DATE: MAY 22nd, 2019 (22/5/19)

WHELP.

As it turns out, despite the execution due to being heavily different, the general concept of a 'Ship of Dreams' has already been attempted in the form of "The Dream" By Aliahra.

fug. And I thought I had something original, too.

Ah well, I'm already writing this (only to probably stop after 6 chapters, much to my dismay), so why stop now? Anyway, here's Jinbe, fabulous he, and oh my god I suck at this stuff.

It was a good thing that the Sunny had a near infinite supply of tea bags and freshwater for Brook to access (since it was a dream and all), otherwise odds are he'd go mad.

"Hm…" He thought to himself. "Perhaps I should try the signature earl grey from the Shishano Kingdom today. I've heard it's refreshing for the mind after a day of stress." He then turned to a smaller, red bag. "Or maybe the peach and mint refresher from the west coast of Sabaody. It almost sounds like it'll chill you down to the bone!" He put a hand to his chin. "Then again, that's all I've got left. YOHOHOHOHO!"

It had been fifteen years since the Rumbar Pirates had been ambushed in the Florian Triangle. To this day, Brook had been endlessly sailing on the carcass that was the crew's second ship. Or at least, what was left of it. After he had died, his theory on his Devil Fruit had rung true; his spirit awoke in the midst of the foggy sea, but without a trace of his own body. It had been a year of searching for his body through the purple clouds of despair before he finally found something, only to find out he had taken so bloody long that his body had all but disintegrated with age, nothing but bones and an afro left (the latter was still a mystery, though Brook claimed the roots were ridiculously strong). One could also say the clothes on his back, but they had also become plenty torn as well.

Now, what was left of the second Captain of the Rumbar Pirates was a literal skeleton, tall as hell with an afro to match his personality. And frankly, all he could do to pass the time was either balance 45 and attempt to go lower, roll on the deck, cry to himself, or practise his swordplay to fight absolutely nobody. It was a good thing Sunny was there for him; otherwise, if not for the ship, he'd probably lose it. Or better yet, become depressed from sheer loneliness. And after being surrounded by nothing more than a purple fog, driftwood, and the loneliest number imaginable, that was becoming increasingly difficult to hold back.

Oh yeah, he also enjoyed making 'Skull Jokes' whenever the opportunity presented itself.

After Brook decided to give the peach-mint tea a try, he boiled the jug before setting the tea bag to sift in the flavour. He also wanted to leave it a bit longer, as he figured that both peach AND mint, together or seperate, would be much better as an iced tea. As he left it to settle, he wandered onto the deck he had known for 45 years. Jesus Christ, it's already been that long? He sat himself down onto the bench surrounding the rear mast, bones clattering a bit.

"I wonder," He said to himself. "From all those years ago...was that really me?" He thought back to where he saw a tall stack of bones with an afro, before he found the Sunny…

...no wait, that was definitely him. The height, the hair, the whole body structure was the same as him right now, besides aging 38 years beyond now. He said then he was 91. He was 53 now. He'd counted. Not like there was anything else to do, though.

"…nevermind." He muttered. "Then again," He looked up to the pitch-black ceiling of this weird place in thought. "Am I to be lonely here, too? Or is this for something more…?" Brook had also thought about this as well. Was this literally him just dreaming at this point? As amazing as everything on Sunny was, being completely alone seemed kinda negligent seeing as he did that 24/7 already. Was this just a comfort zone...or was there something else to this strange dimension? "...or maybe I'm thinking about this a little too deep in the marrow." He chuckled to himself.

SPLASH!

That caught Brooks attention. Had something fallen overboard? "Hm? How strange," He wondered aloud. "I could have sworn I moved the lawn chairs to the centre of the lawn…" And as he went to check...he did. Actually, everything aside from the ladder port side was near the vertical centre of Sunny. So what could have fallen into the water?

...hold on...was someone else here?!

Brook seemed to realise this, as a small gasp escaped his bony jaw in stutters before quickly running to the bow near the lion's figurehead. As he looked over, he couldn't see much. Just the invisible ripples of the endless void below. Was his mind trying to trick him again? Give him false hope? Because if so, that joke was in terribly poor taste. He'd been alone for fifteen years, dammit!

As soon as he saw a bit of blue come out of the invisible ocean, his hopes immediately shot up. Something was here! Hu-fucking-zzah! But was it? It was a kilometre or so out, but Brook could tell it was a light blue surrounded in white. Was it wrapped in something? Was it a person? It really didn't seem like it from the colour…

It then sunk back into the ocean for whatever reason. Yep, odds are it was someone. Seeing as it didn't come up after about ten seconds, Brook rushed inside to grab some binoculars he found a few years back to try and see it better; hopefully they still worked.

When he got back with the pair, which had only slightly rusted somehow, he looked through his hollow sockets to see if it had come back up. At first, seeing as it looked like there was nothing at all, Brook had to spend a few seconds adjusting them to be able to see before finding the ripples of the waters below. When he finally got it adjusted, looking about the horizon (or whatever it was), he couldn't seem to find anything. Just silver lines on a black canvas. Brook lowered the binoculars from his skull, frowning a bit. Was it really just a hallucination? No, it couldn't have been. He was certain that the splash came from the bow side. And it didn't sound all too close.

Suddenly, more water was heard, and Brook quickly looked through again. After a bit of searching, he eventually found something! It was definitely someone alright, but it wasn't a human; far from it, actually. It was a sky blue colour with what looked like a white kimono used for martial arts. Seemed to be a fighter, though the couple bandages across him spoke that themselves. Stocky, too. His face looked similar to that of a baby oni, with eyebrows to match. He also had scruffy brown hair. A lot of it. Also, were his hands webbed?

At that moment, excitement of somebody else aside, Brook had an epiphany. "Is that a Fish-Man?" He had heard of them before; large fish-like creatures, bipedal like humans, even speaking the same language. They were said, relative with age and training, to be ten times as strong as humans. He had also heard that they were mindless beasts torn on destroying humanity with brute force, but Brook had cast that aside. If there was one thing he had learned over the years; judging a book by its cover was downright stupid if you are not going to read it. As such, he simply kept their existence in his head, even though he'd never met one in his life, and had moved on with his own adventure.

Now, though, there was one right here, right now. It seemed to be a child, too. If anything, Brook was curious. How did it- no, they - get here? What were they like? Were they stuck here in their dreams like he was? So many questions, no answers without the Fish-Man in the water. If he remembered correctly, they were strong swimmers, too, so unless they were a Devil Fruit user, they shouldn't have any problem. Then again, if they were, they wouldn't be staying afloat right about now.

He decided to get their attention. "HELLO?!" Brook called out. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" The Fish-Man turned his way, only for their eyes to widen in shock, or maybe fear. Brook then remembered. "Oh, right. Skeleton." He muttered to himself. Though he was more so impressed with their line of sight. Very strong. He then yelled back to the Fish-Man, "LISTEN, I'M NOT GOING TO REAP YOUR SOUL OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT. I JUST WANT TO ASK YOU A COUPLE THINGS!"

Jinbe was...sceptical. One moment, he falls out of the sky, falls into a bunch of water in the middle of what could almost be a black box, unable to find anything below, finds himself in his kimono from earlier today, and now this giant lion ship comes out of nowhere with a skeleton upon its front. This...this was too much…

Nonetheless, Jinbe, was curious, but wanted to be careful. He didn't even know what species the skeleton once was. It was stupidly tall to pin down to anything. "LIKE WHAT?!" The nine-year-old yelled back. It seems he wasn't the only one wanting answers.

Brook nodded to himself. "Ah, so our vocabulary is the same." Considering their voice, it seemed to be a young boy after all. "I WANT TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE, HOW YOU GOT HERE, AND IF IT WAS THE SAME WAY AS I!" Brook's response looked to be on deaf ears for a good twenty seconds. The Fish-Man nodded before he went underwater, a streak of white headed towards the Sunny. Brook sighed to himself. "Finally, some answers." He sighed, as he went to lower down the ladder he once climbed (or was yanked up, at least).

Once he felt a tug, the Fish-Man was on the ladder, climbing up. Considering he was already halfway up, he stood aside for the young lad to finish.

Once they finally got up, the Fish-Man bowed forward. "Thank you," he said. His right hand then jabbed towards the skeleton. "Now answer me; what are you, and where the hell are we?!" He outright demanded.

Brook nodded. "I do believe an explanation is in order, young man." he walked towards the Fish-Man before standing barely a couple metres in front of him. "First thing's first, it is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fish-Man. I've never met one before, so this is rather new to me." He then chuckled a bit. "My name is Brook. The pleasure's all mine." He then bowed down, almost reaching the Fish-Man himself. Even without the top hat, or even the afro, he'd pretty tall.

The Fish-Man nodded. "Same." He also bowed. "Alright, what exactly are you?"

Brook had seen this question a mile away, and the reaction to his answer was likely, too. "I am a human who died years ago before getting revived; a little late, mind you, since I died and all."

The Fish-Man reacted to the word human instantaneously, as Brook had predicted. They immediately got into a fighting stance, which...looked some kind of judo? Karate? Brook couldn't tell.

"You're a dead human?!" The Fish-Man demanded, heavily on guard.

Brook simply nodded. "Why yes, yes I am." He replied, before tilting his head. "Is there a problem?"

The young whale shark seemed to hesitate a bit. "Y-yes!" He seemed a bit hesitant. "Humans are demons who hunt Fish-Men for sport! Or even to do their bidding for them!"

Brook's jaw opened a bit "Ah…" 'I see. So was this what they had seen through experience, or what they had simply been told?' He thought to himself. "And on what grounds did you learn that?" He questioned in return.

The Fish-Man seemed, yet again, hesitant to reply. What was this human carcass getting at?! He then straightened out a bit. "We had been taught this by our parents, and our people for generations." Brook was impressed he knew that last word for his age. "We learned that humans are selfish creatures with nothing but greed and bloodlust." Okay, that last one caught Brook off guard.

Brook straightened himself out. "Really?" He asked. "I can't really speak for myself for possible bias, nor can I speak for all of humanity, as I not only don't know everyone who ever lived, but I know that there are in fact some people like that; greed with no boundary...I have heard claims that Fish-Men are mindless monsters hellbent on raw destruction from primal instinct." Brook frowned more and more as he spoke. "So I apologise that I cannot prove you correct, nor incorrect. BUT!" Brook rose a finger. "I can say for certain that not all humanity is like this." The Fish-Man's reaction of shock/scepticism was all Brook needed to continue. "I know some of the finest men to exist, kindness reaching the horizons from dawn come dusk! I know men who want nothing more than to make people smile; women, children, and fellow men alike! I know men who would be disgusted at the acts you claim humans to do and would join you in your sympathy, hardship, and renaissance!" Brook then had a solemn look upon his face. "Me, though? I've never met a Fish-Man before today, so I have no right to claim anything about you without being a hypocrite, or even flat out wrong in my judgement. That is why I apologise." Brook finished by bowing forward once again.

The Fish-Man seemed to be in shock...almost awe. Had this human really said all of these things? Did he not hate him simply because he was a bipedal fish? But...it was as he said; even if he might not judge, there were still some that did.

But this human was not them. This human...didn't judge simply based on rumor or gossip. It seems they judged on actions. Perhaps he should do the same? Not even for humans, but everyone. He had been rather enclosed for most of his life from his brothers, after all. Though not wearing a smile, his scornful frown was no longer there.

"Jinbe."

Brook's head shot up from the voice. "Gesundheit." He apologised.

"I DIDN'T SNEEZE!" the Fish-Man yelled with shark teeth, clearly angry at the misconception. "My name is Jinbe. Pleased to meet you." The now named Jinbe greeted, bowing much like Brook was.

"Yohohohoho!" Brook laughed as he also bowed in respect. "Oh no, the pleasure's all mine, Mr. Jinbe!" Brook seemed ecstatic now that most of the tension had died down. I mean, it's like an emotional headlock, no?

Jinbe didn't seem finished, though. "Now, like you promised before, where the hell are we?" He questioned.

Brook snapped out of his giddiness. "Ah, of course." He then started to walk towards the centre of the deck, coated in green for some reason. Wait, was this grass? OH MY GOD, WHY IS THIS SO COMFORTABLE UNDER THE FEET?! "You see, I should get this out of the way to start; worry not, you aren't dead."

Jinbe sighed in relief, not knowing it was caught up in there. "Then what is this place?" He asked.

Brook then sat down on the lawn. "Tell me Jinbe, what was your schedule for the last 24 hours?"

Jinbe was confused by this request, but tried remembering to the best of his ability. "I woke up, left the orphanage, and went to train in our signature fighting style, Fish-Man Karate with my sworn brothers." He then paused for a bit. "Brother Tiger went missing again, trying to go everywhere he hadn't yet. I swear, we're gonna have to start calling him the 'Adventurer' if this keeps up." He sighed. "Otherwise, I just trained for the day before...going to...sleep…"

Brook noticed Jinbe trailing off. "Did something happen that night?" He asked, though if his theory was correct, he already knew what happened.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, in the middle of...nothing...just...absolute darkness."

"Go on…"

"Well, I look around and see nothing but myself, my kimono I wear right now, and the sorry excuse I have of a bed." Jinbe almost looked stressed by now. Considering he also was at that stage, Brook wasn't all too surprised. "I start walking around, wandering if anyone else is there for 20 minutes straight, before collapsing on my ass with nothing but false hope for some kind of answer."

Brook held his hand out, stopping Jinbe from speaking any further. "By chance, did you meet an adult Fish-Man like yourself? More specifically, you?"

Jinbe was now downright terrified. The skeleton knew that this happened?! "How-?!"

"Because 45 years ago, on a seemingly normal night, the same thing happened to me when I was your age." Brook explained, chuckling to himself at the fond memory from decades yonder.

(error.404, Jinbe has stopped working.) I mean, wouldn't you be mentally shattered when you learned that a fucking skeleton had sailing on a ship in the middle of literally nowhere for almost half a century, let alone you being shoved into said void?

Brook stood up. "You see, Jinbe, you're still asleep." He spoke, snapping Jinbe out of crashing altogether. "This is a dream. I've been here every night for more than four decades, sailing on this beautiful ship I call home." He then shrugged. "And, odds are, you'll probably be here each night as well." He then laughed to himself a bit. Finally, someone else to talk to!

Jinbe stole the tongue back from the cat. "So, again, where are we?" For christ sake, he'd asked this three times now!

Brook was as ready to answer this question as a trigger finger at 1200 hours. "From what I've guessed, as well as you now being proof that this more than just a personal escape, this is a landscape of dreams, where we can do practically whatever we wish from whatever it provides, such as whatever the Sunny (this ship) has, or all the space it grants us. Personally, I gave it a name, cheesy as it might be; the Dream Realm."

Jinbe had given up on taking all this in. He just wanted to wake up tomorrow and hear Hachi talking about opening a restaurant again. It'd be much less complicated than a fucking void in the middle of bumblefuck nowhere for people to be trapped in when they sleep through the darkest of nights. He just accepted that this was now called the Dream Realm, he'd be here practically every night, the grass was SO COMFORTABLE OH MY GOD, and left it at that.

"Anything more I should add?"

Brook's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. When he processed what he said, though, he looked even paler than Kuroobi. "N-no thank you…" he stuttered, Too much information already. Any more and a migraine would be the least of his worries.

Brook seemed a little...disappointed. He had really wanted to share his findings. "Oh." Then again, he was just as conflicted at his age, so that was to be expected. He then remembered earlier before Jinbe arrived. "In that case, would you like some iced tea? I was just preparing some before you entered here." he offered, gesturing to the main room to the stern.

Jinbe shrugged. "Sure, why not?" He exhausted. "Not like I can do anything else right now."

Brook chuckled again. "Oh, don't be like that. Come an hour or when you wake, you'll be fine!" They then started walking to the kitchen, where Brook had still wondered what peach and mint tasted like.

"I better be."

Jinbe was almost terrified of the current situation. Almost. But dear God, if this wasn't as close as possible.

Even with his fight today giving him sizeable bruises and a bloody forehead, he shouldn't have died. He'd been through far worse with his brothers, thick and thin. And even when it did give him a concussion, he simply had a dream, or slept with nothing at all, the next day coming in what didn't even feel like three hours.

So what gives?

By the time he was looking ahead instead of thinking why, he found himself starting at a lime green kimono. As he looked further up, noticing the vines and weird berries with seeds outside decorating the traditional robe, he saw someone. More specifically, a blue Whale Shark Fish-Man, much like himself. He seemed to be in his 40s, though, if the grey sideburns and braided hairstyle were anything to go by. He might have to give it a shot when he's older. Who knows?

Wait. Why was he here again?

"I've been waiting for you, kid!" The taller whale shark proclaimed in a gruff voice, looking down at him.

Jinbe was conflicted about the whole thing. Why was he waiting? What for? And WHY IN HIS ONLY TIME OF SOLITUDE? "...what for…?"

The taller Fish-Man simply responded by sitting down, shaking the entire void like an earthquake from the force of them dropping down like that. Hell, Jinbe almost lost his balance himself. He was more impressed he had managed to not fall over from all that.

"Come on, sit down!" He demanded.

And that's exactly what Jinbe did, hesitation and confusion coating him all the way.

Jinbe looked around him, nothing but black nothingness, this guy, and his pitiful bed behind him. This really was in the middle of nowhere. Or was it the edge? He couldn't tell, as it all looked the same! And who the hell is this guy?!

The Fish-Man then reached into his kimono before bringing out a bottle, "Sake?" He offered.

Jinbe fell hesitant. "I-I really shouldn't…" He replied.

The taller Fish-Man smirked of all things, resting his head on his hand, elbow on his knee. "Kid, I know for a damn fact you try and sneak some from the orphanage staff. I mean, they rob that from the Sabaody Supply Delivery, but that's not the point."

Jinbe visibly froze, and hot damn if he wasn't about to collapse like a stalagmite. "H-how do y-you know about that?!" Jinbe cried. Nobody else had managed to sneak through to steal any sake (hell, he was famous in the orphanage for it!), nor had anybody questioned how he did it, so it just...occured for the past two years. How did this guy, who came out of nowhere, figure it out?!

"Because I once did it as well. Hell of a rush, if I do say so myself!" The Fish-Man laughed.

Jinbe was impressed; it seemed he wasn't the only one to do this. "Wait, rea-" An epiphany cut him off. He looked back up to the whale shark Fish-Man and noticed exactly that. Not only was he precisely that: a whale shark Fish-Man, but that, age aside, he looked exactly like himself. Everything. From the oni jaws that looked even more so than himself, the yellow eyebrows like an ancient dragons, the stern expression he wore...hell, even the hair looked exactly what he'd probably do.

He stood up just as the bigger Fish-Man had poured two flat cups of sake, a smaller one for Jinbe. "W-w-wait!" He was aghast. "A-are you-"

His senior raised his hand for Jinbe to stop. 'If you know the answer to a question, and you're talking to someone else who knows, let alone is aware you know, why ask them?" He enquired, taking a sip of the sake. He then looked down at the dish. "Huh. Shanks was right. This is some good stuff." He muttered to himself.

Jinbe was still in shock of this whole thing. Of all things to happen, meeting...this wasn't even close to what he had expected. Hell, he hadn't expected to meet anybody here at all. That's what made it all the worse. But hey, as they say, hail mary, right?

"Uh...o-okay…" Jinbe then sat down, accepting that if he didn't just Fish-Man up and deal with it, he'd probably be questioning his sanity. But hey, that comes later.

The greater oni looked towards Jinbe before jabbing a webbed finger in his direction. "Now then, your next line is 'Back to earlier; what the hell is this place, and why are you here?!', correct?" He bet.

Jinbe put down the small dish. That stuff was actually pretty good. "Back to earlier; what the hell is this place, and why are you here?!" He demanded, pointing at the bigger Fish-Man. He then processed what had happened and gasped with a bunch of dramatic lines surrounding him "HUH?!"

The large one nodded sagely, smiling to himself. "As I thought." He then looked to the young grasshopper- no, whale shark - with a look so serious it almost looked like he'd be interviewed for a job. "Anyhow, this is nothing." He rose his arms up. "This, quite literally, is nothing. It shouldn't exist, but for a few minutes at a time almost never, it does for things like this. And as for where you are specifically, you went to sleep and woke up here, hence your sorry excuse of a bed behind you, you sweet summer child." He then stood up, a hand to his chest. "As for me? You already found out who I am, but why? To be brief, I'm here to guide you."

This left Jinbe with, rather than an answer to his question, another fucking question. "To where? My coffin?" He sneered.

The larger Fish-Man sighed. "Oh, how I wish I did know necromancy right about now." He looked stupidly tired now. "Barely passing 47, and I already feel like I'm Newgate, Jesus Christ." He sighed again before clearing his throat, smiling again. "Anyway, to where? I'll be frank with you; an empty ocean."

Jinbe deadpanned. "Come again?" Holy hell, his voice was so 1.00 neutral that it was worthy of a Terminator remaster.

"Let me rephrase that." His senior corrected. "Almost empty. You'll be in a void like this one, but there'll be an infinite ocean that you can barely see, and a boat." He explained before crossing his arms, an authoritative tone taking over. "Your goal is to find this boat. I won't say what it looks like, as that will ruin the surprise, let alone the main purpose. Just find a boat, look for anybody aboard it, and act as you see fit."

Suddenly, something started to peer out of the corner of Jinbe's eye. As he looked over to it, all he saw was pure light, sticking out of the ground in a couple places on the floor. Suddenly, more and more started to show up, until both of the were fully visible with the tens to hundreds of tiny holes of light.

"Well, times up."

Jinbe looked to the larger Fish-Man in confusion. Time was up?! "For what?!" He demanded.

The latter looked to Jinbe dead in the eye. "It's time." He replied, to the benefit of absolutely nothing. More light had started to appear, coming out of the bigger Fish-Man now. "Now then, you're going to fall when this finishes. Like, from the sky. You'll fall into the ocean, and likely see a boat nearby. As I said, get to that boat, and everything you need to know will be explained." For some reason, he decided to bow to Jinbe. Really?! At a time like this?!

Light was starting to come out of the lad now as well, though that wasn't where his attention was. Rather, "Thanks, I guess," He followed the bow in respect, light starting to blind everything, his bed already swallowed. He then looked up, a cheeky grin on his face. "Jinbe."

A hardy laughter bellowed from the older Jinbe as everything became a crystal white, his laughter continuing to echo through.

So yeah, that's going to be a thing.

Read, Rate- ah fuck it, you're not gonna do it anyway.