Darkness.
Pale, unsettling darkness.
Eerie and terrifying.
"Where… am I?"
Within the gloom, Brook slowly regained consciousness. He looked around, dazed, scanning the dim and murky surroundings. Lifting his right hand, he tried to feel the space around him.
"Wah!"
"What… what is this?!"
A translucent, bluish arm floated before his eyes.
He waved it slightly, and realized with shock: this was his own arm!
Looking at the ghostly limb, Brook noticed the space around it seemed to twist and shift, as if rippling like flames. Blue fire danced around his hand, blazing but giving off no heat.
"What in the world is happening?"
He lifted both hands toward his face and examined them closely. Under the flickering blue fire, human skin began to form, slowly and eerily, on his hands.
"How strange… Why does seeing my own skin feel so unnatural?"
Brook muttered in confusion.
Suddenly, a thunderous voice boomed.
"Brook!!! What are you daydreaming for?!"
Boom!
A cannonball came flying straight at him, but was sliced clean in half by a man wielding a sword. It split into two halves, crashing to either side before erupting midair in a fiery blast.
The man, clad in a standard green captain's coat, turned around. A long scar across his face gave him a rugged, commanding presence, someone others instinctively trusted.
Fuming, the man glared at Brook. "Damn it! At a time like this, what's wrong with you, Brook?!"
Brook blinked, muttering under his breath, "Captain Yorki?"
"No time for nonsense! Go help the others!" The man didn't wait for an answer. The battle raged on around them, and he charged back into the fray, sword flashing.
"Huh?"
Brook stood frozen for a moment, until realization struck him like lightning.
"That's right! We were under attack… This is no time to be spacing out!"
As the blue fire pulsed around him, the world snapped back into focus.
Out at sea, two pirate ships were locked in brutal combat.
Gunshots.
Cannons.
Flashes of blades.
Cries of comrades, chaotic and deafening.
It was a battlefield he knew all too well.
Brook regained his composure instantly.
"Aubade Coup Droit!"
Drawing his rapier cane, Brook lunged forward, targeting an enemy's back with precise force.
Just as his strike was about to land,
A strange white substance suddenly appeared on the pirate's back, blocking the attack.
Before he could follow up, another voice shouted, "Here, Brook!"
The Rumbar Pirates' cellist struggled to fend off a masked attacker with a bizarre white mask, his voice hoarse as he called out for help.
Brook darted toward him, sword in hand, but another skeletal-faced enemy cut him off, forcing him into combat.
"Ah!"
Caught off-guard, the cellist's rhythm faltered.
His opponent seized the opportunity, driving a blade straight through the cellist's chest.
Blood burst from the wound, flesh torn apart.
The cellist staggered back a couple of steps before collapsing onto the deck, his fate uncertain.
"No!!"
Brook roared in anguish.
"Brook!"
Captain Yorki's voice rang out again.
Brook turned just in time to see the captain blasted across the deck by a giant man's punch, sent crashing into the ship's cabin, where he lay motionless.
The brute wore the same eerie skeletal mask as the other attackers.
"Captain!"
Before Brook could react, another scream echoed.
"Ah!"
A Rumbar crewmate was pierced through the heart, stumbling, then falling still.
Bang!
Crack!
Shing!
Boom!
Gunfire.
Sword clashes.
Explosions.
The mysterious attackers' power only grew.
One by one, Brook's crewmates were being slaughtered. The Rumbar Pirates were clearly losing.
"How could this be happening…?"
"Ahhh!"
Another friend fell.
Brook was surrounded, three of the masked pirates closing in, cutting off all escape.
Their strange white masks were expressionless, but somehow… mocking. As if laughing at his helplessness.
Watching his comrades fall one by one, Brook was gripped by a sense of dread and despair.
"This… This isn't how it's supposed to be!!!"
With a cry of rage, he deflected three incoming sword strikes and pushed the attackers back.
"Ah!"
Another crewmate was struck down behind him.
"No! I have to save them! I'm not weak! I'm not this weak!!"
At this rate, the Rumbar Pirates would be completely wiped out.
The three masked enemies surged forward again.
"Think! What can I do? What am I capable of?!"
Brook retreated desperately, sweat pouring down his forehead, frantically questioning himself.
"Think! Think! THINK!"
And then—
Through sheer will, a vision appeared in Brook's mind.
A young man.
Holding twin flames in his hands, blazing brilliantly.
Energy radiated in all directions, sacred light bursting from every inch, glorious and divine.
"Fire!"
Brook's eyes changed, sharp and intense.
Yes… Fire.
His human form began to dissolve, fragmenting into glowing particles that rose and faded from the world.
From deep within his soul, a sapphire-blue flame ignited, racing down his skeletal arm, coiling around his rapier, burning furiously.
The blade, wreathed in soul fire, cut effortlessly through an enemy's strike.
A flash of swordlight.
Brook turned slowly.
"Hanauta Sanchou – Yahazu Giri."
Flames erupted from the throats of the three masked enemies. The fire matched the blue blaze on Brook's blade exactly.
The fire spread rapidly across their bodies, engulfing them in moments.
But…
They didn't scream. They didn't flinch.
Instead, the burning enemies gathered together. The blue flames converged into a single mass.
The other enemies stopped fighting too, one by one, drawn toward the flames.
One, two, three…
Soon, all the attackers had joined the burning mass, each one aflame.
And then,
The fire consumed them.
Their bodies melted into a white liquid, thick and oozing.
The liquid pooled, growing larger and larger, until it formed a monstrous beast.
Under the blue fire, the white mass solidified into a four-legged creature. The flames shrank, concentrating at its head.
There, the fire morphed…
Into a massive version of the same eerie mask the enemies had worn.
"This… This can't be real…"
Brook muttered in disbelief.
"What the hell is that?!"
"Run! We're no match for it!"
"All hands, abandon ship!"
The Rumbar Pirates fell into chaos.
Some wanted to keep fighting.
Others, terrified, fled in panic.
"RAAAAAWR!!!"
The creature let out a deafening roar and opened its huge, gaping jaws.
A rumble of thunder echoed as a wave of energy surged from its mouth.
When the power reached its peak, the beast snapped its jaws,
A crimson beam of light shot skyward.
The world itself seemed to tremble.
Explosions thundered through the air.
==========
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