(This is going to be my hardest chapter to write. Thus, I am going to try my best, but also, because, this is my hardest chapter to write ...it will probably be full of mistakes. I could only read over it once, without fear of changing it. So forgive me for all the mistakes in this one.)
DESPERATION
Regret
something everyone has
And something no one wants
You can give it
You can share it
But you can never avoid it
Regret
Sometimes, the best choice is to do nothing, and sometimes, it's the worst. Brook wasn't knocked out in the fight either, he had watched their trial and their fall. It had capture him as surely as the last song he had played with his crew. And like with his crew, though he wanted to,...he could do nothing to stop it.
Zoro's fall and Sanji's first trial.
He watched as the man would ask for one favor afterwards, and then the two of them would walk away.
He wanted to help him then, stop this, ...he could even ask to be traded. Afterall, he is nothing more than a Skeleton anyway, so, what's the worst that Kuma could do to him?
Though as the chef walked away, and the two disappear from sight ...there wasn't a thing he could do. He was just barely clinging onto consciousness by a thread. His final thoughts ...his last words before he slipped away ...was more of a joke than anything else.
"I can't move a muscle to help.. though as just bones, I don't have any muscles ...yohohoho."
Darkness would claim him then as his own laughter seem to slip away into nothingness.
It had only been activity that had kept him awake with such injuries. He couldn't help it, he didn't want to pass out as long as there was life around him. He would always hate stillness and fear when sounds ended. It was why, he could find the darkness then. The darkness that was his salvation when everyone had died, was also, the first thing he remembered ...when he awoke alone.
He didn't like the darkness, but, he couldn't stand ...a world without any sounds even less.
So, when he woke again ...he knew half a day had pass. The sun was just overhead, and the sound of movement had rouse him slightly. Though it wasn't enough to completely bring him back to reality. Just that moment when the waves of darkness would bring him to the surface. Enough to see the world beyond it's violent seas before it plunges him back under ...as the sound of boots running off in the distances and the flash of black pants would be all he would have time to recognize before the darkness pulled him under again.
The next time he rouse, the sun was again ...just separating darkness from light. It had been a full day, and this time, the darkness didn't pull at him. He had ridden the sea's to safety once more. And, he was rouse by sound, lovely sound ...as one of the pirates they had saved proclaim what he already knew ...a day had pass.
A memory would spark.
Was it true?
She had called out that everyone had made it, too.
There was some relief on his soul then as he sat up. The entire resting thing did wonders for him ...as he felt most of his wounds were gone. Then again, wouldn't all of his wounds be considered serious... too serious for resting just to solve...considering he was bones ...there was no such thing as flesh wounds for him.
He would have laughed out loud ...if the captain of this crew wasn't already doing that.
He was was so happy it was hard to turn your eyes away from him, and the way the rest of his crew was excited. Surely everything had had a happy ending after all, somehow.
It was these false hopes that Brook had learned long ago to not fall for, but still, somehow, every time ...he fell for the same trick. The sound of his crew as they sung out to him, the sight of them in the fog as they race around the deck. How many times had he believed it to be real, and then done something to wake up from the dream? How after the first few times it had happen, he had tried to drown himself in it, but never succeed. Something always woke him up from the dream, and brought him back to reality.
This time was no different ...as their captain would finally notice ...the silent figure in their mist. The doctor once ...all the playing and fun was done ...would detect the blood, and the long nose's sharp mind would start to piece together a puzzle no one truly wanted solved.
"What happen to the kuma guy?"
The question had been asked earlier.
"He probably thought we were dead and left. We sure fooled him."
That had been the answer, but there was a least two, that knew ...that was a lie. An untruth, as Brook waited to hear another answer.
"Oi, what's wrong Zoro?"
That was the captain's questions. The man was sitting on the stones, his sword held tight in one hand, and his head bow. He wouldn't look up even as his name was called nor would he answer even as the boy got closer.
It would be bad news.
Brook knew all about bad news, and almost as if everyone could sense the topic ...more questions would be asked. It would be the orange haired girl next.
"Where is Sanji?"
"Yeah, he normally would have latched onto Nami or Robin by now."
The tall one with the blue hair would answer.
Though her question wasn't directed at the swordmen at all. It was a general one, as the fun and games would die completely with those words. As it become open for anyone to answer, it would become the endless stretch of silence that Brook wanted to slice away.
Though before he could act.
Zoro would answer in the silence.
"He is gone."
It was said with such a ...tone, that no one could possible miss the meaning. No one except it would seem the Captain.
"Oi, gone ...where? Did he go back to the ship to get food? I am starving."
Zoro never looked up as he answered.
"He won't be coming with us any further."
That one snap all thoughts of food from the Captain's mind, and from the others, dread shown on their faces. Afterall, they had all been there when Kuma had appeared. They all knew of the enemy they had faced, and, it wasn't rare nor impossible for those two to have managed to stay on their feet afterwards, their swordmen and chef. It wasn't beyond reason, that they would fight, after everyone else had been knocked into unconsciousness.
The sinking feeling of despair was slowly creeping in.
"Huh? Why are you talking crazy, Zoro? Where is Sanji?"
The question would be asked much more sharply now. All attention was on him ...as the two men that had been sitting behind Zoro would finally draw some attention to themselves ...as one moves to answer the question. A single sword slash would stop him ...as the winds blew with an aura that spoke of death and destruction. No one was allowed to interfere in this conversation. No one else, was allowed to give their Captain any more insight than he was willing to give nor the Captain was willing to receive.
There was no thing more to say, and the deep cut in the ground by his foot make it clear...that meant everyone was to let him ...come to the conclusion for himself.
"Sanji is gone."
It was the first time anyone had heard him call the chef by name. It was something that shook the crew all the harder as Chopper would finally speak then.
"I smell blood ...Sanji?"
This made the captain all the wilder, as he grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him to his feet as he drew the man close. In the mind of some, the thought that he had killed his own crew mate ran in their heads, but, it never stir in the minds of the strawhat crew. They were friends, and they were family, and there was a much more dangerous foe they could blame his disappearance on.
"Where is he?"
"Gone."
The same question, the same answer, but, this time ...it seem to take on a completely different meaning.
"You are lying. I will find him myself."
The swordman's hand would grab him even as the Captain released and pushed away. The stronger of the holds and of the moves, would leave Zoro standing with the rubber man shoulder trapped in his grip.
"Don't ...he left so you wouldn't see it."
The words came out strong, but to Brook it was a plea as the first sob rang out. The bear man hadn't simply left, he had taken something with him, and he had left something behind as well.
Despair and regret.
Sorrow and Anger.
Things went chaotic after that.
The Captain was beyond simple words, and it would take more to stop him as he ripped Zoro's arm from his shoulder. He didn't want to believe, he wasn't going to believe. He would find his missing crew member, and he would be healthy and whole. And it was at that moment, that it truly sunk in ...as Usopp would be the first to stutter it.
"Zoro ...tell me, I am understanding this wrong. Sanji isn't dead?"
"Is he?"
It would radiate through the entire crew. The realization, and the sudden belief, but it would be Luffy that snap. He would turn even on Usopp at that moment as he would roar at him.
"Don't say that. Like hell, no way, he isn't dead. Zoro just telling some sort of shitty joke."
Though Zoro was there, he could speak for himself.
"Yes. Sanji won't be traveling with us anymore."
It was like an axe in the captain's back. His words, were a deep wound to the rest of the crew, but they weren't the only one. The man who had said it outloud had his hands balled up into a fist, they shook, his swords rest uselessly on the ground. Everyone understood now, there was no more chances of misunderstanding, and as Luffy turned on his own crewmate with a viciousness that drew blood.
He never once tried to defend himself, Zoro.
It was those flood of emotions that Brook had fought on his ship.
When they knew that their time had come. The raising panic, the cries, and the weeping for the past ...it was something they had fought with their final breathes ...as he called them to sing a song.
Their only regret was Laboon.
No, he was their rallying point.
He was their nakama that even in the midst of despair, somehow, he managed to save them all.
They would not die with tears on their faces, instead, they would die with a smile.
For they were doing what they love the most, for the one nakama that they knew had been safely left behind, Laboon. For the one, the one they wanted to bring with them, but had spared from being the first to die. For the Grandline truly is a harsh and cruel place, and it left no one who sailed on these seas ...the same.
No one.