Chapter 29: Hill Road

First to reach the far beach, Usopp finds himself standing alone before the Black Cat Pirates. He bluffs about leading a vast crew of his own, and to his men's astonishment Jango buys it. The raiders then spot a vessel piled with treasure moored beside their own. Knowing it is Nami's, Usopp offers it in exchange for their retreat, but they mean to seize it either way. As Jango lifts his ring to put Usopp under, Nami appears and cracks him on the skull for bargaining away her gold, while Jango, true to form, hypnotizes himself to sleep instead. Luffy still nowhere in sight, Nami orders Usopp to take the fight to the enemy while she backs him, and the two fling caltrops Usopp had carried to stall the closing crew.

On the opposite incline, Zoro lies spent after sliding back down the greased slope and at last drives his swords into the ground to haul himself up, only to find he has no clue where north lies. Luffy is equally adrift, charging about with no bearings. On the hill the caltrops do their work and Usopp picks off pirates with his slingshot, until a few left behind distract Nami and Usopp takes a heavy crack to the head. Even unable to rise, he clutches the ankle of his attacker and swears to keep the village peaceful. Jango tells the crew to abandon the pair and push on toward the village before Kuro's scheme unravels and he kills them. Just as the pirates move in, Zoro and Luffy finally arrive.

Zoro at last frees himself from the slippery oil, Luffy is hobbled by his hopeless sense of direction, and Jango lets slip that Kuro will readily kill his own men should they endanger his scheme. The cover depicts Luffy, Zoro, and Nami snowboarding downhill. That cover art was later fully colored and redrawn with Usopp added so it could appear during the closing credit sequence of the first One Piece film. The chapter falls within the Syrup Village Arc.