Klahadore

"What was his goal?" Daisy asked.

"How would I know!" Mark replied.

"I thought you knew everything. So there were things even you didn't know." Ever since they had set sail, Mark had acted as though he knew everything. Daisy had practically started treating him like an encyclopedia.

"Uh..." Mark was left speechless.

Of course, he knew why Kuro had come here, but if he told Daisy, it would be a little too shocking.

After all, it was Kuro's own plan. If he told Daisy and she asked how he knew... Mark would have no way to answer.

Should he say they were all characters in a comic, and that he had transmigrated here?

Daisy would definitely take him to Drum Kingdom to have his head checked.

"Usopp?" As the two headed toward Kaya's house, Mark spotted a somewhat familiar figure.

With that long nose, brown clothes, and a netted cap, wasn't that Usopp?

Usopp was walking listlessly toward them. Judging by the direction he had come from, he had probably just returned from Kaya's house.

"No one believes me. Not even you believe me, Kaya. Pirates really did come!" Usopp kept his head lowered, looking utterly despondent.

He had thought Kaya would believe him, but she had only treated his words as another story. She had never believed him.

Bang!

Suddenly, he felt himself collide with something. Looking up, he saw a tall figure blocking his path.

Bronze skin, muscles like steel cables, and beneath a pair of thick, sword-like brows on his handsome face were eyes that seemed to glow as they curiously examined him.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," Usopp said gloomily.

After saying that, he prepared to walk around him. Then his eyes suddenly caught sight of the massive axe on Mark's back. From where he stood, he could clearly see the red inside the grooves of its blade.

It wasn't paint. Blood... it was blood!!!

Usopp had an innate sense of danger far beyond ordinary people. Whenever danger appeared, it always made him choose to run at the first possible moment.

Tap, tap~

Usopp's face filled with terror as he involuntarily staggered back several steps.

"This guy is... a pirate!"

Had he noticed? A sharp glint flashed through Mark's eyes.

As expected of the Straw Hat crew's sniper. If Mark was right, Usopp possessed an acute awareness of danger, and this awareness had likely been inherited from Yasopp.

"A natural Observation Haki prodigy!"

Mark grabbed Usopp, who was about to flee, and whispered in his ear, "Usopp, don't be afraid. I won't hurt you. Yasopp sent me."

Yasopp!!!

Usopp's eyes widened. Upon hearing Yasopp's name, more than half of his fear immediately faded.

"Dad sent you to find me?"

Mark nodded.

Daisy asked curiously from the side, "This guy is actually Yasopp's son?"

Daisy could hardly be blamed for being curious. Usopp's performance just now really did not resemble that of a great pirate's son.

Especially someone like Yasopp, who always acted as if he feared nothing. Daisy truly could not see any resemblance between Usopp and Yasopp.

"Then... that pirate ship..." Usopp told Mark about the pirate ship he had seen by the western shore.

Mark confirmed Usopp's guess.

"That's right. That's my pirate ship!"

"Phew..." Usopp let out a long breath. "Then that means Syrup Village is safe..."

Seeing that Usopp's first concern was Syrup Village rather than asking about Yasopp, Mark asked, "Usopp, don't you hate Yasopp?"

Usopp fell silent for a long while.

"I hated him when Mom died, but not anymore. Back then, I wanted Dad's pirate ship to appear off Syrup Village's shore more than anything, but it never did..."

"Mom once said he was a man of the sea. Even when she died, she never blamed him. Gradually... I stopped blaming him too."

"I see..." Mark sighed.

The hatred in Usopp's heart had been worn away by time. It seemed Yasopp had owed Usopp a great deal.

"Can you tell me about Dad?" Usopp asked.

Mark nodded. "Yasopp is one of the finest snipers on the sea. He's also a crew member of one of the four strongest pirate crews in the entire sea. He's incredibly powerful!"

"Really?" Usopp asked excitedly.

"Of course!" Mark affirmed.

Usopp's expression brightened with delight, and he danced with joy.

"Dad is actually that strong. Then I'm going to become a man like him too."

"That's a great ambition." Mark glanced at Kaya's house nearby and said, "Usopp, I still have something to do. Do you want to take a look at my pirate ship? I'll have Daisy go with you."

"A pirate ship?" Usopp immediately perked up and hurriedly nodded in agreement.

He was curious about everything related to pirates.

Mark said to Daisy, "In that case, take Usopp to our Moss first. I'll go by myself."

Daisy nodded. "Come back early once you're done. No one on the ship knows how to cook."

A former captain of the Black Cat Pirates was nothing to Mark, so Daisy was not worried.

Mark smiled and agreed, then bid Usopp and Daisy farewell.

"Daisy... let me tell you, I'm also the captain of a pirate crew. I have eight thousand subordinates..." Usopp began boasting.

"That's amazing. But does all of Syrup Village even have eight thousand people?" Daisy asked, pretending to be curious.

"..."

The two walked farther and farther away.

Mark turned to look at Kaya's house, the corners of his lips curling upward.

Kuro, I'm here!

Lougher Manor was the wealthiest household in all of Syrup Village. Flowers and trees filled the estate, and its buildings stood like noble villas in the countryside, lavish beyond compare.

Kuro stepped out of the study and happened to run into a man with a sheep-like head.

"Klahadore, the master has you delivering afternoon tea again?" the sheep-headed man greeted Kuro.

Kuro habitually adjusted his glasses and revealed a faint false smile.

"Yes. You know the master's daily habit of drinking afternoon tea. It's just that Prolan production in the village has been low recently, and there isn't much left in the storehouse. I was about to go into town to buy some."

"I see. Then go and come back quickly!" the sheep-headed man said. Suddenly remembering something, he added, "Oh, right. A young man came looking for you just now!"

"Looking for me?" Kuro showed a puzzled expression.

"That's right. He also said his name was Kuro!"

Creak!

Kuro suddenly clenched his fist.