One Piece Vol. 5: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Once upon a time, Usopp was just a local boy with a talent for tall tales — the joker who woke his seaside village by shouting that pirates were coming. Then real pirates landed on the beach. One Piece Vol. 5: For Whom the Bell Tolls picks up mid-siege, with Syrup Village under attack by the Black Cat Pirates and three would-be pirates standing between them and the townspeople: Nami the thief, Zoro the swordsman (rendered "Zolo" in this VIZ translation), and Luffy, the straw-hatted rubber-limbed captain who dreams of finding the world's greatest treasure.

The volume collects chapters 36 through 44. Luffy and Kuro fight to a finish, and Kuro's past as the pirate "Kuro of a Hundred Plans" comes out along with his contempt for the crew who served him — the thing that finally decides the battle. With Zoro's help Usopp reaches Kaya before Jango can, and afterwards chooses to keep the whole fight quiet, believing the village is better off never knowing. He disbands the Usopp Pirates, sets out to become a real pirate, and Kaya and her steward Merry send the crew off with a caravel of their own: the Going Merry.

The back half turns to open water. Bounty hunters tell the Straw Hats about a floating restaurant near the entrance to the Grand Line; Luffy manages to damage it and injure its head chef on arrival, and works off the debt in the kitchen — which is where the sous chef Sanji is introduced. Originally published in Japan in October 1998 as 誰が為に鐘は鳴る, the volume reached English readers from VIZ Media's Shonen Jump imprint in November 2004, rated Teen.