Fusion with Brook, Escape from Hell

The Underworld, on the Road to the Yellow Springs.

Buluoke opened his eyes in a daze. There was no light, only a gray, hazy void surrounding him. A dizzy, weightless sensation made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Why was it so dark? Did he forget to turn on the lights? What about the neon glow of the city? Or was there a power outage in the neighborhood?

He hoped it wasn't a power outage. Having drifted for years, his only companions in his rented apartment were the delicate, fragile goldfish in his tank. If the power went out and the water stopped circulating or oxygenating, those delicate fish would likely die within a single night. They were the solace for his lonely soul, each one raised by his own hand, fed grain by grain.

He closed his eyes and opened them again, shaking his head. Scanning his surroundings, Buluoke froze. Why couldn't he feel his hands or feet?

In the deathly silent void, a path of pale bones stretched into the distance. Far away, a turbid, yellow river seemed to be churning. The dim, deep environment made even Buluoke's soul tremble.

Where am I?

Buluoke fell into a state of confusion. He was truly bewildered. Is this a dream?

Am I dead? Is this the Road to the Yellow Springs?

Suddenly, an overwhelming flood of memories crashed into Buluoke's soul, forcibly merging and intertwining with his consciousness.

Brook, musician of the Rumbar Pirates, a pirate crew that entered the Grand Line from the West Blue, with a bounty of 33 million Berries. Formerly the captain of the guard for the Rumbar Kingdom in the West Blue.

In the year 1470 of the Sea Circle Calendar, the Rumbar Pirates parted ways with the island whale Laboon at Twin Capes. Shortly after, Captain Yorki left the crew due to a plague, and Brook became the acting captain. Months later, they encountered enemies in the Florian Triangle who used poison gas weapons, leading to the total annihilation of the pirate crew.

I actually transmigrated into the world of One Piece, and I'm about to become that perverted skeleton Brook who loves to look at panties?

Buluoke's soul trembled slightly. This was even worse than transmigrating into Ainz Ooal Gown from Overlord. The skeleton of the realm of sin eventually became a king, and while he was also "boneless" down there, at least Momonga was a level 100 maxed-out boss.

To think that even after transmigrating, I still can't escape the fate of Zhang Chulan? The mere thought made Buluoke's crotch ache.

In his previous life, he was a reclusive video editor who specialized in dark-themed educational content—dark web kidnappings and auctions, criminal injustices, bizarre international horror cases, Southeast Asian human trafficking, scams in northern Myanmar...

These topics fostered a sense of cynical indignation in Buluoke that made him incompatible with reality, further alienating him from women. Yet, what man doesn't crave a life of luxury and female companionship?

Buluoke struggled to digest and integrate Brook's memories, realizing his current situation: he had just died and entered the underworld.

His current soul was protected by the power of the Yomi Yomi no Mi, preventing it from being erased by the Yellow Springs or pulled into the depths of the underworld. Brook's original consciousness had been scattered by his own foreign soul; he was a cuckoo occupying a magpie's nest, having merged with Brook.

According to the original timeline, it would take a long time for Brook's consciousness to recover before he could escape the Road to the Yellow Springs. In the original story, after escaping, Brook wandered lost in the thick fog of the Florian Triangle for a year, and by the time he returned to his body, it had already turned into a skeleton.

However, based on the crime videos Buluoke had edited, he knew it was unlikely for a corpse to skeletonize that quickly in just one year. Under relatively dry conditions, it sometimes took seven or eight years for a body to become skeletal, and about a decade for the bones to be completely degreased and dried.

Furthermore, according to Brook's recollections in the original work, he lived alone in the fog for over thirty years until he met Gecko Moria and had his shadow stolen.

Therefore, Buluoke deduced that in the original story, Brook must have drifted on the Road to the Yellow Springs for at least a decade before escaping the underworld, reviving with the nether energy of hell and the ghostly aura of the Yellow Springs.

Now that Buluoke had merged with Brook's soul and regained consciousness, he had to find a way to escape the Road to the Yellow Springs early. He had to return to Brook's physical body as quickly as possible; otherwise, his final fate would be to become a rotting zombie or a bone monster.

Buluoke desperately thrashed his soul-body, stirring up the surrounding nether energy and the ghostly aura of the Yellow Springs. These energies slowly began to fuse with his soul. The power of the Yomi Yomi no Mi protected his soul from erosion while slowly absorbing the nether and ghostly auras.

Nearby, clusters of blurred souls of various shapes were being ground away, slowly drifting toward the depths of hell, a sight that made one's blood run cold.

Buluoke's soul, like a small tadpole, wiggled its tail, swimming against the current toward the entrance of the underworld. The power of the Yomi Yomi no Mi assisted his soul in moving forward, attempting to escape this realm.

It took several hours to cover just a short distance. Fortunately, having merged with Brook's soul, he now possessed the strength of two souls, which prevented him from suffering total exhaustion.

Thinking of how Brook's techniques could release the freezing ghostly aura of the Yellow Springs to inflict frost damage on enemies, Buluoke tried to devour and integrate these energies while he fled.

Sure enough, under the demonic power of the Yomi Yomi no Mi, Buluoke's soul successfully began to actively fuse with the nether and ghostly auras, causing his soul to grow continuously stronger.

Combined with the knowledge that Brook could perform out-of-body experiences, Buluoke became even more eager to consume these powers. The stronger his soul, the more powerful he would be upon returning to his body.

Through Buluoke's unremitting efforts, he finally saw the entrance to the underworld. However, as his soul grew stronger, something terrifying in the depths of hell seemed to be awakening, the pulling force growing stronger and stronger, dragging him toward the abyss.

Terrified, Buluoke dared not absorb the nether and ghostly auras recklessly, and he pushed himself to his limit to drift toward the exit.

If not for the protection of the Yomi Yomi no Mi preventing his soul from being erased by the Yellow Springs or pulled into hell, no soul could likely withstand the erosion of the underworld.

With a sudden lightness in his soul, Buluoke finally escaped the underworld. Without overthinking, he immediately began searching for Brook's body in the Florian Triangle.

Without the confusion and the year of wandering in the fog from the original story, the Rumbar Pirates' ship hadn't drifted far. Buluoke drifted toward the ship in excitement. Seeing Brook's physical body, he realized less than a day had passed; it was still fresh, and he felt it could still be saved.

Without a second thought, the soul formed by the fusion of Buluoke and Brook entered the body. The freezing ghostly aura of the Yellow Springs merged into the congealed blood, turning it a ghostly blue and causing it to flow once more. The poison spots on the body began to fade.

As the nether energy entered his spirit, the deathly, oppressive aura of hell permeated the area around Brook.

"Haaah~~!!!"

Buluoke, now Brook, had finally succeeded in reviving. His cold body frosted the deck with a layer of white rime. Brook opened his mouth and exhaled, the white mist condensing into frost.

Crack, crack, crack. Brook stood up, feeling much like a White Walker from Game of Thrones. Controlling the nether and ghostly auras, he retracted them, and his skin slowly regained a hint of color, though his body remained deathly cold.

The first thing Buluoke did was unzip his pants to check on his "little ancestor." To his immense excitement, it could still move and stand tall.

It instantly made Buluoke feel that even in this cold world, there was still a glimmer of warmth.

Looking around, he saw corpses covering the deck. As a modern man, seeing such a scene—compounded by the unique, thick fog of the Florian Triangle, which was no less eerie than the underworld—Buluoke couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of icy saliva.

He had edited many tragic cases and watched plenty of horror movies, so after steadying his nerves, his gaze hardened.

"Comrades, you were all good brothers to Brook in life. As sons of the sea, rest easy in the embrace of Mother Ocean. I will definitely avenge you all!"

Buluoke carried all the bodies into the cabin, providing them with a final resting place.