History Recap / OnePieceThrillerBarkArc

* KickTheSonOfABitch: The Straw Hats, minus Luffy and Nami, pummel Oars while he was unable to get up after they knocked him down.

* HeroicSacrifice[=/=]TakeMeInstead: Both Zoro and Sanji request this of Kuma in order to spare Luffy. Zoro knocks Sanji out to settle whose life is offered.

* AndNowYouMustMarryMe[=/=]IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Absalom towards Nami, very much ''not'' PlayedForLaughs. 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.

** Even ignoring the zombies, Moria serves as one for Luffy, with their ambition to become Pirate King, Perona for Nami regarding their bossiness (Nami even wore a T-shirt with Perona's jolly roger), and Absalom for Sanji, with their perversions around beautiful women.
* ExactWords: Hogback orders his zombies to eliminate Chopper and take out anyone who gets in the way, meaning Robin. But when one of Jigoro's attacks gets too close to Inuppe, the zombies see each other as "in the way" and start fighting. Robin first forces Hogback's mouth shut to keep him from rescinding the order, then baits him into shouting at her that she should jump off the tower, which the zombies take as an order directed at them and immediately comply.

* KickTheSonOfTheBitch: The Straw Hats, minus Luffy and Nami, pummel Oars while he was unable to get up after they knocked him down.

* MixAndMatchCritter: Abalsom, who has many animal parts grafted onto him. The zombies under Perona's control as well.

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 [[LetcherousLicking licks her]], escaping before the Straw Hats can engage. All the while, the ''Sunny'' begins drifting in the currents of Thriller Bark.

* GoOutWithASmile: 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.

* NobodyTouchesTheHair: Brook does this regarding his afro, believing it's the only thing Laboon will recognise of him, and begs Ryuuma not to cut it.

* OminousFog: 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.

** 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 one 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.

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 is confused and demands to know how a skeleton with no flesh and blood can get a welt 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''.

* {{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, [[FireForgedFriends he's more then earned his spot amongst them.]]

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

!! Long Summary

* AnalogyBackfire: A two-fier 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 WildTake, Chopper claims that's his point, as even though Luffy won, Crocodile still came very close to killing him.

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Luffy's Gum-Gum Jet Shell, which combines his already risky Gear Second and Gear Third forms. Luffy already had taken a bunch of damage at 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 absouletly could no move anymore after defeating Moria with it. Sure enough, to this day even after the time-skip, Luffy has never used Jet Shell again.

** Robin isn't fond of docking, ''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. ''[[TranquilFury Serious...]]''"

-->'''Government Official:''' (''to Kuma'') An order from the World Government: Including the Straw-Hat crew...[[KillEmAll Obliterate every single soul left on the island!!]]

* KillEmAll: The order given to Kuma by the World Government, after he informs them of Moria's loss.
** What Moria effectively does to the Thriller Bark Zombies when going OneWingedAngel.

* ContinuityNod: Upon entering the Florian Triangle the crew make mention of hearing about it from [[Recap/OnePieceReturnToWaterSevenArc 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.

* FeelNoPain: [[DeconstructedTrope 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. The Straw Hats defeated Oars by shattering its spine, leaving it lying on the ground, wondering why it can't move.

* VillainousValor: 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 shadows[[note]]Even knocking Moria unconscious won't get him to release the shadows and he has to renounce his dominion over them to release the hold[[/note]], 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.

** Oars inflicts the WorfEffect onto all the General Zombies in one go.

** Zoro takes it UpToEleven when everyone on the island is rendered unconscious, save him, by Kuma, and almost immediately retaliates making it a Post-''[[PostClimaxConfrontation Post]]'' [[PostClimaxConfrontation Climax Confrontation]].

* ArcVillain: Gecko Moria.
** FinalBoss: Bartholomew Kuma.

* CurbStompBattle: Kuma vs. Perona (which later becomes a plot point), then...everyone else.
** Before that, Oars inflicts the WorfEffect onto all the General Zombies in one go.

* EvilCounterpart: 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.

* NobodyTouchesTheHair: Brook does this regarding his afro, believing it's the only thing Laboon will recognise of him, and begs Ryuuma not to cut it in the flashback.

* OneWingedAngel: Moria's Shadow's Asgard, which absorbs 1,000 shadows, and turns him into a giant, lizard-like creature, powerful enough to split ''Thriller Bark'' in half with a punch.
** ClippedWingAngel: 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 just can in fact just beat him up. Zoro sums up the transformation as an act of desperation.

* ThePromise: It's this arc that reveals [[Recap/OnePieceLaboonArc the pirates who Laboon befriends]], the Rumbar Pirates which 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.

* {{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.
** Only at the start, subverted later on as the rest of Brook's past is explored.

* BookEnds: 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''.

* NobodyTouchesTheHair: Brook does this regarding his afro, believing it's the only thing Laboon will recognise of him, and begs Ryuuma not to cut in the flashback.