"Yohohoho, I understand now. If that's the case, then I'll have to give it everything I've got."
For a musician, Bink's Sake is like tomato-and-egg stir-fry in the world of cooking.
It's the simplest dish, yet also the hardest.
As long as you're a normal person, tomato-and-egg stir-fry is hard to make truly awful, but at the same time, it's also very difficult to elevate it into something supremely delicious.
Bink's Sake, as a song born among pirates, is actually very simple. Even someone who knows nothing about music theory can still follow the melody.
Correspondingly, the level of satisfaction it brings is an unknown line that rises and falls unpredictably.
But for Brook, that wasn't a difficulty at all. This song had accompanied him through all those lonely years.
It was the final song everyone sang together before the Rumbar Pirates were completely wiped out. The chorus of his companions was still preserved within the Tone Dial, kept by Brook inside his own skull.
The piano keys rose and fell, and one note after another combined into the most widely circulated melody on the seas, imbued with Brook's longing for his companions.
Whenever he played this piece, the voices and faces of his former comrades would reappear vividly before his eyes.
Before the piece had even finished, Nanamo had already confirmed his talent. More precisely, this talent was a bit too good.
Nanamo's intuition told her that she couldn't let Brook accompany her during a concert. It wasn't that his skill was lacking, but rather that it was so good it would steal the spotlight.
As the sole protagonist of the concert, it seemed she would need to keep improving herself.
From that day on, there was more music aboard the ship. Nanamo only played when holding her own concerts, while for Brook, as long as someone on the ship needed it, he could sing at any time.
The Florian Triangle wasn't very far from Sabaody Archipelago. After sailing out of the thick fog, Nereus's ship headed straight for Sabaody Archipelago.
Meanwhile, Brook seemed extremely busy. He appeared during after-dinner entertainment, he was there when the deck was being cleaned, and even when the dishes were being put away, his figure could still be seen.
At night, in the ship's kitchen, Brook hummed a tune as he helped wash the plates, occasionally chatting with the people beside him.
"Hey, Brook, you actually don't need to do this."
"Hm? What are you talking about, Kadar?"
"I mean, you don't need to deliberately try to please others. Lord Nereus's ship is different from other places.
Everyone just isn't familiar with you yet, but even so, no one here would discriminate against someone because of their appearance or race."
As he spoke, Kadar pointed at his own elbow. He looked like an ordinary bald, burly man, but at his elbow were two fins.
He was a hybrid of a human and a Fish-Man, and the fins on his elbow were his racial trait.
He had originally lived in East Blue, where life was peaceful, but because of those two fins, he suffered no small amount of discrimination. Later, he was even treated as rare merchandise by local human traffickers and sold multiple times until he ended up in the Grand Line.
After going through many things, he finally came aboard Nereus's ship. Normally, he worked as a kitchen hand, and also served as a sort of psychological counselor.
What he could sense was that many of the things Brook did carried a subtle air of trying to please others, as if it were all just to better integrate into this new group.
"No matter what your background is, no matter what you've been through before, once you've joined us, you're a companion from now on.
Companions don't need to beat around the bush so much with each other, right?"
Brook remained silent, only slowly wiping the plate in his hands.
Kadar was right. After nearly fifteen years of loneliness, he truly wanted to integrate into a new group.
To go back and see Laboon, to fulfill the promise from back then, and then to walk once more the road his companions had wanted to travel but never managed to—taking them along to see scenery they had never seen.
That night, Brook talked a lot with Kadar. After this simple "talk therapy," he seemed to finally open his heart completely.
Life went on much the same as before, but he felt far more at ease, bringing plenty of laughter to the ship.
And so, they gradually drew closer to Sabaody Archipelago—the "Island of Failures" and the "Island of New Beginnings" in the eyes of pirates.
Though it's called an archipelago, it is actually a fixed landmass formed by the massive root systems of the Yarukiman Mangroves. It is the human settlement closest to Fish-Man Island, and at the same time, the most out of reach island for Fish-Man Island.
The Bubble Park above was the dream of many Fish-Men and Merfolk. As children, countless people had secretly swum ashore just to steal a glimpse of that legendary paradise basking in real sunlight.
At this moment, Nereus and his group's ship was docked in the southeast of the Sabaody Archipelago.
The Sabaody Archipelago is divided into numbered areas based on the branches of the mangrove trees. This place was Grove 50–59, which had the largest concentration of shipyards and coating craftsmen.
Since the ship's coating materials had already been used up, they needed to purchase some materials here to reapply the coating.
"Sir, do you need coating? Our shop can finish it in just one week, and if you get coating with us, we'll even give you a three-day Bubble Hotel voucher!"
"Come to us! We only need five days! And our shop has zero negative reviews. Twenty years in the business with a 100% positive reviews!"
Not long after the people Nereus sent to buy materials disembarked, they were immediately surrounded by shopkeepers soliciting customers.
"Yohohoho, the people here are really enthusiastic…"
It was Brook's first time arriving at the Sabaody Archipelago, so he found everything quite novel, but Kadar felt differently.
"Don't listen to their nonsense. You can't trust anything people say here. Sabaody Archipelago is full of unscrupulous merchants—they're all about one-time deals and never expect repeat customers."
Once they get the chance, they'll fleece you for everything you've got."
Kadar knew these people well. Tourism on the Sabaody Archipelago was highly developed, and reaching this place after a long voyage was extremely difficult.
Those who came here were either wealthy people with deep pockets or desperate pirates. The former didn't lack money, and the latter basically wouldn't come a second time—if they even survived. Because of that, these merchants were ruthless in their dealings.
To be precise, without ruthless methods, it was hard to even survive here.
"100% positive reviews, my ass. If the coating went wrong, would those people even be alive to come back and complain? Stop trying to fool us! We're not rookies who just arrived!"
Kadar's words made their situation clear, causing some of the merchants to back off on their own, though a few solicitors still lingered.
The ones who stayed advertised that they could accompany ships during the dive. Only shops like that were trustworthy, but Kadar and the others didn't need craftsmen; they were only buying raw materials here.
At the same time, Nereus received a call.
"Boss, new update, the human auction is being moved up, scheduled for this afternoon."
TN: Hey guys, I will be releasing extra chapters for every 20 power stones. (5-7 chapters.)
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