Ch. 6- Straw Hats Reunited
Part 6- Ghost Identity
One Piece © Oda
Blizzard, Monkey D. Aika, Kumi, Jupiter, Lucky, and Bella © Me
"Jeez...the sun's getting ready to go down and we still haven't found any clue about where Brook might be."
"I know. I hope we find him in time for dinner."
"...Seriously, Luffy, is that ALL you think about?"
"No! ...Okay, maybe sometimes."
Blizzard sighed as he and Luffy walked through the streets of Sapphire Town, hoping to find a lead on the very last Straw Hat they needed to find: Brook. So far, though, they hadn't heard or found any clues. When Luffy asked around about a skeleton wearing some funny clothes and glasses, all he got were some strange looks.
Nonetheless, they didn't give up on their search...even though Luffy was starting to get hungry, again, but that was nothing new.
"You'd think a walking, talking skeleton would stick out more, huh?" Luffy asked.
"He's here, somewhere, I'm sure," said Blizzard as he looked around. "I'm just not exactly sure where...and it's hard to tell where his scent might be."
"And we can't really ask around since people don't know what exactly we're talking about," Luffy added as they walked by, but as they did, they noticed a young man with dark green hair and glasses, and he was wearing a rather fancy green suit...but for some reason, he seemed troubled by something. "Ooh, hey! Let's ask that guy!"
Soon, the Straw Hat Captain and guard dog walked up to the young man, who hadn't noticed them due to them having his back turned.
"Hmm..." he hummed. "I hope Jeanne and Bella will be all right."
"What's that about Jeanne?" Luffy asked, causing the young man to shriek as he turned around, only to sigh in relief as he placed a hand to his chest in order to calm his rapidly beating heart.
"Don't just sneak up on me like that!" he cried. "I thought you were a ghost!"
"Hahahaha!" Luffy laughed. "Sorry about that, man."
"Whatever..." the young man replied. "The name's Fred...you a friend of Jeanne?"
"Yeah, we are," Luffy replied.
"Then I suggest you go and find her, pronto," said Fred. "She heard that everyone's been too scared to go to the graveyard because they think it's haunted by a ghost, so she went to check it out, herself."
"A ghost?!" Luffy repeated in excitement. "Sweet!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Luffy, there are no such things as ghosts!" said Blizzard.
"What about the ones on Thriller Bark?" Luffy countered.
"Those don't count," Blizzard retorted.
"Uh...excuse me?" Fred asked. "Are you having a conversation...with your dog?"
"Right, not important," said Luffy. "Now, is there really a ghost at the graveyard?"
"Well, it's just a rumor," said Fred. "You should really go and see for yourself."
"Right!" Luffy exclaimed. "Come on, Blizzard! Let's go to the graveyard!" He paused. "...Where is the graveyard?"
"It's just west from here," answered Fred. "You'll know when you see it. Good luck!"
"Thanks, man!" Luffy said as he hopped onto Blizzard's back, and soon, the wolf-dog ran as fast as he could, heading toward the graveyard.
XXX
"I...it's okay, Jeanne..." Jeanne whispered to herself as she stood at the far end of the bridge. "There's no way there's a ghost over in the graveyard. It's just a silly rumor-"
"Jeanne?"
"AAH!" Jeanne shrieked while Bella yowled in fright and jumped into her arms.
"Whoa, whoa, easy, Jeanne! It's just us!"
"Huh?" Jeanne muttered as she turned around to see Luffy and Blizzard approaching them. "Oh! Luffy, it's only you and Blizzard. Don't you know better than to go to sneaking up on someone like that?"
"Yeah, you almost scared the life out of us!" Bella added as Jeanne put her down on the ground.
"Sorry about that," Blizzard replied. "We just thought that we'd come and help."
"Yeah, we heard you were looking for a ghost," Luffy answered, "but if you're that jumpy, I don't know how you plan on getting rid of it. Shishishi!"
"Hmph!" Jeanne pouted. "Well, I didn't see anybody else trying to do something. Besides, I come here a lot, anyway...what about you, Luffy? What's your reason for trying to find this 'ghost'?"
"I'm hoping to have the ghost to join my crew!" Luffy grinned.
"What?!" Bella questioned while Jeanne gasped. "Is he kidding?!"
"Sadly, no," Blizzard muttered in annoyance.
"...Okay, then," Jeanne said, slightly worried before she sighed. "Anyway, I am glad you two showed up. Will you two help me?"
"Sure thing!" Luffy replied. "You scratch my back, I scratch yours, right? Shishishi!"
"Great," Jeanne smiled. "People have been saying that they saw the ghost running across the pond. You'll find it to the left of the graveyard."
"Sweet!" Luffy said as he climbed up onto Blizzard's back again. "We'll head there!"
"Be careful, you guys!" Jeanne said as the pair soon headed across the bridge...but as they did, they soon found the many tombstones that embedded the ground, all of them bearing many names. Some flowers had been left behind on a few of them, as well, showing that someone had been here, recently.
"Whoa...look at all these graves," said Blizzard, somberly.
"Yeah," Luffy said as he rubbed his arms. "Actually gives me the creeps a little bit."
"A lot of these graves don't even look very old," Blizzard pointed out. "I wonder what happened?"
"Let's just hurry up and find that ghost," Luffy replied. "Who knows? Maybe it knows where Brook is!"
"Even if there was a ghost, I doubt it would tell us where Brook is," Blizzard replied as they headed off toward the pond that was adjacent to the graveyard...but they saw that the pond was rather large, even for a pond. In fact, it looked more like a lake, and it also looked rather deep.
"Oh, boy..." Blizzard muttered as he looked down. "When Jeanne said pond, I thought she meant like a little pool of water with little frogs and lily pads...not a lake!"
"Ooh, look!" Luffy said as he pointed across the water at three figures standing on a hill. "I see someone over there! Maybe it's the ghost!"
Blizzard rolled his eyes before he looked at the water. "I'm gonna have to swim to the other side. Just hold onto me, okay, Luffy?"
"Got it!" Luffy replied as he grabbed onto Blizzard's scarf tightly as the wolf-dog soon jumped into the lake-sized pond.
XXX
"Did either of you see it?!"
"No! Did you?!"
"I don't know! I was too busy being scared!"
It was revealed that ones standing on the other side of the pond were three pirates, two scrawny guys with machine guns strapped to their backs, and a burly one with his hair styled to look like a daikon radish.
"Phew!" sighed the biggest one. "Man, that was close. I thought we were done for when we saw that...that...whatever it was!"
"Aww, you guys aren't ghosts! What a letdown!"
"GYAAAAH!" the pirates shrieked as they turned to see Luffy and Blizzard standing behind them, both of them looking rather soaked.
"See, Luffy?" Blizzard asked. "I told you there are no such things as ghosts."
"Hey, you punk!" shouted one of the lankier pirates. "Aren't you gonna apologize for scaring me?!"
"Uh...why?" Luffy asked.
"Why you little...!" growled the burlier pirate. "If you wanna see a ghost, that badly, we'll turn you and the mutt into one, right now!"
Blizzard growled viciously as he glared at the pirates as they charged with their weapons brandished before he charged right back at them...and with no effort at all, he bashed into them like a battering ram and sent them all flying into the water.
"AAAAH!" the pirates screamed as they hit the water with a splash.
"Have a nice swim, chumps!" the wolf-dog grinned.
"So the ghost was actually a bunch of pirates, huh?" Luffy asked. "Better go back and tell Jeanne."
"Sorry you didn't find your ghost," said Blizzard as he let Luffy climb onto his back, again. "At least we took care of the problem, though."
"That's true," Luffy said as Blizzard took off running. "We still didn't find out where Brook is, though."
"That's true," Blizzard mused. "I wonder where he could be."
Soon, the two made it back to Jeanne and Bella, who were standing in front of the monolith in the graveyard.
"Well?" Jeanne asked. "Was it really...a ghost, Luffy?"
"Nope," Luffy answered. "Just pirates...which sucked, by the way."
"So, it wasn't a ghost after all," Jeanne said, relieved. "Thank goodness...although, how were they able to run across water? That's actually pretty incredible..."
"Search me," Luffy shrugged.
"...Wait a second," Blizzard realized. "Luffy...who do we know that can run on water?"
"Uhh..." Luffy muttered. "Oh! I know! It's Brook! Brook must've been the one running across the pond!"
"Who's Brook?" Jeanne asked.
"Did someone say my name?"
"AAAAH!" Jeanne and Bella both shrieked as they turned around...and that's when they saw someone come out from behind the monolith, and it was soon revealed that it was none other than Brook, who politely bowed his head and tipped his hat.
"Yohoho!" Brook chortled. "Greetings!"
"AAH! A GHOST!" Jeanne screamed as she hid behind Luffy.
"It is real!" Bella cried as she hid behind Blizzard.
"Brook! It's you!" Luffy exclaimed, happily.
"Why, Luffy! Blizzard!" Brook said. "So good to see you both! Not that I have eyes to see with. Yohohoho!"
"Wait...you know him?" Jeanne asked.
"Sure we do!" Luffy answered. "Brook's our musician!"
"A pleasure to meet you, miss," Brook said with a gracious bow. "My name is Brook. Dead-Bones Brook, a man who ate the Revive-Revive Fruit and came back as a skeleton, as you can clearly see."
"I-I see," Jeanne said before she smiled. "It's very nice to meet you, Brook."
"As a sign of our new friendship," Brook began, "would you be so kind as to show me your panties?"
"What?!" Jeanne questioned while Blizzard groaned.
"Who in the world would ask someone that?!" Bella asked.
"Only Brook would," Blizzard answered while Luffy held his stomach in laughter.
"Same old Brook!" Luffy said.
"Your friend is a bit of a pervert, don't you think, Luffy?" Jeanne asked.
"He doesn't mean any harm," Luffy said. "Besides, any girl he asks ends up kicking him, anyway!"
"How harsh..." Brook bemoaned.
"Anyway," Luffy said, "Brook, what are you doing around here?"
"Ah, yes," Brook replied. "Well, after our harrowing escape from the Sky Prison, I wandered aimlessly about the island, trying to find the others...and when I tried to ask for help from the locals, they would shriek in fright and run from me as if I were the Devil himself!"
"What a shock..." Blizzard said, sarcastically.
"So, I came here to lie low for a little bit," Brook concluded.
"So that's it," Jeanne said. "You only came here to hide out for a little while...well, aside from you asking to see my underwear, you don't seem like a very bad person, Brook."
"Yeah, I'll let the panties thing slide...for now," said Bella.
"I'm Jeanne, by the way," Jeanne said with a polite bow of greeting. "I'm sorry for my rudeness, Brook. I'll be sure to tell the islanders about you so they won't be scared. Your friends are waiting for you back at your ship, so we'll take you back to Amber Harbor."
"I do appreciate your kindness," Brook replied. "I'll never forget this for as long as I live...even though I'm already dead! Yohohohoho!"
"Well, Brook was the last one that needed to be found," said Blizzard.
"Yeah," Luffy replied. "Now we can go back to the Sunny and have dinner. I'm starved!"
"Wait a minute, Luffy," said Jeanne. "Before we go, there's someone I wanna visit first."
"Really?" Luffy asked. "Who?"
"...She's right here," Jeanne answered before she walked over to a grave that was covered in many, many flowers, all of them having been laid here recently. That's when Jeanne pulled out a bouquet of flowers of her own and gently placed them in front of the tombstone while Luffy, Blizzard, Brook, and Bella all watched.
"Jeanne?" Luffy asked. "Whose grave is this?"
"...It belonged to the island's previous leader, Dahlia," said Jeanne. "She was...my Mom. I come here often to talk to her."
"...Oh," Luffy said as he went over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry about that, Jeanne...my Mom's gone, too."
"Oh, Luffy," Jeanne said in concern.
"It's okay," Luffy assured. "I know she's still watching over me."
"A pleasure to meet you, ma'am," Brook said as he bowed to the grave. "My apologies if I have disturbed your rest."
"...Hey, Mom," Jeanne said to the grave. "It's me, again...everyone on the island is doing...well...not so great." She then sighed heavily. "No matter how hard I try, it's like everything's getting worse, day by day..." She then made a determined expression. "But you don't have to worry about a thing, Mom. I don't know how much I can do on my own...but I know there is something I can do!"
"Hey, who says you gotta do it alone?" asked Luffy. "Can't you just ask your friends to help you?"
"Everyone else already has their own problems to deal with," Jeanne replied. "I can't bother them with every little problem I have." She clenched her fist tightly and held it to her heart.
"I swear," she proclaimed, "that I'll protect everyone on this island, just like my Mother did!"
No one said anything, not even Luffy, who just stared at Jeanne with this silent intensity.
"Phew!" Jeanne sighed before she smiled. "Well, I said what I needed to say. Thanks for being here with me, Luffy, Blizzard, Brook."
"Of course!" Brook replied. "I was honored to pay my respects."
"Me, too!" Luffy grinned.
"Same here," Blizzard said while Bella barked and licked Jeanne's face, causing her to laugh.
"Of course, you, too, Bella!" Jeanne said as she pet her dog lovingly. "Thank you."
"You know I'll always help you, Jeanne," Bella said with her tail wagging happily.
"Now that we've found Brook, can we PLEASE go back to the ship?" Luffy asked as his stomach began to growl. "My tummy could really use some meat!"
Jeanne, Blizzard, Brook, and Bella could only laugh.
"Oh, Luffy," she said before they all began to head to Amber Harbor.
TO BE CONTINUED...
And that's the end of Chapter 6!
Also, be on the lookout for the next chapter of The Fire Within. That one's gonna be coming sometime this month.
Review, please!