@IT'S:

NO! That was #7-something.

@Moria:

I remember seeing the Frankenstein monster, Mario's number. It wasnt 900. Hate to breka it to you.

Awww… Well if it's not him, I'm expecting something even better from Oda then.

So then I wonder who's shadow the Frankenstein will get? Franky would make sense, him being a cyborg and having Frank in his name, but you never know with Oda.

Great chapter this week. I knew once Brooke entered back into the picture things would get even better. It's also nice to see the other characters getting their time to shine while Sanji, Zoro, and Luffy are "indisposed" apparently.

As for people saying Brooke being a swordsman is a strike against him joining the Straw Hats, that would only be a strike if Brooke was an "ordinary" swordsman. His attack style, his body, his devil fruit ability, and his character make him VERY different from Zoro regardless of him using a sword. Plus, he doesn't even use a normal sword. Also, Zoro's dream is to become the greatest swordsman. Brooke's dream will probably have to do with his music.

I can't wait to see #900. I bet it's that big Frankenstein monster Hogback was working on earlier.

@dinty:

Following along with some interesting theories that boiga, Rockschmock and Jeltz posed earlier in this thread :

Signs may point to the undead Cheshire cat, but it doesn't seem strong enough or tall enough to be Nami's assailant, and we haven't heard it speak yet.

@game2005:

I don't think it's possible for the cat to be the invisible man. The cat is so short and the invisible man is obviously tall enough to grab hold of Nami's hand and for him to be kicked in the right spot and run off, and that cat isn't tall at all.

Let's just watch the conclusions and not to make bizzare predictions yet, shall we?

boiga also meantioned the possibility of the cat having a devils fruit.

@boiga:

problem with this theory- how would a cat devil fruit make it to the sunny and back?

Most likely it had help. Probably from other ghosts/invisible creatures.

-There was a ghost spying on Luffy and the others on their ship. We saw these same ghosts in the woods with the cat as you pointed out.
-The "invisible cat" said "You…. become our bride…!!!" to Nami.
-I doubt Luffy and the others were attacked by just one invisible creature.

Either way, I think your theory is going in the right direction.

@boiga:

A couple of odd revelations this week.

Invisible man:
-A corporeal invisible humanoid and not a ghost/beast or shadow. Nothing on four legs or with out a physical form could have been chased off by nami's kick to the balls. That looked like it hurt even though you couldn't see the guy.
-also, what he says shows that he is the same that attacked the 1000 sunny but mentions nami as being OUR wife. Is he referring to other invisible beings or just him and the other stitched up creatures?
-could potentially be Dr. Hogback as nami's kick connects at the height level of her breasts. Hogback has a particularly high groin. This factor makes invisible man unlikely to be Hildon or jackal rider as they were too short.
-on the other hand, invisible man laughs "garuru" while Hogback laughs "Fosfosfosfos" which gives credence to thinking it's a completely new character.
-He can either fly or climb walls. The frame angle for approaching bathing nami comes from above. The escape out the window also shows that he can fly or climb quite well.

Dr. Hogback:
-He's not a D since all the other D's had a D in their introduction panel.
-Confirmed making the creatures in the forest when he mentioned isolating himself to learn the secrets of life and death.
-His house cat was also part of the forest crew singing "new prey! new prey!" last chapter. He's a bad guy.
-Likely has some wacky fighting powers if you consider how much work he's done on himself compared to the flashback where he is lamenting over a dead patients grave.
-has not seen brooke yet or he would his thought bubble would not have been so shocked at his being mentioned.

Other notes:
-Thriller Bark? Really? That's a shame. Battle Franky was right about it from the get go it seems. Congrat BF!
-Giant spider web trapping the ships infers giant spider :)

Those are some great observations! Especially the part about Hogback's house cat.

Thanks for the Raw, Battle Franky.

Hogback is definately up to something, especially since he told Chopper his lab is off limits. But I still can't figure out why he stole Brooke's shadow if he really is the culprit.

And why hasn't Brooke shown up at the mansion yet? He was moving very fast and should have gotten to the mansion before Ussop and the others.

@Leaf:

Awesome chapter! Thanks Battle Franky and archanfel! How come some people are saying Brook is Lafitte and/or a Devil Fruit user? From the looks of it, he's simply a living skeleton. It is that difficult to accept the fact that Brook is undead? >_>

I think people just want him to have a devil fruit power, vs being able to believe he's really undead. I mean we've had talking ships and angels in One Piece, undead characters aren't that big of a stretch.

And the Lafitte disguise thing was "possible" when people theorized that Brooke may have just been a skinny guy that "looked" like a skeleton. But after seeing pictures of his skinless hands and ribs, that no longer makes any sense.

U: G…Gh... Ghostsss.....
L: Yea, there are ghosts in these sea.
U: Are you kidding me?! How come everyone seems to know this?! I never heard of such things!!
L: Kokoro san told us, supposedly there are living skeletons too!
S: That's just your imagination, now stop making him crap his pants. Now listen Usopp (w/ a creepy face himself), it just that on these seas more than 100 ships went missing every year and the dead apparently are still onbroad the ghost ships roaming around, that's it.
U: GYAAAAAAAA, you should tell me such things before!! Hilarious stuff! Thanks for the translation archanfel!

@rusashi:

Just because their unique does not mean they should join the crew. 90% of Oda's characters are unique, do they join? Sure, they werent asked, but still.

But in comparison to a reindeer and a cyborg, a skeleton man that drinks tea fits in with the pirate theme a whole lot better. I mean, his face is already on their flag. ;)

The main issue with "Brook" is if he has a useful skill for the crew that will be useful throughout their adventures, and not some "only useful for this portion of the story" skill, like being able to see the dead in the Triangle.

Thanks for the chapter Battle Franky!

That shark tank scene came out much better (funnier) than I imagined. I'm really going to be disappointed if "Brook" isn't a permanent character, but if not, hopefully Oda has another character addition planned that's just as cool/unique.