One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Eighty Three [Rewritten]

-Chapter Eighty-Three-

"Could it be...?" Henzo mumbled.

"Hey...uh...you do realize that if you use that, you'll blow us all up" Usopp nervously pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure that's what he's hoping for" I said.

"We're all together in the same boat here, we live and die with one another no matter what" Rapanui firmly stated as he jumped onto the Going Merry. "Come on" he motioned for the other two kids to get behind him.

"Thanks, Rapanui" the girl smiled in relief. "Hey!" she called out as Rongo ran toward them.

"Rapanui, it's really you..." Henzo breathlessly breathed as he took a step closer to the group of children. "You too, Isoka and Rongo...all of you are really here—can't you see? It's me" he said once he saw the wary looks on their faces as they took a step back. "We all used to play together on Ruluka...it's me, Henzo" he continued.

"Henzo?" Rapanui questioned, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he didn't look the least bit convinced by the older man's words.

"Henzo? But there's no way..." Isoka frowned, shaking her head in disbelief.

"It's not true—not possible!" Rapanui denied. "Stay back! I'll blow us all up—I'm warning you, stop it! Get back now!" he shouted as Henzo got closer to him. Instead of listening, the old man reached out and pressed the button on top of the bomb himself. Wincing, I shielded my eyes along with the rest from the bright light that suddenly blinded us the second the bomb went off.

"It...was a fake?" I questioned, blinking as the light died down and smoke now filled the air around us.

"Damn! It's a smokescreen too!" Usopp coughed as he tried to wave the smoke away.

"Hey, guys, what's with all the noise?" Zoro yawned, finally waking up just as the smoke started to clear and we found that the children were now gone.

"Wait, you slept through all of it?" Usopp frowned.

"You mean to tell me that you can sleep through having an arrow almost pierce your skull, but you can't sleep through a little bit of noise?" I questioned, crossing my arms as my brows furrowed.

"Huh? Who's that weird guy?" Zoro asked upon noticing Henzo.

"That's going to take a long time to explain, so just hang on a minute, Sleeping Beauty..." Usopp grumbled.

"Nice nickname, fits him perfectly" I snorted.

"Hey, the other ones are gone too—what just happened? Who were those kids?" Luffy questioned. "Hello? Pop's?" he asked, peering over at Henzo when he didn't receive an answer right away only to find the old man still staring at the spot Rapanui had been standing in.

-Later-

"We were all so happy back in those days—such good friends, always playing" Henzo began after being questioned by the rest of us on how he knew those children. "Talking about something that was the best time of my life, every day was so perfect, so bright. It was more valuable than all the treasure in the world" he reminisced as he talked about the past and when he was younger. "Then one day, something happened that changed everything..." he sighed, before diving straight into his story about not only the pirates that had attacked his home island but also about the first time he encounter the Rainbow Mist. "...And after that day...after that day, Rapanui and the others never returned—I can't believe that in a place like this, after all this time...they're still pirates..."

"Back up there, Mr. Mustache, I thought you said that all of this happened fifty years ago" Usopp frowned. "But when we saw them just now, they were still little kids" he pointed out.