Chapter Text
To say Usopp had a pit in his stomach would be an understatement. Aside from the freezing temperature and raging storm, giant sea monsters, getting separated from his captain, and having the Thousand Sunny picked up by a robot 10 times its size, there were also two huge ships sailing their way. They both had three huge black sails, with something written on them Usopp couldn't quite see through the snow storm. He squinted through his goggles as the rest of the crew engaged with the woman who had emerged out of the robot that abducted them.
Feeling eyes on him, Usopp glanced around and saw Robin squinting at the approaching ships too. He turned back to his surveillance, comforted in knowing one of his strongest crewmates was watching the threat too, and the two of them watched in silence as the ships approached quickly. They gasped in unison when the jolly roger printed on the top sails came into view. Blackbeard.
“G-guys?” Usopp squeak out, pawing frantically at Robin's arm until she grabbed his hand and squeezed it comfortingly, “B-blackbeard's here, and he’s coming this way”
After a potent silence from both the Strawhats and the robot woman as they stared at him, Nami grabbed Usopp by the lapels of his puffy coat, “What?!? Where? You better not be lying Usopp or I swear to God…” but she followed Usopp's gloved finger as he pointed and quickly dropped him as her hands began to shake in fear.
“Blackbeard? The man who betrayed and killed Whitebeard?” The robot woman looked to him for an answer, and he in turn looked questioningly at Nami. He hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation between the crew and her, and didn’t know how much of a threat she was.
The navigator looked indecisive “Oh, she’s… part of Vegapunk? You can talk to her. About this.”
Nodding, Usopp turned to answer the beautiful Vegapunk “Yeah, him. Oh, and he’s a devil fruit hunter from what I’ve heard, has two himself and one for every member of his crew.” he looked meaningfully at Robin.
She stared back, one perfect eyebrow raised “Who did you hear that from?”
“One of the Kidd Pirates I think”
Zoro squinted disapprovingly from the other side of Robin as he repositioned himself so he had a view of the approaching Blackbeard ships, Vegapunk, and her robot, “The hell were you talking to them for?”
Rolling his eyes, Usopp replied, “When you were passed out after the battle of Onigashima they helped Franky and I repair the Sunny. Plus, Luffy likes them.” That final bit seemed to be what finally calmed Zoro down, and he refocused his attention on the enemy ships “What’re we gonna do? You think they’re here for us or her?” Usopp jerked his chin towards Vegapunk, crossing his arms across his chest.
She had one hand to her ear, and it almost seemed to Usopp like she was listening to someone else while she sized up the rapidly approaching Blackbeard Pirates for herself, a mirror image of Zoro.
“ZE HA HA HA, LOOKIE HERE, GOT US THE STRAW HATS AND A VEGAPUNK IN THE SAME PLACE! WHERE’S YOUR JERK OF A CAPTAIN ‘PIRATE HUNTER’? AND VEGAPUNK, THE HELL’D YOU TURN YOURSELF INTO A LITTLE GIRL FOR?” The swordsman growled, switched one sword from his hand to his mouth and unsheathed the other. Vegapunk scowled, turned, retreated back into her robot and pressed a button on the wall to close the hatch she was just standing on behind her.
The ground lurched beneath them as the robot still holding them turned to face the approaching boats head on. Once the ship stopped moving, Usopp turned so he could see the ships again. Zoro, Robin and Sanji brush past him, Nami, Franky and Brook to stand between them and the threat.
And now Zoro’s gonna start talking. Was all Usopp managed to think outside his terrified internal monologue where he and Nami were hiding behind Franky. Always the minute after he puts his swords in his mouth. He lifted a gloved hand off Franky’s back at the same time Nami did, and they entwined their fingers and squeezed tight. It hurt, it always did, Nami had a much stronger grip than one would expect, but the pain was a constant he could rely on.
He was right about Zoro of course, through teeth clenched around his sword hilt, Zoro yelled “Wha’ do you wan’, Blackbear’?”
“Generally speakin’, or right now?” The two boats were shoring up to the robots feet, and they all had to move to the side of the deck to peer over at them. Usopp made sure to drop Nami and his clasped hands below the rail so they were out of Blackbeard’s view. Even in his panic he remembered physical affection was a sign of weakness among pirates, and with Luffy and Jinbei out of the picture, they needed to appear as strong as possible. Zoro and Sanji forwent peering over the rail and just jumped up directly onto it. When all he got from Zoro was a one-eyed glare, Blackbeard laughed again, “I’ll answer both for yah. And yah should remember, what ah want, ah get. First, I wanna be king of the world, but now, I want your sniper”
Usopp barely registered it when Nami dropped his hand to wrap him in a vice-like hug. His head was buzzing, the sound of the wind began to drown out his crewmates screeched protests and the boisterous laughter from the ships below. The thing was, Blackbeard was staring right at him, with his face twisted into a smile, his crew laughing and pointing at him where he peered at them from behind Franky. Heat somehow pricked his neck even in the frigid wind, and Usopp realized he was feeling insecure, of all things, under their gaze.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. They probably just want you to kill you to piss Luffy off and get him off course from the One Piece. You are the weakest link. Easiest to pick off. Easiest to contain. It’s not actually about you.
Suddenly, the enemy crew’s focus shifted away from him, and onto the two of his crewmates that were standing on the deck rails in front of Usopp. “GET LOST YOU NO-GOOD THIEVES! YOU’RE NOT GETTING OUR USOPP!” The flames coming off Sanji’s legs were blown towards Usopp and Nami where they stood to his left. Nami dropped her arms from around Usopp, and held up her hands to shield herself as she backed away. But the flames warmed Usopp as he kept his eyes trained on the Blackbeard pirates.
“Ze Ha Ha Ha, and who’s gonna stop me, Vinsmoke? I killed Whitebeard, and that was two years and half a dozen devil fruits ago. Small fries like you are no match for me and my crew!”
“We’ll thee abou’ tha’” Zoro mumbled, the Thousand Sunny tilting with the force of him and Sanji jumping to decks of the boats below, one on each. Robin stayed on deck, her eyes trained on them and her hands held in position to support from above. Suddenly, an uncomfortable pressure started to build in Usopp’s head. Taking a few steps back and lifting his hand to feel his forehead, he opened his mouth to warn Nami, but his nose started running and his eyes watered until they both dripped down his face and into his mouth. He sputtered, spitting the gross liquid out onto the Sunny’s deck.
Is this what being sick is like? I know being out in the cold can do it but I didn’t think it would happen this quickly. The Great Captain Usopp struck down but rapidly onset hypothermia, or whatever this is. Fantastic. Totally worthy death.
A loud thunk sounded on the deck to his right, and Usopp turned to find its source, blinking to clear the tears and frigid wind from his eyes. It was one of the Blackbeard pirates, a huge guy, taller than Jinbei, wearing a massive belt to hold up his tiny jeans, along with elbow pads, of all things. Franky stumbled back between the intruder and Usopp, clearly dealing with the same symptoms as the sniper if the tears streaming down his face and load sniffling were any indication, “STAY AWAY FROM MY BRO, OR THINGS ARE GONNA GET UGLY!”
Elbowpads chuckled, and Usopp fumbled to pull one of his non-pop green attacks out of his bag and knocked it in his slingshot. “Bitch of a cold, huh strawhats? That’s the burn of the sick-sick fruit you’re feeling. But now you get to feel mine” Franky fired a round from his forearm at the man, who quickly haki’d the whole oversized top half of his body and rushed at Franky, getting a two handed grip on his chest and flinging him effortlessly off the Sunny into the icy waters below.
“FRANKY!!” Usopp and Nami cried in unison, the former loosing his shot at the elbow pad’s chest and the latter running to the opposite railing to search for him in the waves. The explosion star was a direct hit, the explosion blasting elbowpads into the kitchen door hard enough that it was knocked half off its hinges.
It barely deterred him though, elbowpads quickly got to his feet and only rubbed lightly at his chest as he stalked towards Usopp “You’ve got some teeth there, sniper-guy. That’s good.” Before he could even begin to think of which of his attacks could hurt the guy, he charged across the deck at Usopp, and got one giant arm around his arms and torso, pinning them down. Suddenly, Usopp was hoisted off his feet, struggling and screaming, onto the man's shoulder as he quickly vaulted the railing and jumped off the Sunny onto the deck of one of the ships below.
“SANJIII!! ZOROOO!! ROBIIIN!!” He kicked the man’s chest as hard as he could from his position, but it only earned him a laugh that got blown away in the harsh wind. He wasn’t even tall enough to hit the man’s stomach, so all his kicks hit were hard muscle. The weight of their landing rocked Blackbeard's ship, causing all the deck's inhabitants to snap their heads in Usopp and elbow pad’s direction, and drench them both in freezing seawater. They landed on the edge of the ship closest to the Thousand Sunny, so Usopp could only see the icy water and storm clouds of the open ocean, not the assured chaos of the fight. The clanging of swords and guns started up immediately after as the boat stopped rocking from their descent.
“YER GONNA REGRE’ EVER CROSSIN’ US, YOU BASTAR'S” Zoro’s voice came from somewhere behind him, followed by a loud clang and an unfamiliar scream.
“PUT HIM DOWN” That was Sanji, much closer to Usopp than Zoro was. There was the slap of skin on skin, then the shoulder he was thrown over jerked back, with heat washing over the left side of his body, and the arm wrapped around him loosened as elbowpads swore and stumbled back. Sanji's hand grabbed Usopp’s ankle, yanked him out of elbow pads grasp and down onto the deck, where he fell back into the cooks chest.
Sanji quickly picked Usopp up with an arm around his waist and crouched as he prepared to jump him back onto the Sunny. He was stopped though, as Blackbeard himself joined the fray, and darkness swept over the deck at their feet. He must have been previously standing back and letting his admirals handle the fight, but now Usopp couldn’t move his feet at all, and if his french swearing was an indication, neither could Sanji. The color drained from Usopps face as he looked over his shoulder and simultaneously realized how close the captain was, and that he hadn't seen Robin since the fight began.
“QUAKE CRRAAASSSSHHH!”
The world seemed to shake off its axis as he and Sanji were thrown high into the air off the side of the ship. Usopp expected to be enveloped in ice cold water, but opened his eyes to lukewarm inky blackness. He opened his mouth to call out and realized he felt as if he was speaking but no noise came out. Lifting his hands to his face, he felt it underneath his fingers, but he couldn’t see even an inch in front of him. Wrapping his arms around his legs and pulling them to his chest, Usopp tried to calm himself down but anxiety wrapped around his neck and made it hard to breathe.
After a long, suffocating wait, sweat beading down his face and breath filling his lungs with about half the oxygen he needed, he suddenly wasn’t stuck in a void anymore. He was being dropped face first onto an unfamiliar ice cold deck. When he freed his hands from under him and pushed himself up into a kneeling position, he looked up and saw the back of flower print pants over striped socks that lead to the ugliest boots he’d ever seen on a pirate. Must be Blackbeard. Usopp stumbled to his feet but stayed crouched, ready for a blow. Looking to his left and right, he saw the Blackbeard pirates grouped behind their captain, smirking and jeering at something on the opposite side of the deck, sparing him little mind. He peaked around Blackbeard’s feet and saw Zoro standing alone, panting and already covered in blood.
“He’ll never go wi’ you, you know. He only became a pira’ fer Luffy in the firs’ place. He wan’s to see Luffy become the pira’ king”
“Ze ha ha, this kid’ll be a killing machine beside me. Luffy’s got too much heart holdin’ him down, once Usopp feels real power he’ll never look back. Come on Roronoa, hit me with all you’ve got”
Zoro caught Usopp’s eye from behind Blackbeard and steeled himself. “Billion Fold World…”
“Black Vortex!”
The attacks hit their targets at the same time, and three large slashes ripped across Blackbeard’s chest, spraying the deck with blood, but Zoro was blasted hundreds of meters back into the ocean.
“SET SAIL BOYS, FULL SPEED AWAY” Some mechanism below deck clicked and whirred, and the ship veered a hard right, escaping out from under the robot. Elbow pads and two other Blackbeard pirates jump off the Sunny and onto the second ship to their left with a triumphant yell. This is really it. Blackbeard turned around and looked down at Usopp, “Welcome to the Blackbeard Pirates, kid. You’ll learn to loathe it” He waved his hand and Usopp was falling for a moment through blackness before he landed in a small, dark, metal cell. Alone.