Chapter 225 Arriving at Upside-Down Mountain
Usopp had just finished inspecting the Golden Merry and found that the ship had no major damage and was well maintained. He finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems that those two thieves are not bad, at least they are well maintained..."

As he spoke, Usopp casually glanced at the distant port, and then he was shocked - because he happened to see Uchiha Toba and Nami, along with Lion Riki, walking towards the Golden Merry.

"Oh no...Oh no! The other party is coming! Why did they bring a lion with them?!"

"What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? I feel like I have a disease that makes me faint when I see a lion..."

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

When he was in the restaurant on the sea, Usopp had also seen Uchiha Feiyu's strength. Such a strong man was not someone that his small slingshot could deal with.

Not to mention Uchiha Feiyu, Usopp felt that even the big lion brought by the other party could bite him in two in one bite.

"It's over, these guys are coming... I don't want to be eaten by a lion!"

Usopp turned around twice and saw a wooden barrel on the Golden Merry. He gritted his teeth, opened the barrel, shrank into it, and finally closed the barrel by pulling the lid.

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

……

Back on the Golden Merry, Nami walked around the deck with a happy expression on her face:

"It seems that the Straw Hat Boys didn't come to our ship, haha, great..."

"Once the Straw Hat guys are captured, no one will want to target our Golden Merry anymore!"

Usopp in the barrel gnashed his teeth in anger - this woman is so shameless! The Golden Merry was clearly a ship given to him by Kaya! In this woman's mouth, it became theirs, and he and his group became thieves!

If he couldn't defeat them, Usopp would have wanted to crawl out and punch the couple twice to let them know what shame is!
While thinking in his mind, Usopp lowered his breathing in the barrel to avoid revealing any flaws.

Uchiha Feiyu also used his Observation Haki to scan the Golden Merry, then a smile appeared on his lips, and he looked at the barrel that Usopp was hiding from. However, he did not say much, but instead said:
"Let's get out of here first! Nami, it's almost time to go to the Grand Line."

"Are you leaving now?"

Nami asked in surprise. Uchiha Feiyu turned his head and felt the strong wind gradually rising in Rogue Town, the dark clouds gradually gathering in the sky, and the brewing lightning. His expression became a little serious:

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

Seeing Uchiha Feiyu's serious expression, Nami nodded:
"Okay, I got it! Let's go!"

Although Nami didn't know what Uchiha Feiyu was worried about, she knew that her captain would not do anything without a purpose. Since he was leaving, there must be a reason.

A moment later, the Golden Merry left the port. Nami stood on the deck and looked at the increasingly distant Rogue Town, complaining:
"Captain, what happened? Are you leaving all of a sudden? I was planning to hang out in Rogue Town for a while longer! And we are still short of one more person if we want our ship to be fully operational."

"Anyway, the Straw Hat gang should have been caught! Why not stay in Rogue Town for a while longer?"

"Didn't I tell you? The parents of the Straw Hat Pirates are here!"

Uchiha Feiyu looked at the thundering and lightning in the distant Rogue Town and said with a chuckle:
"I've told you before, Straw Hat Boy's grandfather is the navy hero, Vice Admiral Garp, and his father is Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army, who is considered the most vicious criminal by the World Government!"

"Captain, you mean... Straw Hat Boy's father is here!"

Nami's face was full of surprise, and even a little bit of fear:

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

Uchiha Feiyu shook his head:
"Don't worry. Although the Straw Hat Boy's father is called the world's worst criminal by the World Government, the World Government... that's what everyone knows. If the World Government does something humane, it won't be so inhumane!"

"Those who are wanted by this inhuman world government are not necessarily good people, but those who are called the world's most vicious criminals by this world government as if they were facing a great enemy are definitely not just bad guys!"

"In fact, Monkey D. Dragon is not just a bad guy. He can even be considered a good guy to this world... So there is no need to worry too much. The most he wants us to do is return the ship to Luffy and his crew."

"Give the boat back? That's bad enough!"

Nami muttered something, but Uchiha Feiyu didn't really care. He estimated that Long would not do such a thing - the leader of the Revolutionary Army would save the lives of his son and his companions, but he would not be his son's nanny.

If the boat was stolen, then just take it back. What's the point of looking for your own father? This is the prevailing logic on the sea nowadays. All the strong people have become so powerful.

Sure enough, until the town of Rogue finally became a small dot on the distant sea, no one chased after it, and the weather in the sky was still very normal. It was obvious that the world's most vicious criminal did not take the theft of his son's ship seriously.

"Okay, we've finally left Rogue Town... But Feiyu, a small sailboat like the Golden Merry requires three people to fully operate. Normally, one person can do it, but we'll be heading to the Grand Line soon, and we can't pass the Overturned Mountain without a crew."

"At least three people are needed to steer the ship, control the sails, and look out and observe. Only then will we have enough confidence when crossing the Upside-Down Mountain!"

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

Uchiha Feiyu chuckled, and the Sandai Kitetsu's sword flashed. With a light click, a wooden barrel on the deck was split in half, revealing the long-nosed Usopp hiding inside.

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!!! Die die die!!”

Usopp howled for a while, then he realized that he was not cut in half by the sword, but was split into pieces by just the barrel.

Before Usopp could figure out what was going on, why the barrel was split open but he was unharmed, the shadow of a sharp long knife slowly blocked his head. "Hey long-nosed boy, you should have heard what we said just now!"

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

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

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

Nami understood what Uchiha Feiyu meant almost instantly, and appeared in front of Usopp with the same gloomy and terrifying face, looking up and down at Usopp, as if looking for which part would be easier to cut off.

"It works, it works, it works!! I am very useful. My illness has been completely cured. I actually heard what you just said very clearly!!"

"Very good. From now on, you are the handyman of the Golden Merry. Handyman No. 1, get ready to work!"

"Um... Actually my name is Usopp..."

Usopp spoke a few words, but when he saw Uchiha Feiyu's half-smile, his voice got smaller and smaller:
"The name Handyman No. 1 is also acceptable... Hahahaha, I'm going to work!"

After saying that, Usopp took out a large rag from somewhere and began to wipe the deck diligently.

Seeing Usopp running to work, Nami put away the expression on her face, frowned and asked Uchiha Feiyu:

"This guy is also a member of the Straw Hat Pirates! Can he really be trusted?"

"Don't worry, this long-nosed guy is relatively easy to control. At least it will be no problem to let him do some odd jobs."

"And he's basically a jack of all trades. Whether it's ship repairs, small inventions, shell maintenance, naval battles, long-range sniping, maritime lookout, or anything like that, he can handle it."

This is indeed the case. Although Usopp is most famous for his luck that is almost at the level of a funny character, if we talk about his abilities alone, he is definitely not bad.

His frontal combat capability may be a little weak, but apart from being able to be responsible for sniping, Usopp is also responsible for most of the other miscellaneous tasks. Even Nami's weather stick was invented by Usopp.

Of course, the most important thing that made Uchiha Feiyu decide to keep him was that Usopp was easy to control. If it were other people in the Straw Hat Pirates, it would be very difficult to get them to do anything.

With Uchiha Feiyu's introduction, Nami quickly discovered Usopp's abilities, so poor Usopp became a coolie on the ship, being commanded around by Nami.

In a few days, Usopp was not only forced by Nami to repair the entire ship and wax the deck, but also made a weapon called the Weather Stick for Nami, completely turning him into a miscellaneous logistics guy on the ship.

Early that morning, on the blue sea, the Golden Merry slowly moved forward and came to a strange mountain.

"This is the legendary Upside-Down Mountain! The water from all over the world converges here to form a powerful ocean current. Due to the pressure of the ocean, it rushes up to the top of the Upside-Down Mountain against the flow of water. It sounds like it conforms to scientific principles - but it doesn't!"

This so-called scientific principle is probably similar to the science in the world of Detective Conan, and belongs to the oceanography unique to the world of One Piece. In any case, Uchiha Feiyu can't understand it.

Fortunately, it’s no problem that he can’t understand it, as long as Nami, the navigator, can understand it. In fact, Usopp also knows something about astronomy and hydrology. On the entire ship, only Uchiha Feiyu knows nothing about this.

"What a spectacular ocean current! Once we pass the Upside-Down Mountain, we'll probably reach the Grand Line!"

Nami looked towards the Upside-Down Mountain in the distance with a longing look on her face. As a girl whose goal is to become the world's nautical chart and the top navigator, the Grand Line is undoubtedly the most important part of her dream of realizing it.

"I, I, I, I...are we really going to make it through this Upside-Down Mountain? In fact, I've always had a disease that makes me die if I climb the Upside-Down Mountain..."

Usopp's face was pale, his whole body was trembling, his legs were weak, and he looked at the towering mountains and turbulent currents in front of him, and his whole body felt like it was washed by water.

"What nonsense are you talking about? If you don't want the ship to be destroyed and everyone to die on Upside-Down Mountain, then quickly adjust the boat. We will rush up soon!"

"I don't care. Even if the Golden Merry crashes into a mountain, with my strength, it will only be the rocks that will break, not me. Nami has the ability of the Slippery Fruit, so this level of physical attack can't hurt her. Even if she falls into the sea, she can use the power of the Devil Fruit to surf directly up. Then you will be the only one who will die!"

Usopp's eyes suddenly widened with an expression of disbelief. It turned out that he was the only one whose life was in danger on this ship!

"Why don't you start the boat quickly? What are you doing standing here?"

Nami said something to Usopp in a bad mood. At this time, Usopp's body stopped shaking. He ran directly to the rudder and began to control the entire ship.

Although Usopp's steering skills cannot be considered very high, in fact, in the entire East China Sea, this level is already first-class. Coupled with Nami's advice, he actually has 70% confidence in passing the Upside-Down Mountain.

The remaining 20% ​​to 30% chance of success depends on luck. If you happen to run into a ship coming from other seas, or the mentally ill large island whale Lab, then that is not a problem that can be solved by navigation skills.

Well, navigation skills can't solve it, but Uchiha Feiyu's flying slash can definitely solve it. At worst, I can just use one slash to split the opponent's ship in half.

To a certain extent, when sailing on the Grand Line, navigation skills are certainly one aspect, but strength is a more important aspect.

If one's navigation skills are not good enough, one can make up for it with strength. Hawkeye Mihawk, Pluto Rayleigh, and Kaido are the best among them. Their navigation skills are obviously not very advanced, but relying on their own strength, they can still travel unimpeded on the Grand Line.

However, if one's strength is insufficient, no matter how advanced one's navigation skills are, one will always encounter situations where one is unable to cope with the situation. After all, the weather on the Grand Line is not suitable for normal humans to navigate.

The first half of the Grand Line was just a place with unpredictable weather, but in the second half, there were meteorites, icebergs, thunderstorms and fires falling from the sky, making it impossible for normal ships to pass through.

Even if you pull an aircraft carrier from the real world over here, if you don't have enough strength, you'll still be dead. It's only because the monsters in the second half of the Grand Line are so powerful that they didn't die there.

(End of this chapter)