The Usopp Pirates

Kuro slams into the dirt with Luffy still clutching him, and the Black Cat Pirates cannot fathom how their captain was beaten. Luffy proclaims that no pirate who turns his back on the sea will ever defeat him, that a true pirate leaves behind only his name in death, and that he himself will rise to be the world's greatest. He throws Kuro toward the crew and warns them never to return, and as he buckles, Nami catches him while the beaten pirates scramble away. Off in the woods, a bandana is knotted around Zoro's arm as he turns from the fallen Jango and heads deeper among the trees.

Meanwhile, Usopp gathers Kaya and his small band and asks that the morning stay hidden from the village. Reasoning that nobody would credit the town liar anyway, he wants ordinary life to resume with no lingering dread of pirates. All of them swear to guard the truth for as long as they live.

In town, seven o'clock slips past, and the residents feel something amiss once Usopp skips his usual routine. Piiman, Ninjin, and Tamanegi head home to scoldings linked to the upheaval of Kuro's scheme. Down at the shore, Usopp offers his thanks to the Straw Hats. At the mansion, Kaya dresses Merry's injuries and tells him of her own pledge to stay quiet.

By a cliff, Usopp calls his crew together and declares he is leaving the island to become a genuine pirate, leaving the others stunned. Looking back on the day they first met, he urges each of them to follow their own dreams. After a tearful goodbye among the four friends, the Usopp Pirates are officially dissolved.

Luffy bests Kuro, Usopp bests Jango, the group resolves to hide the clash from the village, and the Usopp Pirates break up. The chapter sits in the Syrup Village arc and lays the groundwork for Usopp joining the Straw Hats later on. Its cover continues Buggy's Crew Adventure Chronicles, in which Buggy's crude trap for Big Bird is effortlessly spotted by the cunning creature.