Rolling My Way to Pirate King (One Piece Chaos Gacha) (Patreon)

Chapter 29: Captain

A Few Days Later

I currently found myself doing something I wish I didn’t have to, but being the captain of a pirate crew, I had no choice but to deal with things if something came up.

“So, what did you want to talk about, Luffy? Did you finally decide to make me the captain?” Usopp asked with a smile and a big grin on his face.

He was still clearly on a high from our battle back in Arlong Park and would boast to anyone who would listen, mainly Johnny and Yosaku, about his role in the fight while exaggerating things massively.

I had been putting this off for too long, and it was time to finally set Usopp straight while we were still relatively early on in our journey, and especially before we entered the Grand Line.

While I didn’t really mind Usopp pretending to be the captain while on the ship with the crew, where everybody already knew to ignore him and didn’t take him seriously, it was another thing if he started acting that way outside of it.

While in the manga and anime everybody saw it as a running gag when Usopp tried to take credit for Luffy’s feats, this was real life now, and I couldn’t let something like that go when it could be solved rather simply with a talk just to spare Usopp’s feelings.

With all the enemies that would eventually turn their eyes toward us, and even rival crews or other people, if they saw Usopp pulling this kind of thing, they would think of us as either incompetent or not a cohesive group. While of course that would be untrue, it wouldn’t change the fact that people would think that.

Then there were other factors playing into this, like me trying to rein in Usopp’s pride a bit before any altercation could happen in the future. Usopp, despite normal appearances, was an extremely prideful person, and I didn’t want to deal with a possible Water 7 situation.

He needed to know that I was the captain here, and it would stay that way as long as I was alive and kicking.

“Please pay attention, this is serious.” I said with a small sigh as I flicked his nose with a bit of force, causing him to recoil and immediately grab it with a painful expression.

“Oww! What the hell, Luffy?” Usopp complained while shooting me a dirty look.

“Usopp,” I muttered his name with a serious tone, causing him to instinctually straighten up and become a bit tense.

“…Yes?” Usopp asked a bit hesitantly.

“We need to talk about you spouting off to everyone about being the captain.” I declared with a calm but serious tone, causing him to blink.

He opened his mouth to respond, looking a bit put back and offended from what I could tell, but I raised my hand to signal I wasn’t done talking and he begrudgingly stopped.

“While I don’t really mind you saying those things as I know you’re mostly joking around, you can’t go around saying that to everyone. It makes it sound as if I’m incompetent as a captain and makes them look down on us, and I won’t have that.” I explained patiently, internally glad that he hadn’t immediately turned defensive.

Usopp took in my words, but proving that his thinking was still childish, crossed his arms with a frown. “Why is that such a big problem? I’m just playing around.”

‘And here we go.’ I thought inwardly, wanting to roll my eyes and just managing to stop myself from doing so.

“The problem, Usopp,” I said each word slowly while retaining my calm expression. “Is that it makes it sound as if you don’t respect me as your Captain, and thus my decisions or actions for the crew.”

“I clearly specified and even reminded you just before you joined us that I was the Captain, and you seemed to agree. However, almost at every opportunity, you take it upon yourself to introduce yourself as the captain, contradicting my words in front of others.” I informed him before tilting my head and looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“Are you perhaps saying that you are a man that cannot keep his word, Usopp?” I asked calmly, subtly using his own pride against him.

It worked like a charm, as an extremely offended expression crossed his face as he crossed his arms and scowled back at me.

“Watch what you say, Luffy! Just because you’re the captain, I won’t have you disrespecting me like that! My word is my bond and nothing will ever break it.” Usopp declared with narrowed eyes and balled-up fists.

At his change in tone, I couldn’t help but let a scowl appear on my own face, since here the bastard was talking about me disrespecting him when he was doing the exact same thing for weeks now.

“And what the hell do you think I felt every time you announced yourself as the captain to others, dumbass!?” I barked back, causing him to flinch as if hit and widen his eyes as realization finally seemed to settle in.

“…Oh.”

“Yes, oh.” I said with a roll of my eyes before taking a deep breath and releasing it along with the rest of my annoyance. “Look, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. Just please try to keep such things to the ship, and there shouldn’t be a problem.” I continued, now much calmer.

Usopp frowned a bit before nodding once and letting out a small sigh. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. Just know that if you ever mess up big time, I’m taking your place.” He said with a nod as if proud of himself for making a compromise as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

He didn’t see my eye twitch and my fist ball with the urge to sock him in the face as he still hadn’t given up on that delusion of his.

“That’s not how things work, Usopp. You can’t just declare yourself the Captain and expect the others to go along with it.” I said with a blank tone to mask my slight anger at how naïve and childish that thought was.

“Isn’t that what you did though?” Usopp asked as he opened his eyes and tilted his head in confusion.

‘…Well, I admit he has a point there.’ I thought silently but didn’t let it show on my face.

“Yes, the difference between us though is that the others accepted me, even you for that matter, as their captain.” I revealed and couldn’t help but let a proud smile show on my face, since that was mostly due to my absurd charisma.

“Tell you what though, Usopp, why don’t you ask the others and see for yourself if they’re willing to go with that idea of yours.” I said with my smile growing into a grin, already knowing what would happen if he did that.

Especially with a certain Navigator, since we were sort of dating now even if we were keeping it from the others for the time being, and with how violently she reacted every time Usopp claimed he was the Captain in front of her.

There was also the fact that I had been spoiling her with literal superpowers with her new Inventory ability, gifting her a goose that laid golden eggs and a ring that healed her.

In fact, I was afraid Nami might actually throw Usopp overboard if he seriously suggested such a thing to her.

‘Your funeral, man.’ I thought in amusement.

It seemed he realized that too, as I saw him wince and unconsciously hold his head, only to blink and smile nervously.

“I-I think I’m good, thanks.” Usopp said with a scared voice, even looking behind him as if afraid of finding Nami there and breathing a sigh of relief at not finding her.

“Haah, fine. I’ll try to stop mentioning that I’m the captain when in the presence of others.” Usopp finally admitted with a sigh, making me smile.

“I appreciate it, Usopp. As a consolation, how would you feel about getting stronger?” I asked as I threw an arm around his shoulder and led him to the side of the deck for some good old fishing.

Also, just because we had infinite fruits and vegetables didn’t mean that we also didn’t need meat to have a balanced diet, and in the end I just preferred meat better. That was something that had not changed at all.

“Y-You’re not making me go through another form of hellish training, are you?” Usopp asked as he suddenly got a scared look again and tried to run away from me, but my hold held him steady.

“Don’t worry about that. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.” I said dismissively with a wave of my hand, dismissing his concerns like they were nothing and causing him to get more nervous.

“That doesn’t sound reassuring at all!” Usopp yelled, more desperately than before.

In return I could only chuckle in amusement as I silently used Grant to give Usopp the Daily Grind ability, which would passively let him get stronger every day, though at a reduced rate than my own.

I hadn’t told the others I had this ability yet, since based on Zoro’s personality, he would reject any freely handed power as he wanted to get stronger on his own, and for Sanji, there wasn’t an ability that suited him from the ones I had currently.

Despite his whining, Usopp soon forgot about it as we spent the next several hours fishing and just talking amongst ourselves, with Sanji joining us after a while.

Nothing beat male bonding than the honored tradition of fishing and that was especially true here too with the world being mostly water and all.

In the end, I was just glad that I seemed to have handled the situation without any problems, which was good.

=====

Days Later

“Did you do something to Usopp?” Nami asked me one morning after breakfast while I was seated atop the Merry’s figurehead.

Turning to her and taking a moment to appreciate what she was wearing, something that she clearly liked going by the small knowing smile on her face, I answered her.

“What do you mean?” I asked while pretending to be completely innocent.

Nami rolled her eyes at that and cocked her hips to the side, making her breasts bounce a bit. “I mean the fact that Usopp has been clearly getting stronger the past few days at a noticeable rate, and given your weird abilities, it could obviously only be your doing.” She stated matter-of-factly.

“Ever since you had that talk with him, actually. Oh, and nice job finally handling that issue, by the way. You’d think he would stop bringing it up when you specifically made it very clear from the very start that you’re the captain and if he wanted to join us, he would have to be our sniper, but he kept introducing himself as the captain anyway.” Nami continued before going on a small rant about Usopp as her pretty face contorted into a scowl.

“And not only that, I noticed that every time we celebrate a victory over someone, he always has to try to shamelessly claim your achievements for his own as if we didn’t have eyes.” She kept going, apparently not done.

“Shishishi, alright, enough about Usopp, Nami, or you’ll get wrinkles on your face from all the scowling.” I teased as I hopped down from my seat and hugged her to my side.

In return Nami only huffed cutely but didn’t pull away from my embrace and instead snuggled closer, even letting out a content sigh as we enjoyed our small moment of physical contact.

“…You didn’t answer my question.” Nami eventually asked again with a much more relaxed tone of voice.

“Alright, guilty as charged. I gave Usopp an ability that passively increases his strength and endurance by a bit every day.” I revealed with a small shrug before finally pulling away as I heard commotion from inside.

Nami let out a frustrated sigh and also took a small step away from me, still leaving us rather close but not to the point that someone else would think something else was going on.

“I just figured with him being the weakest of the crew, since I’m still not sure if Johnny and Yosaku permanently want to join us, I would give him a little help. We’re getting closer to the Grand Line every day and our enemies are bound to be tougher.” I explained my reasoning simply, getting an understanding nod from her.

“…You’re really worried about that, huh?” Nami asked as she turned to me with curious eyes.

“Yes,” I answered without any shame with a nod. “Like I told all of you before, Haki might give us a leg up over the others here in the Blues, but once we reach the Grand Line proper, we’ll have to deal with Devil Fruit users on a regular basis along with anyone else that also knows Haki.”

My thoughts turned to the Seven Warlords of the Sea as the main example that while Paradise didn’t have a lot of Haki users, there were some, and they also happened to be some of the more dangerous ones.

“And the others?” Nami asked after a moment of silence as she contemplated my thoughts. “Don’t get me wrong, I won’t be trading my wonderful Inventory ability for anything.” She added as an afterthought, sounding a bit defensive of giving up such an ability.

“Shishishi, don’t worry, you don’t have to.” I said with a smile as I patted her shoulder. “As for the others, Tiche will be learning Haki more properly from me, Zoro won’t ever accept a free handout to power, and for Sanji, I just don’t have an ability that suits him currently.” I said with a shrug.

“I see. At least I’m finally getting the hang of Haki after all this time.” Nami said as a proud look took over her features as she puffed up her chest.

“I always knew you would.” I said with a proud nod, getting her to preen even more.

“Anyway, speaking of the Grand Line, have any idea how much longer until we reach Loguetown?” I asked curiously, excited to visit the town where Roger was born and died in and visit the execution platform.

“It’s only been about a week since we left the Conomi Islands. If we keep going at this same speed, I would say in another two weeks.” Nami answered automatically after looking out into the sky and distance for a moment.

“Then that means we still have plenty of time for training.” I said with a grin while rubbing my hands, causing Nami to groan in a tired manner.

Giving her a wink, I walked to the center of the deck before putting my hands over my mouth and yelling at the top of my lungs.

“Everybody, training time! So get your asses to the deck!”

I burst out into a happy laugh as I heard Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku clearly groaning just as Nami had from where they were fishing toward the stern of the ship.

=====

Weeks Later

“Land ahoy!”

Johnny’s shout was heard throughout the ship, but I ignored it as I could already see it with my own two eyes without having it to be said from my spot atop Merry’s figurehead.

“Smoker, Buggy, Alvida, Dragon. I wonder who among you I will be meeting today.” I muttered with an excited grin on my face as the waves splashed around me and the smell of what I had come to classify as adventure hit me.