One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Nineteen [Rewritten]

-Chapter Two Hundred and Nineteen-

"Usopp is willing to risk his life to fight me, he's more than just angry" Luffy calmly explained. "Besides, if just talking it over was enough to make things right, we wouldn't have come to this in the first place—that's all I have to say, so goodnight" and with that, he turned away. Leaving nothing more than an infuriated Nami glaring at him as I silently mulled over his words. It wasn't long before my shoulders eventually slumped as I heaved a sigh and let my head droop.

"Luffy!" Nami frowned.

"Maybe he's right..." I muttered, placing a gentle hand on the navigator's shoulder as I motioned with my head for us to leave since there was nothing more to say. It was clear that Luffy had made up his mind—it was clear that he wasn't going to change it no matter what we said. She was reluctant at first before finally, she heaved a sigh of her own as she nodded and followed.

"Both of you, shut up!" Nami snapped the second we entered the kitchen and saw that Zoro and Sanji were already starting to fight.

"Now's not the time for fighting" I scolded.

"She's right, there's been enough fighting already" Nami tiredly sighed, already looking practically drained by the events from earlier. "Whatever happened is over now..." she sadly muttered.

"I know, but this wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for him" Sanji growled, already starting to point fingers as he tried pushing all the blame onto Zoro.

"There's no point in pointing fingers, Sanji!" I frowned. "We're not children, this is serious."

"Oh, hey, you're back" Zoro remarked the second Chopper entered the room. "You were going after Usopp, weren't you?" he asked.

"Even if he was mad, I still wanted to treat his wounds" Chopper admitted, bringing a small smile to my lips. "But he turned me away—he found a place to stay, so at least he can get some rest. But...do you know what he said to me?" he quietly asked, dropping to the floor as tears started welling up in his eyes. "He said we aren't friends anymore, so I should leave him alone and just go back to the ship" he shakily sniffed.

"Oh, honey" I sat down beside the reindeer and quickly pulled him into a comforting hug, doing my best to soothe him as I rubbed my hand up and down his back the second he started clinging to my shirt and began sobbing. "I know...just let it all out..." I softly shushed, gently stroking the fur of his back as he let him cry it out.

"Just this morning we were all so happy and now...what?" Nami sadly asked as she looked around. "We lost Usopp, Robin's still missing...I feel like if we don't do something, the whole crew is going to fall apart" her worry caused a tense silence to wash over everyone, leaving nothing but Chopper's sobs to fill the room.

As ten o'clock rolled around, I disappeared below deck—retiring for the night down in the men's quarters. I had no shame in admitting to the others that I didn't want to witness the fight that was about to break out between our friends. Nami and Chopper tried to coax me to stay and watch with the belief that something might happen that could end up fixing this whole mess, but I had my doubts as what Luffy said earlier still swirled around in my head. It was Zoro who eventually got them to back off, leaving me to take my leave right as Usopp finally arrived just as he promised he would.

Lying there on the couch of the men's room, I winced at every explosion and muffled cry that came fluttering through the floorboards of the ship. Every sound that came seeping through those boards was nothing more than a bitter reminder of what was happening just outside...

Despite having taken to the safety of the room below, I could still hear their fighting.

Quietly, I sniffed as my chest began to painfully ache. Curling into a ball, my hands soon covered my ears as I closed my eyes and hoped that—by some miracle—everything would work itself out just fine and that this would all be over soon.