One Piece: Starting with Sharingan, First Mate Uchiha

"Hold on tight! We have to go back!!"

On the decaying deck of the ghost ship, Luffy let out an excited shout.

His highly elastic rubber arms suddenly stretched backward.

One arm was tightly wrapped around the tall skeleton Brook, while the other arm was wrapped around Nami and Viktor.

"Whoosh—!"

Luffy and his three companions were launched directly from the ghost ship, tracing an arc through the thick fog before crashing heavily onto the grassy deck of the Golden Thousand Sunny.

"Bang!"

The four landed steadily on the deck.

However, Usopp and Chopper were surprised to see Luffy return unharmed.

He was even brazenly carrying a huge, living skeleton in his hand.

"A ghost, a ghost!!!"

The moment Brook landed, Usopp and Chopper rolled their eyes in perfect unison, spitting out large amounts of white foam, and with a kick of their legs, they passed out.

After a long while, the two of them slowly woke up under the influence of the cold wind.

As soon as he woke up, Usopp immediately knelt on the grass and frantically searched for his pile of garlic and cross, muttering to himself.

Chopper, meanwhile, hid behind the mainmast, peeking out half his head.

While sobbing with tears in her eyes, she asked in a trembling voice:

"Mr. Bone... Mr. Bone, can you... can you catch osteoporosis...?"

Zoro, who was leaning against the mainmast, was also suddenly awakened by the deafening noise.

"Enemy attack?!"

Zoro's eyes sharpened, and he instantly drew the Sandai Kitetsu and Yubashiri from his waist.

But when he saw the skull on the deck fixing its afro, his brows furrowed immediately:

"Wait... what kind of monster is this?!"

"SUPER—Incredible!!!"

Franky, the perverted shipwright, practically had laser beams shooting from his eyes.

He looked Brook up and down like a fanatical scientist who had seen a marvel of technology.

He even stretched out his metal-plated fingers and tapped on Brooke's ribs:

"This is completely contrary to common scientific sense!"

There is no traction from muscle tissue, nor transmission from the nervous system.

"What principle governs the movement of this body?"

"Difficult! Extremely difficult! It's practically a miracle of the Creator!"

Robin stood to the side, resting her delicate chin on one hand.

Her deep eyes held no fear, but rather a hint of appreciation, and an elegant smile played at the corners of her lips.

"It's a perfect skeletal specimen."

"If this is a grim reaper from the depths of hell, then it is truly extraordinary."

Seeing everyone's varying reactions, Luffy put his hands on his hips and proudly announced loudly:

Listen up, everyone!

"He's our new partner! Our musician, Brooke!"

"Now that our new crew member has joined us, what are we waiting for! Let's throw a welcome party!!!"

……

Since the captain of the ship had spoken, Sanji, as the chef, had nothing but complaints about the skeleton.

But he had no choice but to put on an apron and walk into the aquarium restaurant's luxurious kitchen.

Before long, the long dining table was filled with a sumptuous dinner.

The aroma of seafood pasta is irresistible, as are the sizzling grilled ribs and various exquisite side dishes.

"Yohohoho!"

"What a magnificent ship! Well then, I won't stand on ceremony!"

Brooke sat down at the table with complete ease, picked up his knife and fork, and began to stuff large mouthfuls of pasta and roast meat into his jaw.

However, a comical scene unfolded.

He had just swallowed the food.

Everyone watched as the noodles and meat chunks were covered in sauce.

It leaked out directly from the gaps between his empty ribs.

It fell with a clatter onto the leather chair he was sitting on and the clean wooden floor.

"Hello!!!"

The veins on Sanji's forehead bulged out instantly.

He kicked the edge of the table in a fit of rage, pointing at Brooke and cursing loudly:

"You bastard!! Everything you ate is spilling out!"

"Show some respect for the chef's work!! Don't mess up my restaurant!"

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry."

Brooke apologized repeatedly, then elegantly picked up a steaming cup of black tea.

He stared at the food on the table with his empty eye sockets and began his skull-themed lame joke performance:

"Wow, Mr. Sanji's cooking is amazing."

"This soup is so delicious it almost brought tears to my eyes..."

Brook paused, then slightly opened the hand holding the teacup:

"Although... I don't even have eyes to shed tears! Yohohohohoho!"

"Pfft, hahahahahaha!!!!"

This joke, which sounds incredibly lame to others, hit Luffy and Chopper's funny bone perfectly.

The two of them laughed so hard they fell off their chairs and rolled around wildly on the wooden floor.

Luffy pounded the floor with all his might, clutching his stomach and yelling:

"Hahahaha! That's hilarious!! No eyes!! My stomach hurts so much, hahahaha!"

At the other end of the table.

Upon hearing this lame joke, Victor paused slightly in his steak-cutting motion.

He thought to himself with exasperation, "What's so funny about this... Do these two idiots have a sense of humor that's on the soles of their feet?"

Victor put down his knife and fork.

Then, he slightly raised his head and looked at Brooke across from him with a smile.

"Mr. Skull".

"I apologize for interrupting your enjoyment at this time, but I have a question that I've always been curious about."

Victor extended his long, slender finger, across the dining table, and pointed directly to the floor beneath Brooke's chair:

"There's such a huge, blinding chandelier shining above us..."

Why is it that... there's not even a shadow beneath your feet?

The words had barely left his lips.

The joyful atmosphere in the aquarium restaurant instantly froze.

Even Luffy and Chopper, who were still rolling on the ground, were stunned and stopped laughing.

Everyone looked in the direction Victor was pointing.

Under the dazzling lights overhead, Luffy, Zoro, Nami...

A thick black shadow was cast beneath each person's feet.

However, when the light shone on Brooke's tall skeleton, the light actually passed right through him.

The area beneath where he sat was clean and empty.

"Aa ...

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Usopp and Chopper hugged each other tightly once again.

"It really is a ghost!!! A ghost without a shadow!! Help!!!"

He faced the shocked and fearful gazes of the crowd.

Brooke slowly put down the teacup in her hand.

The usual playfulness and frivolity had vanished from his empty eye sockets, replaced by a deep sense of sorrow and heaviness.

He became unusually serious.

"This gentleman has a very keen eye for observation."

Brooke sighed and began to recount that long-forgotten, tragic experience to everyone.

He told everyone that he was a musician in a pirate crew during his lifetime.

Because they ate the "Yomi-Yum-no-Fruits," their souls were able to return from the underworld after the entire group perished in battle.

But because the fog was too thick, the soul was lost for a year, and when it found its body, all that remained was a skeleton.

However, this is not the worst of all.

"In the thick fog of this area known as the Devil's Triangle, I encountered an extremely powerful man."

Brooke's voice turned low:

"That man possesses the terrifying demonic ability to steal the shadows of others."

"My shadow was forcibly taken away by him."

"A person who has lost his shadow is as if he has been abandoned by the light of this world."

"Once exposed to sunlight, the body will instantly turn to ashes and disappear completely from this world."

Brooke looked up at the thick, impenetrable black fog outside the window:

"Therefore, I cannot leave this sea area."

"For five whole years, I could only wander alone in this dark, foggy place, surrounded by the bones of my fallen comrades..."

After hearing this heavy story, the atmosphere in the restaurant became somewhat oppressive.

Brooke stood up.

He picked up the cane sword disguised as a purple walking stick beside him and walked out of the restaurant step by step.

The Straw Hat crew followed them out.

Brook turned around, placed his cane on the ground, and bowed deeply to Luffy.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality, Mr. Luffy."

"I thoroughly enjoyed this long-awaited dinner, as if I had returned to the days when I was with my companions."

"but……"

Brooke straightened up:

"I cannot be your partner."

"I have another extremely important promise that I must fulfill!"

"A comrade who has been waiting for us in the same place for fifty years is waiting for me to return!"

"Before that... I must reclaim my shadow!!"

After saying that, Brooke did not hesitate at all.

He turned around abruptly and jumped off the side of the Golden Sun.

An amazing thing happened.

Because he was just a skeleton, his body was extremely light.

The moment he landed on the sea, his long, slender feet moved rapidly across the surface as if they were treading on flat ground.

"Da da da da da..."

In just a few seconds, the tall, black figure completely disappeared into the dark mist.

The deck was silent as Brooke walked away.

Luffy stood on the ship's side, one hand pressing down on the tattered straw hat on his head.

He neither stopped him nor was disappointed.

Instead, a slow grin spread across his face.

"It's decided!"

Luffy slammed his right fist into his left palm and loudly announced:

"I'm going to get his shadow back!!"

"No matter who that guy who stole the shadow is, just beat him up!"

"That skeleton is our future musician!!"

At the very moment Luffy made his bold statement.

A sudden change has occurred on the sea surface!

Less than two minutes after Brooke left, the once still seawater around the Golden Sun suddenly began to churn and roar violently, like boiling water.

"What's going on?!"

Nami rushed to the helm and spun the wheel with all her might, her expression instantly changing drastically:

"The rudder has malfunctioned!! It's completely out of control!"

"Something is dragging us down from beneath the surface!!"

"What?!"

Everyone was startled and immediately ran to the bow of the boat.

Franky once again turned the super searchlight on the bow to maximum power.

Under the blinding beams of light, everyone was shocked to discover...

The front half of the Sunny was somehow entangled in an enormous white spider web.

No matter how Franky tried to start the outer wheels, the ship wouldn't budge an inch.

Just then.

The thick fog ahead was suddenly blown away by an extremely strange and cold gale.

When they saw what was before them, everyone, including Zoro and Sanji, couldn't help but gasp.

Directly in front of them appeared a massive, breathtakingly large moving island!

The island is surrounded by towering medieval castle walls.

Directly in front of them, atop the city wall, a terrifying gate, resembling the gaping maw of a gigantic demon, was slowly rising with a heavy mechanical roar.

On the plaque above the gate, covered in moss and decorated with skulls, a huge string of English letters is written in a dilapidated Gothic script:

Thriller Bark

The enormous spiderweb that was tightly binding the Sunshine was being pulled by some irresistible mechanical force from inside the island.

The Golden Sunny was slowly dragged into the enormous gate that resembled the gaping maw of a demon.

"BOOM!!!"

The moment the stern of the Sunny completely entered the interior of the island.

The massive sluice gate slammed shut behind them, and heavy boulders crashed into the sea, sending sprays of water flying high into the sky.

Their escape route was completely cut off.

The Sunny found itself in a dark and terrifying inland sea.

The city is surrounded by towering walls, and in the distance are rows of Gothic castles that look like haunted houses.

Viktor turned his head to look at his companions, who looked as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

A slight smile curved his lips:

"It seems someone is extremely 'enthusiastic' in wanting to invite us to visit the island."

"Attention all."

"Since our master has opened the door to welcome us, then... let's prepare for battle."