Summary: Usopp, Luffy and Chopper are thrown off the ship in a terrible storm. Separated and lost, the three are forced to take refuge in a cellar which turns out to be a hell hole full of cultists wishing to sacrifice devil fruit users to an unknown cause. With Luffy gone and now Chopper stolen away as well, Usopp must use his own skills to find a way to save his friends before they meet their deaths.

"Ngh…CHOPPER!" he yelled again, holding the bridge in a vise grip, still dizzy from being thrown. Even sitting down, the cave whirled about him, blurred tones of grey and black swirled about him. When he blinked he saw the terrifying face of the creature flash right before him, like it was forever burned into his eyelids.

"CHOPPER!"

"CHOPPEEERRR!"

He lost count of how many times he shouted his friend's name, but he could feel his throat start to go dry and his voice began to grow hoarse. Tears promised to spill over his eyelids and his shoulders shook with every sob. They both had been taken from him. He was completely alone now. And who was there to blame but himself? He leaned over and rested his forehead on the stone. His torso shook with pained sobs.

He brought his head up in a yell only to slam it back into the stone once more, not carrying about the blood that spilled from the newly attained cuts, "DAMMIT! WHY AM I SO USELESS!?" Blood trickled down from his fresh wound into his eyes as he brought himself up again and screamed. Why am I so weak?! His mind questioned as it raced back to all the countless times he'd been saved by his friends. Luffy saved his entire village for God's sake! Chopper saved them too. All the time, caring for their health, healing them when injured. There was no better captain and no better doctor. If shame had hands, they would be crushing his heart in his chest, making him feel incredibly small.

What does he do for the crew?

Make useless inventions? Screw up? Run away? Hide? Cry like a child?

Helpful. He mocked himself.

He ducked his chin to his chest and grabbed his head. He wanted to slam his head into the rocks until his shame would leave him be, or until he passed out from blood loss or trauma. He didn't care. Whichever came first.

He was useless anyway.

Might as well stop taking up air.

He froze when something crunched under his palms. A weight had been resting firmly atop his head. His hands moved down to the rim of the object, feeling the subtle flaws in the weave and all the stitched repairs made over the years by the delicate hands of their resident navigator. The familiar smell of meat and straw hung in the air, disturbed by the touch of his fingers.

"Usopp! Hold on to this!"

Luffy had entrusted him with his treasure once more.

Luffy trusted him.

He let the thought sit in his mind for a moment and then grabbed at the large piece of black fabric still covering his shoulder tied to his a strap of his overalls.

It had been with him since they all fell down into this hell hole. The only available proof to himself he had contributed to this crew. His eyes traveled over the mark. He was barely able to see it, the only light being from the hallway several feet away, but he knew the mark by heart. A skull and crossbones wearing a straw hat in a sea of black. He had painted this. This symbol of freedom. But that wasn't the only thing that made it special. Holding this flag in his hands, he could smell the ocean and if he didn't know better, he swore he could hear it. This was a part of them, as a crew. A team. A family. Their pride and the symbol of their freedom and bond together. And suddenly he realized he wasn't alone. This was a piece of Merry. Merry - who protected them always and carried them across these waters. He was not alone. Merry was with him.

And she wanted her captain and her doctor back.

He inhaled and let out a long sigh, pulling his goggles over his eyes as he stood, his legs still shaking. It was time to prove, to himself or whomever else, that maybe he wasn't so useless after all. He threw the flag over himself again, making certain the knot was still secure.

"Alright, Merry. Let's go get our friends back." His voice shook, but inside his chest, his heart thrummed with determination.

With Merry with him, he felt a little bit braver.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

With his mind cleared and focused new noises came to him. Water. There was definitely water rushing about somewhere. He looked down into the chasm. There was no mistaking it; what he had heard before wasn't the ocean; it was an underground river! It was too dark to see, but the noise was loud. He shook his head in disbelief. Had he really been so panicked that he hadn't heard it before? It must have been the reason the creatures were acting so confused. They couldn't hear anything but the river below! Of course his screaming must have roared over even the river's loud sounds and he felt a tinge of heat rise under his cheeks. He shook his head. This wasn't the time to feel embarrassed.

He used the dim light from the hallway to carefully feel his way to the side of the bridge he'd come from. He had one foot forward and chose to slide it along the stone instead of stepping. His feet glided over the rough bedrock, small fragments of stone and dust were shoved out of the way and fell into the dark below, until finally his foot felt the bridge open up. He'd finally reached the cliff and quickly ran to the wall near the lit hallway. Heart hammering in his chest as he heaved in shaky breaths. He wasn't even aware he'd been holding his breath. After a few seconds of focusing on calming himself he looked about his surroundings again. He was certain the creature had run off somewhere else. There was another way out besides this hallway; he knew it.

He felt along the side of the wall, moving and searching for a new opening until his fingers curled around something. He felt around the opening, it was only just big enough for one of those monsters to crawl into. He moved his fingers along the inside, feeling the grooves and imperfections. The passage was undoubted carved by something with vicious claws. His hands traveled over something soft at the base of the tunnel. Soft fibers were dispersed around the opening.

Chopper.

He took a deep breath. Whatever was at the end of the passageway could come back through at any time. If he met with one of those things up close…he'd have no way to defend himself. He couldn't fight in close combat like the others. Not against teeth and claws that could rip him to shreds. He swallowed hard, and put his arms into the tunnel, bringing his feet in next. He didn't really have a choice. He didn't know how much time he had to save them, so he would have to be quick.

XXX

The cave was silent now. The sound of the river had faded a few minutes into the tunnel. It was too cramped to even think of standing, and he had to crawl on his knees mostly. Sometimes the tunnel would dip, and it would force him to slide through on his belly. Each time this occurred his mind shot to a cave in. The worst possible situation: to be crawling on your stomach only to have the rocks above you slowly crush you. He didn't need to see his skin to know he had visibly paled; he had felt the blood rush from his face many times before.

The time spent in the passage seemed like forever to him. He didn't know how far he had gone or where he was even going. That coupled with the complete blackness that surrounded him was enough to ebb away at his sanity. He tried to think of other things as he went, but his mind always came back to "will I make it in time?" But even if he did, how in the world would he fight? What if they were in a place too dark to see in and unconscious to boot? How then would he know he was there?

Once he had left the hallway, he'd no lights to use whatsoever, all of his glow sticks lost or burnt out, his flare had been lost to the chasm. The fires in the hallway were too high to reach, so he had been forced to leave them. He was blind in a completely unfamiliar area.

A blind sniper.

He smiled, thinking of the irony.

The dark really wasn't good for him in that sense. And the dark didn't give him an advantage either. The creatures were just as blind as he was, but they didn't need to see to find him. He wasn't certain how well they could hear. Would they hear his breathing? His heartbeat? He gulped at the sheer disadvantage he had here. It seemed as the universe had stacked itself against him. Each new disadvantage that spurred into his mind soured his determined feelings from before. But all thoughts were cast aside when he felt the tunnel dip and immediately end, opening up into a large domed room, lit only by a single fire at its center. The room was crystal, he realized. Carved quartz. The light of the fire reflected on every jagged bend of the crystal walls. His eyes traveled over the room, mouth falling open in awe.

The sight had put his mind as ease for a few good seconds. But as with all good things, they passed quickly. His eyes were suddenly drawn to a new sight, movement to his left. His breath hitched and stilled completely, heart, lungs, maybe all of his organs caught in his constructing throat.

A monster.

He could see it in all its macabre, grotesque glory. The form that would haunt his mind for the rest of his life. It looked like a walking half-decomposed carcass to say it simply. Flesh falling off it, hanging my thin tendons. Horrifying. What he thought had been a cloak was indeed the creatures flesh. Its glowing orange gaze shifted about the room and it sniffed at the ground as it moved on all fours. Usopp pressed himself against the wall as it slunk passed and walked in circles around the room like it was guarding something. Soon after another joined. He swallowed hard and peered down the hall they were emerging from. The one place he needed to get was the one place filled to the brim with danger.

He made a silent prayer in his mind and willed his feet to move, so silent he wasn't even sure if he was moving at all. Maybe it was another daydream of his. But no, all those years of slinking around the village pulling pranks actually paid off. He was a ghost to them. He smiled a little as he found himself at the entrance of the hallway that would hopefully lead him to his lost nakama.

He was going to do this. Going to save them.

Again he willed his feet forward sliding along the wall and expertly dodging the searching claws of the creatures that passed by him in the wide hall. He stopped for a moment to wonder. Why do these creatures carve such large tunnels? Surely they don't need such space… He quickly stored the thought for later pondering and continued on, not wanting to be found when he was so close.

As he grew further away from the crystal room, the tunnel became dark expectantly. However, rather unexpectantly, it stayed that way. He looked about him. No longer was there any trace of the creatures glowing eyes. No trace of anything! Had he taken a wrong turn?! Gotten turned around somehow?! He shook in his place when suddenly he felt a hot breath on his back and a looming presence. He turned slowly.

He'd just walked willingly into the lion's den.

Dang. Its been a long time, my friends. This is sadly mostly a repeat of the former ch9 with more at the end. But good news: This ends next chapter. Bad news: I;m probably going to disappoint you with my inability to finish strong. Also I just don't have the same love for OP anymore since it slowed so badly (granted its picking up now haha). Also I'm more trash for Voltron now...so if you like that show, stick around for some space ranger partners, if you know what I mean. Anyway. Don't fear though. I will finish all my OP fics if it fucking kills me, as promised!