East Blue, somewhere at sea.
The sea breeze blew gently, stirring ripples across the surface.
On the deck of a swift single-masted sailboat with a white sheep figurehead, beneath the mainmast, a long-nosed man with black curly hair, bare chest, and yellow overalls waved at the News Coo flying past the ship, signaling that he wanted to buy a newspaper.
The News Coo promptly landed by the rail and pointed at the newspaper price on its bag with a wing: one hundred Belly per copy.
As the long-nosed man took out money to buy the paper, he muttered under his breath:
"It's been days since we defeated the Krieg Pirates and made the news. Why hasn't Captain Usopp's bounty poster come out yet?"
Hearing that, Luffy, who was sitting atop the sheep figurehead, loudly protested with some displeasure:
"Hey! Usopp, I need to stress this again.
I'm the captain of the Going Merry, okay?!"
Usopp stroked his long nose with a smug expression.
"If it weren't for my navigation skills guiding the way, you and Zoro wouldn't even know how to find a route across the sea."
Having grown up in Syrup Village, Usopp did not actually possess any particularly special talents. Aside from loving to brag, the only skill he could really boast about was being fairly accurate with a slingshot.
However, three years ago, an older man had moved into the village. Rumor had it that he had once ventured into the Grand Line and was an exceptionally capable navigator. What was more, he had "discovered" Usopp's talent, believing that Usopp had the potential to become an outstanding navigator and would surely become a brave warrior of the sea someday.
Thus, that man had begun carefully teaching him navigation.
He taught him for two and a half years,