AN: You guys are an inspiration, truly. I am trying to get this updated every 6-7 days at least, if not sooner. I've fleshed out the entire plot quite well so far. This chapter focuses on Sanji and Usopp's POV. This is the last 'set up' chapter, and for a while we're going to experience some turbulence. Stay tuned!

Chapter Three: The Eyes

"Alone. Yes, that's the key word, the most awful word in the English tongue. Murder doesn't hold a candle to it and hell is only a poor synonym."

-Stephen King

Usopp could have ran for it, easily. There were half a dozen ways to escape before one of the soldiers could grab him. Even Nami could do it. In fact, under any normal circumstances, he wouldn't have even thought about it this long. He'd have just bolted back to the ship as fast as he could, a hundred percent sure that Nami would be hot on his heels. No one flattered his...erm, professional combat avoidance skills the way their navigator did.

But not today.

Not without leaving Brook behind.

"W-What do you want with us?" he squeaked out, much to his embarrassment.

The sternest of all eight men standing before them had a nose that looked broken—or had been multiple times over his life. His eyes were sharp, gray, cold. "You are hereby summoned to the exalted presence of her Eminence, the beautiful princess Harumi. Since you are not citizens of the kingdom El Lo Misca, you are therefore under arrest and may not refuse the summons lest your party be executed on sight."

Sandpaper shredded Usopp's throat as he almost screeched his alarm, but Heracles' training kicked in. He clenched his teeth and swallowed it down. Why had they chosen to leave the ship without protection? Zoro was the one who started this—he should be here to intimidate the scary people who wanted to kill him.

"What does this princess want with us, exactly?" demanded Nami, folding her arms. "We're not breaking any laws just by shopping."

"The beautiful princess' orders are the law," barked the crooked-beaked soldier gruffly. His men shifted their weight and held their spears menacingly. "Come peacefully, or in chains."

"That will not be necessary," Brook piped in, with well meaning in his tone. Even though Usopp hadn't had the chance to get to know human Brook, he knew that voice. "It would be rude to refuse an invitation from a young lady, Usopp-san, Nami-san. But before we go, may I take my medicine? Lately I have not been well."

Oh, this was perfect! The sniper found it harder to keep his face from looking gleeful than it had been to act fearless. He'd been trying to think of a way to send for help, and their old skeleton had thought of it for him. The smoke pellets. Zoro had made him promise to use them if he were ever separated and needed help—that was shortly after he'd rejoined the crew, of course, when...

Now wasn't a good time to dwell on that.

"Be quick about it," growled the soldier.

"Usopp-san, would you be so kind?" Brook looked at him, and Usopp started to wonder...he couldn't even see Brook's eyes. Had anyone seen them? It hadn't even occurred to him until now, so used was he to the empty, dark stare of his nakama's skull.

Pushing that thought aside, too, he hurriedly fished into his pouch for two of his smallest, pill-like smoke pellets. Then, holding them out as if to give them over, he released his most theatrical fake sneeze in the history of Captain Usopp and his Eight Thousand Men.

The pellets were flung to the ground during the exaggerated motion, and burst into a wild bloom of gray smoke, enveloping both sides of the street.

As the soldiers chorused in alarm and outrage, Usopp reconsidered his options—now would have been the perfect time to run. Nami coughed and waved the smoke out of her face, and boy did she look ticked off. Oops, maybe next time he should have somehow tipped her off about Brook's plan? No, it wouldn't have been possible.

"Ah! Sorry! Please remain calm, gentlemen!" Brook was exclaiming, and through the thinning, gray veil the snipe saw him raise his hands in a helpless gesture. "That was purely an accident! My assistant is always mistaking his ammunition for my medicine—yohoho, it is no wonder I do not get well with such a clumsy helper."

Brook was laughing it off, pretending to be someone he wasn't, putting on a show to cover up the fact that they had just given the signal. A towering plume of smoke that would be visible from the ship, where Franky would definitely see it and send Zoro, Sanji or Luffy to help. Maybe even all three.

As the smoke cleared further, it was obvious that the soldiers weren't completely convinced. Uh, oh. It was the only thought that rushed through Usopp's head before he heard Nami yelp, and saw through the corner of his eyes as a ninth kingdom guard grabbed her wrist and clamped a pair of metal cuffs onto them. Brook was similarly besieged, almost toppling him over like a sapling in the wind. Usopp didn't even try to refuse when the captain of the guard himself ungently threw cuffs over his forearms and clenched them tight.

"Any further attempts to escape will result in official charges being placed against your entire crew! As a further warning, a lifetime of incarceration is the minimum punishment for vile pirates of the Grand Line," ranted their newest enemy, looking down at Usopp and sneering up (ha!) at their tall musician with a leer. "Bring them! The beautiful princess does not have all day."

"Th-th-this isn't fair!" Usopp sputtered as he was lurched forward. "We haven't done anything wrong! It was an accident!"

His cries fell on deaf ears. Of course he panicked. He was afraid, he knew what happened to pirates where they were least wanted. Afraid, and angry. That second part kicked in when he saw one of the men push Brook forward. It almost sent him flying, but Nami reacted faster than Usopp had ever seen and grabbed his elbow to stop him from falling over.

The unadulterated wrath in her eyes sent a chill down Usopp's spine.

"I'm going!"

Two years ago, Sanji wouldn't have been able to stop his captain from doing just that. Luckily, while their lead idiot had gotten faster and stronger, so had their lead moss-head. And Franky. Having a very large, nearly indestructible cyborg (with or without the outrageous blue pontytail) definitely helped when it came to holding Luffy down.

Shit. He shouldn't have let Nami-san go with those two idiots. Now Usopp had given the help signal, and she could be anywhere, with anyone. What had he been thinking?

"Shut up! I'm going to bring them back!" Luffy resorted to biting into the large metal hand that was clenched around him. It couldn't have hurt, but Franky grimaced at the dents left behind by their captain's teeth. "It's my decision as the captain and I'm going to help Usopp, Nami and Brook!"

"Calm down and listen already," Sanji repeated for the fourth time, flicking a cigarette butt into the grass. "The city is crawling with military. They just up and appeared like ghosts; for all we know, there could be twice as many in disguise. Which means this whole thing was a trap to lure us in. Our enemy is two steps ahead of us, and we can't go charging in without some kind of plan to rescue Nami-swan."

"Oi, failed lover," Zoro grunted at him in his usual, gorilla-like way. "Of those three, she's the least of our worries. It's the other two that are helpless right now."

"I hope they have not been chained up and tortured by now," Robin remarked easily. His beautiful Robin-chan, her words of concern were likely butterflies of music in his ears. It was just enough to make him care less about the thickheaded swordsman who couldn't form an opinion out of a paper bag.

"I'm worried about Brook," Chopper said unhappily, hanging over the edge of the ship, staring intently into the harbour's boisterous crowds. "His blood pressure was low this morning, and he hasn't brought his weight up enough for long trips. I don't wanna stay here."

It was bad. As a chef, Sanji knew the importance of keeping a steady, healthy diet. Something Brook hadn't had these past few days, thanks to a new stomach lining and cantankerous digestive track. Nothing could be done about that, however. Best case scenario, if they had somehow gotten arrested or taken somewhere, they would feed him something. Worst case...

They could be starving Nami-san. It was well past lunchtime. His angel hadn't eaten since breakfast...

Rage boiled up from his gut to his fists and he almost crushed the smoke in his left hand.

"See? What are we waiting for? Franky, let me go so I can go rescue them!" Luffy howled, and with a groan and a snap, he pulled one of his rubber arms free. He started banging on Franky's metal first to try and loosen it. He could have, easily. But it would have injured his shipwright, and their captain would sooner eat his straw hat than purposely hurt an innocent nakama.

Zoro joined Chopper at the side of the ship, using a spyglass to search the interior of the busy port. Before the trio left, there hadn't been a single soldier or uniform in sight. Now they were everywhere, Sanji noted, like rodents in a dirty pantry overnight. Some trap ahd been sprung, and while they didn't seem interested in trying to seize or sink the ship, it wasn't a coincidence that Usopp's smoke flare had gone up shortly after they started appearing.

He was almost tempted to tell Franky to let their captain go. But the thought of the wanton collateral damage that would ensue didn't sit right. The shithead marimo had a point about his beloved Nami-san—if they had any hope, she was it until backup could arrive.

"We should create a distraction," Robin-chan spoke up in her infinite wisdom. Her arms were now crossed over her chest as she provided Franky some Luffy-control support. Multiple limbs sprouted from the cyborg's arm and help the captain's free arm down with no small effort. She went on calmly, "If we can divert their attention, one of us may get close enough to find out what happened to Brook's group. Since this is most likely the island where the Devil Fruit artifact originated, I advise we be cautious when dealing with their kingdom's military strength."

"Just walking in isn't an option," said the moss-head, who was obvious having a rare episode of intelligence. "Luffy, you can help me distract the soldiers. The rest of you figure out who's going in. Each of our groups will take a baby transponder snail."

Luffy's struggles actually seemed to lessen over the next few seconds, until he finally stopped altogether. He swallowed. Again, two years ago he may never have accepted leaving the act of rescuing nakama to his nakama. If Rayleigh had taught him anything, it was to reinforce that natural instinct he had to put unbreakable trust in his crew mates.

Franky knew that, too, and put him down on the ship's deck. As soon as the captain's sandals touched wood, he looked up.

Sanji smiled around his cigarette when he saw that look glint in the future Pirate King's eyes. Sometimes, he pitied the people who made an enemy of his captain so much, it hurt.

TBC