212 The mid Moria

"Gecko Moria. A person who has eaten the Shadow-Shadow fruit. One of the middle-ranked Shichibukai. He isn't as powerful as Hawkeye, but he isn't as useless as Crocodile. Brook's shadow is missing because Moria has taken his shadow, and he can't ever come in contact with sunlight. This is the main reason why Brook can't become our crew member. Isn't that right?" Ken asked Brook.

This made everyone turn towards Brook, who laughed.

"Yohoho.. It seems like this friend has a general idea of the Shichibukai. By the way, Vivi-san, can I see your pants?" Brook said. In response, Vivi and Nami both hit Brook with their staves.

"This idiot!"

"The tales of Shichibiukai are easy to get in newspapers if you have enough connections." Ken said with a smile while not caring for Brook's sexual harassment.

Oh, so we need to ask this Moria to let him give Brook's shadow back, and Brook can come with us." Luffy said, and he almost walked away immediately. It was Nami who stopped him from running away by stretching his cheek back.

"Don't run away without a proper plan." Nami shouted.

"I thought no plan was the plan." Ussop said, as they had already gotten accustomed to their Captain's antics.

"For some reason, I feel this Moria guy won't give Brook's shadow back as fast as Luffy said." Zoro said.

"You are right. All Shichibukais are assholes." Nami said.

"Not all." Ken corrected him, but everyone didn't pay attention to his mumbling words.

"Yohohohoh.. I am really thankful that you guys are so enthusiastic about my shadow. I am really grateful, and I had a good meal. But I don't think I can be your crewmate. Moria is too powerful. And I would say, if possible, please leave the island. Your ship looks very sophisticated, and I think you can leave the island without doing any harm."

"I have already decided that you will be our friend. So I will convince Moria to give back your shadow." Luffy insisted.

"Don't make decisions for others." Everyone shouted back. But Luffy didn't pay attention to it and was ready to run in search of Moria. He had already pinpointed the location of Moria, and it was quite easy for him to reach his place and talk with him.

Seeing no other way, all turned to Ken, who seemed to be neither paying attention nor having an ounce of care, like always.

"Ken.. Convince him. He is your brother." Chopper said.

"Please Ken. This play is so scary. We need to leave." Ussop, too, suggested it while having tears of fear in his eyes.

"You have heard the Captain. He said that he would get the shadow of Brook back, and that is what we will do." Ken said.

"You can't be serious." Nami was shaking in her high boots as she exclaimed.

"Plus, it will be a good time for you. Get over your fears. And I think Sanji will be more interested in this place." Ken said.

"More interested? Are there any beautiful girls here? There are beautiful girls waiting for me, isn't it? I am coming, my princesses." Sanji had a love sign on his eye as he said that, and his feet were already on fire.

Brook was looking at his feet with trepidation, as he could easily feel the heat of the fire on Sanji's feet.

"No," Ken said.

"No?? Then who or what?" Sanji asked, as he felt a little uncomfortable seeing Ken's creepy smile.

"There is one guy here who has the devil's fruit of your dreams." Ken said.

"Devil fruit of my dreams? You mean 'that' Devil fruit?" Sanji asked as a sudden realization dawned on him.

"Yes, and he uses this for the same reasons you want to use it." Ken said. This made Sanji shudder, and then everyone felt the heat. Sanji's whole body suddenly lit on fire—so much so that even Luffy had to step back a few steps to see the excitement.

"I will never forgive you." Sanji was on fire.

"What is the devil's fruit that he wants?" Robin asked.

"Knowing this guy, it's probably something very perverted." Nami stated this while looking at Ken.

"So go and have fun. Don't let Moria take your shadow, or else we will have to beat him down," Ken announced.

"Yosh... It's time to go." Luffy shouted. Sanji was ready to leave immediately, so Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, Robin, and Franky decided to go. Ussop and Chopper, seeing no other way, also decided to leave.

Seeing the enthusiasm, the Straw Hats finally decided to go altogether. Including Ken. Ken actually didn't want to go, but then he remembered that, according to the story, someone else was supposed to come and visit.

So at the end, he too decided. Brook was dumbfounded to see the enthusiasm of these people. He didn't expect that someone would be so hell-bent on making him their friend, even after just being a skeleton.

But he was also persuading them to stop since he was powerful, and of course none of the pirates were actually afraid of Moria. It was only the ghostly and creepy feelings that made them very uncomfortable.

Thus, after a long time, the whole crew came to the adventure together. The last time they came together was in Alabasta, and now they are again at Thriller Bark.

After landing on Thriller Bark, everyone started moving in Moria's direction. Merry would be fine, as Franky had put up defense mechanisms on the ship. Even big cannons would do nothing to the ship; forget about infiltrating the ship.

Soon they started coming across weird things that made everyone's jaws drop. The zombies came first, followed by the Hollow ghosts. Brook followed them. It was the least he could do since these guys were hell-bent on helping him and trying to save them if required.

Luffy was having fun as he caught a zombie and asked him to join, only to get scolded by others. Then came the hollow ghosts. This was where it became interesting.

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