The sea was calm.
The sun shone brightly across a cloudless sky.
The Thousand Sunny sailed steadily across the ocean.
"Higher! Fly higher!" Usopp shouted as he swung on a rope swing, while Chopper, in his Heavy Point (human form), pushed him from behind.
"My turn! My turn!"
Chopper instantly transford back into his Brain Point (small form) and hopped onto the swing.
anwhile, Luffy lay on the grass of the deck, a blade of grass between his lips as he stared at the sky.
Even the dazzling sunlight couldn't drive away the shadow lingering in his mind.
Of course, it wasn't about the Thriller Bark incident. A re zombie duck wasn't worth worrying about.
It was the War of the Best at Marineford.
Too chaotic…
"Hey! Since you're all playing around, go grab the little octopus we caught yesterday from the fish tank!" Sanji called out as he stepped out of the kitchen, watching Usopp and Chopper having the ti of their lives.
"Sanji! I want takoyaki!" Luffy suddenly sprang up like a carp leaping from water and dragged Usopp and Chopper straight toward the fish tank.
They opened the hatch.
Usopp dove in and scooped around a few tis. Suddenly, an octopus flew out of the tank.
But that only angered the rest of the octopuses.
Frightened, they sprayed ink everywhere, instantly turning the entire tank pitch black.
Usopp panicked and leapt out of the tank.
"Hahaha! Usopp, you're so black now!" Luffy tried desperately to hold back his laughter while looking at the ink-covered Usopp.
"Just catching an octopus, and it's already this noisy," Sanji muttered with his hands in his pockets as he watched the octopuses bouncing around on the deck.
Up in the crow's nest, Zoro glanced down briefly before continuing his training.
He had turned the entire crow's nest into a training room.
With one hand, he lifted a ten-ton barbell, swung it upward, and flipped into a handstand.
Then he began lifting the barbell with his legs—again and again.
Before long, sweat soaked his clothes.
At the sa ti, his Observation Haki spread across the sea for nearly a kiloter.
I must… beco stronger!
Suddenly, Zoro sensed sothing floating nearby.
Picking up the loudspeaker, he called out:
"Hey! Sothing's floating in the sea!"
"Oh!" Luffy stretched his arm and quickly grabbed a barrel drifting on the waves.
"What is this?" Luffy tried to recall sothing… but gave up. He couldn't rember.
"Maybe there's treasure inside!" Usopp leaned over eagerly.
"Sadly, it's just alcohol and preserved food," Nami said with disappointnt.
"The barrel says 'Offering to the Sea God.' It's called a drifting sake barrel. Sailors send them out as offerings to pray for safe voyages."
"Alcohol?!" Zoro's ears perked up instantly. He jumped straight down from the mast.
"Well, since we already picked it up… why not drink it?" he said, licking his dry lips.
"We'll be punished by the heavens," Usopp warned.
"No. It's fine as long as you pray first," Nami replied.
"Hah! I never pray to gods!" Zoro scoffed.
"Then let's open it!" Franky stepped forward and popped the barrel open.
BOOM!
A red flare shot into the sky like fireworks.
Then it exploded—
Dyeing half the sky crimson.
"Hm?" Luffy narrowed his eyes.
Zoro drew his sword an inch.
Sanji lit a cigarette.
Suddenly—
Dark clouds gathered over the once-clear sky.
The sea itself seed to turn black.
The wind howled.
Massive waves surged.
"Reef the sails! Now!" Nami shouted.
Sanji and Zoro moved like they had teleported.
In less than three seconds, everything was secured.
"Luffy!"
"Yeah, yeah—I know!"
Luffy placed a hand on the railing.
Blue arcs of electricity flowed from his palm into the Thousand Sunny.
ZIIIIING—!
The ship glowed with blue lightning as it shot across the ocean.
If before it had been moving at the speed of a horse carriage, now it was more like a bullet train.
Soon, the Sunny escaped that dangerous sea.
But what awaited them next was even stranger.
The sky was filled with black clouds.
From ti to ti, green lightning struck down from above.
"T-This place couldn't be…?" Usopp trembled all over.
Sanji struck a match.
But instead of lighting his cigarette, he held it under his face, illuminating his expression from below.
His voice turned cold.
"That's right."
"This is the sea where people claim to see ghosts…"
"The Florian Triangle."
"AAAAAH!!"
Chopper clung tightly to Luffy's leg in terror.
"No way! I need to prepare so anti-ghost weapons!" Usopp scread as he rushed into the cabin.
"Usopp, wait for ! I want so too!" Chopper chased after him with his tiny legs.
"Hm?" Luffy looked at Nami, who clearly seed scared.
"You're not going too?"
"N-No need!" Nami grabbed Luffy's right arm with both hands and forced a sweet smile.
"If I stay with you, I'll be fine. Lightning should be super effective against ghosts, right?"
Luffy froze.
He felt the softness against his arm… and the slight trembling in her body.
He seed to understand sothing.
He gently placed his left hand on Nami's orange hair and smiled faintly.
"Then you'd better stick close."
Nami looked up.
Their eyes t.
No words were needed.
"Luffy, I'm actually a little afraid of ghosts too," Robin said with a teasing smile.
"Robin!" Nami imdiately jumped toward her.
anwhile, Luffy scratched his head awkwardly.
So… am I really about to stop being single?
To be honest, even in his previous life his emotional intelligence had been strange.
He understood n well.
But when it ca to won… he was hopeless.
Now that his two souls had fused, his romantic awareness had practically dropped to zero.
He was basically the type who could miss hints for an entire lifeti.
Nearby—
Sanji had already turned to stone.
"Nami-swaaaan…" he muttered.
Zoro glanced sideways at him.
"A simp like you will never get a woman in your life."
"What did you say?!"
Flas of rage erupted from Sanji.
Soon the two were fighting.
The chef who refused to fight with his hands threw punches.
The swordsman tossed his three swords aside.
Monts later, both of them were bruised and battered.
Sanji looked especially miserable—after all, he rarely fought with his fists.
While everyone was fooling around—
A ship about the sa size as the Thousand Sunny appeared behind them.
"Yohohoho—!"
A ghostly song drifted across the sea from the dilapidated vessel.
Everyone froze.
Usopp and Chopper clung to each other.
Zoro calmly picked up his swords and hung them at his side.
Sanji took a deep drag from his cigarette.
Luffy, anwhile, simply smiled.
The ghost ship slowly drifted past them.
Standing aboard it—
Was a skeleton with a large afro, sipping coffee while humming a tune.
"A skeleton?!" everyone gasped.
At that mont—
Luffy vanished in a flash of blue lightning.
When he reappeared—
He was standing right in front of the skeleton.
"Yohohoho! Good day!" the skeleton greeted politely.
He held a teacup in his left hand and had a cane hooked around his wrist like a true gentleman.
"My apologies! I saw your ship earlier but failed to greet you."
"I'm truly delighted. It's been a very long ti since I've seen living people."
"Out here, there are only ghost ships… and more ghost ships!"
Luffy looked straight into his hollow eye sockets.
His deep eyes were filled with sincerity.
"Join my crew."
"WHAT?!" Sanji shouted as he ran over, stepping on the air.
"Wait a second, Luffy! Let ask a few questions first!"
Sanji stood opposite the skeleton and began firing off questions like a machine gun.
"First—how are you alive if you're a skeleton?!"
"What exactly are you?!"
"Why are you here?!"
"What happened to this ship?!"
"What's going on in this sea?!"
"Answer —ALL OF IT!"
"Hold on, Sanji," Luffy said, placing a hand on his shoulder and gently pulling him back.
"You should answer my question first."
"Will you join my crew?"
"Luffy?!"
"Sure," the skeleton said calmly after finishing his coffee.
"Alright! Then it's settled!" Luffy grinned brightly.
"Wait, wait, wait—WHAT?!" Sanji stared in disbelief.
Even soone who considered himself fairly intelligent couldn't keep up with this pace.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comnt!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon/Chakraflow789
User Comments
0 comments from readers