The hulking mass of zombie, cried out for the Mugiwara Crew, stating his name of Oz. Below, Jiru could see the rest of her crew on various levels: Sanji at rock bottom, Usoppu, Robin and Chopper on a bridge, midlevel and themselves: at the top on the tower. While the treasure hunter was trying to discern where the missing pirates were, Oz made his move; calling out one of Luffy's attacks; surprising them all. All hell broke loose as the huge, giant hand was aimed at Sanji. Springing into action, Zoro told her to stay back; shouting at Franky to draw Oz's attention their way.
The idea worked all too well, and the larger-than-life zombie moved faster than could be believed, kicking the tower into rubble. The treasure hunter, screaming in fright, managed to make an air-pad to catch the falling Brooke and Franky, placing them safely below. Turning back for Zoro, the Golden Thief barely managed to witness the terrifying kick that sent the swordsman flying sky-high. Usoppu screamed at her to catch Zoro, or the swordsman would die. Shouting from her air-pad, Jiru told them to focus on their own fight or they'd die too. Thing moved fast, and after managing to plot out a descending path; caught Zoro – only to share the same fate as her nakama: being smashed to the ground with a titanic hand.
Groaning in pain and doing her best to get to her feet; Jiru watched a searching Oz with a leery eye. Her stomach was flaring up again, feeling like something was burning; the feeling threw her concentration in battle, sending her to her knees. Finally getting to her feet, she yelled at Zoro as he berated her for being slow. Sanji, Chopper and Franky all told the samurai to shut the hell up and focus on beating 'Oz'. Then, hanging back on yet another air-pad, the femme treasure-hunter listened to them bicker before finally agreeing on Oz's name being Oz.
'OY, OZ, DON'T GO UNDERESTIMATING YOUR NAKAMA'S POWER!' They all screamed at the gigantic zombie.
Round two was on, as Oz attempted to squash them all flat by a 'Rubber Butt Stomp.' Throwing up air-walls in front of the fighters, the Golden Thief was utterly caught off guard by Franky's shouted order of 'Tactics Fifteen'. Standing immobile on the busted terrain, she and Robin watched with fascinated horror as Zoro, Sanji, Chopper and Usoppu all applied themselves as parts of a bigger 'robot' with Franky being the centerpiece.
Seconds ticked by and Chopper announced that Jiru nor Robin weren't 'docked' properly and parts of the Giant Robot Warrior were missing. Franky pled with the Archeologist and Treasure Hunter to join them and Robin's reply: 'As a person, I am embarrassed.' sent them all into stunned surprise. Upon seeing their reaction, Jiru broke down into tears of laughter, effectively weakening her physical resolve. Being cursed at as Oz slapped the unfinished 'Big Emperor Robot' away, the treasure hunter gasped in laughter as the fight – paused due to Oz's excited watching of the Robot – picked up again. The others pitched in again, and it wasn't until Franky shouted for her help that the Golden Thief was able to fight again, using her strategically placed air-pads to support a set of Franky-built stairs leading up to Oz's face. Using their combined hits and tactics, the pirates managed to knock Oz onto his head.
Having been thrown upside-down, Oz stupidly insulted them, then announced himself stuck. Eyes gleaming with malice, the fighting squad began pounding away on Oz's face. The Reiki-Reiki User used her imagination to create a huge air/aura-hammer to repetitively slam Oz in the face with.
Retreating after Oz managed to free himself, the short female kept the ball rolling and distracted the foe with a taunt of 'Look over there, there's a ton of meat!'
Zoro and Franky took the opening she created, and aimed their attacks for Oz's knees. Then, telling Franky and the others to keep hitting Oz, Zoro interrupted her brainstorming tactics.
Zoro, who was clever enough to be like-minded as the treasure hunter, spoke up. The swordsman intoned that, regardless of where/what Luffy was doing, they all had to defeat Oz. He also ordered Jiru to go look for Luffy, since she was looking extremely pale and sick – from what, no one knew for certain. She refused, stating she would help them all fight or die trying.
Jumping into the fray again, Zoro tested his newly-won blade, Shuusui. Talking to the others, Jiru's calculating mind informed them of Luffy's weakness in this scenario: mind-trickery. If Luffy was off fighting Moria, it was bound to be a disaster; the man was a shadow-master and shadows were symbolically used for 'deception'. They simply had to return Luffy's shadow first and foremost; then worry about the other shadows later. With a quick calculation of time, it was stated that it was less than thirty minutes before dawn; because the fog wouldn't last. A premonition on Jiru's part, as the island suddenly was in the open: the fog was gone.
XXX
Elsewhere, Moria, having tricked Luffy into running off into the forest chasing his shadow, was discussing politics with another Shichibukai: Bartholomew Kuma. The bear-looking strong-man was informing Moria of worldly events, such as 'Blackbeard' replacing Crocodile as a Shichibukai. Then the conversation swung to the Mugiwara Crew: stating that the World Government would be most displeased if another Shichibukai was defeated by Luffy. Mentioning that Rob Lucci had lost to the Mugiwaras, Moria scoffed and told Kuma off, saying he had already acquired the Mugiwara Crew. Then the Shichibukai left Kuma and joined the battle.
Within a blink of an eye, Moria was comfortably seating in the hollow stomach of Oz, giving his greetings to the fighting Mugiwaras (minus Luffy and Nami). Exchanging insults and pleasantries the Mugiwara's decided to fight both Moria and Oz together. Zoro gave the command to Usoppu to go and find all the salt he could. The Sniper of the crew nodded in agreement and ran off to find the salt, only to be smashed by a Moria-commanded Oz. Jiru rushed in to give Usoppu an air-aura shield, but was far too late in moving – Oz's hand moved faster than before. Fortunately, Brooke came to the Sniper's rescue, along with the sought-for ton of salt.
Thanking Brooke profusely for saving Usoppu, Jiru cheered for the skeleton as he explained where he disappeared to. Telling the treasure hunter to stick with Brooke and the salt, Zoro took command of the fight again, trying to force an opening so the floating treasure hunter could fly up and drop the bag in Oz's mouth.
The others once more dug in and moved against Oz, each pirate helping each other out to maximize their destructive potential. Sticking with Brooke, the Treasure Hunter watched in awe as her nakama joined together and really threw it at Oz. Franky, however, was the next to strike out, as Usoppu used a slap-dashed slingshot to fire the shipwright at the opening in Oz's stomach; where Moria sat.
It was Nami's Thunderbolt Tempo that halted Oz's smash-fest on Franky; allowing the Golden Thief to jump in and whisk the stunned cyborg away on an aura pad. Shouting at Sanji to shut up and not draw attention to the Navigator's position, the Golden Thief barely made it to the other woman when a surprising attack of a stretchy Oz arm smashed the bridge. With Robin's sprouting arms to help, Jiru managed to catch Nami with a pad.
It was Moria that explained just how Oz's body was now able to stretch. The physical body had to follow the law of the shadow; if the shadow stretched, the body did too. Moria's own shadow now controlled Oz's and made the giant-above-giants zombie that much more dangerous.
With Franky out of battle, and Nami back in, their numbers stayed the same as the fight continued again, with the next strike led by Brooke, followed by Zoro, then Usoppu. The floating treasure hunter was kept moving like an erratic bug, trying to keep up with her flying-through-the-air friends. Having caught a falling Brooke, Jiru then had to back Robin up as she managed to restrain Moria's shadow from allowing Oz's body to stretch.
After failing to protect Robin and her shadow – which was stolen by Moria – Jiru had to dodge the shadowy bats that Moria sent at her. Sanji came to their rescue, using his powerful kicks to keep Oz at bay while the Golden Thief hauled an unconscious Robin to safety.
It was then that Chopper announced that the right arm was the weakness of Oz. They once against fought, this time, focusing on the right arm. It was little use, since Oz took out Chopper and Sanji anyway. With just four pirates left, Zoro and Nami chose to press further, giving both Jiru and Usoppu an opening to deliver the salt; in hopes to free Luffy's Oz-trapped shadow.
After having their failure and the salt bag thrown back in their faces by Moria's shadow, Oz began stomping on Usoppu and Nami; leaving Jiru gasping for breath in trying to find a way to rescue her friends. For a moment, it looked like the Golden Thief was the only fighter left. It was Luffy, Shadow Luffy; that came to the rescue, having rescued Nami and Usoppu before Oz had started stomping. After taunting Oz, Luffy fought against the hulk.
Down below, after the Golden Thief air-lifted Nami and Usoppu out of the broken mansion floors up; the shadow-victims appeared to help the battle-fallen Mugiwaras. The pink-haired woman, Lola, led the rescue charge, taking the unconscious Mugiwaras away while Nightmare Luffy fought both Oz and Moria.
It was Jiru's turn to use her specialty: her foresight and cleverness. Having thrown the facts that Chopper had mentioned that the right arm was foreign, the living Oz had died centuries earlier from hypothermia, plus that that zombies were virtually invincible; around in her head the Golden Thief came up with very clever plan; which they would use on Oz after Luffy was finished knocking the zombie around.
Informing the now-conscious crew – while the shadow-victims were too busy watching the battle – the Treasure Hunter offered her idea and the others agreed. After once again knocking Oz down, Nightmare Luffy finally ran out of time and lost his 100-shadow power; Jiru caught him as he fell and lowered him down to the ground where the other pirate mass waited. Jiru quickly filled Luffy in on her plan, giving the others time enough to get into position.
The Counterattack was ready, and as Oz stood up, the captain nodded; calling out as he slowly pulled himself up. Everyone was in their place; as Luffy asked Jiru to take him and Brooke to the Thriller Island's highest point. She did so, while the others played their parts in restraining the huge zombie; then moving his body so that the spinal cord would be in straight-rod alignment for Luffy to pound down on; intending to shatter it to pieces.
Atop the crow's nest of the island ship, Brooke, Jiru and Luffy were ready; and Brooke threw Luffy straight down to Oz; leaving the Musician and Golden Thief behind to enjoy a sunrise together. Whatever thought-provoking words Brooke exchanged with her would forever be between then as they had an aerial view of Oz's final fall.
