Chapters · Thriller Bark › Thriller Bark

Chapter 459: I Can't Just Die Hoping To Be Forgiven

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

Summary

Back aboard the Thousand Sunny, a freshly-shadowless Luffy is still raging — bonking Brook and demanding “Give me back my shadow!” until told “Moria isn’t here!!” The reunited crew take stock of their losses: all their stockpiled food was pilfered (only dried bread and cheese remain), Nami has been kidnapped for a forced wedding, and three of them have lost their shadows. Franky and Robin recount how, while separated, they met the laughing skeleton Brook — who at first denied his own existence, then opened up about his past. Brook’s band of pirates died in these waters ~50 years ago, leaving behind a friend at a cape with a vow to return “at all costs,” a promise the crew could never keep. The friend, Brook reveals, is a whale named Laboon — and the Straw Hats realize with a jolt that it is the same whale they met at the Twin Cape, still ramming the Red Line, still waiting for the crew that never came back. Intercut with a sword-duel in which Brook protects his Laboon-shaped afro “with my life,” the chapter closes with Luffy declaring he will make Brook join, and the whole crew turning back to “blow Thriller Bark to bits!!!”

New reveals

• Brook’s lost crew’s awaited friend = Laboon, the island whale the Straw Hats met at the start of the Grand Line (pp. 9-12). The two threads — Brook’s dead crew and the whale at Twin Cape — are joined on-page for the first time.
• Brook’s crew died ~50 years ago in these very waters; Brook is the only survivor and lives on to keep their unfulfilled promise to return (pp. 8-10).
• Zombie weakness recapped: salt in a zombie’s mouth restores the shadow to its owner; the crew must recover the three zombies carrying Luffy’s, Zoro’s and Sanji’s shadows (p. 5).
• Brook’s afro is the trait Laboon would still recognize — it was always said to look like Laboon (p. 17).
• Luffy formally decides to recruit Brook (pp. 18-19); the crew agrees and turns back toward Thriller Bark. See Straw Hat Recruitment Pattern.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy · Zoro · Sanji · Nico Robin · Franky · Tony Tony Chopper · Brook · Laboon (flashback / recollection) · Nami (kidnapped, off-page) · Gecko Moria (referenced) · Absalom (referenced — the “marriage” to Nami) · Enel (cover story) · Straw Hat Pirates · Rumbar Pirates (Brook’s crew, recounted) · Seven Warlords of the Sea (Moria) · Thousand Sunny · Thriller Bark · Twin Cape (flashback) · Red Line (flashback) · Island Whales (Laboon)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page; cover-story header “Enel’s Great Space Mission, Vol. 25: ‘The Helpless Space Pirate’” with the moon’s automaton “space pirates.”
• Page 2 — Luffy bonks Brook demanding his shadow back; Sanji and Zoro wake to find the crew “back where we started,” at the Sunny by Thriller Bark.
• Page 9 — Brook names the awaited friend: “…is named… LABOON.” (large skull close-up).
• Page 10 — Flashback: the Rumbar Pirates playing music as a baby Laboon waves them off — “We’ll definitely be back!”
• Page 12 — Splash: Laboon as a “mountain that’s actually a whale,” with the Twin Cape lighthouse; Luffy: “We know… that whale.” (visual mirror of Ch. 101–Ch. 105).
• Page 17 — Brook defending his Laboon-shaped afro mid-duel — “I will protect it with my life!”
• Page 19 — “We’re going to blow Thriller Bark to bits!!!” — crew turns back for the counter-attack.
• Pages 20-21 — Bonus B&W “coloring page” of CP9 in suits (decorative; not story content).

Open questions raised

• What is the name and full fate of Brook’s crew, and how exactly did they all die in these waters? (Brook only says “our band of pirates died off in these waters.”)
• Will Brook accept Luffy’s recruitment, and will the Straw Hats reunite him with Laboon at the Twin Cape?
• Who are the three specific zombies holding Luffy’s, Zoro’s and Sanji’s shadows, and can the crew recover all three before Thriller Bark’s dawn deadline?