Truth
-x-
In her mansion Kaya was having a fitful sleep.
"How dare you try to make a fool of the Great Captain Usopp!" snapped Usopp as he stood over Kaya with a sword. "How dare you mock my pirate heritage!"
"Please, you don't have to do this Usopp," Kaya pleaded as she stared up at her old friend in fear. Usopp raised the sword and lunged at her...
"AAAAHHH!" Kaya screamed as she woke from from her nightmare and sat up. Her heart was pounding and she was sweating, she took a moment to catch her breath and tried to make sense of things. "I don't understand why Usopp would act like that," Kaya said to herself.
Kaya slowly got out of her bed and slipped her feet into her slippers then left her room. "Klahadore!" Kaya weakly called as she walked down the hall. "Klahadore are you there?" Kaya slowly pushed opened a door and stood in shock at what she saw. Merry was lying in a puddle of blood. The butler was barely conscious and had bloody slashes going across his face.
"Merry!" cried Kaya as she rushed over to him and knelt down beside him, "What happened? Open you eyes! Merry, please don't die!" Merry responded by starting to cough, then he slowly opened his eyes.
"Miss Kaya... thank heaven you're alive!" Merry said weakly.
"Of course I'm alive," Kaya reassured him. "Who did this to you?"
"Klahadore!" answered Merry, shocking Kaya. "Klahadore tried to kill me!"
"What?" questioned Kaya in disbelief, thoughts of Klahadore saying how much he cared for her ran though her head, "But... why would he?"
"He's a pirate," replied Merry as he let out a grunt of pain.
"Then that means... what Usopp said was true!" Kaya suddenly realized, Usopp had tried to warn them but they wouldn't listen! They thought it was all another one of his lies!
"It was true," explained Merry. "He discovered Klahadore's deception and was trying to save us... but... none of us would believe him! And to think... we defended that villain!"
Kaya thought back to the events that had happened yesterday, Usopp was trying to save her! He was trying to help but they shot him in the arm!
"And we drove away..." Merry continued weakly, "a brave young man... who was willing to die to save his village!"
"What have I done!?" Kaya asked out loud, as she remembered slapping Usopp and calling him the villain. "I said those awful things to him."
KOFF! KOFF! Merry was coughing up blood as he tried to get up off of the ground. "Somebody help!" shouted Kaya. "Merry needs help!"
"It's no use," said Merry. "Everyone on the estate has been on vacation since yesterday."
"No!" exclaimed Kaya, what were they going to do? "Then I'll..."
"We mustn't panic," interrupted Merry. "There's still time. Stay calm and think carefully... I saw Klahadore leaving not long ago. If what he told me yesterday was true... he went to fetch his pirates. We're not the only ones in danger, the entire village is too!"
"If Klahadore is after your estate and fortune just let him have it," suggested Merry. "They aren't worth dying over!"
"Alright," agreed Kaya as she wiped some tears out of her eyes.
"The harsh truth is that only you can stop Klahadore," explained Merry. "Only you, it's a terrible burden, you don't have to do it..."
"I know," replied Kaya. "But if I didn't try to stop this, what kind of person would I be? I'm going to have a talk with Klahadore."
