"Oi… Oi! Usopp! Get up!" Usopp opened his eyes slowly, not really wanting to wake up even when his captain's voice called for him to do so, but finally opened his eyes fully to see Luffy kneeling beside him with his usual grin spread across his face. "Finally you're up!" Luffy chuckled. Usopp squinted against the sunlight that hung in his vision before Chopper appeared above him as well with his hat blocking the bright sun in the clear blue sky.

"Ah! Usopp! You were asleep for a long time!" Chopper chimed. The feeling of cool grass ran across Usopp's back, meaning he had fallen asleep on the main deck. Luffy and Chopper smiled brightly as their sniper started to sit up… but for some reason Usopp felt like something was off. The sniper couldn't quite figure out why… but he felt like the moment was one that had long since passed. He felt as though it wasn't real… but decided to ignore such a silly idea. He was with his nakama like he always had been. Things were the way they were supposed to be. What could be strange about that?

"Mngh… Hey guys." Usopp sat up with a sigh of relief as he stretched his arms above his head and then opened his eyes again to see Nami standing in front of him with Luffy and Chopper, holding out her hand for him to take. She smiled and cocked her head a little to the side with her orange hair flipping to the side. "You were really sleeping hard but I thought you would want to get in on lunch while you still could before Luffy ate it all." Usopp laughed and nodded.

"Good idea." Usopp took Nami's hand and was lifted to his feet weightlessly… Had he even grabbed her hand at all? He didn't feel it…

"Oi, Usopp." Usopp snapped his attention to Zoro who was sitting against the Sunny's mast with some kind of booze as he spoke. "You look like you just saw a ghost. What's up?"

"A-Ah… It's nothing." Usopp said, mostly to tell himself that he was just imagining things rather than to answer Zoro's question.

"Yohoho! Hello, Usopp-san!" Brook suddenly sang, stepping out from the Galley with his guitar in hand. "I am quite happy to see you awake after all of this time! I was worried that you had become a ghost! Ah! That would have been terrifying!... Ah… But I am technically a ghost myself. YOHOHOHOHO!" Usopp chuckled with his other nakama as Brook went on singing about being a walking, talking, soul and felt a warmth in his chest that left him feeling as though he was about to cry. Franky appeared then from blow deck with a bottle of cola in hand.

"Alright I got everything fixed up down there and- OW! Long-Nose-bro! You're up! About time you… Eh? Oi, what's wrong with you, Usopp? You okay?" Usopp blinked a few times at Franky and then felt tears falling from his eyes that he briskly rubbed away.

"Y-Yeah… I'm fine… It's just… I feel like… I feel like I haven't seen you all in ages or something… I don't know-!"

"Well you have been sleeping forever, Long Nose." Usopp looked up to the Galley again to see Sanji looking down at him from the railing, his usual cigarette smoking in his mouth as he grinned softly.

"He is right, Long-Nose-kun." Robin agreed as she stood from her lawn chair which had been placed near the Sunny's Mangrove trees for shade as she read her book. "I have never seen you sleep that hard. I almost questioned the possibility that you had died." The archeologist said with a soft smile.

"I hate it when you talk dark like that." Usopp growled. The others laughed and then started to head for the stairs to the Galley.

"Come on, Usopp! Let's eat!" Luffy chimed as he hopped ahead to the stairs with Chopper close on his heels and Nami just ahead of them. Usopp smiled and nodded… but didn't move.

"H-huh?" The sniper looked down at his feet when he was unable to move but found that nothing was restraining him. His crew had stopped and turned to him with almost blank expressions.

"Come on, Usopp. What are you waiting for?" Sanji asked. Usopp tried to move again but his feet remained solidly stuck to the ground. He struggled against the invisible weight on his legs but still could not even think of taking a step forward.

"O-Oi, guys! I'm stuck! I can't move!" Usopp said, heart beating a bit faster. His crew didn't move. "C-Can you guys help me? I don't know… what's happening!" No one made a move towards him… Instead… they continued for the Galley. "O-OI!" No one turned around. "G-GUYS! PLEASE HELP!"

"Sorry, Usopp. But you got yourself into this." Luffy said coldly as he rounded the stair case. Nami walked into the Galley without a single glance back, as did Chopper, but his captain stopped just before he could enter the door.

"P-PLEASE LUFFY! DON'T LEAVE ME! I-I CAN'T-!" Usopp reached out for Luffy helplessly and felt as though weights were pulling his arms back as well… The sniper panicked and screamed for his nakama. "PLEASE HELP ME!" Luffy took one more glance over his shoulder, his expression cold as ice, and then turned away with a step into the Galley.

"See ya… Usopp. It's been fun… You're on your own." The door closed behind Luffy with a swift clap and the Sunny suddenly vanished in a black void that slowly crept up Usopp's legs. The sniper tried with all his might to fight back, break free, but the black continued to swallow him.

NO! No, no, no, NO! PLEASE NO! EVERYONE! COME BACK! PLEASE I CAN'T DO IT! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE! BROOK! FRANKY! ROBIN! CHOPPER! SANJI! NAMI! ZORO! LUFFY! PLEASE SAVE ME! PLEASE-! Usopp froze and the memories started flooding back as the tears streamed down his face and his screams stopped. No… That's right… They can't save me… I… I don't want them too… Everyone… They're gone… If they came for me… they would die… That's right…

I'm alone…

And that…

Will never change again.

"Wake up." Suddenly a freezing cold blast of water smashed into Usopp's face making him wake with a start which left him gasping for air. Every breath he took made his body feel like it was engulfed in flames from the inside but the small amounts of air breaking through his sore lungs were welcomed. Then the coughing came, followed by hacking as blood spurted from his mouth. He heard footsteps all the while pacing around the dark, dank, room in which he was being held but for the moment he tried to ignore it and focused on his intake of air and the almost relieving sense of water running down his face. He could picture how many cuts were patterned on his face from the amount of his skin that was stinging from the water trailing across open wounds… But just tried to hold onto the fact that water was finally nearby.

"Ah, there we go. You awake now?" Usopp looked up blearily through his one good eye at the hazy figure in front of him who slowly walked towards him with a weapon of some sort in hand that he rubbed with a cloth. The sniper wanted to snap back at him but continued to cough painfully instead. The man was a marine he had gotten to know far too well in his months of captivity and even the sound of his voice and noticeable footsteps made his heart race and his stomach turn… His name was Akuma… The marine's "god of torture". "Oi, are you going to answer me, long-nose?" Akuma placed a long sword under Usopp's chin and made the sniper look up at him as he sneered down at the captured pirate. The man had a chiseled face with slicked back black hair that left a few strands falling down in front of his forehead and his outfit was covered in crusted blood from his sleeves to the bottom of his pant legs. Across his cheek ran a deep scar that looked like a sword slash… which made his face even more stone cold and darkly accentuated in the torchlight of the torture chamber. Usopp was chained back against a cold stone wall that was covered with dried blood and could not move against the restraints that kept him pinned to the ground.

The sniper simply let some of the blood pool in his mouth and spat it out at the marine who looked at the new drips of blood that would soon join the other dark red stains on his marine jacket. At first he looked simply bored or unimpressed but then his eyes turned angry and his chilling grin turned into a scowl. "You know what? I'm really getting sick of you." Akuma growled, pressing the sword harder into Usopp's neck which made the sniper's body tense. "It's been two months of this shit and you still haven't said a god damn word about those 'nakama' of yours. Heh. Are you truly so stupid that you still don't get it?" The marine kneeled down, sword still digging in lightly against Usopp's throat, and stared directly into the sniper's eyes with a maniacal grin. All Usopp could see in the marine's eyes was hate, blood lust, and a pure evil that couldn't be described.

"Listen ONE LAST TIME. No one's coming for you. You're never getting out of here, you're never going to be saved. This place," Akuma motioned to the room around them. "Is going to be your coffin. This is your grave. Those 'nakama' you hold so highly have left you. You're as good as dead right where you are now. It's pathetic." The marine edged closer. "So what's the point of keeping quiet? Tell me about those damn Straw-Hat Pirates. Tell me everything… They're weaknesses, their strengths, their pasts… Tell me now and maybe I can ease your death." Usopp looked at the cold blade under his chin and closed his good eye with a shaking sigh. Akuma grinned, awaiting the pirate's reply, before Usopp opened his eye again and smiled weakly.

"S-screw you." Usopp coughed again, which only made the blade slice further into his neck. "Like I said… when I came here… I'll never tell you… a damn thing, bastard." Akuma growled, the blade shaking from the rage that reached so far into his body he could hardly contain his need to kill, and then pulled the sword swiftly away.

"Fine. That's how you want it? Then I'll make the remainder of your life A LIVING HELL. Hahaha… Nothing could please me more!" Akuma brought the sword down into Usopp's shoulder, making the pirate scream out in excrutiating pain as the blade scratched down against his shoulder blade and ripped through his flesh. The sniper cried out, the pain radiating through his whole body, and felt each and every wound he had received in days prior spring back to life as many surely broke open again. The pain became so excruciating that Usopp blacked out and could only faintly hear voices that seemed to swirl around the darkness in his mind.

"That one seemed to do the trick." Akuma laughed.

"You think he'll die?"

"Not yet… Take him back to his cell. Tomorrow we'll get every last piece of information on the Straw-Hats out of that damn pirate's skull. Just get him out of my sight. I have other fish to fry." Usopp heard the chains fall to the stone floor before he passed out again and finally woke chained against the wall of his own cell. It was nearly completely black, except for the small bit of torch light that came from out in the hall, but Usopp liked the dark… It made it so he couldn't see the full extent of the damage that had been done to his body in two months of unending torture. He gasped for air again when the pain in his shoulder, which was surely broken and soon to be infected, flared and he felt lightheaded.

But in the dark he swore he saw something in front of him… He saw a pair of feet. Usopp tried to look up even slightly but failed before the figure in front of him kneeled down to his level. The sniper couldn't help but cry when he realized whose feet they were… just his sandals told him who it was… But when he realized who it was… he knew it wasn't real. Just another illusion… but he couldn't help speaking to him even so. "Luffy…" He whispered. " I can't do this… All I want… is to protect you… so is it just better for me… to die?" There was no response. "If I die… you won't come to save me… if you're still looking. They wouldn't… be able to learn anything about you… because they wouldn't have… anyone… to interrogate… You all would be free… You wouldn't have to worry… So why shouldn't I just die? Please Luffy… Tell me…! P-Please!" Usopp waited for what seemed like an eternity for a reply but the silence of his cell wasn't broken. The sniper let his heavy head hang and cringed against the pain that overcame him before falling unconscious again when no one spoke back.

When he came to the feet were still there… but now there were more. It was as if his entire crew was standing right in front of him and he just couldn't reach them. Luffy's feet shifted again, this time coming closer… but finally Usopp heard someone speak. It was more than just Luffy… all of his nakama spoke in unison…

Live.

And just like that they were gone. Usopp was alone in his dark cell, the cold air practically freezing the blood in his veins, and the only sounds to be heard were his own breathing and echoing screams that came from far down the hall. But the sniper was left with just that one word… And even if it had been a dream it comforted him…

"Live…" If they wanted him to live… he would. They were his reason to keep living… The only reason he had left.

...

...Hi everyone! :')

So, I have seriously had this story idea for a year or so and I really just wanted to see what you all thought of the prologue to help me decide if I should start it someday in the near future. This little opening was sadly very fun to write and I love getting to some deeper meaning through pain or dramatic subjects. What is more dramatic and painful than torture and a man who doesn't know how long his hope can last? Especially when Usopp is that man! D':

I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this fanfic idea and this prologue so if you would like to please feel free to leave a review. :) I also wanted to let you all know that the next chapter of Someday will be done soon and I will most likely not start my fic "Torture" until I am close to Someday's ending. Thank you all so much for reading and once again please leave a review if you would like to share your thoughts or would like to see more of this fic. :) Talk soon! ONE PIECE RULES!

~smudgeandfrank