Chapter 17, Spiders Everywhere

The battle had silenced a little while ago, and Usopp was quite glad it had. He looked to his side to see Chopper collapsing in a heap on the floor, sighing in relief. The Sniper smiled, stretching his arm out to ruffle Chopper's fur affectionately. Chopper smiled slowly, but did nothing else, he was tired. Franky was off getting something from the battle field and Brook was standing before Usopp, silent as the grave. (Skull Joke! Yo-ho-ho!)

"I wonder if Luffy-san has found Zoro-san and Sanji-san already," the skeleton mused softly.

Usopp nodded his head. "Yeah, we should probably go looking for them, but first we need to inform Sabo about this battle and the coming dangers," he said, standing up from his perch on the rock.

Chopper hopped up next to him and changed to walk point, sniffing the air. "I can't smell them anymore, their scent has disappeared."

Usopp frowned, but didn't comment. He stood and fished the tiny Transponder Snail from his pocket, clicking it on. It's eyes opened and it began to call Sabo. After a few moments it clicked and Usopp smiled in relief.

"Hey! What's up?" Sabo's cheery voice asked.

"Hey, we just had a battle here, and there's an Admiral coming your way. You have to warn Dragon before he gets there!" Usopp said.

Sabo hummed. "Alright, I'll let him know. Can you tell Luffy to meet us at sunset?" he asked.

Usopp pulled a face. "Well, that'll be a bit of an ordeal. You see, Luffy went after Zoro and Sanji, they were missing and now he's off the radar," he said.

Sabo sighed loudly. "Alright, I'll let Dragon know. You go look for them then," he said.

Usopp smiled. "I will, be careful."

"See you guys later," Sabo said, amusement in his voice as he hung up.

"Let's go you guys!" Usopp yelled, catching the attention of his three friends. "We have to look for them now."

Franky came running back with a yelled 'SUPER!' and Brook swung his cane around. Chopper came standing next to the Sniper in walk point, sniffing the air once more.

"I can trace them a little, but not much," he said.

Usopp nodded his head. "That's alright. We'll find them," he said.

Chopper smiled, and with that, they went on ahead to find their friends. The dessert wind blew quietly behind them over the now deserted battlefield.

o-o-o

Zoro's eyes opened terribly slowly. A stinging pain was climbing up his leg and he groaned, rolling his head to the side to see what was going on. The room around him was dark, and as Zoro struggled he found out that he was suspended in the air, spread eagled and in pain.

There was a skittering sound all around him, and he could feel blood seep down his pant leg and into his boot. He shuddered. He'd obviously lost a lot of blood and he felt a little lightheaded. The darkness was stifling and the air was barely breathable.

"Where in the-" Zoro rasped, throat dry and tongue made of sandpaper.

He coughed, the sound echoing through the room. The skittering sound stopped for a moment, before continuing. Wasn't there something he was missing?

"Fuck," Zoro murmured.

He'd forgotten all about Sanji. Where was the blonde? Was he even alright? Zoro struggled some more, clawing at his bonds. They were made of something soft and silky and didn't give much room for such a struggle. It tired him out quickly enough and he groaned, letting his head fall.

Suddenly, he felt something crawl up his uninjured leg and he yelped, flailing harshly. The thing fell of and with a screech, disappeared from him. Zoro felt a shudder climb up his spine as he realized where he was. It was a den full of spiders…

Sanji would hate it.

That thought brought a small smile to his face and Zoro resumed his struggle. He had to get out of here, and soon. He trashed and struggled and clawed at his bonds, and finally, one snapped, leaving him to hang from his arms and legs. He bared his teeth, had to get his injured leg to free itself.

With an agonized scream, the bonds ripped and he fell to the floor, white hot agony shooting up his leg as it smacked into the floor. Zoro bit into his arm, muffling his second scream, but letting tears stream from his eyes. He felt even worse now than before. This wasn't going so well.

Something crawled over his leg again, making him kick out. His foot slammed into a solid body, which flew from him and crashed down with a hiss. He could feel their presence closing in on him, and it made him shiver in disgust. He had to make some light, or get out of here as fast as he could.

Zoro stood slowly, gathering the silk that was around his arms and legs and groping around the floor for a stick. He found one and bound the silk around it, then searched his pant pockets for Sanji's lighter. He held it against the silk and it went up in flames quite quickly. He could finally see something, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

There were spiders off all sizes in the room, just beyond the flickering light of the flames. Some were as big as Zoro's hands, some as big as his torso. The Swordsman swallowed dryly. He did not like this. No, he wasn't afraid of a spider, but spiders as big as him, or bigger, did pose a serious threat.

Zoro swung his torch around, looking into the darkness for a way out. There was only walls, and spiders. There seemed to be no way out, but the spiders had to come from somewhere. Zoro grit his teeth as he took a step. Pain flared in his leg and he collapsed on the floor. Hissing surrounded him and Zoro was not at all pleased with this situation.

Zoro lifted the torch up high, and through the haze of pain, seeing a hole in the ceiling. That must have been how he had gotten here, but he would never be able to get out that way. There was no way he would be able to with his leg and the loss of blood.

He was screwed. So, so screwed.

Suddenly, the chittering of the spiders grew silent and Zoro dreaded what was to come. From above him, he could see a large shadow coming towards him, and he already knew what that was. Large spider legs came out of the hole, followed by the silver haired lady and what seemed to be five cocoons.

Shit.

The cocoons where squirming and struggling around and Zoro could clearly hear Luffy yelling to be let out. He groaned lowly and face-palmed. The spider-woman looked at him and hissed, stalking towards him.

"You insolent little bunny, you're not supposed to wander around, and with fire to boot. Bad bunny," she hissed, clawing at him and wrapping a long nailed hand around his bicep, lifting him off the floor.

Zoro swung the torch at her and she hissed, dropping him. The torch fell from his hand as he shrieked in pain, hands flying to his leg. His vision was dancing, and Zoro felt like throwing up.

"That's it, I'm putting you back up there," the woman hissed.

Zoro couldn't protest as she grabbed him again. Seconds later he was passing out again.