While Luffy and Nami, along with little Merry, were inside Hogback's castle, the other members of the Thousand Sunny weren't idle either.
Their unreliable captain had charged straight onto the island—they were used to that by now.
But since the reliable Nami had been taken along as well, it fell to Vivi to decide how to proceed. They decided to split into two groups by drawing lots, with one person staying behind to guard the ship.
In the end, Vivi, Robin, Usopp, and Chopper formed one group.
Sanji, Zoro, Brook, and Nika formed the other.
"You sure you'll be fine on your own?" Sanji asked Franky warily. Who knew what that pervert might get up to?
"Ho ho ho! I'll protect Sunny and Merry with my life! SUPER!"
After Franky pounded his metal chest and swore to watch over the ship, the rest of the crew split into two groups and set foot on the Gloomy, massive island.
Thriller Bark.
It was less a ship and more a colossal island.
Vivi, Robin, Chopper, and Usopp's group—unlike the boisterous atmosphere of Zoro's group—was much quieter.
If one ignored the chattering of Usopp's teeth and Chopper's occasional whimpers every time he saw his own shadow.
"Chopper, stay close to me! In this dangerous forest, only my wisdom and fearlessness can protect you!"
Usopp put on a brave front, clutching a string of garlic in one hand and a silver cross in the other, though his voice trembled badly.
"Usopp... I think we should go back to the ship," Chopper whined, clinging to Usopp with tears in his eyes.
"Don't worry. There aren't any enemies nearby." Vivi looked at the two of them and couldn't help but smile. "My ability is very convenient."
In unfamiliar territory, sensory abilities were especially important. With her Fū Fū no Mi power, she could detect even the slightest changes in the surrounding air currents.
"I don't see any enemies either," Robin said, equally calm. "And besides, zombies and ghosts seem rather interesting, don't they?"
She walked gracefully, as if strolling through her own backyard garden.
"Relax, Usopp, Chopper. Fear often stems from the unknown. Once we understand things, we realize they're not as scary as we imagined." As she spoke, she picked a bit of spores from an unusually large mushroom by the roadside and observed it with great interest.
"Robin, that's probably poisonous!" Usopp shrieked.
Robin's hobbies were too strange!
Maybe only Luffy could tolerate her?
"Don't worry. I know what I'm doing." Robin smiled and flicked the spores away.
Vivi walked over to Robin and asked casually, "Speaking of which... I wonder what Luffy and Nami are doing right now? Merry is with them, so they shouldn't get lost, right?"
"Hmm. With Merry there, getting lost is unlikely."
Robin glanced at Vivi from the side, a knowing smile curling at the corner of her lips as she played along. "But given Luffy's personality, now that he and Nami are forced to be alone together... who knows if something might happen?"
Like discovering a strange mechanism in some room, or accidentally triggering a trap that requires close cooperation to escape.
But neither of them could have imagined that a "bathroom play" scenario was involved.
"Are you worried?" Robin asked with a slightly mischievous, teasing tone.
Back in Water 7, she had secretly gone back to check on things.
She had seen very clearly what Vivi did to Luffy while he was asleep.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have suggested trying it herself afterwards.
And the results of that experiment had been quite reasonable. No wonder she had noticed Vivi's cheeks looking full that night.
Everyone could more or less sense the complex feelings the others had toward Luffy. They were crewmates who had been through so many adventures together.
It was just that no one ever called anyone else out on it.
"Two people alone together... that couldn't possibly happen, right?"
Vivi muttered under her breath. Unbidden images flashed through her mind, and she shook her head vigorously to dispel them. "Merry is with them!"
Robin smiled but said nothing.
Merry? That little darling was firmly on Luffy's side.
A brief silence spread between them. Neither continued the topic, though a subtle unease lingered in both their minds.
They followed what seemed to be an abandoned path and soon reached an even more sinister area.
The cemetery that Luffy and the others had passed through earlier.
Compared to when Luffy had passed through, the place was now even more chaotic, as if a great battle had just taken place. Tombstones were knocked over, dirt was churned up, and many zombies were groping around on the ground, searching for their knocked-away heads or severed limbs.
"Where's my head? I clearly remember it rolling this way."
"Has anyone seen my right arm? I was just using it to screw in a bolt."
"Dammit! We have to find that Straw Hat brat and scare him back!"
A zombie who looked like a minor leader, with a clear suture line across his neck, roared in fury.
He had planned to jump out and scare the new living visitors, enjoying their terrified screams but instead, he had been the one who ended up getting thrashed. Now he was humiliated and enraged.
"The scent of the living! More living people are coming!"
A sharp-eyed zombie spotted Vivi and her group.
"Capture them! Offer their shadows to Moria-sama!"
"That reindeer looks tasty!"
"That woman is so beautiful! Her skin must be so smooth!"
In an instant, zombies emerged one after another from the soft earth and behind broken tombstones. Their eyes gleamed with greed and malice as they surrounded Vivi and the others.
The stench of decay washed over them.
This time, they'd have to show some real skill!
"WAAAAH! They're here! A real zombie army!"
Usopp and Chopper instantly clung to each other, letting out a dolphin-pitched duet of terror.
But against this horror-movie scene, Vivi and Robin remained remarkably calm.
"How rude," Vivi said with a slight frown, displeased by the zombies' crude remarks. She raised her hand lightly, and the air currents around her began to swirl.
"Shishi Kaiwame: Kumo no Su."
Robin was even more direct. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and activated her ability.
In an instant, countless white arms bloomed like flowers, sprouting from the zombies' joints before twisting and entangling them violently.
"What is this?"
"Another Devil Fruit user?"
"Dammit—they're not all together, are they?"
The zombies had no way to resist. With the sound of cracking and dislocating bones, the dozen or so zombies in the front were instantly twisted into pretzels or bound tightly, crashing to the ground.
"Mijin Zan."
Vivi waved her slender hand. An invisible yet razor-sharp blade of wind fanned outward, slicing several zombies that had lunged from the side cleanly in half.
Though they soon began writhing and trying to piece themselves back together, they were temporarily incapacitated.
"Amazing!" Usopp exclaimed.
He had almost forgotten—these two were Devil Fruit users!
"Eh? Th-that's right. I'm a Devil Fruit user too!"
Chopper, emboldened by the two ladies' bravery, popped a Rumble Ball into his mouth and swallowed. "Arm Strength Enhancement!"
His body bulked up. Swinging his powerful hooves, he charged into the zombie horde like a cyclone, sending zombies flying with every punch.
"Special Attack: Flame Star Rapid Fire!"
Usopp snapped out of it too. Hiding behind Chopper and the two women, he used his slingshot to precisely pick off zombies trying to sneak up or reassemble themselves. The bursts of flame temporarily slowed their regeneration.
For a moment, the scene turned quite brutal.
The zombies' much-vaunted immortality was utterly useless against absolute strength and control.
They were knocked down, torn apart by wind, yet still stubbornly tried to crawl back up.
"So... so brutal," a zombie mumbled, its head stomped into the dirt by Chopper.
"What's wrong with these people? They're even harsher than the last bunch."
"Forget it. Let's find some other entertainment. These folks are bad news."
Some zombies tried to burrow back underground and slip away.
"Going already?"
Vivi sensed the shift in the air currents and pressed her hands together. "Senpū Sokubaku!"
A powerful wind formed an invisible cage, trapping the fleeing zombies in place. No matter how they struggled, they couldn't break free.
The one-sided battle lasted about ten minutes.
In the end, the zombies gave up.
They lay sprawled on the ground, motionless, their hollow eyes staring up at the gray sky.
They weren't dead. They had simply... lying flat.
In their own words: "It's not like we'll actually die."
If getting back up meant getting beaten again, it was better to stay down.
Missing an arm or a leg? Maybe they could go back to Dr. Hogback and get a better replacement part.
Rather than waste energy, it was easier to play dead and enjoy some peace and quiet.
What was wrong with these people? Knowing we can't die, they still beat us over and over—do they have some kind of hobby?
Like... corpse abuse?
Not at all.
"So weak," Usopp said in disbelief, looking at the bodies strewn across the ground. "Are these really zombies?"
Then who was he dressed up as a heavenly master for?
"We can do this too!" Chopper said, reverting to his small form. This fight had given him a huge confidence boost—he felt like he could even knock out Moria himself!
"Impressive. As expected of the Straw Hat crew, with a combined bounty of over 1.5 billion berries."
A sinister voice came from the edge of the forest.
Everyone looked up to see a giant bat hanging upside down from a tree branch. Strangely, it had a human head. When it folded its wings, its appearance was quite eerie.
This human-faced bat was Hildon, one of Moria's subordinates in charge of reconnaissance. Having witnessed the group effortlessly dismantle the zombie squad, he was inwardly alarmed.
He hadn't seen the Straw Hat's earlier fight, but judging by the state of the zombies, that battle had been just as one-sided.
These crew members were also extraordinary especially those two women.
They're Devil Fruit users just like Moria-sama!
***
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