One Piece Chapter 474

Cover

Enel’s Great Space Voyage, Part 38: Fully Fueled! Enel’s army ready for anything!
Enel stands proudly before his celebrating army of little beings.

Storyline

In the Thriller Forest: After a long chase, Luffy wants to finally confront Moria in the forest. But the straw-hatted captain has been tricked: he’s been chasing Moria’s shadow for a while now, rather than the samurai himself. He’s annoyed, since he had actually promised the others to get their shadows back for them. Immediately he realizes that he has to hurry, otherwise he will disappear when the sunlight hits him, since he himself has no shadow anymore either.

Meanwhile, the Straw Hats’ battle against Oars continues. Zoro has made it clear to the Zombie that he will be his opponent. As the latter lashes out with his fist at the swordsman, Zoro stands calmly looking at his new sword. He notes that it is slightly heavier than the Yubashili, yet he is able to use it to deflect Oars’s fist strike, much to Chopper’s amazement. At the same time, Zoro uses the next attack on Oars, which unfortunately missed the zombie but hit the wall behind him. Oars has to admit that Zoro is surprisingly strong for his small size. In the attack, Zoro only used his new sword. It absorbed the strength of the other two. But too much was destroyed around the hole in the wall, leading Zoro to conclude that he’s not good enough to use the Shuusui yet.

Meanwhile, Oars is already on the move for his next attack. With his feet he wants to stomp the straw hats to the ground, but all of them could avoid this attack. Zoro also wants to counterattack, but Usopp tells him that if he manages to defeat Oars, they would only get Luffy’s shadow back. He and Sanji would only have their shadows back if Luffy manages to defeat Moria. Therefore, in his opinion, Zoro shouldn’t overexert himself, plus he himself probably doesn’t even feel like fighting an oversized zombie. However, Zoro is already aware of all this, nor does he have any doubts about Luffy’s abilities, but there are still a lot of things on the ship that could cause him problems, like that ghost woman, the invisible man, and Moria’s nasty tricks. Zoro just doubts that Luffy even has a chance to fight the real enemy. Besides, he, Sanji, and Luffy will disband when the sun rises. Unanimously, the Straw Hats decide to defeat Oars so that Luffy can get his shadow back and he can turn everything around.

Franky remarks that they only have half an hour until dawn. But Sanji is sure that the sun will not reach them because of this thick fog. Suddenly, the entire ship is shaken. The zombies notice this as well. They also register that the fog has cleared and there is now a clear view of the sky. The ship has left the Mysterious Triangle, which is of course Oars’s fault when he messed with the rudder a short time ago.

They immediately run to Moria to tell him about the problem. But the Samurai of the Seas has no time for the zombies, as he has a visit from an unexpected guest. It is the Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma, who has been sent to the Thriller Bark on behalf of the world government. Right at the beginning, you learn from Moria that Bear is supposed to be the only samurai still loyal to the World Government. Bear is to report back to Moria that there is a successor to Crocodile. The new samurai is Marshall D. Teach, who goes by the name Blackbeard. Even when Bear tells him that Blackbeard was once part of Whitebeard’s gang, it doesn’t change the fact that Moria has never heard of the name. But he is surprised that the world government has taken notice of a pirate like this, who doesn’t even have a bounty on his head.

But that’s not Bear’s only mission. The World Government has been watching the Straw Hats, and according to their log port, there’s a very good chance they’ll end up here in the Mysterious Triangle. Since the World Government is afraid another samurai might fall, they assigned Bear to check on the ship and assist Moria if necessary. Moria is infuriated by this statement. He can’t believe anyone would think he could lose to such a small, and in his opinion, inexperienced crew. However, Bear reminds him of what happened on Enie’s lobby and the fact that Rob lost Lucci. However, Moria orders him to watch the spectacle. Further, he triumphantly tells him that the Straw Hats would already be part of his zombie army.

The Straw Hats are terrified, as the thick fog was their last chance, but that’s not their only problem. For before them in Oars’s stomach suddenly sits Moria. Everyone is surprised, as they thought Moria was going to fight Luffy. Even Oars wonders what he has there in his stomach. Moria proposes them a deal, if they defeat him, they get all their shadows back. A generous offer, but one that seems out of reach for the Straw Hats. For in order to defeat Moria, they must also defeat Oars. To get Oars out of the way, they plan to weaken him with salt and drain him of his shadows. As Usopp makes his way to the kitchen, Moria orders his special zombie to take out the long-nose and also destroy the path to the kitchen. Oars lunges and aims directly at Usopp, hitting him in the process. But at the same moment Brook appears with the injured Usopp over his left shoulder and a large bag of salt in his right hand.