Despite the ominous nature of the barrel trap they had just triggered, the atmosphere on the Thousand Sunny remained stubbornly cheerful. The crew had recently survived the hellish training of the Time Chamber and the war of Enies Lobby; a simple flare wasn't going to ruin their evening.
Luffy was busy digesting the massive chunk of roast pork he had salvaged from the trap, lounging on the grassy deck with Ace beside him.
Zoro had returned to his corner, taking a nap against the railing. Nami and Vivi were sitting by the pool, dipping their feet in the fresh water while Caroo floated nearby.
Dory, Brogy, Oimo, and Kashii were playing a loud game of dice with Franky, their booming laughter echoing across the deck.
For a few hours, the Sunny sailed peacefully through the calm waters.
But as the afternoon bled into the evening, the environment began to shift. The vibrant blue sky turned a sickly shade of gray. The sunlight didn't just fade; it seemed to be actively swallowed by the atmosphere. A thick, unnatural fog rolled in from the horizon, blanketing the ocean in a dense, blinding mist that reduced visibility to a mere few meters.
The air grew cold and heavy. The cheerful sounds of the crew naturally died down as the silence of the fog pressed in against the hull.
"Well," Ben announced, his voice cutting through the quiet. "We've officially crossed the threshold. Welcome to the Florian Triangle."
"Florian Triangle?" Usopp asked, narrwoing his eyes to try and pierce the fog. "I don't like the sound of that. Why is it so dark?"
"Because the sunlight can't penetrate the fog here," Robin answered, stepping out of the library with a book under her arm. "It is a stretch of sea famous for its disappearances. Every year, over a hundred ships vanish in these waters without a trace. Some say it's because of the currents. Others say it's something worse."
"Disappearances?" Chopper gulped, hiding behind Zoro's legs.
"Exactly," Ben walked down from the helm to the main deck. He waved his hand, using a simple charm to dim the ship's lanterns, casting long shadows across the grass.
Ben gathered the crew around the main mast.
"You know, this fog reminds me of an old story I heard," Ben began, lowering his voice to a whisper. "A legend specifically about a galleon that wandered into the Florian Triangle."
"A-A story?" Usopp stammered, crossing his arms protectively. "We don't need stories! We need to focus on sailing!"
"It was a massive passenger ship," Ben continued, ignoring the sniper. "It got caught in this exact fog. The wind died completely. They were stranded for weeks in the pitch black, drifting aimlessly."
Nami leaned in slightly, hugging her knees. "Stranded in the dark? That sounds awful."
"To keep the children from panicking, the crew taught them a game to play in the dark," Ben said. "It was called 'Hide and Clap'. One person wears a blindfold to seek. The people hiding can't speak, but they have to clap their hands twice to guide the seeker."
"Oh! That sounds fun!" Luffy grinned, sitting up cross-legged. "Let's play that later!"
"Shut up and let him finish!" Nami hissed, smacking Luffy's arm.
"One night," Ben's voice dropped even lower, "a little boy was the seeker. He wore his blindfold and wandered the quiet, foggy deck. He called out, 'Give me a clap!' He waited. He heard two claps... but they didn't come from the deck."
Vivi pulled Caroo closer, her eyes wide. "Where did they come from?"
"They came from the forbidden, locked cargo hold below deck," Ben said. "A place no passenger was allowed to go."
"No!" Chopper shrieked, clutching his head. "Don't go in the basement! That's the number one rule! You never go in the dark basement!"
"But the boy went down," Ben stated simply. "He opened the heavy wooden doors. It was pitch black inside, freezing cold, and smelled like rotten seawater. He stood in the middle of the empty room and whispered, 'Give me a clap.'"
Usopp and Nami were practically holding their breath, staring fixedly at Ben.
"For a long moment, there was just silence," Ben said slowly. "Then... right next to his left ear..."
Ben paused for effect.
"...Clap. Clap."
Caroo let out a quiet, terrified quack.
"He pulled off his blindfold," Ben continued. "But there was no one there. The room was empty. He turned around to run back up the stairs. But as he reached the door, a pair of pale, bloated hands reached out from the shadows, covered his mouth, and dragged him into the dark."
Chopper covered his eyes with his hooves, trembling violently.
"Soon, the entire crew started hearing the clapping in the fog," Ben finished, his tone grim. "One by one, they vanished into the hold. They say the ship still drifts here. And if you are ever in the Florian Triangle, and you hear two claps..."
Ben suddenly stared right behind Usopp.
CLAP! CLAP!
"GYAAAAAAAAH!"
Usopp, Chopper, Nami, Vivi, and Caroo screamed in absolute, harmonious terror. They jumped back, huddling together in a trembling pile of fear on the grass.
"Ben!" Nami yelled, her face pale. "Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"It's just a story, Nami," Ben chuckled, returning the lanterns to their normal brightness. "Ghosts aren't real."
Even the ship's intercom crackled.
"P-Papa?" Sunny's boyish trembled as he spoke. "My external microphones just picked up a sound from the fog outside. It... it sounded like clapping."
"Don't worry, Sunny," Mini Merry patted him on the back, though she had hastily put a pair of garlic cloves around her neck. "I have my anti-ghost lasers charged. If anyone claps, I'll blast them."
"Um, Papa?" Sunny interrupted again, his voice laced with mechanical panic.
"Yes, Sunny?"
"My radar is picking up a massive object approaching from the starboard bow," Sunny reported. "It's a ship. A very large galleon."
Zoro opened his eyes, resting his hand on Wado Ichimonji. "Enemy?"
"That's the problem," Sunny's voice wavered. "Thermal scanners are online. Heartbeat sensors are active. But... I'm reading zero life signs. There is no one on that ship. But it's sailing directly toward us."
The deck went completely silent. The only sound was the sloshing of the water against the hull and the wind moving through the fog.
"Zero life signs?" Usopp whispered, his face turning blue. "A ship sailing itself?"
"A ghost ship," Chopper wailed.
Usopp didn't hesitate. He reached into his tactical pouch and pulled out a massive, braided garland of raw garlic, throwing it around his neck. In his hands, he held two wooden stakes crossed over his chest.
Chopper, seeing Usopp's preparations, pulled out his own garlic garland and a small silver cross. Caroo did the exact same, trembling so hard his feathers were falling out.
"Back, foul demons!" Usopp chanted, thrusting the cross toward the fog. "God Usopp's holy aura repels you!"
"Usopp, garlic is for vampires," Robin pointed out.
"GHOSTS HATE IT TOO! IT SMELLS BAD!" Usopp yelled back.
From the dense, gray wall of fog, a massive shape began to emerge. It was a galleon, several times larger than the Sunny. Its sails were torn and rotting, hanging from the splintered masts. The wood was black with age.
It looked exactly like the doomed ship from the story.
The Straw Hats lined the starboard railing, watching in tense silence as the massive, silent ghost ship drifted alongside them.
"It's huge," Franky noted, adjusting his sunglasses. "But the craftsmanship is at least fifty years out of date. That thing has been drifting for decades."
"There's really no one on board," Ace squinted, flames flickering slightly at his fingertips to light up the fog. "It's completely abandoned."
Just as Ace said that, a shadow moved on the deck of the ghost ship.
The crew froze.
Standing on the rotting balcony near the helm of the ghost ship was a figure. It was tall, dressed in a tattered black suit with an orange ruffled collar. It held a delicate porcelain teacup in one hand and a cane in the other.
And it had no skin.
It was a living, moving skeleton. The skeleton possessed a large, unruly afro resting atop its bleached skull.
The crew of the Thousand Sunny stared. The skeleton stared back with empty eye sockets.
The skeleton took a polite sip of its tea. Then, it slowly turned its skull toward the Sunny, raised its bony hand, and waved pleasantly.
"Hi," the skeleton's voice drifted across the water.
For three seconds, absolute silence reigned.
Then, driven purely by reflex, Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, and even Zoro slowly raised their hands and waved back.
"Hi," they echoed in unison.
The ghost ship drifted past, fading back into the thick fog.
The moment the ship disappeared, the reality of what they had just seen crashed down upon them.
Usopp's eyes rolled back into his head. He fell backward onto the grassy deck, stiff as a board, unconscious.
"USOPP!" Chopper screamed, running over to the sniper and shaking him. "HE'S DEAD! THE GHOST KILLED HIM WITH A WAVE! MEDIC! WE NEED A DOCTOR QUICK!"
"You are the doctor!" Zoro said in deadpan voice already getting used to it.
"Oh right!" Chopper realized, pulling out a stethoscope and pressing it to Usopp's chest. "He just fainted!"
"A skeleton..." Nami muttered, her hands shaking. "A skeleton drinking tea... and it said 'hi'."
"I must admit," Robin smiled, looking at the fog. "That is not something you see every day. Quite an interesting phenomenon."
Luffy, however, had a completely different reaction. The terror that gripped the others didn't register. His eyes were shining with massive stars. His jaw dropped in pure awe.
"DID YOU GUYS SEE THAT?!" Luffy yelled, jumping onto the railing. "HE WAS A SKELETON! WITH AN AFRO! AND HE DRANK TEA!"
"Yes, Luffy, we saw the horrifying undead monster," Sanji sighed, lighting a cigarette.
"I WANT HIM!" Luffy pointed into the fog. "I'm going over there!"
"NO!" Nami screamed, grabbing the back of Luffy's shirt. "ABSOLUTELY NOT! WE ARE NOT BOARDING A GHOST SHIP!"
"But Nami!" Luffy whined. "He's so cool! I bet he poops! I want to ask him if he poops!"
"That is not a valid reason to board a haunted vessel!" Vivi argued, holding Caroo tightly.
On the floor, Usopp suddenly gasped, sitting bolt upright. He realized what his captain was about to do. He lunged forward, wrapping his arms around Luffy's leg.
"Luffy! Stop!" Usopp wailed. "Don't do anything stupid! It's a trap! If you go over there, the clapping hands are gonna drag you into the dark! Think of your bounty! You're a 500-million-berry man! Act like it!"
Sanji watched the chaotic scene and exhaled a long cloud of smoke. He shook his head.
"It doesn't matter, Usopp," Sanji said. "You know how this works. Once the Captain sets his mind on something, there is no turning back."
Usopp looked at Luffy's determined face. He let go of the leg, slumping back. "I hate it when you're right."
"The only question is," Sanji looked around the deck, "who is going with him to make sure he doesn't fall into the sea?"
"I'll go," Ace grinned. "I've never fought a ghost before. Might be good practice."
"Gebababa! We volunteer!" Brogy laughed, stepping forward alongside Kashii. "The warriors of Elbaf fear no undead!"
"I suppose I'll tag along," Sanji sighed, stepping up beside Luffy.
Nami marched up to Sanji, grabbing him by the lapels of his suit and pulling him down to her eye level.
"Sanji," Nami threatened, her voice a deadly whisper. "You are the most rational person going over there. Do not let Luffy do anything stupid. Do not let him bring anything cursed back here. Just say hello and come straight back. Do you understand?"
Sanji's visible eye morphed into a giant heart. "Of course, Nami-swan! Your wish is my command!"
"Good," Nami released him.
Ben walked over to the helm. "Sunny. Bring us alongside the ghost ship. Match their speed."
"Matching speed, Papa," Sunny confirmed.
The Thousand Sunny smoothly cut through the fog, easily catching up to the massive galleon. The two ships drifted side-by-side.
Luffy didn't wait for a bridge. He grabbed Sanji, Ace, Brogy, and Kashii.
"Gomu Gomu no... ROCKET!"
Luffy slingshotted the boarding party across the gap, crashing them heavily onto the rotting wooden deck of the ghost ship.
"Ow! Watch where you throw us, you idiot!" Sanji yelled, untangling himself from Brogy's leg.
The fog swallowed the boarding party.
On the Sunny, the remaining crew waited in tense silence.
Ten minutes passed.
"They're taking too long," Usopp bit his nails. "They're dead. The skeleton ate them."
"Have some faith, Usopp," Robin said calmly, reading her book. "They are quite capable."
Fifteen minutes passed.
Suddenly, a loud, cheerful voice echoed from the ghost ship.
"HEY GUYS! WE'RE COMING BACK!"
"That's Luffy!" Chopper cheered.
Two figures leaped from the ghost ship back onto the grassy deck of the Sunny, followed closely by Ace and the two giants.
Luffy landed perfectly, a massive grin on his face.
Sanji landed next to him. The cook was that of defeat, looking down at his shoes, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.
And standing right behind Luffy, dusting off his tattered black suit and adjusting his orange collar, was the skeleton.
He was over eight feet tall, with a massive afro and a cane sword resting by his side.
"Yohohoho!" the skeleton laughed, his jawbone clattering. "What a magnificent vessel you have! The grass is so soft on my bare feet! Or it would be, if I had skin! Yohohoho! Skeleton joke!"
The crew of the Sunny froze in absolute silence.
Usopp fainted again. Chopper shrieked and hid behind Zoro. Nami's eye began to twitch.
"Guys!" Luffy announced proudly, gesturing to the undead monstrosity. "This is Brook! He's a talking skeleton! He poops! And..."
Luffy threw his arms wide.
"...He's our new musician crewmate!"
Snap.
Nami's pen broke in half in her hand. She slowly turned her head to glare at Sanji.
"Sanji..." Nami's voice was a low growl.
Sanji flinched. He pulled his suit collar up, whistling a quiet, off-key tune.
"I... I tried to stop him, Nami-swan," Sanji mumbled. "But he asked him to join before my feet even touched the deck."
"You brought a ghost on my ship," Nami hissed.
Brook stepped forward, removing his top hat and bowing deeply to the ladies.
"My, my," Brook said, looking at Nami, Robin, and Vivi. "What beautiful young ladies we have here. It makes my heart race! Even though I don't have a heart! Yohohoho!"
Brook straightened up, leaning on his cane.
"Excuse me, mademoiselles," Brook asked politely. "May I see your panties?"
WHACK! THUD! CRASH!
Three synchronized kicks from Sanji, Nami, and Vivi sent the skeleton rocketing across the deck, crashing headfirst into the main mast.
"NO YOU MAY NOT, YOU PERVERTED BAG OF BONES!" Nami roared.
Brook peeled himself off the mast, rubbing his skull. "Ouch! Such strong kicks! They shattered my bones! Good thing I drink lots of milk! Yohohoho!"
Ben stood by the helm, watching the chaos unfold. The Straw Hat Crew had just recruited a perverted, undead musician.
"Well," Ben smirked, adjusting his glasses. "I guess the crew just got a little livelier."