No Man is an Island, But Darling I Search

Hey, everyone. Another Lusopp/Usolu. Is that a surprise. I mean….I said this fandom needed more Usopp lovin.' So that's what I'm here for. Be advised that not all my fics will focus on romance. Some might even focus on just a deep friendship that you can take either way. This, however, is a love story. A very long one and a very sad one, but if you'd like to stay here and listen, you'll get many feelings out of it. I promise. Remember, reviews are always welcomed.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or its characters. I just write fanfiction people.

Title: No Man is an Island, But Darling I Search

Pairing(s): Usolu, various others.

Summary: My dearest Usopp. In these years, I have matured. I have conquered my dreams and nightmares. I have sailed the seas twice over and I've seen the world change. But, to no avail did I find you. You still hold a very special place in my heart, and so I will keep looking. I know the saying. No man is an Island. But, darling, I still search. In which Usopp never returns and Luffy never forgets.

Rating: M

Joy be With You

You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.

The kids often play by the shore, shuffling along the edge, choosing the dying ships that belong to no one. He watched them and often, accompanied by his sake and senbei. They weren't his children as he's never had any. But he often wondered if they wondered as well; if they ever thought of sailing instead of shuffling. Or living in instead of choosing those ships.

Probably not, he always concluded. The world now was different from the world he knew ten years ago, just as different as the world yesterday. People hardly traveled by sea anymore. Not the people like him anyway. Not since him. The young man ducked his head low as his dear friend came to mind. It was something else he did often: think of his very dear friend and wonder how sad life could be. How the world could tear a man down and rebuild him for the sake of its own ascendancy.

A harsh rapping at the door echoed around his home. The man looked toward the door as the knocking ceased for a moment and then continued on its way, impatient and bombarding. "Old man!" A child's voice cried. "We found something cool." He sighed. The kids. They've got a story to tell and they've got a man to tell it to. "Old man!" They cried again.

He grumbled and stood, his chair skidding the floors angrily. He hovered by his comfort zone a second longer than he should have before his eyes caught the sake still on the table. Grabbing it, the man took his time to the kitchen to empty its contents. Sitting on the counter was his prized photo, something he hid when the children came over. It was a sacred object, the only of its kind. The last one with him in it. He'd been so happy there. So fixed and so himself. It was before he had disappeared and they….

He blinked rapidly. Luffy had told him everything would be okay. To not cry when they thought of their dear friend. But there was a tear every time that he blinked. Something sad and sick in the guise of wet.

He dumped the sake and placed the picture face down, hurrying to the door as an escape. When he opened it, the children practically bombarded him, pushing into his home. They were often like this: impatient and rowdy and without manners. He was like that too; before he decided to grow in mind and not just muscle.

He pushed himself back as the three children invaded, muttering to themselves and he excitedly. "Look what we found in the sand."

The man didn't tell the children he kept most of the items they gave him. Shells, rare rocks, even old coins. He had a collection in his attic that they knew nothing of. Otherwise, he grew very nonchalant about their findings, an emotion he'd become very skilled at.

And this was something that was ongoing for ten years. He never even thought about how bad it would be if that skill was lost. For ten years, he had it. And today, he lost it. What kind of hell was that?

When he turned to their finding, the man didn't expect to freeze in his stature. To open his mouth in shock or stare in reminiscent agony. To lose all he had ever worked for his life.

They had come here seven years prior, to this island and Luffy had left it in hopes of….just in hopes. And he didn't think it would ever be found. In fact, he didn't think it needed be. He thought it had been destroyed like their lives and dreams. But no, it was here. In its dirty beige tone and torn edges and wrinkled face, it was here.

The letter.

"Old man?" The kids had grown quiet too, not very used to seeing their wise friend become stupefied.

He reached forward and grabbed the letter cautiously. Had it disappeared in his grasp, a fit would have been thrown. He would have lost all that he had worked toward in ten years; the nonchalance, the calmness, the hope.

But it didn't disappear. And when the man put it close to his face, he almost smiled like a mad person. The first words of the letter were smudged in ink, and it made it no better it was his captain's 'just learning cursive' handwriting. But he could still read it. No doubt, this was the last letter. The final letter Luffy had written before he had realized….

"Can you read it to us?" A boy who was no older than the letter asked. "What's it say?"

But he didn't want to read it aloud. It was a sacred thing that he always wondered about through the years. If he had ever gotten it and if he thought about them. If he had seen it and refused its delivery. Or accepted it, but refused them. But it was here. Buried in the sand waiting for them. And the words, Luffy's precious and equally sloppy words were still intact.

My Dearest Usopp,

On the days I can't write to you, I find myself in Robin's library reading. I know it sounds strange; to know that after all these years, your Luffy likes to read. But I assure you they're only titles that make sense to me and those with pictures. We arrived here yesterday; and my first task was to assure you, my dear, that I am still looking. If you've gotten my previous letters, you'd know I go through the town and ask of you. And if no one has, which is a very hard thing to do… Really, Usopp, from what I remember and in my dreams, your face was one that was very hard to forget. It was often plagued by a mythical look that I never stop thinking of. If no one has seen you, I leave the letter there on my departure. So that if you ever were out there Usopp, you'd know I was looking too.

These reflections have dispelled me from the calmness with which I began this letter. Anyway, there was a beautiful quote that reminded me of you in her book, Usopp. And it read 'how lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.'

Often, I dream of you. And it's a natural thing for me. I loved you. I still do. I can't say goodbye to you, Usopp, not even when this is the end of our journey. In these years, I have matured. I've begun reading and writing and learning to be a better person since I've lost you. I have conquered my dreams and nightmares. I have sailed the seas twice over and I've seen the world change. But, to no avail did I find you. You still hold a very special place in my heart, and so I will keep looking. I know the saying. No man is an Island. He cannot be reached if he doesn't want to be found. He cannot be conquered and claimed. But, darling, I still search. I know that I write these letters and then I know less. I never know if you received them. I don't know where you are. But you're out there. I can feel it. Whatever our souls are made of, yours and mine are the same. It gets more dangerous and I fear this may be my last letter. But, darling, I still search. I love you tenderly. Remember me with affection, should you never hear from me again.

Sincerely and always Usopp's,

Monkey D. Luffy

"Old man, why….w-why are you crying?"

The man lowered the letter slowly and stood quietly for a short while, remembering how dangerous it really did get after that final letter and how they almost…. He sucked in his teeth. Suddenly, the man turned around toward the kitchen. The photo was still there and more tears left his eyes when he looked at it. When he returned, the children still shuffled around quietly, embarrassed and anxious that they had caught him like this.

He sat the picture down on the table and sat before it on his futon, watching them all look at the people in awe. When one of the girls frowned and looked up at him, he knew he still needed to explain a lot me.

"Why were you crying-"

"Nothing lasts," he muttered and there was a little crack in his voice. "You think it will. You think 'here is something I can hold on to.' But it always slips away." His hands tightened around the letter. "The man that wrote this letter. He was my captain."

"Captain? You were a pirate?"

He ignored them. "And this man. He's the one that was supposed to get this letter. He was my very dear friend." And his eyes teared up again because it hurt so bad that people could die without actually dying. That people could be broken and there was no way to fix them. "His name was Usopp."

The same girl gasped. "Usopp? The Us-" And then she stopped. And her eyes squinted. "Supposed to? He never- what happened?"

"I want to tell you all a story. It's a very long one and indeed a sad one, but I promise you will learn the most the world will ever give you. Give you feelings this world can't. I want to tell you why I live in this home alone and never come out. Why my friend in this picture is…..why people die. And how my captain changed the entire world for this man because he loved him. For a long time, my friend didn't come back to us. And we lied to ourselves and said he was okay."

"He was, right? Was Usopp okay?"

He smiled sadly and looked down. "That thing we told ourselves. It was mostly a lie. We didn't know or see what was going on until it was too late. Him being okay was a lie. But at least for a short while, it was a beautiful one."

And he began. It was the worst feeling in the world. And for a short second, he felt how Luffy felt those years ago when they told him the news. It was like losing Usopp all over again. And that was like hearing every goodbye ever said to him all at once.

Just a teaser for SO MANY more chapters to come. This story is going to be a freaking emotional ride. And if you want to see what happens to the crew, you'll have to read and review. This is a love story, by the way. A sad and happy one, but a love story nonetheless. Much love.