17: Chapter 17 Encounter with UsoppWithout further ado, Luffy unleashed a rubber bullet that blasted Buggy away.Buggy grinned smugly and immediately activated his Devil Fruit power, splitting into countless pieces to dodge."Chop to pieces!Escape!Straw Hat, you think.Awooo!"
Before he could finish speaking, Buggy felt a pain that every man understands surge from his manhood.But it wasn't over yet; before Buggy could recover, Luffy's fists rained down on him, causing all of Buggy's remaining body parts to fall to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.Seeing this, Luffy winked at Uta, who immediately understood, grabbed a rope, and bound Buggy's body parts, except for his head and feet, tightly."Hey, what are you trying to do, Masaga?"
Buggy sensed something was wrong, and Luffy's next action confirmed his suspicions.Watching his body parts being blasted away by Luffy's Gum-Gum Rocket, Buggy was on the verge of tears.Luffy didn't let him off the hook, delivering another Gum-Gum Rocket to Buggy, giving him a free taste of the feeling of flying."You damn Straw Hat brat, young man with no sportsmanship!You're a bastard!I'll be back!Aaaaaah!"
Seeing Buggy being sent flying, Luffy paid little attention, instead dragging Uta around searching for the treasure Buggy had stolen.Nami, realizing what was happening, immediately followed, but it was too late.Looking at the empty treasure room, Nami gritted her teeth.Although she really wanted to beat that straw hat kid up, thinking of Luffy's immense strength and looking at her own skinny arms and legs, Nami gave up on that idea.She could only try to get her hands on the treasure."I wonder who's stronger, this straw hat kid or Arlong?" This thought crossed Nami's mind, but she quickly dismissed it.She and Arlong were not related, just business partners.Why would he help her?She was almost at the 100 million Berries mark, and then she could buy the entire village from Arlong.
Nami didn't think too much about it and caught up with Luffy, who had already left.She happened to see Luffy use vines to trap the mayor, leave half of the treasure, and then make a quick getaway.She became curious about this big boy who called himself a pirate but whose style of doing things was not like that of a pirate.After catching up with Luffy and boarding the pirate ship that they had stolen from Buggy, the group set off for their next destination.The journey was long, and Nami and Uta quickly became close friends.When Uta talked about the funny things that happened when Luffy and she were young, Nami always showed an envious look in her eyes, but she quickly covered it up.Compared to Luffy's childhood, her own childhood was really like hell.
During their voyage, Luffy landed on Rare Beast Island and met Uncle Camon.Notably, Luffy accidentally found a mushroom-shaped Devil Fruit on an apple tree.After system identification, it was confirmed to be a Zoan-type Human-Human Fruit, Ancient Zoan, Ape-Man Form (author's creation).After asking around and finding no one interested, he casually tossed it into his system space and didn't inquire further.After saying goodbye to Uncle Camon, Nami seemed to want to say something to Luffy, but couldn't bring herself to speak.Luffy knew Nami wanted to bring up the treasure, but since she didn't bring it up, he couldn't offer her any help.He needed Nami to truly open up to him before he would help her.Shortly after Nami left and returned to her cabin, a new island appeared before them.
"Mission initiated: Defeat Kuro, Usopp joins the crew, obtain the Going Merry, Mission rewards: Zoan-type Bird-Bird Fruit, Hawk Mode (no side effects), Super Slingshot."
Zoan-type Bird-Bird Fruit, Hawk Form (No Side Effects): The user can freely switch between human, hawk, and hawk-human forms.In human form, the user possesses hawk vision; in hawk form, the user can freely fly and scout enemy positions; in hawk-human form, the user's speed, strength, and stamina are enhanced.Super Slingshot: Enhances the power of the user's ammunition.Luffy took out the pre-prepared Kuro wanted poster.He didn't want to waste any more time.Rather than letting Kaya know the true face of his butler in the end, he would rather just throw the wanted poster in front of her and make her believe that Kuro was now a piece of cake for him.
On an island not far from Luffy, a long-nosed boy was running frantically through the village, his face filled with terror as if he had seen something horrible."Pirates are coming!Pirates are coming!"
Upon hearing this, the busy villagers immediately grabbed their weapons, ready to fight.But the long-nosed boy's words, "You were just kidding!" broke their resolve, and they angrily cursed the lying boy, "You despicable Usopp, you've lied to us again!"
The boy, however, ran off without a care.He did this almost every day, and after finishing, he would go to rest on a big tree he frequented.But today, his words seemed to have come true: "Captain Usopp, something terrible has happened!Just now, Green Pepper Head spotted a pirate ship heading towards a beach near our village.Go and take down the pirates!"
Just then, two children ran over and shouted at the boy in the tree.Upon hearing this, Usopp was so frightened that he fell off the tree.He usually just boasted and told lies, but he had never seen a real pirate before.So he leaned on the tree and stood up shakily, ready to run away.But when he thought of the villagers and Kaya behind him, he mustered his courage and ran towards the beach that the two children had mentioned, ready to fight to the death.
Meanwhile, just as Luffy landed on the island and was about to stretch his legs, a shot put flew towards his face.Luffy swung his hand to knock it away, and suddenly several pirate flags rose from the surrounding trees.Usopp, with three children, stood up and shouted down, "You pirates, stop right there!You're not allowed to take another step forward!I am Usopp, the captain of a pirate crew with eight thousand men!"
Down the hillside, several people looked at Usopp, who was boasting, with disdain, while Nami directly called out his claim.The truth of the lie was revealed, and the three children, their lies exposed, ran away like frightened birds, leaving Usopp trembling in place.
"Come back quickly, I can't handle this alone (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)"
Usopp was on the verge of tears, but thinking of Kaya, he mustered his courage, picked up his slingshot, and aimed it at Luffy.Luffy, also in a playful mood, lowered his straw hat and said in a deep voice, "Are you ready to risk your life?"
Just as Usopp was wondering, Luffy continued, "Since you've drawn your gun, you have to risk your life.These are real pirates in front of you, not pirates from a children's game."
Zoro and the others behind Luffy also joined in Luffy's performance, staring at Usopp.The already timid Usopp was startled and immediately slipped and fell, lamenting that he was no match for a real pirate.Luffy stepped forward and helped Usopp up."You must be Usopp.If I hadn't seen your long nose, I wouldn't have recognized you.Oh, right, my name is Luffy.Your father, Yasopp, often mentions you."
After everyone got to know each other, Usopp took them to his usual tavern and treated them to a meal.After listening to Luffy tell his story about his father, Usopp was proud to have such a father.However, when Luffy mentioned that he wanted to go to the villa on the mountain to ask for a ship, Usopp hurriedly stopped Luffy and left under the pretext of having something to do.But this could not stop Luffy.After eating and drinking to their hearts' content and playing pranks on the three little ones, Luffy took everyone to the mountain.