Chapter 22- Act 3

The curtain rose showing the Going Merry "racing" down the stage mountain toward a black wall. The orchestra built to a crescendo that had people on the edge of their seats, even though they had just sat down. Then the wall turned so the audience could see a giant eye that blinked at them before the little ship smacked into it in a bust of blue confetti.

Now Brook took the stage, back in his rock star outfit, he strummed on his shark guitar. "Waiting for our heroes on the other side of Reverse Mountain was none other than Laboon, who was no longer a tiny helpless baby, but a true Island Whale."

With tears in his eye sockets, Brook started to sing with only his own guitar for accompaniment.

Alone and forgotten. Hopeless, but unwilling to give up.

Years of sorrow, waiting for the dead.

Don't bash your head!

Laboon!

The song started soft and sad, but the rythem picked up and changed tones as Luffy, the real one stepped on stage. The tuba made a long sad sound.

But cry no more, Laboon, for another comes

Who will bring the sun.

A hat of straw upon his head, and a smile upon his face.

He will leave a mark, a jolly Roger to greet each new pirate to this sea.

Laboon! I will see you soon!

While Brook sang, Luffy drew his ridiculous version of his own flag on the fake whale and when the song ended, he cheered with Brook while the whole trumpet section exploded with joyful noise.

People clapped and Luffy took a bow before returning to his seat. Brook watched while the black wall was pulled away before sighing and started strumming again.

"Adventure awaits our crew. Bounty hunters abound at the entrance to paradise and amongst them hides a princess. She saw the Captain's strength and begged him to help, to which he said of course… as long as you feed him."

He waited for the laughter to die down before waving in a pretty young woman in a pale blue wig. The orchestra started playing and after a minute, she started to sing.

"Alabasta, land of wind and sand.

Proud Alabasta, for ages you will stand

But now a new danger comes that you must face

To save you, I must leave that place.

Against a foe that hides behind a number.

Mr. Zero I will hunt you down!

I won't let you break another town.

But I can't stand alone against a Warlord of the sea.

So , Captain, will you please, please fight with me?

She held the last note, while the music died and before anyone could clap, Luffy jumped up in his seat and shouted "Yosh!"

The audience laughed while Nami smacked her captain and reminded him, again, that this was just a play.

Brook laughed and as the fake Vivi left, Ussop stepped on stage, dressed up like a wild Viking and beating a small handheld drum.

His song, or rather chant, told the story of the first change of the Strawhat crew on the island, Little Garden. He spoke in wild exaggerations of the Giants of Elbaf, and the Great Captain Ussop. How he had to bravely face down the best officers of Baroque Works to save his crew and the Princess Vivi from being turned into wax sculptures and with the help of the trusty duck, he melted the wax and saved the day.

Catwoman leaves over to Nami. "That can't be true, right?"

Nami laughed. "Surprisingly, he barely lied at all. In fact he forgot some parts like Zoro trying to cut off his feet or Luffy almost getting eaten by a dinosaur."

Catwoman blinked at Nami, trying to process it all. She sat back and just kept watching the show in the end. She'd think about it later.

Ussop finished with a dramatic description of their escape from the giant goldfish before bowing and letting Brook retake the stage.

"Yo ho ho ho. So they left the wildness, but not without consequences. Our poor navigator was overcome with a sickness, and our panicked crew needed to find her a doctor before she became like me. Yo ho ho, skull joke!"

Here the strings picked up a soft tune backed up by a humming choir. Then Brook described Drum Island in a song as soft as snow. He spoke in metaphor about the darkness of the king poisoning the country beneath the pure seeming snow. But there was a man who fought for a cure, a way to drive away the sickness in a country.

Chopper sat in his seat, crying silently. When Luffy noticed, he pulled the little reindeer into his lap and the rest of the crew reached over to touch their doctor to reassure him. But the tears only fell faster when a man dressed as his beloved doctor walked out.

An unlikely name, Hiraluk

But he fought for anyone with cures that were worse than the disease,

A quack with a heart of gold.

He found a monster with a blue nose and instead of running away,

He adopted the cutest reindeer on the Grand Line.

The music faded off as the actor fell to his knees before a goofy looking King Wopal and said his last words.

"Hey... When do you think a person dies? When a bullet from a pistol pierces his heart? No... When he's attacked by an incurable disease? No... When he eats a deadly poisonous mushroom soup? No! A man dies when people forget him." Then the actor drank a bottle of something and a burst of confetti that had all the heroes jumping, ready to fight, signalled the quack doctor's death.

Brook explained sadly of Chopper learning under Doctrine, until Luffy arrived carrying a sick Nami to ask for help. On stage an older lady gently hit the fake Luffy on the head and pointed at Wapol. The actor, who was starting to really get into his role, jumped up and took a swing at the fake king.

Brook picked up with a fast paced song that was more about freedom and friendship than the fight that sent the fake king flying, but no one seemed to mind. Then everyone laughed when Luffy ran away from the old lady while clutching a teddy bear with a blue nose and deer antlers while a tree with pink flowers bloomed behind them, courtesy of Poison Ivy.

The curtain came down at that point to give the stage crew time to set up the next set, which was a desert with a few buildings.

The first on stage was the actors playing Luffy and Vivi. She looked properly distraught while Luffy looked pissed. They squared up against each other, clearly arguing.

"This civil war is tearing my people apart. I don't want anyone to die. This is Crocodile 's fault. Why does anyone need to die?"

"People die, you can't always stop it." Luffy shook his head. "Let me kick Crocodile's butt. Put our lives on the line too. We're Friends, Vivi."

She nodded and Luffy cheered. "Okay, which way?"

A man wearing a fur lined coat with a scar across his face, slicked back green hair and a golden hook for a hand came out and cackled. "Come and get me, Strawhat! I am made of desert sand and you can not even touch me!"

Behind the Luffy and Vivi on stage, Nico Robin bloomed into place and took the girl captive. "Come, little princess," she said menacingly. "We need to talk about the secrets of Alabasta. Let's let the boys fight."

While the Robin on stage dragged the struggling princess away, the Robin in the audience, her arms crossed as she used her abilities, smiled pleasantly. Batman, and several others, looked back to confirm that Clayface was still in his seat. The archeologist caught his look and merely winked before letting her double dissolve in a burst of flower petals backstage.

The Luffy on stage ran at Joker with surprisingly little fear and started a mock fight that had the Clown laughing in glee. Batman wasn't comfortable with this idea at all and wondered if the liquid dripping off the hook was Joker gas or not. But he couldn't do anything without interrupting the show, which would probably lead to a riot at this point.

The real Luffy had to be held back on his seat by Zoro to keep from joining the fight.

Now it was time for Brook to continue the narrative. His song was rough and grating almost painful to listen to, but since it described a bloody civil war it was fitting. He explained about the lies Crocodile told the people until they rebelled against a king who fought to protect them all. He described the meaningless bloodshed in the final battle at the capital and the threat of a bomb hanging over their heads. Brook sang about the struggles of his crew as they fought the number agents and tried in vain to stop the fighting. Until,

"Below the blood soaked ground,

Deep in the hidden catacombs of forgotten kings

Our captain fought the bastard

Assisted by the turn coat, Nico Robin,

An enemy turned friend.

Luffy punched till he broke through to the sky,

Yow! And called the rains from Heaven!

Brook finished with a wicked guitar solo while the Luffy finally defeated Joker with a punch that sent the clown flying through the air with the help of wires and then blue confetti started fluttering down.

The curtain came down and the crowd was on its feet clapping and whistling.