Chapter 175

Don't want to......

Brook had actually been scared out of his wits—his soul literally fled his body!

—Unlike the previous soul-leaving, this time Brook's soul-fire flew out and transformed into a skull, with no link whatsoever to his skeletal body.

"NO! Absolutely not!" Soul Brook shrieked: "Mr. Franky's sea-prism stone already keeps me from daring to get close—if my body were made of sea-prism stone, I can't even imagine it!"

"Oro—now I get why you've been dodging me." Franky picked his nose: "If that won't work, then how about Vibranium Plating? It can absorb and rebound ninety-nine percent of physical damage, no fear of fire, no fear of water—just a bit heavy."

Hmm......

Soul Brook thought it over, seemed like......

It's not like it couldn't work?

Although his own original body would feel a bit uncomfortable......

But he had seen Vibranium's might with his own eyes—Oars's fist, amplified with advanced Armament Haki, had been rebounded away by General Franky's hand shield.

If his entire skeleton were made of Vibranium......

That would simply be an Shi Shi-level enhancement!

From now on, any body-art specialist who saw him would have to take a detour, right?

"No problem! Then I'll be counting on you, Mr. Franky!" Soul Brook said expectantly.

But......

Franky, however, shook his head, indicating there was nothing he could do.

"Vibranium's melting point is over ten million degrees, you know. Forging one piece of Vibranium takes me three hours of heating with the... propulsion core. For a body this size for you, the workload would take at least half a month."

"Better to find a simpler way."

Franky's gaze flicked toward Sima Di's side, his meaning obvious without a word.

Sima Di hadn't expected it either,

His original intent had only been to punish Brook's disgusting behavior—who would have thought it'd end up landing him a job?

"Yo ho ho ho—Vice-Captain Di, you'll definitely help me, right?" Soul Brook said expectantly.

Sima Di gave him a sidelong glance.

This is your attitude for asking a favor?

Soul Brook caught on instantly!

"I swear I won't ever do what I just did again!" Soul Brook vowed: "And whatever Vice-Captain Di commands, I'll carry it out!"

"Me too, me too!" Laboon raised her hand: "Whatever you want me to do is fine too!"

Sima Di nodded—that was more like it.

But then he noticed Robin and Vivi giving him rather odd looks, and belatedly realized Laboon's "whatever you want me to do is fine too" carried a double meaning.

He couldn't help but turn a bit speechlessly toward Robin and the two women.

Did he look like someone so desperate he'd take anything?

Although Laboon was now a young girl, she still hadn't grown up yet—Sima Di wasn't in the habit of eating raw food.

Let alone the fact that her true form was still......

【Vibranium Skeletal Body!】

A one-to-one Vibranium skeleton of Brook condensed, so he could quickly adapt and form combat power.

Soul Brook eagerly drifted into it, only to find he couldn't complete the transfer no matter what.

"There's no way to do it—could it be because it's not a skeleton?" Soul Brook said, troubled.

Sima Di thought for a moment,

Used psychokinesis to smash Brook's original skeletal body into bone ash, then used his Word Spirit ability to break down the Vibranium framework into metal powder, mixed them together in a one-to-one ratio, and condensed them into a new skeleton.

"Still no good." Soul Brook shook his head.

Hmm......

Now this is getting interesting.

Brook's original body had been smashed into bone ash, and the new skeleton couldn't be used either.

Tsk!

【44】 Homeless, basically.

Practically speaking, he's now homeless.

But Sima Di had a way.

【Separate!】

【Skeleton Restore!】

The bone ash and metal powder separated, condensing once more into Brook's skeletal body.

【Coating!】

The metal powder danced and applied a coating to the skeletal body—so it not only possessed Vibranium's properties, but barely added any weight.

After all, it was just a thin membrane.

This time Soul Brook smoothly completed his "move-in."

"Yo ho ho ho—barely any change! Mr. Franky, try punching me!"

Faced with Brook's outrageous request......

Franky threw a punch without hesitation!

"Thud—"

The Vibranium fist and the Vibranium Plating collided; force and force absorbed each other and rebounded simultaneously, sending both of them flying and tumbling into the sea.

"Ah! Quick, save Brook!"

Afraid Brook might sink to the bottom, the non-Devil-Fruit users like Zoro began stripping off to jump into the sea.

The result was seeing Brook's feet moving at lightning speed, actually running across the sea?

And Franky was flying back from the other side, piloting his energy jetpack.

Watching from the side on the Takoyaki ship, the three of them—Hachi included—were utterly dumbfounded!

This works too?

When the two returned to the deck, a glance showed neither had a scratch.

"Yo ho ho ho—there's hardly any change at all, my bones are still light enough to run across the sea!" Brook said in high spirits.

Gained powerful physical defense, and not a single side effect.

The matter of being "crushed to ash" just now—none of it mattered anymore.

This made the Straw Hat Pirates crew quite envious, but they weren't skeletons or cyborgs, so they had no way to directly boost their combat power by swapping out parts or getting coated.

"Yo ho ho ho—Vice-Captain Ma Di's ability really is convenient!" Brook sighed.

Everyone nodded in heartfelt agreement.

This left Sima Di with a head full of black lines.

"I say, can you all not change up the adjective for once?" Sima Di said, none too pleased.

"But it really is convenient," Nami retorted.

"Yeah, no matter what trouble it is, going to you solves it perfectly," Chopper agreed.

"Hehe." Laboon snickered.

Sima Di could only sigh helplessly.

This "convenient" label—he figured it was never coming off.

Looks like from now on he couldn't help them too much; he'd have to let them stand on their own two feet!

"Everyone, we're here!" Merry cried out in delight.

Turning to look,

they saw an island made up of tree-islands in the distance, with iridescent bubbles floating through the sky.

Quite dreamlike.

"So this is Sabaody Archipelago!" Nami glanced at the Log Pose: "There's no reaction at all—this island has no magnetic force?"

Truly the first time she'd ever seen that.

At this moment,

Camie and Pappag jumped back onto the deck; Hachi, perhaps to avoid suspicion, didn't come over.

"Sabaody Archipelago is made up of 79 Yarukiman Mangroves; the ground is the roots exposed above the sea, connected to each other by bridges, so there's no magnetic force."

Hearing this explanation, Nami nodded in sudden understanding.

She then asked again: "So what are we here for? Looking for a coating craftsman? And what's this coating business about anyway?"