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They had only been sailing for a week after leaving the Cocoyasi village. According to Nami, they were close to the Grand Line but things had been pretty quiet. Maybe that's why Nami looked so hungry for entertainment. Usopp didn't much like being the objective of the redhead's sharp gaze, but there was nothing he could do about it.
Although she liked the cook, Sanji was so sticky that Nami used to avoid him. Zoro had already been bombarded with questions before Syrup village and she seemed satisfied with the information she got. And Luffy… was Luffy. Usopp had believed that he was the most open person in the whole world, the boy seemed willing to spill all his secrets if they bribed him with some meat but, at the same time, he was quite mysterious. Luffy didn't avoid questions about him, but he didn't talk about it openly either.
When Sanji discovered one of his allergies by accident and berated him for not telling, Luffy would just shrug and say, “You didn't ask.” It wasn't a malicious attitude, but everyone was surprised that it came from Luffy. That response would become constant, and soon the four crewmen got used to Luffy's aura of mystery-unintentional.
So Nami's little investigation came down to Usopp.
She waited until he was alone and with no chance of escape to corner him. Actually that was just Usopp's feeling. Nami only approached him when the boy was alone on deck, the rest of the crew going about their own business.
“So…” she started, a sly smile pulling her lips up and no matter how many times Usopp saw it, maybe he would never stop getting chills. “May I know how you met Kaya?”
Usopp sighed in relief. He knew that Nami was curious and eager to meet those who had become her nakama, but the girl had as much tact as Luffy could control her hunger. He had been afraid she would ask about her mother, whose loss he felt as close to as if it had happened yesterday. But instead, he asked about Kaya. That was a subject he could handle.
So he proceeded to tell her a long and dramatic story about how he saved the town from the sudden attack of some pirates off the coast of the small island. Nami listened carefully and, once again, Usopp was surprised at his new friends and companions.
Nami seemed to know that he actually had his reasons for such blatant lies, but she never interrupted him. She just sat and listened, cracking a few jokes here and there when she felt like it, and maybe insulted him a few times without enough heat for Usopp to take offense.
So much understanding, made him want to tell her the true story.
***
“I'm not sure that's my story to tell,” Kaya said for the third time that day. Usopp's little pirates had taken his captain's words to heart and now they visited her often, something she appreciated. She was still recovering from her illness and it was difficult to go out to a place farther than the garden, so company was always welcome.
“But every time we ask him, he repeats that weird kraken story,” Tamanegi complained, threatening to pout.
“Yes! We always wanted the real story, but he never told it.” Ninjin supported him.
Kaya, meanwhile, had a sudden fit of coughing. It was hard to hide her laughter when the children now argued loudly about Usopp's lies, which made them even more tender. Knowing that they had noticed the lies so easily and didn't care, only assured her that their affection for their captain was very real.
Without meaning to, her gaze fell on the pink roses that had grown quite a bit since they were first planted. They were probably the flowers she took the most care of out of all those in the garden. A wistful smile crept across her face before she nodded.
“Okay,” she relented, “but only once. I'm sure Usopp is still very embarrassed.”
That was enough to make the three children lean even closer to listen to her. It was fun. Their parents probably wish they would sit as still to do homework as they would to listen to a story.
“The beginning is a little sad,” he related. “As you know, Usopp lost his mother when he was still very young...”
Banchina's funeral had not been long, and although the village felt sorry for the boy she had left alone, they did not make much effort to support him. The families of the Villa did not live in scarcity, but they did not have too many resources to share, so little Usopp was not in the priorities of many of them.
Kaya, of course, knew nothing of that.
Since she was a child, was very sick and did not go beyond the garden, so knew more about the stories told in the books than the problems of the inhabitants of the island. That's why she was so surprised when a child landed on the daisies she was watering.
The boy got up as quickly as he fell, his dark curls covering part of his eyes, so he pushed them back in one motion and watched her with a smile that belied his frown.
“The pirates are coming,” he informed her as if were talking about the weather.
Kaya watched him for a long moment before dropping the watering can and running off. She had remembered that story her mother used to tell her at bedtime, about a wooden puppet that only caused disaster wherever it went. Her parents didn't understand the fear, but Kaya was terrified just thinking about him.
“Mom! Pinocchio is here! Mom!” Despite her sickly appearance, she was running quite fast and it took Usopp a minute to catch up with her. When he did, couldn't silence her because she was now hiding behind a fancy lady who was just an adult version of the girl.
“Oh, you must be Usopp, right?” Unlike Kaya, who was still scared, the woman gave him a soft smile. “You have never come this far.”
Usopp, suddenly embarrassed, took a few steps back and hid his hands behind his back. Not knowing where to look, he preferred to focus on kicking a loose rock to the ground.
“I didn't come here to steal,” he murmured. He knew that is what the town assumed every time they saw him approach a business. Also knew that it was wrong, but it's not like he was left with many options. They refused to give him a job because he was too young and troublesome, and only let him continue to live at home because his mother was very dear to him, but the help ended there.
The Village was so small that it didn't even need an orphanage, so all the adults seemed at a loss as to what to do with the orphaned child.
“I know,” the adult answered. Usopp looked up sharply, his eyes wide with surprise. “Do you want to help us? We’re about to plant roses.”
Not knowing what else to say, he nodded. The woman—no, Nan, he had seen her walking around town frequently and it wasn't that hard to recognize her, handed him her own watering can while she asked him to wait a bit. The two children were left alone, looking at each other warily as if one was suddenly going to attack the other.
“I'm Kaya,” the girl murmured, lowering her eyes as soon as they met the stranger's.
“Usopp,” he introduced himself. They fell silent again until Nan returned with an extra pair of garden gloves and a trowel.
She gave the gloves to Usopp and then walked over to Kaya when Kaya called out to her. She forced her mother to lean in and whispered something that Usopp couldn't hear, but it made Nan widen her eyes in surprise. The girl pointed at him before wrinkle the nose, disgusted by something.
Usopp clutched the gloves tightly, preparing for the moment when they would send him back to the village, even though they were the ones who invited him.
“Usopp, come here for a second,” Nan called, sitting up on his knees to catch up with him. Usopp approached cautiously but was even more confused when the woman held his knee and examined for a while. “You were right, Kaya, it looks pretty ugly.”
It was not. He had worse injuries when slipped from a tree branch or hit himself with the slingshot but found no will in himself when Nan sent Kaya for a band-aid and the girl ran back as fast as she could. Usopp realized that he had been holding his breath until Nan patted his leg lightly and smiled.
And then he was crying.
Usopp didn't like to cry. His eyes were red and there were obvious spots on his face, he worried his mother and, besides, it rarely had any purpose. Did the blows stop hurting? No. Did they stop the hunger he sometimes felt? No. Did his father come back every time he asked about him? Again, no. Tears were completely useless. And yet, there he was: sobbing loudly just because someone had bothered to treat a scrape that didn't even hurt.
He would later apologize that was the way Nan smiled. There was something about that smile that was so motherly that, inevitably, had reminded of his own mother. And to her death. And that he was alone now and probably always would be. He had long ago given up hope of meeting his father.
Nan seemed scared for a second before she understood the situation and, still a little unsure, dragged Usopp into a hug. She tried to comfort and reassure him without saying anything. After all, what could you say to a little boy who had been orphaned?
On the other hand, Kaya looked away. She wasn't jealous, just uncomfortable. It seemed like it was too personal for her to see too, so she got distracted by the ant trying to find its way to her home.
After a while, Usopp stopped and sniffed hard.
“I'm allergic to the sun.”
Nan raised her eyebrows, flashing a cheerful smile, the same one she gave Kaya every time she saw her. She obviously didn't believe him at all.
“Sure.” She cupped her chin with a thoughtful gaze before her smile widened. “Do you want to eat with us, Usopp? There will be curry today and, if I bribe Merry right, maybe some dessert.”
“Mochis!” Kaya exclaimed immediately, jumping up and down with an energy she didn't seem to have a few seconds ago as she tugged at her mother's overalls. “And dango! And jelly!”
“Is there ice cream too?” Usopp asked shyly.
Kaya fell silent before her eyes widened so much that they made her look like a cartoon, as if she had forgotten the most important thing. She walked over to Usopp and took his hand, pulling him forward and into the mansion.
“The chocolate one is my favorite. You can try it if you want.” Then she approached him and whispered in his ear without taking her eyes off her mother, who was watching them with amusement. She could never express how happy he was to see Kaya making a friend for maybe the first time in his life. “We can also steal the lemon from mom, but it must be when she doesn't realize it.”
Usopp laughed, he was sure Kaya didn't know that stealing was one of her specialties. And steal ice cream? Wow, this could be the best day of his life.
“Do you remember our deal, Kaya?” Nan reminded her, still standing in front of the couple of holes she was digging when the children arrived.
Kaya groaned in annoyance, as dramatic as possible before stomping back to her mother.
“I had to help you if I wanted to skip the homework,” she mumbled, reaching for the other trowel on the ground. Usopp didn't miss that she left him the pair of gloves that Nan had brought.
“Are you coming, Usopp?” Nan said. “We're almost done, so you can eat and play some more afterward.”
With renewed energy, Usopp walked over to them and followed their every instruction. Nan was careful to split the task evenly: Kaya finished digging a few more holes, Usopp was the one who buried the seeds, and Nan covered them with some more dirt. Since they seemed so desperate to go eat, she allowed them to go into the house and wash their hands while she watered the soil and the rest of the flowers.
When she entered the mansion, Merry told her that the children were waiting for her to eat and she hurried. It was fun to enter the dining room and find the two of them sitting, whispering things to each other as if they had known each other all their lives and revealing secrets that for an adult would not be important but for them, perhaps it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
“I'm telling you he's a pirate, that's why he doesn't live here,” Usopp said trying to convince Kaya. “He is a brave warrior of the sea, and one day I will be too.”
Maybe Kaya didn't seem so convinced by his father's story, but a big smile spread across her face when Usopp revealed his secret dream to her.
“And will you tell me the stories of your adventures?,” she asked excitedly before wrinkling her nose. “But you won't be like that Captain Hook, will you? Because he is bad.”
“Nope! Usopp exclaimed, jumping on the chair and shaking his fist in the air. “I'm gonna fight Kings of the Sea, meet giants and mermaids and samurais and, and…” I'm going to look for dad. “I’ll go to the end of the world!”
Kaya seemed delighted as she laughed and clapped her hands, supporting the disheveled boy with his crazy dreams with all her might. It was a shame that Nan had to interrupt them, but if she left them alone any longer, they might dirty the whole table.
“Well, but to be a brave warrior of the sea you must be quite strong,” she stated, Usopp's eyes widened in surprise and he sat up immediately, looking a bit embarrassed by his outburst of emotion. “You can stock up on food here, if you want.”
“Can he keep visiting us?" She had never seen Kaya so happy and that only made her feel safer. There was nothing wrong with inviting him, was there?
“Only if Usopp wants to.”
Usopp looked unsure. There was obvious emotion on his face, and Nan knew how the town treated him and that there really weren't many children her age to have fun with. He also seemed to be on the verge of bursting into tears once again. Instead, just smiled and nodded frantically, as if he was afraid Nan would withdraw the offer if she took too long to reply.
“If I eat well, then I can get very strong,” he said as if it had been his idea.
Nan just smiled with relief and waited for Merry to bring their plates.
The next day, Kaya patiently waited for Usopp at the gate of the mansion and wasted no time when he arrived, dragging him to the library to learn some navigation because he would need it when had his own ship. Needless to say, they really just wasted their time playing a game that Usopp thought of at that very moment.
Before Usopp returned home, Nan approached him with some great news: she had spoken (without threats of intermission, obviously) with the village carpenter, and he agreed to take Usopp as his apprentice if, and this was his only condition, Usopp stop stealing. In exchange, he would pay him what his work was worth so he could save a little. Nan also revealed to him that other people were willing to pay him a little if he did various tasks for them. It wasn't ideal, but it was something. More than Usopp had had in a while.
When Usopp runaway from town and landed on some daisies, he never expected it to be the best day of his life. Not only got his first friend, but a mother figure and, moreover, the help that had been denied him. It was enough to make him feel like the luckiest kid in the world, despite everything.
And of course, Usopp came back the next day. And the next. And the next.
And he never missed a single day. Not even when there were no more motherly smiles and, with the arrival of the new butler, he wasn't welcome at the manor either. He was with Kaya as she mourned and when her illness got so bad that it was hard for her to get out of bed.
Usopp would visit Kaya even if he had to crawl because she was the first to bring a little light into his darkness.