Chapter 46:. Guard Leader... Brook?
"I… I'm already an adult. Why would I drink milk?" Amatsuki Toki asked, a little embarrassed.
"It is just milk. Sister Toki is grown up now, so you can drink it whenever you like," Roy said with a grin. He reached into the box behind him, pulled out a cold glass bottle, and handed it to her.
"Alright…" Toki accepted it reluctantly. "Do you have another straw?"
"Only one," Roy said, lifting the bottle he was already sipping from. He blinked at her. "Do you want to use it? I don't mind."
"No, that will not be necessary," Toki refused at once. She had already realized that she was strangely easy to corner whenever it came to this boy.
She popped the cork and drank straight from the bottle. Roy looked up at her, a smile tugging at his lips as a trace of milk lingered on her soft pink mouth and slid down the corner of her lip.
Tsk, tsk. Not his fault for thinking it. Toki looked unreasonably lovely when she drank milk.
His gaze drifted lower, then back up. Grown up? Reasonable. Not too much, not too little. Just right.
"What are you looking at?" Toki finished the bottle, licked away the milk at the corner of her mouth, and frowned.
"You drank my milk," Roy said lightly. "Should I roll on the ground and cry now, like a proper child?"
"Please do," Toki replied with a warm chuckle. "I would enjoy the show."
Roy opened his arms as if to fling himself down, then lunged forward instead and wrapped her smooth white leg in a hug.
"Ahem. Rolling on the ground?" Toki asked quickly.
"Let us roll together."
"Not interested. You can roll by yourself."
She tried to pry him off, but she could not move him at all.
This sly little ghost…
It dawned on her that when she had hugged Roy before, or when she had pushed him around in jest, it had been because he allowed it. He had been yielding to her on purpose.
"Let us go home," she said.
"Where is home?"
Toki halted. The past flashed through her mind like a whisper in the rain. She let him hold on.
"Wherever Sister Toki is," Roy murmured, "that is home."
"…Mhm."
They returned to the giant pirate ship. Behind them, the town erupted with a series of dull booms, shouts, and collapsing crashes that rolled over the harbor like thunder.
Not long after, Redding strode back along the dock, his giant soldier over his shoulder and spray in his wake. He had erased the Mafia family base from the island and was now dragging their coffers across the planks. With a single thud, he threw a massive chest onto the deck. The lid snapped open and gold, jewels, and bundles of Berries spilled out, clattering across the boards.
"Let us go. We will not be short on living expenses next," Redding rumbled.
"Yeah," Roy answered with a nod.
Money did not interest him much at this moment. He was hoping Toki would change into something new again. As long as she looked to him, he was satisfied.
A few days later, in the West Sea, the Kingdom of Annecy's harbor lay under a fine gray drizzle. A giant pirate ship docked at the port, three huge serpents in the water serving as living tugboats, their coils just below the surface like shifting shadows.
On the rain slick streets above, a tall, lean man in a black top hat and black sunglasses walked past with an umbrella and a crooked sword. His suit was crisp, his steps unhurried.
"Yo ho ho… what a ship. And are those three snake tugboats? Incredible."
He smiled at the sight of the massive hull, then turned to leave, boots tapping softly against wet stone.
Behind him, guards of the kingdom charged by in formation, their boots splashing arcs of rainwater. They slowed when they saw him.
"Yo ho ho, shall we enjoy a performance together?" he asked, rubbing his afro with a gloved hand and flashing a light hearted smile.
"Captain, please, not now," one guard said quickly. "His Majesty requests your presence."
"The King asked you to arrange today's schedule!"
The men spoke over one another, faces tense, as they addressed the young leader of the guards.
Brook.
"Very well," he sighed, twirling the cane sword in an easy arc. "I shall return at once."
He glanced back toward the harbor. "Yo ho ho… perhaps I will go later."
There was a trace of longing in his eyes as he took one last look at the pirate ship.
What would it be like to have his own ship, to sail with comrades, to roam the seas without restriction? The post of Guard Captain paid well and carried weight, but there was little time left for music. The rhythm in his heart ached for air.
He exhaled softly and vanished into the rain with the guards.
On the ship, Roy sat by the cabin window with Toki. Both of them had books open. Rain tapped the panes in a steady, soothing rhythm, the kind of weather that made a room feel warmer simply by contrast.
"I heard there is a concert this afternoon," Toki said, turning a page. "Would you like to go?"
"Let us go," Roy agreed.
Concerts existed in this world, but most came and went without echoes, their songs swallowed by the wind. Decades from now, there would be a stage where Brook's music would move the world. For now, they were only notes in a quiet city.
Roy looked out the window, thoughtful. If he learned to sing from Brook, perhaps he could steal a few hearts with a song or two. That would be a useful skill.
By afternoon the streets had woken fully. Stalls steamed, umbrellas clustered, and distant banners wavered in the breeze. Roy held Toki's hand and guided her through the crowd. He had worked tirelessly to win her over these past days, and the edge of victory felt near.
"Make way, make way. We will be late. This is quite terrible. Beautiful lady, please, make way," a warm tenor called from behind them.
Roy turned with Toki as a man in a black suit with a round afro hairdo slipped past, weaving around umbrellas with surprising grace.
"Yo ho ho, I am on time. There is still time," he said with his bright, familiar laugh. He looked up toward a temporary stage at the square's center and strode toward it with an eager light.
Roy froze. That laugh. The hair. The height. He was younger by a decade and built of flesh and bone, but the silhouette and cadence were unmistakable.
Before death, before bones, before the sea took so much away.
Brook.
"If his features were ten years older, he would be even closer," Roy thought, glancing from the man to the stage where singers, violinists, and musicians were taking their places. The sound of tuning strings drifted on the wet air.
"It would be wonderful to go up there," the man murmured, eyes shining. "But His Majesty believes I would disgrace the royal honor. Alas."
His gaze did not leave the instruments as his shoulders fell and then squared again. His desire to play could not be hidden.
"He is at least two meters tall," Roy observed, then turned back to the stage.
"Yo ho ho, beautiful ladies, you—" the man started, then stopped short as he realized he was standing beside a very handsome boy and a woman of startling beauty.
"Hello. Can we help you?" Toki asked politely, smiling before turning back to squeeze Roy's hand. Both were waiting for the music to begin.
"Ahem… Beautiful lady, may I admire your—"
The words tilted the wrong way.
Roy's eyes narrowed. The air went cold.
"That laugh, that hair. It is him."
Toki's expression chilled at once. "No. That is far too rude, sir."
Roy did not wait for another word. His sword sang out of the scabbard in a clean, bright line that cut through the rain and through the space between them. He drove at the man's waist with a blur of green steel.
Brook's eyes flew wide. He jerked back, cane sword flashing into his hand, catching the stroke at the last instant.
Steel rang. Power slammed through the crossing blades.
A heartbeat later, Brook's body scythed through the air and hammered into a distant wall. Brick cracked in a spiderweb and dust bounced off the street in little puffs.
"I… I am very sorry. It was my fault." His sunglasses snapped, lenses shattering as they slipped from his face and clinked on the stones.
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