While Usopp continued his lunch, a part of him couldn't help but worry. There were simply too many people from his world that he would be powerless to defeat. What was he supposed to do if someone like Kizaru arrived here? Run away? From someone who can travel at the speed of light?! It's not like he could win against him either. He has no way to counter the Admiral's logia power, and even without it, Usopp was sure he would lose just by virtue of his physical strength.

And that was just one person. There were many others that fell firmly into the 'unbeatable' category, and it seemed like every second, a new name and face to worry about popped into his mind.

Usopp groaned. He just didn't know enough about how he arrived in Remnant to know if he even should be worrying about people from his world. For all he knew, what happened to him was a once in a millennia occurrence, or it could be something that happens every Tuesday. While he hadn't exactly caught wind of any unexplainable disappearances while he was in his own world, it was no guarantee that it couldn't happen in the future.

"Gah... I can't stop worrying about enemies from my world that could show up at any moment."

"It can't be something that happens often, though," Jaune said, "If some of these people are as strong as you claim, then Remnant would have been conquered or wiped out by now. Or some uber-powerful Huntsman would have made themselves known."

"That's true. At the very least, I don't think anyone powerful enough to take on the world with no repercussions has arrived yet. But, I still think that my world's enemies are something to at least be concerned about. I'll try to draw the faces that I remember of the people you should be careful around. And I'll try to give what I know about their powers, and just how dangerous they are. I'll also tell you about some things unique to my world, and what their weaknesses are. And… well, while I'm at it, I may as well draw the people from my crew in case you bump into them."

Taking out a stack of paper that he conveniently had on him, he got to work drawing faces from memory, which wasn't easy at all. Usopp was sure that he was forgetting about a lot of people, but the stack of faces he quickly made was a good start. The drawings he had absolute confidence in, however, were the ones of his crewmates. He also wrote down what he knew about Devil Fruits, both in general, and details about specific powers he could remember.

"Here, this should help you out."

In the cold, icy landscape of Solitas, one man grabbed a Megoliath by its trunk and slammed into another one, causing both to dissolve.

"Weapons Left!"

Waves of approaching Sabyrs were shot down with rapid fire shots.

"Strong Right!"

A metal fist crushed a Megoliath skull from afar, with only a chain connecting it to its owner. As it dissolved, many surrounding Grimm got the message and cleared out.

"Damn, what the hell are those things? Are they puppets made by some Devil Fruit power? But more importantly, this damn cold is actually worth worrying about! This day isn't turning out to be super at all!"

This would not be the first time Franky found himself in a freezing environment without the proper clothing, but it did not make this experience any better. Especially since this place seemed even colder than any place he's been to. Luckily, he spotted some sort of aircraft flying above.

"Now, maybe I can catch a ride with them. This will take a bit of cola, but..."

Franky's ass started to inflate to a ridiculous degree. His top half was smaller than his bottom half for once, even if it was shaped like a balloon.

"Coup de Boo!" he shouted as a massive cola powered fart propelled him to the unfortunate aircraft. At the apex of his flight, he was close enough to extend his arm, grab on, and get on top of the thing. It barely managed to stabilize with the metal cyborg being almost half of the aircraft's size.

He looked over the edge and knocked on one of the side doors. "Hey, it's super cold out here! Mind letting me in?!"

Arthur Watts sighed as he laid back into his chair. He was by no means a botanist, but regardless, he was still considered the most qualified to study the mysterious Pop Greens that Cinder had delivered some time ago.

He was almost at the point where he could give a proper report to Salem, he only had to check a particular experiment of his before he was ready. Although, the strange plants certainly made him scratch his head in confusion many times.

There were two ways that a Pop Green seed could grow. One way would produce relatively harmless and mundane seed producing plants. These plants, like normal plants, require adequate water, light, and soil. There was nothing particularly hard about this side of Pop Greens to understand, even though plant care was by no means his specialty.

What was giving him trouble was the side that could be weaponized. Under certain circumstances, the seeds could grow into a fully sized plant in moments. This plant did not resemble the seed producing variety at all, and they don't need water or sunlight to grow. Some don't even need to be in the ground, which makes handling Pop Greens potentially dangerous if one didn't know what they were doing. What triggers this response is different for each species of Pop Green, which made his job harder. Of course, if his latest experiment was a success, then these issues could be circumvented.

Now, to check on that one group of plants…

Exiting his lab and venturing outside, he walked towards a Grimm pool that had several Pop Green plants growing next to it. It's not an idea he thought would work, even though Salem had ordered it. One didn't need to be a botanist to think that replacing water with Grimm liquid was by no means viable for a plant. Most had simply withered and died on the spot, although a select few had somehow survived. It was just another thing about Pop Greens that made him scratch his head.

Looking at the plants that managed to survive so far, the color of their leaves turned to a deep black, and the branches turned bleach white. The seeds they produced, however, were a mix of the two.

Wait, seeds?

Kneeling down, it seemed that the corrupted plants had actually managed to produce seeds somehow. He honestly wasn't sure how it was possible, but then again, he thought the same about the plants even surviving.

So this is the result… I wonder if they work, and what they would even produce. But if it's something Grimm related, then Salem would be able to control it.

As he started to harvest the seeds, a few seeds fell on their own, straight into the black pool. It started bubbling violently for several seconds before a black, leafy claw reached out.

Arthur took a few steps back, but he was grinning as the rest of the monster crawled out of its pool. This project is officially a success.

An ear splitting howl reverberated across the land.

"So, this is their house?" Usopp asked.

It was a place in the middle of nowhere, on the island of Patch.

Jaune nodded. "We've visited here once before while you were recovering."

Usopp knocked on the door, and after a few seconds, Qrow answered. His jaw hung open for a second. "How the hell did you recover so fast, kiddo?"

Usopp started to say 'Milk' before he was interrupted by Nora shouting "It's cause he's an alien!"

By this point, Taiyang had also made it to the front door, being very confused at the conversation.

"Nora, you can't just tell everyone that and expect them to believe you. Even if it's technically true," Ren said.

Usopp sighed. "Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter if people think we're crazy."

Qrow's jaw hung lower, before he shook his head. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, but I just want to check in on Ruby and Yang. If that's alright."

"Ruby's still unconscious," Taiyang said, "But Yang is in her room. She's tough, but… It's just going to take some time for her to get used to things. Ah, but I should introduce myself. I'm Taiyang, Yang and Ruby's father."

Usopp shook his hand. "And I'm Usopp. Ruby, Yang, and I are friends. Can I talk to Yang?"

"Alone?"

"You're her father, so I won't stop you from joining in if you want."

"...Nah, I'll let you two have some time alone. Since you were there when… well..."

"Thanks."

He started to walk off to Yang's room, but Qrow's hand stopped him. "Wait a second, are we just going to forget about the whole deal of you being an alien?"

"I can explain it myself later if you want, but if you want to know about it now, you can ask Jaune, Nora, or Ren."

Qrow nodded, intending to do exactly that.

With everything settled, Usopp knocked on Yang's door. "This is Usopp, do you have a moment?"

There was a pause. It wasn't for several seconds before Yang replied, "Yeah, sure. come in."

He opened the door to see a melancholic Yang, sitting on her bed and looking out the window. And of course, she was missing an arm.

And whose fault is that…

He wanted to ask something like 'Are you okay?' but the answer was pretty obvious from her appearance. In the end, even though he was the one who had wanted to initiate the conversation, he was struggling with how to start it.

Yang solved that problem for him.

"It's good to see you up and moving. For a moment, I thought… I thought that I may have lost you too."

That's right, those doctors really scared everyone with their doom and gloom… Or maybe it was actually seeing my horribly injured body that did so.

"Well, the doctors that took care of me knew what they were doing. But that's not why I came. First of all, I came to apologize."

"What for?"

And so, Usopp spent the next several minutes explaining what he already told Jaune, Nora, and Ren about. That he was from another world, that he spent much of his free time trying to find a way home, and that things might have been different if he used that time to get stronger.

"I see… You're right to think I wouldn't have believed that a while ago. But I think you're putting far more blame on yourself than you should."

"Maybe… thanks… But that's not the only reason I wanted to talk with you. There's something that happened after you lost consciousness that night that had me confused, but it also saved our lives."

Yang's attention was focused on Usopp, a silent inclination to continue.

"Some woman came out of a portal and started attacking that White Fang swordsman. She had that bastard on the defensive, so I used the opportunity to get a shot off on him. He lost an arm from that, so he ran away."

"What did that woman look like?"

"Her face was covered by a mask, but she had long, black hair. Her clothes were red and black, but my memories about the exact details of her outfit are hazy at best."

Yang stared off into nothingness, lost in thought.

"That woman also told me to tell you that she would not be there to save you again. Do you know who this person is? She seemed to know your name at least."

"I… think so? It's a lot to process… I just need to think about it."

"I'll leave you to do that, then. But before I leave, I have two things to give to you."

The first thing was a makeshift 'handbook' that contained everything that he had written down for Jaune, Nora, and Ren about possible enemies from his world, Devil Fruit powers, and his crew.

The second thing, however, was a letter.

"Can you give that letter to Ruby when she wakes up? Of course, if you want to check it over beforehand, that's fine."

Yang nodded, and Usopp left soon after.

On their boat ride out of Patch, Jaune caught Usopp looking out to the waves.

"I hope you're not planning anything reckless, Usopp," Jaune said.

"Like what?"

"Like going after Cinder alone or something."

Usopp laughed. "Oh of course not! I caught a glimpse of her Aura, and it seems even scarier than before for some reason. I wouldn't want to fight her."

He lied as naturally as he breathed.

By nightfall, curiosity got the better of Yang, and she opened Usopp's letter to Ruby.

Hey Ruby, if you're reading this then I guess you finally woke up. I'm sorry for not staying here until you did, but there's something I need to take care of by myself. For the time being, don't worry anymore about helping me find a way home. Even if I could right now, it wouldn't feel right.

Not with Cinder still on the loose, at least.

You're all great friends, so I know everyone's too kind to say it, but I really messed up back there in Beacon. And because of that, Pyrrha's not coming back. I've already apologized to Jaune, Nora, and Ren as of writing this letter, but that will never be enough. The only thing to do from here is to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

So I'm going after Cinder. If she's still in Haven by the time I get there, I'll make it her grave. Since I'm a pirate, it's only fitting that I should be the one to dirty my hands.

I am a bit concerned about people from my world showing up out of the blue and giving you trouble, so please look through the handbook I gave to your sister. Even though that might be a problem, I don't think it's that likely, so I'll make Cinder my priority. I'll use my ability to find her and any underlings with her, and snipe them from far away. That way, I should be able to avoid Emerald's Semblance, and if I'm lucky, finish of Cinder before she gets the chance to fight me fairly.

I probably won't get lucky though, so I'll also try to get stronger on the way. Hopefully I'll get my Semblance, but if not, I have a couple of other ideas for techniques to try out.

Of course, knowing you, I'm sure you'll try to follow me. Nothing I say can stop you, so just be safe. By the time you get to Haven, everything should be taken care of already.

-Usopp

Yang clenched her fist. "You idiot... You always pull stunts like this... Just don't die."

A/N: Whew, finally done with the 'interlude' type chapters and ready to move on to the next phase. Something I learned though, is that I can't write Yangst for the life of me. I feel like she should have been more mellowed out this chapter, but whenever I tried to write it that way, I would kind of feel empty and lose the motivation to write. But on the other hand, I felt like I couldn't just skip the conversation between Usopp and Yang. So if Yang feels OOC here, I'm sorry.

Anyways, I'm pretty hyped to write some of the things coming up, but I unfortunately can't talk about it. You should be able to guess some of it though.