Down on the secluded beach, the man known as Klahadore adjusted his spectacles, his posture straightening from a deferential butler into something far more commanding, far more sinister.
"And Jango," he said, his voice losing its smooth, subservient tone and taking on a cold, sharp edge. "Do not use that name. Captain Kuro is dead. And this is not murder. It is a… tragic accident."
Up on the cliff, hidden in the dense foliage, Luffy and Usopp watched. Luffy was trying to see if he could tie a blade of grass into a knot with his tongue. Usopp, however, was frozen, a cold dread creeping up his spine.
Kuro… Captain Kuro…
The name echoed in his memory, dredging up old newspaper headlines and terrifying bedtime stories his mother used to tell him to keep him from misbehaving. Captain Kuro of a Hundred Plans. The infamous, cruel, and cunning captain of the Black Cat Pirates, a man so meticulous that his plans never failed. A pirate so feared that his capture and public execution by the Marines three years ago was celebrated across the East Blue.
But he wasn't dead. He was standing right there.
"It's amusing, Captain," Jango said with a smirk, ignoring the correction. "To think you'd grow bored of a pirate's life, fake your own death, and settle down as a butler in some backwater village. Still, as long as I get my share of the inheritance, I'm happy to play along."
"The inheritance is the entire point of this charade," Kuro said impatiently. "As 'Klahadore,' I am not a member of the family. I cannot legally inherit her fortune. But a will… a will changes everything."
His plan was chillingly simple. "All you have to do is hypnotize Miss Kaya into signing a new will, leaving her entire estate to me. Once that is done, you will give her the 'signal' to have her tragic accident. Make it look clean. No evidence."
Jango scoffed. "It's too complicated. If it were me, I'd just have the crew storm the mansion and take everything. Much faster."
"And that is why you are still a common thug, Jango," Kuro retorted, his voice dripping with contempt. "An invasion would draw the Marines. I would be a wanted pirate once again. I am tired of that life—the constant running, the planning, the stench of blood. All I desire now is peace. A quiet, wealthy life, free from want or worry."
"A peaceful life that you plan to get by murdering an innocent girl and her entire village?" Jango mocked.
"Her parents' death was an unforeseen accident," Kuro stated coldly. "It simply… accelerated my timeline. Do not question my methods."
Usopp felt sick. He was listening to the calm, rational planning of a massacre.
He had to do something. He had to warn someone. But his body was locked in place by sheer terror.
Beside him, Luffy had finally given up on the blade of grass. He'd only been half-listening, but he'd heard enough to get the gist.
He stood up.
"HEY!" he shouted down at the beach, his voice echoing in the quiet cove. "YOU TWO DOWN THERE! YOU'RE BAD GUYS, AREN'T YOU?!"
Usopp's heart stopped.
"NO, YOU IDIOT! GET DOWN!" he shrieked, frantically trying to pull Luffy back into the bushes.
But it was too late. Kuro and Jango's heads snapped up, their eyes instantly locking onto the figures on the cliff.
"Well, well," Jango said, a slow, sinister grin spreading across his face. "Looks like we have an audience."
He held up his sharp, spinning chakram, the polished metal glinting in the afternoon sun. He began to swing it back and forth like a pendulum.
"One, Two, Jango!"
"Don't look at the ring!" Usopp screamed, immediately shutting his eyes and turning his head away. He knew what this was.
But Luffy, ever clueless, stared at the shiny, spinning object with childlike curiosity. "Whoa, what's that?"
Jango's voice droned on. "You will fall… into a deep… deep… sleep…"
Luffy's eyes went blank. His body went completely limp. The grin on his face was still there, but it was vacant.
And then, because he was standing right at the edge of the cliff, he simply… toppled over.
"LUFFY!" Usopp screamed in pure horror, watching his friend's body plummet towards the jagged rocks below. He was sure he had just witnessed a murder.
"Should we kill the other one too, Captain Kuro?" Jango asked, yawning. His own hypnosis had made him drowsy.
Kuro just pushed his glasses up his nose, a cold, calculating look in his eyes.
"No. Let him go."
"But he'll warn the village!"
"And who," Kuro said with utter contempt, "is going to believe a liar?"
He was right. Usopp's entire life, his entire identity, was built on a foundation of lies. The one day he needed to tell the truth, the most important truth of his life, his own reputation would be his greatest enemy. It was the most perfect, cruel irony. Kuro didn't need to kill him; he had already armed the entire village against him.
That realization hit Usopp harder than any punch. With tears of grief for Luffy and terror for Kaya streaming down his face, he ran. He ran faster than he had ever run in his life, his feet pounding the forest floor, his lungs burning.
He burst out of the woods and saw Nami and Zoro, still waiting by the snoozing pile of his own crew. He didn't stop. He didn't have time to explain. He just kept running.
He sprinted into the village square, the place where his daily performance of lies usually took place.
"EVERYONE!" he screamed, his voice raw with panic and desperation. "PIRATES ARE COMING! THEY'RE REALLY COMING! TOMORROW MORNING, THE BLACK CAT PIRATES ARE GOING TO ATTACK! KLAHADORE IS THEIR CAPTAIN! HE'S GOING TO KILL KAYA AND TAKE ALL HER MONEY!"
The villagers who were out on the street stopped and turned to look at him. There was no panic. No fear. Only annoyance.
"Twice in one day, Usopp?" the butcher said, shaking his head. "This joke is getting old."
"I'M NOT LYING!" Usopp pleaded, tears now freely flowing. "This is real! You have to believe me! We have to protect Kaya!"
A woman holding a laundry basket scoffed. "And why should we believe you? You lie every single day. It's all you do."
"This time is different! I'm telling the truth!"
"Oh, give it up, kid," another man said, walking away. "Your pranks have gone too far this time. You're completely untrustworthy."
The butcher then delivered the final, devastating blow.
"If you had spent your life being an honest man like Mr. Klahadore, maybe we'd listen. But a liar like you? Never."
Usopp collapsed to his knees in the middle of the street, the words hitting him like a physical blow. They trusted the murderer over him. His own lies, the very things that had made him a local legend in his own mind, had become his cage. He was completely, utterly alone.
At the coast, the setting sun cast long shadows. A dark, menacing ship with a black cat figurehead had silently pulled into the cove. Captain Kuro stood on the beach, his butler uniform discarded, now dressed in a formal black suit. The men of the Black Cat Pirates gathered before him, their first meeting in three long years. The plan for the morning was set.
In the mansion on the hill, Kaya looked out her window, a sense of unease settling over her. "Merry," she asked a servant. "Have you seen Klahadore? I haven't seen him all afternoon."
"He said he had some urgent business in the next town, Miss Kaya," the servant replied. "He should be back tomorrow."
And at the bottom of the cliff, where he had fallen, Monkey D. Luffy lay on a soft patch of sand. He was not dead. He was not broken.
He was just sound asleep, a small snot bubble inflating and deflating from his nose with each peaceful snore, completely oblivious to the nightmare that was about to dawn on Syrup Village.