East Blue, Syrup Village, a restaurant.
"You know that long-nosed guy's father?" Tom asked between bites of food, addressing Luffy who sat across from him.
"Yeah, his father's Yasopp. I knew him when I was a kid. His marksmanship is amazing—he could shoot an ant's eyebrows," Luffy said, shoving meat into his mouth. When Nami had knocked Usopp down, Luffy remembered seeing a man who looked just like Usopp when he was little.
After a brief chat, Luffy confirmed Usopp was indeed Yasopp's son.
With that connection established, Usopp generously offered to treat them all to a meal, which led the group to a village restaurant where they were now eating heartily.
"Your father's sniping skills really are something. I doubt I could even see an ant's eyebrows," Tom said to Usopp. He believed Luffy wasn't lying; if Luffy said it, then Usopp's father's skills were unquestionable.
"Of course! He's a great pirate," Usopp said, his face full of pride. It was clear he truly admired his father.
"By the way, do you know where my father is now?" Usopp asked Luffy.
"I don't know. But he should be on Red-Haired Shanks's pirate ship. Yasopp is one of my favorite crew members," Luffy said, swallowing a huge chunk of meat and grinning at Tom. He remembered when a half-drunk Yasopp would brag to a young Luffy about how excellent his son was.
Yasopp would loudly tell little Luffy that, although he missed his child terribly, he still decided to go to sea for one reason only: the pirate flag was calling him. Luffy had heard these stories so many times his ears nearly grew calluses.
"You say my father is on Red-Haired Shanks's ship?!" Usopp was so shocked his eyes nearly popped out. He stood up, spraying spit all over Luffy's face.
"Red-Haired Shanks?" The name felt vaguely familiar to Tom, but he couldn't quite remember who it was. Only a shadowy figure of a man missing an arm floated in his mind.
"You don't know? He's a famous, great pirate!" Usopp said excitedly, leaning so far over the table his long nose almost touched Tom's.
This guy's nose is really long. Longer than my middle finger.
Tom couldn't help but extend his middle finger, comparing its length to Usopp's nose right in front of him.
"What are you doing?! A long nose is a shared trait between me and my mother. I won't forgive anyone who makes fun of my nose on purpose," Usopp said, slapping Tom's hand away with a serious expression.
Clearly, in Usopp's heart, his mother—who passed away from illness during his childhood—held as much weight as his seafaring father.
"Relax, I wouldn't do something that boring," Tom said sternly to Usopp, taking a bite of meat. Buggy also hated people mentioning his red nose. Was his red nose hereditary too?
"Your words aren't credible at all. Last time you yelled very loudly about Buggy's nose," Nami, sitting beside Tom, whispered to him.
"You idiot, that was because Buggy fired cannons at me twice in a row. Of course I'd give him trouble," Tom retorted, now finished eating and wiping his mouth contentedly.
Thwack!
Nami unceremoniously delivered an iron fist to Tom's head, sending him crashing face-first onto the table. Zoro had been reaching for a bottle of sake, and his hand was knocked by Tom's sudden impact, flinging it toward Luffy, who was devouring meat beside him.
Smack!
Luffy, happily eating, was unexpectedly slapped by Zoro. The meat in his mouth flew out and sprayed all over Usopp.
"So my father is on such an amazing pirate ship... My father, who rushed toward the sea without hesitation and lives bravely, is truly my pride," Usopp said with an admiring expression. Just as he finished, he was sprayed with meat by Luffy.
"Hey, you bastard! Are you looking down on my father?!" Usopp shouted angrily, grabbing Luffy by the collar.
"What nonsense! Yasopp is an excellent pirate. How could I look down on him?" Luffy said, then grabbed Zoro beside him. "You jerk, why did you hit me? I lost all my meat!"
"It was an accident. Don't blame me," Zoro said, looking at Tom diagonally across. He reached out and grabbed the just-recovering Tom by the neck. "You brat, do you know what you did?"
"It wasn't my fault—"
Tom was about to point out that the woman sitting beside him, now innocently sipping tea, was the real culprit when he heard three different voices say the exact same thing:
"No excuses!"
In that moment, Usopp's words to Luffy, Luffy's to Zoro, and Zoro's to Tom were completely identical.
Thud! Thwack! Wham!
Before Tom could point out the real perpetrator, he was forced into a brawl with Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp.
The foursome's battlefield quickly expanded from the table to the floor. They rolled around, wrestling and fighting in the not-very-large restaurant.
The usually quiet eatery became lively, as if a small party was happening.
"Customers, please don't fight here..." The slightly plump restaurant owner and the sole server watched dumbfounded as the four rolled around fighting, offering a weak reminder.
"They're idiots. They'll stop soon. This tea is really good, please bring me more," Nami said to the owner with a smile, glancing at the scuffle.
A while later, after sipping her newly served tea, Nami saw Usopp slumped to the side, several bumps on his head, having withdrawn from the battle first.
Only Luffy, Zoro, and Tom continued to tussle.
Some time later, the three of them were panting, the fight finally over. Usopp had also disappeared at some point.
It had to be said, although they fought fiercely, they hadn't broken anything, leaving the plump owner and the skinny server stunned.
"You three idiots, come sit down. I have something to say," Nami said, beckoning to the bruised and battered trio.
"I'm the captain. I give the orders. Have you got that wrong?"
"Why should I listen to you?"
"You're the one who got us into this. How can you just sit there sipping tea so calmly?"
Now united, Luffy, Zoro, and Tom all questioned Nami.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Nami unceremoniously knocked all three complainers flat. "Enough nonsense. I have something important to tell you."
Seeing the three of them趴在地上 (flattened on the ground) with large bumps on their heads, the restaurant owner broke out in a cold sweat.
These people ate and drank so much... Should I really ask them for money? That woman looks like she doesn't even want to pay for the tea. This is looking bad. For a moment, the owner cursed the long-gone Usopp in his heart. What kind of people did he bring here?
Ten minutes later, Nami relayed the information she'd gotten from Usopp to the others.
If they wanted to find a large ship in this village, only the village's great fortune had one.
And this great fortune was just a frail and sickly young girl, bedridden. Her parents had passed away from illness a year ago, leaving behind a massive inheritance and a mansion.
"So if we want a ship, we have to go ask that girl, right? Okay, let's go borrow a ship from her!" Luffy said, swallowing meat and bone whole. His tone made it sound like people would just give him a ship.
"Usopp ran off pretty fast. Wonder what he's up to," Tom said. Though sitting beside Nami, he was on the outer edge, maintaining as much distance as possible.
"That guy... He should have told us directly about this," Zoro said, scratching his head and taking a big gulp of sake.
"If you idiots hadn't been fooling around, he wouldn't have only told me," Nami said. Noticing Tom seemed to be avoiding her, she felt displeased and was about to talk to him when three children entered the shop.
"The Usopp Pirates, move out!"
The three kids charged straight toward Tom's group upon entering.
But after charging for a moment, they stopped, expressions of fear on their faces. "We don't see the Captain... Did they already kill him?"
"What are these kids up to?" Nami asked, glancing curiously at the three children holding toy weapons.
"Hey, you pirates! What did you do with our Captain? Hand him over!" a chubby kid with a head shaped like an onion shouted at them.
"Ha! The meat was really good," Luffy said, rubbing his full belly, completely unaware of the three kids looking at him in terror.
"Did you hear that? He said the meat was good."
"Could it be the Captain was..."
The poor kids, because of one offhand remark from Luffy, were scared out of their wits and began to imagine the worst.
Noticing the kids' reactions, Tom looked at them and deliberately said to Luffy in a sinister voice, "You're full already? We just got some fresh meat here." He then glared at the children with a stern face.
"I can still eat more if there's meat!" Luffy said, a greedy look on his face. He gulped loudly, making a gulp sound that turned the kids' faces pale.
Nami, seeing their expressions, secretly laughed.
"Your Captain? I just ate him!" Zoro said, propping his chin on his hand, his face shadowed and menacing, looking every bit like a man-eater. The three kids huddled together in fear. Spotting Nami giggling to the side, their eyes bulged in terror. "WAAAH! There's an old hag witch here!"
Nami's smile instantly vanished. Baring her teeth, she yelled at the three kids, "Why are you looking at me?!"
"What's an old hag witch?" Tom asked the kids, puzzled.
"An old hag witch is like you all—an old demon woman who eats human flesh!" the three kids said, huddling tightly together, foreheads beaded with cold sweat, and taking a few steps back.
Old demon woman?
Tom took a sip of tea, glanced at Nami sitting beside him, then turned his head away, forcing himself not to laugh to avoid getting hit.
"So you like eating meat just like me? But I don't want to eat people. Your tastes are really weird. Are all old hag witches like you?" Luffy asked Nami with innocent curiosity.
"Hahahaha! Well asked!" Zoro said, holding a sake bottle in one hand and slapping the table with the other, laughing uncontrollably.
"Tom, do you think Nami is an old hag witch?" Luffy asked, seeing Tom with his head turned, shoulders occasionally trembling, unsure what he was doing.
Pfft!
Tom finally couldn't hold it in. He spat out the tea in his mouth and slapped his thigh, roaring with laughter. "That description is just too accurate!"
"You guys..."
Nami lowered her head, fists clenched, rapidly building up her rage meter before suddenly exploding.
For a moment, everyone in the restaurant felt the temperature plummet, as if a cold, biting wind had swept through, making them shiver.
Thwack! Thud! Thwack! Thud! Thwack! Thud!
A long while later, Nami calmly sat back down, took another sip of tea, and said to the three of them lying on the ground with a dozen small bumps each on their heads, "Weren't we planning to go ask someone for a ship? It's time to leave."
"You three, can you show us the way?" Nami said, the dark clouds on her face gone, now smiling brightly at the three children trembling with fear in the corner.
Some time later, led by the three children, Tom and the others arrived in front of the most luxurious mansion in Syrup Village.
The three children were named Onionhead, Pepperhead, and Carrothcad—easily distinguishable by their head shapes. They were the members of the Usopp Pirates, formed by Usopp in Syrup Village.
Each of the three kids admired a different aspect of Usopp.
Onionhead liked Usopp's bragging, Pepperhead liked how Usopp gave orders, and Carrothcad liked Usopp's tendency to meddle in everything.
From the kids, they learned that Usopp would visit the owner of this mansion at this time every day—a girl named Kaya—to chat with her.
It was precisely because Usopp visited Kaya regularly that the frail girl, who had lost both parents, gradually became more cheerful.
To lift Kaya's spirits, starting a year ago, Usopp constantly kept her company, telling her lies and tall tales that made her laugh, lifting her gloomy mood. Originally bedridden, her health improved day by day.
This showed just how skilled a liar Usopp was—spending a year telling Kaya different, entertaining stories every day was a talent few possessed.
Hearing this, Luffy said Usopp was amazing. And indeed he was. For someone originally unrelated to him, Usopp spent time every day chatting with Kaya, trying his best to make her happy, and he kept it up for a whole year. That kind of perseverance wasn't something just anyone had.
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T/N :
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