what have they done to soft-spoken sweetheart Kaya?

"And we don't have a hospital on this island so we moved into the basement to do the surgery and-"

Kaya's parents must've really been focusing, if they didn't notice Kaya following them. Why has Usopp never known that Kaya's basement was the village's only hospital? He only recently learned about the basement, wine cellar, and panic room, too- this house wasn't just frustratingly rich, they were frustratingly huge.

"-then just them two! And town doctor of course. They just all gathered in there with super cool equipment and clothes and routines and all and then they-"

Usopp sighs.

She didn't seem to run out of things to say, but he was going to enjoy every second of her talk.

(If she could handle all of his stories in the first time around, he can handle hers, too.)

"It seems like Hachi's taken a liking to you recently, Nami."

No matter how many years pass, Nami will never get over her bone-breaking fear of Arlong.

When she faces Arlong, singled out and standing before him- She feels her heart seize in her chest, her shoulders tighten, her toes shrill up, her knees weaken.

Even though she's long past the point of being afraid of Fishmen, even though she's long past the point of forgiveness and overcoming trauma, even though she lived her last years amongst Fishmen- Arlong is different.

"That's fine," Arlong says, begrudgingly. "You may be human, but you are one of us. I'm pleased to see how you're assimilating."

She's not assimilating into anything. She's just- just adapting, she swears. She's not tolerating Arlong. She's just ignoring him, gritting her teeth and biding and enduring and trying, trying, trying not to explode this instant.

(If it's just Arlong, she can take him out.)

She can think of various ways- sneaking up on him, or, if she tries hard enough, maybe fighting face-to-face… Arlong's biggest weakness is how much he looks down on humans. Nami can win, easy. Especially with her Haki. She's getting used to her arm now- she can give straight punches and not wince at the strain anymore. Soon enough she'll fight with it perfectly, she knows.

But if she wins, then what?

Which marine base will come to her aid and arrest Arlong? Which base will lock him up and let her claim the bounty?

None. None of them will, if Nami can even get that far.

The entire community in Arlong Park will take her out in an instant, stronger or not. Because skills aside, Fishmen really are ten times stronger than humans, and Nami is most of all a weak human girl with half a barely-functional metal limb.

"I look forward to hearing of your endeavors, my dear little mapmaker," Arlong sings, and Nami wants to bite his hand at her chin. Wants to throw up.

She bites her lip and clenches her fist and agonizes because Arlong knows. Arlong knows that Nami can do something- call the Marines. Run. Fight back- but he knows she won't. Not as long as Cocoyashi is his hostage.

He's smart like that.

When Arlong finally releases her to entertain one of Kuroobi's comments she doesn't hear, she turns around and leaves.

If only she was stronger.

Stronger than Robin, who could bear to run for twenty years under the radar.

Stronger than Zoro, who would no doubt, have destroyed this place in seconds.

Stronger than Luffy, who faces all his problems and always comes out victorious.

I do what you can't, and you do what I can't.

Nami waits and waits but no. No, she won't, can't, mustn't wait for a Prince Charming this time. She can't just- expect to be saved. What was she doing, waiting here like a damsel in distress? She's always like this- she's always here, crying- waiting, helpless.

People have wanted her cartographic abilities for years.

Every time, Luffy has to save her.

(What is she still doing here, weak and useless?)

She needs to pursue the fastest way around. The fastest, most peaceful, most efficient, and the only route without corruption in its wake. Who, in this era, can subdue Arlong with ease?

That's it.

Nami sets sail.

(First, she'll cross the Calm Belt into the Grand Line.)

Going through Reverse Mountain takes too long, expends too much effort, and it's too shaky a chance of actually getting through. It's one thing to go there with a crew or on a cruise- another thing to go alone. One man cannot sail a ship that can withstand the rough waves- she'd shatter to pieces at the peak.

Even if she does make it through, it'll take too long to actually get anywhere after that if they get caught up by Laboon or Whiskey Peak on the way.

She just needs to look for the Knight of the Sea, Jinbei.

Hopefully, he's in Paradise. Nami needs a way to get information- a channel, something fast. Like the extensive Den Den Mushi chains spilled through the forces of a government base, tracking records of the Four Emperors across the seas.

So, infiltration it is.

She can't go through the seduction route this time. It's significantly harder to charm a pedophile when one of your arms are made of not-flesh, so Nami disguises as a guy. It might be easier to try and convince someone she's a capable worker. The scars from her prosthetic arm surgery and the toned muscles she's been trying to accumulate can certainly help.

(It's a relief that her chest hasn't developed much yet, since she's barely a teenager for now.)

Chest bound tight with bandages that cross over her left shoulder, expertly covering the Arlong mark as if it was an injury- Nami puts on a tank top to show off her metal arm proudly.

With a few expert lines and pleas, the young and eager Namizo hikes a ride on a marine ship as their newest chore boy.

She may not be as great as Robin at this, but Nami's got her fair track record in the infiltrate-and-betray business as well.

One miscalculation, though.

"Do your job, probably, Smoker-kun. Can't believe you're still acting like this. Hina's in disbelief."

"Be quiet, Hina, you're not the one that just got back from a long term suicide mission."

"Do not call it that. Hina's very disgusted by your attitude. Hina expected better from you."

"Smoker is also very disgusted by your face. Leave Smoker alone."

"Don't imitate!"

Namizo is supposed to deliver this stack of letters and the newspapers to the highest ranking officers of this ship. Which, in hindsight, she should have checked, is Lieutenant Commander Hina and Lieutenant Smoker.

The latter has his legs on the desk, lounging exhaustedly on the sofa with a nondescript book splayed over his face. The former is staring disapprovingly at him, sitting on her desk and reading through other paperwork.

Namizo freezes shock still at the door, despite having knocked and being given permission to enter.

She quickly snaps out of it when the two turn to her. Saluting, she greets them as she enters and hands the papers to Hina. Her smile is awkward, her posture is stiff- but she breathes, and she does her errand as told.

Who can blame her? Of all the ships she could've snuck on…

It's okay. She's not Burglar Cat Nami, she's not even a pirate. Wait, she is. She's an Arlong Pirate right now. Man, that's trippy. But it's okay. Strictly speaking, she's Namizo, the new and nervous chore boy that's working his best mopping floors every day.

Namizo confidently bids his superiors goodbye, and closes the door a little too loudly on the way out.

Then he runs, because that was scary.

Looks like their first Smoker confrontation in the future is going to be awkward. Nami sighs in relief once she's past the immediate vicinity of the office.

Man, Smoker's not even a captain yet. Time travel really is trippy… he's always been strangely perceptive about pirates, though. Nami decides that she should try to stay far from there from now, just in case.

She won't want her cover to be blown too quickly.

Chapter 5: blind waiter (crossdressing spy)

Notes:

quarantine is making me lose my mind and that's why there's another chapter of this already daskjdlajdakl hi guys i love you guys please accept my eternal love and virtual hugs

I'll probably put a li'l timeskip cos we all wanna see canon events (...right?), so next chapter will be the last before Luffy finally comes in. Which means a timeskip! ...I already said that oops

lots of love, enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Text

Kaya's dad is a very cool guy. Usopp can't for the life of him remember ever interacting with this man in his past life, but he's a very nice person.

He hasn't had a proper father figure in his life (Yasopp, well... he's certainly an admirable role model and aspiration- but as a father? That's a title of pride Usopp allows him to wear, but in terms of actually being a dad, he fails,) but Usopp think this is the closest he'll ever have to a real one.

(Jinbei was always honorary dad, though. Nothing's changing that.)

Usopp finds himself on a ship. Kaya's dad's business ship- a decently-sized caravel, just a little bigger than the Going Merry had been. Usopp can't actually see the ship- he can walk along it, but he can't do it too often, lest he get in the way of the workers- but if there's something his Haki has always been good for, it was seeing things like this.

It's a very well-loved ship.

Usopp almost wonders where this ship went after Kaya's dad died last time… was it demolished? Merry (the butler) had built Merry (the ship) for Kaya's personal use in the future- perhaps it had been a replacement, because they couldn't bear to keep this one around after her father's death.

"So! Usopp-san, there's this new Sea Restaurant out, and my dad says he wants to bring us out there, you too!"

Usopp pauses in his thread.

"...pardon?"

It's less awkward than he thought, intruding on this family dinner table like this.

(He can't remember the last time he had anything like this with Yasopp or Banchina. It's bitter, just a bit sour, but so, so sweet. He'll have to thank Kaya's parents later, when he's no longer overwhelmed by the sheer gratitude and unending urge to cry.)

Merry's staying home to look after Khlahadore, so only a couple of servants and a few fishermen came along to sail the boat. This was as much a business trip as it was a casual outing. Of course, Kaya's dad paid for all the meals as they partied in the Baratie, eating hearty meals.

Being hired by Kaya's dad was such a nice place to work.

"Here you go."

Usopp flinches slightly at the voice beside him.

Kaya's mom had ordered just anything for him, because he can't read the menu- but Usopp still feels nervous. He's been feeling Sanji's small, weak, but so familiar presence since they arrived, and it's taking all he has to distract himself from it.

Not yet. It's not time yet.

He can't. Shouldn't. There's no reason nor logical way for him to suddenly wrap this waiter in a hug and cry on his shoulder. They're not there yet. But that voice, oh god, that voice.

"Usopp-san, are you alright?" Kaya asks.

Usopp nods, "I-" he swallows, "I'll try my best!" Then he fumbles around for the fork, feels around again for the plate- yes, he's gone through what's where before the food arrived. It's just carbonara, it should be easy enough to eat…

His hand knocks against the glass, and sends it toppling down the table. He yelps, and Kaya squeaks when the water splashes onto her dress.

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Kaya!"

Kaya chuckles a little, and Usopp sees (is that Kaya's mom or dad?) move over, chastising them slightly and moving towards them, probably to dab at the damp spot. He's quickly assured that it's alright, a hand coming up to rub warmly at his arm.

Next, Kaya's mom carefully takes Usopp's hands in hers- and leads him through it. He gets used to it quickly, and by the middle of the meal he can do it by himself.

It had just been water.

But instantly, Usopp feels reality crash down on him.

He's being an inconvenience. He can't see, and this- this is a disability.

A physically restricting, genuinely assistance-required- disability. And it hurts, to have spent so long adapting only to find out there are still things you couldn't do properly. He's legally classified as disabled, and… and for the first time outside of Syrup, he's really seeing how this sets him apart from everyone else around him.

Being blind is fine if you're locked onto land, full of help.

But if you're planning to become a great warrior of the sea, being blind takes you a few hundred miles behind an average person from the very beginning.

Usopp may have years of experience ahead of him, but his blindness is an undeniable handicap- something no one, no skill, can truly, fully replace.

"Admiral Fujitora, sir."

Usopp still had his eyes back then.

Nervous, undercover, a (sort of) rookie in the revolutionary's new ranks and he just didn't want to pass up this chance. He'd found the man coincidentally. They'd passed each other by, and their thoughts lingered just enough for Usopp to approach the man by the shores later to strike up a sort of conversation, merely to reminisce.

"Former," of course, the man already knew Usopp was there. They've faced off a handful of times before then (usually from afar,) up until Fujitora defected and retired and Luffy's execution was scheduled. Now, they were just an awkward pair of war veterans that no longer had a reason to fight each other. "What brings you here, God?"

Usopp can't help but cringe at the nickname. Fujitora had been there when Usopp was (absurdly, no matter how many times he reflects on it) declared divine amongst a whole town of people, and he never let him live it down.

"Have you grown tired of the world?" Fujitora asks, sensing Usopp's internal conflict before the words even escape the younger man. "Have you seen too much?"

Usopp wants to nod.

He doesn't.

I nstead, he closes his fists and lets his breath go out slow.

Fujitora looks out toward the sea, as if he could see the magnificent blue waves, ripples delicate and dainty.

(The sea never seems to change, even as the world crumbles around it. The strongest material in this world is not diamond, it's not vearth- it's the sea. Diamonds shatter, the earth fissure, but the sea- it sustains.)

"I have," Usopp admits. "I needed to see the world, purest and ugliest and sharpest and I had to know everything. It's been hard."

Fujitora listens.

"But now that my captain is gone, I find myself… I just wonder," Usopp says, "if I can finally will myself to stop looking."

Fujitora smiles.

"It just takes courage, God," he says, and Usopp sighs. "I'm sure the bravest warrior of the seas has a lot of that to spare, does he not?"

"I've never been brave," Usopp tells him.

Fujitora laughs. "Sure you are, God!"

Usopp groans, "stop calling me that, please!"

It's nighttime.

Sailing in the dark is dangerous, even for the East Blue. So it's not rare for late customers of the Baratie to dock for the night against the restaurant. That's what Kaya's dad decided they would do tonight.

Usopp clicks his tongue once, taps his stick twice on the wooden walkway. He takes one step forward, clicks twice- taps once. Taps once more, and then takes three steps forward.

The cycle repeats.

Slowly, step by step, bit by bit, he makes his way to the restaurant.

It scares him, the idea of walking on this narrow woodway with the sea around him and nothing but darkness. Colour can't calm him, can't assure him. On misstep, and he'll be in the sea- and blind, he won't know where to swim to reach the top- he won't even know which way was up.

But he braves it.

He braves it, holding his breath at intervals and taking all the time he needs- because he's scared he won't be enough for Luffy when he comes.

He can't take this slow and steady. He needs to do scary things if he wants to be good enough when Luffy gets here.

He only has a handful of years left. Will it be enough? (Will any amount of years be enough? Usopp can't help but think a whole lifetime won't be enough. He's so scared of being weak- and yet, his mind only reminds himself of what he can't do.)

(It's a stupid thing, this anxiety.)

He finally makes it to the steps. He climbs up, and leans against the railing, breathing out a sigh of relief.

"You sure do some dangerous things, little beansprout."

Usopp squeaks, jumping slightly and- shit shit shit where's his walking stick?

"I've got it, I've got it," and oh. That's Zeff, standing too close to him now, a hand at the boy's shoulder and the other pressing the walking stick back to his chest.

Usopp had been so focused on walking, trying to sense the soulless surroundings, that he forgot to sense for humans in the area.

Man, he needs to work on that.

"So beansprout, what are you doing out of your ship at this hour? It's…" Zeff pauses slightly, "four in the morning. Have your parents not told you it's dangerous to walk around like this, at this hour?"

Usopp hums, nodding. "I just… wanted to practice." Because Zeff won't accept 'I wanted to go to the toilet' or equal bullshit as an excuse. Nor the smartass information that he does not in fact have parents. "Walking, I mean."

He can hear Zeff make a longsuffering noise.

Zeff mutters something about starved eggplants trying to cook all over again, and ruffles Usopp's hair. "Be less suicidal about it, could you? I don't wanna wake up to floating kid bodies around my restaurant."

Usopp nods obediently. He wisely doesn't say more.

He calms down a little, letting his Observation spread out comfortably again- and he's surprised to find an extra voice near him. He only turns slightly toward the side, trying to ascertain if someone is truly there- and it's enough to make Zeff wary.

"What is it?"

Usopp doesn't know how to deny sensing something, so he says, "oh uh, I thought I heard something. Might be the wind."

He can feel Zeff's skeptical gaze on him. Or maybe that's just Usopp's anxiety peaking.

Zeff steps away for a bit- Usopp notices how Zeff's footsteps are uneven, one making a sharper sound than the other, and he remembers the peg leg he sports. Usopp completely forgot that little detail about the old chef.

"This."

Zeff brings the second voice nearer to Usopp.

Usopp reckons it's not human or animal, it's not strong enough for that and it isn't making any noise. So what could it be? He frowns, trying to figure it out with just the vague information he has in hand- but it doesn't come to him.

Zeff answers for him.

"Is my logbook."

Usopp swears internally.

Inanimate objects aren't supposed to have voices, but Usopp's Observation Haki is a special sort of sensitive. In the same way Katakuri could see into the future and Coby could hear hearts in his heart, Usopp can occasionally feel the spirits of beloved relics.

And ohhh no, no.

Accidentally letting Zeff know he's got Haki is one thing. Making him realize Usopp had special Haki is a totally Mihawk-level oh shit situation.

"Beansprout," Zeff says, and Usopp imagines a smirk on his face. "You're special, I'll tell you. Even in the Grand Line, people like you are rare as rocking horse crap."

Usopp swears internally one more time.

"Tell me, little blind beansprout," Zeff raises the logbook to his side, and Usopp makes the mistake of following the book upwards. Zeff makes a snort. "Honestly. Can you hear this book's voice?"

Usopp's totally screwed, isn't he?

Being stuck on a marine ship with a metal arm, in hindsight, is a hell Nami did not expect to sign up for.

This would be the first time she's out on sea for so long with this arm (and not in the future), so the disuse and the sea breeze was just so much harder to deal with.

Shame, because if there's anything Nami loves, it's her namesake, the waves.

Coupled with the binder (she secures one on one of the islands after getting her pay and allowance) and the bandages at her arm covering her Arlong mark (maybe she could find a shoulder brace to hide it, she'll need one to lessen the strain from her opposing arm anyways), her life is a mix of suffocating to stifling to trying her best with a little too many secrets.

Maybe she should have picked one identity and stuck with it, because now she's like an awfully planned character with too many subplots that aren't going to be addressed.

She's not sure how long she can keep this up, so yeah, she's gonna have to jump ship soon.

One problem.

"Hey, Namizo-kun! Wanna go train with me?"

Tashigi, the sweet little swords-master woman that Nami adores as an empathetic Marine officer, is right now, barely a Petty Officer. She already has her long sword at this point in time, though it's too long to strap to her side so she usually has it strapped to her back.

And, like a magic power, she instantly knew Nami(zo) was female.

Apparently, most people thought Tashigi was instead a 'Takashi', even without the Officer actually trying to do so. She had short hair, had a deeper voice than normal girls, and well, as children, no one can quite tell with just actions.

And Tashigi doesn't even notice it herself, so she never corrects them. She just thinks they're clumsy with her name.

Nami almost feels stupid. Maybe if she acted tomboyish enough like Tashigi did, people would have naturally mistaken her for a boy without all the extra effort.

Nami(zo) is honestly filled with admiration and seething jealousy.

"Sorry, Tashigi-chan," she says in her practiced male voice, "I'm done with my chores today, so I need to do some maintenance in the mechanic's wing."

Tashigi blinks. "On your arm?"

Nami(zo) nods. "On my arm. The sea breeze isn't good for it, y'know?"

Wearing just the binder, Nami slowly screws off each outer cover of her arm, setting them aside on the dry towel.

Tashigi is sitting precisely five feet away, staring.

"It must be hard, needing to do that every day," Tashigi says.

Nami shrugs, "you get used to it."

Tashigi is silent for a moment.

Then, "hey, Namizo-kun. Should I… crossdress too?"

Nami's grip on the screw slips, and the screwdriver falls. She picks it back up, scowling at the other girl. "You're still on about what Captain Gorilla said? I told you to ignore him, didn't I?"

"Uh," Tashigi sputters, "Namizo-kun, he's a Captain. You can't call him Gorilla like that…"

"He's a gorilla if he thinks your goddamn gender has anything to do with being a swordsman," Nami says, sharp and firm. "You're a girl, right? And you want to be a girl? You know you're a girl? Then you're a girl and screw whoever the fuck says otherwise."

(Where did Nami get all this swearing from? Probably Sanji.)

Tashigi goes silent.

Nami pats down the metal parts on the towel, and sets to put them back together.

"Namizo-kun," Tashigi says, and Nami lifts her head. "Do you really think a girl can become the greatest swordman in the world?"

Nami looks at her.

"I've seen you do it once, I'm sure you can do it again."

She doesn't answer any more of Tashigi's questions after that.

Zoro died before Tashigi got her final rematch in.

As undeserving and frustrating as it was, it didn't change the fact that following the death of Legendary Swordsman Roronoa Zoro- the strongest swordsman in the world was Marine Vice Admiral, Tashigi of the Autumn Rain.

She always hated that this was how she got the title.

So she never used it.

Never called herself the Greatest Swordsman in the world even though she had yearned for the title. People still sent her name high and soaring across the seas, and she hated every moment of it.

Ironic, isn't it?

She wanted nothing more than to be acknowledged, back then. But when she finally was- she wanted nothing more than to discard that recognition.

Paradise is as rigorous as Nami remembers.

They quickly found out how much navigation knowledge she sported, so she was quickly promoted form cabin boy to glorified sailing boy. This gave her better access and more time in chambers with information flowing.

Nami works chores on every Marine Base they land on, and almost too casually, she always slips into the primary communications office.

Everyone in there is so busy, they don't notice her coming in, assuming she's here to collect documents or receive reports for whatsoever reason.

"...New bounty for..."

"Promotion... transfer to G-7…"

"...Mock Town, just… taken care of…"

"SOS! Transfer this call to…"

"...Whiskey Peak, again? No…"

She acts casual- pretends to look through the records, as if she's sifting for a name. Take one down. Flip a few pages. Sigh. Flip front to back again. Look disappointed. Koala and Robin drilled this simply investigation go-to into her plenty of times. She can almost hear them guide her through the process of acting subtle, and focusing all her energy into her ears.

That's it.

Stay calm and casual, look troubled, but not troubled enough to be called on.

Be quiet, but only as quiet as a nervous new recruit should be.

"Trouble in Arabasta… no, it's…"

"...Finally nearing Sabaody, that rookie…"

"They say... take down Whitebeard, of all people."

Nami closes the shelf, and pauses.

"Bound to be trouble in the future. The starting bounty is…"

Nami walks back toward the door, but not before she looks back to see the bounty poster the two marines are talking about.

"...the Mera-mera no Mi, so he's 'Fire Fist' Ace."

Bingo.

Chapter 6: the assassin (the envoy)

Summary:

double sized chapter to wrap up the precanon story! Everything that's been skimmed over might come back as interludes or extras if y'all wanna see it and if I have time in the future to write em.

as usual, i love all of you guys with all my might. enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Text

Usopp spends his weekends at the Baratie from then on.

They always need an extra waiter, and one of the fishermen in the village has a monopoly on Zeff's fresh fish stock, so Usopp always tags along with their weekly deliveries. People often give the blind waiter a suspicious look, but there's a special paved trail on the floor just for him.

It's jokingly dubbed the Usopp Road by Sanji, and it quickly passed around the chefs and regulars.

It's set in a specially arranged pathway that doesn't intersect with any tables, so Usopp (walking bare feet) won't need his walking stick and he can have both hands free to wait tables. He works much better than other waiters, not that other waiters ever stay long.

There are occasions where a new customer neglects to stay off the Usopp Road, but if it's a human, Usopp can avoid it with Haki.

It's good training for both his Haki and his maneuverability at the same time. Consulting Chef Zeff about this really was a good choice.

("Time travel? You're kidding me.")

("I mean… wait, Chef Zeff sir, how far into the Grand Line did you say you went again? That'll probably give me a perspective on how much absurdity you can take.")

("Now don't get cheeky with me, brat.")

Not to say there are never accidents, though. Of course there were plenty of clumsy moments. There were also plenty of customers that just wanted someone other than the blind waiter to serve them.

It's hard to work here, but that was part and parcel of life.

After too many complaints of the same ableist nature, Sanji finds himself a near permanent job of sharply barking back at rude customers for Usopp.

"That was your elbow, you shithead!" Sanji would shout, and though Patty would smack him for that language, he would then, politely, tell the customer to respectfully fuck off.

(Usopp likes this- to be protected. It's Sanji- not the Sanji he knows, not his- but it's Sanji, and his nature to instinctively stand up for comrades (even the males, though he denies it,) is something he's missed very much.)

(His heart aches, but it's fine.)

(He'll get used to it.)

"Oomph! Hey, watch where you're going-"

"...I can't."

"...Right. Sorry."

He makes a lot of weird customer friends, though some of them are horrifyingly unexpected.

It's useful that they tend to think he's just a very nervous teenager, because even Usopp can't hold back a terrified shriek at the sight of CP9 agent Jabra at a table in the corner. Or Mihawk, dining quietly in his table, enjoying the wine in silence.

(There was a time someone else came by, but Usopp didn't know his name.)

(He had a really pretty girlfriend (at least Sanji said she was pretty and she does sound very sweet) called Lucian or something… Or was it Russian? It's hard to tell with just the pronunciation.)

There were a few old faces (voices) that he barely recognized and got to know- differently this time, of course- but he smiled, acted, and hid. He's learned how to hide this familiarity and act dumb in his many years of needing life-sustaining chat skills in the Revolutionary Army.

(He was no longer too bad of a liar, at least when he was really trying.)

It's good practice. Maybe this time Usopp can double up as a scout along with his sharpshooting and mechanic duties.

Ah wait, they're called assassins, actually.

Nevermind, then. Usopp's not gonna be an assassin, name or not. It sounds too edgy.

"Captain! It's an emergency!"

Piiman comes running with all the desperation of someone running from pirates. Usopp hums, still trying to fix one stubborn hole on his house wall. The child barges into the house, loud and cantankerous.

"Captain, have you seen-"

"I don't know Piiman, can I see?"

"...I officially hate talking to you."

Usopp can't sense any trouble, so his actions do not reflect the panic the kids are probably feeling. He lifts another plank over his head and starts nailing after carefully ascertaining the position.

"Captain!" and there comes Tamanegi and Piiman, equally erratic. "Trouble!"

"Usopp-san!" oh, Kaya's here too. "I can't find Kinoko anywhere!"

On cue, Usopp turns around, and a little gray ball of fluff sticks its head right out of his hair.

The vegetable trio and Kaya let out synchronously surprised shrieks.

"She's been with me all morning," Usopp tells them, like that's supposed to be obvious.

Kinoko, the baby bird they've raised since it was a hatchling, had grown over the years. The bird lives primarily in Usopp's house, but while it was just a hairless little gremlin, it lived in Kaya's. Her parents may not be the most knowledgeable in animal husbandry, but they had the basics and it was better than nothing.

Once the bird had enough feathers to be considered and recognized as a decently-sized chick of its own caliber, the two taught it how to fly.

The three stooges came into the picture somewhere in between the years, entranced by the bird, by the stories, by the adventures, and by the growing family being built in the little house by the shore.

Kinoko has a birdhouse in the tree beside Kaya's window. Usopp's house may be much homier, but it only sports a glorified cushion bed- so Kinoko had taken to the habit of sleeping at Kaya's, then rudely intruding into Usopp's place once the sun rose.

Usopp's mornings now include a mass of feathers flying straight into his face as a greeting.

So this bird is as blind as Usopp is, because it keeps crashing into faces. Not literally, of course- her kinetic vision is amazing- she just doesn't know another way to greet people, apparently.

(It's so fucking stupid. Usopp wants about thirty of them.)

"By the way Captain, why did you decide to name him Kinoko?" Piiman asks, the bird squeaking innocently in both his hands as they walked toward the store.

Usopp's walking stick taps against the ground as he leads the group toward the restaurant. He leads, because they need to walk slower for him anyways and it was just, by unspoken consensus, easier with him in the front.

"I didn't," Usopp says, "Kaya just thought it was funny."

Tamanegi chuckles, "because you hate mushrooms?"

Kinoko makes a sad bird noise.

The three kids converge on it, apologizing profusely to the bird and desperately trying to assure it that Captain does not, in fact, hate Kinoko, but he hates mushrooms, which is kinoko but not Kinoko , and now they're all confused.

Usopp honestly thinks they're cute.

"We have a Vegetable Trio, might as well make it a Quartet," Kaya says cheerfully.

Khlahadore makes a show of frowning in disapproval whenever Kaya cheerfully leaves to visit Usopp, a basket of sandwiches in her hands. It's night time now and he's talking to Merry about it, trying to figure out if that boy is the unspoken honorary successor of this house or something.

"She'll be fine," Merry assures him, "Usopp may look like a punk with his figure, but I assure you, he's no vile thing."

Khlahadore sighs. "Perhaps you would know him better than I do, but that is exactly why it seems suspicious to a newcomer like me."

Merry chuckles, "it's a strange combination, isn't it?"

Khlahadore fixes his glasses. "I've only heard unsavory rumours about him in town, after all. It can't be helped that my impression of him is a little skewed, perhaps."

Merry stills ever so slightly at the tea mug, but he resumes, expertly trying to pretend he didn't hesitate.

Khlahadore misreads it as skepticism, so he continues.

"I've heard that the boy's the son of a rather infamous pirate," he grimaces, "I can't help but feel that he may have a little of that in his blood as well."

To Khlahadore's surprise, a steaming tea cup is shoved hastily into his hands, and Merry stares him down fiercely. Fiercer than that sheep butler has any right to, at least- Khlahadore almost fought back on instinct, only to remind himself that it's much, much too early to drop the humble butler image yet.

"Your tea, Khlahadore-san," Merry says, stately. "I'll excuse myself for tonight. Please do get as much rest as you can. Your more severe injuries are not completely healed just yet, and the Master of the house won't be happy if it worsens."

And then he leaves.

Khlahadore sips his tea.

"That Usopp will definitely come in the way in the future," he determines, mirthfully. That did not go over well just now- he may have shaken the trust between them a little too hard. He needs to be careful. "I should watch myself a little more."

He needs to gain their trust. That's more important now.

"Yeah, you should."

Khlahadore drops his tea in surprise, but a hand catches it before it crashes to the floor. The lights in his room flicker off, the window is still open, and a too-strong night wind comes in from the sea.

"Shh, you wouldn't want to wake Kaya up, do you?"

Khlaha- no, Kuro finds himself staring straight at Usopp, who had, at some point without even his notice, made his way into the room and right into the bedside. Kuro tenses and shoots back. He reaches for his blades first- a defensive dagger, because his claws are hidden elsewhere.

Usopp steps right out of the way of the knife, swerves once more to the side when Kuro gets out of the bed. Kuro lunges, Usopp vanishes.

He hears Usopp place the teacup on the nightstand behind him, and he swings the blade wide.

Usopp twists the knife right out of Kuro's hand, and points it right below Kuro's chin.

Fuck, is this kid seriously blind or was that just someone messing with him? This is ridiculous, even if Kuro isn't in top form yet. There is no way a blind kid is doing this much. It's not possible.

Kuro's next tactic is to scream, but Usopp predicts it, shifting the knife to place right at his throat, so he wouldn't dare.

"If you value your life, Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates," Usopp begins, and Khlahadore tenses. "Leave once your injuries are healed," Usopp says, and it's a warning, a threat, and an order all at once.

How did he know? There is no, no possible way, logical or not, that this blind kid could recognize him. Unless someone else has recognized him as well but no , his cover is perfect. It can't be.

Kuro almost felt shivers down his spine, but no. He won't. Is it the knife? Is the knife making this kid think he can make demands of Black Cat Captain Kuro?

Usopp loosens his hold on the knife.

Somehow, Kuro thinks he shouldn't yell out now. Even though yelling would guarantee a win on his hands- Usopp's glare makes him stop. Makes him… concede. Begrudgingly.

Just for now , he tries to tell himself. The Black Cat Kuro does not falter in front of a kid.

"If you know who I am, why do you not hand me in?" he asks instead. "Isn't it because you're just throwing empty threats? Like the serial liar you are?"

Usopp doesn't take the bait.

"You're right," he says, a short laugh. "You're not the kind of person that has honour. I shouldn't trust you, I'm just wasting my time."

Kuro blinks confusedly as Usopp turns and leaves, the knife back in Kuro's hands and the long-nosed sniper jumping onto a tree to clamber back down.

Kuro watches Usopp walk casually out of the fence and into the road and back into the village, as if he hadn't tried to threaten a pirate captain just moments ago. Kuro watches until Usopp makes his way down the road toward his house.

Kuro sighs.

He could yell for Merry now, but if he can't justify how Usopp could make it up here when he's blind, no one would believe him. It'll just make them distrust him more.

He turns around.

Then, a sharp pain at the back of his neck.

Then, nothing.

Usopp sighs, putting down his slingshot.

Small button as a projectile, coated in Haki- shot at a velocity too fast to not be dire, hit directly at a pressure point at the nape.

(At best, a concussion. At worst, an interruption in the synapse.)

He requires immediate medical attention, but Khlahadore has only fallen awkwardly into bed and no one will find him strange until the servant arrives for routine check up, three hours later and three hours too late.

The button is a part of Khlahadore's clothes. It'll fall not too far from his body, and won't at all look unnatural when someone finds it in the morning. Of course, no one will suspect it to be the cause.

Perfectly executed, impossible to trace back. This is East Blue, where the impossible doesn't happen, after all.

Satisfied and admiring the slowly fading voice in the distance, Usopp closes the window.

(Oh hey, the Assassin job might suit him, after all.)

He keeps boxes and boxes of his pellets, makes a slingshot similar in sharpness and power to his Kabuto, but without the dials, he can't live up to them yet.

But it's enough, for now.

His hands are scabbed and full of callouses. Kinoko is growing each day, and he knows that if he walks away, Kinoko will follow him anywhere.

"I'm ready, Luffy," he says to himself.

(I'm just waiting for you to come.)

It takes Nami six months on the straightest ships to find Fire Fist Ace.

She sneaks a tracker Den Den on them, and watches their movements closely for another three months. She returns to Cocoyashi twice in between, then sets off for the New World at the same time the Spades Pirates do.

It's been almost two years since the beginning of this operation- Nami feels intense relief when Ace finally meets Knight of the Sea Jinbei.

She watches them, carefully. She watches their long battle and watches as Whitebeard comes in, watches as Ace loses, and watches as they leave the island after aiding in the damages.

Then she follows them out to sea on a ship.

"One small vessel approaching, Oyaji!"

"A small vessel? In the New World?"

There's already activity there.

"Enemies?"

"Not sure. Just one, and it's young."

"Suicidal punk number two?"

"Suicidal punk number two."

Nami swallows thickly. This would be the first, honest first time that she'll meet them- and she's younger than even Ace right now. She's barely a brat.

But it's fine.

Jinbei's on that ship right now, recuperating, and she just needs to talk to him. She just needs to remember her manners, calm down, and calm down, and calm down. Calm down Nami you can do this you've done this before.

Marco the Phoenix leans over the deck to look at her when she comes close enough.

Nami knocks her knuckles against the hull twice. "First Mate of the Whitebeard pirates, Marco the Phoenix. Permission to come aboard?"

Marco hums. "Yeah, sure."

Nami hops up to the deck, and immediately bows respectfully to Marco. Then she turns to Whitebeard, and says once again, "Permission to come aboard, Captain Whitebeard?"

Whitebeard laughs. "Just state your business, young one."

Nami lets out a sigh of relief. Everyone's still tense. Weapons aren't hidden. A quick sift around- at least half of the Commanders are present on board.

She doesn't have much time to think.

"My business is with the Knight of the Sea, Boss Jinbei," she says, "I came to ask a favour of him."

Her grip on her bag tightens when Whitebeard's eyes narrow. She evens her breathing, placing her bag down by her feet to show she was not immediately prepared to leave when things turned for the south.

"He's still recovering," Marco says, "you'll have to come back later."

Later?

She resists the urge to click her tongue in annoyance.

"It's urgent," Nami says, a bite of her fervor from her Burglar Cat days seeping from her tongue as she sent a sharp glance toward him. If this was back then, even Marco would know better than to divert her needs. "He's conscious, isn't he? Then he can listen."

"Oh," Whitebeard speaks up and it's a deep intonation that marks anything but patience, "you think you're in a position to make demands on this ship?"

Crap.

"You're just another small-time brat that thinks they've hit it big once they got out of Paradise," Whitebeard says, anything but amused. "Leave this ship."

No. No, no, no. It took her a whole year to get this far, she can't leave now!

(God, why are her eyes burning? Is she seriously going to cry from frustration?)

Nami bites her lip, and reaches up to her left shoulder. With one hard tug, she tears the bandages around it, revealing the bright cobalt Arlong Mark on her shoulder.

Someone sees it immediately. "Wait!"

Eyes turn to the only Fishman on the crew, Namur. His eyes are wide, and Nami meets his gaze with a pained look.

Marco turns to him. "What's wrong?"

Namur stares at Nami for a long moment. Then, "call Jinbei," he says, to the shocked deterrence of everyone else. Namur quickly turns to Whitebeard. "Oyaji, this is… serious. Very, for Jinbei. I'm sorry, but- please."

"I'm already here."

Nami swirls toward the voice- and Jinbei's eyes are wide and horrified.

"Wait, Jinbei!" Whitey Bay calls from behind him, "I said bedrest! Bed rest includes the bed!"

"You," Jinbei speaks to Nami, "you're a human. Why do you have that mark?"

Nami can't help the way her shoulders sag noticeably, completely in relief, "I need your help to stop Arlong."

"So… Jinbei went ahead on his whale-sharks, are you sure you're fine not following him?"

Nami turns to Marco.

"I'll just slow him down," Nami says, sliding her shoulder guard on over her tattoo and getting ready to set sail again. "If Arlong finds out I'm the one that brought Jinbei there, I can't tell what Arlong would do."

Most of the Commanders were present to hear her story. From Arlong's arrival, to the taking over, to the deaths.

When asked about the arm, Nami denied Arlong's involvement in it- but they probably still assume she got it from her too-young thievery endeavours, and Nami can't find a way to deny the claim.

It's kept brief and quick, but Jinbei doesn't need the details to gather the rest.

There are only two very similar reasons a human would be on a Fishman crew- Koala's situation, and the opposite. And this was obviously not like Koala's situation.

Jinbei's face darkened considerably.

Up until the very end, he was apologizing profusely, repeatedly, head to the ground. Nami's forgiven him already, a lifetime ago, and she makes sure he knows that.

"You've got guts, girl," Izou says.

Marco stiffens. "Girl?"

Izou stares at Marco like he's just said something stupid. Then Izou looks around at synchronously shocked faces around, and he facepalms.

"I can't believe you guys."

Nami laughs, "you can't do that, Izou-san. Look at their faces!"

"Oh but Nami-chan, Jozu noticed an hour ago while he was ogling your arm. You totally have to let him tinker with that later," Izou says.

Nami blinks, "well... I am due for a replacement, soon." She's outgrowing this one, after all. And since she's int he New World, she can go somewhere with better technology, to reduce the weight just a little more.

"Consider it done," Jozu hollers in the distance.

Izou smiles. "You know, Oyaji would be glad to have you on board."

And Nami stops.

Looking around, everyone's got similarly approving smiles on their faces. Whitebeard huffs, but doesn't deny it.

(Seriously?)

"Can't." Nami tells them, and one of them deflates. She shrugs her jacket back on, and sits on the bows of the ship, ready to drop back into her rowboat. She turns to Whitebeard with a grin. "I'm already taken, you see."

Whitebeard hums, "by who? This Arlong fellow? You know you aren't."

"No, not Arlong." Nami says, firmly. She grins up at him, "I've got a seat saved for me beside the future King of the Pirates."

Shocked gasps and panicked reactions spread across the deck.

(She did not just insinuate that Whitebeard won't be Pirate King, right in front of the man himself, did she?)

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard laughs , louder than before. "That's perfect, my girl. You don't need to join the crew- won't you become my daughter anyways? We'll give you a ride back to Paradise."

Nami fixes her eyes on the rowboat, then turns back around, baffled. She never thought she'd ever hear those words again.

("You're my daughter, Nami," Bellemere had always said. And she was the only mother Nami ever had.)

It's so strange. Last time around, Whitebeard had barely even heard of Nami's entire existence. She wouldn't be surprised if he never even knew her- hell, she never met him personally, either. They were universally strangers.

But now…

She stops herself from the immediate refusal, thinking to herself. Thinking of those days on that island, where she would chat with Izou about Ace's beginning days. She finds herself bursting out into giggles.

"If I say no, would you let me go?"

"Sure, if that's what you want."

"Then, I respectfully refuse. May I leave now?"

And Whitebeard smirks. "Nope!"

Figures.

Nami watches in muted awe as Ace goes flying across the deck again. It's honestly impressive, how many times he can try a day and still have energy for another an hour later. Her arm is in pieces beside them, and a few other in the mechanic divisions are trying to inspect it.

"It's an old East Blue model, the core," someone says, "the plates are Grand Line quality. Wires… a fair amount of this is pretty good."

"Can we replace the core? It's not quite your size anymore, is it?" another says.

"Look at the design of this arm! This is definitely the work of the Jan-Jan island in Grand Line!" someone says, sparkling.

"Where the heck is that?"

"It's the Jan-Jan Island, doofus!"

"That explains absolutely nothing. Thanks."

Nami turns to Jozu, "I got this when I was thirteen, and it's changed every year since. They told me to change it again when I turned seventeen, so I'm still quite a few months out."

Jozu blinks, "no harm being a little early. We'll get right into it then."

Beside her, Haruta crouches down and declares, "we're going to give you the coolest arm ever." with bright and expectant eyes. And Nami knows those eyes. It's the same eyes Luffy gives Franky when they see a new fancy robot thing.

Nami pauses, "wait, I like normal. With all due respect, I implore you, please-"

(They're already sparkling so much, it's entirely pointless to try.)

She deflates. "I want to go home."

Marco's response is immediate. "Not until Jinbei deals with Arlong you aren't."

It's a long story in between, but that's a story for another time.

Nami can't help but become so, so comfortable in the midst of the Whitebeard Pirates. She gets to know all the faces she only heard of last time, including Ace. She avoids the topic of his little brother because it never comes up.

Nami is greeted by the apology brigade when she steps into Fishman island.

Jinbei has a foot on Arlong's head, and the rest of them give the most begrudging yet sincere apology Nami has ever seen from a Fishman in this life. They do it before the masses, and Nami isn't the only one that cries that day.

Arlong is dragged back to Fishman District by the ear, given a big angry talking-to by Jinbei and Aladine, and apparently, tears and manly hugs were shared that day.

Nami grips the Arlong mark on her shoulder- and with everyone's approval, she has it removed at a tattoo parlor on Sabaody Archipelago.

She doesn't replace it just yet, leaving the scars bare. Instead, she gets Whitebeard's mark on her lower back, the cross and the crescent emblazoning her hip, trailing part of the spine in dark blue.

She's Whitebeard's child this time, and she'll be proud of it.

"It's so light!" Nami gapes at her new silver arm, tinted with orange accents.

The fingers are thin, more similar to her actual flesh fingers now. The arm itself is also much thinner and less bulky to match her other arm, but the quality of the steel makes it twice as solid. She curls her fingers, twists her wrist, and throws an experimental punch.

"I'm glad you like it," the mechanic team grins.

"Just a normal arm?" Nami asks.

"Just a normal arm," Marco promises, "I took out the laser beams and tossed them into the sea before they could try and implement it anywhere."

(In the distance, Haruta is sobbing into Thatch's shoulder about stingy phoenixes.)

"Thank you," Nami says, wholeheartedly grateful.

"Y'know," Marco says, "you could've at least accepted a few dials. They're from Sky Island and they're pretty useful."

"No," Nami pouts, firm, "if I want anything from Sky Island, I'll go there with my own crew and ask my crew's mechanic to do it for me."

"You're in the New World and you seek normality," Marco states, baffled.

Nami shrugs. "There's enough crazy in the crew. I don't want to add to the madness."

"Fair."

"Nami-chan, we're gonna do your foot next!"

"Coming!"

Soon, now. In just one more week, Nami will be dropped off at Loguetown, and she'll officially leave the crew. Then she'll head back to Cocoyashi, cry a few more tears, visit Bellemere's grave, and then...

(And then from there, she just needs to wait.)

Chapter 7: leaving (I'll join your crew)

Chapter Text

"You're jumping ship?" Zeff asks. "You, our last and only waiter for the past four-ish years?"

Usopp smiles, "yeah! Thanks for the hospitality, Chef Zeff sir!" he bows, like a little shit. "Next time you see me, I'll be a pirate!"

Zeff huffs, "oh do whatever you want then."

Sanji slams the door open, "what?! What did you just say, you shitty waiter? You're leaving?!"

"Yeah!" Usopp raises his hand, "thanks for the love and care, everyone! Anyways I have a feeling Chef Zeff sir is gonna kick me out in-" he ducks quickly to avoid a kick, then stands back up. "-yeah. So I'm gonna run now. Bye!"

He kicks off the entrance, and makes a big leap right onto the leaving fisherman's boat.

"Dammit! Get back here, you shit-waiter!"

"Bye Sanji! Love you too!"

"I don't swing that way! HEY!"

Usopp waves widely at the Baratie as the voice drifts further away. Kinoko, now the size of an apple, lands gently on his head. Snuggling in like it was a nest, it fell asleep.

The fisherman laughs. Kaya peeks out of the cabin.

"Are you sure about quitting, Usopp-san?" Kaya says, "Mister Zeff has always been pretty mean, but you've never complained before."

"No, no, it's not about that," Usopp says. He sits down by the bow, taking a moment. "Have I ever told you about the time I protected this town from pirates, with everyone none the wiser?"

"Another one of your stories?" the fisherman asks.

"You haven't!" Kaya settles down beside him with a smile. "Tell me!"

"In a few weeks, or days, or months- I'm not sure. But soon, a pirate wearing a straw hat is going to show up. I don't wanna miss him," Usopp tells her, "and this man? He's the future king of the pirates. And I'm going to get on their ship, and be their sharpshooter!"

Buggy spits out his drink.

"YOU! What are you doing in my vault?!"

Nami pouts, "I just want your map of the Grand Line. Can I have it, please?"

Buggy sighs, "oh, is that it? Okay then since you asked politely- NO, OBVIOUSLY NOT! Do you take me for an idiot? Get out!"

Nami giggles.

Buggy fumes . "Look, we're only tolerating your existence because I don't wanna make Whitebeard mad! You said you were waiting for someone, right? Your Captain or whatever, but not Whitebeard, or whatever. You don't need us here!"

"But I do ," Nami puffs up her cheeks, "who else's treasure am I gonna steal when I leave?"

"Ah, you have a point… WAIT, YOU'RE PLANNING ON TAKING MY TREASURE WHEN YOU LEAVE?!" Buggy yelps, "I said no! It's my treasure, steal your own!"

Nami gasps, wiping away fake tears, "you want me , a weak and young little girl, to go out, alone , in the wild, and steal ? How cruel of you, Buggy-sama!"

Buggy yells, "weak?! You wiped the floor with all of us last week!" Mohji and Richie stare at their captain with severe judgement and disapproval in their eyes. Buggy balks, "she's obviously faking it! Guys? Guys? Stop staring at me like that!"

"Oh c'mon, you don't need the map," Nami whines, looking away.

"Yes I do! I'm try'na get to the Grand Line!" Buggy snaps, patience waning.

"If you really were trying to get there, you would've gone there like ten years ago," Nami argues, "look at you. You're a New World level pirate that's been hiding here for twenty years, Mister. Sure you could get there easily if you try."

There's a moment of silence.

Then Buggy's entire crew converges on him, "you're a WHAT?!"

Buggy explodes back on Nami, "you're one too! You have Whitebeard's mark on your back and you're a great navigator! You don't need my help!"

Nami says, "exactly!"

"Then get out!"

"No!"

Buggy goes into the corner and sobs. "How selfish can you be?!"

"Wait Captain Buggy, you're a what ?! You've been to the Grand Line before? Why didn't you tell us?"

Buggy finally loses it, and now everyone's chasing Nami the map-stealer across the empty streets of Orange Town.

(After being liberated by Nami a few weeks back, they all decided to gather on the other side of town for a party. No civilians were harmed and no treasure was stolen in the making of this ploy. None at all. At all , Nami swears.)

Nami laughs.

Her metal arm exposed on one side and a shoulder guard covering the scar on the other, she jumps around the city in a tank top and short shorts, flipping over roofs and dancing across light poles.

While her old short hair was just a little under her ears, this time she let her hair drape over her shoulders, resting comfortably around her shoulders.

She loves being a thief.

Assembling her collapsible bo staff, she lands on the ground and turns around. Maybe she'll knock them all over first…

"AHHHHH!"

And a figure crash lands right into the array of boxes beside them, shattering the crates on impact with an undignified squawk.

Everyone, Nami included, just stares entirely exasperated. She's long forgotten the original spot he'd landed, so her plan was to meet him after he lands and meets up with Zoro. And yet, Luffy falls out of the sky like perfect plot convenience. Cool.

"Stupid bird! Don't just drop me!"

Nami's breath gets stuck in her throat.

(It's him. It's him- younger, thinner, but it's him. The scar under his eye is just the same, the hat on his head feels like it's been gone for too long.)

(Nami's glad it's back where it belongs.)

(But it hurts. It's hot and boiling and churning in her throat and it brims into her eyes and she blinks it away and. And he's still there .)

(He's there, finally, within her arm's reach again, and this time, she wants to punch him on the head and tell him how much of an idiot he's being because- because.)

(But she can't. Not yet, not yet . She can't hug him now and beg for him to never leave again. She can't. )

Twisting her features into a smile, she jumps on the chance.

"Oh, Captain ! What perfect timing," she grins, casually collapsing her staff again to tuck it in her belt. "These terrible men were just chasing after me!"

Luffy stares at her, confused. "Huh? Captain?" His eyes drift, and immediately bursts into excited sparkles of boyhood romance. "Woah! You have a robot arm! That's SO cool! Can it shoot lasers? Hey, miss lady, you have a robot arm !"

Nami's face falls for one fraction of a section, and she brims back into a smile. "Anyways, I'll leave these guys-" she jabs a thumb at the crooks, "-to you. Thanks, boss!"

Then she ducks into the alley, and watches Buggy's men get punched to oblivion.

Luffy huffs and walks away angrily, because they dared touch his treasured hat. He mumbles something about looking for Zoro, and wondering where the cool lady with the robot arm went. Nami only stares, slightly forlorn.

Putting a hand at her chest, she sighs. "...of course he's not here," she tells herself, "what was I hoping for?"

Nami sits at the balcony of a house, smiling down at Luffy while she swings her booted feet casually in the air. "Thanks for taking care of those guys for me! How do you want me to repay you?"

Luffy takes one curious look at her, and then he looks away. "Don't need anything. Who're you? And can you shoot laser beams?"

Of course, Luffy knows better than to accept charity after being used .

"I'm Nami, and I'm a thief," Nami says. "I can't shoot laser beams, sorry."

"You can't?" Luffy looks so disappointed, Nami can't help but giggle.

"Those guys are from the Buggy Pirate Fleet, and they were after me because I stole their map. It's a chart to the Grand Line," Nami holds up the map in her hands, "you know where the Grand Line is?"

"Of course I do!" Luffy yelps, slightly offended, "wait. A map? You can navigate?"

Nami grins. "Of course. I'm the best navigator you can find around here."

"Really?" Luffy says, "then, join my crew!"

Joining this time is a little easier than last time. Nami has nothing holding her back, Luffy needs a navigator, and of course, the metal arm.

"Sounds great," Nami grins, "but if you want me to join your crew, I'll need to ask you another favour… that Buggy guy? Can you beat him up for me?"

Luffy pouts. "First you say you wanna repay me, now you say I needa do you a favour?"

"But if they're still chasing me, I can't leave."

"Oh. You're right. Okay then."

Luffy's still so adorably easy to manipulate. Nami finds it so, so endearing.

(And just a little, she's sad.)

Luffy jumps at Buggy with a declaration of war. Then instantly, he gets blown away by a Buggy Ball, and is sent flying all the way to port.

Nami is honestly impressed by how far he can fly. Is rubber supposed to fly that far so easy? Buggy's cannons are strange, too. Luffy deflected it, but he also went flying backwards.

Buggy's lair is pretty blown up.

(Rest in literal pieces, Buggy, I'm sure your crew will help put you back together in a sec. Good luck. Ah, maybe Nami should leave a note.)

"Oh hey Zoro! What're you doing here?"

"I was looking for YOU, you dumbass! Why the hell did you get caught by a fucking bird!"

"Anyways, who're those guys behind ya?"

The three men stare wide-eyed at the destruction at the top of the hill. "You bastard! What did you do to Captain Buggy?!"

"Huh?" Luffy asks, "you mean that red-nosed guy that got blown away?"

"Found you," Nami says, setting down two bags of treasure at her feet. "Is that the rest of your crew?"

Zoro lifts his head, sheathing his sword as Luffy piles up the imbeciles to the side. "Who's she?"

"Our navigator," Luffy supplies.

(Zoro. Nami travelled a lot more than the other last time, and she made it a point to visit everyone around the world every few months. Every time Nami dropped by Wano, Zoro had a few more followers and a few less braincells.)

(She was there, in the crowd, when Zoro died and took down the world with him.)

(They met eyes once. Just once.)

(Nami would never forget how angry Zoro looked at her. Because she was there crying, sobbing, watching- instead of running, escaping, and safe.)

(Zoro says it a lot, that he wished Nami was still a scaredy cat.)

"I'm Nami," she says, "this Captain of yours invited me in."

Zoro smiles- and oh, he smiles. It's been a while since Nami's seen him like that. He stopped acting as carefree after what happened with Mihawk at Baratie, after Arabasta came and went, Zoro was just moody all the time.

This is fresh and so weird.

"You're the one that these guys were talking about?" he asks, "the one that tricked them and stole their boat?"

Nami leans back, placing her hands beside her to hide the disappointment flashing by. She'll have to get used to this now.

(It's been a while, Wado Ichimonji. I wonder if you made your master proud back in Wano, serving under Hiyori's hand.)

"Yeah, that's me."

"You can predict the weather or something?" Zoro asks, remembering something the grunts complained about before.

"Wait, you can what ?!" Luffy exclaims. "Magic robot powers?"

"Enough about the robot!" Nami whirls around and knocks him up the head. She pretends not to notice Zoro's resigned look. She turns to him. "I'm a navigator, you'll be glad to have me on board, Pirate Hunter."

Zoro grins. "We'll see."

When they board the ship again, this time alongside another ship with Buggy's sails on it. They set sail for Syrup, the closest island from here.

Nami adjusts the sails a little, and sits by the bow with a sigh.

She should lower her expectations. The disappointment she feels each time she realizes that's not hers, hers , it just hurts. Just hurts so much and it's lonely.

She puts a hand on her empty left shoulder with a sigh.

Chapter 8: it's you (it's me)

Summary:

And, they meet.

Notes:

Have I told you guys how much I love you guys yet? I'm honoured beyond belief that you guys like this T^T and we're finally here! Finally, the reunion of Nami and Usopp! There's going to be a second part of this reunion where they properly talk it out and cry and find out things, but the next chapter will be a Zoro POV because mosshead is very, very confused.

Chapter Text

"You're a Whitebeard pirate?!"

Nami comes out of her cabin wearing a bikini top, and Zoro straight up balks. Her show of skin is the last thing on his mind, because the glaring blue mark on her lower back is exposed for the world. Luffy turns around, still eating an apple, and he hums.

"You live up to your name, Pirate Hunter Zoro," she teases. "Don't worry, I quit the Whitebeards a while back. I'm a free pirate now."

"You quit ?!"

"Hey Nami, who's white bread?" Luffy asks, looking at the cross and crescent on Nami's back. Nami turns around so they can see it better. "Izit someone impor'ant?"

Zoro looks like he wants to throw Luffy overboard. "Whitebeard's known as the strongest man in the world," Zoro says, "you're trying to be Pirate King and you don't know the man who used to go toe-to-toe with Roger?"

"Strongest?" Luffy wonders. Then, "wait! He used to fight the Pirate King?!"

"Yes, that's what I said," Zoro sneers. He turns to Nami, "why'd you quit?"

Nami shrugs, "I didn't join in the first place, I just got kidnapped," Zoro grimaced in empathy, "then after a while they said I could go, so I went."

Zoro went what,

Nami giggles. "Oyaji isn't aiming for One Piece, so he's not going to travel the Grand Line thoroughly. I want to draw a map of the world, so I'm going to travel by myself, and draw the road I go on!"

Luffy grins in approval, and Zoro hums.

"That's a nice dream!" Luffy says, "well, you quit, so I can have you, right? White Bread isn't gonna be mad if you're on my crew? Well, even if he does, I guess we'll just have to fight him when the time comes."

Zoro raises an eyebrow, "are you suicidal?"

"You can try!" Nami laughs. She dearly hopes he doesn't, but she has a feeling that Luffy will try anyways.

Zoro groans, "oh. We are suicidal. Okay."

"Anyways Nami, can you shoot lasers- OW!"

Zoro stares at the dent in the wood, aghast with horror.

Nami dusts her hands, "how many times are you gonna ask me that? The answer is no!"

Usopp lifts his arm- and he waits.

He closes his eyes and breathes, feeling the air around him- he turns a little to the left, one step on the branch- and just in time, Kinoko lands gently on his wrist.

"There you go, girl," Usopp says, letting the bird hop over to his shoulder

"C- C- CAPTAIN!" Piiman yells.

Usopp loses his footing on the tree branch and just drops .

"AHH! CAPTAIN!" Piiman and Ninjin are yelling for a different reason now.

Usopp lies on the ground, dizzy and ow , did I hit my head? Where's Kinoko? Oh hey mushroom butt, get off my face please. Get off my face. Don't get comfortable.

"I'm fine…" he groans out, "what's wrong?"

"Oh, right," Piiman receives Kinoko in his hands when the bird hops up, "pirates! At the bay! It's got Buggy the Clown's flag on it!"

Usopp jumps upright.

Usopp sits by the bay, the Vegetable Trio behind him.

He watches the strange blue blob that's the sea, watching the two sails come toward him. He can't see anything except the strange contrast of the colours, the black sail definitely Buggy's flag, just as he remembered.

He can see the little red of Luffy's vest, the little green of Zoro's figure, and the orange of Nami's hair.

He almost feels like crying. He rubs his eyes, sniffling. It's been so long- so long, yet. Yet, he can't see them. They're just distinct blobs of colour he has to squint to make out, and he can't. Can't see them.

(He barely remembers Luffy's last smile to them. When he hands them his hat, gives them all a kiss on the forehead, and marches off in chains toward Coby.)

(He barely remembers that last, meaningful glance Zoro gave him as a goodbye in Wano. The warmth of his sword's bloodthirsty voices, the burn of his presence.)

(He barely even remembers the last time he met Nami. They meet too often, all their spots are marked off and watched. There was only a shadow of a rushed hug during Vivi's execution, then Usopp never met her again.)

"Captain?" Tamanegi asks.

"You guys can run back to the village if you're scared." Usopp tells him.

They salute and gladly escape.

He sits at the edge of the cliff, sitting in full view. They've probably noticed him already, and that's fine.

Their presences in the distance calms him. Reckless little Luffy, Level-headed Zoro, Free-spirited Nami. Strange, unstable, just like the start of their journey.

He can't help but smile.

"Huh? Who're you?" Luffy asks.

Usopp tries really hard not to stiffen, but his grip tightens on the ground, his chest seizes- and it takes two deep breaths for him to ease again.

He grins.

"I'm the great Captain Usopp, leader of the great Usopp Pirate Fleet, commander of eighty million men!" the words escape him in the form of a nostalgic joke, and he chuckles, "they call me, Usopp the Terrible !"

"No," immediately, Nami speaks up, her tone jumping as she dives to respond first, and Usopp's eyes widen, "you were called the Worst ."

His smile falls straight down and he swirls on her, and though he can't see it, he knows that Nami is staring right back, the same burn of tears in her eyes.

He can hear the cries she's holding back in her voice.

He looks closer.

There's a bit too much silver on her body. An offsided right.

His Observation senses her as incomplete, and the soul is just missing a few portions.

Usopp clicks his tongue once.

The sound that comes back from her- it's not flesh, it's metal.

He immediately sees red, the magma rising from the pits of his stomach..

" Nami ," he finally says, and it's hoarse, it's deep, it's painful.

It's filled with pure, seething rage that makes Lufy step back and Zoro draw his swords, but Usopp can't be bothered to react to those right now.

Because that's Nami. That's his Nami. She knows the code, she responds correctly to the code, and she's- she's acting differently . That means it's his Nami, and she's- she's here. With him. Finally. Finally.

Why?

"Nami," he repeats, but it's not any calmer than before. "...who did that to your arm?"

Arlong. Maybe it's Arlong. Maybe Nami resisted this time and he snapped. That sounds possible- Usopp got a few concussions from mistakes like that, after all.

No, on second thought, it probably isn't Arlong. Arlong valued Nami's writing arm more than they valued Nami in general. It wasn't Arlong.

It's a transferred wound, just like Usopp's blindness. Someone in the future took that arm from her, after they were separated.

Someone in the future took Nami's dominant arm from her. (Her dominant hand it's her dominant hand it's the hand of the best cartographer in the world and they-)

How dare they.

How dare-

"Usopp!" Nami tells, and Usopp stops short, dragged out of his furious internal rant. "It's just you and me."

And Usopp knows what that means. It means later, we'll talk about this later . It's a promise to hug and cry and break, but not now, not here. Because no one else is here- Luffy and Zoro- they don't know anything. They don't know anything yet .

So Usopp swallows all the anger back down and faces the other two once again.

(Laterlaterlaterlaterlaterlater)

"You guys are Nami's friends?"

He turns to them, sounding much more friendly this time and he's proud that he's managed to train his actual lying skills over the years. He stands up.

"I guess that's fine then. Come on into the village! I'll treat you to a meal."

Luffy bounces right up, and Zoro follows him. Usopp tries not to immediately run in and hug them, because the feeling of them so near to him so near finally- it just leaves him breathless.

Then he turns around, and Nami wraps him in one painful, painful, and so so tight hug.

He wants to protest- the other two are staring at them like they're a new item of interest- but he doesn't. He knows he needs this.

He hugs back, firm and strong and- oh hey, your metal arm. It's metal, Nami. Why is it metal? How could I have let this become metal - and he doesn't breathe for a long, long moment.

He just grabs and holds , feeling her face on his neck and feeling her fingers press bruises into his back. He cradles her head, and tries to get closer. Tries to feel her aura, and it's stronger than he remembers, but it's been too, too long he doesn't even remember how strong it was last time and-

"I'm," he chokes out, tears in his voice, "so glad you're alive, Nami."

(He wants to see her face. He wants to see her face so badly. Your hair's longer than it's supposed to be- I'm sure it looks great on you. I want to see it. I want to see it .)

( But I can't .)

Nami bubbles out in laughter, "of course I am, you idiot!" she says, but she doesn't move away. "You owe me ten billion beris for making me worry, dammit!"

"Oh c'mon, Nami, even my old bounty wasn't that high."

Finally, they break up the hug, and Usopp can't help but feel like he wants another minute or twenty or actually, can she stay like that forever? Please?

Nami pats him in the back. "Alright then! Reunions are over, let's get food!"

No, Nami. Reunions are not over. Usopp is so going to snatch her after this.

They turn to Luffy and Zoro, only to find Luffy screaming his head off. Apparently, a bird had charged belly-first right into Luffy's face, and now they're in a power-struggle tangle of wing and too-stretchy limbs.

The boy gives them an undignified squawk that sounds suspiciously like a slew of curses. Zoro just watches.

"STUPID BIRD!" he finally yells, managing to get it off his face, "god that surprised me."

"Oh, a bird," Zoro draws a sword, "looks edible."

"Wait wait wait!" Usopp snaps at them, recognizing the little bird's cry of greeting. He charges forward and snatches the bird out of Luffy's hands, "this bird's my friend! You can't eat her!"

Luffy's already drooling, "birds are yummy, though?"

At this point, Kinoko jumps in horror, hopping up and fluttering right away, crying tears of fear. Luffy stretches right over and grabs it by the belly, retrieving it right back.

"Bird!" he says happily, because he's such an endearing idiot like that. "Let's roast it."

Usopp flips on his heel and lands one hell of a dropkick on Luffy's head. "I SAID NO!"

"OW!"

Zoro hums in approval, and Nami slow claps.

Usopp extends an elbow, and Kinoko flutters over, landing on the appendage and breathing out in relief.

"Her name is Kinoko," he introduces them, "Sorry about her, she likes to crash into people for fun. She's my seeing-eye bird."

"Your what?"

"What's a-"

Luffy's stomach growls. He broods, "so we can't eat that bird? But I'm hungry!"

They decide to head for the restaurant, first of all.

"Oh my Usopp-kun, new friends?"

"Yeah, they're pirates!"

Zoro and Nami's jaws drop. Luffy yells a greeting right back. The auntie laughs it off, then reminds Usopp to come by later for groceries.

Nami facepalms. "Usopp the Liar has become a village favourite, huh?"

Usopp chuckles right back, "they don't take me seriously anymore. It's pretty amusing."

Finally arriving at the restaurant and placing in a monster-sized order, he repeats his introduction to Zoro and Luffy. "My name is Captain Usopp! I command a fleet of-"

"-Three people," Nami cuts in.

"People fear me! I'm known as Usopp the Great!"

"Weren't you Usopp the Terrible a minute ago?" Zoro asks.

"I was once a leader of the greatest tribe in the Country of Giants. They called me the King of the Snipers! And my eighty million followers called me God!"

"COooooL!" Luffy's eyes sparkle.

"Your character's all over the place," Zoro mutters. "Are you a leader, a king or a god?"

Nami just sighs.

(Come to think of it. The entire world did call him 'god', didn't they? And the King of the Snipers. And yeah, he did make it pretty big in Elbaf last time...)

She facepalms. The only truth in it was the most unbelievable part of it… in some way, it's impressive.

"So how do you know Nami, Usopp?" Luffy says. "I thought Nami was with White Bread."

"You were with what ?" Usopp says, turning to the general direction of the orange-haired navigator, "what have you been up to?"

Nami giggles, "it's a long story! But me and Usopp, we go way back. We used to sail on the same ship for a while, and then we got separated for a few years."

Zoro hums, "you went to the Grand Line?"

Usopp smiles, gathering the lie he has to tell, "yep! I'm a marksman- a sniper. I never miss my target, you know! I could shoot the wings off a fly two hundred miles over the horizon! They call me Usopp, the man of miracles! I always come through in a pinch!"

Zoro makes a noise that indicates he doesn't believe that at all.

Luffy goes "wOAH! THAT'S SO COOL!" before continuing to eat.

Then he pauses, and lifts his head.

"Wait. You're Yasopp's kid, aren't you?!" he suddenly realizes, eyes now sparkling with a sort of recognition. "I knew you looked familiar!"

Usopp chuckles, knowing that they've now caught the attention of a few other restaurant patrons. "Oh, you knew my dad?" he prompts.

"Yeah, I've known him since I was young!" Luffy says, continuing to stuff his face but somehow still managing to make his sentences make sense. He swallows. "He was on Shanks' crew!" The entire restaurant's worth of occupants all back away two meters. "He always talked about you!"

Zoro looks around, "what's with the reaction?"

The crowd's jaws dropped, hushed whispers passing around rapidly.

Usopp takes a sip of his drink. "Of course they'd be shocked. Shanks is an amazingly infamous pirate," he says- he hums like he's thinking, leaning into his chin, "so my dad's that high up the pedestal, eh? I'll have to catch up."

Luffy blinks, "is Shanks really that amazing?"

Nami knocks him lightly on the head. "He's one of the four strongest pirates in the world, Luffy."

"Huh?" Luffy says. Then, "HUH?!"

"God, you're hopeless," Zoro says. "If you're trying to be Pirate King, you've gotta know these things!"

The three kids watch in awe as Luffy inhales his food, quite literally.

"Hey, are you really pirates? Are you gonna burn houses? Are you gonna eat people?" Ninjin asks. "Why are you flying Captain Buggy's flag?"

Zoro says, "this meat is actually that Buggy dude, we cooked him."

The vegetable trio screams in horror.

Usopp bolts right up and smacks him up the head, "don't scare them!"

"This is over, Captain has become a cannibal!" Tamanegi sobs in despair, the three of them hugging each other in dramatic mourning. Looking at the clock, they decide, "let's go tell Miss Kaya."

Then they run off.

Usopp yelps, "what are you going to tell her? HEY!"

"Kaya?" Luffy asks. "Whuzzat?"

" Kaya ?" Nami asks, and Usopp can hear the suggestive smile on her face.

Usopp wants to curl up and die now.

"You guys need a ship, right?" he turns to them, quickly changing the subject. Luffy hums affirmatively. "Let's go meet her, then."

"You guys have a ship you can give us?" Luffy brightens up.

"Again with the convenient bullshit…" Zoro mumbles, "should I be getting used to this?"

"Probably," Nami says, standing up, "then we can set right off after that. Let's go meet your girlfriend, Usopp."

There's a shocked moment.

Then Luffy spits out all his food on Zoro. "YOu HAVE A-"

"NO SHE'S NOT!" Usopp yelps back, but Luffy is now preoccupied because Zoro is literally squeezing his neck to mince.

"Yes she absolutely is," the waiter puts down their bill, "don't even deny it, Usopp."

"You're turning against me too, madam?"

"You've been joined at the hip since you two were ten. I'd call you married if Merry wouldn't shave your head off for it."

Nami snickers her usual, blackmail-acquired snicker. Usopp pales.

He stands up abruptly, face heating up. "Anyways! Time to go!"

God, if he stays here any longer with them, Nami will manage to gather enough blackmail to cripple Usopp financially for life!

(And somehow, Usopp thinks that's probably okay.)

Chapter 9: [we're all mad here, apparently]

Summary:

Zoro's confused. That's it. That's the chapter.

Chapter Text

Zoro thinks everything is weird as fuck and Luffy needs to be a little more aware of that.

He hasn't even met Nami for more than a minute, and Nami is already raising all the alarms in his head. God, this crew is goners without him!

She exudes the air of a warrior, battered and beaten and resting in the body of a laid-back teenager.

Sort of like his dojo master- a grandmaster hiding in complacency. Hell, Zoro knows the cons of underestimating someone like that firsthand.

And that arm. That arm .

It's a prosthetic. He's not going to ask how she lost it- but a girl, working a metal arm like it belongs on her? That's the sign of level one guts, especially in East Blue.

Most people leave lost arms be- even that one Yonko left his arm alone instead of seeking to replace it- because metal arms bring more bad than good. It changes your fighting style, alters your footsteps, throws you off balance.

Not something you'd do unless you're committed to a life of rough battle.

Someone who can fight well with a limb that they didn't grow up with- that's a fighter rising from the pits of hell. Kuina would've loved to meet Nami.

Zoro respects Nami, but he only trusts her about as far as he can throw her.

...which, in hindsight, might be pretty far actually.

No no no, that's not the main problem.

Luffy asked someone to join straight up, and she actually said yes without hesitation? Then he proceeded to blow someone up for her, and she's already loyal as a clingbug, not even complaining when Luffy literally eats her treasure dry?

And then the Whitebeard mark. What the fuck.

So somehow, by some mad coincidence, Luffy meets a former Whitebeard pirate that's also a good navigator with a lot of money, and she just joins? There's suspicious, and then there's this.

Zoro just wants an explanation. Or twenty.

Then he sees her awake most nights, sees her cry some.

He rolls over and continues to pretend he's asleep.

If Nami's suspicious, they can deal with it later in the future.

But for now, she's fine here.

"Let's get a big ship on our next island!" Luffy declares. "We got a navigator! Now we need a musician."

Zoro laughs at that last part. "A musician?"

"Yeah, cause pirates sing!" Luffy grins.

Nami sighs longsufferingly. "Why are the most ridiculous things always on your priority list? We need a doctor, first and foremost!"

"A doctor? Why?" Luffy asks, because he genuinely doesn't know at all.

Nami facepalms.

"If you're planning on going to the Grand Line, you need to be more prepared than just battle battle adventure treasure and fight !" she bonks him on the head.

Zoro doesn't even respond this time. He's used to that now.

She lifts her hand and counts off her fingers. "You need a skilled navigator to even get there. Then you need a doctor in case anyone gets hurt. You need a shipwright to keep you afloat, and a scholar of the Grand Line if we don't want to die immediately."

Luffy blinks, "so we need mystery people?"

He immediately receives a well-deserved punch to the head.

Zoro looks at Nami and doesn't say anything.

"I'm gonna guess you don't understand either?" Nami asks.

Zoro hesitates for a moment. Then he nods.

Nami sighs. "Okay, okay," she calms herself down, "we can agree that musicians aren't a priority right now?"

Zoro nods. "But do we have a choice?"

Nami groans, "you definitely know Luffy well."

Zoro, for one, is glad that Nami is to some degree a sane person. Too bad their Captain is insane enough for both of them.

One thing Zoro finds rather interesting is that, even after they realized Nami was a Grand Line Pirate, Luffy doesn't ask a thing about it.

No 'what's the Grand Line like' or 'are there really crazy things there?' or 'how dangerous is it?', not even questions of treasure or Whitebeard.

Just 'oh okay, but you're with us now'.

Luffy is strange, but what else is new?

Looks like Zoro has some catching up to do in the weirdo department.

"OW!" Luffy whines for the hundredth time, because he's made another dumb comment probably.

Zoro stares. When will he learn?

"Wait," he says, "Luffy." The boy turns to him. "You're made of rubber, but it still hurts?"

Luffy stares at him for a moment, holding his throbbing head.

Then he balks, "you're right!" Luffy snaps towards Nami, "why does it hurt? It's like what Grandpa does."

Zoro raises an eyebrow at the last part.

Nami hums. "Well, it's something you have to know to survive in the Grand Line. Your grandpa… if it's who I think it is, then yeah, he definitely knows how to do it."

Luffy blanches, "you know my grandpa?"

"The entire world knows your grandpa, Luffy," Nami dismisses, "it's called Haki, and it can nullify Devil Fruit powers to some degree. Wanna learn it, Zoro? Then you can help me knock some sense into this idiot."

Luffy makes an offended, traumatised noise in the corner.

Zoro blinks appreciatively at Nami, surprised by the sudden offer. "I can learn it?"

Nami smiles. "Anyone can learn it. In fact, I reckon you'll be able to do this much better than I can," she says, "the swordsmen that can do this- they can cut through stone, steel, ships, I'm not a swordsman so I don't know, but yeah. It'll definitely come in handy for you, Zoro."

That definitely caught his interest.

So all great swordsmen can do it? That's something an East Blue swordsman like him would never know otherwise. Doesn't that mean he's way too far behind right now? He can't cut steel yet, but apparently it's common in the Grand Line? Damn.

Zoro clutched his swords closer to him, thinking twice. "What's the catch?"

Nami grins, "my lesson fees are pricey."

"For get it, witch!" he snaps, "you have all our money right now!"

Nami smiles wider, "oh, I can lend you some!" she raises her hands in a counting-money motion, "at a two-hundred percent interest, of course."

"In your fucking dreams, you thief!"

"So that's the Gecko Islands… it's pretty big."

"There'll definitely be a ship somewhere we can take!"

Luffy looks mildly excited. Zoro reckons he just likes the prospect of adventure, more so than the town itself. Are they going into the town?

"We need to shore off a little more to the side, Luffy," Nami says, downing the captain's mood, "I'm flying a pirate sail, so if we go through the major city's entrance, we'll have more than just angry civilians with pitchforks on our backs."

Luffy pouts.

"Huh? Nami, there's someone sitting there," Zoro points out first as they come closer to the beach. Sitting by the edge of the cliffside, wearing overalls and not wearing shoes- as they came closer, Zoro also noticed his oddly long nose.

"Sitting there?" Nami actually put down her rmap, "in plain sight? Is he stupid?"

And Zoro hums. That's right- people don't usually just sit there when a pirate flag is approaching. Zoro can't quite tell if this guy is good or bad news just yet.

Zoro's general impression of Nami thus far is 'she's this Grand Line veteran, even though she's younger than me'. And it doesn't quite strike in until they come to the conservative little Syrup Village and they meet Usopp.

Luffy, of course, is the first to ask who the weird guy is.

And the boy puffs up his chest to declare, in the most staged voice he can muster- "I'm the great Captain Usopp, leader of the great Usopp Pirate Fleet, commander of eighty million men!"

How on earth does someone speak all those lines without cringing?

Zoro turns to Nami for validation, only to find that she's frozen. Stuck, jaw slightly agape, eyes stuck in a moment of pain and recognition.

"Hey, Nami," he speaks, soft, "are you o-"

The boy is still talking, "they call me, Usopp the Terrible!"

" No ," Nami jumps, like she's desperate- and Zoro can't help but stare.

It's just like she's been waiting forever to say this, that the words are just lost in her throat. She struggles for a moment too long, but the words come out and there are tears in her eyes.

"You were called the Worst… Usopp."

Her voice dies at the end.

And Zoro suddenly realizes. Oh , they know each other. They're acting like old war buddies who haven't met each other in much, much too long, and it hurt to see each other again.

He turns to the long-nosed boy, and the boy's completely stiff in his spot. His hand halfway at a thumb pointed toward himself, his eyes squinting like he's trying really, really hard to look-

His fake joy crumbled instantaneously.

(What was his name? Aesop?)

Zoro turns to Luffy. Luffy's staring at them with a similar amount of stilted curiosity. Zoro's impressed that he hasn't busted a few hundred questions yet- Luffy was always unnecessarily loud, but it seems like he had tact after all.

"Nami."

And Zoro immediately regrets thinking this guy was weak at all.

Even Luffy takes a step back when the glare sears onto Usopp's face. Roaring from his figure, a will so fierceful and so- so angry - that Zoro's first instinct is to reach for his swords and Luffy's fists tightened into a fighting stance.

Zoro swallows something thick in his throat. Because fuck , that was the kind of bloodlust you'd feel from Koushiro when one of his students got hurt by a bandit. Pure unadulterated anger .

"Nami, who did that to your arm?"

Zoro pulls his sword out of his sheathe. Luffy fixes a stern glance on Zoro, and Zoro eases. Because Luffy says no- and that's probably got a reason.

Yeah, let the two settle this themselves.

Nami finally puts her metal arm out before them, telling them that it was fine. Nami breathes out strong and slow, like she's forcing herself to ease.

"I'll handle this," she whispers to them.

Then she raises her voice.

"Usopp!" she says, then with a more resolved tone, "it's just you and me."

The weight lifts right off of Zoro, and Zoro suddenly realizes just how tight his breathing has been. That glare was heavy. So heavy. So this is the level of a former Grand Liner?

They're so behind.

Usopp and Nami are looking at each other eye to eye- Zoro recognizes this as a silent conversation between trusted comrades.

Luffy looks like he's really interested now- Zoro rolls his eyes at that- so Zoro slots his sword back into the scabbard and straightens himself. If there's no danger, then whatever now.

"You guys are Nami's friends?" Usopp speaks in a similar tone to his funny declaration from before, and Zoro does a double-take at the friendliness. "I guess that's fine then. Come on into the village! I'll treat you to a meal."

Luffy beams at the prospect of a meal. Of course.

If anything goes wrong, Zoro is going to stab Luffy and run.

"I'm so glad you're alive."

What the fuck? What the fuck.

Zoro isn't going to ask. Okay, he's not going to ask. It's not his business anyways, and Luffy is- "Oh my god Luffy!"

Luffy gets attacked by a bird. Again .

He's still screaming, throwing blind punches around but the bird is literally just grasping his face for life because Luffy's shaking too much for it to get a balance and fly off. Cue the struggling madness.

Zoro contemplates drawing his sword- but he's not sure which he should cut first, the bird or the monkey. They're both fucking idiots.

"SAAAGUACK! YOROOO!" Luffy yells.

Zoro sighs. He's going to pretend he doesn't hear a thing. At least this bird isn't big enough to carry the boy off. He doesn't want to go on a captain chase across the seas again.

Finally, Luffy wins. He yells "STUPID BIRD!" and peels the bird right off of him, giving it a punch to the head for good measure. "God that surprised me."

The bird looks horrified stiff.

It's a strange bird. It's not very big- it's smaller than an average News Coo, but it's probably not a baby eagle. It has a deep silver coat, streaked with bronze save for the white belly.

Looks weird. Is it a native Gecko Island bird?

"A bird," Zoro notes, wondering if he could butcher it, "looks edible." Because that's, obviously, the most important thing right now.

Then Usopp barges into them, interrupting with a panicked shout of "wait wait wait!", snatching the bird right away and cradling it to his chest like he was looking at a pair of monsters. "This bird's my friend! You can't eat her!"

Awh man, that sucks.

Then Usopp drops a solid heel on Luffy's head (if Luffy wasn't rubber, he'd probably have cracked that skull) and Zoro can't help but feel a little apprehensive around the kid.

That's mildly terrifying. Are all of Nami's friends like this?

They watch the bird fly back off in some other direction, the boy not really caring for where it goes after leaving the rubberman's reasonable range.

Nami and Usopp lead them into the village, and Zoro can't help but look down again, wondering why the long-nosed boy still isn't wearing shoes as they step onto the stone pavement.

Isn't that an injury hazard? Even Luffy wears shoes.

Well whatever, it isn't Zoro's business. And Nami doesn't seem to respond to it, so maybe it's a normal thing between them? Oh god, Zoro really needs to up his weirdo game if he wants to fit into this crew.

... wait . He's not in the crew yet. Why is Zoro already assuming every weird guy they come across is going to join the crew?

Lord, being sane hurts .

They meet the Usopp Pirates, which is basically a legion of brats that sort of worship the long-nosed storyteller like he's a hero or something.

They learn a lot about him in the next hour. He's known as a serial liar, and everyone tolerates it. People either enjoy it or hate it with a passion, but no one actively throws things at him for being annoying.

(Which Zoro is already tempted to do within thirty minutes of meeting this punk.)

Red-haired Shanks's sniper's kid. Come to think of it, Luffy's said that his hat was given to him by the guy- good lord, is there no one here that isn't somehow connected to an Emperor?

Zoro might need to get himself a Warlord as a foster dad so he won't get left behind, probably.

After chasing the three stooges away with a rather impulsive joke, Zoro gets bonked on the head, and they're now headed toward a relatively fancy mansion at the top of the hill.

He still doesn't get why they don't just head toward the main city instead. Even Nami, the smarter one of the bunch, isn't realizing this.

Is Zoro on crack, or is everyone else on crack without him?

Whatever then, he doesn't care as long as he gets to take a nap soon. He's peaked his quota of bullshit for the day.

Chapter 10: [I trust you] (it's all my fault)

Summary:

Kaya's thoughts, and then, the awaited hug and cry between Nami and Usopp.

Notes:

hey guys! ️ here we finally have Usopp and Nami and angst. Enjoy!

In case you haven't caught the new tags up there, I'm planning to have a slightly bigger crew for this story- but not too many people, though! I've got two characters in mind now after thinking through what could be their dreams, roles, and new skills throughout the journey. Well, I'm just saying for now.

And there will be no romantic pairings among the crew in this story- I'm not a fan of the drama that tends to come with it. The only romantic pairing in this story is Usopp/Kaya, and that's a long-distance thing. Every other relationship is platonic and/or brotherly.

Next chapter will be the last in the Syrup Village arc!

p.s I finally added actual titles to the chapters yay

Chapter Text

Kaya has known Usopp for nearly a decade.

At first, she had only approached him out of curiosity. Who wouldn't? The village blind kid, living alone yet he was brave and strong and so oddly independent.

She had been hiding behind his house, peeking in to see what the boy was doing, (he was painting! And it was so cool!) and she was so sure she didn't make any noise, yet the boy knew where she was, and even who she was.

The boy's eyes never met hers- couldn't, because he can't see well- but Usopp always listens to her when she talks about her day. So in return, she listens when he tells her about these strange, magical stories.

(And just a little, she falls in love with those stories, this routine, and this habit.)

Usopp was probably the first friend Kaya made willingly. Of course, her parents encouraged friendship with other smart children in town, but in the backwater village of Syrup, she couldn't make friends stick. So Usopp was her only real friend.

(And she loved it.)

("And so, full of tears and burning with regret, the man ran back. Each step hurt him more and more, but no! He couldn't let this stand!")

("And with a face full of shame He told them- no. I am not your hero. I lied to you- everything about me was a lie- my lineage, my ideals, even my name was a lie!")

("But that wasn't it all. He drew his weapon, and he declared to them- I will not turn around! I wasn't the hero you wanted. So now, I will become the hero you need!")

(She always wondered, though, how Usopp could describe things in such vividity, when he was blind? He painted the most beautiful pictures in her mind, and cast the most illustrious stories into her heart. She can't help but love it.)

The vegetable trio loved the story of the cowardly warrior who became a legend. They always hate him at the start, and then start crying near the end.

It's the only story Usopp ever told in third person.

Every other story, Usopp would speak as if he were the one to experience those adventures- the large fish dump island. The century-long competition of the two warriors. Each one of these were clearly lies, yet Usopp daringly pretended he was the warrior in those stories.

It was a little terrible, but so charming in the children's eyes. Kaya allowed herself to enjoy this.

But the cowardly warrior- who is this man, that Usopp dared not project himself into?

"Miss Kaaaaya!"

She sticks her head out the window in time to see the Veggie brigade hustle in tearfully.

The next lines were probably a jumbled mixture of 'captain, captain', 'pirates, witch, demon hag that eats humans', 'cannibals,' (that word was abnormally clear,) 'buggy got eaten, eaten, got buggy', and whatever else. She's getting good at deciphering their simultaneous speech.

She leans over her window, giggling. "Tamanegi-kun, why don't you explain it instead."

In the garden, Merry is gleefully tending to the garden. Her mother is in the hall, crocheting, and her father is in the kitchen.

"CAPTAIN'S A CANNIBAL!"

Cue the sounds of glass shattering.

Kaya facepalms.

"AHHH! They're coming! They're coming this way!"

The kids are running the endless circle of panic around Merry, and Merry is desperate to find out if the master hurt himself in the kitchen when he dropped that cup, and in the distance, Kaya knows her mother is cackling.

She sighs.

Kaya meets Usopp's friends.

(He hasn't left the island ever since he was born. There's no logical reason he would have friends from outside the island. It just doesn't make sense.)

( "The boy with the straw hat who's always full of smiles. The green-haired swordsman with three swords at his belt. The orange-haired burglar cat who loves money more than people." )

She stops short, taking in the appearances, so congruent, so right, so perfect like the last piece of a puzzle.

( "And the little cowardly warrior was always behind them, lame in comparison." )

Oh. She looks at Usopp, who's waving in her direction. Oh .

Kaya smiles. Casting one mildly curious glance at the admittedly interesting group behind Usopp, Kaya climbed over the windowsill, hopped onto the branch- and jumped down.

"Usopp-san!"

Usopp lets out a surprised squawk, but Kaya already knows his arms are spread to catch her. Usopp has never dropped her before. He'll definitely yell at her, though.

(She ignores Merry's frantic screaming in the background.)

"Wait, Kaya!" here it comes.

Usopp snatches her beautifully into his arms and sets her down, because he panics and he flushes easily, but he's incredible and, in no known way at all, lame.

Once he affirms that the girl is safe, he flusters. "You can't just- why would you- god how many times do I have to tell you no- "

Kaya takes the chance to get a good look at his companions, and their surprised faces.

The ginger-headed girl smirks at her, and Kaya musters the sweetest smile she can whilst purposefully staying exactly where she is, with her arms wrapped lazily around Usopp's neck and Usopp's hands firm at her waist.

(Mother always said you have to claim your territory strongly, and Kaya has always been a mommy's girl.)

"Who're you?" the one with the straw hat asks.

"It's very nice to meet you," she says. "I take it you're Usopp-san's friends?"

"Oh they're just-" Usopp straightens, urging Kaya to let go. He turns briefly to them, "the rude and loud one is Luffy. The green one is Zoro, and the girl is Nami."

Zoro makes a rightfully offended remark (what do you mean the green one ) and Luffy laughs. Kaya smiles, because they seem like good people.

Usopp's built the habit of pointing out the most obvious traits in people to distinguish them, and more often than not they offend people. He says he's trying to work on it, but Kaya reckons he just likes to see people get angry.

"-well, new recruits of sort. They wanted a new ship, so do you think we could give them the Going Merry?" he turns to Merry, where the three kids have taken to hiding behind as if the man was a well-placed clothes rack of camouflage.

Kaya blinks, "the Going Merry?" she asks.

That's a recently built (two years ago) ship, made to be taken alongside her father's Sloop on their business trips- but they've deemed the ship a little too small for the work and it's been left aside for Usopp to occasionally take on his trips to Baratie.

He never did, though. Usopp loved that caravel so much.

And he's giving it to these people?

(Ah, that could only mean one thing.)

She couldn't help the saddened look on her face, but she bloomed into a smile. "Of course you can! Right, Merry?"

Merry flusters, looking like he has a lot to say- but Kaya knows that there's more confusion than denial in his splutterings. They've agreed long ago that Usopp can do whatever he wants with the ship.

Kaya steps toward the three of them, greeting them with a polite bow.

"Luffy-san, Zoro-san, and Nami-san, was it?" she says, "my name is Kaya. It's nice to meet you."

Kaya's known for a while that Usopp's heart wishes to be a pirate. He doesn't exactly hide it- all his stories are of great voyages that can't be legal. He plays pirate with three kids and they love it, but Usopp's heart is serious.

And Kaya's known for a while that Usopp isn't as kind as she thinks.

She's known since the day Khlahadore died in their basement, presumably from a medical complication because they just couldn't detect the cause.

They were sad, but Usopp was dismissive about it.

Usopp stayed in his house and worked on a collapsible three-piece staff, and Kaya pretended not to notice the five-pointed slingshot in the corner of the house.

There's no proof, but deep down, she just knew.

A while after that, Tamanegi found a bounty poster for Black Cat Captain Kuro, and all the questions in her heart were answered.

Kaya cried herself to sleep, and then the next day, she just wanted to know more .

Usopp never tells her more.

She's bitter, but she's fine. Usopp has his reasons and if there's anything that she knows, it's the fact that Usopp never wants to hurt her.

She catches Kinoko on her arm, and carefully shows it off to Luffy. Apparently, he's made of rubber! That sounds like something right out of Usopp's stories, and Kaya would be fascinated if he weren't drooling.

Eventually, the boy and the bird engage in a heated staring contest. They must be on a similar wavelength, then.

Usopp and Nami have left for the town, apparently needing to stock up and pack for the journey, and Usopp is showing her around.

The green-haired swordsman is asleep in the corner, and the Vegetable trio are carefully prodding at the sleeping lion with the longest stick they can find. Occasionally the swordsman bolts up with a roar, and they dash away screaming.

A minute later, the three stooges come back with a longer stick. Just to try again.

"Oh, it's on, you bird!" Luffy yells at her, and Kaya's attention is drawn back to the exchange.

Kinoko makes an angry caw- but it's more of a rivalry caw than a hostile caw.

Luffy points in a random direction. "You think you can fly better than me? Well I'll race you over there!"

Kinoko makes a very evidently scoffing expression in response. Kaya never knew the bird could ever make such a smug face.

Are they… communicating?

Immediately, Kinoko flaps her wings, hovers in the air for a moment. Luffy turns around and stretches his arm out to hold at the gate, positioning himself like a large slingshot.

Then they give Kaya a synchronous glance.

"Uh," she stumbles, "ready, set. Go?"

They literally shoot off at the speed of light. There's a faint yell that sounds like 'rocket'(!) from the boy, and Kinoko is zooming ahead in the same manner she always does when she finds a mouse at the corner of the house.

Kaya doesn't know what to do, she's never been in such a stupefying situation.

"Uhm, be careful," she reminds into the air.

Whatever this situation is, she's glad that Usopp might actually fit right in with these crazy guys.

It's strange, how Usopp and Nami always find it so easy.

She doesn't want Usopp to leave her sight for even a second. She's clingy like that- selfish, possessive, and her crew is hers .

If Usopp's noticed her Haki clutching around him, maybe he just ignored it. She can feel his, much more versatile Observation, wrap around her too, like a thick fluffy cloud they just can't break away from, but it's so soft and comfortable she'd wear it to sleep.

They slot themselves into a bar first.

Get a drink, and the conversations come easy. They reminisce on drinking habits, divulging into the third annual discussion of whether Nami actually has a liver or not.

They don't get drunk.

Instead, they leave quickly after planning their shopping list, then they get a donut to snack on. Lugging behind them bags of groceries and tools on a trolley, they reminisce about the bubble bags in Sabaody.

Usopp doesn't need to tell her anything. Nami just watches him, and she knows.

Usopp had walked into the store and asked for the things he needed. The shopkeeper had patiently walked around to gather the bolts, nuts, and screws for him.

If there was anything Nami knew, it was the fact that Usopp loved to choose his own supplies. There was novelty in picking out the best of the batch on your own, and Usopp was just superstitious like that.

He walks barefooted on the stone pavement. His eyes never look at her- they blink a little less often than she knows eyes are meant to.

Nami has studied human behaviour for ages. She knows what this means. She knows what this means about Usopp.

(Tell me it isn't true.)

(...It is, isn't it?)

The pain just bubbles in her throat, but she can't do it yet. Not yet. She lets the burn sear into her throat and hurt her, hurt her, hurt her.

That's it.

And it's the moment they walk to the mouth of the forest, to where she knows Usopp's old house is. She just stops, and she can't help the tears.

Usopp turns around, and there's just a mutual knowing that sinks in.

Something in her breaks.

"I'm," she chokes out, and Usopp's already stepping forward to give her a hug. She cries. " I'm sorry ."

(I'm sorry sorrysorrysorry I'm so so sorry )

Usopp holds. Holds her tight, feels every bit of her shivering, of her snivelling, and he just wraps his arms tighter around the girl and waits .

"It's not your fault," he says, and he repeats, "it's not your fault."

Nami doesn't believe it for a second.

( It's because I wasn't there. It's because I left you behind left everyone behind because I was so scared I didn't bother I just assumed it was fine and and and )

"There was nothing you could have done, Nami."

( I should've been there even if I couldn't. )

"None of us did anything wrong. We did our best."

Nami cries anyway. Buries her fingers into Usopp's back and sobs, trying not to be loud about it. Breathes quickly and sniffles and squeezes her eyes painfully shut.

She feels Usopp rub soothing circles into her back, and clutches closer.

And suddenly, the anger is back again. The fury twisting in her throat, she bites her lip down hard.

Then Usopp pulls apart slightly (no no no come back) and puts a hand under her chin. She stares back at those eyes- those mildly unfocused, and upon closer look, just a little murky in colour- and she turns away.

"Marines?" he asks first, and Nami takes a moment to realize he's referring to her arm.

She shakes her head, then realizes something. "No, not the marines," she says, "bounty hunters. They were a sick bunch."

Usopp's brows furrow. "Your foot too?"

Nami blinks once, "you can tell?"

Usopp's frown only deepens at that, so Nami answers with a hum into his shoulder, getting back the contact and the warmth she needed.

They stay like that for a moment. Nami can't see Usopp's expressions, but she can feel just slightly with her Haki that Usopp has a similar monstrous churn of emotions inside him. It can't be pleasant, but what ever is?

"What about you?" Nami asks, and she hates how her voice cracks.

She feels the tears coming again and she hates it. She's past the point of crying now- she promised a lifetime ago to live with a smile on her face. What is she doing ?

Usopp doesn't answer her. The pained look is answer enough.

She reaches up a shaky hand toward Usopp's face, and lets the palm cup his cheek. She looks up once, and she fights against the tears again.

"Where was I?" she finally makes out the words and it's not the first question she intended to ask.

( Where was I when they did this to you? How could I not have been there? )

Usopp's chest lowers in a sigh. He leans, just a little, into her palm. He keeps his arms around her, and he doesn't smile.

"You were safer ," he chooses his words carefully, "and that's all that matters."

Nami's situation was just like hell. So Usopp could only be in one other place, and Nami can't help but hate hate hate herself again.

She buries her face into Usopp's shoulder, and though she doesn't cry this time, she doesn't move from there.

She stays there, not thinking about anything, not talking about anything. She just stays and listens and feels and they're both breathing and that's all that matters now.

(That's all that matters now.)

(It's not fine, but it will be.)

Nami pulls the trolley of materials with her metal arm, her other arm looped around Usopp's. If Usopp was bothered by it, he didn't let it show at all. He just shrugged his own bag of items over his other shoulder, and continued his way toward the house.

"You've gotten stronger," he says, and it's like the words are strangled out of him.

Nami gives her arm a light glance.

If anything- she's gotten weaker. It's obvious- she's two limbs down, a few years back in physique, and a couple months out in Haki. She's far from her prime, and that's not surprising considering they're younger now.

They've really trained religiously for as many years as they could, but somehow, something's just weaker either way.

Instead, she puts a hand on Usopp's bicep.

"You too," she says. "God- we don't need two muscleheads on the ship. You taking after Zoro now?"

Usopp sighs theatrically, "what can I say, living so many years on the same ship as that trainoholic, it's contagious."

Nami laughs anyways. "I guess one sad thing about this arm is that my Happiness Punch would be worth a little less."

Usopp grimaces, " please , none of us ever liked it when you do that."

"Remember that one time in Wano?"

"God, that was a disaster . It actually seemed like it was going to work , and who did it work on? Sanji. What the hell was he doing in there? Actually, I don't wanna know."

"Well, he did say he wanted to be an invisible man for a rather specific reason…"

"Dear lord."

Usopp flicked the lights on in his house.

"There's nothing much I need to grab. Just clothes, a toolbox, and of course," he stepped over the carpet and pulled out a blue object, tossing the three pieces over his shoulder. "Your one and only."

Nami snatched her Clima Tact out of the air, and she swoons.

It's the basic model, her very first. No dials, no Pop Greens. That'll change soon.

Nami may have made her first Sorcery Clima Tact on her own, but it was made from a rendition of the previous model. The concept and beauty of the Clima Tact came from none other than Usopp himself, and she's always loved it.

She tried to make it herself, with Jozu and Haruta's help on the Moby Dick. Hilariously enough, they managed to make a large cloud-making machine with the concept. It was a disaster for Namur's sanity, but they never could figure out how to compact it well enough to weaponize it efficiently.

Usopp's creative, out-of-the-box thinking was something abnormally unique he had even back in the East.

So Nami stuck with her usual three-piece staff with no enhancements. It just didn't feel right.

"I missed it," she admits quickly, a bright smile on her face, "I never really understood how you made them so compact without dials. How'd you do it without Grand Line tech, though?"

Usopp huffs proudly. "It's because I'm the Great Captain Usopp, craftsman of the Pirate King's ship! Of course I can do anything."

Nami humours him with a dry laugh. "Ha, hah. Now c'mon, grab your slingshot. Let's go. We've got business before we go back, right?"

And Usopp does. They leave their luggage in the house, and step out with their weapons in hand.

Standing side by side, confident smiles on their faces- for a blissful moment, it's as if they were in the future again, the cowardly duo facing an opponent due to an unfortunate coincidence and unlucky matchup.

It's nostalgic.

"Y'know, what would you have done if I was still the me in the past?" Nami asks, nodding her head toward the assembled staff before realizing Usopp can't see it, "with the Clima Tact, I mean."

Usopp hums, "I'd probably hide it? Then give it to you when you ask for a weapon or something. No offense, you would've been dangerous if I gave this to you before Lufy beat up Arlong."

Nami snorts. "You could give it to Luffy. Remember the time he stole Sabo's pipe and straight-up socked Dragon in the face for being 'a meanie'?"

Usopp groans, "yes, he shaved a good thirty years off of my life that day. And no, you would kill me for giving you Luffy's hand-me-downs."

Nami hums, "ah you're right." Then she spins the pole around a few times, doing a spin and practicing a bojutsu kata. Straightening, she huffs. "Perfect. I'd like it a little heavier, though, and longer."

"Already making demands? What a slavedriver."

"Hush hush. You're my mechanic, aren't you? If you want me to do it myself I'll charge you for my time, effort and resources. On a 300% interest."

"Wow, what about my payment for making it in the first pl- I KNOW THAT THING IS SPINNING NAMI I'M NOT FALLING FOR THE MIRAGE TEMPO AGAIN GET BACK HERE"

The comedic playout is interrupted when Usopp tenses. Nami straightens, because she knows Usopp's Haki stretches further than she can imagine and it's only gotten further since the last time she's seen him.

Usopp steps back once just in time for a rubber body to slam into the sand, sinking in like a screaming meteor and burying himself into a hole as he lands.

Nami resists the urge to facepalm.

Usopp looks up and raises his arm to receive his bird friend Kinoko as it arrives. "Hey there girl, what's up with you?" he asks the bird, because it's (she's?) breathing like she's run a marathon. Do birds run marathons?

On cue, Luffy bursts back to life with an explosion of sand.

"HAH!" he says, head spinning around before his gaze locked on the bird, and he has that competitive glint that he always wears when he fights stupid fights, "I won!"

Kinoko makes an offended squawk, flapping her wings angrily. Evidently, she disagrees with that verdict.

"What? I obviously got here first! You were smelling my dust!" Luffy throws his hands into the air.

Nami sighs, "Luffy, the phrase is 'left in my dust', not smelling," she says, but Luffy is growling like a feral animal at the bird so he's probably not listening.

Finally, Luffy turns accusingly to Usopp, "Usopp! You saw right? I got here first!"

Usopp is silent for a moment.

Then he juts out, like he's kind of appalled, "oh yeah. Certainly. Definitely."

Luffy balks, "that's the tone Shanks uses when he absolutely doesn't believe me!" he whines. He turns to the bird, and the bird is grinning smugly. "Damn you, you bird! I'll roast you!"

Nami thinks this is fucking hilarious. That bird has a future in being an annoying little shit, and Nami volunteers to be the mentor.

Her Observation Haki picks up a presence, and she looks up to find… oh, not this guy again.

(Usopp said he dealt with Khlahadore long ago, but the rest of his crew were still on standby with orders to return in three years. That's today.)

She spins her staff around, and knocks it against the straw-hatted boy's head. Luffy is completely unfazed, but his attention is grabbed.

"Alright Luffy. You can fight Mushy later, okay? We've got trouble," she says, pointing toward the sea with her other hand. She ignores Usopp when he clarifies the bird's name.

Luffy follows the pointer, and there's a man at the shore, wearing a horrendous suit, a terrible hairstyle, weird heart-shaped sunglasses, and of course he's walking like a total unoriginal moron.

Jango turns to them, and he snaps, "what're you looking at? I'm just a passing hypnotist, nothing special, nothing suspicious, nothing to see here. Shoo."

"Who's that idiot?" Luffy says.

"Hi there," Usopp interrupts them. "Mister Jango, the hypnotist? I assume you're here to look for your captain, Mister Black Cat Kuro."

Jango stills for a short but very obvious second, then he sputters like the most convincing liar in the world. "Wha- What are you talking about? I don't know any man like that! I'm just a passing hypnotist. Please excuse m-"

He goes silent.

Nami has his Den Den Mushi in his hand.

"It says Kuro on it, wow," she feigns, "I wonder who it is. There's a skull and crossbones on it. You must be a pirate crew then? But what would a pirate crew do in this backwater village? Aha." She clicks her fingers and whistles in fake surprise, "are you after the pretty rich lady in the mansion?"

Jango startles dramatically, ironically entirely honest, "oh no! They found out about Operation Assassinate Ojou-sama!"

Nami tries really hard not to laugh. Usopp looks like he wants to kill this guy yesterday.

Luffy looks back and forth between them. Then, "wait, you're trying to kill Usopp's girlfriend?!"

"She is NOT my-"

Jango quickly whips out his bladed pendulum. "You leave me with no choice. I'll have to make you forget everything! Now look here, and in three second you will-"

WHACK!

Usopp bashes him in the eyes with the hilt of his Kabuto, shattering the sunglasses.

"What a waste of time," he mutters, turning away. Kinoko, at some point, has moved from his arm to settle on his head. "I found them, Nami. They're on the South shore. Let's go."

Luffy stares, awestruck for a moment.

Then Luffy makes a pouting, sad sound, poking at the fainted hypnotist, "but I wanted to see what he was gonna do! It looked cool."

"Don't be stupid, Luffy," Nami says, "wanna come with us?"

"Huh? Where're you going?" Luffy asks, tilting his head to the side.

Nami grins, "somewhere fun."

Chapter 11: [weird, but cool] a cowardly warrior

Summary:

Luffy's awfully terrible rivalry with the bird continues.
Meanwhile, Usopp gets a very important parting present from Merry.

Chapter Text

Luffy is always curious, always eager for adventure.

He's learned it a long time ago that when people don't want to tell you things, you don't ask. Ace punched him in the mouth too many times for him to not think twice now.

And eventually, he realizes that it's fine.

Everyone carries a different weight. He doesn't need to know all of them to have an amazing adventure with them, right?

Plus, he has the World's Greatest Swordsman in his crew! That's awesome.

Oh oh oh , but even cooler! Nami! She has a metal arm. How cool is that? Ace is gonna be SO jealous when he hears this. She has a metal arm-

"Luffy, you're shaking the boat with your jittering. If you've got too much energy, walk around the boat on your hands or something."

And Luffy does exactly that.

Then he trips over Zoro, flips into the sea, and after being rescued by an angry Zoro, Nami punches him on the head.

Ow.

He hates the Fist of Love thingy.

"There's a theory to it," Nami tells them on their way to Syrup. "There are various ways to go about this, but the core of it is spiritual discipline. Depending on how far you take it, you can get much, much stronger. You can even make a branch useful if need be."

Luffy's listening, but he's already lost. Zoro's the one that was interested in it, so maybe Zoro understands? Nah, Zoro's an idiot.

"There's not much of a space, but I'll show you," Nami says, picking up her staff.

She closes her eyes- and Luffy's breath holds. The air thickens around Nami, weighing down like a firm blanket. He gulps.

Nami spins her staff behind her, swirling it back before her horizontally.

Then, right before their eyes, black spreads out on the brown bo staff, coating the wood with a pure, metallic sheen, through from one end to the other.

"Armament: Imbuement."

Nami opens her eyes, and they're sunken, focused, serious. She closes them again, and breathes out.

Luffy can't help but feel amazed, breath bated. There was just something so… regal about this. Different from the rough movements of his own staffmanship, this was- like a swordsman. Elegant, noble, and strong.

Luffy gulps. It's like that one time Garp wielded a staff just to make sure the kids knew how far down the league they were.

She swirls the bo staff around, once, twice, spins, and the staff dances around her.

Then she brings it down with her right arm, striking not at the water, stopping sharply a little above the surface of the sea.

Luffy was not prepared to see the sea cave out under it, sinking like a cannonball had sunk in, leaving a water crater in its wake that was quickly swallowed back up by water again.

The waves rocked the boat wildly, shoving it back quite a few paces. Luffy almost falls off from the sudden jerk, but he falls onto Zoro and finds the swordsman frozen in awe.

Okay, if Zoro is impressed, this is amazing.

"That. Was. COOL!" Luffy says, jumping forward, "hey Nami! Naaami! Do it again!"

Nami spins it back toward her, and the staff is brown when Luffy sees it again. She breathes out with a sigh, and Luffy recognizes that it took a bit of energy out of her. She quickly firms into a frown, "no Luffy, this isn't easy to do. I'm not doing it again."

Luffy pouts, but Nami doesn't change her mind. She lets Luffy take her staff though and Luffy keeps staring at it, wondering why it's not black anymore.

"Ar-rainbowthing: Innn-bubbles-ment!" he attempts, posing coolly.

"Your word-butchering abilities are in a total other plane of existence," Nami retorts instantly. "It's not a magic spell, Luffy."

Zoro takes the staff to inspect it. "There's nothing special about the staff…" he mutters, "what's the trick?"

Nami raises her eyebrows. "It's just willpower and life energy taking physical form. Haki, I told you."

Zoro hums, handing Nami her staff back but his eyes never leaving the weapon. "And what happens when you do that to a sword instead of a staff?"

Nami grins.

"Well, Zoro," Nami says, "that is when you start competing to be the Greatest Swordsman in the World."

Zoro's lips widen into another dangerous grin.

Luffy walks away. His comrades are cool, but they're all so weird.

He's not very interested in their creepy giggling over there (kinda reminds him of Dadan when Luffy gives him some of the treasure he accidentally stole) so he's going to go into the corner and do more handstands.

"They call me Usopp the Terrible!"

"No, they called you the worst, Usopp."

Luffy stares at that weird exchange for a while. It's a weird way of conversing, the way they suddenly changed from 'pretending to not know each other' to 'it's you? Okay' expressions. Luffy knows those faces because Ace and Sabo's were pretty obvious.

Oh! They're speaking in code! Luffy remembers this game.

It was always when they were splitting up to run away from the Gray Terminal bandits. Luffy never managed to remember the codes, but Ace and Sabo used it all the time just to make sure they weren't being baited by the hooligans.

And oh. Right. That means Nami and this Usopp guy are friends, right?

...Usopp? Where has he heard that name before?

Luffy finds this bird as annoying as that dumb trash panda in Gray Terminal that kept stealing the pretty things he wanted to give Makino.

What was the bird's name again? Enoki? Shiitake? Ennosuke? What's an Ennosuke?

"Ey!" is what he ends up with, "what? You wanna fight?!"

The bird scoffs at him from the top of Usopp's head, and Luffy rages. This bird knows exactly what he's doing, and no! Those aren't normal bird faces, imaginary Sabo!

They're walking to the other side of town, and he's so occupied by the stupid bird that he only notices now that Nami and Usopp are holding cool things.

"Nami, is that a new staff?" he asks.

"You just noticed?" Nami takes the three-piece and assembles them quickly, handing one end to Luffy. "Usopp made it for it. Want to try holding it?"

Luffy may have outgrown his staff-using age, but using one will always have a special place in his heart. So he takes it happily- only to stumble slightly in surprise, nearly dropping it before he grasps it with both arms, hugging it close.

He stops quickly, shocked.

"It's so heavy?!" he asks, flabbergasted. They just laugh at him, so he holds it properly and tries to spin it. It's not as hard as he thought.

He passes it back to Nami.

"I'll show you the cool part of it later," Nami promises.

Luffy blinks. "Is it a laser bea-MMPH!"

Nami just literally punched his face in. He can't see.

...Help.

Usopp raises his slingshot in the direction of the pirate ship in the distance. Luffy looks over, wondering why his eyes are closed.

Usopp breathes out and pulls his sling back, prepared to fire.

"What're you doing, Usopp?" Luffy asks.

Usopp smiles but his concentration doesn't break.

He shifts his aim a little to the side, a little higher. "My skills with a slingshot are much better than with a gun," he tells him, and Luffy hums. "Hissatsu: Explosive Star!"

Luffy barely catches the zooming projectile before it vanishes in the distance- and then- the ship's jolly roger bursts into flames.

Luffy's jaw drops.

Immediately, he turns to Usopp, eyes twinkling, "what was tHAT?!"

Usopp grins, then his face lowers into a serious hero's face, firm and resolute.

He speaks softly, like a war-torn warrior, "the truth is… I hail from the island of the Snipers. This is child's play for me! Two hundred miles, three hundred miles- I can do all this with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind me!"

Luffy is amazed . Sniper Island? COOL! Usopp is amazing . "Do it again!"

To his disappointment, Usopp holds up his hand as a denial.

"Ehhhh why noooot?!"

Nami's laughter comes from behind them. "Don't worry, Captain," she says, and Luffy notices she's spinning that blue baton around, releasing red and blue balls of energy into the sky. "I'll show you something cooler than a laser beam."

Luffy knits his eyebrows together. No, nothing is cooler than a laser beam.

Nami presses a button on her third baton, and a yellow, sparkling orb of energy pops from it. Luffy watches as it floats up to the- wOAH when did that super duper black cloud get there?

"Thunderbolt Tempo!"

Luffy is not literally but very emotionally blown away when the cloud rumbles, sparks- and then rains lightning on the pirate ship. His jaw drops immediately, and he barely realizes what's going on before there's panic in the distance, the pirate ship's mast is on fire, and there are people jumping ship.

"What-" he turns quickly to Nami, "what was that?!"

Nami just smiles, "cool, right?"

Luffy's eyes sparkle, "yES!"

He has the coolest comrades ever !

Nami then bonks Usopp on the head. "Too strong, you moron! You set the mast on fire and that rarely happens even out at sea !"

Usopp grumbles, "for the last time, I don't make the Clima Tact to be used like that! I can't control the energy of the thunderstorms you make!"

Luffy hasn't stopped grinning in a while, and Usopp knows because Luffy is humming, his voice is dancing stupid dances, and his overall mood is just over the moon in general.

Usopp sighs.

It felt great to finally put his sniping skills to good use again. He sits there, jittering with excitement, and Usopp has his eyes closed and his slingshot out.

His Observation haki stretched out as far as it can go, he locates the voices. It's much easier to shoot people than things.

Kinoko rests on his head, her voice calculative, directive. She's a smart bird, Usopp loves her. It works for him that he can hear her voice so clearly.

(She's my seeing-eye bird, after all.)

"So, why are we fighting them?" Luffy finally asks, and Usopp almost keels over from laughter. They haven't explained, have they?

Usopp loads his shots again.

"Two years ago, I killed their Captain," he admits. "He was evil, he was after Kaya… and now, they're back."

Luffy stares at him.

Usopp knows that it doesn't sound like a very convincing reason to strike a resting pirate ship, but well, he's a pirate. And Usopp is the village's only line of defence.

"They're pirates," he tells Luffy, "pirates should always be prepared to have people after them. There's no fair or unfair game once you've got money on your heads- that's how it is, right?"

Luffy seems to think for a while, his face a rare neutrality in them.

"Shanks said something like that before," he says.

Usopp's a little surprised to hear that, but he smiles, because that's undeniably a compliment in Luffy's standards.

Kinoko makes an angry caw from the top of his head.

"What, are you jealous?" he asks. The bird hits him back for that remark.

Nami heads down to negotiate (extort) a trade-off and please-go-away.

Usopp tells Luffy great stories of random adventures while they wait, and he shoots down anything that comes too close for comfort.

"And so, the Knight went up to the army- and he said- stop it. The war is over!"

Luffy sits there, probably comfortable, and adorably amazed by every obviously fake story. Usopp chews down the nostalgia and the pain in his heart and he wills himself to enjoy this. Savour this joy, savour this moment.

Because his Captain is back.

He's back, and Usopp doesn't want to let him go yet. He knows Luffy will run off immediately once he stops, and Usopp doesn't know if he'll be able to find him again once he runs too far. He's blind, after all.

"I'm back!" Nami sings.

Usopp turns around, slightly saddened that he has to stop. Nami sounds very happy… oh.

"Woah, what's all that, Nami?" Luffy asks, and Usopp grimaces, already knowing what's coming.

"I got their treasure! There's about five hundred thousand beri in there!" she declares proudly, and Usopp is a little proud, a little defeated. "They're all getting on rafts and going to escape toward the main town by sea. There're guards there, so no worries."

Usopp hums. Sounds good.

"Alright then. Let's go back, Luffy," Usopp says.

Luffy whines, surprised that it's already over, "but I didn't get to punch anyone!"

Usopp picks up his slingshot and starts walking, "turn to your left, there's someone there you can punch if you want."

Luffy turns immediately.

The cat-masked men in the bushes stiffen in shock.

Usopp doesn't look at the rest. He just hears a loud "GOMU GOMU NOOOOO-"and prays for their sanity.

He's got a little practice in. At least his new Kabuto is working as fine as it can. With Kinoko's guidance, he should be able to hit his target as much as he used to.

"What's with that self-satisfied look on your face?" Nami teases.

Usopp doesn't hide it. "It's the first time I actually got to try it out in a sort-of battle, and I'm happy with the results!"

Nami grins, "I'm really satisfied with the Cyclone Tempo, by the way."

"Always happy to serve."

Nami continues to look through her Clima Tact, connecting and altering the arrangement every now. She makes a pleased noise. "Oh, this screw is on perfect , Usopp. Please tell me you'll help me maintain my arm?"

Usopp pauses for a second, strapping the Kabuto to his back. "Depends. I'm not sure how it looks, though."

"I have the blueprints, if that helps," Nami offers.

Usopp rolls his eyes, "oh great, that's perfect."

"Alrighty!" Nami cheers. Then, "wait."

Usopp lets her realize it as he walks away. Seriously, Kaya and the Veggie Trio do that all the time too. Usopp's used to it by now.

"USOPP THIS ISN'T FUNNY"

That's where Nami is wrong. This is hilarious.

"Ennosuke!" Luffy yells, shrieking at the bird, "that was mine! Give it back!"

They're at Usopp's house now, gathering up Usopp's things and giving all the dangerous stuff a good sealing so the kids won't break in and explode something while he's gone.

Usopp had gotten Luffy a batch of jumbo-sized donuts from the very ambitious donut store owner for Luffy to occupy himself with, but Kinoko has amazingly managed to grab at it and start flying, scooping it right out of his mouth.

(Or that's what Usopp gathers from his limited vision and a bunch of educated guessing.)

Kinoko is too focused on flying to retort, but Usopp can feel the victorious glint in that bird's voice and he just mirthfully wonders who taught her that.

(Probably Tamanegi.)

"Luffy, that bird's name is Kinoko," Usopp says, watching Luffy stretch and grab the donut in the air, engaging in a tug-of-war with the vulture. "How did that turn into Ennosuke?"

Kinoko makes a caw in response, but unfortunately, Usopp doesn't speak bird. Of all things, Ennosuke?

(That's a very cool name. And it's a boy's name.)

(...for a bird?)

"Giiiiive me my donut you stupid bIRD!"

Ah, so peaceful. Now where did he leave his hair ties in this house? They're missing. Why do hair ties always go missing?

"No, don't come over here, Kinoko. You pick a fight with the feral monkey, you don't run to me when you lose."

"Oh, they're finally back!"

Once again, Usopp wishes he could see. His Haki gives him a vague picture, but he thinks the kids are actually scaling Zoro like a tree right now, one on each arm and Ninjin admiring the view on his shoulders.

Zoro is bubbling like he wants to punt them across the ocean.

"Zoro Zoro listen to this we just fought some ugly looking dumb guy and then Usopp just WHAMMED his head in- and then Nami also whammed my face in but- oh and Nami made it thunder just now! It was COOL!"

Zoro grumbles, "speak in a language I understand," but Luffy just drones on and on.

Usopp sets down his things and greets Kaya, as well as her parents near the entrance. Hm? Where's Merry? Oh well.

"Uncle, Auntie, we're going down to the Going Merry, is that fine?" he hollers to them, "we're making her a pirate ship."

"Pirate?" Kaya's father asks, "oh, is this a Yasopp situation?"

Usopp pauses. "What's that?"

A… Yasopp situation. What is that.

Kaya's mother laughs. "It's when some random boy wearing a straw hat just shows up one day and snatches a sea-loving man away to the ocean of his dreams, leaving behind their dear little lady waiting for him."

"Why is that so very oddly specific?"

Kaya's mother doesn't answer. She's smiling, isn't she? Usopp doesn't like that smile. He has never seen the smile, but he doesn't like the smile.

"It's nothing like that," Usopp flushes, "it's not like I've been directly asked to join them anyways-" he pauses, because Luffy makes a loud whine.

"You're not joining us?!" Luffy sounds like he's gonna launch into a tantrum in two seconds.

Usopp corrects himself, in the most emotionally exhausted voice he can muster, "yes, I'm being snatched away to the ocean of my dreams."

And he can feel the sparkles of auntie's voice when she says, "good for you, honey!"

Kaya's dad groans, "oh, this is a Yasopp situation."

(What the heck did Shanks do?)

"Mom, stop teasing him," Kaya chides. She reaches over and takes Usopp's hand. "C'mon, Usopp-san. The Going Merry is this way."

Usopp hears Nami giggle behind them, and he's already dreading everything.

But this is going to be the last time he gets to be led around by Kaya, so he'll enjoy this for now.

They go down, and Merry the butler is there, waiting for them.

"Merry? What're you doing down here?" Kaya says, surprised to see him there too.

Merry smiles, and Usopp knows that because his voice is friendly. "The Going Merry is my creation, after all. I wanted to present this personally."

And Luffy makes the most amazed noise in the world, "wooOOAH! It's a ship!"

"A caravel," Nami adds, "it's lovely."

Zoro whistles, pleased with it too. But "is that a sheep? It is a sheep."

"Isn't it a lamb?"

"What's the difference?"

Usopp listens as Merry explains to them the systems of the ship and how to sail it- which he also mentions he trusts Nami knows what she does as the Navigator.

Speaking of knowing how to sail, it would be helpful if they actually got someone with proper sailing knowledge. They got Jimbei way too late last time around and most of their pre New-World troubles could've been avoided, in hindsight.

But Usopp's attention is turned to a small object in Merry's hand, which thrums with the voice of something with a sentimental soul.

"So you're really leaving, huh, Usopp-san?" Kaya says, and Usopp jumps a little. Her hand is on his, and she sounds really sad.

Usopp forces a smile. "I'll come back when I've turned the world once," he says. "I'll have a lot more stories to tell you then. Real stories, not made up."

Because that's what he did the first time. He'll do it again, of course he will.

"None of your stories have been lies, though," Kaya says with a grin.

This time, Usopp can't hold back the full on flinch of surprise.

Kaya lets out a giggle. "It's time for Mister Cowardly Warrior to become a Legend, right?"

Usopp's lips tremble. God, he loves her so much . He wants to hug her. He's going to miss her, dammit. She always understood him.

Then Merry clears his throat right before them, and both of them squeak, jumping a step away from each other and swirling on the butler.

"Right," Merry states.

Usopp knows that Merry is staring at them with disapproval again and right in front of everyone else? He's so embarrassed right now.

"I have a little something for Kinoko here. You're bringing her with you, are you not?" Merry asks, and Usopp assumes he raises the thing he's holding.

Usopp feels Kinoko lift from his head, fluttering over to the butler. Usopp nods, "I can, right?" he looks toward Kaya first, then at Luffy.

(Luffy mumbles "yeah as emergency food supply" and gets punched lightly by Nami.)

And Merry takes out the little object with a soul. Usopp doesn't really realize what it is, but it's small and feels as treasured as Zeff's logbook. Must be quite a thing, then.

Kaya gasps.

"Merry, that's-!"

"Yes, it is," Merry says, "I'm giving it to Kinoko for safekeeping, of course."

(What would you give to a goddamn bird for safekeeping? Kaya stop being surprised and tell me, I'm blind.)

"Is that made of gold? Oh my god," Nami's voice comes from the side. Her voice has that amazed tone to it, like she's looking at the most adorable or most beautiful thing in the world- but strangely enough, she stays where she is, not moving forward.

Merry makes a hum of approval. "It's my family heirloom, so take good care of it, Usopp-kun," Merry says.

Usopp swirls on him in horror. Gold? A gold what? You're giving what to a bird? Why is Nami not stealing it already?

Merry continues with a delighted lilt in his voice, "and when you come back home one day, you can give it back to Kaya-ojousama."

A family heirloom? Why would Merry give it to Usopp instead of Kaya? He definitely sees Kaya as more of his child than he does Usopp, right? Wait, what do you mean, to give it back to Kaya-?

Usopp receives Kinoko when she comes back, only to hear a little more noise at the bird's leg. He reaches up, curiously prodding at the little, solid, object…

That is shaped very suspiciously like a… ring.

( When you come back, give it to Kaya. )

The implications hit him like the sea train, and his face burns with embarrassment.

"And here is yours, Kaya-ojou-sama."

Merry hands the matching ring to Kaya, and she spontaneously combusts with a very troubled and flustered, "Merry!"

Usopp sputters with equal parts wanting-to-die and god-help-me, but what comes out of his mouth is a "MEERRRYYY" with lots of ugly tears.

Because did Merry just give his approval for their relationship? Because holy crap this did not happen in as epic a way last time. Usopp is Freaking out .

Merry's heirloom ring. It's Merry's heirloom ringsss!?

Behind them, Nami makes an excited squealing noise with- Kaya's mom, what are you doing there? Why are you two being excited together? When did you two get so close? Stop looking like a pair of fangirls! Go away!

In a corner, Luffy and the Vegetable Trio are discussing the mysteries of the birds and the bees which they haven't yet learned from their parents. Ninjin thinks it has something to do with potatoes. Luffy thinks it has something to do with bananas. They seriously don't know.

Kinoko gives her own bird-language input, not understanding humans but liking her new leg bangle, apparently.

And in another corner, Zoro and Kaya's dad are having a daytime drink. What the fuck.

God, they're all hopeless. Usopp wants to die.

If Usopp gives Kaya a kiss on the cheek before leaving, let's just say he ignored that Den Den Mushi flashing the corner.

Their departure from Syrup is much more homely this time, and Usopp doesn't hate it at all.

Chapter 12: on the Merry, onward to Baratie.

Summary:

Usopp keeps messing with Nami, Zoro is tired of things not making sense, and Luffy can't win rock-paper-scissors against the goddamn bird.

...not necessarily in that order.

But hey, on the bright side, they've made it to the restaurant.

Chapter Text

"Right. To do this all again without the dramatics," Usopp starts with a bow. "My name is Usopp, I'm a liar, a sharpshooter, and a brave warrior- or at least, that's what I intend to become- I'm glad to be on board!"

Nami smiles from where she sits. Zoro hums from his position on the bow, one eye opened with mild interest.

"So you did end up joining after all," he says.

Nami reckons that Zoro is feeling very much like how Nami used to feel. Exasperated. On cue, Zoro throws his hands into the air and looks around the ship, probably trying to decide which corner on the Merry is the most out of the way of the madness.

"Zoro, we're cracking some ale, so don't run off just yet."

"I'm not running, I just don't want to share."

"HEY"

Kinoko caws.

Usopp glares at her, "you're a bird. You can't drink."

Kinoko caws louder.

"Okay fine," Usopp reaches for Kinoko's drinking dish.

"And this will be our pirate flag!" Luffy proudly declares, raising his monstrosity of a painting into the air. How he got himself covered in so much paint, Nami will never know.

She sighs, and Zoro's just baffled.

Luffy is proud of it though, and it's endearing. But this is beyond the design aspect and just 'you can't draw, captain'. So Nami tells him, "you suck at this, Luffy."

"In a way, it strikes terror," Zoro says, and Nami isn't sure if he's being sarcastic or just trying his hardest to be kind of nice.

Usopp hums, "I don't know, it looks good to me."

"You can't be serious, Usopp, that looks so abstract it makes Picasso a joke," Nami says, mildly horrified. Seriously, what's wrong with this guy? Does he miss Luffy so much he just wants to spoil him now?

No way is she going to have that disaster as a jolly roger, no matter how much she loves Luffy. Seriously, one look at that and they'll be a laughingstock.

Wait.

Wait .

She immediately swirls her fist toward Usopp. The marksman dodges it with ease, and Zoro leaps back in surprise.

"Stop messing with me like that!" she snaps, "and don't dodge, dammit!"

Usopp laughs. This asshole has the gall to laugh. Nami wants to punch him to kingdom come, but he just keeps dodging, dammit.

"What's wrong with the flag?" Luffy whines, a little offended.

Nami sighs. "We'll go with that design, Luffy. But how about we leave the painting to Usopp?"

"Ah, yes. Leave the painting to the blind kid. Good idea."

"Usopp I will strangle you if you don't shut up."

"Yes ma'am."

"Wait wait wait wait," Zoro makes his way between them, holding his hands up in a sort of placating gesture before they both start throwing each other into the sea. He turns to Nami first, "what was that?"

Nami blinks. "I will strangle him-"

"Before that."

"We'll go with that design?"

"No no, after that."

"Leave the painting to the blind kid."

"Yeah, that," Zoro says, and Nami hums.

Then Zoro takes a moment to breathe, and Nami can see the exact moment his brain cells curl up and commit suicide in tandem.

Kinoko makes the obligatory 'caw, caw' of doom. Did Usopp teach her that?

Zoro swirls on Usopp with a horrified, "you're what? "

Nami is gratified by the way Usopp raises his hands like he's in front of the police.

Luffy turns to Nami then, "hey Nami what's brine?" he asks, putting down the disaster jolly roger on the deck. He obviously doesn't care that Zoro looks like his veins are gonna explode.

"Well Luffy, being blind means that you can't see anything," Nami explains very patiently, "and Usopp is that."

Luffy hums. He waits a beat.

Then, "WHAT?!"

"Wait but this doesn't make any sense!" Zoro yells, he's been agonizing about this for hours now, "you can literally walk everywhere without hitting yourself!"

Right on cue, Usopp nails his toe against the edge of the table, and he doubles over in pain.

Zoro stares incredulously at it for a moment. "I stand corrected."

"I'm trying to remember where everything is OKAY"

"...Why don't you just wear shoes?"

"Ah right, that's a good idea."

"Alright but really, how did we not notice?" Zoro says, "wait, how did you know my hair's green?"

"I'm blind, not colour-blind," Usopp vaguely explains, "I can see colours, but everything else is too blurry to make out."

Zoro pauses. "Right."

"You don't know the difference do you?"

Zoro dodges the question, because when he doesn't want to know things, he doesn't want to know. "Wait, how did you notice Nami's metal arm if she didn't have it before?"

That's a good question. Usopp actually thinks for a bit before he reaches the same conclusion as Nami, says fuck to the world, and delves into knowledge he isn't supposed to know yet.

"That's actually a thing called Haki. You'll need it to survive the Grand Line. Wanna learn?"

Zoro stares at Usopp for a while.

"Oh, not this shit again." Zoro throws his hands into the air and escapes.

Usopp is silent for a baffled moment. What's up with him ?

Usopp turns to Nami, because obviously that's Nami's fault. He doesn't manage to get a question in edgewise, though. He doesn't know if he wants to ask.

In the distance, Zoro yells, "I'm not paying you a million beri to train me, witch!"

Usopp sighs. Of course.

"Fix this, Nami. They need to learn it eventually."

"No."

They left the painting job to everyone except Luffy. Once they drew in the lines (mostly Nami with her expert measuring and charting skills), they just needed to paint it in.

With a little help from Kinoko and his general experience in painting tons of Strawhat flags, Usopp was able to contribute some.

Altogether, it's a group effort this time. Even Zoro helped to fill in the whites.

"I'm a little sad that I won't be able to see it," Usopp says as they all lay around the finished black flag in exhaustion. "I can kind of tell where people are, I can feel where furniture is- but paintings can't be felt."

Nami looks at the flag under them, and she feels only an indescribable melancholy.

It's their flag, and finally, they can fly it again. Yet, Usopp can't see it, he can only imagine its shape, in those foggy, blotchy colours that are only getting dimmer as the years go by.

"I'm sure you'll be able to see it one day, Usopp," she says. She promises.

( I'll figure something out. )

"Usopp, Ennosuke is cheating!"

"Luffy, she's a bird. She can literally only use scissors. How on earth are you losing?"

By the second morning, Kinoko had made herself a nest on the little, specially-made platform at the crow's nest. Usopp makes a little sign that says 'Kinoko's House' and nails it above the nest on the flagpole.

Usopp finds Kinoko snoring on Zoro's head one day, when the swordsman was asleep, and he sort of feels jealous.

Usopp's hammock is always the lower one, because apparently, after finding out that he's blind, they don't trust him to get himself anywhere higher than the ground. Usopp reckons they're lying when he wins the couch very often.

And when they kick something a little to the side, they make sure to put it back as close as they can.

(Usopp will definitely notice it later, though.)

Usopp is told to wear his boots on the ship to avoid splinters, but more often than not, he takes them off. It's easier to feel his way around when he's not wearing shoes, and he already knows which planks in the ship have a slightly different texture.

It's probably from a different tree, he says. Luffy doesn't get it.

It's a rule on the ship to always make sure nothing dangerous is on the floor, (Usopp kicked the dumbbells once and Nami screwed Zoro a brain surgery) and Nami nails in all the loose planks she can find.

Luffy claims the figurehead as his favourite spot, and he runs around the ship two times an hour. Zoro sleeps either at the top or the bottom of the staircase, and people usually just avoid his feet as they pass.

Nami's room is always the luxurious girl's room, which is nice, but doesn't really suit her needs now. It's spacious, so she first shoves aside some things, and makes herself a workshop she can share with Usopp.

Last time around, Usopp's workshop was a little platform in the galley-lounge-helm that had to be put away when it was time for lunch. Sanji always said it wasn't too sanitary to make food in a place that stank of oil and gunpowder, so the mostly-empty girl's room should be fine.

Let's say Usopp is totally lost in the machinations of her arm, and the first time she took it apart to maintain it, Usopp was desperate to know every single detail of the design so he'd know how to upgrade it.

Luffy wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the loo.

Usopp is sitting by the edge, Kinoko by his side as he watches the sea, humming softly in the night. He's blind, so he doesn't take night watches. He just likes to feel the sea.

Nami walks over with two cups of what smells like hot chocolate. Handing one to the boy, they talk in soft tones, leaning shoulder to shoulder and enjoying the contact.

Luffy can't hear what they're saying, but their smiles are gentle and their laughter is light- it's a nice contrast to the dark circles that sag their eyes.

Luffy smiles.

He doesn't understand anything about them, but together, they're at least not alone.

And Luffy likes it when they're happy.

"I forgot to ask, Nami," Usopp speaks up during lunch, "you joined the Whitebeards, right? Did you get the mark on you?"

Nami was busy serving another roast of meat for Luffy, but she does answer him over her shoulder. "Yeah I did, Oyaji insisted. It's on my back."

Usopp inhaled another forkful of his food with a hum. "Like Fire Fist, or like Phoenix?" he asks, and Nami doesn't miss the way Zoro's eyebrows raise.

Nami reckons he recognizes those names.

If Zoro knows Whitebeard, he would definitely know Phoenix. Luffy though, is more interested in the meat she's frying. She swats his hand away, because uncooked meat can be lethal, and she's not risking it even if it's Luffy.

"Like Phoenix," she answers, "cross and crescent."

Usopp hums, trying to imagine that, "what about the shark?"

...Shark?

She serves Luffy his food and sits down. "Removed it a few years back. I'm waiting for inspiration on what to cover it with."

Zoro, seemingly done with his food, takes a good look at the ugly scar on Nami's left shoulder. "You sure have a lot of tattoos for a girl."

"My sister's got a bigger one," she responds, and Zoro chokes on his drink. "Comes with being in this world, y'know? Pirates everywhere. You need to be tough to survive, and one good way to look the part is to get a tattoo to show for it."

"What are you, a family of yakuza?"

Nami grins, "yeah, the worst kind."

"Nami, stop teasing him," Usopp sighs. "How did you get to the Grand Line, anyways? You're not telling me you sailed Reverse Mountain on your own."

"I snuck on a Marine ship," Nami tells him, enjoying the way Usopp and Zoro choke in unison. "It was nice being a cabin boy for a while."

"That's reckless," Usopp mumbles. "Wait, boy?"

"No sane Marine takes in a cabin girl to the Grand Line, Usopp."

"Right. You have a point. But seriously?"

"I have a fucking metal arm, Usopp. They don't even think a girl's got enough guts to get one, so obviously it went over easy."

"I deeply apologize for doubting your manliness , stop grinding my foot please- ow ow ow OW NAMI STOP I'M SORRY"

Zoro escapes the chaos, going over to the sink and volunteering for dishwashing duty so he won't get caught up in the conversation.

Nami as a man, huh… that certainly fits. Zoro knows very well about the absolutely irritating sexism in sea work, so it's impressive that Nami's a Grand Liner with as much experience as she boasts. Luffy lucked out with this navigator.

...Wait, where did Luffy go?

BOOM!

...ah.

"Stop biting me, Ennosuke!" Luffy whines, fighting with the bird, who's furiously pecking at his face. It managed to grab his cheek and pull it too far away.

Usopp stretches out his Observation. No enemies, but it's too noisy for him to ascertain anything new on the deck.

From the explosion, though, "Luffy, why did you bring the cannon out?"

"I just wanted to test the cannon!" Luffy explains, swatting at the bird with a little Gomu Gomu pistol. He knocks the bird on the head and the bird attacks again. "Hey hey Usopp, try aiming for that rock!"

Usopp stares at him blankly. Did Luffy forget he's blind, again?

"It's a waste of ammo, so no," Usopp says first. He doesn't even know where the rock is. What rock, even? "I installed those cannons myself, Luffy, I assure you, they work."

Luffy whines.

"What's the ruckus about?" Nami asks.

"Luffy wants to blow up a rock," Usopp supplies.

"What rock? Where?"

"I don't know Nami, do I look like I can see where it is?"

"Shut up, Usopp."

Nami makes her way over, followed by Zoro. They gather around the cannon, and Nami leads Usopp by the collar into the direction of the rock.

Luffy is still fighting with the bird. Expletives are spilling and Zoro is grimacing.

"How do you usually aim?" Nami asks, "you're a sniper, you're not telling me you can't aim at all, right?"

In fact, Usopp aimed at the Black Cat's jolly roger just fine. He definitely has a way to do things, even when he's blind. The greatest sharpshooter in the world isn't chained down by something like sight.

"I can aim at living things with Haki," Usopp says, and no one misses the way Zoro turns over with attention. He doesn't want to pay Nami for lessons, so he's going to scoop any random information by eavesdropping. "For non-living things, I ask Kinoko."

But the bird in question is too busy trying to chew on rubber.

"Ah, right. She's your seeing-eye bird," Nami recalls. She had wondered what a seeing-eye bird was, it's probably Usopp's illogical rendition of the dog version. "It's at one o'clock. Angle at thirty five, about three Merries away."

"Don't measure things in Merries, what the hell," Usopp says, but he's already moving to adjust the cannon.

He reaches for a match to light the wick- then he goes still.

"Wait. Uh, no. We can't shoot that," he says, and the other three give him weird looks. Usopp groans and throws his hands in the air in exasperation. "Haki, Nami. Haki ."

"Lord, how far's your range? I can't sense a- oh." Nami turns over there and she facepalms. "Zoro, turn the helm, let's go to the rock."

"What? Why? I wanna shoot it!"

"There are people on it, Luffy. Let's shoot it after we save them."

"Usopp, could you go get the limes?" Nami says.

Usopp hums. "Where are they?"

"In the cabin, it's in one of the barrels, you'll see it."

"Okay."

A second later, Nami swirls around and socks Usopp in the gut.

Johnny shrieks, jumping to Zoro for cover. Luffy goes to get the limes, because he has survival instincts, unlike Usopp apparently.

"Stop doing that."

"Stop... falling... for it," Usopp suffers on the ground for a while, and everyone just watches because really, the idiot deserves it.

Johnny looks rightfully scared shitless. No one is going to explain to him for a while, because for now, all he needs to know is that Nami is scary.

Luffy is pouring another gallon of lime juice into Yosaku's mouth, because he's not interested in anything over there.

Usopp makes a soft strangled noise, "...did you have to hit me with your right arm?"

"Yes!"

Both Nami and Usopp have significantly longer hair this time around than last time starting off.

Usopp's hair, ever the curly mess, is tied back in a similar fashion to his post-Boyn look. It's not as easy to cut his own hair this time, and Merry didn't always have the time.

Nami's hair is about as long as Robin's hair used to be, but Nami's hair is wavy and light, so it offers an entirely different image. She'll probably leave it to grow a little more.

Their clothes haven't changed as much.

Nami wears a proper shirt unless the day's really hot out, simply because the Whitebeard mark attracts too much attention in the East. That with boots to hide her foot prosthetic, and she wears one glove on her metal arm.

For Usopp, it's just easier to wear a pair of overalls than it is to coordinate a set of clothing. He's rarely seen with shoes.

Small changes.

"Yes, Zoro, for the last time- yes,you can ask me questions. I'm not gonna charge you for it, I'm not Nami."

Zoro stares at Usopp skeptically. Any friend of that witch can not possibly be trustworthy, but Usopp seems pretty genuine at least in heart.

(Or at least that's what Zoro wants to think.)

So Zoro swallows his skepticism for a while. "Is Haki different for everyone? Cause you use it really differently to how Nami uses hers."

Usopp hums, seeming to think for a while. "It's not exactly different for everyone- there's just more than one form of it."

Zoro raises an eyebrow. "Like how Nami can make her weapon black and she can use it without a weapon too?"

Usopp's face scrunches up in a way that means Zoro isn't wrong, but isn't right either.

"I think we need to start from a little further back in the basics," Usopp says. "It's all a manifestation of willpower, so it depends on how you train it and what your innate talent for it is. People usually focus on just one of them."

Willpower.

Zoro's hearing that a lot from them, so he that's definitely the core of the ability. Does this mean meditation and determination and all that?

Usopp flexes an arm, tightens the fist- and to Zoro's shock, it turns a sheer metallic black. They can make their fist black too? Not just weapons?

"This is Armament Haki. It's like armor, and Nami's better at this than I am. It's possible to use it without the colour, but the colour's the advanced level of it."

So the metallic sheen is basically the level two? Zoro has the urge to touch it, but it quickly turns back into skin.

As if on cue, Kinoko flies in, and lands on the wrist right as Usopp's arm lifts.

Zoro's eyes widened. The bird had been coming from behind Usopp- yet it's as if Usopp knew she was coming, and just waited.

"Another form of it, the form I excel at, is Observation Haki," Usopp says. "It's why I can always see where you guys are and how far away anyone is, even when I'm blind."

Oh.

(Oh, that makes sense.)

"Fuck," Zoro says, putting a hand on his sword. "So if you weren't blind- you're telling me it'd be stronger?"

Heck, Usopp could tell that two people were on the rock a mile away, hidden from view. And that's while his vision is critically impaired?

Usopp smiles, and it's not a nice smile. It's a sad, knowing smile, and Zoro hates that look. He hates it with a passion and he'd punch Usopp to get rid of it.

Usopp doesn't answer him.

And that's an answer in itself.

"Nami fights better without Haki anyways."

"What?!"

"With the scurvy issue in mind, we need a proper cook," Nami says. "Usopp and I have decent sailing knowledge, but the rest of you are lost causes, I swear."

"Well, if that's what you're looking for, there's a place that's teeming with strong cooks," Yosaku says. "Usopp-aniki might die though."

Everyone turns to Usopp.

"I have… history with the owner," he throws into the air, and Nami laughs. Usopp stares at the bounty hunter duo. "Wait, how did you guys know that?"

"See! I'm not the only one that got surprising new connections!" Nami laughs.

"I'm a Lieutenant of the Marine Headquarters, known as the 'Ironfist', Fullbody."

Sir your introduction is too long. You lost me at 'Marine', what's your name again?

Usopp casually makes his way down the rope ladder, taking a little more time because Zoro gets angry when he skips too many steps.

"I'm Luffy! We just made our flag the day before yesterday!"

Usopp hums as he makes his way around the deck, picking up pieces of what sounds like bounty posters with Kinoko's little caw signals. Oh, right, they should drop the anchor, too. Busy, busy.

"God dammit that kid over there! Stop ignoring me!" Lieutenant Furby yells.

Usopp pauses, looks in the general direction of the sound… then he tilts his head to the side, putting a hand at his ear in a 'did you say something?' gesture.

"I said!" Lieutenant Furby raises his voice, "DON'T IGNORE ME!"

Usopp blinks. "Sorry sir, I can't hear you. I'm blind," he informs.

Nami has been laughing for a solid two minutes now, and Zoro has gone below deck to lower the anchor. Luffy is still trying to size the Lieutenant up, and the two bounty hunters were probably staring in panic.

"Ah, right, okay then," Furby says, his voice laced with fury. "HEY! Sink them!"

Luffy gawks.

"Gomu-Gomu no: Balloon!"

"Luffy, look, there's meat at three-o'clock."

Still inflated, Luffy rapidly spins to the right- (there's MEAT?!)

And the cannonball sinks into his balloon belly, bouncing right back onto the Marine ship, shattering the Mizzen mast, which crashes into the Main mast, and in a domino of panic, chaos occurs.

Luffy swirls on Usopp, deflating in annoyance, "there's no meat in that direction!" he accuses.

"Sorry Luffy, I meant nine-o'clock," Usopp says unapologetically, handing the papers back to Johnny.

Usopp is an expert marksman. He knows how to aim any sort of gun, even if the gun is his captain that ate a rubber-rubber fruit and has a shitty inconsistent aiming system.

"I told you, sir. I am not a waiter, I am the sous chef. I'm simply filling in for the waiter that jumped ship last week."

Ah, ah, what a marvel to walk into.

Lieutenant Furby, held up by the skull, bleeding enough for two people yet the floors are miraculously still clean from blood. They'll need to clean the floors from the soup remains and broken dishes, though.

Johnny and Yosaku were left to watch the Merry, and the rest of them walked into the restaurant for a meal and a recruitment.

Sanji really knows how to make a great impression, doesn't he?

"HEY SANJI! What're you doing to the customer?!"

Nami sighs. This is such a familiar sight, it probably already goes without saying that this Sanji isn't her Sanji. Usopp would know.

Hm? The floors are strange . There's just one thin line of a different textured floor, is that the waiter's pathway? That wasn't there the last time…

Kinoko flies into the restaurant, and Nami mildly panics. Birds shouldn't fly into a food establishment without permission! It's hardly sanitary, and they'll just give the owners a reason to be annoyed.

And to her upbeat horror , Kinoko smacks body-hug facefirst right into Sanji's face, and Sanji lets out the most startled shriek in the history of Sanji.

All eyes are on the bird, who crawls onto Sanji's head and then settles in like she just belongs there. Sanji's face is red and full of feathers, and he looks minutes away from cooking bird stew right there.

She should probably step in with an apology (Sanji would definitely forgive it if it's her, right?) but Usopp is already walking forward.

Before anyone notices, Usopp retrieves the Lieutenant's body from Sanji's hand, and sets it on the ground by his feet.

"It's dangerous to leave the glass and wood around, so clean that up, okay?"

The two chefs swirl on him so fast, Nami might've heard the cracks if she was closer.

"Ack, Usopp?! You shitty waiter!" Sanji explodes. He turns to the bird, "Shitty bird, get off of my head! And you!" he turns to Usopp, "you run off last week and then have the crap to come waltzing back in?!"

"I'm a pirate now, so it's just for a while," Usopp answers, "c'mon guys, Chef Zeff is gonna be angry at us. We're backed up on orders, so I'll send Lieutenant Furby out."

And then he turns around and makes his way out of the restaurant, lugging Lieutenant Fullbody out like he was a sack of trash.

"Lieutenant Furby," Nami mutters, "seriously?"

Everyone just stares, flabbergasted.

Patty grinds his teeth, "don't think this is over, Sanji!" he says, pointing angrily. "Hey! Someone get the crappy broom out here!"

Magnificently diffused. Usopp's incredible, Nami thinks.

As expected from someone that was a waiter in this hellhole, Usopp's completely over his cowardly phase now.

(Nami's a little... sad.)

They've graduated from the coward trio, officially- and this is the striking proof of it all. Even after two years in Boyn, that never happened- of course it'd happen now, after all they've been through.

Cowards don't live long in the Grand Line, after all, and Usopp had to change for it.

(Isn't here any way they could go back to those fun, fun feelings?)

"Lieutenant! Lieutenant? LIEUTENANT?!"

The poor soldier literally walks in to see his superior getting lugged away in a bloody mess. Oh, how traumatising.

"What's wrong?" Usopp asks him nonchalantly, as if he wasn't lugging a bloody human around.

"Ah! Oh no, we need the lieutenant! What happened to him! The pirate we captured and kept on board is-"

Usopp sensed the marine ship out there in jeopardy for a while, but he's only just noticed the little, weak presence coming forth.

A gunshot.

The marine soldier falls.

The entire restaurant stops working, horrified. Staggering in his steps, a man walks in the doors, covered in blood and holding a gun in his hands.

Usopp smiles, entirely unfazed. "Welcome to the Baratie, dear customer," he greets, "please, take a seat, and I'll be with you shortly."

Chatters broke out. What is that waiter doing ?! Is he suicidal? Oh god.

Usopp smiles. Gin only takes one look at him, and continues walking in. Usopp deposits the marine lieutenant and soldier on their ship, and quickly comes back in. But oh, someone's there before him.

"Welcome, you squid-faced bastard!" Patty grins in his sarcastic, asshole way, "pardon me, you bastard, but do you have enough money on you?"

Gin's obviously reaching the end of his patience, and he lifts his gun. "Do you guys take lead?"

Patty raises his fists. Usopp dashes forward.

The one sent flying isn't Gin, but Patty. Usopp swirls and kicks him in the gut, and he doubles over with a howl.

Gin looks up, eyes wide with surprise.

The entire restaurant is looking at him like he'd grown another head.

"You crappy waiter! What's the meaning of this?!" Patty yells. "This is a paying restaurant! We don't serve anyone that comes to look for trouble and can't pay!"

He falters immediately when he catches Usopp's gaze.

"I've told you before, Patty. When I'm here, the floor is my territory." Usopp warns, letting the anger boil out of him into a fierce glare. "Now get back in the kitchen."

"You say pretty things, but you're just going to kick me out too, aren't you?" Gin grumbles when Usopp leads him out to the balcony.

Usopp sighs, "we're really sorry about Patty. We don't discriminate here, but well, he got put in a bad mood apparently."

"Screw the apologies, I just want food."

"Don't be so cranky."

"I'll show you cranky if you don't give me food now!"

The door opens behind them, effectively saving Usopp from immediate death by bullet. Sanji steps out with a hum, a cigarette in his mouth and holding a plate of fried rice.

"Food for the hungry sir?" he asks rhetorically.

He drops the plate on the ground, along with a cup of water. Then he goes over and boxes Usopp over the head.

"Can you not do shitty dumb things?" he chides, "you know you'll get in trouble for that, right? Patty holds grudges."

Usopp grins, "and yet, you still made the food."

"Shut up."

Gin stares at the plate, skeptical.

"What, you gonna say your pride's in the way this time?" Sanji says, sitting down by the railing and taking a drag of his cigarette, "eat already. You're hungry, right?"

"N-No, nothing of the sort. Just-" Gin gulps. "Just- I'm sorry. Thank you… for the food."

Usopp walks back into the restaurant after that, because he knows his captain can take it from here.

Chapter 13: the Greatest Swordsmen.

Summary:

Luffy annoys the heck out of Sanji.

Some things change, but other things are dragged back onto the course of fate, simply because history doesn't like to be altered.

Notes:

Hiii guys ah goodness I love you guys so much? thanks for all the support and the reviews T^T they make me so happy esp with all the shit going on irl now. bless y'all. have this superlong chapter and I hope you enjoy!

Just a question- I mentioned that we were gonna have more strawhats added to the mix, but, who would you really want or not want to join? It's okay to answer honestly, because I might still go with my original plan either way. I just want to know the general opinion.

Chapter Text

("I can't cook anymore, Nami-san. Not with these hands.")

("Think of what happened to Franky. At the rate I'm changing, they're going to find something interesting in me, too. And it's not going to be as pretty.")

Nami watches Sanji pour the champagne into her glass.

"Good evening, oh lovely mademoiselle," and though the words are so sweet, it brings tears to her eyes. "How may we serve you and your… slightly less than stellar company today?"

"Meat! I want Meat!"

"Sake."

"I didn't ask you shitty bastards! And don't come into a restaurant and order sake!" Sanji snaps, then swirls back into his deep tenor for the lady of the table, "pardon me, milady."

Nami smiles, leaning into the back of her hand in a seductive way. "I apologize for my Captain and his companion. They're terrible , aren't they?"

"Oh no no, I could never fault such a lady for these brutes," Sanji says, "in fact, I might have to apologize for subjecting you to a meal on the same table as they. Would a meal on the house suit your fancy?"

Nami barely squashes the mirth in her heart. Of course he misses the code. Why did she even try when she knew he wasn't her Sanji?

"It would be lovely, thank you," Nami says, in her flirting manner, because as much as she doesn't like to indulge in Sanji's swooning, he deserves it at least. "Would it be too much trouble to request for a meal specially prepared by the sous chef?"

One thing she loved about Sanji was the fact that he loved all ladies equally. No manner if they were the enemy's elite, they had three eyes, or if they had a metal arm.

It made her feel genuinely pretty for the first time in a long, long while.

"You little blind BRAT! How dare you come scurrying back in here!"

"Good morning, Chef Zeff! Would you like a seat or shall I clear the staff table for you?"

"Stop treating me like a customer you little SHIT!"

"Oh? Usopp's serving us the food?" Zoro says.

Usopp sets down the mountain of plates before Luffy first, then it goes to Zoro. Sanji personally serves Nami's meals, because he's extra like that.

Kinoko is asleep in a little nest by the main mast of the Baratie. It's her bed when they stay here, and people mainly just treat her like decoration that needs to be fed.

Princess life, basically.

(Though Sanji always threatens to make a good bird stew out of her.)

"I used to work here, up until a couple weeks," Usopp says, "they never have any waiters in here cause Sanji keeps beating up people."

"You talk like you're any better!" Sanji snarks. "You brained a dude with your tray last time when he started going on a drunken craze."

"It was an accident," Usopp emphasizes in a way that indicates it was absolutely not an accident, looking absolutely innocent. "Don't blame the blind kid when someone gets too close, y'know?"

"Yeah, right."

Zoro hums amusedly, sending a foot to Luffy's face when he stole a chunk of meat, "HEY LUFFY THAT WAS MINE!" before proceeding to strangle the captain. He tugs at Luffy's face, taking care to avoid Nami's plate.

"You two get along well," Nami says, "been working together for long?"

"No, not at all," Usopp and Sanji say in unison. And in perfect synchronisation, they swirl to each other, and yell, "you liar, I've/you've been here for two years, of course that's a long time! Then why're you lying? Stop copying me!"

Nami bursts into laughter.

The scene has caught the attention of the other patrons as well, and though some look annoyed, the regulars look accustomed to Usopp and Sanji's usual bickering.

"HEY! Sanji, Usopp! Get back in here and DO YOUR JOBS!"

"Shut up, crap-cook!"

"I quit last week, don't order me around!"

"You're a fucking oxymoron, Usopp!"

"How do you even know what the word means?!"

Zoro, finally settling back into his seat, makes sure to eat away from the table this time. "So? How long are you gonna be wearing that apron? You gonna quit and become a waiter?"

"Don't even joke about that," Usopp says, casually slamming his tray into Luffy's fingers (he shrieks) when it comes too close to the plate he's holding. He sits down and starts eating, "we're going to be here for a while so Luffy can recruit our cook, so I might as well, right? They're understaffed."

Luffy inhales the rest of his plate, and huffs, satisfied. "That was good!" he says.

Sanji's brows raised.

"You guys are here to recruit?" he straightens, subconsciously moving a little away from the table. He sighs and looks away. "Well, good luck getting any of those morons in the kitchen, they're shitty."

Nami leans over the table, setting down her cutlery. "Oh?" she swoons, "aren't you an option as well, pretty boy?"

Sanji laughs, "unfortunately, miss-" he pauses. Zoro and Luffy are both looking at him, dead serious. He gulps. Oh, they're not joking.

So he composes himself.

"Unfortunately, there's something I have to do. I can't leave this restaurant," Sanji says.

Nami looks up at him, "no matter what?" she asks, in that sultry tone that definitely means you've lost your wallet. "Even if I'm here?"

Sanji falters with a very visible arrow to the heart.

"I- It devastates me, but I must refuse."

Usopp takes another bite of his food before handing it off to Luffy, who finished it instantly.

"Oh, it's that bad to stay here?"

All movement in the restaurant freezes.

Sanji jolts to a stop, straightening immediately. Behind them, Chef Zeff crosses his arms.

"Why don't you make like a squirrel and scram, you fucking eggplant," Zeff says, "you don't need to be here. Take a page out of the blind brat's example and get out of here."

What happens next can be summed up as a fight that's as ugly as it can get.

Zeff swings Sanji into a table, a lot of yelling and cursing goes on, and the customers watch, mildly amused and yet so horrified.

Usopp sighs.

They spend more days on the Sea Restaurant, Luffy chasing Sanji around every few minutes just to piss him the hell off.

Meanwhile, the Strawhats find other things to occupy themselves with.

Usopp works on the Baratie whenever he feels like it, and spends the rest of his time on the ship, either working out with the boys or tinkering on a new device.

Kinoko spends her time sleeping like the bird she is, though Usopp occasionally asks her over to the ship to fit some weird metal contraption on her feet or wings.

Zoro broke out the dumbbells, and the three bounty hunters spend most of their time working out a sweat trying to get stronger.

"What, you joining us today, Nami?" Zoro says.

Nami walks out of the galley wearing a tank top and easy-to-move-in shorts.

"I might as well. I need more muscle to live with this arm," she scoops up a dumbbell from the ground with her metal arm.

"What? Nami-aneki? No way!" Johnny says, getting up from his plank.

"Actually, I have a feeling Nami-aneki would be better than us at this…" Yosaku mumbles, suffering on the ground.

Nami quickly transfers the dumbbell from her metal arm to her flesh arm.

"Don't you have a heavier one?" she ignores the two in favour of Zoro, who's doing hand-stand push-ups, "this is only about as heavy as my old arm."

"Your arm is as heavy as a-"

"My old one," she clarifies for them, "of course it's lighter now, this is Grand Line tech. But this dumbbell isn't heavy at all. Zoro?"

Zoro straightens, and breathes out. "Second one to your left," he says, then he resumes his workout. "The lighter ones are for Johnny and Yosaku."

Nami puts the weight down, and reaches for the other. It's a little thicker, but it's about the same size as the other one- holy crap.

Nami stumbles, then she uses both arms to heft it to her hip. Then she stares at Zoro with a horrified expression.

"You're kidding. This is what you usually crank? Are you a bloody gorilla?"

"I'm thinking of adding more later."

"And you're calling us insane…"

But seriously? She was looking forward to impressing Zoro with her strength this time, only to find out Zoro's leagues above even in his weaker state? You're kidding.

Once a Monster Trio, always a Monster Trio , Nami thinks mirthfully.

"Hey Sanji, join us!"

"No."

"Hey Saaaanji."

"I said no."

"Saaaaaaaaanji!"

"No!"

"So you're finally setting off, huh?" Zeff says, "you've always done just whatever the hell you want, but it's for real this time?"

They're in Zeff's quarters, with the old man sitting by the bed, and Usopp on his knees on the ground. The door closed behind them, the restaurant noisy downstairs.

Zeff does this a lot to his longer workers.

He's no sentimental old man and definitely not a trained psychologist, but he's definitely the oldest man in the building and that has to mean something.

Something, as in, actually being an adult.

He tugs Sanji in more than most, at first to deal with his guilt complex, then to deal with his inferiority complex, then so on and so forth, this kid is a mess.

For Usopp, it's mostly to sort out his memories, his struggles, and his past. Usopp's gone through legendary feats that would leave even a grown man trembling with years and years of trauma- and he hasn't even told Zeff everything yet.

Usopp is no strong kid, was no strong man. He's definitely got a deep scar inside somewhere no one can reach, and Zeff can tell. It's pretty obvious when you know what to look for, even if he lies well enough to pass it off as childish cowardice.

"So those kids are the ones you've been waiting for," Zeff says. "Gotta say I expected a grander impression."

Usopp chuckles, "he blew a hole into your roof, last time around. With a cannonball that the Marines shot at us."

Zeff makes a groaning noise, "do I want to know?"

"Nope!"

Zeff sighs longsufferingly.

Usopp runs a hand across Zeff's logbook, smiling sadly.

"You can take it, you know?" Zeff says. "It's not much- but if it can help you, in any way, to prevent what you came back for- I'd give it away in a heartbeat."

Usopp's shaking his head before Zeff was even done speaking.

"It's helped me far enough," Usopp says. Plastering on a cheeky grin, "I mean, I can't even read it. Don't waste this on a blind boy like me. This logbook stayed here last time- it's going to stay here this time too."

Zeff hums, "you don't need to read it to know its contents," he says, but he doesn't pursue any further.

Usopp hands the book to Zeff, a sort of finality in the way he presses it into the Chef's hands.

"From now on, things are going to be harder," he says. "I'll need to start working if I really want to change everything. Me and Nami both."

"And everyone else too," Zeff reminds him, "you two aren't alone in this, you know? They may not be the ones you remember, but they're your comrades all the same. Don't forget that."

Usopp pauses a little at that.

Zeff doesn't miss the way Usopp recomposes himself, rethinking- his mouth drops open, then closes quickly, his fists tightening.

Usopp laughs dryly, "of course I know that."

Zeff sighs. He doesn't.

"Oh my god! Look, it's Krieg's Pirate Ship!" Carne yells.

"What?" Usopp asks, "where?"

"It's right out there, just look!"

"I'm looking, where is it?"

"It's literally- GO AWAY USOPP I FUCKING HATE YOU"

Johnny and Yosaku are on the ship with Nami, and Usopp was in here for a lunch break with Zoro.

Luffy had been chasing Sanji around until the galleon appeared, and Gin came back in carrying a large, weakened man.

The confrontation with Don Krieg went by similarly to last time- no one wants to feed the man. Sanji wants to feed the man. Angry cooks. Scared customers. Red Leg Zeff and enough food for a hundred people.

"You're not gonna do anything, Usopp?" Zoro asks. "That's unusual."

Usopp busied himself with trying to clean Kinoko's feathers on his lap. He can't literally see, but Kinoko is one demanding little bird and she fell into a pile of onion peels yesterday.

Usopp is just patiently trying, because when Kinoko asked Zoro, the man offered his help in the form of three drawn swords. And Luffy is busy trying to court convince Sanji to join.

"Nah, I think Chef Zeff has this handled," Usopp says, "plus, if you get between Sanji and trying to serve hungry people food, you're gonna be in trouble."

Zoro hums disinterestedly.

Then he turns toward the growing chaos in the center of the restaurant, "Luffy, you planning to rumble? Need a hand?" he hollers.

The eyes in the restaurant turn to them, and Usopp makes sure to send a scowling look at the crowd, just to keep up the measly intimidation tactic.

"Ah no, I'm fine," Luffy hollers back, "you two can stay there."

It's one simple command, and Zoro stays down. Usopp turns back to Kinoko, fussing the feathers and trying to get that one stubborn peel out of her wing.

Usopp's impressed. Zoro's loyalty to Luffy was really impeccable from start to the end.

("I wield my sword for only one man, Momo. You are not that man, so I can never be your subordinate. I can only be your teacher.")

"Nami-aneki is breaking all the barriers of gender," Johnny mutters, a little jealous.

Nami raises an eyebrow, sorting through their bounty posters while cranking a weight on her flesh arm. "Something wrong with that?"

Yosaku waves his hand in denial.

"No, no, of course not," he mutters, "it's just really rare in the East, y'know?"

Nami hums. They're not wrong. Girls are tough, but more prominently in the Grand Line. Even Tashigi is trying her best and still falls short.

"There's a reason the East is the weakest," Nami shrugs. She grins, "but you know one thing us Easterns have much more than everyone else?"

The two look up, curious.

Nami hefts the weight to her shoulder.

"We're the most stubborn ones!" Nami says, raising a finger. "Only the greediest ones make it all the way up. We come from the bottom, so we see everything on the way. Our journey is longer, stronger, harder and so much more fun than anyone else. Right?"

Johnny and Yosaku pause.

Nami smiles a beautiful, toothy grin at them- and it's reminiscent of Luffy's own. It's so infectious, they can't help but smile too.

"Purupurupurupurupuru-"

Nami jumps a little in surprise. All eyes turn to the side, where a little Den Den Mushi was crawling its way over to her.

It's a red snail with a light blue shell, dark blue patterns curling over the curve almost like a heart.

It's Nami's personal Den Den Mushi.

Not minding Johnny and Yosaku (both which have moved a little away to continue their workout with a little more gung-ho this time), Nami picked it up.

"Gacha!" eyes open, and immediately, Nojiko's frantic voice comes through. "Nami? Nami! We've got a problem."

A problem? On Cocoyashi in this timeline… oh goodness.

"What kind of problem? The fishy kind or the mousey kind?"

"Yes."

Nami turns to Arlong's bounty poster. Alright then, if it's some dumb hooligan that doesn't recognize the flag of the Sun over the island's gates, they're probably new to the sea.

This is going to be ironic.

"Is anyone hurt?" Nami asks.

"The man with hawk-like eyes…" Zoro mutters, "that's the man I'm looking for."

Luffy looks over from his spot on the table (why are you sitting on the table, Luffy?) and asks, "who's that?"

"The Greatest Swordsman in the world, right?" Usopp says.

Usopp lets go of Kinoko, who flutters away satisfied.

"You know of him?" Zoro asks. He stares at Usopp for one second before turning away in repulse, "nevermind, don't answer that. I don't know why I bothered to ask."

Usopp smiles.

"What did you guys do? He can't have attacked you unprovoked, right?" Sanji turns back to Gin.

"We don't know!" Gin snaps. "He just attacked us out of nowhere!"

Zeff sighs, "you probably disturbed his afternoon nap or something," he says, eyes full of some sort of exasperated understanding. "Happens a lot with that guy."

"You've got to be kidding- he destroyed our fleet just for that?!"

"No need to get angry- that's just the kind of place the Grand Line is."

Two pairs of eyes turned to Usopp, obviously asking for clarification.

Usopp hums, leaning his chin into folded fingers. "Have I told you guys about the time I fought a super secret agency, against a group of super secret agents?"

"This is not the time for your funny storytelling," Zoro mutters, burying his face in his palm.

"No! Tell me!" Luffy beams.

"Well, Luffy, at the time, my companions were all drunk and exhausted after a long and tiring journey! But there were a hundred people against just one of me! I could wake up my pals and fight together- but I didn't ," Usopp makes a dramatic pause, reaching for his Kabuto. "I reached for my weapon- and I declared- I'll take you all on myself !"

Luffy's jaw drops in awe, "WOOAH! That is SO cool?! One hundred people! Alone?!"

Usopp huffs, "and yes! I defeated them all easily!"

"So how exactly," Zoro interrupts with his most emotionally exhausted tone that eerily reminds Usopp of Sanji at 3AM every morning before his coffee, "does this tie in to the man with Hawk Eyes again?"

"You're such a party pooper, Zoro." Luffy makes a pouty face at Zoro that makes the swordsman look away.

"The point is," Usopp emphasizes on a more serious note, "that's the amount of strength you'll need to get one island into the Grand Line. Nothing less."

That.

That sends silence roaring into the restaurant.

"You're kidding," Sanji says. Oh, everyone was listening to the dumb story?

Usopp doesn't correct him.

Zoro tightens his grip on his swords. When he speaks again, his voice is lowered and serious. "And the man known as the Hawkeye... is leaps and bounds above it."

Usopp runs a hand over Kinoko's feathers.

"There are a thousand islands on that sea. I reckon that man's gone at least halfway through it to be what he is," he says, not at all exaggerating.

To everyone's surprise and utter horror, Zoro grins.

"So to get on his level, I'll need the strength to defeat fifty thousand men on my own?" Zoro asks with a smirk.

For a moment, Usopp actually looks like he's thinking about it.

Then Usopp blurts out, "how are you doing all the math so quickly?"

"Read the goddamn room-"

Zoro doesn't get to finish his line. Nami charges in from outside, looking fearful and searching frantically around for something- for the boys.

Usopp frowns at her flustered sound.

If she's in such a disarray that she's forgotten her Haki, then… it must have something to do with either Cocoyashi or the Whitebeards. Something must've gone wrong.

(Crap. The Whitebeards. Did Nami handle that yet?)

Usopp's been in the East for so long, he hasn't thought about anything over there. There's a whole chain of events to derail if they want to move Ace's execution off the mark of history.

(Wasn't Nami in the Whitebeards for a while? Then he's definitely met Blackbeard in the time…)

It's about time for it, isn't it? What's their nearest connection to the problem? Someone that can get there soon enough...

"Nami? Where's Johnny and Yosaku?" Luffy asks- there's no reason for this panic. The Krieg pirates can't be done eating yet. In the distance, Usopp hears the voices of Johnny and Yosaku working.

Nami stops before Luffy- and after a moment of deliberation, she bows her head.

"I'm sorry, Luffy!" she says loud and clear. "I... need to go."

"...Huh?"

"Johnny, Yosaku, watch the ship!"

"Wait! Nami-aneki, it's dangerous with that galleon out there!"

The two bounty hunters lurch over the rails in shock. Nami leaps over the bow, landing narrowly on the shore platform of the restaurant before running inside.

"Nami? Nami!"

The Den Den Mushi is still on.

Johnny and Yosaku turn to it. Whatever the case and chaos, leaving the other side in panic is probably not good. So they nod at each other and speak to the person on the other end- Nojiko, was it?

"Nami-aneki is safe. She went inside the restaurant," Johnny says assuringly, "Don Krieg is on his own ship, so she'll be fine…"

The Den Den sighs. "That's a relief. She's so reckless,"the lady on the other end says. "And you are?"

"Johnny and Yosaku. We're… not from this pirate crew, but we're guests for now? Something like that. Uh-"

"I'm sure there were better situations we could've met, but it's nice to know you. Is Nami doing well?"

"Ah- yes. She's very scary." Johnny stumbles out an apology for that, but Nojiko just laughs, "uh, Nami's sister-aneki, about what you said just now… is your hometown really…"

"Ah, our hometown's fine. We're under the Sun Pirate's protection. The problem here is…"Nojiko seems to sigh again, "well, let's just say they gave us a good knocking around while our guards were gone."

She sighs, and Johnny nods grimly.

"Yosaku, let's get the ship sailing," Johnny decides, "Nami-aneki's gonna need it more than the others."

"Y'know, I'm a little worried about you going alone," Usopp says, "how about you take Kinoko with you?"

Nami raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"Kinoko's a smart girl. Even if she doesn't come in handy, you can send her back to us if you're in trouble of any kind," Usopp says. "And she's company."

Nami finds herself with one bird passenger already settled on the ship, ready to leave.

She can't find a reason to refuse.

"I'm fine if you insist on it," she says, because she's sure Usopp knows how much she hates to travel in sheer lonesomeness, "but isn't she your seeing-eye bird? Are you fine without?"

Usopp nods. "I have other ways of seeing."

Usopp sighs.

Fate has a way of dragging things right back to the correct route of history, huh?

Nami and Kinoko sets off as quickly as Johnny and Yosaku manage to alight from the ship. They're giving her the Merry simply because it's faster, and they'd all catch up to her on Cocoyashi later on.

"Aw man, the pretty lady is gone," Sanji mutters, "why don't you guys scram too?"

"No!" Luffy snaps, "you're gonna join our crew!"

"I said NO, shitty rubber!"

Usopp kicks off his shoes, setting them beside the rails. Zoro turns to him, curious, but Usopp disregards him.

He didn't even notice Nami rushing into the restaurant until she was there. If he'd been attentive, he should've been hearing the whole Den Den conversation without trying- how ignorant has he become, is he truly this blind?

He was trying to avoid listening to the pain and the starvation of the Krieg pirates, so he'd shut it all out. But that kind of selective hearing could mean your death in the wrong situations- and though this isn't one of them, it still hurt to think of it.

(There is no room for carelessness on the Grand Line. They had that wake-up call in Sabaody, and Usopp's already learned it. You can't unlearn these things, so what is Usopp doing ?)

"There are a few forms of Observation too," Usopp tells him, at a volume the two bickering idiots in the corner can't hear him. "Observation is the ability to see, to hear, to feel. I've been disregarding the first two thus far, but it's wrong to assume the third is superior to the rest."

Usopp closes his eyes, and spreads out.

He has to focus. He's been so obsessed with trying to see with his Haki, he'd forgotten the entire principle of Observation- to listen, to know, to observe .

(To perceive the bullet a moment before the trigger is pulled.)

Zoro gulps, the tension making him take one step back.

"They're going to come down in about two minutes," he says, gesturing at the galleon while his eyes are still closed. "But before that…"

"Before that?" Zeff interrupts. Seems like he's come out of the restaurant now.

Usopp stretches a little further, turning toward the galleon. "Raise the anchor. It's the big man himself."

There's barely a second between Usopp's words and the panicked yells. The galleon is cut into three clean pieces, and the Krieg pirates are screaming in horror. The ship's pieces capsize, throwing the waves into jeopardy-

Zeff bonks Usopp on the head, "next time, say that first !"

"I was focused on the Merry, okay!"

People struggle to hold on. Customers have run off a while ago, after Krieg's threats of overtaking the restaurant. Only the cooks and the Strawhats, and Gin, are left on the Baratie.

Then from the dredges of the water, seated comfortably on his one-person, coffin-shaped raft- is the World's Greatest Swordsman, 'Hawkeye' Dracule Mihawk.

"So that's the guy?" Zoro asks, hands instinctively reaching for his swords.

Even without Haki, Usopp can sense the deep-seated admiration from Zoro beside him. He doesn't move to stop him, doesn't move to express any disagreement, even knowing exactly what Zoro was going to do.

"Let's go give myself a taste of reality, then."

Zoro jumps over the ledge, and onto the split galleon.

This is the historical first meeting of two of the greatest swordsmen in the world, and Usopp has no right to change this in any way or form.

Zoro died while Usopp was in captivity, so the last thing Usopp remembered about Zoro was his body, baked in blood, as they ran from Vivi's execution like a bunch of defeated rats.

He remembered turning back, horrified to realize Zoro was just too far, too far, he's not following us, why?

Come on Zoro we gotta go this isn't the time for hesitating let's go.

And Zoro raised his sword- sword, because one of them broke. Which one? It can't have been Enma. Kitetsu wouldn't break, would it? Was it Ichimonji?

(No no no, go get him, someone go get him!)

(Is no one close enough? Go get him! He's Zoro but he's- he's-)

"Usopp, GO!" Zoro's voice was a little below a scream.

His voice is hoarse and it's the pain. He's trying to hide it so hard but they all know he's suffering they all know he can't think straight.

Usopp briefly came to know that he survived and escaped to Wano after that, and nothing else.

Nothing about the arm he's missing, because a handicap like that does not disgrace the Greatest Swordsman in the World.

(Where's Chopper? Usopp thinks, only to remember a second later that just a moment ago, they all saw that little fella die. He tries not to cry again, this isn't the time, this isn't the time.)

(There will never be a time for them to safely cry again.)

"The World's Greatest Swordsman versus the Demon of the East…"

The two stand before each other, swords drawn. Mihawk doesn't think much of Zoro, and Zoro is fueled with anger.

"There's a limit to how much you can underestimate me," Zoro grinds out.

Mihawk doesn't draw Kokutou Yoru. Instead, he uses Kogatana, the little knife in his crucifix-shaped necklace.

Against three swords, it's nothing short of mockery.

Zoro's grip on his swords tighten.

( "You can even make a branch useful if need be," Nami had said.)

He remembers his younger days, trying to grip too many swords on each hand, thinking more was better and more was stronger. He'd never used a shinai before that, after all.

Then he remembers Kuina, wielding just one beautiful one blade with grace that surpasses a thousand swords in the world.

(Ah.)

(Zoro hasn't changed at all, has he?)

(He still thinks quantity triumphs quality.)

He throws his swords forward, grace forgotten in the pursuit of power and force and ferocity. He doesn't knock Mihawk back at all- three swords against one toy, and still, he's completely outmatched.

Zoro realizes what he's feeling right now isn't confidence.

"Toragari!"

(It's childish arrogance.)

"Usopp?" Sanji comes closer, "what's wrong with you?"

Usopp flinches slightly before noticing who's before him. He breathes out, suddenly realizing just how stilted his breathing is, how stiff his fists are clenched.

He shakes himself awake.

The smell of blood. Zoro's shivering voice.

Zoro's voice doesn't shiver . It's Zoro, for god's sake. The only reason it'd be so weak would be if he's- if he's dying and no, no, Zoro doesn't die.

Zoro won't die. Not yet, not for a long time.

(So why is Usopp so scared of it?)

He closes his eyes. And he keeps them closed. Usopp pulls his goggles over his eyes so no one can see him cowering from the sight, from the colours.

From the memory of Zoro dying in blood, blood, blood- no he's not dead. Zoro won't die, can't die, not this time.

(Calm down Usopp, you're a brave warrior of the sea, aren't you?)

"Usopp."

Usopp tenses, realizing his hands are gripped tight over the railings. He doesn't run, but he knows that voice is Luffy's. It's Luffy's voice, cold and stern and commanding.

"Don't interfere," Luffy warns.

Usopp can't even deny it. He just bites his tongue and turns his head back to the scene. His Haki is still locked on them, because he can't look away.

"Yes, Captain," he simply says.

Luffy's hands are on Johnny and Yosaku's heads, holding them back. They don't have the same restraint Usopp has, and Luffy doesn't want them to interfere.

Zoro would hate for them to interfere.

But Usopp holds on tight. Holds on tight to the remaining wisps of Zoro's voice, as if holding onto it would make them stay on longer.

"A person's life force is like sand."

"Clasp it as tightly as you want, but it'll fall through your fingers eventually."

Kokutou Yoru. A sword tainted black with spirit, carved with magnificence, and wielded with impeccable elegance. Zoro would wax poetic about that sword all day, and that Marine Swordsman Girl could sing it a thousand love songs if she wanted to.

Usopp loved the voice of swords almost as much as he loved the voice of ships.

Yoru's voice, among them, is a voice he feared, but in a comforting way. Similarly to Marco and his warm, protective wings- and the giants on Elbaf who have lived decades more than he.

When he set his Haki's focus on the sword, Usopp instinctively bowed in greeting.

"A wound on the back is a swordsman's shame."

Ah, those words. They're words Usopp has heard once, never forgotten, and lived by as a code. Not the literal meaning of it, but the sheer regality of the phrase, the mere beauty of the moment.

Zoro wasn't protecting his own pride.

(No true swordsman strikes an opponent when his back is turned.)

He was protecting Mihawk's .

"Splendid."

And Mihawk knew that. Bleeding, shamed, and defeated- Zoro yielded his front to take the blow frontfirst.

(That's why, on that day, he was allowed to live.)

Kokutou Yoru comes down, a gash ripping through Zoro's front, from his left shoulder to his right side.

"ZORO!"

Roronoa Zoro falls to the sea.

"Yosaku, alcohol!" Usopp orders, "Johnny, you grab Zoro!"

Yosaku, right about to leap into the sea after his sworn brother, does a double take. "Wait, Usopp-aniki! You can't just jump into the-"

"I'll get his sword!" Usopp yells, his tone fierce in a way that indicates no questions asked. He jumps into the sea right after that, and Sanji lurches forward in a panic.

"What is that blind idiot doing?!" Sanji yells.

"Leave him," Zeff says to the bounty hunters, "you two have a boat, don't you? Set sail and get that suicidal little shit some decent medical attention."

And he's right.

There are medical supplies here but no medical professional. They need to get to the nearest island and shove him in a hospital or Zoro's going to die of an infection somehow.

A swear on his lips, Yosaku bites his tongue and turns back toward the restaurant, yelling for anyone that knows where the medical tools are.

Johnny comes up with Zoro, and Yosaku lugs him up to the boat.

A second later, Usopp surfaces with a gasp, Wadou Ichimonji in his hand. It's a heavy sword, so it was sinking like a rock.

Thank goodness it had a distinctive voice.

He takes deep breaths. There were a lot of voices under the sea, Krieg's crew hanging by their threads everywhere. Only Wadou Ichimonji's voice was strong against the waves.

Noticing another voice, Usopp reaches to the side, retrieving Luffy's Straw Hat from the water's surface. That idiot used rocket without holding onto his hat again...

Pulling himself up into the fishing boat, Usopp set the sword and hat down, pulling the goggles away from his eyes and finally, finally taking one look at the red and green.

It's a mess and he can't even see it.

The agony in Zoro's voice is loud, loud, loud, and vanishing . But not gone. Johnny's and Yosaku's voices are a step away from sheer grief.

Usopp closes his eyes again. He needs to focus and the blotch of colours aren't helping.

From the smell, the kit is beside him. The faint smell of alcohol through the bottles- he crouches down, picks one up, and empties it over the wound.

Calm down, calm down. Remember what Chopper said about this. If the doctor in charge panics, it's over for the patient.

"USOPP! IS ZORO ALRIGHT?!"

Usopp barely catches it.

"NO, HE'S NOT!" he yells, eyes squeezed shut as he opens the medical kit, clicking his fingers, focusing, focusing- trying to discern what tool is where and which- "BUT HE'S NOT GOING TO DIE HERE!"

Usopp startles, sensing something approaching. A projectile- but not a bullet.

He spins around- and catches… it's Kogatana. Mihawk's little cross-shaped sword. He stares at it, baffled. Why did this come flying at him?

"Usopp-aniki, that's-" Johnny notices.

"Keep it, Roronoa Zoro," Mihawk says, and Usopp's jaw drops. "Let it serve as a reminder of your conviction. So you will never forget your own inexperience."

Usopp touches the blade necklace lightly. It's nothing special- but this. This is different . Startlingly different.

(That has to mean something.)

"Live! Live and surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!"

That declaration bursts with a wave of Haki- not Conqueror's, it's just conviction, it's just power. Raw, solid power.

Usopp feels the burst firsthand and his breath is knocked away. He sinks a little deeper into his knees, his Observation taking in too much, too much .

Zoro's voice roars awake.

Usopp snaps out of it, quickly rushing back towards Zoro. He needs first-aid- c'mon, c'mon, think, think, think!

Johnny and Yosaku aren't calm enough for this.

Usopp has to do this alone or Zoro's going to die right now. Remember, remember, what did Usopp do last time here? Tear the fabric. Stop the bleeding. Stitch. Bandage.

Zoro reaches for his sword, grasping pure white by the hilt and raising his blade to the skies. All movement stops on deck.

"Luffy, can you hear me?"

Oy you suicidal bastard stay the fuck down.

Usopp breathes out, calming himself with Zoro's voice. It's weak, but powering through. It's so unlike him- Zoro was never like this after Sabaody.

That's right. This isn't his Zoro, so it makes sense that he's weaker. He's here to change that, isn't he? He can't panic here.

Usopp channels his Haki forward, onto Zoro- covering him thick with a layer of sheer will and energy. He draws it in, spreads it out, and files away the information, drawing a picture in his mind.

(Focus, focus, focus.)

(Presence. Strength. Emotion, and Intent: the four pillars of Observation)

(Its advanced form, Future, is a fusion of Emotion Sensing and Intent Sensing.)

(Then the other advanced form, the form only Usopp and Coby have ever been able to use, Vision- is a combination of Presence Sensing and Strength Sensing.)

Just for Zoro's war-torn body, he spins threads of his soul to emulate sight.

Bit by bit, like a television screen assembling the pixels of each detail; like a master seamstress sewing each knot of the world's most important tapestry.

"Until the day I fight him again and WIN- I swear that I'll never lose again! You've got a problem with that, Pirate King?!"

Usopp smiles.

It's complete. He keeps his eyes closed, his Haki forming the world around him in soul-bending detail, illustrating each thread of the world startling clarity.

He sees Johnny and Yosaku beside him. Each cut of the wood under his feet. Each breath of each Krieg pirate around him. Every contraction of muscle, every twitch of their nerves.

The world is black and white. The souls beam bright and all things are alive.

(He can see.)

(No colours, just details, and it's all he needs.)

"USOPP! Go on ahead, I'll catch up!"

Reaching over, Usopp picks up Luffy's hat, and hurls it across the sea. Luffy stretches his arm out to catch it.

"Leave Zoro to me!" he shouts, "we'll wait for you with Nami, so make sure you bring Sanji with you when you get there!"

"Of course! Then we're going straight to the Grand Line!"

"AYE CAPTAIN!"

There's no further goodbye needed. Usopp slips right back to Zoro's body, tosses Mihawk's Kogatana to Johnny, and reaches for the needle and the thread.

Johnny makes a surprised squeak before catching it, but Usopp reckons he knows how important it is.

He can't keep this intricate Observation Haki up for long. It takes too much energy he doesn't have yet- even at his prime, he couldn't keep this up for long, and he had only ever used it in place of night vision.

This would be the first time he used it in this timeline. He's never tried, simply because the stressful situation needed to evoke it never came up.

But it's a risk he has to take.

"Sail the ship, Johnny, get us somewhere stable right now," Usopp says. "Yosaku, you go back to the restaurant. Luffy sucks at sailing, so he'll need someone to actually make sure he gets to Conomi."

There's only one short pause.

"Got it!"

Usopp hears the steps, and the splash of water as Yosaku dives back into the sea. Johnny steers the sails, and though the rocking doesn't stop, they're getting further away as quickly as they can manage.

No questions asked, no doubts sent, no cowardice in any form. Just obedience in the face of dire straits and a man clinging on to life.

Good.

Now Usopp can focus.

Chapter 14: Fishmen Friends and Deceiving Dons.

Summary:

Nami makes it home to Cocoyashi.

Gin makes difficult decisions.

Notes:

Surprise surprise. This chapter draws Baratie arc to an end, and well, the very first huge change happens! It's pretty fun to write in Gin's point of view.

I write in a way that skips most of the canon stuff because no one wants to read my lousy transcribing of the canon script (not even me), so if it gets hard to follow or feels rushed, do tell me! I'm trying my besto.

As always, I love you guys with all my heart. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter Text

Nami sets the Going Merry on a course for Cocoyashi.

Just a little, she lets herself ease.

"It sure is nice to sail on you again, Merry," she whispers. Each step of what she had to do came more than naturally to her, and it's startlingly clear as she operates the ship all on her own.

Kinoko flies into her view, and she watches the bird land on the bow beside her.

"So, Noko-chan," Nami says endearingly, "how's travelling with me thus far?"

The bird makes a huffy little caw, flapping her wings in an imitation of Luffy's boisterous demeanor before scoffing. Then she snuggled up to Nami's metal arm.

Nami can't help but laugh.

This bird was so human , in the way that it was honest, expressive, and didn't need words to communicate. It's not as if Nami could fully understand it- but the animated actions were conversation enough.

Beautiful silver feathers, crusted with a bronze underbelly. The golden ring around her left foot, and the numerous metal contraptions added in the mess of her wings, hidden from view.

She sighs, trying to admire them as she distracted herself from the problems at home.

"It's Gen-san. He confronted the pirates first, that's what we usually do… and we didn't notice! They had a gun, and then…"

He'll be fine, Nami shakes her head. He was fine in her past life, wasn't he? All the way until… until they blew the whole island up and destroyed everything. But he was proud of her. Always. That wouldn't be until a few more years, anyways.

But no, this didn't happen last time.

She hugs herself close, holding onto her scarred (empty) shoulder, looking into the sea, into herself, trying not to cry. The mark isn't there, not yet.

Tangerine and pinwheel. It's gone.

(And if she loses her dad today, maybe she doesn't deserve it.)

Last time, this was certified Fishman territory, and Arlong's home base was here, so no one dared to approach, not even the marines. Definitely not bandits and pirates.

Now?

It's under the Sun Pirates' protection, but the Sun is always in the New World. It chases away the experienced, but the ignorant newbies of the world won't care, knowing that it'll take even Fishmen a while to get there.

This is all Nami's carelessness at work.

She meddled, so she wasn't prepared for something like this to happen. There's no blanket safety for Genzo anymore- she took it away from him by changing the course of events.

Genzo was supposed to be completely safe. He was supposed to be. This time, there's no blind assurance that he'll be safe and alive- this time, he really can die too many years too early.

"SQUACK!"

Kinoko jets forward with a warcry, wings flapping largely outwards, limbs everywhere, and Nami turns around just to get a facefull of angry bird.

Nami freaks out, jumping away from the railing and reaching for the struggling bird- she stumbles backward and lands on her bottom before finally managing to pry the bird from her face. She then punches it on the head for good measure.

"What was that for?!"

Kinoko nurses the bump on her little bird head, making more angry squawking noises.

"I don't speak bird!"

More angry caws.

Nami rolls her eyes. Holding the bird a good distance away in case she tries to bodyslam? Birdhug? They need a word for it. She glares at the bird.

And as if to prove a point and as if she's done this plenty of times before, Kinoko immediately glares right back.

Nami bursts into laughter.

Bird in her lap, tears in her eyes, and a weight in her chest, she laughs. She pries her mind away from the soul-crushing thoughts, the abyss of self-blame, and she laughs.

She laughs, and comes away just a little braver than before.

Kinoko huffs, looking proud of herself.

(Just a little, Nami understands why Usopp insisted she bring Kinoko along on this journey.)

(It might've been years, but Usopp really was just so overprotective.)

Enough worrying.

Nami ties her hair up into a high bun, retrieving her staff. Heat ball, Cool Ball, and Thunder Ball. It's much stronger than her old Clima tact, not because of Grand Line materials but definitely with Grand Line techniques.

(It's faintly reminiscent of Franky's works, that they've gotten from Baldimore.)

(Usopp must've made a stop there after Elbaf, because Franky only took the weapons, and Usopp really wanted to see the lifestyle creations that were more his thing. These are like little offshoots of those concepts.)

Oh well. Time to try the other parts out.

The sails are drawn, and she's standing on the afterdeck. Her Clima Tact set to aim behind the ship, she presses just one button.

"Gust Sword!"

And it bursts with a whirlwind, an explosion erupting from the baton.

It's not nearly enough to make grand progress like the Coup de Burst. The mechanism rattles dangerously inside itself, obviously letting out a capacity beyond what it can release at a time.

Maybe using it at max power isn't the best solution. This isn't the waver, the wind machine isn't a dial, and it's definitely not as sturdy. She'd rather not risk a broken Clima Tact when Usopp isn't around to fix it.

Not good enough , she realizes. It's nothing compared to my old Gust Sword .

"I miss Zeus-chan," she mumbles.

So she quickly cuts off the power, humming disapprovingly.

"Change of plans," she decides. Turning to the bird on the mast, she hollers, "Noko-chan, would you be a dear and untie the sails for me?"

Maybe it'll work better if she just hits the sails with the wind.

It was hard to get anywhere after Luffy's execution.

Places like Elbaf, Zou, Fishman Island and Wano were easy to go for, but their hometowns were watched.

Nami liked to frequent a lot of places, but if she showed any direct attachment to her hometown, it'd get taken down by opportunists at the next moment.

That's why, when she managed to go home, she would make it count. She would spend her time enjoying the tangerines and helping out in the city.

Then the purge began and all Nami came home to was fire and ashes and ruined land.

(She didn't look for anyone. She didn't have that courage.)

(She just turned back toward the sea, and never came back.)

"Noko-chan, stay right there, okay? I don't want them to think you're hostile."

Nami sets the bird on her shoulder, and hops down into shore. She turns around just to make sure the anchor's set, sails are drawn- then she breaks into a run.

Leaping over the cliffside and onto the main road, she catches herself on her hands and knees. Gathering herself upright again, she breaks through the city gates, hops over a crate, and slides under a food stall.

"Ah, it's Nacchan!"

"And a bird? What's with the bird?"

"Nacchan's back! Nacchan!"

She doesn't turn back. She just yells an obscure greeting behind her, looking around as she assessed the damage.

She runs past a few Fishmen, all carrying trees and chopped wood toward the village.

"Oh hey, it's Nami. Is that a bird?"

"Nami? Oh right, you have a guest- aaaaand she's gone."

A few buildings are shattered, swords on the ground and burned trees here and there. People were already working on rebuilding things up, and Nami doesn't miss how most of the older men have bandages over their bodies.

She tuts. This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't interfered with the timeline- but no, no, she can't think like that.

(She's not wrong. She isn't. She's here to make things better, not make things worse.)

(She shouldn't look at those wounds.)

She stops right before the doctor's house, where Nojiko was standing outside, by the window. Nami nearly trips, stumbles, and lands on her knees.

"Nojiko!" she calls, frantic.

"Oh, Nami! Welcome back!" her sister greets her cheerfully.

Nojiko's smiling.

Oh, she's smiling. She wouldn't be smiling if it was anything less than good news.

In her relief, Nami can't get up. Simply catching her breath, she lets her will stretch out again. Genzo's voice is there, awake, and as alive as ever.

She sighs, a smile breaking out.

"God," she says, her voice breathy, "don't worry me like that, please?"

After the Arlong Park fiasco and Jinbei turning up to set him straight, the town celebrated.

Tensions were tough in the first few months, but Jinbei got on his knees to apologize and the Sun Pirates made sure that the Fishmen helped to reconstruct the city.

The island began to have a share of the Sun Pirates' loot, and flying the flag brought mostly benefits to them, especially with Jinbei's status as a Shichibukai.

By the time Nami made it back, relationships were building back up and Cocoyashi was fruitful as it was before Bellemere died.

When she visited her mother's grave, Jinbei came along to pay his deepest respects.

From there, they coexisted.

Shifting Kinoko to her arms (she's a surprisingly obedient hug toy), Nami rushes into the medical bay, and Genzo is on the bed, looking more knocked out than asleep.

The villages are surrounding him, and Doctor Nako has a frying pan in his hand.

"Oh, Nami. Welcome back," one of them greets nonchalantly. "He kept trying to wake up and tell you not to come, so we've knocked him back out."

Nami facepalms, bursting into laughter.

"By the way, why a bird?"

Nami laughs again. She lets herself relax at the knowledge that Genzo is fine, (he's fine she's not too late this time-) and shows off her new bird buddy.

"Her name is Kinoko, she belongs to my-" she thinks of the word for a moment, stalling. She looks at Kinoko, then she smiles warmly. "My comrades ."

It's so easy to say it this time, and she knows her village understands. The way their faces light right up just shows how much they understood the weight of that word to her.

(She loves her village so much.)

She doesn't call the Sun Pirates that. She calls them friends, brothers of another species, kin .

She doesn't call the Whitebeards that either. They were family in all but blood, big brothers and sisters and Oyaji .

She doesn't call the villages that too, no, no.

It's a word reserved just for the Strawhats that are yet to be what they are. She just wants a lot of terms, a lot of relations, a lot. She's greedy like that.

"Welcome to Cocoyashi, then!" Nojiko grins at the bird, in her mischievous, yet endearing way. "I'm Nojiko, Nami's big sis. I hope our Nami hasn't been troubling you."

Nami blushes. Is she seriously introducing herself politely to a bird?

Kinoko lets out a birdlike sigh, raising her wing and sweeping it by her head in a ' oh, she's been SO much trouble ' gesture.

Nami balks, "don't lie!"

And the bird has the gall to turn around like an offended madam, the dramatic gasping gesture and everything. Seriously, who taught her how to do that?

Everyone in the room laughs.

A seat is cleared for her at Genzo's bedside, and she leans in to get a closer look.

He's wrapped all over in bandages, some stained faintly red.

"He got shot about eight times, lost a kidney, his gallbladder, and about half a lung. I don't know how the hell's he alive, but he is," Doctor Nako says, reading off the medical record and then handing it to Nami, "have I mentioned the foot yet? Because congratulations, Nami, now you two reckless buffoons match."

Nami turns over to Genzo's startlingly empty leg on the side, and her breath holds.

Amputated at the knee, huh . For an old coot, this guy sure is sturdy. He got sliced into a few pieces, shot here and there, lost a foot, and Nami can somehow imagine him up and yelling the next second he wakes up.

She sighs fondly, leaning further into the bed. "I'm so sorry, everyone… if only I was here a little earlier."

They were some random no-names from East, new flag and no bounty head- so Nami should've been able to deal with them easily.

"It's not your fault, Nacchan!" the grocery store uncle pats her on the head, "in fact, it's because of your connections that we could be saved by the Fishmen so quickly."

"Apparently, Hacchan-san was around the Calm Belt, so he came right over. He and his group just swooped in and-"

"Anyways, those small-time pirates? I don't think they even have a bounty at all, so Arlong took them and sank them."

"Oh right, one of the big guys is here too. He's a Merman? I'm not sure. He came here faster than the others."

Nami listens patiently as they all huddled around making noise, trying to explain to her the situation in their own dramatised storytelling.

It begins with their epic quest of fighting back, to tragic screaming, to the magnificent entrances of Hachi and Arlong, former enemies now trusted bodyguards.

(Ironic, but the amazing, so heartwarming kind.)

She clenches her fist. What was she so worried about? Of course no one blames her for this. They don't even know she's changed anything.

And she's going to make sure they don't.

"Could you take care of Noko-chan for me? I'll need to drop by the Park for a bit."

"Are you sure, Nami? Really, the best thing I can do for you guys is to never come here again…"

"It'll be fine, Hachi! C'mon, I'll introduce you to Nojiko again."

Nami walks into Arlong Park.

It used to be a symbol of nothing but grief for her- the towering building, the prison-like room in the corner of the topmost floor- and the welcoming party filled with nothing but Fishmen.

Now?

The building itself hasn't changed, but it's more akin to the hotel the Fishmen use when they drop by than a base. Mohmoo hangs out on shore a lot, and he takes the village kids for a ride every once in a while.

And when Nami walks in, the welcoming greetings are full of love instead of forced camaraderie.

"Nami's back, guys!"

"Hey Nami, how was your trip this time? Did you rob a country?"

Nami can smile this time- widely and honestly- as she greets them. "I'm back, guys!"

The Fishmen come out in parades, poking their heads out of rooms to get a closer look. Nami waves at them, setting down her little bag of treasure.

"What's that?"

"My tribute," Nami says teasingly, opening the bag to reveal a little pile of gold. "I nabbed this from Buggy the Clown, cause he didn't seem to want it anymore."

Choo stares at it skeptically, "that just means you stole it, right?"

Nami just beams.

Choo looks away. He wants nothing to do with this.

"Nami, no!" Hachi snaps. He skids right out of the dining hall, all decked up in an apron and pointing at them with a takoyaki pick. "We said we didn't want it! Take that away!"

Nami laughs, "oh c'mon guys, just take some. I gave the villagers the rest already."

"Nuh!" Hachi made three big Xs with his arms, "we are NOT taking it!"

"Then I'll throw it in the sea," Nami states.

"Then- I'll scoop it back out and ship it to Whitebeard!" Hachi declares, pointing at the sea. Mohmoo stares back and tilts his head to the side, confused.

Nami does a double take, genuinely looking worried now. "Don't use Oyaji against me!"

Hachi points at the sack of gold with all his hands. He doesn't say anything, he just. Points dramatically. At the sack of gold.

Nami pouts, turning away.

"You're such a bully, Hachi."

"Oh I'Mthe bully?!"

Laughter interrupts them. Nami and Hachi huff away from their heatless quarrel, turning to the arriving Sun Pirate.

"It's been a while, Nami," Aladine says, "have you gone to see the mayor yet?"

"Aladine-chan!" Nami greets him, "I've seen him. I can't thank you guys enough for saving him."

"No, no- we must apologize for not arriving sooner," Aladdin says humbly, "we've been neglecting the protection in these parts because of the dwindling danger in the East… seems like trouble is beginning to brew again."

They sit down by the veranda, a fishwoman serving them drinks as they settle.

There are works in progress to adapt the first floor into a cafe/bar. It's such a strange change to see, especially when, last time around, this place was ruined and was left as ruins.

"So? What brings you?" Nami goes straight to the point, "and as I've noticed, Arlong isn't around as well."

Aladdin nods, not beating around the bush as well. "There's disarray in Fishman District at the moment, so Arlong and Jinbei are home to settle the disputes. I'm sure they have it handled, but for now, we can't afford to leave Fishman island unsupervised."

Nami hums.

Must be Hordy Jones and his gang, and whatever remnants of the old, human-hating faction. It's a can of worms no one wants to open, after all.

It's not a problem they can solve now. Nami's taking little steps, but with the Celestial Dragons up there and xenophobia being the norm, there's nothing they can do.

"What about Shirahoshi-chan?"

"Still locked in her room."

"Then we should get rid of Decken."

"It's not that easy, Nami. You don't just 'get rid' of wanted criminals whenever you want- if that was possible, there wouldn't be pirates in the world."

Nami grumbles something incoherent under her breath about straw hatted idiots and plot conveniences. She picks up her tea and takes another sip, sighing heavily.

Aladine continues. "We will leave a squad here on Conomi as protection. They'll oversee the rest of the East as well, so if there are other places you'd like us to watch, just say the word."

Nami hums, "it'll be relatively peaceful. You won't want to stir up too much attention and get the government moving thinking you're a threat."

Aladine nods approvingly, then he turns to the crowd. "Who wants a long term vacation in East Blue?" A few hands raise up. Aladine looks at Nami. "And there's the squad."

Nami can't help but chuckle a little. "You guys don't wanna go home?"

"Arlong-san and Boss Jinbei destroy one building every week, I'm sick of doing cleanup."

"I can't get a decent night of sleep there."

"They keep quarreling ."

"Even the Sea Kings have complained about it."

Nami stares back, surprised. That's not something she expected out of their most mature Strawhat, but wow- Arlong is what makes the difference?

(That's kinda… endearing, actually.)

"Alright then, I trust all of you," Nami says unhesitantly. "I'll be setting off soon, so knowing you guys are here? That's really assuring!"

The Fishmen smile warmly at her.

Then the words sink in.

"You're- what?!"

"Seriously?"

"You're setting sail?" one of them lurch forward in excitement, "longer than with Whitebeard? Like, longer than when you go to steal?"

Nami flushes, "the thing with Whitebeard was a- y'know- alliance! Thing," she fumbles. Gripping her fists with resolve, she grins. "This time, it's for real! I'm going to go to the Grand Line, and I won't come back until I'm done with my map!"

Jaws drop.

"Guys guys guys GUYS OUR NAMI IS A BIG GIRL NOW"

Nami sputters. "Stop that, it's embarrassing!"

Gin finds himself facing Sanji in a battle- and he freezes more times than he'd naturally allow himself.

HIs tonfas are just a little heavier today than usual. He can't swing them as well.

(Weakness. In the Man-Demon? What a joke.)

He's lived his entire life feeling nothing like this. This- this weight in his bones, it's guilt . It's compassion. It's weakness.

Weakness because why is he hesitating ? He's never hesitated before, whether in front of a child or a woman or an admirable warrior, never.

(All his life, he's only known murder. )

He remembers Usopp saving him. Saving him , what kind of joke is that? He doesn't need a goddamn waiter to save him from getting his ass rightfully kicked and tossed out.

He remembers the food Sanji cooked for him. It was easily the best thing he's eaten in weeks, years, in his entire life. Why would he do that for Gin of all people in the world?

And now it's all Gin's fault that this ship, that Sanji, that everything, is going to die.

(Sometimes, Gin wonders if it would be easier to breathe if he was dead.)

He presses the metal bar down on Sanji's neck, and he tries not to cry.

He has to kill this man. The one time he's received any sort of- of kindness in his life, and of course, this happens. This always happens.

( C'mon you literally have him under you now you just have to smash his head open let him bleed out and die and then you can go back and forget this ever happened, cry a few nights, it'll be fine, just kill him -)

He doesn't move.

"I'm sorry, Don," he chokes out, dropping his tonfa and chewing back sobs, grabbing at his bandanna and trying to hide his tears with them but they're spilling over and-

"I just… I can't kill this man."

He can forget their fearful faces. He can forget their dying, agonized cries.

But he can't forget their kindness .

He can't.

"Throw away your mask, Gin. You're no longer part of my crew."

The MH5 is fired.

Gin can't even cry at this. He's used to it- he has to be.

Being betrayed, betraying, hurting, being hurt.

He sees Sanji throw his mask at the straw-hatted boy, and Gin doesn't need another second to realize what he'd ought to do now.

Gin has killed more people than he can remember, blindly following the orders of the Don he swore his loyalty to, the Don that now tells him to die .

(He isn't afraid of dying.)

(He's afraid of being unwanted, discarded, useless.)

If there's someone that deserves to live in this world, it's Sanji.

(And when the poison fills his lungs and burns burns burns, he almost feels gratified. Maybe a painful death is exactly how a Man-Demon like him should go.)

"Don't you dare die, Gin."

Gin doesn't understand. He doesn't understand anything .

The Don he's followed for his entire life tells him to die, and this guy he's only met for a couple minutes tells him to live ? That makes no sense.

If he had the energy and if he wasn't busy hacking up his lung's worth of poison-soaked blood, he'd be laughing.

He's so pathetic .

"Don't let yourself be killed by a man like him!" Luffy yells at him, like a declaration, like a warcry, like an order.

No, no. Don Krieg is the strongest man Gin has ever known. There's no way this kid is any match- what is he, delusional? The Don is someone Gin has sworn to follow all his life.

(And he just got thrown away by that very man.)

If Gin can't follow the Don, if Gin's being thrown away by the Don- what else can he do? Who else should he follow? Where else can he go?

"Bring him up to the second floor where there's fresh air."

(What reason does Gin have to live ?)

"Hang in there, I'll send that bastard flying!"

(Why do you care?)

And Luffy wins. By some dumb, sheer, stupid, somehow- he knocks Krieg out, shatters his armor, punches and kicks and destroys and bleeds .

And Luffy isn't dead yet.

Krieg is getting there.

Gin looks over his shoulder at the scene, his gaze hazy, his body throbbing with pain- and he can't help but laugh.

"What's with you? Gone crazy?" Patty asks, "heyyy, don't die okay? Please? C'mon."

Gin ignores them.

He watches Don Krieg lose, almost one-sidedly- and somehow, Gin can't find it in himself to care.

Gin's dying. He's fading in and out of consciousness, and the pain is growing duller each moment. He keeps hacking up blood and his throat burns like solid acid.

He may as well wait it out and die here.

("Don't you dare die, Gin.")

He looks at the sky. How would things have been if he had followed a leader like Luffy instead of Krieg?

He smiles.

It'd be so much nicer, wouldn't it? If only he could turn back time, but life wasn't that easy.

("Don't you dare die, Gin.")

Fuck, he's really going to die, isn't he? He can't even think straight. He doesn't want to die. He should. He deserves this unfulfilling death. He shouldn't die.

Krieg told him to die.

Krieg told him to die.

Krieg told him to die.

So Gin should die for Krieg?

(Isn't there someone he can live for?)

He tightens his fist, clenching over his chest and howling, choking up another mouthful of blood, doubling over.

No.

(I can't die here.)

He reaches for the oxygen mask, sets it over his face- and he breathes .

He can't die here.

(I can't die here.)

He can't die here.

"Hey, wait! You can't move yet! The poison will- actually I'm not sure if it spreads if you move but- HEY!"

"Either way it can't be good for you so you need to lie down and rest!"

He shouldn't let Krieg command his life. He should never have. But even if he regrets it now, there's nothing to be gained.

Gin needs to make a decision.

For the first time in his life, he has to make a decision for himself and not for the Don, for the sake of the Don, and for the sake of his stupid, stupid pride.

He needs to make a decision based on what he wants, and not what he's taught himself to need.

And he's already made it

"I'VE WON EVERY BATTLE! I'M UNBEATABLE! THERE'S NO ONE THAT CAN MATCH ME IN STRENGTH! AND I WILL- CONTINUE TO- WIN-"

"Look at yourself."

The fleet halts, the cooks freeze.

Gin stands before Don Krieg- the hysterical, mad, furiously defeated Krieg. The Don himself isn't even conscious- he's clinging on pathetically for victory, incapable of accepting defeat.

"Can you even see how miserable you've become?"

Maybe it's the pain. Gin can see it in such startling clarity.

He sees a shell of the man he'd admired, the disgusting husk of someone despicable someone he'd fantasized to be amazing- but once Gin takes a step back and looks - he sees someone who is just a man.

A man.

And Gin is a demon, isn't he?

He lunges forward- and sinks his fist deep in Krieg's gut, gouging at the wound there and feeling so gratified when Krieg vomits blood.

Gasps sound across the waters.

People are looking at him, eyes wide in horror- and Gin remembers why he's called the Man-demon now. It fits- it always will.

He lets Krieg fall to the ground.

(He's not dead yet. Not so easy. But his wounds are dire.)

"We've lost," he says. He turns to the sea, to the rest of his crew (his former crew) and he stumbles.

He hears someone call for him but it's not something he cares to look out for. He knows he looks like shit, yelling at him isn't gonna help.

"The Don we followed is gone," he tells them, choking back the agony in his throat. He puts his foot down on Don Krieg's body and he declares .

We need to leave.

"The Krieg Pirates are over!"

Find new loyalty. Leave the seas, stay in the East, go on land and become a bandit or whatever. That's what you guys want, right? You never want to enter the treacherous Grand Line again, not after that pathetic defeat.

Don't you see that Krieg was so much weaker than we thought?

The dream is over.

(Now go.)

Krieg and I are no longer worth following.

Gin wakes up with a gasp and a dull ache in his lungs.

He stares at his hands. Clean. No blood. His breathing is heavy, but it doesn't hurt as much now. His vision is clear.

"They left you behind."

He flinches.

Realizing he's on a bed, he quickly sits up. He winces at the pain that shoots up just everywhere , and he can't help the groan that escapes him.

Gin looks up. That's Zeff, standing by the balcony. He's looking out at something on the lower floors- not even turning once to look at Gin.

"Red Leg Zeff," Gin addresses, his voice just below a strained croak.

Instead of returning the greeting, Zeff continues talking. "They took Krieg with them, but I reckon he won't live long anyways with his injuries."

And Gin knows who the chef is talking about.

His crewmates have left him behind, abandoning him.

It's deserved.

"You shouldn't move around too much yet," Zeff helpfully informs, "we don't got any medics here, but you've got a blood transfusion and plenty of fresh air. You've survived, but no one can say for sure if you'll be back in top form."

Gin nods. That's fair.

( Why did you save me? He doesn't ask it. It just didn't seem appropriate.)

So he bows.

Still seated, he lowers his head.

"Thank you," he says.

Zeff scoffs at that.

"Save that gratitude for our eggplant, would you?" he says, dismissing his thanks, "I just didn't want you dying in my restaurant."

Gin couldn't help but smile a little. What a dishonest old geezer.

He looks to the bedside table, and startles at the book beside him. It's Zeff's old log book, and it's completely unguarded.

The tricks and terrors of the Grand Line- it's a guidebook to the dangers, and with it- with it, maybe he could go and brave the Grand Line again, as the pirates he never stopped wanting to be.

( He can still dream .)

He reaches over-

-and stops himself.

( But he has no right to .)

Unbeknownst to him, Zeff watches that little action, and he smiles.

"You don't usually save customers like that," Zeff asked Usopp, "what brings?"

Usopp only grins at him and says, "nothing really. Just- he's a good guy!"

Zeff raises an eyebrow, "future shit?"

Usopp nods. "I didn't really know him back then, but Luffy and Sanji did. I never really found out if he was alive, though."

"A merman?"

"No, you idiot, that's just a guy being eaten by a panda shark."

"Oh hey, Yosaku!"

"Gin!" Luffy bounces over to the man when he appears. "You're awake!"

"You fine to walk around now?" Sanji asks.

Leaning on a crutch and admiring how the entire second floor goes silent, Gin stumbles over. "A little poison won't kill me," he says.

"Don't lie."

"You're full of shit."

Gin breaks out into laughter at that. For a gentleman, Sanji is completely tactless, isn't he? It's not as if he was trying to act tough in the first place, anyways.

He stops before the two, staring them straight in the eye.

"I've lost everything," he tells them, not too sure why he's speaking. His throat still hurts, He's lightheaded, but it's nothing he can't walk off. It's nothing he hasn't walked off before. "I've lost my captain, my ship, my crew, and my ambition."

(Did he really have any of them to begin with?)

"But thank you very much," he bows as long as his crutches let him, "for sparing my life."

That's all he came to say.

There's no way any of the chefs in this building would want him here any longer- they only helped him to return the favour of saving Sanji, which in turn was just Gin repaying Sanji a favour - really, he's overstaying his welcome at this point.

He turns toward the door, and leaves.

(Or at least, that was the plan. )

"Please let go of me."

"Dun wanna."

"Are you a fucking baby. Sanji, help."

"Nah, deal with it. I've been trying to get rid of him for days- oh god he's got his other arm on me. Help. Old man, hElp mE."

After what was a tearful, loud, and swear-filled goodbye, Gin finds himself slotted into a corner of the boat as they sail away from the Baratie.

"I really think I should just swim," he mutters.

"Don't be so cold, Gin." Luffy pouts at him, obviously upset at the aspect of repeating himself way too many times now.

Gin side-eyes the sea, pondering. "Maybe I should just jump in, you can't follow me when I'm in the sea."

"No! Yosaku, grab him!" Luffy snaps back and orders.

Like a trained dog, Yosuke jumps, and Gin ends up pinned under in a groaning lump. He's not even fully healed yet, and there they are, roughhousing.

In fact, Gin feels weak enough right now he can't even throw this small-fry off of him. It's actually pretty comfortable being crushed to death.

Gin honestly doesn't understand a thing that's going on. He thanks the kid, and somehow the kid just doesn't want to let him go. It's not as if the kid owes Gin in any way- this should be the end of their debt-repaying tango. And yet.

There's completely no value for Luffy in keeping Gin alive, and Gin is perfectly happy with drowning somewhere like Krieg's probably doing by now. He just shouldn't die in Baratie because that's a restaurant and they don't tolerate dead bodies there.

"You don't want me to die, right? Then just drop me off at the nearest island."

"We can't, we promised Usopp we'd go meet him at Cuckoo Mountain."

"Where the fuck is-"

"Luffy-aniki, it's called Cocoyashi," Yosaku interrupts to correct him.

Luffy blinks, "Choco Mountain?" he mishears again, because he's apparently half deaf, "that's a weird mountain. Is there chocolate there? Or coconuts?"

"Forget about the goddamn mountain!" Yosaku snaps. And if he had a table, he'd be flipping it across the horizon.

Gin lets out a long-suffering groan.

"Whatever, wherever, just drop me there and I'll leave," he mutters.

Luffy pouts, "no, I'm bringing you there, but after that, you're joining my crew!"

Gin stops.

"What."

"Huh? Did I not tell you that? You're part of my crew now."

"When the fu-" Gin throws Yosaku off him in one angry move, swirling at him in teeth-baring incredulity, "I mean, no! When did that happen? Are you stupid? You literally defeated my crew's captain less than a day ago! What makes you think I'll join you?!"

"Yeah, I punched the hell out of him," Luffy says, "that means you can join, right? You don't have anywhere to go anyways."

"I don't follow your logic!" Gin yells, then he's cut off by a harsh bout of coughs. Doubling over the side of the blood, he spits out some blood into the sea.

This is ridiculous. What even is this situation?

This brat is literally going to drive him to an early grave, and he's already dying so it's not actually that difficult, but he's doing it anyways.

Sanji sighs, leaning over and rubbing him on the back with a sympathetic frown. "Just give up and join already. He literally pestered me for a week and I thought I was gonna go crazy. Now you can't even run away, you're going to go insane."

You're kidding. No.

(I literally tried to kill you, Sanji.)

"I'm gonna die anyways, might as well wait it out," Gin groans.

"Shit, you're gloomy as hell."

"Thanks."

"You're hopeless."

"Then let me leave."

"No."

Fuck, this is a train wreck. This is a dream. A hallucination. A nightmare. He's not sane right now because of the poison, this must be an adverse effect. Okay then he'll just wait until the poison kills him.

"This is a kidnapping," Gin miserably informs, slumping over the side of the boat and suffering from the remnant pain of the poison swirling in his veins.

Yosaku nods, "yes, indeed it is."

"Dammit."

"And by the way, if the poison was gonna kill you, it would've done it before you woke up," Sanji helpfully informs, lighting himself a cigarette, "one of your crew told us that there's not enough left in you to actually kill you."

Gin bolts upright, surprised.

"They-?!"

(No, no , they abandoned him. Sure, maybe they left him alive, but there's no way…)

"They took care of you," Sanji tells him, and Gin feels his heart freeze in his spot. "There's no ultimate cure, as far as they know. But they made sure you wouldn't die before they went off on their own."

Gin bites his lips. Those fucking idiots.

"Said you deserved better, apparently," Sanji smiles, "great guys, huh? Don Krieg told you you weren't part of the crew anymore, but apparently he was the only one to actually think it."

The crew were as loyal to Gin as they were to Krieg.

Because Gin's the second-in-command, the First Mate. And in a crew like theirs, people tend to favour the nicer of the two, even if they obeyed the Don more often.

(Stupid bastards, all of them.)

"We're probably going to quit being pirates, but Gin is different. He has nowhere to go, and we can't promise we won't be deadweights to him."

"His place is out in the sea of monsters, don't you think?"

"But I guess he'll probably deny it for a while? He's an idiot, so that tends to happen. Careful, his punches really hurt. Keep his tonfas far, far away."

"But he's a big softie, so don't worry!"

"He might break your bones though. Like, a few hundred times. Don't worry he won't hit your arm if you tell him not to, he's not that bad."

"Don't tell him we said sorry, he'll just call us idiots again. Just tell him we love him! Oh but then he'll call us idiots too. Nevermind."

"Ah whatever, we won't be there to hear it."

"Sorry again, you sea-cooks. Hopefully, we never meet again."

"What, Gin, you crying?"

"Shut up, the poison just fucking hurts!"

Chapter 15: "No one ever listens to Pirates. Right."

Summary:

Usopp gets a headache. Gin thinks Luffy and Sanji are a package-deal headache. Meanwhile, Nami greets an unwanted visitor. Let's just say Nojiko really has bad luck with Marines and guns.

No one ever listens to pirates. It's misunderstandings on the left, false accusations on the right.

Well, but that's just another day as a Strawhat, don't you think?

Chapter Text

"Usopp?"

Usopp bolts awake. "ZORO?!"

Instant regret, because his head explodes with pain and he squeezes his eyes shut, covering his eyes with his hands so the light wouldn't pierce past his eyelids.

"Uh, you alright there?"

The sky is still bright. Zoro is awake, sitting upright by the cabin.

"No. I've got if-I-exert-myself-anymore-my-head-will-explode disease."

"You sound fine to me."

"No I'm nOT-! owwwww."

After the emergency surgery, Usopp had to leave the bandaging work completely to Johnny.

After using Vision, he'd lose his Haki for a while- usually an hour or two, give or take how long it was used and his physical capabilities. He wasn't like Luffy who just needed ten minutes, after all. Even Coby needed half an hour at first.

(Though, after a long time of training to master it, the buffer time did go down.)

Near his prime, Usopp could use it with no drawbacks at all- but now, as a weak little seventeen-year-old brat, the agonizing time of weakness comes back tenfold.

Plus this time he can't see, so the Haki is much tougher to activate and the headache hits him so much harder too.

In a sense, he's actually blind for the first time in a very long while. Left in voluntary pitch darkness, only knowing his surroundings with his ears and his sense of smell.

"What, does the light hurt your eyes or something?"

"...something."

Zoro drops his black bandanna over Usopp's eyes, just to shield him from the sunlight so Usopp's hands could take a break.

Usopp smiles gratefully.

He can't quite tell how long it'll last, but he'll probably recover before they get to Cocoyashi. Hopefully.

"Thank goodness you're alright, Zoro-aniki," Johnny's a sobbing mess, "I thought you were deeead! You were bleeding and everything and Usopp-aniki was doing the stitching even though he can't see and then-"

"Usopp did? Seriously?"

A blind man? I mean, he can feel that it's rather patchwork, but it's still crazy. Can blind people actually be certified surgeons?

Zoro doesn't know, but he's kinda grateful he's not dead. He trusts Usopp, but he reckons it was pretty close.

"Please speak softer," Usopp pleads, voice croaking. He rolls over so he's face down and makes a dying noise, "my head hurts."

Zoro stares at him judgmentally, "you're acting like you have a hangover."

"Please call it a migraine…"

A headache?

"Did you use your Haki thing again?" Zoro asks. He recalls it's something that helped him see, but he thought it was more of a sixth sense kinda thing rather than literal replacement of sight.

"Haki?" Johnny asks.

"Something like that," Usopp grumbles. He raises an arm in a dismissive gesture, "don't attempt it, Zoro. You'll suck."

"What are you, picking a fight?"

Zoro glares at Usopp, who just makes strangled frog noises in response. The sniper's too delirious to keep talking anymore, so Zoro sighs.

"So? We're headed to Nami's place?" Zoro turns to Johnny.

"Ah, yes. We'll be there in a few hours at this pace," Johnny tells him, "you should get some more rest, Zoro-aniki. Usopp-aniki, you too. I'll keep watch."

Johnny says that with a sort of determination. It's the least he can do, after all.

Zoro catches sight of the blood crusted around his clothes, the stains on Usopp's hands- and he breathes out in relief, knowing it's just his blood and not theirs.

"Thanks," he says, "my swords?"

Johnny hands him Wadou Ichimonji obediently, and Zoro cradles it. The other two have shattered- but it's fine. This one's the only one that matters.

"That's right- you might not remember, but Hawk-Eyed gave you this."

Zoro reaches over to catch a small, cross-shaped object. Upon closer look, it's Mihawk's little toy sword. Zoro inspects it for a moment before drawing it- he faintly remembers something like this.

(Let it serve as a reminder of your negligence.)

His eyes narrowed.

"It's called Kogatana," Usopp mutters from his spot on the floor. "Not a Meitou, nothing like that. It's just Kogatana for the sake of it."

"Kogatana, for literally 'little sword'?" Zoro asks incredulously, "he's got awful naming sense."

"I don't want to hear that from you, Onigiri."

"It means Demon Slasher!"

"It's a food pun ."

"Shut up."

Zoro sheathes Kogatana, and holds it tight in his hands. It's something given to him by the Greatest Swordsman in the world. And that can only mean one thing.

("Surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!")

It's such a little, insignificant thing- but to Zoro, it could not weigh any heavier in his hands. It's a mark of humiliation, and at the same time, a symbol of resolve.

Wadou Ichimonji, too, is a sword given to him as a reminder of crushing defeat. There is no reason he shouldn't treasure Kogatana just as much.

He closes his eyes, and silently gives his thanks.

Before he rests, he pulls the string over his head, the cross pendant coming to rest at his chest.

Last time around, Mihawk's little blade ended up somewhere entirely unexpected.

It was honourably passed down, contrary to popular belief- to a certain boy who Mihawk saw the faintest glimmer of potential in.

Mihawk didn't think Helmeppo would become the next greatest, but he had guts, he had the determination, and he was definitely someone that would step pretty high on the pedestal if he kept trying.

(And perhaps, he would've gotten there.)

(But before that, he was put on the chopping block with Fullbody, Hina, and Fujitora, and they disappeared in the guise of an early retirement.)

(Whether he kept the sword or threw it, Usopp doesn't know.)

Mihawk was never one to over-praise individuals. Helmeppo had earned that blade, through and through- it wasn't easy, not at all.

It's nothing much, but it meant the world to them.

(If only the world had parted to let that dream come true.)

"Quit whining, Usopp."

"Shut up, you don't know how Haki withdrawals even feel ."

"I got slashed into fucking two ."

"Have I told you the story of when you, sorry I mean I , just chased away the literal grim reaper with a glare? Well actually I can't do that. But you can. So I can actually die. But you can't. Apparently."

"Are you drunk? You're not even making sense."

"No, I'm just hungover."

"You just called it a hangover."

"Sorry, I mean a migraine. This is a migraine."

"Johnny, could you knock Usopp out with a hammer or something? He's going to start serenading the sea if we leave him alone."

"There, that's the Conomi Islands- what should we do?"

Usopp groans. The light doesn't hurt anymore, but he still can't use his Haki. he only noticed the island in the distance due to the green and yellows in the distance.

He flinches when Johnny steps a little too close. Oh god, he thought he was past the point of not knowing where everything is and being startled when something is closer than he thought.

Maybe he's depending on his Haki too much. That's why he's so lost once he loses it. And out in the sea, a lot of his usual methods to compensate for sight are null.

There's no solid ground in an ever-rocking boat, and the salt in the breeze interferes with everything else. There's nothing to feel but blisters, and the air is interrupted by the shiver of the birds and the clouds.

(He can't use Vision for another good while.)

(The repercussions are too drastic for him in this state.)

"We're not flying a pirate flag, so it should be fine, right?" Zoro asks.

"No, I mean… Nami-aneki said they were attacked by pirates, so they might still be here. That, or the Sun Pirates might have arrived," Johnny says, "either way, if we tread recklessly, we're going to be in trouble."

"But the Sun Pirates are protecting the island, right? We can just say we're friends with Nami and maybe they'll let us in," Usopp says.

Sun Pirates means Boss Jinbei, right? Then they're probably good. But he should be in the New World right now- too many Shichibukai in East at once would have the Marines in disarray, so Jinbei wouldn't dare.

Then, who's here? Or did they not make it in time? Either way, they'll have to assume Nami has a certain degree of a good relationship with them. She's a Whitebeard, after all- surely there's at least professional camaraderie between them.

(Nah, Nami's always been good at building relationships. Maybe they tolerate her now? Or has she gone a step further and become total buddies?)

(She got over her hate of Fishmen in the future, but in this time, there's also the villagers and the fishmen themselves to consider…)

(Agh, this is a mess.)

"No, no, it's not that simple!" Johnny snaps, "pirates don't just put islands under their protection out of the goodwill of their hearts! They're definitely getting some sort of tribute in exchange for protecting them. If they think you're a threat…"

"Then we just cut our way through," Zoro says.

"No! Are you an idiot?!"

Yes, Zoro is an idiot. Usopp closes his eyes, leaning back against the cabin. "Anyways, do you guys see the Going Merry around? It's probably hidden around the corner."

"Huh? Isn't it easier to look for Nami first?" Zoro asks.

"You're not suggesting we charge right through Arlong Park."

"I am."

"Why is violence always your first choice?! We can deal with this peacefully! Let's try and look less hostile! C'mon!" Johnny yells in exasperation, sounding like he's going to cry, "if you pick a fight with the fishmen, I'm going to run away and ditch you, got it?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Like hell I can do that, Zoro-aniki! You monster!"

"This ain't a soap opera, Johnny."

Usopp groans. "Is anyone looking for the Going Merry or were you two expecting the blind kid to look around?"

"Geez, now he's mad. Great job, Johnny."

"This is obviously your fault, Zoro-aniki."

Usopp whistles loudly, biting on his fingers and calling a loud, high-pitched note into the wind. "Oh man, this is bad. I can't tell if Kinoko's coming," he says.

"What's wrong, Usopp?" Zoro asks.

Johnny goes ashore first to anchor their boat well. They manage to find the Merry after a while of searching, and have decided to dock beside her.

"Sorry, Johnny, could you go up to the Merry and grab my walking stick for me?" Usopp asks, "it should be in the men's quarters' closet."

Zoro raises an eyebrow. He picks up his sword and straps it to his belt, shrugging on a blue, swirl-patterned shirt without buttoning it up.

"Your walking stick?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Because I can't see, Zoro."

"Yeah, I mean, you're not exactly supposed to see, you're blind."

Pause.

Zoro stares at Usopp. Usopp looks magnificently unimpressed by Zoro's dismissive response.

Usopp sighs, throwing his hands up. "Y'know, my If-I-don't-get-my-walking-stick-right-now, I-will stick obnoxiously-to-Zoro disease will act up."

Johnny, not prepared for a clingy tantrum from two injured/incapacitated scary guys, immediately moves to make his way up to the Merry.

"I'll go get it."

"Seriously? You can't use your, whatever that Haki thing is?" Zoro asks, "is that bad?"

Zoro is a little guilty to hear this. So Usopp used his Haki to give Zoro emergency first aid, now Usopp's lost it for a while?

Yikes.

Zoro hates being a burden. It's the worst feeling in the world.

(But Usopp probably won't accept an apology.)

Usopp shakes his head, tapping at the ground with his stick as they made their slightly slower pace forward. The two swordsmen take strides after Usopp takes his, just to make sure the sharpshooter won't fall behind.

Zoro looks around. For now, there aren't any people. Maybe they're gathered somewhere? Oh well, better for them.

"I'm just not used to being actually blind," Usopp says, "it's fine because we're in the East right now, but in a Grand Line level fight, the moment you lose control of your Haki, you lose."

Zoro hums. In a Grand Line level fight- his duel with Mihawk? That couldn't have been it at all. It was crushingly one-sided.

"So I'm not even strong enough for Mihawk to use it in the first place?"

That's how far back he is, isn't he?

"Yeah, that was just Mihawk showing off his knife skills," Usopp says, no even sugarcoating it at all and Zoro can't find it in himself to be too miserable about it. "His sword- you saw it, right? The Black Blade."

Black blades. Zoro hums, remembering his dojo master saying something like that before- Kuina often spoke about it too.

(Named swords often have a black edge. It's not a special metal it's forged by, and it's definitely not from the strife of battle. It's a painting of the master's will, darkened and sharpened with the wielder's experience.)

(Because swords choose their masters, and swords are stronger with the right masters.)

Usopp says. "That only happens with Masters of the sword- if the blade acknowledges you, it doesn't turn back into silver steel. It becomes a permanently stained blade, and stays like that even if the master changes."

Zoro thinks back to Nami, who coated her pole with black will and drove a crater into the sea with one nonchalant swing.

(If Mihawk had been serious, Zoro wouldn't just be sporting a huge scar- he'd be in two pieces, irreparable.)

"What about Nami's weapon?" he asks. "Is she not good enough for that?"

Usopp pauses for a bit, seemingly hesitating. Then he smiles, and Zoro almost thinks there's sadness tinged by it.

"You need talent," he says. "Some people are better than one type of Haki than the other. Some people just end up mediocre no matter how they try. Nami's like that, y'know? But it's fine- Nami's not a striker-type combatant anyways."

And he leaves it at that, walking on.

Zoro stops where he stands, watching Usopp trail further away- and his fist tightens. Is Zoro angry? Frustrated? Maybe not.

Just disappointed.

"How do you know if you have the talent?" Zoro asks.

And Usopp chuckles, "you just know , Zoro. One day, you'll find out."

Zoro scoffs in response, because Usopp trying to be mysterious is just obnoxious. He rolls his eyes in disinterest.

Then he jerks to a sudden stop.

"Usopp, wait!" the order came out a little more urgent than he'd intended. Johnny immediately reaches over and tugs Usopp back toward him.

They narrowly avoid a nasty bump with a fishman.

"Oh, sorry about that," the ray fishman steps back a little. He sets the huge stack of lumber he was holding on the ground, "I wasn't looking where I was going. My bad."

"A- A- A-" Johnny stutters, using Usopp as a shield, "a fishman!"

Zoro reaches for his sword, but doesn't draw it. He forces himself to stay calm, if only because Johnny was freaking out, hugging Usopp like a security blanket. He sets a firm gaze on the fishman- and the fishman looks back.

Zoro notices the mark of the Sun on the fishman's chest.

"Haven't seen you guys around before," the fishman says, calm- but Zoro knows that the fishman is staring each of them down, already prepared to subdue them all at once if the need came to be. "What's your business here?"

(This island was just ravaged by pirates. They might think we're allies of those pirates, if we don't tread carefully.)

"We're looking for Nami," Usopp interrupts the tension. He sets his walking stick before him, apparently not minding how he's being Johnny's human shield. "Orange hair, metal arm, loves money and tangerines?"

Where'd the tangerines part come from? Zoro doesn't ask, he just raises an eyebrow. Right, this guy knew Nami before they all met, right?

(But isn't Usopp younger than Zoro? When'd they have the time to know and get to know each other and become something like war buddies?)

(Well, they must've been shit young, then.)

(Zoro's almost embarrassed to have had a normal childhood in comparison.)

"Nami? Well yes, I have heard of her," the fishman responds noncommittal. "What is your business, if she does happen to be on this island?"

Oh lord. Of all people- fishmen- they could've stumbled upon first, they decided to come upon mister I'm-suspicious-of-everything.

"We're comrades!" Usopp answers cheerfully, and Zoro can tell immediately by the way the fishman's brow furrow and he did not like the implications of that, and it only served to deepen the suspicions he had.

Usopp doesn't notice, though. Usopp has always been perceptive of moods, but right now, he can't see, in more ways than usual.

"And we need a doctor," Usopp adds, like he's just remembered, "Zoro over there, he's actually in critical condition so we need to get him fixed up by a proper doctor."

And that. The immediate flip.

"Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro," the fishman acknowledges, and Zoro swears internally. Geez, who gave him that nickname? It's a pain in the ass to explain! "Coming directly to a pirate-marked island. Claiming to be a Whitebeard pirate's ally. I can't help but think there's something wrong in your story."

Wisely, Zoro doesn't move.

This is somehow turning into a misunderstanding.

(Story of his life.)

"Before I left, the old man told me that some people call the Grand Line a 'Paradise'!"

Yosaku and Gin look on in disbelief.

"The old geezer said that?" Sanji asks. "Well, among all of us, he certainly has the most experience in that sea."

Gin hums contemplatively, "I can understand calling it an adventure, but paradise?" he says, incredulous, "the place was a nightmare ."

"That's because you guys had the bad luck of meeting Hawk-Eyed so soon."

"No, no. Even before that," Gin says. "It was hailing one minute, thunderstorms the next, and then the goddamn ocean was boiling the fishes! The sea doesn't make sense, and our navigator cried two days in."

They stare at him, slightly baffled.

This is Gin, who was very recently in that sea. He sounds like he's exaggerating, but his expressions certainly don't show the same amount of incredulity. With as little as they know about Gin, Sanji already believes him entirely.

Then, "see what I told you?" Yosaku says, "you can't enter the Grand Line with five- six people! It's reckless! Back me up on this, Gin-aniki."

"Don't call me your aniki."

"That sounds fun!" Luffy beams, clapping his feet together. "Oh mannnn I can't wait!"

Gin groans something under his breath that suspiciously sounds like 'fuck, should've seen this coming'. Sanji gives him a smug expression and Gin reflexively swings his arm in for a punch, but the cook dodges.

"What're you so worried about? Nami went there before, so we'll be fine," Luffy says, and everyone on the ship does a collective double take.

"Who's Nami- no, that's not important," Gin sputters, "she's been there before?"

"Wait, Nami-san is a what?" Sanji sits up with surprise- sure, she had a metal arm, but a Grand Line veteran? "Really? Was she a cabin girl or something?"

(Sanji has been in the Grand Line before. But he was a cooking apprentice in the safer parts of the ship, never truly facing the tides head on.)

Actually, Nami really did seem like she wasn't East Blue material. There was just that look in her eyes- the calculative, fox-like gaze that flutters as quickly as a butterfly's wings- reserved one moment, deception the next.

Like some of their more infamous visitors, most of them whom Usopp would stay his best away from when they come in.

(Huh? How could Usopp tell?)

Luffy grins, "no, Nami's a white bread! She says she's been to the Grand Line a lot of times! Oh, and Usopp too. It'll be fun!"

"A white bread?" Gin asks, but isn't answered.

"Wait, I can understand Nami-san, but Usopp?" Sanji stops him, "I've known him for two years, you know? And when I first met him he had trouble guiding himself around. There's no way a kid like that is..."

Sanji trails off.

(That's right.)

(Usopp had that gaze too. He's blind, but he still sees. Somehow . He senses things in a way no one can quite understand- he jumped into the sea to retrieve Zoro's sword, didn't he? Why would a blind man that relies on colour jump willingly into the sea?)

(His eyes, they flicker in the same, war-torn way.)

(Sanji should know, he's been watching the blind kid for two years.)

(He should know better than anyone, that Usopp, too, was not East Blue material at all.)

"Oh man," he sits back, hand reaching for his mouth to meaninglessly suppress his shock. "That kinda makes sense, but at the same time, it doesn't make sense at all."

Gin spoke up, "we met this guy... He told us that in the Grand Line, if something doesn't make sense- you don't question it. Instead, you just have to correct your own common sense. We didn't really take him seriously at the time, because it just sounded dumb to us, but..."

But if he's being serious?

Then the Grand Line is one hell of a place.

"Come to think of it, Hawk-Eyed really destroyed your entire fleet because he was bored, didn't he?" Yosaku mutters grimly.

Sanji stands up.

"Right, right, enough of this gloomy talk. Let's eat. Any requests?"

The mood instantly shifts.

"MEAT ON THE BONE!" Luffy yells.

"I want stir-fried beansprouts!" Yosaku joins in on the excitement, previous ominous fear entirely forgotten.

Sanji turns to Gin, who flinches.

"I'm… fine with anything," he stutters. Then he quickly corrects himself. "Wait. Seriously, you don't have to cook for me, resources are important on a sea trip."

"Shut your trap and just tell me what you want to eat."

"This is a terrible way to organize resources."

"I'm the cook. You listen to the cook."

"I've been sailing for more years than you, punk!"

"Ah yes, I must admit, that in fact, you do. Maybe if you come on our crew you can deal with the rations like the oh-so-responsible shithead you are. Now may I have your goddamn shitty order for the meal, dear bastard with more sailing experience than me?"

Gin lets out a longsuffering groan. These people, from their stupid captain to that suicidal swordsman to the blind waiter to this idiotic cook- they're all so hopeless!

"Pilaf, please."

(And just maybe, Gin can fit right in.)

A sea cow surfaces, and Yosaku promptly freaks the fuck out.

Understandable, really, but Gin has better things to focus on. Like the absolutely heavenly pilaf in front of him right now. God, Sanji's awesome at cooking. He could eat this forever.

"IT'S A SEA MONSTERRRR!"

"It's a huuuuge cow!"

"A cow… that swims? Isn't that just a hippo?"

Gin wants more of his meal, please. "Sanji, seconds."

"Ah, alright," Sanji says extinguishing his cigarette and taking the plate from the man.

"Oh, me too!" Luffy says gobbling up the rest of his plate before handing it to Sanji too.

"Please care a little!" Yosaku sobs. " That's a Grand Line Monster! What's it doing here?"

Gin decides to turn to the sea cow. He chews on his food, he swallows. "I've seen scarier ones. This one's actually kinda cute."

" Cute- ?! why did I think you were the sane one on this boat?" Yosaku mourns in the corner, "I was naive. Everyone on this boat is a madman. I'm going to die."

"It probably has a name like Moo-moo or something," Gin says. "The Fishman Pirates are there, right? They probably rode it over."

"Okay, your name from now on is Beef!" Luffy declares.

"We're keeping it?" Sanji asks.

"DIE!"

Sanji decides that the sea cow was just hungry- you shouldn't beat someone up for that. So he feeds the monster- only to kick him right up the jaw with all the force of a blistering catapult on a tobacco high.

Gin isn't a smoker, but he really wants a smoke right now.

Maybe it'll give him the ability to handle all this incredulous bullshit. As things are going, he'll probably need as much caffeine as possible too. And if he doesn't find a way to run away from Luffy soon, he'll be stuck here forever.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Yosaku is near hysterical at this point. The man just really wants to live another day and he's not sure why he's with insane company.

Gin wants to go over and cry with him, but Yosaku probably won't appreciate it.

Sanji's explanation is simple, "that thing was about to take a bite out of me too," he says, like that explains everything.

Of course, the cow gets angry, so Sanji gives it one more bash in the skull for good measure.

Gin might be going crazy. He's actually feeling sorry for the monster- he, the cold-blooded man demon who has killed children without feeling anything, is feeling sorry for this sea monster that's being bullied by a sea cook.

"With all due offense Sanji you're already Grand-Line-level in terms of crazy," Gin says.

"Gin, I think you're supposed to say 'with all due respect ', not offense."

"I said what I said."

And in another minute, Gin sees the poor sea-cow pulling their ship en route to Conomi, a bump on his head and tearing up a little.

Did they just bully a sea monster into being their horse? Yes, yes they did.

Gin is going to stop feeling surprised now. This is tiring and he's already feeling sick enough without the extra stress. He can't afford to add 'being the straight man' onto his list of things to endure. He's going to get gray hairs.

"NAMI! We've got trouble!"

Nami had been talking to Aladine about the current state of the New World- then a Fishman runs in, covered in wounds and breathing heavy.

She stands up immediately.

"What's going on?"

Someone who can hurt the fishmen as much as that on this island? Definitely not a villager- and they'd just driven away the last group of pirates.

Every fishman on the crew is strong. No pushover could possibly… (Don't tell me it's Zoro? Already? No, those wounds look more like gunshots than sword slices. Then...)

"The Marines!" the fishman says, and Nami's heart seizes in her throat.

Bandits are one thing. Pirates are another. The Marines? That's a line the Fishman Pirates can't touch, simply because Jimbei is under agreement to not hurt them.

Her eyes widen in horror.

"I thought Jimbei-chan ensures the protection here?" Nami says, "are they stupid? Doing this specifically when the Sun is on the island, even!"

There's no reason the marines will be on this island- they're under agreement to not touch Sun Pirate territory. Why would they take the risk?

(Oh.)

( Fuck .)

Nami clenches her teeth, hissing in distaste, "they're after me, aren't they?"

A few Fishmen stand up at that. The Sun Pirates may have blanket protection as the Shichibukai, but Nami has no such protection.

Her threats are limited to 'I am a Whitebeard'- and though that's a good threat in the New World, it's hard to be of use when you're on home grounds.

Having a civilian family in a place the world knows- that's the most disadvantageous situation a pirate can ever find themselves in.

"They're at your house!" the Fishman says, "they were saying something about the gold you've stolen, and they're trying to frame Nojiko for it!"

Oh, that does it.

She turns toward the trees- and pauses.

(Huh? Wasn't Noko-chan on that branch just now? Where did the bird go?)

She tuts. Now she can't pass a message on to Usopp! Forget it then.

"Who's there right now?" she asks, looking around the fishmen group- Kuroobi and Choo aren't around. She can't feel far enough to tell where they are.

"Choo is there, along with Nojiko and a few villagers- not the mayor," the Fishman reports, "I can't find Kuroobi."

Nami nods.

"Hachi, give me a ride to the tangerine grove!"

Nami hates Marines.

No, she doesn't- she just hates the bad ones.

There's a good apple in every bad bunch, like Tashigi and Smoker, or Coby. It's the same for Pirates and even Revolutionaries, there are just bad people everywhere in the world.

Cruelty and abuse of power is the norm. That's the main problem.

That's why she became a pirate this time around, not by circumstance, but by choice. It's the middle ground of both battles, the only party that associates with both sides and never interferes at the same time.

There are good pirates in this world. There are good marines, as well. There's no real way to solve this problem.

(Coby tried, and look what happened to him.)

They just have to grit their teeth, bear it, and overcome the pain, over and over.

(Not this time.)

"You're just a fishman! Don't obstruct justice!"

Nami draws her Clima Tact, assembling it quickly.

Swinging it in one strong move, she deflects the bullet with two clean spins before swatting away the pistol into the air, and bringing it back down on the Marine's head, knocking him to the ground.

"Nami!" that's Nojiko. Nami turns over immediately, eyes narrowing at the sight of her sister, arms held behind her and a gun at her head.

"Nami," and Choo behind her had been shot in the arm once, probably caught off guard.

She gives Choo one concerned look, and Choo responds with a resolved glance back, hiding his injured arm behind himself as a gesture to not mind it. Respectfully, Nami turns away from that.

At least Nojiko doesn't look harmed beyond a little ache and bruising.

There are nearly two dozen soldiers- not a lot, but still a big group. The only fishman present was Choo, and he's stuck at the fence too far to take Nojiko out of harm's way.

The soldiers have the house and the entrances of the tangerine grove all surrounded- and among them, one man stood out.

"A girl with a metal arm, wielding a staff. Burglar Cat Nami of the Whitebeards, am I right?" the highest ranking officer says, faking a polite bow that was in reality nothing more than sarcastic procedure.

"That hair looks awful on you," she says, because she's not in the mood for greetings right now.

The tangerine grove isn't trashed yet, small mercy, but they've got shovels at the ready.

From the coat, the one talking to her is probably Captain or above. Seriously, who wears that many ponytails? There's one on his forehead, on both sides of his head, and even on his chin. Who does that?

"Have some respect for me! I'm Commodore Purinpurin, the highest ranking officer of the Seventy-seventh Marine branch!" he snaps.

Nami raises an eyebrow. Well, she's heard stupider names than that.

"You barge into my house," she gestures at the tangerine grove, "destroy my property. And there you're holding my sister, a civilian, at gunpoint." On cue, Nojiko casts a side glance at the Marine who was holding a gun to her head. Nami sets a firm gaze on the Commodore. "You have the gall to demand respect?"

"Nami-"

"Choo. I'll be fine. Just leave this to me and get back to the town."

Instead of being phased, Commodore smiles.

"And that is the issue we are addressing today," he declares, like he's very sure he can win today. Nami highly doubts it, but she's not one to be overconfident.

She makes sure Choo goes further away, straight toward the village for medical attention- before focusing on the Commodore again.

For starters, Nami stretches out her Observation Haki as far as it can go- which isn't very far at all. No snipers, at least none in East Blue level's distance.

So Choo took that bullet and hasn't killed a human for it yet. Why? To protect Nojiko? For the Shichibukai matter? Or for the tangerine grove? Ah man, that's totally Nami's fault, then.

"I've heard that, in this very tangerine grove- there's a stash of gold hidden away. Pillaged from other pirates of the East- now, who could be the culprit of that?"

Nami resists the urge to roll her eyes. They're going for this route again?

"It's mine," Nami says immediately- "what's wrong with pirates stealing from pirates? You're not going to police my piracy, are you?"

"Of course not. You are a Whitebeard- who am I to question your intentions? I wouldn't dare to make an enemy of an Emperor of the Seas," he says, still wearing that shit-eating grin on his face. "I'm here to question the hoarder and hider of that money."

This time, Nami really rolls her eyes.

"You're reaching for reasons," she says. "I am a pirate- what's so strange about me having secret hordes of money in my backyard?"

"Don't you know assisting in robbery is a crime as well?"

Nami froze.

(Oh. That's the road they're taking?)

"Commodore, we found it!"

Nami swirls over. When did they?! Nojiko jumps forward, but is quickly held back by another marine holding a gun and a warning shout.

They've dug around the trees, spring most of the trees but leaving the soil a brown and dugout mess. Shining jewellery and stacks of cash spill from the casket hidden in the soil- and someone was around counting the stacks to add up the estimate.

"It won't matter what you say or insist," Commodore Purinpurin says, "the evidence speaks for itself. You can try to defend- but why do the words of a pirate matter? Much more, she's your family, isn't she? She should be ashamed to have been raised in the same family as a criminal."

Nami sees red.

("Ace always asked himself if it was right for him to have been born.")

("I can't say for real- but I hope he found the answer to it in the end.")

This is so fucking stupid.

"Do the marines have no real criminals to capture? Is that why you have to come up with new ones so you can get something behind bars?" Nami grinds her teeth, fists clenching, "you do know what will happen if Whitebeard hears of this."

"Oh?" Commodore smirks, "running to your old man when there's trouble? I never knew Whitebeard pirates were such pushovers."

Nami is so going to kill this guy.

"So you were counting on my pride to not call Whitebeard? You must be an idiot," Nami sighs. "You don't know who you're dealing with. You're just a snot-nosed brat from the East who thinks he's above anyone just because he's got a little promotion."

Nami frowns at the tangerine grove. They've mostly just destroyed that one patch hiding the treasure- maybe because Nami put a marker on it this time. Good tactic, now the trees are safe. She's still pissed about the mess, though.

That irks the Commodore. "I am a Commodore!" he has to establish that, apparently, "what can one lone, teenage pirate girl do against my fleet?"

Ah, that explains it.

Nami doesn't have a bounty, she only has the tattoo to her name, and a few infamous little ventures in Paradise or the Grand Line. Her epithet exists, but it's about as infamous as Pirate Hunter Zoro, perhaps a little less.

Indeed, anyone can just take Whitebeard's name if they're fearless enough.

Even if Nami is a Whitebeard, the rest of her crew are in the New World. Not to say that gives them any opening at all- no, no one would dare.

But if it's an extended attack on Nojiko instead of Nami, it's a Nami problem, not a problem that warrants Whitebeard's efforts or retaliation. Much more, they won't face any consequences if they just silence Nami.

(Which, they seem to think is easy simply because Nami's a girl? How dumb. How does Tashigi-chan handle staying here? Nami almost feels sorry for her.)

Nami drops her staff.

She smiles. "That sounds like a challenge, Commodore Pudding-puddle."

"Don't push your luck," the Commodore growls at her.

Nami keeps her smile on her face. "I'm not!" she says, "look, I even dropped my weapon. In what way do I look like anything but a fragile little girl? My arm?"

Commodore Purinpurin is seething . Nami isn't taking him seriously at all, and that's clear. In fact, she's looking down on him. She doesn't believe he would actually shoot her sister, doesn't she?

The Marines of East Blue can't continue being pathetically shoved around by pirates like this. First Morgan was apparently taken down and arrested, then Buggy in Orange Town, and Fullbody's incident in the Baratie- if this keeps up, Marine reputation will plummet and East Blue's crime rates will go up.

Seeing as this is the weakest blue, there's no greater shame. The higher ups are even commanding him to do something- his own position is in danger, who cares if he needs to get desperate for it?

Angering a Whitebeard is a problem, but confiscating the money and establishing a little Marine dominance over small-time thieves like Nojiko , right in the Sun's backyard- that will win him points.

It's fine if the story isn't the greatest. The world will believe the newspapers, or the rumours among the pirates. He just needs to make sure it's written well.

"The money will be confiscated. I will have mercy to plead your case," he grins, "so your sister will not receive a bounty. But she will be put on blacklists in case of future conspiracies, and be put under watch of the Marines until she is released in six months for good behaviour ."

The glare that sinks on Nami's face is glowering .

"It's a merciful punishment," Commodore Purinpurin says.

Nami crosses her arms together, and the marine holding the gun to Nojiko's head stiffens.

"No suspicious moves!" he yells.

Nami's eyes widen- in the very next second, the trigger is pulled and Nojiko howls, a bullet sinking into her shoulder.

"Nojiko!" she yells, but her sister interrupts.

"I'm fine!" Nojiko says. It's just a shoulder wound, so she won't die from that. She won't die from that, but-

"The next bullet will be lethal," the marine warns, "Please stay still until we finish retrieving the gold, Miss Burglar Cat."

Nami sets a firm gaze on that marine soldier.

Those are courageous eyes, but he's shaking, and his actions are out of trigger-happy paranoia warped into mad confidence.

He's scared.

Scared that, if he lets Nami so much as scratch an itch, the situation will be completely overturned and they'll all be dead in the next second.

Nami smiles a little, though it's stiff from anger.

(She knows better than everyone that cowards are good for one thing in this world.)

(They never underestimate their enemies.)

It's a shame she never came to know this guy, this no-name little bastard, in her past life. He would've been a nice guy to talk to, especially because he's a total wimp. "What's your rank?" she asks.

He's surprised by that question, but he juts out an answer instinctively. "E-Ensign."

"Well Ensign," she addresses him, "it's shameful for me to admit, but it seems you're the smartest of all the Marines here today."

Nojiko was shot. Just like last time. Different spot, but the fact remains.

History really doesn't like to be changed, does it? It's almost ridiculous how hard it's trying.

Chapter 16: chaos? here? more likely than you think.

Summary:

Zoro gets sewn up properly, Nami gives the Marines a one-fingered salute, and Gin wants to go home.

Chapter Text

Zoro is a fucking idiot, and Usopp should've known that.

(He should've fucking known.)

He honestly didn't see- if Usopp remembered right, this was Kuroobi- Kuroobi's attack coming, so by the time Johnny shoved him aside, Zoro called out, and a clash of flesh was heard-

"ZORO-ANIKI!"

Usopp realizes a little too late what's going on, and Zoro's pained howl reaches his ears. Green fills his vision, and anger erupts.

("Zoro!" Usopp yells- but no, it's too late for him. He's surrounded, and though Zoro can handle a crowd of marines on his own- the rest of them can't come with. They'll have to leave him behind., they'll have to go without him.)

(They haven't seen so much blood on him since Thriller Bark.)

And for a moment, they were there again. In that battlefield, protected by their strongest, running for their lives, total burdens, weak, weak, weak .

One step back for balance.

His mind was set only on one thing- the enemy in front of Zoro.

He switches his grip on his walking stick, holding it like a spear before drawing it back, and chucking it forward, right between Zoro's arms.

It's not solid enough to deal any damage, but Kuroobi definitely flinches.

(He can't see, but he has a trajectory to follow. From the amount of time it took to hit, he knows the distance.)

Usopp drops to his hands, spinning his foot to the side- landing a solid kick at the rayfish-fishman's side. Without a beat of rest, Usopp flips over, and kicks his heel upward to sock Kuroobi in the jaw.

"What the- Usopp-aniki?!"

"Get Zoro!" Usopp yells, because that obviously takes priority over anything else.

Usopp gathers himself back onto his feet, swirling back around for the next strike- but he freezes instead.

A loud caw rips through the air, and the world snaps back into place. As clear as a blind man's view can be, at least.

Kuroobi lifts his head, noticing the bird in confusion.

Usopp breathes, his chest burning. "One caw, long," he says, and then translates. "No fighting."

And immediately, Usopp gets punched in the face by Kuroobi.

The bird dives in, crashing full-speed right into Johnny's screaming face. Let's just say Johnny's screaming got louder.

"Ah, you're the bird that was with Nami," Kuroobi realizes, retracting his fist and straightening, resting a palm on his swollen jaw, "so you guys are Nami's friends? Why didn't you just say so?"

"WE DID!" Zoro and Johnny yell in unison, the latter peeling the bird off his face with a 'get off me!', chucking it to the ground in anger before converging on Zoro.

(The bird squawks and whirls back into balance before she crashed, making her shaky way to safety on Usopp's head.)

Usopp sits up from the ground slowly, wincing at his cheek- he's pretty sure it'll bruise, but that's the best case scenario. Fishman punches can break human skulls easy, and Usopp reckons he got off pretty easy.

Usopp had hit him in the jaw, so the vertigo must've thrown Kuroobi's strength off. Lucky him, because he still has all his teeth.

Usopp groans, reaching blindly for the bird on his face, trying to shove it away but the bird was grabbing at his face like a cat. "Fluffbutt get off me," then, "wait, why do you smell like perfume?"

Nami doesn't wear perfume. Chopper hated it, after all- it's a girl's perfume, not a strong one but certainly mixed in with dew and fresh oranges.

(Did she fly through a tangerine grove?)

Kuroobi just blinks, turning to Zoro again. "Huh? But you're a pirate hunter," he says.

"Since when was I a pirate hunter?!" Zoro growls, frustrated, "if I ever find whoever started calling me that, I swear I'll-"

"Zoro-aniki, stop yelling! Your wound's gonna reopen!"

Kuroobi had struck him once at his chest, which was frankly enough to jostle the stitches a little too hard. Did the stitches tear? Usopp can't tell, but they're definitely agonizing.

Probably a few, hopefully not all of them. Either way, bad.

"Wait wait I know this sounds far-fetched, but he's not a pirate hunter anymore," Usopp assures him, standing up with Kinoko in his arm and looking around for- oh damn, where's his walking stick? Nevermind - "we're a just-starting pirate group. I'm sure Nami can explain it to you."

Kuroobi's response is silence.

Usopp's looking in his general direction, and he feels a little psychological weight, as if Kuroobi was staring straight at him, studying his every expression. Usopp knows he shouldn't look away now.

So he stands straight.

"Is something wrong?" he asks.

Kuroobi crosses his arms. "You're not scared of me," he says, not at all intending on sounding like a boast, but the words are what they are. "You're not even wary."

And that's strange. Johnny's reaction- the panicked 'oh-no-it's-a-bear' treatment- is the norm, especially out here in the east.

Zoro's not scared, but he's definitely wary and alarmed. That's also the normal reaction.

Usopp's reaction- he acted like nothing was wrong or different. There wasn't even the beginning traces of alarm a pirate would have against a clearly stronger figure.

And that usually boasts confidence or pride.

For a New World pirate like Kuroobi, it's a sign to keep your guard constantly at a high. Because this human before him might be a frog in the well- or it might just be a dragon. The chances are a sharp fifty-fifty.

(Kuroobi had always been the perceptive, skeptical sort. There is no way he's going to face this man with anything less than full alert, especially after that kick in the jaw.)

Usopp chuckles, waving his hands before him in a dismissive gesture.

"Of course I'm not scared. I'm the great Usopp, fearless man of the seas!" he says, puffing out his chest in fake confidence. This was easy to see through as a loud lie, so Kuroobi was a little taken aback.

"I see," he calmly accepts. "Nami mentioned she would have guests. However…"

Quickly, Usopp lowers his arm and lets Kinoko fly away.

Then he proceeds to panic .

"Oh no!" he yelps, composure missing immediately, "I forgot! Oh man, I should've told you guys about this first." He turns toward Zoro and Johnny at 'you guys' before turning back to Kuroobi, "I forgot, didn't I? Can we start over? Please don't kill us."

Kuroobi kind of wants to.

So much for his previous acknowledgement of the longnose. Usopp's not scared of a Fishman but he's scared of this ? Geez.

(It's only a little after this that Kuroobi realizes how drastically and immediately the mood changes, just from one line.)

"What this time?" Zoro asks. If Usopp could see, he'd probably laugh at his face. Zoro sounds like he's finally remembered he's not supposed to be sane anymore.

"When you get on someone's territory when the pirate crew is still on it, you're supposed to ask for permission," Usopp turns around to tell him. "We're assumed hostile if we don't. It's kind of like pirate code."

Zoro makes an annoyed 'but that's such a pain in the ass' noise.

"Oh come on! Unlike you, Zoro, I do not go places wishing to fight everyone on it when I'm bored or don't have money," Usopp says, stressing the words. "And no matter what you say, we can't beat them all up. We'll die. We'll seriously die. No, don't give me that disbelieving look, we cannot win ."

Zoro raises a finger to interrupt, but Usopp speaks over him again.

"And no, I am not being a coward. I am a coward, but this is being an idiot. I am not an idiot. You are an idiot," Usopp rubs that last line in with extra emphasis. After a moment of deliberation, he adds, "you and Luffy both."

Zoro throws his arms up in defeat.

Kuroobi sighs. Seems like he's feeling defeated too.

"Don't bother with it. I was just screwing with you," he says. "You said you were here for a doctor?"

Johnny sighs.

Zoro's pained screaming in the background, behind that window, is, as wrong as this sounds, absolute music to his ears.

When they were treating him on the little dinghy, Zoro had made no noise at all.

They were scared- very, very scared- because what if Zoro was dead? What if he'd died from blood loss already? Johnny was too scared to check and Usopp was too busy, too focused, too flustered to have time for that.

In contrast to that, Zoro's constant loud complaining right now, inside Doctor Nako's house, was just very relieving to listen to, even from outside the doctor's house and sitting by the window.

Usopp sits beside him on the bench, Kinoko in his lap and his walking stick laying beside them.

Johnny is exhausted.

They had literally rushed their green-haired idiot into the doctor's room after that. There were a lot of villagers around the doctor's house for some reason, though Nako yelled for everyone to clear out after noticing Zoro's condition.

Meanwhile, the rest of them just got a pat on the head and were told to sit down.

Usopp and Kuroobi got an ice pack for their new bruises. Kuroobi went off somewhere else after getting it, though.

"You're pretty strong, Usopp-aniki," Johnny decides to say. "Are there a lot of Fishmen in the Grand Line or something?"

Usopp was completely unfazed by the Fishman. And he attacked- Johnny wouldn't even dream of recklessly attacking a fishman like that- and actually striking twice?! Crazy. Usopp-aniki is on a completely different level.

(Sane, but just from a different world to begin with.)

"Not exactly," Usopp says, "I'm scared of them too. Just not any more than I'm usually scared of a marine, or a dangerous pirate."

Johnny stares at him.

"You're not very expressively scared of any of those things," he says, very necessarily, "you didn't even give Don Krieg a glance."

Usopp chuckles, "I don't need to. I mean, I'm blind."

And Johnny has to admit- Usopp's right. The man's blind, there's no reason for him to be scared of a strong-looking fishman or pirate. Prestige only goes so far against someone with experience as much as he, and there's no appearance-wise shock factor to back it up.

Johnny's kind of jealous.

"There's nothing wrong with being a coward. You just need to stand up when it counts," Usopp tells him. "Have I told you the story of how the cowardly liar became the bravest warrior of the seas?

"Another one of your weird stories?"

"You won't listen?"

"Well, I have nothing better to do."

And they settled down, side by side. Usopp spinning one dramatic tale after a breathtaking story, his tone lilting and exaggerated at the right moments.

Behind them, Zoro's surgery goes on.

Just a little, they sound less agonized now.

Nami honestly thought this would go a lot harder.

But it didn't. For the second time in this timeline, she's in disbelief for how convenient the world is for her, in totally incredulous ways reminiscent of her old life.

Long story short, Luffy has stupendously perfect timing.

They were in a sort of intense stare-off, when a loud, chain of screaming in the distance caught their attention. They turn to the source- seaward- and, there it is.

"AAAAHHHH! WE'RE GONNA DIE! WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"WE'RE FLYING! WE'RE IN THE AIR!"

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO GO SO FAST! LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

"DON'T YELL AT ME, YELL AT THE STUPID BEEF-FISH! NO ONE TOLD IT TO CRASH!"

A fishing boat-sized vehicle, soaring through the air.

A handful of full-grown males all inside screaming bloody murder as they land, yelling for everyone to get away, run away, we're gonna hit, dodge, oh no .

A fraction of a second is spent on pure 'what the fuck', then the Marine are squawking too, dashing past each other and scrambling and shoving over each other to get out of danger zone.

"It's a fishing boat?!"

"RUN!"

"NO, NO, THE OTHER SIDE!"

"Aaaaahhh!"

In the panic, the man holding Nojiko loosens his hold to find space to escape- and at first, Nojiko was also horrified, scrambling around for anywhere that's cover instead of escaping- priorities are life over freedom for now, after all.

And then it lands, right on top of Commodore Purinpurin, who was too shocked to escape in time. That's not enough to stop the velocity of the fall, so the boat skids on forward, grounding against the grass- and then proceeds to crash right into the house.

Her house.

Damn, there goes her house.

The door shatters on impact, and the motley chaos disappears into the building in a mess of broken wood and debris and furniture. And startled yells, lots of startled yells.

Nami stares, utterly flabbergasted.

She snaps out of it for a moment. Nojiko's still surrounded by Marines, though none of them are holding onto her. Nami runs forward.

The Ensign notices her, and he freaks. He reaches for his rifle- but Nami is faster.

She braces on her right foot, throws her body forward with her right fist-

"Shark Tile: True Punch!"

-she doesn't hit them. She hit the air, and the shockwave blows them all back. Fishman Karate is the philosophy of wielding water, and the vapour in the air is enough of a weapon to deal with these grunts.

All except Nojiko, who Nami grabs by the wrist and tugs over to her side.

"Nami, isn't that the fishmen's technique-?!" Nojiko says, startled. Nami shushes her quickly, scooping up her Clima Tact on the way.

"I can steal more than money, Nojiko," Nami grins.

She splits it into three and catches it, spinning Heat and Cool Balls behind her. She takes a good look at Nojiko's still-bleeding shoulder and painfully unmoving arm.

Behind them, a figure laughs, bursting out of the house.

"We're alive!"

"WE ARE NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN!"

"I'll never have enough lives for this..."

"That shitty hippo, I swear if we ever see it again- OH! NAMI-SWAN! ️ ️ AND ANOTHER PRETTY LAAAADY~!"

Nojiko presses her hand on the wound. Nami's eyes narrow on it, but she quickly looks away back toward the new entrants.

The Marines have regained their composure now, getting up quickly and cocking their guns at the crowd.

"Commodore Purinpurin!"

"You fiend! What do you think you just did to him?!"

"Uh, is he still alive?"

"Seize them!"

The four (four? Usopp's not among them, so maybe Johnny and Yosaku? She can't see the fourth in the angle she's looking from, but anyways they) step out of the smoke, coughing, brushing dust and rubble out of their clothes.

They're still bickering as they come out, and Luffy's booming laughter still towers over all the other noise in the area.

At the loud threats, Luffy looks up with an unwelcoming glance.

"Huh?"

Nami holds up her hand, assembling her staff together and sets it standing beside her. "Luffy, don't worry about them," she calls after him.

"Oh, Nami!" Luffy immediately beams.

Half of the marines snap back toward her, suddenly realizing that they've had the tables completely turned on them. It's one thing if they confront her with a hostage- they didn't come here in preparation to fight a large battle!

(And without their Commodore, they're all in disarray and heck, they might not get out of this alive if they've put the pirates in a bad mood- which they have.)

"You idiot! Why did you let go of the hostage!"

"But the Commodore- shit."

"She has her weapon. Troops, aim at the Burglar Cat!"

"But what about the ones that attacked the Commodore?!"

"ShIt shit shit!"

Nami raises a finger toward the sky. Eyes turn towards it, and panic ensues again. Shit, when did such a large, dangerously gray cloud get there? Well it's been there for a while, so Nami reckons her opponents are pretty blind all the time.

"The weather calls for a Thunderstorm warning. Do abstain from leaving your houses until it passes," she smiles. She raises a finger to the air, and the cloud crackles with golden sparks.

She throws down her finger in time with the first strike of lightning.

"Thunderbolt Tempo!"

"Listen here, you marine buffoons. Whatever the hell you were trying here, consider yourselves scarce and," Nami hisses with teeth, "fuck. Off."

Her staff twitches a little in her grasp, and a Marine makes a shrill whimper.

Luffy and his group are staring at the scene with jaw-dropped interest. Yosaku is screaming, finally realizing that they'd crashed into a Marine Commodore back there.

Nami raises a metal middle finger.

"This ain't a show! Get off my private property already!" she yells.

And they bolt. Screaming, they dash off like no tomorrow. Some of them scramble past Luffy into the house to retrieve their Commodore, stopping only once to look at Nami.

"And just let me tell you guys this- don't you dare go tacking on Oyaji's name for any of this, got it?" Nami threatens them. "I'm not a Whitebeard Pirate anymore- from now on I'm a Strawhat Pirate! Got it?"

The Marine pauses confusion, Commodore Purinpurin unconscious over their shoulders.

"Strawhat?" he asks.

He turns slowly toward Luffy, who's standing right beside him a door's distance away.

Luffy beams, "I'm Monkey D. Luffy!"

Luffy sure knows how to be unintentionally threatening, because that's a million-watt smile that sends shivers down the spines of the bravest marines. It's the same thing in the future, and the same thing from Gold Roger.

(The smile of a man that can overturn the world without hesitation.)

(Maybe it's a Pirate King thing?)

Nami scoffs at their retreating figures. What a waste of time! "This is ridiculous," she sighs. "You dropped by right in the nick of time, Luffy. Thanks for the help."

"Oh, no problems!" Luffy grins. He hooks an arm around Sanji and then at his other companion- "Anyways, we got new comrades and everything, so let's go, Nami!"

Sanji quickly escapes from that hold, zooming forward to Nojiko and bowing dramatically, getting on his knees before holding her hands out in a proposal.

"Oh, you bring the goddess of beauty to shame," Sanji swoons, "may I have your name, oh lovely mademoiselle?"

Nojiko humours him. If there's something she and Nami definitely inherited from Bellemere, it was the fact that they loved to charm the playboys, if only to get away with everything under the sun.

"I'm Nojiko."

"Nojiko! Ah, such a beautiful name. The voice of the angels! I have been blessed by your company, Nojiko sweetheart."

Nami stares at the scene with muted horror for a moment. Sanji has probably lost his wallet twice now… she opts to ignore it in favour of Luffy.

"If you're here, Zoro and Usopp should be in town…" Nami pauses. "Wait."

Her face falls, her jaw drops.

"Luffy," she speaks up, a shaky finger raising.

Okay, the one with the straw hat is Luffy. The charmer beside her sister is Sanji. The one behind them, face full of panicked tears, is Yosaku.

So who's the exhausted-looking guy being held down by Luffy's three-looped grip?

"Luffy, who's that?"

It's different.

It's different, sure- the entrance is wrong and the greetings don't line up. That's to be expected. But the members and the casting shouldn't be different.

Why is there another actor on the stage?

Why is there another chess piece on the board?

(Usopp must have done something.)

( Usopp must have done something , because Nami didn't.)

Luffy grins. He always girns, because he's adorable and innocent and nothing he does can be wrong, he won't let anyone tell him it's wrong. Once he's decided on something, once he's marked his territory, he'll fight you to keep it.

He's an animal, an endearing, so endearing little animal.

"That's right! You haven't met him yet," Luffy tugs the older man closer toward himself, "this is Gin! He's nakama , too!"

Uncharted territory.

Nami feels hollow inside, but it's not devastation she's feeling in her chest. It's not that kind of painful emptiness or disappointment- she's not upset about this, but she's not overjoyed, either. She's surprised, but she doesn't know if it's pleasant or unpleasant.

She's conflicted.

(Not for the first since she's come back, she's finally realized something.)

(This was unpredictable . This was different. This was wrong but not wrong , because the 'real' she knows doesn't exist anymore .)

(So this can't be 'wrong'. This is the new 'right'.)

(And that's what it means to be 'changing the future'.)

So she forces a smile on her face, and tries to stifle the growing sense of dread in the pits of her stomach. Things weren't going to be the same anymore.

She threw away the familiar future when she decided to change the sequence of things. She threw that away willingly, the bad, and the good as well.

(They're not the East Blue Five anymore. They won't be the Strawhat Ten anymore.)

(Things are going to be different and that means the dynamics and the friendships and the crew and the atmosphere, everything, it's going to change .)

She can't cry about it now, Gin didn't do anything wrong. She shouldn't blame him for it.

"I'm Nami. I'm the Navigator."

(This was for the better, she just has to believe in that.)

(She can't be the old Nami anymore. She has to be the new Nami and this new Nami has new friends, new comrades, too .)

(Because this is the new timeline, and Nami can't spend too much time wallowing in the old one. They'll be left behind)

"Nice to meet you, I guess."

Zoro is alive.

Like, he probably died a few times in between the surgery simply out of Doctor Nako's spite, but yeah he's alive.

Johnny hasn't stopped crying in relief yet.

"The first aid was done well, thankfully, but it might still get infections," the doctor says, taking a drag of his smoke, "I don't care what you guys do, but let the stitches heal before you let him challenge a brick wall again, got it?"

Oh, they've only known Doctor Nako for the past hour or so, but he's already gotten Zoro's personality down to perfect understanding. That's impressive.

"No promises," Usopp promises half-heartedly. "He's only got swordsmanship and aimless idiocy in his head, so it's out of my hands, sir."

"What was that, Usopp?!" an offended voice comes from behind the window.

"And strangely sharp ears, apparently," Usopp corrects himself.

Doctor Nako nods contemplatively.

In the few hours they took to get the surgery done, Usopp was beginning to get the threads back into his vision. His Haki was starting to crawl back out, easing out he kinks like a baby deer learning how to use his legs. In a while, it'll be back to normal.

The familiar voice of Kinoko beside him began to take shape as a little more than a brown, fluffy blur, and with it, he began to spread out over the island.

He reached over to Kinoko's leg, retrieving the vial he had fastened to it before.

Usopp's Observation Haki could not sense furniture, infrastructure, and plants- but he could sense humans and animals. He's particularly sensitive to his own voice, his own smell, his own whisper in the wind.

So the vial around Kinoko's leg contained droplets of his own blood, diluted to a colourless, odourless degree. Kinoko would spread it around an island- and Usopp would feel around blindly with his Haki, charting a map inside of his head.

This way, he can get a survey of the land using his Haki, even without his eyes.

It's a relief that Nami used to draw so many maps, discard just as many, and she was always in the mood to talk Usopp's ears right off about the logistics and tactics of the perfect sea chart. Though that was back in the old world.

(Now, Usopp could only try to dig those memories back out. He wasn't even sure how a map was supposed to look like anymore. He hasn't seen a clear thing for ages.)

"Thanks a lot, old guy," Usopp says, "is Nami around?"

"Hm? What, you owe her some money or something?" Doctor Nako asks.

Usopp blanches, "who doesn't owe her money? But no, not for that. We're actually meeting up here with our crew before we set off for the Grand Line. The last of our crew should be here soon."

If Usopp could see, he would've probably laughed at Doctor Nako's expressions.

"I don't get it, you guys masochists or something? You're gonna have to deal with that greedy tyke for the rest of your life if you let her on your ship," Doctor Nako tells them.

"Don't worry, she's actually the least crazy of the crew we have so far," Usopp says, his face stoic as a deadpan without him even trying.

Johnny makes an offended noise, "you are the last person that gets to say anything!"

"Now, Jimmy, don't bully the blind kid."

"My name is Johnny ! And we all know you're not as blind as you pretend to be!"

"Now that's just rude."

They're interrupted by Kinoko, who scatters her wings and flaps wildly, getting her altitude before soaring off in a direction Usopp can't see.

(What's got into her?)

"Wait, Kinoko! I still need you to..." Usopp raises his voice- but the bird's presence is too far away now, so he trails off. "Johnny, what's over there?"

There's a lot of noise at the village gates, a flock of voices (people) gathering, all voices in disarray and a weakened voice making himself known.

Doctor Nako runs toward it, and Usopp realizes that whatever happened, a doctor was necessary there.

"Something happened," Johnny says, his voice tense.

That's clear. Peace never stays long around the Strawhats, and this was exhibit one. But seriously? Trouble on the Fishmen's island? You're not telling me Luffy is here already…

An injured Fishman is being led towards them- and Usopp doesn't pinpoint the voice until Doctor Nako calls out his name,

"Choo!" he gapes, "you've been shot?"

Choo. That's the guy Usopp fought in his last timeline. Yikes.

Johnny flinches in his spot. "Another fishman?"

Usopp nods sympathetically. If this was the previous timeline, he'd be just as freaked out. After all, Johnny's a normal guy.

Usopp could sort of imagine the internal turmoil Johnny's facing. Oh right, this one is hurt- that's not the problem! He shouldn't be this scared of them. (There's no reason to be!) (But I am!) Cue confused screaming.

In fact, the panic is hilariously clear in his aura alone, and Usopp's haki right now is hazy like a freshly-awakened mindset, so Usopp is just absorbing Johnny's internal crisis like a sponge.

(He wants to slap Johnny once. Maybe he'll stop panicking.)

"It's nothing, chu," Choo says. "We should hurry. The Marines are…"

(First pirates, now marines? This island's protection is a complete mess. An overhaul on the guarding duty needs to be organized, seriously.)

Usopp can smell the blood in the air. Choo's been shot, but it's nothing serious. But shooting a Fishman is a serious matter- why would a Fishman of Choo's caliber let anyone shoot him?

(Hostage situations, politics?)

Usopp stands up suddenly, his aura blaring, eyes wide, and fists clenched.

( He's here.)

Choo stops speaking immediately, his New World-levelled instincts freezing him shock still as he swirls, vision landing on Usopp. Eye contact was not necessary- this was an assertion of spirit, from one pirate to another.

"W-What's wrong, Usopp-aniki?"

Johnny latches onto Usopp's arm, looking frantically between them.

"Huh? Uh, no, nothing much-"

"Don't do that. Usopp-aniki you might notice but you're glaring right at the Fishman, and I'm not a Fishman, but I'm sure that's rude," he pleads, sounding more confused by the second, "stop it. Please . Usopp-aniki I am going to cry. "

Usopp quickly closes his eyes. He had been focusing too hard . His eyes have no discolouration, so it definitely does look pretty threatening when he stares off in a random direction. He'll need to keep that in mind next time.

Johnny breathes a sigh of relief.

"I see," Usopp says, "the Fishman Pirates can't do anything to the Marines on this island, Shichibukai and all. Hey, Mister dandy sir Fishman over there!"

Johnny squeaks, presumably because Choo's stepped forward, coming very much closer towards them. Doctor Nako's fussy voice comes closer too, presumably to treat the gunshot wound where the Fishman stood.

The bounty hunter ducks behind Usopp's body, shaking like he's read to wet his pants today. But Usopp is unfazed.

"And you are?" Choo asks.

"I'm one of Nami's new comrades. My name is Usopp!" Usopp says, huffing in practised pride. "Don't worry, me and my legion of eighty million-" he trails off and starts again with, "anyways, Marines?"

"Kind of. If you're her comrade, how about you go up and help her? Chu," the fishman says in an apprehensive manner, clearly issuing a challenge rather than offering a friendly suggestion. "They have Nojiko, so she's in a bit of a pinch."

Usopp raises a finger. "Don't worry."

Right then, thunder struck in the airspace above the tangerine grove.

All eyes spun on the scene. Jaws drop, eyes widen, and surprised squeaks pass through the crowd. Even in Paradise, sudden miniature sparks of hell thunder was not actually common. It makes sense that this freak everyone the hell out.

Usopp chuckles nervously, "on behalf of my captain, I would like to ask- permission to come inland, sir Choo of the Sun Pirates?"

Choo made a longsuffering groan. "Should've known Nami's comrades would be just as crazy as herself. Chu."

"GOMU GOMU NO-" is the only warning, "-HI USOPP!"

Usopp is abruptly met with a facefull- or actually armfull, or actually let's just say bodyfull- of Luffy. The rubber menace greets the blind boy by rocketing straight into him and shooting them both churning backward into a tumbling, ragged pile of pain.

As Usopp stares at the blue sky, a blooming agony in his head, a laughing weight on his body- he finds himself deeply reconsidering his life choices.

There's that caw in the air. With his Haki, Usopp can tell that Kinoko is currently perched on Nami's head. Oh hi there you moronic fluffbutt, what's the point of you being here if you always run off somewhere else when I need to avoid being, y'know, rocketed into?

He's going to pluck out that stupid bird's feathers one by one he swears.

"Hi, Luffy," he says, still sprawled out in a defeated manner. Luffy had probably made himself comfortable on top of Usopp, arms crossed as a pillow for his chin. "Zoro's in the doctor's office."

"Doctor?" Luffy asks, in his very irritatingly endearing way, "Zoro? Why is Zoro in there?"

"Obviously because he almost died-!" Usopp snaps back instinctively, only to belatedly realize he's wasting his energy. "Hey, listen to me!"

Luffy's not listening. He hops back up to his feet, dusts himself off, and hums a lazy tune as he marches off in the probable direction Usopp is pointing.

"Maybe he's taking a nap," he decides, because he's a very responsible captain like that. He goes through the window, because he does not know what a door is. "Hey, ZORO! Oh you're right there. WE GOTTA GO! WAKE UPPP!"

Then apparently Luffy finds something else interesting.

"OH HEY! You're Nami's big sis! What're you doing here, did you teleport?!"

"No, I came through the door right over there."

"So mystery teleport! Cool. And woah! This old guy looks like one of those ugly dresses in Dadan's closet! WOAH! A PINWHEEL THAT'S SO COOL!"

Who gave Luffy a shot of caffeine? He's awfully excited for some reason.

A blur of beige passes his vision, and Usopp sits up to find orange and silver looking back at him.

"Glad you made it, Usopp," Nami says.

Usopp squints at her. "Nami, did you just give the blind boy a hand to help him up?"

"For hurting my feelings, you now owe me another thousand beri."

"Alright then, let's decrease that total with the two hundred thousand I spent making your Clima Tact."

"That's cheating!"

"Pot kettle black!"

"Are you going to take the hand or not?!"

Gin stares at the scene, flabbergasted. While the two bounty hunters have a tearful, much more normal reunion, the two, saner Strawhats are having a spat about money.

Sanji takes another drag of his cigarette.

"Are they always like that?" Gin asks the two bounty hunters, who stop in the midst of their brotherly hug of joy to address the scene.

"Well, sometimes," Yosaku says, "they're really close. Even more so than Luffy-aniki and Zoro-aniki… Cook-aniki?!"

Unified squawks resound as Sanji goes streaking through the air like a missile, bringing his feet toward Usopp with an unholy screech.

"HOW DARE YOU BE SO RUDE TO NAMI-SWAN, YOU BLIND BASTARD!"

Usopp squawks as he goes flying for the second time that minute. Sanji lands on top of him, grasping him by the collar. That half-transparent thing swelling out of his mouth is probably his soul. Does that mean he's dead?

"And you still owe me an explanation for the dumb and reckless SHIT you've been doing recently!" Sanji yells at him.

Usopp just looks dizzy at this point. Nami sighs. Yosaku decides to go see Zoro before Luffy mauls him, and Johnny tries his best to ease the not at all heated banter.

Gin facepalms. "I need a drink."

"Wait!" Usopp raises his arm to block Sanji's kick, suddenly raising his voice in realization. "Is that guy over there the hungry guy from the Krieg Pirates? What're you doing here?!"

Gin blinks once. Is he not welcome? That's amazing news. "Can I leave?"

"Your captain invited him in," Sanji says, not removing his foot but certainly taking a leisurely moment to smoke before continuing to dig a bruise into that forearm. "His name's Gin. Introduce yourself, you shitty bastard."

"What kind of first impression of me are you trying to give him?" Usopp whines, moving both hands over to catch Sanji's next kick. "Wait! Nami, did you do something?!" he asks in an accusatory tone.

And Nami sounds scandalised, "what? I left the Baratie crazy early, remember? I thought you did something!"

"Huh? Then what changed?"

"I don't know, I wasn't there!"

Sanji interrupts. "You shity bastard! Are you being rude to Nami-san again?!"

"Geez Sanji, you're misunderstanding the situation!" Usopp whines, "wait! OW! That hurts! That's dirty! You don't kick a blind boy in the face! OUCH! STOP! I'M SORRY!"

"Wait, Usopp, this is serious!" Nami yells, "you know this could mean-"

"-Sanji, stop kicking me!" Usopp is too occupied by the assaulting blond asshole. "And Nami, seriously, I don't think I did anything that could've- don't you think it's you ? You travelled around a lot more than I did! Maybe-"

This was such an incredulous mess. Are they seriously a crew of pirates? They seem like such a motley crew, there are two disputes in front of him, and the captain is fooling around in the corner without a care in the world. They're hopeless.

Gin side-eyes the alley.

If he ducks away now, no one would even notice…

"Gin! Come on, let's introduce you to-" Luffy is suddenly beside him, latching onto his arm. Dammit! Did he realize I was trying to run away? Luffy's eyes land on the bickering group, "-oh nevermind, Usopp's busy. Let's go meet Zoro then!"

And Gin is unceremoniously dragged into the doctor's house.

He's exhausted. He just wants to sleep. He could just pull away now- but for some reason,he can't bring himself to shove the little captain off.

(Ah man, is he getting soft already?)

(Obviously not. It's just the poison in his veins.)

Speaking of the poison, he's getting used to it. He can pretty much get by with ignoring the dull ache in his lungs now, which is good if he wants to keep being a fighter

The problem was if he wanted to be a pirate on this crew, or run off and go solo.

"Zoro! Look, this is Gin! Gin, that's Zoro!" Luffy introduces them without even saying anything important.

Gin considers Roronoa Zoro, lying on the bed with hell's new scar marring his chest. Their eyes meet- and he knows that Zoro is observing his newly thinned figure, the faint blue freckles on his arms where his short-sleeved shirt couldn't cover.

Gin is first to break eye contact, if only to pull his blood-stained bandanna further over his eyes.

(He wonders if he can get himself a replacement for his shredded jacket in this town.)

Zoro smirks, turning away. "Too bad for you, dude. I guess you're stuck with us from now," he says. "Welcome to hell."

Gin sighs, "you're not going to help me get away either, huh?"

Zoro just laughs, and Gin is sort of offended.

Chapter 17: wait, this is wrong. No, it's not my fault.

Summary:

The crew meets the Fishmen, officially. Usopp and Nami speak of the future that could have been, and preparations are made to leave.

Meanwhile, Gin gets assaulted by a bird, tries to find a meaning for himself, and as usual- is utterly exhausted.

Have I mentioned the bounties yet?

Chapter Text

"Cool! Fish people!"

"L-l-l- Luffy-aniki! NO! That's a Fishman! Don't just walk up to it!"

Yosau clings desperately at the boy, but Luffy just walks on, his very long arm still holding onto Gin.

The commotion draws the attention of the other Fishmen.

"Oh, are you a visitor?" an octopus fishman asks, walking forward to greet them before they came too far into the gates and offended someone. "You guys don't look like you're from this island.

Yosaku squeaks, ducking behind Luffy, "it's an octopus fishman!"

Hachi nods, "yes. I'm a dandy octopus fishman," he says, swirling his arms about in a very bodhisattva fashion. "I'm Hachi."

Luffy laughs, "you're an octopus but you're a person! That's so weird. Oh! Hey, do you poop?"

"DON'T ASK THAT!" Yosaku yells, hysterical.

"Yeah, I do."

"DON'T ANSWER!" Yosaku snaps.

The laughter rings through humans and fishmen alike. Luffy laughs boisterously, Yosaku looks on the verge of fainting, while Johnny and Gin just look defeated at the side.

Sanji was frankly disinterested, simply because there were no female fishmen where he could see them. Nami and Usopp stayed behind to look after the sick people in the infirmary, but for politeness' sake, they were here in Arlong Park.

"Hey, Aladine-chan," Nojiko greets them loudly, catching everyone's attention with the bandages around her shoulder. "Nami's busy, so I came to introduce her crew to you guys!"

"Wait, wait, what happened to you?" Hachi fusses.

"Oh, I got shot a little."

"HOW DO YOU GET SHOT A LITTLE?!" Hachi grows red, "who?! How dare they!"

"Don't worry, Nami dealt with them already," Nojiko says.

But before she gets to say anything else, a certain sea cow surfaces at the port, teary-eyed and full of bumps on his head.

"Oh," Luffy says.

"Ah," Sanji drops his cigarette.

"Moh-moo!" Hachi squawks, rushing over in a panic. "Oh no! Who bullied you?!"

Gin just facepalms.

"Nami sure has some strange friends," Choo says.

After Luffy and Sanji got on their knees to apologize to the traumatized sea cow, they became fast friends. Sanji and Gin stare as Luffy starts sea cow rodeo riding, while Yosaku and Johnny squeak at every fishman that comes too close.

The Fishmen are getting way too amused by the two bounty hunters' jittery reactions, and they've started playing Peek-a-boo.

By the end of it, Johnny and Yosaku look like they've lost ten years of their life.

"The captain is Luffy-kun, then there's Sanji-kun, and Gin-kun. Those two aren't members, but they're friends," Nojiko introduces them. "The rest are back at Doctor Nako's place, but they've also got pirate hunter Zoro and one more, Usopp-kun."

"Hehh," Choo says, "so, which one broke Kuroobi's jaw?"

"Wait, what?" Nojiko swirls on the ray-fishman in the corner, suddenly noticing the darkening bruise at the man's chin. "Woah. Who did that, was it the pirate hunter?"

"No, it was the longnose," Kuroobi answers.

Choo does a double-take. "The longnose?!" he asks. "I saw him. Seriously, you let that guy land a hit on you?"

"How about you try facing the longnose before you talk, Choo."

"WOAH! You're a fishman too! You look like an eel!" Luffy exclaims, because he needs to establish that every fishman around him is a fishman, apparently.

"I'm a merman. A goatsbeard brotula merman. It's a little different from an eel," Aladine explains in his greeting with all the patience of a man talking to a child, resting his trident over the crook of his arm. "It is an honour to meet you."

"A goat? You're a goat?!"

"...Something like that."

Sanji smokes. No hand is extended, so he doesn't offer one either. "Nice to meet you. Heard you're a shitty big deal in the Grand Line?"

Johnny's soul escapes him. Yosaku screams. He wants to go home.

Aladine laughs good naturedly. "Something like that."

Sanji's eyebrow twitches. Judging by the mirroring responses- Aladine's pretty much treating him like a kid. And he doesn't quite like the implications of that. It's one thing to treat Luffy like a kid, and a totally different thing to treat Sanji like one.

Sure, Aladine probably has an unimaginable bounty, and Sanji's not dumb enough to think he can beat the merman in an actual fight- but still.

Aladine grinned at him.

Sanji thinks he wants to grill some brotula for dinner tonight.

"C"mon, don't look at me all angry like that," Aladine says cheerily at Sanji, "I can tell all of you have great potential and I respect that. You're just very endearing to me."

Sanji raises an eyebrow. "I'm not angry," he says.

Aladine grins, like he knows better.

Sanji really wants to grill brotula for dinner tonight.

"It might've been Old man Zeff."

The two are sitting outside on the bench, side by side, speaking in hushed tones

Nami's jaw drops. "You told him?"

Usopp holds a hand up to stop the girl before she mauls him alive, "in my defence, I'm blind. It's tough to hide Haki from a veteran when I'm literally counting on it to have sea legs or legs at all."

Nami groans, "I spent half a year with Whitebeard and I didn't tell him anything!"

"I'm not a scoundrel like you."

"I will break your nose, Usopp."

"I apologize from the bottom of my soul."

They sigh in unison. Nami brushes her hair back behind her ear.

"Hey, Nami," Usopp speaks up, tone more sullen this time as he leans in closer for a serious whisper. "...have you dealt with that yet?"

And Nami leans onto Usopp's back, closing her eyes on Usopp's shoulder. The boy traces a letter on Nami's finger- a faint B, slow and unnoticeable, but Nami knows what it means easily.

"I couldn't," she admits. "I wasn't close enough to Oyaji to warn them about it. They just told me that I'd get used to him, because I'm new. And I couldn't stay long enough to thwart it. I didn't go there to fix it to begin with, so I didn't plan things out."

Usopp's fist closes.

"His Haki is better than mine, so I couldn't do anything about him on my own," Nami says. "And now my Den Den won't reach over the Red Line."

Usopp sighs. "Countermeasures?" he prompts.

"Striking when the time is right," she tells him. "We don't know the exact time- but it's around now. I'm going to ask Aladine-chan to go over and check things out, but we can only hope for the best to ripple out since we can't be there ourselves."

Silence runs between them.

"I'm sure you did what you could," Usopp says, closing his eyes and steadily tapping on Nami's fingers at an unrhythmical pace. "Question is- what now?"

If they truly want to change the future, they should be changing further than just their adventures. They should be causing world-scale ripples that could upset the balance of everything much earlier, much more differently.

"Maybe I should've joined the revolutionaries this time," Usopp considers.

Because if they were truly putting their all into changing the future, working on another side would be the easiest way to get through it. Especially the revolutionaries- that's the side that needed the most support now.

And yet, both Nami and Usopp chose to cling to the Strawhats, like selfish bastards wishing only for their own happiness and pretending to forget the inevitable future in favour of sweet memories with once-dead comrades.

"Should I have stayed with the Whitebeards?" Nami asks rhetorically.

And Usopp doesn't answer.

Because no one knows.

No one knows how things could have turned out if they went big and apart in the first place, focusing all their energy into a greater future. Maybe things would already be different. Maybe the world could already be changed.

"Do you think we're selfish?" Usopp asks. "We could be doing something so great. And yet, we're here, wasting our time."

Nami closes her fingers- her flesh hand, over Usopp's.

"Maybe," she whispers.

They lean on each other, silently. Their breathing in tandem and their eyes closed in serenity- they stay like that.

Maybe it's fine to waste their time and do nothing.

They've lost this nonchalance once already, they know how precious it is.

It was evening now, and the villagers held a little festival to party with the Sun Pirates' arrival and news of Nami's departure.

Luffy was out in the village, because all the food was free and he was trying to find raw ham melon with no luck.

Zoro was having a delightful drinking game with Kuroobi, Sanji was on a food venture, and Nami had gone to visit her mother's grave- so Usopp was by the alley with his bird enjoying the cacophony of the crowd and revelling in peace.

With Gin.

"Uh," Usopp starts nervously, "nice to meet ya properly, I guess."

Luffy had strapped the former Krieg pirate to Usopp out of nowhere, with strict orders to 'keep an eye on him ok Sanji said he was sick' before running right off.

Seriously, did Luffy think the blind kid had any power to stop Gin if the Man-demon was seriously trying to run away?

"...Yeah," Gin responds.

It's awkward. But Gin isn't bolting so maybe conversation is okay.

"So, poison?" Usopp asks.

He feels Gin's presence shuffle a little further away, and he doesn't respond.

So Usopp runs his fingers through Kinoko's fur and smiles. "Y'know, I know a man who was submerged into deadly poison, from the roots of his hair- to the depths of his bones! He was on the verge of death by the time anyone found him."

Gin makes a scoffing sound.

Usopp continues talking. "When we asked him later on, how he survived to tell the tale- he said he stumbled upon a paradise filled with Okama , right in the pits of hell!"

Surprisingly, that got a laugh out of Gin.

Usopp smiles victoriously.

"He said-" with a high, squeaky voice, "-the Queen of New-Kama Kingdom stabbed me with the miracle elixir of the legends!" he cleared his throat to get his low, dramatic voice back, "so in exchange for ten years of his life, he lived!"

"Ten years?"

"Yes, ten years!"

There's a silent pause. Then Kinoko caws through the awkward silence, because the little shit thought that'd be appropriate. They both burst into exasperated laughter at that.

"That's the most ridiculous conversation starter I've ever had the misery of experiencing," Gin says, and Usopp feels him move to sit directly opposite him.

Usopp hums, "well, it worked, didn't it?"

Gin takes a moment before humming as well. "It sure did."

When they spoke again, it was of their journey here, the journey before here- and it was all about Luffy and Zoro, their crazy rampages thus far, and what they'd have in store therein. Usopp also introduced Kinoko halfway through.

"Are you sure I can't escape?" Gin asks, not for the first time in their conversation.

Usopp chuckles. "You can try."

"Was that a threat?"

"Please don't kill me, I'm just a blind boy trying to live with my ugly pet bird."

Gin scoffs. "Liar."

Usopp laughs. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Luffy-kun, was it?"

Luffy turns around to see Aladine sitting by the alley, out of the way of most of the party but still enjoying a mug of booze.

"Whuzzit, goat-eel guy?" the boy asks through a mouthful of meat.

Aladine chuckles at the nickname. "How is Nami on your voyage?" asks the merman, taking a sip. He sets a set of meat beside him, to which Luffy delightfully scoops up into his endlessly wide mouth. "Is she happy?"

"Nami?" he questions. "Of course she's happy. Why wouldn't she be?"

Aladine smiles through his mug. "Is that so? That's a relief."

Luffy stares curiously at the merman. "You're a weird old guy, aren't ya. You talk for a little, and then you don't talk. What're you doing in the corner like this? Trying to act cool? Benn always did that."

Aladine raises his eyebrow at the name, but dismisses it as a common name. "What can I say, I'm not much of a talker. I may have the authority, but I'm not a people person, you see."

Luffy blinks. "What a person people?"

Aladine just looks at him and bursts into laughter.

Luffy squawks, because that's exactly what Shanks does when he doesn't want to answer Luffy's questions- not because it's a dumb question in partcularly, but because he's an asshole like that. He makes an offended noise.

"Goat-eel guy, you're mean!"

Aladine laughs harder.

"So Usopp bruised your jaw? Seriously?"

"I was telling him that he'd gotten rusty, chu!"

Sanji, ever the fearless deviant, decided to tease Kuroobi about it. Choo had joined in, cheeks flushed from drunkenness.

Zoro can see the growing irritation in Kuroobi's movements- but as expected from a martial arts master- he kept his composure and simply took an angry sip of his ale.

"He might be blind, but I must admit, his grasp on Haki far surpasses mine," Kuroobi says, humbly. "I let my guard down where I should not have."

Choo burps, "haki, huh. Never thought we'd see that here in the East."

Zoro and Sanji share a confused glance, the latter a little more so.

"Haki?" Sanji asks.

Zoro hums, "so Haki's really a big deal out there?"

"Wait, what's Haki?" Sanji interrupts.

"It's essential for survival in the Grand Line," Kuroobi says, his eyes casting to the side steadily. "It doesn't matter if you're blind, deaf, or missing two limbs. As long as your Haki is disciplined, you stand a greater chance in any battle."

Sanji blinks at that. "Survival in the Grand Line? How did our longnosed blindie get that power, then? He's never left the East."

"Some people are just naturals," Choo says with a shrug. "Rare in the East, but even Gold Roger heralded from the East, so what can we say…"

"Wait," Kuroobi interrupts, "he's never left the East? That's impossible."

"Oh, you sore loser," Choo teases.

"I'm not!" Kuroobi finally snaps, "Choo, you're drunk! That's enough liquor for you!"

Choo whines, "I'm fiiiiiiiine!" before slipping right past Kuroobi's punch. He laughs. "Your Observation is rusty, Kuro!"

"It's not! Stop that stupid drunken fist of yours!" Kuroobi snaps, "we all know you've been hanging out with Hyouzou for that! What have I told you about him?!"

"That he's a bad guy and I shouldn't go near him. I know, mom ."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

Zoro takes another sip of his booze.

At least the fishmen were good drinking buddies.

Sanji squints, still skeptical, but at this point of drunkenness, there wasn't a fish around that wanted to answer his questions.

(So in the end, what is Haki?)

Honestly, Zoro wants a proper answer to that, too. Usopp and Nami were both so vague about it that he was getting rather frustrated.

"So, I heard you've brought friends over, Nami."

The girl stands up quickly, turning around in surprise. "Gen-san?!"

The man is seated on a wheelchair with Nojiko pushing him up the hill. His usual police uniform was nowhere to be seen- he was wearing a strangely unfitting button-up left open over his bandages, and Nami can't help but feel it's off.

Her smile falls when her eyes land on his leg stump.

"What, this?" Genzo doesn't miss her glance. "It's nothing. It's a shame you won't get to see it when I get the prosthetic done, but now you and I can have something in common, don't you think?"

Nami bit her lips, but the smile came anyways. Setting her metal arm at her hip, she sighs. "Don't you think it's about time you retired from sheriff duties, Gen-san?"

Genzo scoffs, "never!"

Nojiko pouts behind them, "I'm on Nami's side with this. We have the Fishmen to turn to now."

Genzo feigns a jaw-dropping gasp, "both my daughters have turned against me. My life is over now, they're in their rebellious phase! How miserable."

"Don't be a drama queen," Nojiko chides.

They laugh synchronously.

They make space beside Bellemere's grave, and Genzo's wheelchair is pushed adjacent to it, the girls sitting by the little bed of flowers. The wind blows strong in the night, so Nami brushes her hair back against her ear, breathing in.

This would be their last night together here, enjoying their time as a family.

Nami spun tales about their adventures thus far- about the times Luffy would race a bird across the horizon only to sink into the sea and get fished out by a fuming Zoro- about the times Zoro would sleep through dumbbell falling on his head, but would wake up when Usopp leaned a little too close to the stairs.

Each story made Nojiko laugh a little brighter, and Genzo would always find the pettiest things to whine about.

"I found my comrades ," she admits to Bellemere. "They're unhinged, they're hopeless- but I'm one of them too. They'd be dead without me!"

Nojiko giggles at that. "I honestly think you're more than they deserve."

Genzo leaps to agree, but he's stuck on his wheelchair so he just leans really far toward them over the chair, "of course she is! My Nami is the best in the world! Not a million or billion beris is worth her!"

Nami feels the sudden urge to tell them that, in fact, she is worth about a few billion in the future simply because of her world map- but she keeps it to herself.

She puts a hand on the gravestone.

"I'll be happy," she promises to the wind, to the soil, and to the soul. "I'm sure Bellemere-san will be there with me the whole way, right? I'll be fine."

Genzo turns away with a defiant huff. "If that captain of yours makes you cry, I'll personally run over to that young man and kill him myself!"

Nami grins.

She turns behind her.

"You hear that, captain?" she hollers.

Nojiko and Genzo swirl around, startled- to see Luffy in the very near distance, hunks of meat in his hand. He had been staring at the three for what seemed to be a while now, accidentally eavesdropping.

He grins widely.

"Loud and clear!"

Then he turns around, suddenly wondering when the festival got so far behind him.

"By the way, pinwheel-ossan, your pinwheel is REALLY COOL!"

He waves a gleeful goodbye at the three, then continues his marvelous misadventure of the raw-ham-melon scavenger, that will, inevitably, end in failure if Nami's hunch has anything to say about it.

Nami turns back to her father figure. "He's adorable, don't you think?"

Genzo immediately flips, "what? NO! Nami, you are NOT-"

"I didn't mean it that way, Gen-san!" Nami bursts into laughter, looking at her sister, "I'm allowed to look at the menu without wanting to take a bite. What do you think, Nojiko?"

Nojiko smirks. "Not my type, but I wouldn't mind a cutie like that."

Genzo explodes. "I SAID NO! Seriously, you guys take after Bellemere in all the worst qualities possible!"

It's the break of dawn when Gin wakes up from the chronic ache in his chest.

Groaning, he untangles himself from the mess of Luffy (because those things are only fifty percent limbs) before stretching out the kinks in his joints.

The village had partied all night, and the morning was uncomfortably chilly. Everything seemed to be coated in one humid layer of dew and mist. He rubs at his face in an attempt to wake himself up a little, grumbling through the throes of the pain in his senses.

(Wait.)

He turns to the side.

Luffy is sleeping in a mess of barrels, and Zoro was beside them, legs hooked around Usopp's. Sanji was on the other side, sleep muttering something about shitty rubber thieves.

(Isn't this the perfect opportunity to run away?)

He takes one step away.

Yeah, he really should run away now while he has the chance. These guys were really good kids, he really liked them- but truth be told, he just wasn't in the right state of mind or physical condition to join them on their adventures.

Luffy was just hanging onto him out of respect for his old crew's wishes, after all. Gin himself didn't particularly… deserve to be in this dynamic. He could sort of feel it.

So, fists clenched and resolve gained, he steps out of the alley...

...and immediately, he's met with a facefull of bird and feathers and everything else unpleasant about avian anatomy at seven in the morning.

" *&^%!"

He screeches in a language he never even knew existed, the shock throwing his soul right out of him. By the time he pries the animal out of his face, he's already going through all the steps in his head for a good roasted bird.

"What the-" he notices the ring around its feet, "you're Usopp's bird, just fucking great."

(He is not going to be stopped from his escape attempts by a fucking bird.)

(...or is he?)

He turns around. Seems like he wasn't as loud as he'd thought, because none of them seemed to be awake yet.

The bird makes a proud little huff as it (she?) settles on Gin's arm, preening its feathers a little before hopping along the man's forearm.

It's a strange feeling, having an animal just climb over him like he's harmless. Gin's only seen birds do it to corpses, so maybe this bird is trying to tell him that he's dying- "Ow!" he yelps, when the bird pecks at his cheek sharply.

Before he'd even realized, the bird was just making herself comfortable in his hair.

"No, get off. I'm leaving this island already, so go back to your owner," he hisses at it, reaching for it over his head- only to get picked in the hand and almost lose a finger.

Gin was losing his patience. Is he seriously being thwarted by a bird?!

"You little shit get off my head!"

"SQUAWK!" came the defiant response.

When Nami wakes up an hour later, she decides to take a walk by the river bank.

There, she finds Gin sitting on a large rock, thinking deeply to himself as he gazed into the river, a melancholic look on his face. His shirt and bandanna are presumably washed and hung by a branch to dry.

(What was he thinking about? About his former crew? About Luffy's offer?)

In his topless glory, Nami sees the blue freckles sprinkled across his body, from his collarbone to his shoulders to his forearms- that just couldn't be natural .

Sanji had told them he inhaled and barely survived poison, so perhaps that was the mark it left.

More importantly, she fixed her gaze on the bird resting in the nest of his hair.

Even Kinoko looks like she went through a rinse and shake, but she was still sitting there with regality and determination. Nami guesses that the guy tried to get rid of the bird by swimming in the river, only to fail.

Suddenly, Gin looks less like a contemplative man of maturity, and much more like a brooding boy pouting in irritation.

Needless to say, Nami bursts out into laughter.

Their eyes meet, and Nami stops abruptly, a little embarrassed by her vulgar show.

Ah well.

"Gin, right? Good morning."

"You're telling me you made it halfway across the Grand Line, came back twice, went over the Red Line on the other side and returned- all in the span of a little less than two years?"

"To be fair, I didn't make any unnecessary island stops."

"And you were on the sea the entire time?!"

"Oh crap, I forgot that the sea's more dangerous than the land."

Gin has a bird stuck on his head, an irritated itch in his lungs, and a girl speaking nonsense beside him. What has his life come to?

He shrugs his shirt back on, but leaves the jacket hanging on the branch.

Nami sits down beside him on another stone, and Gin has to look away.

Unlike yesterday's top and jeans, she's wearing a tanktop and shorts- leaving the connections of her metal pars in full exposure, her hair sliding over her shoulders comfortably.

(She really does look like a village girl when she dresses like that. Maybe she covers up simply to hide her metal parts?)

Seriously, Gin has heard that she's a veteran, but he didn't expect this.

Nami had been gallivanting across the perilous seas like it was a joke. She was a Whitebeard Pirate, a crew of one of the Four Emperors of the sea, a party only heard in myths too far away to sound relevant.

Gin almost feels inclined to get angry at it- but the fault lies in him. She's not making fun of him, he and the Don he once worshipped were just that pathetic.

(It's so frustrating.)

"What's all that lightning you did?" he questions. He's been wondering about it since he landed on that little house on the hill (wait, what about the house? Are we going to forget about the house?).

"It's called the Clima Tact," Nami says. She hooks out a three piece baton and assembles them in the air. "It's my weapon. Weather Science."

Gin squints at that. "Weather… science?"

Nami chuckles. "In the Grand Line, common sense makes no sense!" she says, as if that was a legitimate sentence to say, "don't worry, you'll get used to it soon."

Gin grimaces. "Why do all of you assume I'm joining permanently?"

Nami disassembles her staff and tucks it on her belt again. "Everyone doesn't want to join at first, don't worry. But the greatest captains don't quite let you leave after they've got their eye on you, y'know? Whitebeard was like that with me."

Gin hums at that.

Wait, something doesn't add up.

"Wait, where does the longnose fit in that story?" Gin realizes, "were you two together in that two year journey? You've known him for really long, right?"

Instead of answering, Nami smiles.

"If I explained all that, it'll get too confusing, don't you think?" she says.

Gin stares at her. Obnoxious, misleading types like her were usually people that Gin would immediately kill for being annoying- after all, he was known as the Man-Demon for a reason, and Gin always found it easier to teach insolence a lesson.

But if he did anything, Sanji would probably kick him to next year, so maybe not.

Nami whistles, "I see your bloodlust is still going strong." Gin turns to her in surprise, and Nami smiles, leaning into her hand, elbows resting on her knees. "I thought mister scary Man-Demon mellowed out after meeting our cute little captain, you know?"

Gin's hands itch for his tonfas, but they're hidden under the deck of the Going Merry and much too far away to weaponize right now. Maybe that rock over there…

Nami giggles.

She stands up. "Wanna fight?" she suggests and Gin's face lights up. "Hand to hand, no weapons."

He raises his eyebrow. Nami may be a Whitebeard, and Gin may be severely impaired by the poison in his veins, but it really doesn't take that much to know how to take down another person.

He stands up anyways, flexing his wrist. "Don't underestimate me."

Nami grins.

Gin sets his eyes on her.

"But before we start, can you get this stupid bird off of me?"

"Wait, you mean Noko-chan isn't there because you like her?"

"NO?!"

It's sunrise now, and the boys are at the tangerine grove. Sanji's helping a few of the village men and fishmen transfer tangerine trees onto the Merry.

Usopp sits out of this one.

The purple-haired lady notices him as she takes a break from tidying up the house. It was in rubble now, but most of the furniture is intact. There aren't a lot of valuables in there to begin with, other than memories and a few pictures.

"So you're Usopp-kun?" she steps forward, taking notice of his barefooted state.

"Nojiko-san, was it?" He greets her. "Ah, so you're the reason why my bird smells like honey in a tangerine grove."

Nojiko leans forward. "You have quite the sharp nose, don't you?"

Usopp huffs proudly, "haven't you heard? I once tracked down my companions on the other end of the desert, with just the smell of the perfume she wore!"

Nojiko chuckles at that. "I'm sure you did."

Usopp pouts. "And the saga of no one believing me continues…"

Nojiko sits down right beside Usopp, less than an inch away. Usopp flinches slightly, not quite expecting that- Nojiko has always been the bold, touchy type- Nami was like that too, but she was always too much of a tomboy so Nojiko was better at it.

(No, that's not the problem.)

(There's only one reason these sisters would get near you.)

"Nojiko-san, even if you steal my wallet, it's empty," Usopp warns her with all the resigned intonation of someone that's been swindled out of his purehearted boyhood emotions too many times.

Nojiko whines in defeat. "Ah, you got me."

Usopp sighs. "Like sister, like sister…"

Nojiko observes the boy. Not once looking her way- understandable, he's blind after all- but Usopp didn't budge even when Nojiko came much too close to be comfortable. Such, he flinched, but he stayed perfectly still.

She's read Nami long enough to know that Usopp is holding back. Holding back because, even though he's uncomfortable with the distance, disturbed by the suspicious contact- he knows that Nojiko means no harm.

It's the reflex of a person that has learned not to trust for too long in the past, and is now trying his hardest to come back to the safer, harmless present.

So Nojiko moves away.

Usopp may be wary and attentive, but he's a little too kind. Just like Nami.

She grins and stands up. "Take care of Nami for me, okay?"

She knows her sister's in safe hands.

Usopp smiles a little, "of course we will. We're nakama , after all."

"Oh, you're one of Nami's friends. What are you doing all the way out here?" Aladine notices Gin walking over to the bay of Arlong Park.

Everyone was out to guard the perimeters or help Nami load their pirate ship, so only Aladine is here now.

Gin, with a bird on his head still, makes a gurgling noise. He's wearing his short-sleeved shirt, his jacket in his arms.

"I'm trying to find a way to swim away from this island and that crazy crew while I still can," he says, because it sounds so incredulous he wasn't going to bother sugarcoating it anyhow anymore. He's too tired for this.

Aladine stares at him. Then he turns to Kinoko, and looks back at the boy.

"Ah, I see. Best of luck to you, then," he says, in all seriousness despite the disbelieving implications. Aladine has seen more incredulity in the Grand Line before, so he's not going to retort on this one. "I will be taking my leave now, so do bid your captain a farewell in my place."

"He's not my-" Gin hesitates for a moment.

Aladine laughs at that, arms crossed. "Ds are always incredibly attachable, stubborn, and hard to look away from. I'm sure he'll grow on you," he assures.

Gin isn't sure why he can't find the words to deny it again. He just bites his lip and looks away in defiance. Man if he had his tonfas, he'd be fighting right now. Maybe. He's tired so maybe not.

(Dammit he is not getting soft! He's just… tired from the poison. Yeah.)

It's only when he hears the splash and Aladine is gone, that he wonders what the Fishman Vice-Captain could be heading toward, rushing away from his base without his crew.

He sighs.

Maybe swimming across the Grand Line is no big deal for a pirate like that… what next, is a human going to be able to swim through the Calm Belt too?

(When he asks Nami about it later, Nami actually laughs in his face.)

(He hates that witch. Why does he bother asking her anything? He knows she won't answer him.)

There's a sea cow in this part of the ocean, so swimming out is definitely a no. Guess he'll go look for a rowboat somewhere else…

"How long are you going to stay on my head?"

Three defiant caws.

Gin, unfortunately, does not speak bird- and any attempt at pulling the bird away is met with retaliation in the form of deadly bird claws gouging into his skull, so he gives up on it for this hour.

"I finally got rid of the clingy monkey, and now I get the sticky bird instead?" he sighs.

When will he get a break?

"Oh, young man with the blond hair over there, I've got fresh fish if you need any."

The grocers in the morning market are all incredibly social people, and Sanji really feels quite at home in this sort of environment.

"Oh, really? What's the best you've got?," he approaches the store, taking one last drag of his cigarette before stubbing it out on a trash can nearby. "Come to think of it, you guys get along with the fishmen but you still eat fish, huh?"

The grocer chuckles warmly, "now now lad, the fishmen do take offense in being compared to fishes, y'know?"

"Seriously?"

"I mean, think of it this way- we're literally just smart, less hairy monkeys to them, but they don't call us monkeys, do they?"

"Ah."

It's an interesting way to look at it, and Sanji had honestly never quite cared if whatever he said offended anyone. He grew up in a restaurant with an A grade in inelegance, had a diploma in swearing, and a bachelor's degree in pissing everyone off.

It's far too late to redeem Sanji's personality from literally not giving a shit about anything that isn't female.

But well, Hachi had been a nice guy yesterday and his takoyaki was delicious, so Sanji will try not to treat them as things on his chopping block anymore.

Try.

Maybe.

"Speaking of which, I saw your bandanna pal walking toward Arlong Park this morning," a vegetable grocer strikes up a conversation. "He looks pretty sick, so are you guys sure you don't want Nako to take a look at him?"

"Well, if he was gonna die, he'd be dead by now," Sanji hums.

Come to think of it, he didn't see the guy around when he woke up. Maybe he ran off? Well, Sanji wouldn't put it past the guy to run off since that was his intention this entire time, but if Luffy let the guy go, it's on Luffy if Gin's missing.

His condition isn't all that stable yet, and Gin is obviously a hater of being perceived in weakness, so like a stray cat, he's probably run off to hide. If his condition worsens… well, it probably won't. Maybe.

"Was anyone with him?" Sanji asks anyway, not because he's worried, absolutely not, but because he wants to know how whiny Luffy will be about it.

"Well, the bird," someone mentions.

Sanji pauses.

"Ah," he says, "don't worry about it, that bird's the most territorial little shit I've ever met. Anyways, let's look at the fishes."

Gin's in perfectly capable hands.

Sanji knows the terror of that bird better than anyone else on the ship, after all.

"Speaking of that- you guys got a clothing store open this early?"

"Zorooooo!"

Luffy latches right onto his First Mate from three miles away.

Zoro holds the little, cross-shaped knife against the sun to observe the curve- when he hears the yell, his grip on the hilt tightens, startled. He doesn't manage to stop the short, absolutely-not-a-squeak from escaping his throat when Luffy rockets at him.

Thankfully, the force wasn't enough to throw them off the cliffside, but it really rattled his injuries enough to make him cringe.

"What, Luffy?" he asks, his tone irritated but it probably didn't sound as angry as he thought because his captain is still grinning over his shoulder.

Zoro sheathes Kogatana, wrapping the cord around his wrist because his captain is being one necklace too many for him right now.

"The old guy said he wanted to change your bandages, so I came to get you!"

"I thought Nami was getting her tattoo done so I couldn't go in?"

"She's done already!"

"It's not that fast."

"Zoro's slow, so Nami said to come get you or you'll get lost."

"Oh, that witch is picking a fight."

He picks up his sword, getting up. Luffy just keeps hanging onto him, like a limpet hitching a ride. Zoro doesn't brush him off.

"Zoro, it's that way."

"I know, dammit."

"Zoro, no. I said, that way."

"I said I know, dammit."

"Zoro, are you an idiot?"

"Shut up!"

"Usopp, you have to see this."

"I hate to break it to you, Nami, but-"

Papers are shoved in Usopp's face, and Usopp wants desperately for his next line to be 'wow, a piece of paper' , but he doesn't say it yet.

Because there are two .

Promptly, he corrects himself.

"Wow, two pieces of paper," he says, immediately ducking sharply, to dodge Nami's fist. The texture of the paper is rough and grainy, so it's definitely a wanted poster. "Did someone else get one aside from Luffy?"

"No, one of those is Gin's," Nami explains, "he got a raise from twelve to eighteen for assaulting Commodore Pudding-puddle."

"I did what?" came the confused voice beside them.

"And the other one is mine," Nami continues, ignoring the question, "they were holding mine off for a long time anyways. I'm at twenty-five mil."

Usopp hums. That's impressive for East Blue, but it's really paltry for a Grand Line veteran. Ah well, Nami specializes in being undercover, so it makes sense. It's still a big deal for this side of the world, so...

Wait.

What?

"Where's Luffy's," it doesn't come out as a question, and it ends up sounding more like a demand.

Because excuse me ? You're telling me our captain doesn't have a bounty but two in our crew of six already have above average bounties for the east?

And of all things, the only girl in the group has the highest bounty in all of East Blue? Ah, no offense to girls of course. But what ?

"Exactly," Nami says, "maybe I should have let Luffy destroy an island before we got here. Or told him to beat up Pringle-pimple for me instead. What else didn't he do again?"

Gin sips on his tea.

This Honey Tangerine tea is really good.

"Maybe you should've asked him to destroy Arlong Park?"

"No no, that's war against the Sun Pirates and Jinbei-chan will get angry at me."

Gin does not hear anything. He does not.

(Yes he absolutely does.)

He stands up and smashes his teacup against the floor. Usopp and Nami turn to him. The bird on his head makes a very robotic and long 'caaaaaaww'. Gin sits down.

Nami's face scrunches up in intense sympathy, and Usopp actually facepalms.

"Anyways, this is really bad. Can't you find a way? Like is there a nearby government flag we can shoot or a nearby Celestial Dragon we can punch?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Usopp. People that important aren't in the East Blue. We need to find a King or something. Wanna drop by Goa?"

Gin is starting to wish he died from the poison.

Chapter 18: shaky winds, waters, and wills.

Summary:

They leave Conomi.

Gin reconsiders his spot on this crew, and a role is named for him, though he's skeptical about it just yet. Nami plots their next course of action, and Zoro is trying to move forward from his little setback.

Notes:

I deeply regret being unable to bring about the popular demand of "hey, can they actually go raid Goa?", but next chapter is a strange mini adventure to make up for the lack of Stelly-punching. What is it about, well there's a small teaser in this chapter o.o

anyways HI GUYS I LOVE YALL ❤︎❤︎ ENJOY THE CHAPTER!

Chapter Text

"What happened to you guys?"

Johnny and Yosaku look like they've gotten the worst sleep of their lives. Clothing disheveled, dark bags under their eyes-

"Are you guys imitating Gin?"

"OBVIOUSLY NOT!"

They were at the port, ready to sail.

"Anyways," Johnny says, placating Yosaku before he goes on a rant about scary drunk fishmen and horror movie situations, "it's been nice meeting you again, Zoro-aniki, but we're really overstayed our welcome. We'll go our own way from here."

Zoro hums, leaning over the railing of the Merry. "What, really? Well, it really wasn't a problem for us, though."

"No, no, we've been in your kindness long enough!" Yosaku insists, "we need to be independent! Seeing Usopp-aniki and Luffy-aniki has made us very sure of that now!"

Then, in a muttered voice, Johnny adds, "we'll go crazy if we stay here any longer."

Zoro raises an eyebrow, "what was that?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Yosaku assures.

"We're bounty hunters, anyways. It's better if we find our own way from here," Johnny says, and they both move into their cool-guy poses, "it's good bye now, but may we meet again in the future."

Zoro leans his chin into his palm, smiling at that.

They've always been two clingbugs he didn't mind having around, but seeing them willingly cast off to grow their own legs made him feel a little proud of them.

"Well, good luck on that, whatever you do, I guess."

"Same to you, Anikis!"

Beside him, Gin leans against the railing. He's looking at his own wanted poster, a thumb running across the number eight in 18 million.

His picture's just his usual uninviting, indifferent mugshot, and his prestige is just as terrible as always- maybe worse. He's gone from being known as Krieg's underdog right up into a rabid one.

(He didn't read that article fully, but the reports all say he's no longer a Krieg pirate. He's not sure how to feel about it.)

(His bounty is higher than Krieg's now. He's not sure how to feel about this, either.)

"You sure you don't want to make one last break for freedom?" Zoro says in an almost teasing manner, and Gin retaliates with a swift swing of his fist against Zoro's shin.

Zoro screeches, very shortly, curling into his knee for a moment- before the next punch is thrown and Gin dodges with a large swerve to the side.

All the while, Kinoko has a very comfortable roller coaster ride on top of Gin's head.

Monkey D. Luffy is currently throwing a tantrum.

"Why did Nami get oneee! This isn't fair! I'm the Captain of the crew! The Captain!"

"Yes, captain , but you haven't done anything yet," Sanji says, dusting off his hands from the final bag of flour he had to move into the galley.

"I beat up Don Pringles."

"They're blaming that on Gin."

"What?! NO FAIR!"

Cue baby whining. Sanji scowls at the octopus tangle of limbs and high-pitched wailing in the air, and he feels the sudden, undying urge to just step .

"Luffy?" Usopp calls from afar, his voice strangely lilting like a mother talking sweetly to her child, "do me a favour and help me read the newspapers."

"Ehhhhh?!"

"C'mon, captain, help a blind guy out. You can read, right?"

Luffy pouts, "yeah I can read!" he gets up, scrambling for the newspaper in Usopp's hand before sitting down angrily beside the sharpshooter, "uh," he squints, "must- mister- mystery man… did a mystery thing..."

"Really? What else?"

"Reading- leading? A mystery word… something something...pirate."

Sanji watches as Luffy is impressively distracted from his tantrum, working intensely to decipher the news article about himself that he's somehow butchering.

Usopp had already gotten his tools out, shearing down an oddly-shaped wooden carving with the sanding machine. He's only half listening to Luffy, but it's enough to entertain the boy.

Wow , Sanji thinks, Usopp's good at taking care of kids.

Then he realizes. Wait a minute, that means my captain is an absolute child!

"Is there really no quick way to get him a bounty now?" Sanji says, crouching down and talking beside Usopp's ear where the captain can't hear. "He's going to be miserable for the whole week."

Usopp hums, absent-mindedly, "Nami's working on it."

"Nami-san's working on what ?"

"Yeah," is Usopp's noncommittal response.

"Answer my question."

"Uhh- WAIT NOOO SANJI! My Kabuto MK VII! NOOO!"

The fishmen are there to see her off when Nami departs.

That doesn't exactly spare them from Nami's final wallet-stealing stunt, though.

In fact, only Kuroobi had been wise enough to stand away from the chaos. His overly cautious manner finally came in handy, and he was going to hold this against Choo for the next month as a retaliation for the fishman's obnoxious teasing the evening prior.

When Nami lands on the deck, she lands with a pile of thick wallets and a bright, beaming grin on her face.

The reaction on the ship is a healthy mixture of 'what the fuck', 'what the fuck', and 'oh Nami-san is so beautiful', bracket three exclamation marks.

Gin is obviously the former, but at this point, he's not going to retort anymore.

Nami waves at the island until they've gone over the horizon, and by then, her cheeks are tired. It doesn't stop her from smiling at the crew, though. "Sanji-kun, get the booze out, we're toasting."

"Huh, isn't it usually the captain that calls for it?" Gin raises an eyebrow.

Almost immediately as he says it, Luffy punches his arms into the air with a declaration. "Booze! We're celebrating!"

"Nevermind."

The worst thing about the situation was probably how Sanji is already in the middle of the deck with a barrel and beer mugs, like he'd seen this coming ages ago.

Gin knows that this crew is small and their stock is currently full, but as a former first mate of a huge fleet, he's very well aware that rationing food is better than lavishing on it.

Sure, they should eat it before it goes bad but even so, he's not a fan of meaningless parties such as this one. They already drank a whole village dry yesterday and somehow they're still up for drinking?

"This is still a terrible way to ration resources."

"Yes, mother ," Sanji sneers at him.

Gin makes his way toward the cabin where his tonfas are kept. In honour of Sanji being a painfully nice guy, he's not going to murder him. Instead, Gin's going to smash a hole in the deck in retaliation.

"C'mon, Gin!" and here comes Luffy, the rubber arms of doom, and Gin suddenly feels like he's wearing the world's most uncomfortable boiler suit with all the loops of arms around himself. "It's a toast! You have to be here!"

"It's a waste of booze."

"NOoooo! TOast! C'mooon!"

Gin did not sign up for a baby captain, but it's what he ended up with. He regrets everything.

He's tugged into the center, taking a mug. Kinoko is there too, sitting her fat butt in the center of the makeshift table, squinting birdily like some avian sage.

"Alright then!" Luffy bounces onto his feet, lifting his mug. "All of us are here now! So to our new comrades, CHEERS!"

Gin has to admit, he thinks this childish partying is fine too.

(Well, all things considered, it's fun.)

He could drink to his heart's content, because he didn't need to spend every waking hour making sure the ship ran, making sure the crew was trained, making sure they were on a course, and making sure the captain held authority.

Here, no one cares about that. Things are done in leisure, and the journey is enjoyed more often than large progress is made.

Unlike his days as the Commander of the Krieg pirates- here, he could unwind. He could be a child among the children, and live without worry.

(Living without worry, huh.)

(Once upon a time, that had been his dream .)

And maybe, just maybe , Gin wants himself to think, just for a while… that on this ship, he can go for it again.

For days he can just sleep his worries away, without leaving one eye open.

For a life without the constant requirement of a murderer's nightly vigilance.

"What are you doing?"

The seas are calm, the winds are choppy, and the News Coo has raised their prices. Nami's pretty miffed about the latter two, but she'll enjoy the peace while she can.

Except, Usopp is making a mess of carving wood on the deck and Nami's concerned about wooden shards flying around in the breeze. What if it gets in someone's eyes? It won't be sanitary to have food nearby either, and with the erratic wind direction, that just might be possible.

"Making a bow," Usopp responds, thumb running around the edge.

Nami's expression scrunch into confusion. "Well, that's new."

"So is that gigantic battle axe in the female cabin, but you don't see me talking about it," is Usopp's immediate, sarcastic response.

Nami frowns, "Usopp, be real with me. Are you actually blind or are you just screwing with all of us?"

"...Find out in the next chapter of Usopp's East Blue adventures."

Nami spins her batons.

Usopp scrambles to his feet, "Zoro, save me!"

Well, all jokes aside, Nami sits down beside Usopp to look over the materials. "I think you'll need better bowstrings if you want it to be useful outside this sea," she suggests. "Why the sudden new arsenal, though?"

"Why the sudden gigantic battle axe?"

"It was a gift form Haruta," Nami hisses at him, evidently irritated. "And I, unlike you, have the ability to wield it."

Usopp scowls at that, "I'm perfectly capable at archery."

"Usopp, you're blind, " Nami says, disbelief in her tone.

Usopp frowns, like he's offended at this betrayal of trust. He looks into the sky, "oh, almighty aiming god, can I become an archer?"

Kinoko makes a long caw.

Usopp promptly translates, like he's proving a point, "the almighty aiming god says yes," in an obnoxious matter-of-fact tone.

Nami groans, "Noko-chan, don't encourage him!"

Gin stares incredulously at the luxurious meal in the galley.

"Sanji, this is a-"

"-terrible way to organize resources, yeah I get it you shithead. Just sit down and eat."

Gin has his tonfas with him this time, so nothing stops him from putting a hole into the wall. Usopp even makes a sad whimpering noise when it happens.

And Gin is just about done with this.

He throws his hands into the air. "Oh I've had enough! What if an emergency happens and we need to stretch out our food supply?! Don't just use all you have carelessly!"

Gin's got the entire Krieg annihilation starvation issue set out in trauma file number five-hundred and thirty, and his entire seaman experience just screams hell fucking no to the five star meal before him.

Sure, he'll eat it if it's there, but what the fuck Sanji?

They have no idea how long it'll take before they get to the next island, and who knows if they'll be able to restock as much as they did on Cocoyashi with two bounties on the crew!

So Gin tugs Sanji out of the door, closes it, and there the arguing begins.

"Don't just cook everything you find! Think of what's perishable and what's got a longer shelf life!"

Seeing all this food on the table just hurts his guilty conscience. Gin's never seen that much food for so little people in his entire goddamn life.

"Don't underestimate Luffy's stomach, you dipshit," Sanji returns with equal ire, though his swearing has the least heat in the entire exchange, "that's my job on this ship. You don't tell the chef how to cook his meals, got it?"

Sanji's job as the cook- make sure nutrients are well balanced, prevent food-related illnesses on the ship, manage the food stock, and et cetera.

But here's Gin, the currently jobless member of the crew, sticking his nose in.

It's not as if Sanji and Gin are on bad terms in any meaning of the situation. In fact, if there's someone on the crew Gin would die happily for, it would be Sanji because of the debt he still doesn't believe he's repaid.

And no matter how much anyone denies it, Gin definitely has the most experience in sailing than the rest of them. Aside from Nami and Usopp's mysterious situation, of course.

Sanji would have had a similar amount of sea-time, but Gin is older, and he had been First Mate of Krieg. He's got the commanding and navigational experience that Sanji, chore boy and kitchen apprentice then sous chef, did not have.

"Sailing on the Baratie and sailing on a pirate ship are entirely different things," Gin snaps back lowly, "what's your sailing experience? Or have you been in nothing but restaurants your entire life?"

Sanji twitches at that. "Don't push your luck, you little shit," he hisses, "I sailed on a cruise ship when I was younger."

Gin crosses his arms, "that means you have no experience making exact amounts of food for small amounts of people."

Sanji tuts.

"Hit the nail on the head, didn't I?" Gin mutters. "You think that since Strawhat's a glutton, you can just cook till everyone's full and Luffy'll deal with the leftovers?"

Sanji clicks his tongue. Seems like that was right, too.

Gin grabs the chef by the collar. "Pirates don't get as much food stock and we don't have a lot of opportunities for supply runs. You don't think of it all in the same mindset as you had on the Baratie!"

Sanji keeps a hand on Gin's, glaring firmly. Gin might be right, but Sanji's not one to let anyone walk all over him. They're not even at the Baratie anymore- his final fence was shattered and he could go wild all over again.

"How about you cool your head for one shitty second before I toss you overboard?!" Sanji snarls.

And just a little bit of him realizes that he did get something from his biology, after all.

His temper. His tendency for violence.

(It's all there, obscured but definitely there .)

(And it makes him so angry that he's ignored that history for so long and guess what? Someone here can actually make that part of him come back out.)

(Two. Two people.)

And Gin has the gall to scoff. "You know that's only doing me a favour, right?"

That's it .

"Shut up, you suicidal edgelord!" Sanji smashes his forehead right into Gin's.

It got ugly really fast, and eventually, because the others kept staring at them instead of helping, Kinoko came down from her perch to stop the scramble for pantry ownership.

(Luffy won.)

Last time around, there were three major factors in Luffy's early bounty earning.

And that was him taking down the big three of East Blue in tandem: Buggy the Clown, Foul Play Don Krieg, and Saw-Toothed Arlong.

This time around, the third factor in the equation are the Sun Pirates instead of Arlong himself. Luffy didn't take down the Sun Pirates this time, and instead, he drew two top executives with high bounties to his side.

"Of all things, they think I defected from Oyaji!" Nami sounds positively offended at the implication, a mug of sake in her hands as she sits on the deck.

Usopp picks up the bottle and refills her mug, because a drunkenly ranting Nami is a Nami you don't defy, even if the moon is high in the sky and they're supposed to be the lookout for the night.

(It's okay, Usopp has his Haki stretched out.)

"Could you believe that? Not even Luffy is that suicidal!" she rants. Then she scowls, "wait, actually, he is. Not the point!"

Monkey D Luffy, the mysterious crew-stealing pirate, is definitely on the Marines' radar. All that's left is to actually get his danger levels and his picture set, and who knows, he might break another record on his own.

"They're not wrong about me betraying the Don, though."

They turn up to see Gin, apparently not as asleep as they all thought. For a moment, Usopp was really glad that they weren't chatting about future-specific things today.

Anyways, Usopp gestures with his hand, and Kinoko makes her way from the railing toward the galley.

"But they just assumed you were the one to cause the whole mess! Isn't that rude?" Nami whines. "Life of a pirate- getting blamed for everything under the sun! Geez!"

Gin settles down beside them so they sit in an almost circle. Kinoko returns with a tea cup and Usopp pours out some sake for the Man-Demon.

"It's true that I'm bitter, having to take Strawhat's credit from him," he admits, downing it all in one shot, "but it's nothing to get drunk over."

"Says you, then chugs," Usopp grimaces, receiving the cup again to pour out another fill.

Seems like he's the only functioning lookout tonight, and he's the blind one. It's over. This ship is doomed.

Gin looks tired- he sounds tired, but none of them ask why he's awake, none of them tell him to go back to sleep.

(Because they understand.)

"So, how does it feel to have the second highest bounty in East Blue, Gin?" Nami asks.

Gin scoffs instead of answering, and Nami just laughs. She's too drunk to bother chasing for an answer, and Usopp can feel Gin's internal conflict without words.

So Usopp changes the subject.

"Are we headed for Loguetown?" Usopp asks.

No one misses the way Gin flinches at the mention of it, but they don't react to it.

"No," Nami says, her tone a little somber. "The winds are against us for at least the next week, you know how that place is- it opens when it wants to, and spits us out when it feels like it. We're better off loitering for now."

Gin takes a sip of his sake.

"You guys talk like it's alive."

Usopp suppresses a groan, "oh, you have no idea."

Nami sighs. "Don't be a drama queen, Usopp," she chides. Then she turns to Gin, "it's not exactly alive- but well, it's definitely unnatural. It has clear weather just in time for a ship to come in, but the moment the ship heads toward the Grand Line-"

Gin straightens, remembering something, "a storm will brew?"

Nami smiles. "Yes!" she says, "and it's one of the first mysteries of the Grand Line- because only those that follow the storm can find the lighthouse."

Gin has to put down his cup, jaw dropped.

He did know about the unnatural storm because he remembers yelling his throat out at everyone on Don Krieg's fleet to get their asses in gear- but he didn't specifically know that was a necessary parcel of the path.

"It's not all that hard to get past the storm in the first place- this is just the Grand Line's first way of weeding out the cowards of the four blues, y'know?" Nami says, raising her metal arm in a show of guts. "Like, go for it at its worst, or you're not even worth the entrance! Or something."

Usopp chuckles at that, a fond memory of tearful pleading and strong gales suddenly in his head.

He takes his first large gulp of sake for the night.

"Anyways, if we're going to go through Reverse Mountain again-" Usopp pauses when Gin drops his cup.

The Man-demon fumbles for it and manages to salvage most of it, but Nami and Usopp are both staring at him now.

And their expressions curl up in some sort of scrutinizing pity.

Gin would've busted their heads for daring to offer some form of empathy, but he only manages to look away, pretending to drink a little more.

Usopp turns back to Nami.

"Money?" Usopp asks.

Nami hums, "a little over twenty thousand beri right now, with all the wallets I stole."

"I guess our first step now is to find a place to treasure hunt?" Usopp says, "right. What happened to our plan to raid Goa?"

Nami facepalms, "if you really want to go with it, you talk to Luffy about it."

Usopp frowns, "yeah, my bad."

Captain has final rules on where they go, after all. And Captain said Grand Line, so Grand Line it has to be.

(Luffy definitely wouldn't want to go all the way back home for some funny revenge- Luffy had never cared for the king of Goa Kingdom and it will stay that way until Sabo punches them himself.)

Nami shrugs. "To begin with, we can't really waste that much time going back and coming here again- it'll be trouble if we miss out on meeting Uncle Gon, right?"

Usopp chokes on his sake.

Gin looks confused. "Uncle Gon?"

Usopp is dying.

With all the casual movements of a master, Nami slides a cup of water in his direction.

"Don't mind him, just an inside joke of ours," she says, turning to Gin. "But we should probably go somewhere nearby so we can go into Loguetown right as the storm lets up… which will probably be in a week or so."

And suddenly, Gin finds himself looking at a much-more detailed sea chart than the chart Nami has displayed in the writing room.

The entirety of East Blue, down to the waves to the line of the Calm Belt and many more islands than Gin has found himself raiding as a Krieg Pirate.

A completed navigational chart of East Blue.

Gin stares at it, in shock. He can't see well in the darkness- but as a sailor, he knows. He knows just how valuable this map is.

(Did Nami draw t his?)

"Ah, can you see?" Nami asks. "Should I light a candle?"

Oh, Nami can see in the dark? And Usopp's blind, so he doesn't need a candle. Gin found that rather interesting- after all, they acted like they were used to espionage and strategy meetings in the middle of the night.

(Well, it's not Gin's business.)

"I'm fine, the moonlight is enough," he says, because he doesn't want to be an inconvenience for the two. He's just a bold little eavesdropper stealing a drink, after all.

"We're around here," she gestures around the sea between Conomi and Loguetown, "we're edging on the low tidal areas of the Red Line, so the only islands around here are a Marine base, and Baratie in the further distance."

Gin makes a confused noise. "Then what's this?" he gestures at a large piece of land marked with a red X right by their current location.

Nami pauses at that.

"Oh," she says, "I forgot I drew that in. Wait, this isn't our usual map? Oops. Sorry, I just noticed," she slaps her forehead.

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I don't get drunk," Nami sounds offended. Then she hiccups.

"It just makes her a little giddy and she likes to lose herself in the high," Usopp says, pouring out a glass of water for the girl, who snatches it. "She has the amazing ability to become sober immediately when she wants to, but yeah, she's drunk."

"I said I'm not ."

"Okay, want another glass of water, Nami?"

"Yeah."

"That will be one thousand beri."

"I'll throw you overboard, Usopp!"

Gin watches Nami get up right there, lunging at the sharpshooter who only laughs, scrambling away with minimal noise, drunken play fighting, and lots of hair-pulling. He's now entirely convinced that the sanest creature on this ship is the bird.

But this is good sake, with a nice moon out.

And hell, this navigation chart is a really good one. He picks it up and observes the expert strokes, because it seems like the strategy meeting is over for today.

He squints at the red X, noticing a little name at the edge of the island.

"Oykot Kingdom?"

And though it was faint, there was a trail drawn over it, leading from the sland to the red line and across a section of small, unnamed islands.

Gin could make out the name if he squinted.

"...Tequila Wolf?"

Zoro wakes up to see Nami and Usopp snoring on the deck, side by side but an inch apart. There was a thin blanket laid out over them, and Gin was seated by the mast, reading a map and supposedly taking lookout duty.

Zoro sits down and takes a sip on the sake as well.

And then Sanji wakes up, and cue the angry screaming of 'how dare you let Nami-san sleep on the cold wooden deck?!'

And then Zoro drags Usopp to his hammock, Nami crawls back to her bed, the sake is confiscated, the end.

"We really didn't get anywhere with our talking yesterday, did we?"

It's the morning, Nami's hair is a mess from the late night drinking. Usopp is asleep by the mast, and Zoro is awake at the crow's nest. Well, Usopp took night watch yesterday so that makes sense.

"We really didn't," Gin acknowledges.

He hands Nami her map back. He definitely didn't spend all night admiring the artistry.

"Well, Usopp's not really interested in listening to my plan because he's not the kind to navigate- obviously, I'm glad someone else here can read a map for once," Nami sighs, rubbing a metal arm against her nape, "wait. What was your job on Krieg's?"

Gin raises an eyebrow. "First Mate. Swashbuckler if we're reaching."

"Swashbuckler- that's the jack-of-all-trades fighter, right?" Nami asks. Then she prompts, "and on this ship?"

"Kidnap victim, as far as I'm concerned."

"Ah, you're still at that stage huh," Nami says, and it speaks volumes about their captain with just how unfazed she is. "Luffy doesn't usually recruit without your job in mind, so guess we'll have to solve it out. Any specific skills?"

"Murder."

Nami deadpans, "next."

Sanji is giving them weird looks from the stairs.

Gin hums. The crew is small, so everyone seemed to have distinct jobs on the ship, with none overlapping in the slightest. Zoro, the Swordsman and rather unofficial First Mate, seems to be the only combat-focused job so far.

On a fleet like Krieg's you'd have a squad of navigators, a team of cooks, a shifting system of lookouts and everyone else were cabin workers until battle calls.

It's not at all unusual for there to be crew members who are just specialized fighters, without any other skills necessary for voyage. Gin was content being one of those fighters.

"Alright, let's think of it this way," Nami raises her hands, "look at Luffy," she gestures at the idiot currently lounging on the sheep head, "think. What skills do you have that Luffy doesn't?"

Gin squints at that. "Logic? And, common sense, self-preservation instincts-"

"Don't bullshit, Gin," Sanji warns. "We all know your self-preservation instincts are shittier than Luffy's, don't lie."

"Shut up, Sanji. Like you can talk."

He's heard enough horror stories about Strawhat from Usopp, and to this day he still wonders if half of those lies were truths. One just couldn't ascertain authenticity here.

Was this a job interview or something? Did it really matter if he had a job or not? He could just be a cabin worker if Luffy really wanted to put a name to it.

"I was Quartermaster, so I'm capable of taking command- not that I'd need to do that here" he says, trying to scrounge up all the information off the top of his head, "I've got basic navigational knowledge, some sailing knowledge, a bit of ship maintenance and grunt work skills."

And Nami stares at him, eyes slowly beginning to sparkle with an impressed vigor.

"You can navigate?" she says, grabbing the man by the shoulders and instantly triggering his fight or flight response out of the sheer self-preservation skills Gin swears he has. Nami's eyes are sparkling , "you can command? Take responsibility?"

And for some reason, Gin feels like responsibility was the key word there.

He grimaces.

(Exactly how much has Nami suffered to be so grateful at the aspect of a sane human being with common sense?)

Gin didn't particularly mention anything special, either. All those were common skills even a practiced sailor or fisherman would have.

"You were the Quartermaster!" Nami says, beaming, hands held together in glee. "Gin, you can be our Quartermaster too then!"

This catches some attention. Zoro had been on his way down the rigging, and Luffy at some point, turned his head around from the figurehead.

"Huh?"

Usopp's awake now, rubbing his eyes before momentarily remembering that his vision wouldn't clear up either way.

Everyone's staring straight at Gin, including Sanji.

But Gin's the most confused one here.

"Hey Nami, whuzzat?" Strawhat speaks up, and Nami smiles, like she'd just come up with the best idea on the planet.

Being a quartermaster would mean that you had the most power on the ship, second to the Captain himself. It made you acting captain when the captain was out of commission, and it was definitely the most important job on the ship.

Yes, that means Zoro, the chief mate, would usually take that job.

As far as Gin knows, this ship didn't have a clear one- the burden of the actual work is shared out among Nami and Sanji for navigation and cooper duties, while Zoro and Usopp handle the guarding and organization of the ship..

Putting it on an actual person with experience, like Gin, would certainly make a lot of sense, but at the same time…

"No," he puts it out there firmly. "I'm the newest member of the ship. I'm the last person you should be putting that huge responsibility on."

And much more, Gin was a traitor that turned his blade on several members of this crew more than once. There was no way he should get any trust yet.

Luffy pouts, "but then who else is gonna do it? We're all idiots except Nami."

"Hey," came three offended voices.

"What? He's right."

"Nami!"

"And Nami's doing a perfectly good job at it," Gin hisses at him. "Anything Nami can't do, Sanji and Zoro can do. You literally don't need an actual quartermaster on this ship."

Luffy grins, hands on his hips, "then we can just call you that, you don't have to do anything!"

"That defeats the entire purpose!"

Sucks to be Gin, because in the next few hours, Sanji has him in the storage to help him keep numbers on their stock.

"No! You can't keep the water for so long, it's going to go to shit in seconds! We should've stocked up on more rum on Cocoyashi!" Gin realizes very quickly, throwing his arms in the air. "Shit, how much sake have we already drunk?"

Sanji stares from the doorway. This was a lot more interesting than he initially thought it would be.

If Gin was any younger or any less jaded, he might've thrown a tantrum by now.

"And look what I told you, we have five days of fresh meat right out of our stock in one day! Of course, I trust you can keep us on a good long voyage with everything else in the pantry, but why did you touch the jerky! Those can last us!"

Sanji deadpans, "woah, you sound just like Carne. You're definitely a Quartermaster."

"Shut up!" Gin snaps, "that barrel is not leaking but the bolts are worn out and damp! Do you want the fruit to go bad? Get them out! And- who did the math in this part? How could you fucking mess up addition and subtraction?"

Sanji raises a thumbs up, "add a few more curse words and you'll fit right in."

"I said shut up about that! God we are all going to fucking die on this ship!"

"You want advice from me ?"

Usopp is in disbelief. He's sitting by the tangerines on the rear deck, and Zoro is there, along with all his dumbbells, his sword, and Kogatana.

Zoro huffs.

Usopp blinks just once, in a different confusion.

"I can't call myself a swordmaster if my sword's durability is all I'm worth," he says. "Teach me that Haki thing."

As expected from the training maniac, he's humble enough to immediately seek help for what he's lacking.

Except… what Zoro needs is Armament, and Usopp absolutely sucks at that.

Well, Usopp knows the basics, so the first thing they have to do is focus on it, perhaps. Zoro can get there on his own pretty easy.

(Come to think of it, when did Zoro unlock his Haki? Usopp learned of it much later, but even Luffy only had it around Sabaody, or a little before that.)

(...Huh? You need Haki to cut steel, right?)

Zoro's been doing it forever, so Usopp never quite registered it as Haki. But it was Haki, wasn't it? At least, the untamed, unhardened version...

(Holy shit , 60 million starting bounty had a very good reason, didn't it? The Marines knew about Zoro's potential since Alabasta!)

Zoro's determination is awkward, but Usopp loves that about him. It's exactly what Luffy saw in Zoro his whole life- that unfaltering, unwavering part of him that holds onto things once he's decided to take them.

Usopp respects that.

"Nami, lend me your Clima Tact!" Usopp says.

The girl had been sitting in the center of the deck on her lawn chair. At the call, she reaches under the table, retrieves the three pieces between her fingers, and hurls them upward.

They're heavy, so the spinning makes a lot of noise.

Usopp catches one of them easily, swerves so the magnets connect in mid air, and sets the assembled staff before himself, setting himself up for a spar.

He's no swordsman, but he's learned enough bojutsu in the Revolutionary Army to get by in close combat.

"It's not really something that can be explained, but I guess you won't understand the theory of it anyways," Usopp chuckles.

Zoro makes an offended urk at that.

"I guess you'll figure it out on the way. You're only using Kogatana?" Usopp asks. He can hear Wadou Ichimonji's slightly upset voice in the corner, and Kogatana's soft and uninterested tone before him in Zoro's hand.

Zoro nods. Then hums, because Usopp can't see him nodding.

"Until I'm worth an actual sword," he says, and doesn't elaborate.

Usopp likes that. He smiles a little, running his hand across the straight pole of the staff- and stops momentarily on a faint dent in the steel, around the middle section.

His eyes widen in surprise..

(Someone actually left a dent on the Clima Tact? On the soul-inforced, special metal? With Nami's Haki piping through it?)

No no, this isn't the time to question that. He'll ask Nami about it later.

"Well, try defending first," Usopp prompts Zoro, moving into a fighting stance. "And try dodging more than parrying, or you'll break that little dagger."

"Shut up, Usopp."

And so daily sparring sessions begin.

"What're they doing?" Sanji wonders out loud. He sets a cup of an orange, fizzy drink in front of Nami, and sighs as Zoro makes an undignified squawk from the rear deck.

"Training?" Gin suggests, because that seems obvious.

He's lifting a dumbbell on one arm, because Zoro rolls it over and he thought he'd keep his hands busy.

It's been nearly two days since they've left Cocoyashi, and everyone is bored.

Nami savours her drink. "It's Haki training," she says, taking a sip before taking a spoonful of cake and depositing it in Luffy's mouth.

(Gin jumps. When did Luffy get beside Nami's chair?!)

(And why is he just letting himself be fed like that's supposed to be normal?!)

"Haki?" Sanji asks, planting one foot on Luffy's head in case the imbecile tries to eat Nami's food again. "I've heard it a few times, but what exactly is it?"

And Gin is interested too.

If there was something that set Nami and Usopp apart from the rest of them, it was this mildly confident air they exuded despite their disabilities, like they were veterans of decades ago rather than just fighters of a similar experience.

There was just something about them that emitted the air of a strong fighter, in a different but not much higher caliber than the rest of the crew.

"To put it in simple terms, Haki is willpower," Nami says. "It lets you see without your eyes, and lets you pierce without a blade… and lets you conquer without saying a word."

What a riddler.

"I don't get it," Sanji says, and Gin echoes it.

"So it's a mystery power!" thank you, captain.

Nami laughs.

"Everyone needs to use it someday, but you need to awaken your Haki within yourself- it's not something we can force out," Nami explains, "if there's someone that's closest to it right now, it'll be Zoro. And Zoro knows that, so he's working on it with Usopp."

Sanji sounds disgruntled, "that stupid Marimo is gonna get a powerup?! No fair!"

Gin hums, "so I'm guessing Hawk-Eyes uses it too?"

"Mystery power!" Luffy declares, "alright, I'm going to wake up my mystery power too, then! Hey Zoro! It'll be a race!"

"You idiot, it's obviously not that easy."

Nami sighs at them as they divulge into a screaming competition of 'obviously I'll awaken my mystery power first' to 'no, I will', and so on, so forth.

She casts a glance toward Gin.

Gin wasn't as interested in all this Haki business. He's busy recollecting himself, reconsidering his goals, reorganizing his priorities, and finding a new path in himself.

(Is he really worthy of this crew?)

So Nami decides to assure him.

"Remember our spar on Cocoyashi?" Nami reminds him of that morning talk they had. Their first conversation, which divulged into a chat, and then, into a spar to test each other's strengths.

Gin looks at her.

Nami swirls her cup of juice in her hands, thinking back on her Clima Tact, and the little dent Gin's tonfa had made that morning.

It was so impressive, Nami actually let her guard down and nearly lost the spar. She probably did- Gin was just a little stronger in pure fighting prowess, but held back in honour of Sanji's protectiveness for ladies.

Nami sighs.

"Well, you at least. You already have a headstart on the other boys."

Chapter 19: old kingdoms, old friends, old dreams.

Summary:

They take a detour before Loguetown.

Exhibit A: Nami's sister was once friends with a princess?!
Exhibit B: Luffy goes exploring, because of course he does.
Exhibit C: Sanji gives Gin a long-needed counselling session.

Notes:

Hi everyone! ❤️ I'm glad you guys are enjoying this fic, i love you guys so so much I swear T^T

so this chapter and maybe half of the next will be a little off-canon detour. There won't be OCs at all, don't worry about that- and for the few that are wondering, they are not going to Tequila Wolf. I don't have the writing capability to settle that bridge of worms in two chapters I'm sorry

This little interlude is just for me to put more character development between our cast, for them to have more interaction, and to just settle Gin into a proper strawhat before we go into the Alabasta Saga.

That's all I have to say! Lots of love, enjoy the chapter! ❤️❤️❤️

Chapter Text

Nami did not tell Usopp where they were going, and now, Usopp wants to cry.

"Shit, this place looks haunted," Sanji says. He sets foot on land and, with all his heart, wants to go back up there. "What, was there a war here or something?"

"Yeah, about nineteen years ago," Nami tells him.

They're in the ruins of the Oykot Kingdom, where a civil war once destroyed everything between it, and Marine intervention only made things further worse.

There are two castles, two territories in this kingdom.

The larger castle, Asukasa Castle (Akukasa? Asakusa?), was taken over by an 'unknown force from the World Government' as a base for the construction of the giant bridge that towered over the fog.

Even from here, through the fog, they can see the overwhelming shadow of the bridge. It stands taller than a giant in height, extends further than the seas can stretch in their eyes- the millennium bridge, Tequila Wolf.

Usopp can see as much as a large, dark blur and its overcast on their area, so he's sure it looks much more impressive to the others.

"What's that huge thing?!" is predictably the first thing Luffy exclaims upon seeing it.

"Luffy, no," Nami warns.

Luffy is giving her a look that screams 'Luffy YES'.

"Luffy, absolutely not," Usopp emphasizes, though he knows that saying no will only make Luffy go even more.

He straps a little capsule to Kinoko's feet and lets her fly.

Zoro sets down the anchor, stepping foot onto dry land with Wado Ichimonji at his side and Kogatana hanging like an ornament at his sash, occasionally bumping on Ichimonji's hilt like a jingle as he walks.

"Doesn't seem like there's any point in landing here," he mutters. "There's no forests or anything, just trash and debris. Unless we're going to the bridge."

"Look, shitty marimo, your kindred," Sanji says, gesturing at the piles of moss-crusted wreckage.

Zoro kicks broken wood at him.

"We're not here to restock or anything, I just want to find treasures and books from the abandoned castle over there," Nami points in another direction.

It's the second ruined castle on the farther side of the bridge, and it really does look like no one's been inside it for decades.

"That's Aznig Castle ," Nami says, "we're going to avoid the bridge entirely, so whatever you do, don't enter Asukasa territory, okay? We're going to the other side."

And that makes sense.

Most of the slaves are on the bridge itself. What's down here are mostly patrol, supply transportation, and the information bureau for their building progress.

And Tequila Wolf is only taking up the area around Asakusa- wait, was it Akusaka? Asukasa? Usopp doesn't know anymore. Who named these castles?

"Let's just call that one 'the stupid pink castle', and the other one 'the stupid other castle'," Zoro speaks up with a tired groan.

Wow, thanks, Zoro. Which is which? I can't see.

"Alright then," Nami picks up from there, "we're going to the stupid other castle. Do NOT go to the stupid pink castle, alright?"

"Too late, kids, we have a flier already," Gin says, staring blissfully in defeat at the tiny figure soaring in the distance.

Nami swears.

Usopp sighs, "I'll be right back."

Kinoko, having been making surveillance rounds around the island, detours toward Luffy. Usopp retrieves his Kabuto, picks up his walking stick, and goes after the boy.

"Ah, Zoro, go with him," Nami says. And her metal hand slaps against Zoro's back, the boy making a squawking noise as he's tossed forward by the force.

Zoro curses.

"Just go already," Nami squints at him.

"Geez," Zoro groans, following after the blind boy.

Gin and Sanji watches them make their way across debris toward the stupid pink castle, and Sanji has to take a drag of his cigarette.

A directionally challenged mosshead, a literally blind idiot, and a mentally stunted brat of a captain. They go towards the one place they are not supposed to go towards.

"Nami-san, is that really okay?"

If Sanji is doubting Nami's decision, it's probably worth doubting.

"Nope," Nami says, without hesitation. "But Usopp can handle it."

Gin whispers, "are we suicidal?"

And Sanji whispers back, "shit, we might be."

"Can we really leave the Merry here like this?"

Sanji makes sure the sails are drawn up and the anchor is down before they leave the ship in the little obscured cove in the corner of the island.

There are plenty of broken rafts in the area- this was definitely the evacuation port in times of war, and Sanji could sort of tell.

"It'll be fine. No one ever comes by this area anymore," Nami says.

Meanwhile, Gin shrugs on his new coat.

It's a silver bomber jacket, strangely enough, it fits him perfectly. How did Sanji figure out his size? Even Gin didn't know his own size.

(He'd always stolen jackets, never bought one.)

(This is definitely the first time he's been given one.)

"Well, that looks pretty good on you," Nami approves, looking over him. It's dark silver, with dark blue details and a red wolf sewn at the chest. It's slightly different, but pretty similar to his old jacket.

Plus, it looked much cleaner and much more fitting than the old one.

Meanwhile, Nami had gotten herself a little wardrobe change too.

A sleeveless top. Her Whitebeard Mark was hidden, but her metal arm and a new tattoo on her left shoulder was in full view.

She had always worn sleeved shirts until now.

"That's the one you got on the day we left?" Gin says, referring to the tattoo, remembering how it had been wrapped in bandages to heal until yesterday.

He squints a little when he spots the scar. It's pretty gruesome.

Nami smiles at that, setting a hand over the wound. "For a village girl, I sure have a lot of tattoos, don't I?"

Gin shrugs, unimpressed. "Your sister had more."

Nami laughs, "guess I can't lose out, huh?"

They turn simultaneously to see Sanji glaring at them (at Gin actually, he's only glaring at Gin,) with a sort of jealous, I'm-gonna-cry-blood look on his face.

He's even puffing up his cheeks like he'd just swallowed a lemon.

"You panda bastard, don't talk to Nami-swan so happily like that when I'm right here!" he whines.

"Panda?" Gin asks.

Nami snickers, "oh, are you jealous, Sanji-kun?"

"Yes! Very!"

After getting Merry docked in hiding, Nami leads them on their journey toward the castle.

The trip toward the castle is quick, simply because they've docked nearby and they actually went on a straight road towards 'stupid other castle'.

It's abandoned, it's haunted. Sanji didn't like this place at all- the floors and walls are a little more than damp, creaking cement and bricks.

Sanji grimaces at the moss on the wall.

"Seems more like the castle's been dead for two hundred years rather than twenty," he mutters, scowling at the wall that comes off like sand as he passes his hand through.

"It's war," Gin tells him, like it explains everything.

(And it kinda does.)

They don't stop to sightsee. Nothing in the castle itself is salvageable due to many years of weathering. It's a miserable sight- it's hard to believe anything here is worth pillaging.

Sanji is certainly curious about some of the kitchen supplies, but he and Gin follow Nami as she pulls a lamp lever down and reveals a secret staircase down into the basement of the castle.

"The basement. No one knew of this, so of course, no one's been around to steal it yet," she explains. "It's a long walk down."

She even knows where the spare lamps are, and which matches aren't laced with gunpowder to offset intruders.

Which, Sanji knows, is incredibly suspicious of the girl.

It's almost too good to be true, that she just knew where everything was and what the shortest route to the hidden room was.

"How did you know about this place?" Gin is the one that asks.

Sanji almost wants to box him over the head- because both of them knew better than to ask something like that. Nami kept her knowledge obscure for a reason, and it's obviously a sensitive reason for her.

Her answer though, is out of their expectations.

"Nojiko told me," she says.

Before they can wonder how her village-bound sister has anything to do with this haunted castle in the middle of the sea, Nami elaborates.

"Nineteen years ago, Nojiko was friends with the princess of this country, and she learned a lot back then. Not everything was true, but some of it is."

This makes the two boys freeze in confusion.

"Wait, Nami-san, your big sister… knew the… who ?" Sanji barely manages the question correctly, "...wait, how even?"

"Conomi is pretty far from here, y'know?" Gin adds. "And if it was that long ago- she can't be that much older than you, so was she, three?"

Nami nods immediately, looking as if that was supposed to be common knowledge. "Nojiko and I are both adopted, we're not from Cocoyashi," she says, brows raising, "Bellemere-san, picked us up from this very island we're standing on right now."

Now that , that earns her two surprised yelps.

"This is your hometown?!"

"Nojiko-san was friends with a princess?!"

"Huh? Did I not tell you guys?"

Usopp climbs over the broken horse cart, avoiding the splintered wood and getting himself on a little higher ground to survey the distance with his Haki.

He's not wearing shoes.

Zoro stares at him, slightly appalled.

"Zoro-kun, Zoro-kun," Usopp says, "it's this way. You know, 12 o'clock. C'mon."

Zoro's irked now. "Usopp, admit it. You're just pretending to be blind, aren't you?"

Usopp hops off from his perch and lands two feet in front of Zoro. Zoro notes that Usopp lands just beside a beer bottle on the ground, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing fall.

"I had Kinoko fly around just now to spread something into the air. I'm not seeing anything in reality, I'm just using Haki to sense those particles, then I map out the landscape with my head, and fill in the gaps with the sound," Usopp says.

Zoro makes a face. "What?"

"Yeah, of course you don't understand," Usopp turns around. "Ah, Luffy finally landed. He's definitely going for the castle, since he's right in front of it. At least he's not going for the bridge..."

Zoro mumbles, "is that Haki too?"

Usopp grins, "you're catching on!"

And so the trek continues.

"Zoro, not that way."

"How the hell did you know which way I was going?"

"Not that way, either. Look, Zoro, should I hold your hand or something?"

" Shut up ."

Luffy finds himself at the palace really quickly.

"What, Ennosuke, you followed me?"

Luffy whines at the bird that lands on his hat. Kinoko gives a resigned huff, like Dadan used to do when Luffy was doing something stupid and she didn't want to stop him.

Dusting himself off, he admires the pink walls of the stupid pink castle, what was it, Ass Castle? Ass Castle. Wow, it's so ugly, it reminds him of the palace at Goa.

He went there once by accident. He doesn't like palaces. They stink.

("No Luffy, palaces don't stink," he remembers Sabo once telling him, "what you're smelling here is ventilation . We don't have that in the Gray Terminal, so you might not know, but this is how a clean thing smells.")

(Luffy diagrees, because Makino is clean and Makino doesn't stink like that.)

He's really close to the bridge now, but there's a whole row of guards along the road. He watches from afar and wonders if he can reach the bridge if he rockets from here.

Hm, probably not. Maybe if he gets somewhere taller?

"Hey, Ennosuke, wanna see who can get up to the bridge first?"

Kinoko gives him a curt caw.

"What, you don't wanna race? You loser."

Caw.

"Oh! The castle is tall! I'll go there!" is his bright idea, and he trots right past the dozing guards and right into the front door of the castle.

The doors aren't locked, that's great. He forgot to knock, so he makes sure to close the door before continuing on his way.

Manners, manners.

Ooh, that guy's jacket is cool! Gin might like that!

Kinoko rests on his head comfortably, because she can.

Usopp is used to this nonsense. He's quite sure that letting Luffy run off immediately was part of Nami's master plan in the first place.

Luffy can't sit still for five seconds, after all. They know that.

Like watching over a puppy on a high table, Usopp is here to make sure Luffy doesn't rush off the edge. He can play to his heart's content- but Usopp will grab him before he heads somewhere he shouldn't. Like usual.

Like usual, except this time around, Usopp actually has the ability to play that out.

"She sends the idiots away immediately and grabs only the smart ones with her," Usopp sighs, realizing the groupings now, "what a witch."

"Usopp, did you say something?"

"I'm just insulted that Nami thinks I'm part of the idiots."

"Huh?"

And instead of responding to Zoro's offended voice, Usopp stops.

He freezes right there- and spins . He reaches out and drags Zoro to the side, and they duck under a shattered carriage.

Right then, something in the distance creaked.

"Huh? I could swear I heard something."

"Must've been a rat, you buffoon. Why would anyone be out in this wasteland?"

And they kick the stones as they walk away.

Usopp has his hands over Zoro's mouth, and Zoro has his arms around both of them, supporting them in case their shelter toppled.

It's a minute later that Usopp sighs in relief, shoulders loosening.

"We're getting closer to the castle," Usopp says, "the guards have increased."

Zoro hums. "That Haki thing is pretty useful, but we could've just punched them."

"There are too many," Usopp says. "And trust me, Zoro. You don't want to be caught by Tequila Wolf. We need to keep our damage down here- we can't make them drag their forces down here, got it?"

Zoro frowns at that. "You're being a wimp," he accuses.

Usopp lets Zoro help him back to his feet, trying not to throw off too much wreckage to make noise.

"Maybe I am," Usopp says, "but don't you know? Cowards always live longer."

Zoro can't find it in himself to disagree with that.

"Don't touch that switch, it explodes in contact with human skin."

"What on earth kind of trap is that?!"

Nami is enjoying herself, Sanji thinks Nami is beautiful, and Gin is regretting everything. For Gin, that's almost a constant in his life now.

They make their way down a long basement road.

There aren't mountains of gold or jewels- in fact, this secured, hidden room under the castle was in fact the study of a mysterious, nameless man that collected sacred antiques. There are trinkets, tools, books, and journals.

Gin picks out one book from the shelf to find it in perfect condition. Not a ruined page, not a frayed edge.

"This is our treasure?" Sanji asks, sifting through old paintings on the side. Some of these were pretty good, but he didn't recognize any of the signatures. He's not some sort of painting connoisseur, so maybe he shouldn't speak.

"We're headed to Loguetown, there are plenty of people who will recognize the value of these things," Nami tells them.

She wanders around the little room, enjoying the ambience.

"Can you feel it?" she asks them. "The energy."

And Gin continues looking around the books. Not a speck of dust. As if magic was cast upon this room, everything seemed metaphorically shrouded in a protective layer that prevented rot and rust to taint a single bit of its former glory.

Nami smiles at him, as if she knew what he was sensing, but she knew better.

"This is Haki, too," she tells them, and they both straighten with attention. "People who put their soul into what they do leave a bit of their will inside of what they treasured."

Sanji blinks, "you mean, like how people say you can see the spirit of the blacksmith in a good knife?"

"Exactly like that."

Gin rolls his eyes. "Sure these books and paintings and ornaments are in good condition, but are they themselves worth anything notable?"

Nami chuckles, "of course. Sell all these to collectors and specialists and auctions, I guarantee you I'll raise a hundred million beri in no time!"

Gin looks at her with doubt, but who is he to judge the expert haggler?

Sanji whistles at the side, admiring the array of recipes he's found written in scraps of paper on the ground. It's a mess, but it's not destroyed at all. He can salvage some of this.

Nami's looking at the desk. She finds a journal, an album, and a log book. She picks up the pendant of a swirly heart that reminds her of Nojiko's tattoo, and she pockets it.

Gin continues to look through the books.

[ Emerald City ]

Gin stops.

He takes it off the shelf in an excited rush of urgency, opening the book with a brimming interest he can't hide, flipping through the pages, and instantly divulging in the tale.

No, it's not a tale. It's a diary, a biography of this nameless traveller.

"What's that?"

Gin jumps a little when Sanji is suddenly beside him.

"Emerald City?" Sanji asks, leaning closer over his shoulder to catch the text. It's written in the unique tilt of Grand Line Script, so Gin wonders how Sanji can read it.

(No no, there are more important problems here.)

"You don't know about Emerald City?" Gin asks, incredulous.

Sanji blinks, "should I?"

Gin is offended. How can a man of Sanji's aspirations not know about the legendary city of dreams?

"It's Emerald City- the perfect land. The El Dorado of the seas!"

Gin exaggerates, putting it out there like why don't you know this? It's common sense! Even though it's not really.

"The metropolis of green glass, emeralds, and other jewels. It's a place so brilliant, so beautiful- it's the safe haven of the world!"

Gin has to blush when he suddenly realizes that Sanji is staring at him with mild interest.

(Did he just shoot off on a passionate rant about hopes and dreams? That was embarrassing.)

(He hasn't done that since, before Krieg, probably.)

Emerald City had been a folk story he'd heard in the alleys, passed around like a fairy tale amongst the children of a similar, miserable upbringing.

It was an enchanting tale. For children that have only lived their lives in darkness- Emerald City was the grace that promised them a place to sleep, so quiet, so safe, they could close both eyes and rest.

He hadn't thought of it since he became the Man-Demon.

(But somewhere deep inside, he's never forgotten.)

(For a child like Gin, who was born into crime and murdered to live, Emerald City was a ray of hope, a fantasy. Liberation from the crimes he never wanted to commit, freedom from the regrets that haunt him in his dreams.)

(A place of peace.)

(Maybe it's weird that Gin, of all people, dreamed of peace.)

Gin looks away.

Surprisingly, Nami and Sanji just look on at him with interest, as if they had wanted him to keep talking and were wondering why he stopped.

"What," Sanji says, his lips curling upward around his cigarette. "So you can be passionate about something. That's cute."

Gin feels his face heat up. There it is, the childish teasing!

"Emerald City, huh," Nami says, admiring the thought, "I've heard of it! Just in passing though. Is it a town made of emeralds, like the City of Gold is gold?"

Gin turns his eyes back to the book.

"They say it is, but it might just be figurative," he says, "but is the City of Gold actually completely made of gold? Or is that figurative too?"

Nami blinks, "well…" she thinks. "Huh? I'm not sure."

Sanji takes a drag of his cigarette, "wow, it's so nice to have dreams…" he says, a sarcastic lilt to his voice as he grins smugly at Gin.

Gin snaps, "oh shut up!"

"Gin has dreams, woahhh."

Gin flusters, "enough!"

Nami just smiles. Gin chases Sanji around the crusty little study, and Nami can't help but find it so endearing.

The adventure log of the mysterious man, Khron Corde.

Last time around when she found the log, she didn't give it much of a glance- she just took it and sold it off for the money it was worth. Which was quite a lot.

Even as the girl who had traversed every part of the world, she had never been to Emerald City. Never stepped foot on the lands.

(She had heard of it, found a clue toward it- but she stopped herself. She didn't pursue it, didn't try to find it.)

(After all, a legendary city doesn't need a place on the map of the world. Just like how the map to One Piece should never exist in the world- There is no value in a journey when the road is a clear, straight line.)

So she just watches them have fun trying to not murder each other, and she can't help but enjoy it.

She's glad that this detour wasn't in vain.

Meanwhile, Luffy is already getting chased by guards.

"He's over there!"

"He's a kid, don't shoot!"

"Capture him alive, he might be from the bridge!"

Seriously, what did any of them expect when they brought him here? Obviously it was to cause trouble, get into trouble, be the trouble. And hopefully, not die.

They were already shooting at him, but the bullets just reflected back at them.

Kinoko was careful to stay in front of Luffy so she could be covered, but she was also furious. Kinoko makes frantic squawks of absolute anger, plucking at his cheeks as she flies in tandem with his runs.

"Ow ow ow! Ennosuke, stop that!" he yelps, swatting at the bird, "it's not my fault they're chasing us!"

Kinoko makes an angry sound, because, apparently, she disagrees with that opinion.

Luffy skids to a stop, and turns around.

"Gomu Gomu no…"

Kinoko flies above him, clawing at the vent cover before plucking it out of there.

"BAZOOKA!"

The ceiling vent falls on his head, but does next to nothing. He follows the bird up into the pipes, and they bounce away.

"He stretched?!"

"But Devil Fruit slaves are only in the towers? How did he get out?!"

"Do you think he's from outside?"

"But that's impossible. Report this to the head!"

"Should we go after him?"

"None of us can fit in those vents! Track him down!"

Luffy frowns a little at that. What, were they talking about, him? They were talking in the same tone all those Goans always used on the Gray Terminal folk.

Man, he already didn't like them.

Luffy crawls his way to wherever Kinoko felt like hopping, maneuvering around the vents in an almost bored manner.

They find themselves above a room lit with only a lamp.

Luffy peeks down at it- the room itself was dark and dusty, like a very old storage room filled with crusty shelves and ancient books.

But in the center of it, two hooded figures were seated on the ground, talking to a Den Den Mushi with black skin and a red-patterned shell.

"I honestly can't figure out what they're doing. There are no documents, no blueprints, nothing for those purposes- almost as if the road itself isn't the priority, they're just trying to connect the ends as quickly as they can."

And the Black Den Den Mushi spoke back.

"So Oykot was a miss as well? That's fine. Retrieve anything of worth and regroup for now. We'll discuss your future movements at a later date."

His voice was deep, and in the small room, it was resonant.

As the Den Den spoke, the taller hooded figure signed to the smaller.

Luffy found that strange at first, but he recognized a few hand signs that Ace used to Sabo- regroup (turn around, go the long way back home), be quiet (stay hidden).

That's sign language that all bandits would know.

But there's no need to use sign language when everyone is hearing the conversation. They're not even special coded ones, they're the basic signs. That's so weird.

"Got it," the taller one says, and the smaller one repeats.

"Understood."

And the Den Den Mushi switches off with a kachack!

Looks like a secret meeting or something, that's pretty cool. Luffy hums, leaning into his arms with interest. Is this their hideout? They didn't seem like they were with the ugly guards from just now.

So when the taller one suddenly froze, Luffy didn't quite understand.

Then suddenly he's getting dragged down from the vents, thrown over a shoulder, and a hand is stuffed over his mouth so he doesn't make noise.

(Holy crap , he's getting flashbacks of all those times Ace nearly killed him like this.)

"A kid?!" the taller one- a Fishman, Luffy notices. A yellow-skinned Fishman. "What's a kid doing-"

"Ah, wait, Hack-san," the other one interrupts him. Luffy looks over and sees pink hair. "He's not an enemy. You can let him go."

"I knew it, you already sensed him there, didn't you?" Hack hisses at his companion, looking up before asking again. "You know the kid, Informant?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah."

Hack lets go of Luffy's collar, but Luffy doesn't get up yet. He just stares between the two hooded figures, confusedly.

"...Informant?" Luffy asks. He's not sure what the word means.

That's when the shorter figure takes off his hood, revealing a head of pink hair and a goofy smile.

"Hi, Luffy-san!" he says crouching down and extending a hand to help him up. "It's been a while. Since Alvida, right?"

And Luffy gawks, jaw literally dropping to the floor. "COBY?!"

"Shhhh!" goes Hack.

This time around, when Luffy meets the little kid called Coby, he's not short or stout or clumsy. He's the capable cabin boy on the Alvida Pirates' ship, little like Luffy but just as strong, and missing the Marine Dreams he once had.

Not that Luffy would know the difference, of course.

"So you're the captain, gathering your own crew? Seems like you were off to a terrible start, with that whirlpool and all."

Luffy pouts. He holds up his hands and tries to sign the words he knows, because Makino always told him that was polite when the person he's talking to can't hear.

"It's fine, it was just a dinghy anyways."

Luffy notices in curiosity how Coby's eyes squint at that, almost in disappointment at something he said. (Or didn't say, perhaps?)

A flash of grief passes his face, and the pink-haired boy sighs, before smiling again.

"Well, I'm glad I met you. After all, you're the man who's gonna become the Pirate King, right?"

And Luffy grins, "yep, that's me!"

Luffy travels with Coby to Shells Town, and then they part ways at the shore. He's given directions to the Marine Base where Zoro is kept, and then the next he turns… Coby was gone.

Luffy had simply shrugged.

Coby surely had his own adventures to go for, so that was the end of their relationship. Surely if the seas were joined, they will meet again.

Usopp flinches sharply the moment he enters the palace. The halls are in mayhem, but no one's noticed them yet.

He has his Haki on full, but careful, because he doesn't want to overwhelm himself with the number of voices- but then he feels it.

"What's wrong?" Zoro asks, and Usopp doesn't register the question.

He hadn't noticed it before, because it was screwed down so tightly it was indecipherable- but this aura , this voice .

"...impossible," he whispers to himself, "no, but why would he be…"

Here?

And the second he senses it, it's gone. Like someone hastily extinguishing a candle light in the night and then covering it with a tarp, it's vanished completely.

Understandable. Usopp had his Haki on full blast, so he may as well have screamed his presence to any sensitive Haki user.

But completely. It's normal to compress your voice and hide your presence, but to make it vanish entirely isn't a feat manageable by normal Haki users.

Usopp's heart sinks in realization.

Because who the hell is capable of entirely extinguishing their own voice?

It's scary every time to feel it, because a missing voice is a dead one - but Usopp knows- there are only two people in the world in both timelines that can do that while being alive.

Two ultimate cowards, even more so than Usopp, with the strength to move mountains when they will for it.

And one of them's Coby.

(That's definitely him. He's here- but why? It just doesn't make sense. Unless…)

"Usopp! Hey, get a grip!" Zoro is hissing at him now, looking frantically before glancing upwards, "there are guards everywhere! Hey!"

Usopp isn't even hearing him. "Wait, is it possible? Well, if it's only me and Nami for now, no doubt there'd be someone else…"

With an angry tut, Zoro turns to the side, punching the wall in frustration. Except, that particular brick of the wall sinks in.

And a secret entrance opens.

Zoro stares at it. "A basement? Ah whatever! Hey, Usopp, let's go!"

"Huh? What did you do, Zoro? Wait, my walking stick!"

The opening's already closing, so Zoro grasps Usopp as close to him as possible, dashing past and going down.

The door closes behind them, and the walking stick clatters on the other end.

"Zoro, my walking stick!"

"Geez, we'll pick it up later, okay?" Zoro groans, "speaking of, are you done daydreaming? Then we gotta go find Luffy!"

Usopp grimaces at that. "Yeah," he says, taking a few breaths to regain his composure. "Where are we anyway?"

"Hell if I know. It's dark, I can't see shit."

"Ah, that sounds like such an inconvenience."

"Shut up, Usopp!"

They're in a narrow line of stairs, absolute darkness leading down to a basement unseen. It's just enough for Usopp to spread his arms out and be able to touch both walls.

There are steps and nothing else.

Even without seeing any colour, Usopp knows that what little Zoro can see is fixated on making sure Usopp doesn't wander out. He's a grouch, but he's a nice grouch.

If they end up falling, Zoro is going to stick to Usopp like a clingbug from tomorrow onwards. Usopp would rather not deal with that. Robin's had to deal with that last time around and she invented her doppleganger move to avoid him.

Zoro stands guard on a lower step, one arm firmly on Usopp's and only becoming firmer as Usopp feels around to get a grasp of his surroundings.

"Ow ow ow. You're going to break my arm," Usopp warns him, because she steps a little closer to the left and Zoro's grip on his crushes desperately.

Usopp finds a hollow in the side- there's a wooden torch and matches to light it up.

Convenient.

But the matches were dry and the torch was still damp with oil, so that meant that people still used this passageway for something.

Probably not the guards. The guards would've brought in a lamp instead of a torch- it's like the people using this place wanted to replicate its original form to leave as little traces as they could.

(Oh.)

(The Revolutionary Army.)

"What is it?" Zoro asks, breaking him out of his thoughts again.

And Usopp doesn't touch the torch. "I guess there's no helping it," he says, "I brought a candle, so let's use that."

"Why didn't you bring it out earlier?!"

"Huh? Gin, you're not taking this?"

They're back at the Merry, no trouble along the way and a full storage of antiques. They move it to the female dorm, because it's the most spacious area they have aside from the galley.

Sanji sorts through the books only to find Emerald City under the pile.

"Huh? Yeah," Gin says noncommittally, arranging the loose objects in the little chest by the closet. "It'll probably fetch quite some cash."

Sanji squints at him, raising the book, "who cares how expensive it is, you want it, right?"

Gin definitely had that slightly gleaming look in his eyes when he was skimming through the first few pages, when he was telling them about the legendary city.

And Sanji knows. It's the same face Sanji and Zeff always put on when they talk about All Blue, waxing poetic about the sea that may or may not exist.

It's passion, it's childlike, and it's definitely a dream worth chasing.

This was definitely important for that dream- it's the first shard of the clues.

Gin looks at the book in Sanji's hand- and Sanji definitely intends for him to take it. Gin doesn't, turning back to his side of the work as if the notion didn't occur at all.

"I don't need that nonsense," he says, shrugging. "Sure, it's a cool story, but I'm not particularly racing for it or anything. It's a fairy tale, it's got little to do with piracy."

And he sounds resigned, like he's too old for this.

And that makes Sanji a little pissed.

"Oh shut your old man act," is Sanji's response. "Just keep it and read it or whatever. I'm sure Nami-san won't mind you taking just one of these."

Gin waves him off.

"You're making a big deal out of nothing, it's just a book," he says.

He stands up, takes the book- and puts it right back on top of the rest of the stack.

Then Gin puts a hand on Sanji's shoulder. "Look, you might be a passionate kind of guy, but I'm not like that. I'm the kind of person that's fine if I can be alive every day."

Sanji's fists tightens.

("All Blue? You still believe in that story? Grow up already, Sanji.")

("It's a child's fairy tale, y'know? Think realistically.")

Sanji grabs the book.

He doesn't know what Gin has gone through in his life thus far.

But for Sanji, his dreams have always been his one and only lifeline. When he was trapped underground, locked in a cage, he dreamt of freedom. When he was left alone, scrounging for a new life- he dreamt of independence. When he could finally fly, he dreamt of the sea at the end of his achievements.

For Sanji, a life without his dreams is a life better off dead.

(His father would agree.)

So he can't relate.

He can't relate to Gin, who thinks dreams are a weight, a burden on his shoulders. Sanji just can't understand someone who would discard his dream just for the chance of living another day.

He can't understand that shit.

Instead, he picks up the book again.

"Have you heard of the All Blue?"

Gin turns around, and Sanji continues talking.

"It's a legendary sea. They say all four blues convene there- so fishes of all the seas exist there, at your disposal. It's the dream of every chef in the world," Sanji tells him. Then a moment later he adds, "Obviously, it's my dream, too."

Gin eyes him, not too sure what his point is.

"I owed the Old Man a debt. So I gave up on this dream," Sanji says. "For half of my life I just thought it was fine that I never found that sea. I think that's how you feel too, that you don't really need that dream to live."

"I don't," Gin emphasizes.

"But, one day, a shithead came by and dragged me off to his pirate crew, here I am," Sanji says, gesturing at the ship.

Gin groans, rolling his eyes. "And your point is?"

"My point is," Sanji tells him, pointing at the man and then himself, "you and I, we were both kidnapped by that absolute shithead. So we're both free now, from the assholes that we were tied to."

Gin doesn't speak at that.

Because there's truth to it. They're free, their pasts are over and tossed away- from herein, a new life is supposed to begin. Sanji has moved up from a measly sous chef into a Head Chef of his own caliber.

Yet, Gin's still here, not to sure how to discard the Man-demon inside of him.

(Deep inside, he's still a Krieg Pirate.)

(Because he's hesitant. This is the first time he's been given so much safety.)

(This is the first time he's living, not because of himself, but because someone asked him to live.)

(Gin doesn't know how to be a member of this crew.)

(He doesn't know how to live depending on others.)

"I told you, I'm busy just trying to breathe every day," Gin says, stubbornly, driving the thoughts out of his head.

It's dumb, it's dumb. It's all so dumb.

Dreams? Gin's lost those ages ago. All he has left is a little fancy for an old story.

He doesn't need dreams.

"Look, we have that shitty rubber for a captain, and that shitty rubber is there for a reason," Sanji says, "but remember what he told you back on the Baratie? Or is the poison eating up your memory too?"

(What he said to Gin?)

(Which part of that?)

"We're a crew now," Sanji says, because that's obvious. "That means your stupid ass is part of us now. Your dreams are our dreams and your problems are ours, too. Your life isn't Krieg's anymore, you're ours, got it?"

Gin blinks, stunned by that.

Yes, his life is Luffy's because Luffy saved him... that's how it works, doesn't it? Not that Luffy explicitly says so.

"Not just Luffy's," Sanji emphasizes, and Gin startles at the coincidence. Did Sanji read his mind? "I'm saying your life is ours! Yours, mine, that shitty Marimo and the Longnose, and of course, Nami-swan and the stupid bird! Because in this crew, we look out for each other, we ain't gonna let your dumb ass die out there so easily. Got it?!"

Sanji steps forward, the book in his hand. He stops two steps before him, and presses the book into Gin's chest.

"Look, Sanji, I get what you're saying, but-"

"I'm saying that you don't need to worry about living, because we'll all be here to make sure you live!" Sanji says, raising his voice in case volume is what's needed to get the information through that thick skull of his. "You're free to do whatever you want now because you're not alone!"

(That.)

(That makes Gin fall completely silent.)

(His eyes wide, his fingers stiff against the cover of the book in his hands.)

"Understand already, you shithead?!"

When Sanji finally yells that, he's breathing harshly, like he'd just gone for a run. Had he really been ranting that much? Gin doesn't know. Because only the last line is thrumming in his head like a painfully stubborn bell, ringing over and over in an echo.

"You're keeping that book and you're reading it and we aren't selling that. Got it?"

Gin looks at the book in his hands again.

[Emerald City] is in his hands, and the title is emblazoned in crisp, jeweled green across the cover of the book. There's a silver ribbon marker across one of the pages, slightly frayed at the ends.

"Yeah," he says. "I understand now."

Chapter 20: I.O.U. a concussion or two.

Summary:

Zoro's marvelous sense of direction breaks the barriers of logic about three times, Usopp hates prison cells, and Luffy gets captured, of course.

Nothing a few rockets and concussions won't fix.

Notes:

ahhh I have been fed ❤︎ I love all of you so much! T^T I'm glad you guys are enjoying this fic, and seriously I don't say it enough! xD ❤︎❤︎❤︎ please have this chapter as thanks because I'm too socially inept to actually give you my boundless gratitude. We're finally moving into Loguetown next chapter!

Chapter Text

Nami is in her birthplace, but it doesn't really feel like home.

Sure, she was born in Oykot, but it's as much her home as Goa would be Luffy's. It's just a piece of land, a location, with nothing else to it. Even last time around, Nami found nothing to her name here.

She had thought she would at least find her last name here, but the Revolutionary Army had been thorough with its cleaning. All documents had been buried and dusted and prayed for.

She supposed it didn't matter anyways, so she didn't bother searching for some this time around too.

She set the ruler on the base of the Merry, hopping over to the ledge on the other end to get a better view of the island.

Since she's drawing a new map, that means new latitudes, right? There are limits to charting by eye and ruler, no matter how capable of a charter she is.

She had tried to use her Haki to feel out islands once, but it wasn't strong enough. Vision was replicable, but it took too much time.

Usopp would offer to do it, but it wasn't very logical to plot just one island out in maximum detail while leaving other islands in the old quality. It's not as if Usopp was always with Nami, anyways.

But this time…

"That's right, if we get Noko-chan to take some pictures from above…" then she could even plot out population densities and mark industrial locations.

It'll be World Map 2.0, bigger and better! Or something.

"Nami-san, Nami-san, sorry to disturb you while you're in such an absorbed mood," Sanji says, "but our three stooges aren't back yet."

Nami hums, setting down the pen on her easel, looking through the map once more.

"It's fine Sanji, let's just enjoy the ambience before they get back."

"Uh, Nami-"

Nami looks over and Gin flinches.

"-san," Gin adds hesitantly. His feet shuffles around nervously, and he hides the book behind him. "I just, uh-"

Sanji stares at him with all the disgusted gaze of a man that's tired of this dilly-dallying, "just ask her already." He pokes the man at the back of his knee with his foot. "Hurry up."

"Oh shut it! I'm doing it, alright?!"

Nami raises an eyebrow at that. If someone's this nervous to ask her someone, it's probably about money. Or maybe not, she's not so sure about the new timeline yet. Gin seems like the type to be nervous to ask for anything at all.

And then he holds up [Emerald City] in his hands.

"Can I… uh…" he looks away, hesitating, "keep this book?"

Nami blinks.

(Oh.)

"Look, I told you that was a stupid question," Sanji sings, his lips pursing in that subtly mocking way, "listen to this, Nami-san, he thought we weren't going to let him take it!"

"Shut up, Sanji!" Gin snaps, his face heating up, "it's our spoils, so I can't just claim one of them without permission!"

And indeed, that's protocol. The quartermaster has claim over the storage and loot, but it's for the ship itself to function. A selfish quartermaster is a dead ship.

Plus, all income and sales goes through the treasurer- Nami, of course- and that includes the track of goods taken and sold.

Nami sees Gin asking for permission, and the first thing she realizes is that Gin is a splendid quartermaster, despite everything he says and denies.

Pirates would jump straight for the loot when it's received. In a more organized crew, the captain gets first pick, followed by the first mate, second mate, so on. In the same way- when no one is taking loot for themselves, no one should.

Gin knows that, which is why he feels it inappropriate to ask for any at all.

Because he knows they need the money for their voyage herein, and he's reluctant to compromise any of it without being seen as a slump in their finances.

So Nami chuckles.

Sanji scoffs, "look, even Nami-san is laughing at you."

Gin's bright red now, "Oh I get it already, you guys are assholes!" he yells, throwing his hands into the air.

"No, no, nothing like that," she says. When Gin turns to her, she smiles at him. "It's just that this is the first time you've asked for anything, so I'm just really happy."

Gin didn't ask to come on board, Gin didn't ask to stay.

But he asks for his dreams, and beyond anything, that's progress.

"Of course, you can keep it, Gin," Nami tells him. "When we get a shelf in the boy's dorm, you can collect the rest of the series too."

Gin pauses.

Then he throws the book open to the end. "It's a series?!"

"So, Luffy-san, what are you doing here?"

The three have settled down. Hack gathers their papers while Luffy and Coby sit around to catch up.

"Nami brought us here to explore!" Luffy says, happily. "Oh, and Nami is my navigator! I got a pretty big crew now! I've got Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sanji and-"

Coby looks to the side a little, thinking about something- then he looks back.

"So, where is Nami-san now?" he asks.

"She went to the stupid other castle!" Luffy says. "So, Coby, what're you doing here?"

Coby grins. "You see, I didn't tell you last time, but I"m actually a super secret spy!" he says excitedly. "You know that bridge over there? It's actually an evil king's place, so we're trying to take it all out from inside!"

And that's sugarcoating it heavily. Hack grimaces at the side, because Coby's pretty much talking to a literal kid over there.

A bird helps him gather up the papers on the ground, and he thanks it.

(When the hell did this bird get in here?)

The bird is on his shoulder now and Hack is a little terrified.

There's a ring (a golden ring) around its foot, but it pecks at his hand when he tries to get a closer look. Hack isn't an expert on birds, but he guesses from the sheen of its fur that it's a domesticated pet. Maybe it belongs to Luffy.

"Oooh, that's cool!" Luffy claps his feet, "I was going to go over there! Wanna go?"

Coby shushes him with a grin, "no, Luffy-san, we can't do that!" he says with a bit of feigned fluster, "it's a suuuuper secret mission, so we're playing the waiting game now. You remember the waiting game?"

Luffy nods.

"We're almost done waiting, so we can't rush it!" Coby tells him, "if we manage to do this, I'll finally be able to play this game I've wanted for years- It's my dream!"

Hack considers them. So is that an outright lie or just a very detailed metaphor he's not so sure how to decode? Hack isn't sure.

(Somewhere inside, Hack thinks he shouldn't be listening. Shouldn't be trying to decode his nonsense, trying to figure him out.)

(Coby is the Informant, and nothing else.)

(Their relationship is strictly professional. It's not like the friendship he has with Koala- Coby is an outsider and they both prefer it that way.)

Luffy swings about excitedly. "It's your dream, huh? Then, I'll come back and explore this bridge with my crew some other day!"

Luffy has a strange way of understanding things, and Coby seems to have a perfect grasp on it after many years of dealing with people from the other end of the board.

But it's impressive. Coby's acting so flawlessly, it's hard to remember that he's deaf.

Perhaps it's because Luffy is honest, and everything he expresses is right on his face. Coby doesn't need much to understand what he's saying. Though the boy started out signing all he said to help Coby out, he eventually began to forget it.

Someone who can make people so absorbed in what they say is fearsome, in a political sense.

Hack knows that he can't let go of Coby as an ally. For the Revolutionary Army to achieve their goals, they need Coby on their side.

But they still don't know if Coby is their best piece on the chessboard, or if it's the other way around.

"So Luffy-san, can you try and leave the island quietly?"

"Sure!"

"Holy crap."

Usopp stares.

Zoro lets go of him and shuffles around in the slightly orangish darkness, and Usopp can smell dust and wood and rust. Mostly dust, though.

"What's with all this junk?" Zoro shifts through the mounds of paper in the dimly lit room.

Usopp keeps staring.

Zoro turns around, "what's with that look?"

Usopp throws up his hands in a 'I'm innocent officer I swear' motion, sounding mildly offended. "What look? I don't know what a look is."

"What do you mean you don't know what a- oh. Right, my bad," Zoro reaches over to set the candle down on a gap in the wall for candlesticks.

Then he grabs Usopp by the elbow.

"There are papers everywhere. Crusty place," Zoro mutters.

Papers? In a mansion like this? Usopp tries not to choke on the dust when Zoro brushes it off a surface.

Zoro gripes about it, and Usopp reaches down.

The dust is thick. Thick enough to coat his fingers with grime- and Usopp would believe if someone told him it had been left alone for decades.

"Zoro, what's on this paper?"

Usopp's instincts are blaring.

Because the room is filled with papers, and though they don't have a voice, he knows there are tons and they're secured far underground, wherever this is.

"Huh? Uh," Zoro seems to hesitate for a moment, "I'm not sure. It looks like a contract," he says. "Can't read it, but there's a signature. This stack over here looks like a bill, I recognize some numbers."

Important documents, as expected.

It can't be. The revolutionary army should have been here once already, and they wouldn't leave important clues like this in the dust. If Hack is here, he should be searching for these.

But if they followed the narrow staircase and went on a straight road they should've reached this place too. So why hadn't they?

...oh.

Zoro coughs. "Man, it's dusty here. Let's find another way out."

Usopp facepalms.

"Zoro, you defy physics sometimes, you know."

"Huh?!"

Zoro stands by the hallway, fiddling with Kogatana.

Usopp positions himself in the center of the room and closes his eyes. Peeling off his shoes and planting them firmly on the ground, he snaps his fingers once.

A pause.

Then he snaps his fingers again, a little louder this time.

Zoro turns away with a huff, strapping Kogatana back by his sash and hearing the little jingle against Ichimonji's hilt.

Usopp tenses. "Zoro, try to be quiet."

Zoro's mouth opens in denial- but then he stops and turns away, making sure the little ornament didn't clink this time.

Man, Usopp's ears were really sharp. He could probably even hear Zoro's breathing. Or his earrings now that he thought about it.

(He's not pouting, he swears.)

Usopp barely moves.

He just listens to the echoes of his snaps, and tries to make sense of the sound that comes back. Zoro doesn't know what he's looking for, but if he's trying so hard to look for it, he's not going to interfere.

And finally, Usopp reacts.

He steps to the left, dodging a stack of papers and then stepping between a row of clay pots. Leaning down before the shelf, he brushes aside a painted scroll on the wall-

-and reveals a metal safe.

Zoro reacts immediately, "holy shit."

He steps forward, kicking aside a vase on his way- he cringes at the noise. It's not a very big safe, but it's solid, well-hidden, and looks important.

"Hey Zoro, you can cut steel yet?"

"What the hell? Of course not."

Usopp laughs, finding the combination lock and retrieving a stethoscope from his bag. "That's a shame. Well, let's do this the traditional way then."

It takes Usopp exactly two minutes to get it open- which, Zoro admits, is very fucking impressive.

He bends over to get a closer look at everything inside- and his jaw drops right open. It's filled with objects that all shine in a very visually pleasing way, and though Zoro's no expert in jewellery, he knows all this cost a fortune of some sort.

Usopp reaches inside, feeling around.

"It smells like silver, mostly," he says, picking up a necklace with a large emerald stone on it, the shell of the pendant lined with diamonds.

"Nami would like these," Zoro says.

And then Usopp takes out something far duller- something that seemed to be made out of greenish-blue stone, with odd, tribal-looking patterns engraved in it.

It's a bangle, dull in colour and nothing attractive. From the way Usopp's arms slump slightly compared to the hand holding the necklace, it's quite heavy.

Of all the things Zoro expected the boy to grab, that one wasn't it.

Maybe it's because Usopp can't see how dull and ugly the bangle was. Zoro's not one for ornamental fancies (shut up about the earrings-) but he knows a rock when he sees one. Still Usopp looks fairly pleased with it, so he won't mention that out loud.

A smile tickles at Usopp's lips.

"Yeah, she will," he agrees. "Let's grab it all, then. Luffy's nearby."

"Wait, really?"

"So Informant, what were you saying about leaving quietly again?"

Hack and Coby stare incredulously at the guards screaming after the boy in the distance.

Coby, frankly, is impressed. He didn't expect anything less from the man who's going to declare war against two Emperors at once in the future, but still. They had literally led him out on the most unoccupied hallways possible with a straight road out.

"Hey informant? Informant?"

Well, this all works out fine anyways. Coby saw that coming, totally. The only place they hadn't gone for was the Round of Knights hall, where the slavers had their meetings.

They could really use this distraction to go for it. And then he'll pretend it was all planned out to begin with because obviously Coby knew this was going to happen with Luffy. Like, really. Of course.

(Even after so many years, Luffy can always manage to surprise him…)

"Hey Informant!" and a hard smack to his shoulders woke him up.

Coby squeaks and swirls back apprehensively- oh it's just Hack.

"Let me guess, you didn't hear a thing," Hack says, like that wasn't obvious in the first place because Coby is, breaking news, at least eighty percent deaf.

So instead he turns away and very, very convincingly, he swears, smiles awkwardly and laughs. "O- Obviously I heard you. Now let's go before Uncle Gon gets on our case."

"Uncle-?! Hey, Informant! Where are you going?"

Coby turns around and leaves Luffy behind, only to register the new weight beside his head and the gentle, familiar smell of gunpowder..

...Huh?

"Hey Hack, whose bird is this and what is it doing on my shoulder?"

Luffy thinks the guards are mean. Everyone knows it's not fair to come at him with a group! And why are they screaming? It's rude to scream, Sabo said so!

Anyways he was definitely planning on just walking out, okay?

Coby said it was important so obviously, it is. And when someone is playing a game they really like alone, you quietly go away. That's common sense.

But listen, listen.

He swears he only thought that that guy's jacket was cool and he only wanted to see it for half a second. Promise.

So it's not his fault they just suddenly shot him! He hates getting shot, it startled him! Anyways, it just somehow ended up like this and Luffy is absolutely not responsible for this. And can they stop shooting at him?!

"It's bouncing off!"

"What is he?!"

"Wait, half of you get to the other side! We need to surround him, the kid's quick!"

Luffy is so sick of this. He even lost sight of the exit, and he's getting hungry.

He turns the corner, steps on someone's face, swings over the rest of the crowd- and huh? Where's Ennosuke? Well, whatever, she'll come back when she's hungry.

And then he sees it.

Laying on the ground, towards the wall- a very familiar white cane.

His eyes widen.

Two minutes later, Luffy is yelling again, waving the white stick in the air.

"You assholes! What have you done to Usopp?! Give him back!"

And now the guards were running away from him, varying degrees of crying for help, just straight up wailing in confusion, and the other half were bolting for their lives.

Coby and Hack pass by the crowd again, and Coby incredulously looks up with his eyes at the bird on his head.

"Not going back?" he asks.

The bird shakes its head desperately.

Okay then. Back to searching they go.

"Man, I wish I could do the thing Luffy-san always did. I'd be able to understand you better," Coby mumbles. "Ah, Hack-san, I'm going to use my Observation."

"You don't have to warn me," Hack says, knowing that Coby isn't looking his way so he can't know what he's saying.

And Coby does it.

He spreads out, and Hack can feel just the slightest difference in the air, like it's gone just a bit thicker than before.

And suddenly, Coby's so visible .

His Haki is so strong, releasing it sends chills down Hack's spine. If Coby would just train it a little more, he would be able to hide it better…

"Huh? Someone's sending me a signal."

And Hack snaps back to attention, spreading out his own Observation.

It's nearby- there's a faint, irregular pulse of Haki somewhere deep in the walls, thrumming in a rhythm like morse code.

"I recognize it. It's faint so I can't read it well," Hack puts a hand on Coby's shoulder so the boy knows to look at his lips. "Secret entrance. It's leading us toward it. You think it's a trap?"

It's a revolutionary code? But there shouldn't be another revolutionary agent here. Hack was the only one sent because they weren't supposed to show their faces at any point of time. Coby, the informant, should be their only extra lead.

Coby doesn't recognize the code.

But he recognizes the soul.

And with how faintly it's thrumming, as if it doesn't want to be discovered- Coby knows that the message is for him and his own oversensitive observation.

"It's not a trap," he smiles. "I probably know him."

"I'll trust you, then," Hack sighs.

So, how should they get there? Secret entrances are unpredictable, and they can't move around much with the guards in disarray. They know the general direction...

"Ah, wait!"

The bird flies off Coby's head, coming to land before a hallway with a brick wall.

Then it turns around, as if it's waiting for Coby to do something. And though Coby still can't hear the souls and emotions of animals, some things can just be felt through actions.

"Oh," he says. "I think it's leading us there."

Making sure no guards were around, they scrambled over- Hack found the secret passage easily after pushing a few bricks around.

"This is the one we found last week, isn't it? There's nothing down the but the shortcut to the castle dungeons," Hack tells him.

"But the signal is coming from down there. It's worth checking," Coby insists, picking up the candle by the side and lighting it.

The bird flies in ahead of them.

"Are you sure we aren't wasting our time?" Hack says, stepping in and letting the passage close behind them.

Coby didn't see him talking, so Hack just rolls his eyes and follows along.

The bird hovers around, seemingly waiting for them to catch up. Coby hustles after it, not wanting to lose it despite knowing there was only one route down.

"Hey Informant, slow down- right, you can't hear me. HEY INFORMANT-"

Coby makes a startled squeak when his foot misses a step, and the noise that escapes his throat is some sort of strangled horror.

Grasping desperately at the walls in his panic, Coby drops the candle, slides painfully down too many steps that make his life flash before his eyes- and the wall beside him turns with him.

(Wait, what?)

"Informant? You okay there?" Hack comes by with a new candle, making sure Coby turned to him so he could see him speaking. He even signed in case Coby couldn't register it yet.

"Uh, ye-" Coby then snaps, "wait, don't yell at me. You startled me."

"Right, my bad."

Coby, still in shock from feeling his life flash before his eyes, nods absently, confusedly trying to piece together what just happened.

Just then, the wall to the right of them opens, sliding soundlessly apart just enough to open a narrow hallway for one man to slide through at a time.

Hack's jaw drops. Coby blinks, pleasantly surprised. "See? I told you this was worth it!"

More like, how would you normally discover that secret passage anyways?!

Hack moves in with a new candle, and Coby follows. But the latter stops after two steps, turning back to realize the bird hadn't followed them inside.

It was perched by the side of the steps, waiting for them to go.

"You're not coming?" Coby asks.

Hack turns around. The bird simply stares back, without a response.

(In a way, it looked regal. It reminded him of Sengoku- composed, unfazed, and responsible. He did no more than he had to, and did all he could when he needed to.)

(...No, that's a stretch.)

(It was probably just a whim on the bird's part. He shouldn't think too much about it.)

Coby hums. "Thanks for bringing us this far," he says, just to be polite.

For a moment, he thinks the bird huffs a 'you're welcome' at him.

"Huh?"

They made it to a room- and their jaws drop.

There are thousands of papers in this archive, and all of them are exactly what they're looking for. Information on the destruction of the country, the people left behind, and the underground trade that occurred in the later half of the war which led to Tequila Wolf's formation.

"To think we've been missing something this close by this whole time."

And Coby is honestly speechless.

He came back nearly a decade ago. Spent a year building himself back up, spent years climbing up the social ladder of the underworld, making efforts to change the world. With his previous knowledge of the World Government, he weaved himself into their archives easily, and began to plant seeds in every liable gap.

He had been working many years on this road, staying on the verge of the Revolutionaries and the world nobles- and yet, he couldn't have done this on his own.

He brought the Tequila Wolf takedown and settlement leaps ahead in progress, and he didn't do it alone.

(Where's Usopp? Is there another exit from here?)

(Why isn't Usopp here? Coby wants to talk to him. They're finally on the same side of the law again. He wants to hug him and be with them again.)

(He wants to go with Luffy-san this time but, but, but…)

(...but he's been tasked with better things, he can't be selfish.)

Hack shakes him once, and Coby turns his eyes back to the taller man. The look Hack gives him is a reminder.

A reminder of exactly what they're doing, and how much they can't afford to be anything but completely serious now.

The fun times are over.

After this, there will be no break for them. They've finally gotten somewhere, they have to keep going.

"It seems like the person that led us here doesn't want to show themselves," Coby sighs, looking through some papers and shuffling them around. A fallen vase is shattered to the side, filled with ash or sand of some sort. "That's fine, right? Let's get started."

Hack retrieves his Den Den Mushi with a huff.

"Of course."

Coby finds a spot in the corner, pulsing nostalgically like how all Usopp's creations and emotions linger on his skin. He opens the door, which isn't locked- and finds it except save for a note written in scraggly writing.

[ I.O.U a Dream. -Sogeking. ]

Coby laughs.

"Wait, Zoro- I don't think this is the way we came from."

"Huh? You can't even see," Zoro has his hand around the boy's elbow. He's clutching the sack of jewellery in his other hand. "Of course this is the way out. There's only one road."

"Exactly Zoro, there is only one straight road up," Usopp says. "So how the hell have we turned left twice already?"

Usopp sighs. At least he sent the signal when they were still there. Coby should have found it and it should have led them to the archive.

Man, he was looking forward to meeting him, too. Leave it to Zoro's sense of direction to get them out of track.

"Zoro-kun, Zoro-kun, why are we walking down ? How did you find stairs that go even further down?"

"Shut up! Ask the road, not me!"

Usopp smells the dampness of the seabed, and he clings a little closer to Zoro. At the very least, they're actually getting closer to Luffy. What's Luffy doing so far down from the castle, anyways?

Zoro finds a door and opens it.

They're very far underground- far down enough that Usopp just knew what this place could be. He holds his shoes in his hand, and he feels the rock under his feet give way to worn out stone.

"This is… a dungeon, right?" Zoro says. "A prison, I mean."

If it's on a ship, it's a brig. If it's in a castle, it's a dungeon. Then if it's just a building full of jail cells, it's a prison. The difference doesn't really matter, so Usopp finds it strange that Zoro knows the difference.

"You just thought something rude, didn't you?"

"No, no, no."

"You definitely did."

"No, no, no."

Something drips. There's a leak- they're under sea level. It's wide open in this space, but it reeked of humidity and the dead. Usopp's haki tells him that it's empty here.

Completely empty.

Usopp clings closer, hugging Zoro's arm to himself. They pass by a metal cage, and Usopp notes that the door is open.

"Get off already, we're out of the stairs."

Usopp doesn't.

He breathes, in and out. Taking in the smell of rot and rust and blood, so thick it's soaked and stained into the stone walls.

The sound of chains scraping against the walls.

He clutches even closer, fingers digging into Zoro's arm.

"Let's just get out of here."

Zoro gives him a glance and doesn't say anything more.

He tries not to think of the motley colours, the humid air, the smell of blood, and the feeling of chains dragging across his wrist.

(He's not there anymore.)

(He's with Zoro and Zoro is a safe place.)

"DAMN IT! LET ME OUT!"

They went up about two floors to find a caged monkey screaming his head off. There are guards beside him, looking positively annoyed at this dumb chore they'd been stuck with.

Usopp sticks to the side with Zoro, who was looking at the scene with a grimace.

"What is that idiot doing?" Zoro says, exasperated.

Usopp honestly expected this. Put Luffy anywhere and he'll find himself a reason to get arrested- that's just how Luffy is, and it's routine for pirates.

"Oh! Zoro! And Usopp! HEYYY ZORO! USOPP!

"Shit, he saw us!"

"Idiot, don't call for us!"

Immediately the guards spin in the direction of the call, holding their weapons at the ready. Zoro ducks away quickly, dragging Usopp out of view, but it's too late. He looks to the left, then right, and up-

"He had companions!"

"Someone's there! Seize them!"

-Zoro grabs Usopp by the scruff and climbs up the wall. Usopp isn't too sure about the infrastructure of this area, but he reckons they were on a higher level now, probably on some sort of hallway bridge.

Zoro runs again, and Usopp uses his opportunity to assemble his Kabuto.

"I'll get Luffy, you stay here!"

And Usopp is suddenly dropped. And then Zoro runs off, bringing his ensemble of guards with him.

The sound of a door closing is the only thing Usopp hears after that.

Usopp swears loudly.

"Wait, Zoro, don't just leave me-" he stands up quickly, realizing that he's inside a room. The echo of his voice, the loud roaring of the guards in the distance, and then Luffy's yelling even further away.

Usopp belatedly realizes he's frozen still, because he has no idea where he is.

The walls are muted blue. The ground is cold rock, and his Haki tells him there are no souls nearby. The air is dry and the wind is stale.

And once he registers all of that, the smell of rot and copper assaults his senses.

He reaches out, and there's nothing in front of him. He takes a step forward- and feels around again.

Okay, calm down.

He should listen to the sounds. That's right, snap his fingers once and hear if there's anything in this-

"He went that way!"

"Shit, is anyone guarding the kid with the strawhat?"

"Oh no! He's misled us, get back over there!"

-he can't hear anything except the guards. He can't hear what's in this room, the sounds are too erratic and all over the place.

Is the room getting darker? No, he's imagining things.

Calm down, calm down.

He uses the edge of his Kabuto as a walking stick. There isn't anything on the ground- he feels around until he reaches a wall, and sighs in relief.

(He's going to teach Zoro a lesson about leaving him right in the middle of a fucking room next time.)

He moves along the wall- he should be able to find a window from here.

He lays his hand on the slightly crusty stone, rubbing out a handful of sand from the walls-

-and he shoots away from it immediately, bringing his hand back to his chest.

The world is a blur.

The smell of blood is a stain, the infinite screaming is an illusion; and there are no sounds of chains scraping against the floor.

"It's fine, it's fine," he whispers to himself, "I'm not there."

"He went that way!"

"Circle around and fire!"

Usopp straightens to attention, the sudden, incredibly close proximity snapping him right back to reality. They're right over the wall- which mean they're at least still in the same general area.

"Kinoko, Kinoko, why are you never here when I need you?"

Zoro and Luffy are a little below. So Usopp is probably on higher ground. That's perfect. He touches the wall one more time and finds a window.

"Forty to forty," he mutters, continuing along the wall with his hand trailing against the stone.

He finds another window, and another, and then the door.

"Each window is a meter apart," he navigates in his head. Four walls, eight windows, one door leading out. "It's an actual door, so this isn't a jail cell."

Which means this is probably an abandoned control room, or an abandoned employee rest area. Either way, it's empty.

Alright, then.

He rounds the walls one more time- and sets himself in the middle of the room.

Then he closes his eyes and draws back the sling of his Kabuto.

"You idiot, why'd you get yourself captured?!"

Zoro is officially done with all of this. He's going to nap on the ship at the next island and he is not going to wake up.

The bars of the prison cell are made of iron. He could try to cut them, but with only one sword, that'll be difficult. Much less with all the guards currently looped around them.

"They took Usopp!"

"No, they didn't?! You literally saw him with me just now!"

"But I found his stick!" Luffy whines, waving about the walking stick like a statement. Oh, good, he has the cane. Saves them some time trying to find the thing again.

(But is this the time?!)

"Yeah, because I dropped it you moron!"

"But it's Usopp's stick?!"

Seriously, he left Usopp behind in that room just now. It'll be a pain if the guards find him, because it's obvious Usopp needs either Zoro or the stick to get around right now- "Agh, just get out of there already!"

They're shooting at him, and Zoro's frantically running back and forth from the cell trying to dodge their measly bullets and blades.

"Oh, I can't," Luffy says, sitting down there comfortably like his crewmate isn't in danger of getting mauled. His arms hanging out of the square openings in his slouch, "I don't have the key."

"You're made of rubber, just squeeze through the bars!" Zoro yells, frustrated.

"Huh?" Luffy blinks.

He stares at the bars confusedly before trying to, and succeeding in, squeezing his head through the gap.

Then, "oh. OH. YAY I'M OUT!"

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

Luffy peels himself right out of the jail cell, depositing himself beside Zoro as they begin their round of cat and mouse.

Zoro groans longsufferingly. "So, what'll we do? Run or fight?"

"Of course-"

Luffy's interrupted by an explosion beside them. There's a clatter, and Luffy barely manages to spot a black capsule rolling by their feet before a smokescreen blows vision right out of the water.

"What the he-"

"Ahh Zoro, wait, don't move!"

Luffy grabs Zoro before he draws his sword, and right then, they feel numerous projectiles whizz past their faces.

The guards scramble in a panic, yelping in surprise.

"What's-"

"Someone's shooting at us!"

"From where?!"

"Shit, they had another companion! Where did he go?"

Lufffy turns around in time to see a man get impacted by a black lead projectile. He falls straight down, probably, hopefully, not dead.

A pachinko pellet bumps against his sandal.

"Oh, it's Usopp," Luffy says, sticking close to Zoro, back against his. He hands the walking stick to Zoro, who straps it to his side beside Ichimonji. "Where's he anyway?"

Zoro squints through the smoke. "Huh? I left him somewhere up there…"

"Up? Okay," and Luffy throws his hand up to the ledge, looping his other arm around Zoro three times ("wait. Wait, Luffy, no!") before shooting upward.

Luffy hangs from the banister like a monkey, looking around.

The smokescreen has spread all over the room now- it's more potent than he'd thought. The guards were in chaos, burning through their ammunition in a vain attempt to reorganize themselves and identify the sniper.

"Oh! It's Ennosuke!" he says as the bird casually flies in from, seemingly nowhere at all. "Where have you been? Where's Usopp?"

The bird gives him a scoff-looking greeting, as if she hadn't been on an adventure of her own or something. Seriously, what a free-spirited bird.

Zoro blinks blearily at that, hanging tiredly at Luffy's side when the bird rests on his shoulder. "Seriously, you just go wherever the hell you want… hurry up and go to Usopp already, he needs ya."

Kinoko pecks him in the ear angrily once before fluttering off in the clear direction of the room Usopp was in.

"Ow! Don't do that!" Zoro snaps, holding his ear. He faintly wonders if Kinoko could use Haki too. She always seems so sure of where Usopp is.

Luffy notices the room and shoots over.

"There's Usopp! Let's go!"

"Wait Luffy, that window isn't big enough- OOMPH!"

"...What happened to you guys?"

Nami stares at them incredulously.

After a surprisingly nostalgic Gomu Gomu no Rocket right into the mast of the ship, Zoro has to be restrained by Gin and Luffy is laughing like the moron he is. Sanji plants a heel in his head, but that doesn't stop Luffy from laughing like a maniac.

Usopp just stares spiritually into the sky, "no… nothing much."

Nami raises an eyebrow at that.

"Well, whatever," she says. Immediately switching to her sweet tone, she raises her voice, "Sanji-kun, Gin-kun, could you let down the sails? The guards are coming this way and we need to get a headstart. And Zoro, the anchor please."

"Aye, ma'am."

"Aye, Nami-swan!"

"Dammit. I'll get you later for this, Luffy!"

There's chaos over in the direction of the castle. Seems like guards are in a mad dash for their intruder, and it's obviously Luffy's fault.

"Yosh! Let's set sail, everyone!" Luffy declares, punching the air.

"AYE SIR!" everyone hollers back from different directions.

The Going Merry turns quickly, and Usopp goes for the galley, tugging the steering with the directions Kinoko gives from his head.

Nami stays on the deck with Luffy, watching the mist give way to the sea, and the sea give way to their next voyage.

The Tequila Wolf residents weren't bothered, Nami notices- they aren't sending a ship after them. There aren't a lot of ships near this side of port, so it should be easy to lose them. They even have good wind for their escape.

Luffy sits on the figurehead, grinning widely.

"So, did you have fun, Luffy?" Nami asks him, leaning into the bow. It's always a delight to see Luffy cheerful.

"Uhn!" Luffy says, "that's right- Usopp and Zoro found treasure, y'know! They're really pretty things," he informs excitedly, "and I saw this guy with a really cool jacket! I wanted to grab it for Gin, but he ran off first."

Nami can't help but smile as she listens to him.

"That's right- Nami," Usopp comes out from the galley, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a stone. "Here, a present."

And Nami reaches up to snag the object out of the air.

It's thick stone, the weight enough to make her arm sag slightly with effort. It's carved in with elegantly intricate curls, similar in stylistics to Nojiko's tattoos.

"Did you just throw a rock at her?" Gin asks, climbing down at the cargo net.

"You idiot, why are you throwing projectiles at people?! What if it hit her?" Sanji snaps at him, leaning out of the crow's nest. "Well of course Nami-san can catch that, but what if she didn't?!"

But Nami's reaction is neither alarm nor apprehension. She takes one look at it and instantly, her features bloom.

"No way!" she says, her voice bursting with excitement, "it's a seastone ornament! Where'd you find it?"

"It's probably the castle's national treasure. We found it in a safe deep underground," Usopp informs her.

Zoro comes out of the room, "wait, what? That dumb rock is actually something interesting?"

"Of course," Nami answers immediately, slipping it through her flesh hand and admiring how it fits. "It's limited edition, straight from Wano I bet."

Zoro only gives her more confused looks. "Isn't Wano the country of the samu-"

"Thank you, Usopp! I love it!" Nami thinks she'll keep it- she can probably use it as a brass knuckle. "I'm taking twenty million out of your debt, okay?"

"That thing is worth as much as my bounty?!" Gin blurts, shocked.

Nami just grins at that. "Of course! It's a huge chunk of seastone, you know! Essential for the Grand Line, and if you have this, you don't even need Haki to punch Luffy in the face."

"What?!" came four shocked male voices, Luffy's voice a tad more offended than the others at the implication.

Nami pats Luffy on the head with a laugh, but Luffy pouts.

"It's also known to be as tough as diamonds, so Zoro can't cut through it either."

"WHAT?!"

Nami laughs.

"Enough messing around! C'mon guys, we need to make it to Loguetown in two days! Eyes on the sea and let's go!"

The Oykot Kingdom is raided by the Revolutionaries approximately two weeks from then. The Tequila Wolf base stationed there is liberated, the slaves freed, and the station seized.

Approximately three months after that, the Revolutionaries will make incredible progress upon the liberation of the rest of the bridge. It will then lead to a bigger step forward on the revolution's progress, and the World Nobles will begin to take action.

But what happens therein is a story for another time.

Chapter 21: land of the beginning and the end.

Summary:

Loguetown smells like a storm. The saltiness of tears, the bitterness of spilled blood, and the sweetness of dreams blend together to form an aroma that draws only the bravest to its towns.

Usopp takes a step forward and goes ahead.

Gin takes two steps back, making sure his captain is in front of him first.

Chapter Text

They curl around the deck, eating supper in the moonlight.

Zoro's already snoring, and Luffy has his legs draped over Zoro's, his head laying on Usopp's lap as he throws an arm over to snag a chunk of meat.

There's a candle before them, and Gin is reading his book.

All the blankets from the dorms are sprawled over someone in some shape, way, or form. Luffy is humming something unintelligible off-tune, and Kinoko seems to be adding in echoes of her own to accentuate the music.

Sanji is serving up cups of hot chocolate, and Nami and Usopp are chatting.

"You found Coby?" she asks, her voice surprised enough to catch the attention of the previously nonchalant crew.

Usopp nods, hands wrapped around his mug and a blanket draped over his shoulders. "He was definitely there. I sensed him."

It's in the way Nami and Usopp respond. Their voices suppressed but not hiding, juggling the words carelessly yet it was undeniably an important piece of information.

Luffy blinks, "huh? Usopp and Nami, you guys know Coby?"

Nami and Usopp turn to him, taken aback- then they nod.

"So he knows Luffy, too," Usopp says, almost contemplatively.

"Yeah! I met him before I found Zoro," Luffy says. Zoro twitches a little at that, but no one really notices when he stopped snoring.

Luffy's journey before he met Zoro is a territory none of them have fully gone over, in either life.

(Or at least, Nami doesn't remember it.)

They've shared plenty of stories, but in jokes and vague details, never in proper narration. Luffy didn't have the patience for that kind of stuff.

Usopp can't help but think through it a little more.

Coby was with Hack, in Tequila Wolf.

That combination indicates he was running errands for the Revolutionary Army- so did he join the Revolutionaries this time? But if he was, he wouldn't have the freedom to wander about and go meet Luffy on Alvida's ship.

Unless he came back many years before Usopp and Nami, and thus already climbed far up the revolutionary ladder…

No, that wouldn't make sense.

"The Chief of Staff never came by Whitebeard's," Nami says.

Usopp hums. It seems like Nami had been thinking about the same thing. Coby hated Marineford more so than any other Marine in the world, bar maybe Garp. He would have gone step one to prevent it, first and foremost.

Unless…

(...unless he was choosing his targets on a larger scale, bypassing the little things and focusing just on the World Government instead.)

"Then what is he doing here?" Usopp wonders. What is Coby planning, what has he been doing, and what does he plan on doing from here?

It would really put things in perspective if they had met. Maybe Usopp should've stayed a little longer, after all.

"Oh, I know!" Luffy says, cheerfully. "He's playing a game with Uncle Gon!

Nami and Usopp simultaneously choke on their drinks.

Coby came to visit Usopp many times in Impel Down. Each time, Usopp could sense that Coby was nearing his edge. Each time, Coby drank one-sidedly and spoke to him as if they could still be the good friends they wanted to be.

And at some point, Coby stopped coming, and Usopp guessed from the amount of prisoners coming in and out- that Coby was probably dead, or retired by force.

Usopp closed his eyes and reigned himself to a world he would never recognize again.

"They don't care, Usopp-san."

Coby had been particularly exhausted that day. He came in disguise, wearing the grunt uniforms and leaving his Fleet Admiral coat upstairs. He spoke in whispers, his voice was full of nothing but spite- and Usopp was his sounding board.

"Politics, war, civil unrest- all of it is so far beneath them, they don't care. They have the privilege to be oblivious to it."

Coby was always a crybaby.

"I hate that I can't do anything about it," he whispered, hate filling his voice. "Why did I become Fleet Admiral? It's the most useless job in the world!"

Usopp's eyes widened at that.

"That's not true," he says quickly, but he doesn't have a follow up for it.

Because it's true. It's true- but he doesn't want Coby to say that himself. His heart breaks when he feels around for Coby's shattered, despaired voice.

Being Fleet Admiral was Coby's dream.

"People's dreams don't die," Usopp says, the words bitter in his mouth when he remembers who exactly said those words to begin with.

But he can't reach over to hold Coby's hands and tell him it's alright.

"Your dream isn't dead either, Coby," Usopp says.

Coby stands there for a moment longer, only to walk away without another word.

But they both know that Coby's dream has been dead for a long time. Ever since Lufy died, ever since Helmeppo left, ever since every single good marine had to be discharged one after another.

It's dead.

"When I get out," Usopp told him, "come with us."

Coby's presence lingered for a moment. Then, he was gone.

"They called him 'Informant'?" Nami repeats, just to be sure.

Luffy nods. "That, In foam thing," he affirms.

Nami forced him to sit down and tell the story, so throughout it he's gone from sprawled around Zoro's lap to sprawled over Usopp's, turning a few hundred degrees the other way around with a loop around Sanji's arm.

"Informant," Gin corrects him. "It's somebody that tells you things you want to know."

"Oohh," Luffy looks over. "But why?"

They didn't bother to answer that question.

There's no reason for Coby to use an alias like that- was he hiding his name? Then did Luffy expose him? That could spell trouble. Whatever.

One thing's for sure.

"So he's working with the Revolutionaries," Usopp concludes, fairly sure of that part, "but he probably isn't a part of their forces. Does that mean he's creating a fourth party in the war? No, if we count the world nobles as one side, Coby would be the fifth."

He's the informant . It's a title, a role in this world that can change the tune of events simply just by existing- and it's a perfect excuse to already know the information they keep from the future.

Coby, from this world to the last, has always wished the best for the world.

Among all the people in the world, perhaps he was the most pacifist. And yet, his role brought him to the core of the war, making him the head of the charge of millions of dead people he once cared about personally.

At the top, he felt every whisper of each soul to the core, never pulling back his Haki from their agony.

("I finally get to play the game I've always wanted to play.")

Coby was doing exactly what Nami and Usopp didn't do- taking big, useful steps to change the world.

He's going right into the territory of the World Nobles, playing on their field with his new freedom as an unknown. He's serious about changing the future.

(Unlike Nami and Usopp, he's willing to sacrifice his own desires for it.)

"Hey Nami, what's the Revolutionaries?" Luffy asks.

Gin chokes on his drink this time. "Do you seriously know NOTHING about the world before you set sail?!"

It's nighttime again.

Usopp puts a hand on the bow of the Merry, taking slow steps around the ship to feel each curve of the wood.

He spreads his Haki, in and out. Through the deck, across the sea, and up the mast. Humming Bink's Sake under his breath, he analyses the texture of each wood, knowing where the scratches are and identifying how old each of them were.

Luffy always seemed to train his Haki better when he was fighting. Zoro needed to sit down and meditate in long, empty silence. But Usopp, like Sanji, focused better mentally when he was doing something he nonchalantly enjoyed.

For Sanji, it was cooking- usually peeling onions or watching a pot boil. Usopp tended to grind up some new lead, inspect seeds, or check the ship to hear Sunny sing.

Merry likes to sing, too.

Usopp can already hear the dredges of her voice, giggling in her distinctly sheepish way here and there on the bow. Her spirit always seems so close, yet she's in the other direction once Usopp gets too close.

It's like hide and seek. That's fine, it's always better when Merry doesn't show herself at all.

He looks out into the blurry dark blue in the distance, and he sighs.

(Their little detour ran long, and he can't help but feel like he didn't do enough there.)

(They know they have to start doing more now, once they get to Loguetown. If they really came back with purpose, they need to do more.)

"Coby probably has his own plans," he says, well aware that Nami is by the tangerine trees, listening to him closely. "We shouldn't mess it up too much."

Nami sets down her watering can.

"We can't just do nothing, Usopp," she tells him, stern. "He has his plans, we have ours. That's how it's always been, and this time shouldn't be any different."

She doesn't mean any harm when she says it.

But Usopp takes his hand off the bow and turns to her with a glance that's a bit more than put off at her tone.

"Nami, we're on the same side now," he says, firm. "He's not an enemy anymore."

(Not that he was ever an enemy, but that's not the point.)

(Coby is a friend and this time he is one this time in every way and a silent arm in the air. Usopp has no intention for him to be anything else.)

Nami doesn't reply yet.

"I know," she says, in a way that means she's putting off the issue to another, more available date she will forget about. "But he avoided you. You avoided him."

(You didn't make complete effort to try and meet him, even though you could.)

Because deep down, Usopp knows that they're both on different stages now. Coby decided to throw everything away when he became what he is. Usopp decided to forsake the world when he came by Luffy's side.

(Their views on the importance of the world do not line up.)

(So they shouldn't work together.)

If Coby joined them, they would just get in his way. They want to meet, they want to catch up- but that isn't what they need to do, isn't what they should do.

Coby is not on the same side. Not fully, at least. He is his own side, and he has his own train of thought for what occurs later on.