Absalom

Absalom of the Graveyard (墓場のアブサロム) is the leader of the Zombie Soldiers and Zombie Generals of Thriller Bark. He is one of the main antagonists of the Thriller Bark arc. Absalom is also one of the Mysterious Four.

Appearance
Absalom, when not invisible, is a richly dressed man who wears an ankle length coat that has a high collar and is cut like a parapet along the bottom, a white buttondown shirt with two stylized crosses on it, basic blue slacks (that are tucked into his boots), a white belt with a chain, and basic black boots with criss-crossing straps on the front of them, and has the muzzle of a lion stitched to his face. Underneath his garments is a body stitched from various animal parts. Absalom's skin is that of an elephant and his muscles are a mixture of bear and gorilla. The combined weight of these transplants, along with his body, gives Absalom a total weight of 300 kilograms. These transplants on Absalom's body were all performed by Hogback.

Personality
Absalom is a major pervert, and everyone around him knows it. The Zombies in the graveyard particularly nickname him "Erosalom" due to his highly amorous nature despite him being their leader. He does not shy from the idea of sexual harassment and assault. It seems to be that he seeks women to be his bride amongst other things. He particularly likes weak women who can't fight back. He also considers himself to be beautiful and an all-around ladies' man, to the point where he considered it unlikely that Nami would reject him once he proposes to her. He licked Robin all over her body and spied on Nami while she was naked and taking a bath then holding her against her will; then, later on kidnapping her when she, Usopp, and Chopper were running away from Perona's animal zombies and forced her to become his bride. All these perverted tendencies make him very similar to Sanji; they even have similar speech patterns at one point, with both of them marvelling at Nami's beauty while she was garbed in a wedding gown. Nevertheless he is absolutely terrified of Lola because of her "love" for him.

When faced with matters not concerning his potential bride, Absalom exhibits a reasonably dedicated persona and is much more than serious Hogback and Perona. Like the other members of the Mysterious Four, he is devoted to Moriah's ambition, though he often had to work very hard as the (former) Shichibukai's minion due to Moriah's tendency to slack off and overall irresponsible behavior

Absalom speaks in a distinct style. He often refers himself in the plural tense (the royal we) in lines such as, "You will be our bride." He also claims not to be a zombie, but in fact a human being despite looking otherwise. He is also obsessed with graveyards, as his dream is to rule over all of the graveyards in the world.

He is also a hypocrite as he called Sanji a pervert when he was just as big a pervert (or bigger) than he was.

Crew
Among the Mysterious Four, Absalom is easily the most dutiful crewmate under Moriah. He actively seeks out Moriah's best interests, like capturing strong people for Moriah to have their shadows extracted, to awakening the General Zombies to fight the Straw Hats. Absalom appears to have a good working relationship with both Hogback and Perona. In fact, he would sometimes receive some advice and recommendations from Hogback regarding his marriage bride choices (regardless whether Absalom wants them of not), and even acted as a father-figure towards Perona.

As for the zombies, Absalom seems to respect them as the subordinates granted by Moriah to him, so much that he even had the General Zombies as his honored "guests" for his botched marriage with Nami.

Abilities and Powers
As one of the Mysterious Four, Absalom had been given authority to control over the zombies of Thriller Bark by Moriah, in his case, he had the General Zombies under his command prior to the fall of Thriller Bark. And while this does not necessarily mean that he's more powerful than any one of the Generals, it meant that Absalom still posed a significant threat to enemies of Thriller Bark due to his undead subordinates. In addition, Dr. Hogback has augmented Absalom's body with animal parts like the skin of an elephant, jaws of one lion and muscles that are a mixture of a bear's and a gorilla's. This gave him superhuman strength and durability. Absalom thinks that anyone who would kick him would have their foot destroyed due to his tough skin. However, according to Absalom, Sanji's kicks seem to be the only kicks not to do that so far.

Devil Fruit


Absalom has eaten the Suke Suke no Mi, which gives him the ability to turn himself and other things invisible. He most notably uses its powers to peep on women. Absalom is also able to turn other people invisible by simply touching them.

Weapons
Absalom has two arm-mounted bazookas that he makes invisible with his powers, making it seem like he is performing an energy blast of sorts. They appear to be triggered by his movements, as he was seen raising his wrists when firing them.

History
Absalom first appeared as an invisible being of some sort that kept five of the Straw Hats, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Robin, and Franky, from going ashore to the island. He licked Robin from bottom to top with his tongue. He later attacked Nami while she was bathing in the bathroom in Hogback's mansion. After being driven away by Usopp, Absalom met briefly with Hogback and one of Perona's ghosts. There he and his companions decided to commence the attack on the Straw Hats.

Night Attack
Absalom then went to the graveyard to round up the Zombies to commence the attack. As his troops began to dance the disco in celebration for the attack, Absalom proceeded to what appeared to be mausoleum of sorts. There he summoned the Zombie Generals in order to attack the stronger ones in the Straw Hat crew. As Absalom saw off his generals, he was greeted by one of his minions, Lola. The love-struck warthog bride unsuccessfully tried to marry him to her through trickery. Absalom, appalled by this attempt, explained to her why he couldn't marry her. He also continued to explain that he had found a suitable bride for himself, Nami. Lola, angered by this, decided to look for Nami and kill her. Absalom, not wanting his future bride to be killed by Lola, decided to chase after the warthog before anything could happen.

Upon following Lola to Perona's garden, Absalom spotted Nami. Seeing her, Absalom tried to carry her away only to receive an electric shock from her instead. Absalom, however, thought this was a gesture of love. Seeing the insolence of a Dog Penguin zombie happening in the garden, Absalom decided to take him out with some sort of invisible blast. After searching around the garden for awhile, Absalom is then suddenly chased by a determined Lola. After escaping from her, Absalom was summoned to witness Moriah extracting Luffy's shadow. Together with Hogback, Cindry, and Perona, Absalom gathered before Moriah to witness Luffy's shadow being extracted.



After the extraction, Absalom ordered some Spider Mice to take Luffy away. Absalom and his partners are however informed of the events that were caused by Brook, Franky, and Robin. After relaying some orders to the Spider Mice, Absalom accompanied Moriah and others to the freezer where the 900th zombie, Oars, was kept. During Oars' awakening, Absalom and the others with him found out that Nami, Chopper, and Usopp were hiding in Kumashi. After being pointed in the right direction by Gyoro, Nin, and Bao, Absalom gave chase after his bride. Absalom was then able to catch up with Nami and blow her companions away with an invisible attack. He then escaped with Nami by turning both him and Nami invisible.

A Wedding and a Battle
After sending Nami to some zombie tailors to make her wedding dress, Absalom decided to hold the wedding ceremony between him and an unconscious Nami with all the zombie generals attending. However before Absalom could seal their marriage with a kiss, Oars interfered with the ceremony by pulling on the large chain of the island and causing the island to move out of control. Absalom, upon being prevented to kiss Nami with all the shaking, sent the Zombie Generals to stop Oars. However, they were instead crushed by Oars when they tried to attack him.



Absalom was then found by Sanji, who was incredibly angry about Absalom's perverted actions. Sanji then pummeled Absalom mercilessly after it was revealed that Absalom had destroyed one of his dreams when he consumed the Suke Suke no Mi because Sanji wanted to peek on girls too (Absalom responds by shouting "THERE IS A LIMIT TO BEING UNREASONABLE"). Absalom only got a few hits in as Sanji was trying to prevent Nami from being grabbed by Absalom, so he turned invisible and moved to another location. After revealing that Hogback had combined his body with body parts of other animals (including a lion's jaw and the strength of a bear and a gorilla), Absalom tried to attack Sanji, but Sanji, after claiming he could become a fine dish of meat, finished him off with a new attack, sending him flying into a wall while still invisible.



During the commotion caused by Oars rampaging through the main mast, Absalom was able to get up again and steal Nami from Sanji by making her invisible. At the same it is revealed that he keeps her unconscious by giving her sleeping pills. He was about to marry Nami and seal it with a kiss. However she woke up and managed to escape him with the help of Lola and then took him out with one attack. While he remains unconscious in the remains of his now failed wedding, Lola attempts to marry him before he regains consciousness.

After Moriah's defeat
Dr. Hogback has woken him up and informed him that Gekko Moriah has been beaten. He is seen again, holding an escapee ship invisible, as it passes through the Thriller Bark gate jaws with him, Dr. Hogback and the unconscious Gekko Moriah. He notes that they could not find Perona, and that it was too late to help her. He then wonders what happened during the arrival of Bartholomew Kuma and it is explained by Dr. Hogback that he came to tell Moriah about the new Shichibukai that is Marshall D. Teach "Blackbeard", and that he was told by the three zombies Gyoro, Nin and Bao, who witnessed the discussion between Moriah and Kuma. Hogback then gives him a newspaper with an article telling that Ace is now in Impel Down. Absalom then notes that such actions might be a turning point in the "Pirate Era." He then sobs about not being able to marry his bride, and continues by scolding Hogback when he offers to make him a zombie bride, saying that he wants a human bride.

Major Battles

 * Absalom vs. Zombie Lola
 * Absalom vs. Sanji
 * Absalom vs. Nami and Zombie Lola

Anime and Manga Differences
Originally in the manga, when Absalom fought against Sanji in the chapel, he stabbed the chef in the back with a knife that became visible when it made contact. The resulting action caused Sanji to drop Nami for fear that the chef's blood would dirty her wedding dress. Unfortunately for doing this, Absalom's location was given away when he stepped into a pool of blood that bled out of the wound that he created on Sanji. In the broadcast version of the anime, this sequence was changed due to the resemblance with the still recent Akihabara massacre, in which a man fatally stabbed at least 12 people with a dagger. Instead of stabbing Sanji in the back, it was shown in the anime that Absalom landed a hit on Sanji so strong that it threw the chef off balance and drop Nami. Also instead of stepping in a pool of blood, it was merely shown that Absalom's location was given away when he stepped too near the chef. In the Japanese DVD however, this was left uncut.

Merchandise
Absalom being one of the main antagonists during the Thriller Bark Arc made sure that he would be featured in the Merchandise, So far he has been featured in line, the Anichara Heroes line and in the World Collectable line. The world collectable figure of him is thus far still the biggest figure of him, that has been made.

Trivia

 * At one point, a lion with a human face was seen prior to Absalom's introduction. Oda later confirmed that the lion's face was indeed used on Absalom's face by Hogback. However, the lion's human face might not be Absalom's, and that his face may be on another zombie elsewhere. Oda declined to go on further for the few Absalom fans out there.
 * Some of Absalom's lines seem to have a double meaning. The first line was "Being mean to Kumashi must fill you with ecstasy. Ecsmasy?". He said this when he noted how cruel Perona was to Kumashi. The second line was "So cruel to Hogback. Cruelback.". He said this when he noted how cruel Cindry was to Hogback. A fan noticed these lines. He asked Oda in an SBS question if these lines meant that Absalom likes making bad jokes. Oda replied to the fan that this was so. Oda also said that it is ironic because Absalom's sense of humor is invisible.
 * Absalom appears to be based on the extremely lusty parish priest of The Miller's Tale. The priest was also named Absalom. The Miller's Tale was part of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.
 * Absalom's appearance and power seem to be inspired by the fiction of H. G. Wells. The invisibility has obvious ties to The Invisible Man, while his appearance as an animal altered by surgery is reminscient of The Island of Doctor Moreau and its film adaptation, The Island of Lost Souls.
 * In the Bible, Absalom is a son of King David who was famous for his beauty and long hair.

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Absalom Absalom 阿布薩羅姆