Silence… it encumbered my very being. I was scared, I was nervous and terrified that this man-sheep person would decline my request. I am not a good person, never have been, never will be. Honestly I would have preferred throwing the thought of a job aside to train and just steal all that I need, but I couldn't do so. I wanted to, oh believe me I did, but there was one thought that kept me from such an action.
Yasopp.
For some reason, I just knew that if I made stealing from this village a regular thing, then Usopp's father would be disappointed in me, and I couldn't stand to bear the thought. It was just like with the 3 brats, the moment I saw them I wanted to protect them. Usopp's admiration for Yasopp must have carried over as well, because I would have rathered starved then disappoint Usopp's father. Or rather, my father now.
"Well then, that's a ludicrous request. Why in the name of all that's good in the world would I give you anything, yet alone responsibilities? Are you out of your mind boy? Have you gone crazy? You're lucky Khaladore isn't here right now, you would already be kicked off our lawn. Is that all? Then you can leave."
"PLEASE! Just give me a chance! I just need a chance!" I begged. I needed this, I needed this so badly. While I would wholeheartedly let myself starve, no matter what, I would not let those kids go hungry. Even if I had to lose the respect of my new father, those children are my number one priority.
.
"Again boy, just why would I-"
"CARROT!" I interrupted him.
"...Carrots? What are you talking about? Have you really gone insane?"
"Carrot...Pepper...Onion. I know you've seen them around with me after my mother died. The savings she had has run dry since 2 months ago." His eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Then how have you-"
"I've been having Kaya sneak us food once a week. And just today I had the kids help me steal from the people in the market." I explained and saw his face twist in disgust. He was not happy with me, and I knew I had to choose my next words carefully. He already didn't like Usopp in the first place. I placed my head back into the dirt. I didn't want to mess this up, and I had to show how sincere I was.
"I knew it, you really are scum! Taking advantage of the sweet young Kaya, and even not ashamed enough to use children! I knew some food was missing lately but I just assumed Khaladre was preparing extra for Miss Kaya. She has been getting worse lately. Why are you even here, you clearly have no problem with being a criminal. It runs through your blood after all."
"You're right, I have no problem with being a criminal, if it was up to me I wouldn't even be here right now, with my head in the dirt, throwing away my pride."
"Then why are you here huh?"
"The brats...I'm all they have. All three of them are orphans, with no parents to care for them and no family to watch over them. I would normally take my chances stealing and going against the law...but what if I get caught. They would starve. No one would be there for them." I say as I finally lift my head to see his expression. It was conflicted. "PLEASE Mary! I just need a chance! A chance to prove myself, and to become a better person! A better man!"
At least until I leave all of that behind and become a pirate and give the world a big fat middle finger.
"...I cannot approve your request." My stomach dropped as he answered.
No…
"But only because I am a mere butler. Kaya is the Mistress of this manor after all. So what do you say Miss Kaya, will you give him a job?" he asked, turning to the front door where Kaya herself was doing her best to hide.
"Eep! How did you know I was here Merry?" she asked surprised.
"I am your butler Miss Kaya, it is my job to know where and how you are at all times. So, will you give this young man a job?" he asked once more.
"R-really? Can I?"
"As I said, I am but a mere butler, the decision is completely up to you. I have no right to interfere in such matters."
"T-then, please, I would like to hire Usopp! And I would like for you to teach him to be a butler Merry!" she exclaimed with a happy smile. Merry nodded.
"As you command Miss." he turned to me. "You will start now, you don't have any problem with that do you? Follow me." he ordered without waiting for my reply. We went into the manor and Merry told Kaya to go back upstairs and rest. Walking into what seemed to be a closet filled to the brim with butler outfits, he turned to me.
"First things first, I want to make something very clear. Just because you and the Miss are 'friends'-" he forced out, as if even saying the world pained him. "Doesn't mean you can slack off. If I think for even a single second you are taking advantage of her kindness, I will kick you out on the streets, regardless of the consequences. I feel for the young children under your care, really I do, but my first and only priority is to Miss Kaya. You only get this one shot, do not mess it up. You understand?" he demanded with a stoic expression. Honestly, being talked down to like that pissed me off quite a bit, but I knew Merry wasn't actually an asshole do to my future knowledge.
"Yes sir! I will live up to your expectations!" I said with a clear voice, hopefully with none of my irritation bleeding in. He nodded at my response.
"Good, now find a uniform that will fit you and get out of those terrible clothes. I will wait outside the door until you're done." and with that, he left the room and closed the door. I sighed and looked around the room to check out all of the suits
Finding one that fit my scrawny body, a body that I was going to buff up as soon as possible, and a green tie, I take off my old clothes and put on my new ones. Without my hat holding down my hair though, it was puffed up on top of my head, so I looked through the droors until I finally found what I was looking for. A green hair tie. Grabbing all of my fluffs I slick it back and put the tie in. {AN: Check Story Picture for hair}
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Finally done, I leave my clothes in the corner and grab the handle to open the door, but before I do, I notice the fedoras further up. As a Strawhat, I of course needed an actual hat right? Jumping up, I grabbed a black fedora with a green band and placed it on my head. WIth my outfit complete, I walked out of the humongous closet to start the first day of my new life.
That is, until I thought I was gonna lose it immediately afterwards. Right as I opened the door, I saw something, or rather someone, that causes all the blood to drain from my face. There, standing right in front of me, was Khalador. Also known as Captain Kuro, of the Black Cat pirates. To make it worse, he did the thing where his palm slowly goes up to fix his glasses and I could swear on my flag that it took almost all I had not to pass out from fear.
"Well well well, what do we have here? A rat hiding in the closet." he said menacingly. I opened my mouth to explain myself, to tell him that his mistress hired me already and just like Merry, he couldn't do shit about it. Well that's what I wanted to say, but for some reason, my voice wouldn't come out. This man, this pirate, was known merciless killer, and I was terrified.
Honestly, I'm pretty ashamed to say that. Compared to most of Luffy's enemies, Kuro is cannon fodder, I knew that. But for some reason, in that moment, he was the scariest thing in existence as my legs began to shake.
"No response huh? It seems I have to force you off the premises." At those words, my knees gave out on me. I just couldn't control them, they wouldn't listen to my commands.
Is this how I die?
"Oh Khaladore, when did you get back? Stop scaring the boy, would you? Miss Kaya hired the kid as a new butler." Merry, seemingly coming out of nowhere spoke up form behind the pirate. Kuro turned to speak to the butler.
"New butler? How foolish, let me talk to the Miss about this."
"I know how you feel, but unfortunately, she's put her foot down. Usopp is taking care of those three children down by the beach." NOOO, don't tell him where we live you fool! "She's determined to at least not allow those kids to starve."
"Tch, our Mistress has too kind of a heart, especially for scum like this." he said casually, turning back to me. "But I guess it can't be helped." and with that, he walked to do god knows what.
Probably murder children and kick puppies.
"Hurry and get up you fool, you just got the suit, don't mess it up already. First I'll show you the order in which you clean the manor and how your clean it. Follow me."
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By the time I made it back to my sweet shack, the sun was beginning to set and the kids were in their room asleep. Looking at the kitchen table, I could see that there were a few fruits and vegetables left and even some meat.
They left some for me huh? The brats aren't that bad I guess.
Walking up to the table, I sat down on a chair with a sigh and took a moment. Merry really worked me to the bone, and the manor was huge. I grabbed one of the bottles of rum I stole and downed it back.
Huh...empty?
Grabbing the other one, I looked to find that it was also empty. This was weird, because I was sure that when I actually grabbed the bottles they were unopened. That's when it dawned on me.
Those idiots drunk all the rum!
Honestly, I wasn't mad that they actually drank some of it, I was mad that they drank all of it. The way I saw it, they were already pirates, just waiting to be picked up like me. The laws of underage drinking didn't really apply to them. Besides, people can bitch all they want about how irresponsible it is to let kids drink, but if you're old enough to sail, then you're old enough to do whatever the fuck you want.
Just like how in Naruto, gaining your headband was the equivalent of becoming a legal adult. What was their saying? 'Old enough to kill, old enough to drink'. I said I was going to take care of the little rascals, I never said that I was gonna be a good influence.
Disappointed at the lack of booze I could consume, I went out to train. I didn't want to wake them up.
First, I need to review, while yes I will be the Sniper of the Strawhat pirates, Usopp actually rarely ever sniped anyone. There was that one time at Enies lobby when he absolutely destroyed those soldiers from across the bridge and that other time in Dressrosa but most of Usopp's fights themselves are close combat. That's where the Rokushiki comes in. The 6 Powers are weak in the late game but anytime before the 2 year time skip, and they were amazing powers to have.
I began to do push ups as I thought about my necessary steps to take in this world.
I should probably learn Soru/Shave first, it is the easiest of the 6 to learn but also has the most potential for growth. The Soru would allow me to move at extremely high speeds in order to avoid attacks, as well as to attack at higher speeds and with greater power. It was revealed that the principle of this move was to kick off the ground at least ten times in the blink of an eye. The thing is, just knowing how the technique worked did me no good right now. My body just wasn't able to go that fast. I tried while walking back home but nothing happened but me being stared at like an idiot.
Next after Soru, the easiest thing to learn would probably be Geppo/Moonwalk. With the leg strength and speed required for Soru, I should be able to use Geppo if I forgo speed for power and step on the air.
For now I'll be focusing on those and practising my aiming, Usopp was already pretty good but I'm not exactly Usopp. Not fully anyway. With those two I would be able to run away and create distance to actually snipe.
After 100 push ups I fell to the ground in exhaustion. I decided to rest for 10 minutes before moving onto the next exercise. Deadlifts, Lateral Lunges, Hip Thrusts, and Squats. Essentially, anything that gave my leg a work out. When my legs finally gave out on me, I caught my breath and started doing sit ups and crunches. Honestly it wasn't long before I literally had to crawl myself back into the shack. I ate me a small portion of the meat before collapsing onto the bed.
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The next day the kids woke me up early like always, and I went with them to the kitchen to finish off the rest of our food and talk. I laughed at all of their killer migraines from drinking all of the rum yesterday and laughed extra loud when I remembered I never got to taste any of that said rum.
"Hey Usopp, what's our crews name? Are they famous?" asked Onion.
"Yea are they super cool?!" screamed Carrot, who oddly enough was the only one without a hangover.
"They are called the Strawhat pirates and they are really new so no one knows about them yet. But trust me, our Captain Luffy will become really famous someday, he's going to become the King of the Pirates!" I exclaimed loudly, and after Onion and Pepper winced at their headache, all three looked up with stars in their eyes.
"""Whoooaaa."""
"Yup, now follow me, we have to do something before I head off to work." I said as I began walking out of our shack. They followed right after of course.
"Work? When did you get a job? And what do we have to do?" asked the orange haired child.
"Well I already told you, you guys are coming with me, so that makes you pirates to. And when I went to talk to Kaya yesterday, I asked her for a job." I explained. I didn't want them to know I begged. It would make them feel bad.
"What really!?" asked Pepper in excitement.
"Yup, but Pirates are strong, and so I have to train you guys to be Great Warriors of the Sea!"
"""Warrior's of the Sea! Warriors of the Sea!"""
"Pepper, your dream is to become a Carpenter, so that's what you'll be on our ship, and until we get a Shipwright you'll be responsible so we don't drown."
"Aye Usopp!"
"Carrot you want to open a bar when your older, but since you're a pirate now, you don't have to wait until a certain age. You will be our ships Bartender."
"Aye Usopp!"
"Onion, you want to become an Author right? Then what greater story is there than the Rise of the New Pirate King! You will be responsible for our crew's Logbook. You'll write down all of our awesome adventures."
"Aye Usopp!"
"And then there is me, I will be not only our ships Sniper but also our Strategist! I will Snipe our enemies from afar and come up with plans to make our enemies wish they were never born. So! Who's ready to train to become awesome amazing pirates!?"
"""AYE!"""
"Then drop and give me 50 boys!"