A fist slamming into a locker broke through the casual conversations going on in the hallways for just a moment as they examined the source. Upon seeing the owner of the fist against the locker, Kent Williams, sneering down at Usopp Kingston, they all promptly turned away and resumed their own activities, if not a little bit faster than before.

Usopp's gaze flickered to the fist and back up to Kent, eyes darting from his slicked back black hair, to his jacket, to his left ear, everywhere but into those cold black eyes as he tried to keep his knees from giving out from under him. C'mon Usopp you're braver than this. No, you're not you're just a coward.

"What's wrong, Pinocchio? Have you finally run out of lies?" Kent smiled as he moved his hand to grab the tip of Usopp's abnormally long nose between his fingers. "I bet it hurt when your mom gave birth to you." He pulled on Usopp's nose as he continued "I wonder if your nose really does grow longer when you lie, or, wait, is it when you're scared?" He laughed, the bell signally the start of their next class going ignored. "It's no wonder why it's always so long, then."

"You just wait! I have the blood of a brave sniper within my veins! I-I'm not afraid of you." Usopp shouted, trying to keep his voice steady and challenging, but it was hard to keep the quiver out of his words with the trembling that was going on throughout his entire body. His eyes darted up and down the hallways but there was no one in sight. He was on his own with Kent and his cronies now.

Kent laughed obnoxiously "Who told you that? It's all just lies. Your father ran out on you before you were even born. He didn't want you."

The words hurt, but they only served to feed the frustration bubbling up inside of him. It was true. He'd never known his father. What did he know about him? Just the fantasies about him that he'd come up with in his head and the stories that his mother used to tell him. Never the less, he refused to let this bully talk down about his father. Kent could say what he wanted about Usopp, but not his father. "Don't you dare talk about my father like that! My mother told me—" but he was cut off.

Kent's voice changed to sound as if he were coddling a baby "Aww baby's using his—" and hand appeared, grabbing Kent by the neck and yanking him back, cutting off the bully mid-sentence.

"Hey, Jackass, shut the fuck up." A deep voice growled from behind him.

Usopp's gaze fell to the bronze skin of the arm attached to the fingers that were wrapped around Kent's neck and followed it up to the piercing grey eyes set beneath a relaxed scowl. He was then immediately drawn to the short, unkempt, orange hair in slight confusion.

"Who the fuck do you think you are" Kent snarled "Get your grubby, disgusting hands off of—" he never got to finish his insult thanks to the locker he received to his face.

"I said shut the fuck up and I don't take disobedience from freshman lightly." The older boy with the flaming hair said again, yanking Kent back once more and turning him to face him. He gave Kent a look that cried for blood as he continued "Don't you dare touch him again or I will gut you with my katana."

Oh, right. Zoro Gremillion, captain of the kendo club, Usopp realized. He never would have expected orange hair of all things. He seemed to recall that in the yearbook photos he'd edited it was black. Usopp never pinned Zoro to be the kind of guy to dye his hair orange. Did he lose a bet?

Something in the older boy's gaze said that he wasn't bluffing about the gutting and Usopp would be lying if he said that the look didn't scare him as well, but he was grateful. Kent's eyes had gone wide, having probably come to the same conclusion.

Zoro released Kent's neck and snarled "Scram."

Kent let out an undignified squeak and scrambled away from them, his cronies who'd been looking on in horror at Zoro's appearance ran after him. Once Kent was out of sight, Zoro turned to Usopp with a seemingly uncharacteristically bright smile after the display Usopp had just witnessed "He wont bother you anymore, I'll make sure of it. The name's Zoro, I'm a sophomore." He extended his hand for a handshake and Usopp wearily accepted it.

"Usopp" Usopp responded, the adrenaline rushing out of his system all at once and leaving him exhausted. He leaned against the locker as his knees nearly game out on him. "Thanks for that… you didn't nee—"

"Bullshit. Don't say I didn't need to step in. I wasn't going to let something like that happen and not do anything about it. I detest people like him." Zoro growled.

"You don't look like a sophomore." Usopp confessed, changing the subject.

"Probably because I'm eighteen." Zoro confessed, shoving his hands into his pockets. He looked thoughtful for a moment, soft frown on his lips "Some stuff came up when I was little and I missed a few years of school." His lips turned back up into a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Dad insisted that I continue my studies so here I am." He shrugged. "C'mon. We're late enough to class already. We should part ways. Lunch?" Zoro offered.

"Yeah, sure." Usopp agreed.

"Awesome. I'll introduce you to my friends. I think you'll fit right in." Zoro said as he backed away, holding up a hand in farewell before turning and shoving his hand back into his pocket and heading off to class, the three golden teardrops hanging from his ear tinkling as he walked.

"Uh.. Zoro? Isn't the sophomore wing the other way?"

"Ack!"