Human
AN: Trying to pick up the speed of updates again. Now, I know this story doesn't show much of Brook's comic relief side, which is important—it will show it, eventually, but when all things are considered, even the dog-and-pony show must pause when the tide turns serious. Remember, children; feedback feeds the soul. Well, the ego anyway. Which is one ingredient for the productivity of free entertainment. Can you tell I'm a chef-in-training?
Chapter Four: The Decree
The palace was nothing if effectively terrifying.
The white-polished walls and thick spires of the royal grounds oddly reminded Brook of distant memories, of a home that came before the nightmare, before the bliss of friendship. He thought of the time when he had been in the king's navy. Wherever his gaze traveled, there was another soldier staring back. He eyed the captive pirates as they were led through the gates.
Nearly six decades past, the former skeleton would have been one of those men. What a strange, oddly shaped tale he had become since then.
Luffy-san and the others were coming. He was certainly a nuisance to them today; he would have to find some way to make up for all the trouble. Seeing the pure terror on Usopp's face, and the aggressiveness of Nami-san's gait, Brook found it difficult to swallow.
The lightweight cane in his hand trembled with each guards did not know about his secret weapon. But he was in no condition to try.
No, he would only make things worse. He must rely on other weapons. Subtle ones.
He opened his ears to the sounds around him as they walked.
"Pirates again?" muttered one man in a group of official-looking civilians. "What do you suppose the beautiful princess will do with these ones?"
"Same thing as always," came the drifting reply that Brook could not see. "I hope there's a hanging this time. They always choose to do things the boring way."
"Ah, it's a shame..."
Usopp-san made a strangled sound, and Brook gave him a sympathetic glance. Longnose-san had been listening, too. They fought fight, he promised silently. If it came to that, he would find the strength somehow.
"Lieutenant!" barked a voice from behind them, from the gates to the city. As a unit, the procession of soldiers and prisoners stopped on the sunlit, dusty path. An older, grizzled pair of guards approached them. They half-dragged another captive between them, and pushed her forward.
It was the girl from the flutist.
"Eye witnesses say that the tall one there slipped this girl a hundred beli," one of the newcomers said. "We think she may be part of their scheming."
""I told you! I'm not with them! I love the princess, I swear!" cried the nine-year-old pleadingly. She still had her flute clutched in both hands, up against her chest.
Brook stared in horror at what he'd done.
"It's the 'beautiful princess' to you, street rat!" barked her captor. "How do we know that beli wasn't some payoff for information, or worse? You dirty-nosed brat."
"She comes in for questioning, then," the lieutenant growled, the beak-nosed royal officer with plainly rude manners. Three of his dozen men surrounded the girl and pushed her into line with the Straw Hat crew members.
They did not listen to Brook, even as he plaintively tried to protest her capture. It was quickly becoming transparent how accustomed these soldiers were to arresting random citizens off the street. The mannerisms and behaviour of the other city folk were quite understandable, now that the true nature of the law had been revealed.
Ah, his feet hurt.
Rather than proceeding to the grand entrance to the palace, they were herded instead into another wing through smaller (though still impressive) doors. The moment they stepped inside, a tremolo of terror touched his spine and soul, as if a hundred people were holding their breath in trepidation, or expecting an imminent disaster.
Then the screeching began.
"You fools!" came the high-pitched wailing from the young lady—eleven or twelve perhaps—sitting on an embellished chair at the end of the hall. There were three men, each carrying a remarkable dress that together would have cost at least half of Brook's own bounty. "Imbeciles! Degenerates! Morons! I said lavender! Not purple, not violet, not mauve or mulberry! LAVENDER! Do any of these look like lavender to you?"
"B-But, my beautiful p-princess," stammered one of the seamsters, a man so elderly it was quite pitiable. "The usual request is f-for just one dress a day. When you-"
"Silence! I won't hear any of your excuses! By my authority as princess of this land, I sentence you!"
A mass of fear swelled in the hearts of the attendants and guards witnessing this event. It made Brook feel somewhat sick, and the apprehension from both Usopp and Nami-san was strongest of all.
"I sentence each of your to three days in the dungeon! No food! No water!"
In desperation, the old seamster protested, "B-But your truly wondrous highness, your dresses-"
"Throw them in the refuse pile!" The blonde-haired, round-faced daughter of the king screamed, stomped her foot, and then sat down with a violent flourish of her ultramarine, feathery gown.
It was with a heavy feeling in his chest that Brook and his two nakama watched the men separated from their (gorgeous, really) recent creations, and dragged out of the room. Usopp-san swallowed audibly, and Brook subtly patted his forearm in reassurance. They had strong nakama coming to rescue them in any scenario, even the worst.
"Who invited you!?" snapped the princess, when the dozen soldiers had finally dragged them to a halt on the royal carpet.
"Beautiful Princess Kana, I beg the intrusion," said the gruff lieutenant, conveyor of their supposed guilt. "We captured these pirates acting suspiciously within your domain. As you decreed-"
"Yes, yes, I know my own decrees, stupid!" With a scoff, the unpleasant young girl hopped off her throne once again and shuffled forward. No fewer than four bodyguards joined her. She leered at the Straw Hats with crossed arms. "They are pirates? One looks like a coat rack with a sheep on its head. And ew, the other two are so ugly!"
"It is widely known that pirates are ugly and unseemly, beautiful princess."
Nami-san's wrath felt like a hot flame, and Brook was only too happy now that he could provide facial expressions. He tried his best to defuse her with a tense smile, and to his surprise, she merely clenched her fists and folded her arms.
The young girl from the streets was trying to hide behind him. It did not work.
"Who is she?"
"Believed to be consorting with the pirates, your wondrous highness."
"Pff, traitors! Of course there are traitors in my realm. That's why daddy gave me such a large dungeon. I dont have the patience for traitors! Take here away at once! I'll sentence her once I'm done with these pirates!"
"At once, your wondrous eminence."
When the chaos subsided, and the young girl taken away by three armed men in spite of her protests, Princess Kana sat down once more. There was something devilish about the way she gripped the arms of her throne. "Now, as I'm sure you're all too stupid to know, I'm Princess Kana, the most beautiful princess in all the kingdoms in all of Shera. As for you, you're pirates. You don't have names. By my law, you're not even worth talking to. But a princess is nothing without a little justice and mercy, after all. So I'm going to give you a choice."
"P-Princess Kana-sama," Usopp was the first to stutter. "We're really not p-pirates at all. This is just a big misunderstand-"
"Silence!" shrieked the princess.
Usop was silent.
"You just forfeited your choice, you ungrateful cur! Guards, take him to the dungeon!"
White shock and stupor set in, and it ate at him. Brook immediately threw everything he had into recalling old, ancient rules of etiquette from a lifetime past, and spoke out.
"Your wondrous beauty," he interrupted softly, when the men came to seize a disarmed and petrified Usopp. Silence, fell across the room. "We are truly ungrateful in your presence, and certainly our manners are unbecoming an unparalleled, luminous flower such as yourself. If you would, perhaps, grant me a moment to play you a song?"
That seemed to stun everyone, except for the princess of course. Her piercing brown eyes danced over the former skeleton's frame for an instant, and then she burst out laughing.
"You? Play a song? A pirate?" Her rapid, nasally cackling was quite possibly the most horrid sound Brook had ever heard. He caught Nami-san grimacing out of the corner of his eye. An overwhelming urge to soothe the tortured ears of his nakama seized him. The princess stopped laughing long enough to continue, "This is precious! A pirate wants to serenade me! Oh, please! Please, do! I dare you—no, I order you to play me a song, pirate!"
"Ah, of course, beautiful princess," he replied with a curt half-bow. "It pains me to ask, but may I borrow a violin?"
With wicked vehemence, the 'beautiful' princess demanded that one be brought into the hall immediately. The swiftness in which she was obeyed might have been flattering, if it were not downright horrifying. They handed Brook a bow along with the somewhat battered-looking instrument without question. It suited him, naturally; a shabby violin for a rather shabby skelet—oh, but he was human again, wasn't he? And still shabby, yohoho.
Wordlessly, he passed his cane to Usopp-san, whose grip on it created a feeble creak. Then all the colours converged on the surface of Brook's soul, and the inner delight he always held dear and close sprung into his arms. With a cheerful 'yohoho', he swung the violin gracefully into place and stood poised with the bow hovering on the strings.
"Elegant Summer," he declared, bared his feelings, and began to play.
TBC