“Let’s go!” Usopp shouted as he saw Sanji’s back fading into the background. Leaving Sanji behind to find Chopper’s whereabouts, the rest of the crew ran towards the Going Merry quickly in order to not get caught by Smoker.

“Are you sure about leaving Sanji here?” Nami asked worriedly as she saw themselves sailing away from the shore on Going Merry.

“Yes, he’s been diligently training day and night after preparing our meals so I’m quite confident that he would be alright,” Usopp said with confidence.

“Oh, is that so? ...On that note, who’s going to prepare our meals now that Sanji’s gone?” Nami asked curiously.

“…” ‘Fuck, how could I let such a thing go off my mind? I should have sent Zoro instead!’ Usopp thought to himself while having a zoned-out expression.

“Hey!” Nami waved her hand over Usopp’s face to get him out of his state and looked questioningly at him.

‘Think Usopp…Think…you can’t let your woman find out that you are so irresponsible that you did things without even planning ahead’ Usopp forced his brain into going overdrive in order to think of an appropriate solution.

“Nami,” Usopp said as he grabbed Nami by her waist and pulled her towards him.

“U-Usopp!” Nami squealed out her resistance in a low voice as they were currently on the upper deck and the chances of them being found out by others were very high.

Not minding her soft squeal Usopp closed in on her and went for a passionate kiss with Nami which soon made Nami let go of her light resistance as all rational thoughts in her mind vanished. A few moments later Usopp gently let go of his hold of Nami and separated from her leaving a red-faced Nami with an expression that was wanting for more.

Licking his lips Usopp said while smiling, “Now that I’ve tasted my Nami so much I’ve almost forgotten the taste of the food that she makes. Would I get the honour of tasting her fine dishes along with the rest of the crew while our cook is gone?” Usopp held Nami’s chin with his hand as he looked into her eyes.

“Hehe~ What are you saying all that for, isn’t that natural?” Nami chuckled trying to hide her blush as she replied back to Usopp in a cheerful manner.

Seeing this Usopp took a sigh of relief. ‘Fortunately, it worked,’ he thought to himself. Since they would be sailing inland for a day and a half before docking a few dozen kilometres away from Yuba Nami won’t get overburdened with handling both cooking and navigating.

With the matter sorted Usopp went towards the lower deck and found Luffy sitting on his favourite spot of the ship and admiring the scenery.

“Oh! There’s someone rowing a boat ahead of us,” Luffy said, which attracted Usopp’s attention as he walked towards him and looked where Luffy’s gaze was directed. Not too far ahead of them there was a small boat suitable for one or two people to ride on. The person sitting on the boat seemed to be in quite a rush as he seemed to be rowing the boat quite hastily.

If it was only this much then Usopp would have retreated his gaze but the moment he set his gaze on that person he saw him frantically moving around in the boat from one place to another and this movement also revealed to him that the person whom he had mistaken to be a man was a woman.

Curious as to why the woman was frantically moving around on her boat Usopp observed the scene for a bit longer in interest. Not long after both Usopp and Luffy simultaneously let out a ‘Oh’ as they saw the boat capsize.

They thought the woman would be able to swim since she dared to be on a boat alone in such a deep region but they were wrong as after a few seconds of her flailing her arms desperately she no longer surfaced above water.

Quick on his feet Usopp removed his shirt and immediately jumped into the sea as he made his way towards the scene.

A few moments earlier…

“Hahaha I’m finally free from those bastards!” Alvida said to herself as she continued to row towards a distant place.

“Strawhat just you wait! As soon as I get my hands on you, I’ll make sure to make your life horrific,” Alvida gritted her teeth as she thought about Luffy. She was more furious towards the man who had reported them to the marines at Logue town but since she could find no clue about him all her anger was directed towards Luffy, as they were caught when they were planning to take him down.

“Hiss~”

“Huh? What’s that?” Alvida turned her head towards the side after hearing an uncanny sound.

“Hiss~” The water snake that had come onboard hissed once again but this time it made sure to make direct eye contact with Alvida.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” Alvida shouted as she frantically tried to distance herself from that demonic-looking thing but alas, all her efforts seemed to have failed. The snake seemed to have grown fond of her just like how the males on the streets grow fond of her when they see her on the streets, it kept on chasing after her.

She went to the right; the snake followed her. She went to the left; the snake followed her. She ran ahead, the snake ran along with her. She ran to the aft the snake longingly went after her. Thus, a chase ensued and during the chase, only abuses were coming out of Alvida’s mouth.

The rolling motion produced because of her movements was too much for the boat to handle and it finally gave in and capsized.

As a professional ‘hammer’ she flailed her arms in a well-practiced manner in an attempt to get hold of the boat so that she could float but it was all for naught as she immediately started descending deeper and deeper into the water. The light blue sky became a shade darker and it continued to do so as her body continued to plunge deeper and deeper. Second after second she could feel her body grow colder as holding her breath became more and more difficult until she finally let go of the breath she was holding in.

As the water swiftly entered through her nostrils and her mouth the following last thoughts were being processed in Alvida’s mind as she found her consciousness fading slowly “Is this my end?...ah fuck…I couldn’t even have my revenge in the end…after all the effort I put into escaping that shithole…in the end, it doesn’t matter right?...now that I think of it…it wasn’t really a big grudge…I’ll forgive you strawhat…oh yes…the guy who reported me…fuck you…but since it’s my end…I’ll f-forgive you too..you b-bastard…”

To Alvida’s surprise, just a second before she was about to lose consciousness a warm body gently embraced her, bringing her a sense of comfort like never before. ‘So that’s how death’s embrace feels like?” Alvida thought to herself as she finally lost consciousness, surrendering herself to her fate.