The dust of Enies Lobby is still settling over the world of One Piece when the Straw Hats happen upon their next destination- Thriller Bark! Though it may be better to say Thriller Bark found them, as they’re now at the mercy of Warlord Gecko Moria and his army of zombified monsters! Time to explore an underrated arc of One Piece that brings Brook into the fold and sets up a vital backstory for later arcs.
There’s a more in-depth review of arcs past, but as a brief refresher, Robin was taken to Enies Lobby by CP9, agents of the World Government. The Straw Hats chased after to get their friend back, and in the process declared war on the World Government and Navy. After the battle, the Straw Hats are joined by Franky, who builds the new Thousand Sunny, and sail off toward Fishman Island. They won’t quite make it though…
Florian Triangle
As the Straw Hats sail on they pass through a mysterious area known as the Florian Triangle. There are spooky rumors about this area that mirror those of the Bermuda Triangle in real life. Ships and whole crews have disappeared, and any that do make it out can’t see the sun ever again. The Straw Hats are innocently sailing on when a barrel floats by them in the water.
Pirate legend occasionally finds sailors leaving a barrel of alcohol in the sea as an offering for calm waters. So, Zoro the logical person he is, wants to drink it himself. Unfortunately, this barrel shoots a flare high into the sky, and soon a mysterious fog overtakes the Thousand Sunny.
A Talking Skeleton?!
Brook makes his eccentric debut in Thriller Bark when his ghost ship drifts by the Thousand Sunny. He’s a living skeleton thanks to his Devil Fruit ability, the Revive-Revive Fruit, and has been alive for over ninety years. His entire crew died on the Grand Line due to disease and starvation, and only Brook survived thanks to his Fruit, which brought his soul back to his body.
He’s an accomplished musician and plays a variety of instruments, so he fills the musician role Luffy’s wanted for so long. Brook’s original crew were the same ones that made a promise to return to Laboon, but unfortunately, he’s the only one left. He has a Tone Dial with their last recording of Binks Sake, a beloved pirate song, to play for Laboon if they reunite. His hopes are sparked again by the Straw Hats, but first, he has to regain his stolen shadow.
Thriller Bark
While it initially appears to be an island, Thriller Bark is actually the massive ship of Warlord of the Sea Gecko Moria. It’s a huge place with a whole forest and castle, which will all be used during the final confrontation with Moria. The island is creepy, and there’s a creepy atmosphere from the start with the darkness of night and fog around them. Then come the zombies and living trees.
Multiple zombies pop up, though Luffy mistakes them for old men with injuries. Then when he finally sees a real old man with injuries he thinks it’s a zombie. Ghosts float around the area with no way to fight back, and when they pass through a Straw Hat they become terribly depressed. Multiple monstrous experiments roam the area as well, parts cobbled together from anything possible.
The Straw Hats split up when they reach Thriller Bark, with Nami, Usopp, and Chopper going ahead to the castle while the rest fight a massive three-headed dog. Luffy tames it quickly, and in the castle, Nami’s group encounters the famous Dr. Hogback, a hero of Chopper.
Hogback’s Experiments
Doctor Hogback, a scientist idolized by Chopper, supposedly disappeared years ago under mysterious circumstances. He’s found on Thriller Bark, running “groundbreaking” experiments, but doesn’t quite disclose what. He also has some strange underlings, like a patchwork woman named Cindry, who harbors a deep resentment of plates. Oh, there’s also a pig-bat abomination that’s absolutely obnoxious.
Turns out, Hogback is the cause of many of the terrifying creatures on this island. He’s stitching people together to combine their most dangerous qualities, and Moria is using his Shadow-Shadow Fruit to bring them to life. By stealing shadows and stuffing them in the creations, they’re given life, as well as a lot of personality from the Shadows’ original owner. Hogback’s human experimentation is vile, and was a reason for his exile from the Navy.
Who is Absalom ?
Truly one of the most lecherous, contemptible characters in One Piece. Absalom is a pervert so skilled it makes Sanji jealous, except the lion-man has no manners. Nami is taking a shower at the castle when Absalom uses the powers of his Clear-Clear Fruit to turn invisible and spy on her. It’s a good thing Nami is observant because she figures him out almost immediately.
That doesn’t stop him from abducting her with the intent of a shotgun wedding in the castle chapel. Nami fights back, but Absalom is a persistent son of a bitch and eventually stoops to the Cosby method to get Nami. It puts him in Sanji’s crosshairs, not only because Absalom is after her, but because he’s jealous of the Clear-Clear Fruit ability. Sanji says it was a dream to eat the fruit and use it for less honorable pursuits, but Absalom ruins this hope.
Perona vs Usopp
Perona enters the scene as one of Moria’s underlings, though she makes her presence known earlier with her ghosts. They come from the power of her Hollow-Hollow Fruit, and she uses them to make their enemies feel empty and depressed. The Ghost Princess takes out most of the Straw Hats easily until Usopp goes after her with his secret power.
That secret power Usopp has? Self-loathing. Usopp lies a lot, but the dude really, really doesn’t pull punches when it comes to how he feels about himself. It’s hilarious to see Perona lose her mind when he’s immune to the ghosts, and he sends her on a chase through the castle. Eventually, Usopp is able to knock her out with the threat of his giant hammer, actually made out of paper mache. Usopp has had a ton of great development since Enies Lobby, and he shines in this fight against Ghost Princess Perona.
Ryuma the Dragon Slayer
Ryuma isn’t just a legend of Wano in the One Piece world, but one of creator Eichiro Oda’s first works. He was an ancient samurai of Wano, with his blade Shusui counted as a legendary weapon. The concerning thing is that Ryuma’s walking, talking corpse is working for Gecko Moria, who robbed his grave when he tried to fight Kaido. Tried is the key word there, as Moria was destroyed and his entire crew at the time slaughtered, leading to who he becomes. Ryuma was one of his earliest experiments, and he stuffed the soul of Brook into the samurai’s body.
Now he fights with the skill of Ryuma but holds some of Brook’s odd quirks, like asking to see every woman’s underwear. Nonetheless, he’s still a competent and somewhat free-willed zombie of Moria’s. Legend says that when Ryuma was alive he slayed a dragon. From seeing how he fights as a corpse, he could probably do much more.
Shusui
Ryuma faces off with Zoro while he acknowledges him as a worthy opponent. He wants Zoro to be the one to finally put him to rest, but he’s going to fight the whole way. They clash through the castle, causing massive damage along the way, but eventually, Zoro pulls through and cuts the old samurai down with only two swords. In return for his defeat and newfound freedom, Ryuma gifts Zoro his blade, the legendary Shusui.
This becomes Zoro’s go-to sword until the Wano arc where he trades it for another legendary one. Until then, he will use this to cut everything from the tower on Thriller Bark to the Doflamingo’s lackey Pica in Dressrosa.
Oars the Continent-Puller
Another piece of Gecko Moria’s army and the mummified body he shoves Luffy’s shadow into, Oars is a monster of legend. He was of an ancient race called Oni, who now are much smaller and dying out. He’s a mountain of a monster, named the Continent Puller for doing just that. With Luffy’s shadow, he takes on the same destructive nature and wreaks havoc. He’s not even able to pull off the Gum-Gum attacks correctly since he can’t use the Fruit power but makes up for it in speed and power.
Things get much, much worse from there as Moria has used his abilities to steal shadows from most of the Straw Hats, from Luffy to Zoro and Robin. They discover that salt will exorcise their shadows and return them thanks to Brook, but the only way to get theirs back is to defeat Moria, who begins to pilot Oars like a Gundam. Now, the Straw Hats are all in danger of turning to dust in the sun if they don’t defeat him by dawn. Things get worse when Luffy is is thrown across Thriller Bark.
Charlotte Lola
Lola is a pivotal part of winning the fight against Moria in Thriller Bark. She even helps indirectly in quite a few instances of Whole Cake Island even though she’s never onscreen. She’s first introduced as one of the Generals in Absalom’s undead regiment and a massive warthog. Lola is a lovesick woman though, and she’s determined to marry Absalom for some weird reason. Despite her willingness and devotion, Absalom goes for Nami who is the exact opposite. Obviously, Lola isn’t happy about this but when she finds out Nami doesn’t want to, they become friends.
Lola’s real body meanwhile, has been hiding for some time in the woods of Thriller Bark to avoid the sun. They’ve caught hundreds of shadows though, and discovered a secret. She and her crew stuff a hundred shadows into Luffy, even though she. says most pass out after two or three. Luffy manages to inherit some gnarly powers thanks to her, and defeats Moria in turn.
Lola also gives Nami a piece of her Vivre Card once the fight is over, and this will save the Straw Hats. More than once, too, as it leads to her mother, Emperor of the Sea Big Mom, and is able to control all of her Soul-friend Homies.
Nightmare Luffy
Luffy has always been more resilient than others, but when he absorbs a hundred shadows it creates Nightmare Luffy. His skin turns a pale blue, his eyes darken, and he gets a much meaner expression than usual. A side effect of absorbing all those shadows is also the ability to use those shadows’ skills. So, Luffy takes off with a sword to fight Moria and Oars.
This is almost a prelude to the Gear Four forms, but Nightmare Luffy is a true monster. He fought with the sword briefly before switching back to his usual Gum-Gum attacks. Luffy fights the Moria piloted Oars for quite some time before he falls and Luffy’s shadow returns. The problem now is reclaiming the others’ shadows from Moria so they don’t vanish in the sun.
Moria shows off massive power in his final moments, summoning every shadow across the island back to him. Now he empowers himself further and Luffy is running out of steam. The Straw Hat crew begins to disappear as the sun comes up. Zoro and Robin disappear halfway before Luffy pulls out Gear Three to wring the shadows from Moria.
Bartholemew Kuma
Most of the Warlords of the Sea have small details here or there, at least, but Kuma is a mystery. He suddenly blinks to Thriller Bark and asks Perona where she would like to go on vacation, then poof! She’s gone! He’s there originally to check on Moria in the wake of Enies Lobby, and warn him about the Straw Hats. He’s an imposing figure, extremely tall, and carries a Bible around with him. His eyes are completely white, and he’s often stoically emotionless.
He only finds the Straw Hats after their battle with Moria. Kuma has orders to bring the head of Straw Hat Luffy back with him, or not come back. Almost everyone passed out from exhaustion after the battle, except for Sanji and Zoro when Kuma found them. He offers them a choice though, and it leads to one of the most badass moments in One Piece.
Nothing Happened
When Kuma offers Zoro a choice to take on all of Luffy’s pain or give him their captain’s head. Zoro doesn’t take kindly to it but knows that he can’t take Kuma on in the state they’re in. Sanji is nearby and overhears, offering himself as the one to take Luffy’s pain. He and Zoro just end up fighting over it. Finally, Zoro knocks Sanji out and Kuma commends him. He uses his strange Devil Fruit power to extract a massive bubble of Luffy’s pain, healing him in the process.
All of this is compressed and pushed right into Zoro’s body as Kuma again praises his dedication to his captain. Zoro stands, still enduring the great pain, as Kuma leaves with the warning that Zoro will likely die. He doesn’t. They find him the next morning, arms crossed defiantly, in the same spot. He’s bloody, but when they ask why he simply says “Nothing happened”. The crew doesn’t question it further, but both Sanji and Robin know about it.
Brook’s Dream
Now that Thriller Bark is behind them, captive shadows released, they head toward Sabaody with their newest crew member. Brook has joined in the musician role Luffy has been looking for since the beginning. He reveals to the crew his promise long ago to a whale named Laboon that followed his crew. To their surprise, Brook is part of Laboon’s original crew! He’s happy to hear Laboon’s well, so makes his resolution then and there to see him again.
Brook saved a tone dial in his afro to ensure his crew could sing with Laboon one more time. Luffy still has his promise to Laboon for a rematch, so Brook joins the crew to fulfill his dream. As they sail off, Brook happily sings the old pirate tune Binks’ Sake while they all dance.
Dumbest Straw Hat Award
One hundred percent of the award goes to Luffy in the Thriller Bark arc. Their arrival on the island throws everyone off, but Luffy’s reaction to a zombie that really takes the cake. When they reach Moria’s castle, a zombie begins clawing out of the ground. Everyone stares in horror and gasps at the corpse. Everyone except Luffy, who does the quintessential Luffy thing and pushes the zombie back down into the ground.
It’s such a brilliant gag that’s so in character for Luffy as the oblivious, chaotic idiot he is. The zombie even gets mad about it when he finally gets out, before everything gets chaotic. So, that earns Luffy the Dumbest Straw Hat in Thriller Bark.
Important Events
- Gecko Moria debuts.
- Ryuma of Wano debuts.
- Zoro acquires his sword Shusui
- Perona and Absalom debut. Perona sent away by Kuma and joins Dracule Mihawk.
- Brook joins the Straw Hat crew.
- Charlotte Lola introduced.
So, with the island ship of Thriller Bark behind them, the Straw Hats finally continue their journey. They’re confused when their Log Pose points them downward to get to Fishman Island. They’ll find out it’s not as easy as it looks, though. Even more, they’re going to encounter some old foes and dangerous new enemies. There’s a lot to cover in the Sabaody Archipelago arc that comes next!
