**Chapter 13: The Liar's Trial**
The days in Syrup Village passed in a strange rhythm of tranquility and intense preparation. While Luffy, Zoro, and Nami rested, their rest was active. They found Usopp daily, still holding court for the village children with his outlandish tales. To most villagers, he was a harmless nuisance, a "boy who cried wolf" whose stories were as long as his nose. But Luffy saw past the bravado to the core of a boy trying to fill the silence left by an absent father with the only thing he had: his voice.
One afternoon, Luffy approached the storytelling session. "Hey, Usopp!" he called out, his voice cutting through a tale about battling a giant goldfish. "Aren't you going to be the greatest warrior of the sea? The greatest sniper? You're almost there. Just a little bit more! Follow me! I'll train you! I'll make you surpass your father, Yasopp!"
He framed the challenge with his wide, disarming grin, an offer that was impossible to refuse.
Usopp's boasting faltered. The mention of his father, from someone who had actually seen him, struck a deep chord. His eyes, usually full of theatrical fear or false confidence, now shone with a vulnerable, desperate hope. "R-Really? I can surpass him? Then... then I accept your challenge! I *will* become the greatest warrior! I *will* become the greatest sniper!" The declaration was less for his audience and more for himself.
Luffy led him, along with a curious Zoro and Nami, to a secluded clearing in the back hills. The air was still.
"First," Luffy began, his tone shifting from casual to instructive, "if you want to be the greatest sniper, you need to know what that truly means."
Usopp listened, uncharacteristically silent.
"A sniper isn't just a man with a slingshot," Luffy stated. "He is the ultimate predator. He needs a body strong enough to endure any environment—extreme heat, freezing cold, days without moving. He needs senses sharp enough to read the wind, the humidity, the very curvature of the earth. He needs a mind calm enough to calculate all of that in a split second, while his own heart is pounding with fear or excitement." Luffy's gaze was intense. "He must be able to lock onto a single target in the chaos of a battlefield and end a conflict with one, perfect shot. He is patience. He is precision. He is a silent, decisive force."
Usopp swallowed hard, the grandiose title of "sniper" suddenly feeling like a mountain he had to climb. "So... so what do I do?"
"Your foundation is weak," Luffy said, not unkindly, but with blunt honesty. "We will fix that. We will awaken the potential inside you. I will make your training one hundred times more effective."
Before Usopp could ask what that meant, Luffy placed a hand on his shoulder. *System. Allocate 1000 Transformation Points. Increase Usopp's training speed for both Haki types and physical conditioning by 100x.*
*Directive confirmed. -1000 Transformation Points. Acceleration active. Current Points: 1000.*
A warm, foreign energy flooded Usopp's body. His senses sharpened instantly; the rustle of leaves became a roar, the distance to the trees seemed to shrink. He felt simultaneously electrified and overwhelmed.
"Now," Luffy said, his smile returning. "Practical application. I'm going to hit you. You're going to dodge."
"Eh? Wait, now? Right now—GYAAAAAH!" Usopp's sentence ended in a shriek as he barely avoided a casually thrown punch that seemed to come out of nowhere. The following days were a blur of pain and bewildering progress. Under the relentless, hyper-accelerated training, his body learned at a miraculous rate. His dodges became less frantic, his movements more controlled. He was in agony, but for the first time, he felt a flicker of real strength.
***
Meanwhile, in Kaya's manor, the facade of civility was cracking. The butler, Klahadore, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the lenses flashing opaquely. "That wretched boy, Usopp," he muttered to himself in a cold, clean hallway. "He's becoming a problem. Bringing those ruffians here... my three-year plan is too slow. I can't wait any longer." A cruel smile twisted his lips. "Soon, all of this... the manor, the fortune, the shipyard... it will all be mine. Captain Kuro of the Black Cat Pirates doesn't wait for inheritances; he takes them."
That very night, believing himself unseen, Kuro slipped away from the manor and made his way to a secluded cove. Luffy, Zoro, and Nami, their presence erased by **Kami-e** and heightened stealth, watched from behind a jagged outcrop of rock.
Kuro gave a specific signal—the cry of a night bird. Soon, a small boat approached, carrying a man with bizarre hypnotic glasses. "The plan moves up," Kuro's voice, stripped of its butler's softness, was a sharp whisper. "Attack at dawn. Crush the village. The chaos will be the perfect cover."
Usopp, hiding nearby, trembled, his hand clamped over his mouth. The moment Kuro left, he scrambled out, his face pale with terror. "It's... it's true! He's not Klahadore! He's Captain Kuro! 'A Hundred Plans' Kuro! We have to warn the village! We have to tell them now!"
He turned to run, but a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him. It was Zoro. The swordsman said nothing, his grim expression speaking volumes.
Nami's face was set with determination. "Luffy, we have to do something! We can't let these pirates hurt innocent people!"
"We will," Luffy said, his voice calm but absolute. "But the key to solving this isn't us. It's him." He pointed at Usopp, who was shaking like a leaf. "The villagers have never believed him. They call him a liar. For them to be saved, they need to see the truth for themselves. And for Usopp to become the hero he wants to be, he needs to be the one to prove it. His lies have to become reality."
He looked at Usopp, his gaze stripping away the fear and seeing only the potential beneath. "You've been training. Let's see how far you've come, 'Captain' Usopp. This 'Hundred Plans' Kuro... you need to face him. In front of everyone. Zoro, Nami. You guard the main road into the village. Don't let a single pirate through. I'll be watching Usopp."
Without hesitation, his crew responded. "Yes, Captain!"
Usopp, fueled by a mixture of sheer terror and a newfound spark of resolve, ran back to the sleeping village. He began pounding on doors, his voice cracking with desperation.
"Everyone! Wake up! The Black Cat Pirates are coming! Captain Kuro is real! They attack at dawn!"
Doors creaked open, revealing annoyed, sleepy faces.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Usopp! Not again!" a man groaned.
"Pirates? At dawn? What nonsense is this now?"
"Go home, you little liar! Let decent people sleep!"
The responses were a wave of dismissal and anger. His warnings were met with laughter and slammed doors. Usopp stood in the deserted street, his hope crumbling, tears of frustration welling in his eyes. He had told the truth, and it had failed just as utterly as his lies.
It was then that Luffy's voice cut through the night, not loud, but carrying a weight of **Conqueror's Haki** that demanded attention, silencing the grumbles. "If what he says is true," Luffy's voice echoed calmly from the shadows, "what is your plan? Will you hide under your beds and hope they pass by? Will you grab your families and run? Or will you pick up a weapon and defend your homes? The warning has been given. Believing it is your choice. Suffering the consequences will be your reality."
His words hung in the air, a cold splash of water on the villagers' irritation. The absolute certainty in his tone gave them pause. The boy was a liar, but this strange, intense young man with him was not.
Hesitantly, sheepishly, a few villagers emerged from their homes. Then a few more. They didn't apologize to Usopp, but they clutched farming tools, kitchen knives, and rusty old swords. They moved in a confused, nervous group, climbing the hill that overlooked the cove, peering into the pre-dawn darkness.
They saw nothing. Yet.
But the seed of doubt had been planted. And on the beach below, Usopp stood alone against the coming tide, no longer just a boy who cried wolf, but the village's first, shaky line of defense. The trial of the liar had begun.