Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 144 TRUST

We ran down the hall to find the zombies Sanji had already knocked out. Some of the prisoners grabbed the keys at their waists and began opening the other cages. A couple ran with us showing us where the kitchens were. The room was stocked full, and it was about dinner time so there was piping hot food ready to go. Terrible food for the prisoners, but food nonetheless. 

Threatening the zombie cooks we forced them to empty the cupboards and Luffy began wolfing everything down like a vacuum cleaner. He didn’t care about taste, he wanted meat and quantity. We then raided all the salt they had and the prisoners that had joined us began stuffing it in the mouths of the zombies. It didn’t take much to force the shadow to be rejected from the body. I explained it to them as salt being a purifier. But for Luffy I just said it was magic. 

Once Luffy was full we left the kitchen and split up. I wasn’t sure where to go exactly. I left it to the luck of the canon for everyone to get to where they needed to be. We were in a giant Dracula worthy castle. Stone walls, old carpets, creepy spiderweb covered candles, I thought I saw an organ playing on its own too. 

I decided my best bet was to go up. But instead of going up the stairs I ran outside of the castle and ran along the exterior wall. I didn’t want to risk fighting Moira just yet. So I ran up the wall on the outside. Moving up quickly it was a tiered castle with a purple shingled roof. I heard fighting going on from the inside, but ignored that for now. 

Once high enough I realized how big the island ship actually was. Still in the Florian Triangle it was pitch black. But I had Increased Vision as one of my buffs from High School of the Dead. It allowed me to see most everything from the dim light of the castle. 

There was a large forest around us. Forest and graves. At least 2 miles in diameter the land around the castle was huge. Around the forest was a brick wall, separating it from the water. But this wasn’t the end of the ship. There was water all around us, then another wood exterior. Kind of like a dog bowl, the wood exterior was the real ship. Straight ahead was a large gate that looked like a mouth. I thought I saw the Thousand Sunny anchored over by the mouth, waiting for us. 

The massiveness of the ship was hard to understand. Almost 3 miles in diameter the prisoners had said they were forced to row it around the Florian Triangle. But above me were giant sails. Looking behind there was a massive wood mast near the same thickness of the castle. It went up and up to hold a giant sail, at least 2 miles wide. The sail was black and had the symbol of the Thriller Bark Pirates. A Jolly Roger with bat wings. 

On either side of it were other masts that rose up from the wood dog bowl exterior. The masts had more sails, but written on them were the words ‘Thriller Bark’. If Moira was going to go against Kaido I didn’t know how the hell he was supposed to go under the holy land with such a massive ship. Then again if he had rowers maybe he could skirt the Calm Belt to get around. Either way, we were going to have to beat them up here. 

Looking around the interior castle was getting louder. I needed to find Brook. I formed water chakra in my hand and made it into a flat disc about 2 feet in diameter. Controlling it I moved the water lower then stepped onto it. 

During my training in Naruto World I had tried to learn a way to fly, but it eluded me, until I remembered I could walk on water. Stepping onto the water I made I forced it to float up, making me fly with it. I flew over the forest and graveyards below. There was a small castle out back that I assumed Sanji would be on his way to to get Absalom. I wanted Brook though. I knew Robin and Nami could protect themselves. 

Flying over the forest I picked up speed. Always searching for that skeleton bastard I knew he had to be close. I ended up near the water of the inner bowl. Closer to our ship I noticed that the long boat Brook had used was still attached to the Thousand Sunny. I risked it and flew over to our ship. 

It appeared fine. Some of the grass was kicked up, and furniture was out in the lawn as if they had tried to rob it, then thought of something better to do. I heard the eerie wailing from inside the ship. Dropping the sea water I jumped to the grass deck. Heading inside I found Brook crying in the same place I saw him last. Sitting at the head of the table where he told us his story. 

“Why are you crying? You don’t have tear ducts,” I said bluntly. 

Brook jerked up. His bony hands moving from his eye sockets to stare at me. “How did you get here?”

“We had a prison break,” I said. “Luffy and the others are causing hell for Moira and his crew.” 

Brook looked at me shocked, at least I assumed it was shocked. His mouth was wide open. Without facial expressions he was somehow harder to read than Toru was. He stood up slowly, hefting the cane at his side he lifted the curved handle to reveal a blade. 

“You have every right to be upset at me,” Brook said. “I understand if you want to fight.” 

“I don’t want to fight,” I said, moving to sit down at the table opposite of him. “Why don’t you tell me why you put us to sleep?” 

Brook studied me for a time. Eventually he pushed his blade back into his cane. He let out a sigh as his eyeless sockets stared at his hands. “I was part of the Rumble Pirates some 50 years ago. Like you lot we wanted to take on the Grand Line. I was a simple musician, but like all pirate crews, everyone was needed for fighting.” He sighed again. I didn’t understand why he sighed, Brook had no lungs. 

“But like all crews, we came across something we couldn’t beat. First our captain, then each member of my crew succumbed to death. Even me. All except one crewmate that is,” Brook admitted. “We had befriended a whale on the Grand Line. A baby sea king. The Grand Line was a scary place. We convinced it to wait for us at Reverse Mountain.”

“I simply want to get back to him. I would do anything to keep my promise to him, because he is the only one of us left. Sea Kings live for hundreds of years, you know. Of all the things you can’t break in this world, you can’t break your word to your crew,” Brook said. 

I nodded in agreement. “Funny story,” I said. Brook jerked as if hit. Apparently he had forgotten I was there. “Not funny haha, more funny in a coincidence sort of way. I separated from my crew at Reverse Mountain. Met up with them at the Alabasta Kingdom. They talked about a giant whale. A sea king that pounded it’s head against Reverse Mountain trying to break it down. A doctor that had been taking care of the whale said the sea king was trying to get to his crew that promised to return to him.” 

Brook’s hand covered his mouth, understanding what I was implying. “Our captain didn’t much like the whale hurting itself trying to break a mountain down. So he fought it, forcing it to not attack the mountain again. Promising the whale that we would look for his long lost crew. If they couldn’t come back, at least we would.” 

“Wha-what was the name of that whale,” Brook asked. 

“Laboon,” I said. Brook began to wail again. No tears coming from his sockets he still held his hands over them as he cried. I let him cry for a bit, but he didn’t stop so I had to interrupt. “So, do you want to let Laboon down again? Make it so that he won’t be able to meet the Straw Hats as well? Or do you want to help us beat up Moira so we can all go to meet up with him?” 

It took Brook a bit, but he eventually nodded. “Can your crew ever forgive me?” He asked. 

“Of course,” I said. “Besides, Moira lied to you. He is setting course to leave the Florian Triangle. I’m guessing you still don’t have your shadow back?” 

“What!?” He asked standing up. “But why?” 

“He got a shadow for this Oars guy,” I said. 

“Oars the Continent-Puller?!” Brook asked. I shrugged. “He was a famous giant from before my time. He was the largest of them all.” His words were accentuated by a loud booming noise from outside. We both got up and ran out to the deck. Out on the main island of the ship was a giant as tall as the castle. He had red skin, long blonde hair, and horns on the side of his head. 

“Guess so,” I said, but noticed we weren’t alone on deck. There was someone worse right in front of us. “What are you doing here?!” I asked, my heart in my throat. 

In front of us was a man just as tall as Moira. 20 feet tall he wore gray pants and a black coat. The pants were designed with cat paw prints, the coat bore a cross that had a circle around it. An arm over his chest he held a book that read ‘BIBLE’ on the cover. His skin dark, he had long curly black hair that went down his back. His hat matched the pattern of his pants but had 2 bear ears on it. 

“I am Bartholomew Kuma,” the man said. 

“I know who you are! What are you doing here so soon!?” I asked, scared for the first time in a long time. Kuma pushed his sunglasses up the brim of his nose. 

“Ah, the Watanabe,” Kuma said. “This must be the new Straw Hat ship. I had assumed with the jolly roger, but was not certain.” 

“Brook, get out of here. Start helping the other Straw Hats,” I said. 

“But-” 

“No buts, start helping to free the zombies of shadows,” I said. Brook hesitated but then jumped off the ship. His light body easily glided over the water. Kicking quickly it didn’t take him long to get to the main island. “Now you, you weren’t supposed to be here until later.” I turned to Kuma, watching the large man. “What’s another Shichibukai doing here?” I had forgotten why he was there in the first place. 

“The government has heard that Moira is abusing his power as a Shichibukai,” Kuma said. “They sent me to check on the truth. I’m curious how you knew I would be here though.” 

“I hear things…with my Haki,” I lied. 

“Ah, I had heard you could get the sense of things. Not too surprising as a Watanabe,” Kuma said. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. Despite the situation I was hopeful for some information. 

Kuma looked me up and down, but instead of answering he asked, “Where is the place you would like to go?” 

I jumped back onto the upper deck. “Don’t even try it, paw guy!” I spat. “I know your tricks. I’m not ready to go on a vacation just yet.” Kuma still towered over me from the main deck. “Give me a bit. Give us this island. You can send us wherever the next time we meet.” 

“I’m afraid that won’t work,” Kuma said, adjusting his sunglasses again. “I am an agent of the government. You have quite the high bounty on your head. If I were to let you go…that would not be good. I have seen what Moira is doing here. You would all be hard pressed to win.” 

“Don’t give me that shit,” I said. “I know you worked for Dragon. And I’m pretty sure you know who we are. Or you wouldn’t offer to send me away.” He didn’t show any outward surprise at my words. I knew how this would end. “Give me a wager,” I offered. 

“What kind of wager?” Kuma asked. 

“I bet that we can beat Moira and all of his crew,” I said. “You take the credit. It doesn’t matter to us. After that you let us go.” 

“Why would I do that?” Kuma asked. 

“Because it’s a bet. You don’t think we can win. I will prove that we can,” I said. “At the end if we lose, we will be beat up. I doubt we could win against you. But if you want to fight, we would be more than happy to.” 

“You seem to have a lot of confidence that I will abide by a bet,” Kuma said. 

“Let’s just say, I know you’re a man of your word,” I said. 

Kuma mulled over the words. “Fine, an amendment though,” he said. “If you win against Moira, your crew will have to go through my own test.” 

“Test?” I inwardly cursed. 

“Yes,” Kuma said. “A test of…conviction.” 

“Fine,” I said. I had hoped to not go through that part, but also knew it was unavoidable. “It’s a bet.” Kuma nodded as Perona got onto the ship. 

“What are you doing here?” The pink haired girl asked. She looked beat up and had a few zombies at her back, carrying her luggage as if she was moving in.  

Kuma turned to her. “Where is a place you would like to go?” He asked. Perona stupidly answered and then was thrown away. I freed her zombie pals with some salt and was on my way to the main island, ready to be done with this whole headache. 

I stopped running on the water as I noticed sunlight leaking off from the horizon. Cursing, I sped up. I had to make sure we all had our shadows back soon, because I sure as hell didn’t.