A fan's dilemma (2)

[Hana Hana no Mi]

An absolutely broken fruit. The possibilities were endless. 

A fruit that makes the strong stronger

'Well, this will be useless for the moment.'

Using it properly requires a bit of expertise. Due to being young Robin adapted to it quite easily. The same could not be said for everyone else. 

**

Nami- [Weather Wizard

- Enhanced intuition about weather

- Enhanced learning speeds in anything regarding navigation.]

'Standard trauma.'

**

In a foggy ocean, a beautiful chorus was being played. 

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

Going to deliver Binks' Sake!

Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!

Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun!

The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky!🎶

A chorus for someone not present. Someone who was promised. Someone who will be waiting for years. For decades.

 🎶Farewell to the harbor, To my old hometown

Lets all sing out with a Don! As the ship sets sail

Waves of gold and silver dissolve to salty spray

As we all set sail to the ends of the sea🎶

From a chorus to a quartet. 

🎶Going to deliver Binks' Sake!

We are pirates sailing through the Sea!

The waves are our pillows, The ship our roost

The waves are our pillows, The ship our roost🎶

A duet.

🎶Now comes a storm through the far-off sky

Now the waves are dancing, Beat upon the drums

If you lose your nerve this breath could be your last

But if you just hold on, The morning sun will rise🎶

A solo.

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

🎶 Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho

After all, tears are nothing but salt water, carrying pain. 

And what pain is more universal than loss? 

A song can mean so many different things to so many people. 

The same song for happiness and dancing is the same song for farewells. 

After all, is it a must for the singer and the listener to feel the same emotions for the same song?

'I love you', said between lovers is not the same as a small boy saying 'I love you' to his cancer-ridden mother. 

[Trauma] doesn't only show you things like in a manga or a video. 

Rick felt everything. 

yet he felt nothing. he felt hollow. 

Like he was alone again. Like how it used to be. 

Like how it always was. 

**

Looking for his body in the fog was cathartic. There were no worries. 

For the first couple of days, there was nothing that he worried about. It was peaceful. 

But as time went on, slowly he started to remember the promise. 

He had to return. 

**

But it was harder now. The longer time passed the harder it became to find it. He also had not slept in a long time. 

His mind began to wane. The weight of being a soul with no physical body started to bear down on him. 

Small physiological activities like eating, drinking, walking, and moving his hands, and legs. He started to miss them. 

It was like phantom pain. 

You feel thirsty, yet have no way to drink. Nothing to drink. 

Hunger, but no way to quench it. 

What do you do?

"Yo ho ho

Yo ho ho ho🎶"

**

"Yo ho ho

Yo ho ho ho🎶"

Everything will be alright. 

As long as he can sing, he can think, he's alright. 

Brook thought only of singing, of music. 

It soothed his hurting soul. After all, the soul is not meant to remain without a body for long. His fruit kept him alive, his soul was protected. But up to a certain point. 

...Years went by in this way. All Brook could see was fog and darkness.

And right there with him, experiencing everything was Rick as well. 

And so he was there with Brook when he finally found his ship. The happiness and relief that Brook felt was also felt by him. 

But that happiness was poisonous. 

All that Brook returned to was a broken rudderless ship. 

No, a tomb.

As Brook returned to his skeleton of a body, a body that was matted with dirt. 

Dirt that came from his rotten flesh, from the dead maggots, from the salt of the sea water. 

And the salt from the tears that he shed upon having gotten back his body. 

Rick had never felt so many intense emotions at once before. 

So much.

Happiness from having a body again. 

Shame and guilt for still being alive while his friends were not. 

Anger at fate.

Eagerness for returning to Laboon. 

Sadness....for everything.

..

Brook got up. 

He didn't say anything. He found the remains of every nakama of his and gathered them. 

'Captain liked this chair. I should add some wood from it to his hand. 

heh! I can already imagine him scolding me, "Of all the things I liked, you had to add freaking wood from my chair!!!"

Brook collected the remains of another friend. 

'He used to be so fat!!! what happened!!! Man, he lost weight!!'

 'He loved his violin too much, hmm, maybe I should pluck all the strings and tie him up with it, Bet he'd enjoy that! That devient!'

Another friend.

'Look at him, so crooked! Now he looks like how his black heart is.'

Someone that owed him 10 beries.

'Dang it, I'm not gonna get those beries back, huh.'

Another...

And another...

Until eventually all the remains were collected in a box. 

And as his job was done,

🎶Yo ho ho ho

yo ho ho ho🎶

Music played on the lonely ship. 

The only thing that masked the sound of teardrops falling. 

**

 [You have finished the trauma of your enemy.]

[You may now collect a skill]

**