"Old man, when you were young, weren't you a renowned powerhouse of the seas!"
Kong Tai playfully remarked as he noticed a fleeting glint of lightning in the old man's eyes.
"No, at least not in my era."
His fleeting excitement instantly quelled, the old man calmly shook his head, denying the suggestion.
"Oh~" Hearing the old man's words, Kong Tai's interest was piqued. "Your era?"
"Yes!" The old man nodded. "In my era, though I could be considered strong, I wasn't a peak powerhouse."
"Then when did you come in?" Ah Hua, with his large, bulging belly, leaned over the railing and asked curiously. "How long have you been trapped?"
"How long..."
The old man lowered his head, his left hand resting on the brim of his captain's hat, and pondered. Then, in an uncertain tone, he spoke, "Thirty years?"
"Hmm!" He shook his head, again in an uncertain tone. "Forty years?"
"Hmm! No," he continued, shaking his head. "Still only twenty years?"
"In this world of only starlight, I don't even know how long I've been here."
Just then, the old man suddenly looked up and roared, "How many years, how many years, how many years in total, how many years has it been!"
From stillness to sudden agitation, the old man's mind was clearly in disarray, making him appear truly deranged.
"Thirty-five years, it's been thirty-five years, Captain."
At that moment, another old man beside him placed a hand on his shoulder, then squeezed it tightly. "Captain, it's been thirty-five years, five months, and twenty-two days."
As he spoke, he produced a sand timer, which he had kept close and was polished to a sheen from constant friction. "Every day that passes, the sand timer is flipped. I clearly remember flipping it 12,947 times, so..."
He forcefully turned the captain's head, staring into the madness in the captain's eyes, and said with certainty, "It's been thirty-five years, five months, and twenty-two days, Captain. We've been here for over thirty-five years."
"Yes, it's thirty-five years, it's thirty-five years."
The captain nodded. As soon as he had a definite answer, the frenzied aura emanating from him vanished instantly, and he returned to the state Kong Tai and the others had first seen him in.
And when he turned his head to look at Kong Tai and the others again, he seemed to have forgotten what had just happened. His eyes lit up once more, and the unique aura of Conqueror's Haki emanated from him as he asked Kong Tai the same question.
"When did you come in?"
Kong Tai gazed at the old man, remaining silent for a long time.
When does a person go mad?
In extreme pain?
In extreme environments?
In extreme solitude?
Clearly, the old man had experienced all three.
Thirty-five years, trapped in this seemingly beautiful, yet inescapable expanse of starlight.
Watching his companions die one by one, until only he and the one beside him remained.
Loneliness, extreme loneliness, had, at a certain moment, torn apart even his weathered and iron-like heart, leading him to his current state.
From this, one could see Brook's resilience, even his greatness.
His greatness lay in enduring fifty years of solitude all by himself.
Kong Tai didn't know how Brook had managed those fifty years, but the astonishing willpower beneath his seemingly flippant attitude earned Kong Tai his utmost admiration and respect.
Without asking any further questions, without making any more jokes, Kong Tai's playful demeanor faded. He became serious and said, "Today, we came in today."
Before the old man could ask, he continued, "We came in voluntarily."
"Today, today, voluntarily, voluntarily."
Hearing Kong Tai's words, not only did the captain's eyes light up, but the other man, whose mental state was clearly better, possibly the first mate, also had his eyes gleam.
"You know what this place is and still entered voluntarily. Does that mean you can actually leave?"
As the words fell, both old men stared at Kong Tai with eyes burning, like famished wolves spotting a rabbit, eager to devour it whole.
If there was no hope, the two old men would have continued to wait for death. But clearly, their situation was different from what they had initially guessed about the Free.
Kong Tai and his companions hadn't been driven mad by the external mist; they had entered deliberately. This gave them a glimmer of hope.
They recalled how they had accidentally entered the external mist, and after their minds were clouded, they had only regained consciousness half a month later.
If they hadn't been sufficiently strong, they would have likely become one of the countless skeletons on the deck within that half month.
In fact, over the years, they had regretted many times why they had ever regained consciousness, otherwise they wouldn't have had to endure decades of loneliness in this godforsaken place.
They had thought about suicide, but the primal fear of death had prevented them from taking the plunge. After all, who would want to face death when they could live?
"Didn't I say it at the beginning?"
Kong Tai looked at the two old men, raised his wine gourd with his right hand, and took a large swig. "If you want to leave, I don't mind giving you a ride."
"How about it?"
Putting down the wine gourd, Kong Tai invited again, "Do you want to board my ship, sail out of this expanse of stars, and experience the new world that you haven't felt in thirty-five years?"
"Yes."
This time, the two old men agreed without hesitation.
Although they didn't know what kind of confidence Kong Tai possessed to voluntarily step into this deadly forbidden zone that consumed all life, they could sense the confidence emanating from Kong Tai and his companions.
It was a confidence they hadn't felt in a long time, a fearlessness towards anything.
Familiar.
Because they themselves had once possessed such confidence.
Therefore, at this moment, they believed Kong Tai's claim that he could take them out without any doubt.
"Then pack your things and come over! I'll wait for you for a quarter of an hour."
Kong Tai glanced at the neatly piled white bones on the deck, giving them time to bid farewell to their comrades. As he turned back, a smile played on his lips.
...
The farewell was silent.
The two old men had nothing to take with them.
They were not pirates who plundered for a living, so there was nothing valuable on their ship. If there was anything, in their hearts, it was only the bones of their countless companions on the deck.
However, they also knew that being able to board the Free was an immense stroke of luck. To then ask Kong Tai and the others to help them take their companions' remains out would have been too far-fetched.
Therefore, neither of them spoke. They simply stood before the pile of bones, gazing at them, bidding a silent farewell.