As depressing and militaristic the castle of Onigashima had been, its halls had never wanted for the sounds of good music. Queen and Black Maria had seen to it that every inch of that Skull fort was blanketed in tunes every now and again, even if those tunes were often drowned out by the rowdy yells and leers of pirates. Yet, comparing the thumping beat of Queens stereo, or the chilling prangs of Black Maria's shamisen to whatever otherworldly magic that Brook was producing, was like comparing a candle to a bonfire.
The skeleton ground the strings of his violin almost lethargically, and the music washed across the deck like a wave, sweeping the majority of the crew out into the deep waters of sleep. Only Yamato resisted the siren call of slumber, something that she was grateful for: she wasn't ready for the wonderful evening to be over. She swept her gaze across her friends in their various states of rest and heaved a sleepy sigh of contentment.
Zoro and Jinbei had passed out first: whether from the drinking contest or from laziness, it wasn't clear, but the scattered pile of empty mugs, as well as the ruddy expression on their faces clued Yamato in as to what was more likely. The pair of them snored loudly, propping each other up against the deck rail. Chopper had been the next to go, with Usopp not far behind him: the former used the latters chest as a mattress but the sniper didn't seem to mind. Surprisingly enough, the ever exuberant Franky had been next, but to his credit it had been his watch the night before, and Yamato was pretty sure he hadn't slept a wink all day. Robin and Nami snoozed delicately under a shared blanket, but hadn't settled in for the night until they'd tied Sanji to the mast, where he now slept soundly.
Finally, there was Luffy, who rested his head atop Yamato's criss-crossed legs and sprawled the rest of his body out haphazardly. His already boyish face was softened by sleep and at some point, almost on reflex, Yamato had begun to run her fingers through his hair, combing the raven locks in a soothing manner that had no doubt helped him over the edge of consciousness.
Other than her, Brook was the only one awake, as evident by his continued playing. Then again, the skeleton was so talented that Yamato wouldn't have been surprised if he'd learned to play in his sleep. She was dissuaded of the idea once she picked up on his humming. How a person without a throat was able to hum, she had no idea, but then again, if she thought too much about the logistics of skeleton making music at all, her head started to hurt so she let it slip her concern. Instead she slid her eyes shut and allowed the music to pull her in.
"Enjoying the evening Yamato-san?" The silk smooth voice of Brook jolted her out of her semi-conscious state. The glaring absence of the violin screamed in her groggy ears and, as she blinked the mounting sleep from her eyes, she realized that the musician was staring at her. "My apologies for startling you, but I remembered that it was your watch tonight and I could see that you were wavering. Ah, though I don't have any eyes to see! Yohohoho," the skeleton laughed.
Yamato smiled fondly and resumed tracing Luffy's scalp with the tips of her fingers. He sighed in his sleep. "Thank you Brook: for the wake up call as well as the music," Yamato said, stretching out the taut muscles of her free arm. Both of her legs refused to wake up, cut off from circulation by lack of movement, but moving was out of the question.
"Yohoho, think nothing of it Yamato-san, I'm glad that you enjoyed my show," Brook said, tucking away his violin and bow into the case at his feet. He handled the instrument in a fashion that Yamato could only attribute to the way a mother holds her child. The idea made her inexplicably sad.
"Not as much as everyone else apparently," she said with a smirk, brushing off the momentary blip in her mood. She glanced at her cadaverous friend, trying and failing to read his expression. "Would you not like to join them? You must be tired after all that," it wasn't like she could tell, he always looked tired being a skeleton and all, but she had a feeling that he could use the rest.
"Ahh, you don't have to worry about me Yamato-san, this body of mine doesn't need much sleep," he said, the same way he said most things, with a cheery lilt that made him sound perpetually amused, but behind the upbeat tone there was an unmistakable tinge of sorrow. Just like that, Yamato's own despondency came back full force, the dejected resignation in Brooks voice, whether he had noticed it himself or not, had been a little too real.
"God's Brook that must be awful, I'm truly sorry," she mumbled, head hung. She looked up when Brook started to laugh again.
"Yohoho, I didn't intend to paint myself so pitifully my friend, you needn't fret, it's something I've come to accept," he smiled as much as his bleach white skull would allow.
His indifference didn't really do much to placate Yamato: she'd accepted a crappy station in life herself for years but it had only ever dulled the pain. Maybe the skeleton was stronger than her, maybe in his old age, he'd learned to let things roll off of his back a lot easier but even still, his deflection didn't exactly make her forget her friend's plight. "Acceptance or not, it must be awfully lonely, being awake while the world sleeps," she sighed.
Brook was silent for several long seconds, thinking on her words. When he finally spoke, he spoke with a tone befitting his world-weary age, "Believe me Yamato-san, I stopped being lonely the day I meet our lovely friends here, and personally, I think I shall never be truly lonely again," he said, gravely.
His words left no room for argument and in that moment, Yamato realized that she knew very little about the Soul King's life before he had become a Strawhat. What life he must have lived, what he must have gone through to speak so familiarly of true loneliness, Yamato wasn't sure she wanted to know. Yet she asked anyway, "How do you figure?"
He pondered his answer for a moment, humming to himself and cocking one eyebrow ridge as if he was debating with himself on how much to reveal, "Let's just say," he began slowly "That I'm free from a very dark place," he chuckled, laughing at whatever private joke he had just told himself. Yamato could only look on in befuddlement. Her confused expression must have been plain as day because Brook took one look at her face and laughed even harder. "Yohoho, never fear Yamato-san, I never expected you to understand the ramblings of this old bag of bones," he said, raising himself from his chair. He picked up the faded leather violin case that rested at his feet before walking toward the seated Yamato with the light grace of a skeleton, barely making a whisper of sound with each step.
Yamato couldn't help the ominous feeling that washed over her at the sight of the living dead ambling towards her, even if she knew the corpse in question was her friend. She shook off the feeling only for it to be replaced with mild curiosity once Brook began to fumble around in the pocket of his audacious jerkin. He bent at the waist while searching, looming over Yamato and Luffy in admittedly creepy silence. Then, with glacial pace, the musician removed his hand from his pocket, bony fingers clutching a large feathered quill which he lowered to the slumbering face of his captain. Yamato could only watch on, frozen in confusion as Brook proceeded to delicately doodle a curly mustache and glasses on the boy's face. Evidently happy with his masterpiece, he returned the quill to his jerkin and gave Yamato a subtle approximation of a skeletal wink. "I can take the rest of your watch Yamato-san. Please, enjoy a full night's rest," he requested through bouts of subdued laughter, while leisurely strolling off towards the helm. By the time he was out of sight, Yamato was on the verge of tears from repressed guffawing herself.
It took a long time before she was able to prevent herself from bursting into a laughing fit every time she caught a glimpse of her captain's face and her close proximity to him certainly didn't help. Once she had gotten herself under control she lay back from her sitting position stretching out her legs in the process, with only mild mumbling protests from Luffy. Now prone, she stared at the polkadot night sky but its beauty was in the back of her mind as she ruminated on Brook's answers.
I stopped being lonely the day I met our lovely friends here.
Craning her neck, she glanced at the slumbering forms of her comrades and began to smile uncontrollably. Even while asleep the crew had so much life to them that it was almost tangible, and Brooks' words seemed to make more and more sense by the second. Satisfied, she shut her eyes, laid her head the rest and allowed herself to be lulled to sleep by the rhythm of the waves mixed with the comforting sounds of her loved ones.