Edited on February 9th.

ARC I WHEN DOUBTS ARE PUSHED AWAY, BEAUTY COMES OUT


CHAPTER 10

1

"Fucker," Usopp swore under his breath as he ducked against a large rock, protecting himself from bullets coming his way.

Mammon was going to kill him the moment he stepped foot in Namimori. Slowly and painfully. Actually, the pirate never saw the arcobaleno truly angry, but he had heard stories. He couldn't believe that he fell in a trap — until his arrival in some unknown village of Quebec, he had been sure of everything. A little lie never hurts anyone. Usopp cringed at the thought. He was, however, content that for once, something went wrong, just like things had been back on the Thousand Sunny. He gave enough substance to the people he cared for, but if he were gone too long, they would start looking for him. And Mammon was going to be pissed at him. The young man started laughing. It revealed his position to his enemies, but Usopp couldn't care less as he began to run through the forest. The mist user made sure to disrupt his adversaries' vision as he went towards the car he had parked five kilometers away.

He turned his phone and grimaced.

"Well, shit," he mumbled, looking at the multiple messages.

The officers were going to kill him. The pirate took a deep breath while he let his haki scan the area. Seven hidden in the woods, ready to shoot him the moment he was noticed. He put his phone away in his left pocket.

"What will Luffy do in this situation?" he wondered aloud.

"Probably do some shit," a voice replied, making Usopp jump.

Pulling out a gun, he faced the newcomer and aimed the weapon at them. He stepped back, staring in shock at someone he never thought he would see again.

"You are not real."

"The fuck are ya saying?"

He chuckled, "I'm starting to lose it."

Usopp loaded his gun while staring at the woman.

"I'm hallucinating," he muttered to himself as he loaded his gun, "completely."

"Yeah, it totally sucks to be stuck in a fuckin' world that aren't ours," the woman said, pulling the trigger of her gun, killing a few people running towards them, "and like you, I was fooled by them."

Usopp still blinked, in denial.

"You are not real."

And then, the woman punched him in the face. The pirate fell on his ass and looked in shock at the woman, the realization finally settling in his mind.

"Lù, the fuck? It hurts!"

"Fuck ya, mate. You were saying bullshit again! Like the shitty captain."

The pirate rubbed his face as he grimaced. He looked at his childhood friend, finally seeing her. The woman wore the same Varia uniform as him. Lù seemed to be well.

"Shitty captain?" Usopp asked curiously.

Wasn't she a pirate captain? Why would she have a captain?

"Xanxus."

"What?!"

"We fuckin' harmonized. I'm his fuckin' cloud, mate," Lù informed him with a frown on her voice, rage boiling inside her, "Hades, I just want to go back to our world."

"What happened to you? To your crew?"

His friend froze, "I…"

"How did you arrive here?"

"Something happened, and I still can't believe what happened, Usopp. And my arrival here is quite confusing. I remember a blinding light, some odd words, and weird drawings."

Usopp frowned. It looked similar to what had happened to him. The man wondered if it was linked. He needed to have a real conversation with his childhood friend. Perhaps they would be able to exchange the information they both had. For the first time ever, Usopp wondered if there weren't other people stuck in this world as well.

They stared at each other in silence, both of them lost in their thoughts. Lù could feel the sky's irritated feelings, the other guardians' rage, and somehow she decided on sending comfort through the link they all shared. A few seconds passed, and confusion went through the bond. If only she was more acquainted with technology, she would make a call. Wait, seriously? I'm already attached to them? Fuck.

"Usopp, what's your Varia name?"

"It's Skodde, and I'm also known as Anton."

"Alright.."

"Oï! Don't judge!" he said, glaring playfully at her, as he rolled on his bed.

"I'm not. The shitty captain of the fuckin' crew asked for a name. My Varia name."

"Unfair, you get to choose," Usopp grumbled when he thought back on the day he learned of his nickname.

"I'm the Varia Cloud Officer," she said with a smirk.

"Still unfair."

"And I'm the captain of Burning Wolves, so which name should I choose?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"You're creative," the pirate replied as she laid down on the couch.

"So are you!"

And then, he started laughing. It felt like home. Usopp remembered meeting Lù when he was a child. He was visiting his uncle, Vista, on an island in the New World which was protected by Whitebeard. That particular day, he met Lù, fleeing from her own home to become a pirate captain.

"So, Varia?"

"Yeah, like ya. Heard about ya from Mammon. Couldn't believe it at first. And then, I thought I'd meet ya there. I was fooled by those fuckers too."

"Damn."

"Fuck, 'sop. Shit happened to me. When we will be alone, I'll tell ya. First, we need to get the fuck out of here. Xanxus is going to kill me if I don't go back. Shitty captain."

"Were you not a captain?" Usopp curiously asked his friend.

"I was. Like I said, shit happened. Will tell ya, no worries."

Usopp almost pitied their enemies. Almost. Lù was another level for anyone that came across her. Compared to her siblings, the woman had decided to start a crew on her own. The man was looking forward to catching up with his childhood friend.

The pair ran out of their hidden place and immediately found a new spot. With his haki, he located his enemies and shot them. Right leg and then heart. Head for the last one. He rolled on the ground as storm flames came into his view, he rose his mist flames constructing a solid wall in an instant. The sniper aimed and shot. The bullet struck between the eyes of a bald man. The pirate looked around for his friend. The woman was butchering the few people without guns as if they were pieces of meat.


Skodde was already a mystery with his non-existent background, so far all information he had found was fake from Mammon's point of view. But the Mist Arcobaleno knew of the truth, he just couldn't wait to promptly inform the other Officers of Varia. He wondered if Lù — the woman was literally a ghost — was in the same case as Skodde. He had promised the pirate to not tell anything about his past. However, the young man had disappeared with the excuse of a mission. Thankfully, when coming upon his old friend Hibari, he had learned of the disappearance of his subordinate. Days happened, so Mammon was forced to reveal the truth to his fellow guardians.

Needless to say, Xanxus wasn't happy. But he was also very intrigued and was looking forward to meeting the pirate. At the moment, his sky was upset due to the fact that their newest cloud had vanished out of nowhere.

"She just turned on her phone," Levi suddenly said, having gone quiet for the past few hours of waiting, "I'm calling her."

"A snail is better… Oh, hi Levi."

"Technically, it's not the same technology."

That was Skodde's voice. Mammon felt relieved. He wondered now how could the two clouds know each other.

"Shitty Cloud. Where the fuck are you?" Xanxus calmly demanded, his wrath flames roaring under his skin.

"Somewhere.. Oi, 'sop! Where are we?"

"I don't know! I lost the car? Where is it?"

"Grey Mercedes?"

"How do you know?"

"I saw people burning the car."

"Fuck," the man swore under his breath, "assholes."

"Lù, Skodde," the Mist Officer interrupted the fast conversation between the two clouds, "focus! And Skodde, I'm going to kill you next time I see you.

"For information. As if I wanted to stay in this fuckin' world. I'm a fuckin' pirate for the fuck sake."

Mammon blinked. The pirate had never been that honest with him.

"Let's capture one to get to the bottom of this." Lù suddenly proposed to the other assassin.

"Yeah, great idea."

"Shitty captain, no worries. We're going to be back alive."

Lù hung up on them.

Xanxus thought that things were getting weirder with odds such as Skodde and Lù in their mist, but as time passed, the man found himself relaxing in the chaos. He was pleased to have the truth concerning the bodyguard of the Vongola heir because his mist couldn't really hide things from him — he could only thank their bond. He also looked forward to meeting the other pirate, the one that had 'fixed' Vongola's mistakes. The woman was powerful — he could sense even strongly through their shared bond — and would no doubt be a terrifying Cloud Officer if she accepted the responsibility. Lù, despite being a powerful unknown from another world, fit Varia.

"They'll be fine," he assured his guardians, deciding to trust Lù, "let's move on to another matter. Shall we, Squalo?"

"Voi, yes. We need to level up our divisions. With Sawada's spawn as the newest heir, and Skodde involvement in Yamada's life, we will align ourselves with the kid."

"Align?" Levi frowned as he was nervously checking his phone every five minutes, but fortunately for him, no one called him on it.

"It's a risk," Lussuria mumbled, not looking at ease with the notion, "but do we have a choice?"

"Yamada is our best option," Mammon intervened to reassure his fellow guardians, "and Skodde is an inspiring figure for Yamada."

Belphegor humorlessly chucked. "Can we trust him?"

"Do you trust Lù? It's the same. Both of them are not from our world. If they find a way back, they'd do it without a care."

Silence fell over the room as they pondered Levi's words.


"They're here!" someone was heard screaming from the woods, "shoot them!"

"Can't they just die?" Usopp complained as he worked on a vehicle.

"Let's just burn them," his childhood friend commented, "and we'll burn marshmallows."

"Weird."

"Eh."

Their enemies seemed determined to kill them. Finding a village had been truly a blessing for the two pirates. They found an intact house in which they barricaded themselves in.

"You've been working on being stronger," Lù complimented her friend, a grin appearing on her face.

"I'm not fighting ya."

"Eh, shame."

Mist flames surrounded the property efficiently keeping their enemies away. Lù sighed in relief when counting a dozen of people, which meant that the group was slowly decreasing in numbers as time passed and as assaults were coming to a stop. The woman pulled her long sword out, felt her cloud flames stir in excitement at the potentially amusing fight. She left the safety of the two-story houses to face the men and women. Her flames imploded. Inside, Usopp shivered and found the flames comforting. The woman laughed as she launched towards them. Her haki and her senses were on top, her born ability was activated at full capacity. Bullets flew however, the pirate dodged every single one of them. The entire village was covered by her powers, completely isolated from the rest of the world.

"What's that?" a short-haired woman worryingly asked her partners in crime.

"Your worst nightmare, shit heads."

And blackness fell. Using only her ability to sense everything, the Charlotte ran through the ranks of her adversaries, butchering them in an instant. Outside, the sphere became completely invisible. On the inside, every person with ill-intention was instantly killed.

"The car is ok, we just need— the fuck is this shit?"

"Something I can do. No worries, they're dead."

Usopp's only reaction was, "Oh."

Usopp inhaled and slowly exhaled. His flames touched Lù's flames. And somehow, it felt like when they were kids.

"You said that the car was ready."

"Oh yeah, we just need fuel."

"Great."

"Yeah."

"Us teaming up feels so good. It's been a while since Water Seven."

Indeed, it had been a while.

Their crews had teamed up to save Robin from being executed. It had been a pure hazard for the Burning Wolves and the Straw Hats to meet in Water Seven. However, they had become instantly friends due to Usopp's and Lù's longtime friendship.

"I'll get fuel," Usopp mumbled as he moved away.


"Fuck," Usopp swore as his friend drove faster on the road to Montreal, "those fuckers won't let us go."

"Those fuckers are organized, too well organized for my taste. We can't use flames because of the civilians except if…"

"If what?"

"If we make the car disappear from thin air and replace it with another."

"What?"

"You use your mist flames to make a fake car that looks like ours. I use mine to teleport us and the car to another country."

Usopp scoffed at the proposition, "That's impossible!"

"Normal, you never did it before."

"That's a shitty idea! A Luffy's shitty idea!"

"No offense but he would never have such an idea."

Usopp made a face at those words. She was.. right. He finally accepted doing what she wanted to do. The moment her mist flames wrapped them in a tight hug, he replaced their car with another. The world shifted, and he closed his eyes, and then, there was a loud noise. Lù suddenly laughed and went even faster. He opened his eyes and looked around him. The landscape had completely changed to his own surprise. And Lù knew clearly where they were, therefore he asked her.

"Autobahn."

Fucking Germany. His eyes widened in shock.

"And you didn't believe me!" Lù chuckled.

"You're insane," he then informed her, "how did you do it?"

"So are you. I've been doing it for a few years now. It's nothing, but it's a bit taxing, it depends on the distance," the woman answered, keeping her eyes on the road, "wish I did it back there."

Usopp fell silent.


2

Brook stood once more awake in his own dream, wandering aimlessly through a landscape of weirdness.

"Have you decided, son?" the familiar voice of his father echoed his dream.

"I beg your pardon, sir?"

"Have you decided if you wanted to meet me or not?"

"How do you…?" Brook trailed off, searching for the owner of the voice.

"I'm always there, watching you. I'm glad you found people to take care of. Your worries are mine too, son. It's sad to see you and your friends torn apart."

"Who are you?"

"It would be too easy if I tell you, son. Why don't you watch your dreams closely?"

The musician shivered as his own dream changed. The river Styx was shown. Across the river was a large group of people, wearing clothes that didn't seem to fit their time. Brook approached the river, he looked closely at what seemed to be remains of memories, items, and emotions. In the distance stood a large gothic castle. Brook could hear the growls of dogs.

"Death?"

Brook had already seen that place. He had seen it when he had first died with his old crew.

"Hm… Close enough, son. I'm Hades, God of the Underworld."

The landscape changed once more. The pirate took a few steps back the moment he found himself in front of a figure.

"Now, let's begin your training, Brook. No child of mine is weak."