January 25th.
The First Temple.
While Alliance City's center was bustling, the outskirts, where the First Temple stood, were much quieter.
But everyone who came to the temple couldn't ignore the woman standing in front of the Giratina statue. She was simply too beautiful.
"Lord of the Underworld."
Hancock reached out and gently placed her hand on Giratina's clawed foot.
The statue of Giratina was colossal. Even if she tried jumping, she couldn't touch its head.
After all, this wasn't the pirate world, where a simple jump could solve everything.
[Lord of the Underworld, Giratina: The Violent God, one of the original partners of the Creator, Arceus. A proud ruler Pokémon, always guarding the other side of the world alongside the Creator, silently watching over Pokémon Island. Among the primordial gods, it is said to be the strongest, obeying only the Creator.]
This was the 2.5 version of Giratina's description.
The engineering team was always arguing and fighting over these descriptions, changing them constantly like quarrelsome geese.
"So majestic."
Hancock gazed at Giratina, the more she looked, the more she felt it matched the description.
"Huwooo~"
Serperior raised its head, looking at Giratina with hearts in its eyes.
Serperior was a proud Pokémon. The ones they fell in love with were either their equals or much stronger than them. Among Pokémon species, Serperior had taken the "admiration for strength" trait to its extreme.
"You're hopeless. You don't even look like you could have kids," Hancock said, gently tapping Serperior's head with a finger.
"Uuu~"
Serperior pouted and slithered back into its Poké Ball, clearly upset.
Hancock glanced at the Poké Ball, shook her head, and continued to look at the other statues.
From the Sandstorm God to the final statue in the back, The Nightmare God.
"Hmm?"
When Hancock reached the Nightmare God, Darkrai, she paused.
Unlike the other statues, Darkrai's had no description.
Or rather, it once had, but it had been scratched off so completely that not a single word was legible.
"As expected of the 'Most Mysterious God.' It didn't even leave a trace of information."
Hancock thought that perhaps no one except for Arceus had ever seen Darkrai.
After lingering a bit longer, Hancock turned on her heel and left. She planned to continue her training.
After all, her goal was to become the Champion.
Two minutes after Hancock left, a group of workers entered, carrying a new Darkrai statue.
"This time, the description is top-notch! I guarantee everyone will love it, wahahaha."
Meanwhile...
At the World Tree, Giratina was playing hide-and-seek with some of its companions.
It was Darkrai's turn to be "it," and the others had to hide.
Hancock would never have imagined that the divine beings she so admired were playing such a childish game.
...
Outskirts.
"That's right, gather the shadow energy in your throat. It might be uncomfortable, but hold on and don't release it until the very last moment when you unleash it."
Brook stood with his purple cane, guiding Sabo and his Typhlosion in learning the move "Shadow Ball."
Though they were rivals, Brook wasn't the petty type and didn't mind teaching Sabo this move.
In fact, Brook's purpose for participating in the Pokémon Battle Tournament was to revive the Rumbar Pirates.
But this goal wasn't particularly strong.
It was more of a self-imposed purpose so that Brook wouldn't feel lost. Without it, he feared he might wander aimlessly through life.
Brook had always been someone who could move on.
The members of the Rumbar Pirates were dead. Life and death were part of the natural order, and he didn't feel the need to bring everyone back.
They had all died in battle, and as pirates, dying in battle was normal.
To Brook, the death of his crewmates wasn't a regretful thing—it was simply their fate, even if it was a tragic one.
His only regret was that they hadn't fulfilled their promise to Laboon.
At this point, Brook didn't know that Laboon was still alive.
Because so much time had passed since his death, he never imagined that Laboon, a little whale, could still be alive, waiting for the return of the Rumbar Pirates.
More accurately, Brook didn't realize that the old man they had met at Twin Capes, Crocus, was actually the ship's doctor of the Roger Pirates. With Crocus watching over Laboon, it would have been very difficult for anyone to harm the whale.
After leaving the Florian Triangle, following the defeat of Gecko Moria by the Pokémon League, Brook had drifted aimlessly, learning about the state of the world.
Later, when he saw how happy trainers and their Pokémon were in Sabaody Archipelago, he couldn't help but buy a Pokémon egg.
That purchase set him on an unstoppable path to becoming a Ghost-type Pokémon trainer.
He loved his current life and had no complaints. In fact, he felt incredibly happy.
As for reviving the Rumbar Pirates, that wasn't the main focus. Participating in the Pokémon Battle Tournament was more about working hard with his companions and creating precious memories together.
With Brook's help, it took Sabo and his Typhlosion two days to finally grasp the feel of Shadow Ball.
From here, it was simple—they just had to keep practicing.
"Thank you for your help over the past two days, Brook. Let me treat you to dinner. I know the best restaurant in Alliance City."
Sabo was genuinely grateful to Brook.
He felt that they had become friends, despite Brook's odd appearance. Brook was someone worth getting to know.
"Yohohoho~ I'm so glad I could help, Sabo-kun! Then I shall graciously accept your invitation. To tell the truth, I haven't eaten all day, and I'm starving! Ah, though I'm already dead, yohoho~"
Brook didn't hold back.
He had been in Alliance City for two days and, though he had gotten an ID card, he had spent all the money in it on instruments for Gengar and the others.
Even the tips he received from his performances were used to buy training materials for his Pokémon.
As for himself, he really hadn't eaten all day.
Sabo led Brook straight to Baratie, with a clear destination in mind.
Sabo had been spoiled by Thatch's cooking, and there were only a few restaurants in Alliance City that he considered good enough.
Baratie was one of them.
"Eh?"
When Sanji saw a skeleton walk into the restaurant, he thought he had been knocked out by the stove monkey with a rolling pin the day before and was hallucinating.
These two, who should have become companions in the future, were meeting eight years early in a different setting.
But nothing particularly exciting happened.
Sanji was just slightly shocked by Brook's appearance, and aside from that, nothing else occurred.
Sabo ordered food, and the two of them sat down to chat.
"So, Brook, how did you end up like this? If you don't mind me asking?"
"Ah, that's quite a long story."
When Sabo asked, Brook began to recall his past.
"I was once the captain of the Royal Guard for a kingdom. Later, I joined the Rumbar Pirates, where I met many like-minded friends..."
Brook started telling his tale.
At first, Sabo listened intently, and when Brook spoke about the final performance of the Rumbar Pirates before their demise, Sabo couldn't help but put down his utensils.
He hadn't expected Brook to have such a moving past.
It was truly touching.
"Laboon? That name sounds familiar..."
Sanji, who had come over to serve their food, heard Brook's story and sat down, frowning.
A whale?
"Yes, Laboon was such a cute little thing. Although it's an island whale, when we met him, he was just a small baby, lost and separated from his pod."
Brook smiled as he remembered Laboon.
In fact, Brook had the closest relationship with Laboon among the Rumbar Pirates. Everyone joked that Brook's afro looked just like Laboon's head, and Laboon had mistaken Brook for his mother because of it.
"An island whale... Oh! Wait, was it the one at Twin Capes?"
Sanji suddenly remembered.
Zeff had told him that, when they returned from the Grand Line, they had seen a giant island whale at Twin Capes.
As chefs, they wouldn't mistake ocean creatures.
To put it bluntly, an island whale was just another ingredient to them.
"...Eh?"
Brook froze at Sanji's words.
There shouldn't be a second island whale at Twin Capes. Could it be...
"That island whale, the old man mentioned seeing it a couple of years ago."
Sanji pointed toward the kitchen, where Zeff was cooking.
Zeff, sensing something, looked over.
When he saw Sanji sitting at the customers' table instead of working, his temper flared.
Zeff stormed out of the kitchen and, in front of everyone, gave Sanji a kick.
Sanji was dragged back to the kitchen.
"Laboon... is still alive?!"
Brook finally reacted.
At that moment, Brook didn't even notice that tears were welling up in his eyes.
Can a skeleton cry?
This question nagged at Sabo, but he quickly let it go and smiled.
"Congratulations, Brook. Now you can fulfill your promise."
(End of Chapter)
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