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Chapter 457: Meat!!!

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

Summary

In the hall, Moria (laughing his “ki shi shi”) completes the surgery he and Hogback have been preparing: he forces Luffy’s stolen shadow into a colossal corpse — a body “too big even for a giant” — and seals the pact, ordering the shadow to forget its past and become his soldier. Cindry makes her morbid plate-shattering remarks and Hogback lets slip he “should have had Cindry make that vow to erase her past.” The corpse stirs from a 500-year slumber, its heart thunders to life, tears off its giant chains — and its very first word is “MEAT!!!”, revealing it now carries Luffy’s appetite and personality. Hidden behind the bear-zombie Kumacy, the captive Straw Hats — Nami, Usopp, Chopper — are discovered when one of them screams; fleeing, they piece together the entire scheme (Hogback reanimates corpses, Moria’s Devil Fruit inserts stolen shadows, the Sanji-like penguin and the sword-wielding “samurai” hold Sanji’s and Brook’s shadows), and Chopper’s hero-worship of Hogback collapses into the realization he is a villain. As they race to reach Luffy’s body before it is dumped on the Sunny, the invisible Master Absalom ambushes them, snatches Nami to marry her, and vanishes — telling the zombies to bring Usopp and Chopper to Moria. Cornered by armored “painting” zombies, the two are saved at the last second by Robin and Franky, who arrive and clear the room — only to find Nami already gone.

New reveals

• The special/colossal zombie is born: Moria channels Luffy’s shadow into a corpse bigger than a giant; the pact dialogue lays out the Kage-Kage mechanic — forget your past, become my soldier, I give you a voice and body (pp. 3–7). See Nature of Devil Fruits.
• Shadow = personality, demonstrated at scale: the giant’s first word is “MEAT!!!”, then “I’m hungry!!!” / “Sanji! Food!!” — it inherits Luffy’s will and appetite (pp. 11–13). Prisoner number S-900-43 stitched on its body; it snaps its restraining chains effortlessly (pp. 6, 10).
• The scheme decoded: Hogback reanimates corpses, Moria’s fruit inserts shadows; the “Sanji penguin” (Inuppe) and the flat-of-the-blade “samurai” are zombies wearing Sanji’s and Brook’s shadows (pp. 12–13).
• Chopper’s idol is a villain: he can no longer reconcile the great surgeon he admired with a man “playing God with people’s lives” (p. 13).
• Absalom abducts Nami to wed her and orders the zombies to take Usopp and Chopper to Moria (pp. 15–17).
• Robin & Franky arrive and rescue Chopper and Usopp; Nami is already taken (pp. 18–19).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters (appear): Nico Robin, Tony Tony Chopper, Usopp, Nami (abducted), Franky, Gecko Moria, Hogback, Cindry, Absalom, Oars (revived colossal zombie — unnamed on-page this chapter), Kumacy
• Characters (referenced): Luffy (his shadow/body), Zoro (“if Zolo and Sanji went through the same thing”), Sanji (his shadow in the penguin zombie), Brook (his shadow in the samurai zombie), Ryuma (the samurai zombie; named in SBS), Inuppe (the “Sanji penguin”), Garp (SBS)
• Groups/Ships: Straw Hat Pirates, Thousand Sunny (where Luffy’s body is to be dumped)
• Locations: Thriller Bark (the hall / Hogback’s mansion corridors)

Notable panels

• Pages 1–2 — Black-and-white two-page frontispiece: Nico Robin (sword in hand), Chopper (twin pistols) and the afro’d skeleton Brook ride a zombie dragon through the Thriller Bark spires in an outlaw/wild-west composition. Decorative splash (no cover-serial caption); flagged for the mirror pass.
• Page 6 — The colossal corpse rises wreathed in shadow-tendrils, chains straining; the stitched number S-900-43 is legible on its body. “Luffy’s shadow just…”
• Page 7 — Skull-faced giant’s eyes snap open: “…it’s IN!!” A distant lighthouse/tower pulses with its first heartbeat (BA-BUMP).
• Page 11 — “DOOM! MEAT!!!” — the revived giant’s first word, confirming it now thinks like Luffy.
• Page 16 — Usopp fires Viper Star Six from Kabuto in a doomed attempt to stop the invisible Absalom from taking Nami.
• Page 19 — Rescue beat: “ROBIN!!! BIG BRO!!!” — Robin and Franky crash in over the cleared zombies.
• Page 20 — SBS “Question Corner” (Vol. 47): Franky’s personal Jolly Roger; Ryuma = the swordsman of Oda’s “Monsters”; the Romance Dawn prototype “Garp” is a look-alike, not the canon (navy-man) Garp.
• Page 21 — Capture overflow: the title page of the next chapter (458, “Anything But My Afro”) carrying the cover serial Eneru’s Great Space Mission, Vol. 24: “Divine Judgment.” Belongs to 458, not 457.

Open questions raised

• What is the colossal zombie’s name and origin — and how is a corpse “too big even for a giant” 500 years old? (Unnamed on-page here.)
• What is Cindry’s erased past, and why is Hogback keeping it from her?
• Can the Straw Hats turn the giant’s Luffy-personality against it?
• Where has Absalom taken Nami, and can Sanji’s nose track her through the masking scent?