I do not own One Piece.
"Usopp? Are you alright?" I turn my head slightly, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand.
"A..Ah, Sanji. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," I stutter out, turning my eyes away. I lean back over the railing, feeling more bile rising in my throat.
"No, no it's fine…Bad dream?" he asks, leaning against the rail next to me. I nod my head slightly, taking a shuddering breath. Leaning back up, I wipe my mouth again and the tears from my eyes, before turning to face Sanji. Though I don't look straight at him, but continue staring down at my feet.
"Wanna talk about it?" he asks again, taking a slow drag from his cigarette.
"No…not really," I reply. He nods his head before pushing off from the rail.
"Go wash your mouth out. I'll make us a snack. I'm sure you must be hungry." he says, walking toward the galley. I really didn't want to eat anything, or be around anyone, but I didn't want to turn down Sanji's kind offer, so, with a sigh, I head to the bathroom.
Rinsing my mouth out quickly, I make my way back into the kitchen and take a seat at the table. Seconds later, Sanji sets a plate of sandwiches in front of me and set down two glasses of water, before taking a seat himself. Taking one of the sandwiches, he scoots the plate closer to me, giving me a pointed look. I take one of the sandwiches and begin nibbling on it, hoping that I will be able to keep it down. We eat in silence, and continue seating at he table after the food is gone, Sanji smoking another cigarette as I sat there staring nervously down at my lap.
"Say, Usopp?…what's the real reason you don't want Chopper removing that chip from your shoulder?" He asks calmly, flicking ash off the end of his cigarette into the ashtray next to him.
"Oh…well like I said, I just…just didn't want to bother him," I mumble, fidgeting nervously. I look up, to see him staring at me disbelievingly. He continues to stare until I let out a sigh. "I…I don't know if it is true or not, but some of the other slaves used to tell me that if anyone tried to remove the chip, they, along with the slave, would be shocked. It usually kills the slave but didn't hurt the person trying to remove it enough to kill them, and it might not even be true…But I…I didn't want to risk causing Chopper any harm," I explain.
"That's a pretty good reason." he says stubbing out his cigarette. "Are you sure you don't want to talk about your nightmare?" he asks, staring at.
"I'm sure…it wasn't really anything. Just some memories," I tell him, trying my best to smile, though I am sure it looked more like a grimace.
"That's understandable. Well, if you are sure, we should both be heading to bed. It's pretty late and who knows how early we will be woken up by Luffy's yelling," he smirks, standing up. I stand up and follow and together we head to the bunkroom.
Thankfully, I didn't have anymore dreams that night, although I couldn't seem to fall asleep for very long either. The next morning I was pretty out of it, and I am sure that I looked terrible as well. Sanji won't let me help cook today, saying that with my lack of sleep I might burn something or cut myself. So, I take a seat on the grassy deck and lean against the wall.
"You're worthless boy. Can't you do a damn thing right? I give you the simplest tasks and you still manage to fuck something up!" I hear the anger yell of Master, followed by the sharp crack of a whip, before an intense pain courses through my bare back, casing me to scream and jerk forward, rattling the chains. This continues on, hit after hit making more wounds on my back.
Finally, after what seems like hours, I hear Master put the whip down. But I wasn't fooled. I knew what was about to happen and it was worse than any type of physical wound. I hear his heavy footfalls getting closer, until he is right behind me. "But at least you are good at one thing, eh boy?" he whispers, licking away some blood where the whip had hit the back of my neck. He laughs softly as he grabs my bare hips and pushed forward.
I jerk awake, scrambling as fast as I could away from the people surrounding me, positive that they must be more 'customers'. I find myself in a corner and let out a distressed whimper. I pull my knees to my chest tightly and begin frantically pleading for them to leave me alone, to not do this. No matter how useless I know it to be. I flinch violently when I feel a hand touch my shoulder. I distantly hear someone whisper my name, which is weird, Master never told anyone my name, he didn't even use my name.
Slowly opening my eyes, aware of the tears streaming down my face, I see blonde hair, covering one blue eye, the one showing had a curly eyebrow, pinched in worry. I stare at him in confusion for a second, no longer feeling afraid anymore, when it hits me. Sanji…I'm no longer with Master. I'm with Sanji and Luffy and the rest of his crew. I'm on their ship. I'm safe. I feel relief flood me for a second, before suddenly feeling embarrassed. How could I let them see such a weak side of me? What if they decided that I had too many problems and didn't want me on the ship anymore?
Letting out a shuddering breath, I close my eyes, only to see flashes of my dream. Feeling bile, once again, rise up my throat, I quickly pushed my way through the group of people around me before leaning over the rail and emptying, my mostly empty stomach once again.