I...LIVE! Hey, it's been awhile, and this is really overdue, but here's the fourth chapter.
"So… you're telling me that the Grand line, the four blues, they don't exist here?" Brook said, recovering from fainting as the group looked at him warily.
"No, we have several oceans with different names, but none called what you're talking about." Said Saya with a frown. "Where did you even get those ridiculous names, even an idiot knows those aren't real oceans."
"Well from where I came from they are quite real I assure you." He said as he leaned back. "I wonder if I'm in a new world? It wouldn't be so strange to assume a devil fruit could send me here." He mused as he rubbed his chin.
"Brook-san?" Spoke Saeko. "I believe I speak for everyone here when I ask this, but what exactly are you?"
"Hmmm? Oh, how rude of me, I am Soul King Brook, musician of the Straw Hat Pirates and former captain of the Rumbar Pirates." He said as he stood up, towering over the group.
"We know that." Frowned Saya while keeping herself from getting scared. "She means how the hell can you talk and move if you're just a skeleton? You don't have muscles or anything that would let that be possible."
"Oh, that? I ate the Revive-Revive fruit, after I died I returned to my body, but as you can see I was a bit late." He remarked bluntly which made the group even more confused and nervous. "It was so shocking my eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, but I don't have eyes anymore, skull joke! Yohohohohoho!"
Hirano gulped at the laugh and held up his hand. "Uh, B-Brook-san? What do you mean when you said a devil fruit sent you here?"
"Well from where I come from devil fruits can do all sorts of things. Why I happened to deal with one who could bring zombies to life using people's shadows, and there's even a few from my crew who can use them, especially my captain."
"Wait, did you say one could make zombies?! Do you mean someone with a devil fruit made these things?!" Cried Takashi with a frown.
"Oh heavens no, from what I've seen these creatures aren't even close to being the same, they can't talk, salt does nothing against them and when I cut their heads off they don't get back up."
"Well that's silly, salt is for eating." Spoke Shizuka with a smile.
"Well not with the ones I dealt with. Frankly these ones don't seem to pay much attention to me when I walked around them." He said with a shrug. "It's quite rude, I may not be what they want but it's still rude to ignore me!"
"So… essentially you're just a skinless and muscleless zombie?" Asked Shizuka.
"Not quite." He said with a shake of his head. "I am still human, not a zombie."
"I still think this is ridiculous." Muttered Saya with Rei nodding. "Everything you're saying goes against everything logical."
"Ah, logic, where I'm from that is a paper thin concept that is full of holes, especially when my captain is around." He said before stiffening. "Now that I remember, I need to get back to him."
"You mean your friends might be nearby?" Asked Saeko.
"I'm not sure, I've looked all over, but I haven't found them, I'm starting to think they're not here."
"Well, if they're not here, maybe you could join us." Suggested Shizuka with a smile.
"I'm afraid that is impossible, I already belong to a crew, I could never abandon them."
"I think she means you coming with us until we find other people." Spoke Komuro. "We're just trying to get out of the city and keep as many of those things away, especially since they react to sound."
"Besides, it's not like you'll find them easily, most of us have given up and accepted that most of our family was killed, your friends probably died as well." Saya said coldly.
"NONSENSE!" Brook snapped, startling them all. "Monkey D. Luffy dying to these things? You must be insane, he has fought enemies that would bring you all to your knees just by their presence!" He declared standing up while not noticing some of the zombies outside the house turned their heads to the sound. "He is a man who would give away his life to keep everyone close to him safe and sound no matter what."
"Whoa, whoa, we're just opening up a possibility, these things are relentless and-" Takashi started before he was silenced by Brook's glare.
"And so is my captain! He is the man who will become the pirate king, who will beat anyone who stands in his way!" He declared while strumming a few notes with his guitar and gave a pose with his hand held high before they suddenly heard banging on the front door.
"You idiot, your shouting drew more of them here!" Rei shouted with a frown as the group picked up their weapons. "You probably wanted them to come, you're one of them!"
"Oh no no no, I assure you that wasn't my intention." He waved his hand as the banging grew while he frowned. "As a show of my gratitude, allow me to help deal with them."
"How, you don't have a weapon and like hell we're giving you a gun!" Shouted Kohta as he began to shoot at the horde from one of the boarded up windows.
"I merely need my cane outside, I've never even used a gun before." He said as he began to move towards the door only to be stopped by Saeko's bokken.
"If you open that door they'll get in and we'll all die."
"Hmm, good point." He tapped his chin before perking up. "Oh! I know! If I go outside and make some noise, they'll come to me, right?"
"And how will you do that, we're surrounded." She responded with a frown.
"I merely need enough space to slide through the window, and then I can lead them away with the beauty of my music, then take care of the rest."
"I say we kill them and then him, are we really going to trust a walking skeleton, for all we know he's some kind of elite zombie!" Saya shouted with a frown.
Takashi looked at the group and Brook while the banging got his nerves on high alert and was tempted on listening to her, but Brook was completely calm, he thought, and seemed sure of himself. On one hand that could mean that he knew he could do what he claimed, and even if he failed he would buy they time to escape, on the other hand it could mean that he knew he was in control and that they were going to die if they didn't do anything.
"Takashi! Help us get rid of him!"
"You have a choice, either kill me now and doom your friends, or take a chance and have me kill those creatures." Spoke Brook in a serious tone. "I won't stop you if you choose to kill me."
"Hey, hurry up and kill him!"
"You know what to do." Brook said as Takashi looked away.
"Go."
Brook nodded with Saya and Rei stunned as the skeleton moved to the boarded window and began to take one of the wooden planks off.
"Takashi are you insane?!"
"We don't have a choice, you know we're starting to run low on ammo, even if we did kill this horde how would we kill the next one, and do you think we could kill Brook, you saw what he did to the zombies outside, he could have ended us any time he wanted." he frowned.
"I'll be right back." Waved Brook as he opened the window up a little before squeezing himself through with his skinny body as best as possible. He slid past the zombies shuffling to get in as he made his way to his sword.
"Takashi you idiot!" Yelled Rei stabbing at zombies through another window at the horde. "You might have made things worse!"
"You don't know that, at the very least it's one less enemy in here."
Brook reached his sword and picked it up before pulling it out and gave a nod to Kohta looking through the window before he turned to the horde and started walking towards them with the sword held out down to the ground. As he moved he began to hum, making the zombies turn towards him.
"What's going on?" Asked Shizuka looking out through the window confused.
"It looks like he's about to get torn apart, should we try to run?" Rei asked as the zombies moved away from the doors and windows.
"No, something is about to happen." Spoke Rei as Brook held his sword up to his cane and started to slowly sheathe it.
"Humming ten feet…." He spoke softly with a focused light around his sockets with the sword almost all the way in before it was put all the way inside. "Arrow Notch Strike!"
Suddenly the zombies around him began to collapse, slowly sliding apart to show that they had been cut apart as Brook looked at the few remaining ones.
"Hmmm, it seems I missed a few, oh well." He remarked before turning to the windows with the students and teacher inside stunned silent.
"What…. What just happened?" Rei muttered as Brook began to unsheath his sword again.
"Now then, let me show you what soul solid is capable of." He said as his sword began to steam. He looked at the zombies as they began to lumber closer and closer to him.
"What is he-" Started Saya before they suddenly saw him slash is sword forward, a blue beam cutting through the air and leaving a trail of ice in its wake, leaving the zombies with ice growing out of their new wounds.
"Woah." Muttered Takashi as Brook slid his sword back into his cane with the zombies groaning and unable to move.
"Well, it seems like that is all of them, you can come out now." He called as he began to move towards the front door.
Takashi moved over and slowly opened the door to look around while stunned to see all the zombies around were completely unable to get close, while amazed at how many were cut apart. "How….How….How did you do that?!"
"Simple, my soul is strong enough to allow me to coat my soul in my aura, making it cold as the air from the land of the dead."
"I….I….I….I….." Saya got out in shock and felt like everything she knew was coming down around her.
"How did you do that, it looked like you cut them through the air." Said Saeko with intrigue.
"Well that's one of my special moves, I'm not as good as Zoro, but I still have years of experience behind me." He praised himself.
"What….what are you?" Rei asked as she fell to her knees. "You can't be human…."
"But I am. The power of a devil fruit is not something to treat lightly." He wagged his finger. "I can still move and talk like when I looked like a person, but time changed all that. Thankfully I still have my lovely afro." He chuckled with a smile.
"This… is amazing, with him with us we'll never have to worry about those things again!" Cheered Shizuka.
"Whoa, you're not seriously saying we let this thing travel with us, do you?!" Saya cried out in shock.
"Saya, you saw what he did, he's really helpful." Spoke Takashi and turned to Brook. "If you'd like, you don't really need to 'join' us per say, but would you be interested in just tagging along? You'd be really helpful since you have a upper hand on those things."
"I don't see why not, though your plans are to head to the country, correct? I can stay with you until the edge of the city, if my hunch is correct whoever or whatever sent me here is probably in this city somewhere, and I need to get back."
"I can respect that." He smiled and held his hand out. "My name is Takashi Komuro."
"Saeko Busujima." Said the purple haired swordswoman with a cold look.
"I'm Shizuka Marikawa Mr. Brook." Smiled the nurse.
"I'm Kohta Hirano ." Said the overweight boy with a grin.
"Saya." Spoke said girl looking away with a frown. "That's all I'm saying."
"Rei Miyamoto." Said the brown haired girl as she frowned at him. 'I don't trust him, he's practically a skinless zombie.'
"It's a pleasure to meet you all." Brook bowed with his hat tipped before looking at Shizuka. "Excuse me Miss Marikawa, but may I see your panties?"
"WHAT?!"