One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Eighty-Five-
"How cool!" Rongo excitedly exclaimed.
"And the only reason we were able to come out of all of those death-defying situations with our lives was because of my bravery and wisdom, and because of these great attributes, I am known as Captain Usopp!" Usopp boasted before suddenly being struck on top of the head by Zoro. "What was that for?!" he snapped.
"We're trying to eat here—say it, don't spray it" Zoro frowned, causing us all to burst out into small fits of laughter...laughter that was all too soon cut short by the sharp sound of glass shattering.
"Rapanui, please forgive me!" Henzo begged as he dropped to his knees. "I'm so ashamed of myself...I've spent the last fifty years of my life doing research, trying to find a way to get you all out of the Rainbow Mist and I finally found a way to get back inside. But because of my carelessness, we can't get out..." he choked as he slowly started to cry. "I'm a failure as a pirate professor, I'm ashamed—but I must ask you...please, if you know a way out, tell me!" he pleaded. "We must find a way back to Ruluka, then once we're out of here, we can return home together!"
"No...there's no way to get out of here" Rapanui finally confessed. "And even if there was, I still wouldn't tell any of you—I don't trust any of you at all! It's not like you've given me a real reason to..." he grumbled, averting his gaze.
"And you call yourselves friends" Usopp heavily sighed.
"What's that?!" Rapanui snapped.
"You can forget about us for a second, but the professor here is your friend, right? I mean, if you can't trust your friends, then who can you trust exactly?" Usopp asked.
"No one really, trust is one of the strongest foundations in any relationship" I said, harshly jabbing my fork into my food. "Without it, you're left with nothing more than these guilt-ridden and traumatic thoughts of what could have been that just end up eating away at you every second of the day—mocking you because you're stuck with them and it can't be helped..." I bitterly spat.
"Skylar?" Zoro quietly questioned as I owlishly blinked upon realizing that everyone was now looking at me.
"My, that was rather deep, Miss Swordswoman" Robin said, a curious look in her eyes.
"Ah...sorry, I got carried away..." I apologized with a sheepish smile. "Uh...anyways, continue..." I quickly waved, now desperately wanting their eyes off of me as I shrunk back into myself.
"Uh...well you can just stay out of this! You really expect me to believe this ridiculous story that fifty years have suddenly gone by?" Rapanui was the first one to speak up once he finally found his voice as he directed his attention back toward Usopp. Shaking his head and narrowing his gaze.
"Yes, I do" Usopp nodded, slowly turning his attention back to the child with a frown. "Because it doesn't matter how different he looks or how much time has passed—he once marched under the same flag as you, so he's still one of your friends, got that? While the color of the flag may fade, true friendship is forever you know" he proclaimed, quick to pick back up where he had left off...though I could see where he was still casting curious glances my way from the corner of his eye. Rapanui only growled in response, looking just about ready to snap before he was rudely cut off by the sound of a Transponder Snail going off.
"Oh, wait, that's me" Henzo said, retrieving the mini Transponder Snail from his coat pocket. "Yes, yes, I'm coming..." he irritably grumbled as it continued to ring. Before he could answer, Luffy suddenly snatched the snail out of his hands and answered it himself instead. "Hey!" he snapped.
"Yep, hi, hello" Luffy answered.
"That was like three different greetings in one sentence" I raised an eyebrow.
"What good does it do for you to answer?" Zoro asked, also raising an eyebrow.
"Well, well, Professor Henzo" a man said from the other side.
"Huh? Who is this anyway?" Luffy asked.
"What? Wait a second...who are you?" the man asked once he finally realized that the person he was speaking to was in fact not Henzo.
"Hey, Luffy" Sanji suddenly spoke up from the other end of the Transponder Snail.
"Where the heck did you guys go?" Chopper asked.
"You guys just went and ran off with the ship, you left the rest of us in a kind of sticky situation you know" Nami irritably huffed.
"Huh? It's Nami" Luffy blinked as he looked back at us.
"So that means you're connected to Nami and the others?" Usopp questioned.
"That appears to be the case if he's talking to them" I hummed.
"Nami?" Isoka questioned.
"Hold on, if we can talk to her then that must mean that—" Robin was cut off as Henzo roughly pushed past her and quickly snatched the Transponder Snail away from Luffy.
"Is this the outside world? Phillip?" Henzo asked. "Phillip, respond—are you there?" he continued to inquire.
"Yes, Phillip here" Phillip finally answered. "Professor Henzo, what's your location now?" he asked.
"I'm currently inside the Rainbow Mist" Henzo answered. "Currently, I'm afraid we're unable to escape it—do you think you could perhaps come and rescue us?" he asked.
"You mean someone's coming?" Pukau questioned, instantly perking up at the thought of finally being able to leave the mist.
"We can go back to Ruluka now? Really? Wow!" Rongo brightened, body visibly starting to shake with clear excitement at the prospect of returning home.
"You hear that? Isn't that great?!" Isoka happily asked as she looked at Rapanui.
"We don't have any time to waste, someone needs to equip the Safety Search Gear I invented and come get us from inside the mist, and tell Wetton that he'll also need to double-check all of the—" Henzo was interrupted by Rapanui walking up to him and harshly smacking the Transponder Snail right out of his hand. "What are you doing?" he asked, shocked by the blonde's actions.
"That name you just said, Wetton, he's the exact same man that was responsible for burning down Ruluka—isn't that right, Henzo?" Rapanui sneered.
"I had to team up with that man, it was the only way I could figure out how to save all of you!" Henzo frantically explained as he tried to defend his actions.
"It's all clear to me now, you aren't the Henzo that we knew after all" Rapanui scowled. "Admit it, if you were a true Pumpkin Pirate—as you say—then you never would have become one of Wetton's pawns in a million years! Never!"
"Rapanui—"
"Don't you dare say my name, you lousy traitor!" Rapanui snarled, not wanting to hear whatever it was the old man wanted to say.
-Later-
"Now...Gum Gum Rocket!" Luffy laughed as he drew himself back and flung himself into the air. But despite the rubber man's attempt at fun, the tension in the air was thick as Rapanui and Henzo were still having trouble getting along as the blond roughly shoved the old man over in frustration.
"Let go of me right now, dammit!" Rapanui roared as he struggled against Akibi and Isoka who were quick to hold him down so he would quit attacking the old man.
"Please stop this, Rapanui!" Isoka begged.
"There has to be a mistake here, Rapanui, Henzo wouldn't ever become one of Wetton's men" Akibi tried to reason.
"You can't pass this off as a mistake, Akibi, or don't you remember? It was Wetton who burned down Ruluka!" Rapanui sneered. "If he's never forgotten the misery of that day—if he remains true to Ruluka, then he'd die before doing anything Wetton told him to!" he argued, pushing the two away from him as he advanced toward Henzo once more and harshly grabbed the front of his shirt. "Things change in fifty years, huh? If you've already forgotten the pain that man put us through...
"Fifty years may have passed for you, old man, but what happened to us wasn't nearly that long ago" he angrily stressed, making it clear that what happened fifty years ago was still fresh in his and the other children's minds.
"Hold it! You're only saying that because you don't know what's been going on all these years" Usopp quickly butted in. "Do you have any idea at all what the professor has been through out there? What he's had to deal with—do you? No, I don't think you do" he scolded.
"It seems you're only thinking about your own suffering without considering the old man's feelings" I frowned, noting how determined the young boy was to put his own suffering above everything else without stopping to consider the other side. Pain doesn't just go one way nor does it choose favorites, to try and put one's own suffering above another didn't seem right or fair to me.
"Exactly" Usopp nodded.
"I…uh…" Rapanui stumbled over his words as his eyes widened upon realizing that he was now being put under the spotlight.
"All the people in Ruluka call him Wetton's dog and all this time they treated him horribly, but he puts up with all the abuse anyway so he could keep researching the Rainbow Mist" Usopp explained as I flinched, tensing at the mention of the word "abuse" like it had burned me before quickly relaxing as I calmed myself.
"Hey..." Zoro murmured from beside me, leaning in close as he grabbed hold of my hand and gently began to rub the back of it in a comforting manner with his thumb. "You alright, you seem a little tense" he remarked, noting just how stiff I had looked just mere seconds ago.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." I murmured right back, squeezing his hand as I hazily stared straight ahead. "Just fine..." my shoulders slumped as I sighed, suddenly feeling very tired now as I ignored the concerned way he eyed me, yet opted not to say anything as he gave my hand a firm squeeze in return.
"But why?" Isoka curiously asked, dragging our attention back to the conversation at hand.
"Isn't it obvious? He was trying to save all of you" Usopp smiled.
"No, it's alright, I have no good excuse for what I've done—none at all" Henzo sighed, brushing himself off as he stood and waved away the sharpshooter's attempts to help him. "Hit me—go on, it's what I deserve, Rapanui. I swallowed my pride to live under Wetton's protection, so hit me...I deserve it—go on and hit me, okay" he said, grabbing the front of the blonde's shirt as if begging the young boy to really hit him.
"Dammit! No!" Rapanui cried out in frustration. "Why did fifty years have to pass with us stuck here? And no matter how much I want to, I just can't bring myself to hit you!" he sobbed which caused the other children to start crying as well, even Usopp seemed to get a bit emotional by the scene.
"Okay, anyone else feeling awkward here?" Zoro asked as I swatted his arm.
"Come now, that certainly was an emotional display—you can't blame them for wanting to cry" I softly smiled as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, but it still feels awkward..." he grumbled.
"There, you see, you are still friends" Usopp grinned. "A lot of time may have passed, but you still understand each other in the end and that's what really matters" he beamed.
A/N: Enjoy
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