One Piece 48
It's good to be home!
One Piece 48
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Zoro is concerned that tracking down their own zombies is going to be a pain (and Chopper is anxious to stress that Oars is twice a the size of a normal giant), but Luffy (in a rare moment of clarity) says they don't need to worry about that. If he can just defeat Moria, all the shadows will return at once.
[As usual, uncannily intelligent only in matters of battle… and sometimes the working of the human heart.]
Luffy says he'll chase down Moria - he orders Sanji to look after Nami.
Usopp mentions that Absalom got a good look at Nami in the bath. (Zoro: "Better not get him worked up any further. He might transform into something.")
Usopp volunteers to go with Sanji, since he feels responsible for letting Nami get kidnapped (and anyway, he wants nothing to do with any shichibukai).
Franky and Zoro decide to go help Brook (Franky, because he's worried, and Zoro, because he's dying to check out the technique of a legendary swordsman).
Love Chopper (as ship's doctor, and also because he's little and scared) freaking out over Moria being a shichibukai.
Luffy: "What's the big deal? Crocodile was a shichibukai."
Chopper: "Crocodile almost KILLED you!! Did I mention your zombie is really big?"
(LOL at Sanji in flames in the background)
Usopp passes out the bags of salt, for zombie purification (he made the salt Brook gave them into special pellets). He's also the one to stress the importance of getting their shadows back before dawn.
(Luffy agrees, because seriously, not getting to eat before dawn would be really bad.)
Oars, meanwhile, is hanging off the main mast of the Thriller Bark island/ship (which he apparently climbed so he could get a better look at the view).
The other zombies are all scared to death of Oars, but Moria says it's only a matter of time before he settles down. And with a zombie as powerful as this working for them, there's no limit to the army they'll be able to build.
Hildon comes to report that the three who had their shadows taken have been prematurely awakened by their comrades. Humming Brook has been feeding them information, including how to "cleanse" zombies.
The lower level zombies are terrified and running for their lives. And as for the General Zombies… well, they're all at Absalom's "wedding."
Perona scoffs at Absalom ("that wild beast"). She'll take care of the pirates with her ghosts.
Hogback is reluctantly impressed with Perona, but Cindry is mostly just contemptuous.
[I don't understand what Cindry says at all. アンタツメのアカを煎じて飲めばいい、クマシーの。Is she seriously telling Hogback to roast and drink the crud under Kumashi's nails? If that's a figure of speech, I'm not sure I want to know.]
Moria, who is bored again, decides to wait around for Oars to come back.
Meanwhile, Sanji and Luffy (who are both in a rage, for very different reasons) are cutting a swath of destruction ahead of the others, climbing the long staircase to Moria's hideout.
Zoro and Franky are carving a separate path through the helpless zombie defenders. (Zoro's just embarrassed to have been caught by such weaklings; Franky is trying to get Zoro to call him aniki, without success.)
Perona's ghosts temporarily take out Luffy and Sanji (LOL Sanji: "My eyebrows are too curly, I just want to die").
Usopp is horrified, not having seen the work of Perona's ghosts before. Robin says they have no defense against the technique.
Robin, Usopp and Chopper grab their comrades' limp bodies and make a run for it.
Meanwhile, Oars decides to hop off the mast… which results in him landing on the staircase, and smashing it to ruins.
Robin, Chopper and Luffy (now recovering from ghost-induced depression) are at the top of the broken staircase, but Usopp and Sanji fall to the level below. They end up joining forces with Zoro and Franky.
Zoro and Franky can't figure out why there is suddenly a wall in front of them… until Usopp recovers enough to explain that that is Oars' body.
461
[Cover arc: the little robots are grateful to Enel for avenging their grudge upon the Space Pirates. Enel was just peeved that the Space Pirates were running amuck on HIS great varse.]
Battle illustration!
[I will never, never get tired of the little illustrations showing who is where. I particularly like the drawing of Oars in this one.]
Luffy, Robin and Chopper run into Hogback in Moria's "great hall." Chopper claims the privilege of dealing with Hogback. He tells the others to go on ahead to the refrigeration unit where Oars' body was being kept. Luffy goes ahead; Robin stays to help Chopper.
Hogback is surprised (and reluctantly impressed) to realize that Chopper is a devil fruit user. He orders the Zoro-oyaji and the dog-penguin to handle him and Robin.
Luffy catches up with Moria in the refrigeration unit.
Franky, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp are all horrified by the sight of Luffy's zombie, but just when they expect to be crushed like a bug, Oars picks up a big (pirate-hat-shaped) chunk of concrete, puts it on his head, and strolls off. He doesn't appear to even have noticed them.
[I love Luffy/Oars' mental "generic pirate" image.]
Oars: "I'm gonna rotten-be the pirate king!" (kaizoku-ou ni kusare-naru, LOL)
Sanji is fretting about how he and Usopp are ever going to get to Nami, when they discover that Franky has already built a wooden bridge to replace the broken one. (Is this how he built the Sunny in like three days?)
They stumble upon Perona's over-decorated bedroom.
Perona reveals that she ate the "horo-horo fruit," which allows her to project as many ghosts as she wishes from her body, and zaps all four with her negative powers.
Usopp: "It's all over… we're finished…"
Franky: "I wanna be trampled by a stray dog!"
Sanji: "I'm lower than a mackerel. Wanna die."
Zoro: "I'm not fit to walk the same earth as the rest of you…"
Just as Perona is reflecting smugly over the ridiculous ease of her victory, Usopp counter-attacks.
Perona is horrified - what method could he possibly be using to resist her ghosts?
Usopp: "Method, my ass! I was ALREADY negative!"
[This will never, never stop being hilarious and awesome and one of the funniest/best parts of Thriller Bark. USOPP! But, the fridge horror part… if you look at the reactions of all the others, just what does this say about the voices that are normally living inside Usopp's head?]
Usopp yells at the others to go after Brook and Nami when they "snap out of it."
"Let me handle this. The rest of you don't stand a chance against her!"
Meanwhile, in the church, Absalom is reciting his vows with a passed-out Nami (bleh). He prepares to bestow the marital kiss upon her.
["Do you remember saying 'I do?'" "No, we kind of skipped that part…"]
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Usopp remains immune, even when hit with four ghosts at once. (In fact, it is the ghosts who are driven to despair… along with Perona, who is actually apologizing to Kumashi.)
Usopp: "When it comes to negative thinking, don't think for one minute you can beat me!"
The other zombies are impressed that he's so confident in his own uselessness. [ダメな方にすげえ自信だ！]
The others are all grateful to Usopp - without him, they would have been wiped out in a single stroke.
In Perona's wonder garden, Sanji parts ways with Franky and Zoro, who are headed to find Brook on the top floor of Hogback's mansion. (And when I say "parts ways," I mean "jumps off the bridge in flames." Zoro: "Isn't this kind of high up?")
Brook is holding his own against Ryuuma, barely.
Brook resents Ryuuma using the name of his signature technique (Yahazugiri) when he doesn't know a thing about Brook's past. Brook was once a knight in royal service. [As far as I know, we still know almost nothing about the details of this.] The zombie has Brook's personality and skills, but none of his memories or feelings. For him to use that name is an insult.
But, in the end, Brook doesn't stand a chance against Ryuuma.
Just when Ryuuma is about to cement his victory by cutting off Brook's hair, the mansion is rocked to the foundation, knocking them off their feet. Franky and Zoro reach the lab before Ryuuma can recover his footing.
Zoro gladly challenges Ryuuma. "I don't know whether dragons exist or not, but I've been looking forward to meeting you!"
Franky tells a bewildered Brook that Zoro is famous for his Santouryuu technique. If Brook's pride will allow it, Zoro will step in for him against Ryuuma. (Brook is more than happy to accept the favor.)
What interests Zoro most is Ryuuma's sword, which Ryuuma identifies as Shuusui, one of the "oowazamono" named blades. (I need to go back and read my own sword guide from vol 11/12 to see how this compares with Mihawk's Kokutou and Zoro's own Wadou, but I think it might rank between the two.)
Zoro: "Nice sword. I'll take it."
[Trivia reminder: Zoro is currently fighting with only two swords because Yubashiri was broken at the end of the fight on Enies Lobby.]
In the chapel, Absalom is trying to kiss his unconscious bride but keeps getting foiled by the violent swaying of the building.
It turns out that the entire island (ship) is shaking violently because Oars has been messing with the anchor-chain. The General Zombies have all been summoned to deal with him (the wedding will have to wait for later).
Oars wastes the entire army of General Zombies without breaking a sweat (he's still trying to use Luffy's techniques, though he has to substitute brute force for the ability to stretch).
Absalom is confused about the way Oars is acting - isn't he supposed to be an ally? How can a zombie defy the will of its master?
Sanji bursts into the chapel to rescue Nami.
463
[Cover arc: Enel discovers an underground chamber on the moon that the Space Pirates were in the course of excavating.]
Luffy is baffled by the swaying of the island/ship, but Moria says it's probably the fault of Luffy's zombie.
Luffy declares he's come to kick Moria's ass, but Moria points out that just defeating or killing him won't be enough. He has to give the order to the shadow to return to its master, voluntarily. Luffy isn't particularly fazed.
When he attempts to fight Moria, Moria generates a warrior from his own shadow ("the Doppelman"), which prevents Luffy from laying a hand on him (the shadow can also break down into vicious biting vampire bats).
When Luffy insists that he's going to be King of the Pirates, Moria says his shadow said that, too, but even the strongest-willed shadow placed in a newly minted zombie can only retain an independent will for so long. It's only a matter of time before Luffy's zombie becomes as obedient as the rest.
In the chapel, Absalom and Sanji are fighting over Nami (to the extent that either of them can manage to avoid being blindsided every few minutes by the superhuman beauty of Nami's unconscious form).
[I assume I'm supposed to find this funny, but mostly I just find it tedious. And kind of gross, because she's UNCONSCIOUS.]
Absalom connects Sanji's fixation with Nami with that of the dog-penguin, and comments that Sanji must be a nobody that they didn't think worthy of being put into a General Zombie. Certainly the penguin was far too weak to defy Absalom himself.
Absalom soon discovers that his arrogance is misplaced - Sanji has him badly outmatched. He even seems to be able to sense what Absalom's next move in battle will be.
Absalom tries to take temporary shelter by turning invisible, but Sanji throws Usopp's pellets at him, making him visible again.
How can this man not have a bounty!?
Absalom had complained of being in a bad mood (because his wedding was interrupted), but Sanji is on the verge of exploding with rage. Literally.
[Love the zombies acting as Greek chorus. "I could just explode!" "He DID explode!"]
Furthermore, he says, he has an additional reason to hate Absalom.
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Sanji informs Absalom that he has stolen one of his life's dreams from him.
Absalom is about to destroy Sanji, but Sanji tells him to "take those off." He knows that Absalom is wearing rocket launchers in his sleeves, and he doesn't want Nami caught in the crossfire.
He guessed that Absalom was keeping something hidden, because the "suke-suke no mi" (transparent-transparent fruit) gives him the power to both make himself invisible and to render anything that he touches invisible.
He knows all about the suke-suke no mi, because since he was a child and came across a description of it in an encyclopedia, it's the only fruit he ever considered eating. For all the rest, he always considered that the disadvantages of being a fruit user outweighed the advantages.
But, since each fruit can only be born once into the world as long as its possessor lives, meeting Absalom is proof that Absalom has stolen his life's dream. His lifelong dream of being able to peek on the women's bat~… er, be of use to human kind!
[This is so utterly gross that I am ret-conning it right out of my head. This conversation never existed in canon as far as I am concerned. The only thing that makes the scene even remotely entertaining is the zombie commentary.]
Absalom boasts of his surgically altered body, which possesses the strength of many wild beasts.
[As far as I can tell, Absalom is not actually a zombie, so Hogback somehow must have accomplished these modifications through surgery on the living body?]
Sanji struggles to keep his grip on Nami and to shield her from any stray blows, despite the injuries to himself, until something forces him to drop her. He apologizes, saying that he couldn't bear to stain her white dress with his own blood.
[I am rolling my eyes so hard here that they might end up two blocks away.]
He nobly declares that he's given up on his dream of gaining invisibility through a devil fruit. He'll peep on the baths under his own power!
Sanji is able to sense Absalom's invisible presence (by his blood?) and grab him, dealing the final beatdown.
Meanwhile, Perona is fleeing in terror from Usopp. She has no idea at all how to handle him. (And Usopp in turn seems to be fleeing from Kumashi.)
While fleeing from Kumashi's attacks, Usopp temporarily loses sight of Perona, and when he sees her again, she seems to have gained renewed confidence, hovering like a ghost outside the window of the castle.
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Usopp tries to take out Perona's floating form with his newly modified Kabuto weapon, but Perona disappears and reappears behind him, this time giant-sized. His attacks seem to have no effect.
Perona flies at him and plunges her hands into his chest, threatening to crush his heart with her bare hands. Usopp is terrified.
"Psych!"
It turns out she was bluffing - she can pass through objects, but if she had had the power to crush organs, Usopp would have been dead already.
Perona continues to freak Usopp out with her ability to pass through floors, walls, the human body, etc.
She seems blithely confident that none of Usopp's physical attacks can hurt her, and she further unleashes "mini-hollows" that can chase Usopp down and explode. And Kumashi has all the strength of a real bear, to pummel Usopp's body when he's down.
When Usopp is in the depths of despair, he calls on "Sogeking" to appear and give him confidence. (He carries the mask around in his bag, still?)
(Needless to say, Perona has no difficulty recognizing the guy under the mask as Usopp. "How are you supposed to be a different person!?")
"Sogeking" talks to "Usopp-kun," calming him and helping him to think rationally - why the sudden change in Perona's attitude during the time he lost sight of her?
He finally realizes that he's been dealing with a projection this whole time - Perona's actual body is hidden in a room nearby, vulnerable to attack once he succeeds in blasting through the wall to reveal it.
466
[Cover arc: Enel discovers a underground city on the moon. (Just how many underground cities are there in the One Piece world?)]
Perona admits that Usopp is mostly right, and explains how her power works. In addition to being able to project ghosts from her body, her soul can leave her body and act as a ghost with human will.
[Not really sure why she bothers to explain herself, but I guess someone needed to explain it for the readers.]
Usopp fires on Perona's real body, but the shot apparently misses.
Perona tries to blow him up with a giant version of the exploding mini-hollows (the Special Hollow), but Usopp absorbs the explosive power into a dial. He also reveals that his first "dud" attack on her body was actually designed to create a sticky web, preventing her from moving even if she returned to her physical self.
While Perona (who has now returned to her real body) is trapped, one of her senior lieutenants tries to attack Usopp, but is defeated by the explosive power stored in the dial.
Usopp's final attack is to unleash cockroaches all over Perona's body, and then threaten to hit her over the head with a 10-ton hammer. Perona passes out from sheer terror.
"Princess of the haunted mansion, defeated by a blow-up toy and a bunch of fake cockroaches? Lame (世話ねえよ). You made a big mistake, challenging ME to a contest of negativity and lying."
Meanwhile, Zoro is still battling the samurai, Ryuuma, and things are not going well. Zoro appears to be down.
Flashback five minutes to an earlier stage of Zoro's battle.
Brook is shocked to see that Ryuuma is able to use his own techniques with far more power than he was ever able to wield.
467
[Enel attacks the underground city with lightning - his general principle appears to be "attack first, ask questions never".]
Ryuuma's sword has the power to punch a hole through the wall, but Zoro can slash the walls in half.
[I love Zoro to death, but the effort to make each of his sword fights seems more badass than the last is starting to border on the ridiculous.]
Franky is confused by the battle, so Brook has to narrate it for him.
(Also, Franky is now calling Zoro "that haramaki guy". His nicknames are getting weirder by the minute - Nami now seems to be "ko-musume".)
Brook comments that Ryuuma is way beyond his (Brook's) ability level. Comparing Zoro and Ryuuma, both their skill and their physical strength appear to be evenly matched. The match won't last long.
When the roof of the mansion is near collapse, Franky escapes with Brook to the outside.
The swordsmen continue their battle on the rooftop.
After an exchange of attacks in mid-air, Zoro is flat on his back and Ryuuma is on fire (literally).
Before he goes up in flames, Ryuuma tosses Shuusui to his opponent.
A legendary samurai once wore this upon his hip. With you as its master, I think "Shuusui" might find its rightful place.
(Literally "true desire," この刀も本望でしょう. I really don't know how to translate the suggestion that the sword has the will to choose its owner.]
Brook and Franky can't hear what is being said, but Brook comments that he's never seen such a battle. He understands now that Ryuuma never took him seriously when they fought.
Zoro tells Ryuuma that he wishes they could have met back then, when he was alive.
Brook's shadow returns to him.
Zoro: "I'll take this blade, but… let's pretend this match never happened. Samurai of Wa no Kuni."
[The battle itself was kind of ridiculous - there really are a limited number of ways to make a sword fight look cool, and Oda has largely exhausted them - but I really like the way it's wrapped up, and the reversal of expectations from the end of 466, where it looked like Zoro was losing. The acknowledgement of respect for a worthy opponent, such a common feature of Zoro's best fights, is particularly poignant here.]
468
[Cover arc: Enel's lightning bolt attack accidentally recharges the ancient city, with its army of tiny robots.]
Jigorou (Zoro's zombie) is facing down Robin, and Chopper is facing Sanji's dog-penguin zombie.
Chopper reflects that Sanji's influence is fading - the penguin was able to kick Robin. The penguin has no idea what he's talking about, though he still talks like Sanji ("I'll fillet you!").
Hogback explains that newly created zombies sometimes retain some trace of their original memories, but it always fades with time, once the shadow and the zombie-body fully merge. Zoro's and Sanji's zombies are now wholly obedient servants.
Chopper is utterly disgusted with Hogback. He had originally had some admiration for Hogback's research into life after death, no matter how unorthodox, because who hasn't wished for just a few minutes to say their last words to a loved one suddenly taken away? But this…
[Oh, Chopper.]
Hogback is scornful. Everything he did was for money, not for his patients. And he grew to be sick of his patients' incessant demands. Everyone wanting him to save someone. Such a nuisance. How could Chopper possibly understand how difficult life was for a genius like him? It was Chopper's selfish choice to admire him, and his disappointment is equally none of Hogback's concern. Is he going to presume to lecture him now on how to be a doctor?
Chopper says as far as he's concerned, Hogback is no longer worth acknowledging as a doctor at all.
The zombies he has created are a mockery of life. They're just moving corpses.
Hogback insists they are alive; their very existence is a miracle.
He kicks Cindry to the floor, and orders her to lick it. Cindry calmly obeys.
Hogback says the room they saw wasn't Cindry's, it was his. He adored Cindry when he was alive - not only her beauty and fame, but her gentle sweetness to everyone, including himself as her doctor. But she rejected his marriage proposal, saying she was engaged to another man. And then she died.
He was so depressed over her death that he abandoned his medical practice and disappeared, but then Moria appeared before him with the offer to work on zombie research. His research enabled him to steal Cindry's body and reanimate it. Now the woman who once rejected him is his obedient slave. Who needs her real personality? All he wants is her pretty face and her submission.
[This is disgusting on SO many levels, but unlike some other scenes (Absalom in the shower, ew), I think Oda fully means for us to see it as vile. It presages the increasing focus of the story on the treatment of living beings as objects to be used and thrown away at their masters' convenience.]
Hogback thinks Cindry must be happy, too, to have a second chance at life as a human being, but Chopper says that there's nothing human about her any more. The creatures Hogback is creating are nothing but monsters (怪物).
[An interesting comment, considering Chopper's history.]
Hogback tells Cindry to kill them both, and promises Chopper that he'll make him into his assistant after he's dead - won't that be nice?
Chopper battles with Cindry, who has the superhuman strength of a zombie. Although fighting to subdue her, Chopper pities her, forced to live on against her will. How her family would grieve if they could see her.
Hogback keeps insisting that this is dream of humanity - to allow the dead to live again - but Chopper says that a "human" would be free to make its own choices.
人間ならもっと自由だ！ お前が一番人間扱いしてないんじゃないか！ (If they were human, they'd be more free! What you're doing is the exact opposite of treating them as human!)
[Again, this line is prophetic, in more ways than one.]
Chopper tries to get Robin to feed Cindry the salt, but the effort fails when Hogback orders the dog-penguin and Jigorou to join the fight. However, Zoro and Sanji's zombies soon get distracted by fighting each other.
Chopper: "They don't even remember each other, and those two still can't get along." (LOL)
Robin suggests to Hogback that maybe he should order them (Robin and Chopper) to jump off the tower. When he issues the order ("You two, jump off the tower!"), dog-penguin and Jigorou promptly obey. Naturally, Robin and Chopper don't.
[This is a genius surgeon? Nami's right, he's kind of manukeppoi.]
Chopper prepares to fight Hogback. Hogback tries to order Cindry to fight for him, but she is temporarily transfixed, tears streaming down her face.
469
[Enel is non-plussed to find himself with a loyal and grateful robot army. Since I didn't comment on the exclamation points before, I will say that I love the yin question mark!]
For a moment, they think that Cindry's lost human soul (not the shadow, but the former owner of her body) is fighting back. To Robin's disappointment, Cindry's moment of almost-human weakness doesn't last, and she reverts to being an obedient servant.
Robin restrains Cindry while Chopper tackles Hogback.
Hogback: "You're not even human! You monster!" (この怪物やろう！)
Chopper: "OUR captain takes monsters! And cyborgs! And demon beasts, and perverts, and negatives! He doesn't have to order around soulless dead bodies like YOU!"
(I LOVE this speech. Go Chopper!)
With the aid of Robin's "arms", Chopper lifts Hogback high in the air. Hogback is screeching about his genius brain being splashed all over the floor, but Chopper says his brains are rottener than his zombies.
LOL the name of Chopper's attack: "Robiccho Supplex!" (I suddenly want the whole team to start coming up with combo attack names.)
Meanwhile, Luffy is staring open-mouthed at his own zombie. Oars now seems much more biddable.
Moria gives Oars-zombie his first order - hunt down the Strawhat crew and dispose of them. He has pasted copies of each of the wanted posters to Oars' arm.
Oars immediately recognizes Luffy by his straw hat, and begins to attack as Moria flees.
When Oars attacks, he smashes the room that Robin and Chopper are in with Hogback and Cindry.
Chopper drops Hogback and leaps to safety. Hogback ends up buried in rubble on the floor below.
Hogback orders Cindry to free him, but she seems to be frozen again.
Just before Oars crushes Hogback underfoot, Cindry smiles - the same sweet smile she had in the pictures of her when she was alive.
Oars next smashes through the area where Usopp is fleeing from Perona's room, and the chapel where Sanji is holding Nami's unconscious body.
Nami suddenly turns invisible and is pulled from his arms - Absalom is back in the game.
Brook, Franky and Zoro see Oars rampaging from the broken roof of the mansion. Sanji is visible near his feet.
Franky is now calling Sanji the "guru-guru cook," LOL.
Luffy is busy chasing Moria - characteristically, not even a giant zombie can distract him once he's set his mind on a battle objective.
Absalom, with Nami in his arms, prepares to escape the chapel and resume his interrupted marriage-ceremony elsewhere.
Perona's wild zombies discover their unconscious mistress (who is still foaming at the mouth) and prepare to take her to safety.
All the zombies flee the region of the mansion - nothing is safe now that Oars is on the rampage.
Usopp, Chopper and Robin meet up in Perona's wonder-garden. Usopp (always the sharp-eyed one) points out the wanted posters on Oars' arm.
All the Strawhat pirates prepare to confront Luffy's unbeatable zombie.
470
[Cover arc: Enel and the robots discover an Egyptian-style wall painting in the underground city, which depicts an ancient society of winged people (and, apparently, little winged robots). Notice how some of the people look like Shandians, and some like Angel Islanders?]
While Luffy is pursuing Moria, Oars is facing Luffy's crew.
[I love that the crew members are somehow able to talk to each other even though they're located in completely different places - how good are their lungs anyway?]
Oars immediately recognizes Sanji from his wanted poster. (そっくり！)
Robin is trying to remember where she's heard Oars' name before. She connects him with the legend of the "continent-puller", a giant who lived 500 years in the past.
Oars easily defeats Sanji and goes after Chopper and Robin, whom he also recognizes from their posters.
Zoro and Franky try to distract Oars' attention, and Oars destroys the building they're standing on with a single kick. Their attacks are no more successful than Sanji's. Brook gets knocked out, too.
Usopp manages to shoot a salt ball into Oars' mouth, but the salt doesn't work - Oars is too big.
In no time, Robin, Usopp, Chopper, Sanji, Zoro, Franky and Brook are all knocked out. Usopp tries to plead with Luffy to recognize them, but Oars says he doesn't know who they are.
"My name is Oars. I work for Moria-sama!"
TBC
One Piece 48
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Zoro is concerned that tracking down their own zombies is going to be a pain (and Chopper is anxious to stress that Oars is twice a the size of a normal giant), but Luffy (in a rare moment of clarity) says they don't need to worry about that. If he can just defeat Moria, all the shadows will return at once.
[As usual, uncannily intelligent only in matters of battle… and sometimes the working of the human heart.]
Luffy says he'll chase down Moria - he orders Sanji to look after Nami.
Usopp mentions that Absalom got a good look at Nami in the bath. (Zoro: "Better not get him worked up any further. He might transform into something.")
Usopp volunteers to go with Sanji, since he feels responsible for letting Nami get kidnapped (and anyway, he wants nothing to do with any shichibukai).
Franky and Zoro decide to go help Brook (Franky, because he's worried, and Zoro, because he's dying to check out the technique of a legendary swordsman).
Love Chopper (as ship's doctor, and also because he's little and scared) freaking out over Moria being a shichibukai.
Luffy: "What's the big deal? Crocodile was a shichibukai."
Chopper: "Crocodile almost KILLED you!! Did I mention your zombie is really big?"
(LOL at Sanji in flames in the background)
Usopp passes out the bags of salt, for zombie purification (he made the salt Brook gave them into special pellets). He's also the one to stress the importance of getting their shadows back before dawn.
(Luffy agrees, because seriously, not getting to eat before dawn would be really bad.)
Oars, meanwhile, is hanging off the main mast of the Thriller Bark island/ship (which he apparently climbed so he could get a better look at the view).
The other zombies are all scared to death of Oars, but Moria says it's only a matter of time before he settles down. And with a zombie as powerful as this working for them, there's no limit to the army they'll be able to build.
Hildon comes to report that the three who had their shadows taken have been prematurely awakened by their comrades. Humming Brook has been feeding them information, including how to "cleanse" zombies.
The lower level zombies are terrified and running for their lives. And as for the General Zombies… well, they're all at Absalom's "wedding."
Perona scoffs at Absalom ("that wild beast"). She'll take care of the pirates with her ghosts.
Hogback is reluctantly impressed with Perona, but Cindry is mostly just contemptuous.
[I don't understand what Cindry says at all. アンタツメのアカを煎じて飲めばいい、クマシーの。Is she seriously telling Hogback to roast and drink the crud under Kumashi's nails? If that's a figure of speech, I'm not sure I want to know.]
Moria, who is bored again, decides to wait around for Oars to come back.
Meanwhile, Sanji and Luffy (who are both in a rage, for very different reasons) are cutting a swath of destruction ahead of the others, climbing the long staircase to Moria's hideout.
Zoro and Franky are carving a separate path through the helpless zombie defenders. (Zoro's just embarrassed to have been caught by such weaklings; Franky is trying to get Zoro to call him aniki, without success.)
Perona's ghosts temporarily take out Luffy and Sanji (LOL Sanji: "My eyebrows are too curly, I just want to die").
Usopp is horrified, not having seen the work of Perona's ghosts before. Robin says they have no defense against the technique.
Robin, Usopp and Chopper grab their comrades' limp bodies and make a run for it.
Meanwhile, Oars decides to hop off the mast… which results in him landing on the staircase, and smashing it to ruins.
Robin, Chopper and Luffy (now recovering from ghost-induced depression) are at the top of the broken staircase, but Usopp and Sanji fall to the level below. They end up joining forces with Zoro and Franky.
Zoro and Franky can't figure out why there is suddenly a wall in front of them… until Usopp recovers enough to explain that that is Oars' body.
461
[Cover arc: the little robots are grateful to Enel for avenging their grudge upon the Space Pirates. Enel was just peeved that the Space Pirates were running amuck on HIS great varse.]
Battle illustration!
[I will never, never get tired of the little illustrations showing who is where. I particularly like the drawing of Oars in this one.]
Luffy, Robin and Chopper run into Hogback in Moria's "great hall." Chopper claims the privilege of dealing with Hogback. He tells the others to go on ahead to the refrigeration unit where Oars' body was being kept. Luffy goes ahead; Robin stays to help Chopper.
Hogback is surprised (and reluctantly impressed) to realize that Chopper is a devil fruit user. He orders the Zoro-oyaji and the dog-penguin to handle him and Robin.
Luffy catches up with Moria in the refrigeration unit.
Franky, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp are all horrified by the sight of Luffy's zombie, but just when they expect to be crushed like a bug, Oars picks up a big (pirate-hat-shaped) chunk of concrete, puts it on his head, and strolls off. He doesn't appear to even have noticed them.
[I love Luffy/Oars' mental "generic pirate" image.]
Oars: "I'm gonna rotten-be the pirate king!" (kaizoku-ou ni kusare-naru, LOL)
Sanji is fretting about how he and Usopp are ever going to get to Nami, when they discover that Franky has already built a wooden bridge to replace the broken one. (Is this how he built the Sunny in like three days?)
They stumble upon Perona's over-decorated bedroom.
Perona reveals that she ate the "horo-horo fruit," which allows her to project as many ghosts as she wishes from her body, and zaps all four with her negative powers.
Usopp: "It's all over… we're finished…"
Franky: "I wanna be trampled by a stray dog!"
Sanji: "I'm lower than a mackerel. Wanna die."
Zoro: "I'm not fit to walk the same earth as the rest of you…"
Just as Perona is reflecting smugly over the ridiculous ease of her victory, Usopp counter-attacks.
Perona is horrified - what method could he possibly be using to resist her ghosts?
Usopp: "Method, my ass! I was ALREADY negative!"
[This will never, never stop being hilarious and awesome and one of the funniest/best parts of Thriller Bark. USOPP! But, the fridge horror part… if you look at the reactions of all the others, just what does this say about the voices that are normally living inside Usopp's head?]
Usopp yells at the others to go after Brook and Nami when they "snap out of it."
"Let me handle this. The rest of you don't stand a chance against her!"
Meanwhile, in the church, Absalom is reciting his vows with a passed-out Nami (bleh). He prepares to bestow the marital kiss upon her.
["Do you remember saying 'I do?'" "No, we kind of skipped that part…"]
462
Usopp remains immune, even when hit with four ghosts at once. (In fact, it is the ghosts who are driven to despair… along with Perona, who is actually apologizing to Kumashi.)
Usopp: "When it comes to negative thinking, don't think for one minute you can beat me!"
The other zombies are impressed that he's so confident in his own uselessness. [ダメな方にすげえ自信だ！]
The others are all grateful to Usopp - without him, they would have been wiped out in a single stroke.
In Perona's wonder garden, Sanji parts ways with Franky and Zoro, who are headed to find Brook on the top floor of Hogback's mansion. (And when I say "parts ways," I mean "jumps off the bridge in flames." Zoro: "Isn't this kind of high up?")
Brook is holding his own against Ryuuma, barely.
Brook resents Ryuuma using the name of his signature technique (Yahazugiri) when he doesn't know a thing about Brook's past. Brook was once a knight in royal service. [As far as I know, we still know almost nothing about the details of this.] The zombie has Brook's personality and skills, but none of his memories or feelings. For him to use that name is an insult.
But, in the end, Brook doesn't stand a chance against Ryuuma.
Just when Ryuuma is about to cement his victory by cutting off Brook's hair, the mansion is rocked to the foundation, knocking them off their feet. Franky and Zoro reach the lab before Ryuuma can recover his footing.
Zoro gladly challenges Ryuuma. "I don't know whether dragons exist or not, but I've been looking forward to meeting you!"
Franky tells a bewildered Brook that Zoro is famous for his Santouryuu technique. If Brook's pride will allow it, Zoro will step in for him against Ryuuma. (Brook is more than happy to accept the favor.)
What interests Zoro most is Ryuuma's sword, which Ryuuma identifies as Shuusui, one of the "oowazamono" named blades. (I need to go back and read my own sword guide from vol 11/12 to see how this compares with Mihawk's Kokutou and Zoro's own Wadou, but I think it might rank between the two.)
Zoro: "Nice sword. I'll take it."
[Trivia reminder: Zoro is currently fighting with only two swords because Yubashiri was broken at the end of the fight on Enies Lobby.]
In the chapel, Absalom is trying to kiss his unconscious bride but keeps getting foiled by the violent swaying of the building.
It turns out that the entire island (ship) is shaking violently because Oars has been messing with the anchor-chain. The General Zombies have all been summoned to deal with him (the wedding will have to wait for later).
Oars wastes the entire army of General Zombies without breaking a sweat (he's still trying to use Luffy's techniques, though he has to substitute brute force for the ability to stretch).
Absalom is confused about the way Oars is acting - isn't he supposed to be an ally? How can a zombie defy the will of its master?
Sanji bursts into the chapel to rescue Nami.
463
[Cover arc: Enel discovers an underground chamber on the moon that the Space Pirates were in the course of excavating.]
Luffy is baffled by the swaying of the island/ship, but Moria says it's probably the fault of Luffy's zombie.
Luffy declares he's come to kick Moria's ass, but Moria points out that just defeating or killing him won't be enough. He has to give the order to the shadow to return to its master, voluntarily. Luffy isn't particularly fazed.
When he attempts to fight Moria, Moria generates a warrior from his own shadow ("the Doppelman"), which prevents Luffy from laying a hand on him (the shadow can also break down into vicious biting vampire bats).
When Luffy insists that he's going to be King of the Pirates, Moria says his shadow said that, too, but even the strongest-willed shadow placed in a newly minted zombie can only retain an independent will for so long. It's only a matter of time before Luffy's zombie becomes as obedient as the rest.
In the chapel, Absalom and Sanji are fighting over Nami (to the extent that either of them can manage to avoid being blindsided every few minutes by the superhuman beauty of Nami's unconscious form).
[I assume I'm supposed to find this funny, but mostly I just find it tedious. And kind of gross, because she's UNCONSCIOUS.]
Absalom connects Sanji's fixation with Nami with that of the dog-penguin, and comments that Sanji must be a nobody that they didn't think worthy of being put into a General Zombie. Certainly the penguin was far too weak to defy Absalom himself.
Absalom soon discovers that his arrogance is misplaced - Sanji has him badly outmatched. He even seems to be able to sense what Absalom's next move in battle will be.
Absalom tries to take temporary shelter by turning invisible, but Sanji throws Usopp's pellets at him, making him visible again.
How can this man not have a bounty!?
Absalom had complained of being in a bad mood (because his wedding was interrupted), but Sanji is on the verge of exploding with rage. Literally.
[Love the zombies acting as Greek chorus. "I could just explode!" "He DID explode!"]
Furthermore, he says, he has an additional reason to hate Absalom.
464
Sanji informs Absalom that he has stolen one of his life's dreams from him.
Absalom is about to destroy Sanji, but Sanji tells him to "take those off." He knows that Absalom is wearing rocket launchers in his sleeves, and he doesn't want Nami caught in the crossfire.
He guessed that Absalom was keeping something hidden, because the "suke-suke no mi" (transparent-transparent fruit) gives him the power to both make himself invisible and to render anything that he touches invisible.
He knows all about the suke-suke no mi, because since he was a child and came across a description of it in an encyclopedia, it's the only fruit he ever considered eating. For all the rest, he always considered that the disadvantages of being a fruit user outweighed the advantages.
But, since each fruit can only be born once into the world as long as its possessor lives, meeting Absalom is proof that Absalom has stolen his life's dream. His lifelong dream of being able to peek on the women's bat~… er, be of use to human kind!
[This is so utterly gross that I am ret-conning it right out of my head. This conversation never existed in canon as far as I am concerned. The only thing that makes the scene even remotely entertaining is the zombie commentary.]
Absalom boasts of his surgically altered body, which possesses the strength of many wild beasts.
[As far as I can tell, Absalom is not actually a zombie, so Hogback somehow must have accomplished these modifications through surgery on the living body?]
Sanji struggles to keep his grip on Nami and to shield her from any stray blows, despite the injuries to himself, until something forces him to drop her. He apologizes, saying that he couldn't bear to stain her white dress with his own blood.
[I am rolling my eyes so hard here that they might end up two blocks away.]
He nobly declares that he's given up on his dream of gaining invisibility through a devil fruit. He'll peep on the baths under his own power!
Sanji is able to sense Absalom's invisible presence (by his blood?) and grab him, dealing the final beatdown.
Meanwhile, Perona is fleeing in terror from Usopp. She has no idea at all how to handle him. (And Usopp in turn seems to be fleeing from Kumashi.)
While fleeing from Kumashi's attacks, Usopp temporarily loses sight of Perona, and when he sees her again, she seems to have gained renewed confidence, hovering like a ghost outside the window of the castle.
465
Usopp tries to take out Perona's floating form with his newly modified Kabuto weapon, but Perona disappears and reappears behind him, this time giant-sized. His attacks seem to have no effect.
Perona flies at him and plunges her hands into his chest, threatening to crush his heart with her bare hands. Usopp is terrified.
"Psych!"
It turns out she was bluffing - she can pass through objects, but if she had had the power to crush organs, Usopp would have been dead already.
Perona continues to freak Usopp out with her ability to pass through floors, walls, the human body, etc.
She seems blithely confident that none of Usopp's physical attacks can hurt her, and she further unleashes "mini-hollows" that can chase Usopp down and explode. And Kumashi has all the strength of a real bear, to pummel Usopp's body when he's down.
When Usopp is in the depths of despair, he calls on "Sogeking" to appear and give him confidence. (He carries the mask around in his bag, still?)
(Needless to say, Perona has no difficulty recognizing the guy under the mask as Usopp. "How are you supposed to be a different person!?")
"Sogeking" talks to "Usopp-kun," calming him and helping him to think rationally - why the sudden change in Perona's attitude during the time he lost sight of her?
He finally realizes that he's been dealing with a projection this whole time - Perona's actual body is hidden in a room nearby, vulnerable to attack once he succeeds in blasting through the wall to reveal it.
466
[Cover arc: Enel discovers a underground city on the moon. (Just how many underground cities are there in the One Piece world?)]
Perona admits that Usopp is mostly right, and explains how her power works. In addition to being able to project ghosts from her body, her soul can leave her body and act as a ghost with human will.
[Not really sure why she bothers to explain herself, but I guess someone needed to explain it for the readers.]
Usopp fires on Perona's real body, but the shot apparently misses.
Perona tries to blow him up with a giant version of the exploding mini-hollows (the Special Hollow), but Usopp absorbs the explosive power into a dial. He also reveals that his first "dud" attack on her body was actually designed to create a sticky web, preventing her from moving even if she returned to her physical self.
While Perona (who has now returned to her real body) is trapped, one of her senior lieutenants tries to attack Usopp, but is defeated by the explosive power stored in the dial.
Usopp's final attack is to unleash cockroaches all over Perona's body, and then threaten to hit her over the head with a 10-ton hammer. Perona passes out from sheer terror.
"Princess of the haunted mansion, defeated by a blow-up toy and a bunch of fake cockroaches? Lame (世話ねえよ). You made a big mistake, challenging ME to a contest of negativity and lying."
Meanwhile, Zoro is still battling the samurai, Ryuuma, and things are not going well. Zoro appears to be down.
Flashback five minutes to an earlier stage of Zoro's battle.
Brook is shocked to see that Ryuuma is able to use his own techniques with far more power than he was ever able to wield.
467
[Enel attacks the underground city with lightning - his general principle appears to be "attack first, ask questions never".]
Ryuuma's sword has the power to punch a hole through the wall, but Zoro can slash the walls in half.
[I love Zoro to death, but the effort to make each of his sword fights seems more badass than the last is starting to border on the ridiculous.]
Franky is confused by the battle, so Brook has to narrate it for him.
(Also, Franky is now calling Zoro "that haramaki guy". His nicknames are getting weirder by the minute - Nami now seems to be "ko-musume".)
Brook comments that Ryuuma is way beyond his (Brook's) ability level. Comparing Zoro and Ryuuma, both their skill and their physical strength appear to be evenly matched. The match won't last long.
When the roof of the mansion is near collapse, Franky escapes with Brook to the outside.
The swordsmen continue their battle on the rooftop.
After an exchange of attacks in mid-air, Zoro is flat on his back and Ryuuma is on fire (literally).
Before he goes up in flames, Ryuuma tosses Shuusui to his opponent.
A legendary samurai once wore this upon his hip. With you as its master, I think "Shuusui" might find its rightful place.
(Literally "true desire," この刀も本望でしょう. I really don't know how to translate the suggestion that the sword has the will to choose its owner.]
Brook and Franky can't hear what is being said, but Brook comments that he's never seen such a battle. He understands now that Ryuuma never took him seriously when they fought.
Zoro tells Ryuuma that he wishes they could have met back then, when he was alive.
Brook's shadow returns to him.
Zoro: "I'll take this blade, but… let's pretend this match never happened. Samurai of Wa no Kuni."
[The battle itself was kind of ridiculous - there really are a limited number of ways to make a sword fight look cool, and Oda has largely exhausted them - but I really like the way it's wrapped up, and the reversal of expectations from the end of 466, where it looked like Zoro was losing. The acknowledgement of respect for a worthy opponent, such a common feature of Zoro's best fights, is particularly poignant here.]
468
[Cover arc: Enel's lightning bolt attack accidentally recharges the ancient city, with its army of tiny robots.]
Jigorou (Zoro's zombie) is facing down Robin, and Chopper is facing Sanji's dog-penguin zombie.
Chopper reflects that Sanji's influence is fading - the penguin was able to kick Robin. The penguin has no idea what he's talking about, though he still talks like Sanji ("I'll fillet you!").
Hogback explains that newly created zombies sometimes retain some trace of their original memories, but it always fades with time, once the shadow and the zombie-body fully merge. Zoro's and Sanji's zombies are now wholly obedient servants.
Chopper is utterly disgusted with Hogback. He had originally had some admiration for Hogback's research into life after death, no matter how unorthodox, because who hasn't wished for just a few minutes to say their last words to a loved one suddenly taken away? But this…
[Oh, Chopper.]
Hogback is scornful. Everything he did was for money, not for his patients. And he grew to be sick of his patients' incessant demands. Everyone wanting him to save someone. Such a nuisance. How could Chopper possibly understand how difficult life was for a genius like him? It was Chopper's selfish choice to admire him, and his disappointment is equally none of Hogback's concern. Is he going to presume to lecture him now on how to be a doctor?
Chopper says as far as he's concerned, Hogback is no longer worth acknowledging as a doctor at all.
The zombies he has created are a mockery of life. They're just moving corpses.
Hogback insists they are alive; their very existence is a miracle.
He kicks Cindry to the floor, and orders her to lick it. Cindry calmly obeys.
Hogback says the room they saw wasn't Cindry's, it was his. He adored Cindry when he was alive - not only her beauty and fame, but her gentle sweetness to everyone, including himself as her doctor. But she rejected his marriage proposal, saying she was engaged to another man. And then she died.
He was so depressed over her death that he abandoned his medical practice and disappeared, but then Moria appeared before him with the offer to work on zombie research. His research enabled him to steal Cindry's body and reanimate it. Now the woman who once rejected him is his obedient slave. Who needs her real personality? All he wants is her pretty face and her submission.
[This is disgusting on SO many levels, but unlike some other scenes (Absalom in the shower, ew), I think Oda fully means for us to see it as vile. It presages the increasing focus of the story on the treatment of living beings as objects to be used and thrown away at their masters' convenience.]
Hogback thinks Cindry must be happy, too, to have a second chance at life as a human being, but Chopper says that there's nothing human about her any more. The creatures Hogback is creating are nothing but monsters (怪物).
[An interesting comment, considering Chopper's history.]
Hogback tells Cindry to kill them both, and promises Chopper that he'll make him into his assistant after he's dead - won't that be nice?
Chopper battles with Cindry, who has the superhuman strength of a zombie. Although fighting to subdue her, Chopper pities her, forced to live on against her will. How her family would grieve if they could see her.
Hogback keeps insisting that this is dream of humanity - to allow the dead to live again - but Chopper says that a "human" would be free to make its own choices.
人間ならもっと自由だ！ お前が一番人間扱いしてないんじゃないか！ (If they were human, they'd be more free! What you're doing is the exact opposite of treating them as human!)
[Again, this line is prophetic, in more ways than one.]
Chopper tries to get Robin to feed Cindry the salt, but the effort fails when Hogback orders the dog-penguin and Jigorou to join the fight. However, Zoro and Sanji's zombies soon get distracted by fighting each other.
Chopper: "They don't even remember each other, and those two still can't get along." (LOL)
Robin suggests to Hogback that maybe he should order them (Robin and Chopper) to jump off the tower. When he issues the order ("You two, jump off the tower!"), dog-penguin and Jigorou promptly obey. Naturally, Robin and Chopper don't.
[This is a genius surgeon? Nami's right, he's kind of manukeppoi.]
Chopper prepares to fight Hogback. Hogback tries to order Cindry to fight for him, but she is temporarily transfixed, tears streaming down her face.
469
[Enel is non-plussed to find himself with a loyal and grateful robot army. Since I didn't comment on the exclamation points before, I will say that I love the yin question mark!]
For a moment, they think that Cindry's lost human soul (not the shadow, but the former owner of her body) is fighting back. To Robin's disappointment, Cindry's moment of almost-human weakness doesn't last, and she reverts to being an obedient servant.
Robin restrains Cindry while Chopper tackles Hogback.
Hogback: "You're not even human! You monster!" (この怪物やろう！)
Chopper: "OUR captain takes monsters! And cyborgs! And demon beasts, and perverts, and negatives! He doesn't have to order around soulless dead bodies like YOU!"
(I LOVE this speech. Go Chopper!)
With the aid of Robin's "arms", Chopper lifts Hogback high in the air. Hogback is screeching about his genius brain being splashed all over the floor, but Chopper says his brains are rottener than his zombies.
LOL the name of Chopper's attack: "Robiccho Supplex!" (I suddenly want the whole team to start coming up with combo attack names.)
Meanwhile, Luffy is staring open-mouthed at his own zombie. Oars now seems much more biddable.
Moria gives Oars-zombie his first order - hunt down the Strawhat crew and dispose of them. He has pasted copies of each of the wanted posters to Oars' arm.
Oars immediately recognizes Luffy by his straw hat, and begins to attack as Moria flees.
When Oars attacks, he smashes the room that Robin and Chopper are in with Hogback and Cindry.
Chopper drops Hogback and leaps to safety. Hogback ends up buried in rubble on the floor below.
Hogback orders Cindry to free him, but she seems to be frozen again.
Just before Oars crushes Hogback underfoot, Cindry smiles - the same sweet smile she had in the pictures of her when she was alive.
Oars next smashes through the area where Usopp is fleeing from Perona's room, and the chapel where Sanji is holding Nami's unconscious body.
Nami suddenly turns invisible and is pulled from his arms - Absalom is back in the game.
Brook, Franky and Zoro see Oars rampaging from the broken roof of the mansion. Sanji is visible near his feet.
Franky is now calling Sanji the "guru-guru cook," LOL.
Luffy is busy chasing Moria - characteristically, not even a giant zombie can distract him once he's set his mind on a battle objective.
Absalom, with Nami in his arms, prepares to escape the chapel and resume his interrupted marriage-ceremony elsewhere.
Perona's wild zombies discover their unconscious mistress (who is still foaming at the mouth) and prepare to take her to safety.
All the zombies flee the region of the mansion - nothing is safe now that Oars is on the rampage.
Usopp, Chopper and Robin meet up in Perona's wonder-garden. Usopp (always the sharp-eyed one) points out the wanted posters on Oars' arm.
All the Strawhat pirates prepare to confront Luffy's unbeatable zombie.
470
[Cover arc: Enel and the robots discover an Egyptian-style wall painting in the underground city, which depicts an ancient society of winged people (and, apparently, little winged robots). Notice how some of the people look like Shandians, and some like Angel Islanders?]
While Luffy is pursuing Moria, Oars is facing Luffy's crew.
[I love that the crew members are somehow able to talk to each other even though they're located in completely different places - how good are their lungs anyway?]
Oars immediately recognizes Sanji from his wanted poster. (そっくり！)
Robin is trying to remember where she's heard Oars' name before. She connects him with the legend of the "continent-puller", a giant who lived 500 years in the past.
Oars easily defeats Sanji and goes after Chopper and Robin, whom he also recognizes from their posters.
Zoro and Franky try to distract Oars' attention, and Oars destroys the building they're standing on with a single kick. Their attacks are no more successful than Sanji's. Brook gets knocked out, too.
Usopp manages to shoot a salt ball into Oars' mouth, but the salt doesn't work - Oars is too big.
In no time, Robin, Usopp, Chopper, Sanji, Zoro, Franky and Brook are all knocked out. Usopp tries to plead with Luffy to recognize them, but Oars says he doesn't know who they are.
"My name is Oars. I work for Moria-sama!"
TBC