Shichibukai Gecko Moria

Talleran collapses after Brook's cut, but Franky warns, "It's not over yet. He's still a zombie. Even if you cut him, he'll just get up again." Talleran twitches with a weak "...Ah!!" and stares at Brook, muttering, "... You~~~" before recognition surfaces: "Hmm? Wait...!? I've seen you somewhere before..." Brook is calm. "Yohoho! Don't worry, I've already dealt with that." Franky asks, "Dealt with it?" and Brook answers, "Zombies have a weak point, too!!" Robin, still catching her breath, watches the fallen giant. Brook has not merely wounded Talleran; he has struck at the secret that keeps the dead body moving.

A black shape rises from Talleran's mouth while he screams, "Haaaaaaaaaaa!!!" Franky shouts, "What is that!?" Brook identifies it at once: "That is the 'soul' of a zombie...!!" Then he corrects the word with practical clarity: "... Soul? You can clearly see it coming out!!" With a gesture, he sends it away: "Well, please return to your master!!" The shadow-like soul shoots into the sky. The spider-mice panic, crying, "Gyaaaaaa!! Commanding officer Tallaren!!!" and "Commanding officer!!! The commanding officer was defeated!!" Talleran's huge body lies empty and still, its stolen animating force gone.

Franky and Robin stare at Brook. Franky asks, "You stopped him completely... What did you do!?" Brook answers simply, "I purified him." One spider-mouse trembles, "Look!! It's definitely him... 'Humming'!!! The man who messed up Thriller Bark five years ago!!!" As the spider-mice flee to report, Franky realizes another weakness: "Haaaaaa, his spider web is strong against 'power' but weak against fire. That's true, it loosens up." Robin says, "It seems that you know a lot about this island." Brook confirms the danger: "Strawhat and the others were kidnapped!!" Franky asks where to start, and Brook gives the hard truth: "If they have already been caught, there is a high chance that we're already too late." Franky explodes, "Whaat!? Too late, you say!!?"

Franky gets angry at Brook's blunt warning, but Brook begs for quiet. "Pl-please don't shout so much. My ears will start ringing!!" Franky snaps, "Yohoho!!! Skull joke!!" and Robin dryly says, "Stop it. He's already dead." Brook tries to continue: "Anyways, please listen without fooling around." Franky still mutters, "Stop it. He's already dead." Brook explains his own arrival: "Like I said before, there was a time when my ship's rudder didn't work, and I drifted all alone in the sea for dozens of years... The rudder was broken, so I was just drifting with the tides. As much as I wanted to escape from this 'Devil's Sea'. Then, by chance... I arrived here five years ago. I was lured onto this Thriller Bark, just like you ladies and gentlemen..."

Brook tells them how he searched the island. "I, who wanted to get out of this 'Florian Triangle' at any cost, went around this island thinking that maybe they had... the parts to fix my rudder. But all I found were monsters and zombies." Eventually, he says, he was caught and brought to a building. Inside, he saw "the struggling dancer who had been caught before me," and "a patched corpse they called 'Mario.'" Brook remembers the moment the horror became clear: "When I looked up, a scary, big man appeared and... he pulled the man's shadow off of the floor!! And he cut it off!!!" Franky and Robin listen as Brook describes the impossible sight of a man's shadow being severed like a physical thing.

Franky struggles to understand what Brook saw. "He cut off... his shadow...!?" Brook says he would have doubted his own eyes too, but the truth followed quickly. He shouts, "Don't have eyes—!!!" and Franky yells, "Stop it or I'll hit you, you bastard!!!" Robin calmly notes, "You can hit him now." Brook continues: "I soon followed the same fate, but... the person whose shadow was taken fell, and his cut off shadow... was pushed into the motionless 'Mario.'" For some reason, that corpse that should have been dead began to move. The lesson is terrible and precise: the dead bodies are not alive, but they are animated by the stolen shadows of living people.

Brook explains what a shadow really means on Thriller Bark. Franky asks, "What do you mean!?" Brook answers, "A 'shadow' is... 'another soul' that follows a person wherever he goes. It's the same for your shadows. Naturally... from the moment people are born until the moment they die." Robin listens in silence as Brook names the man behind it: "Shichibukai Gecko Moria!!! He has eaten the 'Kage Kage no Mi' Devil's Fruit!!" A note clarifies that kage means shadow. Brook explains, "The big man who can take shadows and make them follow him is, he." Franky asks, "A Devil's Fruit, huh?" and Brook continues, "If he puts the shadow into a corpse, he can create zombies. And he has Doctor Hogback, the genius surgeon, as his nakama... to make the living corpses even stronger."

Brook describes the production of Moria's army. "Using the doctor's abilities, he revives the bodies of legendary warriors from cemeteries all over the world. Several 'Mario' are always kept... in the research lab's freezer." Robin realizes the implication: "Dr. Hogback... who would've believed that the famous doctor... would be helping a pirate in such a place after he disappeared...?" Franky understands that Hogback is not reviving the dead in the true sense: "So... he can make the zombies move, but... it's not like he can bring the dead back to life." Brook confirms it and explains the formula: "The 'personality' and 'fighting abilities' are all that of the 'shadow's master,' and the 'power' of the body depends on the physical strength of the 'Mario.' If you combine a stronger body and shadow, you can create a stronger zombie soldier. So Moria wants the shadows of those with wanted posters quickly."

The story of Thriller Bark becomes clear. Robin says, "I see... so we're... being targeted." Brook answers, "That's the story behind Thriller Bark. For Moria, the most useful thing about zombies is probably that they are obedient. Naturally, it's supposed to be harder to control a strong warrior." He adds the practical result: "Yes... if you only take the 'shadow' that has the same fighting abilities as the actual person, you have no need for the real thing, who probably won't listen to you. The ones who faint are immediately sent to drift out to sea." Robin reacts, "!?" Brook asks them to trust him: "It's fine!! We still have time. Now, I'll tell you my plan, so please believe me and act as I tell you to!!"

Franky, shaken by the explanation, blurts out, "... Ah!? Believe you!? Gusaaaaaa!! Skull shock!!" Brook reacts theatrically, then spins with excitement: "I can negotiate for the first time in dozens of years!! It's quite fluuuuuuuuuuuun!!!" Robin stays focused and says, "We're listening, so please continue." Far away, at the castle, the call has reached the master. A voice says, "Okay." The three figures gather at speed, with someone shouting, "Masteeeeeer!!" The castle announces, "The three enigmas have gathered!!" and the order comes: "... So fast!! Let them in!!" The chapter cuts from Brook's desperate strategy to the top of Thriller Bark, where Moria's most important subordinates are assembling.

Perona, Absalom, and Hogback arrive before the master. Someone calls, "Please, come in!" Gecko Moria sits huge and grinning in the center of the room. "Oh, so you all came," he says. Absalom answers, "Kishishishishi!!! Make me the Pirate King quickly!!!" Perona and Hogback stand with him as the caption introduces their master: "Shichibukai: Gecko Moria. Former bounty: 320 million Beri. Motto: To rely on others for your own objectives: 'You do it.'" Moria's presence dwarfs the room and his subordinates, and the lazy cruelty of his motto matches everything Brook has just explained: Moria does not want to fight or build with his own hands; he wants others, even stolen shadows, to do it for him.

In Moria's chamber, Luffy is trapped in a cage, still shouting through the bars. He declares, "What's with the Pirate King talk!!? The one who'll be the Pirate King is... me!!!" and then yells at Moria, "Hey!!! Untie this rope, you huge leek!!! Give Usopp, Nami, Chopper, Sanji, and Zoro back to me!! Where have you taken them!!?" Absalom looks at him and says, "What a powerful man..." while Perona identifies him: "So this is 'Strawhat Luffy.'" Luffy's anger fills the room even while he is caged and bound, and Moria studies him as the exact kind of wanted pirate whose shadow can create something extraordinary.

Moria reviews Luffy's missing crew. "Hey, Strawhat Luffy... you said a lot of names just now, but... you are the third one we've caught so far. 'Pirate Hunter Zoro' and... another man who wasn't on the list; a man with silver hair." Luffy thinks and says, "Hmm? The only one who has silver hair is Sanji..." Perona is startled: "What?! Hey! It seems Zoro and Sanji were caught." A hidden Usopp whispers in panic, "Th-that's a lie! Luffy was caught too...!?" Chopper asks, "... What happened with those three people, Perona?!" Perona says, "As I recall, they were transferred by the Risky Brothers." Usopp realizes the danger: "Gulp, they're talking about us." Chopper begs him, "Don't say it!! Just don't say it!!"

Perona punishes Kumashi again for speaking. "I told you not to open your mouth!!" she snaps, while Absalom says, "You're too harsh on Kumashi." Kumashi weakly answers, "Oh..." Absalom thinks back and says, "But the three people, including my bride, were inside your garden." Perona turns: "Hmm? Hey, wait a minute." Hogback clarifies with disgust, "Meaning... you bastard, Hogback!! Did you lay your hands on my bride!?" Cindry interrupts with a flat rejection: "The bride won't come for you." Hogback shouts, "What!? Cindry." Absalom fumes, "Woo...!! Hey, hey!! Cindry-chan, you're making the story worse. Also, why are you answering him before me?!" Cindry adds, "She won't come for you either." Absalom wails, "Gueee!!! She threw me for a loop!! Such a crafty girl!!!" Moria, bored with the noise, says, "Stop it, stop it. Your mumbling is bothersome!!! If the pirates ran away, you'll need to handle it later!!!"

Moria explains why he summoned everyone. "I gathered you here today to witness the birth of an exceptionally strong zombie. Let's celebrate this moment together!!" Luffy suddenly lunges inside the cage, and a guard screams, "Master!!! The pirate has eaten through the steel cage and is escaping!!!" Moria asks, "He ate... ?" as Luffy bursts free and yells, "What were you doing trying to capture me!!?" The room erupts into panic, but Perona is ready. "Leave it to me, Absalom, he's inside a room, I'll stop him!!" Moria laughs, "Fos fos fos. He's really reliable." Perona smiles, "Fufu," and steps forward with her ghosts.

Luffy breaks free with total confidence: "As if I'll be caught, you moron!!!" Perona answers with "Negative Hollow," sending her ghost through him. The effect is instant. Luffy collapses into despair and mutters, "If I could be reborn... I want to be a sea cucumber. I'm gonna die." Perona observes, "Making the man who said he'd be the Pirate King a sea cucumber is cruel." But the guards do not waste the chance. They shout, "Hit the lights!!!" and Luffy, realizing something is wrong, cries, "What are you doing?! Damn it!! I'll remember this, you guys!!!" A shadow stretches long across the floor as the room is prepared for Moria's true power.

Moria moves in the darkness. Luffy looks down in terror and yells, "Huh!? What's that... my shadow!?" Moria grips the shadow with giant scissors, bends it away from Luffy's body, and cuts. Luffy's body goes limp as Moria laughs, "Kishishishishi!!" The severed shadow rises in Moria's hand like a black silhouette. Moria announces triumphantly, "I've got it!! A fighting strength worth 300 million Beri!!! With this, the strongest 'Special Zombie' in history will be born!!!" Luffy can only stare in confusion as his own shadow, the thing Brook called another soul, is taken from him to power Moria's next monster.

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