Chapter 23: Chapter 23 : The Great Usopp
"Oi wake up, we are here…" Nami shouted, shaking Ragna to wake him up. She could finally see the island in her sight.
"What…Ragna jolted up, he had gotten less than 5 hours of sleep at best before getting woken up by this redhead…
'Well her hairs are more Orange so maybe Orange head ?' He pondered to himself.
"Are we finally there ?" Ragna as he stretched his body and woke up. The first thing he saw was the tired up Jango sleeping with all the bruises on his face. The man wasn't that hurt, the main injury he had was even done by Nami and not himself. He majorly tickles and tortures him until he opens his mouth about his captain's whereabouts.
Did Ragna want to beat him for making him go through all those horrible times again in that illusion? Of course, he wanted to, but he didn't do so as right now he needed the man.
"Yes, as I said we'll be there by today's morning. See for yourself…" Nami said the word hanging and shifted her body to let Ragna see the island in the distance.
Ragna's eyes too lit up seeing the island at last. It had been almost a month since he had been sailing, and though he was now getting used to this swaying boat but he still preferred the stability of land over the sea any day of the week.
"Great, it still should take us some time before we reach that island. Wake me up when we do." Giving Nami a thumbs up he went back to his sleep.
Nami was dumbfounded, was she the only one so hyped about seeing an Island?
This wasn't true and she too knew it, she was happy becuase she was getting closer to getting the treasure she had worked so hard for.
"Sigh, useless captain." She sighed and took over the command of the ship once again.
Since now the ship had both Nami and Ragna, both took turns to look after the ships. Ragna was the first one to stay awake while Nami completed her beauty sleep and now was Ragna's turn.
As for Jango, well he was out cold due to all the excessive laughing he have done.
Soon another hour passed, and due to the gentle slow winds the ship's speed was also affected, and it took more than an hour to reach the island.
—-
"I'm the great Pirate Usopp who had 8000 thousand men under his control. I'm the proud captain of the Usopp Pirate and you have entered into my territory. Leave at once or you will be my enemy." Said a boy who looked like in his early teens, probably 14 years old or so.
Currently, both Ragna and Nami came down from the boat after docking it near the shore of the Gecko Island. Ragna wanted Nami to look after the ships but no luck on that, he couldn't convince her.
'No way, how I'm gonna get my treasure…I mean my tread lines to build a map of this place, I'm a Navigator after all, and I wish to make a map of the entire world. It's very important for me to come,' was her reply to which Ragna only looked at her with SUS look all over. There is definately something she was hiding.
Ultimately they once again had to leave the boat alone, though Jango was there but at least he was tied up.
And just as they were making their way towards any town here to fill their bellies and get some information about Kuro, this idiot shows up.
He was a black boy with a long nose. Like Pinocchio's nose.
When he was done talking, both Nami and Ragna saw multiple sign boards with Ussop pirates written on them rise up from the brush in the clearing. Making them sigh at the absurdity of the situation.
Especially 6 boards were moving up and down simultaneously, indicating that there were only 3 more people beside that long-nosed idiot.
"8000 my ass, if you wanna boast then at least use a believable number….sigh.
Just ignore this idiot, I'm starving let get something to eat first. We better stock up too just in case." Ragna didn't give Ussop another look and said this to Nami before moving on.
Nami too just rolled her eyes looking at Ussop and kept on moving.
"Hey, stop. I'm warning you. Otherwise, my 8000 men will attack both of you." Shouted Usopp.
"Go home kid, stop wasting our time…" Ragna shouted off handedly.
"Kid, ain't you also only 15 now." He heard sneakers coming from his side and a tick mark formed on his forehead.
"Damnit, I shouldn't have said my age here…." Ragna regretted opening his mouth when the girl asked for his age. Now he wasn't taken seriously by her.
Both were 15 though, Nami confessed seeing Ragna getting angry as she started teasing the boy about his big frame and adult-like attitude but actually young age.
Ussop seeing that neither of them was taking him seriously finally got a little angry and took out his slingshot shot.
"Snap…
The sound of a string releasing its tension came and a projectile came flying towards Ragna. It didn't hit him though, but rather it hit the place where he gonna took another step, stopping him in his tracks.
He slowly bent down to take the projectile in his and to inspect it, only to find it was a marble.
"Never seen a pirate who uses Slingshot as a weapon." Nami saw the marble and smirked to herself. It was clear to her that the boy was just faking it all. A big fat liar.
However, Ragna saw more than that, he saw how accurate the aim of the boy was when he shot. It hit exactly where he was about to take another step. To calculate where he was about to step next and accurately hit the place before he actually step.
He can't help but look at the boy once again, maybe there was more to this boy than just his big talk and long nose.
"I said stop, if you take another step then this time I'll not hit just the ground…" Ussop said and he knocked his slingshot string back.
Nami was about to berate the boy to stop this foolish thing, the boy was wasting her time, she could use this time to find her tressure.
However, before she could open her mouth and say anything she saw Ragna on the side knocking his hands back and throwing something at Ussop with so much power that it almost seemed to break the sound barrier.
Ussop who was ready to use his slingshot suddenly felt something hit his weapon dead centre and knock his slingshot out of his hand.
"What…" Let alone Ussop but even Nami was gobsmacked seeing what just happened, though she didn't see what hit his slingshot due to the speed of the projectile but she knew that it was Ragna who threw it.
"What did you do." She napped at Ragna with big eyes.
"Gave his marble back to him." Ragna muttered with nonchalance, he spoke like it was no big deal.
"What…what just…" Ussop was more shaken than the likes of Nami. Nami at least knew how strong Ragna was.
"Since when you have such a good aim…" Ragna all but shouted, her eyes went back to Ragna's waist, seeing an expensive-looking handgun. Earlier she wanted to steal that gun however not anymore.
If Ragna can do that with just a mere rock then she could only wonder what he could with a proper gun. Besides the fact that this gives her more assurance that the boy will be able to handle Kuro, this also gives her an idea that in plain sight, running away from Ragna will be almost impossible.
Ragna on the other hand saw his own shot and smirked.
"Still got it…" He used to throw rocks and makeshift spears out of wood to hunt back in Lost Island. That is why his aim when it comes to throwing something with his own hands was excellent.
Of course, this aim didn't amount to much went it comes to using guns. It was strange seeing how he was still only an armature at best in guns but had such a good aim otherwise.
Ragna just ignored Nami for the time being and glared at Ussop.
"Stop it, or the next shot won't be from the marble you throw at us but this…" Just to intimidate the boy he took out his real gun and pointed it at him.
This froze up Nami, only now she was thinking about that gun and here it was on actions. She didn't know Ragna that well, she has seen him both helping her out and killing those pirate like livestock. She knew that Ragna was completely capable of killing the boy if he wanted to.
Little did she know that Ragna was just playing around, he had his own rules on this sea.
And Ragna's first rule was to not kill innocent or without reason. He wasn't the bloodthirsty kind of man who enjoy killing. This was all an act to scare off Ussop.
Nami wanted to say something but that was when Ussop who was now in front of an exposed gun fell down. His legs gave away and he plumped to the ground.
"I give up, I…I'm not a pirate I was just joking." Ussop already had tears forming in his eyes while he took out a white flag where to show his surrender.
"Good… " Ragna replied with a big nod.
"Because If you were a Pirate then I would have taken you down. I'm after all a Pirate hunter…" He grinned and put his gun back to his waist.
Ussop hearing this was surprised, he thought that they were pirates up to now, and then his blood ran cold suddenly upon hearing what the man just said.
'pppp… Pirate hunter.' He muttered to himself. Realizing that he was pretending to be a great pirate just now.
He just wanted to run away but his legs weren't working anymore.
However, Ragna didn't care about the boy anymore. He turned around and entered the island. He was starving….
xxx
[Word Count: 1700]
Well, well. What you think about it, do you think we should take Ussop with us ?
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