Chapter 4: I Will Make It Bloom! Usopp the Man, and the Eight-Foot Shell
(episode 134)
The Straw Hats, for the most part, became stuck in the kitchen when rain came out of nowhere. "I'm sick of this," A bored Luffy groaned, with his head resting on the table. Nami read the day's newspaper, Usopp tinkered with a ball of some sort, Sanji cooked, Venus chased a fly, Robin read her book, and Chopper stayed by the rudder, Luffy shot up in anger. "When is this rain going to stop?!" He slumped back down, and turned to the sniper. "Hey Usopp, have you got anything fun?"
"Huh? I've got a firework we could launch, but just one. Wanna do that?"
"Yes!" Luffy cheered.
"Don't do it," Nami piped up, "What if there's a hostile ship nearby, or something?"
"I guess you're right," Usopp admitted.
Luffy gaped, then flopped back on the table dramatically. The crew flinched at a sudden smack; Venus had successfully killed the fly. She plucked it off the floor with tweezers, as everyone watched curiously. "Burton, I got something for you. Luffy, wanna watch Burton eat this fly?"
"I've already seen him eat today," He groaned. She shrugged, and reached the tweezers inside the carrier, letting Burton grab his new snack.
Luffy saw Robin turn the page, and leaned over in curiosity. "What's that book you've been reading this whole time?"
Everyone perked up in shock, frozen where they stood/sat. 'Luffy is showing interest in a book?!'
"Huh? Something the matter?"
"N-no, it's nothing," They returned to their business.
Robin nudged the book closer to Luffy. "The book is called Rainbow Mist, or Niji no Kiri. It's a novel, based on some adventures this person had in an unusual region of the sea."
Luffy picked it up, now fascinated by the plot. "Adventures, huh? That sounds interesting!"
'Unbelievable!' Nami listened on in aghast.
'Regardless of how bored he might be...' Usopp thought.
'The sea sure is a strange place, huh?' Chopper thought.
Just then, Zoro entered the kitchen with a damp, green-ish grey poncho. "Hey, I saw an island."
"Really?! Yahoo!" Luffy cheered, and bounded outside.
Zoro was confused when Nami and Usopp flopped over in what appeared to be relief. "What's with you guys?"
"It's nothing," They responded together.
On the island, a young girl was sitting by a tall, elaborately-painted tombstone. "It stopped. Then it's okay, right, Mommy and Daddy?" She excitedly sprinted out of the cemetery, and down the hill.
Just then, the Merry pulled up, and was anchored by the same hill. Holding her heeled sandals, Nami ran along the spar of the sail to the ledge, where Usopp and a helpful Sanji were waiting. "Okay, keep a close eye on the ship!" She called down, as Chopper scurried up after her.
"Yeah, you got it!" Zoro complied from the main deck, as Robin was seated on the railing.
"Hey! There's a town!" Luffy announced from the hill above them.
"Hey, wait up, Luffy!" Usopp trudged after him with Venus and Walk Point Chopper.
"A town!" Chopper perked up, and Usopp smiled with fascination.
Beyond the trees was a small, quaint town by the pier, appearing ready for a festival of some kind. "It may be a small town, but it sure is lively," Usopp remarked.
"We should be able to procure a few things here, huh? Usopp, are you going to do some shopping?" Chopper asked.
"Good question."
Up ahead, Luffy was eyeing a trio of event posters. "Hey, guys, get a load of this!"
"What is it?" Usopp caught up, along with Chopper, Nami, and Venus.
"Don't tell me there are wanted posters!" Nami panicked, but relaxed when she had a clear view. "No, that's not it, huh?"
"Oh, it's a fireworks festival!" Usopp read.
"And it's today!" Venus pointed out. "I love fireworks!"
"Yeah!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Fantastic!" Nami beamed with excitement. "I haven't seen fireworks in a long time!"
Sanji suavely approached her, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Well then, Nami-san, I shall be your escort."
"Uh-uh, no thanks," She politely declined, "Mind your own self."
"Venus-chan-"
"I'll be fine."
As Sanji sat on the ground in disappointment, and the guys gawked at the redhead in surprise, Nami continued to admire the poster. "Fireworks, huh? I can't wait!"
"I haven't seen you folks around before." They all turned to a balding local man in jeans and a red t-shirt, holding a grocery bag of bread from a booth in the nearby market. "Have you come to watch the fireworks?"
Nami chuckled nervously. "No, that isn't why-"
"Why, are these fireworks that well-known?" Luffy cut her off.
"Yeah. It's a famous festival on this island."
"They've been holding it for 400 years, after all," The booth owner added.
Usopp was in awe. "400 years? That long?"
The merchant pointed behind the crew. "Look. You see that tower up on the mountain behind you?" They all turned around to see the mountain. Near the top, amongst the trees, was a tall tower next to what appeared to be someone's home. "The people who live in that house have been making fireworks for generations since 400 years ago. It's just an old man, and a little girl that live there right now, though."
"Oh? Then does the old man make the fireworks by himself?" Usopp asked.
"Oh, no!" The customer replied. "He makes them together with the girl. They bang them out all year long, just for this day."
"Why does it take a whole year to make fireworks?" Luffy frowned with disappointment.
"You're so dense!" Nami scolded. "You see..." She trailed off when no real answer came to mind. "There's all sorts of reasons. If I told you, you wouldn't understand."
"Oh, okay."
Venus rolled her eye with a smirk. "If you don't know why, just say so."
"Shut up!" Nami snapped with embarrassment.
"That's it!" Usopp hit his fist into his flat palm in realization. "It looked like we're almost out of gunpowder. I wonder if they'd share a little with us."
"Who knows?" Nami remarked.
"I'll be back in a bit!" With that, Usopp ran in the direction of the mountain on his own.
"Then again, I hope that nothing like what went on last year happens," The customer said to the merchant.
"Yeah, really."
A curious Nami turned back to them. "Like what went on last year?"
"Yeah. Last year, at the fireworks festival-"
"Kadoyan!" The merchant cut him off. "They came here to have a good time. No need to go out of your way to tell them about that."
"I suppose not," He agreed sheepishly, and turned to Nami, Luffy, and Venus. "Sorry, it's nothing. Forget about it."
"Oh yeah! We should tell Zoro and Robin about this!" Luffy suggested.
"Yeah!" Sanji agreed. "Let's go tell Robin-chan!"
"Nah, maybe we should eat first," Luffy pouted with crossed arms.
"How come?!" Sanji raged.
-
Meanwhile, Usopp was trekking the hill, his firework ball on hand. "This is how a firework of my making turns out. I'll show this to them, and they'll be so impressed, and say, "if you're skilled enough to make something this wonderful, then please, take as much gunpowder as you like, for free!" I wonder if that will happen." He laughed with excitement at the potential, but was cut off.
"No!" A grey-haired, angry-looking older man with red Kabuki makeup was sitting on a bench outside a large storehouse.
"Whoa, what a face you've got," Usopp remarked, "Are you really the head firework maker?"
"You betcha!" His stern look didn't fade. "I'm Boss Odama, the pyrotechnist."
"In any case, I'm begging you. You can spare a little, can't you? You must have lots of gunpowder, right?"
"I don't have any gunpowder to give to a greenhorn like you." Odama stood up, and walked to the storehouse. "Now, be on your way, please. Goodbye."
"J-just a minute! Please, decide if I'm a novice or not after looking at this!" Usopp frantically followed him inside. "This is a fairly decent-" He stopped short, and gawked in awe at what was before him; a firework like his, only around a hundred times bigger, and read "14th Generation Odama" down the front. "So round! So huge! So white!"
"Who gave you permission to come across my threshold?!"
"Hey, old-timer, is that real?! That's papier-mâché, right?!"
"What would papier-mâché be doing lying around a fireworks master's home? It's for real. So, "this is a fairly decent" what, now?"
Usopp turned to his creation, but hesitated when it was held up in front of the giant version. Feeling it couldn't compare, he hid it behind his back. "Oh, nothing, really."
Suddenly though, a hand grabbed it out of his; it was a short-haired little girl. "A three-gauge shell, huh? It's pasted together a little loose, but it's still pretty well put together, huh?" She looked up at him with a bright smile. "Why were you hiding it? It would be a waste not to finish it."
"Huh? Who are you?"
"I'm Kodama, the granddaughter of Grandpa Odama over there."
She gave his firework back, as she brushed past him. "Huh? You mean, you're the girl that makes fireworks together with the old man?"
"Yep, that's me. I won't have you looking down on me, just because I'm little. I'm still pretty skillful, maybe even as much as Grandpa here." At that, Odama whacked her on top of her head with a smoking pipe. "Ee-yow!"
"Don't go getting carried away!" He scolded. "You were supposed to contact the launch team!"
"I did! They're going to be here shortly to carry the shells away, so I thought I would get them out, you know?"
"Before that, you've got to prepare the mortars, and get the wagon ready!"
"Yeah, yeah, you're right." She ran back outside, her hand on the bump growing on her head. "Okay, fine!"
Odama glared at the silent Usopp. "What's with you? Don't just stand there; go give her a hand!"
He flinched at that. "Why?"
"Just get going!"
Odama threw the pipe in Usopp's direction, prompting him to duck for cover, and retreat outside through the loud clattering. "What was that all about? He tells me to go away, then tells me to help! I give up; I'm leaving."
"Hey!" Kodama gained his attention, as she was lugging three mortars on her back. "Fixing to slack off? Help me out here!"
"Huh?!"
She frowned in disappointment at his reluctance. "You're not here to become an apprentice?"
"Of course not." Usopp lifted three more mortars. "I just came to get some gunpowder from you."
He walked over, and handed them to her, to put in the wagon with the others. "You had your own firework, so I thought for sure you wanted to be an apprentice."
"I just made that one for fun. I hate to admit it, but I'm not up to working pro."
She leaned her back against the wagon, with her right hand on her hip. "Yeah... but it's true, that is well put-together. You should hurry up, and finish it."
A surprised Usopp reapproached her with some mortars in his arms. "Come to mention it, you said the same thing before too, huh? What do you mean? I thought it was already finished."
He handed them all to Kodama. "Fireworks only become finished when they blossom beautifully in the night sky. Which is why all of the fireworks in the storehouse are unfinished goods. These launching mortars, too; they're not finished, until they're used as equipment."
"There's something amazing about you," Usopp remarked.
She turned to him with a smirk. "It's like I told you: I won't have you looking down on me."
Usopp smiled, as his arms crossed at his chest. "So then, that ridiculously huge firework earlier is the same way? It's still unfinished, right? I sure would like to see that one go off."
Kodama somberly turned to the mortars. "Last year, we tried to launch one just like that."
He turned back to her with intrigue. "Oh? There was another one like that?"
"Mm-hmm. But it didn't work; our equipment was flawed."
That left Usopp concerned, and nervous. "You don't mean...?"
"My mommy and daddy... they died, a year ago today," She recalled, as Odama smoked his pipe at the memory of that fateful night. "When the launch of the 200-gauge shell went wrong."
-
"This weather seems kind of weird," Usopp remarked at a sudden downpour, "Do you still hold the firework festival if it's raining?"
"Mm-mm," Kodama frowned sadly, "I guess it's no use, Mommy, Daddy."
Odama walked up behind them, and for a moment, observed the falling rain, . "At least get things ready."
Usopp curiously looked down at Kodama. "What's no use?"
At her gesture, he knelt down to let her whisper in his ear. "If it clears up tonight, I'm planning on launching the 200-gauge shell."
He was about to yell in shock, but after climbing up on his waist, she shoved his firework in his mouth to shut him up. "N-no! Fireworks aren't food!" She covered up under Odama's suspicious gaze. They waited until he left, closing the door behind, until she spoke up again, and plucked the firework out of his mouth. "Don't raise your voice, you dummy."
"S-sorry. But you can't launch something as huge as that on your own, right?"
"That's right. I asked the launch team to help me out in secret." Kodama jumped back down on the floor.
"Even so, it already failed to launch once, right? It's too dangerous."
She gave his firework back. "That's okay; I want to do it."
"It's not okay!" He scolded. "Are you trying to get the launch team caught in it this time?"
She turned around, and marched to the wagon. "No, of course not. They'll just be setting it up, and then take cover. I'll take care of the launching myself."
""By yourself", huh?" Usopp then turned serious at her dangerous intentions. "No, no, no! I'm telling your grandpa, and putting a stop to this." He went to find Odama, but a kick to the shin sent him falling, and crashing into the floor, giving him a slight nosebleed. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"That's what I was going to say!" She glared back. "Don't go ruining my Mommy and Daddy's dream!"
"Your Mommy and Daddy's dream?"
"That's right. Our family has been making fireworks for generations for over 400 years now." She began using her sleeve to wipe the blood from his nose.
"Hey, that's okay..." He modestly turned away.
"Just let me!" Odama insisted. "Apparently, we once had the technical skill to make and launch 200-gauge shells, but at some point, that tradition was broken." She straightened up after he was fully cleaned up. "It was my Mommy and Daddy's dream to bring back that skill." She gazed longingly at the large shell. "That's why, tonight, I'm going to finish their dream."
Usopp wiped under his nose, and was surprised to see nothing left on his hand. "I understand how you feel, but... hold on a second. Why would you just blab something like that to me?"
She turned back to him with a sinister smirk, making him flinch. "Do you want to know?"
-
"You want me to keep your grandpa occupied?!"
"Yes." Usopp was grudgingly trekking through the rain, thinking back to her crazy request. "The launch team will be here soon to carry the shell away. While they're doing that, keep Grandpa occupied inside, so he doesn't come out here. Please!"
"You dumb fool! How can I help you out with something so dangerous!"
"Because my Mommy and Daddy's dream is still only half-finished. I'm going to finish it for them."
He stopped when the town was in sight, and looked back at the tower. The gears in his brain began to turn. "Hold on a minute..."
"A prayer before launching? A fine thing to do." Kodama turned around, and gasped in surprise at Odama standing before her, with the launch team close behind. "But that isn't what you'll be launching. You'll be doing smaller ones."
"The launch team..." She felt betrayed, "Why did you tell him?"
"Watch what you say," Odama ordered, "They were thinking of you when they told me."
"Why?!" Kodama approached one of the men, and pulled on his kimono. "Why?! After all the begging I did?!"
"Sorry, Kodama-chan. But it's just too reckless; that thing is sure to misfire."
"You don't know that for sure, do you?! I'm not afraid of that!"
"Stop that, will you?!" Odama shouted. "It's not as though they don't know how those of us left behind feel. This isn't what it means to carry on their wishes."
Ultimately hurt, she makes a mad sprint for outside. "Kodama-chan!"
"Ah, that's it," Usopp tinkered with the wagon wheel, oblivious to Kodama running past in tears. But he perked up in confusion at hearing footsteps.
"Okay, well, we'll get things ready."
"Yeah, if you would, please."
He saw the launch team leaving the storehouse, and entered to find Odama sitting on the floor, preparing to smoke. "Say, you're getting ready, even with the rain?"
He let out a puff through his pipe. "This rain will let up soon. The wind is coming in from the east. Kodama is the only one who doesn't realize it."
Usopp looked back up at the tower. "Old-timer, has that structure been there the whole 400 years?"
"Yeah. What of it?"
"I hit upon a good idea." He gave him a smirk. "How about hearing me out?"
-
Later on, Usopp found Kodama in the cemetery, sitting cross-legged at one of the tombstones. "These are graves? Wow, they're funky." She somberly glanced at him without a word, as he approached her. "Yo."
"Mommy and Daddy, like I said, if this long spell of rain ends, it means I have your permission, and that I can launch the 200-gauge shell. So then, does this mean I'm wrong after all?"
Usopp's heart swelled with sympathy, before having an idea. ""It doesn't mean you're wrong,"" He spoke for her parents, ""Kodama, if you launch your own fireworks, we'd be glad to stop the rain.""
She glanced at him again. "But then, Mommy and Daddy, your dream..."
""Do you think That's all our dream is?"" She perked up at that. ""You are our dream. Our dream is that you carry on for us, and become a fine pyrotechnist. Kodama, take your time, and make your own 200-gauge shell. You have an unlimited amount of time, after all. Kodama, if you bring back the 200-gauge shell, that will also make our dream come true."" Tears welled up in her eyes at his sweet words. ""Let Grandpa take care of our 200-gauge shell; you keep on showing us your beautiful fireworks up in heaven.""
She wiped her tears away, and jumped to her feet with confidence. "All right! I will! And then someday, I'll make my own 200-gauge shell, you'll see!"
Usopp smiled to himself, as the clouds began slowly clearing up. ""Thanks for understanding. And now, as promised..."" On cue, the sun shined brightly on them, as the clouds and rain were now gone.
She turned back to him in awe. "How? That's amazing! Just who are you?"
"Who, me?" He smirked down at her. "I'm a messenger, sent from heaven: Usopp Angel." He pointed to himself with his thumb, as the sun shined down on him.
"Usopp... Angel...?" She then smiled widely. "That's so lame!" He almost fell over at that, as she ran out of the cemetery laughing, then stopped at a tree. "Usopp Angel... thank you! I'll try my best, okay?" With that, she ran back to the storehouse.
With a smile, Usopp followed.
-
That night, the festival was in full swing, with Kodama and the launch team setting off the beautiful fireworks. "So pretty!" Nami beamed.
"Ready, set...!" The audience cheered with every explosion sent across the sky.
Luffy munched on some chicken, while an awestruck Chopper had a stick of cotton candy. Sanji put his hand on Nami's shoulder, only for her to smack it off, surprising Venus next to her.
Up on the mountain, Odama watched the show from outside the storehouse. "Oh, this is coming off nicely." 'Though I have to admit...' He looked back at the new launching system, which was lugging the 200-gauge shell out of the storehouse. 'By using the wheel on the cart in the yard as a pulley, he figured out the trick for dragging that thing out of the storehouse. Who would have thought that the tower that's been here for 400 years was actually the platform for 200-gauge shells. Just who is this kid, anyhow?' Usopp was pulling the tied-up cart down by rope with all his might, so the shell was inside the platform, as Odama returned to watching the show.
"Here goes the rapid fire!" Kodama announced.
The audience was amazed, as the fireworks came and went at a rapid pace, in many different colors. "Where's Usopp?" Venus glanced around in concern, now donning a bat mask over her long bangs. "I hope he's not missing this."
"This is incredible!" Usopp admired the display.
"Yeah, outstanding," Odama agreed, "Is it ready?"
"All set!" He replied.
"Last one!"
"Okay, last one!"
"Right!" Kodama inserted the last firework in the mortar, and after the rapid fire was over, she applauded with the launch team.
"Here goes," Usopp dropped a lit match into a mortar with his own firework inside.
The crew looked on in confusion at the puny explosion. "What was that shabby firework just now?" Nami wondered aloud.
"Huh?" Usopp frowned in confusion, and disappointment. "That's how my first firework turned out, huh? Okay, Old Man Odama!"
On cue, he used his pipe to light the ignition, and immediately leaped down from the tower, as the final act began directly behind.
The resulting display lit up nearly the entire sky above the island, and rained down all around in sparkling yellow.
After it cleared up, the audience cheered with loud enthusiasm, some with tears falling.
Kodama watched in awe for the whole show, feeling stunned. 'Mommy and Daddy's firework... to be able to make a firework like that, Mommy and Daddy really were amazing! I wonder if I'll be able to make a firework like that someday.' She smiled, and began to choke up. "Mommy! Daddy! Thank you!"
"Old-timer, can I have some gunpowder?" Usopp requested.
"You dumb jackass! I don't know anything about you. Take as much as you want!"
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