Chapter 85: Zombies, Graveyards, and Ghosts, Oh my!

Chapter 89:

Zombies, Graveyards, and Ghosts. Oh My!

"NAAAAAAMIIIII!" Her name was the only thing the navigator registered before the wooden doors all but exploded.

Shards of wood lanced inward from above Nami and Chopper, a particularly large one soaring through the air to stab the bear rug in the chest. The picture zombies cried out in panic as a fist sped out almost too fast to see to punch the first one that had talked in the face, her frame torn off the wall and her form flying past a shocked Merry to crash into the wall by the stairs. Hildon shrieked and took wing, vanishing into the darkness of the hallway behind him, crying "Bodyguard! Bodyguard!"

Time seemed to halt as the newcomer skidded to a stop, his arm snapping back to its proper length and the pink tinge in his skin fading along with the steam in the air. He lifted his bowed head, cold eyes scanning the room for threats through the shadow of his hat.

"Captain Luffy!" Merry yelled, dashing over to hug the rubber-man around the waist. Luffy's icy gaze broke, a smile coming to his face as one of his hands patted the klabautermann on the head between her horns.

"Hey, Merry," the captain muttered, idly noting that Nami and Chopper were behind him and that Usopp was on the chandelier with only one candle. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah!" the little fairy smiled, looking up at the teen captain. "Mrs. Nami was attacked by a pervert while we were in the baths, but I hit the guy real hard and he went away! And there were these zombies that attacked us in the graveyard out there, but Uncle Usopp wouldn't let me fight them." Merry pouted cutely.

"Zombies, huh?" Luffy chuckled, not laughing only because he was keeping an eye on the monsters around the room. He was also definitely not amused at the information about the pervert; he had enough on his plate dealing with Sanji and now Franky. "So that's what they are. I thought they were just some stupid old guys with serious injuries."

"I know right!" Merry agreed. "That's what I thought they were at first, too!"

"Luffy!" Usopp yelled, flinging his last candle at a pig's head that threw a second sword at him. "Help!" With a single stretch of his arm, the teen pulled the sniper from his precarious perch none-too-gently. Usopp landed with a soft oomf.

"Who is this?" a picture zombie hissed, eyeing the behatted pirate. Luffy fixed the thing with a glare as he pulled off his hat and dropped it on his lover's head.

"Nami, watch my hat," he muttered. Stepping forward, the rubber-man cracked his knuckles audibly and stared down the murderous decorations.

The bear rug zombie, having finally managed to put out the fire, seemed undeterred from the giant splinter in its chest and lunged with a battle cry. Luffy didn't even blink. Shifting just out of the way of the bear's claw like paper. Grabbing its head, Luffy hurled the living undead rug upward toward the chandelier where the zombie's thin body was stabbed multiple times by the hanging item. The bear roared in anger, flailing around to try to pull itself off to no avail but to only dig itself deeper.

"You'll pay for that!" the female picture hissed, lunging forward with claws outstretched. Luffy glanced her way with a cold look, causing the being to slow with second thoughts. Merry capitalized on the zombie's indecision, rushing forward to beat her back into her portrait with her wooden hammer. The zombie seemed to pass out with several lumps on her head.

"We seem to have some intruders," a low voice commented, the words echoing through the mansion with the clack, clack, clack of wooden sandals. The words seemed to come from the hallway Hildon had fled into. "I guess it's my job to expel them. Yohohoho!"

"That laugh," Chopper gasped.

"Brook?" Nami asked. The figure slowly moved into viewing distance, and it was not Brook. The creature was another zombie, but this one stood in a much more regal pose, walking forward with no noise but that from its shoes. Its yellow-greenish skin was mostly covered by an embellished white kimono with a blue scarf and a katana in a black-and-red sheath rested at its side. The zombie stared at the pirates (though it did not have eyes) through grey hair styled into a topknot. And, though the zombie did not have lips, Nami thought it was smiling.

"That is not Brook!" Merry muttered uneasily. "That is definitely not Brook."

"Indeed, I am not," the zombie agreed, the other zombies shrinking back into their frames and away from the undead samurai. "My name is Ryuma, but that will be no concern of yours soon. Yohohoho!" Drawing its blade, the zombie charged.

"This is the strangest island I've ever visited," Robin muttered as the group trudged forward, deep footprints in the path marking their captain's trail. Coby roared every few minutes, trying to ward away anything that was smart enough to be a threat. Each time he did, however, Grace would roll over on his back and smack him in the side before grumbling and going back to sleep. Every time after that, Gin would quietly laugh at Coby and make whipping sounds, receiving nothing more than an irritated glare from the triceratops in return.

"Negative! Negative!" something chanted, the sound bouncing through the trees. "Negative! Negative!"

"Who's there?" Zoro demanded, a hand falling to grab the hilt of Wado Ichimonji. The strange chanting continued and out of the trees floated a ghost exactly like the one that had been on the Sunny. It drifted around the group, laughing and replicating until four identical spirits circled the pirates. Amy thrust her umbrella at one as it floated by her, but it did nothing but pass through the ghost without resistance.

"They ain't solid," Franky observed. "Still, I wanna try something. Fresh Fire!" A stream of flames erupted from the cyborg's mouth, engulfing one of the ghosts. The ghost in question did not move and, when the flames dissipated, was shone to be unharmed. The spirit dove forward, passing through the shipwright's chest. Franky dropped to all fours.

"I'm worthless," the cyborg moaned. "I'm not super today. Nothing I've done this week is super! Nothing I've ever done is super! I'm not even fit to be a dog food can."

"Geeze, Franky," Gin muttered. "I know your attack didn't work, but isn't that a little excessive?" Another ghost flew down, this one passing through the lightning-man. He fell beside his friend. "What am I saying? I'm not even worthy to power a nightlight."

"Kyahahaha!" Amy laughed, bringing her parasol down to whack both of the depressed pirates on the back of their heads. "Get up, you morons! It's-" A ghost flew through her. "My chocolate is as sweet as my sense of humor," Amy whined. "It'll never be famous. Grace would be better off without me."

"Negative! Negative!" the ghosts continued to chant before laughing. "Horo-horo-horo-horo!"

"It appears these spirits have to ability to make you depressed if they touch you," Robin analyzed. "Yet they cannot be touched." The ghosts each stuck out a long, pink tongue before flying off toward the castle. The pirates turned their attention to their sad companions.

"...I'm not carrying them," Coby muttered.

"Yohohoho!" Despite the loud laugh, Ryuma was anything but playful. Upon the monster's initial attack, Luffy had shoved all of his crewmembers to the ground. The zombie samurai faded into view behind them, not moving. A few seconds later, the entrance doors that Luffy had busted through split, cut in half diagonally. Seeing that the pirates had avoided its strike, the zombie turned and inspected them in a new light.

"How did you do that?" the zombie questioned.

"Do what?" Luffy responded, jumping to his feet.

"Dodge," Ryuma answered. "I was moving too fast to see."

"I dunno," Luffy shrugged, bouncing on the balls of his feet in a fighting stance. "I just kinda... knew."

"You knew? You knew? We have never before met and you are already anticipating my attacks." If the zombie had lips, it would have smirked. "The only thing that would make this better would be if you were a swordsman!"

The samurai lunged forward, this time visibly, to try to stab at the pirate. In response, Luffy brought his left leg up in a crescent kick, the side of his sandal hitting the flat of the blade to redirect it to the side, while his right arm snapped forward to sock the zombie in the face. The undead backed away, avoiding the captain's fist.

"Get him!" the other zombies cheered as if it was some sort of spectacle. "Show that pirate who's boss!"

"Shut up!" Nami ordered, whipping out her Clima-Tact and whacking a portrait zombie with the electrical end. There was a crack, a quick whiff of ozone, and the zombie went down with smoke rising from its mouth. It did not, however, disintegrate like the other one in the graveyard had. The rest of the undead shirked away from the ginger.

"What a terrifying creature," the pig head moaned. Merry threw her hammer at it, hitting the pig in the snout. It oinked is displeasure, it's frame falling to the floor where it landed face-first. The rest of its body, like that of a tiny pig, wiggled in an attempt to right itself without success.

"That's a really nice sword," Luffy thought aloud, not really worried about the fact that words telling him about his opponent's next moves were worming their way into his brain. "Our swordsman is looking for a new one."

"A swordsman, you say?" Ryuma stopped mid-swing, the table falling apart behind it. Its eyes would have glinted if it had any. "Where is this swordsman you speak of?"

"On the way here," Luffy answered, not really sure how he knew, but certain that Zoro and the others were in a group about halfway to the mansion. "He's got green hair and three earrings. His name is Roranoa Zoro." Despite how strong Ryuma felt, Luffy was sure that the Pirate Hunter would come out on top out of the two of them. It was a win-win: a strong zombie gets taken out and Zoro gets a new sword.

Just as Luffy had expected, not knowing how but knowing all the same, Ryuma sheathed his blade. "I will come for you later," the zombie stated, turning toward the remains of the door. "For now, I will go challenge your swordsman." Ryuma exited the mansion with an even gate.

"Thank Goda!" Usopp cried, having forgotten about the other zombies now that the strongest one was gone.

"We aren't done with you yet!" a picture zombie with a blond bowl cut yelled, lunging out of its frame and causing Usopp to jump. Luffy cracked his knuckles again.

"Nami, Usopp, Chopper, Merry. Back me up. We've got some dead guys to beat up."

"Oh look," Gin muttered, rolling his eyes. "A graveyard. How cliché."

"The soil is churned," Robin observed, using a sprouted arm to feel the dirt above one of the graves. "Either these graves are fresh, or those buried aren't always buried."

"Zombies?" Coby asked, receiving a nod from the woman. "I never expected to be fighting zombies."

"Neither did I," Amy commented with a shake of her head. Though they were not talking loud enough to wake the true dead, the undead were a different story. A hand thrust itself out of the grave Robin had been inspecting, grabbing her arm before it scattered into flower peddles. The zombie pulled the rest of its body from the ground as its brethren followed from their own graves. Zoro, Sanji, Gin, Coby and Robin looked on with blank looks.

"The dead coming back to life is so not super," Franky muttered, pulling the flesh-like covering off of his right hand. Grace continued to quietly snore from Coby's back, blissfully unaware of the undead.

"Coby," Amy hissed. "As much as I hate to say it, take my sister and get out of here. Her paints won't do anything on these zombies and I don't want her around a fight when she's defenceless."

"But-"

"Don't argue with me!" Throwing his eyes back at the blonde, Coby took off back the way they had come, Grace still snoozing on his back.

"Why the Hell did you do that?" Zoro demanded, Kitetsu III slicing through two zombies as they came within range. The undead that avoided the attack jumped back in surprise as their companions groveled in the dirt, clutching at their split bodies. "Coby could have just watched and we don't know what's on this island!"

"I... Shut up! I wasn't thinking!" Using her umbrella as a club, Amy swung at a zombie that got too close for comfort, the undead being batted away like a human-shaped baseball.

"Let's just deal with these guys and call them back," Gin suggested, his tonfa knocking the heads off of zombies almost idly. "I mean, really. The only thing these guys have going for them is their numbers."

"Hey!" some of the undead called out as if to chastise the pirate. "That hurts our feelings!"

"Zombies have feeling?" Franky questioned.

"Roranoa Zoro!" a voice called from the other side of the graveyard. "Are you here?! I'm looking for you!"

"Do you know anyone on this island?" Robin asked, noting that the zombies were backing away to create a path.

Zoro shook his head. "No. I don't."

"Your captain told me you were a swordsman," the voice continued, Ryuma striding into the moonlight. "I am looking for a challenge. My name is Ryuma. Yohohoho!"

"This should be far enough," Coby panted, leaning his side on a sturdy-looking tree. The graveyard was just out of viewing range, but any loud noises should still reach him. Carefully, the young man shrunk down into his Human Mode, being careful not to drop his female cargo.

"Grace," he muttered, shaking her shoulder. "Grace, wake up." Slowly, the young woman opened her eyes, blushing as a very-close Coby came into focus. She scooted away awkwardly and pulled herself up.

"Where are we?" she asked, eyeing the forest around them.

"I'm not really sure," Coby admitted, stepping up to stand beside the redhead. "The others are in a graveyard filled with zombies and your sister told me to take you and run." Grace threw a sideways glance at the Zoan. "Hey! You know how much your sister scares me! I ran without question!"

"So now we're lost?"

"We aren't too far," the swordsman answered. "Just a couple minutes' trot away. Amy didn't think your mood paint would work on dead corpses."

"My black paint would," Grace muttered. "Why does she still treat me like I'm a kid?"

"She's just worried about you." Something to the right of the duo snapped, causing Coby and Grace to instantly snap to fighting stances. "Who's there?" The bushes rustled.

"Look at this," a feminine voice cooed as its progenitor seemed to float out of the foliage, several animal-like zombies following. "Two little playthings! They aren't that cute, but maybe the cute ones will will come to me for them. I think I'll add you two to my garden! Horo-horo-horo-horo!"

End of Chapter 88

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-SwordOfTheGods