Steve's POV
YAWN! Well, that was a good nap, but I don't want to open my eyes just yet. Five more minutes.
"Will you two idiots get up?!"
Am I dreaming? That sounds like Nami. She always thinks she can boss me around.
"NOW!"
"Ow, that hurt," I said, jolted awake. "Can you get off me, please?" I looked down and saw I was lying across Luffy. I quickly stood up and looked around to see Zoro, Nami, and the three kids from earlier.
"What happened to you two, and where's Captain Usopp?" the boy with the hat asked.
What did happen? The last thing I remembered was spying on Kuro and that other weirdo. Then I woke up here. "I remember a hypnotist telling us to go to sleep, but I didn't think it would actually work," I responded. "Oh, and the butler is really a pirate, and he's gonna try and kill Kaya."
That sent the kids into a tizzy. Nami was already angry with me and Luffy for getting hypnotized.
"Calm down. It was an accident. You shouldn't boss your captains around, you know," I was trying to keep Nami in line because she kept acting superior and pushing Luffy around. I don't like it when people try to bully him.
"Well, too bad. You'll get what you deserve, and you'll do what I tell you."
"Since when are you the boss of me?!"
With that, Nami and I got into an argument over who had to listen to whom when we finally settled on staying out of each other's way.
"You kids should run away now while you still have the chance before those pirates destroy the village," Nami's advice was smart but useless. This wasn't a very large island; where could they possibly go?
Luffy kept saying we needed to get back to town and get meat from the butcher before he fled town. "We should probably get out of here before those pirates show up," Zoro suggested.
He was right. Under normal circumstances, I would cut our losses and leave now, but this was a special case. "No, we won't leave yet," I told him.
"Why not? There's nothing else for us to do here," Nami added, backing up Zoro's suggestion.
"I won't abandon Usopp. He's important to someone I know. I could never forgive myself if I let him die here. Also, Kaya is a nice girl and doesn't deserve to die. We can wait, and when we see Usopp, we'll offer him our help." I was being serious, and I think the others could tell because no one objected.
"I like that idea!" Luffy added with a laugh. "Let's head back and see if we can find him."
We headed back to the village, following our three young friends from earlier. It wasn't too long before we ran across Usopp. He was pretty shocked to see Luffy and I were still alive.
"But we just woke up," was our response.
Even if we fell off the cliff, Luffy's body is rubber, and it wasn't that steep. We could have survived without any severe injuries. His younger companions confronted him with the information about the pirates, but he just laughed it off. I could tell he was lying to them. Needless to say, the kids were pretty upset that he had made up a lie just to hurt someone and wandered off, depressed.
We walked back to the beach with Usopp. He explained that he tried to warn the village, but since he always lies to them, no one believes him. "They will attack tomorrow, and no one believes me.
They think tomorrow will just be a normal day," Usopp got a look in his eye, stood up, and said, "Then I'll be the one to protect the village, and they'll think it's just another lie. I love this place, and I want to protect it. I don't want them to die."
"You're a pretty good guy," Zoro complimented. "You dismissed your crew so you could do this alone."
"Now I definitely want to help out," Luffy was getting excited. He was looking forward to another fight.
"What kind of friends would we be if we abandoned you in your time of need?" I solidified our stance.
"I guess I'll help, but I get all the treasure," Nami smirked.
Usopp looked amazed that we were going to help him out. "Why are you guys helping me?"
"Because you look terrified." "You're severely outnumbered." "I'd never be able to face your dad again if I let you die."
Zoro, Luffy, and I laid out our reasons for lending a hand. Usopp denied that he was scared, but his body was shaking in fear. "I don't need your sympathy; go away!" Usopp yelled.
"We're not sympathizing. We're honoring your courage to stand alone," Zoro explained why we wanted to help. It wasn't about trying to make Usopp feel worse; this was to help him do the right thing and not die trying.
"Why else would we risk our lives?" Luffy asked.
Usopp began crying about how touched he was for us to offer to help him. He explained how the pirates would need to go up a slope that was the only way into town, and if we could protect the slope, we would protect the village. Usopp asked what each of our skills was.
"Cutting," "Stretching," "Beating," "Stealing."
"Okay, I'm good at hiding."
"You're fighting too!" We yelled back.
"We need a better way to protect this hill than just five people," I said. "There's no way the five of us can stop an entire pirate crew in such a small area without serious heavy weapons, especially since Nami and Usopp aren't strong frontline fighters."
"I've got an idea," Usopp went on to explain that we could dump oil down the slope to make it slippery and hard to climb. After dumping a barrel of slimy goop down on the slope, we got ready for the attack. The only thing that seemed like it would go wrong was if we fell down the slope ourselves.
"Sun's coming up. They'll be here soon," Zoro pointed out that soon we would be in for a fight.
We waited a few more minutes, but there wasn't even a ship on the horizon. "They should have been here by now," I pointed out, getting worried.
"Anyone else hear yelling coming from over there?" Nami asked.
I twisted my neck around and gave Usopp a demonic glare. "Don't tell me you were wrong. Are there other entrances to this island?"
Usopp explained that since this was where the meeting had taken place, he assumed the attack was here too. He said if we ran, we could get to the north shore in three minutes. Luffy took off running with Usopp not far behind. Zoro and I were turning to leave when Nami yelled for help.
Nami had started to slip on the oil and fall down the hill. Zoro and I reached out to pull her up, and she grabbed our hands, used us as grips to get her footing, pulling us and making us fall down the hill while she made an escape.
"Sorry, but my treasure is on that shore. It's in danger. I'm sure you two can figure a way out on your own," she yelled, running off.
"I'm gonna kill her," Zoro growled.
"We can yell at her later. Let's just try and climb up. There's no rock for me to use as an anchor point to attach my whip, either."
After minutes of trying to run up an oil-slicked hill, Zoro finally decided to use his swords to claw his way up. He started to run and leave me behind. "Where are you going? Don't leave me! Wait there! I'll use you so I can climb out."
"You'll pull me down like she did!"
"What kind of guy do you take me for?"
I shot my whip so it wrapped around Zoro's waist and used it to pull myself out of the trap. Zoro and I made a run for the north shore once I was free. We went as quickly as we could, and about halfway through, I found Luffy staring at a wall.
"What are you doing? You're supposed to be helping Usopp!" I screamed.
"I got lost. Which way's north?"
"Just come on!" I grabbed Luffy and pulled him along.
We arrived at the shore to a surprise. Usopp was already in bad shape, and the pirates were charging the top of the slope. Luckily, the three of us arrived in time to stop them and sent them flying back to the beach.
"What took you so long?" Nami scoffed.
What does she think took us so long?! She pushed us down the hill!
"She wants to know what took us so long?" Zoro said, holding back his temper.
"Don't know. I just wanna kick ass," Luffy answered.
"Well, let's tell them, guys. Why were we so late to the party?" I said with a smirk.
"How dare you kick us down!"
"NAMI!"
"Usopp, you didn't tell me how to go north."