Night had fallen over the coast of Syrup Village. The sea was calm, the moon a sharp crescent in the sky. But for the four figures huddled together on the cliffside, there was no peace.
"Okay," Usopp whispered, trying to sound like the confident captain he always pretended to be. "Let's go over the plan one more time."
His knees were knocking together so loudly they almost betrayed their position. Nami, ever the pragmatist, just rolled her eyes.
"It's not much of a plan," she muttered.
"It's a brilliant plan!" Usopp insisted. "Now, let's review our combat strengths. Zoro, your specialty?"
Zoro, who was leaning against a rock with his arms crossed, opened one eye. "Slicing things."
"Excellent. Luffy?"
Luffy, who had been trying to see if he could fit his whole fist in his mouth, pulled it out with a pop. "Stretching!"
"Nami?"
"Stealing, obviously," she said, polishing her staff.
Usopp puffed out his chest, striking a heroic pose in the moonlight. "Perfect! And I, the great Captain Usopp, specialize in… hiding and sniping from a distance! With our combined skills, and the oil slick we've laid on this slope, they don't stand a chance!"
He looked down proudly at their handiwork. The entire slope leading up from the northern coast, the only accessible entry point, was now coated in a thick, treacherous layer of black oil, gleaming under the moon. It was a perfect trap.
Meanwhile, inside the silent, opulent mansion, Merry the servant nervously entered Klahadore's study.
"M-Mr. Klahadore, sir," he stammered. "Miss Kaya is asleep now."
Klahadore sat at his desk, reading by candlelight. He didn't look up. "Good. See that she rests well."
Merry held out a small, elegantly wrapped box. "Also, sir… this arrived from the next town. It's the present Miss Kaya ordered for you. For your three-year anniversary of service tomorrow."
Klahadore finally looked up. He took the box and opened it. Inside was a pair of new spectacles, with a specially designed frame.
"Miss Kaya noticed you are always pushing your glasses up your nose," Merry explained. "She had these custom-made so they would fit perfectly and not slide down."
Klahadore stared at the glasses, a strange expression on his face. He slowly took off his own spectacles and tried on the new pair. They fit perfectly.
For a long moment, he was silent. Then, a low chuckle rumbled in his chest. It was not a sound of gratitude. It was cold, and utterly devoid of warmth.
He looked out the window at the crescent moon. "A crescent moon… it always makes me feel… wild."
Before Merry could comprehend what was happening, Klahadore's hand closed around the new glasses.
CRUNCH.
He crushed the thoughtful gift into a twisted mess of metal and shattered glass.
Merry gasped in horror. "S-sir! What are you doing?!"
Klahadore stood up, a terrifying, demonic smile spreading across his face. The mask of the gentle, loyal butler had completely disintegrated. "A present, you say? My present… will be this entire mansion."
He reached into a hidden bag and pulled out a pair of strange, black gloves. With a soft shing, ten long, sharp, blade-like claws extended from the fingertips.
"The charade is over. In a few short hours, my three years of patience will finally pay off." He turned his gaze, and his gleaming claws, towards the terrified servant.
On board the Black Cat Pirates' ship, the Bezan Black, a sharp kick woke Jango from his hypnotically-induced slumber.
"Captain Jango! Wake up! It's almost dawn!"
Jango sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Alright, alright… Get the men ready. In a few hours, we go to work."
He stood up and, out of pure habit, began to moonwalk backwards out of his cabin to address the crew.
The pieces were in motion. The trap was set. The dawn of disaster was approaching.
As the first rays of morning light painted the sky in shades of orange and pink, everyone was in position.
On the pirate ship, the crew was armed and ready, waiting for their captain's signal.
In the mansion, Klahadore, now fully dressed in his black suit, silently entered the room where Kaya was sleeping soundly.
And on the northern cliff, Usopp, Nami, Zoro, and Luffy were hidden in the bushes, peering down at the slope they had so carefully prepared. They waited.
And waited.
The sun climbed higher. The coast remained empty.
"Where are they?" Nami whispered, growing impatient.
"Maybe my reputation scared them off!" Usopp declared proudly.
Luffy's stomach rumbled. "I'm hungry."
Zoro just snored softly.
Usopp, growing anxious, pulled out his spyglass and scanned the horizon. Nothing. He scanned the coast below. Still nothing. Frustrated, he panned the spyglass further east, along the coastline. And then he froze.
A ship. A dark, menacing ship with a black cat figurehead. It was docked in a different cove, about a mile away. And a long line of pirates, led by a moonwalking man, was already marching up the slope from that beach.
A cold sweat drenched Usopp's body. His face went completely white.
"Oh no…" he whispered.
"What is it?" Nami asked.
Usopp's voice was a terrified squeak. "IT'S… THE WRONG COAST!"
Panic erupted.
"WHAT?!" Nami shrieked. "Are you telling me we set this entire stupid trap in the wrong place?!"
"But… but this is the only slope to the village!" Usopp stammered, frantically looking at the terrain. "Wait… the layout is the same! That coast… it's only a three-minute run from here!"
Nami's face went even paler than Usopp's. A horrifying realization hit her.
"Our boats…" she whispered in terror. "We parked our boats in that cove!" Her treasure was there.
Luffy, who had been half-asleep, was instantly on his feet. "ALRIGHT! LET'S GO!"
He took off like a shot, a blur of red and blue. Nami tried to follow, but in her haste, her foot landed squarely in the middle of the oil slick.
"WHOA!"
Her feet shot out from under her. As she slid down the greasy slope, she desperately grabbed onto the first thing she could reach: Zoro's leg.
Using the swordsman as an anchor, she propelled herself off the oil and onto solid ground. "Sorry, Zoro!" she shouted without looking back, sprinting off to save her treasure.
Zoro, who had been rudely awakened, was now left all alone, sliding and flailing comically on the treacherous slope, unable to get any traction.
"THAT WOMAN…!" he roared, his voice echoing across the empty cove. "I'M GOING TO SLICE HER INTO A MILLION PIECES!"
Usopp was already ahead of them all, running with a speed born of pure desperation.
And Luffy? He had run so fast, with no sense of direction, that he had completely overshot the other coast and somehow ended up back in the deserted village square.
He skidded to a halt, looking around in confusion.
"Huh? This isn't the coast."
The grand plan to defend Syrup Village had, in less than thirty seconds, devolved into a complete and utter catastrophe.
Usopp arrived at the correct coast just in time to see the first wave of the Black Cat Pirates cresting the hill. He was panting, alone, and terrified. He looked back, hoping for his backup. But there was no one.
Zoro was still slipping on oil. Nami was probably halfway to her boat. And Luffy was lost.
He was all alone.
He looked at the approaching horde, their cutlasses gleaming in the morning sun. His knees started to shake again. He wanted to run.
But then he thought of Kaya, sleeping peacefully in her bed, completely unaware of the monsters coming to kill her. He thought of the village that had scorned him, but that he still loved.
His expression hardened. He took a deep breath, pulled back the band of his slingshot, and loaded a lead pellet.
He, the liar, was the only thing standing between the village and destruction.
He would make this last lie… a truth.
"You're not…" he shouted, his voice trembling but ringing with a newfound determination, "…taking another step into my village!"