Ain drifted in and out of consciousness, feeling like she was lying on something warm and solid.
When she finally pried her eyes open and looked around, her face turned bright red.
She was on Jin's back, arms looped around his neck.
"You're awake," Jin said, having felt her move.
"I—uh—White-bro, you can put me down. I'm fine now!" Ain stammered, cheeks burning.
Jin chuckled. "Just stay there. Your wounds are healed, but you burned through a lot of stamina. Rest while you can.
When we get back, focus on feeling out your sword path. After stepping into Swordmaster, you can borrow other people's 'paths', but your own way… don't let anyone else's style swallow that."
"I–I got it, White-bro," Ain mumbled, pressing her face against his back to hide her embarrassment.
Jin kept talking casually.
"And don't neglect your body. Your Devil Fruit too—you can keep pushing it. Sure, against strong enemies with good Armament Haki, your ability won't do much. But for clearing fodder, it's a godly tool."
"Okay, White-bro!"
She buried her face deeper between his shoulders.
A beat later, Jin said, "Alright, down you go."
"Huh?" Ain blinked and realized they were already back on the ship. The Marines on deck were pretending to be very interested in the sea, not the fact their rear admiral had just carried someone on his back.
"Ah—!!"
She quickly slid down and hopped off, head lowered, ears red.
Jin couldn't help but smirk. "You know, Ain… sometimes you're pretty cute."
Steam almost visibly hissed off the top of her head. Ain clutched her cheeks and bolted for the cabin without another word.
Jin shook his head, amused. "Alright, set sail. We're heading back."
"Yes, sir!"
Somewhere deep within the foggy Devil's Triangle, on a drifting ship.
"Yo-ho?"
"Yo-ho-ho-ho…"
"My shadow… my shadow!"
"My shadow's back!"
A tall, lanky skeleton in a black suit with a giant afro hopped around on the deck, laughing hysterically. If a normal person saw him, their soul might fly straight to heaven on the spot.
"Looks like someone beat that swordsman… or maybe even Moria himself…" the skeleton muttered.
"Should I go check? Maybe I should—"
He looked up.
In the distance, a Marine warship was cruising straight toward him.
"Marines? At a time like this?"
He tilted his skull. "Well, it's been so long… maybe they've forgotten about me?"
On the warship, Jango peered over the rail and nearly choked.
"White Boss! There's a skull on a ship out there! Standing. With a cane!"
"Oh?" Jin walked over. "A walking skull? Don't tell me that's that pervy skeleton… the one who doesn't even have the tool for the crime?"
He leaned on the railing and looked down.
A full skeleton in a black tuxedo and top hat stood on the abandoned ship, cane in hand, a violin on his back.
The Marines all sucked in a breath. A talking skull was a new one.
"Hello, Marine gentlemen!" the skeleton said, bowing politely.
Ain came out of the cabin to see what the fuss was about.
The skeleton spotted her instantly.
"Ah! Such a beautiful lady!" He tidied his tie, straightened his suit, hopped aboard in one smooth motion and stopped in front of Ain. He bent at the waist in an exaggerated gentleman's bow.
Ain stared at him curiously.
He opened his mouth. "Beautiful miss, might I politely ask if I cou—"
Jin's voice cut in, flat and chilly.
"If you say what I think you're about to say, I'll smash you into bone dust and feed you to the Sea Kings."
"Ah!" The skeleton recoiled, taking several clattering steps back. "So scary! My heart almost jumped out of my chest… it's a shame I don't have a heart! Yo-ho-ho-ho!"
"White Boss, this skeleton is kinda funny," Jango laughed.
The skeleton straightened and turned serious. "Pardon my rudeness. May I ask… did you defeat Moria?"
"No," Jin said, sHaking his head. "He's a Warlord of the Sea. We can't just jump him for no reason, now can we?"
The skeleton was confused—until his gaze dropped to the sword resting beside Jin.
A black blade.
Jin saw where his empty eye sockets were pointing and raised Shusui slightly.
"This blade? Our young swordmaster here, Ain, won it from a certain samurai."
"I see," the skeleton said quietly.
He faced Ain and bowed deeply.
"Then thank you, beautiful miss… for helping me recover my shadow."
Ain tilted her head. "Your shadow?"
Jin explained,
"Moria's fruit is the Shadow-Shadow Fruit. A Special Paramecia. He can cut away someone's shadow and stuff it into a corpse. That corpse moves again—like Ryuma. Those zombies fear salt.
As for the victim, if they stand in sunlight, they'll vanish. Completely erased."
The Marines' jaws dropped. That ability was nastier than they'd imagined.
"That's why I keep telling you lot," Jin went on. "Don't underestimate Devil Fruit users. Stay cautious — twice over, every time.
Ain, your rewind ability is also terrifying. I keep wondering: once it awakens… just how far back can you push someone?"
"My ability…" Ain looked down at her hands, where blue energy flickered faintly.
"Yeah. Keep developing it. Don't rush it."
"Ohh, a Devil Fruit user? So scary I would've jumped out of my skin—if I had any skin! Yo-ho-ho-ho!" the skeleton cackled.
Jin glared at him. "Stop trying to act like you're normal. You're a Devil Fruit user too."
"If I weren't, I wouldn't be this handsome," the skeleton said seriously.
Jin ignored him. "Alright, let's talk about you. Are you going back to Twin Cape to see that whale, or staying in this graveyard?"
"Laboon…" the skeleton whispered. "We abandoned him. Is he… still alive?"
"Yeah. Alive," Jin said. "Just spends all day headbutting Reverse Mountain, trying to smash through it."
"Laboon…"
Two streams of spectral tears spilled from the skeleton's empty eye holes.
"Marine sir," he said, kneeling on one bony knee. "I wish to go see Laboon. If… if you don't mind… after that, this old bag of bones is at your command."
"Oh?" Jin raised a brow. "Why me?"
"Because you saved me," the skeleton said simply. "That alone… I cannot ignore."
So it's not some 'fated destined captain' thing? Just him choosing on his own? Jin thought.
He studied the skeleton for a moment, then nodded.
"Fine. When we reach Sabaody, I'll arrange a transport to Twin Cape. After that… we'll see."
"Understood, boss!" the skeleton said—and just like that, started calling him "boss" like Jango.
"Let's move. If we hang around, Moria's going to whine to the World Government."
Jin glanced meaningfully up at a bat-shaped shadow eavesdropping above.
On Thriller Bark, that same bat fluttered down to Moria's shoulder.
"Moria-sama, they left."
Moria exhaled. "Fine. Let them go. That's easier."
Back on the Marine ship, Jin had had enough of the suffocating fog. He summoned wind, wrapped it around the sails, and the warship surged forward.
Half a day later, they finally broke free of the Devil's Triangle. The sky opened, blue and bright, and everyone visibly relaxed.
"It's the sun!" the skeleton—Brook—cried, running up and down the deck. "I can stand in the sun again!"
Jin left him to it and studied Shusui instead.
He wrapped it in Armament Haki. The black blade hummed softly.
So this is a true black blade…
He flicked it toward the sea.
The ocean split open along the path of the invisible slash, a trench briefly forming before the water crashed back down.
"Nani!?" Brook froze. "Is that really a human's power?"
"That's our boss," Jango puffed out his chest. "Greatsword-level strength. The guy who took down the Golden Lion, Shiki!"
"Golden Lion? Who's that?" Brook asked blankly.
Jango almost fell over. "Weren't you a pirate? How do you not know a legendary pirate like Shiki!?"
Brook scratched his afro. "I'm in my seventies, you know. Back when we ran into a strong enemy, our doctor died first… then, one by one, so did we. I only came back from the underworld much later, when my Revive-Revive Fruit finally took effect."
His voice dwindled as the memories surfaced.
Jango winced. "Sorry. I didn't know."
"It's alright. Could you tell me more about Mr. White Ghost?" Brook asked.
"Then sit down," Jango grinned. "You're in for a long story."
He started from Jin's enlistment in East Blue, his "bandit Marine" reputation, his brutal pirate hunts, and his duel with Shiki.
Brook's jaw dropped repeatedly.
"Na-ni!? So strong!? And he robbed pirates? Yo-ho-ho-ho, my nonexistent heart is moved!"
Ain listened silently too. She knew pieces of Jin's past, but hearing the whole picture made her realize how much he'd already done before she met him.
When Jango mentioned a certain little girl named Dezaya in Loguetown, Ain's eyelid twitched. She glanced sideways at Jin.
"Na-ni, such an interesting man," Brook said. "Pillaging pirates in the name of justice—magnificent!"
Jin's gaze sharpened suddenly.
"Someone's coming."
"Where?" the others asked, scanning the sea.
"There."
He pointed toward the distant waves.
A tiny black dot rolled closer… a bicycle… riding on an ice path.
"Ah-la-la,"Aokiji sighed as he pedaled up. "Looks like I won't have to ride this thing all the way back. Lucky."
The ship's Marines scrambled to attention. "Admiral Aokiji, sir!"
"Relax, relax. Don't mind me," he said, hopping aboard with the bike.
He flopped onto the deck, pulled out a beach chair from who-knows-where, opened it, and lay down.
"Yo, White-kid. Long time no see. Didn't expect to run into you here."
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