Starting with the Uchiha clan, they began cultivating demonic arts.

Chapter 225 Arrival at Upside Down Mountain

Having just inspected the Going Merry, Usopp found that the ship had not suffered any major damage and was in excellent condition, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

"Those two thieves seem pretty good, at least they're well-maintained..."

As he spoke, Usopp casually glanced at the distant port, then was taken aback—because he saw Uchiha Tou and Nami leading Lion Riki toward the Going Merry.

"Oh no... This is bad! They're coming! And they've brought a lion with them?!"

"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? I feel like I've developed a condition where I faint whenever I see a lion..."

"Damn it, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, when are you guys coming back?! Don't leave me alone in this place!"

Back at the sea restaurant, Usopp had witnessed Uchiha Tou's strength firsthand. Such a powerful individual was not someone his little slingshot could handle.

Let alone Uchiha Touyu, Usopp felt that even the giant lion that the other side brought could bite him in two.

"Damn it, these guys are coming... I don't want to get eaten by a lion!"

Usopp circled around twice and saw a wooden barrel on the Going Merry. He gritted his teeth, lifted the barrel, shrank inside, and finally pulled the lid back on.

"Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, come back quickly! Otherwise, the Going Merry will be taken away again!!"

……

Back on the Going Merry, Nami spun around on the deck, a happy expression on her face:

"Looks like the Straw Hat Pirates didn't come aboard our ship, hehe, that's great..."

"Once Straw Hat Pony and his gang are all arrested, no one will be interested in our Going Merry anymore!"

Usopp, inside the barrel, gritted his teeth in anger—this woman was shameless! The Going Merry, clearly a ship Kaya had given him! Yet this woman had made it theirs, while he and his crew were being treated like thieves!

If he weren't outmatched, Usopp would have loved to crawl out and give those two scumbags a couple of punches to teach them a lesson in shame!

While thinking to himself, Usopp kept his breathing low inside the barrel to avoid giving himself away.

Uchiha Touya also scanned the Going Merry with Observation Haki, then a smile appeared on his lips as he looked at the barrel Usopp was hiding in. However, he didn't say anything more, but instead spoke:

"Let's leave here first, Nami. It's about time to head to the Grand Line."

"Shall we leave now?"

Nami asked in surprise. Uchiha Touyu turned his head, feeling the gradually rising winds over Loguetown, the dark clouds gathering in the sky, and the brewing lightning. His expression also became somewhat serious.

"Let's leave now! After all... their parents are already here!"

Seeing Uchiha Tou's serious expression, Nami nodded:

"Okay, I understand! Let's go then!"

Although Nami didn't know what Uchiha Tou was worried about, she knew that as the captain, she wouldn't speak without reason. If he was leaving, there must be a reason.

A moment later, the Going Merry left the port. Nami stood on the deck, watching Loguetown recede into the distance, and grumbled:

"Captain, what happened? Why are we leaving all of a sudden? I was planning to explore Loguetown a bit more! And we're short one man to get our ship fully operational."

"Anyway, the Straw Hat crew should have been caught by now! Why not stay in Loguetown a little longer?"

"Didn't I tell you? The Straw Hat crew's parents are here!"

Looking at the lightning-streaked Loguetown in the distance, Uchiha Touyu chuckled and said:

"I told you before, Straw Hat Luffy's grandfather was a naval hero, Vice Admiral Garp, and his father was Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, who was considered the most heinous criminal by the World Government!"

"Captain, you mean... Straw Hat Boy's father has arrived!"

Nami's face was filled with astonishment, even a hint of fear:

"The world's most vicious criminal... Captain, let's run!"

Uchiha Touyu shook his head:

"Don't worry, although the Straw Hat Puppy's father is called the world's most dangerous criminal by the World Government, the World Government... well, those who know, know. If the World Government did anything even slightly human, they wouldn't be so inhuman!"

"Those wanted by this inhuman world government aren't necessarily good people, but those whom this world government treats as a major threat and calls the world's most vicious criminals are definitely not just simple villains!"

"In fact, Monkey D. Dragon is not only not a simple villain, but he can even be considered a pretty good person in this world... So there is no need to worry too much. At most, this guy will just ask us to return the ship to Luffy's crew."

"Return the boat? That's bad enough!"

Nami muttered something to herself, but Uchiha Touyu didn't seem to care much. He figured even Dragon wouldn't do something like that—the Revolutionary Army leader would save his son and his comrades, but he wouldn't be his son's babysitter.

If your ship is stolen, just take it back. What's the point of going to your father? That's the prevailing logic on the high seas these days, and that's how all the strong have made their way up.

Sure enough, until Loguetown became a small dot on the distant sea, no one chased after them. The weather remained perfectly normal, clearly indicating that the world's most vicious criminal did not take the theft of his son's ship seriously.

"Alright, we've finally left Loguetown... But, Feather, a small sailboat like the Going Merry requires three people to fully operate. Normally, one person wouldn't have any problem, but soon we'll be heading to the Grand Line, and we'll be passing through the Tumble Mountain. Without enough crew, that's impossible."

"At least three people are needed to steer the ship, control the sails, and conduct lookout and observation to ensure a safe passage over the Upside-Down Mountain!"

"Don't worry, I've already found the right person."

Uchiha Touyu chuckled lightly, and with a flash of the Third Generation Kitetsu, a wooden barrel on the deck was cleaved in two, revealing the long-nosed Usopp hiding inside.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead!!"

Usopp screamed for a moment before realizing that he hadn't been cleaved in two by a single blow; it was just the wooden barrel that had been split open.

Before Usopp could figure out what was going on, why the barrel had been split open but he was unharmed—the shadow of a sharp longsword had already slowly loomed over his head.

"Hey, you long-nosed guy, you heard what we just said, right?"

"No, no, no, I didn't hear anything! I just got a disease that makes me forget everything I hear!"

"Oh!? Then it seems you're useless now. In that case, Nami, what should you do if you encounter a lone pirate at sea?"

"Blindfold them, then walk onto the deck and jump into the sea? Or put them in a cannon and fire them? Or cut them into seven or eight pieces and use them for fishing..."

Nami understood Uchiha Touyu's meaning almost instantly. She appeared in front of Usopp with a similarly sinister and terrifying expression, her eyes darting up and down at Usopp as if looking for the easiest piece to cut off.

"It worked! It worked! It was very helpful! My illness is completely cured! I heard what you just said very clearly!!"

"Very good. From now on, you're the handyman for the Going Merry. Handyman Number One, get ready to work!"

"Um... actually, my name is Usopp..."

Usopp spoke a few words, but seeing Uchiha Touyu's ambiguous smile, his voice grew softer and softer:

"The name 'Odd Jobs Number One' works too... Hahaha, I'm off to work!"

After saying that, Usopp pulled out a large rag from somewhere and started diligently wiping the deck.

Seeing Usopp run off to work, Nami finally composed herself and frowned as she asked Uchiha Touyu:

"This guy's a member of the Straw Hat Pirates too, right? Is he really trustworthy?"

"Don't worry, this guy with the long nose is relatively easy to handle. He can definitely handle some odd jobs."

"Moreover, he is basically a jack-of-all-trades. He can handle everything from ship repair, small inventions, shell maintenance, to firing cannons in naval battles, long-range sniping, and sea observation."

Indeed, this is true. While Usopp is most famous for his almost comical level of luck, in terms of ability alone, he is by no means bad.

While his direct combat ability might be somewhat weak, Usopp handles most of the miscellaneous tasks besides his primary role as a sniper. He even invented Nami's Clima-Tact.

Of course, the most important thing that made Uchiha Touyu decide to keep him was that Usopp was easy to control. If it were any of the other members of the Straw Hat crew, it would be much more difficult to get them to do something.

With Uchiha Tou's introduction, Nami quickly discovered Usopp's abilities, and poor Usopp became a laborer on the ship, being bossed around by Nami.

Over the course of a few days, Usopp was not only forced by Nami to repair the entire ship, even waxing the deck, but he also made Nami a weather stick, turning him into a complete handyman and logistics guy on the ship.

On this morning, on the azure sea, the Going Merry slowly sailed forward and came to a strange, towering mountain.

"This is the legendary Upside-Down Mountain! The seawater from all four seas converges here to form a towering current, which, due to the pressure of the ocean, flows against the current to the top of the mountain. It sounds strangely scientific—not at all!"

This so-called scientific principle is probably similar to the "Detective Conan" world's science, belonging to the unique oceanography of the One Piece world. In any case, Uchiha Touyu wouldn't understand it.

Fortunately, it's not a big problem if he can't understand it. As long as Nami, the navigator, can understand it, that's fine. In fact, Usopp also knows some celestial phenomena and hydrology. Among the entire ship, only Uchiha Tou knows nothing about this.

"What a magnificent ocean current! Once we pass Reverse Mountain, we should be on the Grand Line!"

Nami looked at the Reverse Mountain in the distance, a look of longing on her face. As a girl whose goal was to become the world's top navigator, the Grand Line was undoubtedly the most important part of realizing her dream.

"I...I...I...I...Are we really going to get through this Upside-Down Mountain? Actually, I've always had this condition where I'll die if I go up Upside-Down Mountain..."

Usopp was pale, trembling all over, and his legs were weak. Looking at the towering mountains and the rushing sea in front of him, he felt as if he had been washed clean.

"What nonsense are you talking about? If you don't want the ship to sink and everyone to die on Upside Down Mountain, then hurry up and adjust the boat. We're about to charge up there!"

"I don't care. Even if the Going Merry crashes into a mountain, with my strength, only the rocks will break, not me. Nami has the Smooth-Smooth Fruit ability, so this level of physical attack won't hurt her. Even if she falls into the sea, she can use her Devil Fruit power to surf back up. In that case, you'll be the only one who dies!"

Usopp's eyes widened in disbelief. It turned out that he was the only one on the ship whose life was in danger!

"Hurry up and set sail! What are you standing there for?"

Nami said something to Usopp in an annoyed tone. At this moment, Usopp stopped trembling and ran straight to the helm to take control of the entire ship.

Although Usopp's helmsmanship skills aren't exactly top-notch, they're actually among the best in the East Blue right now. With Nami's guidance and the help of Reverse Mountain, he's actually about 70-80% confident of success.

The remaining 20-30% chance of success depends entirely on luck. If they run into ships coming from other sea areas, or that crazy giant island whale Laboon, then it's not a problem that navigation skills can solve.

Well, navigation skills can't solve it, but Uchiha Tou's Flying Slash will definitely do the trick. At worst, he can just cleave the ship in two with one strike.

To some extent, while navigation skills are certainly an important aspect when sailing the Grand Line, strength is actually an even more crucial factor.

If one's navigation skills are lacking, one can make up for it with strength. Hawkeye Mihawk, Dark King Rayleigh, and Beast Kaido are prime examples. Their navigation skills may not be considered particularly advanced, but they can still navigate the Grand Line without hindrance thanks to their own strength.

However, if one's strength is insufficient, no matter how skillful one's navigation techniques are, there will always be situations where one's abilities fall short. After all, the weather conditions in the Grand Line are not places that normal humans can navigate.

The first half of the Grand Line was merely characterized by unpredictable weather, but the second half was filled with falling meteorites, icebergs, thunderstorms, and flames, making it impossible for normal ships to pass through.

Even if you brought an aircraft carrier from the real world, you'd still be doomed if you weren't strong enough. It's only because the monsters in the latter half of the Grand Line are all incredibly powerful that they haven't died there.

(End of this chapter)