One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty-Four-
"Gather up all of the crew, it's time to ship out Bink's brew" the skeleton softly sung as I leaned further against the railing. My eyes wide with wonderment as I took in the sight of him, looking from his rugged clothing to the afro that sat on top of his head. I even found myself silently wondering how he was able to drink the tea that he had in his hands—how was it not simply passing right on through him and splattering onto the deck of the ship? I didn't dare remove my gaze from him until the ship had finally passed on through and came to a stop just at a short distance away from us.
"Did you see that? There's a singing skeleton on that ship!" Luffy excitedly exclaimed.
"Oh! No way!" Usopp cried out. "Skeleton's don't sing, they're dead! You're seeing things—that's not real!" he wailed.
"Sanji, you heard him?! Come on, please! Can we go?!" Luffy begged. "I wonder...if he sings, what else can he do?! Alright!" he excitedly rushed forward, already looking ready to fling himself up onto the deck of the rundown ship.
"Not so fast" Sanji said as he was quick to snatch up the back of Luffy's vest. "You can't go alone" he said just as Zoro held up a pile of sticks.
"Listen up, we're drawing straws to see who stays here and who goes on the creepy ghost ship with Luffy" the swordsman explained, making it clear that instead of us arguing or bickering about who goes and who stays, we'd just leave it up to fate.
"Why us? There's plenty of people who want to go already—like Skylar!" Usopp cried as he jabbed a finger in my direction where I was still staring up at the ship with starry eyes.
"Yeah, that's cruel!" Nami whined.
"Let us stay!" Chopper begged as he climbed on top of the swordsman's head.
"You really sure that's how you want to do this?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Ready to see some ghosts and stuff?" Luffy eagerly asked.
"Yeah" Franky nodded.
"Yes, sir!" I excitedly grinned, bouncing in place along with our captain as we both seemed to just laugh in excitement at the thought of seeing a ghost and whatever other spooky things resided in this part of the sea.
"Please, no!" Nami whimpered.
"Hey, I like the drawing thing after all!" Chopper quickly changed his tune as he, Usopp, and Nami now all clung to Zoro's legs.
"Yeah, please! We're scared—you can't just leave all the weak people alone with no one to protect them!" Usopp whined.
"We'll draw! We'll draw! Just don't go!" Nami desperately pleaded.
"Whatever, I'm fine going there alone, but we got to hurry or this ship's going to get away" Luffy said, already growing impatient with how long it was taking for everyone to decide who would go and who would stay.
"Hold your horses" Sanji said.
"Well, are you going to draw? Two will go and the rest will stay here" Zoro explained as he held the pile of sticks out once more. "Got to keep a tight leash on him, Luffy will do something stupid" he warned as everyone picked a stick. I felt my bottom lip jut out into a pout when I noticed that Nami and Sanji were the ones that got to go with Luffy—how unfair. It wasn't long before I soon felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist as Zoro rested his chin on my shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked when he noticed my dampened mood.
"I wanted to go and explore the ghost ship" I pouted as I lightly kicked my foot against the deck of the ship before huffing and crossing my arms. "Nami and Sanji are so lucky" I muttered.
"What?! Are you crazy?!" Usopp snapped. "You're even crazier than Luffy—why would you want to go and explore that skeleton infested ship?!" he shouted.
"Because it looks so cool and fascinating!" I argued, eyes sparkling as I motioned towards the rundown ship while sweat drops appeared on everyone's head. It wasn't that long before the silence of the air was disturbed by the sound of Nami's scream. "See, Nami didn't want to go, so why couldn't I have taken her place?" I huffed.
"P-please, be gone! Out with you, let Luffy rest in peace!" Usopp shakily prayed as Zoro buried his nose into the crook of my neck and pulled me even tighter against him.
"You don't really want to go on that ship, do you? You'll make me worry if you do" he breathlessly breathed out into my ear before lightly beginning to nip at the ear lobe as one of his hands started to sneakily sneak up my dress to rub at the flesh of my thigh.
"That's a little too close for comfort, pervert!" I embarrassingly cried out as I repeatedly hit the top of his head which caused him to snicker as Robin chuckled. It wasn't too long before Luffy and the other two finally returned, bringing a guest back with them as they did so.
"Yohohoho! It's such a pleasure to meet you, hello and good day to you all, as of today I will be joining you on this ship as your newest crew member" the skeleton greeted. "Once dead and all bones, my name is Brook and I do hope we can get along" he introduced as my eyes started to sparkle once more.
"So cool!" I exclaimed.
"Are you kidding me?! What the heck is that thing?!" Usopp, Zoro, and Franky all snapped as the long-nosed pirate held a cross out as if that would help protect him.
"Yohohoho! Oh my, what a tough crowd you are" Brook remarked which caused both Luffy and me to burst out into a fit of laughter as Nami and Sanji heaved a sigh.
"Please don't haunt me!" Chopper whimpered as he held out a cross of his own in front of him.
"My goodness, and what a lovely young woman" Brook said the minute he noticed Robin. "Perhaps you would like to show me your panties?" he calmly asked.
"That's enough sexual harassment!" Nami snapped as she threw her shoe at the skeleton.
"It's a full set of anti-ghost gear!" Chopper gasped the moment he spotted Usopp. "You got him now!" he brightened.
"Totally" I sweat dropped while looking at the long-nosed pirate.
"Remove yourself from this ship, you fiend! Submit to the holy power I wield, evil be gone! Evil be gone!" Usopp shouted as Brook started to nervously back up and away from the sharpshooter.
"How frightening" he remarked.
"It's working, keep it up! You're awesome, Usopp!" Chopper praised.
"Of course, I'm awesome! I mean, I paid a lot of money for all this stuff, so it darn well better work" Usopp grinned.
"Where is this evil creature?" Brook asked which caused me to snort. "I can't see it" he said as he frantically began to look around for this so-called evil creature that Usopp was talking about.
"It's you, stupid!" Usopp and Chopper snapped which caused the skeleton to release a high pitched scream that had both Luffy and I laughing.
"Dammit! There's no way a walking, talking, afro sporting skeleton could exist! This must be a dream—we just need to wake up!" Usopp frowned.
"Oh? It's a dream? What a relief, that's nice" Chopper happily sighed as he closed his eyes and fell back onto the deck.
"Um...excuse me? Hello? Hello? Good morning" Brook said as he hovered over Chopper, scaring the poor reindeer into screaming once more the minute he opened his eyes.
"That's enough!" Zoro snapped.
"I think you've scared him quite enough...um...Brook? Was it?" I gently smiled before owlishly blinking the moment he suddenly grabbed hold of my hand—the feeling of bone against my flesh felt so weird, it was hard and smooth to the touch.
"My, another beautiful young lady—would you mind showing me your panties?" Brook asked before quickly backing off and holding his hands up in surrender when the tip of a sword was suddenly pointed at his cervical vertebrae.
"Back off!" Zoro growled as he wrapped a protective arm around me and pulled me flush against his side before sheathing his sword and harshly glaring at Luffy. "What is this thing and why is it on our ship?!" he snapped.
"That's our new crew member, isn't he funny?" Luffy cheekily smiled.
"He certainly is!" I brightly smiled right back.
"Who cares?! He's not joining our crew!" Zoro shouted at the rubber man and me before scolding Nami and Sanji. "This is exactly why I wanted you to go along with him—what the hell happened?! Were you just picking your noses while he brought a skeleton with him back to the ship?!" he snapped.
"I know, we messed up" Nami and Sanji sadly mumbled.
"Yohohoho! Now, now, let's be civil everyone" Brook said as he tried to calm everyone down. "Why don't we go inside? You can treat me to dinner" he suggested.
"You don't get to decide that!" Nami, Sanji, and Zoro snapped.
"I love this guy!" Luffy laughed.
"Me too!" I giggled in agreement as we all gathered into the kitchen, sitting around the table while we waited for Sanji to finish cooking.
"Yohohoho! What a spacious dining room you got and such a splendid kitchen" Brook praised as he looked around. "A magnificent ship if I've ever seen one, yohohoho!" he complimented.
"Yep" Luffy nodded.
"Of course, it is! It's the most super ship I ever made—those sockets look empty, but you got a good eye for quality" Franky proudly grinned.
"Franky, don't get friendly with the skeleton" Sanji grumbled.
"Speaking of quality, I can't wait to try out your cooking" Brook admitted. "Since I was stuck on that dreary ghost ship, it's been decades since I've eaten a proper meal" he said as he placed a hand on his "stomach" and laid the top part of his body across the table. "I felt my stomach shrink and shrink until I couldn't even tell the back of my belly from the front of my back anymore—that's the sort of miserable life I lead and let me tell you, that's saying a lot seeing as skeletons don't have a proper back or stomach, yohohoho!" he laughed as he sat back up and opened his coat to show off his ribs and spine. "It's a skull joke!" he proclaimed as both Luffy and I laughed.
"It's a skull joke! I get it!" Luffy laughed as he clapped his hands.
"Quite the comedian" I chuckled.
"Let me say, I am quite the gentleman" Brook said as he fixed his clothes and straightened bow tie. "So, I am well versed in the arts of patiently waiting for my food, no matter how long it takes" he said as he fixed his afro as well. It was right after he said that when both he and Luffy started to kick up a ruckus of demanding their food—both of them clashing their silverware together as they chanted. "My dear boy, can I have a glass of milk? It's good for the bones they say" the skeleton suddenly said.
"Shut up or I'm going to smash your skull!" Sanji irritably snapped.
"Oh, by the way, skeleton" Luffy said.
"Sorry, but my name is Brook" Brook corrected, making it clear that he possibly wasn't really comfortable with being referred to as just skeleton. "Ah, but that reminds me—I know this is rude, but I don't believe I ever caught your name" he admitted.
"Oh? Me? My name is Luffy" Luffy greeted. "So, anyway, what are you?" he asked.
"You invited him to join the crew and you're just now asking him that?!" Zoro snapped.
"That's our captain" I smiled as I rested my chin on the palm of my hand.
"Okay, foods ready" Sanji said as he started to set plates of food down on the table in front of us all. "We can finish interrogating the skeleton later, for now, let's put all those octopi you caught to good use" he said.
"Magical!" Luffy drooled as his eyes now started to sparkle once more. "Go ahead and eat all of this if you want, Brook, Sanji's cooking is the best in the whole world!" he praised as he motioned for the skeleton to dig in.
"Although my stomach is empty, I think my heart has already been filled!" Brook happily cried.
"Don't cry" Sanji said.
"I couldn't help but notice that your portion is a bit larger, would you be interested in switching with me?" Brook suddenly asked the moment he looked down at Robin's plate.
"You can have seconds, just leave her alone!" Sanji snapped and as we ate, I couldn't help but let my gaze wander back over towards Brook every now and again. Silently did I watch as he stuffed food in his mouth...I wonder, where did it all go?
"Luffy, don't speak with your mouth full" I softly scolded the minute the captain started to speak, his mouth still stuffed to the brim with food as he spoke.
"You have a fish tank with octopuses on your ship? Truly the wonders never cease with you people, how splendid" Brook said, somehow able to understand Luffy as he continued to speak with his mouth full. "I never heard of anything like it, how fortunate I met such a fascinating ship" he said as he listened to the captain speak some more. "Yes, by all means, right after dinner" he nodded, agreeing to something Luffy said.
"He can understand that nonsense?" Nami sweat dropped as both Brook and Luffy started to cheer.
"Would you shut up and eat!" Sanji snapped at the two.
"The Revive Revive Fruit?" Nami questioned once we had all finished eating and started to interrogate the skeleton once more in an effort to learn more about him.
"Sounds interesting" I hummed.
"So it was a Devil Fruit?" Franky questioned.
"It's a complicated tale" Brook said. "The truth of the matter is, I actually did die already, many years ago" he admitted as I found myself having a hard time taking him too seriously due to the fact that his face was covered in specks of food.
"Would you clean off your damn face?! I've never seen such a messy eater!" Sanji snapped.
"The Revive Revive Fruit allows a person to be reanimated after they have died" Brook explained as he cleaned his face, soon picking at his own teeth with a toothpick. "Even among Devil Fruit powers, the ability to live two lives is indeed quite strange" he said.
"So, you're a revive man?!" Luffy excitedly grinned as his eyes turned into literal stars.
"Then you're not immortal, it's more like you died once and it gave you a second chance at life" Franky reiterated.
"In short, yes—excuse me" Brook said before burping. "As I said, it's complicated—but during my first life, if you will, I was a pirate just like you are" he admitted.
"That explains the ship" Luffy said.
"That it does—excuse me, again" Brook said as he farted this time.
"I'm going to beat some manners into you! Even if I have to break every single one of your bones!" Sanji snapped.
"A long time ago, I was sailing with the rest of my crew through these accursed waters—now for the record, I had flesh and blood just like everyone else back then" Brook said as he began his tale. "At any rate, we had the misfortune of running afoul of a very powerful adversary, soon the entire crew met its demise. Of course, that included me as well—when I was alive, the Revive Revive Fruit did precious little then rob me of my ability to swim, but on that faithful day its true power awakened as I laid dead" he explained. "My spirit returned from the netherworld and came to unite with this body of mine once again. Now, if I had actually found my body as intended that would be all well and good, but as you can see the fog around here is quite thick so the matter became a bit complicated.
"In short, poor little soul Brook couldn't find his way back home" he sighed. "All in all, my spirit wandered through the foggy waters, searching for my body for an entire year" he said. "Then at the end of its tragic journey, the two were reunited once again."
A/N: Enjoy
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