"Why are you running? Long Nose, I can tell from your exceptional bones that you're destined for great things."
That devastatingly handsome face of Lei En's looked even more terrifying to Usopp than a demon from hell.
"Waaah—! Don't come any closer!"
Scared out of his wits, Usopp let out an exceptionally shrill scream.
He scrambled up from the ground, grabbed the ladder he had dropped in fright, and turned to run toward the village.
"Help! Murder! A pervert wants to capture me for experiments!"
As he ran, Usopp shouted at the top of his lungs, trying to draw the villagers' attention.
However, Lei En merely stood where he was and curled his lip in disdain.
"Trying to run?"
He could not even be bothered to chase him. He simply raised his right hand casually and made a grasping motion at Usopp's retreating back.
"Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Pull!"
"Crackle—!"
An invisible but powerful electromagnetic force erupted in an instant!
Usopp, who had been fleeing madly, felt as if an invisible giant hand had seized him tightly, rendering him unable to move.
The next second, his entire body flew backward out of control. Along with his broken ladder, he was brutally lifted into the air by Lei En.
"Let me go! Let me go! You great demon king!"
Like a duck being strangled by the neck, Usopp flailed his arms and legs wildly in midair.
In order to survive, he even began desperately making up illnesses for himself.
"I... I have the terminal disease called 'I'll die the moment I go to sea'! Really! I can't leave this village!"
"Oh? Is that so?"
Lei En raised an eyebrow, revealing an exceptionally "kind" smile.
"Perfect. I know a little medicine, and I'm especially skilled at treating all sorts of difficult diseases. For your condition, electrotherapy works best."
The moment he heard the words "electrotherapy," Usopp's crying abruptly stopped.
He stared in terror at the blue arcs dancing across Lei En's fingertips, too frightened to even breathe.
Watching Usopp cower like a quail, Lei En shook his head helplessly.
This guy had inherited Yasopp's top-tier sniping talent, but his current cowardly personality was simply pathetic.
Still, Lei En knew very well that in the original story, Usopp was an unquestionable "king of turning things around in desperate situations."
At critical moments, his luck and creativity could even play a greater role than Roronoa Zoro or Sanji.
A talent like this had to be brought back and properly remade!
"Tch. Too timid, too weak. Other than bragging and running away, you're practically useless."
Lei En dangled Usopp in the air as if appraising a piece of scrap iron.
"Looks like I'll have to get serious with you."
Lei En snapped his fingers, and a thin bolt of lightning shot into the sky before exploding overhead.
This was his signal for contacting his subordinates.
A few minutes later.
Dadi and Kuina hurried over from the direction of the village entrance.
Seeing Usopp dangling from Lei En's hand and Kuro beside him, dressed in servant clothes and lying there like a dead dog, neither of them found it unusual.
They had nearly become immune to their lord's habit of "picking things up" wherever he went.
"My lord, what are your orders?" Dadi asked respectfully.
Lei En pointed at Usopp, who was still trembling, and spoke to Dadi.
"Dadi, weren't you once a master marksman at Marine Headquarters?"
"From today onward, this Long Nose is your apprentice."
"Teach him every last thing you know, and teach him like your life depends on it. If you fail to teach him properly, I'll hold you accountable."
"Huh? Me?" Dadi froze for a moment. Looking at Usopp, who seemed close to wetting his pants from fear, he looked troubled.
"My lord, this kid... doesn't look like he's cut out to hold a gun."
"People are forced into shape."
Without further discussion, Lei En tossed Usopp to Dadi.
Then he pointed toward an uninhabited island far out in the waters off Syrup Village, shrouded in dense black poisonous miasma and looking utterly sinister and terrifying.
That island was known in the East Blue as the "Devil's Nest." Rumor had it that it was filled with gigantic, ferocious prehistoric beasts, and even the most vicious pirates did not dare approach it lightly.
"Do you see that island?"
A particularly cruel curve appeared at the corner of Lei En's mouth.
"That's your new home, Long Nose."
"N-No... don't!"
The moment Usopp heard that he was being thrown into such a hellish place, he burst into tears and clung tightly to Dadi's leg.
"People will die there! I'll really die there!"
"You won't die."
Lei En snorted coldly.
"I'll have Dadi teach you the most basic survival skills and marksmanship first. Then I'll throw you onto the island alone."
Lei En's gaze turned exceptionally cold.
"When you can survive on that island alone for one month and kill the strongest apex beast on it, you'll graduate."
"As for now..."
Lei En snatched the still-wailing Usopp from Dadi's hands.
He walked to the edge of the cliff, his arm muscles suddenly bulging as he spun around twice on the spot like an Olympic shot-putter.
"First, I'll let you experience what real wilderness survival is!"
"Off you go!"
"AAAAAAAHHHH—!!!"
Accompanied by an exceptionally miserable scream that tore through the sky!
Usopp's entire body became a black meteor, tracing a perfect parabola through the air as he flew with incredible precision toward the terrifying island wrapped in poisonous miasma!
With a bang, he smashed a small crater into the island's beach, then scrambled into the dense jungle.
"Whew... the world is finally quiet."
Lei En clapped his hands, looked at the distant island, and nodded in satisfaction.
He believed that under the pressure of such extreme survival, Usopp's hidden sniping talent and survival instincts would surely be fully awakened.
By then, a true "Muscle Sniper King" would be born.
He turned around, stretched lazily, and looked at the completely stunned Dadi and Kuina, as well as Kuro, who was trembling all over in terror.
"All right, stop standing around."
Lei En rubbed his somewhat empty stomach, anticipation appearing on his face.
"After all that fussing around, I'm hungry."
He pointed toward the distant horizon.
"I heard there's a place called the Baratie around these waters, and its food is supposed to be pretty good?"
"Let's go have a good meal, and while we're at it, take a look at that curly-browed pervert chef."
Before you continue