Kaede

"Speaking of quality I can't wait to try out your cooking. Since I was stuck on that dreary ghost ship it's been decades since I've eaten a proper meal. I felt my stomach shrink and shrink until I couldn't even tell the back of my belly from the front of my back anymore. That was the sort of miserable life I lived. Let me tell you that is saying a lot since skeletons don't even have a proper back or stomach." Brook says laughing and Luffy joined in. "It's a skull joke."

"It's a skull joke, I get it." Luffy says clapping.

"I think those years he spent all alone broke him." I mutter to myself taking another drink from my tea and I start coughing when Brook and Luffy start chanting for food like five year olds.

"My dear boy can I have a glass of milk? It's good for the bones they say." Brook says looking at Sanji.

"Shut up or I'm going to smash your skull." Sanji yells and I slam my head against the counter while letting out an annoyed while partially angry sigh.

"Oh by the way skeleton," Luffy says.

"Sorry but my name is Brook. Ah but that reminds me I know this is rude but I don't believe I ever caught your name." Brook says looking at Luffy.

"Oh me? My name is Luffy, so anyway what are you?" Luffy asks.

"You invited him to join the crew when you just now ask him that." Zoro yells at Luffy.

"Okay food's ready. We can finish integrating the skeleton later. For now let's put all those octopuses you caught to good use." Sanji says setting the table and he offers me a plate but I shake my head even though it's still on the counter.

"I'm good." I say but Sanji sets the plate down near my head with silverware.

"Eat since I know you haven't eaten in a few days." Sanji says and I look up at him. I actually last ate this morning.

"Fine," I say with a grumble before slowly eating the food as Luffy and Brook talk while they eat. I ignore the two idiots and I eat half the plate before giving the rest to Luffy when nobody's looking. Luffy gratefully accepts it without a complaint and I hand my plate to Sanji before walking out of the room leaving them to integrate Brook about everything I already know thanks to being cursed. I let out a sigh leaning against the railing and taking in a deep breath of fresh air before the idiots in the kitchen start screaming again.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP HE GOT HIS SHADOW STOLEN, THAT'S ALL IDIOTS." I yell and I hear them quiet down.

"Is he like physic or something because he knows a lot of things that nobody ever really found out about or know?" I hear Brook ask.

"No that's just Kaede." Luffy says and I hear him laugh which causes me to roll my eyes.

"I'm surrounded by idiots." I mutter as I walk below deck towards my room and I continue to mutter profanities on the way. When I get to my room I summon the journal and slide back under the bed into my nest of blankets. I flip the journal open to a marked page and start reading through all of the discoveries that my ancestors have figure out about the curse as well as the devil fruits that circulate the world. Screaming fills the air a couple seconds later and I start cursing at those idiots. Marking my page I send the journal back into storage before climbing out from under the bed and storming towards the kitchen. The ship starts jostling as soon as I get on deck and I spot a gate which has the appearance of a giant mouth.

"What the hell is that?" I ask just as Brook rushes out the kitchen door.

"What terrible fortune; they must've been watching them. That's the only thing that makes sense. Everyone look to the front; that noise we heard was that gate slamming shut. Our passage has already been blocked off." Brook says and I scan the area around us. Brook takes off towards the back of the ship and I walk over to the railing to see what's going on. I lean over the railing and see what appears to be an island that appears very dilapidated but I can tell there are people located on the island. I walk up the stairs and join the group at the back of the ship.

"This is the ghost island that wanders throughout these seas, they call it Thriller Bark." Brook says and I rack my brain for any information that I know about this island.

"Thriller Bark, I see." Luffy says and I shake my head in disappointment when I can't recall anything about Thriller Bark even though I remember hearing about it before today.

"Hey this is strange. The log pose isn't reacting to this island at all." Nami says looking at her wrist.

"Nor should it because originally this island came all the way in from the West Blue," Brook says.

"The West Blue?" Nami asks.

"Indeed," Brook says as he walks back into the kitchen.

"Hey where you going?" Sanji asks.

"Truly this has been a fortunate day for me. Not only was I able to meet you but now my wish has been granted as well." Brook says opening the other kitchen door and I walk back to the deck that's in the middle of the ship with the rest following after me. Brook jumps from the railing in front of the kitchen all the way to the Sunny's figure head and he turns around to face us.

"That's one hell of a jump." I hear Sanji say.

"Yes, there's no pesky flesh weighing me down. Please do not follow me. You must break through that gate behind you and escape this place whatever you do you cannot drop your anchor in here. That being said it truly was a pleasure meeting all of you today. I won't forget your kindness so long as I live. Farewell, I hope we meet again on the high seas." Brook says before jumping off the front of the ship.

"Hey Brook wait." Luffy yells and everyone has wide eyes and shocked expressions since a devil fruit user just jumped towards the water.

"Isn't he a devil fruit user?" Zoro asks.

"He's going to sink like a rock." Usopp says and I shake my head.

"Look to the left side of the ship, he's running on top of the water." I say and everyone looks to the left to see Brook laughing as he runs past heading towards Thriller Bark.

"That is too cool." Luffy says with small stars in his eyes.

"Ah, anyway Luffy we should listen to him and get moving. I don't really understand the situation here but I do know this island is bad news." Nami says looking towards Luffy.

"You're wasting your breathe Nami." I say and Luffy turns around with a huge smile on his face proving my point.

"Huh? You guys say something?" Luffy asks.

"He totally wants to go." Chopper, Nami, and Usopp all say at once.

"I've had enough ghost for the day I don't need a whole island full of them." Usopp says and I flop down onto the grass deck before rolling onto my back to watch the crew.

"Wait a sec, what about that ghost we say before huh? Is it still here on the boat?" Chopper asks.

"No, looked like it was flying to the island. I'm guessing that's where the thing came from." Zoro says.

"Interesting, like Brook said the loud noise we heard earlier was from that gate over there closing shut so it's not that we ran into it but that we were eaten by that mouth." Robin says.

"It ate us?" Luffy asks.

"The fog makes it difficult to tell but I image that the walls we see here extend all the way around the island in a circle. That means that we were intentionally pulled in and now that the gate is closed we're trapped inside." Robin says.

"Unless someone busts a hole in it;" I mutter to myself since that fact won't matter until after we explore the island since I know Luffy won't want to leave without doing so.

"I see, that's why the skeleton told us to run away it's because we're stuck inside some kind of trap." Usopp says and I nod my head.

"Yup a trap so someone can steal our shadows and put them in a zombie army he's gathering." I say but no one hears me or pays attention to me and Luffy's the only one who would listen but he's currently in the kitchen.

"Wait then that would mean the people here are capturing sailors on purpose right but why?" Nami says and I let out a sigh before standing up. I walk to my room and after I enter I close the door. Placing my hands on the door I focus some energy into it and a second later it gains a light gold colour. I take my hands off the door and turn the handle before pushing it open. The door now opens into a room that has weapons of every type lining the walls. I refill all the spots along my legs that hold my throwing weapons and I have a gun strapped to my right thigh so I make sure I have the bullets filled as well as an extra clip. I strap a set of butterfly swords onto my lower back and refill the throwing knifes strapped to my wrists before grabbing a pitch black cloak. I throw the cloak on before grabbing my bo staff and exiting the room. I close the door and focus on the door until it turns back to the brown wooden colour it should be. I walk back to the deck with the hood down and when I reach the deck it's just in time to see Sanji floating back above the railing backwards. I blink in surprise but it's quickly diminished when I sense Absalom there using the power of the Clear-Clear Fruit to go unnoticed.

"Sanji, I didn't know you could fly." Luffy yells.

"He can't, can he?" Franky asks and I shake my head.

"No he can't." I say as Absalom throws Sanji at Zoro who just side steps him.

"Hey, you having problems?" Zoro asks as Sanji gets up from the deck.

"Shut up dammit, you saw what happened to me." Sanji says.

"Whatever it is, it wants to keep us on the ship." Franky says and I close my eyes sensing where Absalom's moving to now.

"Can't see this bastard at all; it can take us out one by one and we couldn't do a damn thing about it." Zoro says and Robin lets out a gasp.

"What's going on Robin?" Sanji asks and I jump over the railing.

"Something is grabbing me." Robin says and I see him lick Robin right before I land. I slam my bo staff into Absalom's side and he let's go of Robin. I jump back when I sense Absalom moving forward punch me.

"You bastard get your invisible hands off of her." Sanji says rushing towards Robin only to get tripped and once again end up face planted on the deck. A growl fills the air and I keep surveying the area with my staff ready.

"It really does sound like some kind of animal." Luffy says and the ship lurches to the right.

"I don't know what's going on but we got waves inside the wall." Franky says pointing at the waves. "They're pushing us away from the island." Franky says and I take small steps every couple minutes to keep myself steady.

"I got you. You okay?" Sanji asks holding Robin's shoulders.

"I think so. It seems to be gone." Robin says.

"Quick raise the anchor, if you think you can do it without falling on your face again." Zoro says.

"At least I'm not throwing swords." Sanji yells back and he quickly raises the anchor.

"Usopp, Chopper, say something." Sanji yells after the anchor's raised and we're all gathered on the main deck again. "Crap we're going to get separated from them."

"Hey Franky, you gotta have some kind of secret weapon for a time like this." Luffy asks the cyborg.

"Alright, I'll bust out the surprise hot tub." Franky says already starting to move to get it out.

"Yee sounds like fun." Luffy says.

"Wait no." Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro say at the same time.

"It does sound like fun though." I say and everyone turns to look at me. Robin's trying to hide her giggles while Franky's giving me thumbs up and the other three are giving me an annoyed look. "Fine let's focus on the matter at hand then get the hot tub out after this is dealt with. Sounds good?"

"Sounds good;" Franky says just before the ship starts drifting.

"We're drifting away; do something stupid." Zoro yells at Sanji.

"You got any ideas genius?" Sanji asks as he tries to turn the wheel but the force of the water prevents it from moving. "The steering wheel won't move an inch." Sanji says and Luffy glances at me from where he's standing on the figure head. In the few seconds our eyes were connected I knew what Luffy wanted from me. I lean against the back railing of the ship (The one behind the steering wheel) before focusing my attention on the water behind me. I keep the water calm enough that we won't tip over or be swamped from the waves that crash against us.

"Even if we use the paddles those waves are too high." Franky says.

"Eh, no big worry; I'm still having fun. The waves will take us to the island sooner or later." Luffy says and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, what about Nami? You forget about her?" Sanji asks with a tick mark on his forehead.

"What is that?" Robin asks and my eyes snap to the front of the ship to see a giant spider web there.

"Is that a spider web?" Zoro asks from beside me and a wave hits us from behind causing the ship to lurch forward. Luffy falls off the figure head while everyone else holds onto something. Zoro's holding onto the railing with one arm and his other one is around my waist holding me even though I'm holding onto the railing as well.

"At this rate we're going to be trapped." Robin says as the ship continues towards the web.

"Hurry use the paddle, quick." Franky says.

"It's too late. We're already caught." Robin says a second before we hit the web and getting stuck there.

"Dammit, now what? The ship didn't take any damage so it's not like we can sail it anymore and by the way I'd hate to see the spider that spun this thing; it's fucking huge." Franky says as we look up at the web which is three times bigger than when we first saw it.

"Let's get ready to go find those three." I say and we gather everything we need before getting ready to go. Franky, Luffy, Robin, and Sanji climb down onto the dock first. Zoro's standing on the second floor and I was currently on the main deck.

"This is no good. Thanks to this gigantic spider web we're dead in the water. No pun intended." Franky says.

"Somethings not right about this." Zoro says.

"It's not like we'd be leaving anyways. We have to find Nami and the others too I guess. Let's head out." Sanji says.

"Hey Zoro, get your butt down here already." Luffy yells at the swordsman and I start climbing down from the ship.

"Even if meeting that skeleton was a fluke the fact that the Thousands Sunny and the Mini Merry both got tangled up in this web in the exact same spot is pretty damn fishy. Somebody went through a hell of a lot of trouble to make sure that when we enter this place it's through the front gate and nowhere else. Geez if they were going to make it that obvious they might as well laid out a welcome mat for us." Zoro says.

"Hey Zoro, what are you mumbling about up there? You're going to miss all the fun." Luffy yells towards the swordsman.

"Are you seriously about to walk into a trap that's so damn obvious, one even a headless zombie would have the sense to run away from?" Zoro yells down to Luffy.

"He's done it before." I mutter finally jumping onto the deck.

"Pretty much, yeah." Luffy yells back with a smile on his face. "It's not like we have anything better to do right now. It'll be fun; if you don't go then I'm taking your lunch box." Luffy starts laughing

"Son of a, fine. If I leave you alone I'll just have to rescue you later so I might as well just save myself the trouble and help you now." Zoro says before jumping over the railing and landing on the dock.

"Alright onward;" Luffy yells raising a fist.

"Sure took you long enough moss head." Sanji says and I roll my eyes at them.

"Shut up." Zoro says and we enter the gate only to be greeted by a staircase that leads down into a trench where the ground was covered by skulls.

"Why is there suddenly a staircase leading down?" Sanji asks and I hear growling fill the air.

"It's the only way in. Let's just go with the flow. Hey, I wonder if these skeletons can poop to." Luffy says and I shake my head in annoyance. A weird three headed dog steps forward towards us. Two of its heads are blue while one is yellow and bandages cover multiple spots on the creature.

"Yum," Luffy yells licking his lips and the creature gains scared and surprised looks on its faces.

"Check it out everyone its Cerberus." Sanji says. "We're literally on the path to hell right now."

"Ah, I think it's kinda cute." Robin says.

"Are they a threat 'cause I'm feeling super." Franky says.

"Three heads are overkill." Zoro says.

"I wonder what they taste like." Luffy says with his tongue sticking out.

"I wouldn't eat them Luffy. They'll probably taste like that bear we had the one time that tasted like old socks." I say and Luffy sticks his tongue out in disgust.

"That bear was gross." Luffy says and I nod my head in agreement. I notice the tails on the creature go down and it takes a step back when Luffy lets out a laugh. Luffy starts barking at it and it starts jumping from foot to foot in fright.

"More like a three headed chicken." Zoro says and the creature barks at us again. "Weird how they got all riled up out of nowhere."

"Maybe one of the heads remembered that they're supposed to be brave." Sanji says.

"That's possible." Robin says.

"Anyway," Zoro trails off as Luffy holds up a hand.

"Nope dips. I'm going to tame this bad boy." Luffy says with a huge smile on his face.

"You idiot you can't just tame it you do know it's not a regular dog yeah?" Zoro asks and I place my hand on his shoulder.

"How different can it be?" Luffy says "Come on. Who's a good boys? Shake," Luffy says and the thing bites him.

"I assume we all saw this moment coming." Franky says and Robin laughs.

"The next moments gonna be him punching it." I say just as Luffy starts petting the head that's biting him.

"What big strong teeth you have now let go of Uncle Luffy's head. That's a good boys." Luffy says as it let's go of him. "Easy does it. Just like I said, now sit." Luffy slams his fist into the side of the creature's head. "Roll over."

"That just happened" Sanji says and when the creature gets back up Luffy gets it to follow us after he climbs onto its back.

"The poor thing's body looks pretty beat up. I'm surprised it can still walk around like that." Robin says.

"I wonder what wise ass put this thing together 'cause whoever it was can't tell the difference between a dog head and a fox head." Sanji says.

"Shishishi if this is the first creature we met on this island I can't wait to see what other stuff we run into." Luffy says.

"Cerberus seems down in the mounds." Robin says.

"Come on Robin don't pity him. It just makes him feel worse. Leave him alone already." Zoro says and I nod in agreement.

"Can you hear me Nami sweet?" Sanji yells as we start walking through a fog filled forest. "Hello? Where are you my feisty truffle?" I ignore Sanji's yelling as I observe the area around us looking for whatever's giving me a slightly uneasy feeling beside the multiple people following us in the trees. I shrug when I can't find the source of the uneasy feeling and jump onto Zoro's back so he can carry me while I focus my attention elsewhere.

"Hey what's that for?" Zoro asks stumbling lightly under my weight before steadying himself.

"I'm bored; carry me so I can sleep." I say and Zoro growls.

"I'm not carrying you just so you can sleep." Zoro says and I pout but no one can see me since everyone else is behind us while Zoro's facing forward. I smile after a couple of seconds when he doesn't drop me to the ground and I place my chin on his shoulder. I see Zoro look at me from the corner of his eye before looking ahead again with a small blush and I let my eyes drift close as I send my senses out in every direction.

My mind focuses in on its self and blocks out the real world as it builds a 3-d map of the island in my head. White dots appear on the hologram to show where people are and black dots appear for zombie's that have shadows in them. Red dots appear for Devil Fruit users and green dots appear for wildlife that live on this ship even if it appears desolated. I zoom in on the spot where Chopper, Nami, and Usopp were currently running from a group of zombies in a mansion that was sitting in front of a bigger mansion. Moria was located inside the bigger mansion as well as what seemed to be some of his minions. After committing this map to memory and having it keep to real time locations I allow my mind to actually drift asleep so it can recover the energy that was used to build the hologram map.

 A.N.

I'M SORRY, I'M VERY SORRY FOR THE WAIT THAT WAS ALMOST A MONTH LONG!!!! My exams are all done and over with so pray to the lord. I was petrefied for my Calculus one cause i was doing bad in the class so it was like study, study, and even more fucking studying but that's done and I passed so i'm happy. I also got a laptop of my own finally. Up until recently i was using the one my parents own which is like five years old and it wouldn't even turn on if you didn't have it plugged in. Another new thing is my truck. My sweet little dodge dakota is finally on the road and insured (if you can not tell I'm over pluto about this and I like my sister already finds me crazy cause i pretty much either give my truck a hug or pat it every time I'm near it (I hear you secretly judging me people)).

I also have so many different ideas for stories that i need to work on if i can even figure out what I want to do with them. Here's how many i have and this is just general. I have more folders in some of the folders show and if there's a folder that means there's at least three different word document in it. The Keeper of the Devil Fruit folder contains The Keeper of the Devil Fruits story and this story.

Okay so thanks to everyone who's stuck with me through my horrible updating time frame and as an apology i'm putting up two chapters today. I also want to thank everyone who reads this and also everyone who's following me because that actually means you like my work which makes me incredibly happy (well everyone but two like my work and i know that since they're my friends in real life but luckily one hasn't been on in like five years. The other one though got it recently so she's on it like 24/7 and telling me to read all these books which i can't because i have a bookcase of over 200 books which i haven't even read half of yet and then there's all the other books on sites like this, AO3, and Fanfiction.net that i want to read still. Sorry I'm rambling, I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as the next and once again sorry about the extremely long wait period.