Syrup Village is located in a remote sea area of the East Blue.
Due to its geographical location, very few people come to this almost uninhabited island.
So, for the residents living on this island, it would seem a bit... boring.
And their most entertaining way to pass the time every day was...
"Bad news, pirates are attacking!"
"Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming!"
"Everyone run!"
In the early morning, a wheat-skinned boy with a long, Pinocchio-like nose ran frantically towards the village, shouting "Pirates are coming!" repeatedly in the streets.
Soon, the villagers opened their doors one after another.
At this moment, the long-nosed boy, Usopp, suddenly burst into laughter.
"I tricked you, wahahahahaha!"
Immediately, the villagers were enraged, furiously chasing after Usopp with brooms, pots, and pans as weapons, cursing him as they ran.
"You lying scoundrel, get lost today!"
"Stop right there, you brat!"
Usopp ran and laughed, quickly leaving the villagers behind.
Watching the villagers curse in anger but return empty-handed, Usopp's mood immediately brightened, and he covered his mouth, snickering.
"Puh-hee-hee-hee-hee… I tricked everyone again today."
"So happy, I did another good deed today, adding a little excitement to this boring village."
At this moment, Usopp suddenly noticed four figures walking from the direction of the coast.
"People I've never seen before, not villagers from this village."
Usopp immediately judged that these people were outsiders, muttering to himself.
"Are they pirates?"
Usopp carefully scrutinized them. Among the four, one was a stylishly dressed, very cute young woman, one wore a Straw Hat and didn't look like a bad person, and there was another beautiful young woman with an outstanding figure and a slightly mischievous look. Aside from the green-haired guy with three swords at his waist who was a bit scary, the others all looked like good people!
Usopp quickly made his judgment about these people in his mind.
Realizing there was probably no danger, he bravely showed himself and jumped out.
Standing before them, Usopp placed his hands on his hips and said with great presence:
"Who are you? What are you doing in this village?"
"I am Captain Usopp, the brave warrior specially responsible for protecting this village, and I have three thousand subordinates."
"So I advise you not to have any strange ideas about this village, otherwise my three thousand subordinates will definitely not spare you."
In the original story, only Luffy would be fooled by Usopp's crude lies.
But now, all four of them looked at Usopp with completely unperturbed expressions.
This quickly made Usopp feel uneasy, sweat beaded on his forehead, and his voice began to tremble.
"Hey, hey! Are you… not believing me? My three thousand subordinates are lurking all around here, you know!"
As Usopp spoke, the figures of three children appeared in his mind.
These were his three thousand subordinates.
At this moment, Luffy spoke:
"We are pirates."
Upon hearing this, Usopp felt a chill down his spine, his expression became extremely tense, and he instinctively wanted to run away.
But then he heard Luffy continue to speak.
"We heard there's a wealthy family here who deals in sea vessels, and we'd like to buy a pirate ship."
"You must know who this family is, Usopp?"
Luffy's eyebrows raised when he said the last sentence, as if he knew what Usopp was thinking.
Usopp didn't know why he felt so transparent.
He had originally planned to run away, but when he heard the wealthy family mentioned by Luffy, he froze.
Wasn't there only one wealthy family in this village?
Thinking of that wealthy family, a frail, blonde girl couldn't help but appear in Usopp's mind.
"I absolutely cannot let these pirates get close to Kaya!"
This was Usopp's only thought at the moment.
Pirates were dangerous, and he couldn't let them harm Kaya.
"Ha… haha, you've come to the wrong place. There's no wealthy family here. You should just leave!"
Usopp clumsily lied, turned around, and prepared to leave, intending to warn the villagers and Kaya.
Just then, he suddenly heard the man behind him say,
"Usopp, do you want to be a pirate?"
At this question, Usopp immediately stopped in his tracks.
Becoming a pirate was something he had always dreamed of.
However, he had no idea how to take that step.
Especially since the invitation came from a pirate crew he had just met and knew nothing about.
"I know your father, Yasopp; he's a very powerful pirate!"
Luffy sighed leisurely.
Usopp turned around abruptly at the words, surprised.
"What? You've seen my father? Where is he now?"
At this moment, Uta, who was beside them, suddenly reacted and spoke.
"Sogga! I was wondering why Usopp looked so familiar! So you're Yasopp's son!"
"When I was with the Red Hair Pirates, Yasopp took good care of me."
Upon hearing another person say they knew Yasopp, Usopp's trust in this group surged.
"Your father is the sniper of the Red Hair Pirates, and he should be somewhere on the Grand Line right now!"
Luffy answered Usopp's question.
Then he continued to say,
"How about it? Do you want to be a great sea warrior like your father?"
"Come with us to the Grand Line."
Although Usopp was timid and weak in the early parts of the original story, he was quite good after he grew stronger later on.
And most importantly, the saying "rely on Usopp in dire straits" wasn't unfounded; he repeatedly displayed his power in desperate situations, helping the Straw Hat escape danger.
So Luffy still wanted to recruit him as a crew member.
Furthermore, he was counting on Usopp to help him research the Buggy Bomb blueprints he got from Buggy.
Usopp's bag contained various gunpowder weapons, suggesting he had some understanding of the subject.
With a little assistance from his Heaven-Defying Comprehension, researching a cannonball shouldn't be a big problem.
After hearing his father's name from Luffy's mouth and being invited again, Usopp was extremely moved.
If he missed this opportunity, he didn't know if anyone would invite him again.
"If you come with us, you might even get to see your father!"
"The Red Hair Pirates are a famous pirate crew on the Grand Line; ordinary pirates can't even meet them."
Uta saw that Luffy wanted to recruit Usopp, so she added fuel to the fire.
It must be said that the name Yasopp was indeed very useful.
Usopp originally wanted to go to sea to follow in his father's footsteps, and the thought of seeing his father completely swayed him.
"Okay! I'll join you."