4 Chapter 4 - Formalities

When we met up with the others in the ships mess hall I was greeted with stares all around. I felt very awkward and embarrassed, especially because of what happened in Robins room. It felt like everyone could see through me. In typical fashion, I sucked it up and bolstered my confidence. Fake it till you make it.

As I make my way to where they're sitting I ask, "What's with the stares, you guys?"

While I tried to sit down on my seat Nami explained, "Sorry, but I told them everything you let me in on, it's not the kind of thing I could keep from them."

"Well, I guess formal introductions are in order then. My name is Korra, it's a pleasure to meet you all."

"That isn't entirely true.....Korra. There are still a few people you have yet to meet," explained Nami. She elaborated further, "That's Usop and this is Franky and you've met Robin but there is still one more. We try to introduce this one personally because his appearance causes problems with strangers."

"What exactly are we talking about here?"

"He's a skeleton." she continued.

"That's not a very nice thing to say about someone..."

"Fine, see for yourself. Brook, you can come in now." She called towards a side door.

What awaited me was one of the most shocking things I've ever witnessed. A tall....man? Wearing a purple suit with orange ruffled sleeves and collar. He was walking with a traditional cane. A top hat completed his ensemble. There was just one problem, his entire body was literally bones, a walking, moving, skeleton! It was utterly horrifying. I stood, abruptly open slack-jawed.

"What the fuck is that!?!?!"

"Yohohohoho~"

"Oh, fair and beautiful maiden, it is a rare occasion that I set eyes on someone so stunningly gorgeous!"

"Oh, but I don't actually have eyes."

"Yohohohoho~"

"WHAT THE HELL!??!?!"

The skeleton took a step closer to me, lifted his right hand to his left breast, gave a slight bow and then asked to see my panties.

"We don't wear panties where I come from."

"Yohohoho~"

"What a truly marvelous civilization! I hope I get to see it one day!"

"Ah but I don't have eyes! Yohohoho~"

I stood ramrod speechless staring at this perverted creature, utterly astonished.

While I try to gain my composure, Nami is explaining something about fruit. Come to think of it, didn't she say that their doctor ate some kind of fruit as well?

"This is Brook, you can see why we try to introduce him together, he's a skeleton." She explains this like it's the most normal mundane thing in the world. I'm still openly gawking at him.

"How? How can someone be alive but dead at the same time?" I asked incredulously.

"Yohohoho~ Well you see, I ate the Revive-Revive Fruit."

"Fruit...?" My interest is immediately piqued.

"As I said before, the Grand Line is a very mysterious place. A lot of theories exist around the existence of devil fruits, but little is actually known. They just do what they do." Nami continued.

"We actually have quite a few devil fruit users on our ship, Luffy ate the Gum-Gum Fruit, he's a rubber human," she says this while pulling Luffy's face nearly off. It was distinctly disturbing to witness...

"Of course you know Chopper, Brook as you see and then Robin." my eyes move to glance at Robin and see her studying my face, it brings a flush to my cheeks and I quickly look away which does nothing to clear the mirth from her eyes.

"So what are these fruits, what do they do, where do they come from exactly?"

"We don't really know, they're very rare." came the response. "They aren't all powerful though, they have drawbacks. The biggest one is the fact that devil fruit users can't swim, they lose all their strength in just a few inches of water. They wouldn't even be able to stand."

"Ehhh?" my expression getting more and more stunned.

"So, what do I do now?" I say to them as much as to myself.

"Well, you do whatever you need to do, while you were changing we had a discussion. We've decided to help you as much as we can, besides, Luffy likes you," Nami explained while Sanji started bringing food out of the kitchen.

"We SUPOART YOU OW!~" Franky stood on the table in a speedo and exclaimed while striking a pose, it was so comical but I couldn't bring myself to laugh, I knew that if I laughed I'd spit all over everyone.

"HEY! GET YOUR FEET OFF THE TABLE!" Sanji seethed while sending a threating look at Franky.

"But first we have to stop for repairs, regardless of whose fault it was, we are now very vulnerable. Coup de Burst is disabled and we also can't use the Gaon Cannon. If we're surrounded then we're dead in the water." Nami said while glowering at Usopp and Franky.

"That's really nice of you guys, I don't know what to say. I need to look for Asami, if she's gone in the ocean like I was... Well, I don't want to think about that, but if she's on a ship like this one, or maybe an island, then I have to try and find her. What's the nearest island to here?" I asked.

"Sabaody Archipelago is the next island in the chain, the Grand Line is special." Nami paused.

"In order to go to another island, you have to wait on the previous island for a certain amount of time, it has to do with magnetic fields," she explained.

"Sounds really complicated and over my head, I guess I'll start my search on the archipelago then," I said.

"We're about 3 weeks away, right Nami?" Usopp asked.

"EHHHHH! That's so long! What if we run out of meat!?" Luffy chimed in.

"THEN YOU'LL JUST HUNT SEAKINGS LIKE USUAL!" Nami bellowed after punching Luffy on the skull, though it doesn't look like it hurt him very much.