One Piece Chapter 457: Meeeeaaaat!!!

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In the ruined chamber, Gecko Moria stands before the gigantic corpse of Oars and declares, "LET'S BEGIN...!!" The enormous body dwarfs even the assembled monsters around it, and the watching zombies can only stare upward. Someone reacts, "...!!" while others study the corpse's impossible scale. Nami whispers in horror, "What's that... that g-giant... corpse!?" and Usopp stammers that "He is huge, even for a giant!" Chopper struggles not to cry out, muttering, "... Ugh... ugh...!!" as Nami warns him, "Don't make a sound, Chopper!! Hold it in!!" The ritual begins under terrible pressure: the Straw Hats understand that Luffy's shadow is about to be forced into something far beyond an ordinary zombie.

Moria seizes Luffy's shadow and commands it like a living prisoner. "Be still, Strawhat Luffy's shadow!!" he snarls, stretching and beating the dark silhouette into shape. To the shadow itself he announces, "I'm your new master!!" Luffy's shadow stands silent, then Moria lays down the terms of enslavement: "You will live as a zombie from now on. I'll give you a voice and flesh. Forget everyone you knew in the past. Abide my will and become my soldier!!" Usopp watches in terror as the shadow twitches, and Moria grins with triumph. "Kishishishi. Contract complete." The page turns the shadow-theft into a binding ceremony, making clear that Oars is not simply being revived; Luffy's very personality is being chained into him.

While Moria prepares the awakening, the zombies whisper among themselves. One suggests, "We should have bound Cindry-chan with the 'past erasure' contract, too..." and another adds, "...If we had done that, I could eat meals on plates." Cindry answers coldly, "I can break your kneecaps*, too," with the note that she literally means knee plates. Someone admits, "Scary!! Cindry-chan, that threat just now was super scary!!!" and another explains, "Cindry is too harsh on Hogback." The mood snaps back to the ritual as Usopp gasps, "The shadow...!!" Moria roars, "...Now, awaken...!!! From your 500-year sleep...!!!" Luffy's shadow is flung into the waiting giant corpse, and the chamber seems to recoil from the impact.

The shadow slides across the corpse's face and sinks into Oars. A heavy "SHUDR!" runs through the chained body as Moria stands before the giant and laughs, "Kishishishi." Nami, Usopp, and Chopper can only stare from their hiding place, whispering, "Huh... Luffy's shadow..." The black shape no longer belongs to Luffy's body; it has entered the dead giant completely. The chains, the vast stitched torso, and the small figures gathered beneath Oars make the ritual feel like the activation of a living weapon. Nothing loud happens yet, but the silence is worse: the corpse has accepted the shadow, and everyone present waits for the first sign that the ancient monster has truly returned.

The watchers confirm the impossible: "It entered...!!" Oars lies still for a breath, then his massive body begins to stir under the chains. The sound effects around him build like grinding stone and tightening metal: "PAK! PAK!" and heavy rumbling marks the movement of limbs that have not moved in five hundred years. Usopp freezes, sweat running down his face, as the corpse shifts enough to make the whole room feel unsafe. Outside, bats scatter around the tower with cries of "KII! KII!" The page holds on the awful scale of the awakening: an ancient giant, already enormous when dead, is beginning to rise with Luffy's stolen shadow inside him.

Oars' fingers twitch first, then his face shifts, and Usopp nearly screams. Nami clamps down on the panic with a desperate command: "You can't!! Don't scream!!!" The watching zombies and officers hold their breath as the giant's expression changes from dead slackness to awareness. One zombie forces out a muffled "SHHHHHHHH..." while the little bat creatures squeal, "QIII QIII." Cindry, Hogback, and Moria all watch in silence, their faces fixed on the awakening body. The page is mostly breath, tension, and tiny sounds: the story asks everyone to stay quiet because the newly revived Oars is still between death and full consciousness, and one wrong noise could reveal the hidden Straw Hats.

The silence shatters. Oars opens his mouth and releases a tremendous scream: "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" The entire chamber jolts awake with him. Someone cries, "What's that...!?" as the body begins to move, and Perona panics at Kumashi: "Hey, Kumashi!!! Don't tell me you've been hiding the pirates...!!!" The hidden Straw Hats realize they have been exposed. Usopp yells, "Da... da-da...!! Damn it, we've been found out!!" while Nami wonders, "Did we make some sound...!?" and Chopper trembles, "The demon has awakened!!!" The page turns the resurrection from a controlled ritual into chaos: Oars' first roar gives away the fugitives and sends everyone into panic at once.

The discovery spreads instantly. Absalom sees Nami and snarls, "That is my bride!! Why was she in there!?" Perona cries, "It's the pirates!!! Capture them!!!" as Kumashi and the others react with "PAKIN!!! BEKI BEKI... PARIN!!!" Oars, meanwhile, is already tearing free. One watcher gasps, "He's ripping off the big chains so easily." The monster's enormous hands wrench apart restraints that should have held a giant corpse in place, and even Moria's side has to pause at the absurd strength before them. The page shows the first real measure of the threat: Oars has Luffy's restless drive inside him, but his body has the raw force of a legendary ancient giant.

Hogback is delighted by the result. "Wonderful...!!! It's a masterpiece!! What a 'coercive feeling,'" he cackles, insisting, "He really is a 'devil'!!!" Oars leans forward, eyes waking with a will that is unmistakably not just dead flesh. Then his first demand bursts out at full force: "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAT!!!" The cry rolls through Thriller Bark so loudly that it shakes the outside of the mansion itself: "I AAAAAAAM... HUUUUUUUNGRYYYYY!!!" The terror of the resurrection collides with something absurdly familiar. Oars is horrifying, but the word that defines his rebirth is Luffy's favorite word, and everyone nearby realizes the monster's personality has inherited Luffy's appetite before anything else.

Oars' hunger immediately turns into Luffy-like confusion. He bellows, "WOOOOO!!!" then asks, "Sanji!! Food...!?" and, after a pause, "Hmm? Who is Sanji!?" Perona and the others are startled by the sudden shift. The pirates use the confusion to flee, and one zombie shouts, "Hey!! Where did the pirates go!?" Another notices, "They ran away at full speed!!! What fast legs they have!!" Nami, Usopp, and Chopper sprint down the corridor, panting "HAA" as they try to make sense of what they saw. Usopp blurts, "Haa... haa...!! What was that...? What was that just now!?" and Chopper answers through his own panic that the giant's ability is probably from a Devil Fruit. Nami corrects the thought: it was Dr. Hogback's restoration of life, a "zombie" instead.

As the three run, Nami pieces together what Oars' words mean. "His first word was 'meat,' which means... that huge monster's personality is definitely Luffy's." Usopp realizes the chain of evidence: "If so... try to remember...!! The Sanji-kun-like penguin we met on the lower bridge... I see!! So he had Sanji's shadow inside him!! ...And the samurai that hit us with the back of his sword was Brook's." Chopper's horror turns to anger. "Creating zombies is not a game!! He's making a fool out of people's lives!!! What is humanity's dream...? What is the cure for death!?" But Usopp snaps back, "He doesn't care about saving people!!! He is just a villain!!!" Their goal becomes clear: the stolen shadows mean their nakama are about to become victims unless they act.

The three charge through the long stairway, deciding what must come next. Nami says, "Do you understand? The ones who must save them are... us!!!" Usopp answers that they need to hurry "to where Luffy's real body is being taken!!" Chopper remembers the clue: "He said, 'Go throw him onto the ship.' I wonder if he was talking about Thousand Sunny." Nami adds that if Zoro and Sanji met the same fate, then they are probably all in the same place. The resolve lasts only a moment. From the floor and smoke ahead, bodies suddenly burst into their path with a huge crash, sending Nami skidding in shock as two battered figures slam down before them.

The fallen figures are Usopp and Chopper, thrown back with such force that Nami barely understands what has happened. She cries, "Huh!?" as one of them groans "BUHA..." and another gasps, "GA...!!!" Usopp protests, "It hurts!! Let go of me!!!" Nami shouts down the corridor, "Usopp, Chopper!!!" Then Absalom appears with Nami in his grasp, overpowering her from behind. The invisible threat becomes painfully visible through its effect: "What strength... he has...!!!" Absalom's confidence is absolute. He murmurs, "Shall we say farewell?" and declares, "This woman will be married to me today." The rescue mission is interrupted before it can begin; Nami has been taken by the man obsessed with making her his bride.

Usopp refuses to let Absalom carry Nami away. Even while running and panting, he shouts, "Haa... moron!! If I can't protect even one girl... the man Usopp has no value in life!!" He snaps open his weapon, and Chopper recognizes it with a cry: "Wooo!! Usopp, that weapon!!" Usopp fires, calling the attack, "'Six Viper Star'!!!" The shot hisses like "SNAKE!!" and blasts toward Absalom, but the invisible man vanishes again. Usopp yells, "He disappeared again...!!" while Nami, caught in Absalom's grip, gasps, "Even me...!?" A violent impact throws the rescuers back. Usopp can only scream, "Na...!! Nami disappeared too!!!" The page makes Absalom's power terrifyingly practical: if he hides himself, he can hide his captive with him.

After Nami disappears, Usopp and Chopper chase her voice through the huge staircase. Nami cries, "Save me!!! Usopp, Chop...!!!" while Usopp shouts back, "Where are you!? Nami!!!?" Chopper sniffs the air and realizes something is wrong: "What's that...!? Another strong scent is masking her scent!!" Usopp calls, "Hey!!! Nami, what happened!? Where are you!? Answer me!!" Then a voice from nowhere cuts through the hall: "Zombies... I leave the rest to you. Capture those two and bring them to Moria-sama!!" Chopper wonders, "...Where is that voice coming from?" Just as they turn, a huge armored zombie crashes into their path with a thunderous blow, forcing Usopp to yell, "Woah!!!"

The staircase becomes a trap from every direction. Chopper cries, "What's that!? An armored zombie!!?" and then realizes, "There are too many zombies coming from above and below!!" The enemies spill out laughing, "Fuhehehe," and chanting, "Give us your shadows." Usopp and Chopper understand the stakes at once: "We'll be caught!! And then our shadows will be taken too." Zombies grab them, and Usopp yells, "Damn it, let go of me...!!! Damn it!!!" while another enemy mocks, "Damn it!!! That's dirty!!! You rely too much on your immortality!!!" Chopper, furious and afraid, shouts through the crowd, "...Get your hands off of my friends!!! They are like my little brothers!!!" His words turn the fight from escape into a desperate defense of the crew.

Just as the zombies close in, someone notices, "Hey!! There's someone there!!!" and Chopper sees the enemy bodies begin to change: "What's that!!? Our friends are being purified!!!" A zombie recoils in disgust, shouting, "Who are those guys!! This is rotting bad!!!" Then salvation arrives with a familiar voice: "Robin!!!!" Nico Robin steps into the staircase beside Franky, and Chopper and Usopp cry out in relief, "Vig Vloooooi!!! (Big Brooooo)" Franky checks the situation immediately: "So we didn't get here in time, huh? There's one missing." Robin turns calmly to the battered pair and says, "Usopp. Chopper. Are you injured?" The page ends the chapter's crisis with a partial rescue: Nami is gone, but Robin and Franky have arrived before Usopp and Chopper lose their shadows.

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