At that moment, a cold and angry voice came from behind them.
"Hey! Who are you guys?!"
The relaxed atmosphere instantly changed. Everyone immediately turned toward the source of the voice.
A black-haired man with his hair slicked back was standing there. He was wearing a black suit and round glasses. His sharp, cold gaze made the atmosphere in the yard feel much more tense.
He was Klahadore, one of the servants in Kaya's household.
"T-that... Klahadore, they..."
Kaya had just begun to explain, but Klahadore immediately cut her off.
"Please don't defend them, Kaya-sama."
His tone was firm. There was not the slightest hint of friendliness in his voice.
"You're too kind, and people from the lower class can easily take advantage of someone like you."
Klahadore adjusted his glasses before shifting his gaze toward Luffy's group.
His gaze made the three of them fall silent for a moment.
"Now, please leave this place immediately. Otherwise, I will call the guards and have them escort you out."
However, Luffy was completely unaffected.
"Hey, are you the butler she mentioned earlier? We want a ship," Luffy said cheerfully.
His carefree attitude only made Klahadore's expression grow colder.
"Absolutely not."
The answer came without hesitation.
Luffy's expression immediately turned disappointed, but quickly returned to normal. He stared deeply at Klahadore, feeling as though he had seen that face somewhere before.
Klahadore paid no attention to him. Instead, his gaze shifted toward the tree where Usopp was hiding.
"Usopp!"
Hearing his name being called, Usopp tensed up. He then stepped out from behind the tree with an awkward laugh.
"Oh... oh, it's Klahadore."
Klahadore's gaze immediately fell on him.
"You, filthy pirate's son."
His tone changed. The coldness he had shown toward Luffy's group now felt even sharper when directed at Usopp.
Usopp immediately looked annoyed upon hearing that. He climbed down from the tree branch and landed on the ground using his grappling hook.
"What do you mean by that?!"
Klahadore adjusted his glasses with his palm before speaking sharply.
"I've warned you many times not to come here. Yet you continue to come here and disturb Miss Kaya's peace with those foolish stories of yours."
"I've heard it from the villagers. I know that you're nothing more than a big liar who carries the dirty blood of a pirate."
Usopp clenched his fists angrily. Seeing the situation becoming increasingly tense, Kaya immediately tried to calm them down.
"Klahadore, please stop. Usopp-san doesn't mean any harm."
"Kaya-sama, it's precisely because you're too kind that people like him can take advantage of you."
"Usopp-san isn't that kind of person."
Kaya denied Klahadore's accusation. She had actually known for a long time that all the stories Usopp told were nothing more than lies. She had even noticed several similarities between Usopp's stories and stories she had once read in a book.
However, Kaya had never said anything. She continued listening to Usopp's stories happily.
She knew that Usopp was a good person and would never take advantage of her.
Just as Klahadore was about to speak again, Luffy, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke.
"Hey, have we met before?"
Luffy tilted his head in confusion.
"What do you mean? This is the first time we've met."
Klahadore adjusted his glasses again. His expression remained calm and cold.
However, Luffy still felt certain that he had seen that face somewhere before.
"No. I'm sure I've seen you somewhere."
Luffy placed one finger against his forehead, trying hard to remember.
"Stop talking nonsense and leave this place immediately before I call the guards to escort you out."
Klahadore spoke coldly and sharply as he once again ordered them to leave.
Luffy's group finally reluctantly stepped out of the villa's grounds. Klahadore continued watching Luffy's back as he grew farther away.
...
In the Village
In the village square, a wide stretch of green grass spread out beneath the open sky as a gentle breeze blew through the area.
Luffy sat on top of a wooden fence, thinking hard as he tried to remember where he had seen Klahadore's face before. Nami sat beside him, gazing at the sky while swinging her legs, while Zoro was beneath the fence, leaning against it with his eyes closed.
"Ah! I remember now!"
"What is it?" Nami turned toward him curiously.
"I remember! I saw that man's picture in the ax-man's room."
"You mean Morgan?" Nami asked.
"Yeah, that's his name. I saw a wanted poster of that butler displayed in his room. If I remember correctly, his name was... K-Kuro. Yeah, that's it. Kuro."
Luffy tried hard to remember it clearly. Ever since absorbing the fragments of light from Kevin, he felt that his mind had become sharper and that he could remember various things more easily.
Zoro, who had been resting until then, immediately opened his eyes in surprise.
"Kuro? You mean Kuro of a Hundred Plans?"
"Do you know him, Zoro?" Luffy asked curiously.
"Yeah. He was quite famous three years ago. Supposedly, he was captured, but I never expected him to be hiding here."
Ninjin, Tamanegi, and Piiman, who had heard this, immediately cried out in surprise.
"Is what you're saying true? If that's the case, we have to tell Miss Kaya right away!"
Luffy nodded in agreement.
"That's right. We have to tell her immediately. She might be in danger."
Just as the four of them were about to leave to tell Kaya, Nami immediately stopped them.
"Wait a second. Stop."
"What are you doing, Nami? We have to go tell Kaya right away," Luffy said, while the three children nodded in agreement.
Nami sighed helplessly.
"Don't you understand? If we go there right after everything that happened, we'll probably look like we're trying to frame him, and we might actually put Kaya in danger."
"We need to stay calm and gather evidence before telling Kaya about this."
Zoro also stood up and nodded in agreement with Nami.
"She's right. We shouldn't act recklessly right now."
"Then, we want to tell Captain Usopp about this."
At that moment, Usopp ran quickly past Luffy's group toward the village.
The three children immediately chased after Usopp while calling out to him, while Luffy and the others followed behind.