Title: Greatest Comfort

Rating: T (for the first two chapters; rating will be bumped after that)

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

CHAPTER ONE

Usopp was feeling a relapse of his old illness flaring up. Maybe it was his I-can't-enter-this-island disease, or perhaps it might have been his I'll-die-if-I-follow-you-into-this-jungle-itis, but whatever it was, he stopped dead in his tracks on the shore as most of his nakama ran ahead of him.

Grimly, he stared up at the thick nest of trees in front of him, the sweltering heat already making beads of sweat slide down the side of his face.

Just then, he felt two slender arms wrap around his shoulders. The soft skin, surprising dry and cool despite the humidity, was accompanied by the sensation of soft curls brushing his bare skin and the scent of tangerines.

The familiar, comforting touch did not make him want to flee any less, but at the very least, it offered him some comfort that someone else was slightly quavering, too. It was normal to be afraid of things, he reminded himself; the rest of his crew was clearly not right in the head.

"No way no way no way," Usopp chanted through chattering teeth, as the rest of the crew made their way into the shadows of the thickly canopied jungle with an appalling absence of hesitation.

"There are eyes," Nami started to say, the pitch of her voice fractionally higher than normal.

"Eyes?" Usopp asked nervously, turning around to look at her, her arms still slung over her shoulders.

"There are dozens of red eyes!" she repeated, leaning her weight onto his shoulders as she raised her body and pointed ahead. "Just look!"

He stopped dead in his tracks, squinting at the thick cluster of trees and vegetation the rest of the crew was already disappearing into. Then he noticed it, and he realized Nami was exactly right; there were dozens, no, maybe hundreds of beady red eyes staring at them. A violent shiver ran up his spine. He reached around and grabbed Nami by the wrist, ready to start heading back in the direction of the Thousand Sunny.

"We just realized that someone else should probably go help Franky guard the Sunny, so you all go on without us," Usopp shouted, unable to hide the tremble in his voice.

"If anything happens, Franky should be more than enough to keep the Sunny safe," Sanji called back, already deep within the shadows of the thick tropical foliage, his face faintly illuminated by the burning embers at the end of his cigarette.

"It's probably better to have more people stay at the Sunny, though," Nami added. "We do have a lot of dangerous people after us these days."

"I'll keep you safe if anything happens to you, Nami-swan," Sanji swooned, starting to run back toward her.

"I was talking about the ship, not me!"

Suddenly Luffy's loud, unrestrained laugh rang out, as the limber captain ran past Sanji and energetically bounded up to them. "Come on, you guys, we already said we're going together!"

Drawn in by their captain's wide, charismatic grin and never-ending energy, Usopp and Nami reluctantly allowed him to urge them onward. They clung to each other as they were scared stupid again and again—even if maybe, they were not actually in any danger. Somehow, the reassuring touch always made it a little easier to face even the most treacherous situations.

Nami felt a familiar body press against her back, and she finally exhaled the breath she had not even realized she had been holding. The warmth of the muscular body, the softness of the powder-puff of hair pressing into her own curled tendrils; these recognizable features of the sniper consoled her, even when unhealthy levels of adrenaline were pumping through her veins.

"Oi, are you okay, Nami?" Usopp called out loudly, reaching around to his backpack to grab a handful of sketchy looking spheres to load into his kuro kabuto.

"Yeah, I've been mostly able to keep them at a distance. Enough so they haven't been able to hurt me, at least."

"Good," he replied grimly.

She glanced back at him, and noticed there was blood dripping down his right temple. "Usopp, your head!" she gasped, turning her body slightly so she could better face him. Removing one hand from her clima-tact, she reached up and pulled the brim of his hat up slightly, so she could get a better look at it.

After firing off something that expanded into a vicious-looking tangle of weeds, he looked at her and grinned widely, showing her he was alright. "It's not that bad, I just got knocked in the head."

"Well, let's finish this soon so we can get out of here," she said, returning his smile.

When they teamed up, the long-ranged fighters of the Mugiwara pirates were a force to be reckoned with. Soon, they were the only ones left standing. After laughing—more out of nervousness and relief at winning their fight with minor injuries or complications than out of actual humor—they locked arms and briskly rushed back to the ship.

Even though she was a veteran when it came to fighting, Nami still felt a little unsettled deep down inside whenever she was finished with a battle. Yet holding onto the warm skin of the long-nosed man's arm, slightly slick with sweat, made her feel like the tense knot of nerves in her stomach could at least fractionally unravel.

Usopp had accidentally fallen asleep in his workshop. As he groggily opened his eyes, the first thing he realized was that he had been sleeping with his face resting on the surface of the table, and there was a small pool of drool forming by the corner of his mouth. Then he became aware of a warm hand resting on his exposed shoulder, the soft skin pleasantly warm against his own cool body.

The long-nosed man did not need to look up to know who it was; there was only one hand that felt like that, and that touched him with such a comfortingly gentle familiarity. With a groan, he pulled himself into a sitting position, rubbing his mouth in embarrassment, trying to wipe away the traces of saliva.

The slender hand on his shoulder squeezed incrementally, and he heard a small laugh. He smiled slightly; it had a sort of pleasant ring to it that made him instantly feel better, even if he was vaguely ashamed about being caught in a puddle of drool and his body ached from sleeping at the table.

"I can't believe you slept down here all night," Nami said, shaking her head. He felt her hand slip away as she crossed her arms across her bare torso.

"Eh, what do you, 'all night'?" he asked in surprise, sitting up a little straighter. For some reason, once the hand was removed from his shoulder, the coldness of the room seemed that much more apparent. He hugged his arms around himself, trying to rub some warmth into his cold skin.

"There's no hidden meaning," she replied. "It's morning."

"Eh, that's awful," Usopp sighed heavily. "I feel terrible."

"I'm not surprised. Your neck was twisted at a pretty weird angle."

He rubbed the back of his neck, wincing as his hand met a sore, knotted muscle. "Yeah, I can tell."

"It's still early though. I don't think Sanji started breakfast yet, so you could probably go back upstairs and sleep for a little bit."

With a nod, Usopp slid his chair back and rose to his feet. "Yeah, I think I'll do that," he said tiredly.

"And warm up a little bit!" she exclaimed, reaching out and placing her hand across his the left side of his chest, almost directly over his heart. Once again, the comforting heat of her touch seemed to penetrate the depths of his chilled skin.

"Ah, I will," he said, rubbing his eyes again as he wearily headed toward the door. He paused for a moment at the entrance of the workshop, and turned to look at her. "Ah, by the way, did you need something from in here?"

Nami shook her head. "No, Sanji just mentioned that you might have already been up." The corner of her mouth turned up wryly. "I knew that probably wasn't the case."

"You know me too well," he chuckled softly, a faint smile on his lips.

As he walked up to the men's quarters, the air grew even chillier, and he hugged his arms around him again to stave off the cold. For some reason, the only part of his chest that felt slightly warm was the area right above his heart, where the navigator's hand had pressed just moments before.

Usopp frowned slightly, placing his hand over the same spot on his chest. It was just the same comforting, friendly touch that they always shared. Really, it had become so natural over time, he was not even vaguely surprised when he felt Nami suddenly press up against him. Likewise, she never seemed even remotely bothered when he suddenly latched onto her out of fear or excitement, or unexpectedly leaned against her.

It was a comfortable place, and it had been his most soothing place for some time now.

For that reason, Usopp could not really comprehend the reason the warmth seemed so penetrating at that moment... or why his heart inexplicably pounded a little bit harder that normal.

Nami feigned disinterest, but she was actually studying Usopp quite carefully, as she intermittently sipped from a steaming cup of coffee.

All day, their nakama had been in and out of his workshop, and not once had Usopp given them an honest smile. If the rest of the crew noticed, they certainly did not comment.

However, Nami suspected they had not noticed anything off about his behavior. After all, in addition to the wild, adventurous fantasies he liked to spout off, he was also capable of telling frighteningly believable lies.

Like about how he was okay.

The rest of the crew had not actually seen what had happened. And although Nami had witnessed it, she had been too far away to do anything in time. Neither of them had spoken to the crew about the exact details, but then, there was probably nothing to say. They had all been involved in their own fights, and sometimes, tragedies happen in the midst of battle.

Finally, the night grew late, and the pair found themselves alone. For awhile, the conversation ceased, and they sat in silence, with only the sound of the tink tink tink of Usopp steadily hammering away at his latest invention echoing across the workshop.

Abruptly, the sound stopped, and a moment later, the mallet noisily clattered to the floor. Usopp sucked in a large gasp of air, pushing his chair back and leaning over, clutching the sides of his head with his hands.

Nami pursed her lips as she wordlessly set down her cup of tea. She had been bracing herself for this moment; even if he could hide it from the rest of their nakama, there was no way he could hide the storm brewing inside of him from her.

The navigator rose to her feet, first making her way to the workshop's door. After turning the lock, she turned around to face Usopp, her lips pressed together tightly as she studied his faintly trembling body.

"Nami," he murmured quietly.

With a flicker of sympathy in her large brown eyes, she grabbed a chair and set it down next to Usopp's, sitting down directly next to him, closely enough so that the sides of their legs and arms were touching. The redhead already knew there was not much she could do or say to make him feel better.

He did not speak or acknowledge her presence, but she did not expect him to; he was preoccupied with his own inner demons.

Nami simply hoped that even if he seemed oblivious to her nearness, the closeness would offer the slightest semblance of comfort, just as it would for her. Sometimes, just having someone close to touch was more therapeutic than any trite words. The long-nosed man had done the same thing for her, time and time again, when she was troubled by things she did not wish to speak about.

She leaned slightly closer, letting her head drape over his muscular shoulder; the round, well-toned shoulder that had once been so bony, it had been uncomfortable for her to rest her head on it.

Another violent shudder passed through Usopp's body, and Nami sat upright again, setting one hand on the shoulder where her head had just been leaning.

Then the long-nosed man took in a loud, clamorous breath, before he started to hesitantly speak. "I keep... replaying it in my mind. Again and again. All the things I should have done differently."

Nami squeezed his shoulder lightly. "There was nothing you could have done differently, Usopp," she said quietly. "It's painful no matter what, but blaming yourself isn't going to help anything."

"How can I not blame myself, Nami? If I hadn't been there, that kid wouldn't have..." he trailed off.

Nami understood the words were too difficult; she shifted her arm, wrapping it around his shoulders, pulling him closer as she gave him an understanding squeeze.

After all, it replayed in her head again and again as well. The image of the young boy, no older than seven or eight, wearing large goggles, with a slingshot clutched tightly in his small hands.

Their enemies were pirates. Usopp was preoccupied with taking down five or six of them that were running toward him, lances, axes and rapiers at the ready. So preoccupied, he did not even notice the pirate with a tangled flaxen beard who was sneaking up behind him, carrying an impossible load of heavy artillery.

Usopp's back still turned, the flaxen-bearded pirate raised one of his many weapons, taking aim at the oblivious sniper.

Nami saw what was happening, but she was too far away. She screamed Usopp's name, raising her clima-tact to the sky as she started to run toward him at full speed; but there was no way he could hear her, no way the attack would reach in time.

Just then, a young boy bolted out from some nearby bushes, and leaped in front of Usopp's back. The little boy raised a rickety-looking slingshot, took a poor aim, and fired something that was probably as harmless as a rock at Usopp's attacker.

The bearded pirate, unfazed by the futile attack, still fired, even though a young boy who was not even his target had jumped in the way. As the wave of shrapnel passed through the tiny, frail body, a few stray pieces hitting Usopp as well, the little boy crumbled to the ground.

Nami felt her heart sink into her stomach as the child fell. Her attack now ready, she screamed the words "Thunderbolt Tempo!" at the top of her lungs as she attacked the flaxen-bearded pirate, putting every ounce of power she could behind the attack.

Meanwhile, Usopp had turned around just as the shots were fired. An indescribable look of horror crossed his face. Looked at the pirate whose body was now being racked by innumerable volts of electricity, Usopp fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around the tiny, bloody body at his feet. His eyes bulged in horror as he took in the injuries.

Usopp snatched him up and frantically started running toward the town, and Nami took off after him. He was probably first running to find Chopper, but before they got anywhere near the rest of their nakama, Nami saw a sign on a nearby building that caught her attention.

"Wait, Usopp!" she cried out.

He hesitantly stopped and turned to look at her, a look of panic mixed with horror on his face.

She pointed at the sign on the building. "It's a doctor! Bring him here!"

Usopp's eyes widened, and he quickly turned on his heel and ran toward the double-doors.

Nami felt the breath get stuck in her throat as she saw that the front of the sniper's body was completely covered in blood. Squeezing her eyes closed tightly for a moment, she wondered how much blood there actually was in a child's body. Then she banished the horrifying thought to the back of her mind; she had to focus on the present. Hurriedly, she raced in after Usopp.

Unintentionally, Nami shuddered. The blood and the carnage... it was too much for her, and it was certainly too much for Usopp. And this time, it had been a fucking kid.

"You want to know what he said when he ran up beside me?" Usopp asked grimly, his voice full of emotion and gravel.

Nami glanced over at him, looking at his face carefully. His eyes were open wide, his gaze fixed on the floor in front of him.

"He shouted 'stay away from Sogeking!'"

The red-haired woman bit down on her lower lip, her chest tightening.

"How the hell did he know who I was?" Usopp continued, his voice hinged with despair. "It can't be that stupid wanted poster, where I have a fucking mask on."

Nami's eyes wandered to the kuro kabuto propped up in the corner.

"I thought about that, too," the sniper continued. "But how could he know about Sogeking's kabuto?"

She shook her head from side to side. "I don't know how he put it together. Almost no one's made that association."

"Exactly," Usopp sighed, rubbing his temple. "Which means that for some reason, he knew enough about us to figure out it had to be me."

Nami nodded slowly; she had drawn the same conclusion. The accounts of the events of Sogeking's appearance at Enies Lobby were slight, but there was probably a lot of information about their crew now, from all of their subsequent battles. And they only had one sniper... Only one distance-fighter who used a weapon close to the one that was described as belonging to Sogeking.

"I noticed he had a slingshot," Nami said quietly.

"Ah, me too," Usopp said, closing his eyes. "Do you think he was a... a... a fan?"

Nami exhaled slowly. "I don't know, Usopp."

"Dammit, Nami, what if..." he started, his voice cracking faintly. "...What if I was like his hero or something? Nami, what if I was his hero and I almost killed him?"

"You don't know that, Usopp," she replied quickly.

"I can't help but think like that."

She held her arm around him for a moment longer. And then suddenly, she sat back, clenched her hand into a small fist, and rapped him on the back of the head.

Usopp flinched, yelping in pain, before he sat upright and stared at her in bewilderment. "What was that for?" he asked incredulously.

"We're going to be around here for at least a couple more days," she said. "When he wakes up, you can ask him yourself."

The long-nosed man's expression hardened. "Yeah, but what if he doesn't wake—"

She rapped him on the back of the head again. "I don't want to hear any of your negative shit right now, Usopp. He will wake up. And when he does, if he tells you you're like a hero to him, you better do something hero-like so he'll have a good memory to go with all of this."

Although it was faint, Nami was relieved to see that Usopp's smile was, at the very least, a genuine one. She settled back down next to him, with their arms pressed against each other for awhile. The heat of his body was a warmth that could alleviate even the most frigid chill.

When Usopp set his hand on top of hers, she did not think too much of it. However, she did observe that the sniper still seemed to be vaguely trembling... and that for some inexplicable reason, her heart was pounding just a bit too rapidly in her chest.