Alright, I'm finally writing chapter 3 of Demon of the Seas! Finally, right?! I know, I know…but hey, procrastination is a mean mother. Trust me, she doesn't let you do anything you want…or need to do. *Thinks about essay I need to write* Oh boy…plus math homework and my job. Ugh…I need more hours in the day. Ah well, what the heck can ya do? Anyways, time for chapter 3! FYI, I'm skippin' the Uncle Cabbage part of the anime/manga because…well I want this story to get to the good parts faster :P

Disclaimer: In the first chapter.

'Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and-hrgh…ugh, sailing sucks.' Natsu though as he hung over the side of the small rocking boat he was currently riding in. Turning his vision over to the other passengers, he saw Luffy eating the various foods that weird Uncle Cabbage guy had given the straw hat kid. Zoro on the other hand was slightly dozing off on the corner of the ship with his swords acting as a strange sort of pillow. And Nami…oh sweet, sweet Nami was on her own ship currently staring off into the sky, as if she was thinking intently about a future decision. Natsu's eyes stayed dead on her. The girl was a mysterious person; she never talked about where she came from or anything regarding her personal business. Obviously she liked to keep to herself, but there had to be some reason why she was this way. The salmon-haired boy sighed to himself as he hoped one day that the Beli-loving teen would one day open up to him and he could do whatever he needed to do to help her. Looking back to the straw hat boy merely sitting on the head of the ship, Natsu focused his attention to the "captain" of the Straw Hats. Ever since they had met, and especially after the business with Buggy, the damn teen wouldn't stop asking for him to join him. No matter how many times he declined, the son of a bitch just kept asking. Well…maybe shouldn't call Luffy that. If, he ever heard him say anything like that about the straw hat kid…well, let's just say that Natsu's body wouldn't look the same afterwards.

Shaking his head at that, Natsu turned over onto his back and began slowly breathing to remedy the oncoming seasickness that he was feeling. He then closed his eyes and listened to the calming waves in ord- "HRRRREEEEEEEY, NRATSU!" Luffy shouted, his mouth chock full of food. "SHRO, HRAVE ROU DRCIDED TO JROIN MRY CREW!" He yelled to the groaning salmon-haired pirate.

Natsu slapped his palm to his face in exasperation. "Ai…Luffy, would you stop askin' me every five FREAKIN' MINUTES! I SAID I'D THINK ABOUT IT!" Luffy grumbled at that and walked towards the figurehead of the ship to take a seat. Hearing chuckling, the fire dragon slayer turned his head towards the giggling orange-haired thief. "You know, he's gonna come after you after me. So, I wouldn't be laughing." Natsu grinned, sticking his tongue out.

Nami just gave him a tongue back in return and hopped over onto their ship. "Maybe, maybe, but that's not the biggest problem on this ship." She said, taking a seat next to the dragon slayer on the floor. "If any of you plan on getting to the Grand Line, you're gonna need way more supplies then this." The navigator told him, motioning towards the nearly empty bag of supplies.

Hearing this, Zoro opened his eyes with a smile. "True, there's not a drop of liquor on this ship. How boring!"

"YEAH! We also don't have any meat! My stomach is going to die if I don't have any meat…" Luffy bemoaned, holding his stomach.

"Let's not worry about the problem of food and drink first!" Nami shouted at them. "Don't you idiots know? The Grand Line is the most dangerous place in the world. Every pirate in the world wishes to get the treasure there, and in order to do that, we're going to need a better ship."

Natsu grinned at that particular use of a pronoun. "Oho! Now it's we, huh? And here I thought you didn't like us. Have we begun changing this little beautiful navigator's mind, or is it just my unbelievable charm?" He winked at her.

Blushing, Nami jumped aback at the fire mage's words. "D-Don't be stupid! I-I'm merely looking out for my best interests! If this little ship goes down because of some stupid storm or pirate attack, then I'd be a goner!"

"I'd protect you." The fire wizard smiled.

A heavy blush with steam came out of the navigator's head as she stomped on hard on the boat. "S-Shut up! I don't need you to protect me!" She screamed, hopping off their ship and onto hers.

"Shishishi she likes us!" Luffy grinned, staring off into the distance.

Zoro merely rolled his eyes at that as he closed his eyes once again. "So, so any of you have any idea where we're going?"

After a couple moments of silence, a loud growl was heard from the other ship. "Do neither of you really remember what I said just a couple of hours ago?" Nami asked.

The three looked at each other with blank looks on their faces and replied, "Yes."

"No you don't…" The orange-haired thief grumbled.

"No we don't." The three agreed with a laugh.

'Idiots…' "Ugh, like I told you three before, there is a village due north of us. When we get there, we can get some supplies and maybe a new ship if we're lucky." Nami told the three hoping that this ti-

"Haha she said we again! Told ya she was comin' around!" Natsu laughed, causing Nami to growl and throw piece of wood at the dragon slayer's face. Narrowly avoiding it, Natsu chuckled, "Yup…she's comin' around. Just give me a couple more days and she may just fall in love with me."

"F-Fat chance!" Nami screamed at him, a heavy blush still evident on her face.

"I'll take that bet." The green-haired swordsman grinned.

"Ooooo ooooo me too! Let's bet meat! …Even though, I don't know what you're talking about, I'm gonna win!" Luffy screamed with a smile.

Aaaaaah….the life of a pirate sure was peaceful…

Just like Nami said, after a couple more hours of drifting through the sea, the four of them had arrived on a small island. Happy to finally be off that rocking death machine, Natsu hopped off the boat and took a deep breath inward. "AAAAH YEAH! Feel that wind…finally I can enjoy this beautiful weather we're having!"

Walking up to him, Nami asked, "Why couldn't you enjoy it on the ship?"

Before he could answer her, Luffy chimed in, "Because Natsu becomes super lame when things start moving."

Natsu turned around and shouted at the straw hat captain. "OI! Shut up! I don't become super lame! I just…get motion sickness…man, that is lame." He grumbled, rubbing his stomach in dismay.

Nami snickered at that piece of information.

"Hey, it's not funny! It's a serious condition!" The fire mage growled at her.

"…A super lame condition." The black-haired boy whispered to Zoro, causing him to snicker.

"I'm gonna kill you, Luffy…" Natsu grumbled, kicking the sand angrily seeing as he actually couldn't do it. Both because it was morally wrong and a certain someone would kill him if he so much as tried. Honestly though…Natsu was torn on whether the former or the latter was stopping him.

Looking upwards, Zoro turned to the orange-haired navigator. "Hey, is there a village here?"

Nodding, Nami unfolded her map. "Uh-huh! Looks like there's a small village on this island."

Zoro nodded back as he heard that. "Thought so. Because I just noticed those guys over there." He said, pointing to four individuals at the top of ridge to the right of them.

"Huh…thought I smelled people." Natsu mumbled.

Suddenly, three of the onlookers ran away in fear. The last one though yelled at the fleeing children for running away. "HEY! DON'T RUN AWAY!" The slim teenager screamed out. Upon closer inspection, the boy had medium-length black woolly hair and a long nose. Along with that he wore an olive green plaid bandanna, a blue and white striped armband on his left arm, along with special sniper goggles, brown overalls with a white sash and no shirt underneath. Gulping to himself silently, the slim teen stood up from his crouching position and ran up to the four pirates. Arriving in front of them, he stood tall and crossed his arms over his chest. "I am the great pirate fleet leader, Usopp, who is in charge of the security of this village! Also known as 'Captain Usopp!'" He screamed at the four pirates. 'Hehe…they must be shaking in their boots! Oh man, I'm so glad I rehearsed this in my bathroom before I left today. Otherwise, my speech probably wouldn't have sounded so intimidating! Just look at them! Utterly speechless! Okay, Usopp…just bring it home!' Clearing his throat, Usopp continued, "It's best if you don't try ot attack this village because my 80 million men are not going to forgive you!"

Natsu then turned his head up and sniffed the air. After a couple of sniffs, he whispered into the three other pirates with a grin. Zoro merely huffed and nodded with a grin of his own, while Luffy began shaking his head. Nami then rolled her eyes with a smile, "That's a sucker bet. Nice try." The orange-haired girl then turned to Usopp. "You're lying, right?"

"WHAA! I've been caught!" The olive-skinned teen screamed out, holding his head.

"Haha! Told you! You owe me three pieces of meat, Luffy!" Natsu shouted out, shooting his arms out in victory.

"AHH! Dang it! I really thought they were here…that would have been awesome to see." Luffy grumbled, kicking the sand beneath him.

After a couple of moments to himself, Usopp began freaking out again. "ARGHH! I can't believe I told them that! Bad planning! Bad planning!"

Seeing the weird teen's antics, Luffy busted out laughing with a happy smile. "Wahaha You're so funny!"

Usopp then turned around to yell at the laughing pirate. "Hey! Don't underestimate me!"

"Kinda easy to…" Natsu whispered to the other two with a snicker, causing them to chuckle.

Stomping on the ground, the long nosed teen turned to the pirates again. 'C'mon, Usopp! Get it together! That was just a misstep, but you can come back from this!' "I am a man with high self-esteem!"

"No, you're not." Natsu deadpanned.

"No, I'm not a-DAMN IT! B-But, everyone calls me the 'Honorable Usopp!'"

"Something tells me they don't."

"No, they don-AGH! SHUT UP!"

"Make me."

"…OW! Ooooooo ow my stomach just began really hurting me! Ow ow!"

"Yeah…that's what I thought."

After Usopp began to calm down, the four began to explain their true intentions for being on this island, which caused the long nosed teen to blush in embarrassment and laugh it off saying that he knew that all along…he was a terrible liar. Nonetheless, Usopp, as an act of forgiveness, took the four to a small tavern in the village. The five of them were now currently sitting at a table with numerous amounts of food surrounding them, but Natsu and Luffy were the only ones gorging on the various delicacies on the table. Probably because seeing these two eat was akin to watching predators devour its prey. So…the other three probably lost their appetite because of it.

"So, you're looking for companions and a big ship, huh?" Usopp asked the straw hat captain.

"Yup!" Luffy nodded.

"Oh! Sounds like a big adventure!" Usopp said with a smile on his face.

Swallowing the food in his mouth, Natsu asked, "Yeah. Any idea where we can get that?"

Scratching his chin, the olive-skinned teen nodded. "There's only one place where you can find the stuff you want in this village…although, it's not a very big ship, but it's not small either."

"Where?" Nami asked.

"There's a mansion not far from this village that belongs to a wealthy family. The ship belongs to the mansion's owner. Although, we say that she is the owner…she is a pitiful young girl…a weak and sick girl that always lies on the bed." Usopp said solemnly.

"Eh? Then how come she's the owner of the mansion?" The orange-haired navigator asked.

"I think i-"

"OI! Ma'am! Another plate of meat here!" Luffy shouted.

Zoro raised his glass. "And more sake!"

"And make some of the meat flaming! Like, on fire, ok? No…no don't give me that look, I can eat it. Just trust me!" Natsu shouted towards the cook.

"ARE EITHER OF YOU EVEN LISTENING?!" Usopp shouted at them.

"Buddy, I got two ears. One for listening, and the other for…well also for listening, but right now I only need one for the numerous amounts of exposition you're givin' me, ok? So, if…no no! I said flaming! ON FIRE! Are you people deaf?! I want the piece of meats on f-ugh, excuse me." The fire mage grinned with a wink and ran off to explain to the chef just how he should be properly cooking a piece of meat.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Nami merely sighed. "Just…just continue. I'll explain it to them afterwards. Something tells me I'm going to need to get used to it anyways."

Shaking his head, Usopp continued, "I think it happened around a year ago…that girl's parents died of sickness, leaving her a large inheritance, a mansion, and over ten servants. It was sad really. Her parents were a big part of this community…they meant the world to us…to her." He then leaned back in his chair and blew out a gust of air. "Even if you are really rich, it doesn't exempt you from sorrow."

'…it doesn't?' Nami stared blankly at the olive-skinned teen as she gripped the cloth on top of the table. "Never mind…let's forget about searching for a ship in the village. We'll go and search somewhere else."

"Ah boo! We're leaving already?" Natsu said, sitting back in his chair. "I just taught those chefs how t-ON FIRE! More flames you pansies! Yeah, like that! Throw it! Oh c'mon, I'll catch it! ...JUST THRO-" His hand reached out and caught the flaming chunk of meat. "Mmmmmm now this is meat." He said, biting off a chunk of it. Everyone just stared wide-eyed at the boy eating the fiery meat, as Luffy salivated over it. "No, Luffy, this is mine!" The fire mage growled, pushing back the boy's hands trying to grab the piece.

"…You guys are a peculiar bunch. So, how does he-" Usopp began before Nami cut him off.

"Trade secret." She murmured.

Natsu just winked at the two as he continued fighting off the straw hat captain.

Usopp was a bit saddened at hearing that seeing as how he could have used that in his next tale to tell Kaya. A man who could eat fire was quite the tale…ah well. He still had plenty more lies in his bag. "So, back to the companion thing, you still looking?"

Hearing this, Luffy then stopped reaching for the fire mage's fiery meat and turned to Usopp. "Is there somebody who wants to be our companion?"

Grinning, Usopp pointed his thumb towards himself. "Let me be the captain, and I'll join you!"

The four looked at each other and gave each other a small look and nodded. "Never mind!"

"WHAT KIND OF ATTITUDE IS THAT!?" Usopp screamed at them.

Seconds after Usopp's outburst, the door to the tavern slammed open, which revealed three small children that oddly resembled vegetables. "THE USOPP PIRATE GROUP IS HERE!"

"W-What?" Nami simply asked with a bewildered look.

Natsu just snickered at seeing the determination on their faces. "I have no idea what is going on…but I'm lovin' it."

Ninjin, the one who resembled a carrot, asked, "Where's the captain?"

Piiman, the one who resembled a green pepper, answered, "D-Did you three eat him?!"

Tamanegi, the one who resembled an onion, ran up to the table and saw the empty plates. "AHH! They did eat him!"

Luffy, having not paid the three boys much attention, patted his stomach with a burp. "Yum yum! What a delicious meat!"

The three boys then began to sweat as they all came to the conclusion that their captain truly had been eaten. Nami chuckled at seeing the three boys actually think that the innocent, dumb Luffy had eaten their captain. The fire mage, seeing a prime way to screw with the kids, (call him an asshole, but this was too good of a chance to pass up) whispered to Zoro, "I'll buy ya another round of sake if you…" He whispered the rest into Zoro's ear.

Nodding to the dragon slayer, the green-haired swordsman agreed and placed his palm under his chin and called to three boys. "Your captain…"

"W-What? What did you do!?" The three of them asked with terror stricken on their faces.

"We just…"

"What…WHAT!?"

"ATE HIM."

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! MONSTER! MONSTER!" The three screamed, staring at Nami.

"WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?!" Nami shouted at them. She then slammed her hand on the table as she glared at the laughing swordsman and fire wizard. "Why did you tell him to do that!?"

Laughing out loud, Natsu wiped a falling tear from the side of his eye. "Hahahaha…oh man, totally worth it. Oi! Can I get a round of sake, please! You earned it." He pointed to the chuckling swordsman. "Haha…ahhh…oh c'mon don't give me that look." The fire mage said to the glaring navigator. "You were laughing just as hard as us before they pointed you out. If you ask me though…I think you look just as beautiful glaring as you do smiling." He winked at her.

"Hrgh!" Nami grunted, turning her face away to hide her blush.

Natsu smiled at that and caught the thrown sake bottle that was suspiciously aimed right at his head. "Okay! You all just lost a HUGE tip I was going to give ya!" Planting the sake bottle on the table, he moved it over to Zoro.

"You weren't going to tip them anyways, were you?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.

Natsu snickered. "Dick, I don't even have a Beli on me. I can't even pay for that bottle of sake for ya."

"…You're an ass." He grinned, pouring a bit of sake into his cup.

"Says the guy drinking the practically stolen bottle of sake." Natsu grinned back. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, he saw Luffy pointing to the now fainted three children on the floor. "Wow…they really fell for it. *sigh* Ok, everybody help them up before they start screaming at the top of their lungs that Luffy's a cannibal."

"Hey, we all ate the meat!" Luffy screamed out, getting the attention of several other patrons.

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP AND JUST HELP ME!" Natsu screamed back at him. 'Urge to kill this kid…rising.'

"Wait, so he said it's that time again?" Tamanegi asked them.

Zoro nodded. "Yup, after her said that, he left the shop."

"Oh! So it was time to go to the mansion." Piiman nodded back.

Nami scrunched her nose at hearing that. "Mansion? The place where the sick girl lives?"

"Yup." Niinjin replied.

"Why does he go there?" Luffy asked them.

"To tell lies!" The carrot-looking kid smiled.

The straw hat kid tilted his head at that. "Isn't that a bad thing to do?"

"That's not bad! Actually, it's great!" The green pepper-looking kid told Luffy.

"Eh? How is telling lies a good thing?" Luffy scratched his head. 'Ace always told me that lying was bad and that I shouldn't do it…was he wrong?'

"Hey, kid." Natsu called out to Piiman. "How is it good?"

"Well, Usopp always lies to Kaya because he wants to make her happy. She's always cooped up in that mansion of hers and that mean ol' butler of hers, Clahador, never lets her leave. So, our captain always takes time out of his day to go to her room and make up stories about him doing extraordinary things!" Piiman replied with a smile.

Natsu nodded back with a smile of his own. "That's sweet. Seems like the long-nose liar is a man of hidden depths."

"Wow! He's a great guy! Shishishi I knew there was something good about him!" Luffy grinned.

"Hmm…who knew." Nami smiled, a bit happy at the thought of the sick girl at least having some semblance of enjoyment in her life. …Someone had to. The orange-haired thief closed her eyes tightly as she tried to block out the negative thoughts that were plaguing her, which Natsu noticed with a frown. Touching her shoulder, she jerked back a bit and stared at him with a bewildered look on her face. "W-Wha-"

"I just wanted to ask if you we-"

"I'm fine! Ok? Fine. Just…keep your hands to yourself." Nami told him, pushing her seat back and walking to the women's restroom.

The fire mage just sighed as he once again failed to help the orange-haired girl with whatever was plaguing her. "Don't worry." A voice told him. He lifted up his head and saw Luffy looking at him. "She likes us. And as he friends, sooner or later she'll tell us what's bothering her." He smiled at him.

'Well…looks like Usopp isn't the only one with hidden depths. Maybe he really is…' Shaking his head, Natsu grinned at the boy and pushed his hat into his face, causing a cry to utter out from him.

"Jerk..." Luffy mumbled.

"Heh, yeah I am." Natsu grinned, tilting the bottle that Zoro was drinking out of, causing it to trickle down onto his shirt.

"AGH! What the hell?!" Zoro screamed out.

"See?" The fire wizard shrugged at the straw hat.

"Wow…you're cool!" The three boys called out.

Blushing slightly, Natsu rubbed the back of his head with an embarrassed grin. "Pshh…nah."

Luffy then pushed his hat back onto his head and slammed his hand onto the table. "Okay then! Enough of that! Since Usopp is making the rich girl laugh, we can go and ask her for a ship!"

"I thought you said you'd give up on that!" Nami yelled at him as she re-entered the room. This time though she refused to sit next to either of the pirates and stood with her arms crossed near the table.

Luffy merely shrugged. "Meh, I change my mind a lot!" He then moved his head towards the three kids. "Hey, can you take us to the big mansion where the girl lives?"

The three kids nodded and motioned them to follow.

As the group followed the three vegetable looking kids, they then were led to a large mansion which was blocked by a tall gate that surrounded the entire perimeter. "Hello! Can you please lend us a ship!" Luffy cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed out.

"I don't think they can hear you, Luffy." Zoro deadpanned.

The straw hat captain turned back to him. "You think I should yell louder then?"

"Luffy-"

"Ah forget it, let's just go in." Luffy shrugged as he began climbing up the gate.

Zoro just growled as he watched his captain ignore him and continue climbing the gate. He then felt a hand be placed on his shoulder and saw Natsu patting him with a sympathetic look. "Believe me…I know your pain."

Slapping her hand to her face, Nami just sighed. "We can't stop him, can we?"

Natsu just shook his head. "Nope. So, if we you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" The fire mage said, igniting his feet and shot himself over the gate.

"COOOOOOL!" The three boys shouted out together at seeing that awesome display.

Nami smiled at seeing the three boys outburst and almost lost herself to the gleefulness these people continued to drag her into. Shaking her head to dispel those happy thoughts, Nami forced herself to remember her true goal and jumped to grab ahold of the gate.

Unbeknownst to the others, Usopp was just finishing another of his glorious lies in order to cheer up the sick Kaya. Usopp leaned back further into the tree trunk as he continued, "-you shoulda seen the size of that goldfish! Just taking one gander of it woulda knocked your rich, little socks off!"

Kaya, a slim and pale-skinned girl with blonde hair and brown eyes, laughed as she asked, "Hahahaha…so what happened to the goldfish?"

Smiling to himself, Usopp replied, "Well then I sliced it up into little pieces and sent them to the country of the dwarves and up to this day they still haven't been able to finish eating it! Then, because of my amazing great powers, they all called me-"

"CAAAPTAIN!" A voice shouted out.

"They called you captain?" Kaya asked, scratching her head in confusion.

Usopp nodded before he realized he wasn't the one who said that. Recognizing that voice, Usopp turned to see his three partners with the new pirates he had encountered earlier. "HUH!? W-Why are you all here?!"

Tamanegi pointed to the straw hat pirate. "We brought this guy here."

Kaya tilted her head as she stared at all the strangers in her yard. "Hmm? Who are these people, Usopp?"

"Ohhh! So you're the rich lady!" Luffy shouted to the sickly girl.

Natsu just pinched the bridge of his nose. "Leave it to Luffy to be blunt as fuck." He whispered to himself.

Usopp began to sweat profusely as he looked to Kaya and the group. 'Oh no no no no no! Quick! I gotta come up with a lie! Come on…think think! …I GOT IT!' Snapping his fingers, he rushed over to Luffy and wrapped his arm around the straw hat kid. "Kaya, these guys are my admirers! They all heard of my reputation and travelled far and wide to see me here. They're the new members of the Usopp pirate group!"

Luffy nodded until his slow brain realized that that wasn't the case at all. "Wait, no, that's n-"

Usopp then closed his mouth before he could continue speaking. "Now, now, Vladmir, enough talk. You know that irritates your asthma!" The long-nosed teen then saw the straw hat kid stare angrily at him and gave him an apologetic smile. He then felt a slimy feeling on his fingers and tore his hand away from Luffy's mouth. "EWWW! Did you just lick my fingers!?"

Luffy simply grinned as he bonked Usopp on the head. "No, I punched you on the head! See?"

"AGH!" Usopp screamed, kneeling down as he held his head in his hands. 'Oh yeah…I feel that. I'm gonna be feeling that for days…'

Natsu simply sighed as he saw this conversation was going nowhere and quickly sought to rectify that. "Listen umm…sorry we never got your name." 'Or if we did, I wasn't listening.'

Kaya then turned to the salmon-haired man and smiled. "Oh, how rude of me! Please excuse me. My name is Kaya and this is me and my fa-…I mean, my estate. N-Nice to meet all of you." She lightly bowed.

Usopp caught that small slip of the tongue and frowned. 'Kaya…'

Natsu, also noticing that slip of the tongue, quickly skirted away from that subject. "Nice to meetcha, Kaya. The name's Natsu. Gotta say, Usopp did say you were beautiful, b-"

"WAAAAAIT! I di-" Usopp screamed before Luffy closed his mouth and smiled.

"Shh, Vladmir…your…athma-thing is gonna act up." The straw hat teen grinned.

"Asthma, Luffy. It was asthma." Zoro said to him.

Luffy just stuck his tongue out at him while Zoro just rolled his eyes.

Kaya blushed at hearing her friend talk about her like that. She covered her cheeks before anyone saw the dark reddish hue that was forming. "U-Usopp said that?"

Natsu, smiling devilishly, continued, "Yup! He said your hair shined like the sun and that each strand of your hair was like little rays of sunshine that illuminated his eyes and brightened his soul. Your smile…oh your smile. He told us that that was the first image that he thought of every morning and last thought before he went to sleep. Your-UGH!" He grunted, feeling a hard elbow slam into his stomach.

Eye slightly twitching, Nami frowned as an odd feeling swirled in her stomach as she heard this buffoon's words towards the girl. Luckily, hitting the guy seemed to alleviate most of the feeling. Taking a deep breath, she stared up towards the blonde sickly girl. "Please excuse this idiot, he's…well an idiot."

"You're id-OOF!" He grunted as Nami elbowed him again. "…same place."

Kaya, still blushing vehemently at her friend's supposed words, looked to the orange-haired girl. "S-So…Usopp didn't really say any of that?"

Usopp began shaking his head as his mouth was still being held shut by the strong Luffy.

Breathing a sigh of…not relief, Kaya's blush began to slowly fade from her face. 'Hmm…strangely…I feel a sense of disappointment that Usopp didn't…oh what am I thinking?!' Shaking her head back and forth, the blonde girl quickly dispelled any of those weird thoughts that were beginning to crawl forth. "Y-You'll have to excuse my brashness, but…why exactly are you people here?"

"They wanna ask a favor of you!" Piiman yelled.

"A request? Of me?" Kaya asked, pointing to herself.

Luffy began nodding quickly. "Yeah! We need a reeeeeeaaaaally BIG ship! If y-"

Before Luffy could continue, a loud voice screamed out. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING HERE?!" The group turned to see a slim man with glasses and slicked black hair walk over to them. The man was wearing a black suit with two golden markings on it over a white shirt with a curious collar, with spiral-like protrusions on the edges, a standard black tie and sports striped shoes. "You can't just barge into the mansion like this!"

Usopp's eyes widened as he shouted out, "Thrm bfuler!" His eyes then turned downwards and remembered that his mouth was being covered up and sighed.

Luffy turned to the long-nosed liar and asked, "The who?"

"Thmr bfluer!"

"…what?"

"Bfler! The Bfler!"

"…I can't understand you! Speak clearly!"

"Luffy, for god's sakes, you're covering his mouth!" Zoro screamed at him.

Luffy's eyes wandered to see that his hands were indeed covering Usopp's mouth and chuckled embarrassedly. "Haha oh yeah! Whoops!" He then removed his hands from the wooly haired teen.

"…Jerk." Usopp mumbled before turned his attention towards the fuming butler, Klahador.

The butler returned Usopp's look with a piercing gaze. "Oh…it's you again. I hope that you weren't bothering our beloved lady, for your own sake." He said to the skinny liar, pushing his glasses with his right hand.

Trying to placate the tense atmosphere, Kaya raised her hands upwards into the air. "H-Hold on, Klahador. Usopp and his friends we-"

"-Just leaving? I hope so. Otherwise, drastic measures will have to be taken." The bespectacled butler told the lady of the house, while looking sharply towards the group of pirates.

Natsu just snorted at the weak threat coming from the servant. "Or what? You'll shoo us away with a handkerchief? Or perhaps you'll barrage us with distasteful words such as 'scoundrel' or 'ruffian.' Hell, maybe you'll be stupid enough to think you can pick a fight with us. Spoiler alert: You'll lose…painfully." He winked at the stoic butler.

Klahador remained calm and ignored the pink-haired boy's pathetic insults. Turning to the wooly-haired pirate, he cleared his throat. "You all have no idea who you're aligning yourselves with, do you?" He asked the group of people. Receiving no response, besides a silent gulp from Usopp, he continued, "No, I thought not. You know, I've heard rumors about you, Usopp. The villagers talk about you all the time."

Usopp's ears twitched at hearing that he was the talk of the village. Surely they said only positive things about him. Smiling to himself, he said, "Oh, why thank you! No need to fear though, I'm just like everyone else. Feel free to call me Captain Usopp though. It's one of my many, many titles I've acquired out on the high seas."

Klahador's mouth twitched at hearing that. "Ah…I see." His head lowered as he pushed his glasses up back to his face. "Hahaha…I can see you lie rather well. To think your pathetic mouth could spew such filthy lies that almost I believed it." Raising his head to stare at the long-nosed liar, he continued, "But, what can I expect from the son of a filthy pirate."

Usopp gritted his teeth at hearing his father's name be insulted. "…D-Did you say filthy?"

Ignorant to the tense atmosphere, Luffy tilted his head and asked, "Eh? His dad was a pirate?"

The bespectacled butler nodded his head at the air-headed boy's question. "Yes. This filth and the lovely Kaya belong to totally different worlds. Listen, if it's money you're looking for? Name your price. Surely a…captain such as yourself needs money to travel across the high seas." He snickered to himself.

Before he could continue however, Kaya slammed her hands onto her windowsill. "That's enough, Klahador! Apologize to Usopp at once!"

Klahador's hand twitched at the angry tone from the frail teen's voice. To think…she still thought she had any power. 'Patience…you'll have to play this stupid part for just a little longer. Afterwards, these two can rot together underneath the high seas. Still though…' Pushing his glasses upwards again, the butler continued his barrage of insults. "I feel sorry for you. You hate your father, don't you? You must. After all, he's nothing but a 'dumb treasure hunter' who deserted his family and village!"

"KLAHADOR!" Kaya shouted at him.

"Say something about my father again…and you'll regret it!" Usopp growled angrily at Klahador, his eyes full of fury and anger as his teeth clenched tighter together.

Smirking to himself, the butler said, "Why so serious? You know, if you were really smart, you'd told another one of your stupid lies. Perhaps, that your father is merely a travelling merchant, or that you and him aren't blood-related, or-" Before the grinning Klahador could continue, Usopp finally snapped and cried out with a roar of passion as he slammed his fist straight into his face. From the force of the blow, Klahador flew back onto the ground. Spitting out a speck of blood, he growled out, "Look how violent you are! Just like your father!"

"SHUT UP!" Usopp yelled out. "I'm proud that my dad is a pirate! I'm proud that he is a brave warrior of the sea! You're right that I like to lie, but I'm proud of having a pirate's blood in me! I don't have to pretend I'm not! I AM THE SON OF A PIRATE!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, causing it to echo throughout the area.

Having had time to digest the long-nosed boy's features finally, something inside of Luffy's mind sparked a memory. "Oh yeah…that guy! Now I remember!"

Klahador merely chuckled as Usopp screamed and glared vehemently towards him. "Heh. You say Pirates are 'Brave Warriors of the Sea?' Don't make me laugh. They're nothing but a bunch of savages and bloodthirsty scoundrels just like your deadbeat of a father, which gives me plenty of reason to kick you out of here!"

Before the butler could continue, Usopp lunged at him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "I dare you to say that again!" 'Just one more punch…that's all I need! To make him pay…for insulting my father!'

As Usopp raised his fist to give Klahador another smackdown, Kaya screamed out to him, "Usopp, please stop! Please don't use violence!" The long-nosed teen's fist stopped dead in its tracks. His gaze moved towards the blonde girl's teary-eyed face and felt his fist tremble. "Please…K-Klahador isn't a b-bad person. He's concerned about me." She stuttered out, all eyes seeming to be on her, causing the majority of them to miss the slight twitching of the butler's lips as he heard Kaya's words. All except for a certain dragon slayers…

After hearing Kaya, Klahador smacked Usopp's hand away from him and gave him a cold stare. "Get the hell out of here! Savages like you are not welcome here! I'll let you off this time, but I warn you…don't come here again!" He screamed towards the trembling liar.

Usopp took a slow step backwards, feeling an intense aura emanating from the butler suddenly. Holding back a few tears, he looked towards Kaya in the hopes that she would say something on his behalf. That he wasn't a savage…that the butler was wrong about him and his father…that…that they were friends.

But she said nothing…

The wooly-haired teen lowered his head in shame as he gripped his fists to the point of almost cutting them with his fingernails. Breathing out a heavy sigh, Usopp gave the butler, as well as Kaya, an intense stare. "Fine, I understand. I'll never come back again!" He yelled out, as he stomped away towards the gate.

"Usopp…" Kaya whispered out as she watched the boy who had brought her immense feelings of pleasure and contentment leave her house.

"You bastard! Our captain is not that kind of person!" Tamanegi screamed towards the butler on behalf of his friend.

"Yeah! Stupid!" Piiman followed up afterwards.

"Idiot!" Niinjin shouted with them.

"Yeah, you stupid idiot bastard!" Luffy screamed at the top of his lungs, until Zoro whacked him on the head.

"Idiot, why are you screaming along with them?" The moss-haired swordsman asked.

Twitch marks began to form on Klahador's forehead as he yelled to the remaining people, "All of you, get the hell out of here now!"

"Grr…why you!" The straw hat kid growled as he began to lunge at the butler before Zoro began dragging him out of there kicking and screaming. Before the three kids could follow suit, Nami grabbed ahold of them and also began dragging them out of there. As the rest began to leave, Kaya merely closed her window and bundled up in her bed with her pillow to her chest. Klahador merely stood there as he watched the remaining trespassers leave until he saw that the pink-haired pirate was still lounging about. "Hey, you deaf? I said that all everyone, including pirates and trespassers, need to leave now!" He shouted at the staring pirate.

Still staring, Natsu merely tilted his head in thought as he looked intently at the butler. Finally, he gave him a cocky smirk and began to turn around before he gave the Klahador one last look. "Doesn't that include ex-pirates too?" The dragon slayer winked.

The bespectacled man's eyes shot out in disbelief as he heard the man's question. "W-What did you just say?"

Natsu just kept smiling. "I said, doesn't that include pieces of shit like you? C'mon, pal, you gotta learn to listen, Kurodor…or is it, Klahador? Sorry, I'm no good with names…but faces to me are the ones that usually stick with me. Faces kinda like yours…hmm…ah well." He gave the fuming butler one last wink before walking off in a casual pace.

'No…he couldn't. That…that was impossible! No one knew he was…no. Pull yourself together! There is no way some pink-haired pirate simpleton could possibly know who I am. I'm just being paranoid. After all, it's been a while since I've pulled off a plan as grand as this. Still though…it wouldn't hurt to be a bit precautious. Hopefully, that idiot Jango can walk into town without causing a scene.' Klahador thought to himself, as he pushed his glasses onto his face and wiped his face clean with his handkerchief, and walked back into the mansion to console the rich crying blonde twit.

As the rest of the group walked back to the town, they saw that Usopp was nowhere to be found until Piiman deduced that their captain was perhaps by the shore to be alone with his thoughts. So, Luffy, being the social idiot that he was, took it on himself to bring back the lying captain back here and began dragging along the ambivalent dragon slayer to track him down with his hypersensitive nose. Using Natsu's nose, they finally found Usopp sitting alone on a hilltop beside a tree. Seeing him, Luffy quickly ran up the tree and scared him by shouting at him as he hung upside down by a hanging branch. "There you are!" Luffy shouted, causing Usopp to jump up in fright at being surprised.

"Ahhhhh! Don't do that! I hate surprises! Why can't you be more normal and just say hello!" The wooly-haired liar screamed angrily towards the smiling straw hat pirate.

Hearing the insane prospect at Luffy being normal, Natsu merely scoffed as he took a seat next to the enraged liar. "Pshh, Luffy? Normal? That's a riot. The day that Luffy becomes normal is the day your nose stops growing." He chuckled, causing Usopp to blush embarrassingly and rub his nose.

"Hey, my nose is the perfect size and it has nothing to do with my lies either! It just…is…" Usopp retorted, until he began to rub his head to come up with a snappy comeback.

"Is really big?" Luffy said with the tilt of his head.

"SHUT UP!" Usopp screamed angrily at the straw hat boy.

Luffy merely chuckled as he stared at Usopp's face. "Your dad…is Yasopp, right?"

All the anger suddenly dropped from the long-nosed boy's face as he heard the name of his father. "Y-Yeah! How did you know that?"

"Shishishi I've known him since I was a kid!" The straw hat pirate smiled.

Usopp's heart began to beat faster at finally meeting someone who knew his dad personally besides his mother. "Y-You knew my dad?"

"Yup! I thought you looked kinda familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. But seeing you up close, you look just like him!" Luffy told him.

"Where is he now? Do you know?" Usopp suddenly asked him point blank in the hopes that this boy knew where his father was.

"I dunno." He replied, causing Usopp to droop his shoulders slightly. "But, I'm pretty sure he is on Shanks the Red-haired's ship! Haha Yasopp was always one of my favorite pirates on that crew!"

As the straw hat pirate began recanting his experiences with the self-proclaimed sharpshooter, Usopp could feel his heart swelling with pride for his father. All the nasty things that that damn butler said about him was wrong! His father truly was a brave warrior of the sea! Just like he always knew he was! 'Father…'

Natsu smiled as he saw the two bonding over a shared passion for piracy and took a large breath of fresh air. He always loved that smell…the sea breeze. While it always was mixed with that horrific experience of riding on a ship, the dragon slayer couldn't deny that riding with close friends was something he treasured above all else. The fire mage sighed as he wondered what his current friends were doing know…he hadn't been in this land long, but thanks to the actions of certain individuals, he was able to find himself in the company of friendly and exceptional individuals. Granted, most were bit…on the weird side, but hey, it's not like he was some run of the mill guy either. Still, he wondered if…wait, wasn't that the- "Hey, isn't that shithole of a butler?" He asked the two beside him. 'Oh sorry, wait…"butler"'

Getting the attention of Usopp and Luffy, they both looked down and also confirmed that it was indeed that shithead, Klahador. "Hey it is! But what the heck is he doing here…and with that weird looking dude?" The long-nosed teen asked, pointing at the odd man with a blue trench coat, and a big hat of matching color. He wore a white shirt under his coat, and green-brown gloves. He also had light brown pants with a black belt and black shoes with big white socks. However, perhaps the oddest thing about him was that weird trunk-like object sticking out of his chin. Looking at each other, they nodded and leaned in slowly to hear just what exactly was going on.

"Jango, you idiot, I told you not to draw the attention of the villagers. Why did you sleep in the middle of the street?" Klahador asked with a growl. 'Should've known I couldn't trust this fool to not be conspicuous. I have half a mind to kill this fool right here. Still…with the prospect of that pink-haired idiot possibly knowing who I am, it wouldn't hurt to have an extra body in case things go south.'

The odd man just blew him off with a hand. "How can I attract any attention? It's not like I look weird or something!"

The three up top sweatdropped at the guy's comment.

Shaking his head at the man's idiocy, Klahador pushed the rims of his glasses back onto his face and gave the man a hard look. "So…are you all prepared for it?"

"Of course!" Jango nodded to his boss. "We can start operation 'Assassinate The Lady of The House' anytime!"

Hearing that, the three widened their eyes at what those two were planning. 'What!? Assassinate?!' Both Luffy and Usopp screamed internally.

Natsu on the other hand just blew a heavy sigh. 'Ugh…so I was right, after all. Mmmm…guess I owe her a couple of beli for making me study all those pirates in the East Blue. I just hope she doesn't hold me to the rest of the deal too…'

Klahador, in the meantime, was merely shaking his head side to side in disgust. "Assassinate is such an ugly word. I prefer to label it as…an accident." The butler chuckled with a sardonic smile stretched across his face.

Nodding at his boss' choice of words, Jango said, "Ah! Yeah! Accident! We'll call it an accident! Excellent choice, Captain Kuro!"

'Kuro…called it! Yes! …Then again, it doesn't bode well for that rich girl seeing as how I'm right…' Natsu said to himself in his head.

Klahador's eye twitched at hearing his past alias. "Jango, I gave up that name three years ago, don't call me that name again! You are the captain now." 'You simpleton…hmph. I wonder who'd make a better captain, this buffoon or that lying coward? Heh, either way, they'll be dead soon enough.'

Hearing all this talking, Luffy scratched his head. "Mmmmm, do any of you two really get what's going on. I mean, I get that they're planning on hurting Usopp's rich girlfriend, which is not okay, but…I'm lost after all that."

"Okay, first of all, she's not my girlfriend! Second, Kuro…Kuro…I think I've heard that name before." Usopp said to himself as he scratched the lower side of his chin.

Seeing the two were confused, Natsu decided to step in to alleviate the confusion. "Captain Kuro, the leader of the…Black Cat pirates or some other stupid name like that. Supposedly, he was this expert planner that helped him rob and plunder. Then, the Marines finally got him and had him executed…or so the rumor went. And now, here he is…the same shitface he was three years ago." He growled out, shaking his head at remembering some of the things he had read up on this East Blue pirate.

"Mmmmmm…I don't like him." The straw hat captain muttered.

"Same here. I mean, I never really liked him, but it was only because he would keep me away from Kaya. But now…now that I know what kind of person he truly is, it puts my anger of him on a whole new level!" The long-nosed teen whispered vehemently. Back down the hill, the two conspirators were reveling in their remembrance of their own pasts with one another. The three listened intently as they learned that instead of Kuro being executed by the Marines, he was actually alive and well hiding out for three years in Syrup village as nothing but a humble butler. Usopp gritted his teeth as he pieced together that all the time the butler spent together with Kaya was nothing but his fabricated plan in deceiving Kaya and her parents that he was an ally, while truly he was nothing but a snake waiting for his moment to strike.

Suddenly, Jango shot up off of his seat and gave Kuro a thumbs up. "Don't worry, boss! You can leave the girl to me."

Hearing Jango's boastful tone, Kuro shook his head and turned to him, while simultaneously pushing his glasses back onto his face. "No, killing her is not enough. You have to make sure it looks like an accident! It looks like you're not ready yet!"

"Shut up! I'm completely ready!" Jango retorted. "When you give the signal, we'll charge into the village…and we'll kill the lady. Then you can openly claim her inheritance."

Gritting his teeth, Kuro pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "You know, I wonder if your mom actually gave your brain! I have absolutely no relation to her family. Therefore, I cannot OPENLY gain her inheritance!" He growled at him.

Jango merely gave a light shrug. "We'll work on it! All w-"

"All YOU need to do is follow MY orders. There is no WE! So, listen well because if I have to repeat myself, then I swear you'll be next on my list, ok?" Kuro pointed to his conspirator who gave him a nervous nod in return. "Good. Before you kill her you have to hypnotize her and make sure she writes my name into her will! I repeat, she needs to write, and I quote, 'I will leave all my wealth to my butler, Klahador.' That way, I can openly claim her wealth for myself. I've spent three damn years on this pathetic little village getting these simpletons to trust me, and as soon as she writes the will, no one will suspect me." He placed an open palm on his suit with a smug smile.

"True…nobody ever suspects the butler…for some reason." Natsu muttered to himself.

"Hahaha! That's our Kuro! Well, the men aren't too far from here! Our ship has been anchored close by for almost a week. Hehe…they can't hold back any longer." Jango said to his boss forebodingly, causing Usopp to gulp silently.

"H-Horrible…I've heard a horrible plan." Usopp whispered to himself. 'I have t-to…I-'

"Hey! What's going on? This doesn't look good!" Luffy said, pushing his chin onto his folded arms with a confused stare, causing Usopp's jaw to drop and Natsu to facepalm.

Shaking his head back and forth, the wooly-haired teen swallowed heavily. 'For three years they've been lusting after Kaya's wealth. And that butler…no! Captain Kuro is still alive…and I punched him. H-He's going to kill me for sure! And K-' "Kaya will be killed too! The village will be under attack! No…this isn't good. Not good at all!" Usopp whispered, sweating profusely. Seeing movement in the corner of his eyes, he turned to see Luffy suddenly stand up. "Don't stand up! They'll see you!" He whispered to the straw hat boy.

Ignoring him entirely, Luffy took in a deep breath and shouted, "Hey! You two! Don't you dare touch the nice rich lady!" Because of Luffy's screams, it caused both Kuro and Jango to stare upwards.

"Oh…it's Usopp…" Kuro muttered, moving his eyes to see the straw hat kid along with… 'That pink-haired punk.' "Did any of you…hear anything?" He asked the three with a severe glare.

Usopp began shaking his head back and forth. "N-No! We didn't we swear. We heard nothing!"

Luffy turned to Usopp with a confused stare. "What are you talking about? We heard everything about his bad plan. Oi, are you deaf or something?" He asked, causing Usopp to give him an angry glare.

Jango put a hand on his fedora as he nodded. "Heard everything, huh? Oh well, you guys, take a look at this pendulum." He said as he began swinging a pendulum that he had taken out of his pocket.

"Look at what?" Luffy said, moving his head to stare at the pendulum.

"Ahh! He's going to use that to kill us!" Usopp screamed out, quickly pushing himself to the ground to avoid being seen.

"When I say one, two, Jango, you will fall asleep. One…two…Ja-AGH!" Jango screamed as he felt a flame burn his hand, forcing him to drop his pendulum on the floor.

Kuro's eyes widened as he saw the flame come from upwards. His head then turned up to see the pink-haired pirate with his hand in the shape of a gun and smoke emanating from his fingertips. Natsu merely smiled and blew the smoke from his fingers. "Luffy, feeling sleepy?" The fire mage asked.

Luffy shook his head with a disappointed look. "Nope. Man, that was lame!"

Kuro gritted his teeth in anger at seeing his plan fall to cinders in front of his eyes, but quickly recomposed himself before he could left his temper overtake him. "Ahem, I suppose you'll be running back to that little village of yours now, huh Usopp? But do you really think they'll believe you over the kindly butler? After all, your reputation is in shatters and everyone, even the lovely Kaya, sees you as nothing but a liar and a nuisance. Whatever you do, you and your compatriots, I have a large army ready to take what is rightfully mine. So, if you have any working brain cells left, you'll take the cowards way out and steal a boat and leave this village." He smiled, pushing the rims of his glasses back onto his face.

Usopp felt his stomach drop as he listened to the evil Kuro's words. "He's right…in their eyes, I'm nothing but a liar. A boy who cries pirates…and now that there really are pirates…who'll believe me." He whispered to himself. 'N-No! I…I still have to try! Kaya and the villagers need to know!' Quickly steeling himself, Usopp shot out towards the village before Kuro or his lackey could stop him.

Luffy turned to see the long-nosed boy run off back towards the village in a hurry. "Oi, Luffy." Natsu whispered to him, getting the boy's attention. "Follow him. Warn Zoro and Nami. Formulate a plan or whatever you can before this shitstain of a pirate can rally his men."

"Aww but I really want-"

"NOW!" Natsu growled at him, giving the boy a fierce glare that told the straw hat captain that he meant business.

Luffy merely pouted as he nodded in affirmation and ran off towards the village. "Don't think you can make this a habit!" He shouted as he sped away.

Kuro glared upwards at the dragon slayer as he whispered to Jango, "How long till you can rally the men?"

"As soon as-"

"Then go, NOW!" Kuro growled, fury emanating from the butler. Jango nodded quickly before running off towards the anchored ship.

Both the dragon and the pirate stared each other down…neither backing down from their glares. The two of them knew that they would soon battle it out…but not now.

"You're weak. You won't win." Natsu told the bespectacled pirate.

Kuro chuckled. "Haha oh boy, I've faced pirates far, far stronger and more experienced than you and your friends. What makes you think that you can possibly triumph over my three year plan?"

"Simple. I'm stronger than you. Hell, Luffy and Zoro could take you with their eyes blinded and their arms lobbed off. You're weak…leave now. And maybe…I won't burn you to a crisp." The dragon slayer growled out.

"Why, how noble of you. To think pirates in this day and age still know the concept of chivalry. I'm surprised." Kuro smirked.

"You're surprised? I'm shocked that a piece of shit like you knows what chivalry is. I mean, murdering an innocent girl who trusts you with her life…to stab her in the back? Wow…you're lucky I'm in a good mood today. Know this, the only reason I'm letting you go is because I'd crush you easily. If you're still the man the people in the East Blue used to fear, than ready yourself and meet me near that mansion where we can settle this." Natsu told the pirate with a sneer.

"And my army? Aren't you afraid my men will slaughter your friends? The masses? Oh wait…I forgot, savages don't have loved ones." Kuro laughed out loud.

Natsu chuckled. "Hell, say what you want about us savages…at least we don't dress ourselves with pieces of shit on our clothes, shitface." Natsu winked.

Gripping his fist, Kuro looked down to stare at the two yellow objects on his suit. 'What is he talking about? These look nothing-…well, I'll be damned. Note to self, personally kill the tailor that made this.' Looking back upwards, the bespectacled pirate saw that the pink-haired boy had vanished. Smiling to himself, he walked back towards the mansion to ready himself for the coming battle.

Walking back to the village, Natsu found his friends with one another with serious looks. Looking down, he could see Usopp in a state of depression and deduced that Kuro was indeed right and no one believed that pirates were planning to invade their little village. "Let me guess…no evacuation?" Natsu asked the depressed liar.

Usopp nodded somberly. "Because I used to lie all the time, no one believes a word I say now! Even so…the fact that those pirates are going to attack is the truth, right? They're definitely going to attack. Tomorrow morning at the latest. But no one believes me! They all think tomorrow will be another peaceful day." He nodded to himself, as he stood up. "Since everyone thinks I'm a liar, I'll protect this village myself and prevent the pirates from attacking! In order to protect the village, then this will become one of my lies!" The long-nosed liar shouted out. "Hehe…even though they shot at me…and threw stones at me…and called me a liar…I love this village! I want to protect everyone! I…I want to be a brave warrior of the sea…like I promised my mom! I want my father to be proud to have a coward like me as a son!" He said, his lips trembling and covered his eyes with his hands. "How can I…how can I just watch…as everyone I love gets killed."

The four continued to stare with poker faces at the trembling teen. Finally, Zoro was the first to break and sighed. "You are a pretty good guy, you lied to your crew so that you could do this alone…"

Luffy nodded. "Okay! I'm definitely going to butt-in this one!"

"Something tells me you would have even if they didn't want you too…" Natsu muttered.

"But first things first, all their treasure is mine!" Nami said with an okay sign.

"W-What?" Usopp asked, rubbing the tears out of his eyes. "You guys…are willing to fight with me? W-Why?"

"Because the enemies outnumber you! That's not a fair fight!" The straw hat captain replied.

"Besides, you have the words 'I'm scared' written all over your face." The green-haired swordsman told the trembling liar.

Usopp took offense to that remark and shouted back at the four, while jabbing a thumb in his own direction. "Idiots! Me scared? So what if they outnumber me?! They can't compete on my level! I'm Captain Usopp and in my veins flows the blood of a courageous warrior!" He screamed at the four pirates…with his legs trembling like leaves.

The four just stared with deadpan looks…

"WHAT ARE YOU GUYS LOOKING AT!? FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD, IT'S CAPTAIN KURO'S FLEET! OF COURSE I'M SCARED OUT OF MY MIND! GO AWAY! I DON'T NEED YOUR SYMPATHY!" The trembling liar yelled.

Zoro began to shake his head at the nervous teen's shouts. "We're not sympathizing for you! But rather, we're commending you for having courage."

Natsu nodded. "You've got some pretty big brass ones if you plan on protectin' a village from a bunch of pirates. Be a shame if we left you to have all the fun! Besides, this little village ain't half bad."

"Why else would we risk our own lives?!" Luffy said, giving Usopp a determined stare.

Hearing all that, tears began to slowly cascade down Usopp's cheeks. "Y-You…you guys…I'm so touched!"

"Please stop crying…it's really ruining the cool image of you we just saw of you…" The dragon slayer muttered.

After the crying Usopp's tears began to stop, he told the group of a single way into the village that the pirates must have planned on entering from. So, they departed from the village and the long-nosed teen then showed them where the pirate's must have been planning from entering from. "They're going to attack from this shore." Usopp said, pointing to the sloping hill that led to the shore. He then began walking down with the four pirates accompanying him. As they reached the bottom, the wooly-haired teen turned around and pointed to the top of the hill. "This is the only way into the village. There's only one slope and the rest is just cliffs. This means, as long as we guard this slope with our lives, the village won't be harmed!"

Luffy poked his fingers from underneath his hat and began scratching his head with a grin. "Sounds easy enough."

"Easier said than done, Luffy. Remember, they've got an army…then again, we have a kid that can stretched his limbs and blow them up into extreme proportions, while simultaneously having an incredibly awesome guy who can shoot fire from his fingertips. Hmm…maybe it is easy." The fire mage said, looking into the sky.

Usopp nodded. "I see…well what can the rest of you do?"

"Cutting!" Zoro replied.

"Stealing!" Nami winked.

"Hiding!" Usopp said…to his own question.

"YOU HAVE TO FIGHT TOO!" The four screamed at him.

After screaming at the poor liar, the five of them began working tirelessly to defend the little village. Studying the slope, Usopp rolled out a couple barrels of oil and splashed it onto the hill. The plan was obvious enough: pirates go up…then they come down. Pretty simple physics. Perfectly smearing the oil onto the hill took a while, but was finished none the less. Breathing a sigh of relief, Usopp said, "Okay! We're done! Now those bastards won't be able to get up this slope. Surely this is the most effective way to battle them!"

"Umm…except punching them." Luffy muttered, kicking the dirt next to them.

"Forget it, Luffy. We put it to a vote. You lost!" Natsu replied with a smirk.

"Boooo! I wanna fight them!" The straw hat teen pouted.

Zoro shrugged. "You know you can just punch them while their slipping."

"…Oh yeah! Thanks, Zoro!" Luffy beamed, causing the swordsman to roll his eyes.

"Just don't fall down there yourself or else you're screwed!" Nami retorted with a smile.

"True!" The dragon slayer chuckled, lightly pushing the orange-haired teen forward.

"H-HEY!" She yelled, jumping aback before she slipped downwards. Nami then turned around to glare intently and fumed at the smiling dragon slayer. "Jerk!" The irritated girl growled, kicking the boy in the shin, which only hurt her. "OUCH! …My beautiful foot. What the heck are you made of!"

"You really wanna find out?" Natsu asked with a wink, causing Nami to blush and turn away from the winking fire mage.

Zoro rolled his eyes as he watched the two once again commence their odd flirtations with one another. "Idiots…" He muttered, turning his head to see that the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon. "Looks like the sun is up."

"The pirates are going to come soon…" Nami gulped to herself. Time began to slowly tick by, but the pirates still hadn't shown themselves. "Where are they? It's already morning."

"Who knows. Maybe they slept in. Gotta keep your strength up before invading a village after all." Natsu snarked, shrugging his shoulders. Suddenly, his head twitched to the side as he heard a loud shout come from another part of the island.

"Umm…am I just overly sensitive, or did I just hear 'Go!' from the north direction?" The orange-haired teen asked aloud, holding her hand to her ear to get a better grasp at what she was hearing.

"You heard that too?" The dragon slayer asked the girl, getting a nod back.

"I'm positive!" She said, moving her head around to try to get a better read on where exactly the voices were coming from.

Sweat began to pour down Usopp's face tremendously as he slowly began to piece together what must have happened. "Oh no! No no no no no NO!" He yelled, grasping his head harshly as he shook it side to side.

"What's going on?!" The swordsman growled at the sweating teen.

"T-There's another entrance into the village in the north…" Usopp whispered, his hope draining from his body as he realized that his entire plan was falling right in front of his eyes.

"Don't tell me you got it wrong!" Luffy screamed at him in shock.

"They talked about the plan here so I thought that they'd attack from this side!" The long-nosed teen shouted back at him.

Before this could get out of hand, Natsu pried the two apart. "Shut up, the both of you! We can kick each other asses later, but right now we need to know exactly where they are going to attack from! Usopp?"

Usopp gritted his teeth as he began thinking. "Going in the north direction will only take three minutes. The landscape on that side is basically the same as this one! All we have to do is prevent them from coming on top of the slope!"

Quickly, Luffy shot forward as he ran in what he thought was the correct direction of where north was before anyone could stop him. Usopp quickly ran in the other direction, his mind far too preoccupied with protecting his village than chasing after Luffy.

"OH NO!" Nami screamed, slapping her hands to the sides of her face. "That's where we docked our ships! My treasure is going to be robbed!" She then began to shoot off too, but her feet slipped from the greasiness of the oil trap. "Damn it!"

"Nami, what are you doing!?" Zoro exclaimed, looking back at the thief.

"Help! I'm slipping!" She shouted, grabbing whatever was nearby, which so happened to be the moss-haired swordsman.

"WAAH! Let go, idiot! You're going to bring us both down!" He growled at her, his face slamming onto the ground as they both began to slip downwards.

"Oops! Sorry!" Nami replied, trying to use his body as a means to get up before she also slipped downwards. 'Sorry, Zoro! But my treasure is my top priority right now!' Luckily however, before she could pull down poor Zoro, two hands grabbed the two and chucked them forward onto the ground. They both grunted as they hit the ground and slowly started to get up, seeing an irritated Natsu stare back at them.

"Right there…that was utterly pathetic." He muttered angrily, staring at the two harshly. "If you two have any means of winning today, you better try a lot harder at protecting one another. Otherwise, you both are gonna soon perish. The high seas hold terrors that would make you piss your pants just from thinkin' about them." Natsu growled, slamming his foot down. "SO YOU BETTER WORK TOGETHER, ALRIGHT! I don't want to bury either of you today or any other day, undertstand?!"

Both Zoro and Nami moved their eyes from the glaring salmon-haired teen to the other person's faces. The beli-loving thief could feel the heat rush to her face at the utter dreadful shame that was permeating through her body. Honestly, if Natsu hadn't of been here…she would have left the swordsman to fend for himself. But she had a good reason! She had to…no, what she was about to do was despicable. There was no doubt about that. But she had resigned herself to doing this things long ago…when he killed her mother. Still, now wasn't the time to worry about her treasure. Right now, there were murderous pirates about to ransack a village, murder an innocent girl, and if her and her partners didn't play their cards right, then they too would die. So, swallowing her pride, Nami picked herself up and put out a hand for the greasy swordsman in the hopes of apologizing for her actions. Zoro gave her one hell of a glare, one that would give any child, and perhaps even grown adults, nightmares, but still accepted her hand. As soon as he was up, he threw her hand back to her and ran off towards where he too believed the right direction was…

It was the wrong one of course…

Nami sighted to herself seeing as how Zoro was obviously furious with her. Turning her head, she could tell that the salmon-haired boy was quite irritated with her too. "Don't do that again. You wanna live, right?" The fire mage asked her.

'Yes…God, yes. I owe it to her to live.' The orange-haired teen nodded.

"Then protect the people who wanna protect you. And to do that…" Natsu walked up to her and patted her on the shoulder. "…Then you need to trust them." He said, giving the girl a serious look. Nami gulped as she could see the fire underneath the boy's stare. Somehow, she could see a sense of profound knowledge behind his eyes…a sort of pain as well. One that perhaps contributed to his anger at seeing two people who he cared for act so selfishly…well herself more so than Zoro.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered, looking away from the boy's eyes.

"Don't be…" He whispered back. 'I can see your pain too…' Taking a step back from her, Natsu began walking back towards the village.

"W-Wait! Where are you going?!" Nami shouted to him.

"Sorry, but I've got my own ways of dealing with battles. Just follow Usopp. Luffy and Zoro will find their ways to you!" He replied back. 'I've got an appointment I really need to keep…'

Looking utterly shell-shocked, Nami shook herself to regain her senses and ran after where she saw the wooly-haired teen was headed. 'Gotta focus! Need to protect…well…hrgh! Damn that guy! He's confusing me! I need to protect my treasure, but…now I need to protect these guys too! Ugh, I'll sort out these feelings la-…wait a minute, DID LUFFY AND ZORO GO THE WRONG WAY!?'

Tick tock…

Tick tock…

Tick tock…

A loud sound was emanating throughout Kaya's mansion, flowing through the open front door. Sitting atop several steps, was an infuriated Kuro. "Why are they so late…those idiots should know what it means to ruin my plans." He growled, smacking the stained blood off of his suit. 'Ugh…this is one of the things I hated about killing people, blood always stains. Still, it's not like I didn't enjoy killing that halfwit of a coworker.' Gripping his fists tightly, Kuro began stepping down the steps and out towards where he his imbecilic henchmen planned on storming the village, a vast amount of killing aura emanating from his body. "If they dare forget about my plans…I will kill them a-" He suddenly stopped upon exiting the gate that barred outsiders from entering the mansion. Just across from him…was that damn smiling pink-haired boy that dared to threaten him.

"Heya. Boy, you seem awfully frustrated about something…guess I'm doing a pretty good job of pissing you off, huh?" Natsu growled with a smile on his face, his eyes entirely black and devoid of any cheerfulness.

AAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDD THAT'S A WRAP! Finally…FINALLY! Fuck, I can't believe I am finally done with writing this chapter. Woof…this took a while, didn't it? Haha…sorry about that. Been dealing with some health problems as of late so that took top priority. But I'm done now! Also, I know I stopped before the fighting began, but that will be next chapter. It'll be probably a much shorter one than this one because I'll mainly be using it to wrap up the loose ends of this arc (i.e. the battles, getting a ship, saving Kaya, etc.) So, I'll try to get that one out as soon as possible. After that, I'll probably write either a new chapter of The Dragon and the Fairies or Carpe Diem. Then, I'll go back to Remnants of a Demon. And then, END of Justice…oh boy. That's gonna be a lot of writing for me, but I'll do my best!

Also, if you enjoyed this chapter, then please leave a review along with a favorite and a follow because that will mean the absolute world to me!

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