Humming

Lola barrels through Perona's Wonder Garden with Nami in her grasp, certain she has captured the woman stealing Absalom from her. Usopp and Chopper panic and shout, "Stop it! Don't kill her!! She's my nakama!!" and "Nami, run quickly!!!" Lola, completely ignoring the truth, declares, "You bastard! You bastard, stop!!! I'll take Absalom as my husband!!!" Nami struggles and cries, "Move away!!" while Lola charges on, "And let's get it over with!!!" Nami tries to explain through the dust and fear: "Wait a minute!! I'm..." Lola only answers, "Well, accept it," as Nami finally screams the absurd lie that might save her life: "I'm... actually a 'man'!!!"

Lola freezes. "Huuuuuh!!?" she cries, while Usopp and Chopper can only stare and whisper, "Hey, hey." Nami doubles down, insisting, "Ye... yes!! I'm an okama!! I'm not joking!!" Lola asks, "Huuuh!? For real?" and Nami swears, "For real; I'm not making it up!!" Then she flatters Lola and Absalom at once: "You and the beast-man look really good together, so I thought I'd cheer you up!!!" The words strike Lola straight in the heart. She collapses into emotion, saying no one has ever supported her feelings before. Nami keeps the performance smooth: "Raise your head, my friend! That's what friendship is! I'm 'Namizou', so they call me Nami." Chopper whispers that Nami has tamed her, while Lola sobs, "Fri... friendship... You are the first one to say such kind words to me...!!!"

Nami immediately turns Lola's new affection into a plan. She asks, "By the way, Lola... I lost something in the treasure room... and I want to get it back... But I don't remember where the room was. Can you tell me how to get there?" Lola is eager to help her new friend: "You should not be so forgetful. It's really close to Perona-sama's room." Usopp watches in disbelief and thinks, "She really does take advantage of every situation." Chopper points out the obvious problem: "Lola, aren't you a zombie?" Nami argues that attacking a sleeping Absalom would not be morally wrong because "he doesn't have to be asleep. Fainting is good enough." But as they prepare to move, Usopp warns, "Hey, Nami, he has caught up to us." Absalom has returned, and Nami, seeing his furious face, thinks, "I thought she was rather manly-like."

Lola turns from lovesick boar to loyal accomplice. Absalom charges and shouts, "Lola! It's your chance to attack!" but Lola answers, "I won't see him again, so it's fine!!" Nami encourages her: "Do your best!! You two make the best couple!!" Lola beams, "I'll do my best!! Thank you, Nami, you have given me courage!!!" and launches herself at Absalom with a roar of "Absa-loooo-ooooo-ooom!!!" Absalom, startled, yells, "Woooo!! Lola!!!" as Lola smashes into him. Nami uses the opening and says, "Let's go without delay!!" Chopper, impressed, says, "Nami, you're amazing." Usopp sees the outcome plainly: "In the end, the wild boar did nothing to you!!" Nami admits that when she tried talking to Lola, "she was really honest and nice," while Usopp mutters, "Your eyes are weird again!!"

Elsewhere inside Thriller Bark, the Thousand Sunny sits trapped in the island's vast webbing. Perona surveys the ship and is disappointed. "There is not even one treasure chest... on this ship?" she complains. "There are chests but they're all empty... and there is really little money." Still, she recognizes the ship's value: "I'm amazed. Even if we add those two ships together, there was almost no loot... Is this really the ship of the man who defeated Crocodile?" Her servants are already loading supplies, and Perona orders, "Well, fine, since we're already here, just transfer the food supplies!" Aye," the zombies answer. Hildon arrives and reports, "Moria-sama is calling for the three enigmas." Perona asks, "The master? What does he want?" and Hildon says, "It looks like he caught 'Strawhat Luffy'!! And it's number 900's debut!" Perona is stunned: "Number 900!? Seriously!!?"

Back in the garden, Lola calls out for her love: "Ab-sama!!!" and demands, "Absalom, you bastard! Come out and marry me!" But Absalom has disappeared again, leaving Lola shouting, "He disappeared again!!" Far away, Perona returns to her room and finds trouble waiting. A small zombie calls, "Hey, Kumashi!!" and warns, "Oh... oh... Absalom-sama there is trouble...!! Something...!!" Perona is irritated by the interruption: "Well, wait. My business comes first! Did three pirates come this way?" The zombie begins, "Oh... oh... that." When Perona sees Kumashi, she shouts, "Absalom!!! What are you doing in my room?!" The bear answers by naming her, "Perona." Kumashi starts, "We... welcome back, Perona-sama." Perona snaps, "Don't speak, Kumashi!! How many times do I have to tell you!?" He tries, "But it's important..." and she cuts him off again: "Shut up!! Don't speak!!!"

Perona keeps scolding Kumashi while the real danger hides in her room. "You're as mean as ever to Kumashi," she says, and when Kumashi asks, "Hmm? What happened?" she turns to her servant instead: "More importantly, did you hear? The master has called us together." The little zombie says, "Oh..." and Perona snaps, "Shut up, he's my underling." Inside Kumashi's body, Usopp, Nami, and Chopper are hiding, cramped and sweating. They whisper that it is a miracle they have not been found yet, and wonder why they hid there at all. Usopp admits, "It can't be helped. That beast-man caught up to us so quickly!! And I... didn't know he was a zombie!! When we get the opportunity, we'll run!" Then a messenger reports, "Absalom-sama!! So here you are. There's something you need to hear...!!" Kumashi's face turns sharp. "Along with the pirates... it seems there was another intruder." Perona asks, "Intruder!?" and the answer names him: "The chivalrous swordsman, 'Humming'!!!"

The story cuts back to the broken courtyard where Brook has just fallen from the sky. Smoke and rubble rise from the deep crater, and someone cries, "Someone just fell from the sky...!!" Talleran, Franky, and Robin stare at the impact. Franky asks, "Hey, what was that thing that just fell...?" Robin says, "It can't be..." and Talleran, confused, mutters, "No... well..." The crater steams with "shuuu..." and a voice from inside says, "I was almost right..." Brook has landed exactly where a different trap or opening almost waited for him, turning his fall into another bizarre entrance in the middle of the battle.

Talleran attacks Brook at once, slamming out another sticky web while laughing, "Hey, hey! Hahaha!! Some strange intruder just arrived! You can't run away from me!" Brook stands calmly before the giant spider-monkey, and Franky, still in Brook's body, only manages a tense "Su..." Talleran chants, "Monkey monkey~~~~♪" and Brook simply answers, "Hey, I found a really good stone pillar." He lifts chains and stone as if preparing a weapon. Robin looks at him and asks, "...?" Brook tells her, "Buy me some time. I'll create a weapon." The calmness of his request contrasts with the monster's size: Brook is treating Talleran not as an unbeatable horror, but as an opponent to be measured, distracted, and cut down.

Talleran hurls out a spinning projectile from his hand. Robin identifies it instantly: "A spinning projectile from his hand...!" Talleran calls, "Alright!! 'Spider Sticky Net'!!!" and the net flies across the broken space. Robin counters with "Six Fleur" and snaps, "Slap!!" Her sprouted hands strike Talleran's eye with a clean "Pian!!" The giant shrieks, "Gyaaa!! Something touched my eye!!!" Brook uses the opening and announces, "Alright! Nico Robin, I've finished my preparations." Franky yells, "Get back." Talleran, caught in his own setup, realizes too late: "Oh!! Damn!! I got stuck in the sticky net!!" The net meant to trap Brook and Robin now pins the giant spider-monkey's own movements.

Brook reveals what he has made. "I've connected the steel nunchucks I've brought with me... with the stone pillars." He points at Talleran and says, "That way, I'll have a large enough weapon to fight a monster like you." Talleran only stares, "Huh." Then Brook swings the chained stone pillars in a massive arc and names the weapon: "Heavy Nunchuck"!!! The blow crashes into Talleran with overwhelming force. The spider-monkey screams, "Bohee!!!" as the improvised weapon smashes through webbing and stone alike. Brook's light body and calm timing make the oversized weapon look absurdly graceful, even as its impact is brutally heavy.

Talleran reels from Brook's power and cries, "Guooooooo!!!" One of the zombies gasps, "What is this power!? Isn't he human?!" Brook's huge weapon batters the monster again and again. Talleran screams, "Fude!" and Brook charges with "Oraa!" as the stone pillars and chains whip through the air. Franky watches the exchange and joins the rhythm of battle, while Talleran takes another crashing hit and cries, "Behe!" The impact hammers him across the ruins with a final "Ouch...!!!" The page makes Brook's technique feel strange and elegant at once: he is only bones, yet the force he creates with timing, leverage, and a ridiculous improvised nunchuck is enough to stagger a general zombie.

Talleran tries to stop the beating with another "Spider Sticky Net"!!! but Brook keeps moving. The monster pants, "Pe... oh... stop... for a m..." then screams, "Stop, you bastard!!!" as the attack continues. Talleran laughs wildly, "Hahahaha!!!" and Franky launches his own attack from Brook's body: "Weapons Left"!!! The blast tears through the area with "Debaaa!!!" and strikes the monster again. Talleran's defenses are no longer controlling the fight; between Brook's heavy weapon, Robin's support, and Franky's firepower, the giant spider-monkey is being forced backward despite all his webs and size.

Talleran is battered and gasping, but the danger shifts to Robin. As the spider-monkey reels, small spider-mice swarm around her. Franky shouts, "Nico Robin!!!" while the tiny enemies chatter, "Hey, hey, heeey! Mouse, a mouse♪" Robin is caught from multiple angles and asks, "What are those!?!" She admits, "I'm sorry... I let my guard down!! I didn't know there were more spiders." The little attackers bind her while Talleran recovers. Franky yells, "Damn!!!" and launches himself forward again, but the trap has already worked: Robin's attention to Talleran left her open to the hidden swarm that serves him.

Talleran reveals the scale of his network. Laughing at the captured Robin and the surrounding spider-mice, he boasts, "Hahahaha!! You morons!!! It's impossible not to let your guard down!! These are my underlings, the spider mice!! There are 500 of those in Thriller Bark!! There has never been a prey they couldn't catch!!!" He explains how they work: "Usually we catch them by surprise!! We capture the enemy in the darkness or from his blind spot. Our 'strings' were made by Hogback, so they can't be cut with a human's strength!!" The spider-mice add that they came from above the ceiling and caught Robin without a sound. They taunt, "And now we are too to take you... to the same place as your nakama! You should get ready for it!!"

Brook answers the threat with music. A song drifts through the ruined bridge: "The setting sun clamors in front of the current. The sea breeze waves as it pleases. I'm going to deliver Binks' alcohol." The spider-mice wonder, "Hmm? What's that?" and someone realizes, "It's a song!!" Brook continues, "This is the song of the bird who draws a circle in the sky. The one who sings the songs is...!!" He greets them cheerfully: "Yohohoho! Hello, everyone. So you've landed on this island?" Robin asks, "Huh... how did you come from below?" Brook answers, "I just jumped, you see. I'm light." Talleran demands, "Hey, who are you, bastard!? You are not a zombie!?" Brook replies, "Let's talk all about this island!! If you got here, I guess it can't be helped!!" and when asked if he is one of the pirates' nakama, he smiles, "Hehe... It's fine... the end is already here." He draws his sword and names himself through the technique: "... 'Hanauta Sanchou'..." Then the cut lands: "Yahazu Giri"!!!!

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