Don't Get in His Way

Usopp

Luffy began to fight and managed to wipe more than half of them in two minutes. Usopp wasn't far behind, he got over his I-can't-fight-these-marines disease and used his many ammos to take the marines down one way or another. The marines were stubborn, though, so they got up almost every time.

A few minutes later, not many marines were left. The duo got rid of the weak ones and all that's left were the difficult ones. They weren't actually difficult per say (compared to a few enemies, these guys were like small flies that bug you all day long – in a sense, they actually are), but they seemed to be quite experienced with their forest surroundings and were now blending in with the trees.

Luffy and Usopp weren't that concerned about it (although the sniper seemed a bit tense), since Luffy could use Observation Haki and Usopp was used to the forest from his two-year training. With both of their advantages, Luffy and Usopp easily avoided the incoming bullets and the sniper shot down some as well. But, most of the shots were aimed towards Luffy, either because he had the higher bounty of the two or maybe he was the captain.

Usopp realized it when the bullets aimed at him started reducing and when Luffy had to dodge more. Usopp was agitated at the fact that they didn't see him as a threat ("I'm the great Usopp-sama! You can't ignore me like that!") and decided to help his captain. But these marines didn't want to stop, so they continued firing at the two. After a while, Usopp had enough.

"Hey, Luffy! We should hurry up!" Usopp shouted as he deflected another incoming bullet. "This is taking forever!"

"Yeah, I'm getting hungry!" Luffy agreed, though his reason wasn't the same as Usopp's.

"That's not-Ah, whatever! Let's go! The others are probably waiting." Usopp said.

Luffy grinned at the idea and nodded. "I can't wait to eat meat!" The boy exclaimed as a trail of drool came out of his mouth.

Usopp sighed at his behavior and pulled out a pellet from his pocket. "It's been a while since I used this." The sniper muttered nostalgically as he quickly put the pellet onto his Kabuto and aimed it towards the area where most of the bullets came from. "Hissatsu! Cho Kemuri Boshi!"

Usopp released the slingshot and the pellet flew towards the designated area, spewing smoke all over the forest once it made impact. Coughs were heard almost everywhere and Usopp bet on his Kabuto that those belong to the pigheaded marines.

"Let's go, Luffy!" He shouted at the boy, running ahead to where the ship was docked.

"Yeah!" Luffy grinned, following behind his friend. "I wonder what Sanji's making today. I hope it's meat!"

Usopp turned his head around to tell Luffy to run faster, but his words died on his throat when he spotted a bullet coming from the left, aiming towards Luffy. The latter was oblivious to the upcoming danger as he continued to imagine Sanji's cooking.

Usopp's eyes filled with terror and without even thinking, he grabbed a pop green and shot it towards the bullet with the speed of light. It did the trick, as the bullet went off course and flew off towards the other direction.

Due to his action, the sniper halted in his tracks. Luffy noticed and stopped at the last second, almost bumping to his friend in the process. The rubber boy couldn't help but note that his friend's whole demeanor had suddenly changed. "What's wrong, Usopp?"

"On second thought, Luffy..." Usopp murmured when he heard the sound of a bush rustling on his right. "I want to beat these guys up first."

Luffy blinked at the statement. He wanted to ask why, but the deadly look on the sniper's eyes told him everything he needed to know. "Alright, but hurry up. I'm hungry." Luffy said, stepping aside.