One Piece: Heroic Spirits Straw Hat Pirates!

"I-I-I-I'll have you know, I am the great Captain Usopp, commander of over ten thousand men!"

"If you mess with me, my underlings definitely won't let you get away with it!"

Usopp's legs trembled as he summoned up his courage to speak to Genrou, praying in his heart that such bluster would scare him off.

But Genrou, who already knew what kind of person Usopp was, clearly wasn't going to be fooled.

"Is that so? That's pretty impressive, Captain Usopp."

"Actually, it's perfect timing. It's been a while since my last ten-thousand-man massacre."

"I wonder if you, Captain Usopp, can summon your ten thousand men so I can release my bloodlust a bit?"

Genrou's mouth curled into a grin, deliberately putting on a menacing expression.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Usopp's legs gave out, and he collapsed straight to the ground.

"Eh? Genrou, you really killed that many people before?"

At that moment, Luffy finally snapped out of his excitement from seeing his wanted poster.

Hearing the exchange between Usopp and Genrou, he turned toward them curiously.

"Idiot, of course not."

"I just saw that long nose of his spouting nonsense, so I thought I'd mess with him."

Genrou waved his hand dismissively.

Though, in truth, since arriving in the world of pirates, his hands were indeed stained with plenty of blood—but reaching ten thousand was still a stretch.

"Oh, so it was a lie after all."

"Wait a minute—you were lying, but I wasn't!"

Usopp got up quickly, striking a confident pose like nothing had happened.

It was as if the trembling and collapse from earlier were someone else entirely.

"Shishishishi, you're really funny."

Luffy walked over, inspecting Usopp's long nose before saying,

"Your name is Usopp, right?"

"Y-Yeah. Looks like the name of the great Captain Usopp has already reached the seas beyond!"

Usopp crossed his arms, still keeping up his performance.

"Didn't you just tell us your name yourself?"

Zoro glanced sideways at Usopp, clearly unimpressed by his antics.

"Shishishi, you're funny for sure."

"And you also look a lot like Yasopp."

Luffy smiled.

"Yasopp?! You know my father?!"

Usopp's eyes widened.

"Of course. Yasopp came to my hometown once with Shanks..."

As Luffy started reminiscing about the past, he immediately opened up and shared freely.

After talking with Luffy, Usopp also began to relax and stopped worrying about Genrou's crew's bounty.

He even started asking about their adventures.

"Never thought Luffy would run into the son of an old friend here."

Zoro muttered, then turned toward Nami, who was still silent.

"Nami, are you still worried about your bounty?"

"If you're really so concerned about being wanted, instead of fretting, you'd be better off honing your Heroic Spirit template."

As he spoke, Zoro leaned over to glance at the bounty poster in Nami's hand.

"Hmm? Is this photo really you? Did the Marines mess up?"

Seeing the image on Nami's wanted poster, Zoro asked in confusion.

"What? There's something wrong with Nami's bounty?"

Luffy practically sprang behind her when he heard Zoro.

"What's wrong with it? Doesn't the photo look exactly like her?"

At that, Nami—who had been spacing out—snapped back and smashed her fist down on Luffy's head.

"Idiot Luffy! How does this look like me at all?! Am I really that ugly?!"

"Oww! What was that for, Nami?! The photo really does look just like you! Right, Zoro? Genrou?"

Faced with Luffy's plea, both Zoro and Genrou frantically shook their heads.

"See?! Even Zoro and Genrou say it doesn't look like me! Just as Genrou said—Luffy, you're totally face-blind!"

"Damn it, what's wrong with the Marines? It's bad enough to issue a bounty on me, but why does the portrait have to look like that?!"

Nami hung her head, sighing deeply.

"Actually… the style of Nami's wanted poster kind of reminds me of that iro iro no mi (Color-Color Fruit) user we met earlier."

"Maybe the Marines used his artistic impression to create your image, Nami."

"You're different from the rest of us. Luffy and Zoro made a clear impression at that Marine base—they probably had photos taken."

"But since you didn't have a photo on file, the Marines who followed me to the battlefield with the treasure hunters probably used that artist's interpretation."

"Still, what really gets me is the line at the bottom of your bounty: 'Alive Only'."

As he spoke, Genrou pointed at the line beneath Nami's portrait on the poster.

"He's right. All of our wanted posters say 'Dead or Alive'."

"Nami, any idea why yours is different?"

Zoro asked.

"Uhh… I don't know either. Maybe the Marines think I'm too cute, so they only want to capture me alive?"

Nami tilted her head and stuck her tongue out playfully.

"Would the Marines really spare someone just for being cute?"

"Also, your bounty photo doesn't really scream kawaii either."

At that moment, Usopp wandered over too.

But the moment he finished speaking, Nami clobbered him on the head, raising a large bump instantly.

'Could it be because of Nami's final move—Yousei no Kouki (Fairy Glitter)?'

'No, that's not enough. The Marines wouldn't issue an "Alive Only" bounty just because of one powerful technique.'

'What's that woman Tsuru thinking?'

Genrou rested his chin on his hand, thinking hard, but couldn't figure it out, so he gave up.

He had no way of knowing that the Marines had misunderstood—they thought Nami possessed an ability to erase Devil Fruits from others, and they wanted to research it. That's why they issued the 'Alive Only' order.

If Genrou knew that, he'd probably be rolling on the floor laughing at Nami for taking the fall in his place.

"Let's put the bounty stuff aside for now. More importantly—Usopp, are you really okay staying here?"

"Sure, we pirates didn't do anything to this village—we're just here to look for a ship big enough."

"But the guy you were just chatting with? He might not be so harmless."

Genrou patted Usopp's shoulder with a faint smile.

"Huh? That guy? What's wrong with him?"

Usopp looked up, confused.

Genrou: "That man is the current captain of the Black Cat Pirates—Jango. Satisfied with that answer?"

Usopp: "Captain of the Black Cat Pirates—Jango?! No way, isn't he just a weird hypnotist?"

Zoro: "Hypnotist Jango? Oh yeah, that's the guy you mentioned back in Shells Town, Genrou. Now that I think about it, he really does resemble the man on the wanted poster."

Usopp's eyes widened as he turned to look in the direction Jango had gone.

In the next moment, he broke into a sprint chasing after him.

"This could get interesting. Luffy, should we go follow him?"

Genrou looked to Luffy and asked.

Only to see Luffy clutching his belly as it growled loudly.

"Never mind, let's just head to the restaurant."

(End of Chapter)

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