Chapter LVII: Duality

During the Straw Hat crew's journey thus far, they had ridden a monstrous current up a mountain, fought off a criminal organization led by one Warlord of a mafia boss, rode an even more monstrous current into the heavens, toppled a self-proclaimed deity, and defeated one of the strongest members of a military agency that essentially ruled the world.

So, it stood to reason that a ghost ship, of all things, would not have a very profound effect on such an unshakable group of individuals.

"Oh, hell, no! Turn us around 180 degrees! I'm not dealing with ghosts today!"

It stood to reason…

"Scary! The Florian Triangle is scary! Get us out of here!"

It stood to reason…

"Don't listen to its song! It's a tribute to the damned! You'll be cursed!"

Reason did not stand with the Straw Hat crew.

"Guys…there's someone there," Sanji pointed out, a bead of sweat dripping down his face. This, ironically, halted their panicking long enough for them to get a look at their visitor.

Peering over the hull of the ghost ship, shrouded in mist, was a skeleton with a black suit, an afro, and a top hat…

"Gather up, no time to lose…"

Casually sipping from a cup of tea.

"Time to round up Binks' Booze…"

…

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go say hi!" Luffy said jovially.

"WHAT!?"

No, reason did not stand.

"Yohohohoho! How do you do? I am Dead Bones Brook! So nice to meet you! Pardon my earlier behavior! It's simply been so long since I've run into living people! All you see here is ghost ship after ghost ship. It's so scary!"

"Scary like a walking talking afro skeleton?" Franky asked uncertainly, not quite sure what to think of the situation.

"Please, do come in!" said afro skeleton said, either not hearing the question or completely ignoring it. "As a gentleman, I always welcome guests, though I never have any. Yohohoho!"

"Um, that's very nice of you," Nami said with a nervous laugh. "But we really should get going soon."

"Oh, my! What a lovely young woman!"

Nami completely froze up, sweating bullets. "Uh, no! That's…!"

"Perhaps you'd be so kind as to show me your panties?"

"LIKE HELL!" she shouted, quickly moving past her fear as she roundhouse kicked Brook in the skull.

"Yohohoho! Harsh!"

"Luffy, Zoro!" she shouted, rounding on the Captain and First Mate. "You two better have a good explanation for this! You've been through this before, right? So, explain why there's a walking, talking afro skeleton who wants my panties, and why the hell we're still here, or else!"

"Jeez, we were getting to that," Zoro said, sounding almost bored. "Calm your panties, witch."

Before Nami could follow up on her threat, Luffy fearlessly walked up to the skeleton. "Hey, you! I'm Luffy, the man who's going to be the Pirate King! Join my crew!"

"Very well."

"WHAT!?"

Robin giggled. "Now, we should have seen that coming."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Usopp shouted. "The walking talking afro skeleton did not just join our crew! I've got to be dreaming! This is a dream!"

"Really!? Thank God!" Chopper said, relieved, before falling backwards into a resting position and closing his eyes.

"Hello? Good morning. Please wake up now." Chopper opened his eyes to see Brook's face hovering directly over him, and promptly screamed himself hoarse.

Having thoroughly scarred Chopper, Brook now held his arms out and addressed the full crew. "Well, not that this isn't fun, but it's getting quite cold out here. What do you say we take this conversation to your ship and have dinner!"

"That is not your decision," Nami mumbled helplessly, struggling to retain some semblance of control over the situation.

"You're right. It's mine!" Luffy said with a grin, causing her to deflate completely.

"Hey, Luffy! Did it work? Did you get him to join?" Sunny asked as they settled into the dining room.

"You bet!" Luffy grinned. "It's about time, too."

"Ah, excuse me. But who are you talking to?" Brook asked.

"Oh, that's our ship spirit, Sunny!" he answered. "I guess you can't quite see her yet."

"Hmm, I see. Yohoho! What a strange bunch!"

"Look who's talking," Sanji muttered.

After a ruckus of a meal and an explanation of Brook's past and Devil Fruit, the skeleton adopted a solemn expression. "It's been so long since I've been adrift on this sea…50 years now…it's been so lonely. After all this isolation, to meet a crew as lively and kind as yours…I could have wished for nothing more."

The Straw Hats sobered at his words, suddenly taking into consideration what kind of hell it must have been to be alone in these waters for that long.

"Luffy-san. Earlier, you asked me to join your crew. Back then I was so thrilled that I couldn't help but accept. But truthfully, I must decline. You see, there's a reason why I cannot leave the Florian Triangle as of now."

"Oh, that," Luffy said nonchalantly. "Don't worry about it. We'll kick Moria's ass for you and get your shadow back!"

Brook's eye sockets widened in surprise. "Yohohoho! Now that's a shock! I didn't expect anyone who was just passing through to know what's been going on in these waters."

"What do you mean? What exactly is happening here?" Robin asked. "I assume it's related to why you can't leave?"

"Yes, that's right," Brook confirmed. "You see, quite some time ago, my shadow was stolen by a user of the Kage Kage no Mi. Without it, I am shunned by the sunlight. As of now, I am protected by this dense fog, but if I were to venture beyond it, I would surely perish."

"Whoa, he's right!" Usopp said. "If you look closely, he doesn't have a shadow!"

"But that name…Moria. Luffy, did you mean Gecko Moria? One of the Seven Warlords?"

"Yep, that's him," the captain answered. "We're gonna kick his ass!"

Brook was silent for a moment. "I didn't expect that. That…means a lot. But you shouldn't be so eager, Luffy-san. I don't want you to die for me. You can leave this fog whenever you desire. I don't want you to end up in the same predicament as myself, or worse. Therefore I'd strongly discourage you from challenging Gecko Moria."

Luffy smirked. "Thanks for the tip. But we never leave a crewmate behind. And even if you're not gonna join the crew yet, that just means you have no say in who we're gunning for. So until you're ready to become a Straw Hat, we'll be right here. We're annoying like that."

As Brook froze, every member of the Straw Hats adopted proud smiles. Despite some of their initial reservations about Brook joining, their Captain's words resonated with every single one of them.

"I see," Brook said, features blank. He looked as if he was about to speak again, but suddenly, he tensed up, and his eyes shrank in terror.

"G-G-Ghost!" he shrieked suddenly, and the crew followed his gaze to see a white smiling specter phasing through the wood of their ship.

The ghost started giggling madly at their reactions, before Luffy spoke up. "Hey, you," he said.

The ghost froze and looked at the rubberman. "Beat it," he finished, layering the command with the King's Will.

The ghost quickly did just that, but Brook followed it out, looking off into the fog to where it was headed. Sure enough, the colossal form of Thriller Bark could be seen drawing closer.

"It seems I've finally found what I've been searching for," Brook mumbled. After a brief farewell to the crew, he jumped off the ship and started running across the water towards Thriller Bark. What he didn't see was Luffy jumping into the air to follow through the fog behind him.

"Where in fucktopia is he going?" Franky asked.

"I'm sure he has something in mind," Zoro said with a shrug. "Let's just decide what we're going to do ourselves for now. Sunny, can you bring us closer to that place and drop anchor?"

"Sure thing!" the ship spirit chirped, as the sails unfurled, seeming of their own volition.

"What is this island anyway?" Nami asked. "It's not showing up on the Log. How did it get here?"

"It's not an island. It's a giant ship, and Moria's home field. He'll have the advantage here, so everyone watch your backs."

It didn't take long for the crew to realize that the island essentially had them trapped within its gate. In the end, it was decided that Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper would go ahead on the Mini Merry, while the rest of the crew stayed with the ship. Originally only three were going to go, until Nami pointed out that having the three weakest crew members go alone was just asking for trouble.

Not long after those four left, Sunny tensed. Suddenly, the ship's anchor threw itself onto the ship's deck, the chain wrapping around itself.

It was then that Sunny materialized again. "There's someone else aboard," she said seriously.

"What where?" Franky asked. They suddenly heard a pained grunt coming from the chain, which, as it was now apparent, was tensed around an invisible figure.

"He's invisible," the ship spirit stated. "But I could feel his footsteps." She smirked. "No one comes aboard this ship without me knowing."

The invisible figure suddenly let out a loud roar and renewed its struggling. The steel chain began to rattle, and Sunny grabbed her arm in a mix of pain and shock.

"Sunny, let him go," Sanji bit out.

She looked uncertain. "But—"

"You know everything we know, right?" he interrupted, eyes focused on the figure still wrapped within the chain. "Then you should know how this ends."

Sunny nodded slowly, before the chain unwrapped itself and dropped onto the deck. Another roar was heard as their unseen adversary rushed forward, but Sanji met him halfway.

Sanji landed a powerful knee to the assailant's gut, and their enemy was finally forced to materialize, coughing in pain.

"Get off our ship," Sanji whispered, before turning 360 degrees and kicking him in the face. He was sent flying off the ship and back in the direction of Thriller Bark.

"Who was that, do you think?" Robin asked.

"I don't know," Sanji replied. "But if that was what I think it was, he and I are going to have a problem."

"Can't you just use your Haki to track down where he is?" Chopper asked curiously. Claiming that Luffy was probably tailing Brook for a reason, Zoro had set quickly his sights on the big boss of the island, Moria himself.

"Already did," Zoro answered. "Problem is this ship is so big. It'll take awhile to get there unless I go alone." He smirked. "So, unless you guys will be fine on your own…"

Chopper faltered. "We'll take the long way…" he stated, and was met by agreement from Nami and Usopp.

"Right," the swordsman said. "We'll definitely be met with resistance on the way there, but that shouldn't be much of a problem. You guys can handle the small fry, and I'll take out Moria."

"You're right! Maybe we'll be done in record time," Usopp said cheerfully. "The less time we spend on this island the better!"

"Usopp," Nami seethed. "You realize that if there was any chance of that before, it's gone now, right?" she asked, causing Usopp to think back on his words and pale.

"Uh…"

"What are you idiots talking about?" Zoro scoffed, before a menacing grin appeared on his face. "After all, what could possibly go wrong?"

His three companions were white as the ghosts they were trying to avoid. Bastard! He's enjoying this!

It was then that a fierce growl could be heard from the path ahead, right on schedule. No no no no no!

"Zoro! Usopp! You guys totally jinxed us!" Chopper shouted in dismay, as a giant three headed dog regarded them threateningly.

Zoro sighed. "Get a grip you idiots. If Ol' Murphy is going to manifest as anything, it's definitely not going to be some stupid three headed fox."

Evidently, his words only serve to enrage the already growling cerberus, whose fur stood up on end as he leaned forward, foaming at the mouth.

"Oh? You got a problem, Foxface?" Zoro asked with a challenging grin, one hand on his sword.

It was at that moment when Chopper, Nami, and Usopp turned around and fled the scene in fright. Zoro, focused on his soon-to-be prey, didn't take notice.

The cerberus charged forward, only to be cut down in an instant by Zoro's blade, which was soon sheathed again.

"You know, Luffy will either want to tame you or eat you," Zoro said matter of factly. "While the former won't be good for your pride, the latter won't be good for your everything."

He turned around, ready to tell the others to get a move on, when he noticed that they were conspicuously absent.

"Oh, fuck you, Murphy."

"Usopp," Nami said through gritted teeth, once their current situation caught up with them.

"I know."

"We're alone."

"I know, Nami."

"In a graveyard, on a giant ghost ship."

"I know, Nami."

"And it's your fault."

"Do I need to keep repeating myself!?"

"And there are dead guys crawling out of the ground," Chopper chirped, not wanting to be left out.

"I know, Chopp—! Wait, whaaa…?"

They stood in silence as a horde of zombies rose from their graves once after another, moaning, groaning, and stalking forward ever so slowly.

"Usopp," Nami and Chopper chorused.

"I know, dammit!"

"Alright, what the hell?" Zoro groaned as he cut down another army of the walking dead. "I could have sworn their auras were that way! This island is messed up! And what's with those three, getting lost all of a sudden?" He stopped rambling as this time, a horde of larger, more powerful zombies appeared, all advancing on his position.

"They just can't wait for death's second embrace…" he muttered, getting his swords ready. "Eh, whatever. I could use a warm-up before that washed-up Warlord."

"WHO THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO RUN INTO A GRAVEYARD TO GET AWAY FROM A MOB OF ZOMBIES?!"

"Less hindsight, more getting the hell out of here!" Usopp shouted, before turning around briefly. "Take this! Certain Death, Firebird Star!" The fiery projectile exploded at the center of the zombie hoard, eliciting some surprisingly humanlike reactions from the dead men. Screams of pain were prevalent. Could zombies actually feel pain?

"I knew it! A zombie's weakness is always fire!" Usopp shouted triumphantly as the three gained some distance from the reincarnated corpses.

"What now? They're just going to keep coming unless we find somewhere to lay low!" Nami pointed out.

"I know! Look, there's a house up ahead!" he pointed to a downright creepy mansion that looked like it could single handedly bring the real estate prices of an entire neighborhood to an all time low.

"So we escape the graveyard to get away from the zombies, and your solution to lay low is a HAUNTED MANSION!?"

"Do you have any better ideas!?" the sniper snapped.

"Could you possibly have any worse ones!?" the navigator replied.

"Maybe we could just stay here until Zoro finds us?" Chopper suggested. Not having much of a choice, the three resigned themselves to the spooky ass mansion.

As they reached the entrance, they were surprised to find a corridor where they expected the front door to be, with a courtyard on the other end of it. The only thing noteworthy in the tunnel was an old well…which was immediately made more noteworthy by a spotlight…and even more so by the blonde-haired, blue-skinned woman who rose out of it, holding a stack of plates in her hands.

"Welcome."

As Brook cut down and purified another horde of zombies before they could react, he turned back toward his recently gained shadow. Of course, being one of Moria's victims, he had no shadow, but that was beside the point.

"Excuse me, Luffy-san. Might I enquire as to why you are still following me?" he asked.

"I told you, didn't I?" the rubber man replied as he knocked out another horde with a Gatling. "I'm here to help you get your shadow back, then we'll go kick Moria's ass!"

"While I truly appreciate that, won't your own crew require your assistance at the moment?"

"Those guys'll be fine. They've got Zoro and Sanji with them."

"I see. Nevertheless, I would prefer to at least attempt to gain my shadow back on my own. If I am unable, I will come to you afterwards, seeing as they cannot kill me for fear of losing their most powerful zombie. Is that an acceptable arrangement?"

Luffy hummed. "I guess so. In that case, I'll just point you in the direction of your shadow and go find Moria."

"Ah. But how would you know where my shadow is?"

"I can sense it. Its aura is the same as yours, after all." He quickly relayed the direction to Brook, who tipped his hat in thanks, before leaving to find a certain Warlord.

"Remind me again why we're guarding Nami while she showers?" Usopp complained. "It's not like there's anyone in this mansion to peek on her. Well, other than us, anyway."

"Other than you," Chopper corrected. "I'm not interested in human females, naked or otherwise."

"Well, I'm not that shameless to begin with. Who do you think I am, Sanji?"

"If you were Sanji, I wouldn't be trusting you to guard the door to begin with," Nami spoke up from inside the shower. "And relax, I'm almost done. But I can't believe you guys don't feel dirty after being attacked by zombies. Regardless, we need to get out of this place quickly and track down Luffy and Zoro. Those two have no good excuse this time for not warning us that this place was infested with the living dead."

"Uh…isn't it sort of our fault for running away from Zoro?" Chopper asked.

"They still should have warned us!" Usopp interjected hastily.

"We'll get back at them later," Nami continued. "For now, let's focus on getting out of this giant haunted house. I'm getting bad vibes from this place, and it's not just the creepy atmosphere."

"Do you think it's the piss poor lighting?" Usopp joked, drawing a curious look from Chopper.

"Are you afraid of the dark, Usopp?" he asked obliviously.

"The great Captain Usopp is afraid of nothing!" the sniper refuted. "But, if I had a perfectly rational fear at the moment, it probably wouldn't be the darkness, but the fact that the darkness makes it much easier for zombies to sneak up on you. Hypothetically speaking, of course."

"Do you think there are really zombies in the castle?" Chopper asked nervously, causing Usopp to shiver.

"I hope not. But Nami seems to think so. Hey, Nami, do you think that Hogback is hiding something?"

There was no answer.

"...Nami?" Chopper asked. Still no answer.

Usopp suddenly let out a horrified gasp. "Oh, hell, no! This is the part where we start disappearing one by one! Well it's not happening!" Without a moment's thought, he charged into the bathroom…

…Only to be met by Nami's completely naked form leaning against the wall, with no one else in sight. Usopp faltered.

This was a mistake, huh?

He quickly averted his gaze. "Sorry about that Nami…I sort of panicked there…haha…"

"Usopp!" Chopper shouted urgently. "There's someone else in here! I can smell them, but I can't see them!"

Upon hearing the warning, and finally noticing Nami's panicked eyes, Usopp briefly pushed all other thoughts aside and pulled out his slingshot. With use of his newly acquired Observation Haki, he was able to clearly see the outline of the figure pinning Nami to the wall.

"What a hideous aura…take this! Paint Star!" A paint-filled projectile hit their invisible adversary in the back, rendering him visible. Seeing this, Chopper ran forward and shifted into Heavy Point, nailing the figure over the head. To his dismay, the blow barely staggered him, but it was enough to free Nami's legs, an act which was rewarded by a moan of pain when she kneed the offender where about half the world's population never want to be kneed.

As its body slackened in pain, Chopper landed another blow to the head, this one knocking it back toward the window, away from Nami. There was no respite as it was soon hit dead center by a Firebird Star, courtesy of Usopp. The figure's entire body erupted into flames, eliciting a loud roar from the creature, who soon decided to retreat and leapt out the window.

"Bastard…who was that?" Usopp snarled.

"I don't know, but he got away," Chopper said, reverting back to his hybrid form.

"It sounded like some sort of beast…though it's urges were certainly human," Nami grumbled with obvious distress, having quickly covered herself with a towel. "Thanks for the save, Usopp…if you hadn't rushed in here…well, I don't really want to think about it."

Usopp flushed. "Uh…it was nothing really. In the horror stories, when someone in the group falls silent, it's never a good thing, and, well, you know…"

"You still have to pay me for what you saw, though."

"…That seems a tad unreasonable."

It wasn't hard to reach the chamber where Gekko Moriah waited; the stairs on one side of the island were a clear marker. It wasn't hard for a master of Haki to avoid the zombies along the way, or to purify them before they were any wiser.

And above all else, it wasn't hard to detect the enmity as the former Pirate King and the former pirate stared at each other, despite their apparently casual expressions.

"Moriah," Luffy said coldly.

"Straw Hat Luffy," the Warlord returned, giving him his full attention. He opened his mouth to speak more, but paused, curiosity creeping into his expression. "What's this? How is it that you possess two shadows?"

Luffy tilted his head to one side. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't even know about it?" Moriah asked incredulously. "I can see two shadows tied to your body, as though two souls are coexisting perfectly. The strangest thing in my eyes is that the extra shadow belongs to you as well, but at the same time, it doesn't. I've never seen anything like this, not even in the New World."

A thin sheen of sweat came onto Luffy's brow; it was easy for him to realize where that second shadow came from.

"So, you do know?" Moriah asked, his expression eager.

"Yeah… but I'm not telling you," the rubber man growled. "I didn't come here to talk. I came here to kick your ass for stealing my new musician's shadow."

"Oh, your musician, you say? I don't recall ever preying on one of the Straw Hat Pirates. I think I'd remember a potentially suicidal move such as that one!" Moria exclaimed. "And indeed, I'm not so foolish as to believe I could win against the scourge of Paradise in an even fight. On the other hand, now that I meet you in person, this does present quite an opportu—"

He was interrupted by a swift kick to the face, which sent him crashing into the wall behind him.

"If you're going to start monologuing, you should at least be on guard," Luffy said, crossing his arms after the casual display of force.

Moria got up, his face covered in blood, and scowled in frustration. "I could say the same to you. Not that being on guard would help you in this situation." Before Luffy could attack again, Moria held his arm out, palm facing towards Luffy, who felt an inexplicable pull on his very being.

A familiar one.

He grunted in shock as his shadow, for the second time in his life, was forcefully separated from his body and flew towards Moria's waiting grasp.

"Fool! You must have had a death wish to challenge me in that state! As a user of the Kage Kage no Mi, I have dominion over shadows! The only instance in which that dominion is under restriction is when a shadow is tied to a living body! Only one shadow can fulfill this condition. Even if the second one is somehow yours, it will not be tied to your body as strongly as the first!"

"I thought I told you…" Luffy panted as he slowly recovered from the sudden and painful abuse of his life force, "To stop your damn monologuing."

Moria scowled again. "Very well, then. I'll skip right to the finale."

With that said, he shoved Luffy's struggling shadow into his own body. The effect was instantaneous; Moria's overweight form didn't change at all, but with a wide grin on his face, he moved in a stance that mirrored Luffy's typical pose before battle. The real Luffy's Observation Haki told him that this could be problematic.

"Have you ever had to fight against yourself, Straw Hat?" the Warlord drawled.

"Who knows?" Luffy replied. "I've been through a lot of crazy shit, so something tells me it would be hard to remember even if I did. Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. But I know how your ability works; you know how I fight, but you don't have my powers."

"Kishishishishi! You're only half right about that Straw Hat!" Moriah cackled, proving his point by clenching his fists. At first, Luffy was confused; he couldn't stretch, so what was he—

He barely dodged the fist as it rushed towards him with impressive speed. It didn't take long to realize that the blow was Haki enhanced.

"I may not be able to duplicate your Devil Fruit, but I can duplicate your Haki!" Moria gloated. "And as long as I can manipulate my own shadow as I please, replicating the effects of the Gomu Gomu no Mi is child's play!"

"Only on the outside," Luffy said. With no more warning than that, he activated Gear Second, and rushed forward as Moria did the same.

"Gomu Gomu no…!"