and in that time he didn't know how many times he had lost his mind and then regained sanity only to lose it again break down to break down silent Vanguard after silent Vanguard but he knew that it was his purpose
a bony hand Trail the dust covered Shelf of the entertainment deck below the main
he remembered how parties would be held there. dust coating the phalanges of his bones has he felt the dead dirt and skin cells between
sometimes he would forget what his own voice sounded like because he would just walk wander around the ship filled with a Melancholy that no human should ever have to go through no living creature
something that should only happened to the worst of the worst to show just the pain the average person could go through
but then he would talk and he would startle himself. realizing again after half a decade of not speaking trust what his voice actually sounded like it took getting used to using again finding the pitch of what it used to be because whenever he first spoke it was horse as though it was no longer lubricated by any saliva but in reality it was just his mind didn't know what the voice was supposed to be
and so that's what he did
he wandered and wandered day in and day out week after week month after month year after year. if he truly wanted to he could have left that Bleak stretch but never returned but he owed it to his crew that he would stand watch over them and pay for what he did
Because he was a failure he failed at protecting his crew he made decisions that shouldn't have happened he did so many wrong and for what partying sex drink booze music?
but a part of him said of course that's what they all wanted they all trusted him they wanted to do exactly that and that is why a 125 people from all across the grand line that had come from every single blue and even those that have been at the very far end of the grand line that had been known as Paradise had continued to Journey with him because they trusted him because they wanted to be with him…
he started the joke after that it was one of the only ways that you keep himself sane
sometimes he would lean against the wall cross his arms and say "hey I'm a little bone dry right now you got some change?" before laughing and laughing and laughing oh how he had forgotten the sound of his own laughter it was a tragic sound indeed that caused tears to wake up in his eyes formed from ectoplasm and pure emotion of his soul….
because that's what he was wasn't he?
a tragedy?
but he can send you he would joke about how he needed some money or he was a little tight on cash or so on and so forth despite the fact that he was sitting on millions and millions and millions of Berry. never to be used never to be transacted. never to pass hands and free trade, never be Bartered with never to be tipped to a hot lady that he's seen and would eventually take to his room for a night….
but he found it hilarious and it kept that depression at bay.
" Eddie wake up wake up wake up wake up!" Vox yelled suddenly snapping Eddie awake he looked around he looked to his hands they were flesh they were born there was warmth in his hands and he hadn't felt in 120 years! he could feel and almost over stimulating beat in his hands he didn't know what it was!
that was his heartbeat that was the veins pumping blood through his flesh to keep him alive to produce warmth a smile a genuine smile across his face as he stood and he looks to box he picked them up and spun him around and set them down as he ran around shoes clattering against the deck it was all gone it was all clear!
they had left the storm!
tears welled And his eyes as he looked around and saw that every one of his crew was there hip, hop, pop, Pace, tune! Hook, riff! Clef! Vox!
He!
He was alive!
He could feel the sun on his skin the clothes that he had worn that had been soaked we're now being to dry and the radiance of that burning star… he was looking over to one of the railings of the ship when he turned around and–
it was gone.
the warmth. the chatter. the feeling of blood and his muscles… the dryness of his mouth from leaving it open for too long, and with his so was his crew all he had seen… was the hallucination of an old man far past his due date…
he fell to his knees and hung his head…
the rest of it moved and a blur Barberry coming aboard he watched him and the others of his crew followed by Deri Warriors, Caldera, gigantis, Miura, Alice, Koru. but to them he was nothing more than a corpse sitting against the main mast hands hanging limp on his knees as though he had died just like that
after that he mix it up he had always played to fill the void of sound and those hundred years… but there's something in him. he felt like he couldn't do it anymore
he wasn't going to die he didn't think he could die again. but he couldn't stand to keep facing his crew. and so using a raft he wrapped himself in a dark cloak and pushed himself away from the ship to be truly alone in the middle of the black stretch guitar ax and scythe In hand play as a ghastly apparition of music….
until one day he'd heard something he hadn't heard in a long time. he'd gone used to hearing the distant chatter of the leather Warriors. but these voices they were different they had liveliness that he hadn't heard since his own crew…
and of course what else could it have been… but a proverbial sunrise
Eddie finished speaking.
and he looked up to realize that he was in the middle of rambling having finished his story but now everyone was listening. and so was that sunshine
he wiped his nose that wasn't there anymore slicked his hair there was no longer there correct his neck has he bathed in the silence and hearing nothing but the slow dry swallows of people around him a sound that he loved to hear because it was a symbol of life.
"What else could I do but join you?" he asked a smile on his face " if it wasn't for you Leroy. I would have never been able to make it up to my crew even if I had been over a hundred years late…"
"So yes. I will join your crew"
clapping and cheering filled the air again as another song began to play as Leroy wrapped his arms around the skeletal man all the crew was quite happy to have another crew made on board and especially someone like Eddie.