Everyone was so focused on listening to Sherwin tell his story that no one noticed Brook arrival… After all, the skeleton had no heartbeat or breathing sounds at all.
Except for Sherwin, who never forgot to keep his Observation Haki active even while storytelling.
As a result, everyone else (including the Felynes) was completely startled.
"G–ghost!"
Shermie had the biggest reaction—she immediately threw out a bolt of lightning! Brook couldn't react in time and was struck head-on, collapsing to the ground with smoke rising from his entire body.
Sherwin, speechless, pressed down on Shermie arm to stop her from attacking again.
"Did you forget that we came here looking for this skeleton?"
"W–who told you to tell such a scary story just now, Sherwin-dear meow!" Shermie turned her head away in embarrassment.
The two little Felynes curled up in Sherwin arms quietly stuffed their bombs and potion bottles back into their pouches.
Sherwin: "…"
"Well, uh, are you all right?" Sherwin stepped over to the fallen Brook and poked at his afro with curiosity.
"Logically speaking, you're just a pile of bones. That lightning strike shouldn't have done any real damage to you…"
"Ah, you're right!" Brook, who had been motionless, suddenly sat straight up. "I forgot that I'm nothing but bones now—yohohoho!"
Standing up, Brook straightened his suit and lifted the top hat on his skull.
"Yohohoho! Hello, everyone. My apologies just now—your ghost story was so fascinating I completely forgot to greet you."
Then his eye sockets turned toward Robin standing behind Sherwin, and he instantly leaned closer.
"What a beautiful lady! I simply adore looking at lovely women… though I'm just a skeleton, so I don't actually have eyes."
Robin smiled softly but didn't say a word.
Brook immediately followed up, "May I see your panties?"
"There are children here, you idiot skeleton!"
An enraged Sherwin slammed his fist down, smashing Brook flat onto the deck. How could he have forgotten that this guy was a total pervert too?
"Yohohoho! My apologies! It just… it been so long since I've seen a living person, I got a little carried away."
Brook climbed back up from the deck again, scratching at his afro as he apologized—then tilted his skull curiously toward Purah Meow, who was staring at him with shining eyes.
"This adorable little Felyne lady, is there something you need from me?"
"It really a moving and talking skeleton, meow!"
(=ω=)
Purah Meow threw herself at Brook leg and began dragging him toward the lab.
"Everything else can wait—let me study you properly first, meow! Check it!"
"W–wait! What do you mean by study me?!" Brook panicked instantly, struggling to break free.
But Purah Meow was ready. She whipped out a piece of seastone, leapt onto Brook body, and shoved it right into his eye socket. Instantly, Brook went limp and collapsed onto the deck for the third time with a thud.
"Help! Murder! Someone killing me!" Brook shouted in panic as he lay on the floor—then, in classic fashion, couldn't resist adding, "Even though I'm already dead!"
"Meowhahaha! Sherwin-nii, this skeleton is so much fun, meow!"
Klee Meow leaned close to Brook, curiosity sparkling in her eyes. "If we pull your head off, can you still move around freely, meow?"
"Of course not! If you do that, I'll really die this time!"
Brook was so terrified it felt like even his hair might fall out—how could these adorable-looking cats be so terrifying one after another?!
"No, actually, as long as his bones aren't damaged, just detaching the head shouldn't be a problem,"
Sherwin recalled that in the manga, Brook head had fallen off before without any issue.
However—
"You two should at least remove the seastone before experimenting. I'm not sure if his Yomi Yomi no Mi will still work under these conditions."
Sherwin warned Purah Meow and Klee Meow, who were both tugging eagerly at Brook afro, getting ready to pull his head off.
"You should've said that sooner!" Brook cried, feeling his neck starting to loosen.
Then he suddenly realized, "Wait—how do you know I ate the Yomi Yomi no Mi?"
"Actually, we came here specifically to find you." Sherwin took out a Den Den Mushi and began dialing Crocus as he explained.
"Because you and your crew left behind Laboon, Mr. Crocus has been taking care of him all these years—it been really hard on him."
Just as the line connected, Sherwin spoke into the receiver, "Mr. Crocus, this is Sherwin. I've found Brook."
After saying that, he placed the Den Den Mushi beside Brook and casually reached into the skeleton eye socket to remove the seastone.
"The rest… you can talk to Mr. Crocus yourself."
Sherwin picked up the still-excited Purah Meow and Klee Meow, who were clearly itching to experiment further, and carried the two little ones off to the side.
"Ah, thank you so much!"
After a while, Brook came over, wiping the tears from his eye sockets and sincerely thanking Sherwin.
Sherwin casually waved his hand, then, along with the Felynes, curiously stared into Brook empty eye sockets, wondering where those tears had even come from.
"So amazing, meow! You're nothing but bones, yet you can talk and even cry! I'm getting more and more curious to study you, meow! Check it!"
(ゝω)~☆
Klee Meow tilted her little head up and asked directly, "Mr. Skeleton, where do your tears come from, meow?"
Haibara Meow, another research-loving cat, also came closer, voicing her own curiosity,
"Do you drink water regularly? And where do you store it? Since you can take your head off without any problem, can I dissect you, meow?"
"Eek—!"
Brook suddenly remembered that there was still a group of dangerous cats staring right at him.
"W-Wait! I'm already a skeleton! There nothing left to dissect! Please, help me out here!" He turned to Sherwin for rescue.
"Alright, alright, calm down, everyone. Don't scare him like that." Sherwin pulled the Felynes away from Brook.
"The powers of Devil Fruits don't follow logic anyway. Even if you tried studying them, you wouldn't figure anything out.
You'd be better off asking him about the underworld after death—or maybe have him try an out-of-body experience. That'd be more practical."
As Master Xun once said: If you want to open a window and no one agrees, just say you'll tear the roof off instead—then they'll gladly let you open the window.
Brook case was similar. As long as the Felynes didn't put him on an operating table, he was willing to answer almost anything they asked.
However, when he was resurrected back then, his consciousness had been rather hazy.
So, his memories of the underworld weren't very clear—he only remembered it as a place filled with bone-chilling cold.
As for the out-of-body state, before meeting Sherwin and the others, Brook had never even considered such a thing.
So, at that time, he didn't know how to do it. But with the assistance (or rather, torment) of the Felynes,
he somehow managed to master—within a short time—the very ability that took him two years to develop in the manga.
"Yohohoho! I can't believe I actually managed to leave my body!" Brook exclaimed in his ghost form, floating beside Sherwin with surprise.
"Why does it feel like you understand the Yomi-Yomi Fruit powers better than I do?"
"The Yomi-Yomi Fruit isn't new," Sherwin replied casually, half bluffing.
"Its previous users already developed this ability. It said that once the fruit is fully mastered, one attacks can even carry the chill of the underworld itself."
While saying that, Sherwin experimentally poked at Brook ghostly form. He found that where his hand sank into the soul, he could faintly feel a cold sensation.
So, the "underworld chill" Brook used later on might actually just be the natural cold of his own spirit, not something drawn directly from the underworld.
Brook clearly couldn't answer such detailed questions right now, so Sherwin didn't bother asking further.
Instead, he coated his hand with Armament Haki and reached for Brook soul again.
"Ahhh!" Brook yelped in panic, struggling as Sherwin held onto him. "What are you doing?! How can you grab my soul?! Let go! This feels so weird!"
Satisfied with his curiosity, Sherwin released his hand. Brook quickly flew back into his body, patting his skull to make sure everything was still intact. Only then did he let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Whew—! I thought you'd actually poked holes in my head… Wait! Where are my ribs?!"
While Brook soul had been out, Haibara Meow had quietly removed two of his ribs.
Now she tapped the bones together curiously and asked, "If I knock your bones like this, can you feel it, meow?"
"Of course not!"
Brook angrily snatched his ribs back and carefully fitted them into place again.
Haibara Meow didn't mind at all. She turned to Purah Meow, and the two of them began discussing enthusiastically…
"The bones on his body have sensation, but once removed, there none. It seems our hypothesis was correct—his soul is the core component, meow."
"Then let proceed with the second experiment! To think this world truly has souls and an underworld—it just too fascinating, meow! Check it!"
(ゝω)~☆
Then, the two Felynes placed a dead Airfish in front of Brook, urging him to try possessing the fish corpse with his soul.
Brook: "…"
"Don't look at me. The most I can do is guarantee your safety—anything else is beyond me." Sherwin spread his hands, looking helpless.
"If you don't satisfy their curiosity, they'll never stop pestering you."
Of course, the main reason was… whether it was Sherwin or Haibara Meow, both were very curious about Haibara Meow and Purah Meow experiment results, so naturally, neither of them tried to stop them.
On Brook skull face, there was an expression of clear frustration that anyone could recognize.
"I can cooperate with you," he said, "but don't touch my body again! Especially my afro!" He laid down the rule with the two research Felynes.
"No problem, meow!" ×2
After the agreement was made, Brook once again let his soul leave his body and dove straight into the corpse of the sky fish.