Chapter 252: Usopp’s Anger!

Just after the two of them arrived, they happened to see Nami apologizing to the townspeople.

Luffy waved at Nami and called out:

“Hey, Nami. What a coincidence. You’re here too.”

Hearing him, Nami turned around and, upon seeing Luffy, broke into an excited smile.

“Luffy, Usopp, you’re finally here. That’s great.”

Luffy looked at the group of people behind Nami and frowned deeply.

“Hey, Nami, what are you doing?”

Nami gave an awkward smile.

“Nothing. Oh, right—some creeps stole our water scooter. Raynor went after them. Hurry and go help him.”

Luffy said carelessly, “Don’t worry about him. He’ll be fine. By the way, have you talked to the shipwrights yet?”

Nami was just about to answer when Kaku stepped forward and said:

“Yeah, we already told them. We explained everything very clearly.”

Nami gritted her teeth and tried to stop Kaku, but he had already let the words slip.

“Your crewmate provided an excellent piece of wood and offered two hundred million Belly to have us build a new ship.”

“I didn’t know you were so rich.”

The moment he said this, the atmosphere at the scene froze. Nami slowly moved backward, one step at a time.

By now, Usopp was surrounded by a bitter, resentful mood, and a flash of anger appeared in his eyes.

“Hey, Nami. That guy Raynor took out two hundred million Belly and said he wanted to build a new ship?”

Nami’s face twisted, and she quickly waved her hands.

“Raynor just happened to have a good piece of wood, so he wanted to build a new ship. He never said he wanted to abandon the Going Merry. Usopp, don’t overthink it.”

Usopp didn’t hear a word she said. He was completely lost in his own world of resentment.

“Is he the captain? What right does he have to decide whether we build a new ship? Does he even have that right?”

Nami had been arguing with Usopp for quite a while before Luffy finally understood what was going on. He immediately said angrily:

“What? That guy Raynor said we should replace the ship? That’s outrageous! I’m going back to argue with him!”

As he spoke, Luffy was about to leave when Raynor appeared in the distance, riding the water scooter straight toward them.

Seeing this, Nami’s teeth began to chatter. She had no idea what kind of sparks would fly when Usopp and Raynor met.

Raynor also spotted Usopp and Luffy. He sped up and parked the water scooter by the shore.

“You two sure took your time. Since you’re here, hop on. We’ll head straight back to the Merry.”

The moment he heard the name Merry, Usopp’s eyes went wide.

Nami’s heart jumped into her throat. She was terrified that Usopp would do something impulsive.

But to her surprise, Usopp strode over, climbed onto the water scooter, and sat in the very front.

Luffy followed his example. He snorted through his nose and sat on Raynor’s left.

Sensing that something was off, Raynor frowned slightly. These two must have something wrong with them.

Usopp and Luffy had taken the two seats in front, so Nami could only sit at the back.

Raynor then called out a greeting to Iceburg, Kaku, and the others.

He twisted the throttle and headed toward the Merry.

However, they had barely left when two old men in black suits walked over.

When Iceburg saw them, he immediately turned to leave, but the two old men blocked his path.

One of the old men, who had a white beard, gave a sly grin and spoke:

“Hey, Mayor Iceburg. You’ve thought over what we discussed, haven’t you?”

Iceburg picked his nose with his little finger, then spat and said:

“Things like that aren’t easy to decide. That thing has been around for so many years that I’ve almost forgotten where I put it. At least give me some time to look for it.”

The lecherous-looking old man clearly didn’t believe him. A serious look appeared in his eyes.

“You said the same thing last time, and the time before that, and the time before that. If you really can’t find it, the World Government can help you look.”

Iceburg scratched his head, then grinned.

“You really are impatient. Why don’t you give me another two years to think about it?”

The old man flew into a rage.

“Then you’d better make up your mind soon—while you’re still breathing!”

With that, the two old men turned and walked away.

But as they passed Kalifa, their bodies bent down instinctively.

It lasted only for a split second, but Iceburg still noticed it.

However, he didn’t think much of it and walked straight into Galley-La.

…

Meanwhile, Raynor rode the water scooter toward the Merry.

On the way back, Raynor kept feeling waves of chill behind him.

He had no idea what had suddenly gotten into those two.

Still, Raynor couldn’t be bothered with them. Come to think of it, he hadn’t used the prize wheel in several days.

Now that he had just obtained five trillion Belly, he naturally had to make a couple of pulls.

With that in mind, Raynor said silently in his head:

“System, activate the prize wheel.”

[Ding! The prize wheel has been activated. The first draw will cost two hundred million Belly. The second draw will cost four hundred million Belly, and so on. Would you like to begin the draw now?]

After hearing the system’s prompt, Raynor didn’t hesitate. He silently replied:

“Start. Begin immediately.”

As soon as he finished speaking, an image of the prize wheel appeared in Raynor’s mind.

After spinning for more than ten seconds, the wheel stopped.

Something resembling a card slowly appeared.

Raynor focused on it and saw the words “Temporary Devil Fruit Awakening Card.”

He checked the description. The Temporary Awakening Card could temporarily awaken any Devil Fruit for one hour.

For one hour, the user could use the awakened fruit’s abilities.

The awakening card was quickly placed in the system storage. Raynor frowned slightly. His current Devil Fruit was the Copy-Copy Fruit.

Even if the Copy-Copy Fruit were awakened, it probably wouldn’t gain much offensive power. At most, he would be able to copy more things.

It looked like this item was destined to sit uselessly in the system storage.

With that thought, Raynor didn’t hesitate and started the prize wheel for the second time.

An image of the prize wheel appeared in his mind.

After more than ten seconds, the wheel stopped, and Raynor frowned slightly.

This time, it was something that looked like a fruit. Raynor immediately inspected it and discovered that it really was a Devil Fruit.

He had struck it rich.