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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.

Chapter Text

Before Blackbeard’s ships were out of sight, Zoro resurfaced just in time to see inky blackness stretch out, covering the bottom of the Sunny. It's gonna eat the fucking boat! He panicked, Blackbeard's blow had knocked him out temporarily and his swords were somewhere at the bottom of the ocean. Instead, out of the blackness fell first Sanji, then Robin quickly after. The cook grabbed her hand and sky walked to keep her out of the water. The blackness shrunk rapidly until it disappeared entirely, leaving only the ship's hull and the robot holding it in view. Once Sanji had successfully gotten him and Robin onto the deck, he peered over at Zoro starfishing in the choppy waves.

“Oi Marimo, the hell’re you doing?”

“Fuck off, curly brow”

“Moping isn’t gonna help get Usopp back. Go get your swords and get back up here. It won’t help Luffy if Usopp is gone AND your sorry ass has died from hypothermia” Zoro sighed and activated his observation haki to find where his swords had fallen into the ocean. As he dived, thoughts surfaced.

Usopp must’ve been at least a little damp from the ocean spray. Those motherfuckers better not let him get hypothermia.

What’re they gonna do to him?

Where are they going?

What are we going to do?

What's Luffy gonna do when he finds out?

…

Usopp had to assume the Blackbeard pirates left him alone because they were tending to their wounds or resting. But it had the adverse side effect of leaving him plenty of time to stew, tend to his own wounds and plan.

The cell was 2 meters by 2 meters by 2 meters, and made of titanium, save for the roof. It was copper, and it seemed the heating system was entirely on top of the strange metal closet. It made the room uncomfortably warm, and Usopp shed his jacket and unclipped his suspenders. The door was bigger than the doors on the Sunny, and all he could feel from the inside was the seam. It was pitch black. If it weren’t for the temperature, it would be indistinguishable from Blackbeard’s shadow prison. He patted down his pockets and found nothing but a napkin from a snack Sanji had given him that morning and pocket fuzz.

A few conversations with his crewmates had revealed to Usopp his observation haki abilities were not the strongest out there, but were out of the ordinary. He could sense people who were out of his line of sight either through distance or obstacles, but he could also read the minds of lower constitution enemies, and use his haki to figure out the previous actions taken in a location. It wasn't seeing the future or sensing someone's weaknesses like Luffy and Zoro could do, but it was incredibly helpful for his particular skill set. He could probably write a whole book on the rules and philosophy of haki at this point.

That being said, once his initial panic attack had subsided, he made quick work of completing and memorizing a mental map of the layouts of both of Blackbeard's ships.

Mens room, much smaller women's room, cavernous kitchen/dining area, bar, weapons storage, much smaller general storage, shoddy bathroom, control room.

The two boats were identical save for the one he was ons’ addition of captains quarters by taking space out of the bar and control room. That was where Blackbeard resided along with two female crewmates. He could only read one of their minds, but she seemed… less than enthusiastic with her unspoken “duties” among the crew. Along with the crew's aversion to hygienic activities and general disrespect for women.

Possible ally? She'll probably want to kill him herself though… I can't blame her but that will make things more difficult. Then the more vindictive part of him remembered the fight, and Robin’s strange disappearance. Blackbeard probably put her in the shadow prison during the fight. Those bastards would piss themselves if they properly saw her fight.

Everyone was pretty preoccupied, and Usopp was probably the last thing on their minds, so he curled up in the corner farther from the door on top of his jacket and tried to get some well-earned sleep. It was only a few hours later when he was awakened by the lock on the door as it clicked and swung open. The light change blinded Usopp, and he sat up, guarding his face with his arms and planting his feet firmly on the ground.

“C’mon smallfry, Captain wants you.” A thin, muscular hand, a snipers hand grabbed one of his arms and pulled him to his feet. Squinting through his eyelashes, Usopp caught the outline of the short, blonde hair and a black whale tail hat of the man leading him.

Isn’t he the sniper?

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he recognized the hallway from his map as the one leading towards the dining area. The man who escorted him kept a firm, slightly painful grip on his right forearm, and he knew without testing he couldn’t break it. He walked him to the doorway at the far end of the hall and pushed him through into the poorly lit dining area. There was another door ahead of him with a heavy padlock and a barred window, and a huge table to his left surrounded by the standing Blackbeard pirates. The shadows cast by the cheap lanterns made them look even more menacing than their height and stature alone.

Blackbeard himself stepped away from the table and approached Usopp. He tried to shrink back but the other sniper’s grip on his arm was unyielding.

“Listen up longnose, I found out Pluton is out of the picture, Poseidon is useless and no-one knows jack shit about Uranus. So, you’re gonna make me a new weapon of mass destruction”

Eyebrows furrowing, Usopp stopped trying to pull away “W-what makes you think I can do all t-that?”

“I’ve heard of your attacks, spontaneously exploding balls that turn into birds, instantly growing giant man-eating plants, huge unstoppable explosions? Plus, didn’t you make that magic stick your orange haired vixen uses? She can control the weather without a devil fruit, you turned her into even more of a goddess! I want that kinda genius on my team.”

An uncomfortable heat spread across Usopp’s neck at the gross words spoken about his best friend, but tried to school his physical reaction, “Y-you must know I’d rather die than work for you. I only use my talent for good” His voice shook but he was proud he managed to get all the words out.

A groan and unanimous eye roll went up around the room, the loudest of which was the huge man in front of him, but his frown quickly turned into a knowing smirk “You must know I can get to your friends right? You saw how easily I took down your swordsman and your killer cougar. And the gum-gum fruit is nothing compared to my two.”

Thank god, he still thinks it’s the Gum-Gum. Another perk of observation haki was he was able to sense the giant, earth shaking leap in power his captain went through during his fight with Kaido. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was pretty sure Luffy had somehow transcended his devil fruit entirely. During the fight, his energy didn't feel like anything Usopp has felt from other devil fruit users before. He was hoping Blackbeard didn't know that.

Usopp had to assume killer cougar was referring to Robin, and was quickly rewriting his plans to accommodate his short temper for the misogynistic captain. Blackbeard took his silence as defeat, and opened his mouth to speak. He quickly cut him off.

“What exactly do you want me to make?”

Chapter Text

“Kehihihihi~” Usopp’s head whipped around, eyes locking on the greasy figure he missed, hanging in the corner. Caribou, the creep, was in the same clothes he had on the last time Usopp saw him, save for the fact that his oversized sleeves had been jaggedly cut so the seastone handcuffs that held his hands over his head touched the skin of his wrists. “Did your archaeologist tell you what the mermaid princess represents? What lies under the ruins of Wano?”

“Wano’s not in ruins” Came out automatically, jumping to defend the friends he just had to leave a few short days ago. “And what do you mean? Shirahoshi? She’s just a big girl, she’s not special”

Caribou arched an oily eyebrow, “So you’ve never heard of the Ancient Weapons? Uranus? Poseidon? …Pluton?”

He was never good at schooling his expression, at least not when it counted. Confusion dropped off his face at the mention of the weapons, then at the mention of Pluton, his eyebrows fell into a defensive scowl. “I-I’ve heard of them s-sure, Robin mentioned them once or twice” He swallowed awkwardly, shifting his feet under him, suddenly strongly aware that he was not restrained in any way. They don’t even think I’m enough of a threat to bother. “But what does that have to do with Shirahoshi? Or Wano?” His skin burned. He knew that Shirahoshi was Poseidon, knew that Pluton was hiding under Wano, but he couldn’t tell them anything they didn’t already know. It would put millions of people in danger.

“Kehihihihihi~ So you don’t know that Pluton was constructed at Water 7? That your cyborg held the plans before destroying them? He never, I don’t know, showed them to you?”

“No” for once, Usopp’s voice was steely. It was true, Franky didn’t trust him enough while he had the paper copy of the plans to show him. But that didn’t mean he hadn’t briefly drawn it again from memory, showing Usopp the ancient mechanisms that made the warship so dangerous. He made Usopp swear on his life to never recreate it, staring him down as he repeated that its possible use for good didn’t outweigh the impossible risks. Usopp understood.

Caribou tilted his head, seemingly seeing right through his non-lie “Are you sure, Kehihihihi?”

A giant hand landed on the back of Usopp’s neck, grabbing his scruff like a misbehaving puppy. His eyes snapped to Blackbeard’s face, as he leered dangerously down at him “Remember what you stand to lose if you lie, long-nose. I destroyed your crew once, I can decimate it if I want”

The knot forming in Usopp’s stomach started making pressure build behind his eyes. It felt like needles pricked every single piece of his skin. The familiar weight of conquerors' haki pressed down on him heavily. He wavered, swaying on his feet, as much as the hand on his neck would allow, but it didn’t change his answer “N-no, we barely knew each other before he destroyed it, I promise! I don’t know anything about it! Or the other two! I swear! I think you misunderstood, Franky is the one-”

“I know who your Cyborg is,” Blackbeard cooly cut in “He’s 1 ton of active missiles, lasers and kick-ass. Plus from what I hear he’s an old stubborn bastard who doesn’t move for nothing. You are just a smart little coward who can build bombs he doesn’t know what to do with” The burning of Usopp’s skin returned like a wave crashing into him. “So what you’re gonna do is build us the best weapons this world has laid eyes on in 100 years, or I’ll sink that clown tent of a boat and everyone on it.” Blackbeard leaned closer, the hot stench of tobacco and booze rolling over Usopp in a nauseating puff “I could have killed your swordsman, you know. Could have killed all of them, let Strawhat come back to an empty boat and an ocean of corpses. At least if you do what I say, Strawhat gets to finish his little fantasy of being the Pirate King, while I become King of the World”

Usopp stared up at him through his eyelashes, unable to tilt his head back because of the grip on his neck. Panic squeezed his chest like a python, making him sweat and shake in fear. He had been in some unfortunate situations before, but none of them prepared him for a hopeless fall like this. He’d failed. Failed Luffy, failed Nami, failed Franky, failed Zoro, everyone.

Before he could formulate a response, the barred door next to where Caribou hung was pried open by one of the blackbeard pirates, and Teach heaved himself upright before tossing him in like he weighed nothing. The door loudly slammed shut and locked behind him. “Sleep on it. And when you come to the right decision, get familiar with your tools and start working” Usopp rolled over onto his back, pushing himself up on his hands in time to see Blackbeard’s leering face in the barred window turn towards the hanging man. He appraised him for a second, before turning away and speaking to the room “Put him in the hall closet you got the runt out of”.

“What?!?!?! Teach- you swore you’d release me if-”

“He’s never even seen the plans yah greedy bastard, you’re lucky I ain’t killed yah yet” The oversize forearms Usopp recognized as elbowpad guy appeared on the other side of the bars to lift Caribou off his hook and drag him away. Usopp pushed himself to his feet, pressing himself against the door to watch their forms retreat into the hallway. The other blackbeard pirates filed out after them, branching off into different rooms until the hall was silent.

Usopp sighed heavily, and turned around to face the room he was now imprisoned to. It was simple, the walls made of wood, the sound of waves crashing audible from up above the low ceiling. Beams came out from each side of the door, the bottom of which were almost at eye level for Usopp. Can’t imagine how any of them fit in here. In one corner there was a stack of crates of varying sizes and materials, labeled things like ‘Gunpowder’ and “Solid East Blue Steel”. In the other corner was a leather mat and a pile of fur, next to a bucket and a rag. Usopp could only assume what they were for.