A two-story mansion in Syrup Village stood surrounded by a small garden, the garden enclosed by thick iron bars.
At the gate formed by those iron bars stood two well-dressed men on guard.
Meanwhile, on the first floor of this heavily guarded mansion, a window was open, and a young girl lay on the bed by the windowsill and spoke.
"Mary."
"Yes, Miss."
The girl, whose hair was a pale lemon yellow, looked so frail she seemed ill.
She had just called for her butler, Mary, who had fluffy, wool-like hair, and as soon as she did she gazed out the window and said,
"I want to meet Usopp."
"That would upset the Klehas."
"I suppose it would."
****
"Is it true? Is my father really with the Red Hair Pirates?"
"Umm… I told you it's true."
"That's amazing! Red-Haired Shanks is a famous great pirate!"
Luffy and his group, along with Usopp, were inside a restaurant.
Several dishes were laid out on the table where they sat, and Luffy stuffed a large bite into his mouth as he continued,
"When I was little, Usopp always talked about you whenever he drank, saying he had a son just like me."
"You… you remembered me."
"…Yeah."
Usopp had always said the same thing, ever since he was separated from his son:
"It was sad, but it couldn't be helped."
"Because the pirate flag was calling me!"
Luffy remembered Usopp shouting those words in his childhood, and the cheers of his crewmates.
'He was so irresponsible—even more so now that I see Usopp again.'
As Luffy ate and Zoro took a swig straight from the bottle, Nami spoke up.
"Usopp, is there anywhere in this village we can buy or repair a ship?"
"There is… with the lady who lives in that mansion that doesn't fit this little village."
"Lady?"
"Her name is Kaya. Her father used to run a shipyard in the big city on another island."
"Kaya was supposed to live there too, but one day her mother died of illness."
"After that, Kaya fell ill herself, so her father sold the shipyard and moved all his wealth here to this countryside."
"But a year ago her father died of illness as well."
"Ah… I see."
"All Kaya has left is the mansion, a huge fortune, and several butlers."
"Since Kaya is still very weak, she spends most of her days in bed. No matter how much money you have, it must be hard."
"It wouldn't hurt to buy a ship from her, but if you can get yours repaired, I'll do it."
"You can repair ships?"
Hearing Nami's question, Usopp crossed his arms and continued.
"I got friendly with some merchant captains who sometimes stop at this island. Thanks to that, I once hitched a ride on their ship and got the chance to visit a big city."
"I'm good with my hands. I enjoy making things, so I took that ship to the city to learn more."
"While I was there, I spent ages in the library reading all kinds of books. I learned architecture, civil engineering, even some mechanical engineering from different people."
"Is that where you learned shipbuilding?"
"There's a butler named Mary among Kaya's staff—she worked at that shipyard since Kaya's father was alive."
"After I came back, I studied under her. Recently we even used materials from the old shipyard that were stored in the warehouse to build a ship together."
"So that ship is…"
"Right, a joint project between me and Mary."
"Honestly, I was glad I could make it to that other island. On the way, I nearly turned back when I ran into a pirate named Alvida with a bounty of 5,000,000 Berries."
Usopp recalled himself at sea aboard that ship.
Another vessel had been heading toward them, its pirate flag flying.
"Because of that, I almost had to turn back and go home, but luckily the Navy showed up and let me go to the city."
Usopp put his hands to his eyes like binoculars and continued.
"I was so shocked when I looked through my scope and saw someone on the Navy ship flying in like a cannonball toward Alvida's ship, surrounded by a golden aura!"
"Golden aura…?"
"Flying…?"
"I'm not lying! I really saw it!"
As Zoro and Nami each spoke a word, Usopp shouted and they both turned to look at Luffy, who sat between them eating.
Sensing their gazes, Luffy swallowed and said,
"That was me."
"Whaaaa! R-Really?"
"Were you not wearing your straw hat?"
"I think I had it on…"
"Is this what you saw?"
"A golden aura! It's real!!!"
When the golden aura appeared around Luffy's fist, Usopp jumped up from the table and shouted, placing both hands on the tabletop.
"Not only do you know my father, but you even… isn't this fate?!"
"I've decided, Luffy! I'll be the first mate on your ship…!"
"Round-nose, the first mate is me—your first crewmate."
Zoro said to Usopp, and at those words Nami turned to Zoro and spoke.
"Zoro, I met Luffy first, so I'm… the fi-first…"
"I was the first to say I'd join your crew, Nami."
"I-I've known you since before, too! Right, Luffy?"
"Luffy, didn't you say it was fate that we met?"
"The first mate is first come, first served, Usopp. That's how I planned it."
"Damn…!"
"Hahaha, as expected the early bird—what was it? Anyway, first mate is me."
"Ahem, boys fight so childishly over nothing."
"Nami, didn't you just say something to them a moment ago?"
"I-It was just to point out that, Nami! It didn't mean anything else!"
Just as the conversation grew noisy, Usopp looked at the watch on his wrist and spoke.
"Ah, it's already that time…!"
"Usopp, but about accepting you as a crewmate…"
"You guys just eat, I've got to go!"
"Hey! At least let me finish speaking… He's gone."
"Yeah, I wonder why he rushed off like that."
As Luffy spoke, an elderly woman in an apron placed a huge chunk of meat and a bottle of liquor on the table and said,
"Here's your food."
"Thank you, Grandmother."
"As for the lady and Usopp, he's probably gone to Kaya's mansion to tell another one of his tall tales."
"Tall tales?"
"Kaya's only pleasure is listening to Usopp's made-up stories from her window. Everyone in town knows it."
"That's why Usopp goes to that mansion so often—for Kaya."
"He's got a surprisingly romantic side."
"Our villagers all like Usopp."
"Ever since he came back from that other island, he's been using his skills to fix houses, furniture, and farm tools for everyone."
"But you said the villagers mock him as a liar?"
"Only because he says pirates appeared every morning as a joke."
"But considering all he does for them, they're not serious when they call him that—it's like a nickname since childhood."
With that, the restaurant owner carried her tray and headed back to the kitchen, and Luffy, who had finished the meat, thought,
'In the original story Luffy's first conquest was defeating Alvida, but I beat her long ago.'
"Thanks to that, Usopp has gone from just a handy guy to a confident shipwright who can repair or even build a ship."
"Because of that, his reputation as a liar has actually turned into something positive."
"The part about Kaya's father being a shipyard owner was a setting created much later in the live-action drama."
"But in the drama Kaya inherited the shipyard and ran it herself—doesn't seem that way in my world."
"It's probably not my fault… Did they mix in some odd drama-only details?"
'I'm having enough trouble dealing with the changes in my own story, now I have to adapt to these other ones too?'
Just as Luffy frowned at that thought, Zoro looked at his face and said,
"Having trouble deciding whether to make him a crewmate?"
"Huh? Oh, that is one problem."
"It'd be great to have a shipwright on the crew, but I'm worried he can't shoot a gun."
"What do you think?"
"I don't mind either way. Luffy, whatever you choose I'll follow."
"How about you, Nami?"
"From what I've heard about Kaya and what Grandmother said, she seems all right… I'm not one of your crewmates!"
"Elder, could we get some food and water for our ship?"
Standing up, Luffy placed a sack on the table in front of the kitchen and said,
"Why so much? Even if I gather everything in town, I couldn't collect this much."
"Take as much as you can, and if there's any left share it with the villagers."
"Understood. I'll keep it here at the shop, come pick it up."
"Luffy, you spent money again… No, where are you off to?"
"Anyway, the ship belongs to that lady, so let's go meet her and check on Usopp too."
"Whether we repair a ship or buy a new one, we'll end up meeting her anyway."
"Straw Hat, Kaya's mansion is straight ahead once you go out the gate."
"Thank you, Grandmother. Now that we have provisions and water, let's go."
"For the lady and for Usopp, who's not a confirmed crewmate yet."
****
"I'm sorry I can't host you properly, Usopp."
"I hope the Klehas allow it… But she's not a bad person."
"I'm fine, Kaya."
Usopp spoke to Kaya, who looked down at him from the mansion window.
He sat on the grass in the garden, gazing up at the girl.
"I love it here in the garden. Being stuck inside that house feels suffocating."
"And I'm a brave warrior of the sea."
"A warrior feels at home anywhere, even on a bed in the middle of the ocean."
"So what adventure will you tell me today?"
"Today's story is about the time when I fought a giant goldfish in the South Blue when I was five."
Usopp stood and waved his arms and legs as he told his tall tale.
Kaya, watching him, smiled—a smile so radiant it belied her illness.
"How big was it? Big enough that I thought it was an island and jumped off the ship?"
"So what happened to the goldfish?"
"I sliced its body with my sword and sent it to Lilliput."
Before Kaya knew it she was laughing so hard she covered her mouth, and to Usopp, she looked happier than anyone in the world.
"Kaya, don't come too close to the window. It's dangerous."
"I have to be close so I can hear your voice."
"If that's the case, let me come in… ugh!"
"Usopp!"
As Usopp said that and stood up, he caught his foot on a stone and tumbled forward toward the window.
"K-Kaya…!"
"Usopp…"
Leaning his upper body against the windowsill, Usopp found himself looking directly into Kaya's face, his long nose almost touching hers.
'Is this my chance!'
Usopp thought and puckered his lips at Kaya, whose face was flushed.
But then he noticed Kaya staring not at him but at something behind him, and he turned his head to see…
"W-What are you doing here?"
"I called, but nobody opened the door, so we climbed over the gate."
"I tried to stop them."
There stood Luffy, Nami, and Zoro.