45 Chapter 45

45

"Our next destination is Syrup Village," he replied.

Nami looked thoughtful. She knew where it was. It was a small village on the Gecko Islands southwest of here. What did Luffy plan on doing there? She doubted there was anything of significance. But there might be… the boy was full of mystery.

Also, she actually needed a boat to get off the island. By luck it seemed that her boat was taken by someone, so Luffy's boat was the only way off the island.

What she didn't know was that Luffy had made taken the opportunity to sink it when Nami wasn't looking. He wanted the girl to on his journey, and a bit of manipulation went a long way.

"Are you sure you want her on the boat… we are already overcrowded." Kuina said, "My boat isn't really meant for that many people."

"Meh, Zoro could go for a swim if it gets crowded," Luffy added with a carefree expression.

"Yeah, that might work." Kunia nodded.

"I never agreed to this!" The swordsman complained. But both Luffy and the swordswoman ignored that.

With that they set sail. As the island grew more distant, Nami noticed with slight panic that there was only one bag of treasure on the boat. They had separated everything into two. "Um, Luffy? Where's the other bag of gold?" she asked nervously.

"Ah, I left in on the shore for the townspeople." It took a moment for this statement to register in Nami's mind.

"You left it? That was worth at least 5 million Belly!" She yelled in frustration.

"Oh, come one some charity work never hurt anybody," Luffy said, and he pointed at the bag that was on Sparky. "And we have tons of valuable stuff in there."

Nami looked at the six-armed monkey. And he did have a small bag carrying some valuables. As if seeing her stare the monkey narrowed his eyes and kept the bag more secure.

Now Nami was curious… what treasures could that type of small bag hold. But she did remember that Luffy once took down a pirate of fifty million… she gulped. She knew it wasn't right… but she really wanted to get that amount of money right now.

Maybe joining him wasn't such a bad idea after all.

'No Nami, don't think about it.' She told herself. 'Don't let your greed fool you… Luffy is a good guy, he might call himself a pirate. But he has done nothing but good. Don't steal from him.'

The girl sighed internally. Luffy was the type of hero that everyone needed. Helping others when it's not their damn business. Her village was a prime example that needed help.

But Nami wasn't sure if she should ask for Luffy's help. She might get the boy killed.

"They're not a very wealthy town. They'll need it for repairs. Besides, one of these days we will go to the city of Gold, and you can have all the gold you need, shishishi." Nami just sighed and gave a small smile.

"That would be a dream come true." She chuckled herself. She still felt a bit bad about loosing her money, but she could live with that. Sometimes helping others felt good.

Zoro and Kuina found it ironic a pirate of all people was helping others. Maybe the rumors about him being a hero wasn't just a rumor after all.

What the straw-hat boy didn't notice was a glimmer in the eye of a certain pink-haired boy who was looking at Luffy with admiration.

.

After that, it wasn't long before they reached their destination. As the island came into sight, Luffy was getting more and more excited about the prospect of seeing one of his favorite characters.

"Stop right there! I am Captain Usopp, the great protector of this village! State your business here, otherwise my 80 million followers will chase you to the ends of Hell!"

"Impressive," Luffy said. "But how does this small Island have so much population."

Usopp hadn't really thought that one through, but it looked like they were buying it.

"He's lying." The other members said, with bored look.

"Crap! I've been found out," Usopp exclaimed as Luffy burst out laughing.

Usopp swayed back and forth comically as he wondered out loud what he was to do now that he'd been discovered.

"Don't you dare laugh," he said firmly with his slingshot raised. "I am a man of intense pride! I don't take well to being laughed at! That's why everyone calls me Usopp the Proud!" This was another lie. No one called him that, but they didn't have any proof of that, did they?

"Hey, calm down," Luffy managed as his laughter subsided. "You're Yasopp's son, right? Let's just talk about things over food. We're not here to pillage or anything."

Usopp lost his balance and fell off the hill he was standing on, landing face-first in the dirt. He got up with an embarrassed expression. "It's true that I'm Yasopp's son…but how did you know?"

Luffy smiled genuinely. "You remind me of him. Even the way you gloat is the same." Which wasn't a lie, considering his canon knowledge. Usopp's chest swelled up with pride upon hearing this, and he agreed to talk things over as a restaurant town. He even went as far as to offer to treat them.

The restaurant they were eating at had a sign that simply said "Food." This suggested that it was basically the only restaurant in the area. This really was a small village. As they ate, Luffy told Usopp stories of the boy's father and his incredible marksmanship, and Usopp listened eagerly.

Some of the stories were from what he remembered from canon. Others were the tales of the marksmen of Red Hair pirates he had gathered from the underground sources.