Shimotsuki Ryuma

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

Appearance
In life, Ryuma 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 simple khaki samurai gi and simple zōri sandals.

As a zombie, Ryuma is slightly shorter than Brook. He has several bandages covering part of his skull face. He has no eyes and no nose. Ryuma, 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. His black hair was also replaced with white hair. It probably turned white with age while he was still alive. According to Hogback, Ryuma's flesh is apparently special.

In Life
In life, Ryuma followed a strict personal philosophy centered around justice and honor. Ryuma strongly believed that saving a life was a debt that must be repaid by those with virtue, and that repaying this debt was the way of a true swordsman. To this end, Ryuma would occasionally follow the request of someone he owed almost blindly, even when it would otherwise contradict his other beliefs. He also believed that a battle should be measured by what was protected, rather than how much fame is gained.

As a swordsman, Ryuma had a peculiar habit. Whenever someone touched their sword sheath with his, even by accident, Ryuma would immediately take this action as a form of challenge for a duel to the death. This behavior stems from Ryuma's belief that the sword is the swordsman. Despite his honorable intentions, this habit would get him into needless and bloody confrontations.

Ryuma, having heard the reputation of "The King", hoped to one day fight against him. He believed that this King must hold a great "Warrior's Soul" who would make a worthy adversary. The irony however, is that he himself was "The King". Because the name, "King", was given to him by the people he saved, he unfortunately did not know it himself.

Ryuma also had poor money management skills. Because of this, Ryuma would often unfortunately find himself penniless and hungry for days.

Post-Mortem
As a zombie, Ryuma has many of the same mannerisms as Brook, from Brook's perverted nature to the distinct "Yo ho ho" laugh, as well as jokes based on his undead body. This similarity exists because he has Brook's shadow animating his samurai corpse, and as shown in the Thriller Bark arc, a zombie gains many personality traits of the person whose shadow was used to reanimate it.

Though Ryuma has Brook's core personality, he possesses a slightly different outlook on things. He has abandoned his past as a part of Brook, and every memory connected with it. Thus, for example, while Brook cherishes his afro, Ryuma sees it only as an eyesore. Ryuma also sees it as a weakness of Brook's to be exploited in their duel. He also has a decidedly sadistic streak, behaving quite cruelly towards his "former master" Brook, seeming to enjoy inflicting both physical and psychological pain as well as toying with him in combat when he could have won quickly and easily, being the far more powerful of the two. He seems to retain a fondness for battle that is more in line with his body's samurai origins. He is more like Zoro than Brook in this respect.

In Life


Ryuma was a swordsman of great skill. In life, his swordsmanship skills resembled a mix of Japanese style Kenjutsu and Battojutsu. 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, Ryuma 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 possesses Brook's shadow, Ryuma is able to perform all of Brook's techniques. However, because Ryuma has a much more powerful body, the effects of the techniques are amplified to a much higher level. The difference between the two is large enough that Ryuma could defeat Brook with only a fraction of his full strength. In addition to Brook's usual skills, Ryuma has the "power of destruction", a product of his superhuman strength. Because of this immense power he can cut things at a distance with the air from his swing (much like Zoro's 36 Pound Cannon), cut an entire building in half, and destroy an enemy's sword after just a few clashes, all things that Brook cannot do. As Brook noted, a battle between two users of the "power of destruction" such as Zoro and Ryuma will always end quickly.

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.

At some point in time of his life, Ryuma came to possess 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 Ryuma, Ryuma 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!!! In life, Ryuma 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 long ago in an unspecified place, and unspecified point in time in the past of the current story.



In this one-shot comic, Ryuma had traveled to a town. Ryuma, 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, Ryuma decided to repay his debt to the red haired girl. Unfortunately for him, she was at the time talking to a Mihawk like swordsman, Cyrano, and thus ignored him. Just as Cyrano was leaving, his sword sheath accidentally touched Ryuma's. Ryuma took this as sign for a duel to the death and decided to fight Cyrano. As the two swordsmen engaged each other, Ryuma easily slashed a copper buddha in half. Just before the fight could escalate, Flare asked Ryuma to stop. This he did much to shock to everyone in the restaurant.

Later, Ryuma learned from the restaurant's owner of the story of Flare's hometown that happened seven years ago. Ryuma learned that the town was attacked by a dragon and the only survivors were Flare and Cyrano. Later after eating, Ryuma decided to continue traveling. As he was walking, Ryuma's sheath was touched by another. Instinctively, Ryuma 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 Ryuma was blamed for it.

Ryuma, not understanding the situation at all, decided not to take responsibility despite the townspeople and Flare's anger towards him. Cyrano 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. Ryuma, being in debt, decided not to leave as well. Flare, fearing that Cyrano might die, decided to stop him. Ryuma decided to follow her and try to stop her. However just as they got to a certain location, Ryuma tried to stop Flare from looking in a certain direction. He unfortunately failed and she saw that Cyrano was helping D.R. loot the town. It turned out that Cyrano and D.R. were in cahoots from the start. Cyrano had told D.R. of the thing with Ryuma'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 Cyrano stole from his own subordinates to attack Flare's hometown. While in the chaos, Cyrano found Flare and killed her father while she was unconscious. Cyrano then decided to use Flare in order to gain some prestige for his name. Learning of this new info, Ryuma told Flare to leave as a dragon was still coming to destroy the town. She didn't however and cried. Ryuma then decided to confront Cyrano and D.R. Upon meeting up with Cyrano with D.R., Cyrano merely mocked Ryuma and attacked him. Ryuma, however, dodged Cyrano'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. Ryuma, however, instead slew the villain.



Just as the dragon arrived, Ryuma lept from a building and with one mighty swing, slew the beast. Afterwards, Ryuma decided to leave town. As he 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 Ryuma was called "The King". It was a name that was given to him by people he had saved. Ryuma, despite his fame, doesn't know this himself and even plans to fight this "King" one day. Despite it all, Ryuma simply travels off to his next adventure.

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

Zombie Ryuma
At some point in time after Ryuma'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 Moriah's Devil Fruit powers, his shadow was stolen and implanted into Ryuma's corpse. Ryuma then became a zombie under the command of Absalom and foremost Moriah. 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 Ryuma who possessed his shadow, and while they shared the same techniques, Ryuma had the stronger body and was able to best Brook at his own fighting style. Knowing that he couldn't kill Brook (because if the the original owner of the shadow is killed, their shadow is destroyed and the zombie becomes a lifeless corpse again), Ryuma let Brook go with a broken skull. Ryuma then continued his duties as a Zombie General for the next five years. While Brook trained himself during that time in order to defeat Ryuma, Ryuma 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, Ryuma 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.



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

After a pre-battle dialog between the two, in which Zoro stated that he will take Ryuma's sword, both Ryuma and Zoro began battling against each other. As the battle raged, Ryuma 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 Ryuma. 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 and the entire room caved in.



Escaping from the wreckage before the structure gave way, Ryuma 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 Ryuma 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, Ryuma 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 Ryuma. Ryuma likewise jumped towards Zoro. In a scene that greatly resembled Ryuma's triumph against the dragon in his previous life, Ryuma was slashed in mid-air by Zoro. From the wound, Ryuma was set aflame. Ryuma then landed on top of the roof while Zoro fell behind as if looking as if were defeated by Ryuma.

Set aflame, Ryuma accepted defeat and decided to give Zoro his sword, heavily believing that the soul of the sword would be most satisfied to serve under the man who defeated its preceding owner. 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...

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 Ryuma while he was still alive and accepted the samurai's sword as a gift of honorable defeat. Zoro however praised the zombie. Even while it was dying, it still retained the honorable spirit of a swordsman. Zoro stated that he'll just pretend the fight he had with the samurai's desecrated corpse never happened.

Major Battles

 * Ryuma vs. Cyrano (1st battle)
 * Ryuma vs. Cyrano (2nd battle)
 * Ryuma vs. D.R.
 * Ryuma vs. The Dragon
 * Ryuma vs. Brook (1st battle)
 * Ryuma vs. Brook (2nd battle)
 * Ryuma vs. Roronoa Zoro

Anime and Manga Differences
Even though Zoro said that he would've liked to have known Ryuma when he was alive, he doubts that dragons existed and that the samurai ever killed one. This is seen badly in the anime since the Straw Hats encounter Sennenryu in the Warship Island Arc in the anime. Another filler arc, Ocean's Dream Arc also had referenced their encounter with the Sennenry and had also added the Tatsunoko-ryu.

Trivia

 * His samurai gi has the kanji "Ryū" (龍, Dragon) on its sleeves, most likely a reference to the dragon he killed in the past.

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