Chapter 14: Chapter 14 - Syrup Village
{Day 9 of Ame's Journey}
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Somewhere on the coast of an island in the east blue, was 4 young people along with a ship that had a giant hole on its walls, its floor, and its roof in tow.
This wonderful work of art was once the ship of the Straw-hat pirates, but now it looked like it had returned to its origins once again at the beginning of Ame's journey.
Because of Luffy, Zoro, and Ame's extremely innovative and impressive idea, their turtle may have become big, but at the cost of their ship that didn't even get to the dock of the Village before they had to make an emergency stop at the coastline of the Village instead because the ship started sinking a bit, every time a wave hit their hull.
Due to the balance and weight distribution issues caused by the broken and shattered flooring, roof, and walls. The ship which had a stable core and balancing, became off balanced since the sudden shift in weight keeps throwing off the center of mass, hence shifting the balance point all over the place.
That's why when the waves kept crashing, the ship now moves a bit too much on each side, making everyone worried and concerned about the ship and mainly their safety.
While Luffy and the others may have been the root cause of how these things happened in the first place, the main culprit here is their Turtle, Lurome.
Lurome kept changing its weight and height throughout the entire course of their voyage, it even reach to the same height as the roof of the Captain's Cabin which is what made it cave in, in the first place. It also affected the second floor bedroom which had a small hole on its floor, making it hard to access a good chunk of the room, but fortunately was still easy to access the beds.
The crew and their former pet, now turned into the 5th crewmate due to its abilities, has finally step put in Syrup Village!!
It's also worth noting that Ame did try to see if he could fix the Ship's damages through the screen, and while it allowed him, he needed quite the exorbitant amount of 200 SP for the total damages. More than he spent in to upgrade and build those things, if he excluded the furniture's that is...
Just as the straw-hats were about to take their first steps into the Syrup Village, a young man with a long nose and a bandana on his head sudden appeared on top of the small rock cliff in front of them.
The long nosed man put his hands to his chest like he was about to boast about something, and yelled. "HAHAHA!! IT SEEMS THAT YOU SAILORS ARE IN QUITE A PREDICAMENT! NO WORRIES FOR I, CAPTAIN USOPP, CAPTAIN OF THE USOPP PIRATES, THE CREW WITH 5,000 MEN WILL ASSIST YOU!! YOU CAN NOW PRAISE ME FOR MY MAGNANIMITY!!"
While Nami was fighting the extreme urge to praise Usopp using her fist, to thank him for his magnanimity, and Zoro was fixated on his statement about having 5'000 men as he began doubting its validity.
Luffy on the other hand, was genuinely amazed and impressed by Usopp's lies and deception, genuinely believing the Usopp was a man of that caliber and that he was capable enough to lead 5'000 men all at once. "WOOOAHHH!! THAT'S SO COOL AND AMAZING!! YOU'RE THAT STRONG?!! LET'S FIGHT!!"
Hearing Luffy's challenging and asking him for a bout. A sweat dripped down his face, his entire body visibly shaking and his voice stuttering as he tried diverting the topic elsewhere, "W-w-well... I-I'm afraid I don't have any time left to spare to fight and besides, the most important matter right now is to fix your ship r-right?"
Hearing Usopp's words, Luffy instantly remembered what they came there for, "Oh yeah, sorry..."
Nami asked, "Well Great 'Captain Usopp' how do you plan on helping us fix our ship?" She is very skeptical and doubtful about Usopp's ability to provide aid to fixing their ship.
For Nami, Usopp didn't look like a shipwright nor did he look like he was connected to the family with the ship wrighting business but she has to take any chance she can take of fixing their ship.
Usopp smirked as he assured Nami, "Don't worry, leave it to me! My friend has a ship wrighting company! In return, you have to help me, help her with keeping her company, deal?"
Hearing that it was for a girl, Nami couldn't help but let out a teasing look, while the trio simply nodded in respect for Usopp's dedication, while they all agreed in unison to Usopp's condition. "Deal!!"
Noticing the crew's misunderstanding, Usopp tried to clear it out but the Strawhats are always a tough nut to persuade.
Ussop and the Straw-hats began their trek through the Village, passing by many houses, villagers that were strangely mad at pissed off at Usopp.
Somewhere along the way, the Straw-hats and Usopp encountered Usopp's "5'000 Men" Composes of 3 small children which made Nami and Zoro bust out laughing from Usopp's lies, while Luffy was quite mad since he sincerely believed Usopp's words.
Ame on the other hand thought that maybe what Usopp meant was that the kids had the strength equivalent to 5'000 Men, but he didn't let that thought out off of his mind.
Mid-way the journey through the entire Syrup Village. Usopp, Ame, Zoro, Luffy, and Nami was able to find a restaurant called Meshi to dine in for a quick lunch break.
Their lunch break was sponsored by Usopp, since the Straw-hats somehow forgot their money on board their ship, much to everyone's disappointment.
While this happened, Ame felt like Nami wasn't so bad after all since he actually didn't feel happy making other people pay for her meal even though she saved some money. It seems she still has morals left after all.
While everyone was eating, Nami wad the first one to finish and immediately asked Usopp something, "Hey Usopp, this friend of yours... What's her name?" Nami remembered that the family in Syrup Village who owned the Ship-wrighting business had a daughter called Kaya, but she wanted to confirm the Usopp was talking about her so she could finally calm down and be assured.
Usopp swallowed his food and answered, "Oh, her name? Her name is Kaya! She lives up inside the mansion in the highest point of the island, up there!" Usopp pointed towards the visible mansion at the very top of the Island outside the restaurant's window.
"Woah... That's also cool!! You think we can just ask for a new ship there?" Luffy's question received a positive response from Usopp who nodded in affirmation.
Hearing Luffy's words, Ame didn't feel as excited or enthusiastic and Zoro, Nami, and Luffy are by the prospect of a new brand-new ship.
Ame was with his ship since he first woke up out of nowhere in the sea. It lef him to meet his first rescuee, the kid who he first saved, the one who gave him his drive, fueled his dream, and encouraged him to be him, to save and help more people.
The ship was also the reason it was able to meet his friends, and all the other wonderful people he swore to protect before. The reason how he met Luffy and create the Straw-hat pirates with him.
The reason how He, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami had something to call home after a long day.
It was their companion, hell even their 6th comrade. It was their own ship, their home, and their friend.
Ame didn't even realize that he actually accidentally spoke his thoughts out loud, letting Usopp, Nami, Luffy, and Zoro hear his thoughts about their boat.
While Ame is still pre-occupied by his thoughts. Zoro and Luffy instantly agreed with Ame's opinion, along with Ame, they were also with their boat when it was still barely a boat.
They ate in it, sat in it, trained in it, cooked in it, slept it in, and sparred in it. They witnessed it change little by little until it reached to its current self, until they undoubtedly became attached and reliant on it. They too, cannot let go of their first ship.
Usopp had a sudden bright a idea. He suggested that instead of changing their ship. If they could receive another ship from Kaya, then they could just either merge it to their existing ship, or connect and attach it to each other, effectively keeping their old ship.
While the plan was feasible, the crew and even Usopp wasn't very keen on doing it.
They all knew that even if the plan was feasible just to pacify Zoro and the others, it would realistically be very hard since if both of the Ship's weight were just slightly heavier or lighter than each other, the Ship's stability would be put at risk or worse, they might capsize entirely.
Eventually, the crew decided it's best if they think about it later. After all, they weren't even sure is Usopp really was telling the truth that a random group of strangers like them who appeared out of nowhere could really get an entire ship from a rich family. With this thought in hand, Nami also realized that from their encounter to this lunch, everything was already fishy.
Nami wanted to alert Ame and the others of her hypothesis, but when she looked at Usopp, she saw the look of someone desperate, scared, as if his time was running out...
Or someone's time was running out...
Because of this, Nami decided to put a pause on her assumptions and wait until she can really be sure that Usopp means no harm to her, and to her friends.
After Nami's decision, Usopp coincidentally told everyone, "H-hey everyone!! I think I-it's better if we get going now, no? After all, you guys can't wait to go back to sailing o-once again right?" This time, Usopp's body language, stutters, and desperate tone didn't escape the eyes of Ame, Zoro and Luffy. Yet, the three of them chose to not speak of it out loud and only looked at each other, nodding as if confirming that they have noticed the same things and reached a tacit agreement to wait and see what Usopp was going to do before acting.
Usopp, and the Straw-hats continued their trek towards Kaya's family mansion. After a few hours of running and hiking, everyone eventually reached Kaya's mansion.
Nami saw two guards in front of the main gate and inquired, "Hey Usopp, are we going to go through the main gate? If so, are you sure they aren't going to start attacking us when we show up on the main gate to enter?"
Nami's question was met by Usopp's incredulous gaze as he replied, "Are you crazy? Of course they are going to beat us up!" Just as before Usopp was going to get mauled by Nami, he hurriedly explained, "We aren't going through there, but in another way where no one could see us! Just around here, follow me!"
Usopp, and the crew went around the walls made out of pure vegetation until they reached a specific oddly placed block of grass among the walls. Usopp grabbed the huge odd block of grass to get it out of the way, effectively showing a path inside the mansion.
Everyone entered one after another, successfully safely entering the mansion without causing any trouble.
Everyone watched as Usopp climbed a tree near the window of a specific room, making everyone look at Usopp strangely, that was until a young girl at their age opened the window for Usopp as they started talking, "Hey Kaya! I brought a few of my 'Crew members' here with me, let me introduce you to them!"
Hearing Usopp making them their crew mate made everyone dumbfounded but everyone ultimately went along with it to save Usopp's face, and finding out what Usopp's problem was. Although Zoro and Ame had to hold Luffy back from speaking out and spending another few solid minutes to explain why they should go along with Usopp's lies for now.
Everyone finally managed to take a better look at Kaya as she revealed herself when she looked out off of her bedside window. When everyone saw Kaya, the straw-hats immediately understood why Usopp was acting like he was doing earlier. Why he strangely straight up offered to help them to fix their boat.
Ame muttered which was still heard by everyone on the ground, "So she has an Illness eh? That's why..."
Usopp was hoping that they had something that could help her, that's what he was talking about. He was already desperate for a cure for Kaya that irrationally led him to blindly ask strangers for help, in hopes that they coincidentally have something that could help Kaya's illness.
The only problem was...
They didn't have anything that could help her...
Usopp's gamble had failed...
That didn't mean it was over though.
Ame understood what he needed to do, even without the screen or anyone telling him what to do.
He had to help Kaya.
Even if takes them some time, he didn't want to let someone like who is supposed to be the same age as them, die young without being able to see the world. "Hey Usopp, I know what you brought us here for, your intentions, and your desperation... Here, take this!" Ame threw up the bottle of antibiotics that he had in the ship, up towards Usopp on the tree.
He took it with him every time they set foot in another island, just in case of emergency, just in case of events like this where even a bottle of medicine, could help. "That should slow it down and maybe even slowly cure it, at least it will prevent it from worsening until we can find a cure."
Luffy, and Zoro smiled as they have already expected that Ame wouldn't stand idle when in the presence of someone in dire need of help. So they decided to help Kaya as well, since they were just like Ame after all.
Nami looked at Ame's actions, as well as Luffy and Zoro's support for him. Making her begin to slowly re-evaluate her opinion of them little by little. The more she spends time around them, around with Ame, the more she thinks that they are becoming less and less pirate-like.
She couldn't help but smile and feel as if she was lucky that she met these "Pirates" and slowly began thinking that joining the Straw-hat pirates, isn't such a bad idea after all.
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{Chapter 14 - Fin}
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Freix_Gren
Freix_Gren What do you guys think about me letting Kaya join the straw-hats so it'll be more lively, and so that she can see more of the world with everyone? Comment your opinions, thank you!
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