A geyser of water bulleted to the sky as a cannon ball grazed the ship’s side. Everyone rushed out of the galley to see Marines in the distance.

“It’s just them?” Nami said, suddenly calm. “That’s a relief.”

“Can we use Coup de Burst, Franky?” Robin asked the cyborg.

“Why not?” he said as he headed to the hatch that led below deck. “It’ll be more exciting than fighting those suuuuppperrr weaklings.”

“What’s Coup de Burst?” Usui asked, slightly surprised at how the pirates were so composed when Marines were showering them with cannon balls.

“You’ll see,” Nami teased, sticking her tongue out playfully.

Usopp yawned and Luffy went back inside to eat.

Chopper and Brook went to stand next to Usui as Zoro and Sanji kicked and slashed the accurately shot projectiles off target.

“Ready everyone!?” Franky’s voice rumbled from below them. “Coup….!”

“You might want to hang onto something, Usui-san,” Brook advised the teen.

“Why?”

“De….!”

Usui watched as Chopper and Brook held onto the railing and Zoro and Sanji landed on the deck.

“Burst…!”

The ship propelled forward and Usui’s hand clasped around the railing to hold on for dear life. They soared into the sky and Usui peeked out of his eyes to see them flying. His eyes sparkled in wonder and he beamed in pleasure.

“We’re flying!” he said unnecessarily. “Woohoo!”

Sanji and Zoro smiled and Chopper and Brook exchanged grins at Usui’s reaction.

The ship crashed onto the ocean’s surface again and Usui tumbled onto the lower deck with a painful grunt.

“Are you okay?!” Chopper called from his place.

“I* te te te…” Usui said, remorsefully rubbing his lower back. “That hurt…”

The door in front of him opened and Usui looked up. Both of the men’s eyes enlarged two sizes and there was a silence.

“Oh fuck…” Sanji muttered under his breath.

Usui opened his mouth to speak but a frantic Law spoke first.

“Room!” a sphere covered the entire area. “Shambles!”

A beat of their hearts and a sharp intake of breath. Law shut the door shut again and left them to their own devices.

Sanji and Zoro looked at each other and their eyes slowly popped out of their sockets.

“OOOOOOOH!” they pointed at each other.

A scream split the air and Brook fidgeted, looking down at his skeletal hands. “Not this again!”

Luffy, Robin, and Usopp exited the galley. Luffy sighed, his eyes closed.

“I’m Usopp everybody…” Luffy waved his hand. “I turned into a rubber man…”

“Oh ho ho ho!” Usopp bounced around, thrill apparent in his face. “I’m in Usopp’s body!”

He gradually stopped jumping and his face fell. Dark lines hovered over his form. “I’m in Usopp’s body…”

“Don’t be so depressed about it!” Luffy (Usopp) slapped him.

“I’m Frrrrrrraaaaaankyyyy!” Robin said, posing.

“Don’t do that with Robin’s body!” Zoro (Sanji) and Brook (Nami) screamed.

“Oi,” Usopp (Luffy) squatted down next to Usui. “He’s not waking up.”

“Chopper-san isn’t either,” Nami (Brook) said, the doctor in his arms. “Or perhaps this is Usui-san.”

Usui’s body shifted groggily.

“He’s waking up!” Usopp (Luffy) said.

Usui sat up and when he opened his eyes, he had the appearance of Chopper’s eyeballs.

“Are you okay?” Zoro (Sanji) asked.

Chopper groaned then gasped sharply, sweat cumulating on his face. Agony reverberated throughout his entire body like tremors. They attacked every limb, every vein.

“Oi! Chopper!” Usopp (Luffy) said anxiously. “What’s the matter!?”

What…? Chopper thought. What is this…? All this pain he’s suffering… how can any human tolerate this…?

“Tra-guy!” Chopper heard his Captain yell. “Switch us back! Something’s wrong with Chopper!”

A few seconds later, Chopper was back in his body, trying to catch his breath. His crewmates hung around him to make sure he was alright.

“Daijoubu? Chopper?” Usopp asked, eyebrows creased in worry.

“Yeah, somehow…” the doctor answered, swallowing saliva into his dry throat.

“What was the problem?” Zoro asked.

“I’m not sure,” Chopper’s eyes landed on Usui’s dormant figure. “But, there’s something horribly wrong with Fruit punch’s body.”

“Well, yeah,” Usopp said. “He can turn into blood at will. That’s what’s horribly wrong with his body.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about!”

“Hey, why isn’t he waking up?” Nami inquired, walking over.

Luffy saw something out of the corner of his eye and he jumped to his feet. “Don’t get near him! Nami!”

“Eh?”

The grass popped up like a snake waiting for its prey. It wrapped around Nami, while its brethren went for the others. Zoro sliced the one that was going for him and Sanji flew into the air using his Sky Walk to evade his own green adversary.

“Oi! Marimo! Let your mother hug you! You’re being a really bad son!” Sanji yelled, hovering in the air.

“Why don’t you do it for me, Smoke Stack?!” Zoro grunted while cutting the relentless blades. “Okaa-san seems fond of you!”

“Would you guys drop your bickering for a moment and help us out!?” Nami yelled, the oversized blade of grass constricting her body.

A heart replaced Sanji’s eye and a dribble of blood escaped his nose. He panted like a thirsty dog as he looked over Nami’s body.

“Aaaaaah!” he crooned. “Arigatou, Nami-swan!”

“Never mind that and get me out of this grass!”

“Hai, Nami-swan!”

Zoro scanned the chaos as Sanji left to help Nami. Franky, Chopper, and Usopp were also one of the ones tied up and it looked like Robin had barricaded herself in the boy’s dorm. Luffy was flying in the air, doing fancy aerodynamic movements to avoid the violent plants. Brook was showing off his swordsmanship and holding his own, trying to get to the others to free them.

Zoro dodged a particular blade of grass and sliced it up. Damn. The grass just kept coming and Zoro couldn’t go all out for the sake of the ship.

Maniacal laughter reached his ears and he fixated his gaze on Usui. The kid rose up onto his feet like a grotesque corpse. His head hanging back while he pulled himself up, then letting it fall forward horribly resembling a rag doll. Zoro could almost feel the bloodlust.

“Shit!”

Zoro saw that the bloody cook had also gotten caught by the grass.

“Idiot!” Zoro hissed.

It was only him and Luffy now. Robin and Law were barricaded in the dormitories and the others were useless.

“Can’t… breathe…!” Sanji managed to say before the grass climbed up from his neck and covered his mouth.

Nami took a deep breath before she became a green cocoon.

“Nami-san!” Brook ran toward her but the grass exploded around his feet and enveloped him up as well. “It’s so tight that it’s constricting my lungs! Although, I don’t have any l—“

Brook became another cocoon.

“Brook!” Usopp started panicking. “Damn it!”

“It hurts!” Chopper cried, fighting vainly against his restraints.

“This is bad!” Franky wriggled around, making it difficult for the grass to get a good grip on him.

“Fruit Punch!” Luffy shouted while stretching his arms to reach the mast. “Stop it! You’re hurting them!”

Usui grinned, blood running down his body.

“It’s no use, Luffy!” Zoro told him. “We have to knock him out before he kills the others!”

“Got it!” Luffy let go of his hold on the mast and descended down with his arms out.

Zoro watched him fly into the jungle of whip like grass.

“Have you really?!” Zoro demanded.

Luffy punched the grass away with his armament and forced his way toward Usui. Once he could see him through the brush, he stretched his arm and wrapped it around Usui’s upper arm. The grass snapped against his skin but he brushed it off as he pulled himself closer to the blue haired teen.

“Shishishi!” Luffy put his hands on Usui’s shoulders and smiled.

Usui’s pupils danced madly around, his bottom lip bleeding and breathing roughly.

“Blood! More blood!” Usui shrieked.

Luffy’s expression softened, his giant grin regressing into a small and almost strained smile.

“Let’s play… Fruit Punch.”

The grass froze up abruptly and it slowly shrunk back down, releasing its captives and becoming a soft, innocent fuzz underneath their feet again. Everyone who had almost suffocated, collapsed onto the deck and relished the much needed oxygen.

“I thought I was going to die!” Usopp said, gasping for breath.

“Nami-san, are you okay?” Sanji panted.

“Ah,” Nami answered. “What happened to Fruit Punch?”

“He’s playing tag with Luffy,” Zoro walked up to them. “He’s acting like a little kid again.”

“This is confusing,” Franky said. “He has major mood swings, that Fruit Punch!”

“Chopper,” Zoro turned to the doctor.

“Nani?”

“You were saying something about Usui’s body?”

“Oh, right…” Chopper’s eyebrows arched downward, concern etched into his features. “It was almost like hell compacted in one person. I couldn’t even think straight because of it.”

“An illness?” Usopp asked.

Chopper shook his head. “No. Something deeper than that.”

“What do you mean?” Nami asked.

“It’s almost like…”

They waited for Chopper to finish his thought.

“Like…” Chopper frowned. “He’s fighting against something.”

_

“Luffy onii-san!” Usui tugged on Luffy’s shirt. “Show me that again!”

“Sure!” Luffy grinned.

Luffy pinched his cheek and pulled out, stretching his arm along with his face. Usui clapped and sparkled at the (weird) trick.

“That’s so cool!”

Luffy’s arms went back to their original shape and size and he frowned at Usui.

“When you get back to normal, you have to make the grass dance again,” he ordered.

“I don’t understand what you’re talking about, onii-san,” Usui tilted his head. “Back to normal?”

Luffy threw back his head and groaned. “This is so frustrating!”

“Want me to take over, Luffy?”

Sanji peeked around the corner and plucked the cigarette from his lips after inhaling some of the smoke.

“Sanji!” Luffy greeted the cook.

“Why don’t we let Luffy onii-san rest for a while, Usui,” Sanji suggested. “And you can help me decorate the cake.”

Usui brightened at the prospect. “Okay!”

Usui ran to join Sanji and before he rounded the corner, he paused and smiled childishly at Luffy.

“See you later, nii-san!”

_

Usui blinked, and he found himself holding a bag of frosting and Sanji staring at him, waiting for him to continue.

“What am I doing here?” Usui tilted his head.

Sanji beamed. “You’re back!”

“Back?” a question mark appeared next to Usui.

“Never mind that,” Sanji pointed at the bare cake. “Frost it.”

Usui gave him a weird look which Sanji only returned with a reassuring nod. Deciding not to question it, Usui fumbled with the frosting and stuck out his tongue in concentration.

“Hey,” Sanji began.

“Hm?” Usui said, still concentrating on frosting.

“Are you in any pain?”

Sanji noticed the dip in Usui’s steady hands and how he glanced at the chef before continuing his work.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because it’s a rhetorical question and I wanted to see if you would answer truthfully.”

A pause as Usui kept up his work, now with a gleam of something Sanji couldn’t pinpoint.

“My doctor says it’s just a result of my powers,” Usui answered, giving Sanji a suspicious glance. “How did you know about it?”

“Chopper did an exam on you,” it wasn't technically a lie.

Usui arched an eyebrow. “When?”

“In your dreams,” Sanji said it with such a straight face that Usui almost believed him.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Sanji placed a hand on Usui’s.

“Really?” Usui said, unsure of what to do.

“Like this,” Sanji guided Usui and Usui’s mouth formed an ‘o’.

“Wow, that’s so much easier.”

Sanji grinned in satisfaction. “Now we just need to smooth out the surface.”

_

“Mugiwara-ya,” Law prodded. “Let him leave the ship.”

Luffy closed his eyes in mock thought. “Don’t wanna.”

“Mugiwara-ya,” Law groaned. “It’s dangerous for your crewmates for him to be here. Think about the consequences for once.”

“Don’t wanna.”

“Luffy!” they heard Usui call. “Can I please get a rowboat?!”

Law ducked behind a barrel and Luffy stared at him. “Aren’t you sick of hiding?”

“I don’t have any other choice,” Law hissed.

“Luffy! Luffy! Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuffffffffffffffyyyyyy— Ite! What was that for?!”

“You were getting annoying,” Zoro’s voice answered.

“You don’t need to hit me!”

“Let him leave,” Law said.

“Don’t feel like it.”

“Mugiwara-ya!”

“Fruit punch!” Usopp’s voice joined the others. “Check this out!”

“What do you gain by letting him stay here?” Law asked, grasping straws.

“He’s fun!” Luffy answered.

“Usopp…” Usui whined. “Get me a rowboat…”

“We don’t have rowboats,” Franky said. “You’re suuuuuuuuppppperrrr stuck here.”

“I’m going to be in so much trouble…” Usui sounded depressed.

“Come on, Usui,” Chopper consoled. “Don’t be sad.”

“And I still need an answer.”

Law considered Luffy’s back for a second before the Straw Hat Captian turned to look at him.

“Remember my question?” Luffy asked.

Law didn’t answer.

“Are you guys trying to keep me here?” Usui asked, sounding exasperated.

“As if,” Nami laughed.

___________________________________________________________________

*I- pronounced 'e' as in the letter e