'You 're a Whitebeard pirate?! '

Nami comes out of her cabin wearing a bikini top, and Zoro straight up balks. Her show of skin is the last thing on his mind, because the glaring blue mark on her lower back is exposed for the world. Luffy turns around, still eating an apple, and he hums.

'You live up to your name, Pirate Hunter Zoro, ' she teases. 'Don 't worry, I quit the Whitebeards a while back. I 'm a free pirate now. '

'You

quit

?! '

'Hey Nami, who 's white bread? ' Luffy asks, looking at the cross and crescent on Nami 's back. Nami turns around so they can see it better. 'Izit someone impor 'ant? '

Zoro looks like he wants to throw Luffy overboard. 'Whitebeard 's known as the strongest man in the world, ' Zoro says, 'you 're trying to be Pirate King and you don 't know the man who used to go toe-to-toe with Roger? '

'Strongest? ' Luffy wonders. Then, 'wait! He used to fight the Pirate King?! '

'Yes, that 's what I said, ' Zoro sneers. He turns to Nami, 'why 'd you quit? '

Nami shrugs, 'I didn 't join in the first place, I just got kidnapped, ' Zoro grimaced in empathy, 'then after a while they said I could go, so I went. '

Zoro went

what,

Nami giggles. 'Oyaji isn 't aiming for One Piece, so he 's not going to travel the Grand Line thoroughly. I want to draw a map of the world, so I 'm going to travel by myself, and draw the road I go on! '

Luffy grins in approval, and Zoro hums.

'That 's a nice dream! ' Luffy says, 'well, you quit, so I can have you, right? White Bread isn 't gonna be mad if you 're on my crew? Well, even if he does, I guess we 'll just have to fight him when the time comes. '

Zoro raises an eyebrow, 'are you suicidal? '

'You can try! ' Nami laughs. She dearly hopes he doesn 't, but she has a feeling that Luffy will try anyways.

Zoro groans, "oh. We

are

suicidal. Okay."

'Anyways Nami, can you shoot lasers-- OW! '

Zoro stares at the dent in the wood, aghast with horror.

Nami dusts her hands, 'how many times are you gonna ask me that? The answer is no! '

-

-

Usopp lifts his arm-- and he waits.

He closes his eyes and breathes, feeling the air around him-- he turns a little to the left, one step on the branch-- and just in time, Kinoko lands gently on his wrist.

'There you go, girl, ' Usopp says, letting the bird hop over to his shoulder

'C- C- CAPTAIN! ' Piiman yells.

Usopp loses his footing on the tree branch and just

drops

.

'AHH! CAPTAIN! ' Piiman and Ninjin are yelling for a different reason now.

Usopp lies on the ground, dizzy and

ow

,

did I hit my head?

Where 's Kinoko?

Oh hey mushroom butt, get off my face please. Get off my face.

Don 't get comfortable.

'I'm fine ' ' he groans out, 'what 's wrong? '

'Oh, right, ' Piiman receives Kinoko in his hands when the bird hops up, 'pirates! At the bay! It 's got Buggy the Clown 's flag on it!! '

Usopp jumps upright.

-

Usopp sits by the bay, the Vegetable Trio behind him.

He watches the strange blue blob that 's the sea, watching the two sails come toward him. He can 't see anything except the strange contrast of the colours, the black sail definitely Buggy 's flag, just as he remembered.

He can see the little red of Luffy 's vest, the little green of Zoro 's figure, and the orange of Nami 's hair.

He almost feels like crying. He rubs his eyes, sniffling. It 's been so long-- so long, yet. Yet, he can 't see them. They 're just distinct blobs of colour he has to squint to make out, and he can 't. Can 't see them.

(He barely remembers Luffy 's last smile to them. When he hands them his hat, gives them all a kiss on the forehead, and marches off in chains toward Coby.)

(He barely remembers that last, meaningful glance Zoro gave him as a goodbye in Wano. The warmth of his sword 's bloodthirsty voices, the burn of his presence.)

(He barely even remembers the last time he met Nami. They meet too often, all their spots are marked off and watched. There was only a shadow of a rushed hug during Vivi 's execution, then Usopp never met her again.)

'Captain? ' Tamanegi asks.

'You guys can run back to the village if you're scared. ' Usopp tells him.

They salute and gladly escape.

He sits at the edge of the cliff, sitting in full view. They 've probably noticed him already, and that 's fine.

Their presences in the distance calms him. Reckless little Luffy, Level-headed Zoro, Free-spirited Nami. Strange, unstable, just like the start of their journey.

He can 't help but smile.

'Huh? Who 're you? ' Luffy asks.

Usopp tries really hard not to stiffen, but his grip tightens on the ground, his chest seizes-- and it takes two deep breaths for him to ease again.

He grins.

'I'm the great

Captain

Usopp, leader of the great Usopp Pirate Fleet, commander of eighty million men! ' the words escape him in the form of a nostalgic joke, and he chuckles, 'they call me, Usopp the

Terrible

! '

'No, ' immediately, Nami speaks up, her tone jumping as she

dives

to respond first, and Usopp 's eyes widen, 'you were called the

Worst

. '

His smile falls straight down and he swirls on her, and though he can 't see it, he knows that Nami is staring right back, the same burn of tears in her eyes.

He can hear the cries she 's holding back in her voice.

He looks closer.

There 's a bit too much silver on her body. An offsided right.

His Observation senses her as incomplete, and the soul is just missing a few portions.

Usopp clicks his tongue once.

The sound that comes back from her-- it 's not flesh, it 's

metal.

He immediately sees red, the magma rising from the pits of his stomach..

'

Nami

, ' he finally says, and it 's hoarse, it's deep, it 's painful.

It 's filled with pure, seething rage that makes Lufy step back and Zoro draw his swords, but Usopp can 't be bothered to react to those right now.

Because that 's Nami. That 's

his

Nami. She knows the code, she responds correctly to the code, and she 's-- she 's acting

differently

. That means it 's his Nami, and she 's-- she 's here. With him. Finally. Finally.

Why?

'Nami, ' he repeats, but it 's not any calmer than before. '...who did that to your arm? '

Arlong. Maybe it's Arlong. Maybe Nami resisted this time and he snapped. That sounds possible-- Usopp got a few concussions from mistakes like that, after all.

No

, on second thought, it probably isn't Arlong. Arlong valued Nami's writing arm more than they valued Nami in general.

It wasn't Arlong.

It's a transferred wound, just like Usopp's blindness. Someone in the

future

took that arm from her, after they were separated.

Someone in the future took

Nami's dominant arm

from her. (Her dominant hand it's her dominant hand it's the hand of the

best cartographer in the world

and they--)

How

dare

they.

How dare--

"Usopp!" Nami tells, and Usopp stops short, dragged out of his furious internal rant. "It's just you and me."

And Usopp knows what that means. It means

later, we'll talk about this later

. It's a promise to hug and cry and break, but not now, not here. Because no one else is here-- Luffy and Zoro-- they don 't know anything. They don 't know anything

yet

.

So Usopp swallows all the anger back down and faces the other two once again.

(Laterlaterlaterlaterlaterlater)

'You guys are Nami 's friends? '

He turns to them, sounding much more friendly this time and he 's proud that he 's managed to train his actual lying skills over the years. He stands up.

'I guess that 's fine then. Come on into the village! I 'll treat you to a meal. '

-

Luffy bounces right up, and Zoro follows him. Usopp tries not to immediately run in and hug them, because the feeling of them so near to him so near finally-- it just leaves him breathless.

Then he turns around, and Nami wraps him in one painful, painful, and so so tight hug.

He wants to protest-- the other two are staring at them like they 're a new item of interest-- but he doesn 't. He knows he needs this.

He hugs back, firm and strong and--

oh hey, your metal arm. It 's metal, Nami. Why is it metal? How could I have let this become metal

-- and he doesn 't breathe for a long, long moment.

He just grabs and

holds

, feeling her face on his neck and feeling her fingers press bruises into his back. He cradles her head, and tries to get closer. Tries to feel her aura, and it 's stronger than he remembers, but it 's been too,

too

long he doesn 't even remember how strong it was last time and--

'I 'm, ' he chokes out, tears in his voice, 'so glad you 're alive, Nami. '

(He wants to see her face. He wants to see her face so badly.

Your hair's longer than it's supposed to be-- I'm sure it looks great on you. I want to see it. I want to see it

.)

(

But I can't

.)

Nami bubbles out in laughter, 'of course I am, you idiot! ' she says, but she doesn 't move away. 'You owe me ten billion beris for making me worry, dammit! '

'Oh c 'mon, Nami, even my old bounty wasn 't that high. '

Finally, they break up the hug, and Usopp can 't help but feel like he wants another minute or twenty or actually, can she stay like that forever? Please?

Nami pats him in the back. 'Alright then! Reunions are over, let 's get food! '

No, Nami. Reunions are

not

over. Usopp is so going to snatch her after this.

They turn to Luffy and Zoro, only to find Luffy screaming his head off. Apparently, a bird had charged belly-first right into Luffy 's face, and now they 're in a power-struggle tangle of wing and too-stretchy limbs.

The boy gives them an undignified squawk that sounds suspiciously like a slew of curses. Zoro just watches.

'STUPID BIRD! ' he finally yells, managing to get it off his face, 'god that surprised me. '

'Oh, a bird, ' Zoro draws a sword, 'looks edible. '

'Wait wait wait! ' Usopp snaps at them, recognizing the little bird 's cry of greeting. He charges forward and snatches the bird out of Luffy 's hands, 'this bird 's my friend! You can 't eat her! '

Luffy 's already drooling, 'birds are yummy, though? '

At this point, Kinoko jumps in horror, hopping up and fluttering right away, crying tears of fear. Luffy stretches right over and grabs it by the belly, retrieving it right back.

'Bird! ' he says happily, because he 's such an endearing idiot like that. 'Let 's roast it. '

Usopp flips on his heel and lands one hell of a dropkick on Luffy 's head. 'I SAID NO! '

'OW! '

Zoro hums in approval, and Nami slow claps.

Usopp extends an elbow, and Kinoko flutters over, landing on the appendage and breathing out in relief.

'Her name is Kinoko, ' he introduces them, 'Sorry about her, she likes to crash into people for fun. She 's my seeing-eye bird. '

'Your what? '

'What 's a-- '

Luffy 's stomach growls. He broods, 'so we can 't eat that bird? But I 'm hungry! '

They decide to head for the restaurant, first of all.

-

'Oh my Usopp-kun, new friends? '

'Yeah, they 're pirates! '

Zoro and Nami 's jaws drop. Luffy yells a greeting right back. The auntie laughs it off, then reminds Usopp to come by later for groceries.

Nami facepalms. 'Usopp the Liar has become a village favourite, huh? '

Usopp chuckles right back, 'they don 't take me seriously anymore. It 's pretty amusing. '

Finally arriving at the restaurant and placing in a monster-sized order, he repeats his introduction to Zoro and Luffy. 'My name is Captain Usopp! I command a fleet of-- '

'--Three people, ' Nami cuts in.

'People fear me! I 'm known as Usopp the Great! '

'Weren 't you Usopp the Terrible a minute ago? ' Zoro asks.

'I was once a leader of the greatest tribe in the Country of Giants. They called me the King of the Snipers! And my eighty million followers called me God! '

'COooooL! ' Luffy 's eyes sparkle.

'Your character 's all over the place, ' Zoro mutters. 'Are you a leader, a king or a god? '

Nami just sighs.

(Come to think of it. The entire world

did

call ' him 'god ', didn 't they? And the King of the Snipers. And yeah, he did make it pretty big in Elbaf last time...)

She facepalms. The only truth in it was the most unbelievable part of it ' in some way, it 's impressive.

'So how do you know Nami, Usopp? ' Luffy says. 'I thought Nami was with White Bread. '

'You were with

what

? ' Usopp says, turning to the general direction of the orange-haired navigator, 'what have you been up to?? '

Nami giggles, 'it 's a long story! But me and Usopp, we go way back. We used to sail on the same ship for a while, and then we got separated for a few years. '

Zoro hums, 'you went to the Grand Line? '

Usopp smiles, gathering the lie he has to tell, 'yep! I 'm a marksman-- a sniper. I never miss my target, you know! I could shoot the wings off a fly two hundred miles over the horizon! They call me Usopp, the man of miracles! I always come through in a pinch! '

Zoro makes a noise that indicates he doesn 't believe that at all.

Luffy goes 'wOAH! THAT 'S SO COOL! ' before continuing to eat.

Then he pauses, and lifts his head.

'Wait. You 're Yasopp 's kid, aren 't you?! ' he suddenly realizes, eyes now sparkling with a sort of recognition. 'I knew you looked familiar! '

Usopp chuckles, knowing that they 've now caught the attention of a few other restaurant patrons. 'Oh, you knew my dad? ' he prompts.

'Yeah, I 've known him since I was young! ' Luffy says, continuing to stuff his face but somehow still managing to make his sentences make sense. He swallows. 'He was on Shanks ' crew! ' The entire restaurant 's worth of occupants all back away two meters. 'He always talked about you! '

Zoro looks around, 'what 's with the reaction? '

The crowd 's jaws dropped, hushed whispers passing around rapidly.

Usopp takes a sip of his drink. 'Of course they 'd be shocked. Shanks is an

amazingly

infamous pirate, ' he says-- he hums like he 's thinking, leaning into his chin, 'so my dad 's that high up the pedestal, eh? I 'll have to catch up. '

Luffy blinks, 'is Shanks really that amazing? '

Nami knocks him lightly on the head. 'He 's one of the four strongest pirates in the world, Luffy. '

'Huh? ' Luffy says. Then, 'HUH?! '

'God, you 're hopeless, ' Zoro says. 'If you 're trying to be Pirate King, you 've gotta

know

these things! '

-

The three kids watch in awe as Luffy inhales his food, quite literally.

'Hey, are you really pirates?? Are you gonna burn houses? Are you gonna eat people? ' Ninjin asks. 'Why are you flying Captain Buggy 's flag? '

Zoro says, 'this meat is actually that Buggy dude, we cooked him. '

The vegetable trio screams in horror.

Usopp bolts right up and smacks him up the head, 'don 't scare them! '

'This is over, Captain has become a cannibal! ' Tamanegi sobs in despair, the three of them hugging each other in dramatic mourning. Looking at the clock, they decide, 'let 's go tell Miss Kaya. '

Then they run off.

Usopp yelps, 'what are you going to tell her?? HEY! '

'Kaya? ' Luffy asks. 'Whuzzat? '

'

Kaya

? ' Nami asks, and Usopp can

hear

the suggestive smile on her face.

Usopp wants to curl up and die now.

'You guys need a ship, right? ' he turns to them, quickly changing the subject. Luffy hums affirmatively. 'Let 's go meet her, then. '

'You guys have a ship you can give us?? ' Luffy brightens up.

'Again with the convenient bullshit ' ' Zoro mumbles, 'should I be getting used to this? '

'Probably, ' Nami says, standing up, 'then we can set right off after that. Let 's go meet your girlfriend, Usopp. '

There 's a shocked moment.

Then Luffy spits out all his food on Zoro. 'YOu HAVE A-- '

'NO SHE 'S NOT! ' Usopp yelps back, but Luffy is now preoccupied because Zoro is literally squeezing his neck to mince.

'Yes she absolutely is, ' the waiter puts down their bill, 'don 't even deny it, Usopp. '

'You 're turning against me too, madam? '

'You 've been joined at the hip since you two were ten. I 'd call you married if Merry wouldn 't shave your head off for it. '

Nami snickers her usual, blackmail-acquired snicker. Usopp pales.

He stands up abruptly, face heating up. 'Anyways! Time to go! '

God, if he stays here any longer with them, Nami will manage to gather enough blackmail to cripple Usopp financially for life!

(And somehow, Usopp thinks that 's probably okay.)