Silence. The sea was engulfed in silence. But it was not the peaceful kind found on a calm morning, instead, it was the suffocating, ancient quiet that rested at the bottom of the sea, where even sound seemed to have ceased.
And within that kind of silence drifted a glowing giant.
Luffy, or Nika, or whatever impossibility that made his rubber flesh him, floated unconsciously in a form that should not have been able to exist beneath the ocean after his adventure to and from, life and death. His massive body was curled protectively around a perfect sphere of ice, a frozen globe that shimmered with fractured light. Inside it, suspended as though caught in a moment of time, was the Going Merry, her familiar worn wood wrapped in a cocoon of frost and scattered across her deck were the unmoving Straw Hats.
Surrounding the god were seakings, protecting their youngest lord. They chased away anything unwanted that dared to approach.
The whole thing looked like some mythical relic dropped from a forgotten age:
Monsters of the sea protecting a giant god who's drifting aimlessly, clutching a frozen world in his arms.
The bubble Luffy had blown in his last instinctive act before consciousness fled, had expanded and hardened into ice as the crushing cold of the deep ocean swallowed them whole. It had trapped the Merry in a crystalized sphere, every thread of frost glimmering with the filtered blue light of the abyss.
Luffy's hair, usually a wild cloud of white in his Nika form, now drifted around him in tangled strands of black and white, swirling with the currents like seaweed. His divine aura was reduced to faint flickers of pale light pulsing through his limbs, drifting away into the water like dying fireflies. Whatever he'd become… it was sleeping at the moment.
After a few days of drifting, the ocean decided to bring her little god back up to the surface.
The ocean nudged him, its currents pushing the giant body and the frozen sphere upward, millimeter by millimeter. Maybe the warm water closer to the surface called to him. Maybe something older, something divine connected to the sea itself, urged the young kami to rise.
Either way, the frozen bubble slowly began to ascend.
But as the sphere climbed higher along with its guardian, the pressure eased and the surrounding water grew warmer by degrees so imperceptible that no normal human would sense it. But the ice felt it. The perfect shell began to soften. Thin rivulets trickled down the inside, drops of water clinging to the Merry's deck like teardrops.
Yet the bubble never reached the surface. It hovered just beneath it, because if the bubble broke fully, the ship would be swallowed by the sea. Maybe the sea goddess refused to do that. Maybe she held the slowly melting crystal of ice in her arms, not wanting to upset her son. Maybe it was her being gentle after her crude form.
But the ice thinned enough for the first sound to seep in, the faint, rhythmic creak of the wood shifting, of Merry's breathing as though waking from sleep, of the gentle currents rushing through the waters of the Grand Line.
And here there was heard a groan amongst it all. A familiar, theatrical, very alive groan.
"Uuugh… the afterlife is colder than I thought…" Usopp's eyes cracked open, blurry and unfocused.
The first thing he saw was the sky–or what he thought was the sky–but it was actually the faint glow of melted water refracting the last of the bubble's frost. He blinked rapidly, trying to force his vision to stabilize.
"What…?" he whispered, rubbing his head.
Then memory slammed into him. The bridge. The jump. The monstrous walls of water roaring down on them like a god's wrath. Usopp remembered the panic. He remembered the certainty of death. The sensation of being swallowed whole by a storm the size of an island.
But now… this?
He shot upright so fast he smacked his head on the underside of the melting bubble.
"OW–WHAT THE–?!" His shriek bounced off the icy interiors, as he scrambled to his feet, his heart hammering like a war drum as he whipped his head around in fear and panic.
The Merry's deck. A strange frozen dome overhead. Light filtering in from above. And his crewmates, every single one, lying motionless.
The color from Usopp's face drained. He froze for a second, before shouting, "N-No no no no no, DON'T YOU DARE–! DON'T YOU DARE BE DEAD!"
He launched himself at Nami first.
"NAMI! NMAI! NAMI! GET UP! DON'T YOU LEAVE ME IN THE AFTERLIFE WITH LUFFY, HE'LL EAT ALL THE CLOUDS!" he cried nonsense with tears rolling down from his eyes, as he shook her shoulders desperately, and nearly collapsed in relief when she groaned.
"Usopp… stop yelling…"
"You're ALIVE!" Usopp wailed, tears streaming down his face.
"What are you–ow, my head…" Nami winced, sitting up and touching her temple.
Usopp didn't wait, he bolted to the next.
"ZORO! WAKE UP! I swear if you died, I'm going to drag you back by your stupid green hair!" he cried, even though he could feel a tiny hope in his heart that everyone was fine, he needed to check. He needed to assure it himself that his friends were alive.
Zoro opened one eye with pure irritation. "If I was dead, I wouldn't be listening to your voice."
"We REALLY ARE ALIVE!" Usopp screamed again, as happy tears rolled down from his face now.
"Stop crying on me." Zoro pushed him off with a groan.
One by one, Usopp threw himself at everyone–Chopper, Robin, Sanji, Franky–shaking, yelling, shoving, desperate to hear them groan or complain or insult him. He didn't mind, as long as they are all okay.
They stirred. They blinked. They grumbled. They groaned. But they were all breathing. No one was left to die by the waves or the waters. A bit disoriented, yes, but fine.
Nami rubbed her forehead and finally looked around. Her eyes widened. "Where… are we?"
Sanji sat up, immediately confused and cold, hugging himself. "Why the hell is the ship inside a freezer?! Who put us in this?!"
Chopper shivered, fluffing his fur. "It's melting… look!"
Thin sheets of frost slipped off the walls of the sphere, revealing the sea outside, which was dark, swirling, but growing lighter near the top. Dark beams seemed to bend around to hold the sphere in place.
Robin pressed her fingers to the ice thoughtfully. "This wasn't formed naturally."
Zoro grimaced. "Then who the hell did it?"
Usopp froze. His eyes darted across the deck. He counted heads again. And again. And again, with panic rising with each repetition.
..One person was missing.
"Luffy..?" he called out, hoping Luffy would hear and answer back. Hoping that the rubber-headed captain was in his usual seat or in the cabin. But he was nowhere..
Zoro turned sharply. "Where's Luffy?"
Sanji scanned the deck. "He's not here."
Zoro's expression darkened.
Usopp's breath caught in his throat and came out in a strangled sob. "H-He was right behind us! I KNOW he jumped after us! I saw him! He–he must've–"
He swallowed hard, not wanting to utter the words roaming in his mind as tears rained down through his eyes. "No, no, it can't be–"
"No." Zoro snapped immediately, too quickly, too sharply. He stood up, glaring at Usopp to even utter the words he was thinking. "No. It can't happen again. Luffy wouldn't just… disappear."
Even though Zoro stood, even though he said the words, the others could hear the tremor in his voice, they could see the same fear reflecting in their eyes as each of them scrambled to their feets, determined to search for their wayward captain.
Meanwhile, Franky, still sprawled on the deck and half-dazed, finally sat up. He was dripping wet and looking wildly around like he'd woken up in the wrong universe.
"What the–WHAT IN THE NAME OF SUPER HELL IS ALL THIS?!" he bellowed. "Why am I underwater?! Why is everything frozen?! Where are my guys?! Did the Franky Family make it out?!"
The panic in his voice made the crew wince.
Chopper tried to soothe him, even though his own heart needed reassurance. "We don't know yet… we're still figuring things out."
Franky grabbed his head with both hands. "Oh no… oh no no no… I left them behind… I told them I'd handle the contract and come back… what if they..?!"
"Calm down," Zoro said bluntly, though his own voice was tight. "We'll figure it out."
Sanji lit a cigarette only for the flame to instantly die in the damp air. He swore viciously.
Nami paced the deck, barefoot on the damp boards, trying to make any sense of where Luffy could be and where they were. "If we're underwater, how are we still alive? And what kept the bubble from being crushed?" She looked at the dark silhouettes surrounding the bubble, as the sphere melted, more of the silhouette could be be seen. Doesn't seem that dark at a second glance..
Usopp, shaking like a leaf, pressed a hand against the ice wall, his breath fogging the surface.
"I don't… understand. We should be dead. All of us. That wave was enormous. It looked like it swallowed the whole damn world…"
As the melting ice dripped from above, a shadow suddenly washed over them from the side of the sphere. The massive silhouette, blurred and shifting with the water's movement.
"Something's out there," Chopper whispered, his ears flattening slightly and eyes liting with small hope at the familiar feeling filling his heart.
Robin narrowed her eyes. "It's… large."
"Sea King?" Sanji muttered.
"No," Zoro said quietly, his gaze sharpening. "That shape… it's too… familiar," he said with a sweatdrop as the pieces in his mind clicked one by one. Luffy falling behind them. Turning to a giant. Jumping into the ocean. Blowing a bubble to encase the ship and protect them.
Usopp turned slowly, fear crawling up his spine like icy fingers. Through the thinning bubble wall, a colossal outline came into focus: A giant arm curled around their ice sphere. A giant hand. A giant chest. A massive head with hair drifting like ink and snow.
"Of course! Of course that's where he has to be!" Zoro groaned as he realized the giant was none other than Luffy–or what Luffy had become–before anyone could panic.
Usopp's knees buckled. "N-No way…"
Nami covered her mouth with a trembling hand.
Chopper burst into tears, fearing the worst. "He's–he's out there?! Like that?!"
Zoro stared at his captain in his giant form through the melting ice, unable to hide the worry for him to be in this form for longer. "Why the hell.. Why the hell is he doing it again?"
Chopper tugged anxiously at his fur. "He… he hasn't moved at all."
"Of course he hasn't," Usopp whispered, voice cracking. "He passed out… then fell into the sea. He's… he's been down here this whole time."
Franky turned sharply toward them. "Hey! What exactly are you saying? Humans drown underwater, right? He's a Devil Fruit user. There's no way he.."
His words slammed into an invisible wall when he saw their faces. Because not a single one of the Straw Hats denied it. Not one of them said Luffy was fine. Not one of them offered the usual, reckless optimism.
Because the realization hit all of them at once. That Luffy was unconscious. Luffy was underwater. Luffy was touching seawater directly.
By every rule of the world, by every law of life most understood.. Luffy should be dead.
Chopper covered his mouth. "He shouldn't even be alive right now…"
Usopp's voice broke entirely. "He died saving us. Didn't he..? He… he drowned…"
Nami shook her head violently, her hair flying. "No. No, he can't–he can't die like that. He wouldn't just–Not again–!"
But her voice splintered halfway through.
Zoro, who had been silently staring at Luffy's immense outline outside the bubble, finally exhaled slowly. It wasn't a normal exhale, it was the kind that carried anger, grief, disbelief, and something like… resignation. He closed his eyes and leaned one hand against the icy wall. "…Idiot."
Sanji spun toward him. "Marimo. Don't start with that shit right now–"
But Zoro didn't raise his voice. He didn't scoff. He didn't even sound angry. He sounded tired.
"He didn't die."
Everyone froze.
Nami stared. "Zoro.. what are you talking about?! You see him out there! He's underwater. He's unconscious! He can't even float on the sea without sinking.. He doesn't know how to swim yet!"
"He's breathing." Zoro spoke.
Usopp gaped. "Wh… what?"
Zoro pointed toward the giant Luffy, toward the faint but steady pulsing motion in his chest. It was tiny. Barely visible through the thinning ice. But it was there. Some bubbles would even occasionally from near his nose.
Sanji's breath faltered. "That's–"
Chopper pressed his face to the melting wall, squinting hard. "He's… breathing? But that's impossible! We're underwater!"
Franky whipped toward them, completely lost. "WAIT WAIT WAIT! How the hell is a Devil Fruit user breathing underwater?! What kind of species is he?! IS STRAW HAT A MERMAN?! Is that why he stretches?! Did I just witness a rare merman super transformation?!"
Nami quickly forced a smile so stiff it hurt. "N-No, Franky, don't be stupid, of course Luffy's not a merman!"
"Yeah!" Usopp said, voice cracking two notes higher than normal. "Merfolk don't stretch! Everyone knows that!"
Chopper nodded furiously. "And their hair doesn't turn white!"
Franky raised a brow. "But his hair is whiter right now."
"…Temporary medical condition," Chopper said immediately.
Franky stared at him. "What kind of medical condition makes you turn into a giant goddamn cartoon giant?!"
Before anyone could answer, Zoro spoke again, ignoring all of them. "He can breathe because he's Luffy."
It was said plainly, but there was a gravity behind it, an unspoken truth the crew had slowly begun piecing together ever since Skypiea, ever since everything started to feel… otherworldly around their captain. After all, their captain is Nika. The Sun god. A figure of freedom.
Of course he could breathe underwater.
But none of them said it aloud.
Nami forced her breathing to steady, but her fingers kept clenching and unclenching. Relief washed through her but it didn't last. Because as she glanced up, she saw the cracks. The thin fissures crawling like veins across the bubble's frozen walls, growing faster and faster as the warmth of the shallows melted it from all sides. Every small tremor from their movements, every breath fogging the inner layer… it all pushed the bubble closer to breaking. And if it shattered now, under the surface, they'd be dragged straight into the ocean.
Her voice cut through the space sharply, louder than she intended, but she didn't care. "We need to wake Luffy now!"
Several heads snapped toward her.
"The bubble's giving out!" she shouted, pointing at the spreading cracks. "If we don't wake him up, we'll hit the surface and everything will burst all at once, we'll drown before we can get out!"
That was all it took.
"LUFFY!" Usopp screamed first, cupping his hands around his mouth so tightly his knuckles whitened. "YOU HEAR ME?! WAKE UP BEFORE WE ALL DIE, YOU RUBBER-BRAINED JACKASS!"
"Captain!" Robin called, far more controlled but no less urgent. "Please open your eyes!"
Chopper added his voice, high and desperate. "Luffy! Wake up, wake up! We need you!"
Even Sanji, the normally composed, cigarette-in-mouth calm one, yelled toward the giant silhouette outside the sphere. "OI! LUFFY! ENOUGH SLEEPING! GET YOUR ASS UP!"
Franky joined in, even without understanding the full situation, his mechanical voice echoing against the melting dome. "STRAWHAT! MOVE IT BEFORE WE TURN INTO SCRAP METAL DOWN HERE!"
Nami shouted the loudest, her voice sharp with fear, command, and something deeper. "LUFFY! WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!"
For a heartbeat, nothing changed. But then, outside the bubble, the giant's eyelids twitched. A pulse of energy rolled through his massive frame, subtle but unmistakable. His eyes snapped open. Red, blue and grey. But full of panic. As if waking up to the memory of a thousand tons of water crashing down on him.
His entire body jerked, and then everything happened at once.
A blinding burst of pressure exploded from him as his body expelled the massive amount of air he'd stored to maintain his colossal form. It shot out in a violent, uncontrolled torrent, sending ripples through the entire bubble and the ship was launched upward.
The Merry careened through the water like a cannonball with the scared shrieks of the Strawhats and Franky, the bubble shattering in an eruption of ice shards and foam the moment they pierced the surface. The sea roared around them, waves thrashing violently as they were thrust into the open air.
The deck lurched so hard that Chopper, Usopp, and Franky all toppled over each other. Sanji barely caught Nami before she slid across the boards. Robin braced herself against the mast, eyes narrowed as the chaos tore the world around them apart.
And outside, the giant Luffy burst into a cloud of steam and light, shrinking rapidly. Luffy's massive silhouette compressed and condensed until all that remained was a limp, tiny form floating in the dark of the sea.
Chibi, as if he was a five year old.
The Merry slammed back into the water with a crushing splash, but the force of the launch had shoved them fully above the surface, safe from drowning.
The moment the ship stabilized, Zoro threw off his boots, tossed his swords aside in a single practiced motion, and leapt over the railing. The cold hit him instantly, needles of ice biting into his skin as he cut through the water. He dove straight down.
Luffy was drifting, eyes half-open but unfocused, pupils dilated. His limbs twitched weakly as Zoro reached him, and the moment Zoro wrapped an arm around his chest, Luffy jerked violently.
He gasped a broken, underwater sound, body twisting as if trying to escape. His fingers clawed feebly at Zoro's arm, kicks sluggish but frantic.
Zoro gritted his teeth. "Oi, calm down. It's me."
Luffy didn't seem to hear him. Or maybe he didn't recognize him. His eyes were glazed, confusion and fear swirling in them, primal and childlike in the chibi form. His struggles grew weaker but continued.
Zoro tightened his hold, pulling Luffy's head against his shoulder, locking him in place with practiced rescuing efficiency. "Luffy. Stop. You're safe."
Luffy shuddered before he suddenly stilled. The tension draining from his small body like a cord had been cut. His eyes fluttered once… twice… and then closed. His tiny fingers unclenched, arms falling limp at his sides. He gave the faintest nod, a barely-there surrender.
He recognized the grip. Or the voice. Or simply trusted Zoro enough to stop fighting.
Zoro looked at Luffy, him hiding his face at the crook of his neck, and looked worried. It's okay now, captain.. I got you. He wants to know what happened, but halts. They needed to get out of here first. Hence, he kicked upward, hauling Luffy and himself toward the surface.
On deck, the moment his head broke water, several voices cried out.
"There!" Chopper shouted, tears in his eyes. "ZORO'S GOT HIM!"
Sanji and Franky helped haul them both aboard. As soon as they were lying on the deck, Chopper leapt into motion, immediately taking charge, as if the sight of a little Luffy still clinging to Zoro was a normal sight for them now, except Franky who was gaping at Luffy with confused eyes.
"EVERYONE LINE UP!" he barked, pointing dramatically. "RIGHT NOW! I need to check each of you one by one! NO EXCEPTIONS! You could have internal injuries or hypothermia or–"
Robin stepped forward calmly. "I'll go first."
Chopper nodded in a professional frenzy. "Good! Sit down!!"
Robin sat gracefully, and Chopper pressed his stethoscope to her chest, muttering quick observations.
Usopp hovered anxiously. "Am I next? PLEASE tell me I'm next I think I'm dying–"
"You're fine!" Chopper snapped. "But sit down after Robin!"
Sanji, Nami, and Franky didn't join the line. Instead, they moved toward the railing, their eyes narrowed at the horizon. Or where the horizon should have been. Because there was no sky. No sun. No visible sea-line. Just an endless expanse of suffocating, almost unnatural gloom.
Thick fog pressed around them from every direction, dense enough to swallow light, heavy enough to feel like it clung to their clothes and skin. The world was drowned in gray shadow.
Nami's breath hitched. "Where… are we?"
Franky wiped water from his eyes, staring out with growing unease. "This is… I've never seen fog like this. It's way thicker than any Aqua Laguna's aftermath."
Sanji scanned the waters with a furrowed brow. "There's no visibility. I can't see more than a few meters."
Nami's voice dropped. "And look…"
Sanji followed her gaze to see broken masts poking through the fog like skeletal fingers, shattered hulls drifting aimlessly, whole shipwrecks floated half-submerged, some so old their wood had turned black with rot.
Franky stared, horrified. "How many ships… sank here?"
Sanji exhaled slowly. "Too many to count.."
Nami's shoulders tightened as a chill, not from the sea, but something that crawled down her spine. This place wasn't normal. "Where the hell are we?"
Luffy, still tucked in Zoro's arms like some wet, shivering gremlin plush, peeled his tiny fingers off Zoro's shirt. He pulled back just enough for everyone to see his face–his eyes unfocused, pupils wide, like his mind had drifted somewhere far away. He wasn't blinking. He wasn't even breathing for a second.
Zoro felt his stomach twist. "Oi. Don't do that dissociating crap on me," he said, even though the worry in his voice was way too clear.
Luffy's expression snapped back like nothing happened. "Shishishi! I'm fine, Zoro!" he lied blatantly as he hopped out of Zoro's reluctant hold. (Zoro's hands hovered like he wanted to snatch him right back.)
He landed on the deck with a light thmp, wobbling slightly because he was still chibi-sized. Everyone stared at him with the exact same worry they were trying not to show. Because the last time he turned tiny? He fucking died.
Sanji's cigarette almost slipped out his mouth. Nami's eyes twitched. Usopp had his hands half-raised, ready to catch him if he fell.
But Luffy just waved them off. "Seriously, seriously, I'm okay! I just ran outta air down there. That's it."
The crew, minus Franky and Chopper, exchanged a silently-understood glance, the kind that said: Oh. Right. God stuff. Divine body. Doesn't drown the normal way. But still not okay.
They nodded and went back to what they were doing reluctantly.
Franky looked like someone just slapped him with a fish. "Ran out of AIR? YOU WERE UNDERWATER FOR MORE THAN TEN FREAKIN' MINUTES, BRO! THAT SHOULD'VE KILLED YOU!"
Chopper ignored Franky's yelling and immediately went full doctor mode, poking Luffy's cheeks, checking his eyes, pressing his tiny chest. "Your heartbeat's a little fast, but that is just you being you…"
He handed Luffy a towel.
Luffy wrapped it around himself immediately like a tiny burrito. Blanket acquired. Comfort secured.
Then he looked down at the deck fondly. "Merry did good. She held together. I'm proud of her."
As if on cue, the wood beneath their feet groaned like an exhausted old woman trying to stand after a marathon.
Usopp froze. Sanji closed his eyes and inhaled sharply.
Luffy bit his lip. "…I'm worried about her though."
That was all Usopp needed. Determination set into his eyes like steel. "I'll go see what I can fix." He sprinted below deck, grabbing tools on the way.
Franky followed immediately, excitement replacing his panic. "You got guts, long nose! LET'S PATCH THIS BABY UP!"
Their voices echoed as they disappeared below.
Luffy hugged the towel around himself tighter, eyes scanning the fog-soaked horizon. "…Hey. This place kinda looks like the Florian Triangle."
Nami's jaw dropped. "THE WHAT?! How–HOW FAR DID WE GET SWEPT?!" she started calculating in her head and immediately regretted it.
Before she could spiral further, Luffy froze. But this time he wasn't mentally drifting this time, instead he was far more alert. As a prickling cold ran down his tiny arms with goosebumps littering them. Someone was watching him. And not someone small.
Far in the mist, massive silhouettes shifted, towering forms, each pair of eyes glowing a deep, unnatural red. They weren't close, but they weren't far either. They were… waiting, watching.
Luffy squinted, trying to listen, but he was weak. Too weak to hear the voices of the wind and waves clearly right now. But the moment the giants realized he was looking straight at them, they vanished into the fog.
Not faded. Not walked away. They blinked out of existence like they were never there.
Luffy ran straight to the railing, planting his little hands on the wood. "WAIT! COME BACK!"
His shout made everyone spin around.
"Luffy?!" "What did you see?"
But when they followed his finger, they saw nothing but fog.
Sanji exhaled like the world was personally inconveniencing him. "Too many damn ghost stories in this sea…"
Nami looked ready to cry from frustration. "Why can HE see things none of us can?!"
But Luffy wasn't listening anymore. He was close to the water now. Close enough that finally he could hear his mother's voice.
Her voice echoed inside him like warm waves touching shore. 'My child… I'm sorry for what happened. And yes… you are in the Florian Triangle.'
Luffy's eyes lit up instantly, worry about the figures being forgotten. "OH!! Then, that means Laboon's friends should be around here somewhere!"
He spun toward the crew, beaming, his towel trailing behind him like a cape. "They're here! Rumbar Pirates! A friend of Laboon!"
Franky had no idea what he was talking about. Almost no one had though, until the name Laboon came in. Nami paled. Zoro sighed like he already regretted being alive today.
.
The Merry kept drifting forward, the fog thickening around them like a living thing. As they went deeper, the ocean around them changed, the water darkened, and silhouettes beneath the surface became clearer. Shipwrecks. Hundreds of them. Broken masts, cracked hulls, shredded sails. A floating graveyard.
Even the bravest ones on deck slowed down their breathing.
Nami gripped the wheel tightly, guiding the Merry through the maze of dead ships. "This… this many wrecks shouldn't even be possible," she muttered, her voice trembling.
Zoro pressed a hand to his sword. "Keep your guard up. This place reeks of death."
Sanji lit another cigarette even though the last one was still half-burning. "…Yeah, and the shitty fog isn't helping."
That was when a violin started playing. It was beautifully haunting, almost sad in a way that stabbed straight into the bone.
The entire crew froze instantly.
"NOPE." Usopp slapped his hands over his ears. "Nope, nope, nope! That's a dead man's music! I KNOW it–! I CAN FEEL IT–!"
Even Robin looked tense, her eyes narrowed as if she was trying to find the source of the music. "It's… sorrowful. Someone's grieving."
But Luffy, little wet chibi Luffy wrapped in a towel, perked up like someone just offered him meat.
"OH!! I KNOW THIS TUNE!!" he squeaked, and before anyone could stop him, he opened his tiny mouth and started singing. "Yo-ho-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho~!"
Everyone stared at him like he had lost every last neuron in his brain.
Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth. Nami nearly turned the wheel the wrong direction. Usopp was shaking. Franky looked like he wanted to throw himself overboard. Only Robin, Chopper and Zoro smiled faintly, watching Luffy with fond disbelief.
As he kept singing, a massive, ghostly ship glided silently past them, showcasing them the source of the violin. And standing on its deck, bowing deeply into the fog, was a skeleton in a frilly suit, playing with all the melancholy in the world.
"Sk–Sk–" Usopp's voice cracked, his face pale as if he had seen a ghost which he did believe he had.
"Skeleton," Zoro finished bluntly with wide, unbelievable eyes.
Brook suddenly stopped playing.. turned towards them… and started laughing.
Yohohohohoho! YOHOHOHOHOHO!
A hollow, echoing laugh that sent a violent chill down everyone's spine. Except Luffy. The little idiot was vibrating with excitement. He didn't even hesitate. He sprinted to the railing and jumped. His towel looked like a momentary cape.
"LUFFY!!!" the crew screamed as his tiny body arced through the fog.
He landed on the ghost ship with a soft fwump, towel and all.
For a few seconds, the crew stared at one another, shoving the responsibility around like hot coals.
Usopp shrieked, "YOU go!"
"Hell no. I'm not dealing with a singing skeleton," Zoro shouted back.
Chopper was shaking to his boots. "I can't go! I'll DIE!"
"I'll stay with the ship," Robin and Nami uttered at the same time.
"BRO, I'M NO GHOST FIGHTER!" Franky cried.
Eventually, the universe decided its victims, Nami and Sanji.
Sanji pointed dramatically at Zoro. "THIS IS YOUR FAULT, MARIMO. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO WATCH HIM–"
Zoro shrugged. "Didn't feel like it. And since when does our captain need a babysitter?"
With the rage of a thousand storms, Nami and Sanji finally climbed onto the ghost ship. And what they found almost broke their brains.
Little towel-wrapped Luffy sat cross-legged on the wooden floor with sparkly eyes, looking up at a skeleton like he was meeting Santa Claus.
The skeleton bowed deeply. "–Skull joke! Yohohoho! I am Brook! It is a pleasure to meet the living!"
"HE'S TALKING TO IT," Nami whispered, horrified.
Even worse? Luffy was interviewing him.
"So you died? And came back? Do you poop? Can you eat? Do your bones itch? Do you rattle when you walk? Do you get cold–? Oh wait you're bones!"
As Luffy was asking questions, Brook felt movement from not far and looked in the direction that Nami was in.
"Oh my! Such a beautiful young lady!" Brook suddenly sprang up and bowed. "MAY I SEE YOUR PANTIES?"
Nami punched him so hard the skull spun 180 degrees. Then she froze because she had just punched a dead man and he felt real.
While Sanji started screaming bloody murder at the skeleton for his sheer audacity to ask Nami something like that.
Brook turned his head back the right way with a little click. "Ah, my apologies! That was rude of me. Years alone can do terrible things to one's manners!" The ghost ship creaked under him as he bowed.
Luffy beamed. "He's funny! Come with us, skeleton guy!"
"NOO!!!" Both Sanji and Nami shrieked at once, but they were already doomed.
Brook put a gentle bony hand on Luffy's towel-covered head, treating him like an actual toddler. "You are quite adorable, young one. I would be honored!"
They helped him back onto the Merry. He stepped on deck and looked around in awe. "My word… where did you find such a pristine ghost ship?"
The Straw Hats froze at the sight of the skeleton while Usopp exploded, "MERRY IS NOT A GHOST SHIP!!! She's BEAUTIFUL!! She's STRONG!! She just needs a little fixing! IT'S NOT THAT BAD!!"
Brook bowed repeatedly. "My sincerest apologies! I have not seen a single new ship in decades. Or people."
That hit the crew like a punch. Even Zoro frowned. Chopper wilted behind Robin. Usopp lowered his hammer a little.
Sanji muttered under his breath, "…This is too much undead nonsense for one day," and marched straight into the kitchen. Cooking was easier than dealing with this level of cursed being. Time to see what food they even had.. hopefully it's not all rotten.
The rest of the crew hovered awkwardly on deck, unsure what to do first: inspect the new skeleton guest, fix their half-dying ship, or check whether chibi Luffy was still okay.
Luffy, now mostly dry, wriggled happily in his oversized towel like a hyperactive child on sugar rush. Then he shrugged the towel off entirely as he was dry. A soft, warm glow immediately pulsed from his skin. Not bright, not blinding, just a gentle sunlit aura, the kind that made everyone's shadows stretch faintly on the deck.
Brook stared. Franky stared. Even Zoro squinted like the light offended him personally in this dark sea.
Luffy didn't even notice. He bounced over to Brook with the full enthusiasm of a toddler who'd found a new toy. "Brook! Come on, I wanna show you the whole ship! Look, there's the kitchen, but don't steal food! And that's where Usopp keeps stuff– and oh! Oh! The tangerine trees—"
He reached for Brook's hand.
And the moment his tiny fingers brushed Brook's bony one, two phalanges flickered… turned to dust… and disintegrated. They floated away like ash.
Luffy froze mid-grab, eyes widening in horror.
Brook screamed. "MY FINGERS!!! YOHOHOHO! NO NO NO-! THIS ISN'T A JOKE! WHAT HAVE I DONE!? HAVE I BECOME ALLERGIC TO HUMANS AFTER DEATH!?"
He stared at his hand as if expecting the rest of his arm to pop off next. "Is this how I fade from existence?! First the sun destroys me slowly and now HUMAN CONTACT?!"
Luffy's lip wobbled. "I–I didn't mean to!! I didn't even punch you!! I didn't do anything!! Why'd your fingers disappear?!" He looked genuinely heartbroken, like a kid who accidentally broke a friend's toy and now expected to be grounded for life.
Brook waved his arms hysterically, trying to calm who he thinks is a toddler. "NONONO–! DON'T CRY! IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT! OR IS IT?? WAIT, NAMIIII-SAN PUNCHED ME AND I WAS PERFECTLY FINE! SO WHY! WHY DID YOU–" he gasped theatrically, clutching the place where his heart should be. "DON'T TELL ME I CAN ONLY TOUCH WOMEN SAFELY NOW?!?"
Nami blanched. "EXCUSE ME?!"
Sanji screamed from the kitchen, "IF THAT'S TRUE I'M THROWING YOU BACK INTO THE FOG, YOU BONE PERVERT!!"
Before Brook could spiral further, Luffy panicked and grabbed the towel again, wrapping himself up like a burrito. The glow was dimmed by the towel.
"Sorry!! Sorry sorry sorry! I don't wanna break you! I'll stay covered!! Don't die!" he curled into a little glowing ball, wide-eyed and apologetic.
Robin closed her book with a quiet pat and stepped forward, completely unfazed. "Well… I'm not surprised."
Everyone looked at her.
Robin gave her calm, scholarly shrug. "The skeleton mentioned that only the Sun hurts him, and Luffy is the Sun God, after all."
The deck fell silent as the Strawhats realized what happened, while both Franky and Brook turned exactly the same shade of horrified.
Brook pointed at the towel-wrapped chibi. "HIM?! The tiny glowing child who tried to disintegrate my hand?? A GOD???"
Franky flared a blast from his nose vents. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S A GOD?! YOU CAN'T JUST DROP THAT SUPER INFORMATION CASUALLY!!"
Robin smiled sweetly. "It's hardly a secret among us."
"NO, ROBIN!! IT IS ABSOLUTELY A SECRET!!" Usopp yelled. "WE JUST HAVE YEARS OF TRAUMA TO PROVE IT!"
"Moreover, Luffy wants them in the crew, so they had to know it one day, right captain?" Zoro asked, to which Luffy nodded his head a bit embarrassed.
Brook's skull rattled like a maraca. "What do you mean this tiny god is the captain too? Wait, that makes sense! But then he can disintegrate me? By EXISTING?!"
Luffy peeked out from the towel burrito, eyes big and guilty. "I'm sorry, Brook… I didn't mean to. I'm just… still kinda glowy with the sun's light."
Franky stumbled backward. "GLOWY?! AS IN SOLAR-RADIATION-GLOWY?! AS IN 'DUST-A-SKELETON' GLOWY?!"
Zoro sighed. "He's fine. He just ran outta air. Give him a bit."
"THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN THE SUN POWERS, MARIMO!!" Sanji shrieked from the doorway.
Robin crouched to Luffy's level, gently fixing his towel so it covered more of him. "It's alright, captain. Just stay wrapped until you stabilize."
He nodded miserably.
Brook clutched his partially missing fingers. "Yohohoho… I suppose it is an honor to have been partially vaporized by a deity…?"
"Don't say it like that!!" Nami snapped.
Franky dropped to his knees dramatically. "I'm being scouted for a crew led by a GOD?! WHAT KIND OF SUPER CRAZY PIRATES ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"
Usopp muttered, "The kind that die a lot."
Chopper corrected softly, "Almost die."
Zoro added, "Frequently."
Sanji grumbled, "Daily."
Luffy, wrapped in his towel like a confused dumpling god, sniffed. "…Sorry I dusted two of your fingers, Brook."
Brook brightened instantly. "Oh, don't worry! They'll grow back! Probably! Maybe! YOHOHOHO–!"
Everyone stared.