Both covered in dirt and sweat, Jaune and Usopp work as hard and as fast as they can, digging out a giant hole in the tilted dirt road between the steep rocky cliffs,

"Usopp, I think the hole is deep enough now." Jaune says as he pants heavily and promptly fall flat on his back due to exhaustion,

The shovel that he was using, follows his example and fall right onto his face, but thanks to his protective aura, he only feels a little tap, "Also do you know the time?" He asks,

"The time?" Usopp repeats, looking at the sky above, he sees the sun is slowly rising on the horizon, "It's the break of dawn, … strange, I thought the Black Cat would attack by now." Usopp comments and offers a hand to Jaune, "All we need to do now is cover the road in oil."

"Guess they're late," Accepting the hand offered to him, Jaune hauls himself up with Usopp's help, "So why we need to cover the road in oil?"

Grabbing the side of the hole, Usopp pulls himself up and climbs out with ease, "So if anyone manages to climb out of the hole, thanks to the slope of the dirt road in combination with oil, they'll slip right in." Usopp explains,

"So where can we get the oil?" Jaune asks, trying to climb out of the hole, but struggles due to the weight of his armour and exhaustion,

Looking back and seeing that Jaune is struggling, "Do you need help?" Usopp asks and offers his hand once more,

After two more tries and failing, Jaune extends his hand, accepting Usopp's help again, "Yes please." He begrudgingly mutters,

Free from the confine of the hole, Jaune throws himself on the ground, and leans against the rocky cliff and enjoys the fresh air,

Next to him is Usopp, who is also enjoying this brief moment of respite,

"Anyway, I have four barrels of oil at my house, if we each take-" Usopp explains,

Interrupting Usopp, "We don't have much time," Jaune states, "The Black Cat is on their way, I remember where your house is so I can go get the barrels by myself, you go and check on Zoro and Luffy since you know your way around better than me." He says as he heads off to retrieve the oil barrels,

"Yeah sure, I'll go check on them." Usopp agrees, he pushes himself off the ground and makes his way to Luffy and Zoro,

…

…

…

On the way to Luffy and Zoro, he can't help but worry about Kaya,

'I wonder if she's ok?' Usopp wonders, 'That bastard Kuro better not have done anything to her.'

…

'I should go rescue Kaya, … but Kuro is at the mansion right now, and he used to be a pirate, I'll die if I try to rescue Kaya from Kuro-'

…

Stopping dead in his track, hidden in the treelines around the mansion, he dares not take another step, far away from danger, and yet somehow, even though he's nowhere near it, the mansion still somehow looms over him,

Trembling, "I think I've made a huge mistake coming here." He thinks out loud,

Turning back away from the mansion, he tries to walk away, but stops, the thought of leaving his friend when she needs him the most sickens him,

So without a word, he turns around, swallows his fear, goes to where the great oak tree is, crawls through the hole in the metal fence that was covered by bushes and climbs up the oak tree as fast and as quietly as possible,

Perching on a branch parallel to the bedroom window, the curtains behind the glass pane prevent him from seeing what's inside the room, but the sliver of light escaping from in between the gap of the curtains gives him hope that Kaya is safe and sound, so he rummages through his satchel, pulls out a small pebble and throws it at the glass pane,

…

When nothing answers him, his blood runs cold, he prepares to jump right through the windows, but suddenly the curtains pull apart and the windows fling open, revealing a skinny blonde girl with a wide smile,

Catching him off guard, he lost his balance and nearly fall, but he regains his balance by grabbing the branch he's perching on,

"Usopp! Thank goodness you're here," She beams, she then promptly bows her head low, "I apologise for what Khaladore said about your family, please forgive him."

"You have to run Kaya! Khaladore is going to kill you!" He blurts out instantly,

Taken aback by this, "I'm sorry, what?" She asks as she raises her head and looks at Usopp, her brows furrow in confusion,

Jumping onto the window sill, "Khaladore is actually a pirate named Kuro, you have to leave the mansion Kaya! He's planning to kill you!" He tells her and extends his hand to her, "You have to run Kaya!"

"What kind of joke is this?" She asks, expecting him to grin stupidly and promptly tell her that it was all just a bad joke,

"It's no joke!" He claims,

Taking a few steps back, "Usopp, I admit, what Khaladore said about your father was too much, and I don't blame you for reacting like that," She says, her face a mixture of confusion, and disgust, "But to lie about someone like this…"

"It's no lie Kaya! I've heard it with my own ears! He's actually a pirate that has managed to weasel his way into your mansion disguised as a butler, he now wants you dead so he could steal your fortune! You have to escape the mansion now Kaya!"

"Usopp, I will hear no more of this."

Suddenly, a voice behind Kaya speaks up, "You should listen to him, you have to escape."

Surprise by this, Usopp tilts his head to take a look at the person behind Kaya,

It's the orange-haired girl from before, sitting on Kaya's bed, clutching her bloodied and bandaged stomach, her clothes are covered in blood, her nose has dried blood coming out of it, and both her thighs are bandaged,

"Please lie back down, you just woke up and I just finished dressing your wounds, they haven't healed yet, I still need to-" Kaya implores,

Cutting Kaya off, "Not important right now," Emily tells her, "There's a killer inside this mansion, so you need to leave right now, good thing he's arrived, I'll need some help to walk." Emily says as she stands with trembling legs,

"There's a killer inside this mansion?" Kaya gasps, placing a hand on her chest to calm her panicking heart, "Merry, Khaladore, and two others are in the mansion right now!" She says as she quickly turns on her heel,

Grabbing her wrist, Usopp prevents her from leaving, "Kaya, where are you going?" He asks her, "We need to run."

Yanking her wrist free before he can tighten his grip, she snaps at him, "Usopp! I am not leaving while they are in danger!"

Suddenly, someone knocks on the bedroom doors,

For a tense moment, no one dares to utter a sound,

"Are you in there?" A person asks with a voice full of concern,

"Khaladore?" Kaya calls out to him, "Oh thank goodness you're safe, are you alright? Is everyone safe? I heard there's a killer in the mansion."

"There's no killer inside the mansion," Khaladore assures her, "I am perfectly safe, so is everyone in the mansion."

"Don't listen to him Kaya!" Usopp shouts,

"Oh? … It sounds like Usopp is in your room as well," Khaladore says, not even trying to hide his disdain for Usopp, "Should I remove him?"

"No, no thank you Khaladore, that won't be necessary, I'll ask him to leave." Kaya says as she turns to Usopp, pointing at the window, "please leave." She whispers to him,

But before he can say anything, Emily leans on him for support, hooks one of her arms around his neck and whispers to him, "Listen, this girl is not listening to us, and forcing her to leave isn't a good idea."

"Then what will we do?" He asks her,

"Well first, we need to get him away from the mansion, then, … I guess I'll try to convince her to leave."

"Ok, so how are we going to get him away from the mansion?"

"Well, I can barely walk, and putting the one you're protecting in danger is weird, so that leaves only you."

"What?! Me? Are you crazy!? No way!" He freaks out but keeps his voice to a whisper, "It's dangerous!"

"Well I'm not going to be the one to do it," She says angrily, "All you need to do is lure him away."

"I don't know, what if he catches me?"

"Lure him to Luffy or Zoro or Jaune then, they seem like they can handle whatever his name was."

After a moment of hesitation, Usopp finally makes up his mind, "…Ok fine, I'll do it."

"Oh, and before you go, he is very fast, I don't know how he did it, but when he found me, he easily close the gap between us and caused these wounds," Emily says as she gestures to her injuries, "so when you got his attention, prepare to run."

"Now you tell me!"

So with a terrified heart, Usopp climbs out the same window that he used to enter, and climbs down the old oak tree,

When he has reached the ground, he rummages through his satchel, "ok so I got some lead star, ketchup star, one gunpowder star, and eggs, … well, I guess I'll use eggs against Kuro, that'll be sure to make him mad enough to chase me." He mutters to himself,

"Oh, I do not recommend doing that."

"Why not? Everyone hates getting eggs on them, I doubt he likes having eggs in his hair or on his clothing."

"Yes, I don't."

"Huh?" Usopp gasps as he quickly turns around to face whoever that is behind him,

But a back-hand slap sends him tumbling on the ground instead,

Scrambling to his feet, he tries to flee, but a leg sweep sends him crashing on the ground again,

Flipping himself on his back, he tries to look for his attacker,

Standing tall before him is a tall slim man with slicked back hair wearing round glasses, and a bloodied fancy suit with red embroidery,

"kuro?…"