【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Usopp, don't worry. We won't let anything happen to Miss Kaya!" Qi put his hand on Usopp's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "Now we need to find Zoro and Nami. We will help you stop them."

"That's right, I won't let the lady die!" Luffy smiled firmly, "I hate that butler."

Usopp suddenly remembered the identity of the butler and said loudly, "I remember, that man is the captain of the Black Cat Pirates, Hyaku Kei Koro!" He looked at their determined expressions and felt a little comforted in his heart, "Thank you!"

"You are here after all." Nami shouted to the people standing on the edge of the cliff.

After she and Zoro found out that Luffy and Odd were missing, they thought that they must have gone to find Usopp, so after getting the location from those kids, they went straight up to find them. But they didn't expect the atmosphere between them to be so tense.

Qi told Nami and Zoro about the butler and the weirdo's plan to kill Kaya and plunder the village.

"Now that we know that, then..." Zoro said with a smile, placing his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Let me make it clear first, all the treasures belong to me!" Nami said with a smile.

"We will help you defeat him!" Luffy said with a grin, flexing his hands.

Qi grinned with the pipe in his hand "Usopp, do you know where they will come up from?"

"They should be attacking from the seaside here, but to enter the village from here, apart from the steep cliffs, there is only this slope." Usopp said uneasily, pointing at the hillside. A part of him wanted to go back and warn the villagers and Kaya... but... looking at their determination, he believed that they could help him stop the pirates.

"That means we only need to hold this slope, and the village won't be attacked," Usopp said confidently.

"It turns out to be so simple!" Luffy grinned.

"It sounds simple, but combat effectiveness still matters at critical moments." Usopp shook his head and asked, "What can you all do?" He wanted to make a plan in his mind.

"cut!"

"steal!"

"stretch!"

"knock!"

"hide!"

"You have to go out and fight too!" they shouted to Usopp.

Usopp smiled awkwardly, and then as if he had thought of something, he decided to go back and inform the villagers and Kaya, so that even if they failed, the villagers and Kaya would still be safe. Then he left them temporarily.

Usopp didn't return to the shore until the sun set, but he was covered in wounds.

Qi looked at the injuries on Usopp's body in silence. In fact, when Usopp said during the day that he wanted to inform the villagers, he wanted to stop him, but he also knew that Usopp would not give up, so he let him go.

Nami rebandaged Usopp's wounds and he told them that no one in the village believed him, they all thought it was just a joke he played on them, and Kaya didn't believe him anyway.

Usopp covered his cheek and said painfully, then he wiped his tears and stood up and shouted firmly, "I will definitely drive the pirates out, and I will make tomorrow just like usual! I will turn this matter into a lie like usual!"

Luffy patted Usopp on the shoulder "Don't worry, we will help you!"

So they waited for tomorrow's battle on the coast. Qi watched Luffy and the others fall asleep one after another. After he made sure that they were all asleep, he began to walk towards Luffy and then entered Luffy's shadow.

Zoro usually didn't sleep very deeply at night, especially since they had a battle tomorrow, and his last thought as he fell asleep was that he felt like there was movement where Qi was sleeping.

The next morning, after waking up, Zoro looked towards where Qi was sleeping, but there was no one there, so wasn't it an illusion yesterday?

"Morning, Zoro!"

Zoro breathed a sigh of relief and looked up in the direction of the voice. Qi was walking towards him with some food in his hand. "You went to find food?"

"Yes, but the shops in town are not open yet." Qi held up the rabbit in his hand. "I found some rabbits in the forest."

Luffy, Nami and Usopp also got up slowly. After having breakfast, they all stood on the slope waiting for the pirates to appear.

"Good! It's perfect!" Usopp rubbed his nose proudly as he looked at his masterpiece. "I have absolute confidence in my masterpiece. Just wait and see! The pirates will definitely not be able to get up!"

Qi looked at the oil and various darts on the hillside and felt helpless. "How could you come up with this..."

"Hopefully we won't slide down on our own," Nami said with a smile.

"Why haven't they come yet? It's already daybreak!" Usopp asked doubtfully, "Could they have overslept?"

"Besides this slope, are there any other ways to enter the village?" Qi turned to look at Usopp. He felt that there were many auras on the northern coast. "There should be no way to get up from the north!"

"North?" Usopp grabbed his head tightly. He remembered that there was a slope leading to the village in the north, just like this one. He shouted in panic, "Pirates can enter the village from the north. There is a slope just like this one!!"

"Did we get the wrong place?" Luffy said in shock, and then urged, "We have to hurry up! Otherwise they will enter the village! Where is that place?"

"Run north from here and you'll be there in three minutes!" Usopp replied hurriedly.

"Ah!!" Nami suddenly screamed in fear. "Our ship is also in the north! My treasure will be stolen!!"

"I have to get there in 20 seconds!" Luffy rushed towards the forest.

"Hey!! Calm down!" Qi hurriedly grabbed Luffy's collar to stop him from walking into the forest alone.

"Let me go! Qi!" Luffy struggled to continue rushing forward.

"You're going in the wrong direction, idiot!" Qi gritted his teeth and punched Luffy angrily.

"Huh?!" Luffy stopped in surprise.

"Just follow me!" Qi dragged Luffy towards the direction of the sound. "I don't want to have to send someone to look for you after our battle."

"I can go by myself. I know how to get to the north!" Luffy protested, trying to break free from Qi's hand. "Just run in the direction where it's colder!"

"Idiot! Who told you that!?" Qi was shocked by Luffy's idiotic remarks.

"Is Qi an idiot?" Luffy said seriously, as if he had asked an idiotic question.

"I'm honored to be called an idiot by you..." Qi looked at Luffy nodding and his hands clenched tighter and tighter. Then he couldn't bear it anymore and punched Luffy on the head.

"Ouch!" Luffy protested, covering his head, "Why did you hit me?!"

"Stop messing around, we have to prepare for battle." Qi looked at the pirate ship below and said, "They are already here."

"Leave it to me! I'm going to defeat them all!" Luffy grinned.

"Huh! Huh! Great, you're here too!" Usopp said while panting. He looked at the large number of pirates below and was glad that he was not the first to arrive.

Qi noticed that the pirates below were gathering together, and one of them suddenly became excited, as if he had discovered something.

"Captain Qiang Gao, I found treasure on that strange ship!" A pirate shouted excitedly, "It's estimated to be worth 500 million Baileys!"

"That's my treasure!!" Suddenly Nami's scream rang out from behind them, "Help me get it back!"

"So we're going to fight!" Luffy grinned.

Qi turned to Usopp and said, "Usopp, you stay and deal with some of the pirates that come up. Luffy can deal with the others. I will help Nami collect the treasure."

"No problem, leave it to me!" Luffy grinned as he moved his arms.

"Okay, fine!" Usopp stammered, his legs starting to shake as he saw groups of pirates raising their weapons and starting to charge towards the top of the slope.