A Name on the Rise

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Perhaps it was their way of thanking Corvin for feeding them so well.

When the pack of scavenger-like pirates went drinking in the taverns that day, they nearly lifted Usopp's name to the sky.

Usopp had wiped out the Sharp-Horn Pirates' gunmen with one gun.

Usopp had stormed the Sharp-Horn ship alone and stabbed Kazt to death with a single blade.

The embellished stories had first come from their mouths.

In their minds, Corvin had dared go aboard alone and kill Kazt and the others, yet he had not cared at all about the Sharp-Horn Pirates' property.

There could only be one reason.

Reputation.

So after eating their fill, those scavenger pirates conveniently helped Corvin promote himself.

They called it a win for everyone.

They even convinced themselves that since they had taken the money and done him a favor, he should not come looking for trouble later.

Thanks to them, the name Usopp, which Corvin had casually thrown out, became a hot topic in just half a day.

Even the Battleaxe Tavern incident, whose heat had already faded, was dragged back into conversation.

In this remote corner of the sea, Usopp's name actually overshadowed Ace, who had been making waves recently.

Corvin, officially grounded, knew nothing about any of it.

"Usopp? Never heard the name. Some nobody like that killed Kazt with one slash?"

Inside a tavern, a bearded man who had not heard about the Battleaxe Tavern incident looked stunned.

A pirate at the neighboring table heard him and chimed in.

"Even injured, Kazt wouldn't go down from one slash that easily. But the Sharp-Horn Pirates really did fall to that guy called Usopp."

"This Usopp... where did he even come from?"

The bearded man's surprise deepened.

He had once been suppressed by the Sharp-Horn Pirates, so he understood their strength clearly.

Their ordinary crew members had not been much, but men like Ragren and Gabton, both with bounties close to twenty million, were first-rate fighters who could not be underestimated.

And that was without mentioning Captain Kazt, whom even a well-known Marine colonel in the West Blue could not do anything about.

Yet that pirate crew had been destroyed by a young man no one had heard of before.

The neighboring pirate took a hard drink. After a long pause, he said in a low voice, "Every year, a few people come out of nowhere and grab the sea's attention. Before they make a name, no one knows where they're from. After they make a name, that matters even less. Portgas D. Ace, who's been so famous lately, is the same, isn't he?"

The bearded man fell silent.

True enough.

Every year was more or less like this.

Some people could ride a rising reputation.

Others could not withstand the trouble that came with it and were swallowed by the wave they had created.

At the docks of Mad Hatter Town, aboard a certain pirate ship.

Inside the captain's cabin, a man with greasy hair and narrow triangular eyes reclined in a soft-backed chair, his legs crossed on a desk piled with gold and jewels.

"A few days ago, I heard Kazt was injured. I didn't expect to hear he was dead today."

The man suddenly leaned forward. The gold and jewels on the table reflected in his cold eyes.

"Kazt, Kazt... I was hoping we'd have another chance to work together."

"Didn't think you'd fall to a rising newcomer."

"Usopp, huh... Hmph. Looks like I'll need to keep an eye on him."

The man slowly closed his eyes.

The pleasure left behind by raiding Bolkin's armed merchant ship not long ago still lingered even now.

If another suitable opportunity appeared, he would never let such rare prey pass him by.

"Captain Dennis, bad news!"

The door was suddenly slammed open.

One of his men stumbled in, panicked.

The man called Dennis snapped open his triangular eyes. His face went cold. Without a word, he drew a pistol and pulled the trigger.

Bang.

The lead ball flew past the subordinate and punched a hole into the wall beside him.

Then Dennis said darkly, "Do that again, and I'll put the next shot through your head."

"Y-Yes...!"

The subordinate broke out in cold sweat. It took him a moment to steady himself before he stammered, "C-Captain Dennis, L-Laff... Laffitte is on the ship!"

"If you can't even speak properly, what use are you?"

Dennis frowned, barely suppressing the urge to shoot the man dead.

"It's, it's that..."

The subordinate was about to explain when rhythmic tapping came from behind him.

He instantly realized Laffitte had arrived behind him, and terror flooded his face.

"Already..."

A thin red line suddenly appeared across his neck, cutting off his thoughts.

Blood hissed out.

The head, still filled with fear and shock, dropped toward the floor.

With a dull thud, it landed and rolled forward, dragging a bright, glaring streak of blood behind it.

Laffitte raised his cane and gently nudged the headless corpse.

The body tilted and fell aside.

Then Laffitte's blood-red lips curved faintly as he smiled at Captain Dennis, who had shot to his feet.

"I have long heard of you. Greasy-Haired Dennis, bounty thirty-six million..."

With that, Laffitte gave the stunned Dennis a slight bow.

Dennis reached behind him with his right hand and gripped his sword hilt, fixing a hard stare on Laffitte.

"So it's you."

As he spoke, Dennis glanced at the decapitated body of his subordinate, his face gradually darkening. "There shouldn't be any grudge between us."

"Indeed."

Laffitte nodded.

Dennis's face became even uglier. "Then what... is this supposed to mean?"

Laffitte smiled. "Violence exists most purely when it has no reason. Isn't that exactly what people like us have always done?"

"You...!"

Dennis yanked out his blade.

In that instant, he realized Laffitte possessed one particularly terrifying trait.

Seeing Dennis draw, Laffitte held his cane horizontally before him and said lightly, "There we are."

Five minutes later, Laffitte sat atop Dennis's blood-soaked corpse.

Blood flowed heavily from beneath Dennis, spreading over Laffitte's black leather shoes.

"You think so too, don't you?"

"Usopp..."

Laffitte sounded almost expectant.

After murmuring those few words to himself, he rose, stepped through the blood covering the floor, and walked toward the door, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind him.

From beginning to end, Laffitte never once looked at the dazzling treasure piled on the desk.

After he stepped down from Dennis's pirate ship, time on the deck, which had seemed to freeze, began moving again.

Dennis's confused subordinates abruptly came back to themselves.

When they discovered Dennis dead in the captain's cabin, a new fight for control erupted aboard the ship.

Three days later.

On a calm stretch of sea, two Marine warships lay at anchor.

At the top of the mast, several Marines stood in the lookout platform with telescopes raised, watching the distant sea.

Suddenly, one Marine spotted the target they had been waiting for: the Sharp-Horn Pirates.

"Colonel Robbie, target sighted at nine o'clock!"

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