The Sniper Usopp

"The pirates are coming! Run for your lives!" A long-nosed boy darted through the village, shouting.

"Hehe! I tricked you!"

"You brat, get back here!" The villagers rushed out of their homes with brooms in hand, shouting after him.

"Damn it, he got away again!"

"That brat is getting completely out of hand! Where did he hide?"

But after chasing him for a while and losing sight of the long-nosed boy, the villagers stopped pursuing him. They only wanted to teach him a lesson so he would stop shouting every morning. As for his cry of "The pirates are coming," everyone treated it as entertainment and never took such a lie seriously. This was a peaceful village, and no pirates had come here for who knew how many years. As far as they remembered, the last time pirates appeared was when the long-nosed boy was still young.

Yet those pirates had not attacked the village. They had merely taken one villager away—the long-nosed boy's father. The captain of that pirate crew had invited him aboard as their sniper, and the boy's father had never returned. Since then, the first thing the boy did every morning was announce to the entire village that "the pirates are coming." In truth, he only hoped his father would come back.

"I did another good deed today and brought some excitement to this boring village." The boy hid in a tree and said happily.

"Captain!" Three children called out from the woods.

"You're here!" the long-nosed boy said to the three children in the forest.

"This is too reckless, entering the Grand Line just like that!" Nami had made plans to enter the Grand Line in order to save up one hundred million to buy a certain village, but this was clearly not the best time.

Although she had no experience entering the Grand Line, she often heard rumors about how terrifying and unpredictable it was. Without a sturdy ship and reliable companions, Nami would never enter the Grand Line so casually.

"Yeah, we can't do it without meat!" Luffy agreed wholeheartedly, clearly misunderstanding what Nami meant.

"It really is hard without any booze!" Zoro was no more reliable. At a time like this, he was actually thinking about drinking.

"Can you think about something besides food and drink for once?" Nami slapped her forehead in exasperation. Could a pirate crew like this really enter the Grand Line?

"The Grand Line we're heading for is the most dangerous place in the world, and pirates searching for 'nepiee' are everywhere. They have sturdy ships and enough companions. Compared to them, we're far too weak in both equipment and manpower," William explained.

"If we head south from here, there's a village. We should be able to find a sturdy ship there." Nami took out the nautical chart she had drawn and looked it over.

"South?" If William had not guessed wrong, their next stop would bring them a ship capable of sailing the Grand Line, along with another companion—Usopp.

But those were not what interested William. He was interested in the disguised "Schemer" Kuro. Kuro's strongest technique was Silent Step, a high-speed movement technique that made no sound. Originally, William had no need to learn another movement technique after mastering the Six Powers' Shave and Moon Walk. But Shave and Moon Walk had one major weakness: they made noise while moving. Silent Step's greatest feature was its silence. If he applied that trait of Silent Step to Shave and Moon Walk, could he improve his own Six Powers?

"After finding a ship, we need to recruit a few more companions, especially a sniper and a cook." Ever since leaving Shells Town, William had felt a sense of danger lurking in his heart.

"And a musician!" Luffy immediately added.

"That's the least necessary one, isn't it?" Nami immediately chopped Luffy on the head with her hand. He was a rubber man, after all, so she did not have to worry about hurting him.

"We won't consider a musician for now." Although William knew that a musician would join the Straw Hat Pirates in the future, that was a matter for later.

"Then let's find a ship and companions first!" Though Luffy was usually unreliable, he knew their current boat could not make a long voyage. Four people were already its limit, and that was only because all their supplies were stored inside William's body.

"Nami, what is the name of the village ahead?" Seeing the island gradually coming into view, William asked Nami to confirm whether it was Usopp's hometown.

"Syrup Village!" Nami opened the chart and looked at its label.

"Syrup Village, huh! That's the hometown of a certain great pirate, and he's an old acquaintance of yours too, Luffy!" William reminded Luffy.

Hearing that he had an acquaintance in Syrup Village, Luffy asked curiously, "Who?"

"Yasopp, the sniper of the Red Pirates!" Naturally, William meant Usopp's father, the sniper whom Red-Haired Shanks had invited aboard after arriving in the East Blue all those years ago.

"It's Yasopp!" Hearing the name of an old acquaintance, Luffy began reminiscing about the days he had spent with the Red Pirates as a child. It was Shanks' influence that had made him determined to become a pirate. He also seemed to remember Yasopp saying that he had a son around Luffy's age, named Usopp or something like that.

"Why do you know about the Red Pirates?" Nami asked suspiciously. She felt that William had far too many secrets.

"In the Grand Line, who wouldn't know about the Red Pirates?" William paused before continuing, "There are three major powers in the Grand Line: the World Government, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors."

"But what does that have to do with the Red Pirates?" Nami asked curiously.

"The emperors of the sea who rule the latter half of the Grand Line—one of the Four Emperors is the Red Pirates. By the way, Shanks' swordsmanship is incredibly strong." As he said that, William did not forget to glance at Zoro.

"So Shanks is that strong!" Hearing William's explanation, Luffy thought with satisfaction, As expected of the man I admire!

"His swordsmanship is strong? Could he be stronger than that man?" Sure enough, the moment Zoro heard that Shanks was a powerful swordsman, his blood began to boil.

"Who knows?" To be honest, William did not know whether Shanks or Mihawk was stronger. Either way, neither was someone he could hope to challenge right now.

"Someone stronger than Shanks? Who is that?" Luffy asked curiously.

"The world's greatest swordsman, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea—the man known as Hawkeye, Dracule Mihawk!" William answered for Zoro.

"I went to sea to defeat that man. I'll definitely find him!" The moment that man was mentioned, Zoro's eyes changed. His ambition shone from within them.

Watching the confident Zoro, William had no reason to discourage him. Besides, he believed Zoro would one day surpass the man called Hawkeye.

"Look, there's someone below the cliff!" Luffy suddenly pointed toward the cliff.

"This guy's nose is so long!" As the boat approached the shore beneath the cliff, Luffy turned over the man who had fallen.

"Good, he's still breathing!" Discovering that the man still had a breath left in him, William felt much more relieved.

Judging by the man's features, especially that long nose, he was undoubtedly Usopp. But how had he fallen off the cliff? Had "Schemer" Kuro already begun carrying out his plan?

It was not impossible. Because William had joined the Straw Hat Pirates, the time when they arrived at Syrup Village had shifted from the original story. Still, they would have to wait until Usopp woke up to learn what had happened. If Kuro really was responsible, William guessed that Kuro's plan would be carried out at daybreak.