Chapter 120: The Shadow Island, Thriller Bark!

"It's a ghost!" Usopp and Chopper echoed, falling to the floor alongside Brook. The ghost itself flew through the wall and showed a defined head with black holes for eyes, large lips and two stubby arms protruded from the body and a pink tongue stuck out of its mouth. "That's so cool! Hey, Nami? Can we keep it?" Luffy exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet, pleadingly looking at his girlfriend. "Of course we can't keep it," the navigator replied as the apparition floated over the rest of the crew and out of the opposite wall above where Brook, Usopp and Chopper were whimpering, and out through the wall. "Negative~ Negative~" the ghosts voice chanted in a a slightly high pitched voice, and Just as it disappeared, a tremor raced through the ship, sending silverware and cookware crashing down from the shelves; resulting in a loud expletive from Sanji. Brook jumped to his feet and raced out of the dining room, and onto the mid level veranda, followed by Luffy and Nami, leading the others. "Oh no," Brook gasped, launching himself up onto the main sail boom arm. "No, no no no!"

"What is that?" Usopp whimpered, pointing out behind the Thousand Sunny. "It's here..." Brook muttered, "the Shadow Ship!" Back the way they had come, there appeared to be teeth rising out of the sea; upper and lower teeth, closed and trapping the Sunny within the area they were now in. "Did we just get eaten by something again?!" Chopper stuttered, as he was picked up he Robin and hugged, to calm him down. "It's a gate," Brook relinquished, as he landed back on the veranda, his gaze focusing on the faint outline of land before them. "Thriller Bark..."

Suddenly realising that he wasn't alone Brook turned back towards the assembled straw hats, all looking at him concerned and confused. "You folks didn't happen to pick up a barrel on your way here, did you?" The skeleton questioned. "Yeah, we did..." Franky responded. "It was a trap. That's how they lure people in towards the ghost island Thriller Bark. The same people that stole my shadow". Vivi frowned before looking at the log pose on Nami's wrist, "we didn't get any reading for an island nearby". "The log pose won't pick up this island as Thriller Bark originated in the west blue, and traveled here. No one knows how".

"Another Warlord, huh?" Luffy muttered, causing Brook to shift his attention back to the the straw hat wearing teenage captain. "I wonder if this gecko is a bigger than Crocodile was", Luffy continued grinning. It was then that Franky made himself known, spluttering. "What do you mean another Warlord," The shipwright gaped, completely in awe at the way the Navies aligned pirates were referred to so candidly. "Just what kind of people are you!" Vivi stepped forwards and quickly updated Franky about the time she had met, befriended and joined the straw hat pirates. "Crocodile was a warlord who was trying to take over my home Kingdom of Alabaster, but Luffy defeated him..." Unfortunately, Franky didn't realise that Alabaster was still a sensitive subject for the former princess. "If your home was saved, then why did you leave. Did you get caught fooling around with the captain and your father exiled you?" Franky joked. "I left...", Vivi glared. "I left because the Dragon King sent one of his enforcers to kill my family and bring Alabaster under his control, which it is now! Thank you very much!"

Franky blinked in surprise at Vivi's sudden outburst, even if it was understandable, but then he realised that their was a mistake in her statement. "Princess... Alabaster isn't ruled by the Dragon King", Franky spoke calmly. Vivi, who had been in the process of walking away, spun around and prepared a blistering retort, along the lines of she had 'seen the enforcer and his subordinates kill he me father and his ministers', but stopped herself from doing so when she sensed the genuineness is the shipwrights words. "Fine then. If not the Dragon King, then who?" She sighed. "Alabaster is home to the Green Ores Magic Knight squad, and is ruled by the third ranked wizard saint of the World Republic; Warrod Sequen".

Vivi was stunned. Her belief in that Bradman had taken control of Alabaster for his emperor had been the foundation for her anger and her reason for joining the straw hat pirates; aside from her crush on Luffy. And beyond that she wanted to free her kingdom from the emperors tyranny, but now her entire plan was upended. "T-t-The Republic..." she stuttered, horrified that ERA would so blatantly step into Paradise kingdom; but she was reminded of the female wizard they had met on Little Garden. "This is awful... Alabaster will be ruined. The government act..." she cried dropping to her knees. Seeing her so despondent, Robin knelt down and hugged her. "I'm so sorry princess. The Republic is trying to build up a power base throughout the world, readying itself for the inevitable war it will wage against Mariejois, and I suppose the Wizard Saints are purposefully choosing bases for strategic value. However, I do know for a certain that Warrod Sequen is a highly respected and honourable man. He doesn't like seeing suffering or anything untoward happen to his people, so Alabaster will be safe".

"As amazing as this sounds," Brook interjected, "it is time that I part ways with you". The skeleton moved down the stairs of the veranda onto the grassy deck, before walking over towards the edge, cane in hand and then jumping off the ship down to the sea below. "I've had a wonderful time with you all but I request that you turn around and flee while you still can. I do not know if I will ever leave this island again but I hope that I do, and that I have the cache to meet you all again. Somewhere in the high seas!" Brook yelled over his shoulder. "Wait!" Nami yelled. "You can't swim!"

"He's gonna drown!" Franky added, yet before the rest of the crew could move, a mist of water was kicked up from the sea surface, and then a peel of laughter ringing through the air, "Yohohoho!" The straw hats gaped as they witnessed the skeleton, laughing, and running over the waves towards the shore. "Holy crap!" Suki exclaimed, "he's fast! I didn't think that was possible." Slowly, everyone turned to Luffy, whose grinning was stretched over his face. "Guys, I smell a adventure!"

From his perch by the helm, Franky let out a booming laugh that evidently came from a grin that couldn't be held back. "This is the super perfect time to show you my newest creation. It'll help you get to shores of any country, island or territory so the Sunny won't ever be put in harms way. Now let me show you what I have in Dock 2!" Franky smirked. Presiding over the controls for the six docking systems, Franky was in his element; beaming with pride and excitement, as he pressed the dock 2 button. "As you all know," Franky began, "the Thousand Sunny is equipped with six unique different docks. Two of them, the ones marked 0, are the Sunny's paddle-boat features, and Dock 1 contains Nami's waver..."

He stopped remembering his encounter with a furious Nami over his tinkering with her waver. "Currently, what I have in docks 3 and 4 are a super secret, but I believe now is the time to show off dock 2. And I'm going to need four volunteers." Within seconds of Franky asking for volunteers; Luffy, Usopp, Suki and Chopper all raced forwards wit stars on their eyes. Each one of them all excited to see Franky's new invention. "Okay guys, I present to you the Mini Merry II!" Franky stated pointing down to the water, joyfully. And out of the section of opened up hull, a small boat chugged out.

The boat was essentially a smaller version of its namesake; shaped like a gunboat complete with a large 12 inch cannon on the bow, covered by a tarp roof painted green and silver. The boat was wide, giving the tiny ship a rounder shape, and more streamlined through the water. Usopp hurried forward and jumped onto the mini-Merry. "This is amazing Franky! You're a genius!" Of course the snipers praise only increased the shipwrights ego. Chopper and Suki followed suit into the boat oohing and aahing in wonder, "you even kept the lanterns either side of the helm!" Chopper squealed in delight. "Characterful features", Franky added, "you hardly see lanterns on ships anymore, which is why I kept them of the mini merry". "Okay, let's go!" Luffy cried out jumping on to the mini merry and joining the small advance team. "Send up a flare if you find anything", Vivi stated, as Sanji walked up to her and threw several flares towards Suki; who caught them grinning. "Yeah, it'll be a great expedition!" The youngest crew mate replied.