Shimotsuki Ryuma

Ryuuma is a samurai from the Wano Country in the New World who died and was made into a Zombie General by Dr. Hogback. He is the same Ryuuma from Oda's previous one-shot comic, Monsters. His corpse possessed Brook's shadow to animate him during the current arc.

Appearance
In life, Ryuuma was a samurai whose character design resembled Zoro. He possessed black hair which was tied in the end with a topknot. He also wore a brownish samurai gi and simple zōri sandals.

As a zombie, Ryuuma is slightly shorter than Brook. He has several bandages covering part of his skull face. He has no eyes and no nose. Unlike when he was living, Ryuuma, as a zombie, wears a samurai gi with intricate designs more detailed than his original garb. He also wears geta instead of the zōri sandals of his past life. According to Hogback, Ryuuma's flesh is apparently special.

In Life
In life, Ryuuma followed a strict philosophy in which he believed in. He believed greatly in justice and honor. Ryuuma believed that when one gets saved, they must repay their debt else they don't have any values. He believed this was the way of a true swordsman. To this, Ryuuma would sometimes follow the request of someone he owes almost blindly, even when it would otherwise contradict his other philosophies. He also believed that a battle isn't measured by how much fame one gets from it, but by what was protected.

I hope you're ready for the consequences. The touching of sheathes means a challenge for a duel!!-Ryuuma to Shirano after Shirano accidentally touches sheathes with Ryuuma As a swordsman, Ryuuma had this one particular habit. Whenever someone would touch their sword sheath with his, Ryuuma would immediately take it as a form of challenge for a duel to the death. This is because Ryuuma believed that the sword is a swordsman. For this, Ryuuma would then immediately fight the person whose sheath touched his. This was a particularly bad trait of his, despite his honorable intentions, as this would sometimes get him into trouble.

Ryuuma, having heard the reputation of "The King", hoped to one day fight against him. He believed that this King holds a great "Warrior's Soul" and would make a worthy adversary. The irony however, is that he is "The King". Because the name, "King", was given by the people he usually saved, he unfortunately didn't know it himself.

Ryuuma also had a bad habit in managing money and when he ate food. Because of this, Ryuuma would often unfortunately find himself penniless and hungry for days.

Post-Mortem
As a zombie, Ryuuma has the same personality as Brook from Brook's pervertive nature to Brook's own distinct laugh of "Yo ho ho". This similarity has been noted by several characters. This is because he has Brook's shadow. Though Ryuuma has Brook's personality, because of being under Moria's control, Ryuuma possesses a slightly different outlook of things than Brook. Since he is under Moria's control, he has abandoned his past of being Brook's shadow and everything connected with it. Thus while Brook cherishes his afro, Ryuuma sees it only as an eyesore.

In Life
Ryuuma was a swordsman of great skill. In life, his swordsmanship skills resembled typical Japanese style swordsmanship with a katana. His skill with the sword was so great that he was capable of slicing through copper. Because of this, he was renowned as the strongest swordsman in the world of his time. Due to this also, Ryuuma was also called, especially by those he saved, the King, the swordsman who carries the world's greatest "Warrior's Soul".

Post-Mortem
As a zombie that posesses Brook's shadow, Ryuuma is able to perform all of Brook's techniques. The way Ryuuma performs them however have been noted by Brook himself to being used differently than how he normally uses them. This is because of his body that was stitched together by Doctor Hogback. While he knows Brook's techniques, his body itself is strong having being trained by the real Ryuuma in life. This thus makes Ryuuma a formidable foe to be reckon with.

Weapon
Yohoho, you have a good eye. This is one of the 21 Great Swords. It is the Meitou Shuusui. It is a sword not seen by many eyes.-Ryuuma explaining his sword to Zoro At some point in time of his life, Ryuuma came to posess a sword called Shuusui, one of the 21 Great Swords. It is distinguished by its black blade and flower-shaped guard. The sword remained with him even after he died. After Zoro defeats Ryuuma, Ryuuma gives the sword to him in hopes of satisfying the sword.

Monsters
He is a man who came from the "Wano Country" in the "New World"!!! Believe it or not, a long time ago he was known as a legendary samurai who killed a dragon!!! And his story is still passed down to this day!!!-Hogback explaining Ryuuma's origins to Nami, Usopp, and Chopper In life, Ryuuma was a famous samurai from the Wano Country in the New World. He was renowned for killing a dragon. His exploits against this beast was covered in Oda's earlier work, Monsters, as the main protagonist. The events of this tale happened ago in an unspecified place, and unspecified point in time in the past of the current story.

In this one-shot comic, Ryuuma had traveled to a town. Ryuuma unfortunately had at the time no money for which to pay for food. He had gone for five days without food and his starvation was starting to get to him. Luckily he was saved by a kind waitress of the Restaurant Gèrard, Flare. For giving him food, Ryuuma decided to repay his debt to the red haired girl. Unfortunately for him, she was at the time talking to a Mihawk like swordsman, Shirano, and thus ignored him. Just as Shirano was leaving, his sword sheath accidentally touched Ryuuma's. Ryuuma took this as sign for a duel to the death and decided to fight Shirano. As the two swordsmen engaged each other, Ryuuma slashed a copper budha easily in half. Just before the fight could escalate, Flare asked Ryuuma to stop. This he did much to shock to everyone in the restaurant.

Later, Ryuuma learned from the restaurant's owner of the story of Flare's hometown that happened seven years ago. Ryuuma learned that the town was attacked by a dragon and the only survivors were Flare and Shirano. Later after eating, Ryuuma decided to continue traveling. As he was walking, Ryuuma's sheath was touched by another. Instinctively, Ryuuma thought of it as a challenge. However before he could do anything, the swordsman, D.R., was apparently stabbed. D.R., seeing that he was stabbed, decided to blow the Dragon Horn he alledgedly stole and suposedly summoned a dragon to come to the area. He did so in order take the whole town with him. He then broke the horn so no one could stop the dragon and then apparently died. This caused an uproar in the town and Ryuuma was blamed for it.

Ryuuma, not understanding the situation at all, decided not to take responsibility despite the townspeople and Flare's anger towards him. Shirano however confirmed that the horn was real and asked everyone to leave so that he can deal with the dragon. Flare, feeling bad, decided not to go. Ryuuma, being in debt, decided not to leave as well. Flare, fearing that Shirano might die, decided to stop him. Ryuuma decided to follow her and try to stop her. However just as they got to a certain location, Ryuuma tried to stop Flare from looking in a certain direction. He unfortunately failed and she saw that Shirano was helping D.R. loot the town. It turned out that Shirano and D.R. were incohoots from the start. Shirano had told D.R. of the thing with Ryuuma's sheath so that they could stage a scene with a fake Dragon Horn. They did so in order to scare everyone so they could steal from the town. It was then revealed that they too were responsible for the attack that happened seven years ago.

D.R. had summoned a dragon with a Dragon Horn that Shirano stole from his own subordinates to attack Flare's hometown. While in the chaos, Shirano found Flare and killed her father while she was unconscious. Shirano then decided to use Flare in order to gain some prestige for his name. Learning of this new info, Ryuuma told Flare to leave as a dragon was still comming to destroy the town. She however didn't and cried. Ryuuma then decided to confront Shirano and D.R. Upon meeting up with Shirano with D.R., Shirano merely mocked at Ryuuma and attacked him. Ryuuma however dodged Shirano's attack and killed him with one stroke. D.R. frightened by this, pleaded for his life by saying that only he could stop the dragon from coming with the real Dragon Horn. Ryuuma however instead slew the villain.

Just as the dragon arrived, Ryuuma lept from a building and with one mighty swing, slew the beast. Afterwards, Ryuuma decided to leave town. As went, he left Flare with some encouraging words and told her that she owed him one as he fought for her twice. Later when the townspeople came back and discovered everything, it was learned that Ryuuma was called "The King". It was a name that was given to him by people he had saved. Ryuuma despite his fame, however doesn't know this himself and even plans to fight this "King" one day. Ryuuma, despite it all, however simply travels off to his next adventure.

It is not known what happened to Ryuuma afterwards but is known he died from an unspecified sickness. His tale against the dragon, however, became legendary and was past down to generations even to this day.

Zombie Ryuuma
At some point in time after Ryuuma's death, Doctor Hogback came to own his body and modified it to become a zombie. Five years ago, a skeleton named Brook came to Thriller Bark. He was captured and with the use of Moria's Devil Fruit powers, his shadow was stolen and implanted into Ryuuma's corpse. Ryuuma then became a zombie under the command of Absalom and foremost Moria. After Brook was set adrift at sea, he returned to the island in search for his shadow. After causing some problems on the island, Brook came across Ryuuma who posessed his shadow, and while they shared the same techniques, Ryuuma had the stronger body and was able best Brook at his own fighting style. Knowing that he couldn't kill Brook, Ryuuma let Brook go with a broken skull. Ryuuma then continued his duties as a Zombie General for the next five years. While Brook trained himself during that time in order to defeat Ryuuma, Ryuuma grew as well in strength since he possessed the skeleton's shadow.

The Arrival of the Straw Hats
While apparently doing his rounds on the night the Straw Hats came to Thriller Bark, Ryuuma decided to chase after Usopp, Nami, and Chopper after they were chased out of Hogback's room by a Jack in a box. He caught up to them while they were peeking on Hogback making his latest creation in his lab. He then knocked them inside with what appeared to be slash.

Ryuuma was then ordered by Hogback to do away with the three. He then knocked Usopp, Nami, and Chopper away with a single move that was so fast that they didn't even realized they were attacked. Only when Ryuuma walked ten feet away to converse with Cindry and the three try to escape did they realize the attack.

Later, while sitting down and drinking tea in Hogback's lab, Ryuuma is confronted by Brook. The skeleton then challenged Ryuuma to a duel. After several bone shattering strikes, Ryuuma easily defeats Brook with his own style. Ryuuma then grabs Brook's afro and decides to cut it off as a final blow towards the skeleton. However just before Ryuuma could cut off the afro, the entire island suddenly shakes and makes Ryuuma lose his grip on the afro. Franky then arrives in the lab to tend to Brook. Ryuuma, upon regaining his balance, attacks both Franky and Brook. However before it hits it's mark, Zoro blocks Ryuuma's attack and challenges to fight Ryuuma himself in Brook's stead.

After a pre-battle dialog between the two, in which Zoro stated that he will take Ryuuma's sword, both Ryuuma and Zoro began battling against each other. As the battle raged, Ryuuma performed a thrusting technique with his sword which blew a hole in the wall like a gun. This was countered by Zoro with a technique that was able to slice through the wall behind Ryuuma. The battle then intensified between the two of them. The battle became so intense that the Hogback's entire lab couldn't take the damage. The entire room caved in.

Escaping from the wreckage before the structure gave way, Ryuuma and Zoro continued their battle on the roof. This intense rooftop battle was viewed by both Brook and Franky who had also escaped onto the mansion's roof. As Ryuuma and Zoro continued battling, the two found themselves facing each other on top of two ledges with only the top of the roof between them. With a mighty slash, Ryuuma cut through the entire roof with his blade. Zoro however, dodged the attack and, using the airborne slashed part of the roof as a ramp, launched an attack from above at Ryuuma. Ryuuma likewise jumped towards Zoro. In a scene that greatly resembled Ryuuma's triumph against the dragon in his previous life, Ryuuma was slashed in mid-air by Zoro. From the wound, Ryuuma was set aflame. Ryuuma then landed ontop of the roof while Zoro fell behind as if looking as if were defeated by Ryuuma.

Set aflame, Ryuuma accepted defeat and decided to give Zoro his sword. With the corpse burning, the zombie spoke his final words as it burnt to ashes:

"This was a great match... I have allowed this Samurai's body to suffer defeat... I am ashamed..." -Brook's Shadow upon defeat

With the corpse housing it destroyed, Brook's shadow rejoined it's rightful owner's feet. This made the skeleton rejoice completely. Zoro then replied that it was alright that the zombie lost as long as he was ashamed. Zoro stated he would've liked to have known Ryuuma while he was still alive and accepted the samurai's sword. Zoro however stated that he'll just pretend the fight he had with the samurai's desecrated corpse never happened.

Major Battles

 * Ryuuma vs. Shirano
 * Ryuuma vs. The Dragon
 * Ryuuma vs. Brook (1st battle)
 * Ryuuma vs. Brook (2nd battle)
 * Ryuuma vs. Zoro

Trivia

 * One of the antagonists in Ryuuma's story, D.R., has a wanted poster that can be seen in episode 45 of the anime on the wall on Fullbody's ship. Another poster can be seen in episode 48 when Luffy goes to the Gold Roger Bar.