It's snowing outside right now! I am so excited. Just yesterday there was no snow and now it's piling up by the second! I've never experienced this before. Again, thankyou everyone for the feedback! I'm glad you like where this story is going. I hope to update more frequently this year. I also have a few oneshots in mind that will be published soon. Also sometime soon, I'll be working on my first ever solely One Piece multi-chap fic, which is very exciting. It will be around ten chapters long. It's also going to be my very first shipping fic (I know, what.) Can anyone guess what I ship at all? If you can, I'll give you a special mention in the AN of next chapter :) (Though if you follow me on tumblr you probably already know, haha).

Chapter Twenty-Five: Welcome to Silence

It wasn't an easy task to brush your hair when you had no fingers. Strands of hair would escape easy grasp and were prompted into having minds of their own, resulting in a tangled m ess that was often filled with more knots than when the brushing commenced. Despite this, Sedna did what she could with what she had.

"Would you like me to help you with that?" Yingarna stood in the white rocky outcropping of a doorway, her own hair loose and wild as it naturally fell.

"If you don't mind," Sedna said with a shrug. She quite liked the other woman's presence.

Yingarna took the invitation and entered the room, seating herself behind Sedna as she took the brush and began combing through the tangled white hair.

"Where's Wishram?" Sedna asked once Yingarna had eased into some sort of rhythm.

Yingarna worked on untangling what had been a particularly persistent knot, before answering. "He's locked himself in his quarters."

Sedna quietly winced as her kin continued to pull the brush through her hair. The dark-skinned woman wasn't very gentle. "Ah. I figured he'd do that."

"It's no wonder though," Yingarna continued, "You know what he gets whenever Erebus is mentioned. And now Shearwater's going to be focused there for however long it takes those pirates to escape, assuming they ever do. Not to mention they're not even there yet, and already Shearwater's watching that place. It must be tough."

"It's been tough on us all," Sedna admitted, her eyes wandering down a long hallway. "You know…he's been moving lately. Our life-source."

"I am aware of that," Yingarna said with a nod, "It seems as though everything is finally starting to come together. After all these years. The final pieces are nearly in place."

"How do you know Kurosaki's not going to die in Erebus?"

"I don't. Shearwater does. And he's never been wrong before."

As Nami had predicted, the sun was out and the sky was clear. But there was an uncanny chill in the air. The days were becoming shorter. The foreboding feeling Ichigo had experienced whenever he'd thought of The Forgotten before was pulsing stronger than ever, and the more he looked into the endlessly blue sky, the less safe everything seemed. He chose to put the thoughts out of his mind. He had other things to worry about.

Luffy was still out of action, though Chopper had said he was improving and would be up soon. As such, Sanji had prepared more food than Ichigo had ever seen on the ship and was ready to prepare even more should more sea-life be caught. So Ichigo kept to fishing as he had done over the past two days. Today however, there'd been no luck. They'd only had one near-catch all day, when Brook hadn't been paying attention while casting his line our and had been pulled right in by a particularly strong tug from some sort of large fish.

"Make sure you don't lose that fish!" Sanji had shouted as he'd dived in to assist the musician.

Unfortunately, the fish had gotten away. Even more unfortunately, it had been the only fish, or sign of a fish, all day. It had been lucky that they'd gone fishing when they did earlier; this part of the ocean didn't seem to be housing much life at all at the moment.

Ichigo decided that any further effort to go fishing at this point was probably useless. Usopp however, didn't seem to think so.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked, eyeing the extensive net the sniper was hauling over.

"Maybe we can catch some fish with this," Usopp responded as he dumped the large net into the sea.

Ichigo watched it hit the water and slowly sink, as Usopp secured it to the rails with rope.

"We'll keep it there," he said, "That way we're bound to catch something eventually."

"Alright," Ichigo agreed, watching the net bob up and down beside the ship.

Everything ached. A painful throbbing pulsed from his right shoulder up and down his entire body. It was the first thing he was aware of, before anything of his surroundings came into bearing. It was slow but definite, and was enough to remind him he was still alive. Slowly, his awareness expanded to his surroundings. The touch of the warm blanket. The smell of various medicine mixtures. The sound of muffled voices somewhere outside.

Luffy peeled his eyes open, the world around him seeming to fuzz and blur into distorted shapes. He blinked and it became clearer. Again, and it was almost like normal. The infirmary of the Sunny…what was he doing here? His lungs expanded and constricted painfully with each breath as he scrunched his eyes shut and tried to recall.

His memory clicked into place. Atlantica. The volcano. The Tenryubito. Where were his Nakama? Last time he'd woken like this had been…

He flung off his covers, the blanket touching the ground after he'd already crossed the room and reached the door. He wrenched it open and ambled out into the dining room, where he discovered part of the crew gathered.

"Luffy!" Sanji exclaimed in surprise, his expression a mix of anxiety and relief.

Nami reacted in a similar manner beside him.

"How do you feel, bro?" Franky asked.

Luffy didn't make any response other than scan the room for who he could find. The three of them seemed fine and that was good. But Luffy's mind had wandered to the rest of the crew. "Where are the others?" he could feel the urgency in his voice.

"Robin is up on the deck," Nami responded with a contrasting gentle calmness, "I just came in from talking to her. Zoro finally left your room about an hour ago because he needed to do some training. He's lifting some of those weights of his up in the crow's-nest right now. Chopper is out on the deck because we made him go and get some fresh air. Usopp and Ichigo are outside fishing, or at least trying to. Brook is playing music down in the aqua-room, as you can hear. And the rest of us are right here in the galley."

"Everyone is here, on the Sunny?" Luffy questioned, his heart racing in his chest.

"Yes, everyone's here," Sanji assured him, "Everyone's alright. Except you, of course. You've been completely out of it for the past four days, you know."

Luffy's memory continued to recollect itself. The pain of the seastone as it pierced through his bloodstream, and the urgent drive to protect his Nakama before it was too late…

The burst of energy left him as soon as it had come. Luffy suddenly felt dizzy, the room spun and blurred once again, and he struggled to grab hold of a steady object to support himself.

He heard Nami shout something, before a large set of hands broke his fall.

"Easy there, bro," Franky's voice came from somewhere above him, "I don't think you'll feel very super if you keep running around like this at the moment."

…

Opening his eyes the second time was slightly easier. Luffy blinked and again took in his surroundings, finding that he was back in the infirmary and laying in the bed.

"Luffy!" Chopper's voice came from beside him, before the little reindeer leapt onto the bed and hugged his captain around the middle. "You're awake! I'm so happy!"

Luffy returned the hug with one arm, and then tried to sit upright but winced.

Chopper quickly pulled back. "Don't push yourself!" he said.

"He already did," Sanji's voice came from out in the galley.

"Food…" Luffy groaned as he lay back into the pillow.

"Welcome back, captain," Zoro said, from where he stood in the door frame.

"Zoro!" Luffy said with a smile.

"You'd better have plenty prepared, cook," Zoro called over to Sanji, "Otherwise he'll probably start eating the ship. Franky won't like that."

"That's right! I super wouldn't!" Franky's voice came from near Sanji as Chopper switched to heavy point to help Luffy sit upright.

"The rest of the crew are glad to know you're alright," Chopper said, "Sanji even prepared a feast."

"A feast?" Luffy repeated, eyes shining and mouth watering.

"Yes, but I need to talk to you about your condition before you go."

"How bad is it?" Luffy asked, "Can I still eat meat?"

"Yes," Chopper replied, "But since it's seastone, your abilities will temporarily be affected."

Luffy tried stretching his left arm across the room, but barely made it half way. He then tried the same with his right and got nothing but a searing pain. He quickly grabbed his right shoulder, wincing and prompting Chopper to fuss somewhat.

"I can't stretch like normal," he admitted with a frown once he'd recovered, "Do you know how long this will last, Chopper?"

"A few weeks at most," Chopper answered, "But over that time the seastone will leave your system and you'll be able to stretch again like normal."

"You mean I get to crap it out?" Luffy questioned, suddenly becoming excited.

"Yes."

"Better out than in," Zoro muttered.

"But until you have full use of your abilities again, you need to take things easy," Chopper cautioned. "You should get lots of rest."

"I've been resting for days though," Luffy argued as he pulled himself out of the bed. "How many meals have I missed? It's got to be at least fifteen or twenty by now…"

"You'd better go and eat then," Chopper advised.

Without further prompting, he was out in the galley and earnestly pestering the cook. "Sanji! Food!"

As anticipated, Luffy was ravenous.

Ichigo looked on in amazement as the captain devoured all food within a metre radius in a matter of seconds, before expanding his circle of consumption and devouring other dishes. Although he'd been with the pirates for several weeks already, Luffy's colossal appetite never failed to astound him. And right now was no exception. His eyes widened as the captain—who had up until a few hours ago been comatose—swallowed an entire lobster, claws and all.

"Be careful about what you eat, Luffy," Chopper warned, "Your stomach isn't as strong as it normally is."

But the reindeer seemed to go by unheard as Luffy proceeded to consume a whole leg of meat faster than he could say anything more.

An hour went by, and Luffy seemed relatively contempt with his meal. He'd taken to scurrying up and down the deck and laughing with Usopp. He was notably less energetic than usual however, Ichigo noticed when he slowed his running pace to a stop and leant against the wall of the galley to catch his breath.

"So how are you feeling, Luffy?" Robin asked, hiding any slight concern beneath her passive exterior.

Luffy caught his breath and straightened up from the wall, flexed his arm and grinned. "I feel much better now! You know what they say, 'what kills you makes you stronger'."

Robin laughed.

"Really?!" Chopper blurted, eyes wide.

"That's not how it goes," Zoro reprimanded him, "If you were killed, you wouldn't be around to get stronger!"

Brook chose that moment to pop up seemingly out of nowhere. "Actually, Zoro-san," he stated, "I've been around to get stronger and I'm dea-"

"Shut up!"

The more Ichigo paid close attention throughout the evening, the clearer it became that Luffy had not yet completely healed. He was unsteady on his feet. On more than one occasion, he stumbled and would have fallen were it not for a close-by crew member running to catch him. At some point in the night, Ichigo noticed him sway dangerously on the staircase and quickly steadied him before he could meet the ground. He held him in place for a brief moment before he noticed Luffy wincing, clearly in pain, and noticed that he'd grabbed Luffy's injured shoulder in order to stop the fall. With slight guilt, Ichigo withdrew the hold on the injured area and Luffy continued on as though it hadn't occurred. He grinned his thanks, but Ichigo could detect the mild frustration somewhere beneath his smiling exterior. Furthermore, it seemed he wasn't able to cope with the food as well as he normally may have. After his initial consumption, he barely ate anything. In fact, it seemed as though he was avoiding the food, only eating any if he thought someone would make a remark if he didn't. The others seemed to notice this as well however, and chose to make no comment when Luffy wordlessly declined offers of food

As the evening continued, the crew settled into more of a party-like state. Ichigo smiled and laughed as the others went about their typical party routines (minus Luffy's eating).

"How many times are you planning on singing that?" he questioned Usopp after the sniper sang the same 'Great Captain Usopp' song for the twelfth time in a row.

"I don't know," Usopp shrugged, somehow managing to keep balanced atop the tower of chairs and tables he'd built, "However many times it takes. One time I even sang the same song over nine hundred times in a row!"

"Yeah right," Ichigo said with a laugh.

"He actually did," Nami said.

"What?! You actually did that? Why?"

Usopp chuckled to himself and folded his arms, seeming to have gotten the response he was after. "Well you see Ichigo-kun, it was many years ago now. At one point during our adventures, I'd been surrounded by thousands of enemies. But then, single-handedly, I the Great Captain Usopp blasted them all away with a single fire of my Kabuto and saved the day."

"That part however…didn't happen," Nami contributed.

"I guessed as much," Ichigo said as Usopp began to spin the tale into something even more ridiculous than it already was.

"Any sake for you, Ichigo?" Sanji offered as he came past.

"That's probably not a good idea," Ichigo declined.

"Yeah, probably not," Sanji agreed, "One sip and you'll be up the mast pretending you're a flag or something."

"It's not often that you get to make fun of other people for being light-weights, eh cook?" Zoro said with a laugh.

"What are you implying, Marimo?"

"What do you think I'm implying? Even Nami can drink more than you."

"I don't think that's a good example," Usopp said, as Nami downed her fourteenth glass of the stuff without hassle.

Brook played a fast tune on his violin as Franky approached.

"Hey Brook, did you know that you can hook that guitar of yours up to the new intercom system?" the cyborg asked.

Brook stopped playing the tune. "Can I?" he asked, "Yohoho! How splendid! Let's do that right now then."

Within the next ten minutes, Brook had been hooked up to the intercom and was ready to rock. Franky had also positioned an array of small, round mirrors around the deck. What purpose they served however, Ichigo could only guess.

"Yay! A concert!" Luffy cheered, quickly talking a seat somewhere near the front.

Within a few moments, Brook—or rather the Soul King—began playing the first few notes of his song.

"Are you ready?!" the Soul King asked his audience.

"Yeah!" the more enthusiastic handful of his audience responded in excitement.

The Soul King played the first notes of the song again, this time proceeding with the entirety of the piece, the tune of his voice and guitar echoing throughout the ship and ocean around them. Ichigo was really enjoying it, as were the crew. It was no wonder the guy had become such a world-renowned musician in his time.

He soon reached a complicated guitar solo, though seemed to have something more prepared. "Take it away, Franky-san!"

"You got it, bro!" the shipwright replied.

Ichigo at once saw what the mirrors were for.

"Super Nipple Light Spectacular!" Franky shouted.

At once two beams of white light shot forth from his chest and into the nearest mirrors. The lights bounced from mirror to mirror in all sorts of angles as they flashed a variety of neon colours in-time with the music, giving Brook's performance a true rock-concert quality.

"They're good," Ichigo said a few minutes into the piece.

"I might tell them to tone it down in a moment though," Nami said, "If they get much louder or flashier they could attract unwanted attention."

However, she seemed to have gone unheard.

"Take it away, Usopp-san!" the Soul King instructed.

"Yosh!" Usopp said as he came past and stood in the middle of the deck, wielding the Black Kabuto and using it to aim some sort of missile into the sky, "Now for the fireworks!"

Before Nami could stop him, he released. The firework shot up into the night sky, where it bloomed. It was spectacular. Ichigo looked on in open-mouthed amazement as the missile split into two Phoenix-like beings, which began to glide around the ship, their two different flight patterns criss-crossing one another in an ornate display of colour and calculation. Finally, the two birds met about forty metres above the ship, from where they exploded in one massive flower-like firework which covered nearly the entirety of the night sky, before raining down in shimmering tendrils of light.

The crew were greatly entertained by the display. Even Nami was impressed, before she realised the display would be a sure-fire way of being discovered should any enemy ships be in the area, and proceeded to whack Usopp for his risky but flamboyant exploit.

From there, the partying seemed to die down considerably; a Soul King concert complete with flashing lights and fireworks was a hard act to follow. Furthermore, everything seemed finally to be too much for Luffy. Ichigo looked over to see the captain leaning over the side of the ship and puking up all he'd eaten in the past day as Zoro stood by and slowly patted his back. From what Ichigo could gather, Luffy hadn't been sick like this before. As Chopper had anticipated, the seastone in his body restricted every aspect of his stretching abilities, including his stomach, which now couldn't keep up with its owner's appetite.

Luffy was devastated. "Why would food do this to me, Zoro?" he sobbed dryly before barfing again.

Ichigo heard the first mate mutter some sort of comforting words to his captain as he continued to rub his back in a circular motion.

"We should be arriving sometime in the morning," Nami said, pulling a coat firmly over her shoulders. "Dress warmly. It's going to be cold."

"It already is," Usopp chattered from beside her.

And so, the crew retired to their various quarters for the night. Chopper had insisted that Luffy spend another night in the infirmary, to which the relatively unstretchy captain didn't argue as Zoro led him away. Nami returned to the women's quarters soon after, making sure the others knew to be prepared for the morning.

Ichigo sat cross-legged on deck near the figurehead and stared out into the vacant night. Last night he'd slept the night through, so tonight he'd volunteered to keep watch. He watched the silver glow of the moon shine through the cloud cover that blocked the stars. It was a full moon, or not far from one at least. This would be the second full moon during his time here. The second full moon without Zangetsu. Ichigo folded his legs up into his body and folded his arms around them, hugging his knees closer in. It was a strange type of loneliness. A very intimate sort. He was almost lost in his thoughts when footsteps sounded from the deck behind him as Brook wandered over and took a seat nearby. Ichigo glanced over. The musician had clearly come to keep him company. A friendly gesture.

"Hey," Ichigo greeted him.

"Hello there, Ichigo-san," Brook returned the greeting, "How are you this evening? It's rather icy, don't you think? I'm chilled to the bone!"

Ichigo sighed but smiled as Brook proceeded to laugh cheerfully at his own joke. "That was a good concert you put on earlier," he said.

"Why thank you, Ichigo-san," Brook responded, "I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!"

"It's been a long day," Ichigo said, "And you had last night's watch. Aren't you going to get any rest?"

"No, no, it's fine," Brook insisted.

Ichigo nodded and chose not to argue any further; perhaps he could use some company tonight.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

Ichigo stopped nodding immediately and gazed at him blankly for a moment, before Brook realised what he had just said.

"Oh wait! I already am dead! Better get cracking then, yohohoho!"

And before Ichigo could say anything more, the skeleton was snoring beside him.

"You did that on purpose," Ichigo snapped, but the musician was already far gone.

Ichigo shook his head and returned his attention to the moon, but withdrew from the thoughts of solitude that had been concerning him earlier, especially when Zoro came by to take over the watch early in the morning. Ichigo chose to stay outside despite the cold, chatting to the swordsman on occasion and lightly dozing the rest of the time until he eventually reached sleep.

…

It was morning. Or at least it should have been, the dark night-like sky didn't seem to be letting up. Ichigo yawned and blinked back sleep in slight confusion. His dreams had been vivid and gripping. But he couldn't remember what they'd been about. He glanced at the sky again. Perhaps dawn was still a few hours away yet. Nonetheless, quite a few of the others had already arisen. Robin came out from up in the library, hair in-place as it had been in the evening, and barely looking fazed. Ichigo wondered if she'd even slept at all. Sanji was up next, probably intending to get an early start on breakfast. A very early start, if the sky was of any indication. Ichigo noticed as the cook paused momentarily to look at the dark sky, before glancing at the clock in the galley and shrugging as he headed for the pantry.

Ichigo leant his head against the wall and contemplated the strange phenomena, but also tried to remember the dream. All he could remember of it was that it had seemed familiar to him when he dreamed it. Perhaps if he went back to sleep he'd recall it again…

"Oi, Ichigo."

Ichigo snapped out of his near slumber and looked to the swordsman.

Zoro however, wasn't returning his gaze. Instead, he was staring straight ahead, out over the horizon. Ichigo followed his line of sight until he found what he was inevitably observing.

From the distant night, a misty form had loomed into existence on the horizon. One of the two isles of the second last glade. The Forgotten.

Next Time: A wintery island shrouded by night, fog and mystery. Two groups set out to explore the misty isle, while another stays behind at the Sunny. However, in amongst the crew's investigations, more questions are raised than answered.

I can't believe we've reached The Forgotten! I've had this arc in my head for over a year now. It's really exciting to finally be here.

The snow looks a bit as though it's turning to rain. Apparently it goes really quickly around here. But there's snow ~ Next chapter is on the way!