Kaya

Kaya is a young girl who lives in the largest mansion of Syrup Village on Gecko Islands. She befriended Usopp because of the "adventures" he told her of.

Appearance
Kaya is a fairly tall, thin, pale, blonde girl. She is pretty and yet despite her fortune is rarely seen in anything but simple neat clothing, be it a plain long dress or "common" clothing such as a skirt and jacket.

Personality
Kaya is a young rich girl who leads a (now) happy and healthy life with little care. When she was first introduced she was a sickly girl, but later it turns out she was just worrying herself into sickness. She is carefree and very trusting towards others.

Friends
Kaya is in debt with her friend Usopp and has grown fond of him very much since he saved her life, more so then she ever had been in the past. She was willing to listen to Usopp's tales knowing he was a liar, yet incapable of accepting some of the grim realities when the stories become serious about Kurahadol, believing the butler to be loyal and faithful to her. Since the Kuro incident, she understands he wants her only to be safe and happy, which is why he told his outrageous stories to her while he was in the village. She made a promise never to tell anyone about the Blackcat Pirates' attack.

She keeps up to date with any information that is released about him in the newspapers and vows that no matter what condition he is in when he returns, she will nurse him back to health. A small running gag is that, even though Usopp's face hasn't been shown in either of the wanted posters he has appeared on, Kaya always recognizes him.

Since Kurahadol left, Merry seems to have become the servant she turns to. She also keeps in touch with the former Usopp Pirates and talks to them whenever an update on the Straw Hats - Usopp in particular - gets around to them.

Enemies
Until his deception was revealed, Kaya had always been fond of Kurahadol, even leading to dismiss Usopp's stories that he was lying about him being a pirate. When she discovered everything was a lie she became upset and could do nothing as he betrayed her feelings on purpose, upsetting her in the process, all the while being unable to pull the trigger of the flintlock that she aimed at him.

Parents
Three years before the start of the stroy, her father hired Kuro (under the pseudonym Kurahadol) to live in the mansion as a butler (going as far as to save him from the streets in the anime), not knowing of Kuro's true identity. Sometime after this adoption, Kaya's parents died, according to Kuro, by "accident" and were not part of his plan to gain her riches; Kuro denied killing them when Jango suggested it. From Kurahadol, we learn her father had loved his daughter very much and wished nothing but the best for her.

Other
Kaya may have other family, however the storyline may never touch on this idea. Kurahadol mentions that if Kaya died without signing a will with her fortune being left to him, the mansion will go to relatives.

Arrival of the Straw Hats
Kaya is a rich girl who received an inheritance after her parents died. Kaya becomes sickly after, and is often tended to by her caretaker, Kurahadol. Secretly, the town liar Usopp would visit her and tell her tall tales that make her laugh and feel better.

However, Klahadore was very disapproving of this and eventually kicked Usopp out and made Kaya believe that he is a bad influence. The same day, Usopp overheard an conversation between Klahadore and Jango, a hypnotist. Klahadore was really Captain Kuro and revealed that he planned to kill Kaya for her money - the last three years he has just been toying with the young woman. Usopp tried to warn Kaya about the plot, but Kaya believes that he is lying; she rebukes him when he insists that he is telling the truth, even going so far as to slap him.

The Murderous Plot
Kaya is later informed of the truth by Merry, another servant of hers when he is attacked by him suddenly during the night. Despite the risk, Kaya confronts Kuro during a battle between Kuro and his men and Luffy, Usopp, Nami, and Zoro. Kuro reveals that he tried to kill Merry. Kaya aims a gun at Kuro, but she drops it and cries after Kuro talks about how he was publicly at her side and how much he wants to kill her. Usopp tells the Usopp Pirates to protect Kaya.

Ninjin, Tamanegi, and Piiman, flee with Kaya to the forest. Jango chases after them. When the children try to sneak up on Jango, he attacks them and threatens to kill them. Kaya threatens to kill herself unless the children are kept alive. As she has not yet signed a will that states that Kuro is to get Kaya's inheritance after her death, Jango would be in trouble if she kills herself, so he agrees to leave the children alone.

The children pretend to be knocked out when Jango forces Kaya to sign the will. Right before Jango is able to slice her throat apart, Usopp's Pirates ram him with a shovel. After Jango knocks them away, Usopp and Zoro appear. Zoro slices off a branch with his sword, while Usopp hits Jango with his Secret Technique Shooting Star attack, saving Kaya's life. Later she and the Usopp Pirates make a promise not to tell rest of the village about the Kuro incident. Usopp's reason is that Syrup Village is so small and remote that most pirates have no reason to come. Usopp believes that the village's peace would be shattered if they learned that someone they trusted for three years (Kuro in disguise) planned a pirate attack on them.

Thanks and Farewell
After the incident, Kaya gave the Going Merry to Luffy and his group of pirates as gratitude for saving her life. Instilled with a new sense of health and determination, Kaya decided then that she would study to become a doctor one day, and hopefully help others in need as Usopp once helped her.

Keeping Tracks on Straw Hats
She is mentioned many times when the Straw hats talk about the Going Merry.

She made another appearance when she saw Sogeking's wanted poster. She and the Usopp Pirates recognized Usopp despite his disguise.

Translation and Dub Issue
In the original Anime and Manga, Kaya threatened to cut her throat with Jango's Chakam to make him stop hurting the boys. However in the 4Kids dub, they had Kaya struggle with the Chakram as if it has a mind of its own, Jango told her amateurs should not be using it. Also, in the scene in which she points a gun at Kuro the 4Kids dub edited it into Usopp's slingshot instead.

On the credits of episode 17 on the FUNimation DVDs, her name was accidentally written as Maya, but this was only a typo on FUNimation's part.

Trivia

 * In the 4th Japanese Fan Poll, Kaya is ranked the 78th most popular character in One Piece.


 * Coincidentally, Kaya meant rich or wealthy in the Indonesia and Malaysia Language.
 * Kaya also means "Rock" in Turkish.
 * Kaya holds some resemblance to one of Oda's first works' Monster's character, Flare. They both also have a common kindness.