Floating quietly behind Zoro, Jiru's mind was allowed to wander; as it was so good at wandering. The morose female thought back to the point when it all went awry.
XXX
A month after escaping a cannon-throwing Garp at Water 7, the Mugiwaras were still enjoying their new ship, the Thousand Sunny-Gou, and all its new features. Luffy, Chopper and Usoppu all heightened the excitement as they acted like kids with new toys. Nami, Robin and Jiru all were in good spirits as the three oddballs went around acting like idiots.
It was around noon; Jiru, Franky, Robin and Sanji were all in the below tank room, conversing with each other when their first carnivore appeared in the built-in nine-hundred gallon tank that was one of many features on the Sunny-gou – Franky proudly continued to flaunt his beautiful ship. Jiru stood up, startled when the carnivorous shark was dropped into the tank from above and counted out - loudly - as her pretty fish collection was eaten, one by one.
The treasure hunter glared hatefully at the shark when it ate the last of her beautiful fish, causing the love-sick Cook to scream at the pair of idiots that had perpetrated the act of shark-catching. Jiru joined the shout-fest, and told Luffy they weren't keeping the shark, since it ate all the other fish. It was decided to eat the shark; poor shark.
Hours later, Luffy shouted back at Jiru for an entirely different reason. Having retreated to the Female quarters, the captain wanted her to use her innate treasure sense to inspect the barrel that Zoro had spotted floating towards the ship. Telling Luffy that it wasn't treasure was no help; since it was suggested the contents of the flagged barrel was probability something else, like sake or food.
Showing no interest in the barrel's speculative contents, she – like the rest of the crew – was shocked when opened barrel shot off a flare. Had the treasure hunter known what would ensue after the barrel flare; she would have lied and given the trap-float a bad rap – but like a knife, the events that followed where both good and bad; an adventure. She no longer had the power of foresight; having traded it for her Devil Fruit powers. Now she relied on her wit and smarts.
It wasn't long when the Nami-predicted storm came upon them; driving them off course. Of course, the brave captain Usoppu started ranting about ghosts and demons that resided in the Florian Triangle; and to get her petty revenge over the fish-eating shark, Jiru added to his fears by voicing the stories of ghost ships and walking dead sailors.
By the time the long-nosed sniper was reduced to a simpering mess, no one expected the surrounding pea-soup thick fog to divest its secrets; the huge wreck of a ship loomed out of the fog. The hulking gigantic ship - three times bigger than the Sunny-gou – had everyone screaming in fear; as a voice on the ship began singing.
As the ship drifted by the Sunny-Gou; they all saw it: the standing skeleton on the port side. This, of course, totally caught Luffy's interests as he suggested they board the ship; and after referring to the Golden Thief's still intact innate 'treasure-sense' – which was negative – he took Sanji and Nami with him to check out the dead ship.
Seconds ticked into minutes into a half-hour before the trio returned with the living skeleton; who introduced itself as 'Dead-Bones' Brooke. Even though he spoke like a gentleman, Jiru still freaked out; hiding behind Franky. She, like the rest of the crew, was shocked at Luffy for bringing such a freaky surprise back. Both Usoppu and Chopper acted in suite; being clad in their anti-ghost suits and throwing out purity charms.
Since the tall skeleton was on the ship; the only plausible option was to get to know him; as the walking skeleton demanded to eat. Being in the same, spooked state as Usoppu and Chopper, Jiru hid behind her friends as the skeleton sat at the table within the grandly built galley. She agreed completely with Usoppu and Chopper, waiting for a chance to accuse the skeleton of being evil. The walking skeleton and its lack of muscles and skin were unnerving for the treasure hunter.
She listened with a leery ear as Brooke explained his history; the why and how he came to reside on the huge ghost ship and just how lonely he was. Just as Jiru was starting to feel sorry for hating the skeleton, Brooke turned to her and asked her to see her lovely panties. Both Sanji and Zoro hit him in the head, making him laugh and spout 'skull joke'. However, he managed to break the ice that stood between them; making the treasure hunter less nervous in his weird, hollow-socket gaze.
After the meal, Brooke continued to explain how he became a skeleton; which was the power of the Yomi-Yomi no Mi, the Revived Human accursed fruit. His soul had gotten lost when it returned from the afterlife, and took a while to find its body – which, by the time the spirit found the body, it was just bones. Then, on questioning the ability of skeleton having hair, a mirror was brought into the calculation; which sent them all into a tailspin: Brooke had no reflection.
Usoppu's scream of zombie-vampire sent the crew into a spaz-out before the conversation could continue. Brooke then explained how his shadow was stolen and this prevented him from ever entering the world of light – a world where the sun shone. Brooke refused to state the party involved in stealing his shadow, saying the person was much too strong to fight against.
So it was at the end of his story and a song that the spying ghost was noticed; both by Brooke and Jiru. After the crew experienced a rumbling sea-quake, the walking skeleton ran onto the deck; as they all did, to discover the huge, spooky island looming over them. Brooke called the horrid thing 'Thriller Bark', an island ship that hunts pirates. The skeleton then asked if the ship was under 'surveillance'; explaining the barrel-flare trap. The Mugiwaras berated Luffy for opening it, the pirate just laughed it off.
They watched as Brooke departed, stating his joy in meeting them. After giving his flirtatious panty line to Jiru once again – earning a boot to the head – Brooke revealed a special ability and ran off on the sea water.
Jiru promptly turned to Nami and begged her to find a place to hide, because there was another adventure looming in front of them. The treasure hunter didn't want to go on this particular adventure at all. Usoppu agreed with her, as did Chopper. Robin, however, stated she enjoyed the 'thrills' and it was decided – they would stick around to see what would happen.
The trouble started when Franky introduced the Mini-Merry; built with the head that Jiru had rescued from the Merry-Gou's old steering rod before the ship went down. Nami, Chopper and Usoppu were the first to test it. The Golden Thief was hiding in her room; freaking out about the thick, spooky aura. She was adamant about staying hidden until they all escaped from the mouth-gate that had trapped them.
It was the invisible hand the dragged her out of her room that sealed their fate. There was an invisible force tormenting them all; as one of Zoro's swords went flying at Luffy. Luckily, Jiru used her compressed aura field to block; saving Luffy from being skewered.
The Golden Thief was now on guard; having been extradited from her hiding spot by the invisible force. However, she was unable to pinpoint an attacker as Luffy told her that Nami, Chopper and Usoppu had taken the Mini-Merry to shore; and had gotten lost in the fog. She told Luffy that even fog could get lost in the fog that had place itself between the Sunny-gou and the presumed shore. It was a majority vote to go ashore to rescue them.
Minutes passed again as the drifting ship became entangled in a huge-spider web; and another set of minutes before the remaining Mugiwaras were ready to disembark to search for their missing trio of friends. Robin had found the first lead; as the Mini-Merry was parked roughly against the wall; making it possible for the missing trio to have crash-landed and fallen over the ledge. Making their way down into the canyon of bones, Jiru used the marine's cape she stole back on Enies Lobby to float on via her compressed Aura-pad. The treasure hunter refused to walk on the ground; as the carpet of unknowns and bones went beyond her 'grossness' meter.
The island continued to disgust her as they discovered an undead Cerberus; which was two parts dog and one part fox. Voicing her astonished-disbelief when Luffy wanted to 'tame' it, Jiru could only laugh and blanch as the thing tried to bite Luffy's head off. Her captain promptly vented his rage at being bitten; and tamed it.
Having 'tamed' the undead Cerberus and using it as a mode of transportation, they moved on. It was when the treasure hunter was questioning Luffy's habit of cleanliness for the eighth time; their exploration came upon their next undead beings – a unicorn and a man-faced tree. It was the Golden Thief's turn to become excited as the zombie-unicorn moved. Robin and Franky laughed at the treasure hunter's sense of 'fantasy' as Luffy and she asked the two zombies to be their nakama.
Franky, Sanji and Zoro yelled at her and Luffy for asking the two zombies to be a part of their crew; which sent Sanji shouting at Franky and Zoro for yelling at Jiru. Robin laughed at their interest in the dead unicorn; as the dead equine stared at them while it was pouring its zombie-tree friend a cup of tea. The idea of making them nakama fell flat; as Luffy and Franky defeated the two undead beasts and moved on.
Sanji and Zoro were still lecturing Luffy on why NOT to invite random creatures to be their nakama, when the ghosts reappeared. The two females laughed when Luffy got out his ghost-catching gear; which consisted of a back-pack and a butterfly net. Events didn't go the way Luffy wanted it to; and the net didn't catch the ghost. Instead; the ghost went through him, Franky and Zoro; leaving them feeling utterly depressed and sad. Sanji, Jiru and Robin noted this and told them that their spirits sunk if the ghost made contact.
Being extremely riled-up after the effect wore off; Luffy vowed to destroy the ghosts and walked on. The Golden Thief was too busy laughing at Sanji and Zoro's post-ghost bickering to notice when they entered the graveyard. It was when Luffy pushed a rising zombie back into its grave that caught her attention; making her squirm in disgust. Yet, as even more zombies popped out of the ground, the grossed-out treasure-hunter freaked out enough to send the fighters into action.
After defeating them, Luffy asked the zombies if they had seen Nami, Chopper or Usoppu anywhere, and if they did, where they went. Luffy's treasure hunter decided to distance herself from the grossing stench of the animated-carnage and levitated herself up to get a view of the surrounding area. When nothing was forth-coming in the thick fog, she returned to Luffy's group only to find him talking to yet another zombie. Only the zombie was a decrepit old man without a shadow, like Brooke. His story told them that Gecko Moria, a Shichibukai, stole everyone's shadows and now none of the victims could go into the sunlight. The old man was the spokesperson of Moria's victims and pleaded for Luffy's help in getting their shadows back.
It was creepy to find out that there was a devil fruit that gave the user the ability to steal shadows. Jiru wrote this in her book of D.F. Users and hoped never to encounter Moria; which was a failed hope, after hearing Luffy's plan to beat Moria up to return all the shadows. Groaning in exasperation, Jiru only shook her head and told Luffy she'd help him anyway.
Coming upon the huge, creepy-looking cathedral building, Jiru expressed her awe at such details in the stonework, and promptly removed her art book from her specialized backpack to start sketching. Robin cheerfully agreed, pointing out more details to the treasure hunter. It was only when they entered, that the short pirate decided to hate the building. When zombies popped out of the woodwork; the collector freaked out again, overwhelmed by disgusted-horror. She clung to Luffy when the very rug underneath them came to life; causing her captain to laugh in good humor as he knocked out the zombie-polar-bear-rug to appease her.
After the brief brawl, the zombie pig on the wall taunted them all; mentioning that their three missing friends were safe in the bedrooms. The treasure hunter didn't believe the lie, and pointed out that the defeated wall-hangings were laughing at them. Zoro then noticed that Sanji was missing, and stated that they should take the un-dead pig as a guide. Jiru asked what they should do about Sanji's disappearance, and Luffy told her the cook could take care of himself. The wall-zombies naysayed this, saying Moria would defeat them all. Luffy told them that if any of his nakama were harmed, he'd blow up the island.
So, with Franky and the undead pig in the lead, followed up Robin and Luffy and finally Jiru and Zoro, the Mugiwaras ventured into the dark depths of the spooky mansion. With the Pig still yapping away, Zoro's disappearance went unnoticed until it was too late; Jiru turning around to notice this.
Zoro's disappearance upset Luffy enough to don armor; a suit that lay against the wall in the hall. So it was with clanking loudness that the remaining four Mugiwaras entered a large room holding carnival tents. The huge room looked like an out-dated festival arena; with the tents being moth-eaten and ragged. It was while Jiru was scanning the room that Franky shoved her off her marine-cape covered aura-pad. Her cape was skewered to the floor as she tumbled back into the hallway – so much for her idea of flaunting a stolen marine cape.
Her anger was quickly stunned into awe as she watched Franky fight off the hulking armored-zombie. Watching avidly, she cheered when Franky threw the armor-zombie into the arena ring. He rewarded her with one of his 'Supah' Poses.
The surprise was on them as the Zom-Pig guide told them all that the zombies were virtually invincible and there was no hope for winning. None of them were safe; and to hit the point home, a wall-zombie slammed down, cutting Jiru off from others. It was almost frightening to see the look of stunned surprised in her captain's eyes – so much so, that Jiru screamed and kicked the solid wall, venting her frustration and anger. Luffy needed her to cover his back, and Robin and Franky were most likely fighting with the multitude of armored zombies she saw briefly in the arena room before the zombie-wall fell.
Oink-ing laughter caught her attention as the Zombie-Pig was rolling on its back in mirth at her expense. Marching up to the annoyingly dead wall-trophy, Jiru kicked its face and ordered it to make the wall move. The Zom-pig only laughed harder, ran away, leaving her in the darkness of the hallway.
This pissed her off completely, and taking a long-pole ax off the wall, Jiru gave chase to the undead pig. It was then that she ran into her first trouble: the zombie-samurai Ryuuma. Rounding a corner after having lost track of the zom-pig, she came face to chest with the undead samurai. Looking up into the hollow sockets was a mistake, as she should have been watching his stance – something Zoro had taught her early on; a tip to defend herself against sword-wielders.
Dropping her recently gained ax, Jiru spun around to get the hell out of the hallway when samurai made his move. Using the black-end of his katana hilt, he landed a blow in the deep of her gut. Inside, she felt something tear and moaned Luffy's name before blanking out.
XXX
Coming awake to the sound of a softly singing voice, the Golden Thief promptly keeled over and vomited. Sitting up groggily, her stomach feelings like it was on fire, she realized that she wasn't where she thought she was – which would be on the Sunny-Gou relaxing. Pulling herself up onto her knees; as her arms were bound behind her, she scanned her surroundings and found a few disconcerting things: A. she was wearing a skirt rather than her capri-pants, B. she was sitting on stone-cold ground, C. her stomach really hurt something fierce and D. the person in front of her was undead, and twirling her white panties around on a decrepit bony finger; sipping tea with the other hand. Lifting herself up to modestly fold her legs to block the draft she was now aware of, the pirate-female stared as the undead samurai began talking:
'I knew it, you wouldn't give up after being knocked down once, would you?'
'Pervert!' Came her reply.
'Have you not heard of my name? Upon hearing Master Swordsman Ryuuma; anyone would recoil in fear…'
Seconds dragged forever, her eyes glued on the rotating clothing on the pervert's finger. It wasn't until Brooke spoke that she knew the situation was going to kill her of embarrassment – the zombie samurai wasn't talking to her.
'How dare you steal the young lady's panties…'
'Come now, our level of flesh is different…' the other responded. 'I would think the girl would more like flesh than bone.'
'QUIET! You are my shadow, you shall return to beneath my feet.'
'I think not…'
The tone of their voices was thick with hate and dominance, and barely masked battle-lust; and it sent shivers down her spine, hearing the two speak with such vehemence.
XXX
Meanwhile, having fled after watching Luffy's stolen shadow come to life in the gigantic corpse of Oz; Nami, Chopper and Usoppu all were in trouble. Nami was captured by the Invisible man, Absalom. Franky and Robin came to the rescue of Chopper and Usoppu.
Making their way back to the Sunny-gou, the Mugiwaras found their ship trashed and Zoro, Sanji and Luffy 'decorated' and unconscious. Needing their unresponsive fighting power, Usoppu fixed that problem by yelling that Jiru was in trouble. All three of them jumped to wakefulness and looked around for something to smash.
When Usoppu and Franky explained the situation, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy were all ready to pick up the fight. Sanji was pissed that both Nami and Jiru were missing, and raged at Usoppu when the sniper explained that Nami was kidnapped. Zoro asked what had happened to Jiru and Franky stated he last saw her before the Zombie General fight and the wall had dropped down to separate them. The treasure hunter was most likely wandering around the dark, haunted mansion. Sanji also raged at the shipwright.
Then, discussing their plan of action, Luffy was sad that none of them knew where the food was. All that was left on the ship was cheese. It was decided, then, to find Jiru and Nami and rescue their shadows and the food.
Beforehand, Franky quickly explained his deal with Brooke, and how at first, Franky disliked the pile of walking bones. The blue-haired pervert now stated otherwise. Relating Brooke's story of his Vow to return to a certain long-left behind nakama, Franky repeated a name the crew – minus Robin and Chopper – all knew: Laboon.
Nami, Luffy and Zoro explained that they had met Laboon and as such, Brooke was going to be thrilled to hear about it. It was with awe that the experienced Mugiwara crew thought back to Laboon and connected Brooke with the whale. They reminisced about the scarred whale they had met at the end of Reverse Mountain and just how long Laboon waited for his own nakama.
This excited Luffy to no end as he vowed to get the walking-skeleton as his nakama. It was a bonus for Luffy, as Brooke was a musician. Chopper, Franky, Usoppu and Robin all agreed with him, Brooke was coming along regardless. With that behind them, Zoro and Sanji were ready for battle; wanting to save the shadows and the missing females. Luffy called his cry and they prepared for battle.
XXX
Elsewhere on the haunted, zombie-plagued island, high in the mansion's tower; Brooke had engaged Ryuuma in a swordfight, determined to expel his shadow from the walking dead and restore Jiru's honor (along with her panties). Watching in awe as the two clashed swords, her Reiki-Reiki no Mi went to work and the treasure hunter started seeing the fearsome energies that were emitted when the two clashed. Like a small, television-ic strip above Brooke's head, pieces of scenery flickered to life, like visible thoughts.
Not understanding what was going on, Jiru watch as Brooke clashed yet again with Ryuuma, only somehow it was a view from the past; the first meeting between the differently dead.
Suddenly the fight came to its climax, as Ryuuma and Brooke finally spoke again, startling her out of her trance. Cheering Brooke on quietly, Jiru held her breath as they made their final strikes…only to gasp in horror as Brooke fell in defeat.
Ryuuma poised over the fallen, readying the death stroke; which was to cut off Brooke's treasured afro. Jiru would never let Brooke, Luffy's nakama, be defeated so and rammed herself into the back of Ryuuma as the earthquake hit; which sent them all off-kilter. Jiru and Brooke tumbled away from Ryuuma as the world went shaky. Landing – embarrassingly enough – on Brooke's lap, Jiru felt her face go red as she demanded Brooke not to give up.
Ryuuma stated that the defeated shouldn't be interacted with, and came at Brooke and Jiru with his dark sword. Jiru, unable to use her hands to put up a barrier, leaned against Brooke to free her legs so that she could kick away Ryuuma's sword.
It was Franky and Zoro that came to the rescue - mostly Zoro - as the Santoryuu user blocked the undead samurai's sword with his own. Franky, following behind Zoro, commented on how nice Jiru's legs looked in her black skirt. Jiru kicked uselessly at Franky and demanded that the shipwright free her hands so she could beat him up. Zoro then grinned at her as he muttered something about the treasure hunter looking as good as a fight with Ryuuma; whom he wanted to meet.
The treasure hunter, now free of being tied up, yelled at the swordsman, covering her embarrassment. Brooke, being propped up by Franky, watched in awe as the duo bickered. When the walking pile of bones asked Zoro to get his shadow and Jiru's panties back; both Zoro and Jiru told him to 'shut the hell up'. The swordsman then turned to Jiru and asked if 'they' were ok. The treasure hunter told Zoro to worry about his own fight and defeat Ryuuma's dead body to take his sword, Shuusui; which was Ryuuma's 'treasure'.
Opposing them, Ryuuma called Jiru feisty and taunted Zoro, telling him he'd never take Shuusui. Zoro laughed back and told Jiru to be on standby as Ryuuma asked why Zoro carried three swords. The undead samurai taunted Zoro more, before launching his attack. Zoro's response was instantaneous, drawing awed comments from Franky and Brooke; both of whom had never seen Zoro in serious action.
During the fight, Franky asked the treasure hunter questions on how strongly Zoro fought, and the treasure hunter answered truthfully: Zoro was really that powerful. Even the Golden Thief was impressed on how far Zoro had grown since Enies Lobby. So much so; she nearly missed her cue to jump on damage control, as the walls came crushing down. Snapping out of her awe, The Golden Thief used her aura pads and lifted Franky and Brooke out of the imploding room, setting them on the next rooftop over.
The fight grew more intense as she, Franky and Brooke watched from the corner of the roof. Jiru read Zoro's every move, waiting to play her part if something bizarre happened. Which happened in the next fifteen seconds, as Ryuuma sliced the top of the tower off and launched it at Zoro. Zoro used the falling top like a launch pad to take himself into the air. Taking off on an air-pad, she hovered nearby – safely out of any sword's way – as Zoro delivered the finishing blow to the undead samurai, leaving the body in burning blue flames. Then, catching Zoro on another pad – one soft enough to lessen the impact – Jiru watching with grim interest as Ryuuma burned with blue flames. The possessed shadow from Ryuuma flew up next to her as it made its way to the proper owner: Brooke.
Then, watching as Ryouma's Shuusui sword and sheath fall into Zoro's up-stretched hand, she allowed herself to relax. Moving down to the trio below her, the treasure hunter was startled into embarrassment when Brooke commented on nice her 'panties' looked – she currently wore none. Hitting the skeleton, she cursed both at Franky and Zoro when the two males teased her on how she had a crush on Brooke. She denied this vehemently, and had the chance to catch her breath, seeing how everyone was still alive.
However, before the peacefulness became permanent; the beastly and massively titanic zombie appeared, crashing out from the mansion like the walls were wet paper. The truly gigantic moving heap of undead flesh was calling out for the Mugiwara Pirates. Screaming in terror, Jiru promptly undid her air-pad and thudded onto the broken roof, hiding behind the trio of males.
Her trio of masculine comrades looked at her oddly as she crouched down to keep herself as small as possible; commenting on how truly terrifying 'Luffy's Zombie' was. Her fear of something so titanically large was hilarious to Zoro, the swordsman finally seeing one of her weaknesses. He laughed at her situation as he commented on how the 'fun' would truly start.