After Them!!

Guiding Kaya through the woods, Piiman urges the other Usopp Pirates to glance back for any sign of pursuit. Just as the group feels safe, Jango's ring whirls out from the trees toward them, narrowly missing but slicing through every trunk in its path. Jango announces he will level the entire forest if that is what it takes to find them.

The sound of Jango's pursuit echoes back at the shore, where Kuro coldly tells Usopp he feels nothing for Kaya and would only thank her for unwittingly serving his plan. When Usopp breaks away to help her, Buchi again moves to block him, but this time Zoro stops him without delay. Usopp tries to run once more and crumples to the ground, too drained to go on, while Kuro laughs at the futile effort. Knowing he cannot win, Usopp steels himself to fight regardless.

Buchi flings Zoro aside again, and the mocking Black Cat Pirates take a boulder thrown by Luffy. His patience gone, Zoro lands the finishing blow on Buchi, then scoops up Usopp and sets off after Kaya. Kuro tries to stop them, but Luffy makes sure the pair get clear. Kuro dodges Luffy's attack and counters, turning his full attention on the captain. When Kuro asks why an outsider fights for the village, Luffy answers that there is someone here he refuses to let die. Deep in the forest, Zoro's hopeless sense of direction stalls the search even with Usopp's help, while Kaya's fever flares from the strain of running. The Usopp Pirates push her onward and refuse her plea to leave her behind, just as Jango finally catches up.

The chapter is part of the Syrup Village Arc. Its cover continues Buggy's Crew Adventure Chronicles, Vol. 2, in which Mohji and Cabaji, their captain gone and their two strongest fighters beaten, are driven out of Orange Town by Chouchou and an angry mob. By report, Luffy's warning here is the only point in the manga where he earnestly uses the word kill, a habit Oda's grandmother once cautioned him against, as he later recounted in an SBS.