This is a piece that was stashed away and doomed to never see light again before Blitz182 requested for a chapter about Zoro's behavior when Brook first meets the rest of the crew. This feels alot like a Zoro and Brook friendship chapter as well. Always, thank you for reading.
"Why the hell do you think we sent you guys after Luffy? This," The swordsman with three swords jabbed sharply in the general direction of his captain, who was doubled over on the grass deck from laughter. "Was exactly what you were supposed to stop!"
Brook noted the two pirates who he had met on his own ship hang their heads in apology. All the crew mates were in disbelief at the sudden turn of events-namely his becoming a nakama-but the swordsman was the only one to explicitly express a refusal to their captain's decision. Yet nobody-not even the captain himself-seemed to mind. If anything, the captain was busy laughing harder.
Curious, Brook hummed as he tilted his head and soaked in the steady tune of the swordsman's soul, the beats that had not quickened or missed a step despite the pirate's obvious agitation and quite energetic shouting. For a person's immediate emotions and soul to be in such discordance was rare. The man was obviously in firm control of himself despite seeming otherwise. The skeleton nodded absent-mindedly; a steady mind and thus a deadly swordsman. Also, it seemed, a fiercely loyal crew mate.
Brook clapped his hands before announcing, "Yohohoho, well it's not getting any warmer out here! Let's go inside the ship!" and was pleasantly warmed with the easy trust all the younger pirates gave by turning their backs to him to head inside.
"Don't go deciding that on your own!" The swordsman shouted back but he too, stepped aside and cleared the way to the door. Brook smiled as the younger swordsman took a careful sweep of their surroundings. The smile grew wider when Zoro took a half step back towards the door as his last crew mate disappeared inside. The message was obvious and Brook obediently, hung back. When the steel gaze finally settled on himself, the musician immediately braced himself for the 'break them and I'll break you' speech that would inevitably follow. The swordsman seemed like a very capable man; Brook did not doubt in the least that it would be intimidating and chilling even to a man already dead.
"Welcome aboard."
Brook stilled in shock at the lilt of amusement in the words as much as the words themselves. The younger swordsman shifted-and suddenly, the undercurrent of restrained danger was gone, edge dulled as if it had never existed. Brook was reminded of the strange beat that never quickened.
"You were pretending!" Brook realized gleefully. "You were pretending to be angry at the captain-san and others when in fact you were not! That is delightfully devious of you sir, yohohoho!"
"Who joins the crew is Luffy's decision," The swordsman only shrugged. "There's no refusing the idiot on anything he sets his mind on; trying is a waste of time," A smirk. "Not that we let him know that."
"I...Thank you swordsman-san," These were genuinely good people, and even fifty years in the fog alone could not dull Brook's understanding of that. The musician however, shadowless and powerless as he was, had nothing he could possibly give to these people who were already giving him so much. "From the bottom of my very soul, I am grateful for such warm acceptance and companionship. However... I cannot-no, I will not stay."
The answering grin was fierce.
"It's Luffy's decision," The swordsman repeated simply. "Welcome aboard."