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“… You probably only invited me along out of pity..!”
Usopp had been rambling on like that for a few minutes, and Nami found herself getting more and more frustrated the longer he kept talking. Finally, she exploded, marching over the creaking wood planks and chopping the long-nose in the head, though she was mindful of his injuries.
“ YOU IDIOT!!” she was dimly aware that everyone was staring at her like she’d grown two extra heads, but she couldn’t even begin to care.
“Did you just forget your title on this ship!? You’re our SNIPER! The only reason you think you’re useless is because you keep trying to compare yourself to those three monster-idiots! You are not a melee fighter! We don’t NEED another melee fighter! Did you forget you’re the only one on this crew that can aim the damn canons!? Have the best eyes out of all of us!? Builds crazy new weapons and inventions for us!?”
Usopp was crying, tears falling from wide eyes, but at least he didn’t seem angry anymore. Nami could feel tears starting to well up in her own eyes.
“If you’d just stop trying to PUNCH people and use your actual talents you’d see just how freakin' amazing you are!! And even if you didn’t have all those talents, we’d still want you here!!” her voice cracked and then softened, but lost none of it’s determination.
“We all love you Usopp…!”
The silence rang throughout the room after Nami’s rant, but the truth to her words was undeniable. All eyes were on Usopp, filled with care and fear in equal measure.
“She’s right you know” Sanji spoke gently, “No one cares about the money. We were all scared shitless for you though, waiting for chopper to tell us you’d woken up...”
“Luffy especially” Zoro added from where he was leaning against the wall, and suddenly everyone was staring at him, “What? Did no one else pick up on that?”
Sanji blinked at him.
“Well I mean. It’s Luffy…?”
“He couldn’t sit still for more than a minute the whole time Usopp was out. He always gets like that when he’s worried but can’t do anything about it” Zoro had an eyebrow raised, as if finding it strange that no one else seemed to know that about their captain. One glance at Luffy proved it right though. He was still sprawled over the remains of the desk, but even with his eyes hidden behind the shadow of his hat, it was obvious that his face and neck were as red as his shirt.
Usopp hiccuped, but wasn’t yelling anymore, too shell-shocked by Nami’s furious affection, Luffy’s blush, and everyone’s concern for him to hold onto the anger. Even so, every rock of their ship on the waves increased the ache in his soul.
“But… The Merry…!” There was a desperation to his quiet voice, pain and confusion on his face. Zoro responded, matter-of-factually, but with a gruff quality that showed how he felt despite his best attempts.
“It’s her keel. The shipwright told me more about it when I got mad at him. It’s fractured all over and water’s seeped into the wood. It’s already rotting.” He frowned and shut his eyes, obviously pained as well.
Usopp just looked more lost. While he had calmed down, there was still a tension in his shoulders, emotions wound too tight around his heart.
“But- but why can’t they replace it? If they know what the problem is..!”
“The keel is the core of the ship.” The sniper flinched as Luffy spoke up for the first time in a while, face still hidden by the brim of his hat, the last of his blush draining away until he was almost too pale against the splintered wood around him.
“Everything else is attached to it. They’ve have a to build her back from scratch. But even if it looked like Merry, no matter what anyone did, it would never be the same. Cause the wood would be different, and other little things we’d notice. It wouldn’t be right, just a copy…!” Frustration mounted in his voice at the end, his clenched fists shaking at his sides.
Sanji stepped forward, moving into Usopp’s personal space when he swayed a bit on his feet, but didn’t touch him, unsure how such a gesture might be taken at the moment.
“At least if we retire her now, we can take part of her with us” his tone was incredibly gentle and soft, even though his own hurt could be heard behind his words, “like her figurehead, her sail...”
“Her bell” Nami added, “that we ring when we need to get everyone’s attention. She’d still be with us, protecting us..”
“O-oh.. I… I see… Oooh...” finally, all the tension bled out of Usopp; and the pain and exhaustion resurfaced in it’s absence. His legs gave out beneath him, and Zoro moved to catch him; but Luffy was already there, back on his feet and both arms stretched out to cradle the sniper with more care than any of them had ever seen him take with anything else. The captain gently settled Usopp back into the cot on the floor, hesitated for only a second, before crawling in beside him, curling around him as tightly as his injuries would allow. Luffy’s strangled voice was muffled from where his face was hidden at the junction where Usopp’s neck met his shoulder, and so quiet it almost couldn’t be heard.
“Please, don’t go...” If Usopp felt the bandages under Luffy’s face grow damp, well, no one else ever needed to know that. His own eyes watered as he pressed his face into his captain’s hair.
“I won’t”. It was a promise.
The strange atmosphere that kept everyone else still and silent during that tender moment was broken when Nami sniffled. The three humans glanced at each other then, all with the same thought in mind. Without speaking, they carefully joined the other two on the cot. There was a bit of wiggling, quiet squabbles over the best spots and Chopper’s reluctant chiding was cut off as Zoro dragged him into the pile with a squeak, until they were all such a tangle of limbs it was hard to tell where one started and another began.
There was a gap there- not a physical one; but Robin was still missing, and her lack of presence was felt by them all. They were all exhausted though, drained from the high emotions they’d been dealing with all day, and so they accepted the missing piece for the moment, for themselves and to be there for their precious sniper.
Warm light from the setting sun filtered into the room, washing everything in a golden haze, catching on dust motes that danced like snowflakes in the air, and Usopp didn’t bother to try and stop the tears that leaked from his eyes. He would still need time, to grieve for the Merry's loss, but for now he was smiling, feeling more at home than he ever had before, surrounded by his family. He whispered in the quiet,
“I love you guys too...”