One, I broke my leg, ouch. Two, I hate politics, it's Dokdo not takeshima. Three, Usopp is awesome to write about. This chapter is because sometimes it hurts to realize how much you mean to another.
*Edited on September 4th, thanks to the reviewer who pointed out that I got the name of Luffy's attack wrong!
As if to compensate for his eye, Zoro's reactions to attacks from his left side were impossibly fast; Usopp saw the way the swordsman knocked away attacks with a swiftness and smoothness most able men couldn't achieve. Usopp honestly believed that Zoro could cut a pebble thrown into his left blind spot in perfect half, without batting his eye.
That faith is mostly why, when Usopp swung his rod back in a motion to throw his line in, he didn't expect the fishing hook to hit Zoro the way it does.
The sniper stares in horror and disbelief as blood dribbles from the jagged cut to slide down the swordsman's temple. The sight of his hook drawing a dangerous arc and the sleeping swordsman not noticing keeps playing like a broken musicbox in his mind's eye.
"Zoro," He chokes but it is buried under the flurry of sounds that the short, surprised hiss of pain from their usually stoic crew member set off: Nami shooting out of her chair, Sanji calling wildly for their doctor and Chopper skidding out of his room with a book still in his hoove.
The three carefully surround the swordsman, who looks just as stunned as them. Grunting in answer to Chopper's questions, he gingerly touches his left temple and when his fingers come away with sticky blood, he stills for a moment. Then he turns to Usopp who is still holding the rod. The sniper doesn't miss that Zoro has to tilt his head farther to find Usopp with his single eye.
"Good shot Usopp," The swordsman grins though the effect is ruined by the smudged blood running down his face.
Usopp doesn't apologize; he can understand that much from the too casual words sent his way. He nods tightly in answer and leaves Zoro to wave off Chopper's concerns and his crew mates' fussing. Settling back down between Sunny's balustrades, he doesn't dare swing his fish rod again but instead, drops the line lifelessly into the water. He watches the bloodied hook fall and wonders why Zoro, with all his swordsman senses and training, got cut by a wayward fishing line Usopp threw because he didn't think to move the hell away. Usopp is a liar but no fool; he doesn't believe Zoro didn't notice. Zoro simply chose not to react. Why would he not react? It was absurd, it was like, like how he ducked all punches but never Nami's. Like how he sidestepped all rockets but never a gomugomu one.
Usopp's breath hitched as his heart constricted; the hook didn't hit Zoro because it came from his blinded left side. It hit him because it came from him.
Only when Sanji drops beside him and wordlessly hands him a handkerchief does Usopp notice he is crying.