Bartholomew Kuma

The group found their way to the treasurer, which was guarded by a number of zombies that were easily dispatched.

"Alright, Nami, do your thing and we'll keep watch." Cherry said, gesturing towards the large lock on the door. Breaking it open was an option too, but why use force when finesse will work just fine?

"Yohohoho! I've found some thieves it would seem!" A vaguely familiar voice sounded out. They turned to see a samurai zombie approaching them.

*Smash*

Brook came flying through a closed window and made a graceful landing. If by graceful landing you meant uncontrollably tumbling finished off with a faceplant into the opposing wall.

"Oh dear, I must really watch where I'm going! Though I don't have eyes to watch with, Yohoho!" Brook said, picking himself up out of the broken glass.

"Good timing, Brook. Your shadow is just over there, inside that samurai zombie. You'll take care of him while we loot the place, yeah?" Cherry said, bemused.

"Hm? Oh, so he is. I've been training for 5 years to defeat you, I shan't lose to you this time!" Brook shouted and attacked the samurai zombie.

In the meantime, Nami got the lock open and went inside with Chopper, Merry, and Robin to grab the gold. Cherry stayed outside to watch the door, and more importantly to observe Brook's fight with the samurai zombie.

'He's not bad, but his insistence on defending that afro of his isn't making things easier on him. Though, by the looks of things, that samurai fellow is only toying with him.' Cherry thought.

"Brook, why are you defending your hair like it's your heart or something?! Isn't getting your shadow back more important than your vanity?!" Cherry called out.

"I can't grow it back because I'm a skeleton! Moreover, this afro of mine IS my heart! It's the only thing that has kept me going all these decades I've been alone!" Brook replied, fending off the samurai zombie.

Cherry felt there was more to his words than they seemed on the surface.

"I can grow your hair back as much as you like! How about that?! I've no reason to lie because I can kick that guy's rotten ass whenever I want!" Cherry shouted.

Brook didn't dare to look back at her, but he felt that she was speaking the truth. Though they've only known one another a short time, he felt the young woman was very mysterious.

'Wait a moment...' He thought.

"You can defeat him any time you like?! Then why aren't you doing just that?!" Brook asked.

"Don't you want to defeat him yourself for the sake of your pride or something?!" Cherry asked in return.

"Screw that, I've got a promise to keep! Just kill him!" Brook replied.

"Yohoho! Do you think it will be that easy to deal with me-" The zombie samurai's words were interrupted when Cherry vanished and reappeared with her revolver stuck into his mouth.

*Bang*

A shot was fired before he could react and he felt his shadow leaving him.

"Salt? What a dirty trick..." His final words rang out.

"Yohohoho! My shadow is back where it belongs!" Brook rejoiced.

Cherry picked up the sword the samurai zombie was using. "This isn't bad. A bit of a bad temper though, not to my liking."

"Wha- That's the sword of a legendary samurai of the Wano country and you think it's 'not bad'? It's a Great Grade Meito and a black blade on top of that!" Brook couldn't believe what he was hearing. As a swordsman how could he stay silent?

Cherry gave him a look and simply drew her own sword, converting the blade to lightning and back.

"... Oh." Brook couldn't really find a fault with her statement when she had a sword that can turn into lightning at will.

"Do you know the name of this sword?" Cherry asked him, but he shook his head.

"Well I'll have to ask it myself then." Brook didn't know what she meant by that.

Cherry tapped the blade with a finger causing it to hum like a tuning fork, and held it to her ear.

"Hmm, 'Shusui' is it?" Cherry said, but kept listening. "That's rude.. If you put it that way, maybe I'll chuck you into the ocean? Fine, fine, I'll find you a proper wielder."

"And I thought I was the one who went crazy..." Brook muttered under his breath.

Nami and the others came out of the treasure room dragging every bit of gold along with them.

"Now to find the helm and steer us off course. They should possess some way to navigate even with the interference with the log pose." Nami said, and so they set off once more.

A thunderous boom sounded and the building shook.

"Seems like Luffy found Moria." Cherry grinned.

...

Back on the Thousand Sunny.

Where once there was a spooky forest, now only the smoldering stumps of trees could be seen. On the sea next to these ruined trees an untouched ship was anchored.

Cabernet was lying on her back in the grass on the deck, looking up into the swirling fog to find unusual shapes to relieve her boredom.

She heard someone walking over to the ship on the dock.

She peered over the edge of the ship at the approaching figure.

A very tall man wearing a black shirt with paw prints and a large crosshair, white pants with spots, a white spotted cap with bear ears poking out, and gloves. He had long curly hair, a strong jaw, and blank white eyes. In his left hand he held a bible.

"Come no further, adorable bear man!" Cabernet called out.

Bartholomew Kuma stopped walking and looked up at her.

"'Blood Wine' Cabernet, bounty of 275 million Beri." He said simply. "If you were to go on vacation, where would you go?"

"I'll go wherever Cherry wants me to go. Though, I'd like to stay with the others..." Cabernet answered honestly.

Kuma observed her for a moment, then turned to go further into the island to complete her mission. He wouldn't act against the Straw Hats unless Gecko Moria asked him for help, which would never happen.

'Savior this time you have together. The time of your separation may come sooner than you expect.' He thought to himself.

'I want to touch his ears...' Thought Cabernet.

...

Gecko Moria was an awfully slippery fellow for a man of his size.

Luffy chased him all over the place, but he almost always managed to slip away from him. Almost because Luffy did get a few sneaky attacks in.

Luffy lost track of him when he switched places with his own shadow.

Cherry was watching the fight without much interest. Moria wasn't as strong as he was cunning. She watched as he escaped into the forest below where he ran into a newcomer to Thriller Bark.

"Who's this now?" Cherry wondered.