Summary:
Tararan is in real pain, much to the shock of Robin and the Spider-Mice. Franky warns Brook that Tararan is a zombie and therefore will not be defeated by a simple slashing motion. Brook confidently tells him that the spider monkey is indeed finished because the zombies actually have a weakness that Brook identified. Tararan’s agony becomes more intense and a black substance flies from his mouth towards the sky. Brook explains that it is his soul returning to its “master”. Tararan collapses and loses consciousness. The spider mice are shocked and upset. Franky wants to know what happened and Brook says it was a “cleansing”.
The Spider Mice suddenly recognize Brook as the “Grunting Brook” that caused a ruckus on the island five years ago. They rush inside to inform Moria. Brook tells Franky that while the web is immune to brute force, it can be destroyed by fire, which Franky illustrates with his fire breath. Once free, Franky and Robin confront Brook about his knowledge of the island. Brook worries about the Straw Hat crew members who have already been captured and whether it is too late for them. After a bit of goofing off, Franky finally gets Brook to tell them what he knows.
Brook tells them about how he spent years after his “death” drifting at sea on a ship with a broken rudder. However, Thriller Bark brought him five years ago. Hoping to find a way to repair his ship and finally escape the Florian Triangle, he went to investigate. He found a zombie and was eventually captured. He was brought to the building he is currently standing in front of. There he saw a martial dancer and a patched-up corpse (called a “puppet”). Then a huge man, Moria, plucked the dancer’s shadow from the floor and placed it in the corpse, which then suddenly came to life, replicating the dancer’s movements while the dancer himself lost consciousness. Soon after, the same thing happened to Brook himself.
Brook explains that the shadow is a replicated soul that follows you everywhere. Gecko Moria uses his Kage Kage no Mi to possess them and make them obey his will. He uses a corpse, usually that of a legendary warrior, sometimes pieced together from different pieces by Dr. Hogback, to transfer the shadow soul into them and revive them. It combines the physical strength of a puppet body with the personality and fighting abilities of a shadowed soul. This is why Moria is especially eager to find bounty heads to capture. However, due to this power, the original owners of the shadow are mostly sent away and left adrift at sea after losing consciousness, much to Franky and Robin’s dismay. But Brook discovers that they still have some time before that happens with the captured Straw Hats. Brook has a plan and orders the other two to follow him. Franky is reluctant, but Robin asks Brook to tell them what it is.
Inside, Gyoro, Nin and Bao announce the arrival of the “Three Mysterious Persons”. Dr. Hogback, Perona, and Absalom enter the room and confront Moria, whose face and gigantic body are finally revealed. He tells them how much he wants to be the Pirate King, but Luffy, who is webbed in a cage in the same room, yells that he will be the one to become the Pirate King, not Moria!
Luffy yells at Moria to bring back Zoro, Sanji, Nami and the others. Dr. Hogback admires Luffy’s strength, but Perona is skeptical that Luffy is the type of man who would truly be a threat to world government. Luffy and Absalom argue about the armor Luffy is wearing and the “romance”.
Moria tells Luffy that he has only captured three of his crew so far: Luffy himself, Zoro, and “the blonde without the poster”. Luffy figures it must be Sanji. Inside the Kumashi, Nami and Chopper are eavesdropping and the three are shocked that the three strongest members of the crew have been captured. Moria asks Perona about the three missing members and Perona says that the Risky Brothers never showed up with them. He assumes they must have escaped. Kumashi approaches and tries to tell them about them being hidden in his body, but Perona silences him again. Absalom tells the others about the fight the three Straw Hats had in Peron’s garden, then suddenly worries that Hogback has done something to “his bride” Nami. As they bicker, Cindry interrupts them with several pauses.
Moria interrupts by pointing out that they can capture the missing pirates later. He wanted them to be shown the creation of Moria’s new great battle asset here. Suddenly a scream is heard and Luffy, still webbed and in armor, crawls around the room. Bao tells Moria that Luffy bit through his cage to escape! Hogback is excited by Luffy’s combativeness, but when Absalom raises his hand to attack, Perona points out that since they’re inside, it’s better if she takes care of it. Perona starts running after Luffy and Luffy, who is still crawling, taunts her. But three “negative spirits” come out of Peron’s body and head straight for Luffy, who can’t crawl away from them fast enough. As they pass through his body, Luffy stops crawling and goes into a fetal position, sadly wishing he was reborn as a sea slug. Absalom notes with a mixture of admiration and horror how the negative spirits were able to destroy the spirit of “the man who wants to be a pirate king”.
Moments later, Luffy is seen without his armor but still bound by the spider cord. This time he is also hanging from the ceiling with some other string while standing in front of Moria. His ghost is back and still grunting and cursing at Moria. A large light source turns on behind Luffy and Moria leans down to grab the shadow Luffy’s body is creating on the floor. He picks her up off the floor and drags Luffy with him. Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, still hidden inside Kumashi, look on in horror. Luffy is shocked and yells at him to stop. Moria pulls out a giant pair of scissors and cuts the shadow from Luffy’s body. Luffy falls to the floor and passes out. Moria laughs and celebrates that he now has Luffy’s shadow with a battle power of Beli 300,000,000. He declares his intention to use it to create an “Ultimate Special Zombie”.