Nami's furious roar echoed from the cabin, making it clear to everyone that the money she'd left on the ship had indeed been taken.
"Now's definitely not the time to provoke Nami..."
"Yeah, yeah."
The men exchanged glances and immediately reached a consensus.
When they returned to the ship, Nami stormed out from the cabin, fuming: "We absolutely can't let those bastards get away with this!"
Her seething rage made everyone's eyelids twitch. "Nami, calm down," Meiser said. "They're just holding onto that money temporarily. They'll be coughing it all up with interest later."
"Don't forget—a hundred ships disappear here every year. There's got to be no shortage of treasure."
As he spoke, Meiser recalled what that so-called Treasure King had mentioned earlier. He might as well check if there were any strange bracelets among the supposed treasures.
Hearing Meiser's words, Nami's anger instantly vanished. She became radiant, her eyes sparkling with dazzling intensity!
"Money!!"
That's right—this time, Moria likely possessed even more treasure than that bounty hunter family they'd encountered before!
The mere thought made Nami even more excited.
Whoosh—Nami instantly appeared in front of Meiser, grabbing his hands. "Meiser," she said earnestly, "you're absolutely right. This time, please don't hold back!"
Meiser: "..."
"Got it."
"Meiser's really something," Usopp and the others marveled.
With just a few simple words, he'd completely shifted Nami's mood from furious to ecstatic. Was this the insight of a Ninja?
Lola and her crew, who had witnessed the entire scene, were utterly stunned.
They'd never seen someone change expressions so quickly—and what was with those golden-glowing eyes? Were they seeing things?
After scanning their surroundings, Franky remarked, "Those bastards really didn't hold back."
Even just on the deck, they could see plenty of dining chairs—clearly thrown out. If the dining area was like this, the rest of the ship couldn't be much better.
"Nami, did you see any Zombies?" Usopp asked.
"Nope."
"What about Luffy and the others?"
"Didn't see them either."
"Didn't see them...?" Usopp frowned. "Could they not have been brought back?"
That couldn't be. That fat garlic-head had specifically said the Zombies would return Luffy and the others.
"I only checked the bedrooms," Nami said. "Haven't looked anywhere else yet."
"Chopper, sniff them out," Meiser instructed.
Why not use such an excellent Biological Radar?
"Oh, right!"
Chopper immediately realized—his nose was incredibly sensitive, so he could easily pick up Luffy's scent.
Without hesitation, Chopper transformed into his reindeer form and began sniffing intently.
"Found them!" Chopper's eyes lit up.
He immediately dashed toward the dining area, his target clear.
But the moment he entered, Chopper let out a shocked cry, his face filled with disbelief.
"L-Luffy...?!"
"What's wrong?!"
Everyone's hearts skipped a beat—Chopper's alarmed cry clearly meant something was wrong. Had something happened to Luffy and the others?
At this thought, the members of the Straw Hat Pirates immediately rushed into the restaurant.
"Let me see, how is Luffy—"
Usopp, who had just squeezed in, was dumbstruck at the sight of the three, his jaw practically hitting the floor.
"Th-These zombies are going too far?!"
Everyone was shocked as they took in the utterly broken state of the trio.
"Damn it, how could they do this to Luffy!" Merry said angrily.
As she spoke, she hurried over to the three of them, reaching out with her small hands to tug at them. "Hey, you three, get up already!"
"We're going to get revenge!"
But unfortunately, the three showed no reaction, as if they couldn't hear Merry at all.
"Let me handle this."
Franky clenched his fists and stepped forward, saying, "It might be a bit rough, but we can't worry about that right now."
"Bam!"
"Bam!"
"Bam!"
"Get up, all of you!"
One punch each, and the three were knocked flat onto the ground.
The air fell silent. The trio remained motionless, as if dead.
"Hey... no way." Franky was stunned. "Do they not have pain receptors?"
He hadn't held back—their heads were swollen from the blows—yet they still didn't wake up?
"I'll do it!"
Nami clenched her fists and stepped forward, ready to pummel them.
"No, this is my job." Usopp reached out to stop Nami.
If Franky's punches had no effect, Nami's probably wouldn't either.
After clearing his throat, Usopp walked up to the three under everyone's puzzled gazes and then shouted at the top of his lungs: "The Beautiful Sword Master is here with meat!!"
The next moment, the three seemingly lifeless bodies trembled—they actually reacted!!
Under the shocked stares of the crew, the three pushed themselves up with their hands, their bodies shaking as they mumbled:
"Beautiful?!"
"Sword Master?!"
"Meat?!"
"These guys are hopeless..." Meiser covered his face with his hand.
He never expected Usopp to wake these unconscious idiots with such a method.
Truly... a precision strike.
The three, just regaining consciousness, were still stuck in the moment Moria had stolen their shadows.
"Bastard, how dare you take my shadow!!" Luffy roared, leaping to his feet. "Give it back!"
"Hey, Luffy, it's me!" Usopp was dumbfounded. Why was Luffy coming at him?
"Bam!"
Nami punched Luffy flat onto the ground. "Stay down, you idiot!!"
"Na... Nami..."
That familiar force—definitely Nami.
"Where are we?" Sanji muttered dazedly.
He sat on the floor, looking around in confusion.
"The Thousand Sunny."
"We're back on the ship?" Zoro frowned. "Did we never go ashore in the first place?"
"Or were we just—"
Before Zoro could finish, he noticed the state of his body.
The light shone above him, but there was no shadow beneath him.
"So... this isn't a dream after all..."
After understanding the situation, Zoro's expression darkened—his Shadow was truly gone.
How disgraceful. To think he'd been taken down by such a move from the enemy made him absolutely furious. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Zoro instinctively gripped his sword hilt, veins bulging on his arm.
"So what exactly happened?" Meiser asked. "How did you three idiots get captured?"
"It was something like a spider," Sanji explained. "The enemy was incredibly fast—they tied me up and took me away in the blink of an eye."
"The webbing was extremely tough. Impossible to break free from."
He had struggled desperately at the time, but unfortunately, there was no way to escape.
"A spider, huh..."
"Anyway, you three idiots understand the situation now, right?" Nami said, hands on her hips. "Your Shadows have all been stolen by Moria, one of the Royal Seven Warlords of the Sea."
"Pull yourselves together!"
"Royal Seven Warlords?"
Sanji and Zoro exchanged glances, clearly surprised that their opponent this time was one of the Warlords.
But they weren't afraid. They'd just fight—it wasn't like they hadn't defeated a Warlord before.
"That bastard Moria..." Luffy growled angrily. "How dare he steal my Shadow!"
"I'm gonna punch him into the sky!"
Nami was pleased with Luffy's reaction and nodded. "Not just the Shadows—we're taking the money back too!"
"Huh?!"
Zoro shot Nami a stunned look. Was money really the priority right now?
"What's with that look?!" Nami glared. "It's tens of millions!!"
"Enough to buy you a good sword!"
Zoro sprang to his feet, veins popping on his forehead. "Let's cut them down!"
He didn't care about money, but he cared about swords!
As a Three-Sword Style swordsman, only carrying two blades was unacceptable!
Just then, Luffy's stomach growled loudly. Instinctively, he reached for the bento Sanji had prepared for him—but it was nowhere to be found.
"Dammit, my Pirate Bento got stolen..."
"Sanji, I wanna eat!"
Before Sanji could respond, Meiser spoke up first. "That's probably not happening."
"Why not?"
"Because the enemy emptied our food storage."
He'd passed by the storeroom earlier and taken a quick look inside—everything was gone.
"What?!"
Luffy exploded with rage. "That bastard Moria even stole our food?! I won't forgive him!!"
Luffy was furious. Stealing treasure was one thing, but food? That was crossing the line.
"I think it was that Ghost Woman's doing," Usopp said.
While trapped in that plush toy body, he'd overheard something about it.
"Ghost Woman?"
"Yeah, that woman has the power to make people unbearably pessimistic."
Franky: "..."
As if remembering something unpleasant, Franky's expression darkened. He'd experienced that despair firsthand.
That Devil Fruit power was truly dangerous.
"Whoever they are, I won't let them get away with this!!" Luffy said angrily.
"If it's just about food, we have some here."
Hearing the commotion, Lola entered with Tooth and the others. They had stayed outside earlier to guard against possible zombie attacks, so they hadn't come in initially.
"Huh?!"
"Who are you guys?"
Luffy and his two companions looked at Lola's group in confusion, their eyes showing bewilderment.
"They're friends of mine," Meiser explained. "Their shadows were also stolen by Moria, and I got my intel from them."
As soon as Meiser finished speaking, Lola walked up to Luffy's trio with a serious expression.
Seeing this, the others facepalmed.
"What's wrong?"
"Which one of you three will marry me?"
The trio: ?!!!
"Who proposes marriage at first meeting?!"
"I refuse!"
They hadn't even known each other for ten seconds, and she was already proposing marriage? How absurd!
"How could this be..." Lola said disappointedly. She had really thought this time she might finally get married, but it was another failure.
"Ahahahaha, the captain's 4,450th marriage proposal failed!!"
Zoro: ...
What kind of person has over four thousand failed marriage proposals?
Ahem, Straw Hat Boy, didn't you want to eat? We brought food," Echo coughed lightly as he approached carrying a backpack.
After setting the backpack down, Echo said, "Eat up, it's all food inside."
"Huh?!"
"You're treating me to food? Thank you!"
Luffy happily opened the backpack, and when he saw the large amount of meat inside, his grin widened.
"So much meat!"
"Delicious!"
"As long as you're satisfied," Echo smiled.
Since Ninja-bro considered them friends, they naturally couldn't be stingy with food. If his captain needed it, they'd provide it. He knew all too well how terrible hunger felt.
"Why did you specifically bring food?"
Meiser looked curiously at Echo—they hadn't mentioned bringing provisions when they left earlier. He had assumed the backpack contained anti-zombie supplies, like salt.
"Since we weren't sure how long this battle would last, bringing food seemed wise," Echo chuckled. "And now it's come in handy."
At this moment, Echo was extremely glad they had brought food. Otherwise, sending a hungry Straw Hat Boy into battle might have led to defeat, which would have been disastrous.
"So good!" Luffy said between mouthfuls. "Thank you, you guys are really nice!"
"Ninja-bro treats us as friends and promised to help us reclaim our shadows. Of course we wouldn't skimp on food," Echo replied.
What was a little food compared to that? To him, their friendship was priceless!
"Then we're friends too!" Luffy grinned toothily. "Leave your shadows to us!"
"Thank you!"
"No need to be polite, hahaha!"
"Luffy, as long as we defeat Moria, all these problems will be solved," Meiser said. "Everyone's shadows will return."
"Moria's mine," Luffy declared without hesitation.
That damned fat garlic head—he would never let him off.
"Understood."
"Alright, now let's cross-check the intel," Meiser began. "First up is Luffy's zombie. That guy is at least several dozen meters tall—probably a giant's corpse."
"Eh?!"
"My zombie is actually a giant?!" Luffy exclaimed in shock.
"Correct."
"That's no ordinary giant, then," Usopp chimed in. "The giants we've encountered before weren't nearly that big."
Brogy and Dorry were giants too, standing at around twenty meters tall, while the giants they met at Enies Lobby were even smaller.
"Then... if that thing goes berserk..." Chopper gulped.
A colossal body dozens of meters tall—even a casual swipe of its hand would be enough to flatten them. This was far more terrifying than an ordinary giant.
"No worries, I'll handle that guy," Meiser said. "I won't let him interfere with your battles."
"Got it."
Luffy agreed without hesitation.
"Eh?!"
"Meiser, you have a way to deal with that thing?!" Usopp stared at Meiser in disbelief.
"I do," Meiser replied calmly, nodding.
Seeing Meiser's confidence, Usopp fell into deep thought. Could it be that Meiser had some powerful Ninjutsu they hadn't witnessed yet? The idea made Usopp's expression gradually light up with excitement. He was really looking forward to seeing Meiser's techniques!
"Next are Sanji and Zoro's zombies," Nico Robin continued. "One is a Three-Sword Style swordsman, the other a Penguin Dog."
Sanji: "..."
"Pe... Penguin Dog?!"
Sanji looked utterly devastated, as if struck by lightning.
The next moment, he bared his shark-like teeth and roared, "Why the hell does Moss Head's zombie get to be a person while mine turns into a damn Penguin Dog?!"
Sanji was furious. What the hell? Where exactly did he fall short compared to that bastard Zoro?
"Tch, your Shadow's only good enough to reanimate something at that level."
"You bastard, what did you say?!"
Sanji's temper flared instantly, and he lunged at Zoro.
The two immediately started brawling right there in the dining area, full of energy.
"Enough!!"
Thud!
Thud!
Nami knocked both idiots to the ground with a punch each.
"So... so brutal..."
Echo and the others instinctively took a few steps back, eyeing Nami fearfully. This woman could actually take down two such powerful men, and considering her earlier displays...
Could her strength rival even the Ninja bro's?
Truly a terrifying woman!
Once the two had completely settled down, Nami declared, "We'll handle those two zombies. Sanji, you're with me."
"Yes~"
"Nami-swan~"
Sanji sprang up instantly, wriggling with joy as if bestowed with some divine mission.
Zoro glanced up at Nami and frowned. "My zombie is still—"
Before Zoro could finish, Nami cut him off. "Zoro, there's a legendary swordsman here—"
"One who has slain a flying dragon—I think you'd be more interested in him."
"A legendary swordsman?!"
Zoro's face immediately lit up with excitement. What he loved most was battling powerful swordsmen, as it honed his skills and made him stronger!
Now that he'd encountered such a formidable opponent, Zoro was instantly fired up.
"Not just that," Meiser added. "He also wields one of the Supreme Grade Swords - 21 Craftsmen, the Famous Sword Autumn Water."
"I figured you'd be interested."
"He's mine!" Zoro declared without hesitation.
As a man determined to become the world's greatest Sword Master, he naturally wouldn't pass up such a weapon.
"Are two swords enough for you?" Meiser asked, glancing at the blades at Zoro's waist.
Hearing this, Tooth and the others were stunned. It was no secret that the Pirate Hunter was a Three-Sword Style swordsman.
But what did he mean by two swords?
"Ah, no problem there."
"Wait a minute!" Tooth suddenly interjected. "Ninja bro, what do you mean by two swords?"
Before Meiser could explain, Zoro spoke up himself. "Due to special circumstances, I lost one of my swords."
"In that case, please use mine."
Tooth then took the sword from his back and offered it, saying, "Though it's not quite at the level of a Fine Grade sword, it's still a decent weapon."
He had picked it up from a dead Marine's body—it looked good, so he'd taken it as his weapon.
"You're willing to lend me your sword?"
"Yes!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Tooth handed the sword to Zoro.
Zoro took it, drew the blade, and murmured, "A fine sword..."
At the very least, it was better than the two weapons he'd used back in the East Blue.
"But..."
Before Tooth could finish, Meiser asked, "Tooth, what will you use afterward?"
Seeing Meiser's concerned look, Tooth scratched his head and chuckled.
"I don't really need a sword," he said. "You guys are way more important in this fight."
His combat skills were limited at best—he could only handle ordinary Zombies at most.
But the Ninja and the others were different—they were the main force in this battle!
So... even if it meant giving up his weapon, Tooth had no regrets.
Looking at Tooth's earnest expression, Zoro fell silent for a moment before nodding solemnly. "Thanks."
Now, he had one more reason to help them reclaim their Shadows.
"No need to thank me, hahaha!"
Seeing Zoro accept his sword, Tooth laughed heartily.
Just then, Luffy, who had finished all the food in his backpack, stood up and glanced at the group.
"Have any of you seen Brook?"
Their main purpose for coming to this island was to find Brook and retrieve his Shadow, but they hadn't even found him yet.
This troubled Luffy deeply—he hoped Brook hadn't been taken out by Zombies. After all, he was a comrade Luffy had acknowledged.
"Haven't seen Brook, but we did meet his Shadow Zombie," Merry said. "The Dragon-Slaying Swordsman's."
"His way of speaking was exactly like Brook's."
Zoro froze for a moment, clearly not expecting the Shadow to actually be Brook's. If that was the case, he had one more reason to cut down that samurai.
Casually slipping the weapon Tooth had given him into his belt, Zoro's expression gradually turned serious.
This wasn't just any weapon—it was Tooth's trust in him!!
He wouldn't betray that trust.
"I saw him," Franky said. "He was the one who told me about salt being effective against Zombies."
"And about how you could make it back to the ship alive..."
At this point, Franky paused briefly before continuing, "Luffy, after talking with him at length, I realized that guy is a real man!"
"A real man?"
"That's right. This man keeps a promise—one he's upheld for decades, even after death!"
"What promise?" Meiser asked curiously.
"It's... a truly moving story!" Franky said with a solemn expression. "At the distant Twin Capes, an Island Whale named Laboon is waiting for him. That's why he absolutely must reclaim his Shadow!"
"He's a real man!"
Hearing Franky's words, Nami and the others were stunned. That name was all too familiar to them!
"La... Laboon?!"