One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Three [Rewritten]

-Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Three-

"No! Don't do it!" Luffy shouted, his tone sounding almost desperate.

Snip!

Thud!

I flinched at the sound of the scissors ripping into what sounded like fabric, shortly followed by the sound of a body hitting the floor.

"The shadow of a man with a 300,000,000 bounty is all mine and now I will create the most powerful, special zombie the world has ever seen!" Moria laughed. I clenched my jaw as Nami, Usopp, and Chopper shakily peered wide-eyed out of Kumashi's eyes in an attempt to see what had happened.

"Luffy?!" we practically shouted in a mixture of fear and anger, our voices nothing more than strained whispers.

"Now, Straw Hat becomes just another of my subjects and my ultimate minion will have the power he needs to come to life!" Moria boasted as we peeked back outside once more, silently watching as Luffy's shadow squirmed around in his grasp as if it were a mere mouse trying its best to get away from the beast that had caught it.

"Poor Luffy!" Usopp cried.

"What just happened?" Nami gaped.

"That's not possible...is it...?" I nervously asked, struggling to understand what I had just witnessed.

"His shadow! He cut it off and took it!" Chopper gasped, already on the verge of tears.

"Wait a minute...we've heard about this, haven't we?" Usopp asked. "Didn't that skeleton say the same thing happened to him?" he questioned.

"Yeah, I remember he said his shadow was stolen" Nami nodded.

"Yeah...looks like that old guy was right and he really is the thief..." I muttered. It's not that I had doubted that old man back in the woods, but still...it felt strange to hear that a Warlord of all people wanted to collect the shadows of others...

Just why did he need them?

"I bet you're right, how awful—what's the trick?" Chopper frowned. "It must be a Devil Fruit power" he realized before quickly ducking back inside Kumashi with the rest of us to avoid being seen the moment Perona turned her head.

"Kumashi, am I imagining things, or were you speaking again?" she frowned. "When I say don't talk, you shut your mouth for good! Listen you, don't keep making me repeat myself over and over again! You're not the least bit cute when you talk, so don't do it!" she childishly snapped.

"She's very strict with poor Kumashi, very strict even..." Absalom remarked as we sighed in relief when we realized we hadn't been spotted. Our relief was short-lived though as we soon flinched the second the zombie started to move, unintentionally jostling us around in the process. Usopp and I quietly groaned as we harshly bumped foreheads together after being thrown against one another during all this jostling.

"Is there something you'd like to say?" Perona suddenly asked. "Because if you'd like to talk then don't! Ever!" she snapped.

"Damn...she really is strict..." I muttered, honestly feeling bad for the bear we were hiding inside of as he was once again reprimanded for supposedly trying to speak.

"This little guy is just what I need to bring me one step closer to becoming King of the Pirates—right, Doctor Hogback?" Moria asked.

"Since the time I met you ten years ago, I put all my time, resources, and energy into making number Nine Hundred' Hogback grinned. "With that shadow, it will make the greatest zombie of all time! With that power at your fingertips, nothing will be beyond your reach!" he boasted.