The ground of Thriller Bark wasn't just soil; it felt like walking on a 'Defragmented Hard Drive'. Every step Amine took sent a ripple of 'Static-Electricity' through his boots. The trees were twisted into shapes that defied natural geometry, their branches looking like 'Coded-Wires' reaching for a sky that had been completely 'Overwritten' by a thick, grey fog.
[Environmental Analysis: High-Corruption Zone.]
[Detection: Residual Spirit-Data – Identifying... Unknown Soul-ID.]
"Yo-ho-ho-ho!"
The sound didn't come from the wind. It was a rhythmic, musical vibration that bypassed the air and vibrated directly into the Thousand Sunny's 'Audio-Processors'. Amine spun around, his Golden Stylus instantly drawing a 'Defense-Grid' in the air.
Out of the mist, a tall, skeletal figure appeared. He was wearing a tattered tuxedo, holding a cane-sword, and—most impossibly—he had a massive afro despite having no skin to support it.
"A skeleton... with an afro?" Luffy's eyes turned into stars. "Amine! Is this a 'Rendering Bug' or is he a real ghost?"
Amine activated his [Deep-Scan Mode]. His violet HUD flickered as it struggled to categorize the entity before him.
[Entity Identified: Brook – The Afro-Skull.]
[Class: Ghost-Process (Zombie-Type: False).]
[Ability: Yomi Yomi no Mi – The 'System-Restore' Fruit.]
"He's not a bug, Luffy," Amine whispered, his stylus glowing with a fascinated purple light. "He's a 'Backup-File' that refused to stay deleted. His soul was 'Disconnected' from his body for 50 years, but his 'Devil Fruit' acted as a 'Cloud-Storage'. He just... he just took too long to 'Re-Download' into his physical hardware, and by the time he found his body, it was already 'Corrupted' into bones."
Brook tipped his hat, his empty eye-sockets somehow conveying a deep, digital sadness. "My, my... a young man who speaks in the language of the 'High-Editors'. You are correct, Mr. Scholar. I am a ghost in a machine that has long since rusted away. But alas... I am also a man without a 'Shadow-Tag'."
Amine's system gave a sharp ping. [Alert: Brook's 'Security-Certificate' (Shadow) has been stolen by Admin_Moria.]
"So that's why you're 'Lagging' in the dark, Brook," Amine stepped forward, his stylus etching a 'Light-Anchor' into the deck so Brook could stand without fading. "Moria stole your 'Identity-Code' and 'Injected' it into a 'Dead-Asset' (a zombie). Without your shadow, the world's 'Main-Server' (The Sun) will see you as an 'Illegal Entity' and 'Wipe' you from existence."
Brook's jaw dropped literally. "You... you can see the 'Script' of my misery? Yo-ho-ho! I would cry, but I don't have eyes! Skull joke!"