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Is that the sun?
Usopp wakes with a start and a jump.
It is the sun.
Frantically, Usopp swings his legs over the wooden frame of his bed taking in his surroundings.
Chopper is snoozing away like soft and fuzzy log in the bed to Usopp's left. To Usopp's right, Luffy's bed is empty yet his characteristic snores still mixes into the air with Brook, Jinbei and Franky's. The unsurprising answer to Luffy's whereabouts come when Usopp's feet hit the ground and he sees gold and black hair mixing together in Sanji's bed, Luffy's arms wrapped koala-tight around his partner's waist. They'd taken to sleeping together ever since they revealed the change in their relationship a week or so before they reached the futuristic island where everything went wrong.
No, what's more surprising is that Sanji is still asleep in their quarters instead of the galley. The cook always was up a few hours before the sun was set to rise, prepping their meals for the day and cooking a hearty breakfast. Considering the events of yesterday, Usopp can't be too taken aback by what is likely an unintentional change of plans. If Sanji's dead tired, he should sleep.
They're pirates, a late breakfast isn't going to kill them. And Sanji could stand to rest a little more anyways.
The answer Usopp actually seeks is the empty bed beside the couple's bunk.
Zoro's bed.
It doesn't even look like it had been touched. Usopp's throat pinches painfully in his frustration. Usopp is tired, of course he is. When is he not after a gruesome battle? That doesn't mean he won't allow himself to be woken out of his sleep to take his scheduled night watch in the crow's nest.
Last night's schedule was simple.
Zoro first, Usopp second and then so on and so forth. There shouldn't have been any sunlight peeking into the windows of their quarters because it should have been evening when Zoro shook Usopp awake by the shoulder. Grabbing his shoes and jacket from his locker, Usopp storms out of the room as quietly as possible.
Sure enough, the sun is looming well over the sea's edge, not that Usopp needed further confirmation as he glares pointedly in the direction of the training room. That green-haired muscle maniac, he stomps in its direction. He barely even acknowledges Broggy and Dory's ship sailing ahead of their own.
It's always strange to see the deck so bare in the early morning and late night. When it's like this, it's almost like he's the last person in the universe. The thought leaves his mind as quickly as it came when Usopp sees Bartholomew Kuma sitting in a nearing corner.
Usopp approaches Kuma's hulking figure with an air of hesitance. It's fine, Usopp, he reminds himself, flashes of the rising sun and resin bubbles flashing through his mind. He pictures Franky instead, recounting how the mindless cyborg protected Sunny for two years in the crew's absence. He's not an enemy. He never was, the words are barely able to qualm the anxiety in his heart until Usopp notices the spot of pink and white nestled in Kuma's hands.
Bonney? Usopp's pace picks up in his surprise, reaching the former Warlord in one, two, three paces. Sure enough, the youngest member of the Supernovas is curled up into a little ball in her father's hands. When did she sneak out? He could have sworn that Nami had taken the young girl to the women's quarters last night, a tangled pink mass of exhaustion after the previous day's events. She'd fell asleep in Kuma's arms, not wanting to be away from her father for even a moment. Apparently, not even sleep is a reasonable excuse.
The smile on Kuma's lips is faint and Usopp wonders, not for the first time, how much of the man ー the father ー remains in the metal body he was forced to receive.
Despite his initial anxieties, the sniper smiles. I'm glad you have your old man back, Bonney. Usopp makes quick work of taking off his jacket, shivering lightly at the cool touching his skin, before draping it over the Sunny's youngest resident.
That's the last bit of peace Usopp has before approaches the training room.
The distinctive scent of sweat is what Usopp notices first after entering the the crows nest. Zoro himself is noticed a beat after, muscular body drenched in sweat and muscles tensing and releasing as he moved his comically large weight.
Up.
Down.
Repeat.
Up.
Down.
The motion continues a beat longer before finally ー
"Hey," Zoro grunts, as he moves his gargantuan weight as precisely as one of his blades. Up. Down. Over and over again, like a ritual. "Did you sleep well?"
Usopp refuses to avoid the matter at hand, "have you been up all night?"
Zoro's one eye finally spares him a glance from the shade his durag casts across his face, but his movements don't halt. "You were tired," comes his simple answer. It's simple but it tells Usopp so much.
"We're all tired," Usopp scowls, brow furrowing. "You should have woke me up."
"Like you woke up the cook?" It isn't much of a question in spite of the rising tone at the end of sentence. Usopp's thumb, index and middle fingers pinch the skin between his eyebrows. "He's pretty quiet down there. I thought he'd be more frantic about sleeping in and not having breakfast halfway done by now."
"Don't turn this around on me; you took everyone's watch," Usopp snaps, throwing his hands up in frustration. "And you trained the entire time through it?!"
If he were able to, Zoro likely would have shrugged. Instead he continues the near mindless motion of his weight lifting. Up, down. Up, down. Like a mantra. "It gave me something else to do. We're completely fine anyways. The Navy is going to be busy fixing up the mess at Egghead, I doubt they even spared a single ship to chase after us."
Usopp's seen this sight before, he realizes. Tired and weathered like a herculean tempest lashing out, waves slapping against his hull.
The Merry, fresh and as bright-eyed as a new pirate ship could be without a dent to be found in her. Kuro has been defeated and it was just ordinary day in Syrup Village, just as it would be tomorrow and the day after next. Still Zoro christened the Merry's floors with his training long into in the late hours of the afternoon.
A Cocoyashi doctor, red with fury and annoyance and scoldings falling from his lips like honey. Mihawk, Arlong and Hachi hadn't been enough of a deterrent to keep Zoro from his katas and practicing his swings.
Loguetown.
Little Garden.
Drum Island.
Alabasta.
Thriller Bark.
Time and time again, this is a sight Usopp's seen since he boarded the ship of a crazy straw hat-wearing pirate and his band of lunatics.
Fists clenched at his side, Usopp takes a step forward. The air between them is too cold, too chilling for two crewmates that challenged threats a younger boy in a quiet village in the East Blue could ever dream to imagine. "Put the weights down."
Up.
Down.
Up and down the weights continue to move almost akin to a windup toy that hasn't reached its final motion.
"Zoro." A brown hand touches the space between Zoro's shoulder blades. "Zoro," he feels the swordsman ー his friend ー go stiff underneath his touch, jilting to a stop and Usopp feels the sweat shift under his palms. "Put them down." His words are soft and Usopp almost can't recognize his own voice, unsure if what he said was a request or command. "Please."
It's slow, hesitant, but the weights come down centimeter by centimeter until it rests on the ground with a silent thud. "This isn't a victory," Zoro murmurs, voice as low as a whisper. "We didn't win."
"We saved Lilith," Usopp reminds him and he watches as Zoro's grip tightens on the weight's handle. "We saved Bonney and her dad. Atlas even made sure the World Government couldn't get their hands on that record building. We sure as hell didn't lose."
"One Vegapunk-"
"Is a hell of a lot better than zero." It wasn't perfect. The end result of what occurred on Egghead was far from perfect. "It wasn't the perfect ending but we still did something. We're closer than ever to finding the One Piece, we're gonna see Luffy become King of the Pirates. You're gonna become the world's greatest swordsman and I'm becoming a brave warrior of the sea. But before we get there, not everything is going to be perfect," Usopp releases a breath, trembling. "So please stop punishing yourself. You can't be in control all the time, you're human."
"I hate it."
"I hate it too."
There's a pause, a sigh, before Zoro finally relents and the weight leaves his grip entirely. "Guess it's your turn to take watch then," Usopp moves his hand from Zoro's back with his own hint of reluctance as the taller man shifts to face him fully, eye almost silver in the lighting.
It feels like yesterday there used to be two, and for a moment, it's like they're on the outskirts of Syrup Village again and Usopp can barely move let alone stand. His eyes are blurry and his nose is filled with snot as he's laughed at by the pirates that wanted to invade his home.
Zoro heaved Usopp over his shoulder telling him to guide him through the forest.
Zoro's eyes had pierced through him then and they pierce through Usopp now.
Usopp dry swallows the feeling of his heart skipping a beat down, down, down to the depths of willful, blissful ignorance. "You should get some sleep," he stammers, resting his hands on his hips with a hearty guffaw. "The Great Captain Usopp has the first morning watch covered!"
"Yeah," Zoro's lips quirk into a small but tired smile and his shoulders seem a fraction less tense. He pulls off his durag and lets his mossy green hair free, drenched with sweat it seems even more grass-like than usual. It's a sight Usopp surprisingly doesn't mind. "See you whenever I wake up."
Usopp practically shoos Zoro to the exit, "yeah go, go! Get some rest!"
"I'm going, I'm going," the swordsman yawns in equal parts exasperation and amusement.
Usopp plops down on the couch with an audible sigh, eyes closed for the briefest of moment when he hears it. "Thanks, Usopp."