New update! Wanted to put this one out before I go on Spring Break next week... I'll try to write a bit during the break but can't guarantee when the next chapter will be out. Until then, ENJOY! Special shootouts to Phoenix, Taiski, NeitherSaneNorInsane, Fanboy316, Guest-Red, Totong, and DinoZilla for reviewing!
"Ah, we made it." Nami sighed.
Zoro only shook his head as he and the rest of the crew looked out into the dark and cloudy sky, "That's good but what's with this place? It's not even night, and yet the fog is making it look so dark."
He was right, they had just encountered a very dark part of the sea after retrieving a floating barrel. As soon as Luffy opened the barrel, a flare shot into the sky and then the storm engulfed the ship into the shady area.
"Maybe," Nami placed her hand on her cheek alarmingly, "We're in that part of the ocean? We are not ready for this!"
Usopp laughed, "Oh are we at Fishman Island already?" Not present during Koroko's talk in Water 7, Usopp did not hear about the ghost sea story.
"No," Luffy bowed his head so that his hat shadowed his eyes, "We are in the Ghost sea!"
"Yea." Franky added looking grim as Luffy, "Don't let your guard down. This ocean is definitely the famous… Floridian Triangle! The outrageous sea where everything mysteriously disappears."
The terrified sharpshooter began to mumble until Luffy laughed, "Yea there's ghosts in this ocean!"
"You're lying!" Usopp attempted to fight off the crewmates teasing while Chopper clung to Kimi's leg shaking at their words. Kimi could only giggle at the situation.
"Yea! There's even living skeletons!" Luffy stated. "Ske-ele-tons?!" Ussop cried.
"That's only your imagination." Sanji muttered while lighting a match for his cigarette. "Stop scaring him with it. Usopp, every year in this ocean, many ships disappear without a trace… They say there's ghost ships filled with the dead that wander…"
Usopp cried out after turning a slight tint of blue, "Tell me that kinda thing ahead of time!"
Suddenly from the dark parts of the clouds an echo sang,"Yo… ho… ho… ho… yo ho ho… ho…" Instinctively, Kimi and the others turned their heads to see where the voice was coming from.
"THE GHOST SHIP!" Everyone cried out (except Robin) with horrified expressions. Coming from behind the Sunny was a massive pirate ship. With torn sails and rotting wood, the ship seemed like it had been through hell and back.
The echo got louder. "Yo, ho… ho… ho…!"
"What's with this song!" Nami cried, "It's the evil spirit's song!" Usopp added. "Don't listen to it, if you do you'll be cursed! He'll drag you out to sea, evil spirits are always trying to make people come to them!"
The echo continued, "Yo… ho… ho… ho…"
Kimi squinted through the lens of her glasses to the shadowy figure in the middle of the deck. "There appears to be someone…" She was curious to find an explanation. If it was a ghost, she wanted to scientifically figure out how he materialized.
As the ship continued to sail pass the Sunny, the figure on the boat became visible. "Going to bring… Binks his drink…" The tall skeleton's mouth moved up and down to the echoy voice.
"Yo… ho… ho… ho…" The ship sailed passed the Sunny with the skeleton along with it.
"Did you see that!?" Luffy smiled, "A skeleton was singing!"
"Luffy," Kimi placed a finger to her chin posing with questionability, "A skeleton can't sing. It has no lungs or any vital organs to be alive…much less sing."
"Baka!" Usopp cried to the captain, "It was a spirit! A spirit!"
Luffy ran to the scientist with a smile, "But you heard it didn't you!? Hey, let's go!" He turned to Zoro with stars in his face, "There was a living skeleton after all! So cool!"
Zoro pulled out a hand-full of wooden sticks and looked to the crew. "Here, we will decide who's going with Luffy over to the ship fairly." They were used to making group decisions from the short-stick theory, but Kimi seriously wanted to experiment with this situation.
Standing on the ledge of the Sunny, Kimi, Franky, Sanji, Robin and Luffy prepared themselves to embark onto the ship.
"He's fine with the guys who want to go!" Usopp cried. "That's right, let them do it!" Nami growled. "Let them do it!" Chopper climbed onto the swordsman's green head.
"Is that really okay?" Zoro stated.
"Yosh! Let's go!" Luffy cried out while Franky shouted his usual, "Ow!"
"Not at all…" Kimi could hear Nami cry.
"Everyone, come here." Zoro walked towards the group on the ledge while Chopper, Usopp and Nami literally dragged behind the swordsman begging to be left behind.
"You guys don't have to go, I can go by myself!" Luffy frowned as he and the others walked off of the ledge. "If we don't hurry, the ship will leave."
"To prevent Luffy from acting stupidly, two will pick to go with him." Zoro continued to hold the sticks in his hand.
By random draw, Sanji and Nami were chosen to go to the ship. And of course, the redhead was not pleased by her luck. As she climbed up the rope ladder to the deck of the ghost ship, the woman screamed causing the rest of the Strawhat crew to worry.
"Evil spirits stay away… Luffy rest in peace." Usopp prayed. But his prayers weren't needed as the three brought back a friend from the ghost ship. . . .
"YO HO HO HO! How do you do?!" The very tall skeleton took off his top hat to greet the rest of the Strawhat pirates. "I'm afraid that, while traveling, my ship ran into quite a bit of trouble! Now I am "Just Dead Bones" Brook! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Kimi didn't know if she should laugh or be terrified or angry. Brook was definitely a character, with a large poufy afro and a personality of a clown it seemed like. But then again, he was a skeleton… only bones.
"WHAT THE HELL!?" Franky, Zoro, and Usopp yelled. "Who is this guy?!"
"Oh my, oh my! How harsh!" Brook squealed with a laugh and Luffy followed suit. Still not saying a word, Kimi and Robin analyzed the skeleton in their heads. That was, until he walked over to the both of them. "Oh, what beautiful women! Would you allow me to see your panties?"
Kimi raised an eyebrow while Robin continued to stare, "Stop it, you perverted skeleton!" Nami threw her boot at Brook's head. The scientist turned her head towards her female navigator friend but then caught a glance at the swordsman behind her. Zoro seemed to be fuming at the actions of the skeleton but he did nothing to attempt to stop Brook from terrorizing the women.
"Usopp! You got all your exorcism stuff!" Chopper cried out turning all the heads on the ship to look towards him.
"Skeleton, g-get out of h-here!" He was dressed oddly, but by now Kimi was used to his weird attire. "Evil spirits be gone, evil spirits be gone!"
"Evil spirits? Where? Where are they?" Brook looked around the ship.
"ITS YOU!" Chopper and Usopp yelled causing Brook to scream. It almost seemed like he forgot he was a horrifying skeleton.
"Skeletons can't talk or walk or have afros! This is a dream! It's gotta be!"
Chopper smiled, "Really?! Good… a dream!" He fell backwards with his eyes closed. Brook quietly walked overtop of the small reindeer, "Hello? Please wake up. Good morning!"
As soon as Chopper opened his eyes, his view was that of the skeleton head of Brook staring down at him. He screamed bloody-murder finally causing Zoro to yell at Brook to stop terrorizing his nakama. "Oi, Luffy! What's with this guy?"
"Isn't he funny?" Luffy smiled, "He's part of our crew now."
Zoro firmly placed his hands on his hips, "I don't care, I won't let him be!" He defiantly claimed and then looked to Nami and Sanji, "Why the hell did you guys go with him? Wasn't it to stop him from doing something like this?!"
"We're sorry…" The two muttered ashamed.
"Yohohoho! It's nothing to get worked up over, we can have dinner!" Brook nodded while stepping towards the stairs. "YOU CAN'T DECIDE THAT!" Zoro, Nami and Sanji yelled at him. Kimi smiled, the more she listened to Brook, the more she was beginning to like his personality. As far as the skeleton-thing, she was very curious how he came to be.
"He's too funny!" Luffy laughed. "Come on let's go eat!" The crew nodded making sure to follow far enough away from Brook and Luffy.
When the crew arrived in the kitchen, they all took to their usual seats while Luffy gave Brook his head seat of the table. "What a wonderful dining room!" Brook exclaimed, "And the kitchen! This is such a marvelous ship!"
"Yeah, that's 'cuz this super guy made it! You've got an eye for quality." Franky smirked taking the compliment to heart.
Sanji scoffed while frying up the last of his meal, "Oi, don't get attached to him Franky."
"Oh but what I am really looking forward to is the food. I haven't had any good food for so many years…" Brook fell onto the table as if his bones had caved in on him, "I've lived so long with these hunger pains that I feared I was just skin and bones…"
Kimi looked to Zoro on her left with a confused glare. It was a look that said, "How can he be hungry if he doesn't even have a stomach?"
Suddenly, Brook sat straight up in his chair and pulled back his coat to expose his ribs. "Although I'm a skeleton and don't have any skin at all! YOHOHOHO!"
Luffy was the only one who laughed back.
"SKULL JOKE!" Brook threw his hands into the air almost with a smile. Although he had no lips to prove it. "SKULL JOKE!" Luffy mimicked.
Kimi rolled her eyes at this point. It seemed as if Luffy and Brook were best friends for the lonest time. "So anyways, Korobrook-" Luffy started to say when Brook waved. "Oh no, it's Brook! Oh and I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't yet have your name…?"
"Me? I'm Luffy. So anyways, what are you?"
Kimi and the other's fell down at the fact Luffy had never introduced himself to the Skeleton. He must have just seen Brook and decided to have him join the crew without thinking. "You two didn't even ask that kinda thing?!" Zoro yelled.
"We will deal with the skeleton later, now it is time to eat!" Sanji declared placing everyone's plates on the table. With stars in his eyes, Luffy turned to Brook. "Oi, make sure you eat a lot! Sanji has the best food ever!"
They all ate to feed their starving bellies in a matter of a few minutes and afterwards Kimi couldn't take the mystery of Brook's appearance any longer.
"Brook-san, why and how are you a skeleton?" She bluntly asked causing Chopper and Usopp to squeal at her straightforwardness. "Kimi! We don't want to know! He'll curse us like him too!"
She ignored them and continued to speak looking at the skeleton face, "You don't have any organs or flesh… but you still talk and eat and think. How?"
Brook calmly sipped on his cup of tea, "What do you think?"
The others puzzled at his question while Kimi nodded, "You must have been in some type of horrible accident. In which it caused you to become a skeleton. Were you mixing with Hydrofluoric Acid or injected a Clorstridum Botulinum into your body which caused your skin to fall off?"
Zoro slapped Kimi lightly on the top of her blue head, "Oi oi oi, he doesn't seem that smart…"
Ignoring Zoro, she continued on with her conclusion, "The only other observation I have made of you, Brook, is the fact that your clothes are torn just as badly as your ship…"
Her statement caused everyone, including the skeleton, to straighten. "What happened to you? What happened to your ship? And why are you the only one left?"
Quietly placing his teacup on the table, Brook folded his bone fingers into one another. "Simple." He responded, "I died once years ago."
Nami growled. "And how is that simple?!"
"Have you ever heard of the revive-revive fruit?"
The crew looked at one another confused until Franky stated, "So you ate a Devil's Fruit then?"
"That's correct… The fruit that I ate grants the ability to resurrect, so as a "resurrection human" you have the promise of a second life. It's quite a mysterious ability."
The words Brook stated had the scientist's mind buzzing. With a gleam in her eyes, she smiled widely thinking of experiments to test on the "resurrection human".
"Oi…" Zoro muttered, "You're starting to act like these baka…" He turned his head to Luffy, whom exactly like Kimiko, had stars in his eyes.
"So you get brought back to life after you die once?" Franky stated. He, like the others, was not impressed as much as the scientist and captain were.
"Yes, that's right. Excuse me," Brook nodded and then burped very loudly. "Yes, at that time, I was a pirate just like you."
"Oh! You're a pirate too!?" Luffy exclaimed.
"Yes. Oh, excuse me." Brook nodded again and then farted just as loud as his burp just before forcing Sanji to growl,, "I just wanna beat some manners into you…" he shook his fists.
Brook continued with his story, "Long ago when I was a pirate, my crew and the ship I've been sailing on had been attacked by incredibly powerful foes. Our whole crew was killed in battle. I, of course, died as well. While I lived the revive-revive fruit simply made me unable to swim. However, on that day my soul returned from the underworld to this one! If I was able to find my body quickly, I would be revived, but the fog made the sea difficult to navigate! I became lost searching for my body an entire year! When I did find it, my body had been reduced to nothing but bones…When I saw it, my eyes widened very much in surprise. ALTHOUGH I HAVE NO EYES! YOHOHOHO!"
"You're so stupid! You got lost just like Zoro!" Luffy blurted out causing a slight chuckle from the scientist. Her fondest memory of Zoro getting lost had been just recently in Water 7 when she encountered him with three children and groceries in his arms. The swordsman frowned at both the Captain and woman on his side, "Hey!" he sternly muttered forcing the two to stop.
Franky continued to scowl. "I didn't know a Devil's Fruit could even bring someone back to life." Sanji nodded as well, "But even after you come back you still can't swim."
"And normally hair can't grow on bones…" Zoro stated. "I've never seen a skeleton with an afro before."
Brook bounced his large hair, "That because I have very strong roots!"
"So, this means you aren't a ghost?" Usopp and Chopper held crosses in their hands still not sure of Brook. "I dislike ghosts very much! If I see one, I cry out in fear!" He squealed.
"You're afraid of ghosts?" Nami pulled out a mirror sarcastically. "Have you ever looked in a mirror?"
"NO! Not a mirror!" Brook attempted to shove the object away but the damage had already been done. Looking through it, Chopper and Usopp made the chilling discovery that Brook did not have a reflection.
"VAMPIRE!" Everyone exclaimed causing Zoro, Sanji and Franky to stand ready to fight off the enemy.
"Come to think about it, you don't have a shadow either!" Usopp pointed to the ground where Brook's shadow should be. Indeed, there was none.
Calmly, the skeleton sat down in his chair folding his thin legs over the other and sipped from his teacup without a word.
"Why are you so damn calm!?" Sanji yelled. "We're all really scared of you right now!" Usopp replied.
"I've been traveling on the sea for many years, me being a skeleton and having no shadow are two unrelated matters." He paused causing everyone to tense. "To be continued…"
"NO! Tell us NOW!" Sanji screamed.
"Yohoho, my shadow was stolen from me years ago."
"You're shadow?" Robin questioned. It was the first thing she said practically the entire day.
Zoro sank back into his chair, "After seeing you, I'm really surprised by anything you say… but can that really happen?"
Kimi blinked as if she should know the answer to Zoro's question. There was something from her past about shadows that she was attempting to remember, but she couldn't think fast enough by the time Brook began talking again.
"Having my shadow stolen from me means that I am no longer able to exist in the sunlight. Right now, I live because the thick fog blocks out the sunlight.
"If you were to be in the sunlight, what would happen?" Robin questioned for a second time today.
"If I were to be hit with the light of the sun… my body would…my body would disintegrate!"
The whole crew gasped, "Disintegrate?!" They doubted.
"Yes, I watched someone with this same curse disappear when bathed in sunlight, it was enough to make my hair stand on end. Although, I'm a skeleton!" He stood from his chair. "I'm so very happy right now! I have been alone on my ship for so long now and to meet such nice people, I would cry if I could!"
His story made everyone feel a bit more sorry for the poor guy. He was alone on his ship, remembering every day when his nakama were alive, and couldn't go into the sunlight for the fear of disintegrating.
"You asked me to join your crew, which made me so very happy," Brook bowed to Luffy, "But I must refuse."
Luffy threw a fit, "What?! Why!?"
"As I said, my shadow was stolen, and I am unable to return to the light of the world. Right now the fog is protecting me and if I were to leave this ocean with you it would only be a matter of time before my body disappeared. So, I'll stay here waiting for the joyous day when I can regain my shadow!"
"If you need your shadow, I'll get it back for you!" Luffy walked over to the tall skeleton. "You said someone stole it, right? Who was it? Where is he?"
Again, Kimi frowned feeling like she knew something about people stealing shadows… it must have been her father telling her about it in the past… but no matter what she attempted to think up, the answer wouldn't reveal itself to her puzzled brain.
"You are a very kind person. I'm surprised… however, I won't tell you. I can't tell you, who I've just met, to go and die for me. I don't know if I'll meet him in my second life, but if I do I have decided that I will fight him. For now," Brook turned around reaching for his case he had brought along with him. "Let's sing a song!"
He stood back up with a small violin in his hands ready in position to play. "Music is my pride! I was the musician on my crew!"
"AHHH! REALLY!? Now you have to join us!"
Brook laughed at Luffy, "Let's sing a fun song together-" And then his mouth widened a bit too much for him to sing. He paused, gasping at something right ahead of him and screamed loudly to the point of falling down.
"Oi! What's wrong?!" Sanji stood looking at Brook's pointed finger.
"G-G-Ghost!"
Chopper cried, "There's something there! Help, I'm scared!"
"Cool!"
Suddenly the ship began to rattle, as if they were caught in a bad current. "No, this can't be possible!" Brook ran past the others to the door, "Please look!" The crew ran out to the deck looking at what appeared to be a decrypted castle on an island.
"What is it?" Luffy questioned.
"Did you, perhaps, pick up a floating barrel?" Brook questioned causing Kimi and the others to remember the item they had picked up just a few hours ago. "This ship has been targeted since then…"
"What do you mean? We've been right here the whole time…" Luffy questioned. "Why is there an island there?"
"This is the wondering ghost island… Thriller Bark."
Now Kimi was sure she had heard her sister talking about Thriller Bark before. When her sister would come back home for "visits," she would tell their father about some of the things happening in the world. One that Kimi could briefly recall was the floating island of Thriller Bark.
Her sister had visited the island only to have stated the man that was in charge of it was a Shichibukai, but that was all the scientist could remember her sister stating.
"The log post isn't reacting to the island." Nami claimed. "Yes that is because this island travels all the way from the West Blue." Brook answered while walking back into the kitchen.
"Oi, what are you doing?" Sanji replied.
"Today is truly a lucky day! Not only did I see people once more, but my deepest wish has come true as well." He grabbed his cane and then jumped from the entrance of the kitchen towards the mast.
"Woah! How'd he jump that far?!" Luffy exclaimed.
Brook turned to the group with his hat raised from his afro, "I am light since I am only bones! Now please, find a way to go through that gate behind you and leave this place! Do not drop anchor here!" He bowed, "I was so happy to meet you. I will never forget your delicious food! I hope we will meet again!"
He turned to the sea and then jumped off, frightening everyone of his devil fruit curse. But that didn't stop Brook. Instead of sinking, Brook had discovered his light as a feather ability of being just bones and learned how to walk on the water.
"Anyways Luffy, we should do what he said." Nami looked to the smiling captain. "What? Did you say something?" His smile was larger than it should be.
"He's going!" Chopper, Nami and Usopp sweatdropped.
"I know Brook told us to leave but how can we?" Kimi adjusted her glasses looking out into the thick fog. "It looks like that gate shaped like a mouth 'ate' us. Unless there is another exit I don't know if we will get out."
"Oh yea, that must be why skeleton told us to hurry and get outta here!" Usopp agreed. "But then that means that someone purposely wants us to stay here…" Nami added.
"Well whatever the reason, what matters is that we're in the middle of the ocean, we can't drop anchor here." Franky nodded causing Usopp to yell, "Oi! We can't stop here anyways! We will all be cursed!"
"Ready to go!" Luffy opened the door to the men's quarters with a net and a box ready in his hands. While Usopp attempted to reason with their adventure-seeker captain, Kimi tried to figure out a way to open the gate.
Under her breath, she created a clone to appear right on top of the gate levers. "Damn." She muttered again, disappearing the clone.
"What's wrong?" Robin questioned causing Zoro and Sanji to pay attention to the females. "The lever of the gate. It requires a key to unlock and combination code."
"So we really are stuck?" Sanji puffed out his smoke.
"Yes." Kimi nodded, "It would appear to be… I can try to see if I have something to attack the lock with, but the code is what is the hardest to figure."
Robin smiled, "It appears we are stuck then."
"Robin, Franky!" Luffy yelled, "Let's go explore!" The raven-haired woman giggled. "Robin! You're going too?!" Nami pouted.
"Yes, I love thrills."
Franky adjusted his sunglasses onto his face. "Anyways, you guys still haven't seen my present! I have a surprise for you in the Channel 2 system! Come with me!"
Nami, Chopper and Usopp followed after the shipwright while the other crewmembers waited for the surprise on the deck.
"Kimi-swan, where are you headed?" Sanji noticed the blue-haired woman attempting to sneak away from the others. She smiled sweetly, "I was just going to grab my journal from my room! There could be interesting discoveries on this floating island!"
"Oiiiii, Kimi-swan is so smart and adorable!" The cook began his usual rant, but Kimiko quickly avoided it. As she walked down the staircase to her lab she couldn't stop thinking… maybe, if she was lucky, her father had wrote something down in his notebook about Thriller Bark.
Or if she was really lucky, there was something in her father's journal that could repel or weaken ghosts. But she doubted that.
As she made her way into the dark room, Kimi reached out towards the book positioned perfectly in the corner of her desk. She sat on the small twin-sized bed and flipped through the journal skimming the pages for anything with ghosts or spirits. As expected, there was nothing of the sorts written in it.
"Well so much for that…" She sighed and placed the object back into position. Next to that was her own journal, which she reached out and placed into her hands. The thick leather binding of the book brought a smile to her face. After all, the book was made from her hometown: a large producer of cattle goods to the entire world.
She stood brushing off her pants and then noticed her reflection in the mirror. As usual, Kimi was dressed in her black capris and grey shirt with her lab coat around her shoulders. "I think…" She smiled placing her journal and coat jacket onto her bed, "I think it's time to have a go at my new wardrobe." She smiled to herself and opened the trunk positioned at the base of her bed.
She pulled out a pair of blue jean shorts, a dark blue collared shirt and then a white crop-top for underneath her shirt. After placing the items on, she looked around for her brown boots and knee high socks. "There," She smiled at her reflection and then noticed something.
"If Nami-san were here, she'd say to unbutton the shirt more…" Kimi had already unbuttoned the first two revealing her white undershirt, but knew her overly exposable crewmate would say to unbutton the shirt more.
With a heavy sigh, Kimi unbuttoned the shirt fully and blushed at the sight of her stomach. It was certainly a sight she wasn't used to seeing, but having her stomach exposed during the entire fight with the Marines on Enis Lobby must have boosted her diminished confidence. "Okay… hopefully no one will notice." She nodded to herself and then sweatdropped.
Of course they would notice. Kimi usually wore her scientist outfit most of the time. She shook her head and then walked over to her bed while picking up a brown backpack she bought on Water 7. After placing her valuable items into the bag, she exited the room and made her way towards the deck.
"Franky! I like the way you think! You are a genius!" Luffy had a huge smile on his face while he patted Franky's back. "SUPPPPPPER!"
"What's going on?" Kimi asked Robin.
"Franky built us a Mini-Merry steam boat for us. Nami, Usopp and Chopper are testing it out right now." Robin smiled with her own backpack on her shoulders.
"Really!?" Kimi smiled with a gleem in her eyes towards Franky. "Franky-san! I remember you asking for my help with the piston cylinder, but I didn't know you could build something that complicated that quickly! You're a genius!"
"OW! Twin-san, you make a good point! I am a genius!" He cheered in his usual star-studded pose.
Sanji scoffed at Franky. "Oi, Kimi-swan is the smartest one here…not to mention more of a genius than you… anddddddd she's lovely in her new outfit! I love that you changed just for me!"
Kimi attempted to hide her flushed face from the crew but it wasn't hard because in the next second an echo of high-pitched screams sounded. "Oi! Nami-san!" Sanji called out while everyone ran to the ledge of the ship.
"What are they up to? I can't see anything with this fog." Zoro muttered with his hands folded across his chest.
"It came from the direction of the island." Kimi stated while Luffy proceeded to jump up and down, "You jerks! Hurry and let me ride of Mini Merry too!"
"Perhaps she screamed as she was cursed by a ghost?" Robin offered while Zoro turned his head to the woman, "Stop it. That's not funny."
Just then the anchor of the ship lowered… the action caused the crew to puzzle at the deed. "It's still brand new," Franky wondered, "So the gears shouldn't be that worn out yet…"
"Hurry and bring it up or the ship will-" Zoro commanded but then stopped suddenly as the manhole in the grass portion of the deck opened.
"Hmmm?" Franky and the others looked at the hole, "Did someone do that? Kimi, are your clones messing with us?"
She shook her head, "No. I promise…" The crew stood in the silence watching for someone or something to reveal itself. After a good bit of silence, Luffy began moaning.
His cheeks were expanding, as if someone was pulling them from each side. "LUFFY!" Sanji yelled, "Stop screwing around at a time like this!"
"Nop, dat's not wit… Vi svear viam not doin wit-" He tried to speak and then fell backwards as if someone pushed him. Then from out of nowhere, one of Zoro's swords rose into the air ready to strike down on top of Luffy. Luckily, Franky kicked the captain out of the way.
"Bastard! What the hell was that for?!" Franky accused the stunned swordsman. "I don't know… my swords just did that not me…"
"With the exception of us, there's no one else here…" The cyborg declared. "Maybe a ghost did it? Or a devil fruit user, or somethin' like that?"
"Yea," Luffy stood, "It felt like someone was grabbing me…"
"And I just heard the growl of a wild beast…" Robin frowned more than usual. The cook jumped onto the ledge, "I'm worried about Nami-san! I'm gonna go save those guys!" He jumped into the water – or so they thought. Instead of splashing, Sanji face planted on the side of the ship and then floated in mid-air.
"What!? How's that possible?!" Franky questioned as Sanji's body was thrown down by Zoro's feet.
Ready to figure out this mystery, Kimi attempted to raise her hands up to clone herself and the others to confuse the invisible person. But her hands wouldn't move. It felt as if a person had wrapped their arm around her waist immobilizing her hands from leaving her sides.
Terrified, she attempted to sound off to the others but found that like her arms, her mouth had been clamped shut… with an invisible hand.
A low and deep growl sounded at the back of her neck causing chills all down her spine. Like Robin, Kimi had now heard this animal noise too. Then suddenly… a wet slimly…thing… ran down Kimi's ear towards the base of her neck.
She attempted to kick and squeal at the force, but the hand covering her mouth was also holding onto her nose. While Zoro and Franky began to tease Sanji for looking uncool in his rescue, Kimi's lungs were burning.
"Kimiko. What is wrong?" Robin noticed the struggling scientist causing the others to glance her way. She tried her best to moan or grunt or make some kind of noise to her captivity, but the more she tried the more her lungs were deprived.
"Kimi-swan! What's-" Sanji and the other looked for a reason why she wasn't talking but had a tussled look when suddenly she fell to the ground face first. "Oi!" Zoro attempted to catch the woman but failed at the speed of the event.
"Twin-san, are you okay?"
Kimi felt a hand on her shoulder attempt to sit her up. As she did so, she took in as much of the foggy oxygen as her lungs could allow. "What were you doing?" Zoro questioned being the one who helped her to a sitting position.
"I-I-I don't know… It felt like someone was holding me back. It also tried suffocating me, hence why I couldn't respond." She replied as he helped her to stand.
"If they wanted us dead, they could've done that by now…" Zoro examined the area for the potential reason why the group was being tormented when Robin gasped suddenly.
"Something's… grabbing me…" She tried to fight against the invisible force like Kimiko. Then they watched in horror as something wet seemed to slide from her breasts to her cheek. It was the same sensation Kimi felt just seconds ago.
"How dare you do something like this!" Sanji was about to run to aid Robin when she was released and the blonde cook tripped to the floor.
The growl from before sounded but was louder than when Kimi had heard it. So loud that the rest of the guys looked around for the source, "There really is an animal!" Luffy said as the noise died down.
The Sunny Go began to rock violently causing the crew to fall into one another. Luckily, Kimi fell into the strong arms of a certain green-haired swordsman. "Oi, are you okay?" He whispered holding onto her waist.
Instead of responding like a normal human being, Kimi only nodded with her mouth agape. She was still stunned from the invisible person hurting her earlier, and stunned now from her current position of being entangled in Zoro's grasp.
"Look a giant wave!" Franky pointed, "It's gotta be an artificial one done inside this place."
Zoro let go of Kimi and ran to where the anchor was docked. "We gotta raise this or we will capsize!" He stated. His absence left the scientist cold and lonely. Quite honestly, she didn't feel safe with this person roaming around their ship.
"Robin-chwan, is it gone?" Sanji asked still holding onto her.
"Yes, I don't feel its presence anymore." She nodded as Sanji left to help Zoro with the anchor and then to steer the ship. The group hoped that the waves would die down soon because at the moment the ship wasn't handling them too well. "Wait, is that?" Kimi looked ahead confused by the sight.
"A spiderweb on the sea?" Zoro finished. With another large wave, the boat stuck onto the sticky source and clung to the freakyishly large spiderweb.
The crew attempted to find a way out of the web, but it was no use. Finding no hope in escaping the Sunny (or controlling Luffy), the group decided to venture out into the castle. As much as Kimiko was excited to venture out into the ghost island there was something that terrified her. "Everyone," She stated as they walked towards the castle, "Be careful. After all, this is the place where Brook lost his shadow...so maybe just maybe, they are after ours as well."