Klahadore wiped a trickle of blood from his lip, a cold, condescending smirk already replacing the shock on his face. He pushed himself up from the floor, adjusting his spectacles.
"See, Miss Kaya?" he said, his voice dripping with false pity. "I told you. When his pathetic lies fail him, this is all he has left. Violence. It runs in his filthy pirate blood."
He turned his venomous gaze back to Usopp. "Are you only after her money? Is that why you fill her head with such nonsense? So you can leech off her fortune?"
Usopp's fists clenched, ready to lunge again, but a soft, pleading voice stopped him.
"Please… stop it," Kaya whispered, tears welling in her eyes. She was caught in an impossible position, torn between her only friend and the man who had been her loyal guardian for three years. "Usopp-san… please, just go."
Usopp looked at Kaya's tearful face, and all the fight went out of him. His rage was replaced by a deep, aching sadness. He had made her cry. For her sake, he would leave.
"Fine," he growled at Klahadore, his voice thick with resentment. "I'll go. And I'll never come back."
He turned and stormed out of the room. As he and his entourage were forcefully escorted from the mansion grounds, Luffy and the Usopp Pirates were furious.
"Why did you just give in like that?!" Piiman shouted at his captain.
"He's a coward!" Luffy added, completely missing the nuance of the situation.
"Both of you, quiet!" Nami hissed, as she and Zoro held the fuming boys back. This was more complicated than a simple fight.
Later, in Kaya's room, a dinner tray sat untouched. Kaya stared out the window, her heart heavy.
"Miss Kaya, you must eat," Klahadore said, his voice returning to its usual smooth, concerned tone. "You will disappoint the chefs."
"You shouldn't have said those things to Usopp-san," she said quietly.
Klahadore sighed, a picture of weary devotion. "I know it is difficult for you to understand. But you must have faith in me. I have served your family for three years now. After my… previous captain was executed, I was lost. Your father took me in, saved my life. I owe him everything. My only wish is to carry the burden of his will and ensure you are safe and well. I cannot, in good conscience, allow a known liar with pirate blood to endanger you."
His words were sincere, his tone flawless. Kaya, young and sheltered, had no reason not to believe the man who had been her pillar of support for so long. She simply nodded, her sadness deepening.
Near the edge of the village, Nami, Zoro, Ninjin, and Piiman were sitting on a fence, waiting.
"Where did Luffy go?" Nami wondered aloud.
"Looking for Usopp," Zoro grunted, his eyes closed as he tried to rest.
"He'll be at the coast," Ninjin explained. "The Captain always goes there when he's upset."
"Where's Tamanegi?" Nami asked, noticing the third boy was missing.
"He probably ran off to the washroom. He's always disappearing and then coming back overreacting about something," Piiman said with a sigh.
As if on cue, Tamanegi came sprinting towards them, his face a mask of pure terror. "EVERYONE! I SAW IT! A MAN! HE WAS WALKING… BACKWARDS!"
Ninjin and Piiman groaned. "Not again, Tamanegi. Stop making up stories."
"I'm not lying this time! He was moonwalking right through the forest!"
Shortly afterwards, their argument was interrupted by the appearance of a very strange man. He was tall and lanky, dressed in a long coat and heart-shaped sunglasses, and he was, indeed, walking backwards towards them. It was the hypnotist, Jango.
The boys, their fear forgotten, were instantly fascinated. "Whoa! A real moonwalker! Can you show us a trick, mister?"
Jango smirked, pulling a sharp, spinning chakram from his sleeve. "Behold the power of hypnosis!" He swung the ring back and forth. "When I say 'One, Two, Jango!', you will all fall into a deep, deep sleep!"
He swung the ring. "One, Two, Jango!"
The effect was instantaneous. The three boys, and Jango himself, all collapsed onto the ground in a heap, fast asleep.
Zoro opened one eye, looked at the snoring pile, and closed it again. "Idiots."
At the coast, Usopp sat alone on the edge of a high cliff, staring out at the endless sea. He felt a profound sense of loss. He had lost his only true friend today.
"Hey!"
Usopp jumped, startled. He looked around but saw no one.
"Up here!"
He looked up into the branches of the tree he was sitting under. Hanging upside down, grinning at him, was Luffy.
"What are you doing up there?!" Usopp yelped.
Luffy ignored the question. "Hey, I was just wondering," he said, swinging gently. "Is your father's name… Yasopp?"
Usopp froze. His heart pounded in his chest. A secret he had held close his entire life, a name he only spoke of in whispers of pride. How could this stranger possibly know it?
"How… how did you know that name?" he stammered.
Luffy flipped down from the tree, landing lightly on his feet. "I met him a long time ago, when I was a kid. Back in my village, Foosha."
His eyes took on a distant, fond look.
"He was a member of the Red Hair Pirates. He was my favorite. He was the best sharpshooter I've ever seen."
Usopp's world tilted on its axis. His father… was on Shanks' crew? The legendary Red-Haired Shanks?
A memory, not his own, but one told to him by Luffy, flashed before his eyes.
A sunny day in Foosha Village. A man who looked remarkably like an older Usopp, with the same long nose and confident smile, stood on the beach. This was Yasopp. He placed an apple on top of a barrel a hundred feet away.
"Watch this, kid," he said to a much younger Luffy.
He drew his pistol, spun it, and fired without even seeming to aim. The bullet flew true, blasting the apple to pieces. Young Luffy's eyes sparkled with hero-worship.
Later, in the bar, Yasopp was ruffling Luffy's hair, a drink in his hand. "You know, I've got a son back home, about your age," he said, a proud but sad look in his eyes. "I wonder what he's up to." He put a glass on Luffy's head and tapped it gently.
He then stood up on a table, raising his mug high.
"TheGold Roger was calling to me!" he roared to the rest of the crew. "A pirate's life for me!"
The entire crew threw their hands in the air, cheering in approval.
Back in the present, tears of pride were streaming down Usopp's face.
"So it's true… my father… is really a brave warrior of the sea," he whispered. He wiped his eyes, a new resolve on his face. "Thank you, Luffy. You know… if that butler would just apologize for insulting my father, I'd gladly go back to the mansion. My pride is nothing compared to Kaya's smile."
Luffy, who had climbed back into the tree, suddenly stopped moving. He was staring intently at something down on the secluded beach below the cliff.
"Hey, Usopp," Luffy said, his voice strangely serious. "Isn't that the butler guy?"
Usopp scrambled to the edge of the cliff and looked down. It was Klahadore. But he wasn't alone. He was talking to the strange, backwards-walking man, Jango. They were too far away to hear clearly, but the sea breeze carried their voices up to the cliff's edge.
"...and so, the plan is ready," Jango was saying, his voice smooth and sinister. "Tomorrow morning, on my signal, my Black Cat Pirates will 'attack' the village from the north shore."
Klahadore pushed his glasses up, a cold, cruel smile on his face that Usopp had never seen before. "Excellent. And in the confusion of the pirate attack, the young mistress Kaya will have a tragic 'accident'."
He held up a piece of paper. "Her will, which I so thoughtfully had her prepare last week, leaves her entire fortune to her most loyal and devoted servant…"
Jango bowed theatrically. "The brilliant mastermind, the man who disappeared three years ago, the one and only Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates."
Usopp's blood ran cold.
Klahadore… was Captain Kuro?
The man who had cared for Kaya… was planning to murder her.
The entire world seemed to crumble around Usopp, replaced by a single, horrifying truth.