Edit: November 3rd to November 5th 2023.
ARC I When all doubts are pushed away, beauty comes out
CHAPTER 1
1
If Usopp were honest, he might not be alive.
He was a professional liar, or that was how people perceived him. There was no one able to see through his lies, the subtil ones, at least. Not even Zoro or Robin. Both always looked at him as if he were a puzzle.
But Usopp wished he could be just honest. He feared too much about the safety of the people surrounding him. Therefore, he just lived through a facade, the identity of a cowardly person trying to be 'brave'. An identity he had a long time ago created in order to protect himself. His mother had helped create it, herself living as the facade of a civilian woman.
"Never tell anyone of your true self," his mother would often tell him with a bitter tone, the cheerfulness of her civilian facade gone in an instant.
It was like a dirty secret.
Their bloodline had been cursed a long time ago. More than 900 years ago. Something that the highest ranks of the World Government knew. From everything he had taught over the years, their clan was believed as dead. Which was a good thing even though they still needed to hide and expand in silence.
Usopp had lived his entire life on Syrup, and a few times during his childhood while he was visiting family members with his mother, until he had met Luffy, Zoro, and Nami. Following them in the chaos had been the best choice. Back then, he hadn't been strong enough to be able to tell the truth about himself to his crew. He wasn't still strong enough. The warnings of his late mother still rung through his head.
"Be strong before revealing who you are. Otherwise, you might find the end."
He wished he could tell people, at least his crew. If nothing could come out of his mouth, he didn't need to pretend to be friends with people. Friendship was just natural. Everybody had secrets, but not everyone could be trusted with other people's secrets.
"Not now," he would say to himself.
Illusions. Always make illusions. It was one of the sayings of his clan. Illusions were part of the mist ability that every person born into their clan have to some extent. Usopp was decent at it thanks to his late mother who had been an excellent user. Illusions require a certain level of mental strongness. If his mist ability was good, his sniper gift, however, was excellent. He wasn't getting anywhere with his drifting ability, having no one to train with. Most of his relatives, with whom he was still in contact, didn't have that gift.
If Luffy was the chaos itself, a true D like his mother would often tell him, he wasn't ready for everything.
Usopp didn't fully trust him yet. And somehow, the future Pirate King knew it.
He was a resourceful person. Building weapons for himself, first, and then, friends such as Nami. Creativity was his strongest point.
Becoming a pirate was an evidence. His mother had been one. His father was one even though Usopp didn't like him in the slightest. His uncles were both pirates. It almost sounded like piracy ran in their family.
His crew was the best he could hope for.
Monkey D. Luffy, or as known as Straw Hat Luffy, was a cheerful person, loud and overall happy. He wanted to become the Pirate King, to find what was left behind by the last and first Pirate King, to be the most free person in the world.
He was a Devil User with an undiscovered raw potential. He wasn't particularly smart however he could show himself clever while dealing with complicated situations. He was impulsive and obsessed with food in general, and especially meat. If Luffy were usually a fun person, he could be serious when needed.
Roronoa Zoro was the first mate. The green-haired young man was possibly one of the oldest of the crew. He used three swords, and that single fact made him unique. His fighting style was terrifying. He wanted to be the best swordsman in the world.
The swordsman happened to have survived to Mikwak. He always slept and was in love with alcohol. He was a good first mate.
Nami was the first woman on the ship, a talented navigator with the dream of drawing the map of the entire world. She was the one that kept an eye on the budget of their crew, making sure that all expenses were well-handled.
She had sacrificed herself to protect her village. That was honorable.
Then, there was Sanji. No last name known. Or perhaps, he didn't want to acknowledge it. He was a blond-haired cook, raised by a former pirate crew. He wanted to find All Blue.
He could be a little too obsessed with women and violent with men. He fought with his fists and legs.
Came next Tony Tony Chopper, a reindeer that had eaten the Human Fruit. Weird. He was a doctor, taught by two wonderful doctors in their own ways. A little bit afraid of the world, but Chopper was the sweetest person ever.
He always worried about people's health. His dream? Finding cures of all diseases of the world.
Nico Robin was recruited when the crew had left Alabasta. The demon child, some people would say. She was very observant, read and knew about a lot of things. She wanted to learn about the real history of their world.
And then, there was Franky. The man that had beaten the shit out of him. The man that had seen what Usopp could do if he wanted. A secret agreement between them made sure that nothing was out of the door. Franky was a cyborg, an amazing one. His recruitment had been quite ridiculous — Luffy had stolen his slip.
Nowadays, despite their history, Usopp and Franky worked together in tandem. The cyborg was the one that built their current ship, the Thousand Sunny.
And recently, a living skeleton had joined their small band of misfits. The oldest person of the crew. Brook had once been in a crew for musicians.
Like Zoro, he was a swordsman. The sword was hidden in his cane. He could play piano and violin, he could sing. Brook was the musician that Luffy wanted.
The crew was small, but effective.
2
Sabaody Archipelago should have been their last stop before the New World.
It had been the biggest mess. Even their stunt with the World Government agents didn't compare — was Usopp easily really dismissing the Buster Call ? — to the mess in Sabaody Archipelago.
Defeat had easily given to their crew.
On their way to the archipelago, the Straw Hats had come across an old friend, back on Nami's island, that was once a former enemy. He was the chef of a small restaurant with his friend, a mermaid. There was even a starfish. To the demands of the mermaid and her little friend, they had saved a Gyojin, Nami's former crewmate, Hachi. Together, they had come to the archipelago.
It was known to hold auctions. Usually human auctions with occasionally non-human species. It was common to see the Tenryuubito with their slaves going to the auctions. With knowing that risk in mind, they had all gone to the Amusement Park.
However, Camie was discovered and therefore, captured to the crew's dismay. And that had started the course to save the mermaid from those horrible people.
Tenryuubito. Usopp trembled in anger while thinking about those fuckers. If Luffy didn't punch one of them, I'd have done it. Killed them all. Inside the auction, a few members of the crew had tried to save Camie through the easiest method, but it hadn't work because of the fuckers. One fucker, a Tenryuubito. If noble people were bad enough, with a few exceptions, Tenryuubito were worse.
Punching a Tenryuubito, or just touching one, was illegal. A crime that should be dealt with death of the perpetrator. An admiral had been sent to deal with their crew. Luffy had formed an alliance with Captain Kid and the Surgeon of Death, Trafalgar Law.
The Straw Hat crew almost escaped the mess. But they had encountered a Shichibukai that had separated them all.
All Ussop had seen was the despair on Luffy's face as he had been swapped away.
He had woken up on a deserted island, alone. In the ruins of a former civilisation that had been, at least, gone for a very long time. Through his search of that part of the island, he had discovered a few things.
He wasn't Franky. He couldn't just build a ship out of nowhere. While he was decent at navigation, he didn't trust himself to… Usopp sighed, sitting in the sand while looking at the crashing waves.
That island was weird. There existed a tribe; the Tribe of Forest. It was one of those civilisations that didn't speak Japanese as a main language. Symbols were written in the stones. The young man drew them in his notebook. Those people used Japanese as a means for trade with the outside world. Their language was called the sing-of-the-forest. If their dialect was completely extinct, in the New World, there were still other dialects of the language. Between the islands of those tribes, there was a lingua franca: Mélodie.
Usopp chuckled a bit. He loved languages, and sometimes even Robin told him he was a bit too obsessed with them, but she liked to conversate about them with him. If Japanese was mainly used in important or well-known islands as the main language, it was not uncommon to find minor languages. English was used in the newspapers as well as Japanese. In the crew, they all knew, at least, one language beside Japanese, which made their travels easier.
As the second day drew a line, the pirate stood on the edge of a cliff, looking at the waves. There was no way he could go to Sabaody Archipelago at the end of the three days mark.
"Sorry everyone," he muttered in apology as he turned his back to the sea.
As the third day followed, he began his exploration of the island, leaving out all the weird things that he stumbled on. He preferred to think about them in the evenings. Thus, he needed to get food. He walked through the gates of the former town, feeling the heavy atmosphere that reigned over the place and strode through aisles of destroyed houses. Heavy sadness shook his entire being as he went through three alleys of the statue. He arrived in front of the only house that seemed still intact, covered by nature in its beautiful way. It was the perfect entrance of a cave that led to an ancient temple. The young pirate admired the stony stairs and then he went downstairs, aiding by his observation haki, he arrived in the frozen temple. Symbols were used on the pillars. Drawings were telling stories that he might get into them at a later date.
He froze. Something was calling him. His entire being shook as he took another step towards a large circle in which runes were drawn. His observation haki went ballistic when dark and loud voices began to sound through the temple.
The winds of the West raise
The voices of the East sing
The instruments of the South play
And the hums of the North resonate
Usopp abruptly fell on his knees. He shivered as the runes came to life, shining and emanating power. Coldness slowly got to him as his vision went black.
And he didn't get the last words spoken by those mysterious voices.
Be aware of your soul
Be strong to handle the truth
And one victory could change it all
3
Usopp slowly opened his eyes, yawning as he rolled over his back in order to sit up. Instead of feeling the hard stone, he felt the grass brushing his skin. He suddenly became aware that something was wrong.
The world felt suddenly different. He blinked as memories of the recent events came back to him and shivered once more. The young pirate wondered what happened. There wasn't the smell of the sea nor the heavy atmosphere of the former civilisation. He took a few minutes to get up on his two feet. He stood in a sort of park for a few more minutes, observing everything. Trees were smaller and less filled with energy as if it was struggling to grow. There wasn't much different between the park and the parks back home.
He brushed his clothes as he started moving around, making sure to not make a sound. The sky seemed good, at least for him. The sun reigned over the sky like a King. The cool air was chilling. At the edge of the park, there were weird roads, going around the area of nature. There were strange vehicles driving down the road that separated him from the other side of the park. He frowned as he watched the passers-by, all of them wore different clothes. Usopp stayed in the shadows, preferring watching rather than trying to walk around. Fuck this shit. He thought as he observed the different people.
The winds of the West raise
The voices of the East sing
The instruments of the South play
And the hums of the North resonate
He froze at hearing distant voices speaking familiar words. Usopp shook his head and focused on the people. What are those clothes ? he thought as he walked through the streets, receiving odd looks from the people.
He couldn't even understand the language. Did someone kidnap him and dump him in an unknown country ? Usopp narrowed his eyes. It seemed unlikely.
In the following days, the pirate focused on surviving in this strange place. If he moved from place to place, he was able to get food in a convenient store after stealing some money from druggies. Apparently using Japanese as a way to communicate almost led to nothing as the locals, or the majority of them, didn't know it. However, English seemed to be understandable. From what he learned from a restaurant owner, Japanese was mostly spoken in a country called Japan. The young man had never heard of that country before. In a bookshop, he was able to get his hands on a book of maps and discovered in horror that he wasn't in his world anymore. He collected some more information before ducking out to the place he was currently staying — an abandoned house.
The strange vehicles he kept seeing were similar to those Franky built - or drew on paper - in the workshop of the ship. They were called cars, buses, and motorbikes. Words that perhaps existed in Japanese. Or at least, the version he knew of.
The Straw Hat pirate concluded that he was in the worst situation ever.
"Shit."
