"The Pirates are coming!" I screamed.

Did you know, that the name Usopp was created by GOda because USOtski is liar in Japanese. Also the two P's come from the name Geppetto, the creator and father of Pinocchio. It's why Usopp has a long nose, just like the wooden boy who always lied. It was actually Onion who told me that, man that kid was smart. After learning about it though, I obviously started lying more. Not only to have good practice to deceive people, which I'm sure will come in handy as a pirate, but to also live up to my name.

"The Pirates are coming!' Pepper screamed. The anime world is so weird. Usually making children work out would stunt their growth, but that concept didn't seem to exist here. In fact, it just seemed to help you grow taller. Hell, Koby was 16 at the beginning of the series. 16! That short kid was almost a grown man! It wasn't until he received training that he actually experienced a growth spurt. Pepper also got taller from the training. In fact, all 3 of them did. Just a little bit shorter than they were after the two year time skip. Because of this, I made sure he was wearing the same outfit he had in the show after the time skip.

He wore a light green short sleeve shirt with the Strawhat Pirates Jolly Roger on the front. He also wore a light blue sash, light green pants, and black shoes with grey laces, and grey on the bottom/top. His dark green glasses were sitting proudly on his head.

"The Pirates are coming!" Carrot screamed. He was also wearing his 2 year time skip getup. He had grown taller and his hair was much less spiky than before. He wore a light purple hooded jacket with buttons. He also wore black calf-length pants and black laced shoes and his hat now proudly displayed the Strawhat symbol. In his hand while running was a bottle of rum he took a swig of every now and again.

"The Pirates are coming!" the last brat, Onion, screamed. Also taller, I threw away those chick repellent round glasses as soon as I could and gave him the ones from the time skip. His hair had grown longer. He wore a gray colored jacket, with a brown sash, yellow undershirt, and plaid shorts.

""""The Pirates are coming!"""" we all screamed together. We were running away from the villagers as they threw kitchen supplies and cleaning brooms at us. I of course made the 3 brats join me in my quest to be an annoyance to all adults. It was good training for them, learning how to run away is the first thing Usopp from the anime taught me. It's essential for becoming a Strawhat.

Then there was me, I buffed out. Obviously not as much as time skip Usopp but I was no longer a scrawny long nosed loser. I had more of a swimmers body, which made complete sense considering it was my favorite activity. I lived right next to the ocean, what else was I to do, not swim? Are you insane?

Anyway, I took a liking to the Classy! Usopp look and now wore it as my main outfit, fedora and all. I had a rifle on my back and two pistols on my side. I bought all of them when I finally got enough money from working for Kaya and selling the trinkets I stole my first night there to traveling merchants who came to the island. Of course I kept the slingshot, even came up with a way to incorporate the original Usopp's arsenal into my training, but that was only to show respect for the character. I didn't really plan on using them in battle.

"Ready boys?!"

"""Aye Usopp!"""

"NOW!" I shout, and with barely any warning, we disappeared. 5 Months...it took me 5 months to learn Soru. Geppo was easily learned afterwards, only taking me a week, and Rankyaku/Tempest Kick only a month. The other powers still eluded me but I was slowly working on them. The minute I got Soru down, I began teaching the kids. All of them could do it at this point but only Pepper could use Geppo.

He was physically the strongest out of the group, as a couple months in, I asked if Mary could teach him a little about Carpentry. Ever since then, the kid has been a wiz around our old beaten up shack. It almost looks like an actual home now.

In moments, I arrived at the beach, and quietly waited for the boys to catch up. Carrot was first, taking a swig of his drink as he arrived in front of me. Next was Onion, who apparently took out a book sometime doing his run and was reading it. Lastly was Pepper, who while is the strongest, is also the slowest. On the back of all three, were pipes they used as weapons. I was thinking that Luffy would easily accept them if he was reminded of his brothers when he saw the kids. But it's been a full year since I arrived to this world, and still there was no site of my crew. At this point, I was starting to get a little worried.

"Hey, Usopp is that a pirate ship docking?" Onion suddenly said.

Pirate ship? What does he mean pirate ship?

I turned around to see two ships docking on the beach further down the bay. One of those ships had Buggy the Clown's flag raised high.

Buggy the clown huh? I bet I could kick his ass. I thought before a did a double take. Wait a minute! Didn't Luffy arrive on a Buggy ship?! That means...YES, it's finally time!

"C'mon guys, it's time to greet our captain." I said, preparing myself to Soru to Luffy and the crew.

"""Captain?""" they all questioned as I Soru'd a little bit away from the crew. On that little mountain that the original Usopp used to ambush the Strawhats when they first met. Zoro was in the middle of stretching while Nami and Luffy were looking around.

"There's a village around here somewhere right?" the boy with the red vest and strawhat asked.

"Yea-" my future navigator answered. "Looks like a small one though." To this, Luffy started freaking out as he grabbed Nami's shoulders and started shaking her.

"Oh! Oh! Then there's meat! There's meat! There has to be a place to eat meat in this village right!?" to his barrage of questions, Nami tried their best to protect their one and only map from her idiot of a captain.

"Just forget about meat for a minute would ya?!" it was then that I finally decided to make my appearance. Moving clearly into view, I step with my musket drawn and aimed at Luffy's head. Even if I shot, I knew it wouldn't hurt him, so I didn't really feel bad about it. Besides, I had to sell the act.

"Everyone stop your arguing and look! There's someone up there!" he pointed towards me and my group. Hand on his sword, he continued. "And they don't look friendly." At this both Nami and Luffy looked up to see me on the hill, gun drawn. The boys behind me had their pipes out and tried to look as threatening as a bunch of 9 year olds could.

"I am Usopp, Sniper of the Strawhat Pirates, and protector of this island. Followers of Buggy aren't allowed. State your names and purposes or I'm going to get a little less friendly."

""Strawhat Pirates?"" both Nami and Luffy asked with a tilt of their heads. Zoro though, seeing me as a threat, asked no questions and fully took out his sword.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

"I'm not going to ask you again. Who are you and why are you here?" I asked one last time. To this, Luffy simply pulled down his hat so shadows covered his eyes.

God he looks so cool! I'm totally fanboying!

"Now that you've drawn your weapon, are you willing to use it?"

"What?"

"Guns aren't for threats, they're for action. Are you willing to lay down your life and put it on the line?" he asked seriously.

"Wait a moment…those words, where did you hear them?" I say calmly, lowering my musket and looked him in the eye. With a smile that only someone with a rubber body could pull off, he chuckled and answered me.

"From a man named Red Haired Shanks. I know your dad too, it's Yasopp right? That must mean you're Usopp" I nodded with a smile of my own and jumped down to meet them on the beach. The kids did the same from behind me and Nami had a mini panic attack thinking they were going to get hurt. When they were fine though she breathed a sigh of relief.

Unlike the anime, Zoro drew his swords instead of just threatening to. It must mean he sees me as an actual threat.

"You're right, my old man name is Yasopp. That must make you Luffy."

"Huh? Have you heard of me?" he asked confused. I nodded.

"Yea, I have. Come on, you must be hungry, I'll take you to a great restaurant I know. We can talk there." Luffy nodded at my suggestion but before he could walk over to me Nami grabbed his arm to pull him back. Unfortunately for her, the arm just stretched out as he walked.

"You idiot! Don't go around following random people with guns!"

"It has meat~." I say and before I knew it, Luffy was at my side.

----------------------------------------

At the restaurant Meshi, I ordered some food for all of us, and booze for Zoro and Carrot. When Carrot began drinking, Nami began freaking out again, saying about how dangerous and irresponsible it was. Zorro only gave it a side glance before clinking his glass with the kid and downing back the mug. Luffy didn't care at all.

"After my dad and his crew visited your village, they made a pit stop back here. We spent some time together and he told me of a boy around my age who promised to set sail one day and become a pirate. When I told him I wanted to be a Sniper just like he was, he told me to join that boy's crew when he eventually made it to this island and become a pirate so we could meet again some day."

"Whoaa really? Who was the boy?" asked Luffy while eating some meat. I laughed and pointed and him.

"You were, and so I am the Sniper and tactician of the Strawhat Pirates." I say without a hint of shame. Luffy only nodded, taking my declaration as fact.

"Okay." To this, Nami smacked Luffy in the back of the head.

"Don't accept members so easily you idiot!" I laughed as I downed some booze as well.

"The one with dark green hair is Pepper, he's our crew's Carpenter, once we get a ship, he'll know how to fix it up. Though he's not an actual Shipwright, so we'll still need one those." I said, pointing to the boy I was talking about.

"Waddup Captain!" he spoke up.

"Hi!" Luffy said back.

"Next is the purple haired kid. His name is Carrot and he's the Bartender of our crew. You need to get drunk? You talk to him, he always has the booze." I point to the kid.

"Yo Captain!" he says before going right back to his drink.

"Hey!" shouted my captain. I noticed Zoro began paying closer attention to the kid and nodded in respect.

I think they'll get along

"Lastly is the orange haired one. His name is Onion and his role in the crew if very important. He will be responsible for a Log Book."

"Hello!" Onion greeted before going back to the book he was reading.

"Log Book?" Luffy questioned. This was a point in the story before they met Don Krieg and he explained what a Log Book was, so he didn't actually know. Before I could answer him though, Zoro did it for me.

"All real pirates have someone write down their adventures in a Log book as they go along. It is one of the Pride of the crew, having their hopes, dreams, and all that they went through together in it."

"Whoaaaa! So cool! But where did you get the name Strawhat Pirates from? Did you just make it up?"

"Well when Shanks came here, he told me that he gave his Strawhat to you. It was the only thing I knew about you other than your name. I even made an insignia." I told him, showing him Pepper's shirt and Carrot's hat.

"Strawhat Pirates huh?" he said slowly, as if testing out the name. "I like it!"

"Wait! Luffy, you're not seriously thinking of letting them join us are you?!" Luffy only looked at her with a frown.

"Why not? We need crew members right?"

"They're kids!" she screeched. Zoro laughed at this.

"You aren't even really a member of our crew remember? Why would you get a say who joins or not?"

"But still...fine! If you want to send these kids to their deaths, it has nothing to do with me. Look, can you guys help us? Do you know someone who could provide us with a decent ship? Or someone that knows how to sail?" she asked looking at me.

"Actually I do, you see that mansion on the hill?" I said, pointing out the window that displayed Kaya's house perfectly. "That's where I work as a butler when I need some change. They have a ship we could use if we ask the owner nicely."

"Really?" questioned Nami. "Just like that?"

"Yup, but only if I ask. If random pirates ask for it, she's sure to say no, and because of that, I need you guys to help me with something before I set sail."

"I knew there was a catch! Nothing can ever be simple with you people can it?!"

"There's a man here, named Khaladore, he's a butler with me who serves Kaya."

"What does that have to do with us?" asked Zoro.

"Khaladore is just a made up name. His real one is more well known. I don't know about Luffy, but Zoro you're a famous pirate hunter. Even I know of you and I've never left this island in my life. His name...is Kuro. Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates." Zoro's eyes widened a bit after hearing the name.

"Eh? Whose that?" Luffy asked with a tilt of his head.

"A dead man, or he's supposed to be. He was the captain of a crew of vicious pirates. I heard they were quite strong too."

"Oh? So you just want us to kick his ass and then we get a ship?"

"Yea, Kuro faked his death and has been living peacefully on this island since. But all is not what it seems. The lady Kuro serves, Kaya, is being poisoned by him little by little every day."

"What?!" exclaimed Nami.

"He wants her inheritance, but to do that she has to write him in the will and die. So he's been poisoning her food a little everyday for years. She's grown sickly and frail, wind could even knock her down. Soon, the Black Cat Pirates will arrive on this island to raid it, and they'll kill Kaya."

"Then why haven't you told her this? That should put a stop to their whole plan right?" Nami asked but before I could answer, Zoro did.

"She won't believe him. If what I'm hearing is correct, Kuro has been pretending to be her butler for years now. He's been her life for long enough that she has absolute trust in him. Even more trust than in Usopp apparently." I nodded at his explanation.

Around 7 or 8 months into my stay in this world, Kuro caught me and the kids doing Soru on the beach. At first I was scared because I thought Kuro would try to get rid of us, and so I did what my namesake demanded of me, and lied. I told him that I knew about his plan involving Kaya and his past as I captain. I also told him that I didn't care what he did to the girl as long as he kept us out of it.

At first he didn't believe me, but after telling him that we were apart of our own pirate crew and that we were leaving soon anyway, he laughed at my mercilessness. Of course, that didn't actually convince him, but a quick Soru and a gun to his head did. I told him that unlike him, I could actually control my speed and where I'm going. And then, I made the brats show their Soru too.

I told him that any of those 8 and 9 year old kids could kill him before he could even blink, and that I simply tolerated his existence because I didn't want to get found out as a pirate just yet. "Don't overstep your bounds weakling." I said.

The look on his face boosted my ego to absurd heights that entire month. Ever since then, Kuro has avoided me like the plague, and I did so as well. Sure I could take him out quite easily, but then that would fuck up the timeline. Kaya would never actually see Kuro for the scum he is and would hate me for the rest of her life.

Now, I don't know why, but I didn't have feelings for Kaya. I respected Yasopp more than anyone, just like Usopp did. I love the brats as if we were brothers, just like Usopp did. And I even love the way a gun or slingshot feels in my hands. As I am down my sights, I feel invincible, just like Usopp did.

But for some reason, I just didn't like Kaya. Maybe it's the bias from my old life. After Kaya didn't believe in Usopp after he told her the truth, I just could never forgive her. Yes I can see where she's coming from, Usopp was a known liar afterall, but I still could not forgive her anyway. Just the same, I held no love for the village itself either. At this point, I'm saving it and her out of respect for the original Usopp, but no love is involved.

"Now, do we have a deal, Captain?" I asked as I look him in the eye.

"Yea…" he said with his eyes hidden in the shadows of his infamous hat. "We do."