Crackling,
Booming—
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and the waves surged!
Five minutes later, the storm arrived as expected, leaving Franky in awe of Nami's navigation skills. In the midst of the storm:
"This is bad, the wind is against us! Let me change it—"
"Hey, big sis, don't always rely on your Devil Fruit powers," Franky pushed his sunglasses to his forehead and nodded towards Usopp.
"Reel in the sails and release 'that'."
"This... Roman, Luffy?"
Facing Nami's puzzled gaze, Roman calmly nodded. And of course, Luffy said:
"Listen to Franky!"
Even though he had no idea what Franky was planning.
"Alright, reel in the sails—"
As the sails were pulled in, Usopp went down to the cabin, and his voice came through the loudspeaker to the deck:
"Channel Zero - Outer Wheels, activate!"
"Oh oh oh~~!!"
Under the excited gazes of Luffy and Chopper, the sides of the Thousand Sunny opened up, revealing two rapidly spinning paddle wheels! The powerful engine immediately propelled the ship against the wind.
"How about that? Even without relying on Devil Fruits, technology can still ride the waves!"
Facing Franky's bold claim, Roman nodded in agreement.
"That's right, technology is the ladder for ordinary people to progress. Devil Fruits can only create strong individuals, but they can't create a strong populace..."
"Hey, we're just a bunch of pirates."
Nami interrupted Roman's speech with a huff. This guy only ever talked about improving strength and spouted grandiose theories all day long, it was really boring.
"What you should be concerned about is the anomaly around us—"
With the powerful engine of the Thousand Sunny, the Straw Hat crew quickly broke out of the storm and entered a foggy area.
"It's not even night yet, but it's pitch dark..."
Zoro crossed his arms and looked around, "Could we have entered that sea area?"
"Hey hey hey, did we reach Fish-Man Island already?"
"No, it's the rumored place that devours everything—" Franky pushed his sunglasses up, looking grim.
"Florian Triangle!"
!!!
"Ah... noisy... noisy... ghost... ghost..."
In an instant, Usopp and Chopper broke out in cold sweat, while Luffy remained carefree.
"Hehehe, just thinking about ghosts gets me excited!"
"Roman,"
Nami quietly moved closer to Roman, "Are there really zombies, skeletons, ghosts, and stuff like that..."
"Yes, there are."
Roman nodded without hesitation, leaving Sanji and the others, who were teasing Usopp and Chopper, stunned.
Hey, hey, hey, we were just joking, why did you suddenly say it's all true...
"Don't panic,"
Roman waved his hand, "As they say: Devil Fruits are like a basket, you can put all sorts of unreasonable things in it! — When in doubt, the fruit's power is never wrong."
Ah, this...
"And—"
Roman grabbed Luffy and pulled his neck hard.
"Ah~~ I died so miserably~~~"
A 'flying head barbarian' with a neck as long as a snake made a dazzling entrance!
?
"And Robin—"
With a snap of Roman's fingers, Robin smiled and closed her eyes. Instantly, numerous swaying arms sprouted from the deck like seaweed! At the same time, eyes opened and rotated on the ship's railings, instantly turning the scene into a 'Lovecraftian' style.
??
"Roman—"
Facing Usopp's trembling voice, Roman 'tore' his face off, and a mask fell into his hand!
"Are you calling this angry 'Roman',"
With Roman's left and right hands, several different 'faces'... or rather masks, were torn off and floated around him.
"Or this sad 'Roman'?"
???
"Hehehe... Hahaha..."
With a long neck, the flying head laughed eerily in the air.
Swinging, opening, and closing~
Arms waved and grabbed everywhere like hellish claws! Those eyes opened and closed, revealing... who knows what expression an eyeball can have?
Faces flew around~
The face of joy, the face of sorrow, the face of fear, the face of anger~
The face of loneliness and confusion, the face of wisdom, and the face of rationality and self.
Seven faces, seven hearts, human-like ghosts!
For a moment, the Sunny was filled with dancing demons, heads, arms, eyes, and masks flying everywhere, laughing and whispering! Plus, with the candles Sanji lit nearby, it looked even more eerie, like a ghostly realm!
"Ahhhhh!! No!!"
Usopp and Chopper hugged each other tightly, finally realizing that when it comes to 'horror', their own ship is full of living horror movie protagonists!
It's just that they usually hide it behind their laughter and serious faces, ignoring that when these guys act like ghosts, they don't need any makeup!
"Hahaha, what's there to be afraid of ghosts?"
Luffy's head flew in an 'S' shape one moment and a 'B' shape the next as he laughed and circled around Usopp.
"I want to catch a few more to keep~~"
"Ah-woo!!"
Franky flicked his airplane head and put his hands on his hips!
"A Halloween party? This is~~super~~scary!—Watch this,"
Franky spread his arms like he was flying.
"Franky Centaur!"
Click, click,
With the sound of metal turning, Franky's legs split into four, forming a centaur-like stance—except unlike a normal 'centaur,' his front legs extended, making him look like a reversed centaur.
This...
Even Roman raised an eyebrow at this. Franky was really daring to perform modifications near his 'brothers.' What a tough guy!
However, this only made Usopp more desperate! Normally, he didn't notice, but thinking about it, none of his companions were human anymore...
—At this moment, Chopper suddenly transformed and roared at the sky!
"Oh oh oh, the reindeer man fears nothing!!"
...Chopper, are you not human anymore either?
Kneeling on the ground, Usopp dejectedly realized that he was the only normal person who felt scared.
"Alright, alright,"
Nami patted Usopp's shoulder, "Ignore these crazy guys, we—"
'Yohohoho~~ Yohohoho~~'
A lonely song interrupted their merriment, and when the Straw Hat crew turned around, they saw a dilapidated ship! And standing at the railing, holding a cane and a teacup was:
A skeleton.
Or rather, a skeleton with an afro and a suit.
—Dead silence!
Then:
"A ghost!!!"
"A ghost!!!"
?
The skeleton on the other side was also 'shocked,' almost dropping his teacup! The Straw Hat crew snapped back to reality and looked around at each other.
Long necks, arms and eyes all over the place, flying mask faces, four split legs...
Ah, we might be scarier.
"Quick, quick, let's go over!!"
Seeing the two ships about to pass each other, Luffy launched himself over with a rubber rocket! Roman shrugged, waved his hand, and immediately a staircase of fluttering paper formed between the two ships.
"Let's go."
"Hey, hey, hey, Roman, wait a minute!"
"What if we get cursed..."
"Luffy, that guy—"
"Don't panic, it's not a big deal."
As they stepped onto the dilapidated ship, the skeleton on the other side, who had regained his composure, elegantly took off his hat and bowed.
"Yohoho, my apologies."
"I was too surprised just now to greet you."
Amid Luffy's cheers of 'Look, the afro skeleton is talking,' the skeleton elegantly turned and pointed behind him.
"Everyone, please come inside. Allow me to host you as the owner—"
"Cut the crap!"
Sanji pointed sternly at him.
"Who are you? Why is there only a skeleton left that can still move? What happened to this ship? And what about this sea area!?"
"Don't worry about that,"
Facing Sanji's logical thinking, Luffy stepped forward and issued an invitation.
"Hey, become my companion!"
??!
And the afro skeleton on the other side answered without hesitation.
"Sure."
!!?
...This... the first one to join the Straw Hat crew so quickly...
Not really.
Roman's eyes fell on the afro skeleton's feet. Although it was always dim here, there was no sign of any shadow under his feet.
So his shadow was taken?
Looks like Moria deserves a beating.
——————
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