"Full speed ahead, Elvis, keep her steady! Unfurl the sails!" Laffite instructed as he stood in the middle of the Black Pearl's deck, his eyes rapidly darting in all directions as he observed the towering waves heading towards us and the bitch black clouds above, rumbling in lightning and thunder.
"Got it," Elvis replied with a smirk, his muscles tightening as he gripped the rudder and kept it in place, preventing any deviation in the Black Pearl's steering direction.
Byron didn't stay idle either, Law teleporting them between the black Pearl's three masts with his devil fruit as they unfurled the sails as quickly as possible.
And sure enough, the Black Pearl sped ahead as the two gigantic waves hit each other behind us, creating a shock wave that pushed us forward instead, allowing the Black Pearl to dodge a pillar of seawater shooting from below.
"Strong wind incoming. Turn right and relax your grip, or you might break the rudder, Elvis," Laffite exclaimed, turning to Elvis, who visibly relaxed his grip.
"Everyone else, hold on to something!" he added, walking towards the railing and holding on to it with one hand, still observing the raging storm for the most minuscule of details.
"A whirlpool is forming below us. Activate the Dial propellers, turn around and resume our original course!" Laffite instructed as the seawater began stirring around us, a whirlpool forming, pulling the Black Pearl downward to the bottom of the sea.
Elvis nodded as he pressed a Dial near the rudder, causing the Black Pearl to shoot forward as he turned the wheel to the left, and sure enough, we got out of the whirlpool; the speed generated by the dials sent the Black Pearl flying out of the Black Pearl.
And it just so happens we landed at the end of the storm, but instead of sun rays shining through dispersing clouds, we found ourselves in a dark, thick fog engulfing this stretch of the sea as far as the eye could see.
"We're finally here... the Florian Triangle..." I muttered under my breath, looking around and seeing nothing but bitch black mists as far as my cyber-enhanced eyes could see.
"We're looking for an enormous ship, even larger than the Black Pearl. That's where Humming Brook should be," I exclaimed as I turned to my crewmates.
"Everyone keep an eye out for that, and if you see a suspicious barrel floating around the water, pick it up, but don't open it," I instructed, waving a hand to the side.
"A floating barrel, captain...?" Elly asked as she walked toward me, tilting her head to the side in confusion, prompting me not at her.
"You know this is the warlord, Gecko Moria's hunting ground, right?" I asked, getting a nod from her this time. "Well, Moria uses the barrels to locate ships that wander into the Florian triangle," I added, receiving an even more confused look from Elly and the rest.
"If you open the barrels, it will shoot a flare into the sky that will be visible from long distances even in this fog," I explained while shrugging my shoulders. "Moria will see it and know where we are," I added, briefly pausing as I wasn't sure how to describe the process.
"Moria's ship, the Thriller Park... it's an island-turned ship. Suffice to say it's as big as an island too..." I remarked, scratching my head. "And Morya modified it to capture ships, so he'll show up from nowhere and trap the Black Pearl inside his ship because he'll know our location, and we won't know his," I concluded, shrugging my shoulder.
I couldn't help snorting in bemusement at my crewmate's confused expression as they tried to imagine an island ship swallowing the Black Pearl and trapping us inside it.
"Don't think about it too much. You'll see for yourselves once we find Humming Brook," I said, shaking my head. "We're already here, so it'll be a waste not blunder Thriller Park. It's probably choke-full of treasures from all the ships Moria captured over the years," I concluded with a smile.
...
I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck as I stared at one of Morya's signal barrels, debating whether to open not or not out of frustration.
It's been roughly eight days since we arrived at the Florian Triangle, and we've been aimlessly roaming around the area, searching for the Rumbar pirates' ship with no success so far.
I was never the patient sort to begin with, and spending more than a week in this godforsaken, dark, and dingy stretch of the sea without seeing the sun even once had already ground away whatever little patience I had.
I sighed again, deciding it wasn't worth it as Thriller Park wasn't going anywhere, but Brook, on the other hand, could leave as soon as he got his shadow back. And I didn't feel like wasting my time tracking him down all over the grand line just cause I got bored and decided to pass some time by fighting a warlord.
However, it's not like I was idly sitting by during the past week just staring at the Florian Triangle's fog as I had been training on phasing through light, and the faint light in this area had actually helped with that.
Less exposure to light meant less focus required to phase through it, and I'm already capable of going completely invisible in this environment.
'Now I just need to work towards complete invisibility under regular circumstances once we leave the Florian Triangle...'
I smiled, looking at my hand as I activated my devil fruit ability, making it disappear in front of my eyes.
"Something is approaching us from behind!" Elly exclaimed from the top of the crow's nest as she faced the Black Pearl's rear. "It's a big ship, a schooner barge!" she added, squinting her eyes as she tried to get a better look at the incoming vessel.
"Yohoho-yohohoho~"
And sure enough, as the silhouette of the approaching ship became apparent behind the Black Pearl, I could hear a ghostly humming, along with the groaning of tattered wood.
"Fucking finally..." I muttered as I stood up, my eyes glued to the gigantic incoming ship. It was a sight to behold, really. It even towered over my Black Pearl with its size, and t's tattered appearance along the surrounding fog and Brook's humming truly gave it the image of a bona fide ghost ship.
"Ah... that's a ghost ship, isn't it?" Laffite flatly remarked, having taken a better look at the Rumbar Pirates' tattered ship.
"It's a ghost ship, indeed," Bob, who was sitting in front of him, a chessboard separating the two, said in an equally flat tone. "Anyway, it's your turn..." he added, turning back to the board while urging Laffite to do the same.
The navigator shrugged his shoulders and obliged, prompting Byron to stop unblinkingly staring at the ghost ship with his jaw hanging wide and snap at the duo.
"How the hell can you guys be so calm?!" Byron said as he stomped toward the two. "That's a ghost ship, you know! It might curse us or something, you know?!" he added, pointing towards the ghost ship.
"Ghosts...? curse...?" Bepo muttered, his eyes alternating between Byron and the ghost ship and his face slowly but surely turning blue.
"Calm down!" Law said, smacking Bepo's head with the sheath of his sword to stop the mink polar bear from panicking. "And don't apologize either!" he added, sighing and smacking Bepo again as he tried to apologize.
"that's right! Ghosts don't exist!" Elly said from the side, confidently smiling as she looked at Bepo. "They don't, right captain?" she asked in a hushed tone as she scooted near me after seeing my amused smile, causing me to laugh.
"There's one way to find out..." I cryptically replied, holding back a laugh as Elly came closer to me and stood behind my back while staring at the ghost ship.
"Well said, captain," Kozue replied as she stood beside me. "We just have to cut it down if it's really a ghost..." she added with a shrug, resting a hand on her sword.
"Ghosts, huh...?" Domino muttered, a thoughtful look on her face as she stared at the ever-approaching ghost ship. "I call dibs on the ghost!" she exclaimed, raising a hand with a smirk on her face.
"Mad! you people are mad!" Byron said, his eyes twitching as he looked at us like we were crazy.
"Stop making a fuss, idiot," Wilson said with a smirk, punching Byron on his head from behind and making him stumble forward. "Whatever is on that ship, it can't be any worse than Doc's face before he recovered..." he added with a loud laugh.
"Hey, I resent that!" Doc exclaimed in annoyance, having gotten an insult from nowhere while tending to his horse, and Stronger neighed in agreement, causing us to laugh.
"Anyway, this could be the Rumbar Pirates' ship, so I'm going, and you're coming with me whether you like it or not, Byron," I said with a laugh as I gripped Byron's shoulder and jumped towards the ship, Domino, Kozue and Wilson following behind me.
"No! Wait! Let me get across or holy water or something first!" Byron exclaimed as I put him on my shoulder and flew towards the ghost ship.
I didn't listen.