02 The First Raid... Begins!

Slowly over time the two spirits began to merge and sync completely. Although it has had other effects on Brook that were not predicted by Arthur.

-10 Years Later-

"So the merge has finally been completed..." said Arthur. "I CAN SPEAK!" he screamed from the top of his lungs, well if he had lungs to scream with.

"Ofcourse we can speak!" He muttered uncontrollably.

"WAIT BROOK?!" screamed Arthur.

"In the flesh, well not th-" Brook was cut off.

"Ok, this is not what I expected to happen." muttered Arthur.

"Me neither." Brook stated flatly. "Well let's brew some tea and figure things out."

As the skeleton moved towards the beaten storage room of the Rumbar Pirates ship Arthur noticed a number of things. First while deep in thought he noticed that each one could take control of the body. Second there was this almost innate sense of unison with Brook and we can both control our body at the same time. It's what I imagine piloting a Jaeger from Pacific Rim would feel like. Finally they swapped some memories. Not every single one for they each still had independent thought. The memories Arthur gained were about Brook's dream which he already knew and Brook's fight experience, so Arthur knows how to use the Yomi Yomi no Mi and knows how to Fence like Brook to the last detail even knowing how to use his famous Arrow Notch Slash. Brook learned everything about the islands the Straw Hats have visited and any facts about objects like weapons or pirate flags Arthur was aware of.

"I have an idea." Arthur said as a skeleton spirit arose from Brook while he was pouring his tea.

"Wha- WHAT!" yelled Brook. "MY SPIRIT! but... I'm still in my body..."

"Brook it's me, Arthur. We have two spirits and after 10 years of constant usage our Yomi powers have surely increased in raw strength by a wide margin." Arthur stated.

"Yohohohoho... I see so the basics of the Devil Fruit have reached a super high level far superior to what it was before." Brook said in deep thought.

"Yeah appears that way. Anyways I'm going scouting via spirit form. There should be a certain island... no ship around here with a working boat we can use." the specter said before he flew off.

"Ah! Ok... I guess I'll just master my powers on my own..." Brook sighed as he took a sip of his tea.

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"If I was an island ship where would I be?~" Arthur sang as he suddenly stopped.

"Too think we were so close... TO THE EDGE OF THE FLORIAN TRIANGLE! AAAAAAAH!" Arthur screamed as he held his spirit head in his hands.

All that could be seen as the spirit broke through the fog was the amazing ocean being lit up by the setting sun. You could even see an sea king jumping out and catching what could only be a giant bird in the sky in the distance.

"This is going to be harder than expected." said Arthur.

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-2 Months Later-

"I wonder if tod-" Brook was cut off.

"BROOOOOK! I'M BACK AND I FOUND IT!" screamed the ethereal being before barreling back into Brook's body.

"Found what?" Brook thought to the Arthur.

"Thriller Bark!" Arthur said with a bit of giddiness in his eyes.

"Yohohohoho, but if your here how do you expect us to find the moving island ship exactly?" asked Brook.

"Yohoho... With this new technique, locating living beings will be as easy as stealing candy from a baby." stated Arthur.

"YOHOHOHOHO! YOU LAUG- YOHO! LAUGH JUST LIKE ME! YOHOHOHO!" Bellowed Brook as he was listening to Arthur speak for the first time in 2 months.

"Ah... ugh... huh..." Arthur was rather dumbfounded, he hadn't noticed it till now but he'd been laughing like Brook for a while. He also remembered that he shared his knowledge of islands. "erhrm... It must just be a side effect of our spirits aligning, now that new technique... SOUL EYES!"

Green smoke like phantasmal energy began to collect in the skeletons eye sockets until it began to trail of the sides of the eye sockets.

"Now let's take a look around Brook." said Arthur with a smile on his ghostly face.

As Brook looked in the direction that he had seen Arthur return from he could see it. In the distance there were only 2 whole souls in all of the Florian Triangle so they couldn't be missed. Especially not all the fragmented and stitched together souls barely being held together by what could only be described as a black, shadow like glue.

Brook was looking at the souls in disgust. "How... can there be such evil in the world..." Brook muttered. Arthur new exactly what he was talking about. The two souls that were visible had to be Moria and Hogback, one soul was cold and devoid of any empathy. The other soul was the same except it had a burning hatred for someone so strong it kind of hurt to look at.

"That would be the enemy Brook. There they hold 2 things we want. A ship and a certain sword with a black blade." stated Arthur. "Think were ready?"

"No way... but what choice do we have." said Brook as he leapt over the side of the ship and began sprinting on the water towards the evil souls.

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Meanwhile on Thriller Bark some zombies were on the beach enjoying some food they snagged from the food storage.

"Hey uuuuuh Mike?" said a zombie.

"Yeah Jim?" said another.

"Why do we even eat... WE'RE ZOMBIES!" screamed Zombie Jim

Just as an all out fist fight was about to break out another zombie piped up.

"Hey uh guys? What's that?" the third zombie pointing at what looked like a cloud of mist was headed straight for them.

"One sec let me grab a telescope." and as the zombie put a telescope up to his eye he saw a skeleton with an afro running on the water straight in their direction. "A skeleton? It must be one of the crazy doctor's creations."

The zombies chatted amongst themselves until they went back to what they were doing. Once Brook reached the shore, the zombies noticed that Brook was all bone.

"I don't know how Hogback did it but you sure are creepy." said a zombie.

"Ah... yes... do you think you could point me towards the food storage." said Brook.

"Yeah it's about 200 meters that way." as the first zombie pointed in a direction behind them. "I'm only telling you because you caught us sneaking food so don't tell anyone we're here."

"Likewise." Brook replied.

As Brook made his way to the food storage, other Zombies would notice Brook and were not as accepting that an undead without a number existed and quickly reported back to Hogback. Thanks to the knowledge Arthur brought back to this world Brook quickly grabbed a barrel of salt and left.

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"Doctor! There's reports of a walking skeleton amongst the zombies." said a random zombie.

"I see.. capture it, it may be useful..." hissed Hogback

"Yohohoho! Capture me? I'm right here." Brook chuckled casually while he held a zombie hostage with his arm around his neck in a chokehold with a jawless face that had clearly been sliced clean off. Brook then dropped a small baggie of salt down the zombies throat exercising the shadow.

"So you know the zombies weakness, what do you want from me." Hogback said hesitantly as if he had no other option to save his life.

"Brook smiled, "take me to Gecko Moria." Brook stated flatly.

"Fosfosfosfos... If that was all you wanted, you simply needed to ask." Hogback stated with a sinister grin that could only mean trouble.

As they left to go to Moria, Hogback couldn't help but notice the sliced up and destroyed zombie trap paintings, armor and even the rug have all been expertly carved and exorcised.

"His shadow will do perfectly!" thought Hogback.