Yasopp looked like someone had hit a sore spot. A trace of irritation flashed across his face.
He sneered and looked down at Usopp as if he were a frog at the bottom of a well.
"When you finally get the guts to leave this comfortable nest and actually go out onto the vast sea and experience life and death for yourself, you'll understand just how childish and ridiculous what you're saying right now really is."
"Really? Then I'd rather stay childish for the rest of my life. At least I live like a real man, not a beast without a heart."
Usopp's face remained blank. He even found it a little funny.
Yasopp, doing world-shaking things?
"Leave. My home doesn't welcome a cold-blooded animal that my mother never got to see before she closed her eyes for the last time."
"Good! Good! Good! You've got quite the temper, you little bastard!"
Yasopp said "good" three times in a row and snorted.
When he came here today, he had never expected this rebellious son to accept him after a few words anyway.
This was just part of the process.
Only true despair could awaken a coward who had sunk into comfort.
He turned around and strode toward the door.
When he reached the entrance, he threw out a threatening remark without looking back.
"You'd better pray that you never have a day in your life when you regret this."
With that, Yasopp left without the slightest attachment and disappeared at the end of the street.
After all, he had already finished setting up everything before coming.
He had reached an agreement with Kuro.
Now all he had to do was wait patiently.
Once that fox Kuro bared his fangs and moved against Kaya, forcing Usopp into a desperate situation where his family and home were destroyed, that would be the moment for him, the great father, to make his dazzling entrance amid blazing flames.
Like a savior descending from above and turning the tide.
After Yasopp left, Usopp let out a sigh and looked at Kuro with sympathy.
"You've worked hard today."
Having Kuro witness the ugly side of his biological father honestly made him feel a little embarrassed.
"Not at all, not at all! It's all for Lord Usopp."
Kuro lowered his head humbly and said nothing about Shirahoshi or the World Government.
He had ambitions, but he understood what era this was even more clearly.
All of his ambitions rested on Usopp, his superior, and had nothing to do with himself.
The only reason he was able to appear in this grand play was because Usopp happened to choose him.
He would never be as foolish as Yasopp.
"You. You're much smarter than me. Once this incident succeeds, you'll probably catch their attention. Maybe you'll even get as much screen time as me."
Usopp waved a hand, carrying himself with the composure of an adult.
He was no longer the child who cried every day that pirates were coming just to make his mother smile.
After receiving the World Government's education, he knew exactly what Kuro was thinking, but he did not reject it.
He was not Kuro. He did not have such grand ambitions.
Making his mother happy and spending a joyful life with his family were the only things he wanted.
The reason he participated in this play was simply because the World Government had shown him kindness, and because he had not yet settled the score with Yasopp.
That was all.
"Thank you, Lord."
Kuro's expression brightened as he bowed once more.
Some things became awkward if repeated too often.
It was enough to remember this favor.
———
The next day, before the morning mist had fully cleared from the sea, a battered little boat that looked ready to fall apart at any moment drifted onto the shallow shore of Syrup Village.
"Luffy! Zoro! I seriously can't believe you two. Meeting you in this lifetime is the worst luck I've ever had."
At the bow stood an orange-haired girl with an excellent figure, shouting in frustration.
Dark circles hung under her eyes. She had obviously stayed up late again repairing this wreck that could sink at any moment. Now she was scolding her two companions nonstop.
Zoro guiltily turned his head away and pretended to study the rocks along the shore.
Luffy sat cross-legged on the deck as usual, holding down his straw hat and laughing without a care.
After cursing for so long, Nami's throat had gone dry, and she could no longer be bothered wasting words.
As the rising master thief of East Blue, the way she joined the Straw Hat Pirates had been very simple.
She happened to run into them, naturally tried to steal something, naturally got caught by the two of them, and naturally ended up joining the crew.
Whether all of that was truly coincidence or some carefully arranged inevitability was hard to say.
"Alright, let's go to the shore and restock supplies. And we absolutely need to buy a decent new ship."
Zoro, being the more reliable member of the group, finally proposed the most urgent solution.
To be honest, there wasn't much friendship between him and Luffy.
A person like Luffy could be so stupid at times that it made him feel suffocated.
Thanks to the educational programs the World Government had spread throughout the Four Seas, Zoro had received a proper basic education in order to follow Kuina's path.
As an educated swordsman who believed in strength, he simply couldn't develop much affection for an idiot who constantly shouted about becoming Pirate King while knowing nothing about sailing and putting in no real effort.
To him, this was simply a partnership where each side got what they wanted.
The destination was the New World.
As for Nami, Zoro couldn't help glancing at the orange-haired girl beside him. A trace of caution and scrutiny passed through his eyes.
She had somehow tried to steal from them.
Luffy, that single-celled lifeform, had somehow invited her.
Then she had somehow boarded this wreck.
'Where are there so many natural coincidences on the sea?'
In his view, unless something unexpected happened, Nami was probably the same kind of person as him.
Someone carrying secrets and looking for a ship that could take her into the real world.
To be fair, however, Nami's appearance and figure were extremely deceptive and dangerous.
"Hehe! What are you looking at?"
Nami immediately noticed his gaze.
She showed no shyness. Instead, she confidently pushed out her full chest, a sly smile appearing at the corner of her mouth as she gave him a playful wink.
"Think I have a great figure? Too bad. This body is already reserved."
Just that teasing look caused Zoro's breathing to pause for a brief moment.
It wasn't that he liked her.
But for any normal man, it was still quite an impact.
He awkwardly turned his head away and jumped off the boat first.
"Ahem! Let's get off already. Stop wasting time. This ship's about to sink."
Seeing Zoro's retreating figure, Nami couldn't hold back a laugh.
Compared to the straightforward Luffy, who was like a puppet with strings attached, Zoro, with his heavy guard and suspicion, was much more interesting.
What a shame.
If she weren't carrying a debt she could never repay, traveling the world with a group of strange companions like this might actually have been fun.
'Sis, you told me to experience this journey and not treat it as a mission... Is this your way of letting me enjoy myself?'
Nami thought about it with amusement.
"Hehehe! Let's go."
With Luffy's loud voice ringing out, the Straw Hat group officially stepped into Syrup Village.
The entire village was peaceful and quiet, just as it had been when Yasopp secretly visited the day before.
Originally, Zoro and Nami wanted to keep a low profile and avoid trouble. Their plan was simply to spend some money at a shipyard and solve the ship problem.
But one of the old shipwrights casually asked as usual, "Guests, what kind of use is this ship for?"
Luffy immediately grinned, "We're pirates! I'm the man who's going to become Pirate King!"
One sentence shattered the village's peace.
"The pirates are here!", rang out across the entire village once again.
Looking at the deep fear and resistance in the shipwright's eyes, Zoro sighed helplessly and ultimately chose not to make things difficult for him.
Following the trembling shipwright's suggestion, they decided to visit Kaya's house, the most respected and wealthiest household in the village, and try to purchase a ship through their connections.
Of course, the main reason was that ordinary shipyards only built ships that were too small for Zoro's expectations.
What they needed was a sturdy sailing ship that could at least survive the first half of the Grand Line, even if it couldn't complete the entire route.
"Wow, what a place! There must be mountains of gold coins hidden in there!"
Standing before the luxurious gates of Kaya's estate, Nami's eyes immediately turned into shining berry symbols.
"What? Want me to help? We could rob the rich and help the poor here today."
Zoro crossed his arms and teased from the side
He had once worked as a bounty hunter and spent time in gray areas himself. He had never been some rigid defender of morality.
"Haha! That depends on who they are."
Nami smiled and wagged a finger.
"This young lady follows three rules when stealing."
"Right, right. Don't rob the poor, don't rob good people, and don't rob the World Government."
Zoro shrugged and casually finished the sentence.
Nami's reputation in East Blue far surpassed his own. Even someone who normally paid little attention to gossip had heard countless stories about the famous thief over the past few days.
And Nami herself was quite talkative.
While the two of them were still chatting and testing each other outside the gate, Luffy had already swaggered forward and pushed open the heavy wrought-iron gates of Kaya's estate.
"Hey! Anybody here?"
He had always been the carefree type, shouting into the spacious courtyard at the top of his lungs.
"Who is it?"
A deep voice answered.
A tall figure in a tailored suit and gold-rimmed glasses slowly emerged from the shadows.
Kuro raised a hand and adjusted his glasses. A cold reflection flashed across the lenses as his gaze quietly swept over the three people at the gate.
Outwardly, he looked calm.
But inside his chest, his heart was pounding hard.
'It has begun!'
'The real show has finally begun!'
He knew very well that at this very moment, the eyes of the important figures in Mary Geoise had undoubtedly crossed countless seas and settled upon this remote village.
Perhaps right now, some noble was using him, an ordinary pirate, as part of a wager, betting on when he would be written out of this grand performance.
He had no choice.
There was only one thing he needed to do.
Play today's role perfectly and earn himself more scenes in the future.
The more he participated, the more attention he would receive.
And the greater the future rewards would be.
"Hm? Pirates?"
Kuro looked down at them and deliberately narrowed his eyes as he inspected them.
Then an overwhelming killing intent erupted from him.
It was like freezing seawater flooding the air around them.
Other than Luffy, who remained carefree and seemed completely unaware, Zoro and Nami immediately tensed up, feeling as though they could barely breathe.
'So strong!'
And this kind of killing intent definitely wasn't something that came from killing only one or two people.
Nami and Zoro exchanged a glance.
Both saw unprecedented seriousness in the other's eyes.
"Hehehe! I'm Luffy! My dream is to become Pirate King!"
Luffy showed no fear at all. He even pointed at his own nose and proudly introduced himself.
"Tch... Pirate King?"
Kuro looked at them expressionlessly.
His body leaned forward slightly, taking on a perfect attack stance, as if one wrong word would turn him into a blur and wipe them all out.
"If you want to become Pirate King, then you should be fighting in the Grand Line. Why have you come here?"
"That's enough, Kuro. Step back."
Just as the tension reached its peak, a lazy voice sounded.
Usopp appeared, carefully supporting Kaya, whose stomach was already swollen from pregnancy, as they slowly entered the courtyard.
A smile filled with the happiness of an expectant father rested on his face. His manner was gentle and relaxed.
"Guests are guests. Kaya is about to give birth. Unless absolutely necessary, there should be no bloodshed in the estate."
"Yes, Master Usopp."
Kuro instantly withdrew all of his killing intent, lowered his head respectfully, and stepped aside.
"You're Master Usopp? The richest man in town?"
Upon seeing the owner of the estate, Luffy hurriedly asked.
"That's me. You've come from far away. What can I do for you?"
Usopp looked completely normal, exactly like a wealthy businessman who valued harmony and profit. There was even a trace of amusement in his eyes as he looked over this strange group of three.
"It's like this."
Zoro grabbed Luffy before he could blurt out something else and stepped forward to negotiate seriously.
"We heard you're the wealthiest man in the village and operate several large merchant fleets. We'd like to buy a ship from you."
"A ship? That's easy. Since we've met, it must be fate. What kind of ship are you looking for?"
Usopp carefully helped Kaya settle into a cushioned lounge chair in the front garden so she could comfortably enjoy the sunlight.
Then he led Luffy and the others to another side of the courtyard and gestured for Kuro to prepare some fine tea.
He had been preparing for today for a full ten years.
This play, watched by countless people, was something he intended to perform to the very end.
For the World Government.
For his beloved mother.
For Kaya.
And for himself.
[🙇🏻 You Can Support the Story Through P@tr3on—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ Chapters of all the novels and fanfics. Thanks for reading~]