"Are… are you a man or a ghost?!"
Krel's eyes bulged in disbelief as he stared at the unnerving figure before him.
The creature had no flesh, just exposed white bones, yet stood tall and firm. It had no throat, yet spoke in a deep, resonant voice. And though it should be long dead, the aura it gave off was so overwhelming that Krel felt it hard to breathe.
The Grand Line… truly lives up to its name.
He hadn't even fully entered its waters, yet bizarre things were already happening. Clearly, his so-called "preparations" had been woefully inadequate.
Just now, he'd unleashed an attack he had painstakingly charged up over time, yet the skeleton before him had deflected it with ease.
This was no ordinary opponent.
Krel's fiery glare gradually cooled into calm calculation as he stared at Brook with renewed caution.
The pirates around them, who had been resting or injured on the ground, scrambled to ready themselves. Those still holding weapons raised them, watching Brook with wary eyes.
"Yohohoho~"
Brook's aura suddenly surged.
A ghostly wind swept out from his skeletal body, swirling outward in a chilling gust. Yet strangely, it stirred no dust, only an unnatural silence followed in its wake. The earth seemed drained of life. Even the sunlight dimmed, as if the world itself were holding its breath.
"I am the Soul King, Brook, chief musician of the Starry Sky Pirates."
His eerie voice rang out, sending shivers through the spines of the Krel Pirates.
Though the midday sun still burned overhead, a cold dread gripped their hearts, as if something were about to rip free from their very souls.
"Might I ask you all to pardon Laboon's recklessness?"
"Though… I no longer have a face to save, yohohoho~"
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"Oooh~?"
A ripple of recognition stirred in Laboon's heart at Brook's voice. But having experienced similar dreams and illusions many times before, the giant whale remained hesitant, letting out a low, uncertain cry.
Brook, however, didn't turn around.
With trembling restraint, he spoke gently over his shoulder:
"Laboon... it's me. Let me finish things here first… then we'll catch up."
He didn't dare look at the whale behind him, not even once.
Because he knew… the tears welling in his empty eye sockets were dangerously close to falling.
"Ooooh?"
Laboon let out another uncertain call.
The voice and silhouette were all too familiar. Slowly, tears gathered in the corners of his massive eyes, and then began to roll down.
Each teardrop, from a creature his size, could weigh hundreds of pounds.
"BWOOOOOOOH!!!"
His excited cry echoed across the sea, carrying raw emotion into the skies.
But in the end, Laboon listened. He dove quietly beneath the surface, hovering just below the waves, watching Brook silently from the deep.
─────────🏴☠️─────────
Brook steadied himself, holding back the tears. He gathered his composure and turned back to Krel and his crew.
"I saw everything just now. As Laboon's friend, allow me to offer compensation on his behalf."
Brook's voice was polite, yet his tone left no room for argument.
Krel frowned.
Glancing around, he realized his crew had also been shaken by Brook's pressure, and by Laboon's deafening cry. Though their hands still gripped their weapons, their eyes had already lost focus.
"B-Boss…" One of the more resilient crewmembers, Krel's first mate, spoke up nervously.
"He… he's from the Starry Sky Pirates!!"
"The what now?" Krel raised an eyebrow.
Normally only concerned with fighting, he left all intelligence and planning to others. Seeing his first mate's serious expression, he asked in a low voice:
"What are the Starry Sky Pirates?"
The first mate swallowed hard. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple as he explained in a tight, anxious voice:
"The Starry Sky Pirates are led by one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Monkey D. Luffy. They're a mysterious crew that suddenly rose to power. In just this past year, over twenty infamous pirate crews from across the Grand Line tried to challenge them… but none ever returned. They simply vanished without a trace."
"To this day, no one's seen the true face of their captain… Monkey D. Luffy."
But before the first mate could finish his warning, Krel suddenly grinned, his tongue sliding across his lips in excitement.
His eyes sparkled like those of a wild beast.
"Oh? One of the Warlords, huh…"
"Captain, don't tell me you're thinking, " The first mate looked panicked.
"A Warlord of the Sea… would make the perfect stepping stone for my rise to power! Hahahaha!"
Krel, the so-called invincible tyrant of the West Sea, had always been arrogant.
His Logia powers made him nearly untouchable in his home territory, and that confidence had made him fearless, even reckless.
But it was precisely this boldness that attracted a powerful crew to his side.
─────────🏴☠️─────────
"Cloud Demon! Sheep Cloud Barrier!"
With a thunderous BOOM, Krel slammed his fist into the ground. A burst of mist exploded behind him as tufts of white cloud emerged from his back.
The clouds twisted and danced, moving like living creatures. In moments, they fused into a massive, translucent dome, only visible from inside. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a drifting cloud bank.
It surrounded Krel's crew, shielding them from the battlefield.
"Captain Krel!"
"Wait, don't go alone!"
His crew cried out, but their voices were muffled within the dome.
The vibrations of their shouts were absorbed into the soft, wool-like surface of the cloud barrier. Outside, the world had gone completely silent.
The dust settled.
Krel stood alone.
His body shimmered with layers of fog, wisps of cloud drifting upward into the sky. Gradually, they coalesced into a dense cloud mass overhead.
He stepped forward, eyes locked onto Brook.
"So, you're one of the Starry Sky Pirates, huh? I heard that if someone kills your captain, they'll become world-famous. Is that true?"
He smirked, completely unfazed by Brook's eerie appearance or bone-chilling aura.
─────────🏴☠️─────────
Hsssssss...
Suddenly, the air turned icy.
A dark, unnatural cold spread across the clearing, coating the ground with a sparkling layer of frost.
It was like a gust of wind from the abyss had swept over the land.
Brook raised his head slowly.
Gone was the cheerful tone from moments earlier.
Now he radiated the pure terror a skeleton should. Shadows veiled his face, and the tip of his bone-white sword touched the earth with a chilling clink.
"Did you just say… you want to kill Luffy-san?"
His voice echoed strangely, layered, as if a hundred whispers spoke from all directions at once. It was both angry and condescending, full of fury and disdain.
The sound struck Krel like a dagger to the brain. For a moment, his thoughts blanked.
His body screamed to run.
To flee this nightmare.
But Krel's willpower was formidable.
He clenched his fists and steadied his mind.
He knew he couldn't hesitate any longer, because if he did, he might never find the courage to strike again.
With a deep grunt, Krel's body transformed into a swirling mass of deep blue cloud. He floated skyward like a heavy thunderhead. The clouds above responded, merging into his form.
His body swelled and expanded.
Soon, a towering ten-meter-tall cloud giant hovered above Brook.
"Rain Cloud Titan: Acid Rain!"
The massive cloud-being opened its gaping mouth, and a torrent of reddish rain poured from the sky.
The downpour centered on Brook, hissing as it struck the ground.
Where the rain landed, it corroded the earth, eating holes into the iron-rich surface of the Red Line.
Brook sighed, a puff of cold mist escaping his mouth.
He glanced at the bubbling, pitted earth and muttered darkly:
"If you ruin my afro… that would be truly unforgivable."
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