The underworld. The road to the afterlife.
Brook slowly opened his eyes in a daze. There was no light—just an endless gray haze. He felt disoriented, weightless, and strangely uncomfortable.
Why is it so dark? Did I forget to turn on the lights? Where are the neon signs of the city? Could there have been a blackout in my neighborhood?
I hope it's not a blackout… After drifting for years, the only companions in my rented apartment were my fragile, delicate goldfish. If the power went out, the water would stop circulating, and they'd suffocate by morning. They were my only comfort, the little creatures I had nurtured by hand, feeding them one pellet at a time.
Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and reopened them, scanning his surroundings. Then he froze.
He couldn't feel his hands or feet.
Everything around him was eerily silent. A pale, skeletal road stretched into the distance, leading to a murky yellow river that churned sluggishly. The dim, oppressive atmosphere sent a shiver through his very soul.
Where… am I?
Confusion clouded Brook's mind. Was this a dream?
Did I die? Is this the afterlife?
Suddenly, an overwhelming flood of memories surged into his mind, crashing against his consciousness like a tidal wave. They weren't just memories—they were being forcibly integrated with his very soul.
Brook. Musician of the Rumbar Pirates. A crew that entered the Grand Line from the West Blue. A bounty of 33 million Belly.
The year 1470 of the Sea Calendar. That was the year the Rumbar Pirates parted ways with Laboon at Twin Cape. Not long after, Captain Yorki contracted a fatal illness and left the crew, leaving Brook as the acting captain. A few months later, in the Florian Triangle, they were ambushed. The enemy used poison gas, and the entire crew perished.
I… I've crossed over into the One Piece world? And I'm about to become that perverted, panty-loving skeleton, Brook?
Brook's soul trembled slightly. If I had to reincarnate as a skeleton, why couldn't it be as Ainz Ooal Gown from Overlord? At least he's an all-powerful undead overlord! But no—I get stuck as a walking bag of bones.
So even after reincarnation, I still can't escape this fate? Damn, this is frustrating.
In his previous life, Brook had been a reclusive video editor. His content focused on the darker side of reality—exposing topics like the deep web's human trafficking rings, injustices in the criminal world, bizarre unsolved mysteries, and scams in places like Myanmar and Southeast Asia.
This line of work had given him a deep-seated frustration with society, making him an outsider. It also meant he had little to no experience with women. But let's be honest—what guy wouldn't want a life of indulgence and luxury, surrounded by beautiful women?
Brook struggled to process the memories now merging with his own. As he pieced together his new reality, he realized he was in the underworld, moments after death.
Right now, his soul was still protected by the power of the Revive-Revive Fruit. Unlike other wandering spirits, he hadn't lost his memories or been dragged into the depths of Hell. Brook's original consciousness had already been overwritten—his soul had completely taken over.
According to the original timeline, it would take a long time before Brook's consciousness could recover and escape from this place. Even after escaping, he would be lost in the Florian Triangle for an entire year. By the time he found his body again, it would have completely decomposed into a skeleton.
But that never made sense to him.
Based on the crime documentaries he had edited, it usually takes much longer for a corpse to become fully skeletal. Under dry conditions, it can take seven to eight years before the flesh completely disappears. It generally takes about ten years for a body to dry out and turn into pure bones.
Yet, in the original story, Brook had spent over thirty years wandering in the mist before meeting Gecko Moria and losing his shadow.
From this, Brook speculated that he had actually drifted in the underworld for nearly a decade before finally escaping, bringing the eerie energy of the afterlife with him when he revived.
But now, things were different.
Brook had already regained his consciousness. He had to find a way to escape the underworld as soon as possible. If he didn't return to his body in time, he'd either end up as a rotting zombie or a mindless skeleton.
Neither was an option.
...
Brook desperately flailed his soul body, stirring up the surrounding nether energy and the eerie aura of the underworld. These spectral forces slowly merged with his soul, while the power of the Revive-Revive Fruit shielded his consciousness from being eroded. At the same time, it gradually absorbed the surrounding nether energy and underworld aura.
All around him, indistinct souls of various shapes were being wiped out, drifting helplessly toward the depths of hell—a chilling sight.
Like a tadpole flicking its tail, Brook's soul struggled against the current, attempting to retrace its path back to the land of the living. The Revive-Revive Fruit aided his efforts, pushing him forward in his desperate bid to escape this wretched place.
He had been struggling for hours over what should have been a short distance. Fortunately, with his soul fused with Brook's essence, he now had double the spiritual strength, preventing him from exhausting his soul energy completely.
Recalling Brook's ability to release chilling ghostly energy capable of freezing enemies, Brook began attempting to absorb and fuse with the nether energy and underworld aura around him as he fled.
Sure enough, under the influence of the Revive-Revive Fruit's demonic power, his soul successfully assimilated these spectral energies, gradually growing stronger.
Drawing from the original Brook's ability to project his soul from his body, Brook felt an even greater urge to devour these energies—strengthening his soul now would mean even greater power upon returning to his body.
...
After relentless effort, he finally saw the entrance to the world of the living. However, the stronger his soul became, the more he could sense an ancient terror stirring in the depths of hell. A force of immense power was awakening, pulling at him with increasing strength, attempting to drag him back down.
Terrified, Brook dared not absorb any more nether energy. Instead, he focused all his effort on escaping toward the exit, struggling against the pull of the underworld.
If not for the Revive-Revive Fruit shielding his soul from the corrosive forces of the underworld, no spirit would have been able to resist the relentless erosion of this realm.
The moment his soul felt lighter, he knew he had escaped the clutches of hell.
Without hesitation, Brook searched the Florian Triangle for his physical body.
Unlike in the original timeline, where he had wandered aimlessly on the Road of the Underworld, lost in a fog of confusion, the Rumbar Pirates' ship had not drifted far. Overwhelmed with excitement, Brook's soul darted toward the vessel.
When he finally laid eyes on his body, he realized that less than a day had passed. His corpse was still fresh—there was still time.
Without a second thought, his soul, now fused with the essence of Brook, re-entered his physical form. The eerie chill of the underworld fused into his coagulated blood, turning it a deep, ghostly blue. As the blood began to flow again, the dark spots of decay on his body started to fade.
A suffocatingly cold aura radiated from his soul, filling the air with the oppressive presence of the underworld itself.
"Ho~~ Ahhh!!!"
Brook—now fully revived—had returned. The chilling energy surrounding him was so intense that a thin layer of frost formed over the ship's deck. He exhaled deeply, and the air turned to mist, forming ice crystals in the cold night air.
Crackling sounds echoed as he stood up, his skeletal frame stiff but functional. He felt like he had become one of the White Walkers from Game of Thrones. With some effort, he reined in the spectral energy, allowing a hint of color to return to his body, though his flesh remained deathly cold.
The first thing Brook did was pull down his pants—just to check if everything was still functional. To his utter delight, it was.
At that moment, for the first time since stepping into the icy abyss of death, he felt a sliver of warmth return to his world.
Surveying his surroundings, his gaze fell upon the lifeless bodies of his former crewmates. As a modern man, the sight of such a massacre—especially within the dense, eerie fog of the Florian Triangle—was no less terrifying than the ghostly realms he had just escaped. He swallowed hard, the chill running deeper than just his body.
He had watched enough true crime documentaries and horror films to process the gruesome scene, but it still took him a moment to steel his nerves.
Taking a deep breath, he steadied his resolve.
"My friends... You were all dear brothers to Brook in life. Now, it's time to return to the embrace of the sea, our eternal mother. I swear—I will avenge you!"
With great care, Brook carried each of his fallen comrades below deck, laying them to rest one final time.