The Zombie

Hildon's carriage rattles through the eerie forest of Thriller Bark. Usopp peers outside and says, "HEY... I COULDN'T REALLY SEE THE HORSES THAT ARE PULLING THIS CARRIAGE VERY WELL..." Nami answers uneasily, "BUT AREN'T THEY A LITTLE... DIFFERENT?" Hildon laughs it off: "IT MUST BE YOUR IMAGINATION... HEE HEE." When the strange animals come into view, Chopper asks, "IS THAT SO...?" Hildon pauses and says, "IF THAT'S THE CASE..." while the odd horse-like creatures pull the carriage deeper into the darkness.

Inside the carriage, Nami thanks Hildon politely: "ANYWAY, THANKS SO MUCH FOR RESCUING US FROM DANGER." Hildon offers, "HERE, HAVE SOME WINE," but Nami refuses, "NO, NO..." He warns them, "THIS FOREST HAS MANY STRANGE ANIMALS, SO EVEN WALKING AROUND IS DANGEROUS." Chopper admits, "YUP, I'M SURPRISED!! I ALWAYS THOUGHT CERBERUS WAS AN IMAGINARY CREATURE." Usopp worries that the creatures must be mutations because of their creepy appearance. Hildon recommends their destination: "IF YOU'RE GOING TO WAIT FOR YOUR NAKAMA, THE MANSION WOULD BE YOUR BEST BET. IT STANDS OUT AND IT'S SAFE, TOO." Chopper brightens at the name Hogback: "MAYBE I CAN MEET DR. HOGBACK, TOO!!" Usopp asks, "IS HE THAT FAMOUS?" Hildon says, "THERE'S NOT A SINGLE DOCTOR THAT DOESN'T KNOW HIS NAME! HE'S A 'GENIUS SURGEON'!!" He adds that Hogback "HAS SAVED COUNTLESS LIVES USING MIRACULOUS OPERATIONS!!" and gathered worldwide respect and fame.

Hildon continues the story of Hogback's disappearance: "BUT ONE DAY, HE SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED." Rumors said it was either a disappearance or an abduction, causing "A BIG COMMOTION IN THE MEDICAL WORLD," but no one had any clues, and "THE NAME 'HOGBACK' BECAME A LEGEND." Chopper confirms, "AND IT'S THE DR. HOGBACK WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HERE, RIGHT?" Hildon answers, "YES, WE ARE. THE DOCTOR IS STILL SPENDING HIS TIME RESEARCHING BEYOND CURRENT HUMAN KNOWLEDGE." Nami wonders, "CAN I GET HIS AUTOGRAPH!!?" then calmly says, "I THINK THAT'D BE FINE." Suddenly something in the forest catches Nami's eye. She sees a lion-like shape and whispers, "THIS FOREST... EVEN HAS LIONS!!" Chopper looks too and rejects it: "NO...!!"

The creature steps close enough for them to see the impossible: a stitched lion face where a man's side should be, grinning with a sound of "GRIN." Chopper freezes: "............??" and the trio erupts, "!!!?" Nami and Usopp scream, "KYAAAAH!!" and "GYAAAAH!!!" Chopper protests, "B-BUT I... JUST SAW A L-LION OUT-SIDE..." Hildon says, "DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT!! WHAT'S WRONG!!?" Nami sketches what she saw and says, "SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE THIS." Chopper insists, "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!" Hildon tells them, "THEN CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF," and Usopp nervously looks outside: "SEE?"

The forest outside seems alive with bizarre creatures and mocking music. A chorus sings, "It's prey, it's prey, kekekekeke," as ghosts and stitched monsters dance among the trees. Usopp shouts, "THERE WAS SOMETHING!!!" and then, louder, "THERE WAS DEFINITELY SOMETHING OUT THERE!!!" The carriage window reveals strange faces pressing close, but every time Nami, Usopp, and Chopper look directly, the figures seem to vanish into the fog and trees.

Nami asks Hildon to stop: "PLEASE STOP, HILDON-SAN! CAN YOU PLEASE STOP THE CARRIAGE FOR A MOMENT!?" He asks, "WHAT'S GOING ON? YOU SEEM TO BE IN A FLURRY... DID YOU SEE A HALLUCINATION OR SOME-THING?" Chopper insists, "THAT WASN'T A HALLUCINATION!! THERE WAS SOME-THING OUT THERE!!" Nami agrees: "SOME-THING'S DEFINITELY STRANGE IN THIS FOREST!!" Hildon explains calmly, "AND WITH THIS DEEP FOG AND THE FEAR IT CAUSES, SOME PEOPLE START TO SEE THINGS." Usopp panics, "EH? SO IT WAS JUST A HALLUCINATION? THANK GOODNESS!!" then immediately reverses himself: "NO, NO...!! HALLUCINATION!? ... NO... IT WAS TOO CLEAR TO BE A HALLUCINATION...!!" Nami decides, "HILDON-SAN, WE'RE REALLY SORRY, BUT CAN YOU TURN AROUND AND TAKE US BACK TO THE SHORE? EVEN IF IT'S DANGEROUS, WE'LL FIGURE SOMETHING OUT FROM THERE." Chopper protests, "WHAAT!? THEN WE CAN'T MEET DR. HOGBACK!! I WANNA MEET HIM!!!" Hildon says he understands, but warns that they need his special ability, the "SOMETHING'S VERY WRONG SENSOR," at a time like this.

Hildon presses Chopper with a cruel choice: "WOULD YOU RATHER DIE TRYING TO MEET THAT DOCTOR... OR LEAVE THE ISLAND ALIVE WITHOUT MEETING HIM? WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE?" Chopper answers, "...!! OF COURSE... I DON'T WANT TO DIE...!! NOR BE SCARED." Hildon says, "IS THAT SO? THEN I WILL TELL THE MEN TO DO SO. PLEASE WAIT FOR A MOMENT." He calls, "STOP THE CARRIAGE!!" Nami apologizes to Chopper: "... SORRY, CHOPPER, TO MAKE YOU MISS YOUR RARE CHANCE." Chopper admits, "IT CAN'T BE HELPED; IT'S MY FAULT FOR NOT HAVING THE COURAGE TO ACT ALONE AT TIMES LIKE THESE." Ten minutes later, the carriage has stopped. Usopp says, "THAT'S ODD; WE ONLY NEED TO GO BACK THE WAY WE CAME..." and then notices something wrong outside: "!?"

The carriage has not returned to the shore. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper find themselves abandoned in a graveyard beneath the looming mansion. They scream, "EEEEH?? NO ONE'S HERE!!!" "EVEN THE HORSES!!!" and "WE WERE LEFT BEHIND IN THE MIDDLE OF A GRAVEYARD!!!" Nami shouts, "WHAT...!? ...?" and "WHY!?" Chopper cries, "EEEH!? WE WERE LEFT BEHIND!?" while Usopp calls, "HILDON!! HEEEY!! WHERE DID YOU GO!?" In the sky, Hildon flies away, leaving them behind without warning.

Hildon laughs as he flies away over the graveyard: "HEE HEE HEE HEE HEE...!!" Below, the empty carriage sits among the tombstones, surrounded by crooked markers and the mansion's shadow. Usopp wonders, "OF ALL PLACES... WHY ARE WE IN A GRAVEYARD...?" Something erupts from the ground with "BOKO!!!" Chopper yelps, "...!! EH...!?" and the earth splits open around them. The graves begin to move, turning the quiet graveyard into the next trap.

Dead hands and bodies claw their way out of the graves. Nami trembles, "PLEASE TELL ME THIS ISN'T REAL..." A corpse rises, groaning, "ZURU..." Another face looms close with "AAAR... GGGHH!!!" Usopp shrieks, "AAAAAARGH!!!" and Nami screams, "EEEEH!?" At last the horror fully emerges around the stranded carriage: "ZOMBIES!!!!" The graveyard fills with stitched corpses, animal-like bodies, and rotten figures reaching for the three intruders.

The zombies overturn the carriage with a violent crash. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper are thrown out as they scream, "GYAAAAH!!!" "OWWWWW!!" and "USOPP!!!" Usopp is bitten and panics, "GYAAAAAH!!! UWAH, IT BIT ME!!! SHIT, I'M BITTEN. I'M GONNA TURN INTO A ZOMBIE!!!" Chopper calls his name, "USOPP!!!" The zombie mob shows terrifying strength, smashing the wreckage apart while the trio cries, "THEY HAVE INCREDIBLE POWER!!!"

Nami fights back with her Clima-Tact. She shouts, "I'LL SAVE YOU NOW...!!!" and strikes through the zombies while Usopp screams nearby. A zombie's weapon slams down, and Nami yells, "YOU BASTARDS, LET GO OF USOPP!!" In the chaos, one zombie accidentally drops a weapon on another and apologizes: "HEY, YOU DROPPED THIS." "OH, SORRY." The absurd politeness only makes the scene stranger as the trio keeps screaming.

The zombies close in again. Usopp cries, "OH NO, HELP!! I'LL BE BITTEN!!!" and "NAMI!!!" He suddenly remembers a weakness: "A ZOMBIE'S WEAK POINT IS...!!" He fires, "HISS-ATSU" and "KAEN-BOSHI!!!" A note explains that Hissatsu Kaen-boshi means Certain Death Fire Star. The fire explodes with "BOU!!!" and the zombies recoil: "WUOO OOH!!! FIRE!!!" Usopp yells, "THAT'S DANGEROUS!!!" as flames blast through the graveyard.

Usopp's fire works, but not cleanly. "IT WORKED AMAZINGLY WELL!!!" he says, while the zombies shout back, "WATCH OUT, BASTARD!!" "WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO IF WE GET BURNT?" "ARSONIST!!" and "YOU ROTTEN BASTARD!!" Chopper warns, "BUT YOU MADE THEM ANGRIER!!!" Nami yells, "HURRY UP, NAMI!!!" as they run. Usopp says, "LET'S RUN WHILE THINGS ARE STILL A MESS!!!" Chopper points toward safety: "THE MANSION IS CLOSER FROM HERE, SO IT'LL BE BETTER IF WE HEAD IN THAT DIRECTION!!" They decide, "YUP, LET'S DO THAT!!" Usopp believes they can escape once they get out of the graveyard and dash away because "ZOMBIES CAN ONLY WALK SLOWLY WHILE GROANING." But the zombies suddenly sprint after them, shouting, "WAIT UP, PUNK!!!" Usopp screams, "THEY'RE FAST!!!"

The chase tears through the graveyard. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper scream, "WUOO OOH!!!" and "UWAAAAH!!!" while the zombies pursue them at full speed. Then the monsters slow down, panting "ZEH" and announcing, "TIME OUT FOR A BIT." Usopp realizes, "THEY'VE GOT NO STAMINA!!!" The trio hides among the trees, exhausted: "HAA..." Chopper asks, "THEY... AREN'T AFTER US ANY MORE, RIGHT...?" Usopp says, "GUYS... IF I GO AHEAD AND TURN INTO A ZOMBIE..." but Nami cuts through the melodrama: "THEN WITHOUT HESITATION..." Usopp complains, "YOU READ TOO MANY OF THOSE KIND OF BOOKS EVEN THOUGH YOU'RE A WIMP." They wonder again, "WHAT'S UP WITH THIS ISLAND...!? IT'S FULL OF ANIMALS THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST..."

Still catching their breath, Usopp says, "... LOOKS LIKE WE MADE IT." He wants water: "... EITHER WAY, I WANT A FRESH GLASS OF WATER." Chopper, despite everything, says, "I GUESS I CAN SEE HIM AFTER ALL...! I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT." Nami answers, "I DON'T THINK THAT THERE'RE NORMAL PEOPLE LIVING ON AN ISLAND LIKE THIS. THAT'S MY BET." The three arrive at the towering mansion and call upward, "EXCUSE US!!! IS THIS DOCTOR HOGBACK'S MANSION!!?" They plead, "PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR!!" and introduce themselves desperately: "WE ARE EXPLORING 'PI-'... 'SAILORS'!!!"

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