Chapter 880 Epilogue [The Long Road to the Underworld]

"Yo ho ho, is everyone waiting for me here?"

Having just returned to the vivid real world from that chaotic other dimension, Brook was surrounded by so many pairs of living eyes that he had not seen for a long time. In the spirit state, he was quite flattered and said with tears in his eyes, "What a surprise! I am so moved that I am about to cry - although I no longer have eyes! Yoho, yohohoho... But how did you know that I would appear here at this time?"

The giantess Shirahoshi squatted in the back row of the crowd, touching her fingertips together, and explained softly: "After Mr. Brook disappeared for a year without any news, Mr. Lynch went to Fishman Island to ask Madam Shirley to do divination. Madam Shirley's divination results indicate that five years from now, we will get a result..."

"Six years ago, when Chopper, Nami, and Franky were working on regrowing a body for Brook..." Link got a fruit from somewhere and nibbled on it, then leaned over to his sister Finch and whispered, "Brook's Yomi Nomi's power seems to have gone a step further, and his soul - accidentally opened a portal, and disappeared from this world!"

Finch recalled what he said six years ago...

"Is it about the time when Sanji quarreled with Nami, Chopper and the others?" Finch had some impression of this. When Sanji heard that Chopper and the others used the bloodline factor in Brook's bones to cultivate Brook's clones, he was very dissatisfied with this act of blasphemy against life. It was also rare that he got angry with his companions who had adventured with him in the Grand Line. Finch didn't know how they talked afterwards. Similarly, she had never heard that Brook's soul disappeared from this world at that time, and that he opened some strange "portal"? Finch glanced at her brother, "Do you like to use your flower power to eavesdrop and spy everywhere?"

"I overheard it by accident!" Link explained hastily, "I was only a few years old at the time, and was just playing around with my abilities when I accidentally heard them arguing..."

"You said 'portal'... like the feeling when Brook appeared out of thin air just now?" Finch said to herself. She glanced at Chopper, who was among the people who were warmly welcoming the returning soul of Brook, and especially at the ship elf Merry on Chopper's shoulder. "The mirror ability can open the door to the mirror world. If the Yomi Fruit can also open a door, it can only be..."

"Wow, it's been five years. Has it been six years since I left this world?" Brook's green soul smiled unconsciously, "But in my feeling...how should I put it, it seems like only six minutes have passed, and it also seems like sixty years! In that other world, the concept of time does not seem to exist..." He said faintly, "In other words, we who are used to the existence of 'time' from this world find it very easy to lose ourselves there...I was just a little bit away from feeling like I could never come back, and was assimilated there and became a part of it..."

Shirahoshi seemed to be frightened by the scene described by Brook, and wiped the corners of his eyes with a sad look on his face.

Nami held up Shirahoshi's skirt and patted it, then asked Brook, "But you still managed to come back, Brook."

"Is it because Brook is the user of the Yomiuri Fruit?" Usopp analyzed.

Sanji groaned, "He is the only one among us who has not 'fused' his Devil Fruit abilities..."

Brook laughed loudly. “Yo-ho-ho! Of course it’s because I still want to see my friends. How can I be trapped in that kind of place? Fifty years of living as a wandering ghost is enough. I don’t want another fifty or five hundred years! Yo-ho, yo-ho-ho-ho…”

"Oh my, Brook, you are such a good guy~~" Luffy, Chopper, Nami, and Usopp waved their hands proudly, "You are really good at talking!"

Robin asked: "Did you find your former companions there? Captain Yankee and the others..."

Brooke was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "No... I didn't find them. But I have a feeling, at least when I was still wandering in that world..."

"Feeling?" Zoro murmured.

"Right! It's like intuition!" Brooke suddenly seemed happy again, "Mr. Zoro, have you ever had such an experience? The person you miss has passed away long ago, but you can still feel from time to time that the other person seems to be still around! - Just like Mr. Lynch once said, gravity!"

"..." Zoro was silent, probably thinking of someone.

"I think... as long as I still remember Captain Yankee and the others, I can follow this gravity and see them again in that world!" Brooke laughed heartily, and his ghostly soul turned around and faced Lynch. "Next time I go, I think I might be able to bring Lab along. Lab must also remember Captain Yankee and everyone else, so it would be great to have him help!"

"Okay. Let Lab pick any ability of the Human-Human Fruit." Lynch nodded, stared at Brook, and confirmed, "In other words, the intelligence you brought back includes the following..." He raised his fingers one after another, "First, Huangquan does exist, and it is a different dimension of time similar to the mirror world; second, Huangquan has no concept of time, so you need a firm will to keep yourself from getting lost; third, if the undead wandering in Huangquan are not lost, if the people who enter Huangquan still remember those undead, they may be able to find them in that world. Is that right?"

Brooke said seriously: "That's right."

A stone in his heart fell to the ground, and Robin's tense body suddenly relaxed, and he supported Lynch beside him.

Hancock came over and took Robin's other hand, and the Queen's face looked very gentle.

Lin Qi looked at the two women, nodded, and looked around at the people present with different expressions, "Now the result is out. Huangquan, the undead... If you have lost someone and still can't forget them, now you have a chance to bring them back from Huangquan in person..."

"I must go." Ace blurted out. Yamato beside him held his hand tightly and gave him a supportive smile.

“……” Zoro had a blank expression on his face and tightened the hilt of the Wado Ichimonji at his waist.

"But Brook also said that in another world, there is no concept of time." Sanji took out a cigarette and lit it.

"Even Brook was lost for six years..." Franky rubbed his fists.

Confused?! Brooke was very concerned about this comment.

Chopper and Usopp each quietly clenched their fists.

Only Smoker and the others were not in the know. They were confused. Were these people just bragging together? Or... Was it real? The underworld? The world after death? Was it real?

Lin Qi said: "Whether or not to go on this journey to the underworld is up to everyone to decide."

"Do you even need to ask? Lynch!" Luffy grinned, his whole body shaking with excitement, "A great adventure in another world... I can't wait any longer!!!"

Nami sighed, held her forehead and shook her head. Why was there this long-lost feeling of powerlessness?

She smiled and punched Luffy with a lightning fist, "Is there anyone you want to find in that world?"

Luffy somersaulted and said in confusion, "It seems not! But who cares, this is an adventure!" He said angrily, "Nami, you really don't understand anything!"

Lynch smiled and snapped his fingers towards Chopper, "Merry."

Meli floated from Chopper's shoulder to Lynch, took out a mirror from her small bag, enlarged it, then reached into another mirror world inside the mirror and took out a square glass cover - inside the cover was a strange green solution, and in the center of the solution, there was a living heart floating.

Mary held it and handed it to Brooke.

Brook laughed and turned into a pale green will-o'-the-wisp, rushing into the glass cover unhindered and merging with the heart.

Under the gaze of everyone, my heart skipped a beat.

At the same time, a gray phantom appeared on Lynch's body, and the stand "GFH" punched the glass cover and hit the heart.

As if injected with some kind of power, the heart was beating rapidly, and suddenly, it expanded and grew dense blood vessels, meridians, muscles, blood, and even bones, intertwining and filling each other. Under the gaze of everyone, it grew wildly and rapidly, forming a red human male body more than two meters tall, followed by the outermost skin...

Lynch grabbed a large cloak and threw it over, wrapping the fully grown Brooke.

When the eye-catching afro emerged from the cloak, Brook burst into tears. It had been so many years, but this was the first time that he truly breathed the air greedily with his own flesh and blood!

"..." Sanji sighed with a smile.

The Germa Kingdom where he was born had an evil research into artificially breeding androids, which was why he was so angry six years ago when he heard that Chopper and the others were planning to clone Brook's body - a cloned body would obviously give birth to a new budding consciousness based on this living body.

What then? In order to wait for the "return" of Brook, will the clone's original consciousness, personality, and soul be cruelly wiped out? Sanji will never accept his partner doing this.

He rolled up his sleeves and went to prepare food, and couldn't help but smile. Chopper and Miss Nami chose a compromise plan out of concern for him - not to clone the entire body, not even the head or brain, but just to use the bloodline factor on Brook's skeleton to clone his heart.

If it is just a heart, it will not sprout new consciousness, or "soul", and there will be no moral dilemma of erasing another "Brooke" for the sake of Brook's "resurrection".

Leave the rest to Lynch.

It shouldn’t be difficult for the Eight-Armed Great Sage Lin Qi to let a heart “repair” itself and turn it into a complete body, right?

Now it seems that it is not difficult.

"Mom..." Sanji muttered to himself with a smile as he prepared the food. He went back with the huge plate in one hand and saw Garp, Rayleigh and Shanks had appeared at some point. They seemed to have heard the conversation. Garp waved at Smoker and the others, as if he was rejecting their dissuasion. He laughed nonchalantly, "Hahaha, Cyborg, Sengoku, Sakaski, too many old acquaintances are in that world... If I can find them, it's a loss. If I can't, it doesn't matter. I'm an old man. I didn't expect to come back after I went there!"

"You know, it was that bastard Roger who found me on the dock and recruited me to become a pirate." Rayleigh said with a smile, "We talked about subverting the world together, but in the end he died first." He looked at Ace.

Ace said with a sour face: "I'm not going there to look for that bastard. I'm going to the underworld only to look for my mother."

"Then I will be responsible for helping Mr. Rayleigh find Captain Roger." Shanks smiled, "But just now this Brook seemed to say that people who enter the underworld will form a certain gravitational force with the undead that they are obsessed with..."

"There is no gravity between me and that guy!" Ace emphasized, then turned around and took out the communicator, "Dad..." He called Marco, Joz, Vista and other members of the White Group without hesitation.

"Mr. Sanji! This is the first time I've really tasted your food!"

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Brooke ate the food crazily without any image, and cried bitterly with emotion, "Wow, wow, wow, wow, it's so delicious! It's so good to be alive!!!"

…

In a laboratory, Vegapunk, the president of Ranger University, was busy. He didn't even look up when Lynch came in.

Lynch looked towards a corner of the laboratory. Spencer, with his head full of white hair, looked at the glass cover filled with green solution in front of him.

"I can go by myself." Lynch said, folding his arms.

"..." Spencer smiled, "One more person means one more 'gravity', doesn't it?"

He looked at the living heart quietly floating in the green solution under the glass cover, "We must find her, we can definitely find her..." He smiled, "A ranger like your mother will have no problem in the world of pirates or the underworld. No matter who gets lost, she will not be lost. She must still be somewhere, in that world..."

…

the next day.

Brook prepares to open the portal to Hades.

Everyone gathered around. Lynch, Robin, Hancock, Chopper, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Franky, Ace, Marco, Joz, Vista, Garp, Rayleigh, Shanks, Spencer...

Xianglian, who has been guarding the tomb on Lasgapu Island for many years, also came.

Lin Qi went to Lily's tomb to obtain her bloodline genes, so naturally Xianglian could not hide this matter from her.

"Don't persuade me," Xianglian waved his hand and said, "Believe me, I feel good now..."

In addition, there was another person who came that many people did not expect.

Kuzan with natural grey and white curly hair. Aokiji, the former admiral of the navy. Over the past 20 years, the navy has declined, and he has been wandering around the world, and he has appeared today.

Kuzan still wore the small round sunglasses, raised his chin to Lynch, took out a coat from his backpack, and put it on. It turned out to be a navy coat with "Justice" written on it. It was already very old.

Garp laughed, hooked his arm around Kuzan's shoulder and gave him a thumbs up.

Lin Qi suddenly noticed his daughter's gaze, "What's wrong?"

Finch lowered his eyes, then raised them again, "You will come back, right?"

"..." Robin held Finch's cheek and kissed her lightly on the forehead, "Good girl, of course." She smiled again, "Don't forget your mother's stand ability. No matter what, it's still easy for us to come back if we want."

Finch couldn't help but laugh, sniffed, and gently hugged Robin. After letting go, he went over and hugged his mother Hancock tightly.

Hancock stroked her daughter's back and then waved her hand. Distinct black and white snake-like phantoms emerged from her body and condensed into a strange "ghost" half a person's height on the spot like a tide. This was her Stand - 'Dirty Little Animals', a remote-controlled Stand, but if Hancock wanted, she could also let go of the control and allow the Stand to have a certain degree of autonomy.

Hancock can switch places with her Stand in a moment's thought...

Lin Qi reached out and rubbed his daughter's head, and said with a smile: "Take good care of your brother."

"Yeah." Finch threw himself into his arms and nodded.

Over there, Zelda was holding her mother Yamato's hand and saying goodbye to her father Ace. Link, who was there, also came back and hugged them pitifully, "Dad, Mom, Mom, I will miss you too..."

Brook opened the door to the underworld. Lynch and others looked back and nodded to Sanda and Mary who were sitting on two fire clouds. Amid Luffy's excited laughter, everyone jumped into another world one after another.

The gate of Hades slowly closed...

Smoker and the others were stunned for a long time. They just wanted to ask Queen Nine Snakes to release their fellow navy members from petrification, but they didn't expect to encounter such a bizarre thing... Lynch, Luffy, Mr. Garp, so many important people in this world, just like that... went to another world of the dead? Will they come back?

Suddenly, a voice nearby shouted, "Yay!!!!", startling everyone. It turned out to be Link who jumped up excitedly on the spot.

Finch shook his head, and Aqing pointed to the half-human-high "Dirty Little Animals" next to him, who turned his head and squinted at Link - obviously, it was not the stand-in who was controlling the stand-in at this moment, but the Queen Hancock. Link landed, patted his clothes, and said sadly: "Alas, when will mom and dad come back? I miss them now... wuwuwu..."

"Hehehe." Nami couldn't help but laugh.

Bell-mère was not dead, and Nami didn't remember who her biological parents were... She looked at Yamato next to her, and her eyes fell on Yamato's daughter Zelda, who was holding her hand.

"I thought Xiaoda would go on an adventure to Hades with your father." Nami asked with a smile, "Don't you like your grandma Lu Jiu very much?"

"Dad will definitely be able to find grandma...and grandpa."

Zelda said, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed, and stammered, "And I still have an exam..."

Nami was stunned, Link on the other side couldn't help but burst into laughter, and Zelda's face suddenly turned red.

(End of the book)

(End of this chapter)