Warrior of Hope

The battlefield around the ruined Thriller Bark mansion shakes with the impact of Luffy's fight against Oars. From the rubble, the frightened allies look toward the tremendous noise. Someone cries, "He's doing it! He's really doing it! He's fighting Oz!!" but another voice urges, "Quick, while we have time!!" and the others answer in rhythm, "Do do do..." Below, the people who had given Luffy their shadows find the battered Straw Hats sprawled unconscious among broken stone. "There they are!! Our Ray of Hope's crew!!" one shouts, while another stares in horror: "They were all beaten!!" The rescuers recognize the danger immediately. "What terrible wounds...!! One of them is nothing but bones now!!" Brook is lifted despite his skeletal state, and Robin lies wounded nearby. "It's dangerous for them to be lying here!!" At the lower edge, Nami and Usopp spot the strange group carrying their friends. "Hey!! What's with that group of people!?" Usopp yells. "Are they zombies!?" Nami asks. Usopp wonders, "What are they doing to Zoro and the others!?" Nami decides there is no time to debate: "We've got to get down there, fast!!"

The Rolling Pirates and other shadowless victims rush through the chaos, turning the evacuation into a desperate rescue operation. "Save our Ray of Hope's comrades!!" they cry. "Move them to a safe location!!" One of them warns, "Don't be too rough!!" while another explains the urgency: "Three of them have had their shadows taken!!" and "And these are the kinds of guys I like!!" They drag the wounded Straw Hats clear of the collapsing battlefield because every second before dawn matters. With sweat running down her face, Lola looks toward the monster fight and calls out, "Haa...!! We're counting on you, Nightmare Luffy!! Haa..." Away from them, Oars staggers across Thriller Bark with Gecko Moria riding inside his stomach chamber. The watching victims panic. "Waaa waaagh!! What's going on!?" one cries. Another recognizes the impossible sight: "Oz is getting beaten up by somebody!!!" and the crowd gasps, "Who is it!? What kind of creature could send that giant body flying like that!?"

As Oars crashes backward with Moria still inside him, the news spreads through the crowd. Someone points and shouts, "Hey, did you hear!? Right now, Lord Moria is riding in Oz's stomach!!" The shadowless victims recoil: "Ehh!?" and one adds, "Our master is showing himself on the battlefield!!" The scale of the enemy is explained in frightened bursts. Gecko Moria is "The man who controls all of the zombies in Thriller Bark," and he "is getting beaten, along with that super-strong special zombie!?" Another victim struggles to understand: "What kind of joke is this...?" Others remind everyone of Moria's terror: "Oz is a legendary villain from 500 years ago!!! He was called a 'demon'!!" and "And our master is one of the Shichibukai, Lord Gecko Moria!!!" The next instant, Oars roars in agony, "Oooaaa aggghh!!!" as the force hammering him makes even that legendary body seem helpless.

Inside Oars, Moria is shaken violently by the impact. Oars groans, "Nuoooo!!!" and Moria snaps, "What's wrong!!?" while the giant body lurches out of control. From below, someone yells, "Hey!!!" and Oars tumbles with a pained "Guwza!!" before being hurled across the mansion grounds. The crowd screams, "Oz!!!" and "Uwah!!" as the huge demon's body skids through rubble. The explanation finally reaches the Straw Hats: "What...!!? So in other words... you guys made Luffy like that by stuffing 100 shadows into him!?" Lola answers with pride, "That's exactly right, comrade of our Ray of Hope!!" The rescuers apologize for forcing such a dangerous burden onto him. "We're sorry for suddenly doing this to your captain, but we've entrusted all of the strength of our hope to him!" They add, "But he only has 2 or 3 more minutes with that strength!! Then all the shadows will leave his body!!" Franky admits, "Frankly, we were scared of him after he powered up, too!!" as everyone understands how short Luffy's chance really is.

Nightmare Luffy grips Oars and keeps the pressure on. His massive, shadow-swollen body strains as he forces the giant back with a ferocious "Funnuuu!!!" Moria, watching from safety inside Oars, remains silent for a beat, while the victims below see the sun's approach as a death sentence. "These few minutes will decide the fate of all the victims on this island!! Dawn isn't far off now!!" Lola and her comrades shout up to him, "We're counting on you, Strawhat!!!" and state the wish behind their whole rebellion: "Just once, we want to walk under the sun again!!! We want to be human again!!" The battle erupts into another enormous throw. Oars cries "Guheh!!!" and "Oryaaaa!!!" as Luffy drives the giant into the ground and buildings buckle around them. The victims scream, "Aaaaaa ahhhhh!!" and "Ooooo ohhh!!" while Thriller Bark itself seems to shake under Luffy's borrowed strength.

The mansion begins to collapse under Oars's enormous body. Usopp panics, "We've got to get out of here!! We're going to get crushed!!!" and the Rolling Pirates flee with him as rubble rains down. People scream "Gyaaah!!" and "Wahhhh!!" while the upper structures of Thriller Bark splinter and fall. Nami, seeing Luffy hold the impossible advantage, shouts, "This is really amazing!!" and Usopp joins in, "Yeah!! Go for it, Luffy!!!" Yet the battlefield remains terrifying: Oars's mouth opens in a huge cry, the mansion's walls burst apart, and one person shouts, "The mansion's getting smashed!!!" In the foreground, Nightmare Luffy stands dark and determined, not celebrating or wasting a motion. His eyes stay fixed on Oars, because the borrowed shadows are slipping away by the minute and the chance to defeat Moria's ultimate zombie will not come again.

Oars drags himself upright, bloodied and panting. He snarls, "Haa... Why, you... you freaking midget!! Haa." His giant face twists with anger, but Luffy has already switched from raw throwing power to a precise attack. He plants himself and says, "Gomu Gomu..." while his fist stretches back. Oars notices the movement too late, and one tiny "Ba!!" marks the start of Luffy's launch. With a metallic "Katcha," Luffy's arm tightens like a loaded weapon. He calls the technique, "Bullet"!!! and drives the fist straight into Oars at close range. Oars's body jerks from the impact, his mouth opening in shock as the blow lands with enough force to interrupt the giant's rage. Around them, the others can only watch the shadow-powered Luffy use familiar rubber techniques on a scale that makes even Oars look vulnerable.

The force of "Bullet" drives into Oars and sends blood and shock through the giant's body. Luffy, still tiny beside him despite the Nightmare form's bulk, hangs in the air after the strike while the impact tears through Oars's shoulder and chest. Oars groans, "Ooh...!!!" but Luffy does not let up. Moria, shaken by the sudden gap in power, curses from within the giant: "Damn!! Where did Strawhat get this power?" Still trying to keep control, Moria urges, "Come on, Oz...!!" and sneers at the giant body, "You're pathetic!! You're up against a lone pirate!! We just got started!" His words are bravado more than confidence; Oars's body is already buckling, and Luffy's attacks are coming too fast for Moria to turn the giant back into an unbeatable weapon.

Moria finally decides to abandon the cockpit. He glares at Luffy's approach and mutters, "Maybe I should leave the cockpit for a bit..." but the thought comes too late. Luffy swings in again, his arm winding back as he says, "Gomu Gomu..." Moria looks up in alarm, "Hm!?" and Luffy completes the attack: "Pistol"!!! The stretched fist blasts into Oars's face with a crushing impact. Oars jerks from the blow, a shocked "!!!" hanging over the panel while Moria is thrown hard inside the body. The giant's head snaps sideways and his face sinks toward the ground with an "Oeeh!!" The strike does more than hurt Oars; it proves that Moria cannot safely hide inside him while Luffy is strong enough to punch through the giant body and rattle the controller himself.

Luffy spins through the air, gathering even more force. Oars tries to respond with a desperate "Eat this!!" but Luffy's body twists in a tight spiral and drops from above. He starts again, "Gomu Gomu..." while Oars's mouth opens wide beneath him. The attack name lands like a sentence: "Battle Axe"!!! Luffy's enlarged foot smashes down from overhead into Oars. The giant body folds under the blow, and even Moria is stunned by the sudden downward impact, marked only by "!?" as he is caught in the shock. Luffy continues moving, the rubber momentum whipping him through the follow-through while Oars's stitched body absorbs another devastating strike. The fight has become a chain of attacks with no pause for Moria to reorganize the giant.

Luffy turns the battle into a storm of rubber blows. With Oars staggering beneath him, he unleashes a rapid barrage and shouts, "Storm"!!! Fists blur into countless impacts, hammering the giant from every side and driving through the body with relentless speed. The panels along the edge catch the sequence in fragments: fists striking, Oars's face twisting, Moria shaken inside, and the giant's huge stitched frame battered again and again. Oars can only roar and grimace while the sound effects fill the page with the violence of the barrage. Nightmare Luffy's expression is fierce and focused, not triumphant; every punch is aimed at ending the fight before the shadows leave him. The attack pins Oars in place and makes Moria's hiding place inside the giant useless.

The barrage carries Oars backward through the ruins. Zombies and victims alike look on in terror. "Waaaaahhh, Oz!!" they scream, and another voice cries, "Lord Moria!!!" as the controller and his ultimate zombie are both caught in the same collapse. Oars's massive body is riddled with the force of Luffy's punches, and the crowd can only stand below as the giant is driven across the battlefield. Then the direction of the fall becomes clear. Oars tips backward over the mansion grounds, and someone shouts, "He's falling down!! Be careful!!!" The giant's head and limbs begin to drop toward the rubble with a thunderous weight. Luffy remains near the wreckage, his own body now visibly near its limit, while the people below scatter to avoid being crushed by the demon who had ruled the battlefield moments before.

Oars crashes down into Thriller Bark, his huge body slamming into the broken buildings and throwing dust across the battlefield. For a breath, the watching crowd is silent, stunned by the impossible sight. Then a Rolling Pirate cries, "Captain Lola!! Look...!! Strawhat is...!!!" All eyes turn to Luffy. The borrowed shadows are leaving him in black streams, peeling away from his body as the Nightmare form breaks apart. Luffy hangs in the air, shrinking back toward himself, a weak "Uuu..." escaping him. The sight confirms both victory and danger: he has spent the last of the stolen strength, and now there is nothing holding him up. Around him, the shadows fly away toward their rightful owners while Oars lies defeated in the ruins behind him.

The shadows burst out across Thriller Bark and race back to their owners. The crowd realizes what it means at once: "It's true!! ...The shadows!! They're really coming out! Look at all those shadows!!" Usopp understands the connection: "They're what made Luffy look like that!!" The great body of Oars lies flat in the ruins while someone declares, "Oz and Moria have been defeated!!!" Another voice cries, "Everyone's shadows are coming back!!!" Luffy falls from the air, and Nami shouts, "Luffy!!" while others call, "Luffy!!?" and "Are you okay, Luffy!!?" He crashes down with the last of the expelled shadows whipping away from him. The victims cheer and sob: "You did it, our Ray of Hope!!!" "Thank you!!!" "Thriller Bark has fallen!!!" One says with awe, "He did it... He really won." The page closes on Luffy fallen after the victory, with the island's stolen lives returning to their bodies around him.

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