Watching Luffy and the others bring back a living skeleton left Zoro utterly dumbfounded.
Weren't they just supposed to scout the situation? How did they end up bringing this guy back?
"Yohohohoho~" Brook laughed heartily. "Hello everyone! I'm Brook, nothing but bones left. Pleased to make your acquaintance~"
"What kind of joke is this? What the hell is this thing?!" x3
"Yohohohohoho~"
"Hey hey hey, what exactly were you three doing?" Zoro glared at iser's group. "Why did you let Luffy bring this back?"
"Sorry..."
"Ha, isn't this great?" iser chuckled. "Our pirate crew was already plenty weird to begin with."
"Weird?"
"Reindeer-human, Ship Spirit, pervert, lecher..."
"Hey!"
Sanji imdiately charged at iser, baring shark-like teeth as he roared: "That 'lecher' comnt better not be about !"
Why did this bastard glance at him when saying "lecher," damn it!!
"Hmph, the pervy cook actually has so self-awareness." Zoro mocked.
"Bastard, what did you say, Moss Head?!"
"I called you a lecher!"
"You bastard, take this!"
An enraged Sanji lunged at Zoro, and the two imdiately started brawling noisily on the deck, leaving Brook utterly stunned.
"Yohohoho, is this so special welcoming ceremony?"
"Well..." iser made a complicated expression. "You could think of it that way."
"How enthusiastic!"
"Who's being enthusiastic?!" x2
The perfectly synchronized retort made the two glare at each other before coldly huffing and separating.
"My my, upon closer inspection there's a lovely lady here~" Brook cleared his throat as he approached Nico Robin. "Might I have the pleasure of seeing your pan..."
"Shut your mouth, you damn skeleton!"
Nami punched Brook's skull, sending him face-first onto the deck.
"Yohohoho, still as feisty as ever~"
"Oh? There's another beautiful young lady here?" Brook noticed the timid rry and imdiately put on a 'kindly' smile.
rry: ...
Is... is this guy smiling?
"Hey."
Nami's fist clenched again.
"Yohohoho, I won't ask that, don't worry." Brook chuckled as he stood back up.
"Hahaha, Brook's really funny!" Luffy laughed heartily.
"So you're really not a ghost?" Usopp—dressed in full exorcist gear—carefully approached, pointing his crucifix at Brook.
"Wow!"
Chopper's eyes sparkled. So this was a real ghost hunter's equipnt? So cool!
"Of course I'm not a ghost. I'm terrified of ghosts." Brook pretended to shiver. "Encountering ghosts while drifting at sea is absolutely horrifying."
"Not a ghost then..."
"This guy's physical. Nothing to fear."
iser walked over and casually patted Brook's skeletal fra without the slightest hesitation.
Brook didn't resist either, allowing iser's hand to pat him as if they were old friends who'd known each other for years.
Clearly, Brook was enjoying this feeling of human interaction.
"So it's really a skeleton..." Usopp's fear had noticeably diminished—at least sothing with a physical form could be fought.
"Are you the Ship Spirit?" rry asked curiously.
"Ship Spirit?"
Brook visibly paused, then asked in surprise, "Why would you ask that?"
As he spoke, Brook noticed sothing unusual about rry—the little girl's ears were distinctly pointed, sowhat resembling the elves from fairy tales.
Could it be... this little girl is an elf?
"Franky said the Devil's Triangle might give birth to Ship Spirits," rry said, stepping out from behind Nico Robin. "And those Ship Spirits can't leave this place. It's so pitiful..."
"So I wanted to set them free."
"Is that really a thing?" Brook said, surprised. "I'm sorry, but I'm not a Ship Spirit, and in my decades drifting at sea, I've never seen one either."
"My apologies for disappointing you, lovely young lady."
"I see..." rry lowered her head, sounding disappointed. "I understand."
She'd thought she'd t one of her own kind. Though he looked strange, she wouldn't have minded being friends if he were a Ship Spirit.
But he wasn't... How disappointing.
Seeing rry like this, Brook said, "If you think about it, isn't it a good thing that no Ship Spirits are trapped here?"
"That's true," iser nodded. "Otherwise, if one were born here, whether it could leave would be a problem."
To finally gain physical form, only to be unable to escape this terrifying Devil's Triangle, left to wait alone for death...
How cruel would that be?
"Besides, Ship Spirits aren't born so easily," Franky said. "At least up till now, I've only ever seen rry."
"To be precise, there are only so legends about Ship Spirits," Nico Robin added.
She didn't know when the previous generation of Ship Spirits had appeared, but in the past century at least, rry was the only one.
rry blinked—that did seem to be the case. No Ship Spirits being trapped here was actually a good thing.
At this thought, the little one visibly brightened.
"So this young lady is the Ship Spirit?" Brook said. "How enlightening."
Having lived so long, this was his first ti seeing a legendary Ship Spirit. And she was... unexpectedly adorable.
"We could say the sa about seeing you," Sanji remarked dryly.
"So this guy's our new crewmate now?" Zoro frowned.
"Yep, I already invited him to join us!"
"Luffy..."
"Ahahaha, isn't everyone getting along great?" Luffy laughed heartily.
Usopp: ...
Where was the "great"? He'd been the one getting scared this whole ti—he hadn't felt any happiness at all.
"Ah, everyone, it's dinner ti now~" Brook naturally walked to the cabin door and said, "Let's enjoy a pleasant al together!"
"Who said you get to decide, you bastard!"
"But I'm quite hungry, yo-ho-ho-ho."
Hearing Brook say this, Sanji took a drag of his cigarette and replied, "Then just wait."
Though this skeletal weirdo looked strange, Sanji couldn't bear to see anyone go hungry—even if it was a skeleton.
"Yo-ho-ho-ho, thank you very much, Head Chef~"
anwhile, the ghost created by Perona's Devil Fruit ability hovered silently above the Thousand Sunny, watching the group below.
"Why does this skeletal freak talk just like Ryuma?" Perona wondered. "Could Ryuma's shadow have co from him?"
Though she didn't understand why this skeleton could move, it didn't stop her from doing what she needed to do.
After instructing the zombie controlling the ship to bring the entire island closer, she guided the little ghost downward.
Once inside the dining area, it hid in a corner, silently observing the group while waiting for their pirate ship to fall into the trap.
"Yo-ho-ho-ho, it's truly wonderful to et all of you," Brook said cheerfully. "This is the happiest I've been in decades."
"I really enjoyed this al—thank you, Head Chef!"
"Hahaha, glad you liked it!" Luffy laughed.
Sanji also smiled. Having his cooking appreciated was always a joy.
"By the way, I haven't asked for your na yet."
"?" Luffy grinned widely. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will beco the Pirate King!"
"The Pirate King?" Brook chuckled. "That's quite an ambitious dream. No one's ever achieved it before."
"Huh?"
"Brook, don't you know about the Pirate King Roger?"
"Roger?"
Brook visibly froze at the na, lowering his head in thought before saying, "Back in the day, there was a rookie by that na... I don't rember clearly."
"So he beca the Pirate King? It seems a lot has happened these past few decades."
He hadn't expected a Pirate King to erge in that ti—and it was that sa Roger he'd vaguely heard of. This truly surprised Brook.
"A... rookie?" Zoro stared at Brook in disbelief. "Roger was just a rookie to you?"
"Just how old are you, really?" iser also remarked in astonishnt.
The Pirate King Roger had shaken the entire world, yet in Brook's eyes, he was rely a rookie?
Had this guy been so top-tier powerhouse before he died?
If so, they'd really stumbled upon sothing incredible this ti.
"Oh, nothing so grand. I'm just an ordinary musician," Brook said with a laugh. "Though before becoming a pirate, I was the captain of a royal guard."
"Then why did you beco a pirate?"
"This is a long story..." Brook said with a hint of lancholy. "In short, after serving as a guard captain for so ti, I set sail with my crewmates."
Seeing that Brook didn't intend to elaborate, everyone refrained from pressing further. After all, who doesn't have a past they'd rather not talk about? Even Luffy understood that as comrades, sotis it's better not to pry.
"Then how did you beco a skeleton?" rry asked curiously. "Ordinary people shouldn't have such an ability, right? Could it be... a Devil Fruit ability?"
"Yes, you're absolutely right," Brook replied, glancing at Usopp. "I survived precisely because of the power of a Devil Fruit. It's an ability called the Underworld Fruit!"
"The Underworld Fruit?" iser visibly showed surprise. The na alone sounded quite intimidating. The fact that Brook existed in skeletal form likely ant this Devil Fruit involved resurrection powers.
"Indeed, the Underworld Fruit! Ah, pardon , let wipe my face first."
Brook, whose face was covered in food, took out a white napkin from his person and elegantly cleaned himself.
"It's actually white..." Franky stared dumbfounded at the item in Brook's hand. How could this guy, after drifting at sea for so long, still possess such a pristine white napkin?
"One must maintain a sense of ceremony in life," Brook chuckled. "Otherwise, I'd have gone mad long ago."
His words left everyone silent. He had ntioned earlier that he hadn't seen a living soul in ages, aning he'd spent an incredibly long ti alone. It was hard to imagine how he'd endured without losing his mind.
After neatly folding the napkin, Brook continued, "Decades ago, my crew and I entered the Devil's Triangle and encountered an overwhelmingly powerful enemy. After a fierce battle, we erged victorious, but due to poisoning, we all perished that day."
"What I never expected was that this Devil Fruit—which had done nothing but turn into a landlubber—would suddenly unleash astonishing power at that mont! Its demonic energy summoned my soul back from the underworld. As long as I could return to my body, I could be revived!"
"Then why are you in skeleton form?" Sanji asked skeptically. Surely this guy didn't choose to revive as a skeleton just because he liked the look. Though preferences varied, Sanji couldn't comprehend this—without his physical body, life would lose all aning for him.
"Because we were in these waters," Brook sighed. "Where sunlight never reaches, perpetually shrouded in fog, making it impossible to navigate, let alone find our pirate ship. I drifted at sea for over a year before locating my body, only to find... it had already turned into a skeleton by then."
"I was so shocked my eyeballs nearly popped out—though I don't have any, yohohoho~"
"What an astonishing encounter," Franky said. "Is this the power of a Devil Fruit?"
"Even reviving the dead..." iser mused, stroking his chin. "Then could there also be a fruit that grants eternal youth?"
"Don't be ridiculous, you idiot!"
"Hey, you never know," iser grinned. "If there's a Devil Fruit that can resurrect people, why couldn't there be one that extends life?"
His words left everyone speechless.
"Let's not dwell on this," Nico Robin interjected. "Even if such a fruit existed, the World Governnt would seize it imdiately."
Those residing in the Holy Land Mariejois would never let such a Devil Fruit slip through their fingers, so Robin considered the probability quite low.
"I don't care about longevity," Sanji suddenly declared. "There's another Devil Fruit I'd rather have."
"Oh?"
"What is it?"
iser looked at Sanji curiously, surprised that this guy—who loved swimming so much—would want to eat a Devil Fruit.
"Heh~" Sanji flashed a thumbs-up and a gleaming smile. "The Invisibility Fruit!"
Nami: !!!
"THWACK!"
"Go die, you pervert!"
Nami's fist connected with Sanji's head without rcy, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Nami-san's punches are so fast..."
Lying on the floor, Sanji recalled what iser had told him earlier—maybe Nami really did possess so kind of extraordinary power. At the very least, he couldn't dodge her strikes when she was angry.
Glaring at the fallen Sanji, Nami bared her shark-like teeth and roared, "There's no way I'm letting you eat that kind of fruit, you creep!"
"How cruel..." Sanji whimpered pitifully before suddenly hardening his resolve. "No! Even if it kills , I must eat it!"
Nami was montarily taken aback by his determination.
"You... do you have so other reason for wanting that Devil Fruit?"
Sanji hesitated briefly before shouting passionately, "Of course not! I want it so I can boldly enter the won's bath—"
"THWACK!"
"Just DIE already, you scumbag!"
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