"Huh?" Usopp just blinked at the sight of Simo... well, Sai, now.
Sai hadn't been turning into a werewolf, he'd been turning into a ninja. Apparently--Usopp had always sort of assumed ninjas wore more covering clothing to help them with the kinds of things the did, sneaking around in the dark and stabbing stuff, but he wasn't exactly an expert on ninjas, so maybe the bare stomach was normal. It still looked like the kind of outfit someone could fight in, better than putting on a coat in the hopes of either warding off attacks or dropping it to flee if it were grabbed. Where'd Sai gotten it?
It even explained why he'd gotten here and Sai hadn't been waiting; he'd been doing a complete clothing change. Aside from the fact that Usopp had walked very fast; this place was creepy at night. As soon as the door was opened wide enough, Usopp slipped inside, to another of the rooms they'd been tempted out of earlier and therefore hopefully to safety.
"So... his current state? Did being here drive him crazy or something?" Being around friends or even just fellow ninjas who went crazy was probably not good for a person's morale. No wonder Sai had seemed happy to see him, if they were friends. Everything Sai'd told him so far seemed to be true, other than not seeing any monsters. Even if it was hard to believe he had a friend he didn't know, it was better to have a friend here at all.
Sai shook his head and glanced briefly over at his roommate. "No. He was fine just yesterday. Somehow the Institute managed to brainwash a good portion of its population today into believing the lies the staff try to convince us of on a daily basis. He isn't usually like that."
The ninja walked back over to his dresser, shifting a couple gray shirts aside until he found a certain item - a gray bandanna with a pirate symbol on it that he deposited on his bed. He didn't know if Usopp would recognize his own handiwork, but it couldn't hurt. "Any questions you have I can now answer to the best of my ability."
Even if Sasuke had been with them at that point, there was no further reason to lie after dark. Sai doubted it was going to be any safer out there than it normally was, which could be a problem if the two ninja affected by the Institute that day hadn't yet recovered.
Usopp had been surprised by Honey, mostly the fact that the other young man had been there. Sai's outfit had gotten his attention, and he hadn't seen the other until Sai had looked over and Honey had started to leave. He waved back to be polite, a little dazed. Where'd he get a stuffed rabbit? And... a long stick? Maybe the same place Sai had gotten the outfit. At least it looked good for Usopp's own stuff to possibly be recovered.
Sai was digging in his own dresser, and pulled out a small object that Usopp had to lean over and use his light to see clearly. He was somehow certain that, although Sai was offering to answer whatever he could, Usopp's questions were not going to all get answered tonight. There couldn't possibly be enough night, for one thing.
That was his work. He'd seen similarly stylized skulls, along with the more realistic ones that some crews used, but... he knew his own style, and this had been drawn for Sai, by him. It was sort of like getting hit in the stomach by a fishman, but less painful and more dizzying. Sitting with a thump on one of the beds seemed like the most reasonable thing to do at the moment, so Usopp followed his instincts.
"I'm... sorry I don't remember you. Why don't I? Is that something else they can do here?" It was pretty scary to think about. How do you know what's real if everything is a hallucination? How do you know what was real before if you only remember part of before?
Luffy's real; he's going to be the pirate king. Sai's a ninja. And I'm a pirate. Even if it were in doubt, it wasn't optional. "Sai, if I start breathing funny, just hit me on the back or something and I'll be okay."
Honey had said he had other plans, so Sai just smiled at his roommate as he left. The smile didn't diminish after he was gone. Usopp would need to feel comfortable, after all, and a smile was supposed to help with that. Granted, Sai's smiles didn't always look natural enough to do the job, but he really felt as if he was improving.
"You wouldn't be the first I've seen this happen to," Sai tried to assure him, though the news likely wasn't all that assuring. "Sometimes people disappear from here. More often than not they don't return, but when they do they don't recall any of the time they spent here before. I met someone else this had happened to the shift before I ran into you. It's... a lot to explain. The Institute can draw in just about anyone from just about any place and time. I'm sorry if it's confusing."
Usopp had taken a seat and Sai rushed to his side to make sure he was all right. Emotions could have physical effects. He'd seen this - had felt it recently. Hopefully these revelations wouldn't be too much for his friend.
Usopp didn't take much notice of the quality of Sai's smile for now (Zoro and Robin had much scarier smiles, after all, and Brook's smile was pretty much sealed by his lack of face) but he did notice Sai coming closer, seeming concerned. Taking a deep breath, he realized his head was kind of spinning, but not too badly. Going to the sky and fighting God, that was weird. What was brainwashing compared to that?
"'m okay, 'm okay, sorry. It's just weird. That's a cool design. I drew that, didn't I?" Usopp didn't really need the confirmation, but he had to ask. And if he'd drawn that, they must have been pretty good friends after all. It was kind of cute, although he didn't get all of it quite yet. Maybe after he knew Sai better... again. He gave Sai a wider smile, trying to look a little more confident and a little less like his tempura shrimp was coming up.
"So! We're friends. It's good to have a friend I didn't even know about! But I do need to get back to my crew, I... We were in a really big..." Did he? Luffy'd been telling them to run, to get away, and Usopp couldn't get much more 'away' at the moment. "Well, I need to get back to see how things turned out, even if I can't get there in time to help. Or did I say that before too?"
It wasn't as simple as that, either, was it? If he had a friend here, and he wouldn't remember if he left, he couldn't just leave the guy again. What would Luffy do? "Before that, where'd you get the outfit? Is my stuff someplace around here? We need to kick the ass of whoever's responsible, right? So people can get out and not get dragged back. Or get out and stay out. Or whatever it is that's going on."
The ninja let Usopp ramble, let him get out as many questions as he wanted in one go. He wouldn't like the answers to most of them, but that had been expected from the beginning. Landel's was not a place for happy tidings.
First, the simplest. "You made that for me, yes." It was a bit dirtied, but that was hard to avoid when dodging masses of the undead. "I had stopped wearing it at night for fear of something happening to it," and not being able to get another, "but my nurse allows me to put it on when we go on the weekly field trip." He was grateful to that, as last time he'd used it to store a vile of sedative.
"I don't know where my outfit came from. One day it just appeared in my closet. You had yours too, but I guess you don't anymore. I don't know how that's decided. I'm sorry." Perhaps if he was around for long enough it would appear again? It had been somewhat of an odd outfit, but if the pirate found it comfortable he wouldn't be one to judge.
And then came the more difficult news. "As for getting back to your crew... I've never heard of anyone escaping here. Disappearing, yes, but not escaping. We're working toward that end, certainly, and perhaps I haven't done my best... but I've been here over three weeks now. Your captain is here as well, actually. He's been around longer than I have."
Usopp nodded, quieting down to listen for a moment. Sai was pretty patient, and reminded him a little of Robin, though some of that might just have been the black hair and stoic attitude. Even earlier today, he'd just put an arm around Usopp, instead of grabbing and clinging, which might have been Usopp's response in a situation like...
Poor guy. Then he'd gotten a terrified, well, confused sniper who didn't know him and a brainwashed ninja to harass him instead of a touching reunion. That was probably disappointing, at the least.
He'd been trying to hold back his questions until the end, not wanting to speak over Sai, until they reached the news about Luffy. "What?!" Usopp jumped up off the bed, grabbing Sai by his shoulders. This time, the grin wasn't fake. "Luffy's here too?! That's great! Then that means--"
Longer than Sai's been here?
"Wait, that makes no... okay, I'll sit down again." Usopp decided the floor looked better for strategic discussion, and just sort of slid down past Sai to a sitting position there. Beds were a nice change from even the sleeping swings on Thousand Sunny, but the floor had such a pleasant solid quality to it. Plus, it was harder to fall off of a floor. "No, that's actually really bad. No, that's good, but in a less easy way. Right. Let's start with simple questions again. How long have you been here, where are the monsters, and how did you get the scar?"
Doubt about the monsters had vanished around the time the roommate had left cheerily with a long wooden pole. The guy looked as if he expected monsters and was just so used to it that it didn't even warrant comment or excessive worry. Maybe having the stuffed rabbit helped. Could Usopp get some kind of stuffed animal if he asked, nicely? A cute little version of Merry, even?
And my roommate's never been on a proper island... Uh-oh. Would Allen be okay too? He'd seemed like someone who knew how to take care of himself, but he hadn't had a weapon.
Sai watched Usopp go through a whole range of emotions and then moved to steady him as he slipped to the floor, but didn't make actual physical contact. This information was always difficult to take in. The ninja himself hadn't been willing to believe the concept of multiple worlds upon his arrival and he hadn't even breached that subject with the pirate yet. One thing at a time.
He took a seat on the floor as well, reminded just for a moment of the night he and Usopp had first met. Thankfully, the conditions this time around were far better. (He wasn't bleeding to death, for one thing.) "As I told you, I've been here over three weeks. Twenty-two days, to be exact." And it actually seemed longer, making it difficult to keep a good count. Taking note of important events on the bulletin a while back had helped refresh his memory.
"The monsters can appear just about anywhere after dark, along with patients that have been brainwashed to fight against the other patients. Generally, the patient blocks are safer than most, but that's not a certainty. In fact, when I first met you, you and your captain were fighting off giant leeches in one of the patient bathrooms." It had been a unique experience, and one he'd rather not repeat. Leeches weren't meant to be grown that size, especially not with the teeth that those had.
Then he was reminded of the fading scar on his arm. Given how fast injuries healed in this place, it was almost surprising that it was still visible. Soon enough it would be gone. "You weren't with me the night I got this. A wound I received from a kunai drew the attention of a very large spider. I've fought those here more than once, but it got a good grip on me that time."
He lowered the arm, watching his friend carefully. "Will you be all right?"
Usopp was glad Sai sat down too, since it would have been awkward to try and carry on a conversation with him still standing. He managed another, more awkward smile. If Luffy had been here longer than Sai, and Sai had been here three weeks... That was just disturbing. Luffy wasn't great about not getting stuck in places, true, but it didn't usually last for weeks, and certainly not when his crewmates were in danger. Or friends.
It was also alarming to hear about giant leeches, though good to know he and Luffy had been fighting them off, and Sai came to help. No wonder they'd become good friends, then; there was nothing like fighting beside someone to bond, right? It also inspired a twinge of guilt at Sai's comment that he wasn't there when Sai got the wound from what must have been a champion amongst spiders. Even the crew had to separate and got injured sometimes, so it wasn't as if he could cling to his new old friend to make sure Sai remained safe. Leaving out the fact that he was unarmed, and also not a ninja, so it'd be more likely that Sai would have to protect him in a fight.
"Oh, I'll be fine. I just have to figure out what's going on, that's all. And what to do, I guess." Usopp eyed the scar some more. "Did Luffy say what he last remembered before coming here? Never mind, I should try to find him anyway, I can ask him." He gave a more genuine smile as he realized Sai was watching him. "It's good you took care of the symbol, though! You know, a pirate's banner is his pride! Letting someone else damage it is like letting them spit on you. I guess it's different if you aren't really a pirate, unless you're a ninja-pirate now. Still, I'm happy, even if I don't remember drawing it."
He hesitated, and then, feeling more awkward than Sai looked, Usopp leaned forward, putting his arms around Sai tightly for a moment before letting go. "I'm sorry I left and forgot that you were here." Friends were in danger. Even Luffy might be in danger. "I'll try to find some way to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm... do you... do you think that scar's going to stay long?" Please say no. Please say no. Please say no. Please say yes. Pleeeeaaase say no. It was too obvious, wasn't it? It was really obvious. If whoever was running this place could take people from any time and send them back with no memories, or brainwash people here into believing whatever they liked, they ought to have some way to prevent something so obvious. Besides, this kind of plan suited Zoro better.
The last question took Sai by surprise, and it was a few moments before he could process what the pirate was trying to say with it. Though, this could have had something to do with the fact that Usopp had just hugged him and he still didn't know how to react to that. He sat there a bit stunned, a slight bit of redness creeping onto his cheeks. That had been a hug, right?
"A-ah? I... think it should heal with a bit more time. Why... Oh!" Sai smiled again, awkwardly honest. "No, you were here when I got this. I had just been running a mission with another patient. It's nothing you could have prevented, so I wouldn't worry about it." Mission might not be the right word, but it fit as far as the ninja was concerned. He'd expected when he went along with Mello to be the only one facing anyone or anything in combat. The blond wasn't much of a fighter.
"I haven't spoken with Luffy-kun in some time, but I know he's still around. You should ask for him on the bulletin when you get a chance, but you'll have to be careful. They've gotten more strict on what they don't allow to be written." He reached up onto the bed and curled his fingers around the bandanna there, pulling it down into his lap. If Usopp was back, he should start wearing it again.
"Right. Okay. So are scars like that kinda common?" Usopp's smile got a little easier as he saw Sai's awkwardness in return. If anyone was stupidly straightforward, it should be him. ... Or Luffy, or maybe Brook or someone, but none of them were here right now so it was up to him. Sai seemed to have picked up on at least part of his question's origin, a feeling of guilt, which was a little embarrassing since Usopp hadn't being trying to be obvious about that. Maybe gawking at the scar hadn't helped. "My roommate had a really bandaged arm, too, although he didn't know why. Wouldn't it be hard to send people back with injuries like that? They wouldn't know where they came from. I know some guys who wouldn't even notice, but most people would, right? And... what's the bulletin?"
If it was some kind of written message system and being edited, Usopp doubted he'd get Luffy's attention on it at all, unless it was read out loud forcefully at some point during the day. Luffy tended to have really short patience with things like word games, and if it was being edited but he hadn't destroyed it or at least wandered off making annoyed noises by now, Usopp would be really surprised. He still couldn't understand why this place hadn't been smashed yet. Luffy was a lot stronger than some giant spiders or leeches... probably stronger than any brainwashed patients, too. Maybe there was something here he needed or something he wanted to destroy that hadn't been found yet, like the voice from the ceiling. "I have another question too! Luffy's ridiculously strong, it's kind of a tiny bit terrifying actually, so why hasn't he left? Even when I first met him he could tear apart ships in the right mood, and he's just kept getting stronger since then."
His real question hadn't been answered yet, but he was increasingly getting the feeling that the answer would be 'no' to that too. Even if it worked out, Sai didn't seem like the type to want to help him, and Usopp knew he couldn't do it himself even if it might work. It wasn't a matter of will or wanting to protect his crew and friends, but just thinking about it made him a little queasy. Usopp wasn't entirely positive whether he was happy to have an excuse out of it, or unhappy that such an easy answer wasn't available.
"Injuries are common, but I don't know about scars. Most wounds heal quickly here. It's possible." Sai blinked at the comment about Usopp's roommate, as that seemed unusual. "I can't say I've ever heard of anyone arriving here already injured. Patients can have been killed before they arrived, but all their wounds would have been healed." That was something the pirate might want to ask his roommate about, because he could have been mistaken or the other boy could have been lying. Though given the recent changes in the Institute, that issue might be a new one as well.
"As for your captain... Abilities are limited here. Chances are the Institute is holding him back from releasing his full potential. Many of us would have escaped by now if this wasn't the case." He considered demonstrating his own ability to manipulate ink with chakra, but he didn't want to use his supplies if it wasn't necessary.
"Wait, killed? As in, not breathing and no heartbeat for a long time, not moving, absolutely without a doubt dead?" Usopp's jaw dropped. At least that canceled any gross ideas on how to remember this place for certain. "How can... they can time travel. Right? So even if someone died, they could take them from just a moment earlier in their life. That might work." Unless Sai had met someone who'd died, vanished, and come back from later in their lives, which would also be terribly creepy. Luffy might be able to tell him where, er, when Usopp had come from before (still creepy) but the chances were just as good Luffy wouldn't care enough to remember.
Maybe, even if the 'patient' wasn't killed here or at home, but this place had done whatever it wanted to do already, the person was just dumped into a meat grinder instead of going to the trouble of brainwashing them to forget, cleaning up any damage, and sending them back safely. Why bother to do something so considerate? Maybe he'd already been ground up and just didn't know it yet.
Everybody'd come looking if you--or especially if Luffy vanished out of nowhere.
Maybe they could make clone replicas that would look and sound the same, to take the place of missing people. Or maybe there were a million possibilities without knowing more and he should stop breathing so fast before Sai worried again. Usopp held his breath a moment before going on.
"Sai, can I ask you a really crazy question? Can you describe the world to me?" Never been on an island; thought they all were tropical. Allen was quickly going from the 'probably crazy' to 'probably sane' category, if Sai's statements were believable. Which they weren't, but if Usopp insisted on the believable, he'd have been gone before the crew had even entered the Grand Line.
That was another unexpected question. Sai was used to Usopp saying the unexpected by now, however. Or at least as used as anyone could be as far as that was concerned. He gave the matter some thought, trying to decide how best to describe things when he still didn't know a great deal about the world the pirate came from.
"It's hard to say. Outside of this building there's woodland, and beyond that there's a town that we're taken to once a week. I don't believe anyone has seen further than that, and it's far more dangerous out at night than during the day. All of the area is under Landel's control." Though the Head Doctor's words over the intercom made it seem as though the undead weren't a common occurrence, he couldn't be sure how well that could be trusted. It was possible that if one made it as far as the town on a regular night there would still be streets full of zombies to meet them.
Usopp blinked, staring for a long moment after Sai's answer. Finally he spoke. "Sai... why can't you describe more of the world than that? Why is it hard to say?"
A person didn't just become a ninja, or whatever Sai was dressed as (ninja seemed pretty likely still) while living in a small Institute off of a small town that was seen once a week. It made no sense. No sense at all. Even less sense than time travel.
"Sai, my roommate said he'd never been to an island before." Usopp noticed, through a wave of dizziness, that he was starting a lot of sentences with his new friend's name. It was better to have a solid, concrete thought on hand, like making sure he kept his friend's name straight. "Sai, I think I'm going to throw up. No, I'm going to scream. Maybe I'll do one, then I'll do the other." He paused. "Sai, I'm not going to soil my pants, because that wouldn't help, would it? It would just smell bad. Sai, I think the walls are getting smaller. Or I'm getting bigger. Saiii, please hit me before I start screaming, please. That would be very friendly, SAAAAIIIIIIIEEEE!" Closing his eyes and covering his ears seemed reasonable enough, much better than vomiting.
He'd done something wrong, perhaps given the information too quickly. It was difficult finding a way to get everything across to those who'd just arrived. A lot of what happened in the Institute didn't make any sense, so one couldn't assume that anyone was just going to take the news in stride. How else was he supposed to describe the world to Usopp when he hadn't seen much else of it. Hadn't he said he'd been there three weeks?
Or perhaps there were still concepts that he'd failed to explain. But with the way Usopp was currently freaking out it would be difficult to get the message across. He didn't want to hit the pirate, and he considered hugging him again instead, but was that really the correct response to this? Should he do what his friend wanted?
After a moment of hesitation, Sai backhanded Usopp across the face. He did look immediately apologetic afterwards.
Sai hadn't been turning into a werewolf, he'd been turning into a ninja. Apparently--Usopp had always sort of assumed ninjas wore more covering clothing to help them with the kinds of things the did, sneaking around in the dark and stabbing stuff, but he wasn't exactly an expert on ninjas, so maybe the bare stomach was normal. It still looked like the kind of outfit someone could fight in, better than putting on a coat in the hopes of either warding off attacks or dropping it to flee if it were grabbed. Where'd Sai gotten it?
It even explained why he'd gotten here and Sai hadn't been waiting; he'd been doing a complete clothing change. Aside from the fact that Usopp had walked very fast; this place was creepy at night. As soon as the door was opened wide enough, Usopp slipped inside, to another of the rooms they'd been tempted out of earlier and therefore hopefully to safety.
"So... his current state? Did being here drive him crazy or something?" Being around friends or even just fellow ninjas who went crazy was probably not good for a person's morale. No wonder Sai had seemed happy to see him, if they were friends. Everything Sai'd told him so far seemed to be true, other than not seeing any monsters. Even if it was hard to believe he had a friend he didn't know, it was better to have a friend here at all.
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The ninja walked back over to his dresser, shifting a couple gray shirts aside until he found a certain item - a gray bandanna with a pirate symbol on it that he deposited on his bed. He didn't know if Usopp would recognize his own handiwork, but it couldn't hurt. "Any questions you have I can now answer to the best of my ability."
Even if Sasuke had been with them at that point, there was no further reason to lie after dark. Sai doubted it was going to be any safer out there than it normally was, which could be a problem if the two ninja affected by the Institute that day hadn't yet recovered.
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Sai was digging in his own dresser, and pulled out a small object that Usopp had to lean over and use his light to see clearly. He was somehow certain that, although Sai was offering to answer whatever he could, Usopp's questions were not going to all get answered tonight. There couldn't possibly be enough night, for one thing.
That was his work. He'd seen similarly stylized skulls, along with the more realistic ones that some crews used, but... he knew his own style, and this had been drawn for Sai, by him. It was sort of like getting hit in the stomach by a fishman, but less painful and more dizzying. Sitting with a thump on one of the beds seemed like the most reasonable thing to do at the moment, so Usopp followed his instincts.
"I'm... sorry I don't remember you. Why don't I? Is that something else they can do here?" It was pretty scary to think about. How do you know what's real if everything is a hallucination? How do you know what was real before if you only remember part of before?
Luffy's real; he's going to be the pirate king. Sai's a ninja. And I'm a pirate. Even if it were in doubt, it wasn't optional. "Sai, if I start breathing funny, just hit me on the back or something and I'll be okay."
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"You wouldn't be the first I've seen this happen to," Sai tried to assure him, though the news likely wasn't all that assuring. "Sometimes people disappear from here. More often than not they don't return, but when they do they don't recall any of the time they spent here before. I met someone else this had happened to the shift before I ran into you. It's... a lot to explain. The Institute can draw in just about anyone from just about any place and time. I'm sorry if it's confusing."
Usopp had taken a seat and Sai rushed to his side to make sure he was all right. Emotions could have physical effects. He'd seen this - had felt it recently. Hopefully these revelations wouldn't be too much for his friend.
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"'m okay, 'm okay, sorry. It's just weird. That's a cool design. I drew that, didn't I?" Usopp didn't really need the confirmation, but he had to ask. And if he'd drawn that, they must have been pretty good friends after all. It was kind of cute, although he didn't get all of it quite yet. Maybe after he knew Sai better... again. He gave Sai a wider smile, trying to look a little more confident and a little less like his tempura shrimp was coming up.
"So! We're friends. It's good to have a friend I didn't even know about! But I do need to get back to my crew, I... We were in a really big..." Did he? Luffy'd been telling them to run, to get away, and Usopp couldn't get much more 'away' at the moment. "Well, I need to get back to see how things turned out, even if I can't get there in time to help. Or did I say that before too?"
It wasn't as simple as that, either, was it? If he had a friend here, and he wouldn't remember if he left, he couldn't just leave the guy again. What would Luffy do? "Before that, where'd you get the outfit? Is my stuff someplace around here? We need to kick the ass of whoever's responsible, right? So people can get out and not get dragged back. Or get out and stay out. Or whatever it is that's going on."
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First, the simplest. "You made that for me, yes." It was a bit dirtied, but that was hard to avoid when dodging masses of the undead. "I had stopped wearing it at night for fear of something happening to it," and not being able to get another, "but my nurse allows me to put it on when we go on the weekly field trip." He was grateful to that, as last time he'd used it to store a vile of sedative.
"I don't know where my outfit came from. One day it just appeared in my closet. You had yours too, but I guess you don't anymore. I don't know how that's decided. I'm sorry." Perhaps if he was around for long enough it would appear again? It had been somewhat of an odd outfit, but if the pirate found it comfortable he wouldn't be one to judge.
And then came the more difficult news. "As for getting back to your crew... I've never heard of anyone escaping here. Disappearing, yes, but not escaping. We're working toward that end, certainly, and perhaps I haven't done my best... but I've been here over three weeks now. Your captain is here as well, actually. He's been around longer than I have."
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Poor guy. Then he'd gotten a terrified, well, confused sniper who didn't know him and a brainwashed ninja to harass him instead of a touching reunion. That was probably disappointing, at the least.
He'd been trying to hold back his questions until the end, not wanting to speak over Sai, until they reached the news about Luffy. "What?!" Usopp jumped up off the bed, grabbing Sai by his shoulders. This time, the grin wasn't fake. "Luffy's here too?! That's great! Then that means--"
Longer than Sai's been here?
"Wait, that makes no... okay, I'll sit down again." Usopp decided the floor looked better for strategic discussion, and just sort of slid down past Sai to a sitting position there. Beds were a nice change from even the sleeping swings on Thousand Sunny, but the floor had such a pleasant solid quality to it. Plus, it was harder to fall off of a floor. "No, that's actually really bad. No, that's good, but in a less easy way. Right. Let's start with simple questions again. How long have you been here, where are the monsters, and how did you get the scar?"
Doubt about the monsters had vanished around the time the roommate had left cheerily with a long wooden pole. The guy looked as if he expected monsters and was just so used to it that it didn't even warrant comment or excessive worry. Maybe having the stuffed rabbit helped. Could Usopp get some kind of stuffed animal if he asked, nicely? A cute little version of Merry, even?
And my roommate's never been on a proper island... Uh-oh. Would Allen be okay too? He'd seemed like someone who knew how to take care of himself, but he hadn't had a weapon.
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He took a seat on the floor as well, reminded just for a moment of the night he and Usopp had first met. Thankfully, the conditions this time around were far better. (He wasn't bleeding to death, for one thing.) "As I told you, I've been here over three weeks. Twenty-two days, to be exact." And it actually seemed longer, making it difficult to keep a good count. Taking note of important events on the bulletin a while back had helped refresh his memory.
"The monsters can appear just about anywhere after dark, along with patients that have been brainwashed to fight against the other patients. Generally, the patient blocks are safer than most, but that's not a certainty. In fact, when I first met you, you and your captain were fighting off giant leeches in one of the patient bathrooms." It had been a unique experience, and one he'd rather not repeat. Leeches weren't meant to be grown that size, especially not with the teeth that those had.
Then he was reminded of the fading scar on his arm. Given how fast injuries healed in this place, it was almost surprising that it was still visible. Soon enough it would be gone. "You weren't with me the night I got this. A wound I received from a kunai drew the attention of a very large spider. I've fought those here more than once, but it got a good grip on me that time."
He lowered the arm, watching his friend carefully. "Will you be all right?"
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It was also alarming to hear about giant leeches, though good to know he and Luffy had been fighting them off, and Sai came to help. No wonder they'd become good friends, then; there was nothing like fighting beside someone to bond, right? It also inspired a twinge of guilt at Sai's comment that he wasn't there when Sai got the wound from what must have been a champion amongst spiders. Even the crew had to separate and got injured sometimes, so it wasn't as if he could cling to his new old friend to make sure Sai remained safe. Leaving out the fact that he was unarmed, and also not a ninja, so it'd be more likely that Sai would have to protect him in a fight.
"Oh, I'll be fine. I just have to figure out what's going on, that's all. And what to do, I guess." Usopp eyed the scar some more. "Did Luffy say what he last remembered before coming here? Never mind, I should try to find him anyway, I can ask him." He gave a more genuine smile as he realized Sai was watching him. "It's good you took care of the symbol, though! You know, a pirate's banner is his pride! Letting someone else damage it is like letting them spit on you. I guess it's different if you aren't really a pirate, unless you're a ninja-pirate now. Still, I'm happy, even if I don't remember drawing it."
He hesitated, and then, feeling more awkward than Sai looked, Usopp leaned forward, putting his arms around Sai tightly for a moment before letting go. "I'm sorry I left and forgot that you were here." Friends were in danger. Even Luffy might be in danger. "I'll try to find some way to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm... do you... do you think that scar's going to stay long?" Please say no. Please say no. Please say no. Please say yes. Pleeeeaaase say no. It was too obvious, wasn't it? It was really obvious. If whoever was running this place could take people from any time and send them back with no memories, or brainwash people here into believing whatever they liked, they ought to have some way to prevent something so obvious. Besides, this kind of plan suited Zoro better.
But he had to at least ask.
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"A-ah? I... think it should heal with a bit more time. Why... Oh!" Sai smiled again, awkwardly honest. "No, you were here when I got this. I had just been running a mission with another patient. It's nothing you could have prevented, so I wouldn't worry about it." Mission might not be the right word, but it fit as far as the ninja was concerned. He'd expected when he went along with Mello to be the only one facing anyone or anything in combat. The blond wasn't much of a fighter.
"I haven't spoken with Luffy-kun in some time, but I know he's still around. You should ask for him on the bulletin when you get a chance, but you'll have to be careful. They've gotten more strict on what they don't allow to be written." He reached up onto the bed and curled his fingers around the bandanna there, pulling it down into his lap. If Usopp was back, he should start wearing it again.
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If it was some kind of written message system and being edited, Usopp doubted he'd get Luffy's attention on it at all, unless it was read out loud forcefully at some point during the day. Luffy tended to have really short patience with things like word games, and if it was being edited but he hadn't destroyed it or at least wandered off making annoyed noises by now, Usopp would be really surprised. He still couldn't understand why this place hadn't been smashed yet. Luffy was a lot stronger than some giant spiders or leeches... probably stronger than any brainwashed patients, too. Maybe there was something here he needed or something he wanted to destroy that hadn't been found yet, like the voice from the ceiling. "I have another question too! Luffy's ridiculously strong, it's kind of a tiny bit terrifying actually, so why hasn't he left? Even when I first met him he could tear apart ships in the right mood, and he's just kept getting stronger since then."
His real question hadn't been answered yet, but he was increasingly getting the feeling that the answer would be 'no' to that too. Even if it worked out, Sai didn't seem like the type to want to help him, and Usopp knew he couldn't do it himself even if it might work. It wasn't a matter of will or wanting to protect his crew and friends, but just thinking about it made him a little queasy. Usopp wasn't entirely positive whether he was happy to have an excuse out of it, or unhappy that such an easy answer wasn't available.
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"As for your captain... Abilities are limited here. Chances are the Institute is holding him back from releasing his full potential. Many of us would have escaped by now if this wasn't the case." He considered demonstrating his own ability to manipulate ink with chakra, but he didn't want to use his supplies if it wasn't necessary.
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Maybe, even if the 'patient' wasn't killed here or at home, but this place had done whatever it wanted to do already, the person was just dumped into a meat grinder instead of going to the trouble of brainwashing them to forget, cleaning up any damage, and sending them back safely. Why bother to do something so considerate? Maybe he'd already been ground up and just didn't know it yet.
Everybody'd come looking if you--or especially if Luffy vanished out of nowhere.
Maybe they could make clone replicas that would look and sound the same, to take the place of missing people. Or maybe there were a million possibilities without knowing more and he should stop breathing so fast before Sai worried again. Usopp held his breath a moment before going on.
"Sai, can I ask you a really crazy question? Can you describe the world to me?" Never been on an island; thought they all were tropical. Allen was quickly going from the 'probably crazy' to 'probably sane' category, if Sai's statements were believable. Which they weren't, but if Usopp insisted on the believable, he'd have been gone before the crew had even entered the Grand Line.
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"It's hard to say. Outside of this building there's woodland, and beyond that there's a town that we're taken to once a week. I don't believe anyone has seen further than that, and it's far more dangerous out at night than during the day. All of the area is under Landel's control." Though the Head Doctor's words over the intercom made it seem as though the undead weren't a common occurrence, he couldn't be sure how well that could be trusted. It was possible that if one made it as far as the town on a regular night there would still be streets full of zombies to meet them.
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A person didn't just become a ninja, or whatever Sai was dressed as (ninja seemed pretty likely still) while living in a small Institute off of a small town that was seen once a week. It made no sense. No sense at all. Even less sense than time travel.
"Sai, my roommate said he'd never been to an island before." Usopp noticed, through a wave of dizziness, that he was starting a lot of sentences with his new friend's name. It was better to have a solid, concrete thought on hand, like making sure he kept his friend's name straight. "Sai, I think I'm going to throw up. No, I'm going to scream. Maybe I'll do one, then I'll do the other." He paused. "Sai, I'm not going to soil my pants, because that wouldn't help, would it? It would just smell bad. Sai, I think the walls are getting smaller. Or I'm getting bigger. Saiii, please hit me before I start screaming, please. That would be very friendly, SAAAAIIIIIIIEEEE!" Closing his eyes and covering his ears seemed reasonable enough, much better than vomiting.
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Or perhaps there were still concepts that he'd failed to explain. But with the way Usopp was currently freaking out it would be difficult to get the message across. He didn't want to hit the pirate, and he considered hugging him again instead, but was that really the correct response to this? Should he do what his friend wanted?
After a moment of hesitation, Sai backhanded Usopp across the face. He did look immediately apologetic afterwards.
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