The sky remained dark.
In the Thriller Bark Triangle, on the Thousand Sunny, the afro-sporting skeleton boarded the ship amidst everyone's speechless expressions, and Usopp and Chopper's fear.
"Yohohoho, this time my ship and I have caused you all trouble! I am Brook, a skeleton who has died and is now just bones. Please treat me well!" The gentlemanly skeleton, Brook, seemed filled with joy.
"Who exactly are you?!" everyone shouted.
"Phew!" Sanji lit a cigarette. "Our idiotic captain has already invited him onto the ship, so just get used to it!"
"Nani?!" Everyone was stunned.
"So what was your purpose in going, Curly Brows?" Zoro looked at Sanji askance.
"Tch! It would have been the same if you went. We're just crewmates! How am I supposed to object when the captain has already made up his mind?" Sanji walked towards the dining room.
Suddenly, Brook approached Robin. "Beautiful lady, may I see your panties?"
As soon as he said this, Sanji, who had just neared the dining room, instantly vanished, and a foot appeared out of thin air in front of Brook.
"Bang!"
Brook's bony body now sported a large bump.
"Luffy, do you really want him on the ship?" Sanji looked at Luffy calmly. Clearly, if Brook hadn't been a potential crewmate, he might have already met his maker.
"Hahahahaha, don't you think he's interesting?" Luffy laughed, clearly not too concerned about such things given his strength and perspective.
Although everyone wasn't very accepting of Brook, it was only because they didn't understand him yet.
Seeing Usopp and Chopper holding crucifixes, he picked them both up and walked towards the dining room. "Sanji, prepare dinner!"
"Alright!" Sanji followed close behind.
No one mentioned kicking Brook off the ship anymore.
Brook stood up and touched the bump on his head.
"Hiss! That really hurt! But... why do I feel so happy inside?"
Brook skipped into the dining room. Having been here for decades, this was the only time he truly felt alive... The dining room was brightly lit.
"What a luxurious dining room! This ship is truly amazing! Yohohoho." Brook praised incessantly.
And a certain someone's head was held higher and higher.
"Of course! This is the ship of dreams built by the SUPER me! You have good taste."
Evidently, the flattery hit the right spot, and Brook successfully won Franky's favor.
Sanji stood with one hand in his pocket, the other flipping a pan, a cigarette still in his mouth.
"I'm really looking forward to it! I haven't eaten anything in decades, enduring the pain of my stomach sticking to my back every day, living with great difficulty." Brook's voice was a little low.
Everyone fell silent. Even the very scared Chopper was moved. "Brook...!"
"Yohohoho, although I'm a skeleton, I have neither a front nor a back! Skeleton joke." Brook laughed happily.
"Skeleton joke!!!" Luffy clapped his hands, laughing, while the others felt a little sympathy, at least the big barrier between them was gone.
"Finished!" Sanji broke the heavy atmosphere, bringing out platters of delicious food. "Put everything else aside for now, let's just eat! Octopus feast!"
Luffy picked up his knife and fork with both hands. "Brook, you should eat a lot. Sanji's food is the best in the whole world!"
"But more than my stomach, it's my heart that feels satisfied!" Brook ate heartily. Although a skeleton has no tears, its soul can be moved!
"Mmm mmm mmm mmm!" Luffy's mouth was full of food as he looked at Brook.
"Really? Was it still in the fish pond just now?"
"Mmm mmm mmm...!".
"What an amazing ship, I've never seen a ship like this!"
"Mmm mmm mmm...!".
"Please, I must have a tour!"
Their knives and forks clinked together, perfectly in sync.
Beside Luffy, Nami suddenly felt that the takoyaki on her plate wasn't as delicious. She looked at Brook with a hint of jealousy.
"Why can he understand him?!"
...After dinner, everyone chatted as usual, and Brook's past was brought up.
"Yomi Yomi no Mi!"
"Mm!" Brook nodded.
"Actually, I died decades ago. The Yomi Yomi no Mi is a fruit that allows one to be resurrected, to return from the dead!
Once, my pirate crew and I, along with that large ship you saw, entered the Florian Triangle.
However, we encountered even stronger opponents, and naturally... I died!
It was then that the Yomi Yomi no Mi took effect. Before I died, it only made me a 'hammer'.
After death, my soul returned from the underworld to reality. If I had returned to my body in time, I should have been resurrected.
But, due to the dense fog in the Thriller Bark Triangle, I... got lost!
After drifting for a year, my body was reduced to just this skeleton!"
"So, you're considered human? No, wait, not quite human! In any case, you're not a monster, are you?" Usopp, holding a crucifix, trembled all over.
"Tell me, what's with you not having a shadow? Is it also because of the fruit? Don't try to fool me!" Zoro rested his hands on the table, his head in his palm, and his left finger pushed his sword out an inch, gleaming coldly.
"No... shadow?" Everyone looked, and instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
The combatants entered battle mode.
Usopp and Chopper retreated to the corner.
Nami wrapped her arms around Luffy's arm...
"Actually, not having a shadow and becoming a skeleton are two completely different matters. It's a long story, but my shadow was... stolen by someone!" Brook sighed, looking at Luffy as if to engrave his image in his heart.
"Mr. Luffy, thank you for inviting me to join your crew. But without a shadow, I can only linger in the darkness. I'm sorry, I cannot accept your offer!"
At this moment, Franky stepped forward.
"I still... want to ask you one more question."
"Please do." Brook maintained his gentlemanly demeanor.
"You are now a skeleton, a talking skeleton! If you went outside, you can imagine what would happen. You've been alone on that ship for decades. If it were me, I would have committed suicide out of loneliness long ago, but why... why were you able to persevere?" Franky voiced the doubt in his heart.
What was it that made this man willing to endure decades of loneliness, to grit his teeth and live on?
Brook fell silent. After a long time, he lowered his head.
"A long time ago, our pirate crew left a crewmate somewhere!
We promised to return there, but... not long after, our entire crew was wiped out!
This prevented me from fulfilling my promise to him. Now that I am still alive, I have an obligation to fulfill that promise.
Speaking of which, it's already been fifty years!" Brook's voice was tinged with melancholy, but even more so with determination, a solemn vow to fulfill his promise!
Franky's eyes widened, and intense sadness surged from his heart. "It's been 50 years, how do you know if they're still waiting for you?!"
"What right do I have to judge whether that companion is no longer waiting for us?" Brook lowered his head. "What if it believed in our promise, then... how lonely would it be! Feeling that we betrayed our promise, yet still waiting with anticipation, what a sorrowful feeling that would be!"
Brook looked up at the tearful Franky, Usopp, and Chopper.
The rest of the crew were also silent. This time, everyone no longer feared him, nor did they hold any hostility towards him.
"Mr. Luffy, may I ask you a favor? If I unfortunately... die here, please go and tell my companion to... stop waiting!" Brook requested solemnly.
"My companion, the companion we swore to meet again at the strait, its name is—Laboon!"
"Laboon!!!"
Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Usopp all looked at him.
"Are you talking about Laboon from Reverse Mountain?"
"You all?"
"Bang!" Luffy slammed his hand on the table. "I won't agree to something like that. If you want to fulfill a vow, go and do it yourself!"
Luffy lightly pressed down on his straw hat.
"Come out! You've been peeking for a long time, haven't you!"
Soon, a white ghost appeared.
"Zoro!" Luffy looked up.
"Mm!" Zoro quickly rushed out of the dining room. He saw the gloomy weather and the nearby Thriller Bark, but he didn't see anyone.
"Invisibility ability? Interesting!" A red light flashed in Zoro's eyes, and the world was meticulously dissected before him.
He "saw" a leopard-headed man lingering at the ship's bow.
"Quite brave!"
Zoro drew Sandai Kitetsu. This time, however, he didn't slash, but thrust.
Zoro charged at Absalom with extreme speed, his Kitetsu thrusting straight for his chest!
"Ah!"
Until Zoro's sword pierced Absalom's chest, he couldn't understand why he was dying!
At this moment, everyone came out and saw the massive Thriller Bark.
Luffy still held a white Negative Hollow in his hand.
"Is he dead?" Luffy looked at Zoro.
"You didn't say you wanted him alive!"
"Never mind, dead is dead!" Luffy looked at the ghost in his hand. "Tell Moria, the Straw Hat Pirates officially declare war on one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Gecko Moria! Just you wait!"
Luffy crushed the ghost in his hand.
He pressed down on his straw hat, a smile on his face. "Friends, no problem, right!"
Everyone exchanged smiles. "Of course not!"
"Brook, after you get your shadow back, become my nakama!"
"Yes, Captain Luffy!"
The thick fog, like cotton soaked in ink, tightly enveloped the hundred-meter-tall black mast. The rusted anchor, embedded with the remains of a sea monster, swayed in the waves, casting a dark blood-red hue.
This was Thriller Bark!
And it was a place of war!
"Ding, a chain quest has been triggered: Warlord Slayer.
The host needs to defeat or kill individuals who are, or once were, candidates for the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Reward: Unknown (Can be obtained by defeating or killing a single Warlord, repeatable for different targets)
Special Reward: Observation Haki Grand Gift Pack (Requires consecutive defeats of current Seven Warlords, progress 0/7)
Current Seven Warlords of the Sea: Hawkeye, Kuma, Boa Hancock, Doflamingo, Blackbeard, Jinbe, Moria!"