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This is the absolute worst situation Usopp’s ever been in in his entire life, and that’s only a slight exaggeration.
The current Marine base the Strawhats foolishly decided to plunder is an absolute maze of corridors and hallways. It’s almost as if it’s purposefully designed to trap pirates, like an elaborate mouse trap baited with cheese. Usopp sure feels like a mouse, trapped and cornered by a cat.
Maybe a mouse would handle this better.
Shaking his head, Usopp tries to refocus, but blood loss is making his head fuzzy. He’s injured, he’s lost, he has a trail of Marines on his back. He desperately needs to find somewhere– anywhere– to hide before he dies alone in a maze.
After what feels like endless doorways of infinite hallways, Usopp opens a door and it’s finally not another corridor. Instead, it’s a tiny storage room, or something, he doesn’t care. He throws himself inside, slams the door shut, and tries to ignore the beating of his heart.
The room whirrs in an electric buzz, bright lights shining off every dark metal surface in the crowded room. It’s dingy and claustrophobic but that doesn’t stop Usopp from pacing. Every step he takes reopening the wound on his side, like a pressing reminder of his own impending doom. The pain’s only a sting compared to the racing of his heart.
Pacing is forward motion without a destination, but that’s better than nothing. His situation isn’t good, but it’s better now that he’s locked himself up where hopefully no one can find him. He runs through his itemized list of horrible circumstances and worries about the top three.
First, Usopp’s injured. He’s been injured before, he’s been electrocuted before, but this time he’s been stabbed through the side. It hurts to move and it hurts to breathe, which doesn’t help when his heart is racing out of his chest. The deep wound slows down any move or thought process he has. He manages to run away from the fight but only by the skin of his teeth.
Second, Usopp ran away from the fight and from Zoro. As soon as Usopp took the hit Zoro glared at him with a familiarly piercing stare, and all Usopp could think about was how familiar that felt, like the next words out of his mouth would be ordering Usopp to leave the crew. In a panic, Usopp’s already tenuous grasp on a fight instinct instantly turned to flight and he was ten lengths down the hall.
Third, Usopp has no idea where anyone else on the crew is. Everyone’s trapped in the same Marine base maze, and Usopp’s splintered from his original group. They’re unlikely to find him, so he’s all on his own.
“Come on, come on, you're the great Captain Usopp,” Usopp says to himself, ignoring how his own voice cracks. “You’ve done this before! You’ve gotten out of worse situations,” he hasn’t, actually, “-with even worse injuries! This is nothing. You’ll get yourself out of this in no time.”
Someone pounds at the door, loud and insistent. Loud curses ring outside and a Marine barks some orders that certainly spell his doom. The lock rattles, the pounding grows, and the door shakes on its hinges. Usopp flinches back, which makes his wound sting red-hot to his side. While he could ignore the pain before, suddenly it’s very loud and very foreboding.
Usopp shoves a file cabinet in front of the door, trapping himself in.
“Someone else can get me out of this,” Usopp decides.
Soon after trapping himself in, the entire base shakes and the Marine pounding at the door leaves him alone. As grateful as he is that the Marine’s off his case, the shaking of the base is unexpectedly foreboding.
Eventually Usopp backs away from the door, backing up until he hits a wall. The metal feels cool to his back, and he’s back to square one; a mouse hiding from a cat.
How the hell is he getting out of this?
Sucking in one shaky breath, or five, Usopp re-assess the room around him. It’s a small room, with one rickety roller chair and a cup of lukewarm coffee, the edges of the walls lined with tall filing cabinets reflecting bright, flickering light. The lights reflecting throughout the room have one source, a glowing screen covered in moving, blinking dots. It’s a confusing piece of work, almost like a sea chart but…
Actually, if he looks hard enough, it is a chart. Just not a chart of the sea. Usopp tilts his head to the side, following the lines on the screen to try and make sense of it. It almost looks like a maze puzzle from the back of a newspaper; there’s a confusing grid of corridors and hallways, all with bright, moving dots moving throughout.
It’s almost like it’s a map of the base. Usopp laughs brightly, not believing himself at first, but it is a map of the base. For the first time since he got lost, Usopp’s slightly hopeful he won’t die a terrible death here. The place is built like a maze, but if he has the map, he can get out of here, no problem.
Usopp runs through his path; yes, that’s the corridor where everyone split up into separate groups, Usopp stuck with Zoro of all people. And that’s the corridor where Zoro picked a fight, and as soon as Usopp took a hit he tactically fled. He can trace his path all the way to where he is now, a small square in a sea of corridors, with one blinking red light.
The other lights on the map move around, but that one is still. Tilting his head to the side, Usopp shuffles to one side and watches as the bright red marker on the screen follows. He shuffles again, and the red dot centers itself. That’s got to be him; Usopp’s the red dot.
He looks at the full map again and counts up the red dots– there’s eight in total, split up into four clusters, including himself, across the maze. All of them move around, with two of the clusters at the edges of the maze map, and one singular dot in the middle surrounded by green. So there’s eight red dots, one for each Strawhat.
“Ah-ha! So that’s it,” Usopp announces, then squeaks as his voice reverberates too-loud across the room. The red dots are the Strawhats, and the green dots are probably the Marines. So all he has to do is wait until one of the red dots finds him, or wait until the green dots clear a path out.
Except, well, it doesn’t look like that’s happening. With a sense of dread, Usopp watches as one cluster of red dots leaves the screen entirely. The green dots following them disperses back into the hallways, preventing Usopp from making an easy escape.
They’re escaping without him?
No, they wouldn’t. Well, he knows some of the crew wouldn’t leave him here if they knew where he was. Luffy hadn’t left him behind even after Water 7, and both Sanji and Chopper had come to look for him, so that’s about half the crew that’ll stick it out. The rest, he’s… less sure, but surely one of the three are in the other group.
Especially Zoro. He’s sure Zoro’s going to be pissed with him, especially since he just abandoned Zoro in the middle of a damn base. It’s a stacking problem of last straws, or straws on the camel’s back, or something. Usopp’s not going to bet on Zoro’s forgiveness, not when he has three other Strawhats to rely on.
Frantically ignoring the thought, Usopp looks around the room for anything he can use to contact the Strawhats. There’s a transponder snail, which is great if any of the Strawhats actually carried a snail with them, and little else of help. He’ll just have to make the snail work.
The green dots on screen all have numbers associated with them, indexed by codes. That’s got to be something; if he’s in a security office, then they’ve got to have an efficient way for contacting people, right? The codes must be how the individual Marines are contacted by snail. He stares down at the transponder snail, and figures it’s worth a shot.
The only Strawhat close to a green dot is the singular Strawhat alone in the maze; that’ll be his target.
It’s the last hope he has. Maybe it’s Sanji. Sanji would save him, even if he’d complain the whole time, he’d still get Usopp out of there. Or maybe Robin– Robin’s even stopped calling him Longnose after Enies Lobby, she has to like him enough to save him. Even Franky would be a good option, he’d know for sure how to get out of this tech maze.
Sucking in a breath, he dials the number in and waits…
…no one answers.
That’s odd. Foreboding, even. Usopp rings again and waits, one more time, until someone finally picks up.
“What the hell do you want?!”
Of all people, of course it’s Zoro.
This is– his hands shake around the transponder snail. Suddenly, even though he’s contacted one of his crew, Usopp’s nervous again. He knows Zoro technically accepted him back on the crew after he’d apologized, but his stern rejection from before lingers like a plague in the back of his mind.
It’s like Usopp’s blindfolded and at the edge of Zoro’s patience, and he doesn’t know when exactly he’ll walk off that cliff to his doom. Now, though, that he left Zoro in a maze by himself? Usopp’s either saved by the skin of his teeth, or Zoro will leave him here to die. Usopp swallows thickly.
“You want to send another round over here? First one was a piece of cake,” Zoro taunts.
Usopp bristles, hand shaking around the snail. “Don’t taunt the enemy you moron!” Usopp yells, then snaps his mouth shut.
“Hah?!” The snail peers at him suspiciously with Zoro’s sharp glare, and Usopp glares weakly back. “Usopp?! Where the hell did you run off to?”
Flinching back at the tone, Usopp’s suddenly at a loss for words.
“I’m–” Usopp stops. He fled and now he’s hiding. Unease churns in his stomach, and he’s suddenly filled with the need to prove himself. “I found the security room,” he starts, “Very intentionally. There’s a map here with moving markers, and locations– I can see where everyone is! And it looks like it’s just–” he looks back at the map, the other cluster of red dots nowhere to be seen.
“It’s just you and me,” Usopp says, voice raising to a high-pitched whine at the end. “Everyone else made it out alright.”
Zoro sighs, the snail’s expression still impossible to read. “How did they get out of here so fast? This place is a damn maze.”
“Well, not everyone gets as lost as–” Usopp freezes. He needs Zoro to save him, antagonizing him won’t do him any good. “-not everyone gets lost as long as they have a map! The other groups must’ve found a map too and gotten everyone out.”
The snail stares at him dead in the eye and doesn’t respond. Usopp can’t read him at all. Can transponder snails summon swords? Can the snail kill him? Can Zoro kill him through the snail?
He needs a distraction, a reason for Zoro to come and rescue him.
“But it’s a shame they left so fast because there’s, uh, a princess from a far-off kingdom here,” Usopp lies. No, Zoro wouldn’t fall for the princess act. What does he like? Booze? Swords? Swords. “And she has a sword! A sword from hell! A sword from hell that’s slain a powerful beast, a dragon, like no sword has before–”
“Usopp.”
It’s one word. It’s not even a threat, yet Usopp feels his knees buckle under him and his hand shakes around the snail, the snail impassive as ever. He still needs Zoro to save him, he can probably think of a more convincing lie, but…
The wound in his side throbs and tears prick in his eyes. His chin warbles, tears threatening to fall, and he almost drops the snail to the ground.
Usopp folds immediately.
“There’s no sword,” he says.
The snail’s little beady eyes stare at him.
“This place is crawling with Marines and I’m…” He doesn’t want to admit he’s injured, but he will beg pitifully like a bug about to be squashed. “...and I need you to get me out of here.”
Zoro grunts, and Usopp’s heart sinks. “Fine,” he acquiesces, “Where the hell is here?”
“Just get me out of here, I promise next time I’ll–” Usopp pauses. He hadn’t expected Zoro to just agree. He blinks, then leans on the wall with his good side to look back at the map. He sucks in air and tries to sound normal. “You’re not too far from me, actually. Just a couple corridors down.”
“Oh, good, then you, me, and your very real sword princess can get the hell out of here,” Zoro says. His red dot on the map flickers as he moves in the exact opposite direction, away from Usopp’s security room. “I’ll find you in no time.”
The red dot moves further and further away, down further hallways and away from his location. Usopp sweats, biting his tongue until finally Zoro doubles-back. Eventually he ends up in the exact same place where he started but starts walking down the same corridor again, dooming himself to walk in a circle for eternity.
Zoro doesn’t even say anything. He hasn’t even noticed he’s going in circles. He just grunts as he heads down the same hallway, like the hallways are the problem and not his sense of direction.
Usopp’s completely screwed.
“You’re not that far away,” Usopp says. “Just take a left next time.”
“I know where I’m going,” Zoro snaps as he takes a right. He’s almost halfway through his circular path. “But you should…” The snail shrivels up like it ate a lemon, and Zoro continues, “But you should hurry the hell up too. Meet me halfway.”
Maybe he should. Maybe that’s the only way out of this. Blood drips on the floor, loud and echoing in the room, and Usopp sucks in a breath. “I can’t bring the map with me, idiot.” The snail glares at him, and Usopp remembers his self-imposed don’t-antagonize-Zoro rule. “You’re doing… you’re doing great! You should really be our navigator, Zoro. Now take a right– your other right!”
Zoro obeys this time, finally making forward progress. Only five more corridors to go. He’ll– he’ll be out of here in no time. Sweat drips down Usopp’s forehead, dotting the security desk.
“Keep going straight down that hallway,” Usopp says. He peers at the map in front of him, trying to find the quickest path to his hide-away. He’s about ten turns away, which feels like an eternity with Zoro’s sense of direction.
The red dot veers to the left.
“I said straight! It can’t be that hard!”
It takes ten long minutes to navigate Zoro even a corridor closer, those ten minutes frying Usopp’s barely-there patience. His side throbs, his head feels faint, and his anxiety spikes each time Zoro veers in the wrong direction. He’s trying to be nice to Zoro because he really doesn’t know how he’s getting out of this, but it’s difficult.
Then, something shakes the whole base, the poorly-constructed maze rattling like an earthquake. It knocks down the forlorn coffee cup off the desk, the ceramic cracking and crashing to the ground. Usopp can’t find his footing; he’s so concentrated on Zoro and the snail that the shaking puts him entirely off kilter, sending him straight into the side of the filing cabinet.
He winces as his side knocks into the cabinet– not so bad, totally ignorable and normal– then gasps as the drawer opens into the gash in his side. For a moment all he can think about is the pain, hitting him hard enough to bring tears to his eyes. On instinct, he tries to use the filing cabinet for balance, but that just drives the cabinet drawer further into his wound and has him seeing stars.
It hurts, and no matter how much Usopp presses his hand to his side it doesn’t help. He doesn’t even want to look at the wound, either– if he doesn’t see it he can pretend it isn’t that bad. Trying to even his frantic breathing, he focuses on anything in front of him that’s not his side. Maybe he can down the lukewarm coffee to ignore the pain– wait, that’d fallen to the ground, hadn’t it?
When his ears finally stop ringing he’s assaulted with yelling from the snail.
“--Usopp?! Usopp! Hey, what the hell is going on–”
“Nothing’s wrong!” Usopp wheezes into the transponder snail, his hand shaking. He needs to keep it together, just for a little longer. “I’m– where the hell did you go?!”
“Where the hell did I go– you were out for minutes!” The Zoro snail sneers at him. “Something’s obviously wrong with you.” Then, the snail stares straight through Usopp, and Zoro accuses with an unmistakable certainty, “You got injured in that first fight.”
It’s not even a question. Shaking, Usopp keeps his face expressionless for one moment before he feels his bottom lip betray him. “So what if I’m injured! You’re lost,” he snaps, completely abandoning his don’t-irritate-Zoro plan. “It doesn’t matter, just– let me figure out where you’re at.”
“What the hell do you mean it doesn’t matter?! Is that what happened when you disappeared earlier– oi, Usopp are you listening to me–”
It’s almost remarkable how much distance Zoro has made in the time Usopp took to recover. Instead of being four corridors away, he’s on the other side of the map. His red light taunts Usopp; he’s technically closer to Zoro, but only if he ignores the lack of a door. There’s only one wall between them, but with how the place is layed out, Zoro has about twenty turns to go before he’s at the door.
“Just stay still!” Usopp yells, unsteady on his feet. He presses his forehead into the map in front of him and sets the transponder snail down on the table. It looks up at him with an intimidating and wild glare. “You’re– how did you get that far away?!”
The red dot on the map freezes. Usopp glares at it, like that’ll make this better. The two bright red lights on the screen glow, so close but so far away. The base shakes again, Usopp barely moving out of the way of another filing cabinet drawer flying toward his side.
“Quit changing the subject,” Zoro barks, then continues to question Usopp, but Usopp stops listening.
Usopp pulls up the rickety roller chair, leaning back into it. If Zoro would just listen, there’s only– only about seven right turns and ten left turns for him to make. He can do it, really. Maybe. He just has to know left from right and listen to what Usopp says. He’s proven incapable of that so far.
Shuddering, Usopp leans forward with his head in his hands. Like Zoro would listen to him. He’s doomed.
“-wasn’t paying attention, and you got injured, then I got lost,” Zoro continues on, Usopp trying and failing to tune him out. At least he finally admits it, but he sounds incredibly angry at Usopp. “And now I can’t even find where the hell you’re at.”
“Anyone can get injured in a fight,” Usopp says defensively. “I’m not– if you’re going to just point out what I’ve done wrong. Just because you can get out of that kind of fight unscathed–”
Zoro huffs. “That’s not the point,” he growls. “You shouldn’t have gotten hurt in the first place!”
“If you’re so bothered about me holding my own, why don’t you get out yourself and just leave me here then?!”
Silence follows. The whirr of the electronics buzz around him, and it’s easier to focus on that than his panicked breathing. That’s what Zoro’s going to do, right? He’d been on the side of leaving him before. He’s the only one left to defend him.
“That’s not– I’m not leaving you here, moron,” Zoro yells. It reverberates through the snail, and Usopp can almost hear it outside the room. “You’re part of the crew. It’s my job to get you out.”
He sounds determined, and stubborn, and– what?
Then, he hears a growl of frustration, and yup, Zoro’s definitely within earshot. If only he could cut down the wall without the entire place combusting. “If only this place would stop moving, I…”
Why’s he so angry if he’s still willing to get Usopp out of there? Usopp was so convinced that Zoro was frustrated with him, because he’d gotten injured during the fight and run off, but Zoro’s still willing to get him out of here? It doesn’t make any sense.
Tears prickle in his eyes, and Usopp stares at the map in front of him. He watches Zoro head down the wrong corridor.
“You’re going the wrong way again,” he says in a deadpan.
There’s a loud smack, Zoro hitting the wall. The base rumbles again, dust falling from the ceiling and settling over the room. The place doesn’t seem to stop shaking, and Usopp wonders if they’ll both be trapped inside.
“I’m going to die here,” Usopp moans. The transponder snail looks at him with wide eyes, making a choked noise Usopp hardly recognizes as Zoro.
“Shit– shit!”
Maybe it’s the bloodloss, but Zoro actually sounds scared. He’s made of sterner stuff– he can survive one base falling on top of him. It doesn’t sound like he’s even been hit once by the Marines.
Usopp blinks at the map, trying to focus on the reds and greens blurring together in his vision. “Stay still,” he says, mostly to the map, but Zoro’s red dot stops moving, too.
If Zoro’s not angry at Usopp, there’s one last person he can be angry at here– one last red dot on the map. The pieces finally fall into place– Zoro’s increasing frustration, his growls of annoyance– Zoro’s mad at himself. He’s not blaming Usopp for any of this; if anything, he’s blaming himself. For what? Getting lost?
Usopp never thought of Zoro as someone fallible– not in the normal, human ways at least. Sure, he’s a complete shit-stirring maniac with no sense of direction and a blunt directness that made more enemies than friends, but nothing seemed to keep him down. Usopp figured, somehow, Zoro would get through being lost by brute force, like he always did, like the monster he is.
Everyone has things they can and can’t do rings in his ears. He knew what Sanji said applied to him, and even to some degree, Sanji, and the rest of the crew. He never thought about applying that to Zoro.
Usopp can’t navigate Zoro out of this; he’s tried, but somehow left and right is too much for him. Their two red dots on the map are so close, if only they can get the wall out of the way without sending the building down.
Tilting his head to the side, Usopp looks at the map again. No, that’s the wrong question– if only they could get out of here before sending the building down.
Quickly, Usopp digs through his pack for something, anything, that will help. He stares down one, singular impact dial in the bottom of his bag, and digs it out with shaky hands. That’ll do. They’ll have to be quick about it, but that’ll work.
“Hey, Zoro?” Usopp says, watching as the transponder snail turns to him with rapt attention. “I’m going to tell you a plan, and you’re going to wait ten seconds before doing it.”
“This place is about to fall down, Usopp!”
“Ten seconds!” Usopp yells, watching as Zoro’s dot on screen freezes.
“Walk forward one step,” Usopp says. Zoro doesn’t move. “That’s– that’s not the plan yet. It’s the next part you wait ten seconds for–”
Zoro’s red dot moves one step closer to him. Good, there really is only one wall between them, and by sheer luck Zoro’s facing the right wall. That makes things easier.
Standing up, Usopp holds the impact dial between his hands. If he hits it right, it’ll have enough force to send them flying– hopefully before the whole place comes crashing down.
“You see the wall you’re facing? I need you to cut it down, then immediately put your swords away. The second part is very important, don’t forget that, put your swords away!” Usopp swallows, and makes sure the two red dots on screen are in line. “Ok, think about it for ten seconds then– go for it.”
Ten seconds, eight seconds…
“This is reckless,” says Zoro, reigning king of reckless behavior. Usopp scoffs. “Hey! You’re already injured. I can figure out the maze!”
He never thought he’d have to debate Zoro’s pride in directions, of all things. Usopp’s hands shake around the impact dial. “Not enough time for debate! Only hitting things,” Usopp says, his voice high-pitched. “Remember the thing about the swords! Put them away!”
Four seconds, three seconds…
“Fine,” Zoro relents. The familiar sound of sheening metal comes through both the transponder snail, and the wall behind him. “This better work.”
As soon as the wall behind him crumples, Usopp slams the impact dial against the desk, not even bothering to look behind him and make sure Zoro’s done his job. It’s Zoro, and it’s breaking down a wall; of course he did it. Instead, he focuses on keeping his hand steady as the impact ruptures through his arms, causing him to shudder in pain.
He digs his fingers into the dial until they hurt, and with a rush of air, Usopp flies backward. He hits something soft behind him with a huff.
“Usopp, what the hell–” that something says, but they’re both flying backwards.
The base in front of them starts to crumple inward, first from the wall Zoro cut to pieces then from the next wall, like a house of cards falling into itself. The previous endless maze crumples down, drywall exploding and clouding his vision in dust. Laughing slightly hysterically, Usopp grips the impact dial like his life depends on it, and watches as they get out of a maze by brute force.
Something wraps around his middle, and Usopp finally looks down to recognize Zoro’s arm. He blinks in confusion, then he’s pulled closer into Zoro’s chest.
He doesn’t quite get why, not until he feels the impact as they both hit the ground hard. Zoro softens the blow, Usopp slamming into him, the force sending the air out of his lungs. Vaguely, Usopp recognizes the ground as not land, but the deck of a ship, and a ship he recognizes at that.
Usopp blinks up, bleary eyes thinking for one moment they’ve landed back on the Merry. His eyes blur again, and he recognizes, no, they’re on the Sunny. The mast hangs above them, and Usopp smiles as he realizes that they’re out. He blinks once, watching the mast blur in his vision again, then closes his eyes and he’s out.
Usopp wakes up in the infirmary, his side patched up and his wrists bound in bandages. Apparently, according to Chopper, using an impact dial like that puts too much pressure on his wrists, causing them to crack on impact. Usopp hadn’t even realized they broke.
The next hour is a whirlwind of worried threats and concerns. Nami threatens both him and Zoro with increased debts before pulling Usopp into a hug, Sanji insults them but brings their lunch, suspiciously their favorites, and Chopper threatens them both (...mostly Zoro) that he’ll sedate them both if they don’t keep their bandages on this time.
Usopp snivels at all of them, barely able to contain his tears, while Zoro barks at them like he can fight off their concern in a duel. It’s a duel he loses, too, because despite all his bark, he stays in the corner of the infirmary, hunched over and shoving onigiri into his mouth.
Finally, when the rest of the crew’s content with their displays of concern, both of them are left alone. Usopp’s expecting Zoro to leave immediately after he finishes snarfing down his food, but instead, he leans back into the infirmary wall. He sits up straight, but that can’t be comfortable, not with his injuries from hitting the deck.
He peers at Usopp, and his face is much easier to read now that it’s not transposed onto a snail. His brow pinches forward, expression resolute but strangely hurt.
That’s odd, and not what Usopp expects. “...Zoro?”
“Usopp,” Zoro replies. He stares Usopp down, and Usopp wishes Sanji brought Zoro more food. He looked less intimidating shoveling food into his mouth. “You’re alive.”
For now, Usopp thinks ominously. Fidgeting, Usopp tries to focus on that thread of hurt on Zoro’s face from before. If he concentrates hard enough, he can still see it.
“Of course I am! And so are you, thanks to my quick thinking. The impact dial was a stroke of genius if I do say so myself,” Usopp blabbers. “Nothing could keep the Great Captain Usopp down from his great escape–”
“His great escape?”
He doesn’t know what he’s stepped on. “Our great escape,” Usopp corrects. “You were a vital part in, uh-”
“Oh shut it,” Zoro interrupts, voice tense, and Usopp freezes in place. “You know how to sound sure of yourself about your grand escape now, but you sure as hell didn’t in the base.”
What the hell is his problem? “I was– I knew what I was doing!”
“No you didn’t. You thought I was going to leave you there.” His tone remains steady but clipped and his posture rigid. The only indication of the hurt Usopp imagined before is a quick glance away when Usopp meets his eyes.
Usopp startles, almost dropping his smoked pike, and looks away. “Way to not even lead into it,” Usopp mutters in lieu of a response.
Zoro snorts. “Don’t need to lead into it if it’s the truth.”
No wonder all Zoro’s stories are one-sentence bombshells of events if that’s what he thinks. “I worry about things that aren’t true all the time,” Usopp says, but as soon as the words are out of his mouth he knows Zoro won’t buy it.
“Me leaving you to die isn’t the same about worrying about imaginary underwater threats or whatever.”
“We’re on the Grand Line! The threats aren’t imaginary, they’re all very real-”
Zoro slams one hand into the chair next to him, and Usopp snaps his mouth shut. “Quit changing the subject!”
Wilting forward, Usopp toys with the edge of the infirmary bedding between his fingers. “I thought you were going to leave me there,” Usopp confirms quietly. “It’s not like you haven’t thought about that before.”
Zoro freezes in place. “Are you talking about you leaving the crew? That was different,” he says, and while that’s technically true it doesn’t help anything.
“Well, how should I know what’s different or the same as that for you?! I don’t know how you work, it’s not like you’ve welcomed me back after!”
“Did you expect a welcome wagon? I– I treated you like I normally do!” Zoro throws his hands up. “I don’t– we don’t– it’s fine! We’re fine!”
“How would I know that?! You haven’t talked to me!”
Zoro makes a low noise in the back of his throat, and it takes Usopp a moment to realize that of all things, Zoro’s embarrassed. He looks red in the face, and that glimmer of uncertainty is back.
“Don’t be stupid, I’ve been normal,” Zoro barks through his own fluster. His sharp eyes bore into Usopp’s skull, and while Usopp’s nervous, he sees some kind of nervousness reflected in Zoro’s look, too. Before he can figure that out, Zoro plows forward, “Just like I told you back there, you’re part of the crew. My job’s to make sure you get out of there. And that’s that.”
And that’s that. What a simple way of looking at things. It doesn’t stop Usopp from trying to pry out the kernel of nervousness in Zoro’s speech, like he’s hiding one truth under bravado.
He can’t figure it out. Instead of solving that puzzle, Usopp sighs and looks into his hands. “I know that now,” he says. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Wasn’t worried about it,” Zoro huffs. He leans back into the wall, staring up at the ceiling, finally looking marginally relaxed. For someone who’s not worried about it, the comment puts him at ease.
“Sorry about bringing up… that,” Usopp says. He wrings his hands in front of him. “I just didn’t know before. I had to… I only realized during our escape from the base you probably wouldn’t leave me behind, and then I had to figure out some way to get us both out of there. Which I did, by the way, you ungrateful bastard.”
“You nearly blew your own arms off, moron,” Zoro replies. “What the hell kind of change of heart did you have to possess you to blast us out of there?”
“It’s just…” Usopp trails off. He doesn’t know where he’s going with this; he knows he doesn’t stack up to the rest of the crew, not exactly. And he’s just getting to be okay with that. But it’s one thing to know that, and another to recognize Zoro as fallible. As someone who could need his help, and his worry, and anything from him. Would Zoro even want to be considered fallible?
Probably not, Usopp thinks. He watches the tense line of Zoro’s shoulders rise and fall, like he’s ready for a fight even still in the infirmary.
“It’s just what? Spit it out, Usopp.”
“The princess,” Usopp blurts. Zoro stares at him, bewildered. “We had a heart to heart. It’s too bad about her, really, she really knew how to give a pep talk. She thought the only way out of there was the whole blow-the-place-up plan.”
Zoro tilts his head to the side, earrings chiming loudly. “Eh,” he says.
“You know, the princess I was talking about,” Usopp continues. “The one with the sword I was talking about? It’s too bad you didn’t get her out, too. I’m sure she would’ve been smitten with that and given you her sword.”
The tension in Zoro’s shoulders leaves, just slightly. “So the Great Captain Usopp just left her there? Didn’t know you were a callous bastard,” he says.
Usopp laughs nervously; that’s not where he was going with that, but he’ll spin it up regardless. “Of course not! I just knew she had a plan of escape herself. She’s from a… very powerful island of warriors,” he says. “She got out before either of us. If only you were faster, you could’ve gotten her sword.”
“The sword from hell,” Zoro repeats. Of course he remembers that detail. “Never heard of that before. Or whatever the hell island you’re talking about.”
“Oh, probably not– it’s– no one’s heard of the island, it’s been cut off from the rest of the world–”
Usopp blabbers on, until he’s sure Zoro’s stopped listening. Eventually, Zoro’s head knocks forward, his mouth hanging open, and a loud snore rolls through the room. He’s finally relaxed, that tense line in his shoulders gone. Leaning back into the infirmary cot, Usopp presses his head into the pillow, and lets Zoro’s loud snoring lull him to sleep.