Short Summary
Everybody, ZOMBIE NIGHT!
The next stop in the Straw Hats' journey brings the crew across a ghost ship where they meet a talking skeleton, Brook, who seems friendly enough. But this meeting leads the Straw Hats getting trapped on a rather spooky island filled with bizarre monsters. What's more, the place is run by another Warlord of the Sea, Gecko Moria. Long Summary
It's a lovely day on the Grand Line, and the Straw Hats are taking a well deserved rest day to relax and play around the Thousand Sunny. Sanji (after delivering some parfaits to the girls) declares his intention to make octopus for dinner, and tasks Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper with rounding some up from the Sunny's fish tank. It's hard going given Chopper's short arms, Luffy's stupidity, and Usopp's bad luck, but after an incident where Usopp almost drowns and gets beaten up by Luffy's well-meaning attempt at rescuing him, they are ultimately able to round up some octopodes and have fun while doing so. Zoro is woken up from his nap in the crow's nest, but his initial annoyance at his crewmates antics is stopped when he spots something drifting on the water towards the ship.
The crew heads to the deck and spots the object; it's a barrel with a flag on it, Usopp spotting the word "treasure" written on it. Thinking they've struck paydirt, the Straw Hats pull the barrel in and put it on deck, only to be disappointed when they see the reality; Nami explains the flag reads "Gift to the God of the Sea", a traditional offering sailors would make for safe passage by stuffing a barrel full of food and drink for the gods. While bummed they didn't get any treasure, the prospect of drink is a welcome one and Luffy opens the barrel to see what's inside. No sooner has he opened it that a flare shoots out of the barrel and explodes over the Sunny; the crew is stumped by this, with Robin wondering if this was all some elaborate prank. They don't get any time to think on this before Nami alerts them that a storm is rolling in and will hit the Sunny in five minutes. The crew do their best to secure the Sunny, but the storm is incredibly strong and threatens to capsize the ship. No matter- Franky activates Channel Zero on the Sunny's Soldier Dock System, turning her into a paddle steamer that easily powers through the storm.
Now that they are out of the storm, the crew looks around and notes that the sky is far too dark from what should be a sunny afternoon, and that they seem to be surrounded by a thick layer of fog. Luffy concludes they must be in the Florian Triangle that Granny Kokoro mentioned back at Water 7, with Usopp (who wasn't present during that talk) asking what exactly that means. The others fill in Usopp about the Florian Triangle, a "cursed" section of sea where hundreds of ships disappear every year and is supposedly filled with ghosts and zombies, which freaks the cowardly sniper out to no end. Just then, the crew hears a haunting tune drifting over the air, right before a massive abandoned galleon comes drifting out of the fog. The Straw Hats maneuver the Sunny out of the way as the galleon passes by, and from their spot they can see the source of the singing; a afro-wearing skeleton dressed in a nice suit and drinking a cup of tea, who watches the now panicking Straw Hats as the ship sails past.
Luffy is, naturally, thrilled at the idea of a singing skeleton, and so intends to board the galleon to talk with it. He's held back by Sanji, who wants to keep Luffy on a tight leash before he does something stupid. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper are all happy to leave the ship and keep sailing, but Zoro informs them that's unlikely- once Luffy's got his mind set on something, there's no reining him in, and the best they can do is send two people along to be his minders before he gets into trouble. He proposes drawing straws, and Sanji and Nami pull the short straw to join Luffy on the galleon. Onboard, the skeleton happily greets them and apologizes for his cold behavior- he was so shocked to see living, breathing humans that he panicked and froze up. He initially offers to take them inside for some refreshments, but stops upon seeing Nami. The skeleton straightens out his clothes and dusts off his shoes before approaching Nami... and asking to see her panties; Nami's terror turns to rage and she kicks the skeleton in the head, leaving a sizeable welt. Sanji demands to know how a skeleton is still alive and acting like a normal human, but Luffy has a more important question- would the skeleton like to join his crew? The skeleton quickly agrees (to Nami and Sanji's outrage), and the four head back to the Sunny.
Aboard the Sunny, the skeleton greets the other crewmembers and introduces himself as Brook (and asks Robin if he can see her panties, earning another beating from Nami). Usopp and Chopper freak out and attempt an exorcism on Brook, which freaks him out as well as he looks around for the malevolent spirit they are after. Zoro chews out Nami and Sanji for once again allowing Luffy to get away with something stupid, and Luffy finally asks the question of what exactly Brook is and how did he get there. Brook is happy to explain, but he is super hungry due to not eating in fifty years, so Sanji preps dinner and the Straw Hats (plus Brook) head to the galley to eat.
In the kitchen, it turns out that Brook is just as ravenous and rowdy as any of the other Straw Hats (read: Luffy), but otherwise he's pretty good company. After eating, Brook begins to explain his backstory; he's a Devil Fruit user, specifically having eaten the Revive-Revive Fruit, which grants its user a second shot at life after they are killed. Brook was once a pirate just like them, long ago, but his crew were attacked and slaughtered by a powerful foe while on their journey. Thanks to the powers of the Revive-Revive Fruit, Brook's soul returned following his death, but unfortunately it got lost and couldn't find his body for a full year- by the time his soul found his body, it had rotted down to the skeleton form we see now (as for why he still has hair, Brook says he has very deep roots). Usopp asks Brook if he's a skeleton or a ghost, with Brook saying he's quite frightened by ghosts; Nami finds this ironic given his skeletal appearance and turns a mirror towards Brook, but this causes the skeleton to scream in fright. Not because he's scary looking, but because there's nothing to see- Brook has no reflection! Further inspection reveals he has no shadow as well, the crew panicking and asking if Brook is actually a vampire. Brook quickly corrects them that he is not a vampire and being a skeleton has nothing to do with his shadow-less condition- in actuality, his shadow was stolen from him. It does have similar effects to vampirism in that he can't see his reflection and will disintegrate if he is exposed to sunlight (as happened to another sailor whom Brook encountered that had his shadow stolen and went mad from the stress and isolation), but other than that he's just a normal talking skeleton. However, with his revelation he goes back on his acceptance at joining the Straw Hats- because he has no shadow, he will die the instant the Sunny reaches calmer waters, and he doesn't want to burden his new friends with that trauma. Instead, he resolves to wait in the fog banks of the Florian Triangle until he gets his shadow back, then he'd be happy to join the Straw Hats should they meet again.
Luffy rejects Brook's plan, saying that he'll help find Brook's shadow and beat the guy who did this to him. Brook appreciates the solidarity, but refuses to elaborate further on who stole his shadow before offering to play them a song- as his former crew's musician, he is quite well versed in music. Luffy is ecstatic to have a musician on board and demands Brook join his crew, but before he can begin playing Brook freaks out as a real ghost drifts into the galley. The ghost disappears and the Straw Hats rush on deck to follow it, only to see that the Sunny's path has been blocked by a massive wall that looks like teeth. Brook hurries them to the back of the ship, and as they look at what's behind them he asks Luffy if they opened a barrel with a flag on it. When Luffy reluctantly answers that they did, Brook tells the Straw Hats that it was a signal flare and they had been tracked the whole time they were in the fog bank. Now, they have reached the source of the flare- Thriller Bark, a ghostly island in the Triangle that has just materialized behind them.
With Thriller Bark now revealed, Brook bids the Straw Hats farewell- the man who stole his shadow is on that island, and he intends to go and get it back. He tells the Straw Hats they should escape and head for calmer waters before jumping off the side of the Sunny, and with his light weight he is able to run across the surface of the water to the island. The Straw Hats survey their means of escape, but they are not good- the teeth structure are heavy gates that are surrounded by high walls, meaning the Straw Hats are trapped on Thriller Bark with no obvious means of escape. Nami and Chopper want nothing to do with the island, but Luffy grabs a butterfly net and box with the intent of catching a ghost and keeping it as a pet. Usopp tries to dissuade Luffy from going across, but only seems to encourage Luffy (which is not helped when Robin and Franky express interest in joining him). In fact, Franky has just the thing for this situation, instructing the others to go down to Soldier Dock Channel 2 and wait for him to activate it. Nami, Usopp and Chopper head down, Nami mentioning that Franky had been doing his best to keep this area of the Sunny off limits. Franky says he had been working on a special project before activating Soldier Dock Channel 2, revealing a small landing craft designed to look like the late Going Merry. Dubbed "Mini-Merry II", this will act as a smaller ship to carry the Straw Hats to ports and locales the Sunny can't reach, and the trio quickly takes a shine to the craft as they pilot it around the Sunny. Franky explains that he has a few other channels lined up as well- Channel 0 (the emergency paddle system), Channel 1 (an upgrade to Nami's Skypiean Waver), Channel 2(Mini-Merry), and Channel 3 (Shark Submerge, a submarine shaped like a shark they can use to explore underwater passages). As he explains this, however, the group on deck loses sight of the other three and Mini-Merry. As they prepare to go ashore and find out what happened, something begins to mess with the Straw Hats: Luffy's hat is stolen, one of Zoro's swords is yanked from its scabbard, and Zoro himself is yanked off his feet and tossed around like a ragdoll. It all comes to a head when the invisible person grabs Robin and licks her, escaping before the Straw Hats can engage. All the while, the Sunny begins drifting in the currents of Thriller Bark.
Meanwhile, the other three find themselves at the bottom of a moat- during their ride, Nami accidentally ran Mini-Merry into a small sea wall and she, Usopp, and Chopper were pitched into the moat. As they take a moment to survey their surroundings, they find that the moat is filled with human bones. What's worse, they're not alone- a beast approaches them from the shadows, stepping into the light to reveal that it is a massive three-headed dog. The three naturally panic at the sight and run, with the "Cerberus" giving chase. As they run, however, Chopper notices there's something off with the third head- it's actually a fox's head that had been grafted onto the rest of the body, and when he points this out the Cerberus stops and hangs its head in embarrassment. This buys them only a short reprieve before the Cerberus continues chasing them, the three Straw Hats spotting a staircase leading them into a spooky-looking forest. They dash in and Usopp uses a smoke bomb to hide them from the Cerberus, the three climbing a tree to avoid the beast.
The crew heads to the deck and spots the object; it's a barrel with a flag on it, Usopp spotting the word "treasure" written on it. Thinking they've struck paydirt, the Straw Hats pull the barrel in and put it on deck, only to be disappointed when they see the reality; Nami explains the flag reads "Gift to the God of the Sea", a traditional offering sailors would make for safe passage by stuffing a barrel full of food and drink for the gods. While bummed they didn't get any treasure, the prospect of drink is a welcome one and Luffy opens the barrel to see what's inside. No sooner has he opened it that a flare shoots out of the barrel and explodes over the Sunny; the crew is stumped by this, with Robin wondering if this was all some elaborate prank. They don't get any time to think on this before Nami alerts them that a storm is rolling in and will hit the Sunny in five minutes. The crew do their best to secure the Sunny, but the storm is incredibly strong and threatens to capsize the ship. No matter- Franky activates Channel Zero on the Sunny's Soldier Dock System, turning her into a paddle steamer that easily powers through the storm.
Now that they are out of the storm, the crew looks around and notes that the sky is far too dark from what should be a sunny afternoon, and that they seem to be surrounded by a thick layer of fog. Luffy concludes they must be in the Florian Triangle that Granny Kokoro mentioned back at Water 7, with Usopp (who wasn't present during that talk) asking what exactly that means. The others fill in Usopp about the Florian Triangle, a "cursed" section of sea where hundreds of ships disappear every year and is supposedly filled with ghosts and zombies, which freaks the cowardly sniper out to no end. Just then, the crew hears a haunting tune drifting over the air, right before a massive abandoned galleon comes drifting out of the fog. The Straw Hats maneuver the Sunny out of the way as the galleon passes by, and from their spot they can see the source of the singing; a afro-wearing skeleton dressed in a nice suit and drinking a cup of tea, who watches the now panicking Straw Hats as the ship sails past.
Luffy is, naturally, thrilled at the idea of a singing skeleton, and so intends to board the galleon to talk with it. He's held back by Sanji, who wants to keep Luffy on a tight leash before he does something stupid. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper are all happy to leave the ship and keep sailing, but Zoro informs them that's unlikely- once Luffy's got his mind set on something, there's no reining him in, and the best they can do is send two people along to be his minders before he gets into trouble. He proposes drawing straws, and Sanji and Nami pull the short straw to join Luffy on the galleon. Onboard, the skeleton happily greets them and apologizes for his cold behavior- he was so shocked to see living, breathing humans that he panicked and froze up. He initially offers to take them inside for some refreshments, but stops upon seeing Nami. The skeleton straightens out his clothes and dusts off his shoes before approaching Nami... and asking to see her panties; Nami's terror turns to rage and she kicks the skeleton in the head, leaving a sizeable welt. Sanji demands to know how a skeleton is still alive and acting like a normal human, but Luffy has a more important question- would the skeleton like to join his crew? The skeleton quickly agrees (to Nami and Sanji's outrage), and the four head back to the Sunny.
Aboard the Sunny, the skeleton greets the other crewmembers and introduces himself as Brook (and asks Robin if he can see her panties, earning another beating from Nami). Usopp and Chopper freak out and attempt an exorcism on Brook, which freaks him out as well as he looks around for the malevolent spirit they are after. Zoro chews out Nami and Sanji for once again allowing Luffy to get away with something stupid, and Luffy finally asks the question of what exactly Brook is and how did he get there. Brook is happy to explain, but he is super hungry due to not eating in fifty years, so Sanji preps dinner and the Straw Hats (plus Brook) head to the galley to eat.
In the kitchen, it turns out that Brook is just as ravenous and rowdy as any of the other Straw Hats (read: Luffy), but otherwise he's pretty good company. After eating, Brook begins to explain his backstory; he's a Devil Fruit user, specifically having eaten the Revive-Revive Fruit, which grants its user a second shot at life after they are killed. Brook was once a pirate just like them, long ago, but his crew were attacked and slaughtered by a powerful foe while on their journey. Thanks to the powers of the Revive-Revive Fruit, Brook's soul returned following his death, but unfortunately it got lost and couldn't find his body for a full year- by the time his soul found his body, it had rotted down to the skeleton form we see now (as for why he still has hair, Brook says he has very deep roots). Usopp asks Brook if he's a skeleton or a ghost, with Brook saying he's quite frightened by ghosts; Nami finds this ironic given his skeletal appearance and turns a mirror towards Brook, but this causes the skeleton to scream in fright. Not because he's scary looking, but because there's nothing to see- Brook has no reflection! Further inspection reveals he has no shadow as well, the crew panicking and asking if Brook is actually a vampire. Brook quickly corrects them that he is not a vampire and being a skeleton has nothing to do with his shadow-less condition- in actuality, his shadow was stolen from him. It does have similar effects to vampirism in that he can't see his reflection and will disintegrate if he is exposed to sunlight (as happened to another sailor whom Brook encountered that had his shadow stolen and went mad from the stress and isolation), but other than that he's just a normal talking skeleton. However, with his revelation he goes back on his acceptance at joining the Straw Hats- because he has no shadow, he will die the instant the Sunny reaches calmer waters, and he doesn't want to burden his new friends with that trauma. Instead, he resolves to wait in the fog banks of the Florian Triangle until he gets his shadow back, then he'd be happy to join the Straw Hats should they meet again.
Luffy rejects Brook's plan, saying that he'll help find Brook's shadow and beat the guy who did this to him. Brook appreciates the solidarity, but refuses to elaborate further on who stole his shadow before offering to play them a song- as his former crew's musician, he is quite well versed in music. Luffy is ecstatic to have a musician on board and demands Brook join his crew, but before he can begin playing Brook freaks out as a real ghost drifts into the galley. The ghost disappears and the Straw Hats rush on deck to follow it, only to see that the Sunny's path has been blocked by a massive wall that looks like teeth. Brook hurries them to the back of the ship, and as they look at what's behind them he asks Luffy if they opened a barrel with a flag on it. When Luffy reluctantly answers that they did, Brook tells the Straw Hats that it was a signal flare and they had been tracked the whole time they were in the fog bank. Now, they have reached the source of the flare- Thriller Bark, a ghostly island in the Triangle that has just materialized behind them.
With Thriller Bark now revealed, Brook bids the Straw Hats farewell- the man who stole his shadow is on that island, and he intends to go and get it back. He tells the Straw Hats they should escape and head for calmer waters before jumping off the side of the Sunny, and with his light weight he is able to run across the surface of the water to the island. The Straw Hats survey their means of escape, but they are not good- the teeth structure are heavy gates that are surrounded by high walls, meaning the Straw Hats are trapped on Thriller Bark with no obvious means of escape. Nami and Chopper want nothing to do with the island, but Luffy grabs a butterfly net and box with the intent of catching a ghost and keeping it as a pet. Usopp tries to dissuade Luffy from going across, but only seems to encourage Luffy (which is not helped when Robin and Franky express interest in joining him). In fact, Franky has just the thing for this situation, instructing the others to go down to Soldier Dock Channel 2 and wait for him to activate it. Nami, Usopp and Chopper head down, Nami mentioning that Franky had been doing his best to keep this area of the Sunny off limits. Franky says he had been working on a special project before activating Soldier Dock Channel 2, revealing a small landing craft designed to look like the late Going Merry. Dubbed "Mini-Merry II", this will act as a smaller ship to carry the Straw Hats to ports and locales the Sunny can't reach, and the trio quickly takes a shine to the craft as they pilot it around the Sunny. Franky explains that he has a few other channels lined up as well- Channel 0 (the emergency paddle system), Channel 1 (an upgrade to Nami's Skypiean Waver), Channel 2(Mini-Merry), and Channel 3 (Shark Submerge, a submarine shaped like a shark they can use to explore underwater passages). As he explains this, however, the group on deck loses sight of the other three and Mini-Merry. As they prepare to go ashore and find out what happened, something begins to mess with the Straw Hats: Luffy's hat is stolen, one of Zoro's swords is yanked from its scabbard, and Zoro himself is yanked off his feet and tossed around like a ragdoll. It all comes to a head when the invisible person grabs Robin and licks her, escaping before the Straw Hats can engage. All the while, the Sunny begins drifting in the currents of Thriller Bark.
Meanwhile, the other three find themselves at the bottom of a moat- during their ride, Nami accidentally ran Mini-Merry into a small sea wall and she, Usopp, and Chopper were pitched into the moat. As they take a moment to survey their surroundings, they find that the moat is filled with human bones. What's worse, they're not alone- a beast approaches them from the shadows, stepping into the light to reveal that it is a massive three-headed dog. The three naturally panic at the sight and run, with the "Cerberus" giving chase. As they run, however, Chopper notices there's something off with the third head- it's actually a fox's head that had been grafted onto the rest of the body, and when he points this out the Cerberus stops and hangs its head in embarrassment. This buys them only a short reprieve before the Cerberus continues chasing them, the three Straw Hats spotting a staircase leading them into a spooky-looking forest. They dash in and Usopp uses a smoke bomb to hide them from the Cerberus, the three climbing a tree to avoid the beast.
Thriller Bark Arc has the following examples:
- Abhorrent Admirer: Lola to Absalom (although she actually turns out to be a sympathetic character who becomes Nami's ally), and Absalom to Nami.
- Analogy Backfire: A two-fer in one. When Chopper brings up his concern about Luffy fighting Moria, saying he was one of the Seven Warlords, Luffy dismissively says that so was Crocodile. After a Wild Take, Chopper claims that's his point, as even though Luffy won, Crocodile still came very close to killing him.
- Anticlimax: Brook joining the crew... both times. Unlike the rest of the Straw Hats, whose joining involved a great deal of drama and excitement, the first time Brook just casually agrees to join when asked, and the second time, he equally-casually asks if he still can, to which Luffy agrees. That said while Brook agreeing to join the Straw Hats is done in a hilariously blunt way, after having seen Brook's past and fighting together with the rest of the crew, he's more then earned his spot amongst them.
- Arc Villain: Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, who captures powerful pirates and steals their shadows to transplant into modified corpses that can be turned into zombies. He steals the Monster Trio's shadows requiring the Straw Hats to defeat Moria before the sun rises and kills them. However in a twist of the usual format he is not the Final Boss of the arc; that honour belongs to Bartholomew Kuma a fellow Warlord who arrives earlier in the arc to assist Moria and, after his defeat, is ordered by the World Government to kill any and all witnesses to Moria's defeat.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Oars and later Moria at the end of the arc.
- Badass Arm-Fold: Zoro does this after taking all of Luffy's pain on top of his own injuries while bleeding to death, barely able to stand and claiming that it was nothing.
- Bait-and-Switch: As they wait outside guarding Nami while she takes a shower, Chopper mentions to Usopp that he wants to "take a peek". When Usopp reacts with surprise at the idea of Chopper wanting to peek at Nami while she's naked, Chopper says he wants to sneak in on Dr. Hogback's experiments.
- Berserk Button: Don't ever try to kidnap and marry off Nami, if you don't want to invoke Sanji's wrath.
- Playing God with the deceased, and not valuing the lives of your patients as a doctor? That's a good way to get Chopper angry.
- Implying that Moria, who's a Warlord and fought Kaido, can't beat a tiny rookie pirate crew, really ticked him off.
- The Cerberus zombie is apparently very sensitive about one of its heads being a fox. Chopper unwisely points this out while it's already chasing him.
- Robin isn't fond of docking (everyone linking together like a human Megazord), of all things. She told Franky, Usopp, and Chopper that "As human beings, you should be ashamed." After they were hit by Oars, she said, "Don't ever ask me to dock with you again. Serious..."
- The group's later suggestion of docking again is one of the few times that Robin has gotten visibly annoyed with the crew's antics rather than just chuckling it off. Sanji earned a Death Glare from her for even thinking about it.
- Book Ends:
- When the Straw Hats first arrive at Thriller Bark, they send out Nami, Chopper, and Usopp to scout the area in a miniature of the Going Merry. When Hogback and Absalom make their escape at the end of the arc, they leave in a miniature of the Thriller Bark.
- Brook sings "Binks' Sake" when he's first introduced. When partying with the Straw Hats and Rolling Pirates, it's the song that he plays.
- The first time Brook is invited to join the crew the rest of the Straw Hats are vehemently opposed to the idea of Luffy casually inviting some random stranger on board just because he looks unique. The second time, after causally accepting Luffy's offer, the crew are far more welcoming, having come to respect Brook after hearing about his past and seeing his tenacity in battle.
- Sanji tells the legend of Florian Triangle to Usopp at the start of the arc, recounting how many vessels are lost there each year and nobody knows what causes it. As everyone leaves Thriller Bark, the narrator repeats the legend and then notes the additional detail that ships have been disappearing there since long before Moria arrived.
- Brick Joke: After having talked about it since the Kuro Arc Luffy finally gets the musician he's always wanted for his crew.
- Broken Pedestal: Chopper was a huge admirer of Hogback's work, until he actually met him.
- Brutal Honesty: When Franky is asking Brook about his motivation to live on, he bluntly points out that Brook's condition will scare people away from him, essentially leaving him in the same solitude that he's already been stuck in for 50 years.
- Call-Back: When Robin asked Cerberus if it was okay while Luffy was riding it after taming it, Zoro tells her, "Don't show the loser pity. You're hurting his pride." This harkens back to Sanji admonishing Chopper not to render aid to Usopp after he was beaten in his duel with Luffy.
- Came Back Wrong: Brook's Devil Fruit, which allows him to come to life one time after being killed. It works...but due to the fog of the sea he was in, he got lost and returned to his body long after it decayed.
- Canon Welding: Ryuma was originally the star of Monsters, a one-shot Oda wrote and drew several years before One Piece took off; in a later SBS, Oda confirmed the zombie seen here is in fact the corpse of that Ryuma.
- Casting a Shadow: Moria's Devil Fruit power.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Luffy gets some armband on his left arm from Moria's loot, which turns out to be fairly important later on.
- And one that's finally fired from the Alabasta arc, Lola brings to attention the paper Ace gave to Luffy, when she gives one of her mother's to Nami, only to find out Ace's Vivre Card is burning, meaning his life is in danger...
- On that note, the Vivre Card Lola gives to Nami ends up playing a significant role in a much later arc.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Moria mentions a defeat he suffered at the hands of Kaido, who will become a major figure in the New World arcs.
- Boa Hancock and the Mermaid Princess Shirahoshi are mentioned briefly by the Risky Brothers.
- Lola mentions her mom is an incredibly powerful pirate in the New World...
- Ryuma and his sword Shuusui are brought up again much later when the Straw Hats meet Kin'emon.
- Chekhov's Skill: Luffy takes other people's shadows into himself to boost his power against Oars. The final part of the fight against Moria is him doing the same, and as the actual wielder of that Devil Fruit power, he's much more proficient at it.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: Moria's Shadow's Asgard, a technique that allows him to absorb the 1,000 shadows around Thriller Bark, and turns him into a giant, lizard-like creature, powerful enough to split Thriller Bark in half with a punch. However, Moria himself can't keep up the strain of keeping in 1,000 shadows, and is barely keeping consciousness, even before Luffy starts attacking him. He also becomes a huge, bloated mass that can't even remain bipedal. To top it off, he simplified the retrieval of everyone's shadows, which otherwise would not return to their owners no matter what happened to Moria unless he told them to; now, Luffy can in fact just beat him up and force the shadows out. Zoro sums up the transformation as an act of desperation.
- Colossus Climb: Done occasionally during the battle with Oars.
- Commonality Connection: About halfway through the arc the Straw Hats (or at least the ones who were with the crew from the East Blue) find out that Brook is the Sole Survivor of the same pirate crew that befriended Laboon, who they meet when they first entered the Grand Line. Finding out about this connection is what convinces even the most skeptical of Straw Hats to allow Brook to join the crew.
- Continuity Nod:
- Upon entering the Florian Triangle the crew make mention of hearing about it from Kokoro back at Water Seven. Usopp, who at that time had left the crew, is also completely in the dark about the Florian Triangle until the crew tell him now.
- Luffy's victory over Crocodile is brought up a few times, first by Perona, and then by Chopper. While Luffy thinks fighting Moria will be okay since he beat Crocodile, Chopper points out that Luffy was almost killed by the Warlord, and begs him to be careful.
- Crowd Song: Bink's Sake near the end of the arc, sung co-currently in both the past and present.
- Cruel Mercy: Moria needs his victims alive as the shadows will disappear if they die. While still unconscious from having their shadow removed, they're returned to their ships unharmed and set adrift with basic rations. However, the victims will die if exposed to the sun and usually live miserable lives in constant fear.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Kuma vs. Perona (which later becomes a plot point), then...everyone else.
- Oars inflicts The Worf Effect onto all the General Zombies in one go.
- Subverted with Oars against the Straw Hats, sans Luffy. He initially pounds them into the ground in the space of a single chapter. The next chapter ends with them getting back up to resume fighting, and they give him a much closer battle.
- Then later, Nightmare Luffy vs. Oars.
- Dance Party Ending: After Moria is defeated and everyone got their shadows back, they threw a celebration party and everyone sings "Bink's Sake".
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Luffy's Gum-Gum Giant Jet Shell, which combines his already risky Gear Second and Gear Third forms. Luffy already had taken a bunch of damage up to that point and using Gear Second alongside Gear Third was practically suicide. Even Usopp was worried for Luffy when he decided to combine the two forms and confirmed where Luffy absolutely could not move anymore after defeating Moria with it. Sure enough, to this day even after the time-skip when he mastered the two forms without the weaknesses anymore, Luffy has never used Jet Shell again.
- Deadly Doctor: Chopper, in the most literal sense. He uses his expertise in anatomy to guide the Straw Hats in defeating Oars, getting them to shatter its spine, rendering it paralyzed.
- Dem Bones: The introduction of Brook.
- Diagonal Cut: The specialty of both Brook and Ryuuma, introduced in this arc.
- Dr. Jerk: Hogback who willingly admits he does doctoring solely for fame and fortune, and doesn't give a damn about his patients. Chopper doesn't take kindly to that.
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: Absalom tried to seal his marriage to an unconscious Nami with a kiss. Thankfully, he was interrupted.
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Luffy taking in 100 shadows, becoming Nightmare Luffy.
- Evil Counterpart:
- Several, thanks to zombies retaining the personalities of the person who's shadow they're using. Jigoro is Zoro's, Inuppe is Sanji's, Ryuma is Brook's, and Oars is Luffy's.
- Even ignoring the zombies, Moria serves as one for Luffy, with their ambition to become Pirate King, Perona for Nami regarding being bossy and money-obsessed (Nami even wore a T-shirt with Perona's jolly roger), and Absalom for Sanji as both are perverts around beautiful women.
- Exact Words: Hogback orders Jigoro and Inuppe to save Cindry from Chopper and eliminate everyone else, meaning Robin. But when one of Jigoro's attacks gets too close to Inuppe, due to have Zoro and Sanji's shadows respectively, the zombies see each other as "everyone else" and fight each other. Robin first forces Hogback's mouth shut to keep him from rescinding the order, informing him his choice of words places him in the "everyone else" category. She then baits him into shouting at her that he would order her to jump off the tower after making her into a zombie. The two zombies take the threat as an order directed at them and immediately comply, resuming to carry out Hogback's previous order soon after.
- Extreme Doormat: Cindry, to the point she would actually lick the floor if he orders her to.
- Face Doodling: The unconscious monster trio suffers this at the hands of the zombies who dump them on the Sunny.
- Fan Disservice:
- It's always good eye candy seeing Zoro without his shirt. But seeing Zoro with his shirt torn and completely soaked in his own blood and barely able to stand after taking all of Luffy's pain was unsettling.
- On that note, Nami's Shower Scene goes from fanservice to just disturbing when she gets attacked by an invisible Absalom.
- Feel No Pain:
- Moria's zombies don't actually feel pain due to their bodies being dead. They will frequently act as though in pain, but this is simply behavior ingrained into the animating shadow. Once reminded they don't feel pain, they won't react to even the most damaging of attacks.
- Deconstructed when the Straw Hats fought the zombie Oars. Chopper, the crew's doctor, says that the fact Oars cannot feel pain is actually a weakness since it cannot tell how much damage its body has accumulated until it's too late, as demonstrated by the Straw Hats crippling its right arm with repeated attacks. The Straw Hats use that opening to shatter Oars's spine, leaving it lying on the ground, wondering why it can't move.
- Foreshadowing:
- When befriending Zombie Lola by pandering to her obsession with Absalom, Nami suggests that she drug him and marry him while he's unconscious. Guess what Absalom does to Nami herself later on?
- Moria told Luffy that at his current strength, he would lose his crew. Then came the next arc.
- After Moria's defeat, Usopp notes how hard the fight was on Luffy's body and says the rest of the crew needs to get stronger. Which ties neatly into the next arc.
- Kuma arrives and noticing Nami, he asks her if Portgas D. Ace is Luffy's brother. It's revealed that Ace got sent to Impel Down, and kicks off the Impel Down and Marineford Arcs.
- When Moria hears that Marshall D. Teach aka Blackbeard was enlisted into the Seven Warlords, he tells Kuma that the World Government would be satisfied the world is in balance again. Kuma disagrees, and thinks the world might be worse off...
- As soon as Hogback and Absalom read the latest newspaper, they find out Ace got sent to Impel Down, and the latter comments on how the era is changing...
- When Zoro and Sanji are verbally fighting each other over who sacrifices themselves to save Luffy, Sanji tells Kuma that he'll really regret letting him live. Nearly a decade of real life and 400+ chapters later in the Zou arc, we learn Sanji comes from a family of assassins so world-renowned and so dangerous that even the Government doesn't want to be on their bad side.
- Flashback: One occurs to some 50 years of the main storyline, in Brook's backstory.
- Flunky Boss: Moria's too lazy to really fight on his own, leaving his combat to his shadow and later Oars (with some occasional help). The only time he finally does decides to fight on his own is when Oars is defeated, and even then his lack of direct combat experience is pretty noticeable.
- Giving Up the Ghost: In the anime, when Nami sees a lion with a human mouth (
Word of God confirms that Absalom has its muzzle), she gives up the ghost out of fear before screaming. - Go-Go Enslavement: Nami is captured by the creepy perverted Absalom that wants her as a wife and therefore wakes up in a gorgeous wedding dress. This temporarily distracts both Sanji and her would-be husband as they admire her (while she's still unconscious).
- Go Out with a Smile:
- In the flashback to Brook's original journey, when the Rumbar Pirates are dying from poisoned weapons, they all die singing "Binks' Sake". Brook records it on a tone dial so, if/when he revives with his Devil Fruit powers, he can continue their journey and bring it back to Laboon.
- Chindry gives Chopper a smile before she and Hogback are squashed flat by Oars.
- Gothic Lolita: Perona.
- Heroic RRoD: Along with the strain of taking in 100 shadows, Luffy used Gear Second and put Gear Third on top of that, to finish Moria while the sun rises to get his shadow back. As you can imagine, Luffy is rendered unconscious from exhaustion.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Shadow Asgard, which turns Moria into a giant by recalling all of the shadows to him. However by doing this, Moria not only collected the shadows all in one place for the heroes, but the form proved too unstable and Moria couldn't focus on fighting Luffy and keep the shadows within himself.
- Honor Before Reason: When Brook explains he promised to meet someone 50 years ago, Franky points out that there's a high probability that person gave up waiting for him. Brook retorts that since he gave his word, he doesn't have any right to assume that; if even the slightest chance exists that person is indeed still waiting for him, he owes it to them to never give up.
- Hopeless Boss Fight: The Straw Hat Pirates (sans Luffy) and the Rolling Pirates against Bartholomew Kuma. The former didn't stand a chance, particularly since they just came off the heels of a battle with Gecko Moria and Oars. Although, if Kuma was actually interested in eliminating them as ordered, then it would have made an epic Last Stand, particularly when they refused his offer of their lives spared for Luffy's head.
- Horrifying the Horror: The "weakling trio" set foot on Thriller Bark first and are repeatedly terrified by the zombies. Then the rest of the crew enter Thriller Bark, encountering the same zombies, and now it's the zombies' turn to be scared. Brook is also feared for knowing how to purify zombies (though he's actually still just as afraid of them as they are of him).
- How We Got Here: The audience is initially presented with only the ending of Zoro's fight with Ryuma, with the former lying exhausted in a pile of rubble while the latter is Wreathed in Flames... which turn out to be the aftermath of Zoro's finishing move, meaning Zoro had actually won.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Absalom towards Nami, very much not Played for Laughs. Scarily enough, he actually comes extremely close to succeeding in his attempts to marry her. Twice. The first time, Sanji shows up to save her, and the second time, Nami wakes up in time to rescue herself.
- Industrialized Evil: Thriller Bark functions like a slaughterhouse. Visitors are chased by the Cerberus and soldier zombies to drive them into the manor. There, Spider Mice pick them off one-by-one and load each victim onto a hidden pulley system which delivers them to Gecko Moria to have their shadow removed. Their unconscious bodies are then dumped back on their ship via a separate, direct route.
- Ironic Echo: Zoro chides Luffy and Franky when they're affected by Negative Hollows. Then he's struck by one. Naturally, Sanji gives him grief afterward.Zoro: I'm sorry I was ever born.
- Lighter and Softer: While not without its dark moments (namely Brook's backstory and Kuma's entrance near the end), Thriller Bark is significantly less heavy than the brutal and tense Water 7 saga before it.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Zoro tries to play it cool when Sanji finds him after he took in all of Luffy's pain.Zoro: What happened here? Nothing at all.
- Mix-and-Match Critter: Abalsom, who has many animal parts grafted onto him with one lion zombie getting his original human face. Also included are the Cerberus Zombie and the Wild Zombies under Perona's control.
- Monster Mash: The whole theme of the arc.
- More Hero than Thou: Zoro knocks out Sanji when he prepares to give his life in order to spare the crew from Kuma.
- Motive Rant: After Oars is completely defeated, Moria pulls himself out of the giant zombie and delivers one on why he began to build a zombie army.
- My Eyes Are Leaking: After Chopper gives an impassioned speech on how tragic it is that Cindry's body is essentially a puppet made from a desecrated corpse, Cindry actually begins to cry, much to her confusion.
- Mythology Gag: Ryuma asks Zoro if he's from the circus, surprised by the latter using three swords to fight. In an early draft of the series, Zoro was in fact the swordsman of Buggy's circus-themed crew before joining Luffy.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: A big problem the heroes face is merely defeating Moria won't return their shadows, they need to force him to command the shadows to return and he's willing to fight to the death. So it's a good thing he draws all the shadows into himself, making it so that defeating him, and in the process beating all the shadows out of him, is all they need to do.
- Nobody Touches the Hair: Brook does this regarding his afro, believing it's the only thing Laboon will recognize of him, and begs Ryuuma not to cut it.
- Nothing Is Scarier: As it turns out, ships had been reported missing long before Thriller Bark arrived 10 years prior. After the Straw Hat Pirates left, Lola saw something within the thick fog but dismissed it. Within the fog, there are three giant figures with red eyes that tower the island size Thriller Bark. What these creatures are is still unknown till this day.
- Nuke 'em: Kuma's Ursus Shock, which knocks out everyone in the vicinity of Thriller Bark, except Zoro and Sanji.
- Ominous Fog: The Florian Triangle is perpetually shrouded with a dense fog. Thriller Bark uses the fog to prey on passing ships, while the final shot of the area hints that much older things have been using it for the same purpose.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Played for laughs when Nami willingly gives part of her treasure to Lola for saving her earlier. Luffy and Usopp both freak out when they witness the scene and think it's a sign a storm is coming.
- Our Zombies Are Different: Turns out they're corpses re-animated by Moria implanting shadows into them. The resulting zombie receives the personality and skills of the shadow's owner, while retaining the physical abilities of the corpse pre mortem.
- The Promise: It's this arc that reveals the pirates who Laboon befriended, the Rumbar Pirates whom Brook was a part of. They had left Laboon at Reverse Mountain so as not to drag him into danger, promising to return someday. But halfway into the Grand Line, half the crew came down with a terminal disease and separated themselves to save the others. The other half came up against an enemy that used poison arrows and were killed save Brook, whose Devil Fruit allowed him to come back to life. Brook promised his crewmates he would return to Laboon and give him their final performance.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: The battle against Kuma.
- Zoro takes it Up To Eleven when everyone on the island is rendered unconscious, save him, by Kuma, and almost immediately retaliates making it a Post-Post Climax Confrontation.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: Ludwig van Beethoven's Ode to Joy is played twice in the anime's adaption of the arc, first in Abalsom's formal introduction while rallying his zombie army and then when Inuppe and Jigoro obey Hogback's order to jump off from the tower they were in at the time.
- Race Against the Clock: The Straw Hats have only until dawn to defeat Moria and retrieve their shadows back before the sun rises and they will be vaporized.
- Revision: Back at Twin Capes, Crocus had it on good authority that the Rumbar Pirates quit the Grand Line and sailed to their deaths in the Calm Belt. Brook's flashback reveals the crew was stricken with a deadly disease and the sick members took their ship into the Calm Belt while Brook and others got a new ship and continued their journey.
- Robotic Reveal: Kuma is revealed to be a cyborg after his brief confrontation with Zoro.
- Rule of Symbolism: Moria's defeat and the fall of Thriller Bark is described as like waking up from a long nightmare.
- Salt Solution: The zombies can be purified and have their shadows liberated from them by making them ingest salt. This is explained by sea salt containing a small amount of the Devil Fruit neutralizing powers of the ocean, which is enough to disrupt the Devil Fruit powers at work to power the zombies.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Oars goes on a rampage, Perona orders her zombies to load all of Thriller Bark's treasure and provisions onto the Thousand Sunny so that she can hijack the ship and flee. Unfortunately for her, she encounters Kuma before she can do so.
- Shout-Out:
- The name of the island more or less comes from the famous Michael Jackson song. There's even a dance number with zombies called "Zombie Night" if it wasn't obvious enough.
- Moria's abilities invoke Peter Pan, and The Charwoman's Shadow.
- There is an bat with the number 21 and a rather familiar design.
- Hogback's design looks much like Dr. Frank-N-Furter. This wouldn't be the last Oda would draw inspiration from that movie.
- Shower Scene: Nami gets one when the "weakling trio" are first invited to stay at the mansion. Quickly goes from fanservice to horror when Absalom is revealed to be peeping on her and starts molesting her.
- Slasher Smile: Every Straw Hat (minus Luffy and Nami) sported one of these when Oars's horns were stuck on the ground. Hilarity Ensues.
- Moria sports a genuinely nightmarish one after snapping during his Villainous Breakdown.
- Stalker with a Crush:
- Hogback to Cindry, even going so far as to dig up her corpse after she died and have Moria implant a shadow into her body.
- Zombie!Lola to Absalom — she frequently and repeatedly tries to force him to marry her (and it's implied that this has been going on for a long time), even though he has no interest in marrying a zombie.
- Take Me Instead: Both Zoro and Sanji request this of Kuma in order to spare Luffy. Zoro knocks Sanji out to settle whose life is offered.
- Tears of Joy: Brook starts crying after learning that Laboon is still alive and waiting for him, and that he can finally see him again now that he has his shadow, shouting out that, despite how lonely he was, he's glad to be alive. Especially heartwarming considering that earlier in the arc Brook had joked that as a skeleton he can't cry.
- That's No Moon: Thriller Bark at first appears to be a massive wandering island surrounded by a gated seawall. As the fog clears, it's revealed to actually be a massive pirate ship with three square sails similar to a traditional bark-style ship.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Perona's most basic attack, Negative Hollow, which appear as ghosts which saps your self-esteem, doesn't work on Usopp because he already doesn't have much self-esteem, and the ghosts emerge from Usopp depressed!
- Tired of Running: As the sun starts to rise, Lola chooses to stay and watch the climax of the fight. Whether she dies in the sun or lives with her returned shadow, she's not going to hide from the sun any longer.
- Underestimating Badassery: Played With, as Kuma informed Moria that his arrival on Thriller Bark was to assist Moria, as the World Government feared that another Warlord would be defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates. Moria is infuriated by this news, and refuses Kuma's help, telling him to watch as he defeats them. He ends up losing, while Kuma trounces the Straw Hats and their newfound allies.
- Undressing the Unconscious: After drugging Nami unconscious so that he can marry her, Absalom has a zombie tailor change her out of her clothes and into a wedding dress.
- Undying Loyalty: Zoro to Luffy, and to the rest of the Straw Hats as well. Though this was already pretty clear from the rest of the series, it's shown very explicitly and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt when Zoro, realizing that none of them can defeat Kuma, offers himself to Kuma in Luffy's place in order to save him and the rest of the crew.
- Sanji also counts since, when he saw what Zoro was doing, he tried to convince Kuma to take him in place of Luffy and Zoro. Zoro knocks him out to prevent him from doing so.
- The entire crew shows this when they all simultaneously refuse Kuma's offer to spare them all in exchange for Luffy's head (despite seeing how powerful he is and knowing that he has the power to kill them all).
- It's revealed that the Rumbar Pirates were truly loyal friends to Laboon and, in contrast to what Crocus believed, they had every intention of returning to Laboon one day. Sadly they died on the Grand Line but recorded one final performance on a Sound Dial and entrusted it to Brook so he could play it for Laboon one day. Even fifty years later Brook still intended to return to Laboon, even if he hates him, and has never forgotten their promise to him.
- Unexplained Recovery: Oars obliviously steps on Hogback while he's trapped under rubble. Somehow, he's alive and well by the end of the arc.
- Unstoppable Rage: Sanji after Nami's kidnapping, to the point that he's literally bursting into flames and outright exploding with rage.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: With the Straw Hats and Rolling Pirates distracted by Kuma's arrival and the aftermath of it, Absalom and Hogback grab the unconscious Moria and flee Thriller Bark by ship.
- Villainous Breakdown: Moria goes through a terrifying one around the climax of the arc.
- Villainous Valor: Moria may be lazy, but that doesn't mean he's not a Determinator: While Lola and the rest of Moria's victims thought that by having Luffy beat him up to the point that Moria would release the shadowsnote , Moria after regaining consciousness from the beating he took from Nightmare Luffy outright refuses to give in to Lola's threat, saying that as a pirate, he doesn't deal with child's play, and that means he fully expects a fight to the death, if another pirate challenges him. That takes balls.
- Wake-Up Call: After Moria's defeat, Usopp points out that Luffy's Second and Third Gear are obviously way too hard on his body. The crew can't keep relying on him to win the battle; they need to get stronger somehow.
- Wham Line:Government Official: (to Kuma) An order from the World Government: Including the Straw-Hat crew... Obliterate every single soul left on the island!!Roronoa Zoro (to Kuma): If you must, then take the head...But take mine in his [Luffy's] place!! I exchange my life for his!! I beg of you!!
- What You Are in the Dark: Zoro is a Straw Hat pirate and Luffy's Number Two through and through.
- Also counts as Character Development from his first encounter with Luffy, since he threatened to kill him if he gets in the way of becoming the world's greatest swordsman.
- Worf Effect: The General Zombies are established immediately as a powerful force, being high-quality corpses animated with the shadows of elite fighters. Then, when Absalom sends them to stop Oars from disrupting Thriller Bark, the Special Zombie easily pounds them, showing off how dangerous a giant zombie with Luffy's skills is.
- Would Not Hit a Girl: The first sign Inuppe has Sanji's shadow is his refusal to hit Nami. Usopp and Chopper are quite impressed to see him also refuse to hit Lola, as he could somehow spot the rampaging warthog zombie was a woman. That he's willing to attack Robin later is a mark of how enslaved to Moria's will zombies become.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: The crew manage to beat Moria... and then Kuma suddenly shows up.
Story impact
- Brook joins the Straw Hat Pirates as the crew's musician.
- Zoro takes heavy damage in a battle with Bartholomew Kuma, but survives.
- Both Wano and Kaido are name dropped in this arc- Ryuma (Brook's zombie) was a legendary samurai from that country, and Gecko Moria's first crew were slaughtered by Kaido during their doomed trip to the New World. Both country and Emperor will become very relevant once the Straw Hats enter the New World.
- Luffy first notices that Ace's vivre card is on fire. Though he dismisses it, it is the first evidence that his adoptive brother is in danger.
