Thriller Bark

"Who's there?"

"Who is it?" the crew called out, spinning around.

Usopp frantically waved a wooden sword in the air, chanting, "Demons descend, spirits be gone, evil spirits disperse!"

"Yohohohoho..."

The eerie laughter grew closer. And then, they all saw him. Drifting toward them on a sailboat so dilapidated it looked like it could fall apart at any moment was the skeleton with the afro. It was he who had been laughing.

"The skeleton is talking!"

At the sight, a chill ran up everyone's spines. The glimpse they'd caught earlier had been terrifying enough, but now, seeing the whole picture at such a close distance, they felt their hair stand on end. Even Moonlight felt an involuntary shiver. Though he knew who this was and had steeled himself for the encounter, Brook's appearance was undeniably frightening.

Luffy, of course, was the sole exception. He stared at Brook with wide, curious eyes.

"Are you a skeleton?"

Brook nodded. "I am."

Luffy continued, "Can you talk?"

Brook nodded again. "I can."

Luffy pressed on, "Do you have a name?"

Brook replied, "My name is Brook."

Luffy leaned in, looking intensely curious. "So... can you poop?"

Brook paused for a moment in thought, then answered with complete seriousness, "I can!"

"..."

The rest of the crew was utterly speechless at the exchange. Nami flew forward and smacked Luffy over the head. "What kind of bizarre conversation is this? Hey, Luffy, be serious for a second! He's a skeleton! He's dead! How can dead people talk?"

It wasn't just Nami; everyone else was thinking the exact same thing.

"Yohohohoho..." Brook's signature laugh rang out again. With a light leap, his skeletal frame crossed the distance between the two ships with impossible grace. He landed before Nami and struck a very gentlemanly pose, a solemn expression on his face.

"My dear lady, I am indeed a skeleton, and I am already dead. So, may I please see your panties?"

"GET LOST!"

"IN YOUR DREAMS!"

Nami's anger flared instantly. She didn't care if he was a skeleton or not; she sent a powerful punch flying right at his face. At the same time, Sanji delivered a swift kick that sent Brook tumbling away. He stood protectively in front of Nami, lighting a cigarette and glaring at the skeleton. "I've never seen such a perverted, afro-wearing skeleton pop out of nowhere before."

"My apologies, that was quite rude of me," Brook said, quickly getting to his feet and patting the dust from his bones with the air of a perfect gentleman.

"You're not an evil spirit?"

"Why can a skeleton talk?"

Now that they saw Brook could speak, understand etiquette, and reason, the crew's initial terror began to subside, replaced by sheer wonder. It was truly one of the world's great mysteries. To encounter a talking skeleton on the Grand Line... If they hadn't already been through so many other incredible experiences, they would have sworn they were dreaming.

"I am one who has been resurrected after eating the Revive-Revive Fruit," Brook explained directly, not hiding anything in the face of their questions.

"The Revive-Revive Fruit?"

"Dead and resurrected?"

"Resurrection?"

"A fruit like that actually exists in the world?"

The crew exclaimed in shock.

"You're a really interesting guy! Join my crew!" Luffy laughed, slapping Brook on his skeletal back.

"WHAT?!" everyone's face darkened as they turned to stare at their captain. Although Brook was a talking skeleton who had eaten a Devil Fruit, the idea of having a skeleton as a crewmate was just ridiculous!

"Yohohohoho... My dear lady, may I see your panties?" Brook didn't answer Luffy directly. Instead, his laughter rang out again as he spotted Robin standing off to the side. His eyes—or rather, his empty eye sockets—seemed to light up. He leaned toward her, and while his skeletal face couldn't form an expression, his posture was absolutely lecherous.

Before he could get close, however, a sheathed sword suddenly blocked his path. It was Moonlight.

"What a powerful sword aura," Brook gasped, stumbling back. "Even though it's still in its sheath, I can feel a terrifying sword intent that feels like it could tear me apart. My apologies, that was terribly rude." He took another step back, supported by his cane, otherwise, he would have fallen to the deck. He glanced at Moonlight with lingering fear and immediately apologized.

"Brook, I can accept you on this ship," Moonlight said faintly, "but you will not be rude to the two women on board."

As a man resurrected from the dead, Brook had endured a century of solitude without losing his mind. While this loneliness may have made him a bit of a pervert, his resilience was admirable. Luffy wanted him on the crew, and Moonlight saw no reason to object.

"What?! Moonlight, even you..." Nami and the others stared at him, their eyes wide with disbelief. They weren't surprised that Luffy would be so impulsive, but why would Moonlight agree? Had they both gone insane?

"Moonlight, I can ignore Luffy, he's got a screw loose, but are you serious?" Usopp rushed over to Moonlight, pointing at his own head to indicate Luffy's craziness, then gesturing back and forth between Moonlight and Brook while whispering, "He's a skeleton! A skeleton!"

"Your Excellency is speaking of me," Brook suddenly appeared right in front of Usopp, pointing to his afro. "Although I am a skeleton, I am a skeleton with a magnificent afro!"

"Aaaah! Evil spirits, be gone! Garlic! Crucifix! Aaaah!" Seeing Brook materialize before him, especially staring into those hollow eye sockets, Usopp screamed in terror, dropping the various anti-ghost charms he was carrying.

"Are these gifts for me?" Brook asked, looking down in confusion at the garlic and crucifixes that had landed on him.

"Chopper, help! Help me!" Seeing his charms had no effect, Usopp scrambled over to Chopper.

The little doctor, however, had his eyes squeezed shut, muttering to himself, "This is a dream. If I close my eyes and open them again, the dream will be over."

Seeing this, Usopp fell into despair. Nami was shaking her head vigorously at Moonlight, silently pleading with him not to let the skeleton join. Robin simply chuckled with interest. Zoro pouted; dealing with a skeleton was certainly a new one. Franky, having seen legendary things like a Klabautermann, wasn't overly concerned. A skeleton? Super. But he remained hesitant about inviting him to join. First, there was the issue of his origins. What was his purpose? And where were they? Why did he appear here? The questions swirled.

"Alright, whether he's a skeleton or not, it's time to eat," Sanji announced, looking at the time. "We can talk while we eat. As it happens, I have a lot of questions for you."

"Dinner time!" Hearing this, Luffy immediately dashed towards the galley. The mention of food made everyone else realize how hungry they were. Nami's face turned green at the thought of eating with a skeleton, but Robin and the others were interested, and they did have many questions. How had a skeleton drifted in a place like this for so many years? And where exactly was "here"?

Brook looked at Sanji in surprise and hesitated. "Are you really inviting me to dinner?" As he spoke, a trace of loneliness crept into his tone—though, of course, a skeleton's face could not show such an emotion.

"You're a guest on this ship," Sanji said lightly as he walked towards the galley. "There's no reason in the world to turn away a guest."

In the galley, Brook tasted proper food for the first time in decades, and tears welled up in his eyes. Although a skeleton could not cry, the emotion was clear as he looked at the crew and slowly began to tell his story.

Everyone soon understood. He had been a swordsman and the musician of the Rumbar Pirates. They had encountered a powerful enemy, and the entire crew had been wiped out. He was able to come back from the dead because he had eaten the Revive-Revive Fruit. His soul returned from the underworld, but much like Zoro, he had a terrible sense of direction. By the time his soul found its way back to his body, it had already decayed into a skeleton.

The sea they were in, he explained, was the Florian Triangle, a terrifying place said to possess strange, magical abilities. Now, the crew finally understood their situation.

"The Florian Triangle?"

"We can't get out?"

"Are we going to be lost here forever?"

Ugly expressions appeared on their faces.

"Not only that," Brook's tone became more solemn when Luffy told him about the sacrificial barrel and the red flare. "I'm afraid you've been targeted by him." He seemed to be thinking of something terrifying.

"By who?" everyone asked.

Brook, however, fell silent. As the meal concluded, he looked at everyone and thanked them again. "Thank you for your hospitality. Although this is a demonic sea, as long as you keep sailing in this direction, and don't stop no matter what you encounter..."

As he was speaking, his pupils suddenly constricted as he stared at a spot in the cabin. The crew was taken aback and followed his gaze. A wave of cold air washed over them. A ghost was phasing through the cabin wall, grinning at them. After letting out a chilling cry, it turned and left.

"A ghost! A real ghost!" Usopp screamed in terror.

Everyone's face was grim. They had just barely managed to accept a talking skeleton, and now they were seeing actual ghosts. What kind of place was this?

By this time, Brook was already leaving quickly, his final words floating back to them: "Everyone, get out of here. Follow the direction I gave you, sail straight, and don't look back no matter what you see."

The crew looked at each other, feeling an unspeakable gloom and cold settle over them. Everyone except Luffy, that is. The rubber man had tried to go with Brook, but the skeleton was so light-footed that Luffy couldn't catch him. He sighed in disappointment. He had finally met such an interesting person, only to have him leave so soon.

"Luffy... everyone..." Usopp's trembling voice cut through the silence. "Did you not notice? That guy... he didn't have a shadow!"

Usopp's words instantly plunged everyone into an icy dread, their hands and feet turning cold. They had been so caught up in the shocking fact that a skeleton could talk that they hadn't paid attention. But Usopp, who had been terrified from the start, had been watching Brook with extreme suspicion, convinced he was an evil spirit. When he saw the ghost, his blood ran cold, and he hadn't dared to say a word. Only after Brook left did he recover enough to speak.

"No shadow!"

"What?!"

"For real?"

"Does that mean he's also a..."

The crew gasped. They hadn't noticed before, but thinking back, it was true. The skeleton had cast no shadow. Usopp's confirmation filled them with horror.

"An interesting guy! Let's go find him!" Luffy just laughed, completely unfazed, urging everyone to give chase.

Nami immediately shrieked, "Luffy, you don't really want to invite that kind of thing onto our ship, do you?"

"Yeah, Luffy! Do you really want to be friends with a ghost?" Usopp screamed.

"Even I have to admit, it would be weird if he has no shadow," Robin said, her face a little pale. Chopper had already buried his face in Usopp's back, trembling. Franky, Zoro, and Sanji said nothing, but they all turned to look at Moonlight.

He was the one who had agreed to let Brook on board in the first place. Luffy was one thing, but what about Moonlight? He was supposed to be the rational one.

"It's too late now," Moonlight said, shaking his head. His closed eyes suddenly snapped open. "We're being watched. And they're already here!"

In a flash, he drew his sword and slashed towards Zoro.

"Moonlight!" everyone screamed in shock. Why would Moonlight suddenly attack Zoro?

"Moonlight wouldn't make a mistake! Has Zoro been possessed by an evil spirit?" Usopp thought frantically.

Zoro's eyes were fixed on Moonlight, his hand already on the hilt of his sword, his expression grim and ready for a fight. But then, as if understanding something, he didn't move an inch as Moonlight's sword descended.

"Hey, hey, get out of the way!" Sanji shouted, dashing forward to intervene.

"Moonlight!" the others cried out, unable to comprehend why he would attack a crewmate.

"CLANG!"

Moonlight's sword was impossibly fast, reaching Zoro in an instant. But to everyone's astonishment, it stopped ten centimeters above Zoro's head with a resounding metallic clang. There, shimmering in the air, a bizarre creature—not quite human, not quite beast—slowly materialized.

"Who is he?"

"An enemy?"

"What a weird-looking guy!"

"He appeared out of thin air!"

The crew exclaimed in shock. Sanji stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the intruder. The man had a strange body; his nose, mouth, and jaw were those of a lion, but his skin was tough and gray like an elephant's. He wore a round top hat, a shirt, and trousers, and had a mane of yellow hair. He had been reaching for Zoro's swords, and his hand was now pressed against the flat of Moonlight's blade, which had stopped his attack. He looked surprised, as if he hadn't expected anyone to be able to stop him.

His surprise quickly turned into a sneer, and his body vanished once again.

"Invisible?" Moonlight chuckled. Before the crew could even react, he suddenly appeared beside Robin and swept his sword in a wide arc. This time, there was no politeness in the attack; the sword qi was fierce and deadly. This creature had dared to target Robin.

"Hmph!"

A crescent-shaped slash of sword energy shot out like a gust of wind. The man's body was knocked out of thin air again, but this time, his right hand had been cleanly severed, dripping blood onto the deck.

"You can see me?" the man asked, genuinely surprised. Though he was injured, there was no pain on his face, only shock that Moonlight could perceive his presence. If the first time had been a coincidence, the second time was definitive proof.

He didn't linger. Reacting with incredible speed, his body disappeared again, turning invisible. Once seen through, twice seen through; he wouldn't risk a third encounter. Besides, this swordsman had actually injured him; he was clearly not someone to be trifled with.

Moonlight, however, had no intention of letting him go so easily. He was about to give chase, but at that moment, Zoro suddenly dropped to his knees, his face a mask of utter dejection.

"Sorry," he muttered, "I'm a caterpillar."