Supreme Swordsman Zoro

Usopp opened his eyes as his pale face was still relatively pale compared to a healthy person, he had a peculiar look on his face as he looked around him, he saw Luffy and Kaya staying near him, Luffy was dozing off while Kaya looked like she just woke up.

She quickly got near him and said with a worried look on her face:

"God bless, Usopp you scared all of us, we almost lost you there."

Usopp seemingly still being out of it nodded his head and said:

"Kaya, I have seen my mother in my dream."

Kaya put a hand over her mouth as she gasped, Usopp's mother died years ago due to health complications, was he that close to death?

Usopp continued:

"She told me that it wasn't my time yet, she told me that I had to meet my father and give him a good beating for abandoning the both of us, but she also told me to give him a hug, it's strange, she smiled while he talked about him, it was like she wasn't bothered at all that he wasn't with her on her deathbed."

Usopp wanted to get up from the couch but Kaya stopped him and said:

"You want to get up already? You aren't fully healed, you should rest for a few weeks!"

Usopp shook his head and said:

"I'm feeling better already, just a bit weak, it should be from the blood loss, staying here won't help me with that, I think I need to eat something."

Kaya nodded her head as she examined his wounds which somehow already started to scab over, it seemed Luffy's blood combined with her concoction increased Usopp's metabolism by a bit, it was almost two times its normal speed!

Kaya came back with food which Usopp ate quickly, the smell of food woke Luffy up and he wanted to grab some as well, Kaya indicated that the food was for Usopp but Usopp shook his head at Kaya then said:

"He saved me, Kaya, let him have some food as well."

Usopp knew he made a mistake when Luffy inhaled the remaining food like a vacuum, Usopp didn't know what to say to Luffy so he just shut up, even though his metabolism increased he didn't have Luffy's appetite, after he ate some food he felt well enough and his face returned to its normal color.

Luffy seemed unsatisfied with the amount of food, however, but he knew there was no more food in the mansion as Kaya already came with whatever she found in the kitchen, Usopp looked at the body of Merry the butler and he put a sullen look on his face as he approached it, he looked towards Kaya and said:

"We should give him a proper burial."

Kaya sighed as tears streamed down her eyes and nodded at Usopp, with the help of Luffy's digging skills and Usopp construction skills they made a coffin and a grave for Merry, Usopp didn't want Luffy's help at this as he put Merry inside the coffin then gently let the coffin down in the grave with the help of some ropes, even though Usopp wasn't superhuman he still could lower a wooden coffin in a grave by himself, he was a strong and healthy young man, well as healthy as he could be after he went a near-death situation which involved poisoning.

Usopp then took a shovel and started to fill up the grave, Luffy already dug it so he wanted to fill it, after a while, he finally filled it fully, Kaya came forward with a photo of Merry and put it down on the gravesite, Usopp also left and came back with a makeshift cross which he impaled on the ground.

Usopp sighed while Kaya started to cry her eyes out even harder as she looked down at Merry's grave, he was like an uncle to her as he took care of her after her parent's demise, she felt that Merry didn't deserve to die, he was a good man who deserved to live.

She then remembered Kuro or Kurahadol as he introduced himself to the family, she hated the man with passion but he was already dead, she couldn't do anything to him as he was killed by Luffy. She sighed as she remembered how Kuro did a great job at acting, seemingly taking care of her and enjoying the activities they did together, but it was all a lie, a lie Kuro acted upon so he could get his hands on her fortune.

Luffy didn't know what to say in this situation, he was quite a simple guy who didn't go through such type of thing yet, his life in Fusha Village was easy, his hardest time was when Shanks gave up his arm to save him from a sea king, he still blamed himself for Shanks sacrifice to this day but there was nothing he could do for him anymore.

Luffy waited silently for a while then left with Usopp and Kaya, the village was a mess as people were crying out about their brother's fathers mothers or sisters who were killed by the pirates they wailed as they cradled the dead bodies of their kin while some of them spat on the bodies of the pirates who were felled by Zoro's swords.

All of the black cat pirates were dead or incapacitated by Zoro so they couldn't do anything even if they wanted to, the villagers, however, didn't let the incapacitated ones go away easily, they tortured them with pitchforks shot them with their cheap pistols until they bled out.

The hatred in these villagers hearts barely gone away with the killing of the incapacitated black cat pirates, Usopp was disturbed by the scenes he saw when he walked with Kaya to the village so he could see what happened, he looked around and he spotted his Usopp pirates crew, the three children Zoro saved, Usopp walked towards them and he sighed on how scared they were, they looked at everyone with a strange look in their eyes seemingly not trusting anyone anymore.

Only when they looked at Usopp their eyes turned to normal as the trio walked towards him and said:

"Captain Usopp, you are ok! We heard on how you tried to fight it out with Kurahadol and almost died!"

Even though Zoro didn't say anything the villagers still checked things out at the mansion and when they saw the trio sleeping and Usopp being bandaged they realized how things went out, well not one hundred percent correct but still relatively correct.

Kuro's body was already in the pile with all the other bodies of the black cat pirates which were thrown on their ship, a villager was ready to burn down the ship along with all their bodies as they wanted to push it out at sea but Usopp came forward and said:

"Can I do it?"

The villager looked at Usopp and then at his bandaged c.h.e.s.t and he nodded his head, Usopp fought against Kuro so if he wanted to burn down the ship and the bodies it wasn't his job to stop him.

Usopp took the torch from the villager's hand and slowly walked towards the black cat ship, some images flashed in his mind as he walked towards black cat ship, on how he always lied on how he never did anything to better himself, if he was a little bit stronger no one had to die, no villager no one of Kaya's friends! Kaya was no all alone in the world as everyone she knew and loved was dead.

Usopp gritted his teeth as he looked at the black cat ship, its figurehead was mocking him in his vision as the black cat head transformed into Kuro's head which said:

"The son of a filthy pirate? Hah! you want to elope with miss Kaya and take all her inheritance for yourself don't you?"

He suddenly threw the torch at the ship and he pushed it as it started to sail aimlessly due to the current of the waters, God knew where it would end up. A fire started to encroach on the ship as it started to get higher and higher the ship departed from the island.

Zoro was on his ship training as but then he looked towards the horizon and saw how the black cat ship was going away burning like an effigy. Zoro shook his head it seemed they finally cleared out the bodies of the pirates he thought to himself.

Luffy was nearby and he observed how things went on, he never talked during the things that happened, he knew it was something important for Usopp and thus he decided to remain silent for his sake.

Usopp shook his head as he cleared his mind then looked around, the villagers were way fewer than some days ago and tears started to form in his eyes, he blamed himself especially hard as he always lied to them telling them that pirates were coming, and when pirates came they didn't believe him thinking that it was one of his lies again.

Maybe if he didn't lie so often, they would have believed him...

But there was no maybe's anymore, what happened, happened and now he couldn't do anything to reverse the past, all he could do now was try to get stronger for the future!

Usopp walked towards Luffy and said:

"Luffy you are a pirate?"

Luffy nodded his head and said:

"I wanted you to join my crew the moment I realized you are Yasopp's son."

Usopp smiled at the reminder of his last alive family member then said:

"You know, I always thought myself of being a Captain, but after all of this happened I realized that I'm not cut to be one, I'm not cut to take care of a crew, If I was a Captain I would have been able to save Merry and the villagers, So I never will call myself Captain Usopp anymore, let me join you Luffy!

You helped me and killed Kuro you gave up your blood so Kaya could make an antidote to save me, I owe you my life and I want to join your crew!"

Luffy smiled at Usopp's words and nodded at him then said:

"Ok Usopp you are officially in the crew, you should know about Zoro as you already saw him, there are two more crewmates in my crew Nami the navigator and Kuina."

Usopp nodded at Luffy's words then said:

"Luffy I have to pack up so can you wait for me?"

Luffy just said yes.

Usopp walked towards his house where he packed his belongings, he didn't take much with him beside the necessities one would have at sea, but things piled up one on another and he got a giant bag with him.

He walked towards Kaya's mansion and met with her in the living room, Kaya stood there exhausted emotionally from all the things she had to go through when she saw Usopp with his giant bag, tears wanted to escape her eyes but there were no more, she walked towards him and grasped his hand as she said:

"You want to leave?"

Usopp nodded his head and a smile appeared on his face as he grasped her hand back and he said:

"Yes and I wanted to ask you if you wanted to leave with me, we can join Luffy on his journey, I already joined his crew and he wouldn't mind if you joined him as well, we need a doctor like you on the crew anyway!"

Kuina would have refused if even only Merry was alive but she was the only one remaining in the mansion anymore, there was no one she could interact with, she was all alone and Usopp was her remaining best friend and love interest, she couldn't let the man go but she couldn't stop him so all she could do was follow him!

Kaya opened her mouth and said with conviction in her words:

"I will follow you even in the devil's den Usopp, I have no one else besides you anymore."

She squeezed his hand at the words, as she was no longer getting poisoned daily by Kuro her strength was recovering at a quick speed and her pale complexion was turning to normal skin color.

Usopp's smile widened at her words then he said:

"Pack up then, we are leaving with Luffy."

Kaya seemingly remembered something and she said:

"Does Luffy have a ship?"

Usopp didn't ask Luffy about a ship so he said:

"I uh I'm not sure to be honest, while you pack I'm going to go and ask him, wait here!"

Usopp ran away with the giant bag on his back which made it look quite comical, Usopp met up with Luffy at the same place and asked in a hurry:

"Luffy do you have a ship?"

Technically the ship was Zoro's so Luffy didn't have a ship so he answered directly:

"Well the ship isn't mine but I'm the Captain."

Luffy puffed up at the words captain, Usopp didn't know how things worked in Luffy's crew so he didn't know what to say. He got back to Kaya and he started to cough a bit, his physique wasn't that strong and the running already took a bit of a toll of on him as the bag was quite heavy, normally he wouldn't get tired that fast due to running.

Kaya walked towards Usopp and asked:

"So does he have a ship?"

Usopp shook his head and said:

"He said that the ship is Zoro's."

Kaya murmured under her breath:

"Merry, you would have done the same thing wouldn't you?"

She took Usopp to the back of the mansion and showed him the caravel ship that stood behind it, the ship was of average size but it was a little big bigger than Zoro's actual ship, it had a sheep figurehead and it's color scheme was white and brown it had one big canon in front under the figurehead and four other near the railings on both sides.

Usopp eyes widened at the sight of the ship, it was pretty good ship why did she show it to him?

Kaya said immediately after Usopp thought about this:

"I have decided to gift Luffy this ship, Merry he.. he finished working on the ship a few days before he got killed, he said he didn't want to watch the ship mother and father used to fade into nothing as it reminded him of them, I think we should call it The Going Merry after him.."

Usopp nodded his head at her words then he said:

"I'm going to call Luffy and the others over."

Usopp ran away again towards Luffy's place where he met with him then he asked him to go to Zoro and the others.

Zoro wasn't surprised at Usopp's appearance but when Usopp asked all of them to come with him so he could show them something he was surprised. He decided to follow him as he was quite bored currently and he had nothing to do.

Nami and Kuina also finished whatever they were doing so they decided to follow as well. With the crew in tow, Usopp showed them to The Going Merry.

Luffy was extremely happy at his ship while Zoro observed the ship and realized that it was a bit better than his, it could even go through paradise but he doubted it could go through the new world, he also didn't know where he could get a good enough ship as he didn't find a shipwright anywhere that could create him a ship that could sail the new world, maybe he could find one in the grand line.

Luffy took over the ship immediately as he stood on the figurehead and said that it was his place now, Zoro looked around the ship and nodded his head, it was a good ship that was currently better than his, he decided he would move everything from his ship to this one and sell the other one, there was no reason to have two sh.i.p.s currently, and he could always steal another one from an opposing pirate group.

After all of their belongings, were changed from ship to ship Usopp informed them of Kaya's decision of going with them, Luffy grinned from ear to ear and he said:

"Kaya is smart, she even healed you, we need someone like her with us, she is free to come with us!"

Zoro didn't mind as well as a doctor was always welcome on a ship.

Usopp nodded his head then helped Kaya up on the ship, she was already waiting for the confirmation.

Usopp smiled towards Kaya and introduced Nami and Kuina to her, Nami and Kuina were happy that another girl joined the crew as they weren't the minority anymore they were now in equal numbers!

Zoro sighed as he watched Nami and Kuina drag Kaya towards the new's girl quarters. Usopp seemingly understood Zoro and he sighed as well, only Luffy didn't understand a thing as he stood on the figurehead.

It was finally time to sail again! Sails unfurled anchor withdrawn and ready to go, Nami was at the rudder as she finished the talk with Kaya some time ago, unfortunately, they were running low on supplies as they couldn't resupply at Syrup Village due to their situation, the villagers needed food and water currently and not money as some of their supplies were destroyed when the pirates attacked.

The closest island was quite far away but there was still one place they could get food from! The Baratie was rather close but Zoro didn't want to go there as he muttered something about blonde shitty perverted cooks who don't know their place.

Kuina sighed as she heard Zoro's mutterings, the man was quite perverted but at least he knew his limits, Sanji immediately backed off as he saw the interactions between Zoro and Kuina, even though he still treated Kuina with respect he didn't make any other advances on her.

Usopp walked towards Zoro and he wanted to ask him something, Zoro looked at Usopp and Usopp was immediately intimidated by his stare even though Zoro wasn't trying to intimidate.

Usopp gulped loudly as he asked:

"Luffy told me you are way stronger than him so please take me as your disciple."

He got down on his knees and kowtowed to Zoro immediately, Zoro's eyes widened at Usopp's sudden gesture then grabbed him by the arm and dragged him up, he didn't like people doing that kind of stuff and he directly asked:

"You want to learn swordsmanship? Aren't you supposed to be a sniper?"

Usopp shook his head at the question and said:

"I don't want to learn swordsmanship I want to become stronger!"

Zoro realized that Usopp wanted his body training techniques and not swordsmanship instructions since now they were of the same crew Zoro didn't refuse and he immediately made Usopp go through the wringer.

Usopp looked like he did when he was on his deathbed after the first day of training, Luffy also joined in the training but he did exercises that were way harder compared to Usopp's and more in number as well.

Usopp muttered to himself as he went to the men's room:

"Mother, you came to visit again?"

Kaya gasped when she heard his words but Usopp motioned with his hand that he was ok.

Usopp continued:

"No mother, I'm eating well."

Kaya walked towards Usopp and she asked with concern:

"Usopp are you ok?"

Usopp just fell on the floor face down at her question.

Kaya immediately went with a full examination but she realized that he was just extremely exhausted and she couldn't do anything to help him with it.

She grabbed Usopp up from the ground and left him in a hammock in the men's room.

Zoro shook his head as he looked at Usopp's condition, it would be a long while before he became as strong as he wanted.

Luffy was still training with him as they both sweated and trained the sun went down, the day ended so they had dinner and went to sleep.

Unfortunately, Usopp had to sleep for a few days before he could join their training again.

A few more days after Usopp woke up from his beauty sleep they reached Baratie for the second time!

There Zoro felt a sensation he never felt before, a sensation of an insurmountable wall that he had to get over, he felt someone who was way stronger than him, so strong that he couldn't beat him even if he went all out.

Was it him? The strongest swordsman in the world? In east-blue? Or was it someone else?