At this moment, the sea was bright with sunshine and not a cloud in the sky.
The thousand sunny was sailing on the sea.
"Fly! Higher!" Usopp swung on the swing, while Chopper, in his human form, pushed him from behind.
"My turn, my turn!" Chopper transformed into his pet form and sat on the swing.
Luffy, meanwhile, lay on the grass, a blade of grass in his mouth, looking up at the sky.
Even though the sunlight was dazzling, it couldn't dispel the shadow in Luffy's heart.
Of course, it wasn't about Thriller Bark; a mere magical duck wasn't worth mentioning.
The Marineford War! It was still too chaotic!
"Hey! Since you guys are playing, help me get the small octopus we caught yesterday out of the fish tank!" Sanji walked out of the kitchen and looked at Usopp and Chopper, who were having a blast.
"Sanji, I want takoyaki!" Luffy did a carp jump, pulling Usopp and Chopper straight to the fish tank.
Opening the fish tank door, Usopp dived in. With a few scoops, the octopuses were instantly flung out.
However, this enraged the octopus swarm. Out of fear, they squirted ink, turning the entire fish tank black.
Usopp frantically jumped up, leaping out of the fish tank.
"Haha! Usopp, you're so black!" Luffy looked at the "black" Usopp, struggling to cover his mouth.
"Catching an octopus sure is noisy!" Sanji stood with his hands in his pockets, watching the octopuses bouncing on the ground.
Zoro glanced from the crow's nest and then began another round of training.
The entire crow's nest had been converted into a training room by Zoro. He lifted a ten-ton barbell with one hand, swung it upwards, and inverted himself.
Zoro was lifting the barbell with his feet, again and again. Unknowingly, sweat drenched his clothes, and his Observation Haki covered a thousand meters of the surrounding sea.
'I must... become stronger!!'
Suddenly, Zoro's Observation Haki sensed a wooden barrel. He picked up the megaphone, "Hey, what's floating on the sea?"
"Oh!" Luffy reached out and quickly picked up the barrel. 'What is this?' Luffy thought hard, but... he gave up. He really couldn't remember.
"There won't be any gold or silver treasure in here, will there!" Usopp leaned over, full of excitement.
"Unfortunately, there's only sake and preserved food inside," Nami said with a look of regret.
"The barrel says 'Before the Sea God's Treasure,' also known as a drifting barrel. Sailors use it to offer to the guardian deity of the sea to pray for a smooth journey."
"Sake?!" Zoro's ears perked up, and he jumped directly from the mast.
"Since we've already fished it out, why don't we drink it?" Zoro licked his somewhat dry lips.
"We'll be cursed by the heavens." — Usopp
"No, it's fine to drink after praying." — Nami
"Hmph! I never pray to gods!"
"Then open it!" Franky approached the barrel and opened it.
"Bang!"
A red light rose into the sky like fireworks, then burst open, painting a large part of the sky red.
"Hmm?" Luffy squinted slightly, Zoro drew his sword an inch, and Sanji lit a cigarette.
Suddenly, the clear sky became overcast with dark clouds, the sea seemed to turn black, and then strong winds rose, and waves surged.
"Quickly furl the sails!" Nami commanded.
Sanji and Zoro moved as if teleporting, getting everything ready in less than three seconds.
"Luffy!"
"Alright, alright, I know!" Luffy rested his hand on the railing, and faint blue electric currents flowed into the thousand sunny.
"Chirp—!"
The ship glowed with blue electric arcs, leaping across the sea at an extremely fast speed. If it was the speed of a carriage just now, it was now the speed of a high-speed train.
Soon, the thousand sunny left that sea area.
But the situation that followed was even stranger. Black clouds covered the sky, and streaks of green lightning occasionally fell from above.
"This can't be...?" Usopp was trembling all over.
"That's right!" Sanji struck a match, but didn't use it to light a cigarette. Instead, he used it to illuminate his face, his voice cold, "This is the place known for encountering ghosts... the Devil's Triangle!"
"Ah!!" The little reindeer also hugged Luffy's pants leg in fear.
"No, I must prepare some exorcism tools!" Usopp rushed into the cabin.
"Usopp, wait for me, I want to too!" Chopper followed with his short legs.
"Hmm? Nami, aren't you going?" Luffy looked at Nami, who was clearly a little scared beside him, and teased her.
"No, no need!" Nami put her arms around Luffy's right arm, revealing a sweet smile, "Isn't it enough if I just follow you? Lightning should have a miraculous effect on demons and ghosts, right!"
Luffy was stunned, feeling the softness of his right arm and her trembling body, as if he understood something.
He placed his left hand on Nami's orange hair, a faint smile on his face, "Then you'd better stick close!"
Nami suddenly looked up, their eyes met, and everything was understood without words.
"Luffy, I'm a little afraid of ghosts too?" Robin smiled, gently teasing.
"Sister Robin!" Nami reacted as if startled, pouncing on Robin, while Luffy stood in place, grabbing his hair. 'So, single for life, is this about to change?'
To be honest, in his previous life, he was also a guy whose emotional intelligence fluctuated. He had high emotional intelligence towards men, but pitifully low towards women.
After the fusion of two souls, his emotional intelligence was almost zero. He was basically the kind of person who would never understand hints in his entire life.
Meanwhile, by the ship's rail,
Sanji had turned to stone, muttering to himself, "Why? Nami-chan."
Zoro squinted at him, "You lickspittle will never have a woman in your life!"
"What did you say?" The fire of anger burned on Sanji.
Soon, the two started fighting.
The chef who didn't fight with his hands raised his fist, and a swordsman threw his three swords aside.
In a moment, both were bruised and swollen, with Sanji being beaten worse, as he had never used his fists, even with a power-up, it was useless.
Just as everyone was fooling around, a ship about the same size as the thousand sunny appeared behind the Sunny.
"Oh—oh—oh!"
Ghost-like singing voices came from the dilapidated ship.
Everyone was startled. Usopp and Chopper hugged each other, Zoro slowly picked up his swords from the ground and hung them on himself. Sanji took a deep drag from his cigarette, and Luffy even smiled.
Soon, in everyone's eyes, the ghost ship slowly sailed past. They saw a skeleton with an afro staring blankly into the distance, drinking coffee and humming a song.
"A skeleton?" Everyone's eyes showed horror, while Luffy had already vanished with a blue light.
When he reappeared, he was already in front of the skeleton.
"Yohoho, good day!" The afro-wearing skeleton held a teacup in his left hand, a cane hanging from his left wrist, looking like a gentleman.
"That was truly rude of me just now, seeing your ship but not greeting you.
I'm so happy, I haven't seen a living person in a long time. Here, besides ghost ships, it's still ghost ships!"
"You, be my companion!" Luffy's deep pupils stared at him, his eyes full of sincerity.
"Nani? Wait, Luffy!" Sanji shouted, stomping the air, "Let me ask a few questions first."
Sanji stood opposite the gentleman skeleton and began to ask questions like a machine gun.
"First, you're a skeleton, so how are you alive and able to speak?
What exactly are you?
Why are you here?
What happened to this ship?
What will happen in this sea area?
Answer... all of it!"
"Hold on, Sanji!" Luffy placed his hand on Sanji's shoulder, gently pulling him back, "You should answer my question first! Do you want to be my companion!"
"Luffy?!"
"Hmm, alright!" The afro-wearing skeleton drank his coffee!
"Hmm! Then it's settled!" Luffy beamed with a smile.
"Hey, hey, hey?" Sanji looked at the scene before him, and he, who prided himself on being quite smart, was a little out of sync.