"Thank you! Brother Franky! Brother Usopp!"
One morning, two days after the banquet began, almost everyone was still sleeping off two straight days of drinking, but Brook's voice rang out in the courtyard.
"Don't mention it! Don't mention it! Haha, a little job like this was nothing! Wahahaha!"
Beside a towering gravestone, Franky laughed heartily.
"It's all thanks to my design!"
Usopp stood beside Franky, looking just as proud.
"What a beautiful gravestone..."
Standing before the enormous gravestone, Brook spoke with quiet satisfaction, a smile appearing on his skeletal face.
The huge gravestone was made of sturdy marble, carved with the emblem from the York Pirates' flag. The name of the York Pirates and densely packed epitaphs covered its surface, while flowers clustered around its base.
"I picked these flowers!"
Chopper stood beside the flowers and spoke with a smile.
Hearing Chopper, Brook looked down at him and smiled.
"Yes, they're lovely. Thank you, Brother Chopper."
"You jerk! Saying that won't make me happy!"
At Brook's words, Chopper immediately began squirming bashfully.
"Yohohoho!"
Seeing Chopper's expression, Brook laughed too.
Gradually, Brook's laughter faded, and his expression grew solemn. Thinking of his companions' bodies, now buried here, he slowly stepped forward. He rested his bony hand on the gravestone, gently stroked it, and spoke.
"We couldn't keep making Little Lion carry so many remains forever."
"You need to call him the Thousand Sunny from now on!"
Franky reminded him.
"Yes, yes. As it happens, Thriller Bark is an island from our homeland, the West Blue..."
Brook slowly crouched down and scooped up a handful of earth before the grave. As it slipped through his fingers, he spoke in a forlorn voice.
"On the soil of our homeland, perhaps they can finally rest in peace..."
Seeing him like this, Franky and the