The Straw Hat: Dragon Slayer

Chapter 41

"Yo ho, ho ho! Hello and good day to everyone!" Brook started as the rest of the crew stares at him in silence. Nami, Sanji and Chopper kept looking at the deck ashamed. Luffy smiled brightly and giggled, I however kept my eyes away from Zoro who kept glancing at me with a questioning look.
I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, and look away from the crew. Pretending to admire the fog.

Brook lifts his hat up and looks at the crew. " I will joining you on this ship as of today!" I puff my cheeks out trying to hide my laughter, the sight of the crew's reaction was too good to miss out. "Once dead and all bones! My name is Brook! Please to meet your acquaintance!" He bows and then stands back up. He stares dumbfounded at the crews reaction, especially Usopp who held up a cross.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE!!!?"

"Usopp, I swear to first master, I'll melt that cross" I stared at him, he began sweating bullets. Chopper leaped up at me and started to smack me. "Oi! Give me one of those too Usopp!" He continues to smack my head, I try to dodge but only to bump into Brook. Chopper squeals and jumps away and runs to Usopp. I lift my head up and smile sheepishly at him. "Ahh, sorry Brook"
"Yo ho, ho ho! They seem suspicious!" He noted, unsure what to do. So he just stared at the crew. "There is no way a skeleton can talk and move. And have an Afro! This has to be a dream" I blinked slowly and then turned to look at Usopp. I started to laugh, having holding my stomach due to how hard I was laughing. "Oi! You jerk stop that!" I fall over laughing while chopper smacks my head. I take a deep breath to calm down. Both Usopp and Chopper were not amused with me. "Oh my, another beautiful lady! May I look at your panties?" I glanced dumbfounded, oh right. He's a pervert, I lay flat on the deck.

"Stop that! You sexual harassing skeleton"
"Pffft" I rolled to the side laughing once more, after a few seconds I calmed down once more and let out a deep breath. "Oh man, Brook livens up the place and he hasn't even been here for a day" I muttered and sat back up watching the crew with a smile. "Luffy! Cole! What the hell is he!?" Zoro shouted and points at Brook. I giggle seeing Luffy smile brightly once more happily. "Isn't he funny! Look he's even making Cole laugh!" I stayed silent for a moment and had to think about when the last time I laughed for so long. "What the, it doesn't matter! I'm not gonna let you do this!" I felt a little crushed at Zoro's words, a small frowned formed on my face. I took a slow breath and then stood back up.

Headed over to Luffy and patted his shoulder. "I think you did good captain, Zoro is just a big dummy" I pointed over my shoulder to Zoro who was lecturing Nami and Sanji. "Yeah, he is a big dummy." Luffy started giggling and Brook couldn't help but laugh along.
"Zoro, the biggest dummy in the all the seas" luffy chanted circling around us. I started giggling and linked my left arm with him circling around chanting.

"Zoro, the man who gets lost is the dummy"

"Sleeps whenever and drinks whatever; that big dummy" I smiled brightly and close my eyes feeling the breeze as we sing terribly together. The crew laughs at our antics and soon Chopper joins in, jumping onto my shoulder chanting.

"Zoro the dummy, the biggest one around"

"Sleeps, drinks and gets lost"

"Zoro the biggest Dummy of all!"

We stopped after feeling a deadly aura, the three of us turn to see a very aggravated Zoro. Chopper freezes and starts to accidentally choke me. "Ch-Cho" I started and gagged trying to breath, I start tapping his arms to let me go. Luffy smiled sheepishly and lifts his hands up. "Yo ho, ho ho. Why don't we all calm down and talk about this in a civilized manner" Brook steps in and tries to calm down everyone. My eyes twitch at Chopper, I lift my left hand up and try to forcibly yank him off of me. "G-get off!" I manage to pluck him off of me, but now he's attached to my forearm. Refusing to let go, he was crying and mumbling to himself.
"Zoro is gonna kill us" I frowned and turned to Zoro, lifting up chopper. "Zoro, can you tell our doctor here that he isn't gonna die. Cause I feel like I'll be disabled in both arms if you don't" I walked closer to show chopper to him, Zoro despite his annoyed face. You could see the amusement in his eyes. "Well, we wouldn't want our dragon slayer to be even more crippled" I tried not to flinch at the word crippled, but even in his joking attitude that really bothered me. Chopper felt me flinch and slowly started to release my arm and held on softly. Without any words, I turned away not really have any comeback. I head up stairs with chopper to the kitchen before anyone else.

Is that how the crew sees me? As a cripple, only good because of my magic? Opening the door to the kitchen, I found a seat a little ways from everyone. Chopper decided to sit in my lap as we waited for everyone to trickle in. It was silent, but you can hear the commotion outside.

"Go On! Let go inside!"

"It's time for dinner!"

"You're not the one to decide that!!"

"I don't think you're crippled" Chopper's voice was quiet, my right hand formed a fist weakly. I stared at it in frustration. "I don't want to talk about this right now Chopper" my voice was short, Chopper sighed and snuggled close to me.

Loud footsteps approached the kitchen door, it opened and everyone began to trickle in. Usopp brought the stupid cross, and he gave Chopper one too. So now those two idiots are sitting next to each other holding their crosses towards Brook. Sanji started working on dinner, Franky sat at the bar, while everyone else sat at the table. "What a fine dining room" I could see Franky perk up at the compliment, I smiled a bit as well. "And a fine kitchen as well, this is a splendid ship!" Brook points out happily making Franky's ego grow. "Oh course! I build this super ship myself" I crossed my arms and watched the two interact. "You had a good eye there!" Franky leans back on the bar counter grinning at Brook. "Don't get so friendly with him Franky" Sanji tried to warn, honestly this was kinda making me made a bit. They were fine when Luffy asked me, it wasn't planned or random. Is this how they felt when he asked me? I frowned watching the crew interact with Brook. He has done nothing wrong, and being on that ghostly ship. There was surely no one else on that ship, meaning he was all alone. No one deserved to live alone like that. There must have been a reason. "I'm so looking forward to some good cooking!" You could hear a slightly sad tone to his voice as he spoke. "I haven't eaten very well for the pass few decades." I was taken back, a few decades? I looked down at my hands and started to think about more. "I lived everyday suffering. While I felt my stomach shrink more and more." How that hell has he managed to stay alive this long. He must have been so lonely, so sad. He must have had no one to be there for him.
No friends.
No family.
No one.
"Cole?" I shot my head up and saw everyone was looking at me. "Aren't you hungry?" Nami asked giving me a worried look. I tried to smile and shook my head. "Nah, I'll eat a little later. My stomach is still bothering me" I patted my stomach gently to try and convince her. Chopper gave me a side look, already knowing that it wasn't the case. However I did feel uneasy, my head started to hurt a little. Leaving small needle like pain.
After everyone finished eating, we all listened to Brook explain his devil fruit.
"The revive-revive fruit"

"I knew it was a devil fruit" Robin concluded and rested her head on her hand as she looked at him. "That's right, I actually died once. Decades ago!" My heart dropped a little, that statement. Why did that bother me so much? I took a small breath trying to calm my racing heart. "First wipe of your face. How on earth do you eat so messily" Sanji gave him a disgusted look and handed him a napkin. Brook thanked him and wiped his face off. He then started to pick at his teeth with a toothpick. "The revive-revive fruit has the ability to revive someone and grant them to live a second life." He explains further, at this point was I stood up and leaned against the wall. Blood rushes to my head as it started to throb more. "Lilith" A soft voice echoed the room, I lifted my head up alarmed. Looking around to see if someone said my first name. Everyone was still listening to Brook. "Lilith" This time the voice felt very close, this voice was feminine. I take a deep breath and shut my eyes trying to close out that voice. "Lilith" my eyes shot open and hear Natsu's voice next. I push myself off the wall and immediately head to the kitchen door. With everyone distracted, I slip out to the deck. Sweat coated my body as it shook. Laughter rang out on the deck as it was now Lucy and Wendy laughing. "Everything gone in a second" The first voice wasn't as soft anymore, it felt threatening. I gulped and ran my hand in my hair.

"Yo ho, ho ho!" Brook's voice reached the deck, he was very loud. You can hear the emotion behind his voice too. My head throbbed some more, my legs became wobbly.
"What a wonderful day it has been! I met people!" I closed my eyes to shut out the pain and concentrate on my breathing.
"I felt so very lonely!" Beats of sweat trickled down my forehead as I leaned against the railing. My legs collapse and my knees hit the deck painfully. My head hits the railing, knocking me out completely.