Chapter 122: Usopp
"Do you know what being a 'pirate' actually means?"
Roy's tone shifted, his voice dropping, carrying a sharp edge.
Usopp froze, as if he'd been struck dumb.
"Killing, pillaging, betrayal, breaking the order of the world," Roy said, his gaze sharpening. "Is the 'Warrior of the Sea' you talk about that kind of existence?"
The air seemed to solidify, pressing down on everyone's chest.
Usopp instinctively took a half-step back, his fingers trembling, a flicker of panic in his eyes.
This wasn't the first time someone had criticized his father, or called him a "liar."
But this moment was different.
Standing before him was a Marine Vice Admiral—a man who stood at the pinnacle of order, representing "Justice."
The pressure radiating from Roy's deep conviction hit Usopp like an invisible hammer, strike after strike on his chest.
Pepper, Carrot, and Onion were huddled behind a tree, too scared to breathe. Ace and Luffy stopped their joking, watching silently.
Usopp opened his mouth, but it took him a long time to force the words out.
"I... I don't know."
His dusty face was written with shock and confusion.
He gritted his teeth, whispering, "I don't want to hurt anyone... I just want to be like my dad... go out to sea and do something different... even if it's just... bragging..."
His voice slowed, growing hollow, the light that usually hid beneath his bravado flickering.
Under the shade of the tree, Roy walked slowly toward him. His shadow stretched long in the sunlight, and the Marine coat on his shoulders, symbolizing Justice, fluttered in the breeze.
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried more weight than any shout. "You want to learn from your father?"
"The man who didn't even come back to look once when your mother was dying?"
"The man who abandoned his family, abandoned his son, just to chase so-called 'freedom' and 'adventure' as a pirate?"
Usopp's lip trembled. His nose turned red, his eyes filling with blood, as if he were struggling to hold back a flood of emotion.
"No... it's not like that..." he murmured, his voice so quiet even he could barely hear it.
Roy's voice remained calm, but every word was a blade. "He didn't attend your mother's funeral. He never once looked back at your crying childhood."
"He holds the pirate's 'freedom' as his faith, but he used that faith to tear apart a mother's hope and a child's support."
"Tell me—is this your ideal 'Warrior of the Sea'?!"
Usopp shook violently, as if forced into a dark abyss by a blinding light.
"Mom... she never blamed Dad..." he rasped through gritted teeth. "She... even on her deathbed, she smiled at me and said: 'Your father is brave. He will definitely come back...'"
"Her eyes... were waiting..."
Usopp's tears finally broke free, streaming down his cheeks and dripping into the dust.
"I don't blame her... she... she just wanted to believe in him so badly..."
"But in the end... he never came back."
That day, he had sat by her bed, watching the light fade from his mother's eyes as she stared out the window at the horizon, as if waiting for something.
After that, Usopp started lying.
"Pirates are coming!" "I am a brave warrior of the sea!" "I command a fleet of thousands!"
—Every day, without fail.
He acted wild in front of people, shouting at the village entrance.
But only he knew that those cries of "Pirates are coming" weren't warnings. They were summons.
They were a hope for his father, a fight against the emptiness of his childhood.
Usopp knelt on the ground, head down, fists clenched tight. "I thought... as long as I said it out loud, I wouldn't be so lonely. I could pretend he never left."
His voice grew lower, as if afraid to disturb something, or as if finally cutting open the secret he had kept buried for so long.
"But I don't want to be that kind of person!"
He snapped his head up, his tear-filled eyes burning. "I don't want to be like him, abandoning the people who matter!"
"I want to protect the people I care about—whether on land or at sea!"
"If being a pirate means betrayal, killing, and abandonment—"
"Then I'd rather be a lying brat huddled at the village entrance forever!!!"
He shouted the last sentence, his chest heaving, as if he had just struggled ashore from the bottom of the ocean.
—Luffy's expression shifted, his grin fading, replaced by a look of appreciation.
—Ace looked at Usopp and nodded, impressed.
Roy straightened up, watching the kneeling boy quietly.
His eyes, once cold as blades, softened, replaced by thoughtfulness and calm.
The slanted sunlight hit the "Justice" on his coat, gilding it in a solemn, majestic light.
"That's enough," he said quietly, his tone no longer pressing.
He turned slowly, his coat swirling, his back like a solitary peak, elongated in the sunset.
"Remember what you said today."
"If the day comes when you really plan to set sail—"
"Don't be a pirate. Be a Marine."
Usopp stared blankly at the retreating figure. His throat felt blocked, unable to speak, his breath trembling and bitter.
"A Marine...?"
"Not plundering, not lying... but protecting. Responsibility..."
He had never truly imagined that a "Brave Warrior of the Sea" could be like that—
Wearing a badge, draped in the flag of Justice, not shouting slogans of "freedom," but using actions to maintain the balance of a world.
Just as he was dazed, Roy suddenly stopped and looked back.
His gaze was deep, his tone calm but carrying an unavoidable sharpness. "Usopp."
"If that day really comes—and you stand on the side of the Marines, facing your father, Yasopp."
"What will you do?"
The world seemed to stop.
Usopp was struck dumb, frozen in place. Struggle, anger, confusion, and pain flashed in his eyes—a chaotic mix of unanswerable questions.
"He is your father."
"But he is also... a pirate who trampled on responsibility and rules."
"Will you put down your gun, or..."
Roy's voice held no emotion, but every word was heavy as a mountain.
Every word felt like a wedge driven deep into his soul.
Usopp opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
His mind was blank, but his heart was in turmoil.
The man wearing the Red-Hair Pirates' bandana was the most distant yet most yearned-for figure in his childhood—
But that same man had personally torn apart his complete family.
If he really became a Marine one day... if he really stood on the side of "Justice" and met that man on a narrow path...
Would he shoot?
Would his hand... shake?
He didn't know.
He truly didn't know.
He just felt a blockage of hot blood in his chest, needing to be released but unable to find a way out.
Roy didn't press him. He just watched the struggling boy for a moment, then turned and walked away without looking back.
On the hill in the distance, at the Kaya Estate.
Sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows. A girl in a white dress, her blonde hair falling softly on her shoulders, a white scarf fluttering at her chest, stood by the window.
She looked toward the village entrance, her gaze fixed on the boy bathed in sunlight.
She saw him kneeling, his shoulders trembling slightly, as if suppressing some emotion.
The three strangers were walking away. The tall, black-haired man who had stood before him seemed to have left a huge impact.
The girl gently pressed her hand to the window frame, whispering, "Usopp... are you crying?"
"Why... why are you crying?"
The wind outside picked up, rustling her dress and her scarf.
Her hand slowly clenched, a look of worry in her eyes.
Under the tree, Usopp was still kneeling, tears blurring his vision.
He looked up at the sky, slowly turning red with the sunset. His throat trembled, his voice so low only he could hear it.
"If... that day really comes..."
"Will I... pull the trigger?"
The question, like a stone dropped into the sea, sent out silent ripples.
Author's Note: Seeing the drop in stats, I stared at the screen for a long time. Kuina's choice made many readers drop the book. Every time I see comments warning about "poison points," I reflect: was the pacing too abrupt? Was there not enough foreshadowing? Did my persistence disappoint people?
But in the end, I decided to keep this direction.
This isn't me being pretentious.
It's just that, from the moment I started writing this novel, it was to fulfill a "reasonable" dream.
If I wanted to please readers, I could have made the protagonist domineering all the way, recruiting everyone he sees, making everyone join the Marine system—maybe it would be more "hot-blooded," have better stats, and be more satisfying.
But that's not the story I want to write.
Moving forward, I will stick to this principle: respect the core soul and experiences of the original characters, and at the crossroads of fate, give them "reasonable and realistic possibilities."
The pacing might be slow, and I might lose more readers looking for instant gratification.
But the foreshadowing I've laid will bloom at the right time.
Thank you to those still reading. I read every single one of your comments.
I will stick to my way of telling this story.
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