Chapter 3
"The pirates are coming! The pirates are coming!" shouted a boy running through the streets of Syrup Village. As he rounded the corner he bumped into a man and fell down.
"You're right, the pirates are coming," said Yasopp. "How did you know?"
"Daddy!" the young boy shouted, hugging Yasopp's knees.
"Luffy, this is my son Usopp. Usopp, meet Luffy, my shipmate," said Yasopp, pointing to the boy beside him who was carrying a heavy pack.
"Hi! Pleased to meet ya!" said Luffy.
"Same to you," said Usopp, though he felt a bit jealous that a boy his own age was his father's shipmate.
"Do you and your mother still live at the same place?" Yasopp asked.
"Yes," Usopp replied. "Come on home, she'll be so happy to see you!"
Before knocking on the door of the house Yasopp said, "Usopp, your mother and I will be wanting a little privacy for an hour or two. Would you show Luffy around? Luffy, take care of my pack for a bit longer, all right?"
Usopp and Luffy walked away into the woods.
"So you're Yasopp's son? You have a really long nose," said Luffy.
Usopp had heard this many times before and had a ready answer, "I inherited it from my mother. The best thing about a long nose is that it gives me a really keen sense of smell. For example, I can tell there are exactly 52 blueberries on a bush on the other side of the island."
"Yum, blueberries! Let's go eat them," said Luffy enthusiastically.
Usopp shook his head. "Too late. I can smell that a white parrot just ate them all."
"You can smell that the parrot is white?" Luffy asked sceptically.
"Umm, yeah. They smell different than other colors. Say, how did you get to be a pirate so young?"
"I saved the Captain Shanks' arm from a Sea King," said Luffy.
Usopp thought this was likely a fib, and decided to top it with one of his own. "Well, I've had plenty of adventures around here, too. Like the time I found a cave with fifty bears and beat them all up!"
"Really?" asked Luffy. "Wow!"
"Yeah! There I was, surrounded by forty bears..."
"I thought you said there were fifty."
"Well, umm, this was after I had beaten the first ten."
"You're telling me whoppers, aren't you?" asked Luffy, throwing his head back and laughing. "I don't mind. The pirates keep telling me whoppers about their adventures too."
"Yep," Usopp admitted with a grin. He was starting to like this kid. "Hey. what have you got in that pack?"
"I'm not sure," said Luffy. "Some treasure your dad wants to sell."
"May I see?" Usopp asked.
"Sure, why not? I'm curious too."
They opened the pack and found a small treasure chest inside. Within the chest was a strange yellow fruit with swirly patterns on its skin.
"Hey, I remember this fruit," said Luffy. "I nearly ate it one day, but Shanks warned me off. I can't remember exactly what he told me, but he said something weird would happen if I ate it. Maybe it was just another whopper because he wanted to sell it. I really wish I could taste it."
"The skin looks pretty firm," said Usopp. "I have a knife. If I cut a plug from it we can both taste it and then I'll put the plug back and nobody will know."
"Go for it," said Luffy eagerly.
Usopp carefully carved a small round plug from the fruit. "I get the first taste because I thought of the idea."
He nibbled the fruit and made a face. "Ugh! This tastes awful!"
Luffy tried a bite also. "You said it! This fruit must be rotten!"
They put the plug back in and put the fruit back in the chest.
"Let's do something else," suggested Usopp. "How about a slingshot competition? I warn you, I have perfect aim!"
"Okay, how about you hit an acorn off that tree over there?" Luffy challenged, pointing to a tree far in the distance.
"Sure," said Usopp, though it was further than he had ever tried to shoot before. He pulled back on the slingshot... way, way back.
"Hey!" shouted Luffy. "How are you doing that with your arm?"
Usopp stopped and looked at his arm. It was stretched to double its usual length.
"Uh oh," he said. "Maybe it was the fruit. You ate some, too. Try to stretch and see."
Luffy tried, but nothing happened.
"The fruit's magic must only work on the one who takes the first bite," said Usopp.
"Now that I think of it, I remember the pirates said this fruit would cause a person to be made of rubber," said Luffy. "Also Shanks said I wouldn't be able to swim if I ate it."
"Now you tell me," groaned Usopp.