**Chapter 14: The Sniper's Resolve**
The pre-dawn air in Syrup Village was thick with tension and Usopp's panic. He trembled, his bravado completely shattered by the enormity of the threat and the villagers' disbelief. "They're coming! We have to do something! They'll kill everyone!"
A firm hand clamped down on his shoulder, stopping his frantic spiral. Luffy's grip was like iron, his expression uncharacteristically severe. "Usopp! *Calm down!*" he commanded, his voice a low rumble that cut through the hysteria. "Don't forget the training! You are not the same boy you were a week ago. You are a sniper. Losing your composure now will get people killed. Look."
He forced Usopp to turn and see the hesitant villagers gathering on the hill, clutching their makeshift weapons. Their faces were scared, but they were there.
"Some of them are starting to believe you because you told the truth," Luffy said, his voice intense. "Zoro and Nami are already at the pass. They will stop the main force. But Kuro? His plan hinges on stealth and assassination. *You* are the only one who knows the manor. *You* are the only one Kaya might still listen to. Think! What is his goal? What do you need to do to stop him *now*?"
He shook Usopp slightly, forcing the panic from his eyes and replacing it with focus. "Before you're ready to face him, I'll delay him. But don't make me wait too long." With that, Luffy turned to head towards Kaya's mansion, a one-man barrier against the coming storm.
Usopp stood frozen for a moment, then took a deep, shuddering breath. The memory of the brutal, accelerated training flashed through his mind—the pain, the exhaustion, but also the incredible leaps in speed, perception, and strength. Luffy and Zoro hadn't been cruel; they had been forging a weapon. And now was the time to use it.
He turned, and a new calm settled over him. "I... I understand. I will protect Kaya. I will return peace to this town!"
A slight, approving smile touched Luffy's lips. "Good. And Usopp... a true warrior of the sea needs a proper weapon." From behind a tree, he produced a long, carefully wrapped package and tossed it to the sniper.
Usopp fumbled with the weighty object, unwrapping it to reveal a masterfully crafted sniper rifle. It was sleek, deadly, and felt like an extension of his own arm the moment he touched it. He stared, speechless.
"Your father left it for you," Luffy said, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "Yasopp said to give it to you when you were truly ready to sail. He had it made just for you. A sniper's spirit deserves a sniper's tool."
Usopp's hands tightened around the rifle, his father's absence suddenly feeling less like abandonment and more like a distant, waiting faith. "That irresponsible old man... he really does have his moments," he whispered, a newfound resolve solidifying in his heart. He was no longer just playing a part; he was inheriting a legacy.
***
**Kaya's Mansion**
In Kaya's bedchamber, the air was cold with betrayal. "Klahadore," now fully embracing his identity as Captain Kuro, stood over the sleeping girl's bed, his ten-bladed gloves—the "Cat Claws"—gleaming in the moonlight. He pushed his glasses up, a habit that now seemed sinister.
"Forgive me, Kaya," he murmured, his voice a soft, venomous whisper. "But a pirate's patience has its limits. Three years of servitude is enough. Your fortune will fund a new, quiet life for me... far from the bothersome sea. Don't hold it against me; trust was always your weakness, not mine."
He raised his claws for a silent, killing stroke.
*CRASH!*
The window shattered. Not a large object, but a small, precisely thrown stone that struck his wrist with surprising force, knocking his arm aside and sending a jolt of pain up his arm.
"Who's there?!" Kuro snarled, whirling around, his composure shattered.
"Hello, Kuro. Shishi." Luffy sat perched on the broken windowsill, his legs swinging casually. In one smooth motion, he had scooped a startled, waking Kaya from her bed and set her safely behind him. "Nice night for a betrayal, huh?"
"You...!" Kuro's face contorted in rage. "Straw Hat!"
"Yep! We know all about it," Luffy said, his smile not reaching his eyes. "Captain of the Black Cat Pirates, 'A Hundred Plans' Kuro. You're here for the mansion, the deed, all of it. Usopp figured you out. And by now, so has the whole village."
Kuro's mind raced, his carefully laid plans unraveling. "It doesn't matter!" he hissed. "I'll just kill all of you! The story will be whatever I say it is!"
"Ah, about that..." Luffy held his chin, feigning thought. "I think your crew might be a little busy."
***
**The Village Pass**
The Black Cat Pirates charged up the path from the cove, a disorganized mob howling for plunder. They never reached the village.
A green blur moved through them like a typhoon. Zoro, still not bothering to draw his swords, used fists, feet, and the flat of his sheathed blades. Men fell around him in heaps, unconscious before they hit the ground.
"Hey, pretty lady~" a voice sang. The hypnotist Jango, believing Nami an easier target, began his silly dance, swinging his pendulum watch.
Nami's face twisted in disgust. "Who has time for this?" In a burst of **Soru**, she closed the distance before he could blink. Her newly crafted Climate Baton—a three-sectioned staff—cracked against his skull with a satisfying *thwack*. Jango's eyes rolled back, and he joined his crew in the dirt.
The remaining pirates, seeing their leaders defeated in seconds, lost their nerve and fled back toward the beach, only to run into a wall of furious villagers armed with scythes and hoes.
"GET OUT OF SYRUP VILLAGE!" the mayor roared. The tide had turned.
***
**Back at the Manor**
"...So you see, killing us all is gonna be a lot harder than you thought," Luffy finished explaining.
Kuro's face was a mask of fury. "Then I'll just take what I came for and disappear!" He lunged not at Luffy, but at Kaya, aiming to grab her and use her as a hostage for the deed.
"Pachinko Star: Super Glue!" A voice shouted from the doorway.
A gummy, adhesive pellet struck Kuro in the back, instantly hardening and locking his arms partially to his sides. He stumbled, enraged.
"You lying brat! Usopp!" Kuro snarled, trying to peel the substance off.
Usopp stood in the doorway, his new rifle held with a confidence that hadn't been there before. "Kaya, get behind me. I'll protect you. I'll defeat Kuro." He then turned his taunt on the pirate captain. "What's wrong, 'Captain' Kuro? A bit slow today? Lose something? Looking for these?" He held up the stolen will and deed, fluttering them tauntingly.
With a roar of pure rage, Kuro tore free of the glue, sacrificing part of his jacket, and charged. Usopp didn't stand and fight. He turned and ran, leading the furious pirate on a chase away from the manor and into the village—specifically, into the woods he had spent his entire childhood exploring and, more recently, fortifying.
"This is my world, Kuro!" Usopp's voice echoed through the trees, amplified by a Den Den Mushi he'd rigged. "You're just a guest! And a clumsy one at that!"
Kuro slashed wildly with his Cat Claws, felling small trees and shredding undergrowth, but Usopp was a ghost. He was everywhere and nowhere.
*Thwack!* A swinging log.
*Snap!* A triggered snare of thorns.
*Whoosh!* A net descending, lined with fishhooks that tore at Kuro's clothes and skin.
"YOU COWARD! FIGHT ME!" Kuro screamed, his glasses smeared, his fine suit in tatters.
"Fight you? I'm *humiliating* you!" Usopp's voice echoed. "And the Marines are on their way! How long do you think you have?"
Blinded by rage and pepper spray, Kuro stumbled into another trap. A decoy dummy exploded, dousing him in hot, sticky oil. He howled in pain and frustration. Then a metal ball rolled to his feet.
*BOOM.*
The explosion sent Kuro flying out of the treeline and into the village square, smoking, bleeding, and utterly defeated. Before he could rise, a精准 shot from Usopp's rifle shattered his kneecap. He collapsed with a scream.
Usopp emerged from the woods, goggles on his forehead, his chest heaving but his aim steady. He walked over and stomped on Kuro's wrist, the one holding the Cat Claws, crushing it with the butt of his rifle.
"How...? A nobody... a liar..." Kuro gasped, broken.
"Shut up," Usopp said, his voice cold. He dragged the whimpering pirate into the center of the village square, where a crowd had gathered, watching in stunned silence.
The villagers stared at Usopp, not at the braggart they mocked, but at a young man covered in dirt and the blood of their tormentor, who had single-handedly protected them.
"You... you can't kill me!" Kuro spat, a last, desperate gambit. "My boss... he won't let this stand! He's a Warlord of the Sea! A king of the underworld! You have no idea what you're dealing with!"
Luffy stepped out from the crowd, his hands in his pockets. "So, it's Don Quixote Doflamingo," he stated, as if discussing the weather.
Kuro's bloodied face went slack with shock. "H-how...?"
"He's a small-time thug with a flashy title," Luffy said, his voice dripping with disdain. "We're not impressed."
Usopp looked down at the man who had threatened his home, his friend, and his dream. He raised his rifle, the gift from a father who believed in him. "Even if you had a thousand ships at your back... even with a Warlord's favor... you are nothing compared to the man who fights for his home!"
He looked at the villagers, at Kaya's hopeful face, at Luffy's nod of approval.
"This is your end, 'A Hundred Plans' Kuro."
The gunshot was clean, sharp, and final. It echoed through the suddenly silent square, a period at the end of Syrup Village's fear.
Captain Kuro, with a bounty of 16 million Berries, was dead. And the boy known as a liar had just told the most undeniable truth of his life.