OPTC Chapter 194 - Absalom: The Power of a Bear
"I think someone needs to take the helm. This river isn't very wide, and we might crash into something. My ship is moored not far from here, and if we hit it, people could die. Although I'm already dead, yohohoho!"
Brook had once served as an acting captain, so the first thing on his mind was always the safety of the ship.
"I'll steer. Artoria taught me a little before," Rui Meng Meng said eagerly. She was a quick learner who wanted to master everything. Even if she sometimes felt clumsy, her diligence had allowed her to pick up more skills than she realized.
Lu Da Shan and Brook searched around the ship, while Ma Lao Wu followed the trail of the anchor and its chain, sniffing for any suspicious scents.
Rui Meng Meng carefully guided the Amber, steering it downstream and avoiding Brook's larger ship that floated nearby.
Not long after, a massive spiderweb appeared ahead, stretching across the river from bank to bank. Both ships collided with it one after another, bounced slightly, and then stuck fast. The current beneath them slowed to a crawl.
"Why is there such a huge spiderweb?" Rui Meng Meng looked left and right. The two ships caught on the web looked like giant grasshoppers. She couldn't help but wonder if an enormous spider would appear.
On the shore stood a dock facing a massive gate, surrounded by stone walls. Above the gate were the carved words: "THRILLER·BARK." It seemed this was the true entrance to the Thriller Bark.
At that moment, Rui Meng Meng had no idea that someone invisible was approaching her, drooling.
It was Absalom, wielder of the Clear-Clear Fruit, one of Moria's "Three Weirdos." He was a perverted voyeur with twisted tastes.
From Perona, he had already heard about the new arrivals: two men, two women, a robot, a cat, and a skeleton.
The group sounded strange, but Absalom only cared about the women. One of them was small, with terrifying sword skills and overwhelming presence. Not his type at all. The other, however, was said to have a beautiful figure and looked easy to bully—weak, cute, and delicate. Exactly his preference.
After learning that Zhang Da Ye's group had split into two, Absalom immediately chose to target the team on the ship.
Now that he saw Rui Meng Meng up close, wearing only a plain white shirt and jeans, her natural beauty still shone through. Absalom was instantly captivated. This was the bride of his dreams.
Life was hard for him. On an island crawling with zombies, finding a living woman was difficult enough—let alone one this pretty. Unlike Hogback, who disgustingly stitched dead starlets into zombies, Absalom preferred real, breathing women.
Using his usual trick of "capturing" the ship, he snuck aboard and crept step by step toward Rui Meng Meng.
But someone noticed him. Ma Lao Wu's nose was as sharp as ever when he wasn't slacking off. "Lu Da Shan!"
Ma Lao Wu darted forward and threw a punch straight into Absalom's chest.
The blow didn't hurt at all. Absalom was surprised that this strange creature had sensed him but secretly mocked the weak strength behind the attack.
Then a massive fist, the size of a cooking pot, slammed into him. Ma Lao Wu's punch had only been a marker for Lu Da Shan, and after years of working together, their teamwork was flawless.
"Waaagh!" Absalom was sent flying, smashing into the stone wall and leaving a man-shaped crater. His body flickered into visibility for a moment as he lost control of his ability.
Lu Da Shan flexed his knuckles, satisfied. "That felt good. Pretty tough, though. Kind of like that elephant demon I beat up back in the day."
The group finally saw their opponent clearly. He had long golden hair, stitched scars across his face, and the snout and mouth of a beast. He wore a black coat, a hat marked with Moria's symbol, and rocket launchers strapped to his arms.
Apparently, his control over his Devil Fruit wasn't as refined as it would be ten years later. After getting hit, he couldn't even keep his weapons hidden.
"What a terrifying face! My tongue is trembling in fear—ah, though I don't have a tongue. Yohohoho!" Brook laughed nervously.
"You moving skeleton! You dare call me terrifying?!" Absalom roared. "I am a man with a lion's jaws, the skin of an elephant, and the raw power of both a bear and a gorilla!"
"Bear power?" Rui Meng Meng ignored the rest of his boasting. "Is that supposed to be impressive?"
With her current strength, handling a wild boar or a bear was trivial. She wasn't convinced bear power was anything special.
"Of course it's impressive! This is the super body Doctor Hogback created for me! I will become the King of the Graveyard!" Absalom declared his ambition, then pointed at her. "And you will be my bride!"
"B-b-bride?" Rui Meng Meng was stunned by the sudden turn.
Absalom ignored her confusion. "Yes! I've chosen you! We'll hold our wedding immediately!"
"No way. I don't agree. I haven't even thought about marriage yet," Rui Meng Meng protested earnestly. "Besides, who would marry a monster they just met?"
But Absalom didn't care. "Zombie soldiers! Bring my bride to me!"
"Yes, Lord Absalom!" A horde of zombies surged out from the gate, charging toward the Amber.
"You bastard! You've got a death wish! You dare snatch such a beautiful girl when we brothers haven't had enough time to admire her?" Lu Da Shan and Ma Lao Wu roared in anger. One of their guilty pleasures was watching pretty women, though they rarely showed it openly aboard ship.
"Forcing a lady to do something against her will is unforgivable, yohohoho!" Brook drew his cane-sword and tilted his head. "By the way, Miss Meng Meng, if I protect you successfully, would you let me see your—"
"Shut up, pervy skeleton! Time to fight!" Lu Da Shan grabbed Brook and hurled him onto the shore before leaping after him.
"Zombies! Zombies! How terrifying! Ah, although I'm already dead, yohohoho!" Brook darted nimbly through the zombie horde. With his back turned to them, he sheathed his sword. "Frightening, yes—but they've already been cut down."
"What happened?" The zombies were confused. Turning to swarm him, they prepared to strike.
"If you move fast enough that you can't even see their faces, then you don't need to fear them. That's the trick—Arrow Notch Slash!" Brook snapped his cane-sword into its sheath with a sharp clang.
A beat later, the zombies realized cuts had appeared across their bodies. One by one, they collapsed to the ground.
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