Things That Can't Be Faked

Convinced their captain is being held against his will, Piiman, Ninjin, and Tamanegi sneak through town toward the eatery where Nami, Luffy, and Zoro have settled in for a meal. They burst inside, find no Usopp, and panic at the sight of Luffy chewing meat, a fright Zoro feeds with a grim joke. Once they calm down, the boys conclude Usopp has slipped off to the mansion of a sickly young woman, a place he visits daily to lift her mood with invented stories.

At that mansion, the butler Klahadore tells Kaya, the young woman he serves, that the boy is no longer welcome under their roof because he lies so freely, framing the ban as his obligation to keep her safe in her late father's stead, with two guards stationed at the gate. He has barely gone before Usopp turns up at her window, swearing nothing could bar him, and amuses her with a tale of mistaking a giant goldfish's droppings for solid land.

Over at the restaurant the trio wrap up their account of why their captain means so much to them, and Luffy decides to make for the mansion, partly to beg a ship and partly to meet Kaya. On arrival he vaults the gate. Merry warns Klahadore of intruders and admits the bodyguards have wandered off for lunch. As Usopp caps a story about feeding a goldfish to dwarves, Luffy and the boys hail him; Usopp claims they want to enlist under him, and Luffy flatly calls that a lie before asking Kaya for a large vessel.

Klahadore arrives, denies the request, and orders them out, then turns to mocking Usopp over his pirate father and branding every pirate as filthy. Accused of after Kaya's wealth, Usopp draws her cry of protest, yet the butler presses on, daring him to lie his way out rather than own his bloodline. Pushed past his limit, Usopp strikes the butler and proclaims that being a pirate's son fills him with pride. The chapter brings in Kaya, Klahadore, and Merry, notes that Usopp's father abandoned him yet remains a source of pride, and reveals Luffy once knew the man. Its Animal Theater cover shows Nami bullying a snake into guarding baby birds, set within the Syrup Village Arc.