Wano Reunion | Lusopp

Wano Reunion

How long has it been since Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp have gone fishing? When was the last time Usopp saw Luffy's grin? Are Luffy and Chopper safe? Did Luffy avoid Big Mom like Usopp told him to? No, probably not. It's foolish to think Luffy would follow such a request.

These have been the questions that race through Usopp's mind ever since he watched Luffy and their friends jump off Zou.

Usopp feels a little jealous that he wasn't able to help retrieve Sanji and eat copious amounts of sweets with his best friends on the way there. He sighs. There's no point in being upset. It won't change what happened.

"Ribbit Ribbit." The toad on his head brings him back to the present.

Oops, he shouldn't be spacing out! He's in the middle of selling his famous toad oil cream to a beautiful lady in a stunning beige yukata with green frogs on it.

She's looking at him expectantly, "How much will that be?"

Usopp blinks, "Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am. That will be two gold pieces."

"Eh?! Then for that price I will purchase ten!" She beams.

He matches her smile. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a pouch, then picks up twenty gold pieces. She looks up at him and smiles, "I hope you and your children will be prosperous, Usohachi-san." She hands him the gold.

Usopp raises an eyebrow and thinks, Wait, children?! Oh right. "Thank you...." He trails off when he realizes that he never caught her name. He slips the tins into a brown bag.

"Kaeru..." The woman reminds him.

Frog?! Her name is literally frog! Without missing a beat, he smiles and says, "Thank you, Kaeru-san. Please have a wonderful day." He trades the gold pieces in her hand with the bag.

"Oh thank you, Usohachi-san. Please tell the children I said hello."

"I will. Thanks again, Kaeru-san." Why did I lie about that?! Usohachi may have ten kids, but Usopp doesn't! Oh goodness, that sounds weird.

She smiles and waves at him as she walks away.

Now he's left to his depressing thoughts. When will his lover return from Whole Cake Island with Sanji? Would he ever have the chance to actually settle down and have a family with the future Pirate King? No, no, stop thinking. There's no time to be thinking of such things when you're constantly on the run from marines and pirates. But, there's always the chance that one of them will die. What if Big Mom finally kills Luffy? What if Usopp dies by the katana of a samurai?

Usopp needs to calm down; lest he wants to experience another panic attack. They've been frequent since entering the New World. How can he calm down when they haven't had the chance to relax on an island without destroying it or being roped into someone's elaborate plan?

Trying to calm himself down doesn't seem to work. Knowing that the panic attack is inevitably coming, Usopp turns the open plaque to closed and sits down on the ground behind his table. His breathing becomes erratic. The world spins, tears stream down his cheeks and his chest hurts. When will this end?

Thankfully, Robin and Franky reminded him of some useful tricks. To ground himself by using his senses: touch, smell, sight, taste, and sound.

Closing his eyes to stop the world spinning, Usopp touches his yukata and thinks, Touch. I'm touching my yukata. It feels soft. He then touches the ground. The ground feels rough. He touches the table. The table is wood and cool to touch.

Moving on to the next sense, he inhales then exhales. The sweet smell of freshly made dango. He inhales again. I smell the overwhelming smell of meat. He exhales and frowns, It's not working. Ugh!

Unbeknownst to Usopp, his rubbery lover is running past Usopp's table. Luffy stops running and looks at the plaque on the table, "Closed? It's not closing time!" Why is he concerned about that? He's not a businessman. Luffy scans the table once more; cans of mysterious stuff, a toad, a pouch of what he assumes has beris in it. "Eh?! A toad!" He slowly walks to the other side of the table, careful to not scare the toad. Sure enough, there's a green toad sitting on a man's head. The man's beautiful curly black hair reminds Luffy of Usopp.

Usopp thinks, Oh goodness, that smell. It can't be! Nope, it could be a grill. More tears leak out of his closed eyes and he wipes them away with his sleeve.

Luffy asks, "Usopp?" He doesn't respond. Why isn't Usopp responding?

Luffy thinks of the time after Usopp returned to the crew at Water 7; he would suddenly become distant and looked like he was stuck in his own dark world. Luffy asked Robin about it and she explained that Usopp has panic attacks. He's grateful for Robin, without her help Luffy wouldn't have known how to comfort Usopp during them.

From what Luffy sees now, this definitely looks like a panic attack. He can't help but feel sad because not only is Usopp in such distress, but half of the crew's absence most likely caused it.

He leans down and wraps his arms around Usopp's torso. "Usopp, it's gonna be okay. I'm here."

Usopp opens his eyes, unsure if he's just imagining this. He tiredly asks, "Luffy?"

"Yes, it's me Luffy."

Usopp turns his body to face Luffy, who retracts his arms. Usopp's eyes widen, then he lunges forward and hugs Luffy, causing him to fall back. Both boys break into tears. The townspeople stare at them, but they don't care. When have they ever?

Usopp sobs, "I.. missed you. I missed you so much, Luffy! Where's Chopper?"

"I missed you too, Usopp! Chopper is with Sanji, I think."

"Oh I'm so relieved! I worried so much. I was afraid you and Sanji would never come back. Not that I didn't believe in you guys. I was just worried a lot."

"No, no. It's okay, it's okay, I understand." Luffy rubs Usopp's back in soothing circles, "If you were in my situation, I would worry too. Just like when all of us were separated two years ago. I was worried that everyone died. I was..." Luffy trails off.

Usopp places his head on Luffy's chest, hearing the racing beats of Luffy's heart. It calms his swirling emotions to know that the one he was panicking about is here with him. Which brings a question to his mind, "Did you avoid Big Mom?"

Luffy's lips move to the side, "Yes."

Usopp doesn't even need to look at Luffy to know he's lying. Usopp narrows his eyes and looks at Luffy, "You're lying! You provoked her didn't you?!"

"Nope. Shishishishishi!" Luffy laughs.

Usopp shouts, "You did!"

"Okay, yes, Usopp, we went at it. We were really unmatched." Luffy frowns.

"That's not reassuring at all! You were supposed to get Sanji back and leave immediately without causing chaos." Usopp grips the opening of Luffy's yukata and shakes him.

"Calm down, please! I'm sorry! I couldn't help it."

Usopp lets go of Luffy's yukata and pokes Luffy's chest, "Why didn't I trust my gut when I knew you would try to beat her up?!"

"Dunno! How about we go get some dangos to make up for the lost time?"

"You are unbelievable!" Usopp shouts and laughs.

"Shishishishi! You know you love me!" Luffy giggles.

"Yes, I love you so much, bastard!" Usopp grins and leans in to kiss him. The kiss is desperate and filled with emotions; sadness, want, happiness, and anxiety.

Luffy says against Usopp's lips, "I love you too."

Despite feeling exhausted from his panic attack, Usopp stands up and pockets the pouch of gold on the table. Then helps Luffy up with a hand, "My dear Captain, let me treat you to fine cuisine from the heart of Wano. I know just the place."

The two lovebirds race off to the nearest dango stall to eat every single item on the menu. Luckily, Usopp made enough gold to pay for the outrageous bill.