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Usopp peeked out from behind a barrel of cola. He listened carefully for another minute before stepping out from his hiding place in the storage room. It had been about half an hour since that person had come aboard the ship.

Usopp had been in his workshop when he'd heard Nami scream. His first instinct had been to run away. Instead he'd run towards the deck. By the time he got there, the intruder had captured Nami and Franky. Quickly he had retreated below deck before he could be seen. How was that person able to take on Nami and Franky without any more sound than that scream? There was no damage anywhere on the ship. No signs of battle or struggle. It was strange, and scary.

Creeping back on deck, he checked around to see if that person were still on board anywhere. He let out a small sigh, relaxing his tensed muscles. Thankfully, he were not. Usopp wanted to stay on the Sunny, where he knew it was relatively safe and just wait for the rest of the crew to come back, but he didn't know how long that might take and every moment he wasted here was another moment his crewmates were in danger. He had to warn those on the island about the situation so they could rescue Nami and Franky. He couldn't save them by himself.

After grabbing his Kabuto and his ammo pouch, he stepped onto the island. He stood there for a moment, gazing into the fog in an attempt to see anything past the tree line. The view was murky, with the only thing visible vague outlines of some foliage and tall trees towering over everything. The air was warm and oppressively damp, feeling almost suffocating. Definitely not a welcoming place. A small shudder ran down his spine, but he moved forward, stepping into the forest.

One hand clutching Kabuto, the other hovering over his ammo pouch, he made his way through the forest. He could barely see a few feet in front of him and had to move slowly to avoid tripping. Every little sound, whether it be a rustle of a bush or a branch snapping, made him jump. His fingers ached with how tight he was gripping his weapon while his eyes darted around, scanning the area. That's when he saw a strange person walking only a short distance away.

Usopp quickly jumped behind a nearby tree stump, nervously watching the man walk by. A malicious looking grin stretched across his face, as he stalked past. The sniper shrank back behind the stump, waiting for him to pass, barely daring to breathe until he was sure the man was gone. Once assured he was gone, Usopp stepped out and continued on his way, though even more tense than before.

He really didn't like this island, and he told the crew as much. But they didn't believe them, and now two of them had been taken, and he wasn't sure where the rest of them were. He had thought about calling out to them, but after seeing that guy… he wasn't sure what kind of dangerous people were lurking around. So he certainly didn't want to draw any attention to himself. No, it would be best to search quietly and avoid danger.

In the distance, he noticed a few buildings through the trees. A village maybe? He wasn't sure how safe this place would be, but it was probably his best chance at finding the rest of the crew. Or possibly someone who could help. But he wasn't sure if he could trust anyone on this island, not after what had already happened.

Nami watched as Luffy weakly shook the cell bars, the seastone cuffs shackled around his wrists draining his power. Back on the Sunny there had been that strange flash of light and when she'd woken up, she was chained in this prison-like cell next to Luffy. She didn't know how long they'd been here, but no one had come by their cell yet.

"Let us ouuutt!" Luffy shouted for probably the hundredth time.

"Stop Luffy, it's not working," she sighed. She wanted to get out of this place as much as him, but so far there was no way. With both of them chained and nothing else in the cell with them, she had nothing to work with for an escape plan.

She was also worried about the rest of the crew, not having seen them since she'd woken up. Had they also been captured? After all, the kidnappers got both her and Luffy even though they were in different locations. But if the rest were captured, then where were they? She had looked out into the hallway past the cell bars as far as she could earlier, but had seen no one. There was another cell a short ways down on the opposite wall, but even when she'd tried calling out there was no response from within.

"Hello." Her head snapped up from where she'd been dismally staring at her lap. Luffy jumped at the man now standing on the other side of their cell, demanding to be let out. The man had a long white lab coat and thin glasses perched on the edge of his nose. He was smiling at them with a discomforting glee shining in his eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked, over Luffy's shouting.

"I'm Higeki," he nodded his head at her. "I guess you two are wondering why you're here?"

"Yeah!" Luffy glared at the man.

"Shame," he smirked. "I'm only here right now to take a few notes," he looked down at the clipboard in his hands and wrote something down.

"Hey, you bastard!" Luffy shook at the bars once again before sinking to the ground. "Answer me…" he protested, trying to take a few seconds to regain his strength.

"Hah, you look like fun. My boss will really love watching you squirm," Higeki chuckled distantly, continuing to write on his clipboard.

"And those four others we got," he said, pausing his writing for a moment. Nami's eyes widened slightly. Not all of them were captured, there was hope. Even if only three of the crew was free, it was enough. They had a chance.

"Let my crew go!" Luffy growled, glaring darkly at the man. His fists were shaking where they gripped at the cell bars as he tried pulling himself back to his feet. Higeki shook his head lightly, laughing under his breath as though Luffy were some toddler making an unreasonable request.

"Don't worry, we'll get the rest later," he watched with an amused expression as Luffy slumped back to the ground once more, his strength failing him. Nami tried to keep her expression neutral. She wasn't going to give this man any more pleasure in seeing her react. And she couldn't lose hope; as long as some of the crew was still outside of wherever this was, she had to believe in them. Another man walked into the room. He was slender with scruffy brown hair and a little taller than Higeki.

"Ah boss, this is the captain and his woman," Higeki gestured to them with a wave of his hand.

"Hey, I'm not-" Nami began to exclaim.

"Hello, my name is Ketto," he smiled, "I hope you two make for good entertainment."

Usopp entered the village slowly, looking around. It looked deserted, with old cracked buildings and an almost complete lack of movement. The area was completely silent, and he wasn't sure anywhere the crew was at could be this quiet. Still, every so often he quietly called out for his crewmates. His voice broke through the unsettling silence, and he probably called out a little more than necessary just for the comfort of some sound. Even if it was just his own voice.

Up ahead, he noticed a figure leaning against one of the buildings in the distance. He immediately leapt into a nearby alleyway, peeking out at the person. From where he was, he couldn't make out much about the person, just a general outline. He crept through the nearby alleys, slowly making his way closer. Once he was close enough to make out some more detail, his fear immediately melted away.

"Zoro!" Usopp called, running up to the swordsman.

"Usopp?" he seemed slightly surprised. "Do you know where the rest of the crew is?" He pushed off the wall and turned to face the sniper.

"No… not exactly. Something happened on the ship, and Nami and Franky were kidnapped by some guy."

"Do you know what he looked like?" Zoro's eyes narrowed, and Usopp noticed him clenching and unclenching his fists.

"No… I'm not really sure. But I'd know him if I saw him again."

"Hmm… there was this weird guy in the village when me and the shit cook got here," Zoro muttered, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, Sanji's with you? What about the others?"

"Yea, I ran into him in the forest. We were both separated from the others, and he was attacked by some… monster as he put it. I'll go get him," Zoro said, turning and walking into the building he'd been leaning against.

"A monster!" Usopp squeaked, cowering. What kind of island was this? And where was the rest of the crew? If they weren't in this village, Usopp didn't want to think about where else they might be. Best case, just lost somewhere on the island. Worst case, either kidnapped or eaten by this monster Zoro mentioned. He shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. He hoped everyone was alright so they could hurry away from this scary place.

Zoro came back out of the building with Sanji following behind. His shirt had a huge bloodstain on the side, poorly concealed by his torn suit jacket, and he was a lot paler than usual. Usopp's eyes widened. If the monster could do that to Sanji, what would it do to him?

"We were waiting for that guy to get back, but maybe we'd be better off just looking for him," Zoro said.

"How long have you guys been waiting?" Usopp asked.

"A few hours." At that they agreed it was a better idea to try and find him than just waiting around. The longer they went without finding the others, the more danger everyone could be in. Yet, just as they were about to exit the village, there he was.

"Hey! Uh, I thought you were going to wait for me… Ah, I see you've found one of your friends! Hi, I'm Ketto," he rambled out, reaching out to shake Usopp's hand. Usopp looked at the man closely, squinting his eyes. This Ketto could have been the man he'd seen in the woods. He did have similar features, and was the only other person on the island they knew of so far… It was better suspicious than dead. He gave Zoro a small nudge and a look he hoped conveyed his message that this was the guy.

"So, um… If you'll just follow me now."

"No," Zoro shook his head. Usopp nodded in agreement and Sanji glared at the guy. This guy was being too suspisious.

"Wh-what do you mean?" he stammered.

"We can go find them ourselves." Sanji stated, staring the man down. And they began to walk away. But Ketto ran around in front of them and frantically waved his hands.

"But you could be searching for hours! And, I know where they are so…" his grin just a little too wide. Zoro walked around him and Usopp and Sanji followed behind.

"Maybe we should check back at the Sunny for clues," Usopp suggested, glancing behind himself at Ketto as they left him behind. "I didn't look for any clues before leaving, just made sure no one was there."

"Yea… this way?" Zoro asked pointing towards where the village was.

"Obviously not that way marimo," Sanji tsked.

"Shut up ero-cook, I could be right!" He snapped.

"Actually it's that way…" Usopp pointed in the opposite direction of where Zoro had. The swordsman turned his glare on Usopp, making the sniper squeak and hide behind Sanji. They walked towards where Usopp said the ship was, going a bit slowly as not to trip over all the roots on the ground.

"So… how did you guys get separated from the rest of the crew?" Usopp asked.

"There was this weird flash of light and we heard someone scream-"

"Nami-swan…" Sanji said sorrowfully

"and then I couldn't find anyone," Zoro continued, ignoring the cook. Usopp sighed quietly. He'd been hoping that hearing their story would give him some clue as to where the others may be, but it seemed like they knew even less than he did. The whole situation was just too unsettling for him.

He glanced behind him again, to make sure that Ketto wasn't following them. He creeped Usopp out too, and the sniper felt like he had something to do with what was happening to them. After all, he was the only other person on the island that they had seen so far. He was glad to have at least found Zoro and Sanji though. They made him feel safer with all that was going on; he knew they could fight off most anything.

He was grateful when they finally made it back to the ship. The Sunny was the same as when he left it, still just as empty. Once they made it on the deck they split up to search the ship for any clues. Usopp decided to search around the deck first. He walked all around the ship, searching for anything at all that could be out of place. But there was nothing. It was in the exact same condition as when they first arrived on this island. Eventually he wandered back to the front deck and waited for Zoro and Sanji to finish searching.

"I couldn't find anything," Usopp mumbled, looking down sadly.

"I can't believe that there's nothing out of place," Sanji hissed, lighting a cigarette. Zoro just silently glared into the distance. It seemed like they hadn't had any luck either. How were they ever going to find the rest of the crew if there were no clues?

"I told you guys," a sigh, "you won't find your crewmates here. Just follow me and I'll show you."

Zoro and Sanji whipped around, turning their glares on Ketto, who had just walked onto the Sunny's grassy deck. Usopp shrank back a little, noticing something different about his mood. He seemed much more insistent, and less nervous than before.

"I'm just trying to help, okay? I know where they are, so just follow me," he walked closer to them. They all tensed, Zoro's hand falling to rest on his katana. Ketto stopped walking.

"We can find them on our own," Zoro watched the man with narrowed eyes. That wasn't true, and Usopp knew Zoro probably realized that. There were no clues, no one else aside from this man to help them…

"I really don't think you can… just trust me okay?"

"We don't trust you," Sanji stated, slipping his hands into his pockets in what Usopp recognized as his typical battle stance. Ketto faltered, and Usopp noticed an almost scowl cross his face, before it returned to a more neutral expression.

"I'm sorry to hear that… but I really only want to help. If you will just let me, I promise, I will bring you to your crew," he gave a small smile. Usopp could tell Zoro was about to say no again, so he spoke up.

"M-maybe, we should follow him," he stammered. Sanji and Zoro turned their glares on him.

He lowered his voice, "I don't trust him, but he may be our only lead as to where the others are." He really didn't want to follow the guy, but he did want to find the crew. And he knew that even if this guy turned on them, that Zoro and Sanji could take him. They didn't really have any other options at the moment.

"Fine," Zoro grunted, slowly removing his hand from his swords. Sanji also relaxed his posture and they all turned to face Ketto.

"Good," he smiled.

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