One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Four [Rewritten]

-Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy-Four-

"Meat!" Oars roared, the force of his shout enough to throw everyone back as Nami, Usopp, Chopper, and I huddled close to one another. Making sure that none of us got separated. "I'm hungry!" the zombie roared, throwing everyone back even further.

"Kumashi, don't let go!" Perona shouted as she was knocked back into the bear while Hogback was thrown into the wall, the piece of ice that was crushing him earlier landing right on top of him as Cindry soon followed after. Still clinging to one another, the four of us were thrown down the hallway—our bodies smashing into a wall and throwing us into a momentary state of disorientation.

"Run!" Nami gasped, the first to snap out of it as she grabbed my wrist and took off.

"Okay! Someone wants to explain this to me?!" Usopp shouted.

"When Luffy's shadow entered that thing, it started moving" Chopper frowned.

"At least we know how the zombies work now" Nami said.

"It really...it really came back to life...!" Chopper muttered in disbelief.

"There's only one explanation for all of this—that big guy must have Devil Fruit powers" Usopp concluded.

"That much is obvious" I said.

"The first thing that giant monster said was "meat," that means it doesn't just have Luffy's shadow" Nami realized. "It has part of his personality too."

"I guess so, huh?" Usopp nodded as realization hit me and I groaned. "What? What's the matter, Skylar?" he worriedly asked.

"If that's how this whole thing works then I think I know where Zoro's shadow is..." I muttered, cheeks flushing as I threw my head back in embarrassment and groaned once again. It makes sense now why that zombie got all touchy-feely with me—fucking perverted moss ball.

"This is all starting to make sense now—it was just like that penguin one we ran into that was acting like Sanji" Nami said, nodding as we thought back to the strange penguin-bulldog hybrid that had briefly protected both her and me from Lola.

"Well, at least we now know where everyone's shadows are located" I said.

"I see, so you're saying they put Sanji's shadow inside that thing" Usopp hummed.

"That seems to be what happened" Nami nodded.

"Then the samurai who hit us with the back of his sword...that was Brook, of course!" Usopp gasped in realization, recalling something that must have happened before I had met up with them.

"All that weird stuff happening on this island, it's all his fault!" Chopper suddenly frowned. "This isn't giving people a second chance at life—no one would ask for this! No one would want it! He's just playing God, using humans as puppets!" he snarled.

"That's sick, to try and play God!" I sneered, sharing in the doctor's frustrations. "To mess with people's lives for your own sick and twisted amusement!"

"He's not trying to save anyone! He lied to all of us—he's nothing more than another villain!" Chopper angrily cried.

"Chopper?" Nami quietly questioned.

"Now's not the time to get depressed over something like that," Usopp said, "the only people we need to worry about are our crew members" he reminded us. "I hate to say it, but it's up to us to save them now. Can't just run and hide anymore—we got to go to wherever they're taking Luffy's body" he frowned.

"Right!" Nami nodded.

"I think they said it was going back to the ship, they must have meant the Sunny" I said as we finally came upon a large staircase leading down toward the ground level of the manor.