East Blue, Syrup Village, on the highest mountain in the village.
Usopp, holding the newspaper he borrowed from Miss Kaya, sat on the edge of the cliff with his legs dangling, excitedly reading it.
Although Usopp didn't understand what the terms "naval hero" or "Celestial Dragon" meant in the newspaper.
But regardless, Usopp knew that anyone who appeared in the newspaper must be incredibly powerful!
If I could be as good as them...
Or rather, if you're even more capable than your father...
Would that way, I could bring my dad back and make him pay his respects at my mother's grave?
With that thought in mind, Usopp put away the newspaper with great interest and then ran towards the village.
As he ran, he shouted at the top of his lungs along the village road.
Pirates are coming!!!
Pirates are coming!!!
Everyone, hurry and take refuge!!!
As he shouted, Usopp himself started laughing. He ran laughing to the center of the village, in front of the tallest house in the village.
At that moment, the owner of the large house was looking at Usopp with a smile on his face.
"Hey, Usopp, are you done shouting?"
"If you're done shouting, come over to our house for a meal, haha!"
At this point, the host warmly put his arm around Usopp's shoulder and led Usopp into the yard of his villa.
As they walked, Usopp spoke to the male host.
"Uncle Kanan, what's good to eat today? I noticed you got up very early!"
"Haha, let's have something good to eat today. Your aunt went to the Goa Kingdom a while ago and bought three catties of limited edition Alabasta scorpion meat."
It is said that the meat of this scorpion is highly praised by the Celestial Dragon, Saint Gawain!
As soon as she finished speaking, Kanan led Usopp into the house. As soon as they entered, a blonde girl who looked a little frail waved to Usopp.
"Usopp!"
"Haha, Kaya!"
Usopp excitedly raised his hand. Since his mother's death, Kaya had taken good care of him, and he was very grateful to Kaya.
He stared at Kaya for a couple of seconds, then said happily.
"You look great today! Haha, any good news lately?"
"It's alright~."
Usopp Kaya, revealing two beautiful dimples, and pointed to a person with impeccably combed hair behind her as she smiled.
"Didn't Father and Mother save Klahadore half a month ago? He has recovered and decided to stay in our house as a housekeeper to repay the favor."
Mr. Klahadore is a very skilled doctor. After training with him for a few days, my body has become much stronger!
At this point, Kaya turned around and smiled gently at Klahadore.
Seeing Kaya's smile, Klahadore bowed slightly with elegance.
"You flatter me, miss. You and your parents saved my life, a traveler in distress. Of course, I must repay your kindness."
So please rest assured, as long as you persist with the gymnastics I teach you, it won't be long before you become even healthier."
As soon as he finished speaking, Klahadore gave an elegant bow and then returned to stand beside another butler, Merry.
The white-haired Merry, Klahadore was just a traveler in distress, his elegant and gentlemanly demeanor and kind words always made everyone who came into contact with him feel that he was easy to get along with.
Upon hearing Kaya's words, Usopp quickly bowed to Klahadore.
"Haha, thank you so much! I've been worried about Kaya's health. It would be wonderful if you could help her get healthier!"
"Speaking of which, isn't it time to eat? Scorpion meat! Just hearing that word makes me so hungry!"
As they spoke, Usopp sat down at the very edge of the table and began to eat happily. In the years since his mother's death, Kaya's family, Kaya's parents, had always taken good care of Usopp.
On the one hand, Kaya's parents were extremely kind people, and they were willing to do everything they could to help the person who collapsed in front of their family.
Not to mention the poor child who lived in a village, whose father went to sea and whose mother died young.
On the other hand...
Kaya's Pops and Yasopp were good friends back in the day!
You must understand that to do business on this vast ocean, you need to have enough power to protect your business.
The Kaya's family has built such a large business suggests that there must be considerable power behind them.
But it was obvious to the naked eye that there were no strong men in their family, so the person who helped them do business at sea back then was naturally the young Yasopp.
It was precisely because Yasopp had been taking care of the Kaya family's business that Yasopp reputation spread to several nearby islands.
Otherwise, no one would believe that Shanks simply pulled a random passerby along by chance, and that passerby became the world's greatest sniper, right?
As for now, although Yasopp has long since stopped managing Kaya's family business, as a wealthy man with considerable assets, Kaya's father possibly be unaware of the identity of the powerful figure from the same village?
Because Usopp's father died too early, most of the young people in the village don't know him.
But how could the older people who lived in the same era as Yasopp not know Yasopp identity?
That's the chief sniper of one of the Four Emperors' pirate crews, a terrifying figure with a bounty of over a billion!
Faced with the son of such a person, would a wealthy man like Kaya's father not know how to handle him?
In short, for various reasons, although Usopp was saddened by his mother's death, Usopp actually fared quite well.
In the original pirate history, Usopp's situation only started to deteriorate two years later, after Kaya's parents died.
By then, Kaya was overwhelmed with grief over the passing of her parents and too grief-stricken to manage household chores.
And back then, the butler... naturally wouldn't invite Usopp to dine with them like Kaya's parents did...
As for Usopp's habit of exaggerating, that only started after Kaya's parents died.
Because Kaya was so sad at that time, her health deteriorated.
So Usopp had to resort to telling tall tales to make Kaya laugh, which was how Kaya managed to keep going.
Even now, Usopp is still seen as an endearing child by the villagers of Syrup Village.
He didn't boast; he simply shouted "Pirates are coming!" every morning throughout the village.
The villagers were already used to it; with Usopp around, they didn't even need to raise roosters anymore.
As soon as Usopp shouted, everyone knew it was time to go to work in the fields...
Logically speaking, Syrup Village should always remain as peaceful as it is today.
But just as Usopp was having dinner with Kaya and her parents, panicked cries from the villagers suddenly rang out outside the house.
"Aaaaaah!!!"
"Oh my god, the pirates are really here!"
"Usopp wasn't lying today! What a huge pirate ship! What a huge whale!!!"
"Their boat is so fast!!!"
Amidst the villagers' panicked shouts, Usopp's eyes widened suddenly.
"What?! Pirates are really here?!"
The moment the words left his mouth, Usopp stood up in utter shock. He politely set his knife and fork aside and quickly addressed Kaya and her family.
"Uncle, Auntie, and Kaya, please eat!"
Pirates have actually come! Could it be that my dad has returned?!
Anyway, you guys eat first, I'm going to go check out the beach!
I... I... I..."
"Don't be nervous, Usopp!"
Hearing Usopp's flustered hands, not knowing what to do with them, Kaya's father quickly offered words of comfort.
"Wait a moment, let's go take a look together. If it really is your father who has returned, that would be great. I haven't seen him for almost fifteen years."
We grew up in the same village, but after Yasopp left, he never bothered to come back and visit his old friends.
If it really is him, then I'm going to give him a good scolding later, haha!
After saying that, Kanan rubbed Usopp's head to help him stay calm.
At the same time, Kanan gave her housekeepers a look.
Seeing that look, Butler Merry nodded knowingly. He had to go and check first. If it was some dangerous pirate, he would get everyone away as soon as possible.
Butler Klahadore squinted slightly beneath his glasses.
We've dealt with all the pirates who lingered along this route, so why are more pirate ships arriving?
Is a competitor trying to steal their business?
And so, not long after, everyone in the Kaya family, including the two butlers with their own agendas, was stunned.
They gazed at the distant sea, bewildered and awestruck!
Right in their sight, under the bright sunshine.
An island with sails and a whale thicker than the island are surging toward Syrup Village.
Looking at the boat, Klahadore's knees suddenly trembled.
Beside him, Merry stared wide-eyed in tension!
"Master... Master!"
"Merry said worriedly."
"This isn't some pirate, but... a legendary Celestial Dragon!"
Although the flag has changed, the central design of the flag does indeed bear the symbol of the World Government and the Celestial Dragon!!!
"This!!!"
Upon hearing Merry's words, Kanan, who already felt like the sky had fallen, could barely stand!
While supporting his trembling wife, he quickly gave instructions.
"Quickly, quickly call everyone in the village to wait. We must follow the Celestial Dragon's rules and kneel down the moment they disembark!"
Also, take out all the food we've stored!
In addition, take out all the cash in the village, along with the treasures in my storage room.
Only by satisfying the Celestial Dragon with those things can we possibly continue to live!!!
The saying "looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death" is no joke. It took a full two hours from the time the people of Syrup Village first saw Dark Bird Ship before it finally docked on the coastline of Syrup Village.
Soon after, a small Dark Bird Ship, carrying a ship full of solemn people, arrived at the dock of Syrup Village.
When they disembarked, everyone in the Syrup Village, including the frail Kaya, could only kneel there.
Looking at the kneeling crowd, he smiled, lifted the stretcher with one hand, and gently lifted it with the other.
"Gentlemen, please rise. Gawain is unwell and cannot greet you with a good morning."
With his voice and movements, everyone in Syrup Village floated up uncontrollably.
In a moment of panic, they quickly straightened their legs and stood up involuntarily.
After Yixiao told everyone to stand up, Uta, Shirahoshi, and Vivi immediately came forward.
These three adorable girls, who seemed to be the most communicative, directly expressed their concerns to people.
"Hello, I'm Shirahoshi. We'd like to borrow a few rooms to take care of a patient."
"It would be best to find a house with a better environment. The adult has been unconscious for eight days. Dr. Kureha he probably needs to recuperate on land, which is more stable than the ship, so that he can recover more quickly!"
Uta emphasized it again, her tone almost impolite, showing her concern for Gawain.
After all, Uta's personality has always been much stronger than Shirahoshi and Vivi's.
Uta, that's the woman who almost destroyed the world.
Standing in front of the crowd, listening to Shirahoshi and Uta's words, Kanan was already drenched in sweat.
Beside him, the Syrup Village kept pushing his arm.
After being reminded by the village chief, he, the richest man in the village, a well-known tycoon and the most powerful person in the village, quickly knelt down again in front of Dark Bird and his group.
"Great Celestial Dragon... I... my home is quite nice. You gentlemen can rest and recuperate here as long as you like."
"That's good, thank you very much, young man!"
At the center of the Dark Bird cadre group, Rayleigh, carrying the stretcher, nodded heavily. Then, with a wave of his hand, a group of cadres immediately carried Gawain's stretcher to Kaya's house.
As Rayleigh jogged along carrying the stretcher, he glared fiercely at Garp, who was running alongside him.
"Damn it, you old scoundrel Garp, if the captain can't recover on land, I'll rip your head off as a sacrifice!!!"
"What the hell, Rayleigh?!"
Faced with Rayleigh's harsh words, Garp felt both guilty and helpless.
"I don't know what happened either. Logically speaking, this kid's physique is pretty good!"
Although he's a little less capable than me, his physique surpasses that of many people on the high seas!
I only lay there for two days before getting up, but he didn't open his eyes for a full eight days. That doesn't make sense. Am I the one who lost?
After saying that, Garp picked his nose hard and put on an innocent expression.
Looking at Garp like this, Rayleigh let out a resentful sigh.
If he had known beforehand that this fight would cause Gawain to inexplicably fall into a coma, he would never have allowed Garp and Gawain to act recklessly together!
If this excellent situation is ruined because of Gawain's mysterious coma, Rayleigh will never forgive himself for the rest of his life!
Almost all of the Dark Bird Group's officers shared Rayleigh's thoughts.
Gion and Hancock, in particular, were almost frantic with worry.
But no matter how they called out to him, Gawain showed no signs of waking up. They were getting increasingly anxious and were starting to hate Garp even more...
Thus, a story that baffled the Syrup Village was completely written into the history of Syrup Village.
A Celestial Dragon of extremely high status was seriously injured and spent a long time recuperating in his village.
During this period, the villagers were initially terrified, but gradually began to talk with the people from the Dark Bird Ship.
However, some people talk about craftsmanship, while others talk about training and becoming stronger.
Some people, however, were talking about what kind of revolution?
What exactly is the Revolutionary Army?
Twenty-two days passed quickly. In an ordinary house near the main house in Syrup Village, Kaya pouted and walked wearily out of the yard.
After the patient moved into his hometown, his whole family was squeezed into a small house. The bed boards and mattresses there were of very poor quality, but they couldn't buy better ones in the short term.
In short, Kaya's sleep quality has deteriorated significantly.
Just as Kaya went out, Usopp also got up in the neighbor's house, facing the sun.
This morning, he didn't shout that pirates were coming again, because after the arrival of the Dark Bird Ship, the next day Usopp only shouted it once, and was then hung up and beaten for a long time by Shiryu and his excited group who thought pirates had really come.
Although the female gunner on the Dark Bird Ship became very interested in him after he found out the whole story, she even started teaching him marksmanship.
But Usopp still remembers that beating he got back then, boohoo.
Those burly men in black military uniforms hit people really hard!!!