53 Thriller Bark

Fog. Thick fog all over the place.

Gray was standing on the new iron ship while looking around him. But because of the heavy fog around he couldn't see anything.

"This fog...." While thinking about where he is Gray felt many empty ships hovering slowly around.

The more he feels around the more familiar this place gets to him.

"Hohoho..." Suddenly a singing sound appeared around them. Gray already felt a giant ship are coming from the front.

"Hmmm, isn't that..." Gray already knows ware they when he heard the creepy singing sound.

"Gray.... Where are we???! This place is somehow scary" Baccarat came from behind and asked Gray with a frightened face. She really can't stand the weird atmosphere around. And wanted to catch Gray's hand.

"Don't worry, just stay beside me" Before Gray answer, Tauriel came to her side and caught her hand.

"You...." Baccarat looked at Tauriel and was a somehow annoyed face. Every time she wants to get close to Gray Tauriel always Interrupts her.

Hearing Baccarat question, Gray explained to them where are they.

While he's telling them about the place. The giant ship already came to their side.

"ho ho ho..." Looking at the ship you can see a person standing there while singing there.

And soon they were able to see the true look of that person. Or it cant be called a person.

But a tall skeleton!!!! dressed in formal attire complete with top hat and cane! A skeleton with the style of a gentleman! consisting of a coat, top hat, trousers, and afro, which were black, while the inner linings of his coat were yellow-orange. The cravat that was tied in between his coat and around his neck was blue.

"Skeleton? Undead?"As soon as they saw the figure. Tauriel and Legolas became alarmed. They saw the undead and evil creatures before. In their world and the real world. So they weren't so surprised. But baccarat is a little different. It's her first time seeing such a thing. So she was the most startled between them. And clenched Tauriel's hand a little harder.

"Scared...." Tauriel looked at Baccarat who's holding her hand and smiled wickedly.

"You...." Baccarat looked at Tauriel wicked smile and suddenly wanted to take all her luck. This woman still wants to make fun of her even now.

She and Tauriel have been fighting secretly for more than five months already. Nor Gray nor Legolas notice them. Only Mary looks at them with a sly smile from time to time as if watching a great show making her amusement.

Both of them already understand each other thoughts so they didn't talk about why they fight with each other for now. Just squabble or making fun of each other secretly when they have a chance.

"Let's go..." Gray soared up and went to the other ship.

"Yoho! There is a guest on my ship. SO HAPPY! Yoho! It's been a long time since I have seen a living being!! Even though I don't have eyes... HOHOHHO!" The skeleton looked at Gray and his partners who already entered his ship and said with an excited tone.

Hearing the Skeleton words. Gray and the others felt funny.

Gray already recognized the identity of the skeleton in front of him.

"Dead Bones" Brook! The future Musician of Luffy's(straw hat) pirate ship. The owner of Yomi Yomi no Mi(Revive-Revive Fruit).

Speaking of this fruit. Its actually one of many fruits that Gray wants to get in this world. This fruit actually doesn't give the user any clear power. But it will give a second life! In another word, it will make you revive after death.

Brook is already dead once. But because of this fruit. He managed to come back to life again as a skeleton.

This fruit won't exactly revive your body. But actually revive your soul. And after this, the owner can choose which body or object he wants to resurrect.

When Gray entered the fog at first. He already guessed where he is. But wasn't so sure.

But after hearing Brook creepy song form the ship. This confirmed his guess.

Florian Triangle!! The fogy sea where many ships mysteriously went missing inside.

Is it really missed?

Not really. In fact the reason, people went missing here because of {Gecko Moria} one of the seven warlords who keep hunting those who enter this area and steal their shadows to create his zombie army!.

Gecko Moria. One of the seven warlords. And also can be considered to be one of the weakest between them.

He's not lacking power or potential. But he's an extremely stupid person.

Moria is the owner of Kage Kage no Mi(Shadow fruit). He can cut the shadow of living beings and gave their shadow to dead bodies. So the dead body will come back to life and also will have all the power of the owner of the shadow. He can also use the shadow for himself and gain their power for himself.

So Moria actually wants to become the pirate king relying on the strength of the others. By creating zombies who will be destroyed as soon as they eat some salt(Sea salt will stop the devil fruit powers). Such an insulting way to use the shadow fruit always annoyed Gray. Since he's here naturally he won't leave this powerful fruit to that idiot.

Dark fruit and Shadow fruit both are Dark attribute abilities which are very suitable for Gray. So Moria was in Gray's hunting list form the beginning.

"Hello! do you know which direction I should go to find Moria?" Thinking of the Shadow fruit. Gray started to get excited and wanted to go there directly.

"Moriaaaa... This is a scary name YOHO!. Why would you go there? And I don't know the way!" Brook wanted to joke again especially when he saw the three beautiful ladies behind Gray.

But after hearing Gray words. He stopped this and asked with a stressed tone.

Moria is his nightmare. The reason Brook didn't leave this sea till now, was because Moria stole his shadow. Without a shadow, he cants move around. The shadowless person will be reduced to dust if they came in ouch with the sun.

So he always wanted to get his shadow back. But never success.

"Well... If you can lead the way, I'll help you to get your shadow back" Gray knows what he was thinking so he gives him an offer directly.

"To get my Shadow!!! OHO!! This!! can you really help me with that! Oho. SO HAPPY!. But I have to refuse! I don't want you to die for me! Moria is so strong." Hearing Gray's words Brook started to act so emotionally and even talked with a crying voice. But he still refused. He's worried about Gray and the others. Brook is a good person(bone) in nature.

"He doesn't look like a bad... skeleton..." Baccarat said while looking at the sad Brook.

"Oho. What a beautiful lady. Can you let me see your panties?" Brook who was so sad and emotional just now suddenly stood up and walked to Baccarat after hearing her words and asked.

"BFTTT >.....<" Hearing his question, Tauriel couldn't help but to laugh.

As for Gray and Legolas, they looked at him with dark eyes. Somehow Gray wants to break this bone right now.

"Ah...." Hearing this, Baccarat froze for a second then looked at Tauriel with threatening eyes. As if saying; don't laugh or I'll take your luck!!.

"Well, it's not time to joke like this.. right?" Gray came to Brook's side and said this with a smile on his face. But no matter how you see it's not a good smile at all.

Even though Gray know that he's joking. But he doesn't like the fact that someone is harassing his partners.

"Yoohoo!!, It can't be helped every time I see a beautiful lady This question came out by..." Before he continues suddenly he looked at Tauriel and felt that she's more charming then Baccarat and walked to her.

"Can you...." But this time he didn't manage to ask and was directly thrown toward the sea from the ship.

This unlucky Brook. He was about to harass the one who he shouldn't.

"Gray I think he's evil. So I want to destroy him" Tauriel looked at Gray with rightness face. How can she not know what he wants about to ask?. She was just laughing at Baccarat. So naturally, she won't allow him to ask her such a thing.

Gray only gave her a big thumb agreeing with her actions. This Brook actually asked for such a thing. He deserves to die!... Or not. He still has the fruit he wants.

"YOHOHO! So scary! I thought I'll die! Even though I'm dead already! YOHOO" Because Brook is only bones and doesn't have much weight. The sea will be able to carry him and like this, he will be able to run on the sea.

So when Tauriel threw him down. He kicked the sea and jumped back.

After that Gray and Brook talked about the situation here. Since Gray knows about Moria, Brook didn't hide anything and talked about his experiment all those years. Gray already knows about him, But Tauriel and the other don't. So they more or less had some sympathy for him.

Moria usually finds his targets by the bait he sent to the sea from time to time. Because Gray entered this sea by himself. Moria shouldn't actively come to hunt him. So Gray has to go there by himself.

After that As usual. Gray let Baccarat help him to fix his luck and used the broken compass to find Moria's direction. Brook saw that Gray have a way to find Moria on this fog. he didn't say anything and just waited. He has some hope. Maybe Gray can really help him get his shadow.

"Gray let's go to the left, there is an island over there." Legolas who was using his observation Haki all the time. Already found Moria's giant ship. And thought of it as an island.

Gray looked at Legolas and his eyes twitched a little. This guy observation Haki is getting stronger and stronger. Gray somehow started to feel annoyed by his low rising strength!.

["I'm the protagonist here!! why are they getting stronger faster than me! Damn author" Such an idea appeared on his mind!. (Ignore this bad joke.....)]

"Well, let's go" Gray used his ability and pushed the ship toward the island.

Soon they reached the so-called island.

Thriller Bark! Moria's giant ship. This ship is one of the biggest ships in the world.

This ship can be called a moving island. The island is surrounded by a huge outer wall that goes around the ship, with a gate resembling a giant mouth that opens and closes. There are four separate chains that connect from the wall to the mast above the mansion. The island has an old broken inner stone wall encircling it with towers and a moat. There is a mansion in the middle of the island, surrounded by an apparently dead forest. The entire ship somewhat resembles the stereotypical scenery in vampire or horror movies, such as Dracula or Frankenstein.

Gray raised the ship on the air and passed the huge wall in front of him.

"Yoohoo!!! Mr. Gray the ship is flying!!!" Brook was so astonished when he saw the ship is actually flying in the air.

Soon they passed the outer wall and reached the island shore.

Looking at the Dark dead forest in front of him. It really gave a creepy feeling. Moria really likes the dark style.

"Well let's enter" Gray left the ship with his partners and walked slowly toward the forest in front of him.

While walking Gray notices that many people are hiding inside the forest. Apparently the people that their shadow was stolen from them.

"HYAA!" Tauriel who was walking and looking around suddenly saw a white ghost coming from the ground.

"Ghost? Perona...?"When Gray saw the ghost he directly recognized who's this ghost belong to.

"HYAA??" Baccarat who was standing beside Tauriel suddenly put her hand on her mouth and looked at Tauriel with joking eyes.

And Tauriel's face reddened! she actually made such a funny voice in front of Gray. So shameful!

"Who's Perona?" Legolas heard Gray and asked.

"She's the Ghost Princess of this ship. The owner of Horo Horo no Mi(Hollow-Hollow Fruit). A little girl who playing with ghosts. Try not to let these ghosts touch you... or it won't be funny" Gray looked at the smiling ghost that flying around them and said its origin.

"Yohoho! Mr. Gray, you know so much about this place" From Gray's word Brook realized that Gray knows much more then he thought about this place.

"What will happen if the ghosts touch us?" Mary said.

"Hmmm, Very bad thing... You will understand if they touch you" Gray smiled wickedly and didn't explain much.

"Perona....is it" Tauriel muttered while walking.

...

Inside the castle, a huge shadow was while looking at the gloomy moon outside the window.

"Master Moria! Master Moria!! There are intruders are coming toward the castle!" Three weird-shaped creatures came to the huge shadow and reported this to him with panic.

"Haaaa? intruders? Let Absalom and Perona deal with them" Moria didn't care much about this. Who is he? Gecko Moria! one of the seven warlords. He won't care about one or two intruders. For him, intruders mean more shadows. Like this, he will be able to create more zombies.

"Well..." The three weird-shaped creatures looked at each other and went back to report for Absalom and Perona.

...

Gray's party at this moment, are standing in front of a group of zombies who came from the graves around them and walking slowly toward them. Looking at their imposing movement Gray felt ridiculous. Real zombie won't raise his hand so high like this. Those zombies are actually trying to scare them not to attack or eat them. Somehow Gray wants to say; "Don't try! you're not even a real zombie!"

"Those should be zombies??" Baccarat looked around her with a somehow worried look on her face. But she already saw Gray and the other fighting many times before so she doesn't think those zombies can do anything to them.

"Hmmm, they look so weak" Legolas looked at the zombie around and said. In fact, those zombies created by Moria are really weak. Even though they have some intelligence. They don't even have the tenth of the second-level awakener zombie strength.

"Well, they are dead bodies can move because of Moria's ability. They won't evolve and their attribute won't rise. So naturally, they are weak. In fact, they can't be even called zombies." Gray looked at those cute zombies and explained to them. Those zombies are really cute compared with the real world zombies.

"Mr. Gray, have you seen zombies before?" Hearing Gray's explanation. And not surprised look. Brook wondered if Gray has met a zombie before.

"Yes, I saw some more magical things" Gray really saw many magical things. Orcs, Wizard, elves, Mutant, And even dragon. he will see more in the future.

"WOSHH" Gray didn't want to waste more time with the zombies around and used conqueror Haki to nock the zombies around.

The zombie is not a living being and doesn't have a soul so they won't be affected by conqueror Haki.

Seeing this, Gray wasn't surprised and directly controlled the dagger Sting and started beheading the zombies around.

(Hello everyone I'm Sting! The dagger that should have belonged to Bilbo! Miss me?!)

Not only him even Mary, Tauriel, and Legolas started killing the zombies around while moving forward. With every zombie's head down. A weird black ball came out from their mouths.

This is the shadows that Moria put on them so they can move. With the zombie's death, those shadows should go back to their real owner.

After destroying the last zombie. Gray and his party moved on.

But suddenly the four of them stopped and looked to the left.

"Hmmm? Is something there?" Brook looked where everyone was looking and felt weird. He can't see anything.

Gray didn't speak and directly disappeared from his place the appeared not far away and caught something on the void.

"What!" As soon as Gray caught the void, A lion mouthed man appeared on the void.

"Catch ya!" Gray looked at the man on his hand and said with a dangerous smile.

Absalom! the leader of the Zombie Soldiers and Zombie Generals of Thriller Bark. The owner of Suke Suke no Mi(Clear-Clear Fruit). This fruit has a similar function to his ring. which can make him invisible. And whatever he touches(living or nonliving). Which makes it stronger than his ring ability. But this guy usually uses his invisibility to peep on and sexually harass women.

He's another guy who's using his ability in an insulting way. So Gray is not planning to leave him alive anyway.

"Baccarat..." Gray asked Baccarat to take Absalom's luck and then extracted his ability. After this, he beheaded Absalom directly.

This is also another way to use Baccarat ability. When she took the fruit user luck he will directly meet a misfortune. And When Gray extracts him, he will be so unlucky that his fruit ability was extracted randomly.

Since he got what he wants to form him. There is no need to let leave him alive.

"Well let continue." Gray didn't care about Absalom's dead body and continued his path.

For Gray's actions. Tauriel and the others didn't care much. They know Gray, He won't kill good or innocent people randomly. Since he killed Absalom like this. This guy should be damned.

As for Brook, he was surprised again by Gray strength! He knows Absalom is one of the Mysterious Four(the four humans who rule Thriller Bark.). Gray actually killed him so easily which shows that he's much stronger then he thought.

The hope to get his shadow back. became bigger than before!.

After that everything went smoothly. Because Gray and his party all mastered observation Haki. None of the zombies who tried to kidnap them managed to do this. And all of them were also cut to pieces.

Along the way, they also met a group of the so-called Zombie Generals. Even though they are much stronger than normal zombies. Gray brought them down by simply touching them.

Because Gray's glove has [Sea breath] Attribute. Any devil fruit user or ability related to the devil fruit will fall to weakness or simply collapses like the zombies around him. When he touches the zombies, the shadow inside them will directly leave their bodies and flew back to the owner.

After twenty minutes. Finally Gray reached the castle...

(Author:..... Hmmm, so long!)