On one of the walls…

She quickly turned around doing a double take and looked at the wall beside her.

Links groaned and clinked together quietly as Usopp looked down at her, pinned to the wall with bloody chains.

"Pearl! Move! Run! Please…" his voice was alarmingly faint. "Get out…" he rasped.

"B-but," Pearl wanted to ask what he was doing there. "Where…?" she managed.

Usopp took several deep, ragged breathes. "Kidnapped…Needs your blood… your Devil Fruit…Make a clone…" he said every word a struggle. "Needs you alive."

"And awake." a different voice interrupted softly.

Usopp coughed violently, spat blood onto the ground, and then glared at the opposite end of the dungeon.

Pearl followed his gaze and her eyes rested on a silhouetted figure standing in front of a glowing blue tank. Too afraid to talk or even squeak, she only stared at him.

"I'd like to apologize," the figure said. "This must be quite startling for you; waking up in a strange place, your bodyguard chained to the wall…"

"Why's he up there?" Pearl asked softly, her voice trembling ever so slightly.

"He tried to do his job and failed." The figure turned to look at her, as his back had been turned to them at first. His face was still a mystery, as the glow from the navy-bluish tank kept him a silhouette. "I left him alive. That's the good thing."

She looked back at Usopp, but he did not look down at her. His tired eyes were fixed onto the figure alertly, like a hawk watching a hunter warily.

"Come here," the figure said. "I want to ask you something."

"Don't do…it…Pearl." Usopp whispered hoarsely. "Don't… do what…he...says."

Pearl shook her head.

The figure hesitated. "Do you know why you are here?"

"Something about a clone…?" Pearl said warily.

"Precisely." the figure nodded, "A clone. I needed someone who has eaten a Devil Fruit. Any Devil Fruit would do but the person had to be from another world." he waved his hand dismissively. "Of course I might have chosen someone else had I known you had this long-nosed liar as your bodyguard, however."

"Not my bodyguard." Pearl stated shaking her head. "He's my friend."

"That's sooo touching…." there was a smile on his face, but Pearl wasn't comforted at all by his tone. "I will get straight to the point." he took two small steps towards her and growl rumbled from somewhere inside of Usopp's chest. The figure halted, paused, and then crossed his arms behind his back. "I am creating an army, if you may, of Devil Fruit gifted soldiers. I need the blood of someone with a Devil Fruit gift."

Pearl involuntarily edged herself farther from him.

"Oh, don't worry. It won't hurt very much…" he spoke very smoothly, but the lie in his voice was more obvious than any of Usopp's lies. "I assure you it will be quick."

"Quick?" Pearl's voice shook.

"I'll need the blood from your still beating heart. It is most probable that you will die after I take what I need."

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What's gonna happen next? Well stay tuned to find out! In the mean time virtual candy 4 all reviewers and 5 belli for 10 swings at the 4-Kids head!...and at Mosshead (I HEARD THAT!!) Enjoy!! XD