The scene rewinds thirty minutes earlier.
At this moment, Franky and Nico Robin were facing an enormous Spider Monkey.
Their Pirate Ship had been caught on a giant Spider Web precisely because of this creature.
"Dammit, why won't this guy die?" Franky exclaimed.
He had already relentlessly attacked the Zombie with his Giant Nunchaku, but it had no effect at all.
.
"Hahahaha~"
"Fool, I'm a Zombie! What effect could such attacks possibly have on me?!" The Spider Monkey laughed mockingly. "I refuse to believe it!"
An enraged Franky charged forward again, pummeling the Spider Monkey until he forcibly flipped it over.
"Hmph, seems quite effective after all," Franky snorted coldly.
"You let your guard down..."
"What?"
Suddenly, several figures emerged from the shadows, shooting Spider Silk at blinding speed, completely immobilizing Franky and Robin.
"Oh no—"
Nico Robin's expression immediately darkened. The Spider Silk was too fast; she couldn't dodge it.
Glancing at the descending swarm of Mouse Spiders, Franky cursed, "What the hell are these things?!"
"Ahahaha!"
Watching the two trapped on the ground, the Spider Monkey burst into laughter. "Fools, still trying to resist us?"
"Under the ambush of our Spider Legion, no enemy can escape!"
After saying this, the Spider Monkey stepped forward slightly, sneering at the two. "Soon, you'll join your companions—stripped of your Shadows by our master."
"Shadows..."
"Companions?"
This news made their expressions turn even grimmer.
"Alright, time to reunite you with your friends," the Spider Monkey declared.
But just as he finished speaking, the sound of a man humming a tune grew louder and closer. "Yohohoho~"
"Yohoho~"
"Yohohoho~"
"Yohoho~"
"What's that noise?" the Spider Monkey wondered.
"Wait, boss—it's him!!" the Mouse Spider shrieked in terror. "It's the Humming Man!!"
That terrifying figure who wielded the power to purify them!
"What?!"
Hearing that Brook was approaching, the Spider Monkey's face paled. But before he could react, a man's silhouette appeared right in front of him.
"Alright, I'm done cutting~"
"Hmm?"
"Humming Three-Verse Arrow-Tail Cut!!"
"Thwack!!"
As Brook sheathed his sword, a terrifying force split the Spider Monkey's head clean in two!!
The Mouse Spiders met the same fate, their bodies sliced apart, rendered immobile.
"Ahhh!!"
Amid the screams, Brook tossed salt into their mouths, forcibly purifying them.
"What did you just use?!" Franky gasped in shock.
The creature he couldn't kill no matter how hard he tried—how did Brook finish it off in one strike?
What was that?!
"Salt," Brook nodded. "Salt can purify these Zombies."
"Salt?!" Franky exclaimed in disbelief. "Why?"
"Perhaps it's because seawater is the natural enemy of Devil Fruit users," Brook pondered for a moment before speaking.
After saying this, he turned and severed all the spider silk binding the two, freeing them from their restraints.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." Brook shook his head, then asked, "Didn't I tell you to leave? Why did you still come ashore?"
"Because that idiot Luffy wanted to help you get your shadow back."
"Mr. Luffy..."
Brook fell silent for a moment before chuckling, "What a kind person indeed."
"Yohohoho~"
To say he wasn't moved would be a lie, but what could he possibly offer in return now?
"Now, can you tell us what's going on with this island?" Nico Robin asked.
"Very well."
Taking a deep breath, Brook began, "First, I must inform you that our enemy this time is one of the Royal Shichibukai—Gekko Moria!"
"The Shichibukai?"
Franky raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised they'd encounter such a figure.
"Mhm. And then?" Nico Robin replied calmly.
"Huh?!"
"You're that calm about it?!"
Brook stared at Nico Robin in shock, never expecting such a composed reaction. This was one of the Shichibukai they were talking about!
"Our captain aims to become the Pirate King. Why should I fear the Shichibukai?" Nico Robin countered.
Besides, it wasn't as if they hadn't fought Shichibukai before.
With their current strength, defeating another one wasn't impossible!
"That's... quite the bold statement."
"From what that bastard earlier implied, some of my crewmates have had their shadows stolen," Franky said. "Why would he take our shadows?"
"Because Moria can use shadows to create zombies!"
"Create zombies?"
Franky looked puzzled, instinctively glancing at the zombie corpses on the ground. Were these things really revived using shadows?
"Correct." Brook explained, "Using his Shadow-Shadow Fruit powers, he can steal people's shadows."
"Then, by implanting those shadows into corpses, the bodies are revived as Moria's most loyal soldiers."
"The stronger the corpse and shadow, the more powerful the resulting zombie."
"I see. So that's why Moria targeted us," Franky mused, stroking his chin.
No wonder they'd been captured—with their strength, it'd be strange if they weren't noticed.
"But where does Moria get so many powerful corpses?" Nico Robin eyed the Spider Monkey. "This one appears to have been modified, too."
Without specialized skills, such modifications wouldn't be possible. Was Moria secretly a surgeon?
"That's thanks to a man named Hogback."
"Hogback, huh."
"You know him?" Franky asked, surprised.
"Yes. He's an extremely renowned surgeon," Nico Robin nodded. "In medical circles, practically everyone knows of him."
"With him around, Moria would indeed have no shortage of powerful modified corpses."
As she spoke, Nico Robin thought of Chopper. She wondered if it was Hogback's reputation as a doctor that had lured Chopper away.
The likelihood wasn't low at all.
"Yohohoho, this lady is truly knowledgeable~" Brook laughed.
"Just read a few more books, that's all."
"You're being modest. There are very few people as learned as you."
Brook still maintained respect for scholars.
Nico Robin simply smiled at this, saying nothing more.
"Anyway... with Hogback around, Moria can obtain many powerful Modified Corpses," Brook continued. "A powerful Shadow combined with a powerful corpse is equivalent to reviving a formidable individual."
"This way, there's no need for disobedient humans."
"That's why this island is filled with Zombies—because they're completely loyal to Moria!"
"No need for human subordinates, huh..." Franky stroked his chin. "Seems this guy's been through some things."
Had he suffered betrayal from his subordinates?
"What happens after someone's Shadow is stolen?" Nico Robin asked. "Is there any danger?"
Though Brook was still alive, that might be an exception. Nico Robin didn't want to gamble.
"Don't worry, they won't die," Brook said. "The existence of a Shadow depends entirely on the life state of its owner."
"Once the owner dies, the Shadow disappears. So Moria won't kill them—at most, he'll throw them back on their ship."
"If you return now, you should be able to find them."
"Later, if you want to reclaim your Shadows, you can come back to the island and challenge them."
At this point, Brook paused before adding, "If I'm still alive by then, I'll help you."
"Well then... farewell, you two~"
Seeing Brook's resolute expression, Franky instinctively asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Of course, I'm going to reclaim my Shadow," Brook replied without turning back. "I made a promise to my crewmate—I must return to see him."
"He... has been waiting for us for a very, very long time."
At the thought of that little whale from long ago, Brook's body trembled slightly.
A promise decades overdue—who knew how that little guy was doing now?
After a moment of silence, Franky asked, "Even in your current state, you're still going?"
"Of course I'm going!" Brook said fervently. "I must go!"
Even after decades of death, even without knowing whether the other was still waiting—he had to go!
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Brook said, "Sorry..."
"I have matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave now. You two, please do as you wish."
"Hey, skeleton, you do realize your current condition, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"You should know what kind of reaction your appearance would provoke in ordinary people," Franky said. "Fear, horror, terror..."
"That's probably how most would react upon seeing you."
Not everyone was like them—inviting a moving skeleton back for dinner.
But if Brook returned to meet his crewmate, only to be seen as a monster... how cruel would that be for him?
Thinking of this, Franky said, "Aren't you afraid..."
Franky didn't finish his sentence, but Brook understood his meaning.
"Like I said before," Brook declared firmly, "Even so, I must go!"
"Is that so..." Franky lowered his crossed arms, speaking seriously. "What kind of promise could make you willing to drift alone on the sea for decades without changing your mind... What exactly is it?"
Brook paused briefly before replying, "You really are... such a nosy fellow~"
He understood what the other meant—this was a reminder that things might not turn out as hoped. Yet even so, it wouldn't change his resolve.
Turning back, Brook looked at Franky and said, "It happened long ago..."
"Back then, our Rumbar Pirates had to reluctantly leave a companion behind at Twin Cape."
"It was an unbearably painful farewell."
"Twin Cape?"
Nico Robin blinked in surprise. She knew of that place—a lighthouse at the entrance to the Grand Line. So they had ties to that location?
"Yes, Twin Cape," Brook nodded. "We promised that no matter what happened, we'd definitely return there."
"But... our entire crew perished in these waters, making it impossible to keep our promise."
"Yet I believe that even if I'm the only one left, I have a duty to tell him!"
"Come to think of it... it's been fifty years since the day we died."
"F... fifty years?!" Franky exclaimed incredulously. "That was so long ago—I wasn't even born then..."
"Though it's cruel to say... after all this time, there's no way that guy could have waited for you so long—"
Before Franky could finish, an agitated Brook interrupted, "What right do I have to decide he's stopped waiting?!"
"What if he kept believing in our promise and waited there all this time?"
"Torn between feeling betrayed and refusing to accept it, waiting there alone for fifty years... How much pain must he have endured?!"
Hearing Brook's words, Franky was stunned.
This man didn't care what happened to himself, yet was so deeply concerned about this so-called companion... Would nothing change his mind, even if the other might have died of old age?
"But fifty years is enough for any normal person to—"
"No, fifty years wouldn't be enough for him to die of old age," Brook stated decisively.
"Why not?"
"Because he's an Island Whale—their lifespans far exceed humans!" Brook's eyes glimmered with nostalgia. "We named him Laboon. Back then, the little guy was only about this big."
As he spoke, Brook gestured with his hands before continuing, "Even after fifty years, he couldn't have died of old age."
As long as nothing unexpected happened, that little one would surely be alive and well—after all, Island Whales live for centuries!
"Wh...whale?!" Franky said in disbelief. "Your companion is actually a whale?!"
Nico Robin was also taken aback, never expecting that the so-called companion would be a whale. This was completely beyond her expectations.
"Yes, a whale," Brook laughed. "That little fellow loved our music so much that it followed us all the way from the West Blue to the entrance of the Grand Line..."
"Perhaps after we left, it spent every day waiting for us to return."
At this point, Brook's smile faded, and his body began to tremble slightly.
Gripping his cane sword tightly, his voice shaking, he said, "For fifty years, I've stared at the sky every day, dreaming of the moment I'd see Laboon again."
"But what I imagined most was that little fellow out on the ocean, gazing at the sky, crying out in pain..."
"Howling..."
"As if asking why we never came back, why we abandoned it..."
"Every time I think of that, it feels like my heart is being torn apart."
Brook fell silent for a moment before shouting with immense determination, "A real man makes a promise to return—even if he has to crawl back from death itself!"
Thud!
As he spoke, Brook forcefully planted his cane sword into the ground.
"You..."
Franky watched Brook's back, feeling deeply moved. Even after fifty years, even if his companion was just a whale, even if he didn't know whether it would still be waiting... or even if it would forgive him...
None of that had changed this man's resolve.
Franky's heart was shaken.
"If we meet again alive, let's share a drink together," Brook said. "I'll tell you more about our story then."
With that, he walked away without looking back. This time, Franky didn't try to stop him.
He simply watched as this true man departed.
What reason could there be to stop a man from fulfilling his promise?
After hearing Franky's account, Luffy and the others were stunned.
"So Laboon was waiting for Brook all this time?!"
"Huh?"
"You know him?" Franky asked, surprised.
"We do!!" Usopp exclaimed excitedly. "We met that giant whale, Laboon, at Twin Cape!"
"Eh?" Chopper looked puzzled. "Who's that?"
"Ah, it makes sense you wouldn't know," Usopp explained. "You guys hadn't joined the crew yet at that time."
"It was a huge whale we met in the Grand Line—Laboon."
"I know about it~" Merry chimed in.
Though she couldn't speak back then, she had been aware of the giant whale.
Usopp gave her a surprised look but quickly understood after recalling her earlier explanation about her consciousness.
Meiser, meanwhile, felt a pang of emotion. Though he hadn't been with the Straw Hat Pirates during that time, he had still accompanied them in his own way.
This mutual devotion moved him deeply.
"To think Laboon was waiting for Brook all along..." Zoro mused. "What a twist of fate."
"That big guy gave us quite a hard time back then."
Seeing Nami also looking nostalgic, Franky couldn't help but ask, "What exactly happened?"
"This is quite a long story," Sanji said. "Anyway... that giant whale really does live at Twin Cape."
As he spoke, a reminiscent look appeared in Sanji's eyes. "There was an old man there who told Brook that his crew had died, but that big guy refused to believe it."
"So every day he would ram into the Red Line, as if... as if he could break through it to find his friends on the other side."
"Even when he hurt himself badly, he never stopped."
"And so, in his own way, he lived like that for decades..."
"If Luffy hadn't taken the initiative to make a new promise with him back then, he might still be ramming into the continent and hurting himself," Nami said.
"Now, he must still be alive, watching the Red Line from the other side of the sky, waiting for his friends to return."
Their words deeply moved Franky.
"So not only did Brook remember this promise for fifty years, but the other party did too..."
"This... this is so touching!"
"Ahhh!!"
"Whether it's a skeleton or a whale, I love them both!" Franky cried loudly.
He really admired such manly spirits, which moved him to tears.
"Keeping a promise to each other for 50 years..." Usopp wiped his eyes and said, "That's amazing!"
The others also looked shocked. They never imagined someone could maintain such a promise for a full fifty years—it was truly astonishing.
Luffy, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly grinned with his teeth showing.
"This is... really exciting."
"Brook is a musician, a living skeleton, and most importantly, his friend..."
"Even if I have to drag him by force, I'll bring him aboard and make him our crewmate."
"What do you guys think?"
"No objections!!"
This time, the entire Straw Hat Pirates agreed unanimously. This skeleton was a man of deep loyalty and righteousness—he would make a great crewmate!
Hearing his crew's resolute response, Luffy grinned widely. "Alright, guys! Let's go beat up that bastard Moria and get our crewmate back!"
"YEAHHH!!"
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