(Y/N) wiped away her tears before she turned around to face Robin and Franky. "Alright guys let's get moving... Franky stop crying like a big baby." (Y/N) walked up to the cyborg, patting him on his back as he sobbed.
"He... He's a true man!!" Franky yelled out before blowing his nose on (Y/N)'s hoodie.
(Y/N) hit the cyborg's head repeatedly, trying to get Franky off her stomach. "EW YOU NASTY, GROSS, STUPID, CELING FAN, ROBOT! GET OFF ME!!"
Robin giggled at her crew mates before they finally began running inside the building behind them. The three made it to a large staircase, but the cyborg kept crying as they ran. "Listen Franky." Robin called out to the cyborg.
"What is it?!" Franky covered his eyes as he ran. "You're wrong! I'm not crying! I'm not crying, you punk! Stop looking at me already!!" (Y/N) shook her head in defeat at the crying cyborg.
Robin ignored Franky's obvious fib. "I wanted to know.. Why did you ask him about that?"
"Leave me alone! I have my reasons, okay?! Awe damn it! I can't help it!! I love that damn skeleton! He's the nicest guy in the whole world!! It's not fairrr."
(Y/N) laughed at the cyborg's words. "Maybe he'll become a Straw Hat, after all." Franky sobbed harder from (Y/N)'s claim as the three made it to the top of the stairs. The three felt a large gust of wind pushing them back. (Y/N) allowed the force to pass through her before turning to watch Franky tumble back down the stairs. The cyborg roughly hit his face on the ground below him. (Y/N) laughed before yelling. "You good down there?? Ceiling fans are meant for the ceiling, not the floor ya know?!"
"Ugh. What the hell... WOULD YOU QUIT CALLING ME THAT?!" Franky angrily yelled up at snickering (h/c) haired woman.
(Y/N) helped Robin up, noticing concern and confusion on her face. "Have any idea what that was?" (Y/N) looked at the hallway ahead of her.
"I'M HUNGRY!!" A loud voice yelled making more air blow their way.
"What the hell?!" Confusion ran across (Y/N)'s face.
Franky ran back up the stairs, joining the two women. "Lets go check it out." (Y/N) nodded at Franky's words before the small group took off in the direction of the loud voice.
After a while of running, the group head screams and conversation down the hallway. "Nami? Usopp? Chopper??" (Y/N) looked at Robin and Franky in concern before changing their course to the direction of the screams.
The three ran until they arrived at another staircase leading down, not as large as the last. Looking over the stairs' railing, the three saw a horde for zombies attacking Usopp and Chopper. (Y/N) didn't hesitate to jump off the staircase before her. Franky joined his crew make soon after, grabbing a zombie by its throat and forcing its mouth open. The cyborg purified the zombie making the other zombies tremble in fear. "Woah. Hold up! Who's that?!"
(Y/N) hooked her sickle into a zombie's cheek, pulling its mouth to her and throwing a pinch of salt inside. "Woah dude! They just purified them!" The zombies yelled out in fear when the three began purifying every zombie they touched.
"Get your filthy rotten hands off of my bros." Franky shouted at the zombies. "I ain't gonna warn you again, got it?!"
(Y/N) turned, anger radiating off her face as she let another lifeless corpse slip off her blade. When she locked eyes with Usopp and Chopper, her anger turned into concern. "Are you boys okay?!" (Y/N) ran up to the crying boys, holding each one of them in her arms. "Where's Nami?" The two looked up at (Y/N) with sadness in her eyes. (Y/N) nodded, showing them she understood before looking back at Robin and Franky.
"Damn we're too late. Lost Nami, huh?" Franky looked at the boys in (Y/N)'s arms.
Robin softly smiled back at the boys. "It's okay. We'll save her. Right, you two?"
Usopp and Chopper cried on (Y/N)'s chest. "YEAHH!!"
"I'm glad you boys are okay, but we need to get moving." (Y/N) helped the two up. "Come on. Let's go get our navigator."
The five Straw Hats made their way to another large staircase as Robin spoke up. "We were told they use this staircase to transport people who shadows have been cut."
"That makes sense. They took Luffy here!" Usopp informed the group as they ran. "We were headed this way too, right before Nami got kidnapped!"
"I'm so worried about her. Do you think she'll be okay?!" Chopped questioned his crew mates.
(Y/N) laughed a bit as she ran. "Knowing Nami, she's not the type to go down without a fight."
"Yeah! If they wanted her dead, they wouldn't have captured her! We'll get her back, no doubt." Usopp quickly added.
"The best thing we can do for now is get back to the Sunny. We'll regroup there and wake up the other guys then take back their shadows." The cyborg spoke up.
(Y/N) agreed with Franky's statement, but Chopper quickly spoke his concerns. "But this place is crawling with zombies. That won't be easy."
"Oh yeah I forgot ask." Usopp turned to Franky beside him. "How did you beat those zombies anyway?"
"It's another one of those secrets that skeleton told us about." Frank pulled out the small pouch Brook gave him. "Check it out."
"It's plain salt." (Y/N) smirked at Usopp and Chopper.
Chopper looked at her in shock. "Even these zombies have something that can hurt them..."
"So by throwing it in their mouth, it purifies them?" Usopp questioned his crew mates.
Franky quickly agreed with the long nosed man. "You just saw it in action."
"By the way." Robin spoke up. "Do you have any idea what that monster roar was we heard earlier? We couldn't see anything."
"Whatever it was sounded hungry." (Y/N) scoffed at the memory.
"Yeah. We were trying to see where it came from, but we ran into you." Franky explained to Chopper and Usopp.
Usopp looked straight forward, speaking in a serious tone. "That roar was Luffy."
Robin, Franky and (Y/N) gasped at Usopp's claim. "What did you say?" Franky questioned the long nose.
"Don't worry. We'll tell you everything we saw. I don't think you're gonna like what you hear though."
The five finally made it outside on a large stone pathway, but they still had a while to go before they reached the Sunny. "You said this thing is bigger than a giant. What is it? Some kind of monster?" Franky questioned Usopp.
"Yeah. That huge crash you heard and all that crazy yelling came from the same creature." Usopp glanced back at the building they came from. "In other words, Luffy's zombie is going on a rampage!! ...Come on! Hey look, I can see the Sunny!"
"Good. Looks like what that skeleton guy told us was right." Franky spoke to the two women besides him. (Y/N) and Robin agreed with his words. Franky, Chopper, (Y/N) and Robin jumped up on the large stone wall before them, looking down at the Sunny still caught in the spider monkey's large web. Franky spoke up to his crew mates once more. "I see. So that's the way this works, huh? Land right here on the island, take a little stool through this gate and up the stairs. Before you know it, you walk straight into the bosses room. Serving him your shadow on a silver platter."
(Y/N) looked back at the giant castle like building behind her. 'We're coming for you, Gecko Moria.' The (h/c) haired woman walked off the wall, standing on the air below her before descending down to the deck below her. "Come on guys. Hurry it up, we have no time to lose!"
"We don't have crazy powers like you!!" Franky irritatedly yelled at the (h/c) haired woman as he climbed down the ladder to the deck.
(Y/N) shrugged and continued to the Sunny. "I wonder why the stairs are down. We just hopped off the ship when we left. That's strange." (Y/N) pondered aloud as she walked up the stairs, her (e/c) colored eyes widened in shock when she saw the Sunny's state.
Usopp boarded soon after. Dread ran across the long nose's face when he saw the mess. Usopp turned back to the remaining crew mates who have yet to board. "I don't know what happened while we were gone, but they totally wrecked the place!!"
(Y/N) sighed in frustration before she began cleaning. "I'm sorry, Sunny. This should have never happened to you."
Usopp questioned what could the zombies that raided the place been up too, but Franky quickly reminded his crew mates they really didn't have anything worth taking. "I don't smell any zombies." Chopper sniffed the air around him.
"So. You think the others are really here?" Usopp questioned the group.
"Won't know til we look." Franky looked over at (Y/N). "We'll clean her up soon. Let's find the others first. Trust me, I want her fixed up too." Franky spoke with sincerity in his voice.
(Y/N) sighed again as she placed a barrel upright. "Alright. I just hate seeing her like this."
"HEY!! LUFFY! ZORO! SANJI!" Chopper screamed out for their crew mates.
Usopp joined his yells. "Are you here or not?! Huh??! Answer us!!"
"They probably placed them inside a cabin, right?" Chopper questioned Robin's suggestion before she explained further. "They have to protect Luffy and the others. If they die then their zombies will die as well."
"I see... okay! Hey Franky! You and Chopper check out the first floor. Robin, (Y/N) and I will check things upstairs. There may be some zombies hanging around here, so everyone be careful okay?!" Usopp ordered his crew mates.
"Okay!" The five split up to check around the Sunny.
(Y/N) ran upstairs, swinging open the door to the dinning room. The (h/c) haired woman covered her mouth in shock before turning around to yell out. "HEYYY!! I FOUND THEM!! COME TO THE DINING ROOM, NOW!!"
(Y/N) walked into the dining room, staring at her crew mates. Usopp was first to arrive followed by the other. Chopper screamed for his captain as Franky spoke up. "What the hell... is this?"
"Those zombies... really had a field day while they were knocked out, huh." Usopp said.
"It's hard to look at." Robin calmly said as the group heard the snap of a camera. Franky, Chopper and Usopp turned to (Y/N) innocently holding her vision dial. "WHY ARE YOU SO MEAN?!!"
"Hey. This is a once in a life time opportunity. I can't ignore preserving history." (Y/N) grinned, evilly holding up the photograph of the three.
"THIS ISN'T HISTORY!!" The boys yelled at the laughing (h/c) haired woman.
Usopp ran up to Luffy, grabbing the captain's upper arms as he crouched in front of Luffy's face. "Wake up already! This isn't the time to be taking a nap, okay?! Come on!!" The long nose tried shaking his captain awake.
"Leave this one to me." Franky grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Get off your asses, damn it! We're in a lot of trouble here!! Take that crap off your face and get with the program!!"
Zoro, Luffy and Sanji laid face first on the group, but now with big steaming bumps on their heads. "Still didn't do it, huh?" Usopp questioned with a bored expression on his face.
"So you punks want to be lazy, do ya? Alright then." Franky prepared his Weapons Left. "Step aside. I'm using my bazooka."
Usopp placed his hand in front of Franky, stopping the cyborg's fire. "I have a more delicate solution. In times like these... THERE'S A BEAUTIFUL LADY SWORD MASTER WITH WITH A WHOLE BUNCH OF MEAT!!!"
The boys shook before slowly pushing themselves up. "A lady? With meat? And swords?"
"YOU GUYS ARE HELPLESS!!" Chopper and (Y/N) screamed at their crew mates.
Luffy had a dazed expression on his face before jumping up and running. "THAT BASTARD!!" Franky stopped his captain with his hand on Luffy's face. "WHERE'S MY SHADOW?!!"
"It ain't here, you idiot! Take a look at where you are!!" Franky yelled back at the Straw Hat captain.
Luffy took a look another him. "Huh? This is..."
"Yeah. The Sunny." Franky irritatedly replied, letting go of Luffy's face.
(Y/N) scooted towards Robin as the boys spoke about losing their shadows. "Psst. Robin." (Y/N) whispered over to her friend. Robin hummed in response. "Look. I think this is one of my favorites." (Y/N) snickered as she held up the photo she took.
Robin giggled at her friend's mischievous. "One of these days, all those embarrassing photos will catch up to you."
"Ah. I wouldn't worry about it. It's not like I'm going to show it to them. At least not now." (Y/N) looked up at the defeated men with a small grin on her face. "We need to get back their shadows first."
"So where's Nami? Is she waiting outside or something?" Sanji questioned, looking around the dinning room.
Usopp and Chopper nervously stood next to each other. "Uh... um..." The two looked one another as Sanji ran up to the long nose. 'Someone's in trouble...'
Usopp screamed in fear as Sanji grabbed him by the collar, screaming in the long nose's face. "You let some bastard kidnap my angel?!! Why didn't you chase them to the ends of the world?!"
"It's not really our fault, okay? This particular guy is kinda hard to catch, ya see!" Usopp sheepishly explained to the pissed off cook.
Sanji pressed closer to Usopp's face, him the meanest of mean death glares. "You tell me who he is and where I can find him. I'll hunt him down right now and bring her back."
"Wait! Let me explain the situation here. It's sorta complicated." Sanji finally let Usopp go. The long nose cleared his throat lightly before further explaining. "Okay, so this is the deal you guys. Even if it kills us, we have two big things that we have to get back no matter what!"
"Food and Nami." Luffy quickly spoke up. "Oh and our shadows too, that's three."
"Okay uh. I'm not sure if one of those really makes the list." Usopp gave Luffy a defeated gaze before looking back to the rest of his crew mates. "Food is great and all, but let's focus on Nami and shadows for now."
The Straw Hats agreed on their new tasks before heading out of the dining room and onto the grass deck. (Y/N) sat on a barrel as Usopp explained Luffy's zombie and Nami's kidnapper plans to marry the ginger. Naturally, this pissed off Sanji. "Wow. I wish we had marshmallows, could have made s'mores with Sanji's burning rage." (Y/N) sarcastically said aloud.
"Ooo s'mores." Luffy drooled with the thought before pouting. "(Y/N)!! You're making me more hungryyyy." The (h/c) haired woman shrugged at her captain as Luffy turned his attention back to the prior conversation. "Wow this guy must be brave if he wants to marry Nami. And what's all this about me being a monster?! Why does my shadow get to do all the cool stuff!!"
"So Usopp. You guys already saw who or what has Sanji's and Luffy's shadow, right?" Zoro questioned the boys.
Usopp and Chopper were both crying. "No one told me we were fighting one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea... Can I just hide in a hole and cry myself to sleep?!"
"You guys were all business just a second ago." Franky looked over at his crying crew mates.
"WE DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER!!" The two yelled before Usopp got up and started speed walking away. "Oh wait I almost forgot."
"Hey wait a sec. If you put someone shadow in a zombie, they act like that person right? Then I think I've seen your zombie, Zoro." Luffy's words remind (Y/N).
(Y/N) put her hand on her chin in ponder. "Oh yeah. That totally slipped my mind, I saw your zombie too."
"Oh yeah? What kind of guy was he?" The swordsman asked his two crew mates.
Luffy also put his hand on his chin in ponder. "Hm.. Well he looked just like you, but since he was wearing wooden clogs I could tell it wasn't you." (Y/N) just nodded in agreement with her captain's words.
"Alright. Whatever you say then." Zoro looked back to the rest of his crew mates. "So if we find this guy with the clogs, the dog penguin thing that has Sanji's shadow and Luffy's giant monster zombie. All we gotta do is throw some salt in their mouths and we'll get our shadows back? Is that it?"
"Well yes, but my concern is that Moria guy. I don't think he's going to just allow us to waltz in, grab your shadows and take off just like that." (Y/N) hung her head a bit before sitting criss cross on the barrel.
"Don't worry about that." Luffy spoke up making (Y/N) look at him. She saw her captain with a huge grin on his face. "I already told you, I'm gonna kick his ass!"
(Y/N) softly smiled at her captain before looking over to Usopp. The long nose dragged out a small table before placing it down to sit on the table and grind something with a mortal and pestle. (Y/N)'s attention was grabbed when the Zoro spoke up. "Nice job on figuring out their weaknesses. How'd you pull that one off?"
"Save your thanks for the afro skeleton. Not only did he know how to beat the zombies, he also told us you'll be waiting back here at the Sunny." Franky explained to the swordsman.
Luffy smiled brightly at the facts. "Whaaat?! You ran into Brook again?"
"Yeah. Though a feel a little bad since I asked him a pretty cruel question. Even though you wanted him to join the crew, when I met they guy, I didn't give him a fair shake. Truth be told, I barely even thought of him as human. But once I actually took the time to talk to him for a second, I found out he has a real backbone. Other than the obvious, I mean." The crew sat in silence for a few seconds, allowing Franky to continue. "What I'm saying is... I was wrong. That skeleton's a real man. I.. I shouldn't have said it, but..." (Y/N) hung her head as Franky told the conversation he had with Brook on that spider's web. "So there you have it. That's it. The whole story."
"Laboon..." Luffy spoke with seriousness making (Y/N) curiously looked up at her captain then Sanji, Zoro and Usopp.
(Y/N) tilted her head in confusion before looking at Chopper, Robin and Franky who wore the same confused look. "What's the deal here guys?"
"Oh right. Frank, (Y/N), Chopper and Robin weren't with us then." Usopp looked up at his confused crew mates.
"We met that whale before." Luffy calmly stated making (Y/N)'s eyes widened in shock. "And we know... that promise."
"WHAAAT?!!" (Y/N) fell off the barrel in complete shock before shooting back up again. "Did you just say you met Laboon?!! But Brook said his friend was from over fifty years ago?! A whale?!!"
"Hold on. You know him?!" Franky joined (Y/N)'s questioning. "That's crazy! How is that possible?!"
"It was when we passed through to the Grand Line at the Twin Capes." Sanji spoke up making (Y/N) look at the cook. "That damn giant whale was blocking the entrance." (Y/N) starred in shock at Sanji as the cook explained the events at the Twin Capes. "Thanks to Luffy's idiotic temper, Laboon swallow the ship with us aboard."
"What?! The whale ate you guys?" Chopper questioned the cook in shock.
"And this is the same Laboon as Brook's?" Robin join Chopper's questioning.
"It has to be. There was an old light house keeper that lived inside his gut and told us all about the whale."
"WHAAAT?!!" Chopper and (Y/N) screamed in unison.
Luffy giggled at the two. "That flower head guy!"
"Not only did he go inside him, he took care of him and treated his wounds." Sanji further explained.
"What's a lighthouse guy know about wounds?" Franky questioned.
"Plenty. If they got medical experience." Usopp spoke up while grinding something in a mortar. "He was apparently a doctor of a pirate crew at one time."
"Wow.." Chopper spoke in admiration. "But how did the whale get so hurt that he needed a doctor to treat him? What happened?"
"It was at the Red Line. Grief drove him to keep bashing his head against the dividing wall." Sanji held his cig between his fingers before speaking again. "The grief of abandonment. He spent fifty years waiting for his friends there, believing they would return for him after their voyage."
(Y/N) softly sighed before thinking. 'The grief of abandonment... I know how that feels, but fifty years? It's insane to think about.'
Sanji continued speaking. "I couldn't believe it, but somehow Luffy convinced him to stop trying to break through the wall like a damned idiot. Even now, he's alive out there... waiting at that cape for his friends to finally return."
"It's an incredible story." Usopp halted his grinding to look up at his crew mates. "Talk about true friends. He kept his promise to him for more than half a century."
"And to think.. we met one of Laboon's friends by complete coincidence." Zoro added in, looking up at Thriller Bark. "I wonder what that skeleton is doing right now."
Franky began sobbing yet again from Brook's story making (Y/N) facepalm. "I love that bonehead and his stupid whale!!!"
"SHUT UPPP!!" Zoro, Sanji and Usopp yelled at the cyborg.
Luffy busted out laughing. "I'm so pumped, guys!! He's a musician, a talking skeleton, has an afro, does that YOHOHOOO thing and he was one of Laboon's best friends!" The captain quickly stood up. "Even if I gotta force him to, he's gonna join our crew! We got us a musician. Any objections? Speak up!"
Robin placed her hand on her head, softly laughing. "Would it really change your mind even if we did?"
"I want him to join the crew too! No question, him and Laboon!" Usopp happily agreed.
"Complete and total approval!!" Franky proudly held up his fist, sobbing joyful tears.
"Same here, ya big dumb bastard!! And I'm not scared of skeletons, damn it!!" Chopper added in, crying as well.
"I'm right there with them, 'Capt." (Y/N) smiled brightly at Luffy.
"Before I can answer such an easy question, I gotta but a stop to this shot gun wedding of Nami's!!" Sanji burned with rage.
Luffy peaked over Sunny's railing, looking down at the swordsman who was walking on the deck to the island. "Hey Zoro! Where you going?"
"Going off to get started. You keep adding shadows. We got a lot we need to get back."
Luffy giggled at Zoro's words. "Alright crew! Time to get serious! Prepare for the counter attack! We're gonna put Thriller Bark in a watery grave!!"
"YEAHHH!!" The crew cheered for their captain's orders.
"Have fun!" Usopp waved his crew mates off.
Sanji quickly yelled. "You're with us, moron!"