[ P - Pre-Teen ]

chapter 2- untitled as of now,

The wind blew harshly around the Thousand Sunny, and rain pounded the windows. The straw hats were tucked safely in the kitchen where they were discussing the next village that they would arrive at.
Nami's POV
“It's called Nagasaki island, it's one of the biggest islands in the Grand line, over 1,550 miles in width alone. They have live entertainment, over 50 restaurants, 100 hotels, 84 bars and lots of merchants and best of all it's pirate friendly, sounds good to me!” said I excitedly, this is going to be SO cool! I handed the islands brochure to Usopp who scanned it quickly going down his list of things he had to get on the next island putting a check next to the things he would be able to get while there, he stopped when he saw something that had excited him.
“Chopper! They have arcades!!” he said
I bit back a laugh as I saw Chopper's eyes widened with excitement, “No way really so cool!” he yelled, Zoro glared at Usopp before he opened his mouth, to sprout out what I was sure was going to be another smart ass remark.
“Zoro.” I warned
“...”
Usopp looked down sadly and passed the brochure to Robin, who smiled her thanks. Usopp then proceeded to walk towards the kitchen door, slamming it open with such force that it surprised me that he held that kind of strength. “Usopp where are you going it's pouring out! You'll get sick!” I said to him.
“No I won't” was his answer, before he walked out in the rain, the door slamming behind him.
I turned on Zoro by eyes flashing with the anger I held, Zoro glared right back.
“What?” He asked irritated
“Your an ass, you know that right?”
“Yes, actually I do.” I stood and went to smash his head in but Chopper held me back.
“Please Nami don't kill him, I don't have any supplies if he gets seriously hurt.” I took a deep breath and smiled, “Ok, Chopper I'll wait until you but more supplies.”

He smiled his thanks and walked towards the door. “Oi, Chopper where are you going?”

“To find Usopp, not all of us are jerks to him Zoro.”
I sighed and sat heavily in my chair, running my hands through my hair and groaning loudly. “Well anyway, we will be at the island by noon so we should all get a good nights rest. We have along day ahead of us.”
The straw hats one by one walked out of the kitchen and down the stairs to the sleeping quarters.
The rain pounded on the windows, and whimpers could be heard once again throughout the Thousand Sunny, but for once since Usopp's return they are not his. But now if they are not his.. whose are they pray tell ?





The sun was shining brightly and the smell of Sanji's cooking was wafting throughout the Thousand Sunny. The sounds of Luffy's hurried feet sounded throughout the ship as he ran around bothering the each member of the crew in turn.

Luffy appeared behind Nami and cocked his head to the side sitting next to her on the beach chair where she resided. “Nami, have you seen Usopp anywhere I can't find him. I wanna play with him.”

Nami looked around for a moment, her eyes landing on Zoro's half naked body for a moment before calling his name, “Oi, Zoro have you seen Usopp? Luffy is looking for him.”

“........ No I haven't seen him all day.”

“Sorry Luffy no such luck, are you sure you checked everywhere, what about his factory?”

Luffy thought for a moment and nodded his head, “Yup,”

“Thats weird he is always in there, maybe he's hiding out until we get to the island, in that case he will be coming out soon. We will be there in about an hour.” Nami said looking at the map that was laying on her lap.

Luffy turned towards Robin and asked, “Have you seen Usopp, Robin?”

Robin looked up from the large tome in her lap thoughtfully. “I believe I saw him crow's nest captain-san.”

“Luffy, when you find Usopp tell him my Clima Tact needs some repairing.”

“Sure, Nami!”

Luffy jumped up and ran to the ropes surrounding the mast and started to climb them. Finally he made it to the crows nest sticking his head up the trap door in the middle of the circular room. The room was unusually dark, shades had been pulled down over the windows and the only light came from a candle in a corner of the room, sitting scrunched up in said dark shadowy corner was Usopp.

“Usopp? Are you alright?” Luffy crouched down next to Usopp and patted his head trying to get Usopp's attention, resulting in the rubber boy getting hit in the face.

“I'm fine Luffy, go away.” Luffy looked at his best friend skeptically for a moment before forcing Usopp's arms from under his head, which in turn made Usopp snap his head up in anger. “What do you want?!”

Even in the dark Luffy could see deep bruises on Usopp's face along with a few deep cuts. “What happened to you Usopp?” asked Luffy as he brought the candle closer to Usopp in order to see the damage better, his voice had been gentle but held a level of authority in it.

“I fell, last night as I was climbing the ropes.” said Usopp.

While Luffy was one of the most naive people on the crew if not the world, even he wasn't stupid enough to fall for that. He put down the candle for a moment and pulled on of the shades making it open, he then called for Chopper who was in his study just below. “Oi! Chopper can you come up here!?”

“What do you think you're doing?” asked Usopp angrily, pulling his friend away from the window. “I'm fine Luffy, there is nothing the matter with me.”

“What is it Luffy?” Chopper followed by Nami, Robin and Sanji climbed up into the room, all stopping when they see Usopp and Luffy.

Luffy gently pulled himself away from Usopp and sat cross legged in front of his friend, he pointed to Usopp. “He's got bruises and cuts all over his face would you mind looking them over?”

Chopper looked confused for a moment as to what Luffy was talking about, but when Nami closed another shade he saw what the captain had meant. The cuts were worse then even Luffy had initially thought not only were they on his face but they were on his arms and there where possibly even more hidden beneath the sharpshooters clothes.

Nami had her hand over her mouth in shock, “Usopp... what happened?”

Usopp looked up annoyed, “As I already told Luffy,” shooting a glare at his captain, “I fell last night while climbing the ropes.”

“You can't just do that by falling from the ropes, not without sustaining any other injuries, is there anything else wrong with you Usopp?” Chopper asked worriedly, he pushed Luffy out of his way so he could get a better look at Usopp's injuries.

“No Chopper! There is nothing wrong with me I am perfectly fine, now if you all will excuse me I have an experiment to finish.” He pushed passed Sanji and jumped down onto the floor below. Walking well, limping really towards his factory that Franky had given him.

Nami watched as Usopp made his way slowly towards his destination, turning towards the others she said, “How do you guys think that happened? Like Chopper said there is no way he could have sustained those injuries by just falling alone. If it was a normal human possibly, but this is Usopp we are talking about and that still doesn't explain the deep gashes on his face.”

“True he doesn't even have a broken nose which suggests that even if he did fall it wasn't from a great distance which again leads us to the question of where he had received his gashes.” Chopper said as he looked out the window, sighing as he watched Usopp take his last steps into the room he called his factory.

“He'll tell us when he's ready.” Everyone looked up at Sanji curiously, sighing he explained, “ He has lived on his own for so long, he may not be used to telling people his problems, so he keeps them bottled up. Now add that to the resent events that has happened, and we have a person who keeps things bottled up, and is going through a sort of rejected phase, Zoro's not helping matters any either I might add. We are never going to find out what is wrong with him if he feels we don't trust and forgive him.”

“So your saying this may all be Zoro's fault? Again how does that explain his injuries?” asked Nami.

“For all we know Navigator-san he may be giving himself those injuries.” said Robin.

“What are you talking about Robin?” Luffy asked his head cocked to the side like a puppy. “Why would he hurt himself thats just dumb.”

“I have noticed somethings in him, things that reminded me of the things I had done when I was younger.” She paused a moment to take a breath before continuing, “When I was around 15 I had become extremely depressed so depressed that I had began inflicting injuries on myself. I did it for many reasons, all of which seem extremely idiotic now that I am over it. But do you see what I am saying? Usopp may be doing the same thing, he may feel he deserves it, it can also be he just doesn't care anymore. There are so many reasons that it can be hard to pinpoint, most of the time it can be hard to trace, but we really should try and figure this out or it could get bad, fast.”
“What do you mean?” asked Nami.

“I'm not saying anythings certain but I think we should all keep an eye on him there is a possibility he may try to end it all.”

“Your not saying he might try to kill himself?? Thats ridiculous! He would never do a thing like that!! This is Usopp we are talking about! He's the one who give the rest of us hope to live! He's the one who loves life, who lives it to the fullest! There is no way in hell that he would kill himself!!!!” At the end of her rant Nami has out of breath and red faced.

“All I am saying is we should be ready just in case.”

Luffy, Nami, Chopper and Sanji all sat quietly, thinking about Usopp and if it really is possible, if he really would end his life.

Hanging right outside the window listening to the whole conversation was Zoro, he cursed silently as he started to climb down the latter he too was thinking about Usopp, though his thoughts where more on if it would be his fault if Usopp died, and if he is the one to blame for the depression that now looms around the Thousand Sunny. The answer he decided to both those questions was yes, and now he had to find away to fix it.

Three hours later

Usopp's POV

I slammed the door to my factory shut, and cursed quietly as pain shot through my body. I silently thanked god none of the crew could hear me. No one came in here. This was my sanctuary one of the only places I can be alone. I sat down at my desk and flipped open to a page in my notebook, the one that showed new ways to better the Clima-Tact. I took out the prototype from my dresser draw the one I used to experiment on before I added whatever it was to Nami's weapon. This time it was something to make the device lighter, Nami has been complaining that it was too heavy and also I have to remember to fix the dial. The last time she used the Clima-tact while useful had almost killed us because it had been set too high. I made a note in my book before setting to work.

I stopped suddenly when I heard a splash, and screams coming from upstairs. I sighed knowing that Luffy had probably fallen into the water once again. I got up from my chair and made my way up the stairs almost running straight into Nami.

“Usopp, would you mind getting Luffy the idiot fell into the ocean again.” said Nami shaking her head.

As I walked to the edge of the boat something dawned on me, “Where are Sanji and Zoro?”

“I have no idea, I tried calling for them but neither had answered.”

I sighed and jumped into the ocean, 'Where are you?' I asked myself quietly as I swam through the ice cold ocean water. 'Ah there he is.' I spotted Luffy's bright red shirt about a yard away and started making a beeline towards him, my muscles started to ache in protest something that has never happened before and then I just stopped all together.

I was unable to move, unable to get to Luffy. I felt myself falling deeper into the ocean but couldn't bring myself to swim back up to the surface, the last thing I remember before darkness completely consumed me was Nami's scream, two simultaneous splashes and two ships on either side of me one known as the Thousand Sunny and one I had been hoping I'd see ever since my father left to become a pirate, the ship belonging to no one other than Red haired Shanks himself.

TO BE CONTINUED....

A/N- I am so so so so so so so so so so sorry!!! Please forgive me! I have had huge, huge problems in terms of writers block. I hope you guys will forgive me for having you wait so long. Anyway now that I have gotten that out of my system I hoped you liked this chapter I know Usopp seems really Emo and OOC and for that I am truly sorry but I promise you that he won't be this way for long, also as a treat for being so incredibly patient with me I will post the next chapter up no later than Sunday night. Though you might possibly get it earlier if you review me with some ideas, cause I am fresh out. Sighs I know I know I am totally helpless, oh and also before I forget I need a beta for this story . Please and thank you – jp

Answers to people's reviews

Mrs Heero Yuy (anon.) – Thanks! Your review made my day.
Kori Okami-your review made me laugh it reminded me of me cousin

LuffyxRuby- Well you'll be happy to know that Shanks will be in the next Chapter I was going to make it too more but then I thought eh what the hell, thanks so much for you review btw. You were my first .
Masaichu- yeah sorry about those. I have horrible grammar and that tends to happen I'm so glad you like my story though.
Evil Kasumi- well wait no more here was the next chapter thanks for the review