Eventually, Luffy and Franky joined Zoro and Nami. After Luffy had desperately asked whether Zoro and Nami were real, and Franky had loudly denied shedding any tears, they settled down and tried to avoid looking at Brook and Sanji.

"Laboon…" whispered Brook. "Laboon…"

He had all but given up hope that Laboon would return. On his knees, he began to wonder whether or not there was a point to living.

A point to living… I suppose that if Luffy-san were here, he'd say—

"Of course there's a point to living! Just because you couldn't realize your dream, it doesn't mean that there's no point! The point is to just live!"

Brook looked up and saw Luffy sitting on a rock, grinning. "Luffy-san…?"

"Oh yeah," said Luffy, "you can't remember the song, right? Here, I'll help!"

He took a deep breath and began to sing, loudly and slightly off-key:

"Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho~! Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho~!"

Usopp came up and joined him. "Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho~! Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho~!"

"Gather up all of the crew~," sang Zoro, "Time to ship out Binks' brew~… sea wind blows to where, who knows, the waves will be our guide~!"

Sanji joined them. "O'er across the ocean's tide~, the sunset is goin' wild~…"

"See the sky~," chimed in Chopper from around Brook's ankles, "The birds singing in circles passing by~!"

Robin walked up from behind Luffy. "Bid farewell to weaver's town~, say so long to port renowned~…"

"Sing a song, it won't be long~, before we're casting off~!" Franky had a big grin on his face.

"Cross the gold and silver waves~," sang Nami, "Changing into water sprays~…"

"…Sailing out on our journey~, to the ends of the sea~!" Brook picked up his old violin and began to play, the notes and lyrics flooding back to him.

"Gather up all of the crew~, time to ship out Binks' brew~," he sang with the rest of the Strawhats, "Pirates we~, we'll divide and conquer all the seas~! With the waves to rest our heads~, the ship beneath us as our bed~… hoisted high up on the mast our jolly roger flies~!"

As he sang, he thought he saw something… something black and curved, jumping towards them…

"Somewhere in the endless sky~, a storm has started comin' by~…"

The black thing continued approaching.

"Waves are dancing, having fun~, it's time to sound the drums~…"

Laboon finally reached them and had started chirping in time with the song.

"If we let blow winds of fear, then the end of us is near~… Even so, tomorrow, the sun will rise again~!"

Setting down the violin, Brook knelt and stroked Laboon. "Laboon… it's me! I know that I look different, but you recognize me, don't you?"

Laboon chirped happily and nuzzled Brook's skeletal hand like a dog. Brook laughed and stroked him again. Noticing something, he looked over and saw a bright light not too far away on the sea.

"Go on, then, Brook!" Luffy encouraged. "Laboon'll be right here!"

Laboon chirped in agreement.

Brook nodded, jumped off the cliff, and ran on the water towards the light. He entered the strange disk and murmured "Oh dear, this light will burn away my eyes! Ah, but… I have no eyes! Yo-ho-ho-ho—"

The light got brighter. Brook covered his eye sockets. When the light faded, he uncovered them and looked around, finding himself in the large room that he suddenly remembered entering. He also noticed Zoro, Nami, Luffy, and Franky sitting against the opposite wall. Zoro was gulping down some booze (and judging by the empty bottles, he was on his fifth) while the others lolled around, quietly chatting. They looked up when Brook had moved past the white line on the ground and grinned.

"Hey, Brook!" yelled Luffy. "How's it going?"

"Luffy-san…?" he looked behind him, ahead again, and nodded. "Ah. I see…"

He approached the group. "Nami-san… I have something very important to ask you…"

"No, you may not see my panties," said Nami. Brook sighed.

"You must be psychic…" he sat down with the others. "Does anyone have any idea what's happening to Sanji-san?"

"Well, you know, he's going through his worst fear…" said Franky.

"Yes, but what is it, exactly? He seems to be having trouble…" he noted as Sanji ran close to them, stumbled, and tripped. He backed up, crawled sideways, got up, and continued running.

"Dunno," said Zoro, setting down his empty bottle. "Me and Luffy tried talking to him, but we didn't know what he was going on about."

"I'll give it a shot," said Nami, standing up. "He might see through it and recognize me."

"Ooh! Good thinking, Nami!" said Franky. Nami stepped over the white line and stopped Sanji in his tracks with two hands.

"Alright, Sanji-kun, get a grip!" she exclaimed, holding him up by his shirt. He yelled out and struggled in her hold.

"Shitty freak of nature!" he yelled. "I will not! It's an insult to my manhood!"

"Cut this crap about manhood and get over it!" yelled Nami, raising a fist. Sanji flinched.

"No… NO! LET GO! I'M NOT PUTTING THAT ON! NOT AGAIN! NEVER AGAIN!" he squirmed around. He looked to either side of Nami and his mouth dropped open.

"NO! No…" he whispered. "Please… not again! Anything but that! I swear I'll do anything you want except that!"

Nami loosened her grip and he dropped to the ground. Coughing, he rose shakily and said "You agree, right? I'll do whatever you want except that?"

He waited, apparently listening to his invisible attacker. Then he straightened up, yelled "NO WAY IN THIS HELL!" and proceeded to run again.

Nami stepped out of the line. She faced the rest of the group and shrugged. "I guess he didn't." She sat down and they decided to wait it out.

One hour later

"This is getting ridiculous!" yelled Zoro. Sanji was still running, but more slowly and stumbling, due to the fact that he'd been running almost nonstop for the past hour.

"I have an idea," said Luffy, standing up. He stepped over the white line, stopped the running Sanji with one hand, and held him down. Sanji looked up at his captain with exhaustion in his eyes – exhaustion and near-defeat.

"Sanji!" said Luffy. He took a deep breath.

"Sorry about this!" he aimed a fist at Sanji's head, successfully knocking out the cook. He slung him over his shoulder like a sack of grain and carried him over the line.

"…why didn't we do that earlier?" said Nami, standing up and wincing due to a slight cramp in her legs from sitting too long.

"Here, Luffy, I got him," offered Franky. Luffy handed off the unconscious Sanji to the cyborg and the group headed through the open way.

About ten minutes of heading down the dark passage later, Sanji suddenly spoke up. "Put me down, shitty cyborg. I can walk, you know."

"Hey, Sanji! Back with the living?" Franky set him down. Sanji brushed off his suit, seeing as it was a bit dirty from falling often in the larger room.

"So… how did I end up here, exactly?" he asked. "And why does my head hurt?"

"It didn't look like you were going to snap out of it anytime soon, so Luffy knocked you out," explained Nami. Even in the dim light, Sanji could make out Nami.

"NAMI-SWAN! Ah, if only I were knocked out by your fist of love rather than our captain's rubber one!" he swooned. Nami sighed.

"Quiet. Luffy and maybe Zoro are the only ones strong enough to knock you out. Oh, wait, Franky too."

"Well…" Sanji scratched his head. "Thanks, I guess, Luffy. So that was the worst fear thing, huh? I appreciate you getting me away from those freaks."

"Sure, now he's all calm and composed," muttered Zoro. "If I remember correctly, you were begging 'I'll do anything, anything you want!'"

"SHUT THE HELL UP, SHITTY MARIMO!"

"WHAT WAS THAT, ERO-COOK!?"