"It´s dark here" Chopper said as they entered the Florian Triangle. Kouen agreed, but didn´t voice it as the reindeer felt the need to. By his side, his brother was scanning the territory… which was creepy enough to give Judal a scare. They were told not to enter that part of the sea, but alas, they entered. And why? Because the idiotic crew he was travelling with opened a damn barrel with a gift to the sea god.
"Yes, after all… it´s that part of the sea old lady Kokoro told us not to enter" and from there, everybody was completely devoted to scare Ussop and the tanuki, who screamed like true little girls. And then… it appeared. The big pirate ship, a ghost ship. And in there a skeleton with an afro singing Bink´s sake.
"Could this get any weirder?" he asked while a happy Luffy jumped into the other ship. Namie and Sanji quickly followed him. "You better make sure he doesn´t get himself killed… or the others. They are our best chance to get out of here."
"Roger, En-nii" Koumei jumped into the ship. Apparently, the straw hat captain has already made some inadecuate question, which the skeleton answered without shame. Then he noticed Namie.
"Milady, you are surely the most beautiful girl I have seen in years" he approached her, making the navigator walk away in fright. "Yes, you are the most beautiful girl I´ve seen in this waters" wondering where the skeleton generated his voice, the second prince followed him. "Oujo-chan… might I see your panties?"
"NO!" the orange haired girl kicked him in the head. He winced at the sound of a cracking skull, something he heard once before. "WHY SHOULD I?!"
"A more important question" Luffy suddenly stopped her. "Do you want to join my crew?"
"WHAT?!"
"Yes" the skeleton casually said, leaving his ghost ship along with them. Once in the Thousand Sunny, Kouen and Koumei saw down with the others to eat while Luffy happily introduce everyone to the "Gentleman skeleton" Brook, who didn´t waste another second to ask Robin to show him his panties. She calmly answered that no, but behind those calm eyes there was a threat that froze the blood of everyone in the room, even the prince.
"Well, I guess I will start preparing dinner now" Sanji quickly escaped to his kitchen, leaving everyone to deal with the elephant… well, the skeleton in the room. Ussop ran as quickly as him, returning in a full exorcist costume with garlic for necklace, a sorcerer hat and a cape. His eyes never left the new member of the crew. And when Sanji returned to the room, it was as tense as when he left it.
"Dinner everyone" he casually commented, putting a plate in front of every member of the crew, even the strange evil spirit or whatever it was.
"Why… why are you…"
"Easy there" Brook started to drink some tea, eating his fill. "I ate the Yomi yomi no mi, the Revive-Revive Fruit. It means that after my death I´m allowed to revive and still wander this earth and some other things… oh, but I haven´t found other powers yet" he laughed despite not saying a skull joke. "I have been haunting the ship of my old crew ever since I first resurrected."
"What happened to your nakamas?" Luffy was now more interested. And who could blame him, everybody loved histories about pirates. The skeleton didn´t seem much inclined to talk about his past, so they left the theme. Ussop then show his concern about his lack of shadow, still believing that he was some sort of evil spirit.
"Do you think he is telling the truth?" Koumei whispered to his ear, holding his Dantaleon close to his face. The first prince believed the history about the ship and his dead nakama, but there was something off, something that they should know. "Do you want me to interrogate him in private?"
"No, came the case, I will do it" the younger brother nodded, sitting down straight in his chair.
"This ship is so colourful, so full of live" the skeleton commented. "It makes me remember how my old ship was, how much I liked to dine with my nakamas and sing in the afternoon… yes, because you make me remember those days of happiness, I will tell you why I have no shadow or reflection" he inspired. "The second one I don´t know, but the first… my shadow was stolen by someone."
"By whom?" the captain of the Thousand Sunny was interested. "Tell me, tell me. I will like to find him before we leave this Florio… flower… dark triangle!"
"It´s called the Florian Triangle, Luffy" Namie stated. "Zone of the sea known for the amount of ships that disappeared in this waters. There is a fair amount of fantasy histories about it too, but apart from the walking skeleton and the ghost ship I can´t say what is true and what is lie" she sighed, then looked at Brooke. "Who stole your shadow?"
"I… can´t tell" the former pirate drank his tea again. "It´s been such a long time… but the only thing I know for sure is that I can´t leave without it! If I venture out of the Florian Triangle without it, the rays of the sun will turn me to dust! There is no more hope in my heart! Even if I don´t have a hearth… yohohohohoho!"
"Stop joking and…" suddenly some kind of doors appeared out of the darkness. Brooke was alarmed to see them and so were the Rens. They didn´t trust in the slightest whoever that decided to live in such a place. And also… the shadow thieve must be there.
"Flee! You don´t know what expect you inside there!" Brooke jumped into the ocean despite being dangerous towards fruit users and started to walk over it, moving his legs at an impressive speed.
"En-nii?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think we should explore the creepy place?"
"Let´s just say that we are trapped and won´t be able to leave unless we managed to find the creepy shadow thieve that surely is inside" Kouen saw his fingers, the natural ones. "Let our valiant companions decide first, then we will go. We need to find a way to escape this damn place with our shadows intact."
"As you say" the two of them waited until Luffy, in his thirst for adventure, decided to go in the mini Merry Frankie built towards the dark island. Completely trapped, the Rens also decided to go with him. unfortunately, there was an attack by an invisible beast, who managed to lick Robin and scare the wits out of Koumei, who was briefly attacked by it.
"Koumei!" his older brother offered a hand to help him up after he was thrown to the floor, as soon as his attacker realised that despite the long hair he was no female. "Are you alright?"
"Ye… yeah" he answered, not wanting to be in the Thousand Sunny anymore. "Let´s just find that damn shadow thief and be over with this place. I want to find the others as soon as I can to leave this insane world."
"Me too" and they jumped into sea, swimming towards the paddle boat until they reached the shore of the one and only refugee of the most famous shadow thieves in the four Blues and Grans line, Thriller Bark.
-Later-
"What do you think, En-nii?" asked the second prince after they met the world renowned doctor Hogback and his scary maid, Cindri, who lived in a castle surrounded by zombies in a crazy version of Horrorland. They didn´t want to stay in his strange mansion, despite the luxuries it surely had. It was unlikely too that he was on the island to make a research over zombies, most likely… he was creating them. And Namie knew it, as she was able to pick up that he was lying.
"Namie was right, he is lying" they walked around. "During my time as a prisoner in the CP9, I also learn to read when someone with even the most amazing poker face is lying. And that doctor was."
"As you say, ani-ou"
"Other thing, Koumei. Did you ever noticed that invisible lecher attacking him and not us?" he shook his head. "Hear my theory. He is a Devil Fruit user that is in cahoots with the doctor, probably some sort of paramecia user, and lures some unsuspecting victims towards him. then, the shadow thieve enters and takes their shadows to be used in some kind of experiment to create these things."
"They would be a good army… if they had more brains" the fan using king candidate looked around. "Then why did you accept to dine with him."
"It will be a shame to waste such an amazing feast" he answered, looking around for more zombies. "Well, not so fine. The food was not tasty enough, not… salty enough… wait a second, salt… salt! Perhaps is what destroys the zombies, so the old man doesn´t want it near them! We need to go back to the Sunny and get all the salt we need!"
"You think the others are still in there?"
"There is just one way to find out" they started running. Unfortunately, large groups of zombies were blocking the path until the ocean. In the middle of escaping in search for salt, they arrived to a forest, where Kouen had enough with them and was ready to burn all the fuckers to a crisp, when some sort of carnivore worms appeared out of nowhere, impacting the unsuspecting zombies. And more and more creatures appeared when someone slashed the air with a very known metal container. "We are lucky"
"Yes… HAKURYUU!" Koumei called his step brother/cousin. Who turned around in amazement. He has been waiting to find someone of his family, unable to leave the Florian Triangle because of the deathly rays of the sun. and now Kouen and Koumei were there. "Where were you? We were searching for you!"
"Searching for me? I was always in this damn place!" the former emperor hugged them despite the harsh past between them and the abandonment he felt in that dark forest. "I wanted to get out to search for you, but that dammed Shichibukai got me before I was able to put a foot in the shore"
"That dammed what?" Hakuryuu then looked over their shoulders, noticing a band of zombies directing their way. he signalled the interior of the forest, where they would be safe. Lola and the rest were also waiting for news. "You have much to explain"
"Later, when I have introduced you to my friends" they arrived to the camp where the victims of the Warlord were resting. "This are the people Gekko Moriah robbed of their shadows to make those zombies over there, with the help of the invisible beast and doctor Hogback, which I presume you already know"
"Yes, we met on the way" the eldest prince walked towards them. "We also met another victim, a skeleton called Brooke. He tried to warn us before we entered to this place… is there a way you call it?"
"Moriah likes to call it Thriller Bark" the youngest Ren said. "It´s not really an island, just a gigantic ship where Moriah is the captain. He liked to keep his army of zombies here while he waits for a moment to use it against a person called Kaido... but is still not strong enough to make it. He also roams the Florian Triangle tracking whoever is lost here and captured them. He especially likes pirates with huge bounties."
"How so?"
"The stronger the person whose shadow is used to make the zombie, the stronger the zombie is" answered someone else, a woman with big lips. "Hello, I´m Lola" she presented herself. "And who are you? Would you be interested in marrying me?"
"No" was the answer the both of them said, not carrying that the woman might feel offended. She just shrugged her shoulders and walked away, back to her troupes. She didn´t make a show out of being rejected, something completely new for the princes. Normally a girl would be in tears at being rejected by the princes of Kou.
"She has practice" explained Hakuryuu. Then they sat down for a moment near the fire, where he showed his step brothers his predicament. "When I arrived here, I didn´t realise that the zombies where the least dangerous thing I can cross paths with… until I met Gekko Moriah. Suddenly his mindless slaves were the last of my concerns." He retired his hands. "He stole my shadow before I can get my djinn equipment up."
"Have you tried to get it back?" he asked. The other nodded and tell them how he tried to get into doctor Hogback´s lab. That was where he saw how Moriah did to every specimen the doctor took him. apparently, the man was an excellent tomb robber too, because he managed to get him the bodies of famous warriors such as the hero Ryuma of Wano country and captain John, an infamous pirate.
"Sooooo, we have to find the zombie that happens to have your shadow, put salt inside of his mouth and the shadow will return to you" Koumei asked, finishing his cup of water. "I still don´t get it, how are zombies weak against salt?"
"Don´t ask me, I don´t know either."
"Well, I guess we should get moving" Kouen stretched himself before getting up. "I don´t want to stay here forever because Gekko… whoelver it is, managed to get my…"
"Hey, guys! How did you managed to get here?!" Luffy was being as loud as ever, followed by his friends, the frightened trio excluded. The Rens stares at each other before. Have they met doctor Hogback too? Was the mad scientist interested in the terrible trio for their bounties too? "You see, we were searching for Namie and Ussop and Chopper when we saw this ghosts and zombies which were mean to them and I beat them because no one gets to be mean to my friends…"
"Ghosts?"
"Must be talking about Perona´s ghosts" Hakuryuu quickly added, having a close encounter himself with the Horo Horo no mi user. "Her Devil Fruit can create them to induce a temporary depressive state on it´s victim."
"Then we will need to take care of this woman too" Kouen commented. "You say you were searching for your friends. Well, they are at the mansion" signalled the redhead. "But I don´t know how much time they are going to be okay. Apparently this doctor Hogback who owns it is cahoots with someone called Gekko Moriah…"
"Yes, old man Spoil told us" Luffy said, referring to the man they met in the woods. "He told us that this guy called Geka… Geky… Gaekku…"
"Gekko Moriah" Robin finally pronounced the name instead of her captain. "Which makes things more difficult for us, since he us one of the Shichibukai. Normally, the best course of action against one of them is just leaving, but I doubt he will open the doors of his home for us to leave, so… we just have to fight against him. like before."
"Shit, here we go again" commented Sanji.
"Wait a minute" Koumei stopped them in their tracks. "what the hell is a Shichibukai? I think –I heard Iceburg commenting about them s few times, but I never got it explained what they were."
"The answer is simply" Nico Robin advanced towards them. "The Shichibukai are seven powerful and notorious pirates who have allied themselves with the World Government. In exchange, their bounties are removed and they can do whatever they want without the marines interfering in their activities. They can also get some especial privileges, like the protection of their homes or a certain island… but in the end is the same. They are dogs of the government and have to answer in case the government calls them."
"So… they are much like pirates who sold themselves to the government" finally understood the second prince. "And you… already fought one of them?"
"Yes, in Alabasta" commented Zoro. "Crocodile… dammit, how I hate that guy. He wanted to take the throne of Alabasta for himself and Pluton weapon too, but we stopped him! In the end that Smokey guy got the credit, but it´s okay. We didn´t want to be heroes."
"Whatever you say" for the Rens, it looked as if they were heroes, even if they didn´t realize it. Or want the title.
"And we weren´t alone, there was Yamu, Sharrkan, Jafar and Masrur-san to help!"
"What?!" Kouen was surprised to hear those names. He knew the generals wanted Sinbad back into their world, but it never crossed his mind that they actually would cross the dimensions to look for that menace. Then it hit him, the other magic, the one Yunan felt when they departed… it has to be them. "You met Jafar and the others?"
"Hummm" Luffy moved his head. "Do you know them?"
"A bit, yes" the other two tensed up. Judal was one thing, the magi always caused trouble, but it was a controlled kind of trouble… in a way. but Sinbad… Sinbad tried to name himself a god and ended nearly destroying their world all his selfish dreams. The least their world need now was that kind of person. "Did they say where they went?"
"Impel Down, the prison" Koumei heard about it once before. It was said that once someone enters, he or she never gets out. He wished it was true, or at least to hold the generals enough time for them to find Judal and block Sinbad´s path towards their home. "Well, our first worry should be to get out of this ship."
"Ship? I thought this was an island?"
"Well… apparently that Shichibukai felt the need to compensate in size of the things" he moved his fan. "Hakuryuu here informed us that this is the biggest pirate ship in the world, Thriller Bark."
"Woow! Mystery ship!"
"Hakuryuu?" Sanji seized up the one with the spear. "Do you have something to do with that Hakuei mellorine we met back in Cocoyashi village? Because you certainly look as little bit like her."
"Hakuei? Do you know anue-sama?"
"Aneue? Is he your brother?"
"Yeah… this is Ren Hakuryuu, our brother" answered Kouen, not wanting to get into details as they were surely too confusing for Luffy to understand.
"Are you as strong as her?" suddenly the straw hatted brat zoomed himself in front of his face. "Can you control the winds like her? I have different fruits than Ace, but I´m so sure that I would beat him to the ground if we ever get to fi…"
"Stop talking! We have to have Namie-schwan" Sanji grabbed his captain and started walking. The Rens looked at each other again and followed them, as they also need to recover Hakuryuu´s shadow. Before leaving, Kouen made sure to tell them the weakness of the zombies. After all, knowledge was strength.
Hello! I finally got the inspiration to actualise this fic! Hope you liked it! What kind of zombie do you want Hakuryuu´s shadow to animate? Review!
