"Although I don't know what you're really trying to do…"
"But let me tell you this… everything you're doing is meaningless!"
"The gap in power between you and me is something that can't be bridged with petty tricks."
"I don't think there's any need to continue this battle. Why don't you come back to Mary Geoise with me…"
"I might even arrange a decent position for you—far better than being some pirate like you are now!"
As he looked at the supremely confident Brook before him, ghostly, sinister flames flickered vividly in Saint Abyss's eyes.
Having suddenly gained the Ghost-type Pokémon attribute, he was bathing in a power he had never experienced before. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure out how Brook could possibly threaten him.
That said, he had to admit—
He had never felt this good before!
So much so that he was even considering whether he should capture Brook and keep him around as some kind of assistant.
Someone who could endlessly produce delicious bones and make him stronger in the process—That temptation was simply irresistible~
"Yohohoho~"
"Then I must thank you for your kind appreciation. Unfortunately…"
"I don't think I'll ever leave the Straw Hat Pirates in this lifetime!"
"On the contrary… you should be more worried about your own situation."
Ghostly Brook replied calmly.
And when he finished that last sentence, he suddenly lifted his head, his eyes blooming with an eerie dark-purple glow.
That was… the radiance of Ghost-type energy.
Brook continued with a grin,"Being happy too early never leads to a good ending, you know~!"
"Shadow… Force!!!"
Whoosh—
Icy netherfire erupted instantly from Brook's body, engulfing the entire area and completely obscuring Saint Abyss's vision.
"What tricks are you pulling now?!"
"You ungrateful bastard!!!"
Hearing Brook still taunting him, Saint Abyss flew into a rage and violently swung the massive scythe in his hands.
Jet-black Armament Haki coated the blade, dyeing it pitch-black and making it sharper than steel.
With every swing, furious wind blades tore out from the scythe, plunging into the raging ghostly flames ahead.
In the end, countless slashing gales merged into a storm even larger than Brook's Soul Flames formation, roaring as it devoured every last wisp of fire.
In the blink of an eye, the soul flames within the storm were shredded into countless points of light, vanishing into the air like stars at dawn.
But in the next second, Saint Abyss—previously so arrogant—visibly froze.
Because when the storm dissipated, Brook… was gone as well!
Staring at the empty battlefield, an ominous feeling surged through Saint Abyss's heart.
He immediately intensified his Observation Haki, trying to locate Brook's position.
But in that very instant, from within the skeletal shadow behind him, a massive skull-shaped ghost suddenly emerged, its eyes flickering with eerie violet light.
"Were you looking for me, Celestial Dragon?"
Brook's cold voice echoed as he rose from Saint Abyss's shadow.
At the same time, his arm erupted with massive amounts of Ghost-type soul fire, rapidly forming a soul-forged sword identical in shape to his cane sword—the Soul Reaper Blade—which stabbed straight toward Saint Abyss's head.
Pshhk…
With a heavy, solid sound, the several-meter-long blade plunged directly into Saint Abyss's brain, piercing straight out through the center of his forehead.
A shrill scream instantly echoed across the entire island of Elegia.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Saint Abyss let out a miserable howl, as if subjected to an unimaginably cruel torture.
Before Brook could even withdraw the Soul Reaper Blade, Saint Abyss stomped the ground and surged forward several steps, forcibly breaking free of the attack.
He then spun around, clutching his head, his expression so miserable it looked as if he were about to cry, staring at Brook in disbelief.
Shadow Force—Power: 120. One of the strongest Ghost-type moves.
Its effect allowed the user to dive into the enemy's shadow for a surprise attack, completely ignoring any form of defense.
Displacement, high damage, and built-in defense penetration…
Aside from its heavy stamina and energy consumption, the move was nearly flawless.
This was a powerful Ghost-type technique Red had specifically farmed for Brook.
And precisely because he knew how much Red and the others had done for him, Brook wanted even more to prove—
Their efforts had not been in vain!!!
He had already become a blade—
A blade that could clear the path and cut down all obstacles for the Straw Hat Pirates!!!
"Damn you! What did you do to me?!"
On the other side, Saint Abyss—having clutched his head in pain for a long while—finally seemed to recover.
He snapped his head up and roared furiously at Brook.
"Yohohoho~"
"Isn't this exactly the… insignificant little trick you mentioned earlier?"
Brook flicked the Soul Reaper Blade, raised his skull, and met Saint Abyss's gaze, answering in a flippant tone.
"Vile insect!"
Saint Abyss bellowed again in rage.
"I'll make sure you die without a burial!!!"
Rumble, rumble—
The massive skeletal body charged once more across the death-filled land, kicking up clouds of dust.
The gigantic scythe in his hands rose high, poised to cleave Brook apart.
But just as the scythe was about to fall, Brook's voice reached Saint Abyss's ears again.
"Do you really think… ordinary attacks still work on me now?"
"Yohohoho~"
Brook chuckled softly, his voice low.
In the next moment, his figure vanished once more.
Shadow Force consumed a great deal of energy, but for a Brook who was now fully spiritized, it was far from unusable.
However, repeatedly using the same move made it easy for an enemy to find a pattern.
So this time, after using Shadow Force, Brook did not attack with it again.Instead, he unleashed another move Red had specially prepared for him—
"Shadow Thief!!!"
Shhk—
Appearing and disappearing in an instant, Brook swept past Saint Abyss's body in his soul form before the scythe could fall.
At the same time, a strange, trembling sphere of light suddenly appeared in Brook's palm.
Saint Abyss, whose body Brook had just passed through, visibly paused—then froze in place.
If anyone had been standing in front of him at that moment, they would have seen the utter disbelief plastered across his face.
"What… was that just now?!"
For the first time, fear appeared in the heart of this arrogant member of the God's Knights.
He immediately turned around—only to see Brook pinch the strange halo between two fingers and swallow it whole.
Brook then looked at Saint Abyss with an eerie gaze.
In a tone that was calm yet spine-chilling, he softly said:
"Now… it's my turn."
Your turn!?What do you mean, your turn?!
Faced once again with Brook's maddening habit of leaving things unsaid, Saint Abyss instinctively cursed inwardly.
Yet at the same time, a terrifying suspicion began to surface in his mind.
Could it be that what Brook had just swallowed… was his own soul?!
The thought made Saint Abyss shudder violently.
He was always the one eating others' bones—who would've thought that one day…
He'd encounter someone who ate souls instead?!
Brook, however, clearly had no intention of giving him time to react. His entire soul once more transformed into blazing flames and vanished from sight.
Seeing this, Saint Abyss's already pale skeletal face turned even whiter.
In truth, his guess wasn't wrong.
What Brook had just swallowed was indeed his soul energy.
But his fear was somewhat unnecessary.
That soul energy hadn't been permanently stripped away—it was merely temporarily stored within Brook.
After all, the Yomi-Yomi Fruit only allowed Brook to communicate with the underworld; it didn't make him the underworld itself.
The reason Saint Abyss felt such terror was entirely by Brook's design.
Shadow Thief, much like Shadow Force, allowed the user to dive into an enemy's shadow to attack.
However, compared to Shadow Force's immense power boost and defense penetration, Shadow Thief dealt far less damage.
In exchange…
It granted a unique effect.
[Steals the target's soul energy, temporarily absorbing it to amplify the user's own soul power.]
That was the move's description.
Soul energy had many applications—it enhanced control over the body, sharpened perception, and resisted spiritual pressure and intimidation…
It was an extremely versatile power.
Thus, after successfully stealing it, Brook gained a comprehensive boost across the board.
Unfortunately…
This move could only be used once on the same target.
After that, further uses would only deal minor damage and could no longer steal soul energy.
Otherwise, Brook could've drained Saint Abyss dry with Shadow Thief alone.
But that was fine.
The stronger the enemy, the richer the soul energy he could steal.
Now, after his Pokémon-ization, Brook's strength had risen yet again.
A sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
Imitating Saint Abyss from earlier, Brook made a greedy swallowing motion and murmured:
"The banquet… is about to begin~"
"Enjoy yourself, Celestial Dragon."
"Y-You… don't come any closer!!!"
As Brook approached once more, Saint Abyss completely lost the will to keep fighting.
He stumbled backward again and again, his grip on the scythe trembling uncontrollably.
But at this point, there was no way Brook would heed his words.
Soul flames erupted from his body once again.
The same method.The same scene.
When the sweeping flames vanished, Brook's figure predictably disappeared from Saint Abyss's sight once more.
"Where are you?!"
Like a startled deer, Saint Abyss's massive skeletal body leapt violently, as if trying to flee from his own shadow.
But at that very moment, a fierce gust of wind suddenly appeared above his head.
This time, Brook hadn't used any Pokémon move at all—instead, he simply leapt high into the air.
Unfortunately, Saint Abyss, already caught in a panic response, failed to notice this entirely.
By the time Brook's attack had fully formed, it was already too late for him to react!
"Shadow Bone · Soul Reaper Blade · Goblet Waltz · Chain Assault!!!"
Shshshsh—
Midair.
As Brook descended, massive amounts of Ghost-type energy surged from his body, rapidly wrapping around the long sword formed of soul fire.
In an instant, a white skeletal core appeared within the previously intangible blade, making the Soul Reaper Blade even sharper and sturdier.
Clang!!!
The bone blade wrapped in soul fire crashed down, striking Saint Abyss squarely in the center of his forehead.
In the next moment, Brook's body seemed frozen in midair.
His blade, however, moved like a torrential downpour—piercing again and again, all strikes focused on a single point atop Saint Abyss's skull.
Crack… crack—
In mere moments, a clear fracture appeared on the bones of Saint Abyss—bones that had been reinforced countless times by the Hungry Skeleton Fruit.
For the first time ever, his prideful skeletal body had been shattered head-on!
To Saint Abyss, this was an unimaginable blow.
Before the fear could fully flood his mind, the intense pain forced another agonized scream from his throat.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Lacking flesh did not mean lacking pain.
In Hungry Skeleton form, Saint Abyss's bones were his entire being.
Just like an Island-Island Fruit user who became an island, every attack on his bones was an attack on him.
Yet Brook seemed to relish the moment, his blade stabbing relentlessly without the slightest pause.
Shadow Bone—A physical attack move even weaker than Shadow Thief.
But when paired with Brook's swordsmanship…
It became something entirely unbelievable.
Brook's sword style might not boast overwhelming raw power—far inferior to Zoro's or many great swordsmen of the sea.
But there was one thing beyond doubt—
Brook's sword was unimaginably fast!!!
It was precisely because of this that Red had chosen Shadow Bone for him.
Because Shadow Bone's additional effect was—
A chance to lower the opponent's defense!
Red and Brook had tested this move before.
The proc rate wasn't low, and the defense reduction was significant.
Combined with Brook's lightning-fast swordplay…
It could shatter an enemy's defenses in moments, allowing him to pour on damage without restraint!
Whoosh—
Seeing the massive scythe swing toward him, Brook chose not to linger. Using the recoil from the Soul Reaper Blade, he leapt back into the air and withdrew from the attack.
At this point, the Saint Abyss before him had been reduced to a pitiful foe—Partially stripped of soul energy, slowed in body, defense crushed nearly to zero by continuous Shadow Bone strikes, and suffering double damage.
"So that's why I said…"
"You shouldn't have been happy so early…"
Brook's hollow voice echoed once more across the land of death.
(End of Chapter)