Chapter 53- The clock strikes midnight! General Zombie night begins!


"SHICHIBUKAI?!" Zoro, Sanji, Franky and Luffy shouted in shock.

"Gekko Moriah?! Is that true Robin?!" Luffy asked her in surprise and shock.

"He's a man of many mysteries…" Robin just said while sweating nervously.

Juli ripped herself out of her thoughts and looked seriously at her brother. "It's true Lu… Gekko Moriah is one of the Shichibukai's and definitely the most mysterious one of them. It isn't known much about him, except that his Devil Fruit is the Kage Kage no Mi, with which help he can snatch away other people's shadows. But what more abilities the Devil Fruit is giving him and what he gets from snatching other people's shadows is unknown…" She told them seriously and then narrowed her eyes. "I never had the chance to meet him, so I can't tell you if it's true what is said about him…"

"Kage Kage no Mi, huh?" Luffy said seriously. "A Devil Fruit user like me…"

Zoro just narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at that. 'He has the same rank as him… Hawk Eyes, the best swordsman in the world… If he's just half as strong as him, he's going to be hard to beat…'

"What's a man of his caliber doing in a place like this?" Franky asked in confusion.

Juli frowned thoughtfully at that. 'Yes. What is he doing here? Is this here his island?'

"Well, I dunno…" The old man that was kneeling before them said sadly. "But there are a lot more victims like me that got lost in this forest."

"There are others?….!" Sanji shouted in surprise.

"The fact that you guys were invited here too… I'm positive that Moriah has set his eyes on you as well…" The old man sniffed and suddenly began to cry desperately while shivering heavily. "W-We hide in the dark of this remaining forest, afraid of the zombies… Frightened to leave into the open sea and be exposed to the sun…! I-In any case… this body doesn't feel like living anymore… Just- Just one more time before I die… I want to walk under the sunlight…!" He began to cry heavily.

Juli looked at the man sympathetic and sadly and then knelt down next to him. The man looked at her utterly surprised as she laid a hand on his shoulder while looking at him with an utterly soft and sympathetic expression.

'These bad emotions I felt… They all come from the people that are trapped here with only the one last wish of seeing the sunlight once again… It's so sad… I can't understand how anyone could do this to other living things…' Juli thought sadly.

Franky began to sob really heavily at that. "Is that so….! That's so heart rending…! OKAY, I WILL HELP! DON'T WORRY AT ALL! IDIOTS, I'M NOT CRYING DAMMIT!"

Zoro just sighed at Franky. "You're too compassionate! Don't burden yourself so easily…"

"REALLY GRAMPS?!" Sanji shouted at him flabbergasted. "IT'S A LADY'S PRIVILEGE ONLY TO PERSUADE OTHERS BY TEARS!" Then, he looked at Franky. "And don't get carried away!" He snapped at him.

Zoro just sweat dropped at Sanji. 'I don't even know what I should say to this one… He's just hopeless…'

"Hey, don't cry okay…" Juli told them man with a soothing voice while patting his shoulder softly. Then, she looked back to her brother pleadingly. "Lu…"

Luffy looked at the pleading expression of his sister and noticed how much she wanted to help these poor people. He looked back at the man and then smiled at him cheerily and determined. "We we're looking for the perpetrator who steals shadows away anyways. If he's after us too, he will get his ass whopped sooner or later. So, while we're at it, we will save you too, right Gramps?!"

Juli smiled brightly at the utterly surprised man as she stood up. "Yes. Don't worry. We will definitely make sure to save you as well."

The man looked at the two with wide eyes. "Th-Thank you for your kind words…! I'm regaining hope once more!" He thanked them really gratefully.

Juli's eyes widened as she suddenly felt other presences around them, now that she isn't concentrating on the feeling of the man before her.

"We're begging you!"

"Do your best!"

"Kick Moriah's ass!"

"Sorry I wasn't crying either!"

The Strawhats looked around in surprise as voices of the other victims spoke up to them.

"YOU LISTENED ALL THE WHILE, YOU OTHER VICTIMS?!" Sanji snapped at them in surprise.

Just as it got closer and closer to midnight… Night creatures started to gather… In an instant, the "Night attack" with the hunt will be commenced…

The invisible beast that was on the Strawhats ship earlier growled angrily at the zombies, who were all kneeling on the ground, looking at the sky while praying to their goddess. "What the hell are you doing?! Itching, burning and pain is all in your minds, not praying for some kind of forgiveness! Your morons are already dead! There's no kind of god who will help you with that!" He snapped at them in annoyance. "NOW WAKE UP, SOLDIER ZOMBIES!"

Slowly, the zombies began to stand up while groaning like normal zombies would do.

"No matter what happens, you will stand up and attack again and again! That's what makes you so scary!" The invisible 'beast' shouted at them from his place on top of a cross gravestone.

As the zombies fully stood up, they looked nonchalant at their invisible leader. "So Tiresome… Our goddess was more kind to us…"

"WHA?! STOP SLACKING OFF!" The invisible man roared at them. "Get a grip, zombies… Tell me who I am!" He ordered them while slowly turning visible.

"You are the leader!"

"Our leader Absalom!"

"LEADER! LEADER! LEADER!"

The zombies shouted in unison while throwing their arms in the air and moving it back and forth like in a dance.

"Fufufufu…" Absalom began to chuckle at that while widely spreading his arms cheekily.

"…WHO LIKES TO PEEP!"

"PERVY-LEADER! PERVY-LEADER!"

"PERV-SALOM!"

"PEEERVOOO!"

"PERVY-LEADER!"

The crowd of zombies suddenly shouted cheerily.

"SHUT UUUPPP!" Absalom snapped at them flabbergasted.

Somewhere, not to far from the graveyard, crowds of ghost flew towards the tower of the mansion…

"Horohorohorohoro…"

"Ah!" A zombie, dressed up in a cute bear costume greeted the ghosts nervously. "We-We-Welcome back, Lady Perona… Ladies…"

"Yo! Be quite an don't talk Bearsy!" The female on the bed of the room spoke up as all of the ghosts flew towards her and then vanished in her body. "What's with that look… I really get angry when you talk so lowly!" Perona said annoyed as she stood up. "If you're not cute… you don't deserve to work for me! Horohorohorohoro~"

Five more minutes left until midnight…

"Hurry! Hurry! It has begun! It has begun! The time of the night attack!" Zombies shouted as they stormed towards the master's room. "It's twelve o'clock! MAAASTER!"

"MOOORIAH-SAMA!"

"IT'S TIME TO GET UP!"

Just then, the three zombies entered the room. "Nin! Do it!" They shouted at a zombie who was armed with a crossbow.

"Okay." The zombie said and shot a bow at the sleeping bubble of Moriah.

The bubble bursted and Moriah woke up. "Hmnuah! Hm?! Oh… Ah… I had a nightmare."

"MASTER! MASTER IS THE BEST, EH!" The three zombies cheered as Moriah looked at them. "Although Moriah-sama has slept through all the time after our last night attack four days ago. The meals for four days are prepared!"

Moriah looked at his underlings. "Who is the prey this time?"

"Oh, they're tough ones! They're that very group that brought down Enies Lobby the other day! They'll certainly be useful to Moriah-sama!"

Back to Luffy's group…

Suddenly, it started to rain. The six Strawhats looked up to the sky at that.

"It started raining pretty much…" Zoro noticed.

"Shall we run to the mansion?!" Franky asked as he shieled himself from the rain with his arm.

Juli just blinked against the rain while looking up in the sky as her clothes were being soaked by the water that suddenly started to pour down from thr sky. She narrowed her eyes as she saw something moving up there. 'What's this…?!'

"Wait a minute!" Luffy shouted and so stopped Zoro and Franky from moving on. He stared back up in the sky, noticing something there as well. "There in the back of the mansion is a …mark?! Huge! What's that thing?"

Zoro narrowed his eyes as he now stared up at that thing as well. "The fog is clearing a bit… What?! A flag?!" He shouted in surprise. "No…! It wouldn't be a sail…?! That thing…"

"SAIL?!" The Strawhats shouted in shock.

Juli stared up at the sail with wide eyes. "…I-It couldn't be… We're on a ship?!"

"WHAAA?! What do you mean with ship, Juli-nee?!" Luffy shouted at her in surprise.

"That's right!" The old man from earlier spoke up seriously.

"YOU'RE STILL HERE?!" The Strawhats shouted at him in surprise.

"It's so huge that I can't comprehend it. This…! Thriller Bark… has one village in it's middle." The old man explained. "It's the largest pirate ship in the world! You can see now the back of the mansion is the main mast… That's the place where Gekko Moriah is!"

Juli bit on her lip at that. 'This is bad… If we really are on the ship of the Shichibukai Moriah… This could end really bad for us. Especially, even if we win a fight against him, there's the high possibility that the marines are getting informed and show up here or send somebody else here as well…'

Luffy looked seriously at the mansion. "Well then, that's where we have to go, right?" He said seriously and so they began to walk towards mansion.

Juli shook her head and dispelled her worried thoughts for the moment. 'I'm sure we will get through this just fine… Until now, Lu managed to always get everything under his control…' Even when she tried to calm herself down with these thoughts, the dreading feeling that this time, it's going to be something else, couldn't she dispel.

Two minutes left until midnight…

Absalom glared seriously at his zombie underlings. "Okay Zombie Troops! The Zombie Gernerals will finish off the pirates! You only corner the ones who are afraid of the undead!" He ordered them.

„UOOOHHH!" The zombies cheered in agreement, until…

"But our goddess told us it's not good to attack others…" One zombie suddenly spoke up.

"Yes, yes!" The others shouted in realization. "We can't go against our goddess' kind words, pervy leader!"

Absalom narrowed his eyes at them angrily. "What do you mean with that?! Do you want to go against your orders?!"

"No, no. We just don't want to do anything that could mean harm to our goddess." The zombies spoke up.

Absalom narrowed his eyes at that seriously. 'I never expected that someone could get the zombies on their side… And even now, they want to go against my orders if she told them something entirely different…' "Who is this goddess you speak off?!"

"Ah… She has such a kind smile…" One zombie began to tell their leader about her.

"Yes, yes… And she really has beautiful brown hair…"

"And what gorgeous eyes that seemed to glow with kindness…"

"And she was wearing a fantastic dark red dress…"

The zombies began to rave over their goddess.

'Her?!' Absalom thought in realization, remembering Juli from the ship. "Well, she certainly had the body of a goddess…" He blushed and began to giggle perversely as he remembered how he groped her.

The zombies just sweatdropped at that. "Pervsalom…"

Absalom ripped himself out of his pervy thoughts and then looked seriously at his zombie troops. 'That she has that much power over the zombies is incredible. And she did seem a bit familiar…' "Well, if you don't want to go against your 'goddess', how about this: You don't have to do anything to her. And you only have to corner the other pirates, not attack them. So, what do you mean?!" He asked them cheekily, satisfied he could think of a solution to this problem.

"UOOOOHHH!" The zombies now cheered at that in excitement.

Absalom smiled at them. 'Moriah-sama is going to find that very interesting.'

Just then, the clock stricked midnight and the eerie midnight chime sounded through Thriller Bark…

"That's the midnight chime… We're getting down to business too." Perona said cheerily. "Horohorohoro… They think the could escape from here… Those dumbos!" She smiled. "But what's more interesting is what I found out about a cute princess on board of these pirates' ship… Moriah-sama is going to be delighted." Perona then turned around to some zombies. "Is everyone prepared?! Zombies?!"

The zombies cheered loudly at that.

Somewhere else in the mansion, Moriah smiled in excitement. "I see… Mugiwara no Luffy, eh...? Let's welcome him! This is the realm of ghosts and ghouls… 'Thriller Bark.' You're going to see… A NIGHTMARE!"

With Luffy& Co…

The six Strawhats looked at the mansion before them.

"Shall we go then?" Luffy asked cheerily as he looked at the huge door of the mansion. "INTO THE GHOST MANSION, YATTA!"

Luffy opened the door and stepped into the mansion. "Please excuse us, we need to interrupt!"

Juli just smiled at that as she stepped next to her brother, her sketchbook in her hand, ready to sketch some interesting things in this mansion.

"That's weird… The lock on this door is open…" Luffy said in surprise as he stared at the hole in the door, where should be a lock.

"That goes without saying, idiot!" Sanji snapped at him.

Juli looked around the big eerie entrance hall in interest and began to sketch it cheerily.

"Oi, is there anyone here?!" Luffy called loudly for somebody. "Gekko Moriah?!"

"In such a big mansion… There isn't a single servant?" Zoro asked suspiciously while grabbing onto his katana.

"What's this? It looks like a room after a fray." Sanji noticed. "I hope they didn't hurt Nami-swan….!" He said in worry.

Juli all of the sudden stopped sketching and looked at the pig head that was hanging over the fireplace with narrowed eyes.

"Buhihihi…" The pig head suddenly began to speak. "You know the name of the master. You're quite courageous to enter this place!"

"Huh?!" Luffy blinked and looked in surprise at the pig head. "There's a pig growing out of the wall."

Suddenly, zombies shot out of the paintings on the walls and the bear-carpet began to move and pulled himself up to his whole size. "LET US WELCOME THE GUESTS! Kekyakyakyakya!" The shouted as they went in to attack them.

"Uwoah!" Juli said impressed and began to sketch the zombies that seemed to get out of their paintings.

Luffy's eyes bulged out at that in awe and stars appeared around his face.

"Oi, Oi, are those zombies too?" Sanji asked casually.

"It's not strange to find any kind of creature on this island." Robin said nonchalant.

Just then, Sanji kicked a zombie that attacked him in the face. "WHERE DID YOU HIDE NAMI-SWAAAN?!" He shouted angrily as he kicked the zombie hardly back into his painting.

Robin crossed her arms as a female zombie tried to grab onto her while opening her mouth widely. "It's unlady like to open your mouth this wide, even if you're quite pretty."

The female zombie blushed at that. "Huh? Really?"

„But you already spoiled it by coming out of the picture frame. "Twist!" She shouted and her sprouted arms around the zombie twisted the zombie's body and so broke her spine.

"Huuuuuhhhh?! The spear was broken?! What's with his body?" The zombie asked utterly shocked as he had tried to impact Franky with a spear.

Franky just grabbed onto one of the zombie's heads.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it." The zombie in his grasps shouted in shock. "What's with you guys?! Are you those weakling's nakama…?"

"Yes!" Frank said seriously and crashed the two heads of the zombies that were attacking him together and so let them sank to the ground.

"Nitouryuu Nigiri!" Zoro glared at the zombie before him seriously as he drew his sword.

"Onigiri? Sounds tasty!" The zombie that was attacking him said excited.

"Hirameki!" Zoro just shouted and cut the zombie before him.

"DAAAAD DAAASTEDD BAAAD!" The zombie shouted while crying shortly before passing out.

"What do you think you're doing just standing around like this?!" Two zombies shouted angrily at Juli as they stormed towards her.

"I don't have time for this…" Juli just muttered, still concentrating on sketching. She quickly took out her fan. "Fan no Kaze: Shooheki!" And so, a barrier made out of pure wind formed around her, looking like a little tornado just engulfed her.

"Waaaah!" The two zombie screamed in surprise as they crashed head-first into the barrier and were catapulted back into their paintings.

Luffy just smiled brightly. "Shishishi! This island is really interesting!"

"You little brat!" The bear-carpet zombie shouted at him in annoyance while throwing a punch at him.

Luffy just dodged easily and stretched his arms back. "Sorry we had to interrupt… we could have been such good friends. Gomu Gomu no… Bazooka!" He shouted as he hit the bear carpet zombie hardly.

"R…Rug bear…" The pig face said utterly shocked as he saw the passed-out bear carpet laying defeated on the ground.

"Ah! Alright well took care of them." Luffy said casually at it was now silent in the mansion, while every zombie laid defeated on the ground.

"So, finished~" Juli smiled cheerily and then closed her sketchbook and took it back into her bag. "That was really interesting."

"Yep!" Luffy cheered and then brought down that pig face from his place over the fireplace. The pig face yelped in surprise. "Now, tell us where our friends are!"

"A-Ah! That trio…!" The pig face said nervously. "They're fast asleep in the bedrooms. That's good! They're safe!"

Juli narrowed her eyes at that.

"Impossible!" Franky hunffed angrily at the pig and Luffy looked at the pig in disbelief.

"I-It's the truth, buhi! You can go and check! Just go up these stairs inside, buhi, buhi!" The pig face told them cheekily.

Juli knelt down next to the pig face zombie and then narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. "I don't like that you're lying at us."

"Eeekkk!" The pig shouted in surprise and fear.

"Hmm? Oi, wait a minute. That curly brow cook is gone." Zoro noticed seriously.

"Huh?" Juli stood up and blinked in surprise. 'I didn't even notice it… Something fishy is going on here…'

"Huh? He was with us until a little while ago… Where did that Sanji go?" Luffy asked in confusion.

"Fufufufu…" Suddenly a picture zombie began to chuckle.

"Oi, don't laugh they can hear you!" The zombie from the picture next to him scolded him.

The pig face zombie began to chuckle and tried to hide that from them.

Juli looked back at the pig face before biting on her lip. 'I have the feeling they already have set their plan into motion… and it's nothing good.'

"They've been planning something for a while…" Zoro said seriously before shrugging nonchalant. "We lost a dear man."

"Oi, you." Franky sweat dropped at him.

"Well, he's right. Sanji will be okay!" Luffy agreed with Zoro.

"My concern is, in this zombie mansion, it might be that we're racing against time with rescuing those three." Robin spoke up.

"Buhi, Buhi… You guys… Don't get so cocky because you're a little strong… When your nakama start disappearing you'll probably get scared! You'll get what you deserve!" The pig face zombie told them dangerously.

"Anyway, we can only continue with our intuition." Robin said seriously. "I don't think those things will tell the truth even if we threaten them."

"Hmmm…" Zoro looked at the pig face zombie thoughtfully. "So, let's take the pig as a guide."

"Huuhhh?!" Piggy shouted flabbergasted at that.

Juli narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. 'Everything is connected to Gekko Moriah… Nothing happens here because it's a coincidence. That means Sanji's disappearance is also connected to him…'

"Hehehe.. GO! Go!" The beaten zombies spoke up. "It's good for you to learn the dreadfulness of our master…"

"Our real boss… is the Shichibukai Gekko Moriah… OH, I CAN'T SAY IT MY BODY IS FREEZING UP!"

"Hooo! Just by putting that word in my mouth, my body is freezing…"

"It won't end safely for you missing nakama."

"One after another… you'll lose nakama… You shall regret it!" One zombie told them darkly. "The fear that can't save anyone in front of Shichibukai Gekko- No, our masters real power…!"

"You're noisy with all your mumbling… Go tell that Moriah moron that…" Luffy told them utterly serious.

"HIIIIII?!" The zombies screamed at that in shock.

"IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ONE OF MY NAKAMA, I'LL BLOW YOU OFF THIS ISLAND!" Luffy said while glaring at them.

"WHAAAA?!" All of the beaten zombies gaped at him at that utterly shocked.

Juli nodded seriously at that, but still couldn't shake off the feeling that beating Moriah is going to be more difficult than they're expexting it to be.

Just then, Luffy began to pick his nose. "Even if we leave Sanji for the time being, he won't die. Let's go!" And with that, the group went up the stars.

"Greetings master~ Some dreadful people just entered the mansion. From the surprise zombies. (We got surprised.)"

With the zombies and Absalom…

"Surround the mansion~~ Let's have a festival tonight~~~ Celebrate our new-found goddess~~~" The zombies from the graveyard sang as they began to dance to music under a disco ball. "Everbody~~ Fuwa, Fuwa, Zombie night~~~ Zombie night~~ Everybody round and round and turn and dieeeee~~ Zombie night ~~~"

Absalom ignored the partying zombies and entered the chapel. "Well… All of the trophies entered your premises! Tonight, you can go and rage to your liking!" Absalom declared loudly. "Open your eyes! GENERAL ZOMBIES!"

Zombie hands began to brake throught the mulitiple coffins that were all in the chapel.

"Resurrect…! The warriors of ancient times!"

Just then, strong looking zombies, clothed in armor and with special weapons, stood up, out of their coffins and we're looking ready to attack.

"The 'Strawhat Pirate Crew' barely has 8 members! Catch them wonderfully… and offer them to the master! And then, there's a certain princess traveling with them as well, I want you to catch her mostly unharmed and bring her to Moriah-sama immediately! NOW GO!" Absalom ordered them.


Hey guys! So, that was Chapter 53. How did you like it? :) Looks like the Strawhats are in trouble and their situation is getting more and more dangerous. And now, that Perona and Absalom already found out about Juli's status as dead-believed princess, what's going to happen? And more importantly, how will Moriah react to that kind of information as well of what he will he plan then?! That and more will follow in the next chapters. ;) I certainly hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. See you next week and have a great day! :3

names

Kage Kage No Mi = Shadow-Shadow Fruit

attacks

Twist = Twist (Robin)

Nitoryuu Nigiri: Hirameki = Two Swords-Style, Two Cut: Flash (Zoro)

Fan no Kaze: Shooheki = Fan of the Wind: Barrier (Juli)

Gomu Gomu no Bazooka Rubber Rubber Bazooka (Luffy)

Reviews

'ZabuzasGirl': Uh oh! she's been noticed.

Wonderful!
Update immediately, please!

Thank you~ I will update as soon as possible. And well, it's definitely not good that Juli good noticed. Let's wait for the next chapter and see what happens... ;)

'princesskakashi287': Pervsalom hahaha! each time I hear that it cracks me up. Why would Moria have an interest in Juli? From what she said she never met him before. Next chapter will be interesting.

XD Yeah, Pervsalom or pervy leader as a nickname for Absalom is just so damn funny. I don't even know how often I laughed as I wrote this chapter because of this. XD Well and too why Moriah would have an interest in Juli... No idea, we have to wait for the next chapter as it seems~ *smiles secretly*

'Strawberry bunny': Marvelous chapter as always you're the best and I believe that of Moriah found about juli he would want make her be his and his alone which means making her his bride and can you do my request with ironfist fullbody getting beaten up by garp pretty please

Thank you~ :3 Well, I don't think Moriah would want to make Juli his bride, but well I guess anything could happen... ;) To your request: I'm really sorry, but I don't know if I will get to it soon. I will try my best but at the moment I'm really busy and my internet connection still sucks so I just can only post the normal one chapter per week. As soon as my internet connection gets better, I will try to write your request.

'Totong': Oh boy the fight between the Straw Hats and Moria's zombie forces has begun. And I have a bad feeling that Juli is among he captured Straw Hats. I'm wonder if Moria's crew gonna find out Juli's identity the upcoming chapters? Anyways great update. Onwards true believer, excelsior!

Thanks~ :3 And yes, the fight has begun! I hope you are excited. :D If Juli's true identity is going to be found out... It's possible. But if Juli is going to be among the captured Strawhat? Maybe... Maybe not... The next chapter will definitely show it! ;)

'Fanboy 316': Oh shit! Did Perona recognize Juli as well as her true identity? This is bad especially one of them is already missing. And I had bad feeling Juli gonna get kidnapped. I hope not.

Yes. Perona recognized Juli as the 'dead-believed' Princess of Senairu. As you already figured, this is definitely not good. But she didn't tell it Moriah yet, so let's hope it stays that way or who knows what the Shichibukai will plan.

'DinoZilla': I hope Juli and the rest of the Straw Hats manage to wheter the Night Attack barrage lead by Moria's crew. And it seems Absalom doesn't have a clue who's Juli at the moment. But he's already targeted her because what she did to the zombies. I hope Juli kick him in the nuts for the second time if that happens. Great update as always!

Thank you.~ :3 Well and I hope so too. And you noticed it right, Absalom has no idea that Juli is the dead-believed Princess of Seinaru. He just wants the zombies to capture her and bring her to Moriah because of her ability of getting the zombies to follow her. But as I already said, Perona found out about Juli's identity because of her ghosts and well... her love for everythinf cute I guess...? XD I mean, she definitely has to have heard of Juli before and as she saw her with the help of her ghosts, she recognized her.

'Mint Kitty': I read how absolutely beautiful juli is I bet that sanji's brothers would want her

Mhm...Well, I guess they really would. But it still will take some time until see will meet them.