Reply to Guest2 (the one from Zoro's Captain): Thank you for reading! I agree, Luffy/Zoro interactions are quite cute. I'm glad to know that I did alright with it!
Brook had long since lost track of the times that he'd tried to kill himself—understanding that living like this, living alone—was a fate far worse than death.
So when Luffy came along, it made him really happy—but the painful thought of, what about when he dies?, lurked insidiously in the back of his mind.
Luffy was amazing, though, so Brook shouldn't really have been so surprised when Luffy dropped in on him one day and asked, "Brook, when will you die?"
Brook lifted a shoulder and replied softly, "I don't know. Maybe I'll live forever, until the end of days…" At Luffy's pained expression, he quickly laughed and added, "Yohoho, but I'm already dead! Skeleton joke!"
Luffy pressed two fingers against Brook's forehead. "What about when you don't have nakama, though?" He asked, sliding his teeth over his lower lip nervously. "What about when Laboon's gone? When I'm old and a skeleton? When you're alone again?"
Brook smiled sadly. "I waited decades for you, Luffy-san. I can wait a few more for Death."
"But will Death ever come?" Luffy pressed. "Will you ever come to see me once I'm gone? When I don't have a body? What about when you're alone? Who will sing along to your songs? Who'll dance to your music? Who will…" His voice broke and he shook his head. "I can't think about how painful it must be."
Brook placed a bony hand on Luffy's shoulder. "The world's not such an awful place." He replied. "I won't always be alone."
"I know." Luffy agreed. "But what if I feel alone? I never… I never thought that I'd be separated from my nakama. That I'd be somewhere that wasn't with my whole crew. You already lost one crew, you can't lose another! And I'm probably selfish but… I want to see you, even after I'm dead."
"Life's not about death, though, Luffy-san." Brook replied. "Life is about living to the fullest."
"But how can you live when you don't have anyone to live with?" Luffy asked.
Brook lifted a shoulder and replied hollowly, "All that matters is that I'm with you right now, Luffy-san. We'll deal with later some other time." He didn't mention how he'd already thought of these things—how he'd been terrified that once Luffy left, he'd revert to a lonely skeleton desperately attempting to finish his journey of life.
Luffy wrapped his hand around Brook's, rubbing the cold bone thoughtfully before asking, "If you really mean that, then why are you crying?"
"I'm not…"
Crying.
How odd. He had thought that his tears had run dry a long time ago… But there was a strange, burning sensation in his chest filled with pain and loneliness that he had thought he needed a heart to feel.
"I'll find a way for you to die." Luffy declared. "I'll find a way for you to stop being lonely! I'll find some way, and I'll tell you, and once you don't want to live, it'll be there for you, just like any normal person! Then you'll never be lonely again!"
He didn't believe it. He couldn't. Not after everything…
But..
This was Luffy. And Luffy could do the impossible.
So Brook smiled and agreed. Because he'd follow Luffy anywhere, even into death.
A/N: This is kinda depressing, but I feel like Brook needs to die. Not in a bad way, but immortality must be painful. Do you think that a Kairoseki or a haki weapon could kill him? If he drowned, he wouldn't die, because he wouldn't breath. He'd just lie at the bottom of the ocean, bored. But if there was a weapon… do you think it would work?