Zombie Encounter with Order of Hogback
The carriage is seen going through the dark forest with Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and Gasper inside as they have taken the offer from Hildon to go to the mansion where this man called Doctor Hogback is residing there. Gasper looks out the window feeling a bit scared.
"Gasper, are you okay?" Nami asked.
"Sure, I'm pretty used to creepy stuff back in my homeland, but I think there's something odd about those horses." Gasper responded.
"Yeah, I didn't get a good look at them when we step in this carriage, so I thought maybe it's my imagination." Nami mentioned.
"It's dark, your eyes are playing tricks on you." Hildon assured with a chuckle, but that's all a lie as those horses are actually kind of like Centaurs with bandages on their bodies.
"Anyway, thanks for saving us back there." Usopp thanked.
"Yeah, you really saved us from being hunted Cerberus and eaten to become its dinner!" Gasper nodded rapidly, butting onto Usopp.
"It was nothing. Have a drink to calm your nerves." Hildon offered which Nami took while the boys say they're okay for now.
"Now, this forest is filled with frightening creatures, it's dangerous to pass through on foot." Hildon warned.
"I was surprised. I thought Cerberus was just a legend, but there it was, three heads gnashing and everything!" Chopper nodded.
"Except that Cerberus had a fox head for some reason, pretty sure dogs and foxes are like rivals to each other or maybe I was thinking about wolf and lions." Gasper tried to remember what dogs and foxes are to each other.
"That thing musta been some kind of mutant, it just wasn't natural." Usopp stated.
"We were lucky we got up in that tree, but I was afraid I'd ever come down again with that thing around!" Usopp said, hoping to never go through that again.
"If you're hoping to wait for your friends, the mansion's the safest place. Besides, they couldn't possibly miss it." Hildon pointed out how big the mansion is.
"Not only that, but we're also gonna get to meet Dr. Hogback too, right?" Chopper asked the literal bat man.
"You seem really excited about this man." Gasper commented.
"Is this hog guy really that famous?" Usopp asked because he never heard a word about this guy.
"Are you kidding? Every doctor in the world knows his name! He's one of the greatest surgeons ever! He can perform real miracles! They say his operations have saved more people than there are stars in the sky! He has fame and fortune, and every other honor a doctor could ever hope for! The entire medical community looks up to him as a true hero!" Chopper explained the great things about Dr. Hogback, and then look sad.
"But then he just disappeared without a trace." Chopper mentioned.
"Disappeared? Like how?" Gasper asked.
"Some people thought he had an accident, and others thought he was kidnapped. But in the end, since no one could find any clues, everyone gave up on looking for him. And bit by bit, they started thinking of him as nothing more than a legend." Chopper mentioned on how Hogback slowly fades away from the people's memories.
"That is the Hogback you're talking about, right?" Chopper asked Hildon again, with his mood changing to happy and cheerful again.
"Yes, indeed. He's studying in seclusion. The doctor came to this island to conduct research beyond the scope of mankind." Hildon nodded and explained.
"Ah! Do you think I could get an autograph from him?" Chopper asked, smiling with excitement some more.
"I'm sure he could be persuaded to spare a moment for one of his fans." Hildon said.
Meanwhile, Nami looks out the window to see if there is something else on this island that she should know about but became shocked when she saw something unexpected on this island.
"No way… This land has lions too?" Nami asked.
But then she something about that lion even stranger when it turns his face toward the girl, and the face looks more like a human man than a lion's head which causes Nami to freak out so much like her soul left her body for a moment and suddenly screams and spilled her drink on Chopper.
Her screaming also causes the others to scream as well from her sudden reaction.
"Nami! Why are we screaming?!" Gasper asked screaming.
"We're only screaming because Nami was screaming too!" Usopp pointed out.
"Seriously, girl. What's wrong with you? Don't scare me like that! Come on, what happened?" Usopp asked.
"There was a lion, but he—his face was…" Nami couldn't describe how the lion's face looked like, so she draws a picture of the lion's face on a notebook that happens to be in the carriage too. "It looked like this."
"Oh, yeah right!" Usopp did not believe that a lion could have a face like that.
"Wanna see? Then take a look for yourself! Here!" Nami opened the curtain to show them the lion.
However, it was a lot more than what Nami had intended on showing the lion as they now suddenly see something very creepy about the forest like the animals and the tree themselves are laughing in a creepy tone and even the trees have faces like people as the animals are also being very strange like dancing on two legs.
The four pirate crew members of the Straw Hat blink a few times, the forest and animals gasp upon realizing they have been seen.
Nami and the boys close their eyes for a second and rubbing them then open their eyes again only to see there is nothing but the quiet forest and normal trees.
The four started a soft laugh together seemingly like they thought it was their imagination, but they suddenly scream in terror together.
"THAT IS NOT RIGHT?! THAT IS DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT?!"
"Even my home was never this scary!" Gasper exclaimed while Usopp seem to have fainted.
"Please, stop the carriage! We need to turn around, Hildon." Nami begged.
"My goodness, whatever could've upset you so much? Perhaps you all saw an illusion?" Hildon asked, oblivious to what they are freaking out about.
"What do you mean illusion! There was definitely something out there for sure! This forest is feakin' strange!" Usopp stated.
"That much is true, it is a bit odd here." Hildon admitted.
"That didn't look like "A bit" to me." Gasper said.
"The fog, for example, has strange qualities, it can even cause hallucinations for some." Hildon explained.
"So, you mean it was just the fog? That's good." Chopper sighed in relief knowing there aren't any real freaky monsters out there.
"Illusion? The fog? No, that doesn't make any sense." Usopp refused to believe that all of this was just the illusion caused by the fog.
"Hildon, we're really grateful for taking us to shelter, but we have friends close by at the coast and they are waiting for us. I'm sure we can manage on our own." Gasper said, hoping not to worry Shirone for being gone any longer.
"But I wanna meet Dr. Hogback! It's not fair! I have to!" Chopper complained, upset that he's not gonna be able to meet his hero if they leave now.
"I know how you feel, but my "Something Freaky is Going on Here" sensor is on high alert. You've gotta trust my powers on this one." Usopp stated.
"Either you can do see the doctor and die, or we can turn back now and live. Which one will it be?" Usopp made the options for Chopper to choose.
"Doesn't that seem a little harsh?" Gasper asked Nami.
"Maybe, but I'm with Usopp on this one." Nami shrugged.
"Well, of course, I don't wanna die! That's scary!" Chopper stated.
"Oh, that's too bad. Then, as you wish, I'll have the driver turn the carriage around for you. Wait a moment and I shall return." Hildon accepted their request.
"Stop the carriage!" Hildon called out and the carriage stop.
Hildon steps out of the carriage and hides a sneaky grin with his fangs, showing that he is not going to do exactly what he said.
Inside the carriage, Chopper winces in emotional pain as Gasper tries to comfort him.
"I'm sorry we had to leave so suddenly, Chopper." Gasper apologized.
"Yeah, I know what this means to you." Nami felt bad for the reindeer doctor.
"No, I understand… If I was strong and brave like Luffy, I could just walk there by myself instead of sitting here and crying." Chopper exclaimed.
"Luffy must be a great captain to be around with, I'm already feeling so much freedom and fun from him!" Gasper smiled.
"Yeah, Luffy can be like that sometimes, but he can also be a big pain in the ass when it comes to getting us into the serious of troubles and almost got us killed from some of them." Nami chuckled.
"But even so, Luffy is the kind of guy who will always stand up for his friends and doesn't like the worse kinds of bullies worse than dealing your lunch money." Usopp smiled.
"He's always there for us every step of the way." Usopp believed.
"He's strong in both his heart and soul that he's going to be King of the Pirates someday!" Usopp announced.
"Wow! King of the Pirates, like Gold Roger! That is the coolest thing I have ever heard!" Gasper amazed.
"Please, tell me more about Luffy!" Gasper pleaded.
"Well, let see here, Luffy was from the East Blue like some of us." Nami started the tale of Luffy and the crew.
(10 Minutes Later)
"And that how we started our adventure in the Grand Line with dragons and meeting up a princess." Nami said.
"Wow!" Gasper smiled.
"Hey guys, not to ruin story time, but Hildon has been gone for a long while now." Usopp pointed out.
"Oh yeah, I think it's been ten minutes already." Gasper realized this.
"How long does he plan to make us wait here?" Nami asked.
"Dunno, but I'm too scared to look outside again." Chopper said.
"I'll check." Gasper volunteered to look out to see what is taking Hildon so long, but when he looked outside there is nobody there and the horses are even gone too.
"Oh no…" Gasper said.
"Is something wrong, Gasper? What do you see?" Usopp asked.
"Nothing… And I mean literally nothing, there's no Hildon in sight and the horses are gone too." Gasper informed.
"WHAAAAT?! What do mean by all of that?" Usopp forced himself to look outside and shove Gasper down, and he screams again.
"Oh no, those guys left us in the middle of some scary graveyard!" Usopp screamed.
"Are you kidding me? But why?!" Nami freaked out.
"What? No, that can't be right! Please, someone tell me he just left to go pee!" Chopper hoped while screaming in fear.
"Hey, Hildon! Where are you?" Usopp called out.
Unknown to them, Hildon is flying high in the sky heading for the mansion while the two strange Centaurs have run off from the carriage as well with some evil chuckling.
"Leaving us along at night is one thing, but come on, in a graveyard!" Usopp gulped in fear.
"Yeah, I get it! Just—just stop, okay. I'm trying to think here." Nami doesn't want to hear any more scary things while trying to think of a plan.
"What should we do? I'm scared?" Chopper exclaimed.
"Well, we can't stay here all night, so we're gonna have to go out and make it to the shore ourselves." Gasper suggested.
"Hold on, you're not serious about going that, are you?" Usopp asked.
"Don't worry, with any luck, my new Devil Fruit power should be enough to fend off whatever is here on this island while we reunite with the others." Gasper promised.
"Oh yeah, I remember you were eating a Devil Fruit in the moat while we were running away from Cerberus." Nami remembered that part.
"Alright, maybe you can get us out of here! What power is it?" Usopp asked, believing this to be a miracle.
"It's a Mystical Zoan Type Devil Fruit, the Bat-Bat Fruit: Model Vampire." Gasper answered honestly.
"Wow, a vampire power! Now that's pretty cool, guess we won't have to worry about—Wait a fucking minute here! You're telling me you're a vampire now!" Usopp asked in fear.
"Yeah, are you not a fan of vampires?" Gasper asked.
"That's not the point right now!" Usopp screamed as he held his cross to Gasper only to push himself out of the carriage.
"Usopp, quit being an idiot. I don't think Gasper is a bad vampire if that's what you were going for." Nami stated.
"Sure, just wait until the urge to suck our bloods comes in." Usopp said as he stands up.
Just as Usopp was about to get back into the carriage, he saw something within the graveyard that appears to be rising up from ground though he thought he was just imagining things, but suddenly a hand burst out of the ground.
It was then that Usopp started to realize what is going on here and screamed really loud, and this got the others' attention to see more hands and then rotten bodies coming out of the ground and in front of the tombstones.
"This is a dream, right?" Nami hoped.
"I'm afraid it's not…" Gasper gulped.
More zombies came out of the ground while the ones who did come out are approaching the carriage.
"Z-Z-Zombies! Noooooo?!" The four pirates screamed together.
Within a minute or two, all the zombies in the graveyard have risen from the ground and surrounded the carriage with no hope of escaping for the young pirates, and they get even closer with one sticking his hand out to reach inside the carriage.
"NO! LEAVE US ALONE!" Gasper screamed and threw a strong punch literally knocked one zombie's head off.
"Whoa, nice one, Gasper!" Usopp amazed, but the zombie's kept coming and shaking the carriage.
"Oh crap, I almost forgot that zombies are scary strong too!" Usopp panicked.
"We have no choice but to get out of the carriage now!" Gasper said.
"Okay, now exactly how I start using my new Vampire Fruit power? Chopper, did you first use your power?" Gasper asked.
"Well, I guess it just happen on instinct for me and I didn't even notice the sudden change until later." Chopper explained his first experience.
"How about we save the chitchat until we get away from these zombies!" Usopp reminded them of the danger they are in.
But it was already too late when the zombies finally knocked over the carriage with only three or four of them knocking it over and forcing them to come out.
"Oh no, they're gonna bite me and I'm gonna turn into a zombie?!" Usopp panicked.
"Let him go!" Gasper growled as he charged at the zombies.
"(Looks like this will be another good way to practice my Haki.)" Gasper thought clutching his fist.
Gasper jumps forward with the vampire's super strength of his legs toward the zombies and threw a few punches at three zombies and knocked another zombie's head off.
"Usopp, are you okay?" Gasper asked.
"Yeah, but I think one of them bit me! Now I'm done for!" Usopp feared while some of the zombis helped the one Gasper punched get his head back.
"Get off of me?!" Nami begged as the zombies are clenching onto her.
"I'm coming, Nami!" Chopper charged in his Heavy Point knocking some of the zombies away and pulling Nami away from them, but the zombies are still coming.
"We need to help them!" Gasper worried for them.
"My Exploding Star should work. Zombies hate fire!" Usopp fired a pellet that exploded into a big burst of fire.
"Dude! Fire!" One zombie panicked.
"Get back man, that'll burn you!" Another zombie warned.
"I figured it would work, but I wasn't expecting them." Usopp surprised, the zombies are complaining about fire being dangerous and such which is also weird.
"Nami! Chopper! Let's go, Usopp will use another fire to keep them bay a little more!" Gasper called out.
"You heard him, let's go!" Chopper nodded as he carries Nami on his back and Usopp threw in another Exploding Star like Gasper said.
"At this point, we might as well make a run for the mansion since it's closer than the shore." Usopp pointed out.
"That sounds like a good idea to me!" Chopper agreed.
"That was so scary!" Nami exclaimed.
"Don't worry, the zombies won't be able to catch up with us." Gasper said.
"He's right, as long as we're able to keep up the pace, there's no way those things can catch up! Even if they're strong and don't get tired, they shamble along really slow when they move." Usopp stated the slow zombie fact.
However, after a moment of the zombies shamble slow, they suddenly started running fast.
"What?! Were they just lazy?!" Usopp gasped.
They kept running away from the zombies who are still chasing until they came out of the graveyard, but when Gasper and Usopp turns around, they are shocked to see the zombies stop chasing them because of one thing.
"They're tired now!" Gasper and Usopp gasped.
"Usopp, Gasper, come on!" Chopper called out.
The two got back to running with their friends and the zombies just look onward to the three humans and reindeer going into the path that leads them right into the mansion.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
Gasper and the others have now started to encounter the zombies of Thriller Bark as they were left in the graveyard on purpose, and there is something off about those zombies that will be revealed to the crew soon enough.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!