As Sanji now understood the ghost boy would need proper guidance to navigate the hallways, the rest of the way to the storage room went quicker, with brief stops of quiet argument. The more the two children moved into the interior, the fewer guards were posted as Judge had little faith in enemies or thieves making it so far into his keep.
When they finally reached their destination, Sanji's heart sank. The door was bolted and he felt his temper rise, both at Zoro and himself for not considering this beforehand. "What now, sword boy? I can't walk through walls, or did you forget?" he asked the ghost.
Frozen knuckles glanced against Sanji's forehead, sending an aching sensation through to his ears. "Your father's men keep a spare key hidden behind a false brick," replied Zoro. Sanji swatted at the ghost boy, his own hand sinking right through him. Zoro returned in kind by stepping on Sanji's foot, numbing it completely.
"I could do this all night, prince, but we have someone to rescue and you need to get back to bed," grumbled Zoro as Sanji stood on one leg, rubbing warmth into his cold toes.
"I have a name, you could try using it. Or does that fog between your ears not work?" asked Sanji.
Zoro ignored Sanji and bent over. He tapped a spot near the bottom of the wall, right next to the door. Sanji crouched down on one knee and inspected the brick. Because it was close to the floor and away from the sconced lights, it was difficult to notice at first, but there was a slight crack running around its perimeter.
Sanji dug his fingernails into the crevices and could feel the brick shift. He looked up at Zoro, who was now leaning against the wall. "I told you," he said. "Go on, pull it out. We don't have all night."
"Be quiet. Your loud mouth is going to get us caught," Sanji responded as he shimmied the brick loose. Except it wasn't a brick, but a façade of a brick and it nearly fell out of his hands as it finally popped free off the wall. Peering into the hole, he saw the barest glint and he held his breath. Sanji reached two of his fingers and felt a cool piece of metal.
It was the key.
With his hand shaking and a ghost boy crowding him, Sanji slipped the key into the lock. He fumbled it at first, feeling the key jam and get stuck as if it were the wrong one. He expected Zoro to mock him for it, but instead he heard, "Just close your eyes and take a slow breath and try again."
Perhaps it was the unexpected consideration, or maybe it was the actual advice, but Sanji felt the key slot into place and then felt the tumblers push away as he turned the key. He looked over to Zoro, who's pale face mirrored his own surprise over a key working and the need to follow through on the next step of their plan.
They each placed a hand on the heavy door and pushed, though Sanji bit back any words to Zoro on the futility of his assistance. The door, despite being thick and impenetrable, swung open easily revealing a deep, dark interior. Sanji sighed, "What now? I can't see a thing in there."
The ghost boy tilted his chin down and scratched his head. "Oh," he said after a moment. "I almost forgot." Sanji watched as Zoro entered the room and, at first, thought he was just going to make certain the path was clear. However, Zoro had a different plan in mind. Right before Sanji's eyes, the room began to slowly become brighter, cast in a soft, bluish tint. He soon realized that the source of light was none other than the ghost boy.
"You can glow?" he asked as he stepped into the room. "Can all ghosts do that?" To Sanji's annoyance, Zoro merely shrugged as he walked towards some crates. "Oh, I understand. You're too incompetent to do multiple tasks at once. Walking and shining have you at your limits. Talking is asking for far too much." Sanji hoped the annoyance in his voice covered the dread underneath.
For he knew his father cared more for his spoils of war than he did his own flesh and blood, a fact well attested to by the unmarked grave of his own son versus the ornate and heavy door guarding his room of treasures.
"You do enough chattering for the both of us," Zoro disrupted Sanji's darkest thoughts and waved him into the room. Sanji stepped inside, for the very first time in his entire life and looked around a room filled with treasures stolen from islands and ports and villages small enough for Judge Vinsmoke to crush without fear of being hurt in return.
Sanji walked toe to heel in order to move as quietly as possible. Every painting, every rare book, every silver candlestick he passed was a story of theft, and perhaps even death. He was surrounded by the sins of his father and felt crushed into silence. His fingers hoved above a small ivory figure of a fox curled up, sleeping but he dared not touch it, thinking how the poor thing had been hurt enough by the Vinsmoke family.
The room became visibly brighter, bringing Sanji out of his melancholy thoughts. He looked towards Zoro and saw him standing by an unusual contraption. There was a tall glass jar, rounded at the top. As he walked closer, Sanji could see the inside was filled with feathered ice crystals. The jar rested on a copper metal plate. Attached to the top were two wires, one blue and one red that went down to a small copper box.
The whole contraption was on a scale, the other side balanced by a thin, cylindrical copper pump.
"There's electricity running through it, but I think I can take care of that. Just be ready to lift the glass," ordered the ghost boy.
"You think? You better be sure because I don't want to join you anytime soon," Sanji snapped back in a whisper. Zoro made to push Sanji out of his way, but he stepped back quickly enough, not wishing to have his arm go numb.
Zoro placed his palm over the copper metal box and straightened his arm. He bent his head and furrowed his brow in concentration. Sanji heard quiet cracking noises and then saw it frost over. As the metal froze, the ice crystals in the bell jar turn to fog, going from a sharp white to a soft grey.
Looking up, Zoro told Sanji, "Go ahead. Lift it."
From both the chill in the air and from anticipation, Sanji's hands shook as he took the bell jar's handle and lifted. As the cover lost contact with the bottom plate, he heard a soft sigh of relief and the fog started billowing out from underneath the edges of the glass.
It formed a plume that swirled into a cylinder and then the cylinder took height, forming proportions that began to resemble the frame of a man. It was a fog of skeletal remains.
Then the remains began to flesh out. Sanji found himself inching closer to the ghost boy as this new arrival formed its shape. It was a man, not only from its body, but also evident from the deep sounds it was making, a distinct undertone of bewilderment mixed with the joy of release.
"Don't worry," whispered Zoro. "He's not evil. I can tell." Sanji tried to strike an elbow out at the suggestion that he was scared, but it did nothing but leave him looking foolish. "Then why are you whispering?" Sanji asked more sharply than needed, still unable to take his eyes off the ghost now materializing before their three eyes.
Their new visitor was tall, very nearly the same height as Sanji's father, which made him tower over most men. He was thin and wore a garish ensemble comprising of a black suit with an orange shirt and a blue cravat. In one hand, he gripped the head of a cane and on the top of an enormous head of hair, tight curls forming a large rounded shape, was a small top hat.
Sanji no longer felt fear or worry. Zoro had to be correct. A ghost this preposterous could not possibly be ill-intentioned.
The ridiculous ghost removed his top hat and made a sweeping bow. "Thank you, my young rescuers. I make no bones about it, I am in your debt."
The two boys, one solid and one spirit, turned to each other as if to confirm they had heard correctly.
The new ghost continued, "Of course, yo ho ho, I no bones to speak of anymore." He grinned at both Sanji and Zoro, but neither of them responded in kind.
"Come on, Bones. We need to get out of here," Zoro replied and reached for the other ghost's arm.
The ghost made an exaggerated face of shock and shook his head. "Your understanding is my mistake, young swordsman. Please allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Brook, not Bones, of the Rumbar Pirates. Most pleased to make both your acquaintances."
Again the two boys looked at each other, both in agreement.
Brook had to be a liar.
Pirates were dangerous men who eviscerated their enemies, laughing as the intestines spilled out. They tore children from their mother's arms and sold them into slavery. They slaughtered cattle and burned fields just because they got drunk and were bored.
They did not dress like men who drank coffee from tiny cups and enjoyed a good cologne.
"We'll hear all about it later, but we need to leave now," urged Sanji before Zoro could say anything blunt, derailing their exit.
Brook leaned back, perhaps surprised by the urgency in Sanji's tone. "Oh, of course. Let's not delay. At your lead."
And the three of them, one small sized living boy, one ghost boy missing an eye, and one gaunt ghostly gentleman in a tiny top hat furtively slipped out the storage room.
The small living boy making the two ghosts wait while he locked the oversized door and hide the secret key behind a fake brick before he led them to the exit leading out to the cemetery, with a promise to come visit tomorrow night.
Sanji made his way back to his bedroom spinning his own tales on Brook's true story. He fell asleep thinking perhaps the new ghost was killed by a jilted husband or maybe a glass of bad wine. Whatever the truth was, Brook was going to make an interesting addition to the growing collection of spirits on the island.