THE SOUTHERN CROSS
One Piece belongs to Oda. "Southern Cross" written by Crosby, Stills, and Nash
It was a quiet evening onboard the Thousand Sunny. Nami and Robin were in the women's' cabin, engrossed in girl talk. Chopper was in sick bay, going over his medical supplies. Zoro sat up in the crow's nest, leaning back and enjoying the night air. Usopp and Franky were in the lower deck engrossed in their newest invention. And Sanji was in the galley, working on his next day's menu.
As for Luffy, he laid back on the figurehead, humming a tune as he watched the stars go by.
"Yohohoho! I haven't heard that song in years!" said a cheerful voice.
Luffy sat up and turned around, then smiled at his new nakama. "Oh hi, Brook! You know that song?"
"Know it? I used to sing it to Laboon whenever I was on nighttime lookout duty!" the living skeleton replied gleefully.
Luffy leaped off the figurehead and landed on his feet in front of Brook, smiling from ear to ear, literally. "Sing it to me! Please?"
"Gladly! Wait here, I'll be right back!" Brook ran into the men's quarters, returning with a guitar Usopp made for him. "Ok, I'm ready!" He sat down in front of Luffy, who in turn sat down cross-legged in front of him, grinning in anticipation.
"Got out of town on a boat, goin' to southern islands/Sailing a reach before a followin' sea.."
Luffy hummed along, his mind drifting off to the past when he and Ace would lie back on the grass in their yard on a summer night, watching the stars and talking about each others' dreams. Man, I wish Ace could hear this, he thought to himself, he'd just love it! He closed his eyes, envisioning his brother sitting next to him.
"In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you/ But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away/Think about how many times, I have fall-allin'/Spirits are using me, larger voices call-allin'.."
As Brook sang, his mind also drifted off, remembering how Laboon would listen to him sing, squeaking gleefully as if it was trying to sing along, just like Luffy is humming along now. "Feel free to sing along, if you'd like." he commented as he played a riff.
"Thought you'd never ask." Luffy replied with a smile, then he sang along with Brook:
"When you see the Southern Cross for the first time/You understand now why you came this way/'Cause the truth you might be runnin' from is so small/ but it's big as the promise, the promise of a comin' day"
Brook nodded approvingly. His rubber captain has a nice singing voice.
"I have my ship, and all her flags are a flyin'/ She is all that I have left.."
"Thousand Sunny is her name!" Luffy yelled out in tune, raising his fist in the air.
Brook couldn't help but chuckle at that, loving how his audience of one is getting into his song. Wait, one? He looked around as he continued, and found that to his delight that the rest of the Straw Hat crew had gathered around them and were singing along as well.
When he finished, everyone clapped and cheered. Brook stood up and bowed gracefully. "Thank you."
Luffy smiled. "No, Thank YOU!" He looked around at his crew. "See? I told you having a musician as our nakama's a cool idea!"
Everyone there couldn't but agree with him.
THE END
March 2, 2010