It had all begun with a notice in the newspaper. It wasn't delivered often, so the notice came in late. But Perona so desperately wanted to go.
"Come on!" she said, tugging at Mihawk's sleeve.
"No, absolutely not," replied the swordsman, brushing her off and taking another sip of his wine.
"But it's my birthday!" protested Perona, feeling entitled to at least a little bit of pampering. It was still difficult for the ghost princess to get used to the fact that she had to do things without servants. There weren't any other living beings on the island, and Mihawk forbade her from enslaving the Humandrills. The entire pack would come after her if one of their own disappeared at her hand. So she did things herself. She was independent enough, but then Mihawk expected her to take care of the castle too? In and out, all day, she worked away, cooking and cleaning for two of the most careless men she's ever known. That direction-less, green-haired idiot got injured every other day. They must've wasted millions of rolls of bandages by now just trying to keep up with the amount of blood he lost on a daily basis. Perona was always the one to nurse him back to health, and as such had to endure all his complaining. Really, how had the Straw Hats endured this insufferable bastard's whining? To make matters worse, Mihawk was the biggest slob Perona had ever met! The gloomy misty atmosphere of Kuraigana that Perona so loved was absolutely ruined by his ripped t-shirts strewn all over the castle floors, and the trails of wine rings and spills left on every table he passed by. Perona couldn't stand it!
"I do everything around here by myself!" Perona said, confident she could get the Shichubukai to submit, "Don't I deserve a day off?"
"No one asked you to be our personal maid/nurse," said Mihawk, examining the advertisement critically.
"What do you want me do?!" she yelled, "Let that Marimo bleed to death?! Let your rotten laundry stink up the hallways?!"
"The concert's in Turek?" asked Mihawk, lifting his eyebrows, "As in Turek, the home of Feuryu, master blacksmith?"
"Sure?" said Perona, not recognizing the name, but hoping that this was enticing enough to the swordsman to bring her there.
"Fine," said Mihawk, without a trace of opposition, "I'll take you."
"Yes!" cried Perona, floating into the air happily.
2 days later, the pair were setting off for Turek. Zoro had been injured a few days back, and was still recovering, so neither Perona nor Mihawk was worried about him getting into trouble. Perona had left the younger swordsman several sandwiches to eat, and a cooler of beer to drink (which she knew she shouldn't have, but it was the only thing that could keep him content to stay put and resting). They planned to go early, to beat the crowd. As well, Mihawk wanted to visit Feuryu's forge before the concert. The concert they were attending? That of the world famous Soul King. Perona was a die-hard fan of his music. She had all of his posters and had even specially ordered Tone Dials to record his songs over the radio. It had been announced a few days before that a concert would be held in Turek, and Perona was extremely glad she got ahold of tickets before the sales cut-off date.
To simply know that she was breathing the same air as the Soul King was exhilirating. Mihawk had run off to his little blacksmith friends, leaving Perona to find the venue by herself. She didn't have any trouble at all. The concert hall was a large, grey castle bursting with noise. Perona freaked out at first. Had she missed the concert? Did she mess up the time schedule? She ran up to the ticket booth as quickly as she could, and arrived panting and out of breath. She handed the clerk her ticket, and the man stepped out of the booth.
"Right this way, madame Perona," said the clerk, gesturing to a red door. Perona found this to be unusual, but went with him anyways. 'It's not like he could hurt me anyways,' she thought, 'I'm way more powerful than him.'
The clerk led her down a dark hallway, and the two finally stopped in front of a pair of large, dark wooden doors.
"The King has been expecting you," said the clerk, tapping the door 4 times quickly, and then 4 times slowly. The doors creaked open, and the clerk gestured for Perona to enter. Perona stepped into the room, which was equally as dark as the hallway she'd been in before. Suddenly, something burst into flames, illuminating the entire room. Perona squinted as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. When her vision settled, she saw a dark chair in the center of the room, its back facing her (Everything in this castle just had to be so goddamned dark, huh?). A tall man rose from the chair, and turned to face her.
"BROOK?"
The world-famous 'Soul King', who Perona admired so, was one of those STRAW HATS?!
"Yohohoho!" exclaimed the skeleton, "So it is you! I'd heard rumours that you were staying in Kuraigana, but I hadn't expected them to be true! Thank you for finding her!" he said to the clerk. The clerk bowed, and left the two to talk.
"What do you want?" asked Perona, nervously. She wasn't sure how their powers would interact. Brook was… Perhaps her spiritual counterpart in terms of Devil Fruit powers. She was the ghost princess, and he was the soul king. In technical terms, he was a departed soul who was still on this earth, a ghost per say, which would fall under Perona's umbrella of control. But she couldn't be sure if it would turn out that way, and she didn't want to find out.
"Only to talk," said Brook, extending his hand to her, and gesturing for her to come around. Perona crossed to the front of the chair that the skeleton had been sitting in, and saw there was an identical one across from it. She took a seat on the edge of the chair, still guarded.
"Rumours state that Mihawk took Zoro under his wing," asked Brook, "is this true?"
"What's in it for me?"
"A song-request when I perform and professional tapes of original studio recordings."
Perona couldn't resist. As despicable as the Straw Hats may be, she still loved Soul King's music.
"Zoro's fine," Perona said with a sigh, "he's training under Mihawk's eyes, not his wing. The Shichibukai doesn't stay often around the castle."
"What's his mental state?"
"Idiotic," the reply came automatically out of Perona's mouth, "but in all honesty, he understands what your captain is asking of you guys."
"That's a relief," said Brook. The skeleton had no skin, muscles, or blood. Nothing
to betray his emotions. But by the tone of his voice, Perona could tell that she had lifted a weight off his shoulders.
"Why are you doing this?" asked Perona.
"I need to make sure," said Brook, "that everyone is alright. That everyone received Luffy's message. My job permits me to do so, for that I am thankful. I only have a few more of them to check up on, and some I might not even be able to catch."
Perona thought of the elusive Nico Robin, and how noone had heard anything about the mysterious assasin for months now.
"But I'm trying," said Brook. Perona detected a sense of longing in the Soul King's voice. It made sense. The skeleton had been alone for so long, and to be ripped apart suddenly from his new crewmates… That had to be tough.
"Thank you for coming to see me," said Brook, "now about that song request?"
"Bink's Sake…" said Perona, looking down and smiling.
"Indeed…" said Brook, rising from his seat, "Here."
The skeleton handed Perona VIP tickets to his concert.
"Aside from all this 3D2Y trouble, please enjoy the concert."
"I will. Thank you very much."
"You are most welcome. By the way, may I see your panties?"
Perona smacked the skeleton upside the head with her umbrella.
"Not a chance in the world, death-breath," she said, marching out the door.
A.N.: This one was fun. It was based off the cover of chapter 788. I loved the idea so much, and wanted to elaborate on it. It twisted and turned a little bit to accommodate, but I just wanted to write out how these two characters might have met. I think the Ghost Princess is an all-around favourite, and one of the more memorable characters from Thriller Bark. I loved that Oda decided to bring her back, and introduce her as she is now. It's thrilling to see that post-timeskip change in characters besides the Straw Hats. Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, Birthdays, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated! I'll see you on the 9th for Surume!