Chapter 51: One Bullet

Rather than saying that they were angry as a whole, it was more like one was furious, another was irritated, and the last person didn't really seem to care or understand what was happening.

"Hey..congrats on winning."

Josh jumped down from his lofty place upon the cloud, and patted Usopp on his left shoulder.

As far as he knew, Usopp won the fight against Chew, although he struggled a bit.

It was also within his expectation that the man might be a bit angry at him, after all, he had plotted for Usopp to be chased by Chew when he noticed the long nosed man not intending to make any move.

After a few seconds, Josh had a bewildered expression on his face.

Usopp's expression of anger didn't seem like it would fade any moment now.

He only framed him one time for good reasons...surely, the great captain Usopp wouldn't take it to heart, right?

"Congrats my ass!"

Usopp smacked Josh's hand, which was still resting on his shoulder, away as he went into a rage.

"Do you know how scared I was!? I almost died!!" He screamed, catching the attention of a few people.

"You know what they say...what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger."

In face of this much rage, Josh spoke in a consoling manner. He was entirely unaware of exactly what happened between Chew and Usopp.

"Kaaahhh!!"

Unable to take it anymore, Usopp let out a howl of fury and snatched the collars of the blonde, shaking it roughly until he was satisfied.

"Haaa..haaa...I don't know who came up with that saying..but if you do that again, I will find you, and I will kill you!"

Thoroughly exhausted after all of the excitement he had for one day, Usopp had his hands resting on his knees as he squatted down.

"Pfft.." Hearing the man's threat, Josh almost bursted into laughter. Still, a muffled giggle managed to escape his mouth.

It wasn't that he found Usopp threatening him funny, rather, it was the words he used at the end of his sentence.

"If you're done, I'd like to get back to the main problem at hand." Besides the two bickering men, a feminine voice spoke up agitatedly.

"How's the situation over here?"

Peering her head over parts of the destroyed wall, Nami stuck her head over to the fights that was currently ongoing.

She couldn't help but gasp in amazement when she noticed that the three men who seemed to be so unreliable most of the time, actually holding their own against three of the strongest Fishmen she had ever known.

"Don't worry, our boys won't let us down."

Behind her, Josh spoke up.

The one thing that he had learned after keeping up with One Piece for all those years was that the Strawhat pirates always pulled through by crook or by hook when they were required to.

"I hope you're right. Wait..why aren't you helping them?"

"If I were to join the fray, it'd be like kicking a man while he's down." Josh said absentmindedly. Not at all worrying about the implications of his words.

Nami was left speechless.

...

Josh turned his attention next to the familiar woman with blue hair.

From watching the anime, he knew exactly who she was. However, he couldn't make that known to her as the other party had no clue as to his identity.

"The name's Joshua. You can just call me Josh."

He introduced himself to the blinking girl in front of him. Not knowing how to make sense of the bizarre occurrings around her.

"Uh, I'm Nojiko. Nami's sister."

Deciding to just go with the flow, Nojiko also introduced herself. She stuck out her right hand in a gesture, to which, the blonde reciprocated and they shook hands firmly. Josh had a smile on his face the entire time.

"Well met."

Meeting all these characters which only existed in drawings really made him feel an overwhelming sense of honor. Even if the person was not a major character. it was like meeting the president, Trump not withstanding, or meeting an idol one admired for a long time.

Once that was settled, Josh decided to just get everything else out of the way.

He pointed a finger towards a palm tree on which the man responsible for the death of an important person to the sisters was hung at.

"Sigh..I've managed to capture him for you." Josh said.

He knew that the situation might turn ugly, and the sisters might never be the same again, however, it wasn't his decision to make.

"Who?—YOU!!"

Nami and Nojiko slowly turned their heads around to a specific spot. They were confused as to why the blonde suddenly had a melancholic tone to his voice.

The first thing they saw was a badly beaten up man, tied to a tree like a piñata. He had a slightly more impressive marine uniform on, however, it was already magnificently ruined by someone else.

The pronounced whiskers on the sides of his cheeks twitched as he noticed several people staring at him.

At this point, the two sisters instantly felt murderous. Gone was the slightly cheery atmosphere.

In front of the killer of someone who was indeed a father figure to them, nobody would be able to maintain their cool.

Under such a tense atmosphere, Usopp almost shat his pants. Even Josh almost felt regretful for actually bringing Nezumi for the girls to see.

This kind of feeling was drastically different from the killing intent brought upon by one's enemy.

Clack!

The sound of a suitcase being popped open was heard.

"I will avenge Gen-san right now!"

Nojiko screamed almost hysterically as she pointed her weapon right at Nezumi's head.

"Eeek!! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"

Under the threat of death, Nezumi struggled fervently to set himself free. No matter what, even a scumbag like him did not want to die.

Fearful tears rolled down his cheeks as realization hit him.

From the moment they walked by, Nezumi thought that the woman with the blue hair looked slightly familiar, however, he couldn't quite put his whiskers on it.

In the event of the past, he did not care at all for the lives of the people who he oppressed or stole from.

Naturally, the case with Genzo was also the same. He did not pay much attention to those he thought was worthless.

If he knew that a gun would be held against his head while he was helplessly strung up, he would've never done it.

On the other hand, any intent to lower her weapon and peacefully resolve things out did not sprout within Nojiko.

On the contrary, her desire to brutally murder the man only risen when she saw how he struggled pathetically.

The only thing that was holding her back was the fact that she thought a quick release would be too good for a dirtbag like him.

On Nojiko's hand, a gun, which reminded Josh a lot of the Colt from the Wild West, was held tightly between her fingers.

Instead of the usual flintlocks which seem to be the primary choice of firearms for the people of One Piece, this gun looked rather modern. Modern as in Josh's world kind of modern.

While it is true that the Colt was simply one of the many inventions relating to guns in Josh's world, it held a special place which was that it was thought of as the first gun that did not rely on gunpowder in the barrel to function.

'Could it be that this world's firearms have reached this level already? What about other technological advances then?' Josh thought.

One Piece was weird in the way it's technology worked.

On one hand, it's got a scientist that was able to build an actual functioning robot which was rather powerful. Even in Josh's world, technology of that level had not developed yet as far as he knew.

However, electrical appliances such as smartphones, TVs, cars, or airplanes did not seem to exist.

It could simply be that the world did not need them. After all, they've got the many handy Den Den Mushi for communication and broadcasting purposes.

Even a sea train seems to exist. It was indeed strange. To most people in the world, luxuries such as the internet was probably not a priority.

Or, it could simply be that Oda-sensei had an eccentric taste in things.

Bang!

"Aaaaahhh!"

Josh's musings were cut short by a sudden sound which jolted the surroundings. It was swiftly followed by the shrill scream of Nezumi. In everyone's ears, he sounded like a dying pig, gasping for its last breath.

That being the case, the man was not actually dead.

Nojiko has simply shot him in the leg. Red, warm, and irony blood flowed down Nezumi's left leg with no intention of stopping anytime soon.

Nezumi's face paled immediately and not just from the pain and coming blood loss. He was horrified at the thought of being tortured. The other party not killing him could be a sign of not wanting to give him mercy as well.

"Hmph! That was for shooting me in the arm. We've got things to do, so we'll deal with you later."

Nojiko sighed forcefully and walked away without another word.

On the side, Nami had a conflicted expression on her face. Her gaze lingered on Nezumi's sagging body for a few seconds longer before she, too, turned her attention to what really mattered at the moment.