Barn's smile froze. "P-pirates?" As he spoke, he turned around, then bolted with a shriek.
"Pretend I didn't say anything! I didn't see you, so pretend you didn't see me either! Let me go!" Barn shouted as he ran. How could I be this unlucky? After living like a savage for half a month, I finally find people, and they turn out to be ruthless pirates!
"Hey! Brook! Look what you've done!" York vaulted off the ship and chased after Barn. "Kid! Barn! Don't be scared. We're not bad people!" Barn wasn't listening. He just kept running, but with his current child's body, how could he outrun a grown man like York? Before long, York had tucked him under one arm and carried him back.
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!" The crew burst out laughing at the sight of Barn struggling and shouting.
York rested a hand on Barn's small shoulder. "Barn, we Rumbar Pirates are all people who long for freedom. Most of the people aboard our ship are musicians!"
Barn froze, stunned. The Rumbar Pirates? Why does that sound so familiar? Didn't he just say someone aboard was called Brook? Holy crap, no way! This is the world of One Piece!
"York, why aren't you dead yet?" Barn blurted out, leaving everyone aboard speechless. Whose little brat was this? Who greeted someone by saying they should be dead?
Barn immediately realized something was wrong with the atmosphere and hurried to laugh it off.
"Sorry, sorry! I heard sailors on my old ship say you'd died. I was sad about it for ages! I'm so glad you're alive. Please, you have to save me!" Barn said with a bow, his sincerity making it hard to refuse him. Inside, though, he was grumbling.
Oh, come on! I arrived too early, too early! A whole fifty years too early! Who knows where Roger is right now, let alone when he'll become the Pirate King? By the time Luffy sets sail, I'll be fifty or sixty! What's the point then?
York laughed at Barn's explanation, and the crew joined in, easing the awkwardness. York placed a hand on Barn's head and pressed down. "Don't worry, kid. Come with us! Where do you want to go?"
Ow! He's definitely getting back at me for saying he should be dead! So petty! Barn thought, but aloud he said, "Captain York, my whole family died in that shipwreck. I have nowhere left to go. Please let me stay aboard!" He wrapped his arms around York's thigh, smearing it with tears and snot. A huge bead of sweat rolled down York's face.
"All right, all right, kid. Let go first." York pushed Barn away, then threw up an arm and shouted, "Lads, we've got a new friend! What should we do?" "Sing and dance!" "Hahahaha! Then what are we waiting for?"
"Yohohoho!"
Perhaps half a month of living alone had really gotten to Barn. He quickly settled in and sang along at the top of his lungs. "Yohohoho!"
In the captain's cabin.
Brook and York drank as they looked out the window at Barn's small figure.
"York, what do you think?"
"About what?" York set down his glass and looked at Brook.
"His left hand..." York cut Brook off before he could finish.
"I sensed something like a Devil Fruit from it, but it doesn't seem to be a fruit power. It's more like some sort of curse."
Brook could no longer stay calm. "Are you saying he's met an actual devil?"
York smiled. "Who knows?" He looked out the window again. Brook followed his gaze and saw Barn laughing heartily. Just then, a drunken pirate beside Barn slipped, sending a glass flying into the air. It fell straight toward Barn's head, but just as Brook thought, Oh no, Barn took a step forward and avoided the falling glass. "Come on, be careful!" Barn complained.
Brook was stunned. He pointed at Barn and looked at York. "How is that possible? His eyes..." But all he saw was York's smile widening. "An extraordinary kid," York said with a smile. "Brook!"
"Huh?" Brook turned toward York.
"I'm leaving him in your care, Brook."
"What?!"