Chapter 80: The Offering and the Skeleton

What's this? A new chapter? Amazing!

To those people that PMed me, I said that I'd start the next arc before Christmas, didn't I? Well here you go! One chapter with a little bow... Not really, but you get it. Anyway, there's something at the bottom that I'm going to need help with, but I'll save that for later. Onwards!

Chapter 84:

The Offering and the Skeleton

"I'm sorry I ever doubted you, Captain," Merry sighed as she lounged on a raft in the Sunny's built-in pool while clad in a red one-piece bathing suit. Luffy was dangling his legs in the water as he watched Nami swimming laps, glancing at the ring that now glinted on his right ring finger every now and then. As terrible a parent figure Garp was, he still knew how to give gifts. He'd sent Luffy a package via Package Gull containing several hundred Beris, some new china, and a pair of brand-new wedding rings that, after being OKed by Franky as safe, were now worn by the Monkey D.s of the crew.

Usopp and Chopper sat on the railing to the side, fishing for things to put in the aquarium, and Grace was painting the two. Their shipwright was somewhere below them, building or fiddling with something, while Amy and Robin were tanning and using their charms to whittle things out of Sanji. The sounds coming from above them showed that Zoro, Coby, and Gin were sparring with each other in the crow's nest.

"What do you mean, Merry?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.

"I thought you were going to let me go after Enies Lobby," Merry conceded. "After you learned that my keel was broken and you decided to get a new ship, I was heartbroken, but I understood. I doubted that you would try to save me, even if you found out I was alive."

"That was pretty stupid of you, Merry," Luffy laughed. "I'd never leave a friend to die. Shishishi."

"You're right, Captain. That was stupid of me. Baahahaha!"

"You know you can just call me Luffy, right?" the rubber-man asked.

"I know," the wood fairy answered with a shrug, "but you've always been Captain Luffy to me. It's been that way since I could think."

"And when was that?" Nami questioned, finishing her laps and resting her arms on the edge of the pool. Luffy idly placed a hand on the navigator's head and began combing through her wet hair. "Since when have you been around?"

"Umm," Merry hummed. "I have small glimpses from entering the Grand Line. I know what Laboon looks like and I know we almost sunk from hitting him, but the details are really blurry."

"So you were already forming way back then?" Nami gasped.

Merry nodded. "I really didn't understand anything going on around me though. I only had one clear thought back then. The first big thing I remember clearly was meeting the captain's big brother Ace."

"That means you've been around since we got to Alabasta!" Nami gaped.

"Yeah," Merry agreed. "I think it got easier for me to think as the crew got bigger. More people means more bonds, I guess. It was really boring while you all were away, though. I almost attacked that ballet guy that came to get me until he yelled something about a 'flower of friendship' and keeping me from the Marines to his crew."

"What was your first thought?" Luffy inquired.

"Nakama," the wood fairy answered without hesitation. Luffy's face split into a grin. Up above them, one of the windows in the crow's nest shattered, dropping a human Coby onto the deck with a thump.

"Ow!" Coby yelled, sitting up and pulling shards of broken glass from his back. "You didn't have to hit me that hard, dammit!"

"Language!" Usopp chastised for Merry's sake.

"Sorry about that, Coby!" Gin called down.

"Hey!" Franky protested as a hatch opened and his head popped out, the thump pulling him from his workshop. "You guys have had this ship for only a week and you're already breaking things? Super not cool!"

"Don't look at me," Coby denied, standing up and rubbing his sore tailbone. "Gin's the one that threw me out the window."

"And you're the one that tried to block instead of dodging!"

"Hey, guys!" Usopp called from the railing. "There's a barrel out on the ocean!"

"So?" Sanji asked.

"It's got a banner that reads 'treasure'!"

"Pull it in!" Nami ordered.

"I'll get it!" Merry offered. She hopped off of the raft and swam to the railing. Stretching out her senses, Merry latched onto the barrel, the wooden holder changing course to head toward the Thousand Sunny. Raising her hands, Merry pulled the barrel into the air and levitated it onto the deck.

"That's so cool!" Luffy and Chopper cried at the same time, stars in their eyes. "How'd you do it?!"

"She's been doing that since Water 7," Usopp deadpanned.

"Obviously, Ms. Ship can manipulate any object that is commonly found on sailing vessels," Robin offered, not even looking up from her book. "It's most likely a common power amongst wood fairies."

"Treasure offering to the Sea Gods," Grace read aloud from the banner attached to the barrel. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's an old practice," Nami explained. "Sailors sometimes fill barrels with preserved meats or alcohol to appease their deities in the hope of safe sailing."

"Meat?" Luffy questioned with a sparkle in his eye.

"Alcohol?" Zoro asked from the crow's nest, sticking his head out of the broken window.

"It's tradition to release another barrel after using the one you pick up so as to not anger the gods," Nami continued.

"Yeah, but we know that God's a dick and that we killed him," Gin grunted, dropping to the deck and rolling his momentum away. "I say we use it anyway."

"I'm for it," Amy nodded.

"Then let's open this puppy!" Franky yelled, pulling out a crowbar and jamming one end under the lid. He shoved down on his side, the lip popping off with little resistance. There was no booze inside, but a red firework shot into the air before exploding.

"That's disappointing," Luffy whined. "We can't eat fireworks."

"Who would stuff a firework in a barrel?" Usopp gasped.

"Maybe it was a trap and there are bounty hunters coming after us now," Robin commented with a polite smile, turning a page in her book.

"Robin, that's scary!" Chopper cried.

"No time to think about that!" Nami yelled. "There's a storm coming! Get ready!" The words had barely registered to the other pirates when storm clouds appeared seemingly out of nowhere, bringing pelting rain and freezing winds with them.

"Guys!" Nami screamed. "Get to the sails! Merry, can you work the rudder?"

"The wind is too strong!" Merry cried, her face scrunched with concentration. "The rudder won't move!"

"Damn!" Nami cursed.

"Don't worry!" Franky yelled. "We're super prepared for this! Sunny Dock System: Channel 0! Activate the Sunny's paddle-boat mode!" He pulled a lever on the Sunny's steering wheel, turning two dials until they each read 0. Paddles spread out from the end of the ship and lowered into the water where they began spinning. The Thousand Sunny lurched forward and sped toward the closest sign of light.

"At least the rain is gone," Grace muttered, trying to be optimistic as she eyed her ruined painting of Usopp and Chopper fishing while wringing out her hat. She had been forced to change out of her regular attire due to her clothing getting soaked by the rain, so she now wore a white, long-sleeve t-shirt with crossed paintbrushes, an orange skirt with horizontal green stripes, and a pair of legging, one leg black and the other white. She'd chosen red hiking boots as footwear and her red hair was done in a French braid rather than her usual twin braids.

The Thousand Sunny had managed to escape the storm, but there was still no sun anywhere to be found. Gray clouds and a seemingly impenetrable fog surrounded the ship, obscuring any objects more than 50 meters away which, for a ship, was really close.

"I don't like the looks of this place," Usopp cowered.

"Me either," Chopper agreed.

"Do you know where we are?" Franky asked with an evil smile. "Granny Kokoro loved to tell stories about this place. This area has been known for mysterious disappearances for a long, long time. We're in the Florian Triangle."

"Over 100 ships vanish here every year with no explanation," Amy added, enjoying the looks of terror on the sniper and the doctor from where she stood next to her sister. She had also been forced to change and had replaced her yellow bikini for a yellow sundress with a pair of jean shorts underneath and a pair of pale flats. Her earrings were still in, but her hat was absent. She still had her normal umbrella. "For all we know, we could be next."

"Stop it!" Usopp and Chopper wailed.

"You know it's all in good fun," Gin chuckled. He was dressed in a black t-shirt under an unzipped, dark blue, hoodless jacket. His regular headband, or more likely one of his replacements, held his hair out of his face. A pair of dark slacks covered his legs and just touched the tops of his black sneakers.

"It's not funny!"

"We may be nothing but blood splatters on the walls within a day if even some of the stories are true," Robin commented.

"You're not helping!"

"You know what they say?" Zoro smirked. "They said that this area is haunted by the souls of the damned pirates who died, each of them tied to their drifting ships for all eternity."

"Ahhhh!" The two most cowardly pirates panicked, fleeing into the ship.

"Isn't your uncle brave, or what?" Coby rolled his eyes, directing his sentence toward Merry. Coby, too, had changed his clothing. He now wore a pair of jeans and a bright red, v-neck shirt under a green hooded jacket. His regular sandals were on his feet and a shark-tooth necklace he'd found in some of what remained of the Rainbow Mist's spoils hung around his neck. Finally, his Sabaku no Kiba blades were in their normal spots on his back.

"I don't think you have a leg to stand on talking about cowardice, Coby," Nami put in. "I do believe you had his level of courage when we fought Buggy back in the East Blue."

"I was a kid back then!" Coby protested. "I've grown up!"

"I'm sure you think that, too," Merry whispered into Grace's ear, causing the girl to flush and try to stutter out a denial. "Baahahaha!" Merry wore simple clothes including tan khaki pants and a white t-shirt that showed the red one-piece bathing suit she had on underneath. She was also wearing a pair of white sneakers and had both her Heart and hammer tucked in the pockets of her pants and a grey jacket that was partially zipped up.

"Alright," Nami sighed, "back to business. So we're stuck in the Florian Triangle where it's said that the weather is even stranger than the rest of the Grand Line. There are stories of ghosts and talking skeletons, and we have no way to see where we're going. What do we do?"

"I wanna go find a talking skeleton!" Luffy yelled, his arm thrust in the air. Nami punched him over the head.

"If anything, those skeletons will have to come to us!"

Yohohoho yohoho-ho~

"What was that?" Coby questioned, drawing a sword. The rest of the crew armed themselves, even Usopp and Chopper coming out covered in anti-ghost stuff such as crosses and garlic.

Yohohoho yohoho-ho~

The fog seemed to part, a galleon-sized ship slowly fading into few through the dense mist. The ship was in terrible shape, gouges missing from nearly every part of the ship from bow to stern. The sails were old and ratty, torn to strips that swayed in the breeze, only enough left together for the jolly roger to be seen. Merry shivered as the giant ship grew closer, passing the Sunny with a dozen feet to spare. On the railing above them was something, a skeleton with a black afrskao and a top hat with a teacup in its bony fingers. The teeth of the skeleton separated as it began to sing slowly.

Gather up all of the crew~

It's time to ship out Bink's brew~

Yohohoho Yohoho-ho~

Slowly, the ship and the singing skeleton passed the gaping pirates and began floating away.

"That's so cool!" Luffy yelled. "Merry! Grab that ship and pull us alongside!"

"Yes, Captain," Merry dutifully nodded, throwing ropes out from the Thousand Sunny to latch onto the end of the larger ship. The ropes knotted themselves before tightening, but Merry shivered and fell to her knees as soon as they did so.

"Merry!" Usopp cried worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"That ship," she muttered, just loud enough that the others could hear here. "She's seen so much pain. She had a klabautermann a long time ago; I can still feel her, barely, but she's lost her consciousness. She's there, but she's gone. Her crew is gone."

"Luffy, this is a bad idea," Nami warned.

"Relax," Luffy waved off. "Worst case scenario, we beat up the skeleton and sail away."

"I am not going up there!" Usopp shouted. "And neither is Merry!"

"I don't wanna go either!" Chopper added.

"I'll join you, Captain," Robin offered.

"I'll go, too," Zoro nodded. "I'd be interesting to see if I can cut ghosts."

"Anyone else?" Luffy asked. The rest of the crew shook their heads, not particularly inclined to jump in. Luffy and his tag-alongs headed to the larger ship and began climbing. Luffy was the first one over the railing, finally getting a good look at the skeleton.

It stood at eight feet and was dressed in ragged and torn clothing that used to be a nice suit. The jacket was left open, showing that the being had no undershirt to hide its spine and the top of its pelvis. The creature's ribs were hidden from view by a powder-blue ascot and a top hat sat upon its afro. A purple cane rested next to it. The skeleton was sitting, calmly sipping tea as it watched the trio scurry over the railing.

"It's even cooler up close!" the Straw Hat captain gasped, a smile stretching his face.

"I would rather not be an 'it'," the skeleton stated. "I would prefer to be a 'he'."

"Wow! A talking, singing skeleton! Do you poop?"

"That's not a question you need to ask, moron!" Zoro chastised.

"Indeed, I do," the skeleton answered.

"What the Hell?!" Zoro yelled. "You didn't need to answer! There are so many questions that should have come before that one!"

"Oh," the skeleton gasped, his eye sockets landing on Robin. "What a beautiful woman. If it isn't too much trouble, would you be so kind as to show me your panties?"

"No." Even as Robin answered, Zoro's sword flashed out to cut the talking skeleton's skull off.

"Yohohoho!" the skull laughed as his body bent down to pick the cranium up and replace it upon his spine. "Dear me, I thought you were going to kill me. Not that I can be killed since I'm already dead! Yohohoho! Skull joke!"

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed. "You're funny! Join my crew!"

"Luffy!" Zoro shouted.

"Sure," the creature answered, ignoring Zoro's indignant protests or Robin's soft chuckling. With a grin splitting his face, Luffy ordered everyone back to the Sunny for dinner.

"What the Hell is that?!" most of the crew screamed as the talking, singing skeleton landed on the deck, a bag slung over its shoulder.

"He's our newest Nakama!" Luffy responded, causing Nami to punch him over the head for the second time that day. Chopper and Usopp ran around the deck like chickens with their heads cut off while Coby, Gin, Franky, Grace, and Amy were staring at either the undead thing or their pouting captain in shock.

"What? Happened?!" Sanji jumped Zoro. "I thought you went to keep him from doing anything stupid!" Zoro just hung his head in shame, Robin chuckling beside him.

"What a beautiful ship!" the skeleton marveled. "Is this deck real grass?"

"Sure is!" Franky boasted. "This is the Thousand Sunny, the super best ship I've ever built.

"Marvelous! And what marvelous pirate beauties!" He shuffled over to Amy, Nami, and Grace. "If it isn't an inconvenience, would you three be so kind as to show me your panties?" The question was met with yelling and blows from Luffy, Nami, Amy, Gin, Sanji, and Coby, throwing the skeleton into the railing of the ship.

"Yohohoho! I felt that one in my bones!"

"What are you?" Merry asked, having stopped Usopp's panic to duck behind him. The skeleton stood and turned to face her and her uncle, Usopp bringing up a cross to try to ward him away.

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself, have I?" the skeleton blinked (or would have if he had eyelids!). "My name is Brook. It's a pleasure to meet you." Taking his top hat off, the newly-named Brook bowed before turning his head up to meet Merry's eyes. "And might I ask what you are? I don't believe I've ever met a person with sheep horns before. Perhaps you are a sheep Zoan?"

"Oh, I'm a wood fairy," Merry corrected, reaching out to gingerly shake Brook's offered hand. "You can call me Merry. I was the first ship of this crew."

"Don't tell him that!" Usopp yelled, picking Merry up and pulling her away from the skeleton. "He could use your name to drag you to the bottom of the ocean!"

"He could?" Chopper shouted, trying to hide behind Robin's legs and doing so backwards.

"How interesting," Brook hummed. "I'd heard stories of klabautermanns, but I never thought I'm meet one in person. You people seem like quite the group. I'd love to learn more about you over dinner."

"Do you cook?" Coby asked.

"Oh no," Brook shook his head. "I thought you all would."

"Don't just invite yourself!" Sanji cried.

"I'm afraid he didn't, Mr. Cook," Robin corrected. "Captain did."

"Sanji!" Luffy whined. "Food!"

"Yeah, yeah," the cook waved off. "Fine, we'll invite the thing. Come on."

End of Chapter 84

So I said that I'd need help with something. I need you all to help me. I'm going to put a poll up on my profile for this, but I want you all to consider every pro and con to each side, please leave out most of your bias.

Should Ace die?

Pros: Ace lives. The Whitebeard Pirates probably won't fall apart, making it harder for Blackbeard to become the new Warlord. Ace returns to play a part in the New World.

Cons: Luffy probably won't have the same amount of drive to become stronger over the time skip. Sabo may or may not remember. There will be no Flame-Flame Fruit for Dressrosa (so that would have to be almost entirely different, which would make that a lot harder on me). I'd have to characterize Ace later on, making it harder on me.

Those are the pros and cons I could see, so leave me a review or go vote on the poll. And as always...

Read and Review!

-SwordOfTheGods