Their Astronomer

Chapter 4

Ussop lead the group to a restaurant called Meshi where Luffy gorged himself on anything he could get his hands on. Anoki smiled at his antics while calmly sipping at her tea, Nathari safely propped up against her shoulder. 

"Ne, Ussop is there anywhere we could get a boat?" Luffy asked with meat all around his mouth. Ussop shuffled in his seat before answering, "No, this village is actually quite poor." Luffy sprouted a frown at this knowledge but continued to eat. 

"What about that mansion on that hill?" Zoro asked while pointing out the window towards the large building. Ussop's figure noticeably flinched before he abruptly stood up, "I-I'M SORRY I JUST REMEMBERED THAT I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING! PLEASE ENJOY YOUR MEAL!" Ussop than ran, leaving the group to question the long nosed boy. 

"What a bad liar.." Anoki mused, not even bothering to have her single eye open for the strange reaction from the boy. Luffy laughed happily, finished his meal and left the restaurant with the group following after him. Soon enough the three children caught up to them. 

"Hey what's the story with the mansion?" Nami asked the children. 

"Miss Kaya lives up there and Captain goes there to lie to make her feel better because she's depressed from her parent suddenly passing from an illness," one of the children explained, leading them towards the path. They were quick to arrive, spotting Ussop telling a dramatic story about a goldfish while a sickly looking woman laughed from over the edge of her large window. 

"O-oh hello, who are you?" She sweetly asked while Ussop nervously sweated from his spot in the tree.

"Those are my followers! They want to join my crew," Ussop stated with bullets of sweat. Anoki cocked her head at the male but left the talking to her captain. 

"Hey lady, we were wondering if you could give us a boat! A big on!" Luffy grinned, ignoring how the rest of his group only sweatdropped at his attitude. Though before she could answer, a tall man dressed in a black butler suit, swirly shoes, and large round glasses was quick to shout, "Who are you? Interrupting my lady's time like this! And Ussop, I thought I told you, you weren't allowed back here," The man snarled out. 

"It's Captain to you," Ussop sassed out with a cocky smirk, though Anoki noticed his knees were starting to shake. 

"Ah, so you're a filthy pirate. Makes sense considering your father up and left his family to join a pirate crew. That disgusting blood must run through your veins." Ussop was shaking in rage with his fists clenched tight. Anoki watched with mild amusement while the rest were perplexed with the sudden show. 

"Klahadore, please stop!" Kaya begged out, tears pricking in the corner of her eyes. The butler simply ignored her and continued taunting Ussop. 

"You can insult me all you want, call me a filthy pirate, but never insult my father! He left us to achieve his dream and I'm damn proud of him for that!" Ussop screamed out, running at Klahadore with his fist cocked back before striking him across the face. The force knocked his glasses to the ground, but the butler just picked them up and scoffed at Ussop. 

"So quick to resort to violence. It's such a disgrace. Leave this place and never come back or else I'll have to resort to extreme measures," Klahadore sneered out with Kaya sobbing softly in the background, apologizing to everyone. Ussop stormed off with not even a second glance and Luffy was quick to follow him. Zoro, Nami, and Anoki glanced at each other, shrugged, and walked back to the village. 

Along the way back, Anoki lost the two and got herself lost, she somehow ended up in the forest. If you looked hard enough, question marks could be seen above her head. She saw Ussop run past with tears streaming down his cheeks and somewhat hyperventilating but was quick to lose him again. So Anoki just wondered around before reaching a cliff that had a small beach at the bottom. She peered over the edge and nearly coughed out her heart once she saw her childish captain sprawled out in the sand. She jumped down, not disturbing a grain of sand as she landed and kneeled next to her captain.