Usopp's tears streamed down his face. "Waaah... that's so sad..."
"But!" Brook suddenly straightened his back, and his hollow eye sockets seemed to gleam. "To be able to meet everyone now, to talk to you all like this, and even to get hit... It's truly... truly..." His voice began to tremble again. "It's too wonderful! Yohohoho~"
Everyone was startled at first, then burst into laughter.
Luffy laughed so hard he bent over backward, slapping the deck and shouting, "You're so funny, Brook!" He suddenly jumped up and threw an arm around the skeleton's shoulders. "Come be our nakama!"
Brook's jaw dropped with a "clack." "Wh-what?!"
"We need a musician!" Luffy grinned. "And you're so funny!"
The skeleton musician's bones began to tremble uncontrollably, his finger bones clutching his top hat tightly. "But... I'm a skeleton... And..."
"Less talk!" Zoro snorted, holding his newly acquired Shusui.
"It's perfect for background music when we have a feast or record a video~" Sanji said with a laugh, blowing smoke rings.
Usopp had already brought out a treasured barrel of sake. "Come on, come on, the new guy has to perform a talent!"
Brook trembling took down his violin, and the moment the bow touched the strings, a cheerful "Binks' Sake" flowed out. As the music played, his tears streamed down uncontrollably. "Even though I don't have eyes... Yohohoho~"
Luffy raised his cup high. "To our new nakama—"
"Cheers!!!" Everyone cheered and clinked their cups.
Brook was engrossed in playing the violin, his bony fingers dancing nimbly on the strings, when suddenly the bow stopped mid-air. "Huh?" He tilted his skull, his hollow eye sockets staring intently at the glowing object in Luffy's hand.
"Luffy, excuse me..." Brook carefully poked the glowing square with a bony finger. "What is this glowing little box? Is it a new type of oil lamp? Yohohoho~"
The deck instantly fell silent, and everyone stared wide-eyed at Brook, as if he had asked a huge joke.
"Brook... you..." Usopp's mouth was wide enough to fit an orange. "Are you serious?"
The skeleton musician scratched his skull in confusion, making a "clack clack" sound. "I've been in this misty sea for decades..." His voice suddenly deepened. "Because I have no shadow, I can't go out during the day... So... I truly don't know what this is about the outside world."
Nami suddenly covered her mouth. "Oh my god, so you don't even... know what a phone is?"
"This is a phone!" Luffy wrapped an arm around Brook's skeleton, excitedly shaking his phone. "Everyone in the entire ocean is using it now! You can take pictures, livestream, play games, and even buy meat!"
Brook's jaw dropped onto the deck with a "plop." "Ta-taking pictures?!" He fumbled to pick up his jaw and put it back on. "Like a Den Den Mushi?"
"Watch closely!" Luffy excitedly poked the screen. "This is how you take a picture—click!" The moment the flash lit up, Brook instinctively covered his non-existent eyes, and his skull hit the mast with a "thump."
"This is how you record—" Luffy pressed the red button. "I'm the man who will become the Pirate King!" When he played it back, his voice came from the speaker, and Brook's skeleton rattled, so scared that his violin fell to the ground.
Nami sighed, rubbing her forehead. "This idiot is just showing off..."
But Luffy couldn't stop, his fingers blurring across the screen. "And this! TikTok! The video of our fight just now was uploaded here!" He opened his account, and his follower count was skyrocketing at a visible rate. "Everyone in the entire ocean can see it!"
Brook's hollow eye sockets widened (though he had no eyeballs), and his bony fingers trembled as he pointed at the scrolling comments on the screen. "These... these words floating by are..."
"Those are everyone's comments and messages~" Usopp leaned over, proudly showing off the comments under his own account. "Look, this person is praising my super cool sniping!"
Brook suddenly lowered his voice (though a skeleton has no vocal cords), and asked mysteriously, "Then, excuse me... on this 'TikTok'... can one see ladies' underwear?"
"Hahahaha!" Sanji suddenly appeared, hearts in his eyes, and threw an arm around Brook's shoulder blade. "Brother, you've asked the right person!" He quickly swiped open his favorites. "Look at this #BeachBabes topic, and this #GirlGroupFancam..."
Their skulls touched (though Brook only had a skull), and they let out eerie "hehehe" laughs.
Nami's fist was already brimming with anger, but this time Zoro was one step ahead, using his scabbard to knock the two idiots into the sea.
"Splash!" Amidst the sound of falling into the water, Brook was still excitedly waving his phone. "Yohohoho! This era is amazing! Even though I don't have eyes anymore!"
When Franky fished the two clowns out with his mechanical arm, Brook had already taught himself how to scroll through short videos. He sat cross-legged on the deck, his bony fingers deftly swiping up, making "clack clack" bone-clattering sounds every time he scrolled to a video of a beautiful woman.
"What is this 'honor of kings'?" Brook suddenly pointed at the game icon on Luffy's phone.
Luffy immediately perked up. "It's super fun! My Lu Ban is awesome!" He then tried to get Brook to play with him.
Usopp grumbled quietly, "He always goes 0-21..."
Robin chuckled, covering her mouth. "It looks like we're getting another internet-addicted skeleton on board."
....
The next day,
The news of Gekko Moriah's defeat swept through the entire Grand Line like a hurricane. The World Economic Journal's TikTok account was the first to publish it, with the headline prominently displayed: "Shichibukai System Collapsing? Straw Hat Continues to Defeat Two Shichibukai!"
Morgans even held a special TikTok livestream for it, his feathers bristling with excitement in front of the camera. "Ladies and gentlemen! The bell of a new era has rung!"
Marineford held an emergency meeting, with battle footage from Usopp's livestream continuously playing on the conference room's projection screen.
Fleet Admiral Sengoku had already crushed three teacups. "Garp! Look at what your grandson has done!"
Garp: "I don't know."
The TikTok trending topics were completely dominated by related discussions:
#StrawHatCrewStrengthAnalysis
#NextShichibukaiToSuffer
#Moriah'sCrushingDefeatFullVideo
A well-known analysis blogger, "Grand Line Encyclopedia," released a deep-dive video overnight:
"Based on the 'Pirate King' novel plot, the Straw Hat Crew's next stop must be Sabaody Archipelago!
...."
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