Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

once we sow the seeds

it’ll be some time

before we discover the warmth,

uncover the scars

before it’s ripe 

of beautiful memories

it’ll be some time

before the fruit falls,

but that’s okay

it’s still love,

just at its earliest

---

Usopp wondered if this whole spur of the moment thing was imprinted into Luffy’s being.

Jumping into action, fists balled, never surveying the enemy. He’d first seen it on his own island, facing Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates, and it didn’t take long to figure out that Luffy was always doing that, but it never felt like he was.

Usopp didn’t really think about it. Luffy was their captain, and Usopp had everlasting trust and faith in him. Even if it looked like he might not stand up, he always did.

Usopp, sometimes, forgot to be worried.

Well, he was definitely worried now.

Had the ship’s deck always been this wide? Standing out in the open, legs daring to buckle under the pressure, he felt like it could extend forever. It was a floating wasteland on the sea, and he was alone.

Luffy was kneeling somewhere, likely clutching the gash in his side. It wasn’t uncommon for him to miss out on things. A failed admiral that prowled the East Blue with a hidden arsenal of weapons? An unfair advantage, really. A hulking fish-man that could regrow his razor-sharp teeth? Who could’ve known that? A fear-mongering, sandstorm-summoning and land-parching Warlord that has a secret poisonous hook? Valid oversight. A massive shark with blades in place of fins and other removable appendages that cut so clean it hurt to even look? A little less valid if he was being honest, but it wasn’t like Luffy hadn’t been dodging the knife-like extensions on this guy’s back and arms with stunning precision earlier.

Why had this even happened anyway? He’d say it felt almost a little surreal if nearly every opponent they’d faced hadn’t been total nut jobs to begin with. Cruel and effectively violent nut jobs, maybe, but Usopp found that oftentimes you couldn’t spell killer without crazy.

You’d also have to be a little crazy yourself to willingly stand up to a monster like this, and Usopp would consider himself to be relatively sane—well, he did choose to become a pirate, but in all fairness, he assumed bravery would be a gradual thing. It was baffling that they were all beginners, so he assumed Luffy was born brave, but…

You couldn’t become a fearless warrior if you’ve never been afraid, and not once had he seen Luffy tremble.

*

Usopp had gotten familiar with stuff like this. Grime in his mouth, clammy hands, pain mowing down his body. What he wasn’t used to, however, was the chilling lack of relief. This would be over soon, right? It was finished, right? He could go back to the lounge and tinker and heal and pretend it didn’t matter that his nose might shatter for the fourth time.

Rushing blood was blaring in his ears, drowning out the frantic calls all around him. Probably Sanji shouting about how big of an idiot he was or Nami urging him to run, and honestly he didn’t know why he hadn’t sprinted in the other direction yet. That was his usual response to danger like this, they wouldn’t be upset if he ran. Hell, he was sure they expected it.

They didn’t get it. This wasn’t some random burst of bravery, Usopp had set himself up.

Earlier in the fight, when the razor-edged monster (that shouldn’t have been able to walk on the deck as smoothly as it did with those blade fins, but Usopp had seen too much to be staggered) had been distracted by Luffy and his abnormal limbs, he’d fired off three special capsules. Each had a strong adhesive on the ends that effectively landed and stuck to their opponent. They all contained a lead net, hopefully strong enough to withstand the cutter even if for a short time.

Since Usopp was showy and stupid and a hopeless admirer of the chaotic beauty of surprise, it took a few minutes for the capsules to unseal. The nets would unfurl like sails, a lovely sight in more… pleasant circumstances.

They even hooked Luffy. He’d lean forward in anticipation and subconsciously jump back when the capsules bursted, it always had the sniper giggling.

Usopp shook the memory away. It was a shame he had to waste that ammunition here, but it’d be an even bigger shame to sit back and watch as this sea cretin impaled all of his friends. He could kick-start them with a tiny bit of force, but without any ammo that would require Usopp to get close. As a coward with a courage scale that had already reached its limit, stalling was his only option.

“What exactly do you plan to do?” It even hurt to hear him speak. Words cut as they always did when spat from a villain’s maw, but it was all in the tone with this guy.

No ‘you’re weak and helpless’ or ‘it’s demeaning to have to face someone as spineless as you,’ just pure vocal disdain. It was easier to work with the boasting and the insults. It was easier to proudly shout that they were wrong even if he believed them.

Usopp tried a laugh, but his throat may as well have been filled with sand. “There’s no need to plan for victory, feind! I’ve already won.” He excelled here, lying through his teeth. Usopp knew he’d see through it—the capable ones always did—but there was always a small pause. No matter how quickly it passed, as if they’d never blinked, it still happened.

Maybe it happened, maybe it didn’t. There was a flash, and Usopp’s awareness flickered like a corrupt moment in time.

He should’ve guessed, really. None of them even knew why this beast had jumped aboard and attacked them in the first place. Quick, sharp movements, words that bit and scarred, it all spoke for a lack of patience Usopp couldn’t keep up with.

The pain wasn’t instant. Everything was frozen in ice, his vision clouded by a cold fog. 

That numbness snapped when someone screamed his name, and there was a brutal pinch to his side that had his bulging eyes snapping downward. The mist cleared.

Usopp forced himself not to recoil as he stared dumbfounded at where the blade had penetrated his body. It pierced the skin not far above his hip, just below his ribs, lodged into the flesh of his lower abdomen.

Someone called out his name again. Ragged, concerned. He had to correct them, reassure them (he was going to be okay, everything was going to be okay, and if he could convince them, he could surely convince himself).

“It’s Captain Usopp.” His voice was a mess of what it used to be. Strain upon strain upon strain contorting the sound. “Something like this—” hurthurthurt so much “—is nothing! Just…” a wheeze of a breath was forced from him. He could hear something faintly splatter against the wood beneath him, and wasted a few seconds envisioning a leaking faucet that could be heard no matter how far. It was easier than looking down again, knowing he would see his overalls sodden with crimson.

“You can still pretend even now? I suppose you’re formidable in some ways.” In useless ways, he didn’t need to say. Usopp heard it anyway.

He opened his mouth to pretend just like the prick wanted, but he, as it seemed, wanted to hear what Usopp sounded like when he screamed instead.

It tore from his lungs before the sniper even knew what had happened. He hardly registered his sudden rise into the air, all he felt was the knife cutting deeper, thrusting upward.

His crewmates were quick to act. Why’d they let Usopp entertain the beast in the first place? Usopp wasn’t capable at all, right? The fresh stains on the deck spoke for themselves.

He heard shuffling, and the knife shifted with the sly moving. Usopp cried out again, broken and weak, but loud enough to stop any intervention. A silent warning.

Nami’s scarily silent. Sanji shouted about how sick this was, but in Usopp’s ears it was a sputter of chopped up echoes.

This brute should be getting bored by now, should want to move back to the fast-paced Luffy, who could actually level with him. What was he doing back there, anyway? Usopp knew he wouldn’t back down from a fight no matter what. Had he fallen asleep? and no matter how ridiculous that sounded, Usopp’s brain still muttered an irritated probably because that conclusion wasn’t exactly far-fetched.

(Maybe he thought Usopp was finally standing his ground and could handle this while he healed. It was certainly what his body said, rushing into the field after Luffy was slit to his limit.

He’d never known an idiot grander than himself. Just can’t help feeling and feeling and acting on those feelings, huh? They don’t even matter.)

The pain should have been enough to keep Luffy off his mind, but Usopp never claimed to be smart, especially with his emotions. If he wasn’t being a moron and swinging into action, then Usopp couldn’t be certain he was okay. Not knowing that was worse than the agony pulsing at every corner of his body, so he’d do what he could even if it meant dying.

With the remains of his consciousness he swung forward, choking on a gasp as the sharp iron moved along with his foot. Digging further into him as his sole dug into the fiend's side, colliding with one of the capsules. Something wet spread across his stomach as his sight blurred, but a familiar click and burst sounded off, and Usopp let everything go black, pacified by relief.

*

Luffy was a special kind of angry when he woke up, bed bound and aching. He tried to be serious at first, attempted to lecture Usopp on how careless he was and if he ever did something like that again he would…

“Well I don’t know what I would do, but it’ll suck!”

Usopp wondered, idly, if Chopper’s makeshift clinic was the first doctor’s office he’d ever been to. “Alright, Luffy.”

Luffy slapped his forehead, his own recklessly effective version of playful. “I’ll have Sanji force feed you mushrooms for a whole month!”

“Monster. I’ll die of food poisoning if you do that!”

A smirk played at the corners of Luffy’s mouth, and Usopp felt a grin of his own forming when his captain tried and failed to suppress it.

“Stop joking. I really do mean it, Usopp.” Despite the fondness in his voice and the smile he couldn’t quite hide, Usopp knew he was serious.

“Okay, Luffy.”

“You promise? Promise you’ll wait for me next time?”

Usopp wanted to squirm at the vulnerability, but it was physical torment to move even slightly. Chopper had wrapped up and numbed him enough that he wouldn’t be crying with every twitch, but it wasn’t just his body that hurt.

“You were down, Luffy…”

“That doesn’t matter. You gave yourself up.”

If only the bedding underneath him would swallow him whole, suffocate him and leave him deaf to the sudden and quick responses, to the Luffy that was being steadfast and unreasonable. He wanted to argue, scream you’re wrong, and yes it did, but Luffy’s eyes were resolute. Captain’s orders and all that crap he wished he didn’t care about.

It all went so much deeper than some unplanned heedlessness.

Luffy lightly flicked him again. “Promise me, Usopp.”

“Do I get to be captain if I promise?”

Luffy huffed. “No, idiot.”

“Then there’s your answer,” Usopp said dismissively, using the pitiful remains of his energy to turn up his nose and look away.

He didn’t miss the vexation sculpting Luffy’s frown, but figured he should have heeded its warning when Luffy abruptly jabbed a finger into his side. “You’re annoying!”

Usopp was certain his soul left his body, and figured Luffy must’ve been proud that he made Usopp scream louder than he did when there was a knife buried inside him.

His shouting alerted Chopper, who rushed into the room seconds later. “Usopp are you—Luffy! What are you doing?”

“He won’t promise to stop being stupid!”

“That’s not what you asked me to promise! You’re stupid!”

Chopper was incredulous. “Luffy you can’t… poke someone’s fresh wounds!”

“He deserved it,” Luffy grumbled, not sparing Chopper even a single glance in favor of glaring at his sniper.

Usopp refused to give in, defiantly glaring back, though his was a little less intimidating what with the pain-induced trembling.

The sudden intense aura in the room ran shivers down Chopper’s back. He scrambled to look over Usopp once more, relieved that Luffy had made sure to drive his finger in an area just above Usopp’s injury.

“B-be a little more considerate next time, Luffy! Don’t mess with the patient!”

“Yeah, yeah, my bad.”

“You don’t sound sorry at all,” Chopper and Usopp groused in unison.

*

Chopper left eventually, clearly perturbed by the heavy atmosphere (not bothered enough to prevent him from scolding Luffy for his lack of restraint that, horrifyingly enough, remained consistent even with those bedridden and bleeding), handing Usopp an extra shield pillow before scurrying out.

Usopp sort of hoped Chopper would’ve stayed a little longer. Luffy’s searing stare never wavered, and Usopp swore he was trying to mentally crack him open, reach in and pull out the answer Usopp wouldn’t give.

“You don’t have to stay, y’know,” he murmured. 

“I want to.”

He’d fought for that, that glow he’d pretend wasn’t candescent even under the moon. He’d fought for the eyes of a pirate, bled because he was scared of that stubborn flame going out. A light that shone on the entire crew, lit up the seas, settled warm and true in Usopp’s heart.

Usopp, the idiot, who was just laying there, giving that heat free passage into his soul.

“I wouldn’t promise that either.”

“Huh?” Usopp was so caught in his own head he hadn’t noticed when the contact was lost. Luffy was looking ahead now, distant, somehow more nerve-wracking than before.

“To wait.”

Usopp felt his brow twitch. “Then why would you ask me to—” he was cut short, Luffy’s straw hat suddenly off his head and pressed hard into Usopp’s face. “Ow—Luffy!”

“Hey, Usopp,” Luffy began. Casually, like he wasn’t actively suffocating his sniper. “Thanks.”

Usopp wheezed when Luffy raised his hand, the scratchy material no longer scuffing his face. “I don’t think you know how thanking people works,” he grumbled, reaching up to pat at the skin. “Why’re you thanking me anyway?”

“You saved us.” Luffy leaned in, smiling. “Even if it was stupid.”

“If you keep calling me stupid with that grin, you’ll start to do actual damage,” Usopp pouted, voice high, faux tears daring at the corners of his eyes.

Luffy looked ridiculously inquisitive. “Maybe you should jump into fights more often…”

“I'm afraid Captain Usopp’s rescue services are few and far between. Be grateful you even got to see him in action today!”

“Shishishi, you’re funny Usopp,” Luffy laughed loudly, though Usopp didn’t find it all that funny. He was completely serious… unless his heart decided to jump out of his chest again, guns blazing like the idiot Luffy was right about him being.

“Just hurry up and get better so we can have fun again. I’ll wait for you.”

That heart lurched. “I told you, you don’t have to stay.”

Luffy crossed his arms. “And I said I wanted to! I’m captain, I can do whatever I want!”

Usopp regarded his shouting with pronounced disinterest. “You’d do whatever you wanted regardless of—”

“I can do this, too!” Luffy’s hand was promptly curled into his, a clammy hold firm and secure.

Usopp was sure the ship was going to fall from under him.

(If the next enemy doesn’t finish me, I’m certain you’ll be the death of me, Luffy.)

Chapter Text

Your impact

a collision of color and joy

I pretend I can't control

in truth I have a pull, a sling.

The pigment, the love

I could cast it all out,

but I don’t.

Maybe I’ve come to enjoy

your impact

---

Luffy had an… abnormal attention span.

Usopp’s own focus tended to flit around from time to time, unless he was truly concentrated on something… like making ammo.

Usopp’s concentration was Luffy’s concentration, as it seemed.

Luffy, his captain who could be so set on something he doesn’t notice extreme heat or cold, who could have the world in his hands and drop it at the mere mention of meat…

…hadn’t moved from his spot beside him in hours.

A single word had yet to be exchanged between the two, because Usopp opted to ignore the rubber man in place of making new exploding and smoke stars. 

He couldn’t have wanted anything, he’d assumed, because Luffy was far too vocal to just sit patiently and wait for Usopp to be done. The sniper wouldn’t be anytime soon, anyway, he wanted to experiment with new ammo and come up with some different techniques. If Luffy wanted to sit and watch, he could sit and watch.

Luffy did not want to sit and watch.

“Hey, Usopp, have anything fun to do?”

Gunpowder trickled evenly into the pellets. Due to the silence on the ship and the current’s lack of power, it made a faint sound, like flowing sand.

Usopp’s hands didn’t tremble, and they certainly didn’t waver when Luffy’d asked that ridiculous question. He was sure Luffy could see it, his scrunched brow and narrowed eyes, his blatant concentration.

Knowing Luffy, he didn’t realize he was a nuisance or just didn’t care, so Usopp wouldn’t care either.

Luffy sat up, detangling the arms he had crossed behind his head and resting his hands on the floor between his legs. “Usopp?”

The sniper leaned closer to his work, pretty much gesturing to it. I’m busy, Luffy, it read. He knew illiterate fit right next to unaware when describing his captain, so he figured a gentle nudge was in order.

Of course, nothing good ever came out of ignoring Luffy, and Usopp wasn’t all that great at reading body language, either, so he shouldn’t have been surprised when his newly made exploding star was slapped out of his careful hands.

It bursted immediately upon Luffy’s impact, gunpowder and smoke eager to swarm them, painfully flooding their nostrils and mouths.

Coughs erupted from Usopp, and he waved his hand in a futile attempt to clear the fumes while Luffy sneezed so hard his neck extended.

When it faded enough for Usopp to open his eyes a little, he reached for Luffy blindly, fumbling to take hold of his collar and dragging him to the other side of the ship. They breathed heavily in silence for a while, trying to force the smoke from their lungs.

After a particularly loud gasp, Luffy spoke up. “That was a cool explosion, Usopp!”

Usopp almost didn’t register his own movements, sharply turning to strike Luffy across the face. “Are you trying to kill us both!?”

Unfazed as usual, Luffy let out a laugh. “There’s no way we’d die from that! I’m way stronger than gunpowder.”

Usopp felt his left eye twitch, and moved to direct his attention to the paling smoke cloud lest he find something “strong enough” to kill Luffy in a fit of blind rage.

“Still tastes bad…” Luffy muttered from beside him, words jumbled as though he were speaking with his tongue outside his mouth.

“It’s your fault for putting your grubby hands on my ammo! Gunpowder is scarce, you know!”

“It’s your fault for ignoring me!”

“I was busy! That much should’ve been obvious if you were paying attention!” His words clicked, and Usopp hung his head in defeat. “I expect too much of you.”

Luffy leaned forward, eyes trailing over Usopp’s body, smudged with gray, like some silly inspector. Still looking ridiculously contemplative, he straightened. “You’re not busy now, so let’s play a game!”

Usopp pierced him with a stare before returning his attention to the explosion sight, now streaked with black, and making an attempt to clean it up before Nami saw it.

Luffy crouched beside him, mimicking his sweeping motions with less success.

The silence was definitely off-putting, not unlike the quiet that befell them when repairing the ship, but with a substantial lack of welcoming air. Maybe it was the smoke.

“Luffy,” he began, hands stilling against the deck, cupped around a small pile of ash.

Luffy hadn’t stopped. “Hm?”

He swallowed hard, prodding into the ash with a finger. “Making ammo is necessary for me to have any way of contributing to the crew. I know that might be hard for you to understand, but—”

“Let me help, then!”

“You want to help..?” Unease shot up Usopp’s spine at the suggestion, but he didn’t give himself time to consider what a terrible idea that might be, holding on to the pleasantness found in Luffy’s willingness to assist him. “Sure, I don’t mind teaching you how Captain Usopp makes his weapons!”

Luffy smiled.

*

Usopp could only stare at their tarnished ship, tainted black in uneven streaks. The only positive Usopp could grasp was that Luffy’s smolder-show only clouded half the ship in smog

“I can’t believe you fired off each one you made…”

“It’s boring to make one and then just put it away!” Luffy reasoned, drawing meaningless scribbles into the ash.

He was so unbothered, Usopp, honestly, found it insulting.

“Look at the ship, Luffy! And you wasted my materials! Do you even—?”

“But they’re fun to fire! Your ammo is super cool, Usopp!”

His heart sent a swift kick to his ribs, swelling with unearned pride. “Well, I suppose it does take a refined warrior to have craftsmanship like this. You certainly have a good eye, Luffy—“ his gaze suddenly refocused, taking in a ship smothered in darkness.

He hit Luffy again. “Stop trying to change the subject! What’re we gonna do about this mess?!”

“Does it matter? The wind will blow it away, right?” Luffy replied, rubbing at the blooming red mark on his cheek just as well as he rubbed out responsibility.

“Luffy.”

“What?”

“Raise your hand.”

Without question, he did, waving it around a little as it elevated.

“Feel anything?”

“No—oh! There’s no wind!” He curved his arm oddly in the air, like somehow a new angle would produce different results. “No wonder we were moving so slowly today!”

Maybe there was a breeze, one so light even Usopp, who’d gone so still he hardly felt the angry blood pumping in his veins, could feel. He wondered if statues felt guilt or faced consequences, because he was going to kick Luffy off the side of the half-darkened ship. He was going to let him fall and pretend to mourn when the rest of the crew learned their captain had foolishly drowned. The only kind of death they expected to pin their stubborn leader.

Luffy’s eyes darted back and forth from Usopp to the mess he knew he was responsible for. Concern grew with every assertion of the hostility radiating from Usopp’s still form.

He shortened his arm back into place. “My bad, Usopp. I’ll help you clean up,” Luffy muttered, trying not to sound sheepish.

With how much care Luffy usually took of Merry, Usopp wasn’t sure this “help” would be very beneficial, but his expression softened without much need of convincing.

*

Luffy’s good at a lot of things… a few things… things.

Things like fighting, spewing nonsense, being aggravating and somehow spilling more ash onto the unsoiled side of the deck before they actually manage to do any cleaning.

He was, uh, good at making people feel.

…Feel anger, specifically.

“I’ll have to wait till we stop again to get more supplies,” Usopp wearily murmured to himself once the ship was some half-assed version of spotless, casting Luffy a sharp glare out the corner of his eye.

Seeing as that was the fourteenth display of Usopp’s displeasure in the last ten minutes, Luffy couldn’t hold back his exasperation.

“C’mon! I said sorry!”

Usopp grunted, pouching the bullets he’d made that managed to avoid Luffy’s rapid craving for destruction.

“It’s not a craving for destruction,” Luffy pouted.

Apparently he grumbled that out loud.

“Besides, you’re fine without them.”

Luffy just continued to pluck at that tight-pulled string of rage within him.

“Did anything I told you earlier hold any weight?”

Luffy gave him a puzzled look, one that told the sniper he was about to be corrected. Words can’t have weight, after all.

Usopp closed his eyes, releasing a worn out sigh. “This is important to me, Luffy.”

He turned to the ocean, expression suddenly unreadable for a change.

Usopp always hated it when it got to that point. He never knew what he’d get out of Luffy’s careful thought. A genuineness that knocked him off his feet, or some childish response that kicked them back to the beginning.

The sound of Luffy’s sandals against the deck was similar to the sweeping of a broom, carrying and pushing along remnants of ash as he approached.

“I’m sorry, Usopp,” he breathed, “I won't do that again.”

The atypical sincerity itched all over his body, and Usopp shoved down the urge to scratch up and down his arms. He’d probably end up hurting himself, what with the candor in Luffy’s eyes forcing him to surrender whatever control he had over his body.

Luffy crouched in front of him, and Usopp forgot to angle his gaze away. He tensed. As caring as his captain was, Usopp couldn’t dispose of the dread  that came with Luffy seeing how weak he was.

“Stop putting all your worth in stuff like this.” Shot like an order, a demand, though the gentle hand smoothed over his shoulder caressed like a plea.

“Right,” Usopp murmured. “Guess I’m not ready to stop doing that yet.”

Luffy rubbed—distractingly tender—lines up and down his arm, voice still hard and determined. “Hurry up, then. Start seeing what I see.”

“What do you—?”

“I need you, Usopp. Just you.” His lips curved into an easy smile, jump-starting Usopp’s nerves. 

Did Luffy know he was gracing him with such a clear answer? Sitting right in front of him, presenting… those kinds of feelings. Feelings that were raw and rubbed rough.

Stupid Luffy and his stupidly welcoming grins somehow made them feel alright. Those feelings were still new, but they were warm and soft and Usopp wanted them. That, in itself, was chilling to the bone.

There was one more thing Usopp wasn’t ready to stop doing.

“Up for some target practice?” He said, because running was easier.

Luffy leapt up, easily pushing against tension—it practically raised with him—bobbing excitedly on his feet. “Yeah!” He shouted, both fists raised. Then, low and sly, “and I have an idea.”

*

Luffy’s idea of target practice had morphed over time.

Usopp just had to shoot something and hit a target, right? Well, that could be anything.

If the ammo happened to be some chopped meat Luffy got a heel in the face for stealing, and the target was the dark expanse of his mouth, who was Usopp to complain? It’s still target practice.

Usopp watched with a chuckle caught in his throat as Luffy’s neck extended. He was likely trying to find a weird enough angle to give Usopp an actual challenge.

The sniper never mentioned that no matter how hard Luffy tried, these “exercises” would always be a little too easy for him. He couldn’t, not with Luffy looking so overjoyed every time he scored (though that could just be his usual excitement that came with eating food).

After what Luffy must have assumed to be a particularly hard shot (he’d looped his head around, forming three winding curves before settling upside down), he cheered, rearranging his body and rushing Usopp with a hug. “You’re the best!”

“You’re just happy to eat,” Usopp scoffed, but wrapped his arms around his captain without protest.

“That too.” Luffy swiped the remaining bits out of Usopp’s hand and fully slumped into his space, preferring to eat the finely cut pieces of meat with his head on Usopp’s lap.

Usopp found his own joy and revenge in jostling his captain’s body whenever he brought a piece to his mouth. Luffy either dropped it or somehow managed to miss the meat and bite two of his fingers.

“Oi! Knock it off!”

Usopp trembled with silent laughter. “Knock what off?”

Luffy grumbled to himself, attempting to eat another piece before Usopp bumped the back of his neck with his knees. Luffy’s wrist jerked involuntarily and away flew his food.

Usopp’s restraint broke, exploding into a fit of giggles at the sight of Luffy’s frustration.

He couldn’t suppress it even when Luffy took hold of his overall strap and tugged him forward. He expected a punch or angry yelling in his ear, but nothing happened.

Odd. Usopp had to force himself to stop, clutching his stomach as little bites of laughter continued to spring from him.

The sniper took a large intake of air. “Sorry, Luffy,” a wheeze, “m’just…” he finally glanced up and froze, the words dying on his lips.

Luffy’s grip on him had since loosened, but he had yet to let go.

Another aspect of Luffy’s abnormal attention span presented itself to him. Luffy had a habit of getting distracted, unable to focus on one thing at a time. A rare instance happened to be today, when Luffy was apparently content just watching Usopp work. This time he was just… watching Usopp.

His lips, stretched from laughter, slowly eased into a line. Luffy watched this too, fingers opting to fiddle with the strap instead.

“Usopp—”

“Thanks for today, Luffy.” It shot out almost defensively. A shield pinned up against something that couldn’t harm him, locking out a mental barrage of what-ifs.

If the intrusion on whatever Luffy planned on saying bothered him, he didn’t make it known. “Yeah! Today was fun! We should do this again.”

Usopp leveled him with a glare, ineffective and quivering alongside the tremors in his heart. “Not everything, Luffy.”

“Right! I won’t mess up again.” Luffy pulled away, and some sick, twisted mixture of relief and regret flooded Usopp from within.

Usopp watched him clamber away, disappearing behind a corner, his scream distant because Sanji had finally found him and some form of death had been the original promise if Luffy stole from the kitchen again.

Drowning out the audible struggle, Usopp put a finger to the grimey deck. He traced a small L in the gray, absentminded, unaware of his heart’s illustrations taking form. A U was drawn beside it before Usopp even realized his hand was moving. With the gunpowder only being a thin layer after the cleaning, he could hardly see it, but knowing it was there…

Stupid. He was so stupid.

(With a quick swipe of his hand, the letters were brushed out.)

Chapter Text

I don’t pay attention

to what your eyes say.

You scribe your love

on a note I won’t read.

Go on, then

tie it up with string and

set it in the waves of time.

Sail it toward some

distant future,

and I’ll hope and pray

that it’s mine

---

There was something surreal about it, telling real stories. Sharing something that actually happened instead of firing off distant dreams into someone’s face. Granted, that someone really enjoyed those stories, which made writing to her about his genuine adventures even better.

“What’re you doing, Usopp?” Luffy asked, appearing out of nowhere as usual. He joined Usopp on the ship’s railing and leaned over his sniper, peering at the paper clutched in his hands.

“Sending a letter to Kaya,” Usopp replied, rolling the letter up once he felt that the ink had completely dried.

Luffy frowned, glancing at the sea then back to Usopp. “Are you an idiot?”

“No!” Usopp sputtered, swatting at him. “I have this.” He proudly held up a glass bottle, presenting it to his captain.

Luffy looked at the bottle, then back to Usopp. “Are you an idiot?”

“Don’t just ask that again!”

Usopp exhaled, popping the cork off the bottle. “Look. All you have to do is put your letter in and ask the sea to deliver it for you. It’s not guaranteed to work, but brave warriors embrace the odds!”

“Not the odds of a letter being delivered,” Zoro said as he walked by, not looking their way.

“Shut up, Zoro!” Usopp called after him, huffing as he slipped his letter into the bottle.

Luffy cocked his head. “The ocean will deliver it for you?”

After resealing the bottle, Usopp flipped it around in his hand. “Sure, something like that,” he murmured, the enthusiasm that had sprouted when writing the letter gradually wilted.

“Cool! I want to send one too!”

Usopp jumped. He wasn’t expecting Luffy to be the least bit interested, but here he was, close and starry-eyed.

Something warm fizzled in his core, but he’d grown accustomed to ignoring it. “Okay,” he breathed, and reached into his bag to retrieve another piece of paper and a quill.

Luffy accepted them eagerly, hopping off the railing to scribble messily against the deck.

Usopp figured it’d be something silly about his certainty in being the next Pirate King or meat or how boring it was to wait for the next island, but Luffy suddenly stopped his hurried writing and leaned back, looking uncharacteristically pensive.

“You alright, Luffy?”

“I don’t know what to say.”

Usopp glanced at his paper, nearly covered with erratic scrawls. “You already have a lot down, Luffy.”

Luffy only frowned. “I still haven’t said what I wanted.”

Usopp dropped from the ship’s fencing. “Do you need—?”

Luffy’s arm extended before Usopp could take another step, landing firmly on his abdomen and pushing back.

“Ow—Luffy! What was that for?”

Luffy held the letter to his chest, glaring childishly. “No peeking!”

Usopp wanted to roll his eyes, but they widened with the realization that it might actually be something personal, something serious.

The crew was always looking for little developments like that in their captain, even if it was the tiniest interest in a book.

“Is it to Shanks?”

“Nah, I know I’ll see him again.”

“Then who is it for?”

“It’s not for anyone. It’s something I’ve wanted to say, I just don’t know how.”

“Luffy, that defeats the purpose of a letter.”

With a hand still on him, Luffy shot it upwards, knocking against Usopp’s chin. “Who cares!?”

Usopp staggered backward. “I care! We can’t ask the ocean to mail a letter to no one!”

Luffy paused, and something vulnerable shone in his eyes. He turned away before his sniper could get lost in it, his letter crinkling against his chest.

“It’s a wish.”

Usopp nearly choked on the retaliation already dying at the seam of his lips. “Huh?”

“A wish. Well, sort of.” Luffy still wasn’t looking at him. “I already know it’ll happen eventually, but writing about it looked fun!”

“It’ll happen eventually…?” Usopp toyed with the bottle still in his hand, not caring about the faint smudges he made on the glass. “What makes you so sure?”

“I’m going to tell my wish to the ocean, so it’ll make sure it comes true,” Luffy replied in pure confidence, the faint curve of a smile visible over his shoulder.

Usopp snorted. He knew Luffy was naive, but anyone would think that was a little ridiculous. “What? But you ate a devil fruit, the ocean hates you—“

A hand stretched out yet again and hammered unceremoniously onto Usopp’s head, forcibly pressing him down. “Shut up!”

“Yep,” Usopp wheezed painfully, “I deserved that.”

Luffy only huffed in response, holding his previously concealed letter out with a frown.

Usopp rubbed at the bump on his head, slowing at Luffy’s subsequent gloom. “You know I don’t mean it, I’m sure the sea will gladly hear what you have to say. After all, she brought you where you are now.”

Luffy perked up at that, openly grinning when he finally faced Usopp again. “Yeah! And she brought me to you!”

“Right! And what would this crew be without me?” Usopp yelled a little too loud, probably trying to subconsciously scream over his stuttering heart. “She’s helping us even now, so reading a wish should be no problem.”

It was Usopp’s turn to look away. Luffy’s gaze had taken a turn for the frighteningly fond, gentle in a way Luffy just wasn’t. Harsh and bright on Usopp’s eyes, like the idiot was capable of reflecting the sun. His blaze gleamed strong even when Usopp turned his back to him, a searing heat that stung against his skin.

The ever-present, cool breeze that fluttered against the sails meant nothing against that kind of warmth. Unfair, inescapable, especially when he opened his mouth and his voice shook, tremors that mangled the strings of his practiced confidence.

“So, uh, ready to entrust your wish to the sea?” He asked, certain he could feel the glimmer of Luffy’s brightening eyes, 

“Yeah! One sec…” He could hear Luffy resume his fervent scribbling, surprised the quill hadn’t snapped what with the rough scratching against the deck.

Usopp sat idly against the rail, spinning the bottle harboring his message to Kaya. If he was going to be honest, he didn’t think it would actually reach her, but someone got to hear his story either way, and that was fine.

He angled his head up, chin catching the sun’s afternoon light, watching as orange-tinted clouds moved slowly over the ship.

Who would stumble upon Luffy’s wish? Someone kind, hopefully. He couldn’t bear the idea of anyone laughing at his captain’s ambitions, no matter how silly.

It was almost scary. His captain had a wish. A wish he wouldn’t share. It was as though he plucked a secret piece of himself to put in that bottle, to send away and into unfamiliar hands.

Usopp felt a tinge of jealousy for the cold body of the ocean. An empress of movement that danced around pirate ships and scooped up letters and wishes. An unpredictable pair of arms that reached around the globe in an inevitable kind of embrace. Usopp liked to think he wouldn’t trust her with any of his own wishes, but he already had.

She was as dependable as she was independable, and Luffy seemed to like his odds.

Luffy sidled up to him mid-thought, slinking across the floor in that newfangled way he liked to. “Usopp, I’m ready!”

Usopp almost wanted to tarnish the idea, tell Luffy it was stupid and the ocean couldn’t deliver letters or grant wishes, she was an animated enigma that took people away or forced them to their island-seats. 

He could have Luffy tear up his wish put into words, that way no one could have any gold from the pot. Leave Luffy out of the fun and feel like shit later that night, when he would inevitably toss his bottled letter into the sea while Luffy’s snoring.

“Oi, Usopp! Don’t fall asleep, I want to send them off!”

The odd mixture of irritation and hopefulness in his captain’s voice was enough to snap him out of it. There would be an unending pit dug into his stomach if he denied Luffy whatever kind of closure he would gain after giving that part of himself away.

They’d better be grateful, Usopp’s mind grumbled, and he chastised himself for taking this so seriously. For being so simple and sensitive and so, so pitifully in love.

“I’m certain your wish will come true, Luffy,” he uttered with an optimism that strained against the heavy burden of his feelings, closing off a second bottle with Luffy’s paper, crumpled oddly despite the clear instructions Usopp had given him.

There was something in the way Luffy looked at him, then, like he somehow recognized the burning ball of adoration that weighed Usopp down, and despite his sniper’s struggles, Luffy still saw something distant and rare, something to be held and cherished. 

Strange, because Usopp couldn’t catch stars and spin them into threads of light, or pluck the rings from far-off planets and present them to Luffy in some grand gesture because that was what he deserved.

He could, however hand Luffy the bottle with his wish, he could have them count to three and as the last syllable left their mouths, their bottles would take their final gulp of air before hitting the water beneath them

That wasn’t much in comparison, but Luffy seemed to think it was everything and more when his hand caught Usopp’s wrist.

“Wow! Look at how fast they’re going!”

They watched their bottles fight against the waves for a long time, arguing about whose was faster and wondering if they would find a brand new island or one they’d already seen.

Luffy let out a somewhat sad hum. “I forgot to say goodbye,” he muttered, though he didn’t sound all that bothered by it.

Usopp shrugged, nearly stiffening when the movement reminded him that Luffy was still holding him. “You didn’t need to. Someone else will say hello.”

Luffy’s face scrunched in confusion. “That’s different!”

“Well, goodbyes are sad anyway, so don’t worry about it.”

Luffy draped himself over the railing, nodding as though Usopp’s words were the absolute truth.

They held onto the gleam of the glass outline, eyes glued to the horizon long after it faded. Even after that the two refused to move, staring in comfortable silence.

Luffy spoke up at some point, voice soft, treading carefully so as not to disturb the peace they’d created. “Y’know what you said earlier, about my wish definitely coming true?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

Luffy’s grip shifted, traveling downward and in between Usopp’s fingers, fitting their hands together. “Nothing. The ocean just works fast.”

Chapter Text

It’s scary to think

that you’re everything

up there.

Every star,

the violet rays

and even the

distant curve of the moon.

Your arms stretch out

into constellations,

and catch

the echo of my fears.

It’s scary to think

that you’re everything

up there.

But I’m the safest I’ve ever been.

---

Usopp could recall the image of his mother on her deathbed to the finest detail. Her skin was pale and yellow, always coated in a thin layer of sweat and leaving a sheen that only brightened the redness of her eyes.

Sometimes, despite the warnings, Usopp would crawl into bed beside her and smother himself in the sheets and her scent. The evocative aroma of island-grown plumerias and sea salt was waning, replaced by the nauseating and numbing scent of medicine and sickness. Still, he’d press flush against her side, silently weeping as her sleeping breaths staggered.

Usopp loved irregularities. They made his family who they were. Most sons in the village didn’t have sharpshooting pirate fathers who’d sailed away before they could speak, or a nose that extended far past their mouth. They didn’t have a bedridden mother somehow fully stocked with smiles who demonstrated no ill will toward the man who’d remarried adventure, or wrote off their silly dreams about all-curing medicines and a very specific boat docking on their shores as impossible.

They weren’t standard, and Usopp was proud of that, but this... the jagged breathing that should be even, confined to her billet, saying only a few words at a time. That wasn’t normal, and Usopp couldn’t stand it.

Sharing a bed with your captain and the future Pirate King wasn’t normal either, and Usopp honestly couldn’t decide if he should push or pull.

*

He’d cried when Luffy first coaxed him into his bed.

Usopp found himself more than willing to agree, but forced himself back, claiming that their beds were too small for sharing.

Luffy, of course, found that excuse to be stupid and Usopp was stupid for even thinking that and it was stupid that Luffy couldn’t share his bed with his best—

Usopp didn’t think about why at the time, but he’d cut Luffy off and clambered into bed beside him before he could finish.

“Are you happy now?”

Luffy didn’t respond, instead he extended his arms and skillfully wrapped around Usopp, pressing him firmly to his chest so they were face to face, purposefully showing off the wide curl of his smile.

Hesitant, jittery and everything in between, Usopp swallowed down his unease and nestled into the crook of his captain’s neck.

Luffy’s breaths were even.

The sniper almost jolted out of bed. Who knew what further damage his nose would’ve been subjected to if Luffy hadn’t had such a secure hold on him.

When was the last time he laid next to someone like this? Someone he loved who wasn’t dying. He was still latched onto memories of the aftermath, cold and alone in his empty house where he’d huddle in her bed and reach for the phantom touch of someone who wasn’t coming back.

(Sometimes he’d even wish for someone who was far beyond the coastline. Someone who apparently wasted time thinking and telling stories about him, but never had enough spare to come whisk him away.)

He recalled the big sleeping piles out in the sun with the now disbanded Usopp Pirates, but was reminded of how they never huddled close. Usopp was too afraid to be close.

“Oi, Usopp, are you okay?”

He didn’t realize he was trembling, grasping whatever his hands blindly felt for until Luffy’s voice broke through the shambles of his consciousness. He should’ve known he hadn’t gotten over it. After all, he still lied. He still ran.

“Usopp?”

He fought against his own body to glance up and meet Luffy’s eyes, to pry open his grip that wrung into Luffy’s red shirt.

His smile was gentle, inquisitive in a way that nobody ever noticed (if they weren’t a Straw Hat, that is). “Did you have a nightmare? You were still awake, but I’ve heard that people can even have waking nightmares sometimes, so...”

Usopp tried a chuckle, but it was doleful and constricted. “That’s not what they mean, Luffy, but thank you, I’m okay—“

The sniper was suddenly held impossibly closer. 

“If you’re okay then go to sleep already! I won’t until you do,” Luffy near demanded, like it was a challenge.

Usopp didn’t focus on that, though. Luffy’s heartbeat was thudding so steadily in his ears, normal and slowed. A tired heartbeat, ready to slip into whatever wayward dreams an aspiring Pirate King like Luffy might have.

A working heartbeat, and that was a firm shove over the edge. Fresh tears rapidly rivered down his cheeks, sopped up by the fabric he’d nearly torn.

Luffy stirred against him. “You’re crying now? You’re a weird sleeper, Usopp.”

Usopp stifled a mournful laugh in Luffy’s soaked shirt. “I guess it’s been a long time since someone held me like this.” Then, he whispered, “sorry,” and wondered if it was possible to bury himself inside his captain.

“It’s been a long time for me, too.”

Usopp stilled, if not by Luffy’s words then it was definitely because of the hand now in his hair.

“Those guys used to do stuff like this with me all the time.”

“Those guys?” Usopp murmured to himself, trying to get a look at Luffy’s face. It was a bit of a struggle since his captain refused to loosen his grip on Usopp’s waist, but he managed a glimpse.

“Yeah. Wonder what they’re up to.” Luffy’s eyes are far off. There’s someone a little younger hidden in them, starry and idealistic, smothered in love.

Usopp wanted to say something, wanted to reassure Luffy that whoever they were, they were probably okay. He was going to be okay.

It wouldn’t have been fair. Usopp used to scorn anyone who uttered such lies to him.  Before he adopted the method, at least.

He peered up at Luffy again, and immediately knew it was different. His captain looked proud, like he didn’t blame anyone for however long he was alone.

Usopp kept quiet, shifting uncomfortably in Luffy’s arms.

“I’m glad you’re here, Usopp.”

Usopp would like to say he’d stiffened. That Luffy’s few and simple words hadn’t swaddled around him just as effectively as the current nightly embrace he was in.

He continued, and even in a tranquil stillness like this, Usopp felt like he’d been somehow raised from the hammock.

“Everything’s a lot better like this, thanks!” Luffy sunk down, submerging himself in their mixed warmth. There was a bright finality to his words, a luminous goodnight of sorts.

Heart steady, Usopp finally understood.

If he were to reach out, he wouldn’t clutch the hand of a ghost. He wouldn’t wake up alone, and there wouldn’t be a chilling silence that choked up the calm sound of the sea.

There was always going to be someone to come home to.

“Goodnight, Luffy,” Usopp murmured, but his captain was already asleep.

Chapter Text

I always end up

swept into your current.

A series of winds that 

curl and caress,

full of tricks and treasures.

Like that day

you took hold of the sun.

I remember the light

ever-twisted in your gale,

and the smug grin you wore

as you carried it down to me.

It shouldn’t have been

everything I ever wanted,

but it wasn’t that

either.

It was more.

---

Luffy was acting strange. Well, he was acting like himself, but Usopp, who could confidently say that he knew his captain well enough, felt he was somehow behaving weirder than usual.

He was… staring (he’d been doing that a lot, recently), and maybe Usopp wouldn’t have minded so much if his captain wasn’t right in front of his face. It was an understatement to say he was close, they were practically melding into each other. Not to mention it was incredibly hot despite the wind constantly showering them in bits of cold sea water, so Usopp couldn’t exactly be flattered by the odd scrutiny.

“Uhm… is there something wrong, Luffy?”

Then his nose was grabbed.

Usopp nearly let out a startled yelp, but Luffy yanked his nose to the side and he involuntarily choked on the sound.

This continued for who knew how long. Usopp’s nose was pushed to the left, the right, jerked upward, downward, every sharp movement cutting off noises of agony and strain.

Eventually, Usopp found it in himself to just blindly shove forward. “Luffy! What are you doing?”

Luffy seemed to snap out of whatever mission he’d embarked on, concentration fracturing.

“It’s in the way,” he said offhandedly, a kind of calm that only pushed Usopp’s anger.

“In the way of what?”

“I’ll figure it out later,” he murmured, standing and walking away with his hands behind his head.

Confusion and frustration sat tousled within him. Usopp may love his captain not-so normally, but he couldn’t say the same about the many wayward decisions he acted on without hesitation.

Note: later the next day, Usopp took a single step out of the bathroom and inhaled half a breath before he was brutally shoved onto the deck.

He was all but slammed onto his back, the impact knocking out what little air was in his lungs as Luffy’s straw hat took shape above the sniper.

Usopp considered rolling to the left, it’d keep him momentarily safe from whatever kind of punch was headed his way. It should’ve been the prospect of immediately rounding into the side of the ship that pinned him, or inadvertently giving Luffy the impression that he was down for a fight, but it was the look on his captain’s face that kept him still.

Usopp would personally say that Luffy’s eyes were like the wind. Complex feelings were never visible to the naked eye. A smile for flickers of movement in a field of grass, a bundle of rustling leaves for laughter.

(He’d snarl and a branch would bend until it snapped.)

You wouldn’t know you were in the middle of a storm until a quick gust rushed in and struck you across the face.

Well, Usopp had been hit, and he found himself simply staring, able to do little else.

He’d assumed Luffy wasn’t upset with him, noticing the considerable lack of strength being exerted. However, Luffy usually made it known he wanted to have a quick tussle, grinning mischievously and gearing up like a cat ready to pounce.

Flames were caught in the current when Luffy dropped to his knees—(was this allowed? Someone could be watching—Luffy should move. Did he want Luffy to move?)—eager to spread, torching the fields and spiraling up Usopp’s arms.

“Usopp,” Luffy breathed, so soft and light Usopp wanted to follow the sound back into his core (he’d already gotten close, that night he spent curled in Luffy’s arms, pushing past tears to the present and soothing old wounds).

“Luffy,” Usopp began, gathering the courage to face Luffy’s intensity head on. Were they really going to—?

Luffy’s hand shot out like the quick strike of a snake, clamping down on the underside of his jaw, and dragging his face around in all directions.

Usopp spent a brief second mentally kicking whoever he might’ve been moments ago, stifled by delirium.

Clearly, he’d forgotten who he was dealing with.

The tugging somehow made its way to the curls under his bandana, and Usopp laid still with a frown, festering in disappointment as he was swept in small motions along the deck.

He doesn’t know how long he waited until the tight grip of Luffy’s hands let up, but his captain eventually slumped back, deeply exhaling.

“Man, this is hard,” he groaned, flopping onto his back and running a hand through his own mess of hair (gentle strokes, Usopp noted irritably).

“Luffy, what was that?!”

Luffy raised his head slightly to get a look at his now incredibly disheveled sniper. He huffed out an annoyed breath. “Dunno.”

“Do I need to remind you that you don’t initiate a game by wrestling someone to the ground!” he fumed.

“We weren’t fighting, I was just trying to get a good angle,” he replied. So aggravatingly nonchalant, like the sharp pain in his back—and the thundering of his heart—wasn’t real and Luffy-caused.

Usopp’s mind blanked again. “A good angle for what?! Luffy, you've been acting weird since yesterday. What’s wrong with you?”

“Doesn’t matter now, the mood is all messed up too.” Luffy sighed again, stretching as he stood.

Usopp scrambled to stand as well, anxious for some kind of answer. Whether or not it made up for the now daily mishandling of his face would have to be a future issue. “It does matter. You’re not making sense.”

Luffy looked down at his own chest, laying a hand on it. “The fluttering’s gone. I don’t feel like doing it anymore.” He shrugged, “bye, Usopp!”

A series of incoherent sounds virtually spilled from Usopp’s mouth. Protests, insults, objections, a twisted amalgamation of the bunch, but he may as well have not attempted any speech at all.

Luffy was already gone.

*

Luffy wasn’t much of a communicator. Not an effective one, anyway. The rubber man was hard wired to act on impulse, and the crew just had to try their best to work around that lest the battle end in a screaming match between the lot of them.

Then again, he was pretty good at following Nami’s strident orders.

Luffy rushed to take down the back sails as rain pelted down on them. The ship was rocking so severely Usopp feared Chopper might be swung overboard, and ushered him into the kitchen.

Nami always had a different reaction to stress. It made it incredibly difficult for the crew to console her, usually leaving Sanji’s (the only one brave enough to get close) face in a brutal state. The best they could do was listen as she barked commands, so Zoro played helmsman and steered for an area with calmer winds, Usopp reduced the upper sails and Sanji made sure they kept moving.

It’s hard to recognize the sea, especially after a storm. With all the lovely things she brought, the ocean had a bad habit of wrenching it all back or letting it freely sail away as you watched.

Usopp was usually too focused on staying alive to care about the black waves and impending doom, but sometimes he allowed himself a momentary glance upward. The water’s violent thrashing caught his attention, but it was never his main focus. He always searched for Luffy in a storm, not because he was worried, but for a kind of reassurance. Luffy, though he never smiled in the face of a raging tempest, always had this glimmer of elation surrounding him. Usopp would latch onto it until the onslaught of rain clouded and stung his eyes, until he could know for even a second what being a pirate meant for someone like Luffy.

Until the crack of thunder and the blotting out of the light, until even the storm itself wasn’t scary anymore.

Usopp was teetering on adrenaline and more than ready to get dry when Luffy approached him, eyes set and determined.

Their gazes had met in the aftermath, when rain was just an afterthought trailing down their skin, and the sun finally peeked over the dark clouds.

The air nearly suffocated the sniper, charged with something he couldn’t define. He’d definitely felt it before, what with Luffy and the steely edge to his recent behavior. The strange enchantment that overcame Luffy after something Usopp would personally consider life-threatening made him even more hot headed, and with his captain almost uncomfortably close…

Usopp, honestly, thought he might get punched.

And he was… sort of.

Lips descended onto his, quick and harsh. His head hit the pillar he hadn’t realized Luffy backed him into, slick with rainfall.

Luffy wasn’t at all a gentle kisser, not in any sense. He was rough and uncoordinated, but expressive like the erratic marks of an abstract painting. 

Usopp figured out he should be kissing back when Luffy cupped a wet hand behind his head, and pulled him in deeper. The pressure from Luffy’s grip wrung his soaked-through bandana, and water trickled haphazardly down his face.

Every so often Luffy would draw back, creating a thin slice of air, lingering above his sniper. Usopp hardly had the time to wonder if it was over, because Luffy pressed back in an instant.

Teeth closed around Usopp’s bottom lip, and his whole body jolted involuntarily. Luffy found that amusing, briefly pulling away to snicker like a toddler before coming back in and nibbling on Usopp until he’s red and bruised and blissed.

It’s painfully surreal, like a sudden punch to the gut when there’s no longer a warm body pinned against him. Usopp’s eyes fluttered open, catching sight of Luffy’s dopey grin.

Usopp tried to match it to the best of his ability. “Find the right moment yet?”

Luffy shook his head, still beaming. “Nah, but the ocean told me to hurry up. Did you hear her too?” He stepped back, looking up into the clearing sky.

No, but I watched her try to kill us, Usopp thought, electing to remain silent as Luffy gazed back down at him.

He almost jolted again.

Usopp had seen that before, Luffy watching him so fondly and intently with eyes dark and round. He always fought against it, whether it was to avoid hurt or to blind himself to a truth he felt he didn’t deserve.

He… didn’t need to say it. They both knew, but Usopp had to ask. “Luffy, are you sure you—?”

Luffy nodded eagerly, placing both hands on Usopp’s shoulders. “I always want to be with you, Usopp! I wouldn’t have wished on the ocean otherwise. You’re being stupid again.”

“Don’t call me—! Wait, what?” Usopp’s brow curled and eased all in the same breath. “Are you saying that you…?”

Oh, if Usopp could carve into his own memories he’d rush to paint the flush that just barely bloomed over Luffy’s face.

“Eh, don’t worry about that,” he muttered almost casually, trying to hide behind the words. If Usopp wasn’t already reeling he might’ve taken the moment to tease him.

“You know it’s literally impossible for me to not—“

“Can I kiss you again?”

Sneaky bastard, his mind grumbled, but Usopp still found himself whispering “yes,” yearning for the hidden promises soon to be planted onto his lips.