Chapter 445

Mini-Story

 * Enel's Great Space Operation: A troop of Space Pirates gather together around an excavation site holding a meeting.

Summary
Nami, Usopp and Chopper travel in the carriage provided by Hildon with bizarre horsemen (which may not be horses) to reach the home of Doctor Hogback. Hildon acts hospitable by offering wine to the guests while Usopp remains paranoid that other creatures like the Cerberus would come after them. Chopper, though, gloats about the genius surgeon praised as one of the greatest in the world prior to his mysterious dissapearance and Hildorn's confirmation he is on the island. Nami is more intrigued by the inhabitants of the forest, believing she sees a lion only to see it with a grotesque man's face!

When Nami tries to convince Usopp and Chopper what she saw, the trio look out and see the entire forest, complete with trees, animals and even ghosts partying! Yet on second glance, everything becomes still and the trio doubt what they've seen. Nami asks Hildon to stop the carriage after seeing such bizarre things, but the creature tells them they merely saw illusions within the forest. Though Nami wants to go back to the coast to meet up with the rest of the crew, Chopper wants to continue on to Hogback. Usopp uses his own cowardly logic to convince Chopper it isn't worth it and thus convincing Hildon to tell the carriagemen to stop.

Ten minutes after stopping, the trio realize that they neither have moved forward or back but have been abandoned in the middle of a graveyard. With their fear rising, Usopp yells for Hildon yet unknowingly he flies off while even the carriagemen abandon them. Before wondering too long about their predicament, the trio are horrified to see dead corpses rising from the ground: Nami, Usopp and Chopper had been left with an army of zombies! The trio are soon thrown out of their carriage and fear getting bitten and turned into zombies themselves. Yet as the trio fight back, they soon see how the zombies are a tad abnormal, watching them comedically bounce around their heads and complain as Usopp tries to use a fire attack to burn them away. With nothing left to do but run (due to their speediness of the undead), they finally outrun the zombies due to their lack of endurance.

The trio seem to question why the zombies were on the island, but they soon find themselves in front of a massive building: Doctor Hogback's mansion.

Character Introduction

 * Zombies

Recurring Characters

 * Cover Story
 * Space Pirates
 * Straw Hat Pirates
 * Nami
 * Usopp
 * Tony Tony Chopper
 * Thriller Bark
 * Hildon