After searching the entire town for Luffy, the crew begin searching the coast for that troublesome boy,

"Luffy! Where are you?!" Jaune yells as he trudges across the sandy beach, only to get no response,

To distract himself from the ever-growing boredom, he would listen to small waves that would crash upon the sand in a constant soothing rhythm, which helps him relax,

But the cliff beside the beach is ruining his relaxation, just imagining being that high up is enough to make his stomach churns, "Where could he have gone?" He mutters under his breath, getting his mind to think of something else other than height, "I hope he isn't in trouble or causing any troubles."

"Hey, we've been searching for quite a while now, let's find a place to rest." Emily suggests with a tired smile, "We can continue the search in the morning."

"You go sleep if you want, I'm not." Zoro grumbles, "I'm going to find him and-"

Zoro then stops mid-sentence, "hold on, I see something."

Before them is a body lying face-first on the sandy beach, the body is wearing a simple red shirt, blue shorts, and a straw hat,

"LUFFY!" Jaune screams and rushes to his side, flipping him on his back, only to see that Luffy has sustained no injuries,

"Um, so I don't see any injuries on him, does anyone know what's wrong with Luffy?" Jaune asks his two companions,

"Looks to me like he's just passed out, he could be dehydrated, some water should help him stand up." Emily answers and pulls out a flask,

At the same time, Luffy suddenly yawns and hops on his feet,

"Oh man, that was a good nap." Luffy energetically says,

"You've been what?!" Jaune exclaims in disbelief,

"Don't tell me you've been sleeping this entire time." Emily says with a facepalm,

"What? No, I was just talking to Usopp, then I saw Khaladore and some guy, speaking of which, hey Usopp!" Luffy calls out to Usopp, only for him to realise that Usopp is nowhere to be seen, "Wait, where is he? Why am I on the beach? I was up there with him a moment ago." Luffy says pointing at the top of the cliff with a bewildered expression,

"Did Luffy fall from the cliff? How did he survive? Am I seeing things?" Jaune blurts out,

"No, you're not, he's alive." Zoro assures Jaune, calming him down considerably,

"Anyway, let's go back to the village for now, Usopp maybe there and Luffy can search for Usopp by himself." Emily then yawns and promptly heads back to the village, "I think I have enough for today."

With no objection, everyone quietly follows Emily with Luffy still trying to figure out why Usopp was nowhere to be seen,

On their way back, Jaune begins pressing Luffy for answers,

"Luffy, how did you fall off a cliff?"

"I don't know, I remember seeing Khaladore and a guy calling Khaladore "Kuro", then a round disc, I felt a bit sleepy, the next thing I know, you guys were there." Luffy answers, remembering everything as best he can,

"A round disc? Also why was Khaladore there?" Jaune asks,

"I don't know, but he was talking about attacking the village."

"Attack the village? But why? He lives here." Jaune wonders out loud, even more confused with the information he got,

"I guess he's a mountain bandit." Luffy says, recalling his childhood,

As they approach the village, they hear a man screaming at the top of his lungs,

"PIRATES! PIRATES ARE COMING! THEY ARE GOING TO KILL US! I'M NOT LYING!" The distressed man shouts,

"SHUT UP! IT'S NIGHT LET US SLEEP!" Someone shouts back and slams their door on the hysterical long-nosed man,

The deranged man then turns to the approaching pirate crew,

"Usopp? Is that you?" Luffy asks out loud,

"Luffy?! You're alive?!" He screams and sprints straight towards Luffy,

When he is in front of them, he then falls to his knees in a grovelling position and begs for their help,

"Please please help me the Black Cat pirate is going to burn the village Kuro is going to kidnap Kaya and kill her!" Usopp frantically begs,

To calm Usopp down, Jaune places a hand on his shoulder, "Usopp, we'll help ok? Just calm down and slowly tell us what's going on." He tells him,

Upon hearing that he will be getting help, his legs give out under him, but luckily Jaune catches him before he falls, "Really? Oh thank you so much!" Usopp says as he takes in gulps of air, "Kuro, he wants to burn this village, force Kaya to sign a will and then kill her." Usopp claims with quivering voice,

"Who's Kuro?" Jaune inquires, gently setting Usopp down on the ground,

"Kuro is Khaladore's real name, he pretends to be Kaya's butler, he's been lying to everyone this whole time." Usopp clarifies,

"Kuro? Kuro of a Hundred Plans? He was executed by the marines seven years ago." Emily states,

"But it is true, I don't know how but Kuro is still alive, ask Luffy, he was there with me, please you gotta help me." Usopp protests and looks at Luffy with desperate eyes,

"Yep, I heard the other guy call the Khaladore Kuro." Luffy confirms, giving validity to Usopp's claims and clearing any doubts anyone might have of Usopp,

"Alright then," Zoro then looks straight at Luffy, "What do you suggest we do then?"

"We fight." Luffy replies with a simple answer which makes Zoro grins,

"What about Kaya?" Usopp interjects, "We can't leave her, she's still in the mansion with Kuro, we can't just leave her."

"We're not leaving her," Jaune states, "We don't know when the Black Cat Pirate will attack and it seems Kuro needs something from the Black Cat, if we do something now Kaya will be in danger."

"Hold up, don't tell me we're actually going to stay and fight a pirate crew, we're only five people strong, who knows how many people they have in their crew." Emily speaks up, clearly against the idea, "How about instead of fighting, we run away, grab whoever and whatever we can, get everything on a boat and run, we're clearly no match against them."

"Don't worry, we can take them." Luffy says, without any hint of bravado,

"And what are you going to do? Punch them away?" Emily sarcastically asks,

To which Luffy simply answers, "Yes."

Getting tired of their squabble, Zoro decides to get everyone back on track, "Usopp did they say anything about their attack?"

"Kuro did say that he has marked a path that leads to Kaya's mansion, a group of his best men will use that path and the rest will head up the other one to burn the village." Usopp replies, "We could set up some traps to slow them down."

Slowly formulating a plan in his mind, Jaune speaks up, "Alright then, Usopp, … you and I will go and set up traps, Luffy and Zoro, uh … you guys go to Kaya's mansion, when we're done setting up our side, we'll come and set up traps on your side."

"No need, I'll handle it." Zoro says,

"Are you sure?" Jaune asks, unsure why Zoro is rejecting help,

"As long as I have my blades, I'll be fine." Zoro replies, smiling as he pats the katanas hanging by his hips,

"Yeah, we'll be fine." Luffy adds with a wide smile and a thumbs-up,

Finally having enough of their stubbornness, Emily storms off, "Arrgh, fine, go and get killed, I don't care." She says as she leaves,

And with that, Jaune and Usopp begin listing off any possible traps, Zoro and Luffy head off in the direction towards Kaya's mansion.