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"Brother Logan… it's so dark in here."Weiwei clung tightly to Logan's arm, practically glued to him.
In this pitch-black place where you couldn't even see your own hand, the girls huddled together instinctively.
Even though they all had Observation Haki and could sense their surroundings far better than normal, the shock of total darkness still triggered a primal fear.
"With the strength you all have now, this place can't hurt you," Logan said with a small smile, giving them a reassuring look.
"Yohohohoho~"
"Yohohohoho~"
"Yohohohoho~"
A drifting, melodic voice suddenly echoed through the dense fog, making the girls—who had just barely calmed down—tense right back up.
"What is that?!" Nami frowned. Her Observation Haki had picked up… something unknown.
More accurately… it felt like a skeleton?!
"Logan, that guy can't be…"
Logan nodded slightly and sped up the Ark Maxim.
As they closed in, the song became clearer and clearer.
Bring Binks' brew alongTake it back home to youLike the sea breeze free and boldRide the waves and sing the tune…
The voice was gentle, lilting, and strangely beautiful.
When the song ended, an ancient, battered pirate ship finally emerged through the fog.
The moment the girls laid eyes on it, they all froze.
Its "singer," a skeleton whose jawbone was actively opening and closing.
He was the one singing that lovely melody.
"Yohohohoho! Didn't expect to bump into a new pirate crew today—what luck!"
Brook, who hadn't seen newcomers in forever, was so excited he forgot himself for a moment.
"AHHH!!"
"AHHH!!"
"AHHH!!"
The girls recognized him immediately. Of course they did.
But knowing he was a skeleton and seeing a moving, talking, perfectly alive skeleton were two very different experiences.
At least four or five of the girls screamed in perfect harmony.
Brook was so startled he nearly tripped, glancing around wildly."What happened?!!"
Seeing nothing wrong, he patted his chest cavity and looked back at them again.
"Don't be scared," Logan said softly, calming the girls.
Thank goodness he'd warned them ahead of time—otherwise the situation would've been way worse.
The shaken girls leaned closer to each other, then cautiously sized Brook up.
Truly, the world never runs out of strange sights.
Brook smoothed out his giant afro and greeted them enthusiastically."Yohohohoho! My name is Brook! A pleasure to meet all of you!"
When he looked at the group of beautiful women, his tone grew noticeably more excited."Yohohohoho~ Such lovely young ladies… would any of you happen to—"
BOOM!
Before he could finish, a crushing force—heavy as a mountain—slammed down on him.
With a loud crack, Brook's tall, skinny skeleton frame was driven to his knees.
The already-ruined deck groaned under the pressure.
At the same time, Logan's voice came out cold as ice:
"Brook. If you dare finish that sentence, I'll break every bone in your body."
Brook's pupils shrank—except he didn't have pupils.
His skull showed no expression at all, but his jaw twitched like he desperately wanted to say something.
The pressure vanished the next second.
Brook gasped like he'd just been pardoned from death row.
"You want to continue?" Logan asked him with a cheerful smile.
Brook's head shook so fast it rattled."No! No more! Never again!"
If he kept talking, his bones really would end up scattered.
Still trembling, he immediately turned around. He couldn't win—but he sure could run!
"Brook! Do you still remember Laboon?!"
Just as he was about to escape, Brook froze.
He jerked around violently.
"Laboon?! Y-you said Laboon?!!"
His voice was shaking uncontrollably.
It had been so long—so long that even he had forgotten how many years it had been since he last heard that name.
Though his skull couldn't show emotion, the expectation and hope in his voice were unmistakable.
The girls realized:Brook really had never forgotten Laboon.He had never abandoned the promise they made.
Otherwise… even fifty years later, that name wouldn't shake him like this.
Logan smiled gently."Laboon's still waiting for you at Twin Cape."
"Yeah, Brook—Laboon really, really misses you," Kaya added softly, remembering all the scars Laboon had given himself trying to find them.
"You… you really saw Laboon?!!"
Despite having no flesh or blood, tears flowed from Brook's empty eye sockets.
He never imagined he'd hear news of Laboon again.
"He's doing great. He's over four hundred meters long now. Just waiting for you to come back to him," Logan explained patiently.
The sincerity in Brook's emotions even moved Logan a little.
"Yohohohoho… that tiny little guy really grew that big… that's wonderful… that's truly wonderful!"
Relief and joy made Brook laugh and cry at the same time.
But then he wilted."I want to see him too… but I can't leave this place."
"Why not? You scared he'll be frightened by how you look now?" Makino asked, confused.
The others stared at him as well.
"His shadow was stolen by Gecko Moria," Logan explained directly. "He can't leave the island."
Brook gave a bitter laugh."That's right. Without my shadow, sunlight will kill me instantly."
"So I can only wander inside this dark, sunless Triangle. Unless… one day I take my shadow back."
He looked up at the pitch-black sky through empty sockets.He'd been trapped here fifty years.Would that day ever come?
He'd long given up… until the moment he heard Laboon was alive and waiting for him.
Even without a heart, he felt again.
He needed to go back.Laboon was his only remaining companion in the world.
"Tch. And here I thought it was something serious."Nami rolled her eyes, snapping Brook out of his thoughts.
"Once I beat Gecko Moria, your shadow comes back."
Brook stared silently at her. His skull somehow managed to radiate pure disbelief.
Beat Gecko Moria?
He understood the words individually, but together they made… no sense at all.
Did these people know who Moria was?!
Logan clapped Brook's shoulder."I promised Laboon I'd bring you back."
"If you want your shadow, then get over here and follow us."
Brook froze—then leapt onto the Ark Maxim without hesitation.
For Laboon, he'd gamble everything.
Besides… the power this man had shown earlier really did seem extraordinary.
Guided by Observation Haki, the Ark soared straight toward a massive silhouette hidden in the fog.
Thriller Bark.
Gecko Moria's pirate ship—also the largest pirate ship in the world.
Its size rivaled a small island.
The front entrance looked like a giant beast's open mouth, fangs and all—perfectly matching Moria's aesthetic.
Since the gate was wide open, the Ark slid inside without resistance.
Just like all the pirate crews that vanished here long ago.Except… none of them ever came back out.
Inside the massive ship, Logan stored the Ark and led the girls forward.
Along the way, he casually explained the bizarre sights they passed.
Why there were so many gravestones here.Why the animal corpses looked so strange.
And, naturally, the little fangirls stared at him with sparkling eyes the whole time.
The girls chatted and laughed with Logan as they walked, slowly forgetting the creepy atmosphere around them.
Brook followed behind the group, glancing around nervously as if expecting something to jump out at any moment.
No one noticed exactly when, but a dozen transparent ghosts suddenly drifted into view, floating above their heads.
"Horohoro…"
"Horohoro…"
The transparent ghosts let out laughter even creepier than Brook's.
Everyone jumped in fright.
Logan looked up at the negative ghosts and explained, "These things are Negative Hollows. They're created using the Ghost-Ghost Fruit by Perona, one of Moria's three weirdos."
"If one of them hits you, you'll sink into extreme negativity."
The girls immediately got serious and prepared themselves.
Logan watched the ghosts preparing to attack, then chuckled. "Perona, call them back. Otherwise, when I find your real body, I'm going to spank you."
The ghosts circled Logan once, then suddenly scattered and vanished.
Brook froze like a statue.
Meanwhile—
Inside a gloomy castle, in a princess bedroom decorated to an absurdly cute degree…
On a fluffy pink bed, Ghost Princess Perona suddenly opened her eyes, her face filled with panic.
"Logan? Logan really came to the Florian Triangle?!"
Her face went pale with fear.
Just a couple days ago they'd been talking about Logan… the man with a bounty of three billion berries.
And now he was here?
"They're just passing through. They have to be passing through," Perona whispered, patting her heaving chest and trying to calm herself.
"But what if they aren't…?"
Her face scrunched up in misery.
"No, I need to go tell Lord Gecko Moria. If he's here, Logan won't stand a chance."
After giving herself a round of forced self-comfort, she decisively left her room and headed deeper into the castle.
Elsewhere—
Logan continued forward with the girls, while Brook was secretly overjoyed.
The man walking in front of him had scared away the fearless Perona. Maybe today… maybe today he could finally get his shadow back.
"Captain, why does Gecko Moria live in a place full of graveyards and creepy forests?" Conis frowned and moved closer to Logan.
Logan shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe because of his zombie army. Or maybe he just likes living in this kind of spooky dump."
"These Warlords all get stranger and stranger," Nami muttered beside them.
Hawkeye rows his boat with a sword.
Crocodile modifies his own body.
Gecko Moria lives in a haunted wasteland.
She'd only met three Warlords, and all three were weirdos. Truly exhausting.
"Captain, there are a lot of people here." With their Observation Haki spread out, the girls immediately sensed countless figures hiding in the forest, watching them from the shadows.
Logan gave a lazy glance their way. "Ignore them."
"Hm?" At the same moment, the girls all let out a soft sound of surprise and stopped walking, looking to the right.
Someone was sneaking toward them.
"Nani?!"
Absalom, hiding in the shadows, froze when all their eyes swung toward him. He held his breath.
What's wrong with these people? Did they notice me?
Impossible… right?
He looked down at his transparent body to double-check. Everything was normal. He sighed in relief.
He scared himself for nothing.
He must have stepped too heavily earlier and made a sound that tipped them off.
As Absalom prepared to quietly sneak closer again, he finally noticed Logan standing by the girls.
Crap!
Absalom's face twisted in horror. He slapped a hand over his mouth and held his breath, not daring to make the slightest sound.
Logan… it was Logan.
Why was he here?!
Even if the bounty was exaggerated, the man had really killed Crocodile. Absalom knew he wasn't a match.
Just as he slowly tiptoed back to escape—
"Hey. What are you sneaking around for?"
The sudden voice made all the hair on Absalom's body stand up. He almost screamed.
Coincidence. It had to be a coincidence.
Stay calm. Do not panic.
"You're invisible… you must be Absalom, another one of Moria's three weirdos, right?" Robin said casually, exposing him in one sentence.
Run!
Absalom's pupils shrank. He didn't think twice and bolted.
"You came all this way. Don't leave now. Dor!" Logan called out.
The moment he spoke, Dor vanished from where she stood.
A sharp gust sliced through the air behind Absalom.
"Sound Soul Burst!"
Absalom's face changed drastically. He started to turn and counterattack—
But Dor's Armament Haki–coated fist slammed straight into his face.
As for the force behind it… put it this way:
In the original story, she knocked out the giant warrior Oars Jr. with that same punch.
With a loud crack, Absalom's face twisted out of shape, like it had been flattened by a truck.
His blood-splattered teeth flew in all directions.
Boom!
He shot through the air like a cannonball, smashed through dozens of tombstones, and finally came to a stop.
Dust billowed everywhere as what little life he had left drained away. He was barely breathing.
"Well done," Logan said with a satisfied nod.
"Thank you, Captain." Dor beamed, happily accepting his praise as she hooked her arm around his with a proud little flourish.
The other girls nodded in agreement.
As expected of Dor. Clean, decisive, and vicious.
"You… you killed Absalom?" Brook stared toward the direction the man had flown, his voice trembling.
One hit.
She took him out in one hit?
"Brook, he's not as strong as you think. Just focus on getting your shadow back," Logan said.
"Yessir!"
Brook hurried after Logan, practically skipping.
In his heart he was shouting:
Laboon! Wait for me!
Meanwhile—
Perona was already calling reinforcements.
She first found the genius surgeon Hogback, who was calmly eating in the dining hall.
He was one of the three weirdos too.
"Hogback! Stop eating! Logan is really here!" Perona stomped her foot in panic.
"Go summon the zombie army. I'm going to inform Lord Gecko Moria!"
"....."