PAGE TWO: It's okay, you guys can request again!
ONE PIECE FAN-FOR-ALL
Or, free-for-all-fic, or fic free-for-all, or fic-for-all, whatever phrasing floats your boat.
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Filled | Unfilled (BOTH posts updated to about half of page three, updated Sept 21, 11-something pm, GMT -5 ( Read more... )
It was unusual the Thousand Sunny to be silent before Brooke's arrival, with the constant thrum of Luffy's yells,Usopp's fanciful tales and the ever-present ruckus of Sanji and Zoro quarreling, but once Brooke came to the crew, the ship had more life than ever. It seemed that even their sleep was accompanied by lullabies, their battles filled with the cymbals of battle, their tears echoed by soft whispers of music that swept around them.
Which was why, in the middle of the night, it was not noise that made the crew (minus Zoro and Luffy, who struggled to get up at the best of times) wake up, but the complete and utter lack of it. After a few silent glances, Usopp decided to head up to the deck to where Brooke was keeping watch to ask him what was the matter.
He tiptoed up, worried that there had been some sort of ambush, but instead there was only Brooke, kneeling upon the newly-varnished wood, clutching at his throat.
"O-oi, Brooke..." Usopp leaned down to look the skeleton in the eye. "What's the matter? Something wrong with your throat?"
It was only when there was no, There's nothing wrong with my throat--except for it's not there! Yohohohoho!, Usopp began to worry. "You can't talk?"
Brooke shook his head, and frowned. "D'you want me to get Chopper?"
Brooke shook his head once more, and raised his shoulders, in a gesture that clearly meant, this too, shall pass. "I'll take over watch for you," Usopp decided, and pushed the musician back down to the men's quarters,and called after him, "Don't worry, the ship is safe! The Great Ussop shall protect it!"
And while Usopp sat on the deck, watching the waves lick the sides of the boat, he couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding.
----
After a week of no singing, but the constant sound of a weeping violin, it was decided that Chopper would inspect their musician. Get him back to normal. Let the crew come back to life with music once more.
The longer Brooke spent in the Doctor's quarters, the more worried the more rational members of the crew got.
"He'll be okay," Luffy said, in an act of unfounded faith that had yet to be proven wrong. "He's our musician," he said as an explanation, and that was that.
This hope, however, began to falter in the eyes of everybody as Chopper trudged out, clearly trying to hold back tears. "Brooke's devil fruit is only to keep him alive," he blurted out, finally. "I-I mean..." Chopper looked down at the ground, and Robin, who stood motionless nearby put a consoling hand on the reindeer's shoulder. "Brooke's devil fruit will keep his heart beating, and will keep him alive. It didn't do enough to protect his vocal chords or his joints working. It's already--" a hiccup, "--disintegrating, really."
When everybody was silent, Brooke walked and sat beside the mast, playing a jaunty tune to accompany the apprehension in the crew. "But Chopper," Luffy objected, "you're our doctor. Fix him."
"I..." Chopper bit his lip, defeated. "I can't. I'm a doctor, but--but I haven't learned how to fix everything yet!"
"Then we'll find another way to fix Brooke," Luffy said, as confident as ever. "We'll just have to search."
When Luffy too left, the temporary feeling that it would all be okay burst, and slowly, everybody went off to do their duties. What else could they do, really?
And for some reason, one less voice at the dinner table gave way to an uncomfortable silence that hadn't been present since Usopp's temporary departure.
----
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