Edited on November 5h 2023.

ARC I when all doubts are pushed away, beauty comes out

CHAPTER 2

1

"Thank you."

As time passed, as days became weeks, and weeks became months, the pirate was slowly becoming accommodated to that world. He had begun creating a new identity and it came with things that needed to be done for it to happen.

Usopp couldn't be Usopp. If he were certain of being in another dimension — somehow the recurrent dreams about what happened had convinced him — he wasn't too keen on being in the open.

In this world, he was a young man born into a middle-class family. At sixteen, he had run away after his family had been killed in a fire. Their bodies were burnt beyond recognition. The background was from an article of a newspaper in Austria, talking about the tragic death of a couple (with no child). To make sure that no one tried to see through his lies, with a little help from his heritage - even though he was already decent at it, he was able to reach the native speaker level of speaking. Of course, it wasn't perfect. To make it credible, he falsified school records, ID, and passport.

He could only thank his mist gift.

Time seemed to be faster than in his world. He would be a fool if he said that he understood the concept of time. However, that concept was terrifying. Usopp was afraid of never coming back to his own world. How would his absence affect his crew? As questions flooded through his mind, doubts came.

The young man focused on his current task. His comprehension of the language spoken in Austria advanced, and he was able to speak in the native language of the speaker. That world was so much different and its technology made his bending easier. Pirates belonged to the past, and even though there were similarities, there were major differences between his world and that world. Several governments coexisted with each other despite the current wards between some nations.

"Already one year," he sighed, looking over the books he was reading.

German wasn't certainly easy to read despite his roots with English. During the year, he gathered enough information to make his temporary life easier. He put his nose in other languages, interested in how similar they sounded to some of his world. His hair had grown longer. Usopp was fond of it and intended to keep it that way. A small beard had begun to flourish on his face as well.

Money was becoming a problem.

He had been doing some odd jobs for people earning some cash, but for his travel needs, it wasn't enough. Usopp had begun to stick his nose in the underworld part of this world.

Mafia. That was the equivalent of the piracy in his world.

As soon as he got enough cash, he left Austria for Italy. Usopp made sure to enjoy all the tourist places. He even gathered some recipes for Sanji to one day try to replicate them. Unsurprisingly, trouble started to find him, the moment he stepped in Italy.

Apparently, in this world, some people had powers. Flammes. Seven in total. The rarest flames were the sky and the cloud flames. Few people could use them. Upon fleeing one of the too many people that wanted him for his flames he stumbled across Varia.

Or just one guy. Hydra.

"I don't take 'no' for an answer, kid."

"No," Usopp said.

"You are a mist."

"So?"

"You need training."

"Still no."

"Accept or I'll just drop you at Varia without consentment."

"Still no, mate."

He was a pirate, not an assassin! Hydra looked somehow impressed by the young man before him.

"Varia pays well."

"No… Oh really? How much?"

"Really?"

"I'm kinda broke, so…"

Hydra grabbed his arm and forced him to follow out of the street. He led him to the headquarters of the Varia, to Mammon, the Mist Officer and the best mist user of the world.

"Look, a baby mist for ya, Mammon."

Usopp didn't know how he had gotten in the independant squad of assassination that served under one of the biggest mafia families, Vongola. He was now a mook, waiting to be given a name in order to move into the ranks.

"Geared up, we have a mission." One of the high ranked members - beside the Officers - said as he strode past the door.

One mission was all it took to be given a proper name. Skodde. His abilities in using the mist in fight impressed most of the higher ranked members.

Varia was under Superbi Squalo as the current boss was frozen. Literally frozen from what he heard from older members. Usopp had heard about a Coup. A sort of internal war within the Vongola. There was no Cloud Officer.

So far, no one caught on Usopp's drifting flames.


2

He chose to be Anton, the bodyguard of the Yamada family. Said family didn't even know about Sawada's involvement in the mafia. It was said that Sawada was married, but a quick look into the Yamada family told him that information was false. Either way, because of their link to Sawada, the Yamada should have been informed, especially since the son had always been a potential heir to Vongola.

Usopp had decided to act like a tutor to the young son. He didn't ask for much, just home and food. Yamada Nana was a single mother with a tiring job that didn't pay much, a lonely woman rejected by most adults in Namimori, desperately trying to help her son, Tsunayoshi. The brown-haired teenager seemed to be hated by his entire school. Bullying. No support from the teachers and his grades were terrible. Tsunayoshi also had no friends. Usopp feared for the mental state of the teen.

The pirate straightened his back. Observation was the key to help the family out of the wrong path. He feared for their lives. He presented himself in front of a small house in a nice neighborhood about thirty minutes away from the school the son went to. He knocked on the door, falling into his tutor's mask. Footsteps were heard, they were loud enough for him to hear with his sensible ears. The door opened. There was a brown-haired woman standing in front of him, she gave a delighted - and yet fake - smile.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the woman said cheerfully.

It sounded… fake.

"I'm the tutor you called for your son, my name is Anton. Nice to meet you," he quickly introduced himself, watching the woman's emotions change as she processed the information.

"Oh yes! Come inside the house! We were waiting for you!" Nana's smile was as bright as the sun, it held all the fakeness of the world.

The house made it difficult to breathe in. Even Luffy would know that something was wrong with the place. Usopp narrowed his eyes as he scanned each room. He was led to the living room and served tea.

"Tsunayoshi, come downstairs!"

A male voice answered. And then, a teenager appeared at the top of the stairs facing the living room. Usopp saw the teen falling downstairs and winced in sympathy. Didn't Mammon say that the teenager was clumsy? The brown-haired boy groaned in pain as he stood up while his mother asked in a flat tone if he was okay, he answered with the same tone.

"This is Anton, the tutor I talked to you about." The woman introduced him to her son with a small smile - that seemed for once truer.

"Nice to meet you." Tsunayoshi bowed politely to him, his face showed different emotions then settled in a straight face.

"Nice to meet you too," the pirate said, "to properly assess your level, I need to know about your difficulty. Your learning. The school. Everything you feel is important for me to know."

With a little bit of prompting from his mother, Tsunayoshi started talking. In a dead tone. His eyes were full of sadness, bitterness, and… hatred. Nana seemed out of it, struggling to keep calm as she listened to her son speaking of the constant bullying from his peers and the teachers, the fact that his math teacher always singled him out and that despite all his efforts, his grades never got better. Of his lovely nickname. Usopp remained unfazed, however, he tightened his fists in anger. It almost seemed that the entire town was against a single person — or two if he counted Nana. The teenager never ate at lunch since his peers always stole his lunch or the money he had.

"All right, thank you. Nana, I'd like you to pull your son out of this pathetic excuse of a school. I'll take over his schooling, of course. You both need rest from this town."

"A.. Are you sure about this? Tutors don't bother to help us," the woman said, fearfully.

"I'm not like those useless human beings. You are worth it. I fear for your mental health. Is there anything I need to know?"

Tsunayoshi narrowed his eyes on him. The young adult was being sincere. No lie laced in his words, something that was completely refreshing. Nevertheless, he didn't want to spit all the things that happened to him to a complete stranger. His mother seemed to have the same opinion and told the tutor in a polite way.

Time would tell if he could trust the man. One thing was sure, however, there was no danger around that person.


3

Usopp spent the following three weeks getting to know the small family. For safety reasons, he asked the woman to move out of Namimori. He even admitted about her son's father's employment, and it made things easier.

As Tsunayoshi was the Vongola heir, he received an allowance every month. With that money, the small family was able to get a decent home outside of Namimori. No one said anything when Nana had pulled her son out of school, rather enjoying the absence of the teenager. Speaking of him, Usopp had taken upon himself to make an appointment with a doctor in the next town.

The brown-haired teenager was gone with his mother to the appointment. Nana had agreed to speak with him about the results.

In the meantime, Usopp made a report to Mammon. If he were to be a bodyguard, he wouldn't do half of the things.

Tsunayoshi was far behind his peers. It was worrying. What was more worrying was the fact he couldn't learn properly. His mother had mentioned that this situation had started at five years old after the visit of the absent father. According to Nana, he had been sick for three whole months before getting better, however every five months he would fall ill. The doctors couldn't find anything. In short, she would keep her son home every time he felt ill. Before the visit, Tsunayoshi was an average child learning like every child.

And on the top of all, the teenager was sealed. Vongola put a bloody seal on a child's flames. In his clan, such a thing was a crime that should have resulted in death. If in this world, there was no solution, fortunately for them, Usopp knew a solution or two. It seemed that Nana was suffering from the same symptoms, except they were lesser and different than her son's. Any information learned or not took time to be completely absorbed in Tsunayoshi's head. The lack of coordination, or his clumsy habits, wasn't natural at all. His harmony was slowly killing him.

Namimori was far too toxic for a broken family. Moving out in the countryside, even though it wasn't too far from Namimori, had been a good idea. Usopp just needed to secure the Yamada.

First, he needed to secure an area surrounding the house. Going through his mother's teaching, Usopp wrote down runes and runes for a few hours. He decided on removing Nana's seal first, knowing it'd be easier. The pirate made sure to explain everything to the brown-haired woman once she returned from the appointment next town with her son.

"You don't trust me, I know. It's fair enough."

"This is too much," Nana as tears filled her eyes, "too much for such worthless people such as us."

Usopp narrowed his eyes. It was getting worse.

"The worthless people are those that are bullying you and your son. You deserve so much better," he trailed off for a few minutes," and you feel like a member of my clan. I genuinely want to help you. You are worth it."

The words helped. The woman tightly hugged him, her whole body shaking as she cried her entire soul.