Huge thanks towards UnrelentingNightmare, for spotting quite frankly a ridiculous number of areas for improvement here. Still, I think it helps make this one of the strongest chapters yet :D

Disclaimer: Disclaimer 1: One Piece isn't mine~

-continued from pervious disclaimers-

The Mighty Captain Usopp's Great and Wonderful Journey into another Dimension 10- Will the real Tashigi please stand up

Zoro was currently fleeing from Tashigi, dodging lightning blasts even as she ran and searched. Getting off the boat was all well and good, but finding the others, and her swords, took priority. Unfortunately, Zoro was never the kind of person to remember directions, or even make logical guess such as 'the captain's quarters would be those larger, reinforced doors over there', or even 'those stairs going up might lead upstairs'. Her sense of direction was something that never changed, no matter which dimension you visited.

While this was going on, in a quiet, and presumably much further away hall, Usopp stood his ground. In front of him was his fearsome opponent, the swordswoman Tashigi. But . . . he'd just seen her leave for the opposite direction, hadn't he? What was going on? Plus, she was singing that time, and seemed much more carefree. This one was practically an ice queen, pun intended.

For you see, upon realizing he was an intruder (he was male- no lie could really change how suspicious that was on a boat like this. Believe me, he'd lied rather excellently, but when questioned on his bra size, the lie had fallen apart considerably, and he'd been discovered as a man once more), she had unleashed her sword's powers on him.

This sword just happened to be the Hi Shigure, the abruptly-titled ice blade belonging to a family of sacred swords, which coincidentally belonged to a single family. As she waffled about the swords, and how it was her right to kill him, Usopp realised her 'noble and impressive' family could have sisters.

"Wait, do you have a twin sister or something onboard?"

She paused for a moment, regretting the rude interruption to her monologue. Fortunately, as she adjusted her glasses, the history of her family was something she enjoyed discussing, so she answered him.

"Yes."

That was all she had to say? Usopp felt his jaw drop down.

"Y'know, hyping it like that just makes your answer feel kind of . . . silly."

She frowned at his words. Did the long-nosed man realize his words made no sense? If he really wanted to know more about her prestigious family, he would do better to ask her more pleasantly. She was torn for a moment between continuing her speech, which she enjoyed, or finishing him off with her ice blade, which he deserved.

"You do realize you're speaking aloud, right?" Usopp raised an eyebrow at her, expression deadpan. What kind of freak had he met this time?

Tashigi was stunned, her mouth opening into a wide 'O' shape. Was he attempting to confuse her? There was no conceivable way he had heard and understood her every thought. The notion that he was correct, and she was speaking aloud this whole time, never even crossed her mind; it was far too ludicrous. Someone would have mentioned something like that before, surely.

"Oh come on! Now you're even narrating your expression? And you must have considered it- you just told me!" Usopp looked at her funny. Was this some kind of prank?

Tashigi frowned at him. This . . . man must have some form of mind-reading ability. That was the only answer she could consider. It probably stemmed from his nose, she realized- there had to be something in there. Yes, it was definitely his nose that gave him his mind-reading powers.

"I don't have mind reading powers! Trust me, if I did, there's no way I'd be in this mess. I'd be rich or something," Usopp waved his arm across, casually dismissing her idea. She looked at him confidently- that just proved it!

"No it doesn't!" Usopp felt exasperated. Still, his leg was currently frozen to the ground, so he had no problem with distracting her.

As he thought that, something occurred to Usopp.

"Wait, did you just call yourself Tashigi?"

"Correct," asserted the young girl. She wondered how he had figured out her name, when she had never intro-

"That's enough of that. But, then what's your sister's name?"

"It is also Tashigi."

There was a small moment where they looked at each other, uncomprehending.

"You're . . . both named Tashigi?" She looked at him, curious. What was so strange about that?

"Well," Usopp decided to answer her 'thoughts' directly, "Isn't that weird? Your parents could at least call you similar names, like Tashigi and Pashigi. Washigi has a nice ring to it," he suggested.

"That's a terrible idea!" Tashigi sighed at his stupidity. "Our parents loved the name Tashigi most of all- why would they use anything else for their daughters?"

"Forget it," Usopp looked away from her, wondering how his life had led to this point. It was probably one of the Veggie Pirate's fault, he decided.

It occurred to Usopp Zoro wouldn't enjoy meeting her- if seeing one girl who looked like his dead friend freaked him out, than two wandering around would probably creep him out even more.

"Are you ignoring me?" Tashigi demanded, pointing her sword at his face. She was standing several metres away, meaning the point of the blade hovered uncomfortably close to his nose. Remembering he was in mortal peril, which was surprisingly difficult considering his opponent, Usopp quickly pulled out his Kabuto slingshot.

"Fire Star!" he yelled, shooting a flame attack at his shoe. The ice retracted as he leaped backwards, putting distance between them. In hindsight this was a terrible idea, as his leg was now on fire, and the boy sniper had been struck at point-blank range by one of his own bullets.

Ow.

The feeling was bad, even if he was able to pat out most of the flames. Unfortunately, while doing this, Tashigi had managed to draw in closer to him, slashing with her blade. His Kabuto's staff met it, just managing to block the attack. She grinned confidently, as the sword shimmered a pale blue and ice crystals began creeping up the slingshot.

Panicking, Usopp bashed her with the base of the slingshot, breaking free just in time. Had the actual bands at the top of his prized weapon turned to ice, he would have been unable to use a single attack. Wow, too close.

Shooting several fire stars as he backed away, Usopp began to feel his coward's senses tingling. This was getting dangerous! She slashed the air, small ice crystals darting towards him. Usopp was struck in the chest, suddenly ice-cold as he slammed backwards into a door.

"It seems my instincts were correct," muttered Tashigi as she approached him slowly, sword drawn. He couldn't tell if she was thinking that, or purposely speaking to him.

"What instincts?"

"Normally, when the captain brings new slaves in, we, um, ignore any noises or yells we hear."

Usopp recoiled, thinking about that for too long.

"As such, your friend's escapades and battles have been left alone, and the bulk of our crew have pretended not to notice the commotion in their rooms tonight."

"Wait, the others have fought?" Usopp's eyes shone with hope- maybe there wouldn't be any more battles left for him!

"Indeed. It was only after we heard some particularly loud crashes that we Tashigi Sisters decided to investigate, even if we might incur the captain's wrath. "

Well, that explained why a boat this size had been so deserted. But that also meant he could make as much noise as he wanted when fighting her, right? Usopp held onto his Kabuto carefully, the ice-coated staff slippery, as he pulled a familiar mask over his face. Now was the time to try out that new dial he'd found in his cabin . . .

Tashigi was calm, readying her sword for another ice attack. As a soft glow sprang from the sword, Usopp realized she was done talking- this was it. Readying the dial, he was sure this would work. Had to. If only he'd had longer to practice with it- this was only his second day in this dimension, so he really wasn't sure if he'd even figured it out.

"Well, here goes," spoke Sogeking confidently. He reached back, readying his attack. "Osmose~ Dial!"

-witty scene change to Zoro-

Zoro ran, just managing to avoid yet another lightning blast. Did this girl ever quit? Wooden hallways and doors flew past, but she was pretty sure she'd been here. After all, she hadn't gone on any stairs, so there was no way she'd left the area, right?

Or maybe she had . . . Damn, this place was a maze! Zoro gave up, figuring she could find her swords later. She was too pissed off to bother searching for them properly anyway- this girl was annoyingly loud, and she'd just been kidnapped. Spinning around, she decided to beat Tashigi first.

"Are you an idiot? There's no way you can face me and win!" crowed the slender swordswoman. She swung her sword, aiming right at her torso, as Zoro rolled out of the way. By accident, she remembered that she still had a makeshift weapon, as the handcuff and remaining length of chain on her hand whacked Zoro in the face.

Geez, that stung like hell. Still, she could use this. It was better than resorting to bastard moves like kicking, which was for curly-eye-browed losers who couldn't use a weapon. Swinging her arm across, her metre or so of chain whipped Tashigi, causing her to fall back.

Eyeing Zoro warily, she began to fire lightning blasts, relying on ranged attacks for the advantage.

"Bitch!" Zoro muttered, running straight through the lightning to lash her again. Tashigi's eyes widened, as her side was suddenly pounded with steel.

This girl never acted the way she thought she would . . . she was so reckless, and insanely strong! Wincing as she imagined the bruising, she lashed out wildly with her sword, Zoro dodging just in time. It was apparent that her sword skills weren't up to scratch, and Zoro was stronger, but she was still the one with the proper weapon. She just had to conserve her electric shocks wisely.

Zoro was taking advantage of her moment of thinking, trying to pull the damn chain off. Geez, it wasn't just steel. If she had a sword, she could probably break through it in an instant, but the damn thing was attached to one of wrists. Well, she could still use it like this, no big deal.

Rushing the bespectacled girl once more, she snapped her wrist back, whipping her right in the face. Using the moment as she flinched, Zoro ducked behind her, wrapping the chain around the girl's neck. Pulling with her free hand, she began to tighten, cutting off her air.

Tashigi panicked- she really wasn't ready for life or death battles. This was getting scary . . . as she struggled, she pressed her Jishinkaminarikajioyaji Shigure against the taller woman. Concentrating, lightning crackled right through her, basting Zoro right off of her!

Or not. Zoro merely gritted her teeth and continued, trying to knock her out without anything but the half-length of chain. She panicked, throat feeling tight, sending out yet more pulses of electricity. Zoro's hair flew up, her long sleeves flaring around wildly, but still she didn't let go. They stood like that for a little while, locked in a stalemate, until the electricity flared out.

The room felt oddly quiet, as Zoro let Tashigi drop to the ground.

In a rare moment of self-reflection, she realised it was scenes like this that gave her such a fierce reputation, and why some people were probably scared of her. Still, knocking a girl out was surely nicer than cutting her open dozens of times with chains, leaving cuts and prolonging the battle, right?

Whatever. Now that that was over, she quickly liberated the Ji- no, Tashigi's sword. Cutting off that damn chain, she was able to look for her own swords much more easily. Granted, she'd still rather wear that chain than anything Nami wore. Probably the first 'accessory' she'd worn in months, she laughed.

Glancing down nonchalantly at the girl, she was still creeped out that she looked so much like Kuina. She never did ask her about that. Oh well. Keeping the sword for the time being, she decided to head off. Even if her swords were hidden somewhere, she could always rescue the others.

Naturally, Zoro hadn't even considered her own injuries, or let herself feel them. Still, a passerby would have noticed that she had several small cuts along her body, a large one near the stomach still bleeding from when she was stabbed, her wrists were rubbed raw by the chains, her clothes, skin and hair were all burnt quite badly from electric attacks, and her mouth was bleeding slightly, also from the electricity.

Not bad for one fight, but it did make her pace a little slow as she searched. Fortunately, there wasn't much of a fighting force left on this boat . . .

-scene changes, back due to popular demand-

"Usopp?" Perona ran across the stairs, hands bent at her sides cutely. She landed on the main floor Usopp had been on; her ghost having led her to which way he was. Unfortunately, it had been dispersed right now, to try and save her limited reserves of happy spirits for a battle.

She felt almost blind without a ghost at her side- the pink-haired necromancer was used to having several pairs of eyes at all times; spying and keeping guard on all sides. On her own, she could be ambushed, or snuck up on . . . She shivered, wondering how the others coped.

She continued to run, sure Usopp had last been in this area. Her boot slipped in her rush, as she suddenly stepped onto a patch of ice. Wincing as she landed backwards, the cold seemed to go straight through her skirt. What the? The entire corridor was coated in patches of ice, shining off random walls and planks in the floor. Looking up further, she saw a woman with glasses, covered in ice.

That girl . . . she was ice! But who would put a sculpture in the middle of the room like that? And it looked so real . . . As she got up carefully, and went to touch it, she noticed a figure behind the sculpture. A man stood tall, arms folded as he leant against the wall.

Without looking up, he seemed to notice her.

"Perona, it's good to see you," Usopp spoke.

"Kyaaa~ You did that, didn't you?" Perona ran forward, hugging him tightly, as Usopp tried to look cool. She felt so much better and safer around him. He was lucky he'd heard someone coming, giving him time to pose dramatically next to his fallen foe.

"Uh, sure did. We've nearly saved all of our friends in here, no problem." He grinned at her, trying not to blush. She felt so warm after that icy battle, it was weird.

"But how'd you do it? You don't have an ice star now, do you?" She looked up for a moment, unsure.

"It's my new technique," declared Usopp. "I'm one of the strongest warriors on the sea, remember?" His cool speech was ruined as she rubbed her face against his chest, and Usopp's blushing caused him to stammer. As always, he felt a slight twinge of guilt around her, knowing he didn't feel the way she did.

"Great! Now, let's go take care of the captain!"

Usopp's heart plummeted as he heard this, and was brought back to reality.

"Wait, what? I thought we were just rescuing the others?"

"Well, don't we have to reverse Sanji's statue thing as well?" Perona looked up curiously, as the obvious hit Usopp.

"I, uh, guess we should . . . " Usopp tried to stay calm at this thought, as his heart bounced around like an epileptic squirrel on ecstasy.

It would be okay, he had Perona, right? Okay, she could pump Hancock full of ghosts, and then he could sneak up from behind, and whack her with his staff. Yes, that would do it! While she was unconscious, they could tie her up, no problem. Then the whole thing would be solved.

Unknown to the sniper, Perona had next-to-no ghosts left, and was simply counting on his fantastic new technique to breeze through this. She wasn't really the planning type, currently filled with thoughts of revenge.

How dare that woman not call her cute, she cursed.

And so, the two of them made their way to Hancock's room, disastrously unprepared for what awaited them.

Just inside this very same room waited Vivi, who was too distraught over losing her only male prisoner to do more than clean the wreckage. She was dreading Hancock's return even more than Usopp was . . .

Yay, another part done~ "Just a small introductory arc", my ass… Well, next part ends the Hancock sex slavery, finally, and then I can get to the proper stuff. I hope you like Usopp's new dial, this is gonna be loads of fun to write.