Capítulo 44: Chapter 44

If you enjoy my writing, please consider supporting me on my Patreon page. There, you'll find advanced chapters of everything I write or will write: patreon.com/_Luizinho_

If you enjoyed this fic, support it with your Power Stones, it helps a lot.

---

East Blue – Conomi Islands

Forest Near Arlong Park

'Come on, you coward, do you really want to disappoint everyone who's counting on you?', Usopp thought, slapping his own face to motivate himself.

'But there are thirty of them. No one will mind if I run away. They know I can't handle it', Usopp's fear argued, trying to convince him that running was the best option.

'Are you going to run forever? It's you who thinks you can't do it. The crew trusts you and knows you're capable of handling this. How do you expect to become a brave warrior of the sea if you keep running? Courage isn't the absence of fear; it's being afraid and acting anyway, Usopp slapped his face again, trying to encourage himself.

"That's right. I took down Kuro, this is just another Monday in the life of God Usopp", Usopp said, gathering courage and checking his equipment to make sure everything was in order.

"A leap of faith, right? So let's dive in", Usopp said to himself, taking a deep breath.

Still shrunken, Usopp began running toward one of the Fish-Men, only to come face to face with a bunch of ants larger than him, now staring at him curiously.

=Scene Break=

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!", Usopp was running desperately from the ants, who only looked curiously at the strange creature running away and screaming.

"The small world is terrifying", Usopp said, tears streaming from his eyes.

Through the leaves of the grass, he saw that he was close to a Fish-Man, so he quickly returned to his normal size, jumped, and shrank again, shooting like a bullet at the Fish-Man and landing a punch infused with Armament Haki directly on his cheek, sending him flying like a bullet through several trees before landing unconscious.

Naturally, this caused noise, which drew the attention of the other Fish-Men, who came to see what was happening.

As soon as they arrived and saw one of their comrades knocked out with a swollen purple cheek, they all began to look around, trying to find the culprit.

"Stay sharp; he's around here somewhere", Chew said, staying vigilant.

Just as he said that, one of the Fish-Men screamed in pain, quickly clutching his foot, which now had a bleeding bullet hole.

What had happened was that Usopp had gotten close to him, drawn his pistol, and shot him in the foot, coating the bullet with Armament Haki.

And just as the projectile was fired, Usopp, with his Observation Haki, managed to release the shrinking effect on the bullet at the right moment, making it return to its normal size and causing more damage to his opponent.

"What the hell is happening?", Chew asked the Fish-Man who had been hit.

"Urghhhh, something put a hole in my foot. Damn, it hurts so much!", the Fish-Man shouted, hopping on one foot while clutching his injured one.

Meanwhile, Usopp ran desperately to avoid being crushed by the titan who was hopping around.

Chew then watched in astonishment as the human blinked around, growing and shrinking rapidly while his men were sent flying and knocked out.

"Fuck, this son of a bitch is changing size", Chew said, realizing what was happening, before dashing forward using Soru, running towards one of his men after spotting something tiny running on his shoulder.

As Chew ran, Usopp jumped and slid down the Fish-Man's shoulder before grabbing his shirt and, spinning his own body, returned to his normal size and threw the opponent over his shoulders, slamming him into the ground.

As his opponent gasped for air after the impact, Usopp quickly drew his slingshot and shot a 'Tabasco Star' straight into the Fish-Man's open mouth before dodging a punch from Chew, then using Soru to distance himself.

While the Fish-Man was writhing on the ground, choking and holding his throat as he spit fire from his mouth, his face red and sweating, Usopp, now at his normal size, ran toward another Fish-Man.

When Usopp got close, the Fish-Man swung his sword, trying to cut him.

Seeing the blade coming, Usopp jumped and shrank, landing on the sword's blade. He then ran its length to the hilt and used Geppo to shoot himself toward his opponent's face, landing a powerful punch infused with Armament Haki on his chin.

Usopp continued repeating the same process until it was just him and Chew left. Chew had managed to land some hits on Usopp when he returned to his normal size for brief moments during the fight.

Not wanting to prolong the battle any further, Usopp quickly aimed his slingshot, loading it with a blackish-red projectile. After coating it with Armament Haki, he fired the projectile with all his strength, shouting, "Supernova Star."

The projectile tore through the air, breaking the sound barrier before growing back to its original size just a few meters from the Fish-Man, resembling a cannonball.

It struck Chew dead-on, causing a massive explosion on impact, engulfing a large portion of the forest in scorching flames and sending the Fish-Man flying like a bullet, toppling tree after tree in his wake.

This projectile was the culmination of Usopp's research and testing with the Buggy Ball, resulting in this upgraded version.

Meanwhile, Chew finally stopped his trajectory after crashing into a tree that was practically split in half from the impact.

The Fish-Man was completely unconscious and in a deplorable state, covered in blood and with some parts of his body burned. Even though he managed to coat his arms with Armament Haki at the last second, reducing the damage significantly, it was just enough to keep him from dying.

"Ah, shit", Usopp muttered, realizing he had just set the forest on fire.

He then ran as fast as he could to get all the Fish-Men out of the forest before the fire could spread and engulf them.

After dragging all thirty Fish-Men out of the forest, Usopp started wracking his brain, trying to think of a way to put out the fire.

Suddenly, a torrent of water fell from the sky, completely extinguishing the fire. It should be noted that the sky was clear, and this was definitely not rain; it was too quick and sudden to be rain.

Shrugging off the strange phenomenon that had just occurred, Usopp pulled a shrunken rope from his pouch and returned it to its normal size.

He then tied up all thirty Fish-Men and began dragging them back to Arlong Park.

On the way, he heard a gigantic crash followed by an earthquake that momentarily knocked him off balance.

When he arrived at Arlong Park, he saw Kaya treating Sanji's wounds while Zoro lay next to him, wrapped in bandages from head to toe.

Looking around, Usopp saw that the giant building from earlier was now completely collapsed on the ground.

---

(AN: 1,134 Words)

Thank you for reading! Please comment on the chapters, leave reviews, consider becoming a Patreon member, and also support with your Power Stones.

Attention: As I previously announced, the subscription price on my Patreon has been reduced, and you can also find 18 advanced chapters of this fic there.

-----

Thanks to the members supporting on Patreon:

Bartłomiej, Stephen, ahmarijah, Adrian Kacprzycki, Abdullah, Shawnk02, Robin DiWinter, John—jr, cl, Joleen Chow, Joseph Sepulveda, Ragzuz, Tonty, Mark Hoffman, UKM115, Matheus Carvalho, Chamar Ellis