Fish of Knowledge: It's such a weird story! But I hope it makes you wonder...

Part Four:

Treat the Living Respectfully

"We need to get back there," Sanji said with frustration, striding back towards the building. "They are the only ones who heard me!"

"You're so intimidating with those shoulder pads," Zoro laughed, causing Sanji to snap his head around to glare at him.

"Well, there might be a problem with that," Brook commented as Zoro looked up at the sky, trying to remember how the sun felt on his exposed skin. "Those things with the creepy faces aren't exactly making it easy on us. They'll eventually forget about us once we move on, so follow me. We'll wander to the places Ussop goes until he shows up. It shouldn't take that long."

"These things drag us to different places, don't they?" Zoro asked him as Sanji reluctantly turned to follow after Brook. "That's what the doctor said."

"They're quite harmless, actually. They are there to re-direct you to different places, hoping you forget what you were doing in the first place," Brook said airily, waving a hand over his shoulder. His towering height caused the pair discomfort looking up at him as he took to the sidewalk. His feet weren't touching the ground, Zoro realized.

Sanji look around himself. He had no clue what part of the city they were in, but he could see the tallest buildings in the distance. He was momentarily distracted by the sight of the modern world, which had changed significantly since he was living in it. The sound of the cars driving by carried a different sound to it that wasn't present during his time – the shape and details of houses had shifted. The sight of people wearing modern clothing made his hand clench over the material of his shirt, aware of the differences. He couldn't help but wonder what life would have been like had he survived the impact.

He hoped the boy was still in front of the grocery store.

They crossed through some landscaping trees at the edge of the complex perimeters and emerged into the parking lot of the college. Sanji was amazed that this form of travel existed - he wasn't quite sure of the mechanics to it just yet, his mind unable to scrape any further than the concept that they could.

"Hey, this is my school! Radical!" Sanji exclaimed. They were walking up from the east side of the campus, so the area was a brand new sight for him. He looked around himself with awe, the design of the campus expanded to include more decorative plants and murals, extra parking areas for the professors. "This is the time I usually come out here."

The morning had just colored the sky a different light than a few seconds ago, lighting the area up with a gentle glow. Students trudging towards the buildings were carrying steaming cups of coffee, yawning noisily. The entry way into the campus was jammed with vehicles.

"Oh, goodie!" Brook said, delighted. "Ussop is apt to wander the usual places all young men frequent. This includes the mall, fast food places, here, and his friends' houses. If we can find him, we can stick to him. He's quite the scaredy cat for the talent he has, so don't scare him too intentionally."

"Time really doesn't matter for us, huh? Tight," Zoro said vaguely, discomforted as he looked behind them. But all he saw was the sprawl of the parking lot, the shrubbery they'd emerged from. "How does that even happen?"

Brook waved that away. "As long as you remember where you've been, you can return there. That's why I stick around with those guys. Attached to them, I get to see more of a world than I ever could, before!"

"Unless you get lost," Zoro mumbled, reddening a little.

"When did you die, Brook?" Sanji asked curiously as he opened one of the glass doors to a sprawling hall to let them through. Zoro passed through the glass windows while Brook thanked Sanji politely, half of his upper body passing through the doorframe and windows above. Sanji rolled his eyes at himself, releasing the door to slip through. "Sorry, habit."

"You're such a scrub," Zoro told him with amusement. Sanji gave him a puzzled look.

"My era consisted of pirates sailing the seas in search of new worlds!" Brook said cheerfully. "Unfortunately, I attracted an unforgivable illness and passed away doing what I'd enjoyed most…"

He seemed to wiggle with delight once they came into the main lobby of the college building, where students sluggishly drifted to the cafeteria, or lingered around small tables, gentle voices filling up to the high ceiling. Now that he recognized the area, Sanji drifted as he normally did to his table, Zoro following along with a yawn.

"Look at all the beautiful women!" Brook cried, darting from one to another to inhale deeply of one, and admired another's jean clad behind. "That never changes! They're so bountiful, so fresh, so young!"

"So what did you die of?" Zoro asked, annoyed at the change in topic.

"I contracted syphilis. And a woman took me to paradise – literally! Oh, ho ho ho ho ho!"

"Aw man, that's a stupid way to die!"

"It wasn't glorious, but contracting it and dying because I was in the throes of it was something I can't complain about!"

"Ugh, that's so wack! Pervert!"

"So Ussop should be here, right?" Sanji asked, sitting down at a table as Zoro and Brook took to opened seats nearby.

"He'll come here," Brook assured him, reaching up to pat at his afro. "He needs caffeine to function."

"I sit here all the time, I never saw you guys," Sanji said, propping his face up with his hands as he looked at the students coming into the cafeteria.

"Ghosts don't usually see each other, even with obvious wounds," Brook said. "We can pass right by each other without noticing because of our routines, and we're not conditioned to see beyond it. Only those that are cognizant of themselves can do so. So it's a miracle that you were able to do this."

"That doctor saw us right away, but he just now learned part of his name," Zoro said.

"We've gotta find his, too," Sanji said. "Just so I can rub it in his stupid, obnoxious face."

"Like I said, the doctor's a different sort than us. Ah, there he is!" Brook cried, standing and waving his arms as Ussop hurried into the cafeteria. Brook slumped. "He's wearing his damned headphones again!"

Sanji left his seat and hurried over to the man – the very same curly haired man that he'd faced before when Zoro found him again. As he approached, he could hear the tinny sounds of music coming from the headset Ussop wore, and Ussop was intensely focused on the glass display of pastries with a couple of energy drinks in hand.

"Hey, hey, we're here, now. Brook and us," Sanji said, keeping up with him. Ussop didn't acknowledge him, fumbling with his wallet to find money. Sanji tried snatching it from him, struggling in vain to perform the tasks he needed in order to actually touch him. Seeing his struggle, Zoro rose from his table and walked over.

Zoro pushed Sanji to the side and swatted Ussop upside the head. The living being jerked forward with a surprised cry as Brook whirled to look at him with horror. Looking around wildly, Ussop's face reflected utter surprise as he saw that there was no one standing around him, his music audible as he pulled his headphones down around his neck.

"Say my name!" Brook cried hurriedly.

"Brook?" Ussop asked quizzically, sweat beading upon his forehead. He lowered his voice to a whisper once he saw other people glancing in his direction.

A monitor began to slip out from the shadows of a vending machine nearby, Sanji giving a curse of dismay. The crackle of glass shifting together alerted them to other monitors popping up nearby.

"Say the rest! Hurry!" Brook prompted.

"Not in public!" Ussop whined, looking pained as a student looked at him quizzically. The monitor began to shift away from the vending machine, another rising up from the shadows of the floor.

"We're going to get kicked out again!" Zoro said with frustration.

"Say it!" Brook demanded.

Ussop looked reluctant to say what was being demanded of him, thick lips pursed as he trembled. "Not at school!" he hissed with trouble, giving a nervous wave at a kid that was looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Brook settled up against his shoulder, whispering, "It's urgent!"

"What does he have to say?" Sanji asked Brook, looking at the monitors as they began to draw close to them.

Ussop stiffened. "Is that…another one…?"

"SAY IT!" Brook bellowed close to his ear, Ussop jerking backward with a startled gasp, dropping his things and causing a slight commotion as others looked over with startled expressions. Embarrassed, Ussop abandoned his intentions and hurried out from the cafeteria, Brook, Sanji and Zoro following after him. "You need to say it, it's terribly important!"

"You were supposed to have moved on!" Ussop hissed back, trying not to draw any attention to himself as he pushed his way through the throng, students looking at him questionably for his forceful actions.

"Hurry!" Brook urged, seeing that the monitors were drawing after them.

"SAY IT, FOR FUCK'S SAKE, WATSON, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Sanji shouted at Ussop, causing Ussop to trip over his own feet and fall to the floor. "SAY IT RIGHT NOW BEFORE I GET PISSED!"

"WHO IS TALKING TO ME, BROOK?" Ussop cried out with panic, struggling to look around himself for the ghost as others paused in mid-step to look at him with visibly rising confusion.

Brook prompted the ghosts to answer, looking at the gathering monitors with a panic. Both of them answered in near unison, Ussop blinking rapidly as he struggled to concentrate. Whispers were rising around him as his fellow students watched him, sure he was in the throes of a breakdown.

"Sanzo?" he repeated dumbly. Brook urged the pair to repeat themselves, the monitors suddenly halting in mid-movement.

"Sanji."

"Zoro."

Ussop's mouth opened and closed a few times, eyes darting in the direction the voices were coming from. He was regarded suspiciously by other students, so he nervously picked himself up, patting his pockets to make sure he still had his wallet and phone. He swallowed tightly, then whispered tentatively, "Sanji and Z-Zo…row?"

The monitors began to slip away, Sanji watching them with bewilderment. Zoro corrected Ussop impatiently, repeating his name over and over until Ussop repeated it correctly.

"They're my newest friends," Brook told Ussop as the man nervously dusted himself off, then pushed through the doors to get out of there, his face red with embarrassment. The others followed, hastening their steps just to keep up with his.

"You were supposed to have moved on!" Ussop hissed from the side of his mouth, a little more comfortable talking out loud with less of a crowd around him.

"Look, if you can hear us, then we have a request to make of you," Sanji said from his left.

"I don't do 'requests'," Ussop snapped in that direction, his eyes darting about.

"Where'd those guys go?" Zoro asked curiously, looking behind him. Upon hearing his voice, Ussop whirled to look in his direction, seeing nothing. He didn't understand what had been said, the language unfamiliar with him, but Zoro's voice was as loud and clear as the others'.

"They will leave only if it's apparent the living has purpose with us," Brook explained. "With Ussop asking for your names, he's inviting you to interact with him."

"But at the apartment, they – "

"They weren't so inviting. They scolded me, which gives them the power to remove us," Brook sniffled, teeth chattering.

Wearing a confused expression, Zoro nodded so he could process that.

"You have to. We're trying to find a name at the hospital, and the doc doesn't know that other tower. Medical records, he said," Sanji continued speaking to Ussop, not hearing what had transpired between Brook and Zoro.

"What 'doc'?" Ussop repeated, pausing in mid-step so suddenly that Sanji had to take a few steps back to stand at his side.

"Never mind the doc," Brook told Sanji. To Ussop he said, "They're looking for a name of a friend who'd escaped from the hospital. It's urgent that we encourage him back to find the light."

"You know I don't like going there," Ussop said fretfully.

"Maybe we can take you to him. You can ask him yourself," Sanji suggested.

"Ask who what?" Ussop repeated, bewildered.

Sanji tried to kick him, but his leg passed through Ussop. "The boy! The boy can't remember his name!"

"The boy, Ussop," Zoro repeated, unaware that Ussop couldn't understand him. "We need the boy's name – otherwise, this guy will nag us to the ends of the fucking universe!"

Sanji gasped in outrage, looking at him. Ussop wasn't sure what was said but it sounded venomous and dangerous, so he shivered. He shook his head wildly as he started walking again. "Oh, no no no! I don't do names!"

"What's your damage? Just do it," Sanji insisted, following him.

"Why is he so afraid of us?" Zoro asked Brook, following along behind them. "We're harmless. He's totally buggin' for no reason."

"You're ghosts!" Brook laughed.

"If he can talk to us, he needs to take a chill pill already," Sanji growled. Ussop repeated that phrase dumbly. "You can't be afraid if this is a common thing for you."

"You're ghosts! It never gets easy!" Ussop exclaimed, glancing behind him. His raised voice caused a couple of heads to lift from the nearby bench, and he hurried on with a look of embarrassment. With his voice lowered he added, "It's the concept of ghosts, dead people talking to me that freaks me out! No one else can hear you!"

"But this is important. If we can find his name and return him to the hospital, the doc can send him off."

"What 'doc'?" Ussop cried with frustration. "He sounds scary!"

"Terrifying," Brook agreed. "He takes the souls of the living without giving them a chance to protest."

"For no reason?" Ussop near shrieked, hugging his chest with horror. "A malevolent ghost?"

"It's a hospital, stuff like that happens!" Sanji stressed impatiently. "Forget about him, it's the boy we're focused on."

"Who hit me?" Ussop then asked, reaching back to rub his head.

"Zoro did. Enough about him. The boy needs to be returned to the hospital, and he's actually at the store waiting for us, so let's just go there," Sanji said, pointing away from the college.

"I can't just leave my classes to chase after this! If word gets out that I'm helping a ghost, more are sure to approach me! I can't handle that sort of heart attack!" Ussop protested, looking around himself helplessly. "Brook! Why are you ratting me out like this?"

"They went home with Luffy and the others the other day," Brook said. "They practically fitted themselves on my lap like lost children – "

"There was no lap sitting!" Zoro shouted at him.

Ussop cried out with terror upon hearing the snap given in another language, bringing up images of a terrifying person. He then took off in a run as they looked after him with surprise.

Sanji ran after him. "You're the only one that can hear us!" he shouted after him, reaching out to grab him and watching his hands sweep right through him. He growled with frustration, lengthening his stride. "You can't evade us like some chicken!"

"But I am!" Ussop cried. "I'm the biggest chicken you'll ever meet!"

"Then I'm going to filet you and dip you into the corpses of your unborn children and fry you up with a side of mashed potatoes and greens!"

Ussop shrieked with horror at the threat, returning towards the building. The others drifted after him, passing through the doors and people as Ussop ran for his class in a sweaty panic. He kept his head down and pulled his headphones up, yanking his phone out from his pocket. He texted rapidly to a group chat as he hurried to his class. With the headphones on, he could only hear the voice of the singer and the beat, and nothing more. He had just settled into his seat, notebook out when his phone vibrated with responses. Luffy's was a cheer, Franky a thumbs up and Sabo asking him to record the conversation. Of course Ussop would find no comfort from those guys, and he set his phone aside with a long exhale.

His headphones were forced down and he heard Sanji say, "I'm not giving up until you do this."

"Stop talking to me!" Ussop exclaimed wildly.

"I'm going to make your living life miserable until you help me."

"You shouldn't be so scared of Boy George," Ussop heard Zoro's voice scoff from nearby, a couple of students looking back at Ussop once they realized he was alone. "He's a Culture Club loving pansy with mom khakis – "

"You're a floppy haired, flannel wearing biker club reject!"

"Oh, ho ho ho ho they're a lively pair!" Brook laughed, standing over a woman with a low cut shirt.

"Why is this boy so important?" Ussop then hissed, sinking low in his seat. "He a relative?"

"No, just some kid that found us," Sanji said, leaning on his table. "But it's important he's returned to the hospital."

Ussop fiddled with his phone, aware of the looks being sent his way by the other students in the class. He began sweating once more, hands shaking as he processed this information. "Why is this name so important?" he then whispered. "Just take him back!"

"That's what I've been telling him," Zoro told Ussop, leaning forward in his chair as someone sat down on him. Ussop didn't understand a word Zoro said, but he listened because he had no choice. "But he's insistent on it. He's a terrible person who won't let anyone find peace until this task is completed."

"Look, my original purpose in life was to live the best life and be cool about it, but now that I am dead, now that I know my name, I can't just let this whole routine thing take over that poor kid's afterlife," Sanji said with a huff. "I have to spread the word."

"It sounds so exciting!" Brook commented as he drifted towards another woman, admiring her backless sweater. He shivered, causing Zoro to look at him with disgust.

"I've never heard of ghosts helping each other like this," Ussop mumbled. "Everyone is so set in their own lane without drawing trouble from others – "

"That's what I'm saying!" Sanji exclaimed. "Everyone is caught up in their routine after death that they forget who they were in the first place. Once you remember, then you have a purpose."

"Routines are the reason behind most of your investigations," Brook told Ussop. "These guys are different. They're like me!"

"We found your body and buried you, so why aren't you gone yet?" Ussop hissed in his direction, a couple of people looking at him questioningly. Avoiding their expressions, he dropped his head to his table, whispering, "I can't do this right now, I'm in class! I need this credit!"

"Fine," Sanji said, sitting on the table nearby with his arms crossed. "But we're not leaving until you agree to do this. It's a simple task – "

"Then do it yourselves!"

"If we could, we could've. But the hospital expanded since the doc was last aware of it, so all he said the information is located in the medical records of the building, and we can't move around there like you'd think. We followed him around because of his routine. I'm not familiar with the place, Zoro's from another country, so he ain't if any help. There's also monsters in there..."

Ussop paled. A ghost warning him of other monsters?

"Like…demonic entities?" he whimpered.

"Will you just drop that part?" Zoro asked Sanji impatiently. "It doesn't matter, now!"

Ussop furrowed his head, finger up. "Wait. Hold up. Two of you are speaking English. The other I can hear, but I don't know their language."

"I sailed with English sailors on my last route," Brook told the confused pair. "We can understand each other just fine – but if Zoro's addressing the living, his language will be apparent."

"Then don't talk to him," Sanji told Zoro. "You're useless, no one likes you."

Zoro rolled his eyes.

Shifting in his chair, Ussop asked tentatively, "But you all understand each other just fine…? How odd."

"Language and culture doesn't matter back here," Brook told him, inhaling deeply of a woman's hair, Sanji looking at him with horror. "We're dead."

"Then we wait here until you're done with school," Sanji decided, tentatively sitting atop of a table. "Then you listen to the rest of it."

"I texted my buddies, and they're aware of my problem," Ussop mumbled, looking at his phone. "I have a free period after this – they want to meet in the parking lot. They'll decide whether they can help."

"Bangin'!" Sanji exclaimed, reaching up to brush his hair from his face and scraping his palm with his cigarette. He withdrew it from his mouth with surprise. "Hey, I'm still smoking!"

"That is a nasty habit," Zoro told him.

"You had it in your mouth this entire time," Brook told Sanji patiently.

"That's so radical," Sanji said with a sigh, tasting his nicotine. Zoro snickered, causing Sanji to look back at him with warning.

If he concentrated, Ussop could smell the scent of cigarettes, but it was so vague it could be coming off from another student near him.

: :

He wasn't able to concentrate on class. He heard Sanji and Zoro insult each other the entire time – while he couldn't understand a single word from Zoro, he caught English references here and there. As they spoke, with Brook's occasional input from somewhere in the distance, Ussop jotted down notes. They'd deduced that Brook was from the 19th century, escaping the unrest occurring in his native Austria. He'd sailed the seas with English pirates and somehow wound up on east coast shores – the group had come across his ghost when visiting Sabo's parents, when Brook had jokingly asked Ussop for his camera to take pictures of pretty tourists. Once Brook realized Ussop could hear him, he'd stuck to them like glue ever since.

It was hard getting rid of the guy – they'd tried exorcisms and blessings until Sabo had the luck to come across Brook's unidentified remains in a museum. It had been tough, but they were able to sneak them out and bury them on the coast to Brook's direction. They had thought that was the end of it. That had been two years ago. The theory that ghosts lingered with unfinished business was bullshit.

Finding the name of a lost boy was going to be tough. Ussop would have to talk to the boy himself to get some answers, and he didn't want to. Because if these ghosts were aware of him and they ended up helping him – what if they told other ghosts? The others joked that he was just like that kid on "The Sixth Sense" but he didn't want to fall into that routine of helping ghosts because ghosts were scary.

"I wasn't even into Sinead O'Connor!" he heard Sanji cry out with exasperation. "You're such a bohunk! YES I watched "Sixteen Candles"! It was fly and – NO NOT LIKE THAT!"

Ussop twitched once he heard Brook start to sing one of Sinead's earlier songs. His head started to ache as the professor's voice faded slightly as he grew more attuned to these guys.

Unable to concentrate, Ussop hissed, "Keep it down! I can't hear!"

"Ussop," Sanji whispered, crouching by his chair. "In your time, what would you call a motorcycle loser with floppy hair? Give me a good name."

Ussop squeezed his eyes tight. He looked at his notes. Whispering from the corner of his mouth, he asked, "What era is he from?"

"Nineties. He looks like a baby in adult clothes."

"What country is he from?" Ussop asked, puzzled.

"He says Japan."

"What's he doing here?"

"He's lost. He said he drove here on a damn motorcycle."

"How can a ghost get that lost?"

"That's what I'm saying!" Sanji laughed as the other one sputtered indignantly. At least, Ussop thought Zoro was indignant.

"Brook at least had an excuse," Ussop whispered. "He was on a boat!"

"He's a loser- stop. Stop pulling on my – don't give me a wedgie! STOP!"

Ussop covered his ears with both hands as Brook laughed from somewhere in the back of the room. He couldn't see the ghosts wrestling but he could hear every word from them. It made one of his eyes twitch. He rose up from his chair with a slap of his hands on his table. "You're all driving me fucking nuts!"

At the attention drawn to him, he froze in horror. Zoro released Sanji's underwear, both of them looking at Ussop with curiosity. Sanji kneed Zoro in the thigh, causing him to curse. "Look what you did, idiot. He hates you now."

"Me? You're the shrieking about like a little girl!" Zoro hissed back.

Ussop hastily gathered his things and hurried out of the room.

"Are we going to the store, now?" Sanji asked, huffing and puffing as he rearranged his underwear, Zoro and Brook following after them. "Let's go to the store. It's on Third and Riley."

"That Raley's?" Ussop asked, blinking. "It's a Raley's, right?"

"No, it's a Pay and Save."

"I've never heard of that!"

"Right, right, well, whatever, it's there on Third and Riley and I know it's still there because I still go there," Sanji insisted.

"This is so fun!" Brook cried cheerily. "We're on another adventure!"

"Brook! Go home!" Ussop snapped at him, a couple of people looking up at him with surprise as he hurried past them. Out the doors, he huffed, "You guys are turning into a real pain in the ass! You're so damned noisy!"

"It's been awhile since we got to talking to anyone," Zoro said. "At least for me it is."

"He can't understand you, so don't waste our time trying to talk to him," Sanji told him impatiently. Zoro reached out and pushed his head, Sanji kicking him in response. After separating from him, he caught up to Ussop, saying, "All you need to do is get more information from the boy, then we can take him back to the hospital. It's not easy getting in, but we can do this."

"Unless they drive us in through the garage, because I really don't want to repeat the first time," Zoro said, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"That place gives me a severe migraine," Ussop muttered, rubbing his long nose. "There's too many voices! I can't even imagine what it's like inside! There must be ghosts all over the place!"

"It's surprisingly empty," Sanji said. "That doctor makes sure everyone goes where they're supposed to. He said 'we' and suggested there's others doing what he does, so I wouldn't worry about any numbers."

Ussop really couldn't convince himself any further of that comfort. "You mentioned there were monsters in there?" he asked, opening up his car door to shove his things into his back seat before hopping into the front. He assumed they situated themselves inside, Brook telling Zoro to "buckle up. "You're ghosts! You don't need to!"

"Yeah. Ghouls and monitors. He said there were ghouls everywhere, but we've never run into them outside of the hospital," Sanji said, pulling on his seatbelt and then realizing that he could. Ussop tried not to react, but it made his heart jump with surprise seeing the seat belt tugged upon by invisible forces.

"I remembered how to do it!" Sanji hissed to Zoro, shaking him before Zoro headbutted him. Blood splattered over the windows, causing Brook to shriek.

"Don't worry, that's my blood," Zoro assured him while Sanji looked at the window with disgust. "I get it everywhere."

Ussop shivered, pulling out his phone as he activated the car by push button. Once it was running, he reached out to the dash and sought out a number to call as he settled himself in the seat. Once Luffy answered, he said, "I'm going to the Raley's on Third and Riley. They're too noisy – just meet me there."

"With all the equipment?" Luffy asked skeptically.

"Don't bring the equipment, I'm just going to talk to someone. Look, just reread my texts and meet me there. It should take me about twenty minutes to get there," Ussop said with a sigh, pulling out from his parking spot. "I need to get this over with – you don't understand, they're noisy!"

"They sound great! Are they with you now? Hi, guys!" Luffy then called out, Brook answering merrily. "Is Brook still with you?"

"He says 'hi'," Ussop said on another heavy sigh.

"Brook! You were supposed to go into the light!"

"I'm not ready!" Brook exclaimed.

"He says he's not ready and stop talking to him," Ussop ordered stubbornly. "Just meet me there. The sooner I can do this, the sooner I can concentrate on my classes."

"This is so rad," Sanji said happily, looking out the window.

"The boy better be there, or else we're fucked," Zoro said. "Who knows how much time had passed since we told him to stay."

"He said he would," Sanji assured him. "I believe him, kids don't lie."

Once they pulled into the parking lot, they realized that the boy was missing.