I know I promised a step closer to Hogwarts but that chapter isn't quite done yet, so you get a little Brook interlude as he muses on the differences between his captain and currently rediscovered crew. Hopefully, you all aren't too cross with me.
Brook ran his bony (Ha! Skull joke) hands over Luffy's latest letter. His boy-captain had fulfilled his promise well. Even if the letter only said, hello or something similar the boy had written Brook every week, as promised. Not that the dead musician expected any different; Luffy was never one to break a promise.
The letter about Robin had been a welcome surprise. Brook had hoped the rest of the crew would be out there somewhere, but he hadn't been able to shake the lingering fear that they might not be. Brook had spent many years alone and honestly believed that he would spend the rest of his existence alone after the death of his crew. It wasn't something he wanted, but Brook knew he could handle the loneliness, but Luffy could not. To his happy-go-lucky captain being alone was the worst and most cruel punishment he could face.
Perhaps that was why Luffy was so subdued in this life. Brook had noticed that while his captain had the same intensity and cheer key parts of what had been a loud, bright personality had changed. Those awful relatives of his hard added to it, but everything about his captain radiated a bone-deep (Skull joke!) sadness.
Robin, on the other hand, seemed lighter in this life. She still carried an air of sadness like in her old life but this time, the girl was softer. The letter she had written expressed her joy at not being alone and her desire to see the crew again, but Brook knew even if the now-young girl had never found anyone from the crew she would have lived a content life.
What an interesting dynamic the crew had, Brook mused. Luffy lived for two things, his dream and the crew and the crew lived for their dreams and their captain. Well mostly, Zoro was different. The swordsman had been Luffy's first nakama and their loyalty to each other was remarkable. The Strawhat first mate was likely the only one to ever truly put his loyalty to his captain above his dream, something Luffy had never wanted.
Brook hoped Zoro had been reborn. Luffy wouldn't be Luffy without his first mate.
Not that the rest of the crew was unimportant. Brook had heard the story of how Luffy and crew followed Nami after she stole their first ship and he knew of what happened when CP9 had taken Robin. Luffy would do anything for his crew, and because of that, the crew would do anything for Luffy.
This new world wouldn't know what hit them once the Strawhats came together again.