Summary:
Upon entering the residence of Dr. Hogbacka, Usopp, Nami, and Chopper continue to question the strange nature of their surroundings, including the tunnels and the courtyard beyond the front door. As they approach the floodlit well, a terrifying stapled woman emerges to greet them and immediately throw plates at them. The woman allows Nami and Chopper in, but continues to throw plates at Usopp. The voice tells “Cindry” that Usopp can be let in as well, which explains the cause of Cindry’s hating of plates to the three straw hats. The lecturer introduces himself as the brilliant Dr. Hogback before arguing further with Cindry about the plates. Chopper is immediately in awe, but the others are forced to follow him to avoid more zombies.
Inside Hogback’s cafeteria, Nami tries to explain their predicament and about the zombies outside. The Doctor claims that he disappeared from public view and came to Thriller Bark to study zombies and continue to understand matters of life and death. Chopper is stunned to meet the famous doctor and asks to visit Hogback’s lab, but is told that it is off limits to all of them. Usopp, after eating a portion of the pudding (minus the plates), further asks about sightings of any living skeletons like Brook. Hogback suspects something, but refuses to reveal what.
After eating, Nami decides to take a shower while Usopp and Chopper stand guard (with Usopp questioning why they are guarding her). The trio decide to stay in the mansion, hoping that Luffy and the others can get past the zombies outside and save them. At the same time, Nami notes that even inside the mansion there are stitched zombies, proving that Hogback knows more than he’s letting on.
Before she can figure out what to do next, Nami hears growling in the bathroom. An invisible voice notes Nami’s intelligence before grabbing her and pinning her against the bathroom wall. The voice admires the navigator’s weakness and declares that she will be his “bride”. Usopp rushes into the bathroom to save her, happy but confused by the situation. Chopper finds the intruder by smell and Usopp fires a shooting star, but the intruder escapes. None of them knew what happened, but Nami guesses that the visitor was an “invisible man”.
Returning to the Thousand Sunny, the remaining crew realize they are completely stuck in a web with nowhere to go. Luffy decides that if they can’t go anywhere, they might as well go to Thriller Bark. Within moments of arriving on the island, the crew encounters Cerberus. Compared to the previous trio, the group reacts very differently, from Franky and Zoro’s immediate aggression, to Robin commenting on her cuteness, to Luffy just wanting to eat it. The creature does not take it well.