After Usopp had several lumps swelling on his head, Luffy, noticing Orochimaru's glare, cleared his throat and awkwardly began his act. "Orochimaru, stop! Usopp, right? Is Yasopp your father?"
Usopp instantly perked up. "Yasopp is my dad's name!" he exclaimed, tumbling down the hill in shock. "But how did you know?"
"Ah... that was all a mis... because of this and that and this and that..." Luffy mumbled, waving his hands and stammering through an explanation.
With the misunderstanding cleared up, the group settled into a restaurant, devouring their meal with gusto. Luffy, munching on meat, mumbled, "I met him once when I was little."
Usopp leaned forward excitedly. "Wait, my dad was on Shanks' ship?!"
"Yeah," Luffy nodded. "You look exactly like him. I recognized you right away."
Usopp rubbed his throbbing head, his voice tinged with disbelief. "Recognized me instantly?"
"Yup, yup!" Luffy buried his face in his food. Orochimaru, eating slowly and deliberately, casually stepped on Luffy's foot, jolting him back to the conversation.
"So... I stopped Orochimaru just in time," Luffy declared. "Otherwise, he would have killed you, thinking you were a pirate attacking us!"
⊙⊿⊙? Luffy pointed at Orochimaru.
"That lie's so flimsy, you could only fool Usopp with it."
"I've heard enough about you to make my ears bleed," Luffy said wistfully. "Yasopp was a truly great pirate."
"Perfect!" Nami chimed in. "Hey, do you think we could find a rich family in your village and get a big ship?"
Orochimaru calmly sliced the apple into bite-sized pieces, savoring each slice as he pondered. 'Hmm, how should I deal with that glasses guy from the Black Cat Pirates...?'
He looked up to see Usopp running away, muttering, "We're not acquainted!"
Orochimaru casually fed a piece of apple to Luffy.
"Does he think we're all idiots? His lying skills are almost as bad as Luffy's!" Nami said.
"Mmm-hmm..." Nami and Zoro nodded in unison.
Suddenly, three children burst into the room.
"We're the Usopp Pirates! Pirates! Where did you take our Captain Usopp?!"
"Ah... this meat is so good," Luffy said contentedly, patting his full belly.
"Meat? You didn't... eat our captain, did you?" The three children trembled.
"Your captain?" Zoro grinned menacingly, fully embracing his villainous role. "We ate him!"
Orochimaru licked his lips, his voice hoarse. "Are these three little brats new food? I adore fresh children." He craned his neck forward, flicking his serpentine tongue.
The children screamed in terror. "Monsters!!!... And a witch!!!" They foamed at the mouth and fainted.
Orochimaru frowned, puzzled. "Why did they faint when they saw Nami?"
"They say children can see the true nature of things," he mused. "Perhaps Nami is even more terrifying than us."
Nami's shark-toothed face twisted in a snarl. "You started with that ridiculous talk! I'm a hundred times better than you three idiots, violent brutes, and monsters!"
"What do we do with these three?" Zoro shrugged.
"Let's leave them with the shopkeeper," Zoro suggested. "He knows us." He asked the shopkeeper about the wealthiest family in the village, learning they lived at the mountaintop inn. The group decided to head up there to see if they could get some sponsorship.
When they reached the courtyard, they saw Usopp punching Klahadore in the face, furious about his father's situation.
The rest of the story unfolded as expected. Luffy and Usopp uncovered the Black Cat Pirates' plot, and Usopp, determined to protect his village, decided to confront them alone. Zoro and Nami stepped in to help.
Orochimaru rescued the injured Merry, revealing Kuro's treachery to Kaya. The three children stayed out of the fight, and Luffy, even stronger than before, quickly defeated the Black Cat Pirates.
Orochimaru had initially planned to turn Kuro in for his bounty, needing funds for his new laboratory now that he had a ship. But then he remembered Kuro's bounty had been revoked after Kuro faked his death. "Damn it..." Orochimaru cursed, dumping Kuro and his dilapidated ship into the sea.
To thank the Straw Hat Pirates, Merry gifted Luffy the triangular-sailed ship he had built years ago.
"This is the Going Merry!"
Orochimaru inspected the ship thoroughly. He sternly forbade Luffy and the others from crowding together to sleep, converting the upper-deck storage room into his personal laboratory and quarters.
"But where will we store the food if there's no storage room?" someone asked.
Orochimaru smirked. "Don't worry about that. I'm all the storage you need. Ever heard of a System Backpack? Besides," he added, "warehouses are exactly why people end up starving three times a day! We can just pile the other supplies near the cannons in the opposite room. There isn't much anyway."
Lost in thought, they suddenly heard a wolf-like howl.
"Aaaah! Help me stop!" Usopp came tumbling down the mountain, his massive backpack dragging him along. Zoro and Luffy each grabbed a leg, forcibly halting his descent.
"I've decided to set sail!" Usopp declared.
"But... aren't we already crewmates?" Luffy protested.
Usopp bid farewell to Kaya, embarking on his journey to become a brave warrior of the sea—a journey that would make him worthy of her.
Under a clear blue sky, Zoro lay sprawled on the deck asleep, Usopp played pirate games alone, and Orochimaru had commandeered Luffy's prized figurehead, dozing lazily in the sun. Meanwhile, Luffy crouched on the ground, skulking about doing something mysterious.
"Look! I drew our pirate flag!" Usopp shouted. "Now that I've joined, we're five strong! We need our own symbol!"
A grotesquely deformed skull, its lines twisted and fractured, was crudely drawn on a black cloth.
Zoro broke into a cold sweat. "Is... is this our Jolly Roger?"
"What do you think? Pretty cool, right?" Luffy grinned foolishly.
"A pirate flag is supposed to be a symbol of terror... but in a way, this is pretty terrifying," Zoro muttered.
Orochimaru leaped off the sheep's head, spun 180 degrees in mid-air, and landed squarely on Luffy's head, knocking him to the ground.
"Ah... sorry," Orochimaru said with a completely insincere apology.
Luffy sprang to his feet, baring his teeth and roaring, "Orochimaru! You did that on purpose! I know you did! You sly snake!"
"Oh... is that how it seemed...? (o.o;)"
"Time for the great Captain Usopp to step in!" Usopp rolled up his sleeves and quickly sketched a new flag, which was met with unanimous approval.
Later, on an island teeming with strange animals, they encountered Gaimon, trapped inside a crate. Orochimaru's eyes lit up with mischievous curiosity. How had this man survived with every bone in his body broken, trapped like that, and still managed to live a normal life? And with all these bizarre creatures on the island... he desperately wanted to snatch a few for experiments. But the others unanimously refused, forcing him to abandon the idea, though he lingered reluctantly before leaving.
"Hey... Guys... are you sure we can't take just one?" Orochimaru pleaded innocently, his face practically screaming, "I want him!"
(,,??.??,,)
"No way! Absolutely not!" Everyone agreed, Luffy included.
Orochimaru glanced back every few steps, his gaze lingering wistfully on Kamon, who was huddled in the crate, trembling with an animal clutched in his arms.
Finally, Zoro couldn't stand it any longer. He hoisted Orochimaru onto his shoulder and carried him away.
To be continued...