OOC Log: No more for awhile, I swear
Who: Lucci and Usopp
What: Swimming lessons! ...Floating, whatever.
Where: The island the Straw Hats are currently on.
When: A couple days ago
Rating: PG
Usopp laid out the last of his several spare pairs of swim trunks for Lucci's perusal. There was bound to be at least one pair he'd be okay with, or so Usopp hoped, but really, who knew when it came to Lucci. He was so picky about clothes, and maybe that extended to swim trunks as well. Some of the pairs might be a little iffy for fitting as well, but plenty of them had drawstrings that could be loosened so the larger man should be able to wear them without too much trouble. If worse came to worse, Usopp supposed he could just grab a pair out of Zoro's locker. Usopp looked up to the door of the men's cabin, expecting Lucci to arrive at any moment now. They'd had to time this carefully, since Lucci didn't seem to want any of the others to know about it--less chance they'd want to watch that way, Usopp supposed.
Lucci didn't even bother with the ladder going down to the men's cabin - he usually didn't if there was no one around for him to land on. Hopping down to the floor, he stood up and dusted himself off a bit. "I'm here," he said to Usopp, completely unnecessarily. It looked like Usopp had already got out a few pairs of swim trunks; the pair he had on already appeared to have seahorses on them. Lucci stared at them for a moment, completely deadpan, and then sighed. Truthfully, he didn't see much of a problem with seahorses on swimwear, but it was practically traditional at this point to try to make Usopp feel bad about his fashion sense.
Usopp glanced down at his swim trunks, then shot a suspicious look back up at Lucci. "These are brand new," he said, crossing his arms carefully over his chest. "So you can't wear them, since I haven't even gotten a chance to yet, really." Okay, he didn't actually think that was what the look was about, but it was easier on his pride to pretend he'd misunderstood. He waved an arm over to the rest of the swim trunks he had laid out. "Take your pick, though."
Lucci rolled his eyes. "I don't want your seahorse shorts, Usopp." He stuck his hands in his pockets and went to look at the rest. Most of them had patterns on them that Lucci could only honestly describe as ridiculous. Which, really, given that this was Usopp, was a far cry from surprising. After a moment, he picked up a pair and held it at arm's length. "These look like they'll fit," he said. They were red. Bright red. It could be worse.
"...well, good, because you can't have them." Usopp watched Lucci look over his selection of trunks. Naturally he picked the most boring-looking ones: almost a solid color, just a wave pattern in a slightly different shade of red on the sides. Oh well. It didn't really matter. "We should probably decide what you wanna use, too. I mean, should I grab the inner tube and water wings, or a body board, or...maybe all of them?" Usopp knew that Lucci was concerned about his dignity, but really, this wasn't going to work at all unless he had something to help him float. Besides, Usopp had scouted out a secluded stretch of beach nearby where he was pretty sure they'd be alone, so he wouldn't have to worry about other people seeing.
"Wearing water wings will be the last thing I do," Lucci said flatly. "I wouldn't be able to look at my reflection the same way again." He held the pair of trunks up to his waist; they would probably fit. He tossed them back where they'd been and started to unbutton his shirt. "I'll accept that there's no real dignified way to float, but I plan to do the best I can."
Usopp flapped a hand dismissively. "Fine, fine. No water wings. I just think they'd make it easier for you. Or...at least, maybe you wouldn't have to worry quite as much about sinking?" Usopp crossed over to the trunk in the corner of the room that held some of their random beach stuff and began rifling through it. "Shovel and pail...no. Water wings? ...no. Here's an inner tube; I guess we'll have to blow it up...oh! Flippers? ...I'm guessing not. Oh!" He sat back and held up his discovery. "How about a snorkel?"
Lucci pulled his shirt off and then looked up, staring. "A snorkel." He paused, then started on his pants, shaking his head. "I think I'll be fine without one, thank you. What would be the point if I can't go underwater, anyway?"
"...oh yeah, I guess you're right." Usopp sighed and tossed it back into the trunk. Luffy liked them, but mostly just because he thought it looked cool. "So...just the inner tube, then?"
"All right." Lucci toed his shoes off and sat down for a moment to pull of his socks. The prospect of sinking was probably the least appealing thing Lucci could think of, and he was a little apprehensive about all of this, but he felt like wearing water wings would be admitting defeat. And also it would look ridiculous. Besides, Usopp had promised not to let him drown. "I'm sorry that I'm not as much fun to swim with as Luffy and Chopper ostensibly are."
Usopp shrugged carefully. Really, he was thrilled he'd gotten Lucci to agree to this at all, so he wasn't feeling particularly disappointed that he was shunning the idea of a few...accessories. "Don't-- that's not a big deal. We'll have fun anyway!" He flashed an encouraging grin.
Lucci looked up and raised an eyebrow, but he was smirking the slightest bit. "I'm sure." He stood back up and slid out of his pants and underwear, grabbing the swim trunks so he could pull them on. "Just remember that if you do let me drown, I'll come back to haunt you."
"I'm not gonna let you drown!" Usopp said, sounding just the slightest bit offended. He sighed, standing with his arm hooked through the inner tube, and shook his head. He was pretty sure Lucci was just teasing about the drowning stuff, so it was pointless to get upset about it, even mildly. "Anyway," he continued, "you couldn't haunt me even if you wanted to. George wouldn't let you." He'd meant that as a joke, but he regretted saying it as soon as the words left his lips, and hastily busied himself with blowing up the inner tube to hide his discomfort.
Lucci paused in the act of adjusting the drawstring on his borrowed swim trunks, glancing up at Usopp and then quickly back to his hands. "No, I suppose not," he said, a bit awkwardly. He turned to start folding his clothes so they wouldn't sit on the floor and wrinkle. "Anyway. I know you wouldn't let me drown."
Usopp nodded as emphatically as he could with the air nozzle of an inner tube in his mouth. He blew a few more big breaths into it and pinched it shut with his fingers, looking over at Lucci. "Good. You almost ready to go?" Not that there was any great rush and he still had quite a ways to go on inflating the inner tube. He was just getting excited.
Lucci took another second to finish folding his clothes and then turned back around. "I am if you are." It looked like Usopp was still busy inflating the inner tube, and Lucci wasn't exactly excited about this at the moment, but...now or never. Maybe Usopp was right and it would turn out to be entertaining. Either way, it would be good to find out what it was like in order to...know his enemy, so to speak.
"Okay! Let's get going, then!" Usopp said, slightly out of breath with all the inner tube inflating. He pinched the valve shut and pressed it closed so he could carry the semi-inflated tube more easily, then started walking for the door. "Oh!" he said, stopping short as he realized something. "Towels. We need towels!"
"Are there any here?" Lucci asked, looking around. "I suppose we can get some from the bathroom."
"No, I've got some beach towels!" Usopp ran over to his locker, pulling an oversized towel out, then scanned the room, since he knew there should be at least one more somewhere. Finally he saw it, buried under a pile of some of his and Luffy's clothes. He bent and tugged it out, sending socks scattering, and threw both towels over his shoulder. "Okay, all set!"
"I call the one that wasn't marinating in old socks," Lucci said flatly. He wanted to put his hands in his pockets, but it occurred to him that he didn't have any. This was going to be a long day. "Where is it that we're going, exactly?"
"Hey, it's clean! Mostly. I guess someone maybe used it the other day, but only once." Usopp shrugged. "Not that it matters. Fine, you have this stripy one, then." He pulled it from his shoulder and held it out to Lucci as they began walking again, leaving the men's cabin and going out onto the deck. "Anyway, I found a nice little stretch of beach that's kinda in the middle of nowhere; it's not too far away, but it's pretty secluded. It's rocky on both sides and it's too narrow for a ship, so I think it'll be pretty private. So you don't have to worry about, you know. Anyone seeing you." Usopp had factored that in when scouting for a prospective place to try this, since Lucci had seemed concerned about it.
Lucci hadn't really expected Usopp to take that into consideration so much. He took the towel offered to him and flung it over his shoulder. "Good," he said, and then, a bit quieter, "Thank you." He really didn't want anyone to see him like this. First of all, there was nothing dignified about being a grown man in an inner tube, and second, he didn't like for anyone to see him out of his element. Or...nervous. For some reason, it was a little less bad if it was just Usopp.
Usopp smiled. "No problem." It seemed like he'd been right, judging by Lucci's reaction. They disembarked in silence, perhaps hoping to escape anyone's attention, though Usopp was pretty sure most of the rest of the crew were either occupied or in town right now. He started heading inland a little when they reached the beach, veering to the left slightly. "It's this way," he said. There wasn't much in the way of a path, since the town was in the opposite direction.
Lucci followed, keeping silent. He didn't have much to say. It didn't feel like a wholly uncomfortable silence, though; it was a nice day, and the beach was rather attractive, as beaches went, making for good scenery on the walk. "How did you learn to swim?" he asked abruptly. It occurred to him that he'd never asked.
Usopp almost didn't hear the question at first, or rather, he heard it but the words took a moment to sink in. He turned back to Lucci, walking sideways so he would have to twist his still-healing body too much. "...I don't really remember; I was pretty little. I think mostly my mom taught me, though. She used to like the beach a lot. We'd go and have picnics by the shore a lot, and watch for ships. You know…before she got sick."
"Ah," Lucci said. He still wasn't sure what to say whenever Usopp brought up his mother. It seemed to involve a whole host of emotions that Lucci wasn't really familiar with. "...I remember most of my childhood very clearly. I used to watch for ships a lot too, actually."
"Yeah?" Usopp ducked under a low-hanging tree branch, turning more sharply to the left. They were getting close now. "I can remember bits and pieces from when I was really little, but it's pretty mixed up." He paused, a little curious. "Did you like ships? I...well, I guess it was kind of a game for us."
"I did, when I was young," Lucci said, pushing the tree branch aside as he walked. "It was interesting to watch them and wonder where they'd come from, where they were going, what they were carrying, who was on them. My favorite were the Marine ships. They were much more expensive-looking and larger than the others, full of people who looked like they knew what they were doing. Those ships looked like they were going somewhere important. Somewhere...better."
"Hm. We didn't see a lot of Marine ships. Mostly just fishing ships and merchants, I guess. There were a few, but...I think our island was too little and out of the way for most people to bother with. Most of the ships didn't even land there, just passed by on the horizon." The land began to slope, and Usopp took care as he moved down, knocking a few small pebbles loose. He didn't want to trip and fall, since he was still healing, and breaking his fall would be painful at best. "So. Did you want to be a Marine when you were little?" It seemed like sort of an odd dream to him, considering he'd always wanted to be a pirate and follow in his father's footsteps.
"Yes, I suppose I did," Lucci said, although he'd never really thought about it that way before. He watched carefully as Usopp climbed down the slope, making sure that he wouldn't fall. He was injured enough as it was. "It was more that I wanted to be like them rather than wanting to be one of them. I wanted what they had."
Usopp held his right hand up to shade his eyes as he looked into the horizon. The sparse canopy of trees hid the shore from where they were, but he could just make out what he was looking for: a spur of rock that jutted up from the beach. "What they had? What do you mean? ...it's there, by the way." He pointed. "We're close."
"A purpose in life," Lucci said. He held up his hand to his eyes in similar fashion and looked down the beach in the direction Usopp indicated. "Ah, good."
Usopp raised an eyebrow slightly. "How old were you, again?"
Lucci thought for a moment. "...The earliest I can remember thinking that...I was about five."
"...oh." Usopp nodded his head just a little, not sure how to respond to that. He supposed it seemed both impressive and sad at the same time. "So. That's why you ended up joining the government I guess, huh?"
"Most of the time, Marine ships didn't land on our island. They just passed by. One would actually land every six months or so, sometimes longer in between. One day, a Marine ship docked, and..." Lucci shrugged. "I suppose I thought that if I didn't take the chance, it might never come again, or by the time it did, it would be too late. So I stowed away on it while everyone was busy."
"So...you must have lucked out, huh? I don't think they'd normally be very happy about a stowaway on a Marine ship. They let you join anyway? Or...well. Hm. I guess you weren't really ever a Marine, were you?" Usopp pushed through the last scraggly branches of the forest before it gave up the ghost near the shore, and grinned, Lucci's story temporarily forgotten as the beach he'd been leading them to came into view. "Look, there's the spot! What do you think?"
"No, a man found me and I had to kill him to keep him from throwing me overboard. When I managed to get off the ship, I was half starved and a woman took pity on me and brought me to where they were keeping the rest of the recruits." Lucci took a look around where they'd stopped. "Ah. It's nice." It was secluded and didn't look too deep. As far as water went, it was perfect.
Usopp stopped walking and blinked, holding up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, wait. How old were you?"
Lucci blinked back. "Eight," he said, totally matter-of-fact.
Try as he might, Usopp didn't have an appropriate response for that. He tried to figure out what one might be, and came up blank. Then he realized the silence was beginning to stretch out to something bordering uncomfortably long, even though it'd only been a few seconds. He quickly pulled the inner tube up, popping out the valve again and bringing it to his lips, so he wouldn't have to speak.
Lucci wasn't really sure what to make of that. He looked at Usopp for a long moment, watching him go about blowing up the inner tube, and finally gave up on trying to figure out what he was thinking. Instead, he shrugged and walked away, up the edge of the water, and looked in. It seemed innocuous enough, just looking at it.
Usopp noticed Lucci approaching the water, and began to walk after him, still blowing up the inner tube. He didn't think it would take much more and it should be good. "What do you think?" he asked, feeling a little awkward about just earlier. He decided he'd just ignore that and move on, forcing a smile on his face that soon became genuine as he continued speaking. "The water's really clear, right? And it stays pretty level; I mean, it slopes deeper, but no sudden drop-offs or anything. Here, I'm almost done with this, and then you can put it on..." He began blowing up the inner tube again, starting to feel just the tiniest bit dizzy as he tried to finish the job quickly.
Lucci was so busy examining the surface of the water that it took him a moment to realize that Usopp was speaking. He had to remind himself that it was impossible to stare down a lake. "You didn't have to do that all by yourself, you know," Lucci said. "Especially if I'm going to use it. I could have done it." He felt a little awkward about not having offered earlier.
Usopp pinched the valve closed and held the inner tube out to Lucci. "No problem, no problem!" He sounded slightly winded again. "You can do it the next time, I guess. Anyway, here you go!"
Lucci took it. "I will, then. Thank you." He hadn't considered the possibility of a next time, but he forced himself not to rule that out before they'd even started. Besides, if he elected not to do this again, surely there was something he could do to make it up to Usopp. He'd probably have to do something to repay him for his patience anyway. Lucci looked at the inner tube for a moment, then the water again, unsure how to proceed.
Usopp watched Lucci stand there looking oddly uncertain for a moment. It was sort of strange, seeing him looking like that, and maybe even a little disquieting. "You should probably put it on first," Usopp finally said, miming pulling an inner tube up his waist. "Then you don't have to worry about holding on to it."
"Ah," Lucci said, and after a moment's continued hesitation, he stepped into the inner tube and pulled it up around his waist. This done, he stared out at the water again, and then at Usopp, with a look of vague consternation. "I feel like an idiot," he muttered. All right, maybe he was just stalling, but he did also feel like an idiot, to be fair.
"No, no; it's fine," Usopp said, gesturing around them. "Anyway, no one can see you, so you don't have to feel dumb." Usopp kicked off his flip-flops and shrugged out of his shirt, leaving himself in just his swim trunks. "Let's go in the water now!" He started for the water, wading in. The waves lapped around his ankles, then up to his calves, and he turned back to Lucci to see what he was doing.
Lucci paused, frozen in indecision, until Usopp turned and looked at him. Well...here went nothing. Wading out into the water was easy enough; he'd had to slosh through marshes and other nonsense before, and it was typically fine as long as he had solid ground to put his feet on. He even went so far as to take a few steps past where Usopp was standing.
Usopp smiled encouragingly at Lucci as he waded in. "There you go! It's not too bad so far, right?" He took another few steps to put himself even with Lucci, and started backing out even further, facing the other man. "Come on, let's go deeper!" The water was nearly to his thighs now, though of course Lucci was taller.
Lucci said nothing in response to this. He waded in a little deeper, following Usopp until he was in nearly up to his waist. It still wasn't bad, per se; just...a little disconcerting, perhaps. He looked down at the inner tube as though to remind himself that it was there.
Usopp nodded, noticing a somewhat dark expression on Lucci's face that...well, he wasn't exactly certain, but it might be mild worry. "A little more, and then...well you could just bend your legs and float in the shallower part for a while, I guess. Just kinda...get used to it?" He moved a little closer to Lucci, hoping he'd feel more secure if he were near. Just in case.
Lucci had to restrain himself from jerking away when Usopp started to come closer. He'd never exactly been good at accepting help, and something about the thought that Usopp might...try to pull him or just pat him on the back reassuringly or touch him at all made him cringe inwardly. It felt like some kind of vulnerability to have someone touch him at a time like this. But he didn't say anything, didn't outwardly react, and reminded himself firmly that it was waist-deep and that he was wearing a godforsaken inner tube, and that if anything, the situation was too ridiculous to be cause for concern. He took a few more steps.
Usopp made no move to touch him, not because he knew any of what Lucci was thinking, of course, but because he just wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of touching Lucci in the first place. He wasn't really scared of him anymore, no, but Lucci still seemed to give off a "don't touch" aura in general to Usopp, and he didn't want to test that. He kept step with Lucci as he walked, still going backward out into the deeper water so he could keep an eye on him. "You're quiet," he remarked.
"Sorry," Lucci said automatically, but made no effort to speak more. Finally, Lucci judged that he was deep enough into the water that going further might be problematic. He paused for a long moment, staring down at the surface of the water, and past that, at Usopp's feet. He really could see all the way to the bottom. That was...oddly reassuring. Another second's pause, and Lucci decided to just go for it. He let his legs give way underneath him and caught himself on the inner tube, hanging suspended in the water.
Usopp smiled, looking anticipatory. "Well?" he prompted, watching Lucci bob there. "What do you think?"
Lucci took a moment to analyze the situation. He felt as though he couldn't really move, which was slightly discomforting, but he was floating as opposed to sinking. It was...intriguing. "Well," he began slowly, "It's wet. Interesting. But mostly wet."
Usopp laughed loudly. "Wet," he repeated. "Well, yeah, I guess it must be. The inner tube's working okay? You don't feel like you're gonna sink?" He ducked down in the water, wetting himself up to his neck, and began to tread water despite the fact that it was still shallow enough to plant his feet. "...want me to tug you out a little deeper? Not too deep," he hastily amended, "but just enough so you don't have to keep your legs bent so much?" He bent his head back and wet his hair.
"...All right," Lucci said after a moment. He was still getting used to this as it was. It was just bothering him that he couldn't move much on his own. "No, I don't think I'm going to sink. It's fine."
"Good, good!" Usopp reached out and grabbed hold of the inner tube, planting his feet and beginning to walk out a bit deeper. Walking was starting to get difficult the deeper he got, especially dragging Lucci behind him, but he managed to get them out to a point where the water was about to his neck. He let go, starting to tread water again as he watched Lucci for a reaction. "You can...paddle around and stuff too, you know."
"Oh," said Lucci, as though that hadn't occurred to him. He looked around. It was a little more disconcerting now that his feet didn't seem to want to drift down and touch the sand, but...all in all, it wasn't so bad. "This is...different," he said at last.
"Different bad, or different good?" Usopp asked, still treading water. He was grinning again. He couldn't help it.
"I'm not sure yet," Lucci said. Which surprised him a little, because he'd been quite sure, going into this, that he wouldn't like it. Awkwardly, he reached out and propelled himself forward a bit by sloshing the water back with his hands. "...Huh," he said thoughtfully, when he came to a rest again.
That made Usopp smile a little wider, even though he was already grinning. "Right, like that! Maybe you can't swim exactly, but you can still get around. And it feels kind of cool, right? Floating in the water?" Usopp rolled into a back float, trying to remember how he'd described it before when Lucci asked.
"Hmm." Lucci tried to look appropriately scholarly for someone floating in an inner tube. It probably wasn't working. He propelled himself forward through the water a few more times; this time, he drifter further when he stopped, having accrued more forward momentum. It was actually kind of - well, it might be fun if Lucci were the sort of person who considered things like this fun. It took him a second to figure out how to turn around, but once he did, he watched somewhat curiously as Usopp floated on his back.
Usopp had been watching Lucci as he pushed himself across the water. He was secretly ecstatic that Lucci seemed to be...well, maybe enjoying himself would be a little strong, but it didn't seem like he hated it, at least. He didn't want to show it too much, though, since he felt like Lucci might decide to be contrary about it if he did. He waved a hand lazily as Lucci turned around to face him again.
Lucci was perfectly aware of the principals of buoyancy, but it was still odd to watch someone floating almost on top of the water like that. Especially when he was actually in the water as well. Which...was turning out to be significantly less daunting than he'd assumed. "I wonder if Hattori can swim," Lucci said suddenly. "Most pigeons can, I think, but I'm not sure if they have to learn or if it comes naturally. I've never thought about it before."
Usopp tilted his head a bit, missing the beginning of what Lucci said with his ears filled with water, but he quickly figured it out from the context. "Maybe if we do this again, we can bring him and see."
"He doesn't like water," Lucci said. It was annoying how he kept drifting around to face away from Usopp, but it turned out that spinning back around was...oddly entertaining. "Large bodies of it, anyway. He likes to take baths." Lucci thought for a moment. "...But if he saw me in the water, he might decide that it's all right."
Usopp tired of lying still and went back to treading water, kicking himself afloat with just his feet for a few moments while he brushed away the wet hair that had plastered itself to his face and pulled it behind his neck. He didn't have anything to fasten it with, so it would soon be everywhere again, but for now, it would do. "Oh. Well, yeah, maybe he just doesn't like water because you don't. He does kinda like to match with you a lot. So maybe it's one of those things?" Usopp paddled around a little, starting to go around Lucci in the opposite direction that he kept rotating. "I guess the water wings really weren't necessary, huh? You were right anyway; they do look pretty silly. I just thought. I dunno. Better safe than sorry?"
"I'm not really worried about drowning," Lucci said. Anymore. It really wasn't that bad after all - sort of amusing, in fact - and Usopp was right there, having the ability to swim. "I have a lifeguard," he said, smirking.
That made Usopp grin. "Yeah, exactly! I'm on watch for the first sign of...sinking." For a brief moment they were both face to face, and Usopp stopped paddling and began to tread water again, looking carefully at Lucci's face. "Are you-- you're having fun, right? At least a little?"
Lucci wasn't exactly prepared to make that call; it was...well, it was entertaining. But he felt stupid admitting that it was fun. Still, Usopp looked hopeful, and Lucci knew that he wasn't the most enthusiastic person to be around. He didn't want to let Usopp down after all this. Carefully, and with some embarrassment, Lucci nodded.
Impossibly, Usopp's grin got wider; he wasn't feeling vindicated or smug, but simply purely happy that Lucci wasn't hating it. That he was apparently enjoying himself! "Awesome!" he said, wondering briefly if it would be a horrible idea to playfully splash Lucci. ...it probably was. He did it anyway, though he was careful not to get water in his face.
...Lucci hadn't been expecting that. He blinked, momentarily startled, and then glared at Usopp in intense, mock indignation. He splashed back, considerably harder, and smirked in a faintly devious fashion.
Usopp shrunk into the water a little under that glare, thinking he'd gone too far at first, but he laughed loudly when Lucci splashed back, sending another splash at him in retaliation. He was still blinking the water from Lucci's splash out of his eyes, however, so it wasn't well-aimed and more a reflex than anything else.
The only time in his life Lucci had ever regretted the inability to swim was right now, wishing he could ambush Usopp from underneath and yank him down into the water by his ankle. He was just used to taking advantage of his surroundings. And besides, he suspected it might be hilarious. He flung more water and tried to propel himself backwards a bit, which was trickier than going forward.
"H-hey, no fair!" Usopp sputtered under the onslaught of splashes, though he was laughing harder than ever. "You can use both hands!" Not that Usopp couldn't exactly; he'd just been using one to tread water. Now he began to keep himself afloat with just his feet, sending a large two-handed wave in Lucci's direction, and quickly diving below the surface right after, hoping that splash would buy him enough time to swim below Lucci and get behind him before he recovered. He'd forgotten that the water was so clear that any attempt at stealth was basically useless.
It wasn't entirely useless, because now Lucci had water in his eyes and had to spend a second readjusting his arm so that he could wipe it off without slipping. Fortunately, instinct told him what Usopp was planning as soon as he noticed the other's absence; unfortunately, turning around carefully in a now-slippery inner tube was harder than it seemed.
Usopp glanced up through the clear water, seeing where Lucci was in relation to him. It was a shame that Lucci couldn't swim, he thought, because it almost seemed illegal not to reach up and grab one of his ankles, but he thought that would be crossing a line, even if he didn't pull him into the water. So he resisted the impulse and started to surface, not quite behind Lucci, who was already in the process of turning himself around to meet him. Before he could, Usopp sent up another couple of fast and messy splashes at the back of Lucci's head, laughing when it plastered his hair into a funny shape.
Lucci jumped, causing the inner tube to teeter dangerously and his arm to slip. He scrabbled momentarily to right himself. Panic-inducing as that had been, it also put him in a prime position for more splashing, so he sent up another wave at Usopp and then went back to clinging for dear life. "Okay," he said hurriedly, reminding himself that flotation devices weren't meant to be gripped this hard, "I think that's enough."
Usopp nodded, laughing too hard now to properly tread water and splash worth anything. "Okay, okay. Truce!" He held out one hand toward Lucci.
Lucci took a perhaps inordinate amount of time readjusting his position to make sure he didn't slip before he dared to do anything more complicated with his hands than cling. He reached out and grabbed Usopp's hand, shaking it once and then reverting to keeping his grip on the inner tube. "Truce."
Usopp couldn't stop grinning. He'd just gotten Lucci to play around with him, and he considered that a sort of major victory. "So," he said, moving his hand back to the water where he was still treading, "you want to float around for longer, or are you ready to go back to shore, too?"
"Shore would be nice," Lucci said, perhaps a little too quickly. Floating had turned out to be entertaining, although he felt like an idiot for getting into a splash fight (an amused idiot, at least), but he was starting to get concerned that he was going to slip if he kept this up.
"Okay! Want me to pull you in again?"
Lucci looked back toward shore. He could probably make it back himself, but the idea of falling into the water made even that a little discomforting to consider. "...Could you?"
"Yeah, no problem. Leave it to me!" Usopp was just noticing that in the course of floating around, they'd managed to drift further out, so his feet would no longer touch bottom. Not that that was a problem. He's just have to swim and tow for a while. He could manage to pull a half-drowned Luffy out of the ocean and back onto Sunny, so this would be a snap in comparison, given that Lucci had the inner tube to keep him afloat. He grabbed it, finding it a little harder to get a good grip on it now that it was slippery with the water from their splash fight, but he thought he could manage. Finally satisfied with his grip, he began to swim toward shore.
It was kind of entertaining, actually, being pulled along like this and feeling almost weightless in the water. Lucci had had his dignity compromised in a number of ways today, but at least that had the benefit of making him feel as though he no longer had the right to be concerned about minor things like this.
Usopp didn't bother speaking as he continued to swim to shore. He got to the point where he could have stood and touched bottom, but just kept swimming instead; it seemed simpler for now. Finally they where in shallow enough water that it made no sense to keep trying to swim, so he stood up and tugged Lucci a few more yards. "Oh," he said belatedly. "You can probably just stand now."
"I was waiting for you to notice," Lucci said, smirking. His feet were sort of dragging on the sand now; he stood up, feeling oddly heavy after being in the water, and stepped out of the inner tube. He kicked it up onto the beach and started to walk back in.
Usopp gave a small eyeroll. "You just like being a jerk, don't you?" he said with a sigh, though his tone was still light. He ducked down and tipped backward one more time to wet his hair and gather it back, so it was relatively neater, then stood and followed Lucci as he waded to shore. "Does it feel weird to you when you come out of the water?" he asked, thinking of the sensation of feeling slow and heavy when he emerged from water, and wondering if Lucci felt the same.
"Yes, I do." Lucci was combing his fingers through his hair, trying to get it back into some semblance of order. He wished he would have thought to re-wet it like Usopp had. "...It does, a bit. Sort of heavy."
Usopp nodded, glad Lucci knew what he meant. "Yeah, that's it. Do you get what I meant about it being kind of like flying, though? I mean, that's probably not the best description, but it's the closest thing I can think of. And then when you come out of the water, you feel kinda heavy and clumsy." He reached the edge of the water, where the waves were lapping onto the wet sand, and paused to dig his toes in.
"Mm." Lucci finished smoothing his hair down, deeming that it was as good as it was going to get. He'd been idly taking stock of all the little shells and rocks in the sand as he stood there, but a thought occurred to him, and he looked back up at Usopp. "...Have you ever actually been flying?"
"Well..." Usopp looked a little chastened. "Sort of? Not really, I guess. I mean, I've ridden on some stuff, like the hang-gliders, and then...some, uh. Falling from high places. That's--it almost counts." He shrugged. "I know it's probably not the same, but there's also...have you ever had flying dreams? That's probably what I was thinking of, I guess."
"I suppose hang-gliding might count," Lucci said thoughtfully. "I haven't had any flying dreams that I can remember, but I can use Kami-e and Geppou. That's probably as close to flying as a normal human can get."
"No?" Usopp noticed a shell with a pretty iridescent blue sheen to it and bent to pick it up. "I thought everybody had those dreams sometimes." He thought for a moment, trying to put the names Lucci had used to images in his mind. "That one where you kind of...kick in the air, right? What's the other one?"
Lucci shrugged. "I might have; I don't remember all of my dreams." He went back to looking at shells, though none immediately struck him as impressive. He knew people liked to collect them, but they were just abandoned homes of dead animals, weren't they? "Geppou is essentially the ability to jump to extraordinary heights; most people aren't able to keep it up while suspended in the air until they get good enough at it. Kami-e is the ability to go limp and float in the air like paper. It's primarily for avoiding attack while conserving energy."
Usopp nodded absently. He'd never exactly been a fan of Rokushiki in the first place, but he might have been able to accept that some of it was kind of neat, except for the thing Lucci had told him not too long ago about it shortening his lifespan. Usopp stubbornly pushed that out of his mind for now, not wanting to start dwelling on it again, and examined the shell in his hand. He thought he might try to make something for George with it. She didn't really wear a lot of jewelry, but maybe he could set it and make a bracelet or something. "Mm," he said, noncommittally, walking up the beach to grab their towels. He tossed Lucci his.
Lucci snatched the towel and started to dry off with it - primarily so that he wouldn't drip all over the deck when they got back, because he was planning to take a shower anyway. "...Usopp?" he said, after a moment of silence.
"Yeah?" Usopp looked up from drying his hair.
"Thank you. For...putting up with me. And everything." Lucci stared studiously at his towel, as though there were some kind of hidden message in it.
Usopp laughed a little self-consciously. "Shouldn't it be the other way around? Well. Uh. No problem." He sighed a little, but it was a content one. "I'm glad you decided to try this, anyway. And it was kinda nice to do something fun like this with you. Ur. At least, I hope you thought it was fun. At least a little?"
Lucci rolled his eyes. He couldn't help it. "Didn't I already say so?" Well, not in so many words, but it was the same end result. "I'm glad you had fun too, in spite of the fact that you had to drag me around everywhere."
Usopp grinned, ignoring the eyeroll. "It's not like that was hard or anything. Absolutely no sweat for the great Captain Usopp!" He finished toweling off his hair, then wiped his arms and shoulders, finally draping the towel across them when he finished. "So," he began carefully, "wanna do it again some time?"
"...I suppose so," Lucci said, dropping his towel over his shoulder. "Why not?"
"Awesome." Usopp bent over and scooped up the inner tube, brushing the worst of the sand off of it. "Wanna head back then? I guess there's no rush, but..."
Lucci shrugged. "All right. Remind me to bring Hattori next time, though."
Taking another moment to let some of the air out of the inner tube to make it easier to carry, Usopp nodded absently. "Yeah, sure thing....can you hold this a sec?" He held out the inner tube, grabbing his flip-flops from the sand with his free hand and knocking some more of the sand off them against his leg.
"I'll carry it." He put the inner tube over his arm. "...I still can't believe I just literally took part in a splash fight."
"Thanks," Usopp said, pulling on his shoes. "Hey, was that your first one? You should be proud; you did really good!" He scanned the beach for his discarded shirt and finally noticed it, a little behind him. He bent for it, realizing his left side was starting to feel a little stiff now. Maybe he'd overdone it a little. He'd just make sure to keep his arm in the sling again when they got back.
Lucci noticed the way Usopp tensed up a little when he bent to pick up his shirt, but didn't say anything. If Chopper had said he was allowed to come out of the infirmary and do things like get into water fights, it wasn't Lucci's place to say otherwise. But he had to ask. "Are you feeling all right?"
Usopp paused in shrugging into his shirt. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little sore. ...does it show?" He hadn't thought it would be obvious, but Lucci was probably trained to notice little things like that, or maybe it was the cat part of him, or...something. "I guess maybe I should've stretched first or something. I'm probably gonna have to start doing that anyway, so I can get my arm back to normal."
"You should." There it was again; the urge to put his hands in his pockets. Lucci was starting to look forward to getting his pants back. "It doesn't show very much; I just notice things like that." He wasn't about to admit to Usopp that he was trained to spot weaknesses in his prey.
Usopp nodded, pulling his shirt the rest of the way on and dropping the shell in his breast pocket. "Yeah. I guess I should ask Chopper if there's something special I should be doing, or..." He felt like he was forgetting something, and looked around on the beach for a moment before realizing he just felt like that because he wasn't carrying the inner tube anymore. He paused, turning back to Lucci. "Uh. ...do you really know much about that stuff too?" Once he actually got it out there, it seemed like kind of a dumb question, since apparently Lucci knew about everything.
"Not as much as a doctor, but yes. Basic medical knowledge was a part of my training."
"Yeah? Like first aid and stuff?" They'd begun to walk back up the beach, heading more or less for the faint trail they'd blazed on the way here. Usopp reached the trees first, and held back a branch for Lucci like he was holding open a door.
Lucci nodded in thanks as he stepped past the branch. "Mostly first aid and anatomy, things like that."
Usopp nodded, letting Lucci lead the way this time since he knew where they were going. All in all, this little excursion hadn't taken very long, but it felt satisfying anyway. Besides, even if Lucci wasn't used to being in the water, Usopp's aching left side was a reminder that he'd still have to take it easy for a while. They walked a bit longer in silence, but it was a comfortable one. Usopp, at least, felt content and happy right now.
What: Swimming lessons! ...Floating, whatever.
Where: The island the Straw Hats are currently on.
When: A couple days ago
Rating: PG
Usopp laid out the last of his several spare pairs of swim trunks for Lucci's perusal. There was bound to be at least one pair he'd be okay with, or so Usopp hoped, but really, who knew when it came to Lucci. He was so picky about clothes, and maybe that extended to swim trunks as well. Some of the pairs might be a little iffy for fitting as well, but plenty of them had drawstrings that could be loosened so the larger man should be able to wear them without too much trouble. If worse came to worse, Usopp supposed he could just grab a pair out of Zoro's locker. Usopp looked up to the door of the men's cabin, expecting Lucci to arrive at any moment now. They'd had to time this carefully, since Lucci didn't seem to want any of the others to know about it--less chance they'd want to watch that way, Usopp supposed.
Lucci didn't even bother with the ladder going down to the men's cabin - he usually didn't if there was no one around for him to land on. Hopping down to the floor, he stood up and dusted himself off a bit. "I'm here," he said to Usopp, completely unnecessarily. It looked like Usopp had already got out a few pairs of swim trunks; the pair he had on already appeared to have seahorses on them. Lucci stared at them for a moment, completely deadpan, and then sighed. Truthfully, he didn't see much of a problem with seahorses on swimwear, but it was practically traditional at this point to try to make Usopp feel bad about his fashion sense.
Usopp glanced down at his swim trunks, then shot a suspicious look back up at Lucci. "These are brand new," he said, crossing his arms carefully over his chest. "So you can't wear them, since I haven't even gotten a chance to yet, really." Okay, he didn't actually think that was what the look was about, but it was easier on his pride to pretend he'd misunderstood. He waved an arm over to the rest of the swim trunks he had laid out. "Take your pick, though."
Lucci rolled his eyes. "I don't want your seahorse shorts, Usopp." He stuck his hands in his pockets and went to look at the rest. Most of them had patterns on them that Lucci could only honestly describe as ridiculous. Which, really, given that this was Usopp, was a far cry from surprising. After a moment, he picked up a pair and held it at arm's length. "These look like they'll fit," he said. They were red. Bright red. It could be worse.
"...well, good, because you can't have them." Usopp watched Lucci look over his selection of trunks. Naturally he picked the most boring-looking ones: almost a solid color, just a wave pattern in a slightly different shade of red on the sides. Oh well. It didn't really matter. "We should probably decide what you wanna use, too. I mean, should I grab the inner tube and water wings, or a body board, or...maybe all of them?" Usopp knew that Lucci was concerned about his dignity, but really, this wasn't going to work at all unless he had something to help him float. Besides, Usopp had scouted out a secluded stretch of beach nearby where he was pretty sure they'd be alone, so he wouldn't have to worry about other people seeing.
"Wearing water wings will be the last thing I do," Lucci said flatly. "I wouldn't be able to look at my reflection the same way again." He held the pair of trunks up to his waist; they would probably fit. He tossed them back where they'd been and started to unbutton his shirt. "I'll accept that there's no real dignified way to float, but I plan to do the best I can."
Usopp flapped a hand dismissively. "Fine, fine. No water wings. I just think they'd make it easier for you. Or...at least, maybe you wouldn't have to worry quite as much about sinking?" Usopp crossed over to the trunk in the corner of the room that held some of their random beach stuff and began rifling through it. "Shovel and pail...no. Water wings? ...no. Here's an inner tube; I guess we'll have to blow it up...oh! Flippers? ...I'm guessing not. Oh!" He sat back and held up his discovery. "How about a snorkel?"
Lucci pulled his shirt off and then looked up, staring. "A snorkel." He paused, then started on his pants, shaking his head. "I think I'll be fine without one, thank you. What would be the point if I can't go underwater, anyway?"
"...oh yeah, I guess you're right." Usopp sighed and tossed it back into the trunk. Luffy liked them, but mostly just because he thought it looked cool. "So...just the inner tube, then?"
"All right." Lucci toed his shoes off and sat down for a moment to pull of his socks. The prospect of sinking was probably the least appealing thing Lucci could think of, and he was a little apprehensive about all of this, but he felt like wearing water wings would be admitting defeat. And also it would look ridiculous. Besides, Usopp had promised not to let him drown. "I'm sorry that I'm not as much fun to swim with as Luffy and Chopper ostensibly are."
Usopp shrugged carefully. Really, he was thrilled he'd gotten Lucci to agree to this at all, so he wasn't feeling particularly disappointed that he was shunning the idea of a few...accessories. "Don't-- that's not a big deal. We'll have fun anyway!" He flashed an encouraging grin.
Lucci looked up and raised an eyebrow, but he was smirking the slightest bit. "I'm sure." He stood back up and slid out of his pants and underwear, grabbing the swim trunks so he could pull them on. "Just remember that if you do let me drown, I'll come back to haunt you."
"I'm not gonna let you drown!" Usopp said, sounding just the slightest bit offended. He sighed, standing with his arm hooked through the inner tube, and shook his head. He was pretty sure Lucci was just teasing about the drowning stuff, so it was pointless to get upset about it, even mildly. "Anyway," he continued, "you couldn't haunt me even if you wanted to. George wouldn't let you." He'd meant that as a joke, but he regretted saying it as soon as the words left his lips, and hastily busied himself with blowing up the inner tube to hide his discomfort.
Lucci paused in the act of adjusting the drawstring on his borrowed swim trunks, glancing up at Usopp and then quickly back to his hands. "No, I suppose not," he said, a bit awkwardly. He turned to start folding his clothes so they wouldn't sit on the floor and wrinkle. "Anyway. I know you wouldn't let me drown."
Usopp nodded as emphatically as he could with the air nozzle of an inner tube in his mouth. He blew a few more big breaths into it and pinched it shut with his fingers, looking over at Lucci. "Good. You almost ready to go?" Not that there was any great rush and he still had quite a ways to go on inflating the inner tube. He was just getting excited.
Lucci took another second to finish folding his clothes and then turned back around. "I am if you are." It looked like Usopp was still busy inflating the inner tube, and Lucci wasn't exactly excited about this at the moment, but...now or never. Maybe Usopp was right and it would turn out to be entertaining. Either way, it would be good to find out what it was like in order to...know his enemy, so to speak.
"Okay! Let's get going, then!" Usopp said, slightly out of breath with all the inner tube inflating. He pinched the valve shut and pressed it closed so he could carry the semi-inflated tube more easily, then started walking for the door. "Oh!" he said, stopping short as he realized something. "Towels. We need towels!"
"Are there any here?" Lucci asked, looking around. "I suppose we can get some from the bathroom."
"No, I've got some beach towels!" Usopp ran over to his locker, pulling an oversized towel out, then scanned the room, since he knew there should be at least one more somewhere. Finally he saw it, buried under a pile of some of his and Luffy's clothes. He bent and tugged it out, sending socks scattering, and threw both towels over his shoulder. "Okay, all set!"
"I call the one that wasn't marinating in old socks," Lucci said flatly. He wanted to put his hands in his pockets, but it occurred to him that he didn't have any. This was going to be a long day. "Where is it that we're going, exactly?"
"Hey, it's clean! Mostly. I guess someone maybe used it the other day, but only once." Usopp shrugged. "Not that it matters. Fine, you have this stripy one, then." He pulled it from his shoulder and held it out to Lucci as they began walking again, leaving the men's cabin and going out onto the deck. "Anyway, I found a nice little stretch of beach that's kinda in the middle of nowhere; it's not too far away, but it's pretty secluded. It's rocky on both sides and it's too narrow for a ship, so I think it'll be pretty private. So you don't have to worry about, you know. Anyone seeing you." Usopp had factored that in when scouting for a prospective place to try this, since Lucci had seemed concerned about it.
Lucci hadn't really expected Usopp to take that into consideration so much. He took the towel offered to him and flung it over his shoulder. "Good," he said, and then, a bit quieter, "Thank you." He really didn't want anyone to see him like this. First of all, there was nothing dignified about being a grown man in an inner tube, and second, he didn't like for anyone to see him out of his element. Or...nervous. For some reason, it was a little less bad if it was just Usopp.
Usopp smiled. "No problem." It seemed like he'd been right, judging by Lucci's reaction. They disembarked in silence, perhaps hoping to escape anyone's attention, though Usopp was pretty sure most of the rest of the crew were either occupied or in town right now. He started heading inland a little when they reached the beach, veering to the left slightly. "It's this way," he said. There wasn't much in the way of a path, since the town was in the opposite direction.
Lucci followed, keeping silent. He didn't have much to say. It didn't feel like a wholly uncomfortable silence, though; it was a nice day, and the beach was rather attractive, as beaches went, making for good scenery on the walk. "How did you learn to swim?" he asked abruptly. It occurred to him that he'd never asked.
Usopp almost didn't hear the question at first, or rather, he heard it but the words took a moment to sink in. He turned back to Lucci, walking sideways so he would have to twist his still-healing body too much. "...I don't really remember; I was pretty little. I think mostly my mom taught me, though. She used to like the beach a lot. We'd go and have picnics by the shore a lot, and watch for ships. You know…before she got sick."
"Ah," Lucci said. He still wasn't sure what to say whenever Usopp brought up his mother. It seemed to involve a whole host of emotions that Lucci wasn't really familiar with. "...I remember most of my childhood very clearly. I used to watch for ships a lot too, actually."
"Yeah?" Usopp ducked under a low-hanging tree branch, turning more sharply to the left. They were getting close now. "I can remember bits and pieces from when I was really little, but it's pretty mixed up." He paused, a little curious. "Did you like ships? I...well, I guess it was kind of a game for us."
"I did, when I was young," Lucci said, pushing the tree branch aside as he walked. "It was interesting to watch them and wonder where they'd come from, where they were going, what they were carrying, who was on them. My favorite were the Marine ships. They were much more expensive-looking and larger than the others, full of people who looked like they knew what they were doing. Those ships looked like they were going somewhere important. Somewhere...better."
"Hm. We didn't see a lot of Marine ships. Mostly just fishing ships and merchants, I guess. There were a few, but...I think our island was too little and out of the way for most people to bother with. Most of the ships didn't even land there, just passed by on the horizon." The land began to slope, and Usopp took care as he moved down, knocking a few small pebbles loose. He didn't want to trip and fall, since he was still healing, and breaking his fall would be painful at best. "So. Did you want to be a Marine when you were little?" It seemed like sort of an odd dream to him, considering he'd always wanted to be a pirate and follow in his father's footsteps.
"Yes, I suppose I did," Lucci said, although he'd never really thought about it that way before. He watched carefully as Usopp climbed down the slope, making sure that he wouldn't fall. He was injured enough as it was. "It was more that I wanted to be like them rather than wanting to be one of them. I wanted what they had."
Usopp held his right hand up to shade his eyes as he looked into the horizon. The sparse canopy of trees hid the shore from where they were, but he could just make out what he was looking for: a spur of rock that jutted up from the beach. "What they had? What do you mean? ...it's there, by the way." He pointed. "We're close."
"A purpose in life," Lucci said. He held up his hand to his eyes in similar fashion and looked down the beach in the direction Usopp indicated. "Ah, good."
Usopp raised an eyebrow slightly. "How old were you, again?"
Lucci thought for a moment. "...The earliest I can remember thinking that...I was about five."
"...oh." Usopp nodded his head just a little, not sure how to respond to that. He supposed it seemed both impressive and sad at the same time. "So. That's why you ended up joining the government I guess, huh?"
"Most of the time, Marine ships didn't land on our island. They just passed by. One would actually land every six months or so, sometimes longer in between. One day, a Marine ship docked, and..." Lucci shrugged. "I suppose I thought that if I didn't take the chance, it might never come again, or by the time it did, it would be too late. So I stowed away on it while everyone was busy."
"So...you must have lucked out, huh? I don't think they'd normally be very happy about a stowaway on a Marine ship. They let you join anyway? Or...well. Hm. I guess you weren't really ever a Marine, were you?" Usopp pushed through the last scraggly branches of the forest before it gave up the ghost near the shore, and grinned, Lucci's story temporarily forgotten as the beach he'd been leading them to came into view. "Look, there's the spot! What do you think?"
"No, a man found me and I had to kill him to keep him from throwing me overboard. When I managed to get off the ship, I was half starved and a woman took pity on me and brought me to where they were keeping the rest of the recruits." Lucci took a look around where they'd stopped. "Ah. It's nice." It was secluded and didn't look too deep. As far as water went, it was perfect.
Usopp stopped walking and blinked, holding up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, wait. How old were you?"
Lucci blinked back. "Eight," he said, totally matter-of-fact.
Try as he might, Usopp didn't have an appropriate response for that. He tried to figure out what one might be, and came up blank. Then he realized the silence was beginning to stretch out to something bordering uncomfortably long, even though it'd only been a few seconds. He quickly pulled the inner tube up, popping out the valve again and bringing it to his lips, so he wouldn't have to speak.
Lucci wasn't really sure what to make of that. He looked at Usopp for a long moment, watching him go about blowing up the inner tube, and finally gave up on trying to figure out what he was thinking. Instead, he shrugged and walked away, up the edge of the water, and looked in. It seemed innocuous enough, just looking at it.
Usopp noticed Lucci approaching the water, and began to walk after him, still blowing up the inner tube. He didn't think it would take much more and it should be good. "What do you think?" he asked, feeling a little awkward about just earlier. He decided he'd just ignore that and move on, forcing a smile on his face that soon became genuine as he continued speaking. "The water's really clear, right? And it stays pretty level; I mean, it slopes deeper, but no sudden drop-offs or anything. Here, I'm almost done with this, and then you can put it on..." He began blowing up the inner tube again, starting to feel just the tiniest bit dizzy as he tried to finish the job quickly.
Lucci was so busy examining the surface of the water that it took him a moment to realize that Usopp was speaking. He had to remind himself that it was impossible to stare down a lake. "You didn't have to do that all by yourself, you know," Lucci said. "Especially if I'm going to use it. I could have done it." He felt a little awkward about not having offered earlier.
Usopp pinched the valve closed and held the inner tube out to Lucci. "No problem, no problem!" He sounded slightly winded again. "You can do it the next time, I guess. Anyway, here you go!"
Lucci took it. "I will, then. Thank you." He hadn't considered the possibility of a next time, but he forced himself not to rule that out before they'd even started. Besides, if he elected not to do this again, surely there was something he could do to make it up to Usopp. He'd probably have to do something to repay him for his patience anyway. Lucci looked at the inner tube for a moment, then the water again, unsure how to proceed.
Usopp watched Lucci stand there looking oddly uncertain for a moment. It was sort of strange, seeing him looking like that, and maybe even a little disquieting. "You should probably put it on first," Usopp finally said, miming pulling an inner tube up his waist. "Then you don't have to worry about holding on to it."
"Ah," Lucci said, and after a moment's continued hesitation, he stepped into the inner tube and pulled it up around his waist. This done, he stared out at the water again, and then at Usopp, with a look of vague consternation. "I feel like an idiot," he muttered. All right, maybe he was just stalling, but he did also feel like an idiot, to be fair.
"No, no; it's fine," Usopp said, gesturing around them. "Anyway, no one can see you, so you don't have to feel dumb." Usopp kicked off his flip-flops and shrugged out of his shirt, leaving himself in just his swim trunks. "Let's go in the water now!" He started for the water, wading in. The waves lapped around his ankles, then up to his calves, and he turned back to Lucci to see what he was doing.
Lucci paused, frozen in indecision, until Usopp turned and looked at him. Well...here went nothing. Wading out into the water was easy enough; he'd had to slosh through marshes and other nonsense before, and it was typically fine as long as he had solid ground to put his feet on. He even went so far as to take a few steps past where Usopp was standing.
Usopp smiled encouragingly at Lucci as he waded in. "There you go! It's not too bad so far, right?" He took another few steps to put himself even with Lucci, and started backing out even further, facing the other man. "Come on, let's go deeper!" The water was nearly to his thighs now, though of course Lucci was taller.
Lucci said nothing in response to this. He waded in a little deeper, following Usopp until he was in nearly up to his waist. It still wasn't bad, per se; just...a little disconcerting, perhaps. He looked down at the inner tube as though to remind himself that it was there.
Usopp nodded, noticing a somewhat dark expression on Lucci's face that...well, he wasn't exactly certain, but it might be mild worry. "A little more, and then...well you could just bend your legs and float in the shallower part for a while, I guess. Just kinda...get used to it?" He moved a little closer to Lucci, hoping he'd feel more secure if he were near. Just in case.
Lucci had to restrain himself from jerking away when Usopp started to come closer. He'd never exactly been good at accepting help, and something about the thought that Usopp might...try to pull him or just pat him on the back reassuringly or touch him at all made him cringe inwardly. It felt like some kind of vulnerability to have someone touch him at a time like this. But he didn't say anything, didn't outwardly react, and reminded himself firmly that it was waist-deep and that he was wearing a godforsaken inner tube, and that if anything, the situation was too ridiculous to be cause for concern. He took a few more steps.
Usopp made no move to touch him, not because he knew any of what Lucci was thinking, of course, but because he just wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea of touching Lucci in the first place. He wasn't really scared of him anymore, no, but Lucci still seemed to give off a "don't touch" aura in general to Usopp, and he didn't want to test that. He kept step with Lucci as he walked, still going backward out into the deeper water so he could keep an eye on him. "You're quiet," he remarked.
"Sorry," Lucci said automatically, but made no effort to speak more. Finally, Lucci judged that he was deep enough into the water that going further might be problematic. He paused for a long moment, staring down at the surface of the water, and past that, at Usopp's feet. He really could see all the way to the bottom. That was...oddly reassuring. Another second's pause, and Lucci decided to just go for it. He let his legs give way underneath him and caught himself on the inner tube, hanging suspended in the water.
Usopp smiled, looking anticipatory. "Well?" he prompted, watching Lucci bob there. "What do you think?"
Lucci took a moment to analyze the situation. He felt as though he couldn't really move, which was slightly discomforting, but he was floating as opposed to sinking. It was...intriguing. "Well," he began slowly, "It's wet. Interesting. But mostly wet."
Usopp laughed loudly. "Wet," he repeated. "Well, yeah, I guess it must be. The inner tube's working okay? You don't feel like you're gonna sink?" He ducked down in the water, wetting himself up to his neck, and began to tread water despite the fact that it was still shallow enough to plant his feet. "...want me to tug you out a little deeper? Not too deep," he hastily amended, "but just enough so you don't have to keep your legs bent so much?" He bent his head back and wet his hair.
"...All right," Lucci said after a moment. He was still getting used to this as it was. It was just bothering him that he couldn't move much on his own. "No, I don't think I'm going to sink. It's fine."
"Good, good!" Usopp reached out and grabbed hold of the inner tube, planting his feet and beginning to walk out a bit deeper. Walking was starting to get difficult the deeper he got, especially dragging Lucci behind him, but he managed to get them out to a point where the water was about to his neck. He let go, starting to tread water again as he watched Lucci for a reaction. "You can...paddle around and stuff too, you know."
"Oh," said Lucci, as though that hadn't occurred to him. He looked around. It was a little more disconcerting now that his feet didn't seem to want to drift down and touch the sand, but...all in all, it wasn't so bad. "This is...different," he said at last.
"Different bad, or different good?" Usopp asked, still treading water. He was grinning again. He couldn't help it.
"I'm not sure yet," Lucci said. Which surprised him a little, because he'd been quite sure, going into this, that he wouldn't like it. Awkwardly, he reached out and propelled himself forward a bit by sloshing the water back with his hands. "...Huh," he said thoughtfully, when he came to a rest again.
That made Usopp smile a little wider, even though he was already grinning. "Right, like that! Maybe you can't swim exactly, but you can still get around. And it feels kind of cool, right? Floating in the water?" Usopp rolled into a back float, trying to remember how he'd described it before when Lucci asked.
"Hmm." Lucci tried to look appropriately scholarly for someone floating in an inner tube. It probably wasn't working. He propelled himself forward through the water a few more times; this time, he drifter further when he stopped, having accrued more forward momentum. It was actually kind of - well, it might be fun if Lucci were the sort of person who considered things like this fun. It took him a second to figure out how to turn around, but once he did, he watched somewhat curiously as Usopp floated on his back.
Usopp had been watching Lucci as he pushed himself across the water. He was secretly ecstatic that Lucci seemed to be...well, maybe enjoying himself would be a little strong, but it didn't seem like he hated it, at least. He didn't want to show it too much, though, since he felt like Lucci might decide to be contrary about it if he did. He waved a hand lazily as Lucci turned around to face him again.
Lucci was perfectly aware of the principals of buoyancy, but it was still odd to watch someone floating almost on top of the water like that. Especially when he was actually in the water as well. Which...was turning out to be significantly less daunting than he'd assumed. "I wonder if Hattori can swim," Lucci said suddenly. "Most pigeons can, I think, but I'm not sure if they have to learn or if it comes naturally. I've never thought about it before."
Usopp tilted his head a bit, missing the beginning of what Lucci said with his ears filled with water, but he quickly figured it out from the context. "Maybe if we do this again, we can bring him and see."
"He doesn't like water," Lucci said. It was annoying how he kept drifting around to face away from Usopp, but it turned out that spinning back around was...oddly entertaining. "Large bodies of it, anyway. He likes to take baths." Lucci thought for a moment. "...But if he saw me in the water, he might decide that it's all right."
Usopp tired of lying still and went back to treading water, kicking himself afloat with just his feet for a few moments while he brushed away the wet hair that had plastered itself to his face and pulled it behind his neck. He didn't have anything to fasten it with, so it would soon be everywhere again, but for now, it would do. "Oh. Well, yeah, maybe he just doesn't like water because you don't. He does kinda like to match with you a lot. So maybe it's one of those things?" Usopp paddled around a little, starting to go around Lucci in the opposite direction that he kept rotating. "I guess the water wings really weren't necessary, huh? You were right anyway; they do look pretty silly. I just thought. I dunno. Better safe than sorry?"
"I'm not really worried about drowning," Lucci said. Anymore. It really wasn't that bad after all - sort of amusing, in fact - and Usopp was right there, having the ability to swim. "I have a lifeguard," he said, smirking.
That made Usopp grin. "Yeah, exactly! I'm on watch for the first sign of...sinking." For a brief moment they were both face to face, and Usopp stopped paddling and began to tread water again, looking carefully at Lucci's face. "Are you-- you're having fun, right? At least a little?"
Lucci wasn't exactly prepared to make that call; it was...well, it was entertaining. But he felt stupid admitting that it was fun. Still, Usopp looked hopeful, and Lucci knew that he wasn't the most enthusiastic person to be around. He didn't want to let Usopp down after all this. Carefully, and with some embarrassment, Lucci nodded.
Impossibly, Usopp's grin got wider; he wasn't feeling vindicated or smug, but simply purely happy that Lucci wasn't hating it. That he was apparently enjoying himself! "Awesome!" he said, wondering briefly if it would be a horrible idea to playfully splash Lucci. ...it probably was. He did it anyway, though he was careful not to get water in his face.
...Lucci hadn't been expecting that. He blinked, momentarily startled, and then glared at Usopp in intense, mock indignation. He splashed back, considerably harder, and smirked in a faintly devious fashion.
Usopp shrunk into the water a little under that glare, thinking he'd gone too far at first, but he laughed loudly when Lucci splashed back, sending another splash at him in retaliation. He was still blinking the water from Lucci's splash out of his eyes, however, so it wasn't well-aimed and more a reflex than anything else.
The only time in his life Lucci had ever regretted the inability to swim was right now, wishing he could ambush Usopp from underneath and yank him down into the water by his ankle. He was just used to taking advantage of his surroundings. And besides, he suspected it might be hilarious. He flung more water and tried to propel himself backwards a bit, which was trickier than going forward.
"H-hey, no fair!" Usopp sputtered under the onslaught of splashes, though he was laughing harder than ever. "You can use both hands!" Not that Usopp couldn't exactly; he'd just been using one to tread water. Now he began to keep himself afloat with just his feet, sending a large two-handed wave in Lucci's direction, and quickly diving below the surface right after, hoping that splash would buy him enough time to swim below Lucci and get behind him before he recovered. He'd forgotten that the water was so clear that any attempt at stealth was basically useless.
It wasn't entirely useless, because now Lucci had water in his eyes and had to spend a second readjusting his arm so that he could wipe it off without slipping. Fortunately, instinct told him what Usopp was planning as soon as he noticed the other's absence; unfortunately, turning around carefully in a now-slippery inner tube was harder than it seemed.
Usopp glanced up through the clear water, seeing where Lucci was in relation to him. It was a shame that Lucci couldn't swim, he thought, because it almost seemed illegal not to reach up and grab one of his ankles, but he thought that would be crossing a line, even if he didn't pull him into the water. So he resisted the impulse and started to surface, not quite behind Lucci, who was already in the process of turning himself around to meet him. Before he could, Usopp sent up another couple of fast and messy splashes at the back of Lucci's head, laughing when it plastered his hair into a funny shape.
Lucci jumped, causing the inner tube to teeter dangerously and his arm to slip. He scrabbled momentarily to right himself. Panic-inducing as that had been, it also put him in a prime position for more splashing, so he sent up another wave at Usopp and then went back to clinging for dear life. "Okay," he said hurriedly, reminding himself that flotation devices weren't meant to be gripped this hard, "I think that's enough."
Usopp nodded, laughing too hard now to properly tread water and splash worth anything. "Okay, okay. Truce!" He held out one hand toward Lucci.
Lucci took a perhaps inordinate amount of time readjusting his position to make sure he didn't slip before he dared to do anything more complicated with his hands than cling. He reached out and grabbed Usopp's hand, shaking it once and then reverting to keeping his grip on the inner tube. "Truce."
Usopp couldn't stop grinning. He'd just gotten Lucci to play around with him, and he considered that a sort of major victory. "So," he said, moving his hand back to the water where he was still treading, "you want to float around for longer, or are you ready to go back to shore, too?"
"Shore would be nice," Lucci said, perhaps a little too quickly. Floating had turned out to be entertaining, although he felt like an idiot for getting into a splash fight (an amused idiot, at least), but he was starting to get concerned that he was going to slip if he kept this up.
"Okay! Want me to pull you in again?"
Lucci looked back toward shore. He could probably make it back himself, but the idea of falling into the water made even that a little discomforting to consider. "...Could you?"
"Yeah, no problem. Leave it to me!" Usopp was just noticing that in the course of floating around, they'd managed to drift further out, so his feet would no longer touch bottom. Not that that was a problem. He's just have to swim and tow for a while. He could manage to pull a half-drowned Luffy out of the ocean and back onto Sunny, so this would be a snap in comparison, given that Lucci had the inner tube to keep him afloat. He grabbed it, finding it a little harder to get a good grip on it now that it was slippery with the water from their splash fight, but he thought he could manage. Finally satisfied with his grip, he began to swim toward shore.
It was kind of entertaining, actually, being pulled along like this and feeling almost weightless in the water. Lucci had had his dignity compromised in a number of ways today, but at least that had the benefit of making him feel as though he no longer had the right to be concerned about minor things like this.
Usopp didn't bother speaking as he continued to swim to shore. He got to the point where he could have stood and touched bottom, but just kept swimming instead; it seemed simpler for now. Finally they where in shallow enough water that it made no sense to keep trying to swim, so he stood up and tugged Lucci a few more yards. "Oh," he said belatedly. "You can probably just stand now."
"I was waiting for you to notice," Lucci said, smirking. His feet were sort of dragging on the sand now; he stood up, feeling oddly heavy after being in the water, and stepped out of the inner tube. He kicked it up onto the beach and started to walk back in.
Usopp gave a small eyeroll. "You just like being a jerk, don't you?" he said with a sigh, though his tone was still light. He ducked down and tipped backward one more time to wet his hair and gather it back, so it was relatively neater, then stood and followed Lucci as he waded to shore. "Does it feel weird to you when you come out of the water?" he asked, thinking of the sensation of feeling slow and heavy when he emerged from water, and wondering if Lucci felt the same.
"Yes, I do." Lucci was combing his fingers through his hair, trying to get it back into some semblance of order. He wished he would have thought to re-wet it like Usopp had. "...It does, a bit. Sort of heavy."
Usopp nodded, glad Lucci knew what he meant. "Yeah, that's it. Do you get what I meant about it being kind of like flying, though? I mean, that's probably not the best description, but it's the closest thing I can think of. And then when you come out of the water, you feel kinda heavy and clumsy." He reached the edge of the water, where the waves were lapping onto the wet sand, and paused to dig his toes in.
"Mm." Lucci finished smoothing his hair down, deeming that it was as good as it was going to get. He'd been idly taking stock of all the little shells and rocks in the sand as he stood there, but a thought occurred to him, and he looked back up at Usopp. "...Have you ever actually been flying?"
"Well..." Usopp looked a little chastened. "Sort of? Not really, I guess. I mean, I've ridden on some stuff, like the hang-gliders, and then...some, uh. Falling from high places. That's--it almost counts." He shrugged. "I know it's probably not the same, but there's also...have you ever had flying dreams? That's probably what I was thinking of, I guess."
"I suppose hang-gliding might count," Lucci said thoughtfully. "I haven't had any flying dreams that I can remember, but I can use Kami-e and Geppou. That's probably as close to flying as a normal human can get."
"No?" Usopp noticed a shell with a pretty iridescent blue sheen to it and bent to pick it up. "I thought everybody had those dreams sometimes." He thought for a moment, trying to put the names Lucci had used to images in his mind. "That one where you kind of...kick in the air, right? What's the other one?"
Lucci shrugged. "I might have; I don't remember all of my dreams." He went back to looking at shells, though none immediately struck him as impressive. He knew people liked to collect them, but they were just abandoned homes of dead animals, weren't they? "Geppou is essentially the ability to jump to extraordinary heights; most people aren't able to keep it up while suspended in the air until they get good enough at it. Kami-e is the ability to go limp and float in the air like paper. It's primarily for avoiding attack while conserving energy."
Usopp nodded absently. He'd never exactly been a fan of Rokushiki in the first place, but he might have been able to accept that some of it was kind of neat, except for the thing Lucci had told him not too long ago about it shortening his lifespan. Usopp stubbornly pushed that out of his mind for now, not wanting to start dwelling on it again, and examined the shell in his hand. He thought he might try to make something for George with it. She didn't really wear a lot of jewelry, but maybe he could set it and make a bracelet or something. "Mm," he said, noncommittally, walking up the beach to grab their towels. He tossed Lucci his.
Lucci snatched the towel and started to dry off with it - primarily so that he wouldn't drip all over the deck when they got back, because he was planning to take a shower anyway. "...Usopp?" he said, after a moment of silence.
"Yeah?" Usopp looked up from drying his hair.
"Thank you. For...putting up with me. And everything." Lucci stared studiously at his towel, as though there were some kind of hidden message in it.
Usopp laughed a little self-consciously. "Shouldn't it be the other way around? Well. Uh. No problem." He sighed a little, but it was a content one. "I'm glad you decided to try this, anyway. And it was kinda nice to do something fun like this with you. Ur. At least, I hope you thought it was fun. At least a little?"
Lucci rolled his eyes. He couldn't help it. "Didn't I already say so?" Well, not in so many words, but it was the same end result. "I'm glad you had fun too, in spite of the fact that you had to drag me around everywhere."
Usopp grinned, ignoring the eyeroll. "It's not like that was hard or anything. Absolutely no sweat for the great Captain Usopp!" He finished toweling off his hair, then wiped his arms and shoulders, finally draping the towel across them when he finished. "So," he began carefully, "wanna do it again some time?"
"...I suppose so," Lucci said, dropping his towel over his shoulder. "Why not?"
"Awesome." Usopp bent over and scooped up the inner tube, brushing the worst of the sand off of it. "Wanna head back then? I guess there's no rush, but..."
Lucci shrugged. "All right. Remind me to bring Hattori next time, though."
Taking another moment to let some of the air out of the inner tube to make it easier to carry, Usopp nodded absently. "Yeah, sure thing....can you hold this a sec?" He held out the inner tube, grabbing his flip-flops from the sand with his free hand and knocking some more of the sand off them against his leg.
"I'll carry it." He put the inner tube over his arm. "...I still can't believe I just literally took part in a splash fight."
"Thanks," Usopp said, pulling on his shoes. "Hey, was that your first one? You should be proud; you did really good!" He scanned the beach for his discarded shirt and finally noticed it, a little behind him. He bent for it, realizing his left side was starting to feel a little stiff now. Maybe he'd overdone it a little. He'd just make sure to keep his arm in the sling again when they got back.
Lucci noticed the way Usopp tensed up a little when he bent to pick up his shirt, but didn't say anything. If Chopper had said he was allowed to come out of the infirmary and do things like get into water fights, it wasn't Lucci's place to say otherwise. But he had to ask. "Are you feeling all right?"
Usopp paused in shrugging into his shirt. "Hm? Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little sore. ...does it show?" He hadn't thought it would be obvious, but Lucci was probably trained to notice little things like that, or maybe it was the cat part of him, or...something. "I guess maybe I should've stretched first or something. I'm probably gonna have to start doing that anyway, so I can get my arm back to normal."
"You should." There it was again; the urge to put his hands in his pockets. Lucci was starting to look forward to getting his pants back. "It doesn't show very much; I just notice things like that." He wasn't about to admit to Usopp that he was trained to spot weaknesses in his prey.
Usopp nodded, pulling his shirt the rest of the way on and dropping the shell in his breast pocket. "Yeah. I guess I should ask Chopper if there's something special I should be doing, or..." He felt like he was forgetting something, and looked around on the beach for a moment before realizing he just felt like that because he wasn't carrying the inner tube anymore. He paused, turning back to Lucci. "Uh. ...do you really know much about that stuff too?" Once he actually got it out there, it seemed like kind of a dumb question, since apparently Lucci knew about everything.
"Not as much as a doctor, but yes. Basic medical knowledge was a part of my training."
"Yeah? Like first aid and stuff?" They'd begun to walk back up the beach, heading more or less for the faint trail they'd blazed on the way here. Usopp reached the trees first, and held back a branch for Lucci like he was holding open a door.
Lucci nodded in thanks as he stepped past the branch. "Mostly first aid and anatomy, things like that."
Usopp nodded, letting Lucci lead the way this time since he knew where they were going. All in all, this little excursion hadn't taken very long, but it felt satisfying anyway. Besides, even if Lucci wasn't used to being in the water, Usopp's aching left side was a reminder that he'd still have to take it easy for a while. They walked a bit longer in silence, but it was a comfortable one. Usopp, at least, felt content and happy right now.