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After coming out of Kaya's house, Usopp was about to go home, but was stopped by two children on the road.
"Usopp Pirates, assemble!!!"
"Good morning, Captain Usopp!!!"
One kid was wearing a hat with a skull on it, and the other had a skull T-shirt on.Both were holding up little toy swords and shouting excitedly at Usopp.
"Mm! Not bad, you two—Pepperhead, Carrothead."
Usopp stood with his hands on his hips, nodding in satisfaction.
"These two were part of Usopp's crew, among the few kids in the village who actually believed in his pirate dreams." "With them was one more member of the Usopp Pirates."
Pepperhead wore a hat shaped like a bell pepper and dreamed of becoming a great carpenter one day.Carrothead was the calm one—his long bangs covered his eyes—and his dream was to run his own tavern.
Besides these two, there was one more member of the Usopp Pirates.
"Wait, why is it just you two? Where's Onionhead?"
Usopp asked, puzzled.
"No idea!""Maybe he's still at home, sleeping or something!"
Both shook their heads in sync.
"Captain!!!"
Just as the three of them were staring at each other, a familiar voice shouted from afar.
It was the last member of the crew—Onionhead.
"Captain! Guys! Something bad's happened!!!"
Wearing glasses, Onionhead came running toward them in tears, shouting:
"Pirates! Pirates are coming!!! I saw a pirate ship!!!"
"What?!"
Out of all of them, Usopp was the one who reacted the most dramatically.
He looked at the out-of-breath Onionhead and said, "You've gotta be kidding!!!"
"It's real! The ship was huge, and I recognized it from the newspaper!"
Onionhead hurried to explain:
"Even though it wasn't flying a pirate flag, I'm positive—it's Buggy the Clown's ship."
"Buggy the Clown?!"
When he heard that, Usopp practically jumped out of his skin.
"You mean that Buggy? The one with a 16 million berry bounty?!"
"Yep, that's the one!!" Onionhead was just as worked up.
"Ah, now I remember!!"
Usopp suddenly straightened up and said with a serious face:
"It's about time for afternoon tea. I should head back now."
With that, he actually turned around and started to run off.
"Don't run away, Captain!!!"
"It's not even noon yet—what tea are you talking about?!"
"You don't even drink tea, Captain!!!"
The three kids immediately shouted, roasting him on the spot.
"…You saw through me, huh?"
Usopp stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at them with a solemn face.
"Alright, I'll be honest with you guys. The truth is… I have a rare condition where I'll die if I don't go home."
The three of them: ...…
"That's enough, Captain Usopp!!!"
"That's not even a real disease!!"
"Exactly! You're supposed to be a brave warrior of the sea—how can you be scared of just four pirates?"
As soon as Onionhead said that, Usopp noticed something important.
"Four of them? Are you sure, Onionhead?"
"Yeah, I thought it was weird too, so I waited until the ship got closer and looked again carefully. There are really only four people onboard."
Onionhead pushed up his glasses and spoke seriously.
"Alright then, time to show them what I'm really made of!!!"
The moment he got a clear "yes," Usopp jumped up full of energy again.
"The Usopp Pirates—move out!!!"
"Yeahhh!!!"
"So that's how it is… A weird kind of bond between a lying trickster and a sickly rich girl, all happening in some remote village, huh?"
On Buggy's pirate ship, after listening to Bai Ye finish telling the story of Usopp and Kaya, Nami gave her own interpretation.
"Haha… Nami, the way your mind works is really something else."
Bai Ye twitched his mouth, wincing like he had a toothache.
"His dream is to become a brave warrior of the sea, huh?"
Compared to Nami, Luffy was clearly more interested in Usopp himself.
"If that's the case, let's go meet him in the village. If he turns out to be a good guy, I'll make him my crewmate."
Luffy thought for a moment and made his decision.
"Hey, Luffy! You can't just decide stuff like that on a whim! And didn't Bai Ye say that guy's a liar?!"
Zoro was clearly at a loss with how impulsive Luffy could be.
I mean, who just hears a couple of things and instantly picks a new crewmate?
"Don't worry, Zoro."
At that moment, Bai Ye gave Zoro a pat on the shoulder and said:
"Luffy decided to make you his crewmate the exact same way."
Zoro: …
Wait, that wasn't a one-time thing?!
"Ah! There it is!!!"
Just as Zoro started questioning everything, Luffy shouted from the deck.
He was staring excitedly at the island getting closer and closer.
[Gum-Gum Pistol!!!]
With a burst of laughter, Bai Ye watched as Luffy slingshotted himself over to the island not far away.
A cloud of dust rose where he landed.
Nami couldn't help but grumble,
"Ugh, that idiot. Couldn't he have waited like five more minutes?"
Zoro nodded in agreement, then looked at Bai Ye and said,
"So… what now? With Luffy's personality, he's probably going to cause a whole bunch of trouble before we even get there, right?"
"Take out the 'probably,' Zoro."
Bai Ye turned to him, sounding a little annoyed, but his expression was still relaxed.
"With that guy, the only surprising thing would be if he didn't cause trouble."
"So we'd better hurry up and catch up to him."
"How?! This ship's already going as fast as it can!"
Nami was the first to object—after all, as the navigator, she knew better than anyone how fast they could go.
"Who said we're taking the ship?"
Hearing that, Bai Ye raised an eyebrow and started cracking his knuckles.
"Oh? Got something new again? What was it you Taoist guys call it… elixirs or talismans or something?"
After spending enough time with Bai Ye, Zoro had started picking up on his habits—like how he always warmed up his wrists before pulling out some new magical whatever.
His three swords, the paper dolls, those weird pills, and his favorite booze—all had come out that way.
"Huh. Now I really wanna see what Bai Ye's pulling out this time."
Nami, overhearing Zoro, got curious too and stared straight at Bai Ye.
"Hey hey hey, you two staring at me like that is seriously stressing me out."
Bai Ye couldn't help but laugh at the two goofballs.
"But actually, this time I'm not pulling anything out."
He bent his knees slightly and started making hand signs with both hands again.
[Wind Rune: Ride the Wind!]
As soon as Bai Ye finished speaking, the once-calm deck suddenly felt like it had become the center of the world. All the air around them started rushing toward him in a wild swirl.
A moment later, an invisible vortex began to form under the trio's feet.
"Hey, hey, hey—this better be a joke!!!"
Zoro, feeling the sudden force beneath him, couldn't keep calm anymore. His arms dropped from his chest, and he started wobbling as he tried to stay balanced—because he was slowly rising into the air.
"Waaaahhh! I'm flying!"
Compared to Zoro, Nami's reaction was way more dramatic. She was practically lying in the air, flailing around in panic.
"Alright, let's head out. We can't keep Luffy waiting too long."
Bai Ye didn't bother comforting them—instead, he just sped up the wind current, lifting all three of them and sending them flying toward the island.
Their target: Luffy.
"....."