It’s Hard Sometimes

"You guys go ahead without me. I'll catch up later." Usopp said and transformed before flying away.

"Is he ok?" Kaya asked. Luffy didn't say anything and just looked in the direction Usopp left.

Usopp travelled to a place he was all too familiar with on the outside of the village. Once he arrived tears fell from his eyes at the state of the place. "I'm sorry I haven't visited in a while, Mom..."

The grave was overgrown with weeds and vines. Cracks spread from a bullet hole in the tombstone and the words were faded. He got to work silently and cleaned the place up in an hour. Once he was done he flew off only to return 15 minutes later with flowers.

"I'm sorry I haven't been here in so long Mom. I know that you would want me to follow my dreams to be a brave warrior of the sea." Usopp said while crying. "It's just so hard...I miss you so much. Hell, I even miss lying to the villagers and getting chased all day."

He wiped his tears and looked up at the tombstone. "I met some good people. Brothers I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. There's been some bad times, but I'm happier now. You'd be proud of how strong I've become, you'd probably say it was because of Dad." He sighed at the mention of his absentee father. "He still didn't come back after you passed and the incident. I don't know if I'll have the strength to forgive him when I see him again."

Usopp talked for another hour before the sun started setting. "It looks like it's time. I wish we could have more time but I need to go meet my brother. I'll miss you Mom, I'll come back when our adventures over. I love you."

Usopp got up and left after that and never noticed his brother who came to check on him in the distance smiling at him.

Once he returned he walked around the village, ignoring the looks the villagers gave a 'pirate' like him. He has glad that the place was doing better and kept walking through the town for another 30 minutes. Once he met back up with Luffy and the rest at a bar, they told him they'd be staying the night in Kaya's house and set out in the morning.

That night Usopp couldn't sleep. He was looking up at the stars, something he'd done a lot when he was a kid. He noticed footsteps and saw it was Luffy walking out with a huge piece of meat in hand.

"What are you doing up right now Luffy?" Usopp asked.

"Midnight snack." He said lying down beside me and taking a bite out of the meat.

"I always loved looking up at the stars when I was here. I've been so busy training I haven't just relaxed like this in years." Usopp said.

"Yea, the stars look great in this village. It reminds me of when we lived in the treehouse with Sabo and Ace." Luffy said while reminiscing.

"Yea those were some good times." He said. Usopp thought for a minute and looked at Luffy and said, "Luffy."

"Yea?" Luffy asked.

"Let's make our dream come true, not just for Sabo or my Mom, but for us as well. We're gonna change this world, for better or for worse!"Usopp said looking at Luffy with determination.

Luffy grinned wildly and said, "Let's flip this world upside down, Usopp!"

The morning came and the crew said there goodbyes. Usopp loved the ship, mainly because it was there first real ship. While they were traveling Usopp still trained hard. Zoro pushed him to his limits and he loved it. He never had someone who was as serious about training as him and it sparked a rilvary between the two. The two were in the middle of another push-up competition when Luffy yelled, "ITS DONE!"

We all jumped when we saw the atrocity Luffy had drawn. The flag was lopsided and the edges were sloppy. Usopp shook his head and said, "Just let me do it I can't trust you with anything."

"SHISHISHI, sorry Usopp." Luffy said while laughing. Usopp got to work and quickly drew a flag with a straw hat on the skull like Luffy originally wanted. When he finished everyone applauded him on his painting skills, which made him a little smug. He even went on to paint the sails to show off even more.

A couple days later, Usopp was testing the cannons on the ship and fired on a rock formation exploding it. Luffy face lit up, begging him to shoot more, but Usopp told him that it was a waste of ammo and he only wanted to test if the cannons were still operational in case they ran into any enemy's.

They were brought out of there arguing by a guy who climbed on board. He yelled at them, "You damn pirates. How dare you try to kill my partner."

After that he rushed at them, but was quickly apprehended. He was cursing at the two and Usopp just about had enough until Zoro came out and asked, "Is that you Johnny?"

"Who dares call out my name with no respect." He venomously spoke, until he turned and saw Zror walking towards him and stuttered out, "A-Aniki?"

"It is you, how come your alone where's Yosaku?" Zoro asked excitedly.

He then went on to explain how Yosaku had been getting sick recently and he was on that rock that Usopp had blown up to rest. He led them to his boat and they saw Yosaku pale and passed out on the deck.

Nami took one look at him and shook her head, "Don't you idiots know anything? He has scurvy! Luffy, Usopp, go get some limes from the storage area."

They quickly did it and in a matter of minutes, Yosaku was up dancing with Johnny while laughing. Nami yelled at them, "PEOPLE DON'T RECOVER THAT QUICK!"

He passed out again only with more color on his face we let him rest while Johnny told them about their adventures. After an hour, Luffy brought up, "We are looking for a chef, do you know where we can find a good one at?"

"You should look at the Baratie. It's a sea restaurant that's really famous in the East Blue." Johnny suggested.

With that we took of for the restaurant, not knowing that it would be more troublesome then they first wanted.