Becoming Usopp

By the time Nojiko came back Nami was still not back yet. She most likely was enjoying a warm tension free shower after ages so it was natural for her to take her time. Nojiko took the finished plates from Usopp and placed them on the washing basin before she started warming up the leftover food as she knew that Nami had most probably not eaten yet.

“How did you do it?” Nojiko asked while she was in the middle of warming up the food.

“Did what?” Usopp asked curiously while he was leaning back on the stool to pass his time.

“A-Arlong…how did you defeat him?” Nojiko turned around to look into Usopp’s eyes.

“You just need to know that he’s dead and not coming back ever again,” Usopp said looking straight into her eyes, he was too lazy to recount all the events to another person.

“B-but…” Nojiko tried to say something but was interrupted in between by Usopp.

“You fear that he isn’t dead and would come back to haunt this village again, don’t you? You can go to Arlong Park to confirm his dead body but that view won’t be very sightly…it’s past afternoon now so that place must be smelling like a rotten fish place by now because of the heat.” Usopp said.

“I’m sorry for doubting you but I along with the rest of the villagers have been enslaved by Arlong for so many years that it's just too hard for me to believe that he’s dead and we’re finally free…” Nojiko said as memories of her past started flashing in front of her eyes.

“It indeed feels surreal, I looked at Arlong’s dead body thrice before finally concluding that all of this happening was not a dream.” Nami came out of her room while wiping her hair with a towel.

“Glad to know I’m not the only one who thought like that,” Nojiko said to herself.

“Well since we’re sisters then it's indeed possible that we’re the only ones,” Nami said as the two of them chuckled.

“So Nami was the crewmate you were talking about?” Nojiko asked Usopp as she connected the dots in her mind.

“Yep, this miss thought that she could make all of us hate her and leave her to her own devices. Unfortunately for her, our captain is a stubborn man. He only wants her as our navigator and knowing that I came here to bring her back just to realize how much trouble she was in…” Usopp said in a blaming manner which made Nami look down at the ground with a guilty smile.

“…you need to understand that you’re not on your own... you never were. You had the support from your village all along even though you didn’t know about it and now along with the villagers you also have the support of Luffy, Zoro, me and our new member Sanji so stop doing things all by yourself from now on and make yourself miserable…got it?” Usopp looked towards Nami’s guilt-filled eyes and said.

“G-Got it…T-thanks Usopp,” Nami said as a few tear drops started falling down her eyes.

“Look you made my little sister cry…” Nojiko said to Usopp accusingly as she went to Nami for comforting her and just then a few familiar voices could be heard from a distance.

“LOOK! Isn’t that the Merry!”

“Oh! It really is!”

“We finally arrived!”

“You really knew where they would be Johnny!” Luffy praised Johnny for guessing the correct location of where Nami would have gone.

“Hehe, it was a piece of cake for me,” Johnny replied in a happy mood after getting praised by Luffy.

“Nami Swannn…I’ve come to save you…” Sanji danced on his toes with hearts in his eyes.

“What are you saving her from? She stole our ship and needs to answer our questions.” Zoro grunted out.

After entering the ship they found it all empty but the state of the ship told them that Nami or Usopp were here not long ago. Just when they were wondering where to start searching for them a voice came from outside.

“Hey everyone! Come outside!” Usopp shouted alerting the people onboard the ship.

“Usopp! You’re here!” Luffy said with happiness as on inquiring about him at Baratie he got to know from one of the chefs that Usopp had gone back to the Merry midway through the happenings.

“Why were you in the Merry along with Nami and why didn’t you stop her from taking it away?” Zoro asked the moment he saw him.

“Yes, why were you with my Nami swan alone on this ship? Why wasn’t it me?!” Sanji yammered.

“My stomach gave in midway and I had to rush back to take a dump,” Usopp replied with a plain face.

“You what? In the middle of a likely battle?” Zoro asked clearly annoyed by the answer.

“Well I thought you guys were strong enough to handle them yourself…was I wrong?” Usopp asked.

“Y-You weren’t,” Zoro replied in frustration as he couldn’t refute him but still continued “…But you didn’t answer why you let Nami sail out ship here even after realizing that she left us?”

“That’s because I realized that she had a story, an interesting and tragic one. The thing is…” Usopp told them everything about Nami’s past and how she used to risk her life to steal money in order to buy the freedom of her village.

“This Arlong is too much! Where is he? Let me kick his ass?!” Sanji boiled out.

“Don’t bother,” Usopp said

“Why you bastard?” Sanji rebuked thinking that Usopp didn’t care about what happened to Nami.

“Don’t bother with it anymore. I’ve already dealt with the situation. The Arlong Pirates are no more.” Usopp said.

“WHAT!” Both Johnny and Yosaku exclaimed out as they were clearly aware of how powerful and notorious the Arlong pirates were.

“Brother Usopp…you mean to say that Arlong is dead?” Johnny asked trying to reconfirm what he had just heard.

“Indeed, I killed him this morning,” Usopp said not minding his reaction.

“YOU KILLED ARLONG!” Both Yosaku and Johnny exclaimed out loud as fear slowly crept in their eyes which soon turned into worship for Usopp.

“Brother Usopp! You’re awesome” Yosaku shouted and praised him and Johnny also gave a similar reaction.

“Was he tough?” Zoro asked.

“For my level? Nope.” Usopp replied.

Zoro just accepted it as it was, labelling Arlong as a minor pirate in the sea but that was not the case with Johnny and Yosaku. They both rushed towards Usopp and kneeled down in front of him as they said.

“Oh, Mighty Usopp! We’re are honoured to have you in our presence.” Both of them said at the same time.

“Aren’t you guys reacting too much?” Usopp asked.

“No! We aren’t…instead even praising you as a god would be no less when we take in what you’ve achieved! Dealing with Arlong was considered an impossible task by all the pirate hunters in the East Blue and you’ve done it! God Usopp! Accept my blessings!” Johnny explained to Usopp the reason for their reaction before kneeling to him again and Yosaky followed soon after.

“Where’s Nami?” Luffy asked after running through all things that Usopp had told him about Nami's past.

“She's waiting for you all there?” Usopp pointed at the house in the orchard behind him.

“Let’s go then!” Luffy started marching towards the house.

_____

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