Chapters · Thriller Bark › Thriller Bark

Chapter 453: Cloudy, Partly Bony

Arc: Thriller Bark · Saga: Thriller Bark · Released:

Summary

Inside Perona’s Wonder Garden the split Straw Hats run for their lives. Nami, Usopp and Chopper are chased by Perona’s wild zombies; the dog-penguin zombie Inuppe — who carries Sanji’s stolen shadow — keeps trying to shield Nami because Sanji’s chivalry rides in his shadow, while the love-obsessed zombie Lola raves about the power of “LOVE.” The invisible Master Absalom snatches Nami, announces himself as her future husband and that the wedding is already prepared, only for Nami to repel him with a Thunder Charge from her Clima-Tact and bolt. Absalom and the wild zombies feud over who has authority. Meanwhile, on the other side of the ruins, Robin and Franky are pinned by a giant spider-monkey general zombie that runs “Perona’s ghost network” and caught the Thousand Sunny in a web; Franky’s Coup de Vent, Robin’s Cien Fleurs, a five-second wing-flight and a Strong Right grapple let them blast a passage and climb toward where Luffy was knocked through a wall, so they can chase after him. The chapter ends with a skeleton plunging out of the sky into the courtyard — “Because I’m a skeleton!! Bone!!”

New reveals

• Absalom names himself and the abduction is for marriage: the wedding is “already prepared” (pp. 6–7).
• Shadow = personality: Inuppe behaves exactly like Sanji because he holds Sanji’s shadow (won’t harm a woman; protects Nami) (pp. 5–8).
• Command structure of Thriller Bark: wild zombies obey only Perona; the Masters (Absalom) outrank but are resented (pp. 9–10).
• Spider-monkey general zombie wields Perona’s ghost network for surveillance and webbed the Sunny (pp. 12–13).
• Robin’s wing-flight: a single giant Hana Hana wing carries her and Franky for ~5 seconds (pp. 16–17).
• Brook falls from the sky into the courtyard (cliffhanger, p. 19).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Nami, Usopp, Tony Tony Chopper, Nico Robin, Franky, Sanji (named only — Inuppe holds his shadow, “do you know Sanji?” p3), Luffy (mentioned — knocked through a wall), Absalom, Perona (mentioned only), Inuppe, Lola, Brook (falls in, end), Enel (cover story)
• Groups/Ships: Straw Hat Pirates, Thousand Sunny (webbed)
• Locations: Thriller Bark, Perona’s Wonder Garden
• Unnamed: a spider-monkey general zombie; a charging boar wild-zombie; assorted wild zombies (all unnamed on-page — not minted)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page doubles as the cover-story art: Enel’s Great Space Mission, Vol. 21 — “To the Moon!” (VIZ on-page spelling “Eneru”). Enel and three Spacey companions ascend through the clouds on balloons, swords in hand, heading moonward.
• Page 7–8 — Nami’s Thunder Charge (Clima-Tact) lights Absalom up (p7); he stays standing — “It’s like I’ve been struck by lightning… what is this shock?” (p8)
• Page 13–15 — Franky’s Coup de Vent + Robin’s Cien Fleurs collapse the connecting passageway over the general zombie.
• Page 16–17 — Robin sprouts a single giant feathered wing to fly Franky upward; “For about five seconds.” ”…Way too short!!” Franky grapples on with Strong Right.
• Page 19 — Cliffhanger: a laughing afro’d skeleton (Brook) drops out of the sky — “Because I’m a skeleton!! Bone!!”

Open questions raised

• Who is the island’s true ruler that both Perona’s wild zombies and the Masters ultimately serve? (Not shown this chapter.)
• Will Inuppe keep siding with the Straw Hats so long as he carries Sanji’s shadow?
• What knocked Luffy (“Straw Hat”) through a wall, and where did the zombie general send him?
• Why does the skeleton keep dropping back into the crew’s path — and is it the same one they met before?