Becoming Usopp

“So, what was your name again?” Luffy asked Alvida clearly confused as to whether he had asked the woman for her name earlier.

“It’s Alvida,” Alvida replied. She had no intention to change her name just for the sake of hiding her identity. She knew that she could just say that she and the Alvida that Luffy remembered both shared the same name.

Any man in his right mind would believe her lie because of the stark change her body had gone through after she had consumed the devil's fruit.

“Alvida?...” Luffy took a moment to think after hearing her name.

Just as Alvida was preparing her well-thought-out justification Nami intervened and asked Luffy, “Do you find the name familiar?”

“Hmmm...Nope.” Luffy said with a grin.

Hearing this Alvida couldn’t help but feel a bit irritated as she clenched her fingers before finally relaxing her body with a sigh.

‘Anyways, it’s good that he has completely forgotten about me,’ Alvida sighed to herself as her previously serious complexion relaxed down a bit.

This change was clearly noticed by Nami who couldn’t help but feel that she was missing something.

“Oh, you’re looking much better now,” Seeing Alvida with Nami and Luffy, Usopp made his way towards them.

A smile unconsciously appeared on Alvida’s face as Usopp’s figure entered her eyes. Wanting to prolong the conversation she was having with him she thanked him once again. “I wanted to thank you again for saving me…if it was not for you then my body would have been lying in the depths of this sea somewhere.”

“It’s alright, I did what I thought was right,” Usopp said as he continued “So what are your plans from now on?”

“Uhmm…”

Seeing the way in which Alvida was finding it difficult to answer him Usopp realized that she might have not thought over it all at the moment and might be in need of more time.

“There’s no hurry to decide. We’ll be reaching the shore closest to Yuba by tomorrow afternoon so you can take that time to think over your next plans.” Usopp said to Alvida’s relief.

“Then I’ll do that,” Alvida replied with a grateful expression.

She really needed some time to think over how to get close to Usopp. The only way she could think of at the moment was to become a part of their crew and she needed some time to gain the favour of the members of the crew.

‘I could exclude that bitch Nami as there ain’t no way that she would agree with me becoming a part of this crew so I need to look for a different target to impress.’ Alvida thought to herself as her eyes shifted towards Zoro who was snoring while resting his head on the wooden mast of the ship.

As if sensing her gaze Zoro opened his eyes out of instinct and after staring at her for a couple of seconds went back to sleep.

Seeing that Zoro too didn’t show any signs of being impressed by her beauty Alvida became highly disappointed. This meant that she couldn’t rely on her beauty to gain the favour of the crew. Not wanting to give up Alvida comforted herself and while doing that she also vowed to herself that she’d come up with a suitable way by tomorrow afternoon.

A few hours before…

“DON’T! OOUCH!” Buggy exclaimed as the knife that was held in Sanji’s hand slightly poked his wrist.

“You got quite a low resistance to pain for being a pirate,” Sanji said as he further increased the pressure with which he was poking the knife.

“I’ll help! Goddammit, I said I’ll help! Ouuuu!” Buggy howled like a dog from the pain he was experiencing.

Hearing his answer Sanji finally relieved Buggy from his pain and said with a smile, “Should have said so earlier,”

Looking at the man’s smiling face Buggy couldn’t help but curse his wretched fate. With no option, he could only assist this man with whatever he wanted if he wanted his wrist to return to him.

Sanji then explained to Buggy what he needed him to do and after getting an idea of the task he soon sighed in relief inwardly as it didn’t seem to pose him any threat. He was supposed to just float in the air and look for the reindeer he was searching for.

“Alright…but how do you know that I can fly?” Buggy asked in a confused manner.

“I have my ways. Get to work now,” Sanji said while brazenly admiring his knife in front of Buggy.

Buggy got his answer and didn’t dare to ask Sanji any questions.

Slowly and steadily Buggy rose from the ground and finally stopped when he had attained enough height to observe the town of Nanohana completely.

“Now let’s see…A small reindeer…pink hat…might be walking like a human.” Buggy murmured to himself as he gave his surroundings a complete three-sixty-degree view making sure not to miss a single angle.

Fortunately for Buggy, his efforts were not in vain as he soon saw a figure that aptly ticked all the characteristics that were mentioned to him by Sanji. Looking at it again to confirm the identity he soon descended back and told Sanji about his findings.

“I saw something similar to your animal friend in the eastern edges of the town. He seemed to moving towards the eastern exit gate.”  Buggy explained.

“Alright let’s go then,” Sanji said and started running towards the eastern part of the town not forgetting to carry Buggy’s feet along with him.

Seeing this Buggy who has initially expected that he would be freed after completing his task could only tag along with Sanji with a grieved look on his face.

Five minutes later Sanji soon reached the eastern gates of the town. Buggy who had been following Chopper’s movements while in the air right until now quickly got down and hurriedly said to Sanji, “Not good, your friend had initially entered a resting cart through its back…the cart is moving now!”

Hearing this Sanji soon rushed out of the gates but just to see a line of dust that was on the verge of dissipating. By the time he had reached there, the cart was already on the brink of disappearing from his view.

“Where is that cart headed towards?” Sanji asked.

“How would I know? Before I could explore this place, I was restrained by you,” Buggy whined about his luck.

Sanji ignored Buggy completely and went around to ask the people nearby about the location where the previous cart was headed.

“So, it’s Katorea,” Sanji said to himself.

He initially thought of hiring a cart to follow the route but after hearing the price which the driver was asking for Sanji was forced to make the journey by walking on the sand dunes.

“Excuse me…” Buggy said meekly and continued “I’ve completed my task so…can I get my legs back now?”

“The task you were supposed to help me with isn’t over yet so what are you talking about?” Sanji told Buggy making his face appear crestfallen.

After making his preparations and buying ample amount of food and water for his journey whatever little money that Sanji possessed was now gone.

“Let’s get going, If we go at a normal pace then we’ll be able to reach Katorea before midnight,” Sanji said to Buggy while passing the heavier of the two backpacks that he had to him.

Buggy could only resentfully accept the backpack and followed after Sanji who had securely placed Buggy’s feet in his backpack.