After leaving the mansion, Luffy's group gathered in an open field. A gentle breeze blew, stirring the grass.
"Hey, Luffy! Why did you keep staring at that servant before we left?" Nami asked, sitting on the wooden fence, turning toward Luffy who sat across from her.
Luffy, pressing his hat back down against the wind, thought for a moment before answering, "Hmm... I just felt a little off about that servant."
"Why?" Nami asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"I don't know, maybe it's just my imagination," Luffy said, unsure.
"Don't tell me it's because your request got rejected," Nami teased.
"No! That's not it—do I really look like someone that petty to you, Nami?" Luffy turned to look, only to find Nami giggling. Realizing he was being messed with, just as he was about to say something, Tamanegi came running up from a distance, calling out.
"Ahhh, this is bad!"
The group immediately turned to look at Tamanegi.
"What's wrong?" Ninjin asked, confused, leaning against the wooden fence next to Piiman.
Panting, he pointed behind him. "There's a weird guy walking backwards!"
"You're lying!" the two boys said.
"It's really true!" Tamanegi insisted. "Look!" He pointed behind him again.
Sure enough, someone was walking backward, slowly getting closer.
"Ah! It's true!" Luffy and the two boys exclaimed in surprise.
A thin man with grayish-blond hair, wearing a long blue coat, a blue hat, and heart-shaped glasses, walked closer and stopped with a Michael Jackson-esque pose, then turned around. "Oi, who are you calling weird? I'm not weird."
The group fell silent for a moment, studying him carefully before responding.
"You look weird to me," Nami said.
"He's totally a weird old man!" Luffy said before bursting out laughing.
"Don't be ridiculous!" the man said, holding his hat while moving his feet as if marching in place. "I was just preparing the ritual for my hypnosis technique."
"H-hypnosis?"
"Amazing!"
"Show us!"
"Yeah, show us, mister!"
Luffy and the three boys said, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Nani?!" the man said with a serious face. "Why would I show my technique to people I just met?"
Even as he said that, he pulled out a disc tied to a string.
"Alright! Focus your eyes on this," and he began swinging the disc left and right while saying, "When I say one, two, Jango, you will fall asleep."
"One, two, Jango!" The three boys and Jango immediately collapsed to the ground, asleep.
"You too?!" Zoro said, who had been leaning against the wooden fence watching them the whole time.
Suddenly, a loud, dull thud rang out.
Thud.
Nami, who had been watching Jango and the three boys, turned in surprise to see Luffy falling headfirst and landing flat on the ground.
"So you too!" Nami said, holding her head and sighing in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Usopp, who had been sitting near the shore, accidentally overheard Klahadore's plan—whose real identity was Captain Kuro, who was supposed to have been shot dead three years ago—with a pirate named Jango.
They intended to attack the village and kill Kaya in the chaos, then use the hypnotic power of the pirate Jango to forge a will leaving all of Kaya's fortune to the servant known as Klahadore.
Hearing this, Usopp quickly hid behind a tree, covering his mouth with both hands to keep from making a sound, leaning his body against the trunk, and slowly sliding down as his legs went weak.
His face turned deathly pale, sweat pouring down, soaking his clothes. He muttered as if telling himself, "I... I have to tell everyone."
But a moment later he fell still, wondering whether the villagers would even believe him if he told them pirates were going to attack and that Klahadore was behind it all. After all the lies he'd told over the years, the villagers might just think this was another one of his fabrications. But he quickly shook off that thought.
If he didn't tell everyone, then everyone—Kaya included—might end up killed. With renewed resolve, he ran, but then fell to the ground as his legs trembled weakly. He struck his shaking legs to make them stop, then stood back up and ran toward the village.
Luffy, who had been talking with the others, spotted Usopp running in the distance and called out, waving his arm in the air.
"Oi, Usopp! Where have you been?!"
But Usopp ignored him and kept running toward the village, leaving a trail of dust and smoke behind him.
"What's with him?" Luffy said, tilting his head in confusion.
"Maybe he's still upset that his father was insulted," Nami said, hopping down from the fence.
"Who knows," Zoro said, sliding his sword back into his sash.
"No, this time it's different," the three boys said. "The captain's face looked really serious—let's go after him."
Luffy's group immediately went after Usopp.
When they reached the village, they didn't find Usopp, but they overheard the villagers talking about how Usopp was lying again, claiming that pirates were going to attack the village.
"That kid just won't stop lying!" an old man said, striking the end of his broom against the ground.
"Well, what can you do? Ever since his mother died, that's just been his way of getting attention," an old woman said, holding her cheek.
"Still, this lie is going too far!"
Luffy then asked the villagers where Usopp had gone. They said he'd headed toward the mansion earlier. After hearing that, Luffy and the others made their way to the mansion.
When they arrived, they didn't find the mansion standing—only a group of villagers searching for Usopp.
After searching all day, the sunlight turned orange, casting its glow over Luffy and the others as they rested on a hill. Not long after, Luffy spotted Usopp walking with his head down.
"Hoi! Usopp!"
"Captain!" the three boys waved at him.
Hearing the call, Usopp looked up to see Luffy standing on the hill, waving at him. He covered the gunshot wound on his arm, wiped away his tears, put on a smile, and ran up the hill, calling out cheerfully.
"Yo, it's you guys!" Usopp waved.
"Yo!" Luffy replied, then furrowed his brow.
The boys immediately ran toward Usopp. "Captain! Is it true pirates are going to attack the village?"
Usopp fell silent for a moment, then let out a forced laugh. "Hahaha, of course that was just one of my usual lies! That servant guy really got on my nerves, so I made up a story that he was a pirate!"
The three boys burst out laughing along with him. "Oh, so that's it!"
"So it was a lie!"
The three of them started to walk away, but suddenly stopped.
Usopp turned. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"I'm not going to trust the captain anymore," Ninjin said, turning his back on Usopp.
"Me too," Piiman said.
"Me too. Even though that servant was rude, I never thought the captain would lie in a way that could put people in danger!" Tamanegi said.
The three of them walked away.
The smile on Usopp's face disappeared. Watching the boys' backs, he opened and closed his mouth several times, but in the end said nothing, clenching his fists tightly.
As he lowered his head, he suddenly heard a commotion behind him. He turned around.
"See, I told you!" Luffy said, looking at Nami.
"Alright, alright, you're right!" Nami said, standing on her toes to pat Luffy's head.
"You guys... do you actually believe what I said?" Usopp looked at them in disbelief.
"Yeah!" Luffy answered without hesitation. "You wouldn't tell a lie like that, especially not one involving someone important to you."