Just Not the Afro!

Thriller Bark groans in the wind after Oars' awakening, and the floating towers loom above the castle walls. Someone comments from the fortress, "Hooo, what a thing to happen..." Down below, the zombie soldiers recover from the strange sound that has shaken the island. They speak bitterly of the song that had terrified them: "For people other than 'humming' that know our weakness to appear...!!" Another zombie declares, "We, who are so rotten bad that our password is 'We won't die,' hate being afraid of annihilation!!!" Elsewhere, Franky, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper climb the long stairs. Franky identifies the route: "I heard that this is the passageway where the ones who have their shadows taken are transported." Robin answers that Luffy was transported through here, and if they follow it, Nami will be too.

Franky, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper hurry upward while the island still echoes with Oars' roar. Franky asks, "What on earth was that monstrous roaring sound we heard above a while ago!? We heard it and came running." Chopper worries first about Nami: "Is Nami alright!?" and Usopp adds, "It's not as if her life has been threatened. If we have a fresh start, we will definitely be able to save her!!" The group then hears what can only be Luffy's voice. Someone gasps, "That is... 'Luffy's' voice." They promise, "We'll tell you everything we saw!!" but the scene shifts back toward the source of the noise, where the absurd and terrifying result of Luffy's shadow entering Oars is still unfolding.

Inside the food stores, Oars has become a disaster of appetite. Zombies drag in sacks and crates while shouting, "Bring more!! It's not enough yet!!" but even they are stunned by the pace: "My, how much that special zombie eats!!" Someone warns that "The food stores on the island will hit rock bottom!!" Moria watches from below and says simply, "He does eat quite a lot." Perona turns on Kumashi, asking, "Kumashii, why were you hiding the pirates!?" Kumashi fumbles, "Oh... oh... but... that is..." only for Perona to snap, "Don't talk!! You don't look cute like that!!" When Oars finally addresses Moria, he says, "Sorry, shrimp leek!! Although you don't know who I am!" Then he laughs, "You let me eat all this food!! Too bad for you, but I still haven't eaten enough! Shishishishi!"

The surrounding zombies try to regain control of Oars. They shout, "Hey you, special zombie!!!" and "Don't get so cocky!!!" while another yells, "Who do you think made us zombies move!?" Oars answers with Luffy's blunt contempt: "What a way to talk to the ruler of this Thriller Bark, you rotten moron!!!" Moria begins to explain his plan, telling him, "Listen, Oz. You were a big villain who left quite a few legends 500 hundred years ago, but you were revived in this era to become my underling." Oars, however, does not accept the word. "Underling? I don't want to. I have a dream!!" Moria promises, "Master will someday be this sea's king..." but Oars' personality has already set itself against him.

Oars decides Thriller Bark is too small for him. "This place is so narrow... it's boring. I'm going to go outside for a while! I'll go to sea and create a revolution in the world!" A zombie repeats in disbelief, "A big voyage!?" Moria tries to stop him, but Oars twists his huge body, channels Luffy's habits, and declares the attack: "'Gomu Gomu no Bazooka'!!!!" His arms cannot truly stretch, yet the force of the motion smashes through the special freezer wall anyway. The zombies scream that it is impossible, explaining that the freezer is built with thick steel and sealed tight, but Oars breaks out by sheer power. As the wall bursts open, he roars, "I will... become the Pirate King!!!!" The absurdity is clear: Luffy's ambition has awakened inside a giant body that can act on it immediately.

Far from Oars, Brook stands alone before the zombie carrying his shadow. Ryuma faces him again and says, "Again, just like before. Are you going to beg shamefully for your life... saying 'Just not the afro, just not the afro'...?" Brook is silent for a moment, then admits, "...No!! I can't do that." He remembers how little progress he made against zombies with such frightening faces; even if he finds the courage to slash at them, they immediately get back up. He thinks, "They must have some kind of weakness. As things are, even if I find my own zombie, I won't be able to do a thing...!! More than anything, the zombies' faces are so scary..." When he is struck again, the fear and frustration collide, but he keeps searching for the secret that will let him fight.

Brook's memory reaches the clue he needs. He recalls a zombie companion being purified and everyone panicking: "Our comrade has been 'purified'!!!" Someone shouted that the fallen zombie "wanted to eat something so he ate fish grilled with salt," and Brook realized, "So their weakness is fish!!!" But the answer keeps shifting as he confronts Ryuma again. Brook demands, "You!! The skeleton we took his shadow from the other day!! How did you get back!? Answer my question!!!" Ryuma threatens him: "What zombie was my shadow placed into!? If you don't answer, I'll fill the island with fish!!!" Brook stumbles through "Fos, fos... fo!!" until the correction lands. It is not fish at all. The real answer is salt, and Brook finally understands what makes zombies return to the dead.

Brook runs through the dark woods, terrified but newly armed with knowledge. He pants, "Haa... haa, the zombies are really super scary. And it's worse at night...!!" He warns himself that this time of day is dangerous and that it is easy to be discovered by the enemy. To keep himself moving, he sings, but even that frightens him: "Wah!! That scared me... What was it? A grasshopper?" He decides that if he can purify the zombies, he can definitely meet his own shadow. But his humming betrays him. Zombies hear the strange song and cry, "Who is doing all that humming...!?" and "What is that song...?" Brook's figure appears with his usual musical "N~~~~NNN, N~~~~NNNN~~~♪," and the terrified zombies shout, "Who are you~~~!?" before he strikes.

News of Brook's rampage reaches the zombies in a panic. They report, "Someone humming and wrapped in darkness appeared. A swordsman with a frightening face... is looking for his own shadow!!!" Kumashi tries to speak up, "Perona-sama, an inci-dent!" but Perona snaps, "Shut up and don't wake me, Kumashi." Other reports flood in: "What is it!? What is happening on this island!!?" and "Almost all of the soldier zombies have been annihilated." The dead bodies of defeated zombies lie scattered, and someone pleads, "Please do something!!!" At last Brook and Ryuma stand face to face in the graveyard mist. Brook breathes hard, then says, "... We finally meet!!!" Ryuma answers with a blade between his teeth and a cheerful, sinister "Yohoho!!"

Brook and Ryuma clash. Ryuma's body uses the same sword style as Brook's, and Brook recoils, shouting, "What is that power...? Isn't this zombie... me!!?" Ryuma laughs, "Yohoho!!!" and Brook admits he cannot keep up. Ryuma explains the cruel advantage: "Although his sword style is the same as mine... I really can cut. If you want to run a little faster, I can cut..." Brook tries to stop him in panic: "Huh... sto... stop it!!! Please don't lay a hand on the afro!!" Ryuma presses the attack anyway, promising, "No matter how many times you come at me, it'll be the same!!" The joke of the chapter becomes deadly serious because Brook's greatest fear is not pain; it is losing the afro that connects him to Laboon and his old crew.

Brook begs his own shadow to understand. "...You don't understand why...!? If you are really my shadow... don't you know why this afro is so important!?" He explains the terrible fact of his body: "Since the growth of my body has stopped, I won't be able to grow it back, don't you know that!" Ryuma answers with chilling amusement: "Yohohoho, what is this? I've forgotten all about the days when I followed you!! Because now I have Moria-sama and Absalom-sama as my 'masters.'" For Brook, the sight is almost comic and almost unbearable: "A skeleton whose afro is important to him... is nothing but comical to me!!!" When Ryuma's attack blows Brook away, Brook pleads, "Just not the afro!! Just not the afro!!!" Ryuma only says that Brook has an honest shape and offers to let him run before he leaves the island.

Ryuma turns to leave, saying, "So disappear quickly!!! I can't just let you die like that." Brook lies battered, groaning, but rejects the mercy: "It isn't that ugly. Say whatever you want... I've waited these five years... for this chance to come once again!!!" Brook rises and declares, "I have become stronger!!!" His sword meets Ryuma's in a clean, tense clash, and the whole page narrows into the moment of resolve. Brook is not merely trying to survive or retrieve a shadow as a technical matter. He has carried this humiliation and loss for five years, and now he is staking everything on the one chance to face the zombie that holds his stolen self.

The scene shifts to Absalom's room, where the kidnapping of Nami becomes a grotesque wedding preparation. A zombie servant calls, "Heehee, Absalom-sama! Are the preparations for the ceremony finished?" Absalom asks, and the servant answers, "Heehee, they're always ready." Absalom looks at the unconscious Nami and says, "Hoooo, what a beautiful bride." He orders, "Begin the ceremony right now. Make her wear that dress and take her to the ceremonial hall." Nami lies helpless on the table, still in her torn outfit, while the servant cheerfully replies, "Heehee. Here I am!!" The page makes clear that Absalom is not delaying: while the others search for her, he is moving directly toward a forced marriage ceremony.

Franky, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper reach the Thousand Sunny. Chopper recognizes the voice from before: "It seems he was the one who shouted that amazing sound from before!" Usopp adds, "I can't think about anything but... Luffy's zombie shouting and making a huge mess everywhere." Franky keeps everyone moving: "Let's hurry." They find the ship docked beneath Thriller Bark's unloading stairs, and Robin notes, "Here is the Thousand Sunny!!" She reasons, "I see. So they were transported here... And to think that if we were to go up, we could quickly get to the boss' room." Usopp observes that the stairways look like they are used to unload the prisoners. The rescue route and the enemy's logistics finally connect: this is where stolen-shadow victims are brought.

At the Sunny, the crew finds heavy damage. Franky shouts, "Hey!! It's been damaged quite a bit!!" Robin calmly explains what the evidence says: "It's the zombies' doing. It's full of muddy footprints." Chopper panics, "Huh!! So there still might be more!!" but the surroundings are empty. Usopp notices, "There are no zombies around, right?" and Robin adds that the attack was brutal, but not as if there was much to take anymore. Franky asks the important question: "First, what about the essential ones...?" The missing bodies of the crew are nowhere to be found until Usopp calls down from above, "I found them!! They are in the dining room. All three of them!!" Chopper cries out, "Heeey, Luffy~~~!!! Zoro~~~!! Sanji~~~!!"

Inside the dining room, Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji sit lifelessly in chairs, completely exhausted by the loss of their shadows and decorated cruelly by zombies. Robin says, "They were completely decorated by the zombies," and Sanji hangs with chopsticks stuck through him while someone mutters, "... That's cruel." Usopp and Chopper try to wake them: "Hey!! You guys, wake up!!! There's no time to sleep!! The situation is serious!!!" but none of the three respond. The others worry, "They won't wake up... How do they have the nerve...?" Franky says it cannot be helped because they just had to dodge Oars' bazooka. Then a booming voice interrupts from outside: "A beautiful swordswoman has come with meat!!!" Oars has arrived at the Sunny, and the danger has followed them directly to the ship.

The words land like a command spell. Sanji's eyes snap open at "Beautiful!!?" Luffy's face tightens at "Meat!!?" and Zoro stirs at "A sword!!?" Even without shadows, their instincts answer the exact bait that defines them. Chopper, watching from the side, screams, "Those guys are useless!!" The page is a sharp comic beat after the tension: the three unconscious fighters could not wake for the emergency, the ship damage, or their friends' voices, but the promise of a beautiful woman, meat, and a sword pulls Sanji, Luffy, and Zoro back toward awareness at once.

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