Fledgling Souls
It was a calm night, so Brook was sitting down in the Soldier Docking System hub, humming a soft melody and lazily plucking out a tune on his guitar.
It was something he'd started doing after they made it past Fishman Island and if the crew thought it strange, they didn't say anything, just gave him peace and quiet to do so. Brook had, on occasion, entertained the idea of telling them what he was doing, but he thought the eventual surprise would be more rewarding. Besides, there wasn't anything to show for mortal eyes at this point anyways (though he suspected Luffy might pick up on his efforts, possibly Franky or Usopp as well).
As for what he was doing, well, music is food for the soul and there were six fledgling souls down here who could benefit from some extra, special love and care (not to say that they weren't well cared for anyway).
The idea to offer up a bit of his own extra spiritual energies to aid the creation of Klabautermann had only really occurred to him after Fishman Island, where he had noticed the wisps of soul attached to the Franky Shogun (he hadn't had much time to look at the component vehicles) and their dear Lion-chan as they fought in Gyoncorde Plaza. So when he had gotten the chance, Brook had gone down to the central area of the Docking System, opened all the inner bay doors, and begun to play, filling his song with soul to tease the wisps of soul out into view.
Now he played for them regularly, slowly building up their strength.
They were darling little children, from the proud and strong Lion-chan to the soft-spoken and kind Lamb-chan. Shark-chan was adventurous and Horse-chan was lively and quick. Rhino-chan was a show-off and Dino-chan was steady and sure (the two of them got along marvelously, though that was hardly a surprise when they combined to make the Shogun).
Lion-chan and Lamb-chan could convey enough to present complex concepts, though not quite at the words stage (Brook knew it was but a matter of time since Sheep-chan had managed it without any special Devil Fruit help). That those two were ahead of the others in development Brook attributed to their connections to the Straw Hats' first ship, the crew automatically loving and fostering the souls of those ships in memory of the first. That, and they were the ones who saw the most use by the crew. Rhino-chan and Dino-chan were next, despite being the youngest creations, seeing as they received so much adoration for becoming the Franky Shogun together. Then came Shark-chan, being used often enough to sneakily explore ahead and occasionally to look for good fishing spots. And little Horse-chan was the weakest, though it could hardly be helped when Nami-san was the only one who could maneuver the poor dear and she just didn't get to take Horse-chan out all that often.
Still, Brook loved them all, just like the rest of the crew, and he looked forward to the day that all the fledgling souls of the Klabautermann were grown enough to sing along with the songs he played for them. Until then, he'd watch the happily waving wisps of soul and know that these little ones were coming along just fine.
Author's Note
I think I killed myself a bit with the cuteness of this one, haha. So this one builds off the aura/soul wisps that Brook can see from last chapter, The World Through His Eyes, and the fact that Klabautermann are the souls of ships. As I was working on this, I realized that Brook almost categorically refuses to call any of the Straw Hat ships by their ship name, instead giving them nicknames, so I spread that to the other three that Brook hasn't had to refer to yet. As for Going Merry being 'Sheep-chan,' if the Mini-Merry is a lamb, then it only makes sense for the full-sized ship to be a sheep (more importantly, it keeps the two from getting mixed up).
