COAST - Luffy x Reader

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

As per some of your comments, I feel like it should be noted that Water 7 is going to be a very angsty arc to get through... Lowkey, this will probably be the last nice-ish chapter for quite some time – It's very like, bittersweet? Melancholic? – But we're here for it, and I'll make everything worth it in the end for sure. Sometimes you need sadness in order for certain events to be the most satisfying.

Either way, I really liked this chapter. Def one of my favs

Well, anyways... Anybody a fan of the 'she fell first, he fell harder' trope?

;)

Happy reading <3333

—

"Hey, (Y/n)... (Y/n). Hello," The word was drawn out from Usopp's lips as he finally caught my attention, and I sat up from my hunched position after realizing the rest of the crew was looking at me, too.

"Yeesh. Getting lost in there?" He pointed at his head, and then at mine, with a concerned tone.

The moment blurs in and out of focus, merging past and present into one.

Usopp's concerned expression, a memory from one of our first interactions, morphs into a bandaged face, and glossy eyes.

I stand beside Zoro, watching as a bystander, relying on The Swordsman's unwavering aura to keep my anxieties barred. It felt like the ground I walked on was made of loose gravel, cautious as I entered the kitchen where Usopp had laid bedridden, until now.

Now he was awake.

Not once had Usopp turned to look at me, much less speak to me... I almost wondered if this was worse than the explosive reaction that I'd been expecting.

"Usopp... About the ship," Luffy smiles down at The Sniper, who stares up at his captain with desperation in his eyes, having asked about the state of the Going Merry – about what we'd learned from the shipwrights –

"I decided to get a new ship, instead."

Usopp's face drops, eyes popping out in disbelief.

Luffy doesn't take it as cause for concern, knowing it would come as a shock. Usopp hadn't been there during the entire process that had led to The Captain's decision.

"I'm sorry that I didn't ask you first, but we didn't have much choice. Either way, I've already made my decision." The boy leans back, crossing his leg leisurely, and continues. "The Going Merry took good care of us, but our journey with her ends here."

A dense silence follows his words.

Usopp looks catatonic – blank. There was no saying what he might've been thinking.

"Anyway..." Luffy, not one to settle on a subject for too long, reaches for the booklet on the table behind him. He thumbs through the pages, not paying his dumbstruck crewmate much mind. "Ice pops gave us this awesome ship catalogue to look through. There's all kinds of different ships we could pick from in here– And if we get a used one, we can go bigger than the Merry!"

The Captain doesn't notice how Usopp's donned a wry, mistrusting smile.

"Wait..." The Sniper breathes, pushing his hands out in front of him, as if pushing away Luffy's words. "Just... Wait a sec. I get it Luffy, but the joke's gone on long enough– You're taking it too far! It's ridiculous."

Towards Chopper, "Look... Chopper doesn't know you're kidding." Then, without directly addressing me, Usopp gestures in my direction, "C'mon, you even got (Y/n) to get in on the joke earlier, didn't you?"