Rustle…
Luffy forcefully tore through the branches and shrubs blocking his and Robin's path. Suddenly, a cold, eerie graveyard appeared before them.
"Oooh~" Luffy exclaimed cheerfully, staring at a large tree and a unicorn, both caught mid-poker game and now frozen stiff like statues, pretending to be inanimate after being discovered.
This place was the infamous Thriller Bark, a terrifying zombie paradise. Yet to Luffy, it felt more like a childhood trip to the zoo, curiosity bubbling up inside him, wanting to see everything, touch everything.
He glanced left and right at the bizarre-looking undead creatures around them. A bold idea suddenly sprang to life in his mind:
I'm gonna beat Moria and test things out properly!
Luffy could hardly wait to conquer the island.
Just then, a flurry of footsteps echoed from ahead.
"Hurry! He's waking up!"
"Lady Perona said to toss him into the Florian Triangle! We can't make her sad!"
"But... won't he die if we dump him in the sea?"
"Idiot! Just put him on a boat!"
"Ohh, right!!"
Three odd squirrel-like creatures darted past some distance away from Luffy and Robin, chattering away while carrying something. Apparently too engrossed in conversation, they didn't notice the two at all.
"Hey, I heard Absalom-sama said another poor soul landed on the island!"
"Yup, and apparently there's a girl too. Absalom-sama went to check her out!"
"Still the same old Absalom-sama, huh?"
Their voices faded as the trio of gossipy squirrel-things disappeared.
Robin glanced over her shoulder. Behind her, Luffy was holding onto a bloodied, gagged monster by a vine leash.
The creature wore extravagant clothes but had a hideous beast-like face, wild blond hair, and a grotesquely large mouth full of jagged teeth.
Earlier, as she and Luffy wandered through the forest, Robin had sensed something off in the air.
Suddenly, Luffy, who had been walking ahead, threw a punch behind Robin without warning. The creature revealed itself and collapsed instantly.
"He might be useful," Luffy had said before tying him up and dragging him along like a pet.
"Hey Robin! Look over there!" Luffy suddenly pointed ahead, laughing.
Robin followed his gaze, and her eyes widened.
In the center of the island stood a massive, ominous castle. Towering above it were three colossal wooden masts piercing the sky. From each mast hung a massive sail.
The central sail was painted jet black, bearing the image of a flaming bat-like skull. The whole structure was, in fact, one enormous pirate ship.
Robin was completely stunned. Even though Luffy had told her about it, seeing it with her own eyes was something else entirely. She stared at the flapping sails and whispered, "So this is... Thriller Bark?"
"Yeah," Luffy replied, a little impressed himself. "It's incredible."
Anyone who could command such a ship clearly wasn't ordinary.
"But still," Luffy straightened up, eyes shining with determination as he looked toward the sky,
"One day, we'll have an even better ship! One that carries our dreams and takes us across these seas!"
"Dreams...?" Robin murmured, confused.
"Yeah, your dream too, Robin!"
Robin paused. In the past, she had only lived because Saul once told her that as long as she survived, something good would eventually happen. And he was right, she had survived.
But what about now? What dreams did she have?
Visions of her mother and Professor Clover flashed in her mind. Was it the truth of history she longed for?
No... not just that.
Then what was it?
She looked into Luffy's clear, bright eyes, so warm, yet so powerful.
I know what I want now.
Robin smiled softly and whispered, "I hope I get to board that ship soon."
"You will, very soon!"
─────────🏴☠️─────────
"Ahh, my back hurts! Even though I technically don't have a back!" Brook groaned, slowly regaining consciousness and realizing he had been dumped back onto his ship.
He stood up and patted his bony body, everything seemed intact.
"Wait… that creepy guy!"
Suddenly, memories came rushing back. Just before he blacked out, he saw Moria grinning maniacally, holding giant scissors and slicing away Brook's shadow.
He looked down, sure enough, no shadow.
He rushed to a mirror. Nothing.
"I can't lose my shadow…" Brook muttered seriously for once.
He didn't know that losing his shadow meant death under sunlight, but his soul instinctively screamed one thing: I must get my shadow back.
─────────🏴☠️─────────
Meanwhile, Luffy casually pushed open the massive castle doors. With Robin by his side, he dragged the unconscious Absalom inside.
Back in the graveyard, a pile of corpses had appeared, every one of them twisted and bent at odd angles, unable to move.
Suddenly, a round, pudgy head slipped off the top of the pile and hit the ground with a thud.
"Ouch!"
In a bizarre turn, the head spoke. It spun around to look at its surroundings and screamed, "Hey! Wake up, everyone! I can't move!"
One by one, the corpses opened their eyes. The quiet graveyard turned into a chaotic marketplace.
"Help! I'm stuck!"
"Who's on top of me?!"
"Somebody, I can't move!"
"What the heck happened?!"
Dozens of zombies all started whining at once.
The round-headed one tried to recall, "I think… a guy and a girl came into the graveyard. We tried to ambush them. Hid underground, and then, bam, suddenly couldn't move. Next thing I knew, I blacked out…"
Disjointed as it was, that was all he could remember.
Earlier, as Luffy and Robin walked through the graveyard, Luffy had sensed these dim-witted zombies long before they made a move. Since they were half-buried and not doing much, he ignored them.
But just as the two were about to leave the graveyard, the zombies suddenly jumped out, startling Robin, who had been focused on inspecting Luffy's hair.
In response, she unleashed a Hundred Flower Bloom, petals swirling as dozens of elegant arms sprouted and twisted every zombie's joints.
They were immobilized, yet still fully conscious, instantly turning into a noisy mess.
Annoyed by the racket, Luffy silenced them with a blast of Conqueror's Haki, overkill, like using a cannon to kill mosquitoes.
A pitiful bunch, really…
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