Skull was wandering the abandoned deck of his ship, which is currently lost within the Florian Triangle. He looked down at the skulls of his former comrades in arms, remembering their faces.
"Hey, Skull, you're really amazing with that sword. Would you say? You think you can teach me a few tricks?"
One by one, he took their skulls and placed them within coffins so that when he hit land, he could bury them.
He couldn't remember all of the adventures they had together, both the good and the bad. He specifically remembered one bad moment when they were caught in a terrible storm.
"What is it?"
"A tornado!"
"How? It was sunny a second ago?"
"Quit yapping and run away; this place is cursed been trying to tell you guys!"
However, despite the disaster of the rough seas they were experiencing on the Grand Line, they still had a jolly old time.
"This is a disaster. These seas are a complete nightmare. I just can't keep up."
"You know what I always say," said Yorky. "Bitter seas make for sweet booze at the end of the day. Skull, want to play a number for us? You can't be good tunes with beer. You know the song?"
Skull happily stood up and grabbed his violin. "I was starting to think you would never ask. All right, here I go!"
"Yeah, make it a good one!"
Skull made his way through the corridors when he saw his reflection in the mirror and instantly screamed until he realised he was looking at his own reflection.
"Of course, it's a mirror," he said. "I keep on forgetting that I'm a skeleton now."
He then winced in pain, and this only brought back another memory.
Two of his crewmates had been arguing, and Yorky decided to sort this out by tying the two of them together and hanging him upside down from the mast.
"Stop, let me go! Why are you punishing me too?"
"Because I don't want you to fight over every little thing," said Yorky simply.
"It's not some little thing; this lunatic almost hit me with a stray bullet! I could have died!"
"Yeah, and you didn't, okay? And he said he was sorry. What's done is done; no point going on about it now."
The two pirates still glared at one another, clearly not satisfied. Yorky then punched both of them in the face.
"That hurt!"
"Good, it proves you are alive."
Everyone then burst out laughing.
"All right, fair enough."
Skull then remembered one night, when he was still alive, that he looked at the starry night sky.
"The stars, like a sea of light spreading out forever," said Skull to Yorky. "I wonder if Laboon is looking over the same stars. What do you think, Captain?"
Yorky jumped down and looked at the other pirates. "Hey, guys! Come look! Skull is getting emotional out here!"
"I was being sincere!" Skull snapped.
Then on one day, they engage the Marines.
"It's the Marines! What do we do?"
"Same thing we always do! Give them hell!" Yorky yelled.
As a result of their constant engagement with the Marines, Yorky's bounty started to increase.
"Damn, look at that. Captain Yorky's bounty went up again; he's on a roll."
"Eat that!" Yorky cheered.
"Let's celebrate with a song!" Skull yelled.
Skull made his way to the wheel and hummed Bink's Brew as he steered the ship, knowing that the rudder was still broken. While he remember the happy times sailing with his former crew, he remembered how things started to turn downhill.
They had just sailed away from a tropical island, which had given them an unpleasant parting gift.
"Bad news, men!" one of the pirates yelled as he made his way on deck. "There's something wrong with the captain! He ain't looking so good! I'm serious!"
Everyone immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed to see the captain.
Sadly, the captain had fallen ill, and a few crew members had collapsed as well.
"A virus?!"
"Afraid so," said the ship's doctor. "Everyone stay out; we've got a dozen men infected already. I figure they must have contracted it when we passed through that jungle. I've never seen anything like it; none of my treatment work. We've all got to be careful now; if this plague keeps spreading, we won't have enough men to sail this ship."
They dropped anchor at the next island; the ship was badly damaged from battle as well as relentless storms. The original plan was to abandon the ship and board a new one, but now there was a slight change of plans.
"Please hang in there, captain."
Yorky chuckled. "Come on down, sound so depressed. We're the Rumbar pirates remember? We bring smiles to children's faces. Though I admit I have seen better days, and that goes for the rest of the ship too. I'm sorry will be able to travel the Grand Line with you; we'll have to part ways here. I'll take this ship, but I want all of you to move forward with the new one."
"Captain, no!"
"We can't risk infection to spread any more more than it already has. We'll drop you off; try passing through the Calm Belt and look for help for the sick crewmembers. It'll all work out somehow, I hope. I'm sorry, guys; give Laboon my regards."
Everyone burst into tears, and Yorky chuckled.
"Wipe those tears away and stand up straight," he ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
"If you say any longer, you could end up as sick as me. Hurry up and get out of here. Take care, okay."
"All right, men, you heard the captain's orders," said the ship's doctor. "Come on, there's no use crying now."
One by one, they left until only Skull remained.
"Skull," said Yorky weakly.
"Yes," said Skull, approaching his bed.
Yorky grabbed his hand and pulled the clenched, and when Skull looked down at him, he could see the tears in his eyes.
"Give them hope," he said.
"I will, my captain," Skull promised. "I swear as long as I live, I will never forget those words. I won't engrave them within my heart. Captain, we will meet again, so take care. We may be parting ways now, but this isn't the end, so please don't die." He then reached out and removed his mask. "Take off that mask, and let me see your face. We will all sing together someday."
Yorky looked at him and smiled. "Hey, Skull… while you're here, why don't you send me off with my favourite song?"
A few hours later, all the non-infected pirates boarded the new ship and watched as their infected crewmates headed towards the Calm Belt. Skull stood there playing his violin, and the crew sang Bink's Brew.
A few years later, the undead Skull continued to steer the ship and began to sing Bink's Brew.
Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Binks' brew.
Sea wind blows, to where, who knows? The waves will be our guide.
O'er across the ocean's tide. Rays of sunshine far and wide.
10 years had passed since the Rumbar Pirates' departure from the Twin Capes, and their ship was still floating through the Florian Triangle. Skull was unable to turn the ship due to a damaged rudder, and the fog was so fake that it was impossible to navigate.
He was the only person on board the ship, so he continued to talk and play around the ship to himself, trying to keep himself sane. Despite all this, every time he fell asleep, he always had the same dream about his crewmates being alive and well and still sailing across the sea.
"Come on, Skull, way up!" said a pirate as they ran across the deck.
"Get with the program already!"
"Yeah, pal, look! We cited an island; it's a Summer Island. Take a look at the beach!"
Skull looked at them and beamed at the sight of them. "Wait, are you…? I mean…? Is this… is this real? You're alive!"
"Hurry up, Skull! What's wrong?"
"Yeah, we can't get this thing started without you!"
"Everyone is here," said Skull bursting into tears. "How? I'm happy, but how? You mean you didn't die after all? What happened?"
"You are having a bad dream, that's all," said Yorky. "Now get over here and play a song!"
Skull beamed as he rose to his feet, accidentally tripping over.
"I can't believe it; that really hurt," he said. "That means it is a dream. This is reality! It was just a nightmare, after all, thank goodness…"
He stopped when he raised his head and saw that the ship was still a wreck and abandoned, and he was still a skeleton. Intake long to realise that he had been dreaming, and this was reality; his eyes turned towards the piano on the deck.
This made him think back to after they said farewell to Yorky; they then continued their journey with Skull as their new captain.
"I hope Captain Yorky made it through the Calm Belt. You think you he'll be okay?"
"That is a question for the waves; all we can do is carry out his final orders," said Skull. "We will sail around the world until we see Laboon again."
Skull did what he could as their new captain, though he did annoy the crewmembers by week in the early morning with his violin.
"Do you have to do this every day?" a pirate moaned.
Still, they made good progress despite all the storms they had to encounter.
"The winds are too strong! The sail is going to tear!"
"This is nothing we'll sing our way through!"
Skull then earned himself a bounty, much to everyone's excitement.
"Look at this Skull; you've got yourself a bounty! Nice job!"
They kept on sailing through the Grand Line, encountering enemy pirates and Marines alike. Whenever they landed on an island, they played music to the inhabitants and made some lasting friendships.
Skull was still playing the piano to everyone enjoying listening to his music, but then he stopped playing.
"Hey, what's the problem?" Tuffnut asked.
"Yeah, why did you stop?" Ruffnut asked.
"Give me a moment, please," said Skull.
He then over the bandage around his skull, and to everyone's shock, he opened it up.
"Let's see," he said as he reached into his head.
"I know you could do that?" Fishlegs and Snotlout gasped.
Skull then pulled out a tone dial. "This is a tone dial; I purchased it from a merchant ship many years ago. I hear that there are many different kinds of dials, but this one, in particular, has the ability to record and reproduce sounds."
"Oh, we know all about dials," said Hiccup. "We got quite a few of them from Skypiea."
"Then you know how they work. You see, when I meet Laboon again, I want to play this for him, so it's something that I always keep in my heart. Though all things considered, you might say it's in my head as well."
"So you have something special recorded on it?" Fishlegs asked.
"Yes, a song," Skull nodded. "It is the last song performed by my former crew. Though they are all gone now, we wanted to leave a message to Laboon to let him know we were merry until the bitter end. When I play it for you now?"
"If Laboon will like it, I'm sure we all will, too," said Hiccup.
"All right," said Skull and reached for the dial.
This instantly brought back memories from 50 years ago; Skull and the rest of the crew had engaged with an enemy pirate ship, and they had completely slaughtered them.
Skull pulled himself up and looked around. "Are there any survivors? Surely a few of us can still stand."
"We've got a couple of men left, but I don't think there's much left for us at this point."
"Well, at least while dying together, right?"
"I guess their weapons were poison–tipped."
"Even our doctor is dead now too."
"When I became a pirate, I knew I might die on the seas, and I was ready for that, but I still have just one regret."
"Laboon."
"Hey, Skull, how does that Devil Fruit of yours work?"
"Who knows, this is my first time dying," said Skull and then winced. "Wait, I have an idea. It was going to die anyway. Why don't we sing a song?"
Everyone looked at him as if he was crazy.
"I don't know what will happen any more than you do," Skull continued and then pulled out his tone dial. "But if the Revived-Revive Fruit really does bring me back to life after I die here. I will deliver this to him without fail."
"The tone dial."
"I'll take Laboon, the song he and our captain love, the song that we all shared so many times. And when we meet at that Cape, he will know that this crew died without regrets that we kept our promise to our dear friend."
"That's a great idea!"
"All right, men, don't you dare die until we finish this song."
"This is it, the Rumbar Pirates, a once-in-a-lifetime performance for our friend across the seas."
All the musicians grabbed their instruments, and Skull sat at the piano while all the others helped those two-week onto their feet.
Skull looked at his fellow musicians and nodded, who nodded back at him. He then tapped his foot on the floor and pressed down on the tone dial.
In the present day, Skull pressed down on the tone dial and began to play back the recorded song, Bink's Brew.
"Huh? If this is the song you're playing, we can all sing along," said Lola.
"Yeah!" everyone cheered.
Skull couldn't help but play on the piano himself as the memories of recording that song flowed into him.
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho Yo hohoho, yo hohoho
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho Yo hohoho, yo hohoho
The Rumbar so with all the feeling they could muster as they moved their bodies in time to the music.
Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Binks' brew.
Sea wind blows, to where, who knows? The waves will be our guide.
O'er across the ocean's tide. Rays of sunshine far and wide.
Birds they sing, of cheerful things, in circles passing by.
Bid farewell to Weaver's town, say so long to port renowned.
Sing a song, it won't be long, before we're casting off.
Cross the gold and silver seas, a salty spray puts us at ease,
Day and night, to our delight, the voyage never ends.
In the present, the Rolling Pirates and Dragon Riders alike began dancing to the music as they sang. Hiccup and Astrid danced around, and Ragnar and Heather soon joined. The twins and Eret then started to do a cancan dance on the table while everyone clapped in rhythm.
Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Binks' brew.
Pirates, we eternally are challenging the sea.
With the waves to rest our heads, ship beneath us as our beds,
hoisted high upon the mast, our jolly roger flies.
Skull then remembered playing the music and singing with Yorky to Laboon when they travelled the West Blue as he chirped in rhythm.
Somewhere in the endless sky, stormy winds are blowing by,
waves are dancing, evening comes, it's time to sound the drums.
But steady men, and never fear, tomorrow's skies are always clear.
So pound your feet and clap your hands 'til sunny days return.
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho Yo hohoho, yo hohoho
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho Yo hohoho, yo hohoho
Skull then remembered when he was all over the ship, the only thing that kept him sane was singing the same song again and again on the deck.
Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Binks' brew.
Wave goodbye, but don't you cry, our memories remain.
Our days are but a passing dream, everlasting though they seem.
Beneath the moon we'll meet again, the wind's our lullaby.
In the past, Skull and his crew continued to sing and play the music; one by one, each of the pirates began to collapse, overcome by the poison.
Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Binks' brew.
Sing a song, and play along for all the oceans wide.
After all is said and done, you'll end up a skeleton,
so spread your tale from dawn 'til dusk upon these foamy seas.
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…
Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…Yo hohoho, yo hohoho…
Now the only ones left with the musicians, but then one of them collapsed, leaving four of them to continue to play.
"Well, it would seem as if we're down to a quartet," said Skull, but seconds later, another one collapsed. "A trio…" A third one then collapsed, and tears began to form in Skull's eyes. "… and duo…" The last one then collapsed, leaving only Skull to continue to play the music.
Skull was now in complete tears but continued to play the piano regardless. "A solo… it isn't right leaving just leaving the accompaniment."
'If you want to join my crew, all that I ask is that you love music!' Yorky cried out. 'Let's hear it for the Rumbar Pirates, the crew that brings smiles to every child! Laboon, one for travelling the world, will come right back here! You just wait for us!'
Skull had just finished the song and turned off the tone dial before he succumbed to the poison.
'Laboon, thank you for waiting for us,' said Skull. 'I know 50 years is a long time, but please, do you think you can be patient for one or two more? I have my pride is a pirate; I promise that I would see you again after circling the globe. I intend to keep my word and return to the right direction.'