Jackpot Graveyard Fight Big Time!
Luffy's group continue their walking through the forest with Cerberus, the crew had to convince him to leave behind the weird talking tree and the beat-up unicorn and not add them to their crew.
"For the last time, Luffy! The skeleton was enough if not for the two kids, we don't need trees and unicorns on the crew." Sanji refused though Luffy seems too happy to listen.
"I mean, look. We've already got a raccoon dog and a robot. That's messed up enough." Sanji pointed out the weird people on the crew.
"Hey! How many times do I gotta tell ya, I'm not a robot, I'm a cyborg!" Franky yelled at Sanji, trying to remind him of the difference.
"Alright, whatever, either way you're not human!" Sanji pointed out.
"In my heart I'm a human, that's what matters!" Franky stated that he still has some human parts in his metal body.
"In your heart, you're a pervert, pal!" Sanji yelled about Franky's stupid habit of wearing only his underwear.
"Oh, then you understand after all." Franky smiled, and believed Sanji actually gets him now.
"No, that was not a compliment." Sanji tried getting that he was insulting him in a way.
"How come Sanji keeps forgetting that his own crewmate is a reindeer and not a raccoon dog, he should know better than that." Shirone asked Robin, questing the cook's smart.
"I guess in front appearance in that small form, Chopper does almost look like a raccoon lacking the mask face and long ringed tail." Robin said.
"Maybe all chefs are dump like him when it comes to reindeers and raccoons." Shirone believed, making Robin giggle.
"What kinda monsters are we gonna see? I hope they join the crew and come along with me!" Luffy sang a bad tone song about wanting to see some more cool monsters, and possibly make them join his crew.
Robin looks at Cerberus again having this strange feeling about the three-headed dog like something isn't right with this dog, she couldn't quite put her finger on it as she gets the feeling that Cerberus may not be a natural dog at all. Like the tree man and unicorn.
"Something on your mind, Robin?" Shirone asked.
"Yes, I couldn't help but notice about that tree man and the unicorn earlier." Robin said.
"What's that?" Zoro asked curiously.
"Just like our doggie friend here, all of the creatures in this forest seem to have heavy injuries. Big stitches and numbers written on them somewhere." Robin described how the creatures have all these same traits.
"Numbers, huh? That's true. I didn't put much thought into it myself, but are you saying these things are all working for someone?" Zoro asked as he notice this now.
"I think it's more on someone made them, but that would make sense too." Shirone pointed out.
"Yes, I think you might be right." Robin nodded.
But while the group is continuing their walk through the dark forest, there seems to be a soft sound though nobody heard it at first except for Shirone a little bit.
"(Huh, what is that?)" Shirone thought wondered and brought out her cat ears to listen.
"Negative. Negative. Negative."
"What is that strange singing?" Shirone asked.
"Do you hear something, Shirone?" Robin asked.
"Yeah, some strange noises going on about negative." Shirone informed, and the "Negative" chanting gotten louder for everybody else to hear.
"Hey, I can hear them too." Luffy said.
"Negative. Negative. Negative." A ghost that looked just like the one that was in the Sunny before appeared before the group.
"Look! It's a ghost!" Luffy screamed in shock.
"It looks just like the one that was in the ship before we came into Thriller Bark." Shirone recognized the appearance.
The ghost waves its arms up and down like it was dancing or something, and then it splits into three ghosts now while still saying "Negative" repeatedly.
"It did a dance and split into three! That's awesome!" Luffy gasped with excitement.
"Kind of annoying how they keep saying "negative" over and over." Sanji annoyed of that repeated word.
"I don't know, it feels like there's something more to this." Shirone felt her instincts warning her to be careful with these ghosts.
"I'm gonna catch it and keep it as a pet!" Luffy decided as he jumps and swings his net at one ghost, but it phases through it, and he kept trying some more to no vail.
"Guess it really is a ghost, huh?" Franky surprised.
"Yeah, what was your first clue—Hey, what are you doing?" Shirone asked, seeing Franky taking in a deep breath.
"Fresh Fire!" Franky unleashed a giant fire breath attack at the ghosts, but they came out unscathed and laughing.
"Idiot! What gave you the fucking idea to think fire would even work on them!" Shirone yelled angrily at Franky.
Before Franky could respond to that angry question, one of the ghosts flew right through Franky.
"You're right, I totally suck. Everything I did this week totally sucks. Everything I've ever done totally sucks. I might as well lie down and die." Franky suddenly sounded really depressed and fell on his knees and arms.
"They should make me into a ceiling fan…" Franky sobbed in shame.
"So your attack didn't work! Don't be baby!" Sanji yelled shock and angry at the sad Franky.
"And you don't have to take what I said seriously like that, now you're just being creepy." Shirone added.
Luffy decided that since the net isn't working, he is going to try catching the ghosts with his bare hands and jump up to grab one only for that one to go through him too.
"I wanna die and be reincarnated as a clam. I can't cut it as a human. I'm useless… Just leave me here." Luffy depressed of his existence.
"You too!" Shirone shocked.
"Get over it already! What the Hell is wrong with you!" Sanji yelled furious of this negative feeling going around.
It was then Robin started to figure out what those ghosts are capable of.
"It would appear that when a ghost pass through someone's body, they become depressed." Robin informed to the others.
"And how does that make any sense?" Sanji confused on that finding.
"Ha! Those two are just straight-up pathetic." Zoro mocked how Franky and Luffy let themselves be down by the ghosts.
"If they had even an ounce of proper discipline, they wouldn't let themselves fall to pieces over some measly little ghost barely even touching them." Zoro stated that he has the stronger will power.
But then a ghost flew through his body and literally three seconds later.
"I'm not even fit to be dog food…" Zoro sobbed in deep sadness.
"It looks like the ghost can work even to so with strong discipline and willpower. Better brace yourself, cook." Shirone warned Sanji.
"Okay, I get it!" Sanji snapped a bit.
"What a pain. Though it looks like Robin's theory turned out to be spot on." Sanji said as he looks up at the ghosts still being here.
"Negative. Negative. Negative." The ghosts chanted the same words over and over again.
"We need to be extra carful with these ghosts, this could be the result of a Devil Fruit user though I can't fully remember if it is." Shirone said, trying to remember.
"Are you for real? That means this could be more trouble for us." Sanji exclaimed.
"This island truly is fascinating." Robin commented as the ghosts flew away.
Shirone shook the boys who were affected by the ghosts to snap back into themselves to get back to finding their friends, but they were not happy as Luffy didn't feel like riding Cerberus anymore. Robin, Shirone, and Sanji took their turn to riding them.
"You know what? Screw you ghosts! I don't wanna have you as a pet anymore, I wanna crush you!" Luffy angered.
"Whatever their weak point is, I'll find it! Just you wait!" Franky cracked his knuckles, wanting revenge on those ghosts.
"I should call you dog food." Sanji laughed at Zoro who yelled "Shut up" in blushing anger.
"No wait, I'm sorry. You said you're not fit to be dog food." Sani insulted laughing as Cerberus does too, this makes Zoro angrier.
"We need to focus; the ghosts are going to be a big problem if we have to fight them, and they are not even solid to punch like those creatures." Shirone pointed out how dangerous those ghosts are.
"I agree, if these ghosts are from a Devil Fruit then this will be one tough opponent." Robin agreed.
"Like the one on the ship earlier. It seems to me like they were watching us." Sanji theorized.
"If that's the case, the question is who's pulling the string of this ghost power user?" Sanji asked the big question.
"It must be the one with the Shadow-Shadow fruit power, the one who stole Brook's shadow." Shirone theorized.
A moment or two later, the group now stumble upon the graveyard that Gasper's group stumble upon earlier and unlike them, Luffy was actually excited about the area.
"It's a giant graveyard, cool!" Luffy excitedly.
"Perfect place for a picnic, don't you think?" Luffy asked Sanji.
"No way! This atmosphere will ruin the taste!" Sanji refused to believe a place like a graveyard would be an ideal picnic spot.
"You would be surprised of how my King would enjoy eating a picnic in graveyards like here and back home every once in a while." Shirone shrugged.
"You hear that! Gasper likes a picnic graveyard; it means food never taste bad anywhere!" Luffy yelled at Sanji.
"Maybe for you two. Anyway, let's get moving." Sanji wanted to get back to finding Nami, and maybe the others too.
A zombie pushes himself out of the ground with the dead moaning sounds alerting the Straw Hat pirates to look at him, this got them curious and shock at the same time as Luffy walk towards the zombie.
"Be careful, if you get bitten when you'll become a zombie!" Shirone warned.
"Yeah, yeah." Luffy said.
Luffy stood a few inches close to the zombie as he growls, and then Luffy started pushing the zombie back down into the ground where he came from.
"Hey, don't put me back in the ground, jackass!" The zombie angered as he pushes himself back up.
Luffy just stared at him for three seconds until he spoke.
"It's an old man with serious injuries." Luffy shocked, oblivious of the obvious.
"Are you nuts? It's a zombie!" The men shouted the fact at their captain.
"I literally just told you he's a zombie!" Shirone yelled upset.
This definitely got the zombie very angry and couldn't take this laying around anymore.
"Don't make fun of me!" The zombie jumped high into the air, and very soon all the zombies of the graveyard came out to give these idiot pirates the beating for mocking the zombies.
The Straw Hat are just watching the zombies gathering together and surrounding the pirates as they are unfazed of the spooky undead, but both Shirone and Sanji are a little weirded out by one thing.
"Are zombies usually this energentic?" Sanji asked.
"What from the books I read." Shirone said.
"I'll show you how dangerous zombies can really be!" The zombie Luffy pushed down declared.
The zombies shout of the undead moan and undead walk their way to give these pirates a deadly beating they will never forget.
But these zombies have no idea of how truly strong the Straw Hat pirates are, nor the new member Shirone is too.
"Oh, you guys wanna fight, huh? Then I'll show you how dangerous pirates can be!" Luffy grinned as he cracks his knuckles.
Robin smiles with her arms cross, Sanji holds his cigarette while glaring at the zombies, Franky chuckles as he took off the glove of his right hand showing the metal robot hand, Zoro grab one of his swords to get ready for the fight, and Shirone transform into her Nekomata hybrid form with a few blue flaming balls around her.
"You'll be dead all over again." Shirone said.
Luffy threw a Gum-Gum Pistol, Franky with his Strong Right punch, Robin using her Flower-Flower fruit to clutch several zombies at once, Sanji easily kicked away some zombies with his leg strength, Zoro spins around with one sword in one hand and the other in his mouth, and Shirone unleashes her blue fireballs at them to burn them away.
"600 Million Berry Jackpot!" Most, if not all of the zombies have been easily defeated and knocked away by the pirates.
"Think these guys know where Gasper and the others are?" Shirone wondered.
"Let see if they are willing to talk." Robin looked forward to some integration.
(Hogback's Laboratory)
"Fosfosfosfosfosfos! Fosfosfosfosfos!" Dr. Hogback's laugh shouted from the other side of a big door.
"There it is, the door where Dr. Hogback's laboratory is." Xenovia pointed at the door with her sword.
"We're finally going to see his lab!" Chopper smiled with excitement.
"Wipe that smile off your face, he's the guy bad! Remember!" Nami reminded the reindeer boy.
"Sorry, but until I see this with my own eyes then I'm just going to keep being excited for Dr. Hogback and see what his work is!" Chopper stated.
"Quiet, we must enter very slowly." Xenovia shushed the two and slowly but carefully opens the door.
"Fosfosfosfosfosfos!" Hogback laughed some more.
"My work is almost finished! At last, my beautiful marionette! Fosfosfosfosfosfos!" Hogback excitedly laughs.
"Behold, Cindry! This is a true work of art! The work of a genius!" Hogback bragged to his servant.
"I hope the stupid thing blows up and burns your face off." Cindry said hateful.
"Why would you even say that?" Hogback gasped.
"Cindry, please. You make me anxious with all those unnecessary and, frankly hateful, remarks of yours!" Hogback stated, not sure if he can take much more of those any longer than he has to.
"I prepared a midnight snack for you." Cindry announced.
"Oh, wonderful! What is it tonight?" Hogback asked, happy to get some food in his belly.
"I call it "spaghetti soup"." Cindry answered and pours the dinner right out from the bag and onto the table.
"Wait, you're spilling soup all over the place! Be careful!" Hogback gasped, a little grossed out that he has to eat his midnight snack like this.
"I wish every last plate in the world would—"
"Yes, yes, I know." Hogback stopped Cindry from saying those words again as he fully knows how much she hates plates with her very being.
"But considering your hatred for plates, perhaps you should choose a better menu. How about roast beef or turkey. You could also make a sandwich. Y'know, solid foods!" Hogback suggested eating some food that won't spill onto the clean tables like this one or the dining table.
"As you can see, Cindry's body was moved by Hogback's master's power." Xenovia whispered to them.
"I still don't fully understand how it works but seeing her and remembering those photos are creeping me out." Gasper commented.
"Over there on the operating table another corpse that Dr. Hogback just finish making adjustments to be stronger and fiercer than the man who was alive." Xenovia spotted the corpse on the table.
"Look, there's a number on that one just like the others." Chopper noticed the number on the arm.
"This is crazy, so Hogback does some operation on the corpses then brings them to his master and worked his powers to make the corpse into a zombie!" Usopp shocked.
"Damn, I feel like we should get out of here." Nami suggested.
"Not yet, we must to force Hogback to surrender his operation and leave Thriller Bark forever. You see, the master of the island wants a giant army of zombies and the shadows he steals from the victims to become the new souls for zombies become trapped here. This master wants that army to help him conquer the New World." Xenovia explained.
"Conquer the New World!" Nami shocked.
"Yes, which is why" Xenovia stopped talking when she heard wooden clacks from behind as the others hear this too.
They turn around to see the zombie bodyguard walking up to them.
"Yohohoho! Good evening. What's the matter? If you're going to stand there and stare, you might as well go inside." The bodyguard chuckled.
"Yohohoho?" Usopp repeated the laugh in shock.
"That was Brook's laugh, but that isn't Brook at all!" Gasper realized in fear as Nami and Xenovia are shocked of being caught by a zombie.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Luffy's group arrived at the graveyard where the zombies tried to ambush them but were easily swatted away like flies thanks to their incredible strength. But now Gasper's group have stumbled upon the laboratory where they also have an unfortunate meet with one dangerous zombie.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!
