Chapter 3: The Advancement Quest of the Erudite (Continuation)
"Yo-ho—"
Brook's attempt to ease his mood with a laugh was cut short before he could finish.
Adrian raised his right palm, and a thick, ghostly blue light flowed from it, rapidly spreading forward to wrap tightly around Brook. It continuously seeped inward through the skeleton frame with its broken lower-left arm bone.
Brook's eye sockets widened slightly. He could actually feel this ghostly blue energy seemingly replenishing his soul power continuously.
"Adrian—"
Adrian was completely immersed in using ghost energy to infiltrate Brook's soul, paying no attention to the outside noise. He had performed similar operations several times before—the soul of the ship spirit Lumi had been preserved this way.
Doing it again now seemed even more skillful, though because it was a human soul, he naturally had to pay attention to a few things.
Not long after, the ghost energy completely permeated Brook's soul.
Adrian directly retrieved the Devil Fruit Stealing Card.
[Extraction! And! Preserve the target's life!]
Dazzling white light burst from the small card in Adrian's palm, abruptly striking Brook's body.
Brook only felt a terrifying, peerless force suddenly hit him. Wave after wave of sensations, as if his soul was being forcibly ripped apart, surged forth endlessly, and boundless pain instantly overwhelmed him.
Brook lifted his head, opening his upper and lower jawbones toward the sky, but not a single sound came out.
He did not know how long had passed—it might have been a second, or it might have been a year.
The white light retreated back into Adrian's palm.
As for that white skeletal frame bound by the ghost energy, it seemed to have lost all its strength, falling straight down onto the decaying deck below and scattering directly into a pile of fragmented