Summary
The Thriller Bark Arcmay not be the most popular story arc inOne Piece, but it’s one of the most fascinating ones. This is because it introduced a lot of elements inspired by classic horror movies to this already interesting world, with the most prominent one being zombies, living corpses that were created by Gecko Moria with the power of his devil fruit, the Kage Kage no Mi.
Most of the relevant characters in the Thriller Bark Arc are zombies created by fusing somebody’s corpse with the shadow of an entirely different person and, as a result, they ended up becoming memorable characters, whether they worked as enemies or allies to Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates. But, who should be regarded as the best zombie character inOne Piece?
8Captain John
One Of The Most Dangerous Pirates In This World
At first glance, the zombies created by Gecko Moria may seem like an amalgamation of bizarre experiments and random people, but it eventually came to light that he also managed to secure the corpses of powerful figures from all across theOne Pieceworld, with the zombie ofCaptain Johnbeing one of the most notable examples.
John’s zombie doesn’t do much during the Thriller Bark Arc, but it is later revealed that he used to be a world-renowned piratewho was even part of the infamous Rocks Pirates. So the fact that he was in Moria’s army is quite alarming, especially when considering that fans believe that some of the other unnamed zombies were made with the corpses of other members of the Rocks Pirates, like Ochoku or Silver Axe.
7Tararan
A Bizarre But Strong Monster
Not every zombie in Thriller Bark was created with the sole corpse of another human,as the wicked Doctor Hogback was tasked with creating creatures with parts of different animalsin a way that is reminiscent of the originalFrankensteinnovel. One of these creatures wasTararan, who worked as a roadblock on one of the castle’s bridges.
Tararan is quite literally the definition of a spider monkey since his body was created by combining a giant spider with a giant monkey. On top of that, he was also fairly strong, could generate sticky spider webs, and commanded a small army of Spider-Mice. Tararan was quite a formidable opponent but the combined efforts of Franky, Nico Robin, and especially Brook were enough to take him down.
6Jigoro & Inuppe
The Wacky Zombie Equivalents Of Zoro & Sanji
When Gecko Moria captured Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji, he was devious enough to use their shadows to create zombies that would be just as powerful as them. The only setback is that these animated corpses would also reflect the personalities of these pirates, including all of their imperfections. This could be perfectly seen withJigoro&Inuppe, who were animated with the shadows of Zoro & Sanji, respectively.
Both of these zombies have truly strange designs: Jigoro resembles an old man with colorful clothes, and Inuppe is a strange mixture of a dog and a penguin. They were surprisingly effective fighters, thanks to Zoro’s sword skills and Sanji’s fighting abilities, but they also presented other aspects of these pirates’ personalities, since Jigoro had the code of honor of a swordsman, while Inuppe acted favorably toward women. But the most hilarious part about Jigoro and Inuppe was that they couldn’t stand each other and were constantly fighting,just like the original owners of their shadows.
5Kumashi
Perona’s Reluctant Teddy Bear
Perona of the Thriller Bark Pirates acted like a spoiled brat, and she kept asking Doctor Hogback to create zombies based on her stuffed animals, with her favorite one being the human-sized bear,Kumashi. However, despite being a sentient corpse, Perona orders him to never speak to keep the illusion of being a teddy bear.
The chemistry between Kumashi and Perona was quite funny, and the zombie bear proved to be surprisingly loyal to his master, to the point that he fought alongside her and even worked as the leader of the other Wild Zombies that were created with various animal corpses. In turn, Perona loved Kumashi so much that she tried to replace him on several occasions after he was purified, and she could even be seen holding his corpse as recently as the Wano Arc.
4Lola
She Would Become One Of Nami’s Closest Friends
Due to the intervention of the despicable Absalom - who kept harassing and kidnapping her - it’s safe to say that Nami had a terrible time in the Thriller Bark Arc. However, she eventually managed to ally herself with a zombie boar namedLola, who would end up being of extreme importance in both this arc and the rest of the series.
Lola was quite strong and resilient and,despite their initial discrepancies, she formed quite an endearing friendship with Nami, to the point that she even helped her out in the encounter against Absalom. Nami would later meet the original owner of her shadow,Charlotte Lola, who claimed that she felt like they had met before. So their lovely friendship could live on, even after the original zombie boar was already purified.
3Victoria Cindry
The Most Disturbing Backstory In The Arc
The zombie known asVictoria Cindryis the tragic protagonist of one of the most sickening tales in all ofOne Piece. In life, she was a beautiful and famous stage actress that Doctor Hogback was weirdly obsessed with. After Cindry died in a horrible accident, he stole her corpse and took advantage of Gecko Moria’s powers to turn her into a zombie by using the shadow of a random woman named Margarita.
Hogback tried to use the zombie of Victoria Cindry as his servant, but she constantly acted hostile toward the evil doctor and even managed to rebel against him on several occasions. Cindry is a compelling character with a dark backstory, and she’s a perfect example ofhow skilled Eiichiro Oda is at writing sad and disturbing horror stories. Fortunately, this zombie was purified when Gecko Moria was defeated, so Margarita recovered her shadow and Victoria Cindry could finally rest in peace.
2Oars
Gecko Moria’s Most Powerful Weapon
Gecko Moria knew that Monkey D. Luffy was quite a powerful fighter, so he used his shadow to animate the only Special Zombie in his forces, which was created with the corpse ofOars,who was a member of the mysterious ancient giant race. With his enormous strength, impressive size, and surprising agility, he became the most threatening opponent that the Straw Hat Pirates had to face during the Thriller Bark arc.
But, despite all of these dangerous traits, Oars also ended up being one of the biggest sources of comedy in the arc, since he maintained Luffy’s cheerful and absent-minded personality. However, he became even deadlier when Moria began manipulating his shadow with the powers of the Kage Kage no Mi, and it took the combined efforts of the entire Straw Hat Pirate crew to defeat Oars, which included the mighty Nightmare Luffy, a new form that was created with the sole purpose of taking him down.
1Shimotsuki Ryuma
An Honorable Samurai From Wano Who Tested Zoro
The Thriller Bark Arc is mostly centered on Brook, an animated skeleton pirate who’s trying to retrieve his shadow from Gecko Moria. The wicked Warlord of the Sea decided to use it to animate the stolen corpse of a legendary Wano samurai who was known asShimotsuki Ryuma. Despite his formidable sword skills, Brook couldn’t defeat him, so it was up to Zoro to do the job.
Unbeknownst to him, Ryuma was actually the ancestor of both Zoro and the legendary Shimotsuki Ushimaru, which made their encounter even more interesting. Another curious detail is that Ryuma was also the protagonist ofMonsters,one of Eiichiro Oda’s most famous one-shots that he made beforeOne Piece. The Wano samurai was quite a challenging opponent for the young swordsman, but Zoro eventually proved that he was talented enough to come out victorious. Satisfied with this outcome, Ryuma decides to bequeath his iconic sword, Shushui, to his descendant, meaning that he’s ultimately the zombie who had the most significant impact on the overall events of the series.
