“Law no aniki!”

Law lunged forward when Usui jumped on his back. His arms clung onto the older boy’s neck and Usui laughed at his expression.

“That’s incorrect, Usui,” Law said in agitation. “You don’t use ‘no’ in this case. It’s just Law aniki but if you're saying Law's brother, Law no aniki is correct. Stop mutilating the Japanese language.”

“Eeeeeeh,” Usui pouted. “You have no right to talk, adding –ya to everyone’s names.”

“There’s a reason for that,” Law grumbled, trying to shake off the boy.

“Well, I have a reason too,” Usui said self-importantly. “Whoa!”

Usui was hanging off Law’s arm as Trafalgar had finally succeeded in prying him off his back.

Law sneered. “And what is that?”

Usui grinned toothily. “Because it’s fun to make Law no aniki irritated.”

Law slipped his arm out of the loop Usui’s arms were making to hold on and Usui stumbled to the floor.

“I regret teaching you how to speak,” Law began walking down the corridor again.

Usui caught up and slipped his hand in Law’s. He gripped it tightly and looked up at his brother. “Do you really?”

Law didn’t meet his eyes. “Immensely.”

Usui felt a little squeeze on his hand and his face split into a look of delight. He replaced it with an all knowing expression. “Liar.”

Law glanced down at the little kid. “Don’t get too cocky, waste of space.”

“Hai, Law no aniki.”

_

The ship rocked with the waves and the moon glowed iridescently above it. Gentle and extravagant snoring issued from the boys dorm and some seagulls had perched on the mast for the night.

Usopp yawned as he rubbed his eye, heading to the galley for a glass of water. He saw Usui sitting on the railing and wondering why he was awake this late into the night, he went to join him.

“You should be asleep,” Usopp reprimanded.

Usui twisted around to look at him and he shrugged. “Can’t.”

Usopp’s eyebrows creased. “You can’t sleep?”

“Yeah.”

Usopp sighed through his nose and rested his elbows on the railing next to Usui, leaning forward.

“Why?”

“Nightmares.”

“Nightmares?”

Usui nodded. “They don’t make any sense either. And sometimes I wake up and I don’t remember what I was dreaming about.”

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t sleep,” Usopp yawned. “No wonder you have those bags under your eyes.”

“Sleep is for the weak,” Usui teased.

Usopp immediately thought of Zoro who always sleeps. “There are people on this ship that would kill you for saying that.”

Usui rubbed the back of his neck and smiled nervously. “That’s right, isn’t it?”

Usopp gazed out at the dark blanket that was the ocean. “When was the last time you’ve slept?”

Usui thought about it, which wasn’t a good sign. “Around… 13 years?”

“Bakemono*!” Usopp shrieked.

Usui laughed uneasily. “It’s not that bad…”

“Do you hear yourself?!”

_

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper were peeking around the corner, spying on Brook and Usui. The pair were leaning over a spread of papers and speaking in whispers. Most of the time, Brook would enthusiastically scribble down something and they looked to be enjoying each other’s company. The three at the door narrowed their eyes in impatience.

“What are you doing?” Sanji asked. “Pretending to be a totem pole?”

“We want to play with Fruit Punch but he’s busy with Brook,” Luffy explained, pouting.

Sanji looked over at the skeleton and their— imprisoned against his will— guest. “When did you guys start relying on Fruit Punch to entertain you?”

“What do you mean?” Usopp asked.

Sanji sighed. “You’re becoming too dependent on that split personality horror show.”

“That’s mean, Sanji!” Chopper reproved.

“You bully!” Usopp and Luffy threw at him.

“You three are so dense!” Sanji growled before calming himself and lighting another cigarette. “Don’t get so attached to him. Usui’s future is grim.”

“Boo!” Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper chorused. “You’re attached to him too!”

“I am not!”

“Oh,” Usui finally noticed the four at the door, Sanji wrestling with Luffy while Chopper bit his leg, hanging on. “Sanji!”

Sanji stopped snarling at the sound of his name. He gave the teen a closed eyed smile. “Yo, Usui!”

Usui grinned. “Can you make something sweet?”

“Sure. Anything specific?”

Usui shook his head. “They’re all good anyway.”

He put a hand on the door knob. “Then.”

The door closed on the four.

.

.

.

Sanji was mourning in a gloomy corner of the ship, blue lines hovered over him.

“I’m attached…” he sobbed.

Usopp joined him. “He ignored me…”

The corner gained a doctor. “He didn’t say hi…”

The Captain joined his crewmates. “I want meat…”

“Off topic!” the three karate chopped him on the head.

“Oi!” Zoro called from the crow’s nest. “I see land!”

“Oooooh!” Luffy popped up. “An island?!”

He ran to the bow and jumped onto the figure head. He put a hand on his hat to keep it from flying off his head as he looked over at the approaching land. His crew joined him and Nami began yelling out orders to anchor down.

Usui exited the study with Brook and went up to Luffy.

“Guess this is goodbye.”

Luffy turned to face him and it took him a couple of seconds to process what his new friend had said. “What?! What do you mean by Good Bye?!”

Usui blinked. “When we reach the island I can just take another ship back to Ember Island.”

“NO!”

“No?”

Nami punched Luffy away. “What Luffy means is that you can’t leave yet because I’m still not fully recovered.”

“Didn’t you say that you weren’t feeling any post trauma?”

“It’s a late reaction.”

“I guess I can take a quick examination,” Usui headed to the sick bay. “Come with me.”

The two disappeared behind the door and the others huddled into a circle.

“Nami-san gained us some time,” Sanji whispered. “What’s the plan?”

“Fruit Punch is not allowed to leave this ship!” Luffy said in determination. “Never!”

“I can’t let him leave either,” Chopper’s eyebrows arched down in resolve. “I won’t let a patient go without proper medical treatment.”

“Why don’t we just tie him up?” Zoro offered.

“That’s messed up!” Usopp yelled.

“I agree with Zoro,” Franky said.

“As do I,” Robin commented.

Zoro sparkled.

“Get out,” Usopp deadpanned.

“How about this?” Brook inclined closer to them.

“Whisper, whisper, whisper.”

They all nodded.

“Whisper, whisper, whisper.”

“Aaaaaaaah…” they synchronized in understanding.

_

“Nothing seems out of the ordinary,” Usui said after he had scanned Nami’s body.

“That’s weird,” Nami said, sitting up again.

“Maybe you should ask Chopper,” Usui suggested. “It might be another illness.”

“I hope not,” Nami slapped Usui on the back. “Thanks for your time!”

Usui’s back throbbed and he smiled with tears in his eyes. “N-no problem.”

He opened the door and an arm immediately stretched out and plucked his necklace from around his neck.

“Hey!” Usui tried a grab for it but Luffy had already raveled his arm back to his body. “Luffy! Give it back!”

Clouds rolled in from the horizon and a spine chilling breeze went through Usui. His new friends were all standing with threatening auras, looking overpoweringly badass. His lips parted and his eyes widened.

“If you want to leave this ship with your precious pendant,” Luffy pulled the necklace around his neck. “You have to defeat all of us in a fight to the death.”

Usopp chuckled confidently and Chopper tried to look menacing. Franky was posing and Sanji blew out a string of smoke. Robin was sitting to the side, not wanting to participate and Zoro was fingering his swords. Brook had his arms crossed, shadows thrown over his already frightening face. Luffy’s eyes were hooded by his hat and he had his arms on his hips.

“Eh?” Usui said in confusion and exasperation. “Are you guys alright?”

Nami facepalmed. Couldn’t they have thought of a better plan?

“Give me back my locket Luffy,” Usui held out a hand. “This is ridiculous.”

“Nope,” Luffy smiled.

Sanji and Chopper attacked and their limbs went right through Usui, blood splattering onto the deck.

“Che,” Sanji said in irritation.

“Are you all sure about this?” Usui whispered, but he was heard by the whole crew.

He lifted his gaze and his scarlet eyes glowed. “Then I’m not holding back.”

Sanji and Chopper were thrown back and Luffy and Usui shared a conversation with their gazes only for a fraction of a second. Usui bolted forward, dodging the sprouting arms at his feet by flipping and dodging fluidly. He dodged the plants that Usopp had sent his way as well as Nami’s lightning.

“Room!” a cube shaped sheen engulfed them.

Blood spilled down his arm and he made a sharp movement upward. The blood hardened into an arch and he ran up it to avoid Zoro and Brook’s swords. He threw himself to the side at the last second to avoid Sanji’s kick. It landed on the blood arch and it cracked and crumbled under the impact.

Chopper engaged Usui in hand to hand combat and the blue haired boy dodged gracefully. He leaped into the air and stepped on Chopper’s head to jump off it. He landed in front of Luffy and reached out for his pendant.

“Zoro!” Luffy yelled and he threw the necklace at the swordsman.

Usui bulleted at him and Zoro got the idea.

“Cook!”

Sanji caught it in the air. Flying higher and higher with his sky walk.

“Sanji!” Usui yelled. “Give it back!”

Sanji smirked down at him. “No chance in hell.”

Usui gritted his teeth and crossed his arms stiffly, the grass shot upward and Sanji had to do complicated maneuvers to dodge them. One finally wrapped around his ankle and began pulling him back to the ship.

“Brook!”

Brook caught the necklace and Usui lost interest in Sanji. And the grass threw him into the sea.

“Waaaaaaah!” Sanji yelled.

A large splash and Usui was already directing the grass at Brook who was running on the surface of the sea.  

“Yo ho ho ho ho ho!” Brook laughed as he dodged the approaching blades of grass. “Come and get it, Usui-san!”

A tick mark throbbed on his head as he threw his arms around. He finally managed to wrap the skeleton and pull him back.

“Chopper-san!”

“Enough!” Usui roared.

A blade of grass wrapped around Chopper, keeping him from moving and another blade grabbed the necklace. It delivered it to Usui and he sighed in relief. He gripped it in his fist tightly.

He looked up at the others. “What the hell were you guys thinking?”

Luffy was sitting on a barrel, laughing his head off, and the rest looked oddly satisfied. Something clicked in Usui’s mind and he ran to the bow.

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!?” he snapped his head around, looking for the island that had been there a minute before. “Where did it go!?”

“We have a talented navigator and shipwright on board after all,” Robin smiled.

“Go back!” Usui grabbed the collar of Usopp’s shirt and shook him roughly. “Go back!”

“Not happening,” Franky chuckled.

Usui went into his gloom corner. “I wanna cry…”

“I brought the supplies guys,” Sanji landed on the deck with bags of food. He noticed Usui glaring at him. “Yo, Usui.”

“That’s it,” Usui said, getting up. “I’m going to risk it.”

“Risk what?” Franky asked.

Blood collected and it formed into a little rowboat. “I didn’t want to do this because the sea water will probably un-harden it and it’ll wash away but at this point I won’t be able to live either way.”

He threw the boat into the water and put one foot on the railing to jump. Zoro grabbed his upper arms and pulled him back.

“Let me go!”

“Sorry, I can’t,” Zoro jerked his head at Luffy. “Captain’s orders.”

“Huh?!”

“Give it up, Fruit Punch,” Usopp said, smiling sympathetically. “Just go with the flow.”

“You guys go with the flow too much that you became it!”

Usui thrashed around in Zoro’s grip. “What do you want with me?! Why are you people trying so hard to make me stay?!”

Sanji spooned something into his mouth. “Just shut up and eat.”

Usui chewed on the dessert and his face brightened. “Oishi…”

“It has good flavor right?”

Usui’s face flat lined and he kicked the spoon of food out of Sanji’s hands. “To hell with that!”

"Don't waste food!" Sanji smacked him on the head.

“Usui-san,” Brook walked up to the struggling boy. “Can’t you stay until the next island?”

A minute later, Usui shoved Zoro off him. “Fine.”

“Yahoo!” Luffy cheered. “Let’s have a party!”

"Party! Party! Party!" Usopp and Chopper shouted enthusiastically.

Usui cracked a smile. “The world just hates me doesn’t it? To think I would be stuck on a ship with people like you.”

_____________________________________________________________

* bakemono- monster