To say chaos broke lose would an understatement. Nami was first to break the awkward silence, followed by Sanji, Franky and then Chopper. Slipping deftly – naturally – into her killer-bitch mode, she advanced on the perverted Sniper.
"PERVERT!" The enraged navigator screeched in shocked fury. "What make you think she wants another baby? Usoppu; I'm going to kill you!"
Franky, being closest, jumped in to gently restrain the blood-seeking woman. Sanji, moving seconds after his beloved Nami, also radiated the intent to kick Usoppu's ass.
"BASTARD! Why would you say such bull? Why wasn't I including on the list?" The blonde-haired pervert cook was split-minded over the Sniper's kinky plan. "Like hell I'd let Jiru-chwan sleep with that marimo-bastard again."
Chopper, having gasped at the audacity of Usoppu's and Sanji's words jumped in front of Sanji, changing into his large, humanistic mode to stop the cook from killing the sniper. Robin, the normally cool and collected woman of the crew, even had her mouth open in an expression of surprise; her sharp, dark eyes wide and staring at the long-nosed young male. Brooke, having kept quite during Jiru's confession of soul – being the new Mugiwara after all; he knew nothing of their past adventures – gaped like a fish at the sniper's words. Usoppu, who once was posed proud and confident, buckled and turned into a cowering hunch.
"OI! Nami, wai-wai-wait. I was…it was a joke!" The frantic gestures of the fourth crewmate increased as he brought his hands up to defend himself. "I was just trying to be funny!"
"Funny!" Nami was still hell-bent on physically teaching Usoppu to open his mouth with such trash that she was still screaming; her face taking on a ghastly visage. "If you think those zombies and ghosts were scary, I'll show you something!"
"Oi, Nami, don't kill Usoppu." Chopper interjected as Sanji finally collected himself enough to take control of his temper. "It's not worth it."
"I'LL SHOW THAT PERVERT HOW SCARY I CAN BE WHEN HE SAYS STUPID SHIT LIKE THAT!" Nami loudly announced and ducked under Franky's large bulk and advanced, once again, towards the trembling Sniper. She had her Clima-Tact pieces out and connected, holding them tightly with her fists. "I'm going to clobber you!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! She's going to kill me!" Usoppu finally broke down, turned and ran towards the ship. "I suddenly have the 'I-can't-stay-here-or-I'll-die' Disease!" The now-screeching in fear Sniper quickly left the gravesite, being chased by Nami, then Sanji, followed by Chopper and Franky.
"Nami-Swan!" Sanji was heard calling as he leapt away after his gorgeous navigator. "I'll help you beat the pervert if you want me to!"
"Hay, don't be killing the man for being a pervert." Franky's words added to the mêlée of confusion. "Being an open pervert is good, right?"
This all happened within a minute's span, and as the majority of the pirate group exited as quickly as they had entered; Luffy, Jiru, Robin and Brooke were left standing in stunned confusion.
Jiru's face was stunned, not having enough time to react to Usoppu's idea before Nami chased him off. Robin had managed to close her mouth, and intently watched Jiru and Luffy for their reactions. The archeologist knew there was something between the two, but couldn't quite confirm her nagging suspicions.
Luffy, being Luffy, looked confused at the whole thing. Having tilted his head sideways, he had the appearance of being deep in thought, his eyes trailing after his retreated nakama. Brooke, being Brooke, still stood with his mouth agape, and emitting sounds of disbelief at the sudden squall of kinky suggestions. All of them still remained unspoken.
"We…we should go check on them, Captain-san." Robin softly broke the silence. "After all, Shipwright-san built this place for Skeleton-san and Collector-san to properly mourn."
"What?" Luffy asked.
Snapping Luffy's attention to her, the raven-haired pirate woman smiled her knowing smile. "We should allow them to mourn properly before we depart Thriller Bark."
"Oh. R-right!" Luffy smiled once at Jiru and placed a hand on his straw-hat covered head. He turned to Brooke. "We'll be back on the ship when you two are done, ok?"
Without waiting for an answer, Luffy bounded off, his evident joy of wanting to see the outcome of Nami's temper at Usoppu plainly written in his movements.
"L-LUFFY, HEEEEELP MEEEE!" A distant fearful cry echoed back through the forest.
"COMING Usoppu!" Luffy hollered back, with Robin following him.
XXX
Minutes Earlier:
In the cluster of gnarled trees nearby, an awakened and bandaged Zoro watched and listened. He had finally found his way to the place where the two weaker Shadow-Victim pirates had pointed him in. Lazy and Idiot (Zoro's name for the two men that both were the large, pink-haired woman's first mates) had told him that the blue-haired pirate had built a grave-shrine for the walking skeleton whom had lost his crew so long ago. It made sense to Zoro that Franky should build a grave for the long-ago deceased for their newest crewmate; Brooke.
However Idiot (the man with the unturned nose and wavy brown hair) had managed to mention that Franky had also built a grave for the dead baby, before his partner, Lazy (the man with the black forehead mask), told him to keep quiet about that subject. It mattered little as Zoro threatened to beat the truth out of the pair. They ended up telling him of what had happened after he passed out from taking Luffy's pain. The Tyrant Kuma had approached the treasure hunter, Jiru, and offered to abort her dying child. After a brief argument, Jiru took Kuma's offer and allowed the Shichibukai to repel the living-dying force within her womb. Cold, icy fury had swept through the swordsman after hearing this, and turning on his bandaged heel, raced towards the newly built gravesite.
When he finally arrived there (after getting lost twice) he found everyone there, playing audience to the crying treasure hunter. She wept as she told them everything that had happened on the Sea Train. Her words hit Zoro's heart far deeper than before. However, the attentive swordsman noticed that she managed to confess only half the story to her captain, before the conversation literally ran away – she hadn't told them what had happened between him and her that night at Water 7 after the battle. Usoppu had opened his big mouth and managed to piss everyone off. Nami, the Shit-Cook, Franky and Chopper all chased each other away from the clearing; leaving Brooke, Luffy, Robin and a still wet-eyed Jiru behind.
Thankfully, Robin mentioned that she and Luffy should leave Brooke and Jiru to mourn, and wait for them on the ship. They left also, finally giving the man-made clearing some peace and quiet.
Zoro watched as the walking pile of bones turned to the treasure hunter and managed to elicit a physical, open-handed slap – most likely asking to see her panties – before turning towards the graves and motion to the girl to join him in paying respects to the dead.
Sharp, detail-catching eyes watched as she positioned herself on her air-pad so that she could properly mourn what she…they had lost. Zoro shook his head and decided to join them; he too, had lost a part of himself in battle. Some nameless marine bastard had eaten some kind of Rust-ability devil fruit and used that power to ruin one of three of his prized swords. Yubashiri had indeed fallen in battle and here, of all places, was as good as any to put the noble sword to rest. Walking into the glade as Brooke was playing a soft, mournful piece on the violin, Zoro plunked right down between the walking pile of bones and the floating treasure hunter.
"Yo." He said.
"Ah. Roronoa Zoro, you surprised me." Brooke answered and lowered his instrument.
"…" The female said nothing.
"Sorry, I kind of over slept." Zoro sat cross legged, after thrusting the sheathed Yubashiri into the ground in front of the smaller grave.
"What is that…?" Brooke asked, looking at the katana in the ground.
"A dead katana, Yubashiri. Since this is a place for burying the past, I'd like to take the opportunity to give it a proper farewell."
"…"
"Ah, I see." Brooke, still sitting taller than the swordsman, looked over the head of moss-green hair towards the still silent, floating treasure hunter. She currently had both her eyes and lips closed; and mimicked the swordsman – hands placed together with upward fingers; holding steady in front of her face. Or was the swordsman mimicking her? Brooke chuckled.
"Hm?"
"Ah, that's right; I wanted to tell you I'll be sailing with this crew from now on." Holding the violin in one hand and the bow in the other, the aged pirate glanced at the swordsman.
"Huh? Is that right? Well, bad luck to you, then." A sword-sharp eye opened and glanced over to the talking bone pile on his right.
"Oh?"
"Being in this crew…it can be a bit of a handful, you know." Zoro responded. "Carving up enemies, saving damsels in distress…" Here, he opened his other eye and looked pointedly at the female on his left.
"…" The third member in the clearing furrowed her brows in annoyance.
"It all can get pretty wild. Are you able to handle it?" Zoro finished.
"Absolutely! I will do my best, until my dying day!" Brooke straightened up and laughed freely. "Ah, but, I've already died though…YOHOHOHOHOHOH!"