Ultimate One Piece Info Thread!

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Note: PLEASE DO NOT POST UNTIL THIS PROJECT IS FINISHED! ONCE ITS DONE, I'LL REMOVE THIS MESSAGE, PLEASE, AND THANK YOU!
:D

Note 2: IF YOU WANT TO PRAISE ME, SEND ME A PM OR LEAVE A VISITOR COMMENT, AS THIS IS STILL AN ONGOING MANGA, THIS THREAD WILL CONSTANTLY NEED UPDATES, AND SINCE I AM NOT A MOD, I DO NOT HAVE THE POWER TO MOVE AROUND POSTS TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE! Thanks again!
Also, this will take quite a few posts, its not called the Ultimate One Piece Thread for a reason!

Creator: Eiichiro Oda

Source: One Piece Wiki (http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page)

Fun Facts:


Born January 1st 1975
Oda is married to Chiaki Inaba, who had played Nami during Jump Festa One Piece stage performances
Oda is a fan of rapper Eminem, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton.
According to Oda in an interview for Shonen Jump, his favorite villain in One Piece is Buggy the Clown (he joked that he literally threw him together). Oda has also claimed if he could eat any of the Devil Fruits, he would eat the Bara Bara no Mi.



Apperances in Manga/Anime:


He voiced the character "Odacchi" in the "Dream Soccer King!" short that aired with the third One Piece movie, " Chopper's Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals". "Odacchi" is Oda's nickname, and he played soccer when he was younger.
Oda once played the role of Shanks for the JUMP Festa 2008 in the absence of Shūichi Ikeda when the voice actors acted out the Mugiwara High School short. He wore a hot pink wig for the part and explained he would only do this because One Piece was in its tenth year.
Strangely, in a recent Japanese Fan Poll, Eiichiro Oda is currently ranked the 31st Most Popular Character in One Piece, despite the fact that he has never included himself in any issue of the manga (except the SBS).
Oda's name often appears on the spine of books in the anime.


History
As a child, Oda was inspired by vikings and aspired to become a manga artist. As a child, he submitted a character named Pandaman for Yudetamago's classic wrestling manga Kinnikuman. Pandaman was not only used in a chapter of the manga but would later return as a recurring cameo character in Oda's own works. At the age of 17, he submitted his work "Wanted" and it won several awards. Joining the staff of the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump, he began working as an assistant to several mangaka, including Shinobu Kaitani's manga Suizan Police Gang, Masaya Tokuhiro's series Jungle King Ta-chan and Mizu no Tomodachi Kappaman, and Nobuhiro Watsuki on the manga Rurouni Kenshin. During this time, he drew two pirate-themed one-shot stories, called "Romance Dawn". In 1997, "One Piece" appeared for the first time in the magazine Shonen Jump and promptly became one of the most popular manga in Japan. His biggest influence is Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump

Works by Oda

One Piece (1997-Still Running)
Wanted! (1998, Collection of Short Stories)
Dragon Ball x One Piece: Cross Epoch (2007)


Romance Dawn: The Original One Piece!

Romance Dawn refers to three separate manga chapters drawn by artist Eiichiro Oda between 1996 and 1997, culminating in the first chapter of the ongoing series One Piece. The first volume of this series is also called "Romance Dawn.

"Romance Dawn" represents the slow progression of the author's ideas in his desire to create a manga about pirates, whose inspiration was drawn largely from his own childhood interests. While a first-year junior high school student, he began sketching out ideas for a pirate-themed manga in a notbeook, in pencil.

Years later, as an assistant to Rurouni Kenshin author Nobuhiro Watsuki, he began refining his ideas into what would become "Romance Dawn," and later, One Piece. All 3 versions were published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, with the final incarnation published exactly one year after the first. The author made significant alterations to the premise and plot over the course of the three chapters, which will be examined in-depth below.

To Celebrate Shonen Jump's 40th Anniversary, an OVA was produced entitled "Romance Dawn". This story itself occurs between Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago Story Arcs. As such, all 9 Crew Members are present. To view the plot and trivia please visit here. (http://onepiece.wikia.com/wiki/Romance_Dawn_Story)

A Dream Come True: Cross Epoch is Born!

After many years in the manga series business, Oda finally had one of his dreams come true. He was able to form a one-shot manga with his idol Akira Toriyama. This Special Chapter was released along with chapter 439 if the One Piece Manga.

To read this special chapter, click here. (http://www.onemanga.com/Cross_Epoch/0/01-02/)

[CM Punk]

One Piece Story: The East Blue Saga

This Saga is the warm-up of the series. Luffy meets Shanks as a young boy living in East Blue. This is where he forms most of his Straw Hat crew and, ultimately, where the adventure begins.

The saga starts off with a flashback of Gold Roger about to be executed, before he dies he tells the crowds to go out and search for his treasure. With that he sparked the Golden age of pirates; countless pirates raise their flags and set off to find One Piece.

The East Blue Saga focuses mainly on Luffy setting off for The Grand Line and gathering crewmates. Throughout it Luffy gains four comrades, Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji, and earns a bounty of 30,000,000 Beli on his head.

Chapters: 1-100 (Volume 1-12)

Episodes: 1-61 (English dub: 1-43)

Year Ran: 1997 - 1999

The saga is made up of six arcs:

Captain Morgan arc: 1997
Buggy the Clown arc: 1997-1998
Captain Kuro arc: 1998
Baratie arc: 1998-1999
Arlong arc: 1999
Loguetown arc: 1999


Note: There will be a fully detailed section for each story arc later on.

One Piece Story: Baroque Works Saga

Baroque Works Saga is the second saga in the anime and manga series One Piece. It follows the Straw Hat Pirates helping Princess Nefertari Vivi try to reach her homeland before a massive war breaks out. However, an evil organization called Baroque Works will stop at nothing to keep the crew from reaching Arabasta. It is made up of five story arcs.

Chapters 101-217 (Volume 12-24)

Episodes 62-130 (English dub: 44-98)

Year Ran 1999-2002

Arcs involved

Laboon Arc 1999
Whiskey Peak arc 1999
Little Garden arc 1999-2000
Drum Island arc 2000
Arabasta arc 2000-2001-2002


One Piece Story: Skypeia Saga

Skypiea Saga is the third saga in the anime and manga series One Piece. It follows the Straw Hat Pirates as they visit Jaya and Skypiea, a mysterious land above the clouds. However once they get there, they become embroiled in a massive war that may result in the destruction of Skypiea. It is made up of two story arcs, making it the shortest saga so far.

Nico Robin joins the crew, and Vivi stays in Arabasta. A ship hundreds of years old falls from the sky, and from the evidence contained inside, the crew begins to wonder if an island in the sky can really exist as the legends say. Meanwhile, the World Government gathers the remaining Seven Warlords of the Sea (Shichibukai) together to discuss a replacement for Sir Crocodile, Ace meets Buggy, and Shanks contacts Whitebeard. With help from Montblanc Cricket in Jaya, the Straw Hat Pirates manage to reach Skypiea, an island in the sky ruled by a false god named Eneru.

Chapters 218-302 (Volume 24-32)

Episodes 131-206

Year Ran 2002-2003

Arcs Involved

Jaya arc 2002
Skypiea arc 2002-2003


One Piece Story: CP9 Saga

Note: THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS!! IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED, DO NOT READ!

CP9 Saga: After the adventure in Skypiea, the crew land safely back in the Blue Sea, only to find themselves confronting Foxy the Silver Fox in the Davy Back Fight, and soon after, Aokiji, one of the three Marine admirals. Narrowly escaping, the Straw-Hat pirates reach Water 7, a city of carpenters, where Luffy is on a quest to find a shipwright for the crew.

They soon fall into trouble though, making enemies with both the Franky Family, a ship dismantling group, and the Galley-La Company, a shipbuilding company which employs some of the top carpenters in the world. Meanwhile, CP9 of the World Government captures Nico Robin and flees to Enies Lobby, while the crew attempts to get Robin back.

Chapters 303-441 (Volume 32-46)

Episodes 207-325

Years Ran: 2004-2007

Arcs Involved:

Davy Back Fight arc: 2004
Water 7 arc: 2004-2005
Enies Lobby arc: 2005-2006
Post-Enies Lobby arc: 2006-2007


One Piece Story: Whitebeard War Saga
Note: THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

The Whitebeard War Saga is the fifth saga in the anime and manga series One Piece. It follows the Straw Hat Pirates after their adventures at Water 7, and their trials to reach the Red Line and the New World. It has three arcs thus far. The major focus of the saga is the impending war between the World Government and Whitebeard set in motion after Ace was captured and sentenced to death.

With Robin and Usopp back in the crew and Franky newly joined, the Straw Hats sail forth for the New World on their new ship, Thousand Sunny. Along the way, the crew are detoured in the forbidding Florian Triangle, where a megalomaniacal Shichibukai, Gecko Moria, is amassing an army of zombies to claim the Pirate King title for his own.

After defeating Moria and evading the clutches of his associate, Bartholomew Kuma, the Straw Hats pick up a wandering skeleton named Brook as the crew musician, and then set their sights under the sea, to Gyojin Island. But first, they must help a mermaid named Camie rescue their old enemy Hatchan from a criminal named Duval, who has a grudge against Sanji due to being wanted. They then must head to the Sabaody Archipelago and find someone to coat their ship with a special resin to enable it to travel underwater to Fishman Island. However, Luffy's attacking one of the World Nobles leads to an incident in which the Marines deploy Admiral Kizaru to the island to defeat the pirates.

After an unexpected move by Shichibukai Bartholomew Kuma, the entire Straw Hat crew is sent in every direction away from Sabaody Archipelago. The Straw Hats were sent all along the Grand Line and the Calm Belt with the exception of Robin and Chopper who were sent to West and South Blue respectively. Luffy's story is the first to be shown and it is revealed he has landed on the island of female warriors, Amazon Lily. There, he is poisoned by a mushroom that causes mushrooms to grow out of his body. Since he is covered in mushrooms, the inhabitants of Amazon Lily thinks he is a woman. When he is discovered to be a man, he is sent on a chase with the female warriors angrily going after him as it has been a rule that a man must never lay a step on Amazon Lily. The chase comes to an end after the empress of the island, Boa Hancock, arrives. It is soon revealed that Hancock is one of the Shichibukai and that she has the power of the Mero Mero no Mi. Upon learning that a man is on the island, Hancock punishes three of the islanders for helping the him. Hancock then sets a battle off between Luffy and her sisters. Though the sisters are both devil fruit users, they are defeated by Luffy when he uses a strange burst of haki. During the battle, Hancock begins to realize that Luffy is not a bad person and she soon falls in love with him. He then requests that Hancock take him to Impel Down to rescue Ace before his execution takes place.

Meanwhile, the locations of the others are revealed. Nami has landed on Weatheria, a sky island that studies weather. Franky has landed in a futuristic snow island known as Barjimoa. Sanji has landed in the island of "pure- hearted maidens", Momoiro. Usopp was sent to a forest island called Greenstone. Brook has fallen to the land of poverty, Namakura Island. Robin has been sent to an island of labor in West Blue known as Tequila Wolf and Chopper has landed on an island ruled by birds in South Blue, the Torino Kingdom. Lastly, Zoro was sent to the Ruins of the Shikkearu Kingdom.

Chapters: 442- (Volume 46-Current)

Episodes: 337-Current

Year Ran: 2007-Current

Arcs Involved:

Thriller Bark arc 2007-2008
Sabaody Archipelago arc 2008
Amazon Lily arc 2008
Impel Down arc 2008-Current Arc

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED

The Strawhat Pirates

Monkey D. Luffy

Appearance

Luffy is renowned for wearing his trademark Straw Hat (from which he gets his nickname 'Straw Hat Luffy') which was given to him when he was young by the legendary pirate captain Red-Haired Shanks. His outfit somewhat mimics Shanks' own outfit in that he wears short trousers (although his are much shorter then Shanks') and sandals. Luffy also wears a red vest and has a scar underneath his left eye(He got it in Chapter 1, to prove his courage to Shanks and his pirates) and short black hair.

Luffy, for some reason, has the same outfit over most of the series, as opposed to the rest of the crew. Luffy may wear a different outfit to suit the climate of an island (like a winter coat on Drum Island or desert robes in Arabasta), but will switch back to his trademark vest and shorts after the adventures on that island are over. Notably, in Enies Lobby he wears black shorts because they had pockets in which he could carry meat, on the Thriller Bark Island he wears an orange vest and red shorts, and on the Shabody Archipelago he wears a blue vest. He does, however, no matter where he is, wear his straw hat through absolutely everything. Eiichiro Oda has mentioned that Luffy mostly resembles a monkey (he sometimes even makes a monkey face). According to Oda, Luffy is represented by the color red, and smells like meat.

As of Thriller Bark, he has been wearing a glass armband that he found in the loot stashed on their ship. He gives his armband to Buggy in exchange that he will help him get to Ace.

Personality

At first glance, Luffy does not appear to be very intelligent; his apparent lack of intelligence is the source of his brave attitude towards life. Luffy can easily be amazed by the simplest things, such as hermit crabs, and can be confused by concepts such as that by digging a hole right next to another he may be unintentionally filling the other hole. He also has no knowledge of medicine, when Nami had a high fever he told her to eat cold food and later tried to make Zoro better (after battling Kuma) by pouring Sake onto him because Zoro likes sake. When attempting to think up a plan to get off of Amazon Lily, while he managed to make some logical sense of where to look, he is seen to strain himself and notes that he is going to feel sick from too much thinking. His simple mind actually saved himself against Hancock's powers because he mistook it for another beam, which brought out a fear of being slowed down though later it is shown he is simply immune to her powers.

Because he views the world in a straightforward and simple manner, he occasionally is the only person who can see past events that have taken place and realize the true goal, yet at other times he can fall into the simplest of traps. He is, however, a genius when it comes to fighting, such as when he figured out how to defeat Crocodile's Devil Fruit power, how to use Soru, and developed an effective counter to Enel's "Mantra" ability. He does have a habit of holding a grudge even in dire situations (such as calling Franky a "bastard" in the middle of his fight with Rob Lucci causing Franky to retort "Now's not the time to be mad at me"). When drawing him, Oda has said he tries to make Luffy very straightforward about what he wants to be and how he feels.

As a person with the middle initial D, Luffy shares the common trait of not fearing of death. He will often state that if he reaches his goal, that's fine, but if he dies on the way, that's fine too. He even smiled when he was nearly executed by Buggy the Clown in Loguetown , although he did had a look of shock and surprise in his eyes before this happened when Sanji and Zoro tried to rescue him.

Luffy also has an extreme thirst for adventure, which he has stated is the main reason he wants to become the Pirate King, having the belief that the Pirate King would be the one on the entire ocean with the most freedom for adventuring. This adventurous nature also makes him tend to avoid taking 'the easy way out' at times, such as when he destroyed the Eternal Pose to Arabasta given to him by Robin(Miss All-Sunday at the time), stating that he did not want an enemy to decide his destination. He also has no intention of trying to learn what or where One Piece actually is until he finds it himself, and once stated he would quit being a pirate if his crew tried to find out, not wanting to 'go on a boring adventure'.
“ We are NOT asking him where the treasure is hidden!!! We're not even asking him whether there IS any treasure or not!! I'm not sure, but... ...everybody set out to sea, risking their lives to search for it!!! If you ask this old man anything about it here and now... Then I'll quit being a pirate! I don't want to go on a boring adventure like that!

-Luffy speaks out on learning what One Piece is from Rayleigh.
”

Luffy seems to have an unstoppable appetite which is another common "D" trait, as well as a strong belief in dreams. Like other D's so far, he also is a glutton, despite his skinny appearance: he especially loves meat and can eat a fish whole - bones included, because of this, a running gag is Luffy constantly stealing other peoples' food with his rubber arms, causing them to yell at him and sometimes hit him. Another running gag is his habit of being amazed of various abilities of villains often yelling out "AMAZING" with stars in his eyes and around his head. He also constantly insults his opponents by giving them degrading nicknames (such as calling Gecko Moria a "leek" or Enel "earlobes"). Luffy also seems to have a slight obsession when it comes to outfitting himself with full-body armors, and has a knack of wearing himself one whenever he gets the chance, but every armor that he manages to find and outfit himself with usually ends up destroyed either in a battle or by some other comedic scenario.

Luffy never kills any of the villains (no matter how cold-hearted they are); instead, he frequently sends the villain flying, knocking them out or until the point that they are almost near death. Oda explains that it's not a question of morality so much as a matter of punishing the villains for their crimes - he feels that killing the villains lets them off too lightly, whereas he considers letting them live to see their dreams be ruined a far more fitting punishment.

Another dominant trait of Luffy is his humble nature: he doesn't brag about the powerful foes he's defeated in the past, though he's not above about claiming that no one has ever beaten him in the past, - which is not true, having been defeated at several times times, at least once by Ace, twice by Crocodile and once by Aokiji in the past. Despite this, he remains humble despite having done outrageous acts like defeating Shichibukai-level pirates and issuing the order to burn down the World Government Flag back at Enies Lobby. When Franky pointed this out, Luffy only replied that it was nothing to get worked up over, for he and his crew were only there to take back a crew member who was taken from them. Over the series Luffy has become more mature and levelheaded, though he only shows this part of his personality when he and his friends are in dire situations or someone insults him, calling people like him and their beliefs foolish; other than that he still acts the same as he was at the start of the series.

Luffy calls every mixed-appearance creature he finds by whichever creature is its secondary (non-dominant) part. On Gaimon's island, the dog/chicken was referred to as a chicken when it was mostly a dog, the snake/rabbit a rabbit even though it was mostly snake and the pig/lion a lion even though it was mostly pig.This becomes a running gag: later when he meets Bananawani, he calls them bananas with crocodiles attached to them. Also, after seeing Pierre transform, he continued to refer to him as a "horse" instead of a bird. And related to this running gag, when on Longring Longland island, he called every animal by what he thought they resembled rather then the actual species they were.

Luffy is very loyal to his crewmates and other friends, and can lose his temper quickly if they are harmed in anyway. Luffy is willing to do drastic things to avenge and defend those dear to him, even if it means breaking a promise to his friends (such as striking Bellamy down for attacking Montblanc Cricket's crew even though promising Nami he would not pick a fight, and punching Tenryuubito Saint Charloss in the face for shooting Hatchan, despite promising not to defy the World Nobles). Aside from his own loyalty, Luffy also believes that all people should be loyal to their nakama, and if Luffy sees anyone betraying their own comrades, he would stand up for the victims (even if they are enemies). Notable examples of this are Captain Kuro killing his own crew, Don Krieg attacking Gin, and Boa Hancock petrifying her fellow Kuja tribe members. He also shows respect for things that a person is willing to die for, be it a treasure or a secret, to the point of even fighting to protect that which the person would throw their lives away over. Also, as a bit of a running gag, Luffy, when talking about money, tells his crewmates to budget their money, only for them to react in return that it all goes towards to feeding him.

[CM Punk]

SPOILERS!

[continued from previous post]

Abilites and Powers

One of the top three fighters of straw hats, Monkey D. Luffy has extraordinarily inhuman strength, enough to break through rock and shatter steel blades with his bare hands, and can move at superhuman speeds, eventually catching up to even the speed of weaker CP9 agents without the use of his Gears. Luffy's sheer physical strength and dexterity is a result of his grandfather's unorthodox training methods and he claimed he had a punch as powerful as a pistol even at seven years of age. However, it should be also noted that all of the known members of Luffy's family have superhuman strength. Luffy's greatest feat of strength is seen when he is trapped between two enormous buildings and escapes by pushing them away. He is also capable of amazing feats of agility and possesses great endurance to match his strength and speed. His strength is only exceeded by his enormous willpower, as demonstrated on several occasions throughout the series, most noted of all in the Thriller Bark Arc when he manages to take in 100 shadows without passing out.

Unlike Zoro or Sanji, Luffy's fighting style is freestyle and improvised; it follows no particular code of honor, and so if necessary he will attack women or animals, hit below the belt, attack even if enemies have their backs turned on him or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use enemies as human shields or even bite his opponents. While fighting, Luffy can also think on the spot, and come up with creative counterattacks against his enemies. He also appears to be intelligent enough to at least understand fundamental concepts, such as rubber being a natural insulator, which might be why he did not bother ducking out of the way of Eneru's lightning attacks as it would have been pointless to do so since he is immune to such attacks. He also is heavily influenced by any form of hypnotism and doesn't have the sense to turn away, such as Jango's hypnotism powers or Miss Goldenweek's Colours trap. Regardless, while easily noticeable as the least strategic member of his own crew, due to his tendency as the type to simply just barge in head-first into battle (often without a battle plan whatsoever). Luffy is a highly adaptive combatant; constantly coming up with ways to keep ahead of his foes, either by taking advantage of his own strength and Devil Fruit powers or utilizing the opponent's own strengths (along with their weaknesses) against them. This causes even warriors long considered unbeatable to have trouble keeping up.

Luffy has also begun to awaken a similar "Haki" ability similar to one used by his hero Shanks. He has a variety of Haki called "Haoushoku", a style of Haki possessed in one in a million people and is said to be the "the king's disposition", This power first manifested itself when Luffy scared and made faint Motobaro, Duval's bison steed.

Luffy also has the mysterious and uncanny ability to, while completely asleep, eat as if he were awake, even able to know when more food has been placed on the table. This is probably purely based on muscle memory since all Luffy does best is fighting and eating. Another running gag in the series is about Luffy is his inability to draw. In the start of the Arlong Arc, imagining how a mermaid would be Luffy drew a fish with tentacle-like paws and an anthropomorphic fish with arms, legs and hair. Before the Straw Hats arrived at Water Seven, Luffy drew a childish picture of what he wanted the future shipwright to look like. This inability also extends to Jolly Rogers: the first Jolly Roger of the Straw Hat Pirates was a bad drawing designed by Luffy himself (he later used a similarly bad drawn version of his Jolly Roger as a promise marker on the face of Laboon) while also drawing a bad version of Foxy's flag after taking it from him in the Davy Back Fight arc.

Roronoa Zoro

Appearance

Zoro is almost always seen carrying around his three swords, usually bundled up with his green sash (or haramaki) over his right hip which is favorable so he could easily draw any one of them with his left hand; his right hand is usually seen resting over the swords. This may indicate that he is left-handed, for most sword wielding characters in the One Piece Universe wear their swords to the left. On his left ear he wears three earrings and he normally has a bandanna tied around his left arm that he uses when he is fighting serious. The rest of his clothes vary from time to time, however he usually wears a white shirt, dark green trousers, black shoes and the green haramaki sash around his waist.

His body is covered with scars from his many battles- during the Baratie Arc he lost a duel with his rival, Mihawk, and was left with a massive scar across his torso. In the Little Garden Arc he tried to free himself from a wax prison by cutting off his feet. Although he did not entirely succeed, he gave himself a scar around each ankle.

His other remarkable feature is his green hair, of which Sanji often teases him about, calling him 'marimo' (moss-ball)(moss-head in Funimation dub and VIZ manga).

According to Oda, Zoro resembles a shark. Oda uses the color green to represent Zoro, and he smells of steel.

Personality

Zoro usually maintains a stern, serious and distanced personality, but often loses his temper in a goofy and exaggerated comic style. He has a strong sense of reason when it comes to actual leadership of the crew and will often point out the seriousness of situations (such as Usopp's leaving the crew). And while technically not a samurai, Zoro maintains Bushido to a certain degree (i.e. he consistently refuses to attack an adversary whose back is turned on him, and neither does he tolerate getting assaulted from behind himself except when his crew mate is really in dire situation of dying of from an enemy threat, such as Kuma trying to take Luffy away, Zoro silently attacked him with Shishi Sonson) and is constantly mistaken for one. Whether he agrees with them or not, he will stand by Luffy's decisions, stepping in only to voice an opinion when the others have failed to see the true reality of a situation (again, such as Usopp rejoining the crew).

When the crew sails from one island to another, he normally either trains with weights or just sleeps and is normally awakened in a rather violent way by either Nami, Sanji and (accidentaly) Luffy. His only apparent job on-board the Going Merry was using his enormous strength to haul up the anchor. Aboard the Thousand Sunny, however, he has been shown to seemingly spend most his time in the Crow's Nest (which is also a gym), so it is possible that he was designated as the ship's lookout. He also likes sake, almost to the degree that Luffy likes meat, but like Nami, he mostly never gets drunk due to his inhumanly-high tolerance for alcohol. He is sometimes prone to using serious methods for solving simple problems such as separating him and Usopp from cuffs by cutting off a hand or cutting off his feet to get him unstuck from some wax.

Zoro can also be very vigorous and won't back down when he is determined to achieve a goal or defeat an enemy. The risks that Zoro will often take to reach his dream of becoming the best swordsman, often leaves others wondering if he is crazy. As far as Zoro is concerned though, only he has the right to call himself "Crazy". However, he is not one who stubbornly refuses utter defeat, especially if it all seems so inevitable. When Zoro has the intention to fight seriously, he normally ties his black bandanna (which is usually tied around his left upper arm) over his head. Furthermore, like any great warrior, Zoro is one who lives for the thrill of combat; in fact, he has a habit of showing a joyful smile whenever he faces a particularly skilled opponent, which often unnerves both ally and foe alike.

He also is one of the first Straw Hat members to suggest killing someone or threatening to kill someone.

Abilities and Powers

Zoro is considered to be one of the Straw Hat crew's top three fighters; so much that people occasionally mistook him as the captain of the Straw Hat Crew after witnessing his fighting skills in battle. Even without his swords, he has monstrous strength. He is able to toss an entire building at an opponent and even able to deflect Oz's punch singlehandedly. He can use some sword techniques without his swords. Zoro has shown to pack powerful punches, even developing the ability to pump his arms up with pure muscle.

Zoro is inarguably one of the strongest characters revealed thus far; while most super powered pirates and villains gain power from eating one of the Devil Fruits, Zoro has gained his powers through hard work and training. Zoro has enough power in his lower body to allow him to keep up at a running pace with Sanji, who is a master of the Red Leg style as well as move at near-imperceivable speeds and jump astonishing heights. He has also been known to effectively knock out much larger creatures using massive kicks.

To match his strength, Zoro also has ridiculous amounts of stamina, vitality, endurance, and tolerance for pain, withstanding Mr.1's two jamming buzzsaws into his chest during the Arabasta arc and Arlong stabbing his saw-like nose into his face, not to mention surviving a slash to the chest from Mihawk's Black Sword, enduring a mass of continuous Rankyaku attacks rained down (literally) at him by CP9's Kaku, and managing to stay conscious after Kuma fired his Ursa Shock throughout Thriller Bark (which incapacitated everyone else) right before convincing the Shichibukai to have transferred all of Luffy's pain and fatigue into him. Kuma was confident Zoro wouldn't live through afterwards. However, the swordsman was seen standing blood-drenched at the end of the chapter, claiming that nothing happened.

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

[continued from previous post]

During almost all of his major battles, Zoro is usually seen covered with blood at the end (Oda has stated that Zoro lost 5 liters of blood fighting Hachi and Arlong at Arlong Park). Zoro's agility, speed, and overall reflexes are also extraordinary; in numerous occasions, Zoro has shown being able to evade (or block) high-speed attacks and projectiles that would normally be impossible for an average human to perceive, much less intercept, nor move out of the way from.
“ HOW CAN YOU GET LOST IF YOU CAN SEE THE PATH RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU, EVEN YOU CAN'T HAVE A SENSE OF DIRECTION THAT BAD!

-Sanji's comments on Zoro's sense of direction
”
Though he is very perceptive during battle (as well as out), his sense of direction is extremely poor, to the point of getting lost on a straight path. This is often the result of Zoro not understanding directions; in the Arabasta Arc, he mistakes going north for going up, and in the Drum Island Arc, he believes that he can keep the ship on course by heading toward a large cloud (which can move and change shape), even more ridiculous is that he is unaware of his sense of direction or lack thereof and everytime he gets lost he mutters "the others are lost again". This is further made fun of with Jigoro in Thriller Bark, as he had Zoro's shadow implanted in him, while the Zombie Generals were heading to help, he goes in the opposite direction. However, he has other strong senses and is often one of the first members of the crew to hear an enemy approaching or sense danger.

Unlike other members of the crew, Zoro does not shrink from the idea of using deadly force against dangerous enemies.

Weapons

Zoro is a master swordsman, being able to use one, two, and three swords in varying attack styles, going from melee-type all the way to artillery. Although he is most comfortable with his Santōryū (literally: three sword style), his skills with a single sword aren't insufficient either, being able to hold off the Nyaban brothers, having bested several of the lower-ranked members of Arlong's crew (his two other swords were destroyed by Mihawk, leaving him only with the Wado Ichimonji), defeating Mr. 1, and most recently the zombie, Ryuuma. Lacking a third hand for a third sword, Zoro holds his third sword in his mouth. Some of his sword techniques use the air itself to hurt the enemy. Zoro often speaks with his sword held in his mouth, though it's unknown how he manages to do so. The creator of the series, Eiichiro Oda, has said that it is his heart that allows him to speak, though Oda is known for giving joke answers to fans' questions, as well as just making up answers on the spot to avoid leaving a fan's question unanswered.

If he is fighting weaker enemies (or innocent bystanders that he has no desire injuring in the first place), like the Galley-La employees in Water 7, he uses only the blunt sides of his swords. Although, as Nami pointed out, due to his strength, even that could cause fatal wounds. A long standing problem with Zoro was his inability to cut steel. He managed to instinctively cut steel during some of his encounters before learning how to control this ability during his battle with Daz Bones.

Though Brook became the crews 2nd swordsman after he joined, the level of mastery and power between the two is significantly different, made obivous by the times where both swordsmen have attempted to take on the same foe. While Brook had been unable to defeat Ryuuma no matter how hard he fought and while Ryuuma only used a fraction(at most 50%) of his power, he noticed that Zoro was able to defeat him at full power with only two of his swords. At the Sabaody Archipelago he struck a Pacifista with a high speed sword attack, yet failed to do much damage to it and had to be rescued from this result afterwards. However, when Zoro attacked the same Pacifista, the results were much different.

Zoro has shown a new ability called "Asura", which gives him the appearance of having six arms and three heads, like the deity of the same name. The exact nature of this attack is currently unclear, but Kaku suggested it was an illusion created by Zoro's spirit.

Nami

Apperance

Nami has a tattoo on her left shoulder which represents mikan and pinwheels (a homage to her past), where she used to have a tattoo for being a member of Arlong's Crew. Near the beginning of the series, Nami wore thick, low cut leather boots and a simple blouse. However, during the Arlong Park arc and thereafter, Nami wore open-toed shoes and more revealing outfits (With the tattoo no longer being a secret). She seemed to have abandoned the shoes for high-heeled boots as of Chapter 435. She usually pairs her tops with skirts with rings on them. Her overall physique matured suddenly (though this is, most likely, a simple change in style of artwork). Her fashion frequently changes as well as her hair style. Many of her shirts feature four-letter words, such as "MODE," "GOLD" or "EVIL," similar to a shirt that Bellemere once wore that had "MACE" on it.

According to the author (in response to a fan's question), Nami's dress size was 36-22-34. The author has also replied to a fan's question to saying that right now Nami's measurements are as follows: Height 169 B 95 W 55 H 85, though her breasts seem to grow and then "reset" throughout the arcs (this is much more obvious in the manga).He has also said that Nami resembles a cat, that he uses the color orange to represent her, and she smells of mikan and money.

Personality

Along with Nico Robin, Nami is one of the smartest of the Straw Hats and the third smartest character during the East Blue Saga according to Oda, the first being Ben Beckman of the Red-Haired pirates and the 2nd being Captain Kuro. At the beginning of the series, Nami despised all pirates. She viewed them as nothing but bad people after losing someone close to her, only changing her mind after she met Luffy and Zoro.

Nami is greedy and will do anything for money, accepting any challenge that comes along. Her love of money stems from her childhood, where she lived a poor life and was often upset at having little wealth despite the love of her adopted mother. While she will send in Luffy, Zoro and the rest of the crew to meet the demand, the one thing she will not do is sell out a friend; no matter what the sum. She takes control of the amount of money the crew spends, ever aware of the crews spending habits (such as Luffy's desire to spend all they have on meat) and tries her hardest to avoid it getting spent all at once. To this end, she is in complete horror whenever the rest of the crew wastes money or passes up an opportunity to get it. She is loyal to her money, but no matter how much she denies it, she is loyal to her friends first.

Nami's main concern when she is in trouble is herself first and usually has other members do her fighting, resulting in her fighting in fewer fights. She is a coward, though not on the same level as Usopp, her cowardice has more to do with staying alive and simply the fact she has a much better understanding of the world and its more dangerous individuals than most of her crew mates, rather then being afraid. She can be devilish at times and won't think twice about ditching the others to save her own life. However, despite these outlooks on life, she has a line she will not cross. Because of Nami's immoral limits, she has been known to stand her ground against anyone hurting her friends, abandoning her otherwise normal routine of trying to stay out of harm's way.

Nami also has an obsession with fashion, as she is never seen wearing the same clothes. This was not present in the early chapters and started after the Captain Kuro arc. When Nami goes shopping, she sometimes goes to exquisite boutiques and tries on stuff, just to leave stating that she is searching for something more casual. She doesn't seem to have much modesty as she sometimes wears rather skimpy clothing and allows people to take photos of her in a swimsuit (as long as they pay). She even doesn't have any problems with men seeing her naked as she showed her body to the crew so they would stop watching her and Vivi and she changed her clothes in full view on a sea train. However, if someone does see her naked she charges 100,000 per view. She also doesn't like people insulting her navigating skills.

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

[continued from previous post]

Abilities and Powers

Nami is a highly skilled navigator as well as being a talented cartographer. She has the innate ability to sense changes in the weather and can even predict the appearance of the supposedly unpredictable cyclones of the Grand Line even while running a high fever. This attribute proved useful during Nami's one-on-one "fight" with Eneru, where she managed to deflect several of the Goro Goro No Mi user's lightning based attacks using only the clima-tact. She is also an excellent thief and pickpocket who can steal small items such as keys on light encounters without the victim noticing (she is shown stealing even as a little girl).

Compared to her fellow Straw Hats, she is not as skilled in combat as she is not especially strong, nor does she have training in any fighting style. This led her to remain as a supporting member of the crew rather than a main fighter. Though she possesses moderate skill when wielding a Bo staff for self-defense long before she acquired the Clima Tact and its upgrades. Before acquiring the weapon, she typically manipulated one of her crewmates to fight in her place or fled when the situation turned dangerous.

Ussop

Personality

Usopp lived life in Syrup Village as a well-known liar before joining the Straw Hat Crew. Even when he joined the crew, he still continued to tell unlikely, exaggerated stories, usually featuring the adventures of his heroic vision of himself, "the great Captain Usopp". Usually it is only Luffy and Chopper who ever listen to him. After the events of water 7, "Captain Usopp" ceased to be mentioned at all and Usopp's lies have lessened.

Usopp is easily scared and always tries to make up extravagant excuses so he does not have to go to dangerous-looking places, which are simply ignored by his teammates. Usopp is easily overawed by powerful enemies, like Aokiji, and his feelings of weakness compared to Luffy, Sanji and Zoro increase throughout the series. Despite his timid nature, he realizes when his friends need him and will do anything to help them, even if it means to stand up to a disproportionately powerful enemy. He even manages to stand up to the incredibly dangerous Enel when Nami is threatened in Skypeia.

Usopp is one of the more sentimental Straw Hat Pirates, and cries or loses his temper in moments of emotional stress. It is this which leads to his feud with Luffy- specifically his refusal to part with the ship he had come to love.

After meeting the giants Dorry and Broggy in the Little Garden arc, Usopp wants to travel to Elbaf one day and meet the proud warriors there. Usopp gave his first glimpse of understanding the ways of the warrior and the pride of a duel during the giants battle. As a result Usopp often sees the Elbaf warriors he has met in his travels as sources of inspiration in his journey to become "a brave warrior of the sea".

Alter-Ego

Sogeking is Usopp's alter-ego developed during the Water 7 and Enies Lobby arc. When he left the crew, later seeing the others trying to save Robin made him feel guilty for leaving. He stated to Sanji and Franky that he cannot help them fight for this reason. He hastily 'disguised' himself in a mask and cape and began calling himself "Sogeking, the king of the snipers". During this facade he sometimes dons a deeper voice which can be seen as the "true" Sogeking. Nami already knew that Sogeking was Usopp at the first look of Sogeking because of Usopp's significant long nose.

As his alter-ego Sogeking, Usopp was able to fight alongside the others without having to deal with his departure. Most of the crew, and several other people who only knew him vaguely, saw through his disguise immediately, except Luffy and Chopper. During his time spent acting as Sogeking, Usopp began to realize that while he was one of the weaker crew members, his role as the crew's sniper and a supporting crew member make him valuable to the crew. Ultimately, he has been recorded as Sogeking on his bounty.

During his fight with Perona, Usopp showed signs of a split personality and even went so far as to argue inside his head with his alter ego over their situation. Although they are the same person, Sogeking in comparison to Usopp is very brave and took over once Usopp again adorned the mask, only slipping back into Usopp once the mask came off. Whether or not Sogeking is actually becoming a truly psychological split-personality, or just a coping mechanism for Usopp, is arguable. In his fight against Perona, Usopp did something he never did before; he made Perona faint in fear rather than knocking her out with his destructive fire or gunpowder attacks. Until now, Usopp has only used violent attacks to finish off his foes, and occasionally lying attacks to confuse them. This suggests that Usopp is perhaps more forgiving towards his enemies, or at least the female ones.

Abilities and Powers

Usopp is one of the smartest members of the Straw Hats and has a knack for inventiveness. In fact, prior to the introduction of Franky (as well as the creation of the Clima-Tact), Usopp served as the Straw Hat's sole unofficial gadgets specialist. His creative engineering has resulted in both the Clima-tact and Kabuto. Though he is creative, his engineering skills are limited beyond this level of inventiveness. For other more complex activities, such as acting as the shipwright for the Going Merry, he is largely inexperienced, as he was barely able to keep the Going Merry going using patchwork repairs. As Franky pointed out, his skills are amateur and he barely knows how to use a hammer correctly for such jobs.

One of Usopp's useful attributes is that he is an extremely fast runner, even faster than Luffy and Sanji. Though it is shown that his stamina when it comes to running is practically limitless (after running for miles he isn't exhausted in the least while Chew, a Fishman, is tired). In the Little Garden Arc, Usopp was seen running from one side of the prehistoric island and reaching the other side in a matter of seconds. His lightning speed was enough to even surprise Admiral Aokiji, when Usopp saved Robin from being crushed. He uses hit and run tactics, and works best as part of a team where there are more physical fighters to watch his back and vice-versa. Although, like Chopper, he sometimes has trouble thinking on his feet, his tactical skills have proved instrumental in more than one battle. Usopp, like Nami, has been able to use his intelligence and inventive tactics to defeat enemies far stronger than himself. However, though he has survived every fight so far this way, his fight against Luffy only served to prove what separated him from other crew members in terms of overall combat strength.

He also seems to be naturally adept at absorbing massive punishment, as he often comes from which either brutally injured, or left at a near-death state (or close to passing out), but can be seen shrugging it all off like they never even happen in the next scene. This was particularly evident when he fought Perona, where after using an Impact Dial on one of her zombies (which actually dislocated his arm) he immediately used that same arm to aim another of his pellets at Perona. Another hint is that Usopp survived being hit in the face by Mr.4's 4 ton bat (Ms. Merry Christmas say most people should be instantly dead when hit by that attack). Not only did he survive, but he was still able to fight.

Usopp is also a great artist, he proved that in the beginning of the series when he made "his" and the straw hat Jolly Roger. (Seeing that Luffy's art lacks talent.) Also when Luffy and chopper make snowmen or sand castles it usually shows Usopp after wards with A snow statue or a more detailed castle.

Sanji

Apperance

Sanji is a tall, slim young man with blond hair, often well-dressed, and keeps his hair brushed over his left eye. Indeed, Sanji's left eye is so rarely seen that many fans have questioned the assumption that he has one at all. In the Manga it is never seen, but is seen in the anime (episodes 21, 27, 82, 128 and Movie 6 although usually very briefly and most likely due to animation errors). He almost always wears a black, double-breasted suit with tie and a long-sleeved, and buttoned shirts of varying colors, with or without pinstripes. His fashion changes at times, like in the Water 7 Arc where he had no suit jacket, but a black vest over an orange, pinstriped shirt. He also wears dress shoes, mostly for his Red Leg martial arts. These shoes are extremely durable, and were designed to increase the power of his attacks. Though he can very well attack without them as he did against Kuroobi.

According to Oda, Sanji most resembles a duck, is identified by the color blue, and smells of seafood and cigarettes.

Sanji's right eyebrow forms a spiral, and he gets very upset if somebody (usually Zoro) chooses to point it out.

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED

[continued from previous post]

Personality

Like Zoro, he is more perceptive than he seems, and often tells people what they need to hear instead of what they want. Hence, he is seen as one of the more mature members of the crew. Unlike Zoro however, he is not afraid to show his emotions when the moment calls for it, and is entirely capable of crying or losing his temper. He is very amorous, constantly flirting with any attractive woman he sees, earning him the nickname ero-cook, or perverted. He even has a tendency to court women despite knowing that they are already married, though this practice seems to be focused more on the filler arcs rather than in the manga itself. He has sworn to never let insult or injury happen to any woman while he can still stand, regardless of how attractive (or unattractive) they are. This is often problematic in his fighting as he can't attack female opponents; he would rather die than hurt them (though that doesn't mean he won't resort to blocking their attacks). All this is apparently the result of a "strict upbringing". Also, while most cannot see it, he has a deep respect towards his mentor, Zeff, who selflessly gave all his food to the young Sanji back when they were stranded. As a result, during his time on the Baratie, he exhibits little to no hesitation in beating customers who spoke ill of Zeff's former status as a pirate.

Sanji considers himself handsome and charming, often comparing himself to a fairytale prince. So far, he has found nobody who agrees with him, and tends to be brought sharply back to earth by the more cynical people around him (such as being called the "prince of Retardia/Dumbass Kingdom" by Zoro prompting Sanji to attack him). Sanji also likes to swear a lot and is overall a bit of trash talker, insulting his opponents while fighting - especially if they insult him or his friends first. One of Sanji's most prominent characteristics is a strong respect towards food and preparation of food in the kitchen; since food and sustenance play a crucial role in maintaining life, he strongly believes that a chef's work must be treated as though it were sacred. As a result, he has a strong tendency to become hostile towards those who waste food, or regarding it in any way that is less than the way he does, thus he has a habit of beating up anyone who steals food from the fridge (mainly Luffy). This is precisely why Sanji, in his first appearance, proceeded to make quick work of Fullbody.

Abilites and Powers

Sanji is considered to be one of the crew's top three fighters (despite not having one of the top three bounties, which Robin takes). Sanji has mastered the martial art of Red Leg that the pirate Zeff apparently taught him. All of his maneuvers come from his legs and feet. His legs and feet are extremely powerful, able to smash boulders and defeat creatures much larger than himself (like Bananawani and Momoo). His legs also imbue him with superior speed and agility, able to leap and run much farther than most humans. He has stated that the reason he fights with his feet is that he doesn't want to risk damaging his hands as he needs them to cook, though handstands aren't prohibited. This fictional martial art seemingly takes some inspiration from the Brazilian martial art Capoeira and the Korean martial art Tae Kwon Do and may have took some from the Chinese art Tan Tui and bears an almost identical line, in name and in style, to the extremely powerful and dangerous (to both user and opponent) style Blood Leg. Inspirations may also point to a French fighting style now known as Savate. Originally developed by French sailors, Savate employs similar techniques that utilize the hands to support the body and give added power to kicks, and is especially useful on a swaying ship. And the french law at this time considered hands as lethal weapons, which could lead to death if hands were used to kill someone.

As for his actual "attacks," Sanji has a very large number of specific kicks and techniques he uses to fight with. It should be noted that he doesn't call out an attack name whenever he kicks someone or something, but for important events and fights he usually will. Most of his attacks are said in French and are usually cooking/food terms related in some way to the specific portion of the opponent's body that he's targeting or to the nature of the attack itself. It is interesting to note that he's the first Straw Hat crewmate recruited who makes use of French words when naming his attacks. In the 4Kids English anime, the attacks are changed to be funny sounding, non-existent food items that have something to do with the target area of the attack.

Common attacks are Muton Shot (Sanji jumps and flips, and kicks with all his might into the foe's mid-region or head) and Anti-Manner Kick Course (One of Sanji's most powerful kicks where he delivers a 180 degree vertical kick upward into a giant foe's torso or back, which is usually used on those he sees as having no manners, e.g. those that attack women. A typical finishing move).


Sanji using Diable JambeIn the Enies Lobby arc, Sanji reveals a new ability - Diable Jambe, the power to heat his lower legs to a temperature so high that they glow bright red, by spinning rapidly in place. Diable means devil in French and it's also a type of dish. Jambe means leg, but the kanji reads diable's wind. The aforementioned attacks also have the word Diable Jambe preceding it (ex. Diable Jambe: Flambage Shot). The heat of the attack is so high that contact for one second would set a person aflame. Sanji used this ability during his fight with Jyabura, in which his attacks weren't so effective due to his active usage of Tekkai. With the heat of his new ability, Sanji overcame his inability to smash through Tekkai by burning through it instead. Also revealed during the Crew's battle against the Kuma Clones, it appears that Diable Jambe puts extreme stress upon Sanji's legs. After several uses of the technique, Sanji himself comments that if he were to use the attack one more time, his legs would snap. It is unclear at this point in time whether it is Diable Jambe itself that puts stress on his legs, or the strain of kicking the extremely durable Pacifista cyborgs repeatedly.

Although Sanji fights with his legs, his arms are nearly as strong, enabling him to use an array of handstands, making him more versatile in certain situations. He is also able to use one-handed handstands. During the Skypeia Arc, while riding the Going Merry, he lifted a large mallet that must have weighted several tons before using it to slam an Impact Dial that had been set on top of a barrel; needless to say, the impact would have busted a hole on the Going Merry's deck had it not been absorbed by the Dial. His upper body is also superhumanly durable, having been known to take head-on attacks like Kuroobi's fists and half of Jyabura's Jusshigan right before counter-attacking them with his kick. His tolerance against fire is also astonishing, which would make sense since he is a cook. This would explain why he is able to utilize Diable Jambe without showing any signs of getting burned himself while the opponent gets incinerated at the receiving end. However, Oda has said that it doesn't damage him because while the Diable Jambe burns hot, Sanji's heart burns hotter.

Though he's one of the physical powerhouses of the crew, Sanji can also be a brilliant tactician if need be. This was particularly evident in the Baroque Works saga, where he was responsible for both disguising himself as Mr. 3 and fooling Crocodile into believing that the Straw Hats were dead on Little Garden and posing as "Mr. Prince" to get the Straw Hats out of Rain Dinners at Arabasta. His skills in this area showed again during the Enies Lobby arc, where he first maneuvered Sogeking onto the roof, where his sniping could be used to full effect. They appeared again when he shut the gates of judgment, giving the crew the opportunity to escape the Buster Call.

Last but not least, Sanji is an expert cook, knowing and capable of preparing almost any kind of food with a strong sense to the aesthetics of cooking. He cooks with amazing speed and dexterity, particularly in his use of knives. Though lacking the power and technique of Roronoa Zoro with a bladed weapon, he is able to make very accurate cuts. He rarely uses them in battle, stating that kitchen knives are not meant for that purpose, but makes an exception when Wanze uses food as a weapon, something that he, as a chef, finds unforgivable, and sees a loophole in using his knives as weapons against food.

Tony Tony Chopper

Apperance

Most of the time, Chopper is a toddler-sized human/reindeer hybrid, his devil fruit abilities allow him to change his appearance depending on the situation. Chopper's left antler has a metal plate wrapped around it at all times, from being broken in a fight when he was younger. Chopper also has a remarkable feature that no other reindeer have, and that is blue nose, while normal reindeers have black ones. As Oda's style evolved, Chopper has been given a more "chibi" appearance. This means that when in his Brain Point, Chopper has a larger head and eyes.

A running gag is that various characters in One Piece think Chopper is a tanuki (raccoon-dog, often simply translated as "raccoon") whilst in his Brain Point form. This is a play on the similar word "tonakai," the Japanese word for reindeer, from which the "Tony" in Chopper's name is derived. His heavy point form likewise is mistaken for a gorilla or an abominable snowman.

Oda has stated that he uses the color pink to represent Chopper, and (Oda was answering the questions as Chopper) for his smell, "how am I supposed to know?"

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED

[continued from previous post]

Personality

Chopper is naive and highly timid often acting as a child because he doesn't know any better. Chopper is more or less on a journey to define himself, seeing almost anyone on his team as a role model and in some cases, imitate their behavior, especially Usopp. When Chopper recognizes someone needs medical attention he often will start to panic and scream for a doctor, just to realize that he is one. He would rather run and hide then fight, but becomes more courageous when others are there to support him.

Another one of Chopper's habits is his reverse cartoon peek, where he stands behind a wall or a doorway and peeks at people, trying not to be seen by them. Unfortunately he's not hiding his body behind the wall, as a result his body is visible and only one half of his face is hidden.

He is an upright friend and companion who will try anything to overcome a task given by his team. He still has a feeling of distrust for humans for his youth and will often outright insult and claim that compliments don't make him happy to a human who compliments him while obviously being happy about it (he starts to smile and also dances a little).

He is also a doctor with high moral grounds in regards to the living and dead respectively. He dismissed Doctor Hogback for making people suffer just to animated corpses that weren't even alive, as well as dismissing Hogback's own view that so long as the corpse moves it is alive. Chopper's earlier respect for Hogback was a the dream every doctor has of bringing back the dead as he know this would heal all wounds left behind by a persons passing.

Chopper seems to be very forgiving of those close to him, for when Usopp wanted to rejoin the crew at the end of the CP9 arc, he called out to Luffy and Zoro, although they were ignoring him completely.

Abilities and Powers

Chopper being the doctor of the crew, has a large knowledge of medicine and medical drugs as well as the preparation of remedies and ointments from regular fruits, roots and vegetables found on most islands. Most of this he learned during his apprenticeship under Dr. Hiruluk and Dr. Kureha. In addition to the transformational advantages that Chopper's Zoan forms afford him in battle, he has also been known to employ wrestling-type moves (i.e.pinning down an opponent,or smashing them to the ground by means of a suplex) from time to time. His extensive knowledge of the bipedal anatomy also proved useful when the Straw Hats were trying to bring down Oz, during which time, Chopper formulated several theories on where it was best to target the colossal adversary. And while naive, he can be quite as strategist, as seen on his fights against the Mr. 4 pair and Gedatsu.

Chopper, who originally was an animal, is also capable of speaking to and understand other animals, which came in handy on various points of the story.

Chopper also seems to have a technique called Tranquilizer which involves Chopper injecting a substance into the opponent making them faint. This was first used on Luffy when he had a hallucination of a tsunami about to hit them while walking to Yuba in the Arabasta Desert.

Nico Robin

Apperance

Nico Robin is a tall, attractive woman with shoulder length black hair. She usually wears somewhat revealing clothing (usually showing her breast cleavage, sometimes even shows her belly) that is either dark in color or consisting of leather, sometimes both, and has worn a cowboy hat on numerous occasions. Robin also resembles her mother greatly, with the exception of her hair color and style. In the anime her skin tone is also slightly darker than her mother's.

The author has also replied to a fan's question to saying that right now Robin's measurements are as follows:


Height: 188cm (6'2"), making her the third tallest member of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Her 3 measurements are (according to Sanji) B99 W59 H89 (39"-23"-35").


According to Oda, Robin most resembles a crane, is represented by the color purple, and she smells of flowers.

Personality

Robin loves to study history, and joins the Straw Hat pirates for comfort and freedom to study and read. She is the only crew member who is normal-themed and emotionally reserved, never showing exaggerated outbursts of emotion or doing face-faults (with the occasional exception of Sweat Drops). She will often speak only if something noteworthy happens. However, Robin is a stubborn woman who is both honest and emotional due to what she has suffered in her life through hardship and lies that ruined her reputation and life.

Robin generally behaves calmly, in contrast to the rest of the crew. While this can come across as her being unexpressive, her reactions are usually just realistic and only seem mild compared to the overly-dramatic reactions of the other crew members.

She also has a somewhat macabre side to her; she frequently points out facts which are gross or morbid, which usually creeps out Nami or Usopp. For example, when she, Zoro and Nami return to the Going Merry in Skypiea but cannot find Chopper, who was guarding the ship, Robin remarks that he may have been "shred to pieces"; also, when the crew decide on the name "Thousand Sunny" for their new ship, Robin says that she was going to suggest the "Being of Darkness". On Thriller Bark, she voluntarily investigates the Ghost Island with Luffy and Franky, telling Nami that she "likes thrills", and when they are attacked by the Cerberus, she finds it "cute".

She also has a strong sense of pride, refusing to participate in Franky's "Tactics 15" docking procedure during the battle against Oz because she finds it too embarrassing, flatly adding they should never try it again.

She is also seen as being very unmerciful during combat, breaking the necks or spines of her enemies without hesitation, even when they cry for forgiveness, she even attempted to break the spine of one of her fellow crew members (Usopp as Sogeking on the sea train). Though generally calm and collected she can be quite intimidating when she wants to be such as managing to get Brook to stop fooling around and continue his explanation when she tells him to continue in a ominous fashion.

Abilities and Powers

Robin ate the Hana Hana no Mi at a very young age as she is seen using its powers at the age of eight. She can spread her body parts on any surface including her own body, other bodies, and other objects. Usually, when she uses her powers she crosses her arms and makes an "X" shape across her chest. Her attacks hinder the enemy, stopping all movement with the ever multiplying hands. Although she is very powerful, her sprouted body parts can be hit and stretched, causing damage to her real body; this is her weak point. Her powers are also very useful in dangerous situations. She can carry her friends by using feet and hands. So far, hands, feet, ears and eyes are the only body parts she has used in either attacks or other applications. She tends to use her ability to place her foes in painful submission holds. However, Robin has no superhuman abilities beyond her Devil Fruit powers and is only an above average athlete in terms of bodily ability at best. Nevertheless, she is agile enough to evade gracefully (while maintaining her arms "X" formation) to maneuver her way from a group of captain and commander-level marines before using her powers in retaliatory

Her most common attacks are Seis Fleur Twist (Robin twists the foe's upper body around) and Ocho Fleur Flip (Robin uses a pair of arms that knock over the foe backwards, forms a pair of arms on the ground below them, and when the foe lands on it, two more pairs appear at their legs and head and pull them to the ground) and Clutch (her hands grow out of her opponents back , these hands clasp the targets chin simultaneously pulling the head back and breaking the targets neck, for stronger opponents, she uses more hands and has been seen breaking a person in half)

No limit has been given for Robin's powers, but the author, Oda, has jokingly stated that she can only sprout limbs a distance of "200 Hana Hanas" away. Fans often misinterpret this as meaning she can only sprout 200 limbs, but this is false.

She carries a dagger at her belt, but does not use it in combat, as she fights unarmed using only her powers. She is not afraid to use violence as a solution to a problem or for defense and often incapacitates her enemies by breaking their necks or backs (even when they cry out for mercy).

Robin is also a skilled archaeologist with a vast knowledge of history and cultures. In the 4kids English Dub, the attacks are mostly English, using the word "Floret" instead of Fleur, such as "Eight Floret" or "One Hundred Floret".

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS! THESE CHARACTERS HAVE YET TO BE INTRODUCED, IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED, DO NOT READ!

Franky

Appearance

As a direct result of his cyborg modifications that he's conducted upon himself as well as years having spent as a ship dismantler, bounty hunter, and street thug in Water 7, Franky is a powerfully built man with a height of at least seven feet tall. He has brightly-colored blue hair. His usual choice of clothing usually comprises of a speedo and a shirt. According to Eiichiro Oda, Franky most resembles a bull, he is represented by the color light blue (cyan), and he smells of cola.

Personality

Franky usually acts tough and is quickly angered, but he is also very emotional when it comes to sad tales and often sings a song or plays a guitar to express his feelings while accompanied by him denying he's crying while he is obviously crying. He looks after the other members of the Franky Family as though they are indeed his own family, so he plays the role of big brother to everyone. He even goes so far as to carry out revenge for them when they are beaten up.

He tends to say the word 'Super' (Sometimes spelled as "SUPA!") while doing his signature pose. Another of his habits is to refer to the 'current week' for exclamation as in "Of course I'm strong, and I've been especially strong this week." or "I've been like this all week."

Franky is strong-willed and free-spirited, with an often blatant disregard for rules. He does whatever he wants whenever he wants, though he usually wants little more than to build powerful ships or protect those he cares about. Given the right situations (or people), Franky can be quite an altruist, as he is quick to defend other people and take action if his friends are harmed, he also holds the belief that no matter what a person is like, they should never be prejudiced or exterminated simply because of who they are. This often causes him to befriend and defend the wrongfully feared and persecuted. Because of his unbiased and protective attitude, he is quick in making friends and allies with even (or especially) the most unlikely of individuals, such as street thugs and pirates. He is seen as a 'big brother' figure, and is admired by many for his efforts to protect them, such as Nico Robin and the Franky Family. Monkey D. Luffy bears similar qualities (with the exception of fighting needlessly) and because of this, despite the disputes the two had in the past, both grew to respect each other during the events of the Enies Lobby arc.

Franky is well liked amongst the general population of Water 7 despite being a criminal, although he still commands a certain fear and respect (though the fear is generally just the town being afraid of Franky going on a rampage and destroying the town). He has a running gag of being unintentionally linked to "perverted" things due to a combination of his clothes, strange personality and the situations he gets himself into. His somewhat lack of fashion sense seems to stem from the fact that his creativity leans more of craft and mechanics (much like Usopp), which would explain his style of clothing which usually consists of nothing more than his trademark speedo, a large golden chain necklace around his neck and a shirt concealing his rather bulky upper body build.

Abilities and Powers

Franky is a human with artificial parts (a cyborg) granting him vast amount of strength, as well as the ability to shoot fire and nails from his mouth, fire bullets from his index fingers, bullets and cannonballs of compressed air from his arms and hands; and making him invulnerable to most attacks from the front; his back, while remaining to be organic flesh (Franky did the modifications himself, and could not reach his back), is dense enough to endure multiple pistol shots. His years of being a ship dismantler as well as bounty hunting seem to have contributed greatly to his formidable strength; even when his running low on cola, he exhibits superhuman strength enough to overwhelm a charging, fully grown elephant - stopping it in its tracks before dragging it around by the trunk like it was a rag doll. Even without his cyborg functions, Franky's fighting skill while not above ordinary (like Sanji's or Zoro's) is more than enough to allow him to fight even against trained assassins. The fact that he could defeat Fukurou, a member of CP9, on his own is a feat in itself. It appears to revolve around boxing, but he does not hesitate in fighting dirty if need be. Additionally, despite having most of his anatomy reinforced with solid steel, Franky has somehow made it possible for his cyborg body to retain its bouyant properties, allowing him to stay afloat on the surface of deep water, which would otherwise be impossible since anything comprised of metal would normally just as easily sink as a devil fruit user in the sea. It would seem that Franky is also an excellent swimmer, even before becoming the cyborg he is now, and can swim against the currents near Enies Lobby's waterfall.

Franky's left arm is primarily used as a gun; a multi-barreled machine gun can pop out of his wrist, any of his fingers can fire bullets, and by turning aside his hand, Franky can reveal a cannon in his arm that uses his left hand as a targeting device. Franky's right hand is an iron fist beneath a more normal-looking cover, and the hand has an extendable chain that allows him to make attacks from a distance.

Some common attacks include Strong Right (Franky launches his right fist forward and can reel it back in with a chain, similar to Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Pistol) and Coup de Vent (Franky connects his arms with a T-shaped pipe and sends a powerful blast of concentrated air out that can destroy entire building complexes, his most powerful attack that uses up the most cola). Franky also has the power to turn into a centaur-like form (with an extra set of legs strangely extending forward from his pelvis), though he has implied that its use is limited by stating he is "super powerful this week" just before he uses it. Despite his pride in it, it seems to do relatively little for any of his combat abilities, save for using his four legs to trap his enemy's limbs, leaving them completely at the mercy of his attacks.

In Chapter 404 of the One Piece manga, it is revealed that depending on what kind of drink Franky has it can change his hair style and attitude when Chopper accidentally hands him vegetable juice and tea. It also reveals that Franky's strength is many times greater when he has bottles of cola in his stomach fridge, and he needs it as a fuel for some attacks. His hair acts as a kind of meter to the amount of cola in his stomach being tall if he is full and sagging if empty. Franky's stomach compartment can hold up to three bottles (six liters) of cola.

In addition to his cyborg-enhanced body, Franky is also a first-rate shipwright and carpenter from working under Tom. A genius of his own right, he developed a cannon-like mechanism that accumulates air rapidly within a confined space right before releasing it as a compressed air-based projectile powerful enough to bring down large establishments as well as provide a superb means of propulsion, which served as a template that gave birth to the creation of his Coup De Vent functions. He designed the Thousand Sunny himself featuring several unique functions (like the Coup De Burst and Soldier Dock System) and has actually built an entire bridge over a large gap and even put in small details such as carved handrails in an extraordinarily small amount of time (though he wanted an extra thirty seconds since he wasn't satisfied with the finish). He can also somehow build stairs suspended in midair, and while they can support human weight, they do not stand for long.

Brook

Appearance

Brook is an extremely tall skeleton dressed in formal attire complete with top hat and cane. Despite having no skin, his head still has an afro which he says is because his hair has deep roots. Brook's coat, top hat, pants, and afro, are black while the inner linings of his coat are yellow orange. The ribbon tied in between his coat and around his neck is blue. The outer covering of Brook's cane sword which he carries is purple. Also, due to his many years of seclusion his clothes have become somewhat tattered.

Before his death, Brook was a tall skinny 38 year old man with a rather distinctive face. He had a slight goatee on his chin and some side burns. He typically wore shades. On his forehead was a scar that slightly resembles a diagonal omega sign (Ω). This scar was retained in his skeleton state as a distinctive crack across his skull. Brook's facial appearance, accompanied with his style of clothing, resembles a type of appearance that is commonly associated with various music artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, and other musical celebrities with similar features.

In Gear Spirit, Brook is presented with a different color scheme than the one depicted in both the manga and anime. The color of the collar of his coat is gray while the ribbon and the frills coming out of his coat are purple. In some artwork within the game, Brook's nose socket is uncolored. The outer covering of Brook's cane sword is also colored red in the game. This color scheme is so because the game was developed before an official color scheme from the manga was presented.

According to Oda, Brook most resembles a horse. He is identified by the colors black and white, and he smells of tea.

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Note: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS! THIS CHARACTER HAS YET TO BE INTRODUCED! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

[continued from previous post]

Personality

Brook is an eccentric character with, like the other Straw Hat Pirates, a distinct personality of his own. While he looks like, and claims to be, a gentleman, he possesses very bad manners such as asking to see ladies' panties (in a mermaids case he asks if they can lend him some money) and waiting impatiently for food (a trait shared by Luffy).

His reactions to different occurrences can be somewhat extreme, often comically so. For example, when the Straw Hats were alarmed at him for being a living skeleton, he forgets the object of fear is actually himself and also begins to panic. Although he tends to display more extreme emotions of things, however, Brook also has been known to over relax himself when he is told to stay calm. He is also very patient, having stayed on his former crew's ship for years, waiting for the day in which he would be eventually reunite with his shadow. However, due to his rudeness he can also be impatient about things like waiting for dinner to be served. Brook's most notable trait amongst others, however, is that he cracks "skull jokes" about himself being a skeleton complimented with his distinct laughter of "Yohohoho" even if there is no one around to hear him.

Brook is a great lover of music. Whether it be through happy or sad times, music is what generally keeps Brook going. As a result, his love for music often reflects itself in various other aspects of his character such as in his fighting style wherein the names of his attacks are derived from various musical songs and dances. He overall gives himself a musical theme so noticeable that while he was alive in his first life, he was called "Humming Brook" by the authorities.

Despite being a skeleton, Brook is easily scared by ghosts and zombies. In order to fight the various Thriller Bark Creatures without fear when he encountered them, Brook convinced himself that if he sings while fighting, he wouldn't be afraid of them (though he starts running in fear when he stops singing). This singing while fighting, however, had a side effect of making him seem like a more sinister creature to the zombies, is rather ironic due to him being the contrary and the fact the song he sings during battle being one of life and joy than one of ominous threat as perceived by them. Because of this, despite his equal fear he was given the name of "Humming Swordsman" by the zombies and was ironically feared by them in turn.

Before encountering the Straw Hats, Brook was very lonely while floating adrift on his ship and longed for the company of other people. He initially accepted Luffy's offer to join the crew and invited himself over for dinner upon arriving on board the Thousand Sunny just so he could interact with the crew and fill the void that he experienced all those years. Also, while possibly one of the oldest pirates "alive", Brook still retains an air of childishness about him that enables him to behave in a manner similar to Luffy and Chopper, noted by the ease with which he participates in their child-like antics.

His distinct personality and laughter allowed Nami, Usopp and Chopper question a "guardian" of Hogback's lab, Ryuuma, who had Brook's signature laughter and personality. This was because Ryuuma possessed Brook's shadow until he was defeated by Zoro, upon which Brook's shadow was returned to its rightful place.

Abilities and Powers

Brook is a musician who is able to play any musical instrument. He usually uses a violin to play his music. His musical abilities are so good that Laboon used to sing along to his music when they were together. When Brook fights, his battles often have a comical element to them. Examples include putting several members of his crew asleep while fighting the Flying Fish Riders, playing dead halfway through a battle or launching at an enemy with erroneous results.

Brook also knows how to purify the various Thriller Bark Creatures with sea-salt.

End of the Strawhat Bio's.

[CM Punk]

Note: Ace's Abilities Section contains minor spoilers.

Strawhat Allies Bio's

Nefertari Vivi

Appearance

Vivi has long blue hair, with two bangs hanging down, one on either side of her head. She most often has her hair pulled back into a ponytail. She is also very slender-bodied, having long thin legs and arms. She tends to wear less revealing or alluring clothing than other females who have associated themselves with the crew (Nami and Robin). Though she is a princess, she rarely seems to wear clothing that suggests her social status.

One of the noteworthy things about her appearance is that when she was a member of Baroque Works, she seemed to have been drawn slightly differently. While she was a member, she was drawn as though she were a woman in her late twenties or early thirties. It was only after she allied herself with the Straw Hats that she was drawn to look more like a teenage girl (for example, having slightly bigger/rounder facial features and a less shaped body). This was more noticeable in the anime than the manga, where the animators drew her in such a different way that she could almost be mistaken for another character (noticeable from episode 63 that she still had the Baroque Works appearance then changed in episode 64). Also, as a member, she did not have bangs until she was attacked by Miss Valentine, where a few strands of her hair had been cut.

Personality

Despite being a princess, Vivi never demands any special attention, nor does she put herself first above others. She often thinks of others before herself, risking her life to help anyone who needs her. She is also extremely brave when she needs to be, going up against powerful enemies to help her friends despite clearly being outmatched. Her selfless attitude and sense of responsibility are what pushes her to carry her country's burden.

When she argues, Vivi has a hard time coming up with insults, usually just saying something of little offense - such as nicknaming Zoro 'Mr. Bushido' and has a habit of biting her bottom lip when she is tense. She often gave little speeches about responsibility while traveling with the Straw Hats, but she does not like public speaking. A running gag throughout most of the Arabasta Arc is that Vivi constantly forgets to tell the Straw Hats about the dangers of the desert, such as giant scorpions and lizards, which Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji quickly dispatch but then berate her for her inability to remember such things beforehand.

Abilities and Powers

Vivi is extremely good at moving about undetected, establishing herself as a single digit member of Baroque Works for two years before her identity was compromised, and returning to Arabasta unnoticed by the citizens.

As a princess, Vivi does not have much experience in battle. However, when required, she can be an effective fighter. Vivi can also make use of Carue in spite his frequent incompetence. On her own, she shows surprising natural agility, often dodging attacks gracefully, and almost instinctively, as she usually seems surprised after it happens. Her techniques, coupled with the tumbling of Mr. 9, gives the pair a dancing theme.

Portgas D. Ace

Appearance

Although the two brothers look remarkably alike, Ace is more muscular than the rather lanky Luffy. He also sports rather childish freckles. One of the most obvious features on Ace is his tattoos. Ace has a tattoo on his back of the Whitebeard symbol —a skull with a white mustache and a manji. Ace has another tattoo on his left arm by the shoulder: it reads "ASCE" with the "S" (apparently a mistake on the part of the tattoo artist) crossed out.

During the ending credits to the second movie, Clockwork Island adventure, previews of upcoming characters from the Baroque Works Saga were featured. Ace was also included amongst the many characters but he boasted a very different color scheme to the one he was given in his official appearance in the anime (which led much more to the manga).

Personality

As far as personality goes, Ace is much more intelligent, polite, and generally more bearable than his younger brother, which prompts the Straw Hat crew to question whether he is truly related to their captain. However he likes to party as much as his brother does. When he boarded Buggy's ship, he was drawn by the smell of food and decided to enjoy himself while he was there.

There are two running gags about him; the first is where he falls asleep while eating leaving everyone around him wondering if he dropped dead, the second is he does a "Dine and Dash" routine wherever he goes.

Abilities and Powers

Ace left his hometown 3 years before Luffy when he was already very strong and skilled. He was able to beat his brother Luffy in every fight they had, despite Luffy having the power of a Devil Fruit already. He was also trained by Garp, who is responsible for training Luffy to his current level of power. Another note of Ace's strength was his ability to take Blackbeard's punches (without resorting to his Devil Fruit powers) and being able to immediately retaliate, as noted by Van Auger, making his status as a Whitebeard Pirates commander well-deserved. He also carries a knife.

Ace has eaten the Devil Fruit Mera Mera no Mi (メラメラの実, Flare Flare Fruit), a Logia or elemental type fruit, giving him pyrokinetic abilities and his reputation as "Fire Fist Ace" ("Trace Heatfist" in the 4kids dub). Ace also displays his immense power by destroying a handful of Baroque Works ships with ease. For some reason, Ace does not seem to mind his inability to swim, despite the risk that destroying the Billions' ships could have left him in the ocean. Also when he turned up on Drum Island, that day no snow fell at all on the island.

During the Alabasta filler arc, Nami says that Ace's bounty is one that makes bounty hunters all over the world drool and other pirates envious, however this is non-canon. Aside from the powers granted by the Devil Fruit he consumed, Ace also possesses immense physical strenght, but doesn't display it to the same extent as Luffy or Garp being his powers of the Logia-type.

His reputation must also be quite infamous if the World Government granted Blackbeard the position of Shichibukai after capturing him to make a name for himself among other pirates. He is also a capable navigator as he is seen carrying a Log Pose.

He is one of the few people to be able to take a "baptizing" in boiling water in Impel Down without flinching, which is considered an impressive feat.

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS! THE TWO CHARACTERS IN THIS POST HAVE TO BE INTRODUCED IN THE ENGLISH ANIME/MANGA. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

Silvers Rayleigh

Appearance

Two of Rayleigh's most distinguishing marks are that he typically wears glasses and that the facial hairs on his chin are arranged like stripes across his lower jaw. He also has a scar over his right eye, which he has had for many years. When he was younger, Rayleigh kept his black hair cleaned cut and had a moderate amount of facial hair. Over the years, as his hair whitened, he let it grow longer and wild. He also grew a beard from his initial striped facial hair.

Abilities and Powers

In his younger days with Gold Roger, Rayleigh commanded the rest of Roger's crew as First Mate. He would do several duties while supervising the rest of the crew. Amongst these duties was disciplining the young Buggy and Shanks over their constant arguing about useless things such as which polar region is colder.

After the Gold Roger's crew disbanded, Rayleigh became a coating mechanic in Sabaody. He specializes in coating ships with Yarukiman Resin, a process which enables ships to travel to Fishmen Island.

Rayleigh is apparently extremely strong. Shakky, a business partner of his, vouches for his strength by saying that he's "100 times stronger than all of you boys" referring to the Eleven Supernovas. Indeed, when Vice Admiral Garp was informed Rayleigh may be on Sabaody Archipelago, rather than go straight to the archipelago, Garp told the Marine not to have his men confront him, due to his phenomenal strength. However, Rayleigh himself has admitted that he is not as young as he used to be, and can tire in battle.

Rayleigh is also able to utilize "Haki" the same way displayed by Shanks and Luffy. Also, Rayleigh's spirit power can be focused, as suggested from having rendered a specific target completely unconscious without the aid of eye contact, nor adversely affecting anybody else near the initial target. He disabled an entire room with this power, targeting everyone but the Straw Hats. Only very strong and determined individuals can resist from being knocked unconscious and even one of Trafalgar Law's nakama was very close to being knocked out. Another glimpse of his strength is seen when he seemingly snatches off Camie's exploding necklace and tosses it into the air before the flames could touch her. Rayleigh also kicked and redirected an attack by Kizaru who's a Logia Devil Fruit user. He is later shown to be strong enough to fight Kizaru to a draw, although he was starting to fatigue due to his more advanced age.

Rayleigh also knows the 'True History' of the world from his time with Gold Roger, but he has also stated that, as a pirate crew lacking the intellect of scholars of Ohara's caliber, they may very well have misinterpreted that information.

Boa Hancock

Appearance

Compared to the abnormal appearance of her sisters, Hancock is a slender, tall woman with long hair and eyes that have long, voluminous lashes. When first introduced she wore a revealing blouse and loose sarong that exposed her long legs while currently she has an elaborate light-colored dress with a thick, hooded cloak. In either outfit she has always worn a pair of earrings that look like snakes and high-heeled shoes; her attire is also adorned with the emblem of the Kuja. Her beauty is noted by many throughout the world: to one of the Risky Brothers, her beauty is second only to that of the mermaids, while Marguerite claims she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Like every Shichibukai member (excluding Blackbeard), she has an animal theme: snake.

On her back is what was believed to be two Gorgon eyes which would petrify anyone who sets eyes on it, but this is a lie. What is really on her back is later revealed to be the slave mark of Tenryuubito, and she is willing to kill, or turn to stone, anyone who sees it, to keep it a secret.

Personality

Whether I kick a kitten... Tear off your ears... Even slaughter innocent people... The world will never cease to forgive my actions! Why, you ask? Why it is because I am... Beautiful!!!

-Hancock's justifications for her actions.
”

Hancock has the lowest former bounty of all the Shichibukai, barely lower than Crocodile's former bounty by only Image:Bsymbol.gif1,000,000. She is also a very complex woman. At first glance, she appears to be selfish, pompous and spoiled, and is used to having her own way, although she does lie to the World Government about her agreement to wage war with Whitebeard simply to get them off her back temporarily. She also can be arrogant and cruel, usually justifying her less than admirable actions with her apparently unmatched beauty and thinks that she can get away with anything because the world will forgive her. Her sister Sandersonia cheerfully calls her personality "twisted". She has also proven that she is a very skilled liar, and excellent at fabricating stories, and her confidence leads her to never consider the consequences of her actions.

While a member of the Shichibukai, Hancock doesn't think much of the World Government and would rather keep her title but not go to war or perform certain duties if she had to. Part of this is because of her past dealings with people who are part of what they stand for, such as the Tenryuubito. She doesn't think twice about killing her so called Marine allies. She also apparently doesn't think much of the Kuja tribe either as she comments to Elder Nyon that she doesn't care if the island destroyed or not since everyone will forgive her because she is beautiful.

owever, it was revealed the reason for Hancock's lies and attitude towards life was that because of her horrible past, she didn't want to ever show weakness again to anyone, harboring a great fear of getting close to anyone other than her own sisters, and would even go as far to deceive all of the other Kuja. This caused her surrogate mother Nyon to fear that Hancock had truly turned as cold as ice and it wasn't until Hancock confessed everything to Luffy did she finally show emotion, breaking down in tears from reliving her painful memories. As a matter of fact, Hancock deep down inside is rather sensitive and even vulnerable, and that part of her was only first shown for several years in front of Monkey D. Luffy. She has since then befriended (and fallen in love with) Luffy, even agreeing to venture to the land of her suffering from her days of a slave, at his request for his brother.

Because of her beauty and powers, she is used to seeing men and women whether young or old fall instantly in love with her. As a result, people forgive her when she acts cutely apologetic or reminds them of her beauty. However, as proven when Luffy comes along, she cannot bear the existence of someone completely immune to her powers.

Her oddest trait seen so far is that when she looks down on people, she leans backwards so she faces the ceiling (or the sky) above her, apparently "looking down on people so much she's looking up." She also appears to dislike small animals, which becomes something of a running gag, in which she angrily asks who left the animal in front of where she's walking, before kicking it away, no matter how cute it is. A Kuja amazon responsible apologizes while the offended animal snarls at her and Hancock advises her to be more careful in future.

Abilities and Powers

uling beside her sisters, Hancock has power over Amazon Lily and the rest of the Kuja women. As the Empress and Captain of the tribe, she is most likely the strongest Kuja warrior. In fact, her strength is so great, it has even been acknowledged by Fleet Admiral Sengoku of the Marines.

Apart from her great beauty, Hancock has the ability to turn people into stone. This occurs when her hands form a heart shape, and beams are shot out of the shape. Anyone with "dirty thoughts" will be turned into stone as long as they do not have a means to block it out emotionally like with fear or pain.

She also can use the Haoushoku Haki, an ability of one in a million people can use. From the example shown by Luffy, it can be assumed that she can knock out a large number of individuals (with the exception of strong-willed people) with a massive burst of Haki. This perhaps adds as an additional reason why she is both adored and feared amongst the Kuja.

End of Strawhat Allies Bio's

[CM Punk]

One Piece Villians

Note: Villians who did not play a large role in their respective story arc will have their names in smaller text size.

Alivda

Apperance

Originally, Alvida was a very obese and ugly woman.

The Sube Sube no Mi makes Alvida very skinny and, aside from the cowboy hat she wears, Alvida looks totally different from her original form, now dressed in a bikini top and wears a furcoat like a cape. Most people that see her actually fall in love with her, as seen in Loguetown.

Personality

She sees herself as the most beautiful lady in all of the seas; if someone disagrees, she will smash the offender with her iron mace. She imprisoned Koby to be her cabin boy after he boarded her ship by accident. Disliking filth and laziness, her crew was forced to clean the entire deck, if there is even a hint of dust she will once again smash the offender with her club. People used to say she was the most beautiful woman in the world to avoid being hit by her club, these days they really mean it.

Abilities and Powers

Before her transformation, Alvida was not a powerful fighter, as she was unable to land a single blow on Luffy before he defeated her. However, her club is still a deadly weapon, and it can kill a man with one blow. After gaining her Devil Fruit powers, her newly lubricated skin meant that many attacks, such as swords, merely slip off her, leaving her unharmed. She can also 'skate along on her bare feet at high speeds, but requires a ramp to get her started.

Captain Morgan

Apperance

Morgan is a very tall, intimidating man with white-blond hair and a steel jaw. As his nickname suggests, his right hand is replaced by a huge steel axe, the handle of which seems to go right through his forearm. Like most marines of high rank in the series, he wears a large, billowing coat like a cape. He can also normally be seen smoking a cigar.

Three years ago, Morgan looks much like he does in the present storyline, except without the axe hand and the metal jaw. He was also of a slimmer build than in the present storyline.

Personality

When Morgan is first introduced, he is governing over the small island of Shell Town, where his Naval base is located. Yet he is ruling by fear, abusing his rank to make people pay taxes, and even going as far as killing his own men if they do not obey his commands. He has a very spoiled son named Helmeppo, who is just as bad at using his father's rank to get what he wants from the island's inhabitants. Morgan shows no sort of fatherly love for Helmeppo, even stating that Helmeppo was a worthless son not even worth hitting.

Morgan's obsession with rank is proven in his battle against Luffy, where, despite not being able to to land a single blow on the rubberman (and having taken several), he would not accept defeat.

Buggy the Clown
Note: May Contain Spoilers
Apperance

The big, red nose on his face is, in fact, his real nose; this is a fact he is very touchy about, going so far as to destroy an entire town when a couple of kids made fun of his nose. Occasionally, he will mishear what others say as an insult about him or his nose, possibly due to paranoia.

In his first appearance he had crossbones going down his face forming an X; he also had two blue lines near both of his eyes, red lipstick and his jolly roger (with a clown nose) on his hat. However, in later episodes after the Loguetown arc his look changes, and he now has two green dots on both sides of his head and four big green dots on the rim of his hat, which still has the jolly roger on it. He also has green eyeliner and green lipstick, with a curvy line going down both sides of his face.

While in the confines of Impel Down, it is revealed that Buggy has long hair tied in a ponytail.

Personality

Buggy will often feign intelligence, only to have his true incompetence revealed. Although he is not "stupid" in the traditional sense, he is prone to gross misjudgments that cost him; usually this is due to his overconfidence. In the original Japanese version of One Piece, he inserts hade ni (派手に, "flashy"), into almost every sentence he speaks ("Die with flash! You flashy bastard!").

He has a number of running gags in the series, including his habit of not noticing who he is speaking to until moments after greeting him (for example, when Ace appeared on his ship, Buggy first greets him politely. Then, when he realises he is on his ship, he blurts out "Who the hell are you?"). He also has what some might consider "dumb luck"; no matter what happens to him he is lucky enough to survive somehow (including being struck by lightning at Loguetown).

Buggy is one of the few villains to become reformed after facing Luffy, though only slightly. Before his loss he was willing to use his crew as human shields, while afterwards he shows a lot more care about their well being. He also begins to accept people's kindness, though he can still be cruel to anyone who isn't a member of his crew or is aiding him in his goals. He also is fun loving and displays a huge fondness for parties, admiring those who are equally fun loving (strangely, he shares this trait with Shanks).

He also has a strong love of treasure. Unfortunately (for him) his obsession with treasure led to him leaving himself open in his first encounter with Luffy to attack Nami who was stealing them and was arguably the sole reason for his loss. Buggy fails to understand how anything but gold, silver or jewels can be considered "treasure"; an opinion which apparently hasn't changed in over 22 years even though so far it has led to constant failure.

His primary goal right now is revenge against Luffy, for defeating him, and Shanks, for ruining his dreams during his youth. His dream is to become Pirate King and own all the treasures in the world.

[CM Punk]

Captain Kuro

Appearance

Kuro is a man of relatively slim build with glasses and slicked green-and-black hair. During the present storyline, he wears a standard butler's uniform with striped shoes (which he apparently kept from his life as a pirate). During the time when he was a pirate, however, he wore the standard "captain's jacket" with the Black Cat pirates' symbol on the shoulders.

Personality

In general, Kuro is a genius of the highest caliber (having the second highest IQ in East Blue, behind Ben Beckman), whose plans have never failed in the past (making him similar to Crocodile). He is a master strategist and an accomplished fighter, but he was severely hampered by the fact that he simply didn't have the fortitude to deal with a pirate's life on the run from the Marines.

Kuro seems to be very proud of his plans, which never failed before (hence his nickname, Kuro of a Thousand Plans). When he relived his moments of piracy, he claims his plans were too brilliant to be wasted on his crew. He also said that he would kill his crew if they hinder his plans in anyway. During the final moments before Luffy defeated him, Kuro lost his usual calmness and screamed aloud that his plans would never fail.

Kuro follows the role of the evil mastermind and continues One Piece's tradition of noticeably cruel villains. He held himself in very high regard, having a standard for people no one seemed able to live up to but himself. He felt nothing for the lives of others, willingly sacrificing anyone he needed to achieve his goals.

During his three years as Kaya's butler, he acted as a kind-hearted (though a little snobbish), trustworthy person who carries a hatred for pirates, and as such, looks down on Usopp. He later admits how much he despises this pseudo-personality.

Though able to keep himself in check most of the time, he states that seeing a crescent moon drives him wild and even he finds it difficult to resist the temptations of violence brought on by the stage of the moon. The reason is never given for this, though it may be due to a psychological effect. On the night of the Marine attack, there was once again a cresent moon, which seems to have been the reason why Kuro was so brutal to the Marines on board it. As a consequence during the first opening of the anime a red crescent moon can be briefly seen in the scene with Kuro.

Abilities

In addition to his high intelligence, Captain Kuro has super-human speed with which to deliver his attacks. His skill is such that at full speed he is only able to be seen as a vague blur or by the damage his attacks cause. He is able to run 100 meters in between 4 and 5 seconds. While he uses super human speed, his weakness (being unable to tell what he is hitting) puts him at a set back against other Super speed users who can tell what they are striking.

Don Krieg

Personality

Krieg is a typical One Piece villain who displays cruel tendencies using a huge arsenal of weapons and overwhelming odds. He is used to winning and being able to topple any force that goes up against him; this led to his failed attempt to conquer the Grand Line. However, his constant victories and reliance on weapons and odds made him overconfident.

He displays some realisation that his crew are an important aspect to his efforts and he makes sure they are fed to regain their full strength after Mihawk's onslaught. However, Don Krieg does not care for his crew and bullies them to fear him as their captain; he punishes those who fail him or show signs of weakness often with death.

Abilities

Krieg, of the Pirate Armada, was considered (in military strength) the most powerful pirate in the East Blue. Although Krieg had a lower bounty than Arlong, his fleet of 50 ships and over 5,000 pirates, combined with active pillaging, forced the Marines to view Krieg as a greater threat. Though it was commented by Luffy that Kreig's fleet were not all that powerful, more that there was just so many of them they could overwhelm their opponent

His most potent weapon has always been his talent for skulduggery, which seems to have no bounds. Don Krieg also claimed to be the strongest man in the world, while this is clearly and over-estimate on his part, he is certainly formidable in physical combat.

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Arlong

Appearance

Arlong is a large blue Fishman of the sawshark variety. He wears what appears to be a brown Ushanka. On his hands are what appear to be rings. According to Oda in response to a fan about these rings, as his hands are webbed making it impossible to wear rings. These aren't rings at all but more like piercings that go straight through Arlong's fingers.

Personality

Money is the best, you can trust it more than the human.

-Arlong Deals with Nezumi
”

Arlong considers humans to be inferior beings, and is very cruel to them. He thinks nothing of killing a town full of humans, although he seems to prefer controlling people with money and deals (like Nami and Nezumi). He is also rather easy to anger, going berserk after he was attacked by Usopp and having to be dragged back to his base by his crew to prevent him from destroying the whole town.

He does not seem frightened by anything, and his Fishman strength has made him extremely confident that he and his crew are virtually invincible. After Nezumi told Arlong he as a Marine wouldn't stay for fear of being seen in Arlong Park, at this point Arlong invited the Marine to a meal and offered to kill anyone who dared report him. He also has an eye for spotting exploitable talent that he can use for his goals and is an excellent planner; he spent years using Nami and her maps to plan their takeover of the East Blue. Nevertheless, any promise he makes, he keeps (the best example is when his crew urged him to keep Nami even if she brings the Image:Bsymbol.gif100,000,000 he says he can't), however, he has no qualms about exploiting loopholes in his deals to unfairly get his way.

Abilities

Arlong is one of the Fishmen, massive humanoids that are taller and stronger than any normal human. Arlong, however, is a giant even among Fishmen, and one of the strongest fighters in the East blue. His power was remarked to be greater then Don Krieg, the strong (military) force in the East Blue. He is seen lifting a house with his bare hands in pursuit of Usopp, and his powerful shark-like jaws are capable of rending metal, stone and flesh alike. Predictably, as formidable an opponent as Arlong is on land, in the water he is nearly invincible.

It is said that Arlong was once Shichibukai Jinbei's equal. Whether this means strength or status is unknown.

Tashigi

Apperance

Tashigi looks remarkably like Zoro's deceased friend Kuina.

Chapter 439 marks the full debut (after a single image on the cover of chapter 432) of a markedly different "look" for her as well as having longer hair; however, it is not clear whether this is an intentional redesign, or simply a result of the author's continually evolving art style and the length of time she had been out of the spotlight.

Personality

She was first introduced when the Straw Hat Pirates docked in Loguetown, where she was stationed. Smoker, her superior officer, seems to regard her as a protege; the two work very well together. While adept at sword fighting, she is unusually clumsy, which tends to get on Smoker's nerves. She is also very well-versed in katana, knowing their names and origins.

Like Smoker, Tashigi has her own view of "Justice" which differs from the Marines' own definition, and will fight for what she sees as the right thing to do. Tashigi's stated goal is to remove all Meitō from the hands of those who would use them for their own selfish ends.

Smoker

Appearance

Smoker is a middle aged white haired man. He has a very distinct trait of always being seen smoking two cigars at once, as well as having many cigars on hand strapped to his jacket.

Personality

Smoker is a tough Marine, who when first introduced, was trying to track down Luffy in Loguetown. Unlike many other Marines in One Piece, Smoker does not follow the rule of Absolute Justice and follows his own brand of justice, which he later preaches to Tashigi. Smoker's view on justice also allows the Straw Hats to remain free even being pirates during the Arabasta arc, warning Luffy that as a Marine, next time, he will have to try and capture him. Smoker also didn't like taking credit in Arabasta for the Straw Hats work in defeating Sir Crocodile, telling the World Government to "eat shit". He also tends to hold grudges toward pirates who have escaped him, such as preparing to capture Ace only to pound him into the ground, barely acknowledging Ace, to go after Luffy.

Despite his stern, businesslike manner, he does seem to have a soft side. In Loguetown, when a little girl bumped into him and dropped her ice cream on his trousers, he takes it in good heart, even giving her money to buy a new cone. He also shows respect and even protective kindness to his subordinate, Tashigi, as well as letting Luffy go after Zoro was ordered to save Smoker from drowning.

He seems to know Aokiji, though the nature of the relationship of the two men is unknown. He also seems to be a close, personal friend of Hina.

It seems Smoker doesn't like people who make too much noise around him, as he claims that it 'breaks his flow'

Powers

Smoker has eaten the Moku Moku no Mi, Devil Fruit. (モクモクの実 , Smoke Smoke/Plume Plume fruit. "Mokumoku" is a phenomime conveying the image of billowing smoke, much as "whoosh" might represent wind in English. It can be a play on "sumoku," the Japanese pronunciation of "smoke.") The Fruit allows him to control any smoke around him; he can also change part or all of his body into smoke at will, like other Logia-type Devil Fruit powers. He can also manipulate the smoke to make it soft or hard, allowing him to hold and constrict others within it.

At this point he doesn't appear to have any exploitable weakness, like Sir Crocodile, due to his ability to be intangible. However, as he has not trained his power to the extent of Crocodile or Eneru, he is not always in a perpetual state of smoke, and thus he can be harmed if he is caught off guard, such as when he and Ace were unintentionally beaten (for a few seconds) by Luffy in their second encounter.

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Wapol

Personality

Wapol was once a prince of the region who succeeded his father, a beloved king by the Drum people, as monarch when his father died. Wapol however proved to be a spoiled and corrupt king. Before Wapol's ascension to power, the Drum Kingdom possessed the most numerous and skilled doctors in all of Grand Line.

Wapol has a habit of saying "kaba" (hippo) instead of saying "baka" (idiot).

Abilities and Powers

e ate the Baku Baku no Mi (バクバクの実), which allows him to eat virtually anything and take on its properties. Wapol has fairly excellent control over his Devil Fruit ability, and uses this power many times against Monkey D. Luffy in acts such as chomping his two advisers into a single warrior, or shooting bombs from his "Baku Baku Factory" pistol arms. He even tries to eat all the weapons inside his massive armory room to turn himself into a superweapon, though Nami manages to steal the key from him when Wapol catches her.

Sir Crocodile

Appearance

Crocodile is an enormous man, standing at almost twice Luffy's height which is 172cm (5'7½") and is clearly much taller than Robin who stands 188cm (6'2") , with a wide chest and broad, shoulders, comparatively thin arms and legs, and thick neck. He has flushed white skin, as well as dark purple hair, which is combed back but dangles loosely from the back of his head. Crocodile has various battle scars, most notably a long stitch above his nose that stretches across his whole face, as well as a missing left hand, which has been replaced with a large hook made from a tough gold alloy. He has sunken eyes and thin eyebrows. Crocodile speaks with a deep, relaxed voice, and he is usually seen smoking a thick, buck cigar produced by his company.

His theme of dress is meant to convey the idea of an Italian mafia boss; he sports a long, thick, dark black and gray fur coat (Two shades of green in manga and Movie 8), as well as polished Italian shoes with golden buckles. He wears various jewelry, including several golden rings with various rare gemstones on his fingers and a rectangular earring that clips onto his right earlobe. Crocodile wears an indigo velvet scarf, as well as a long-sleeve orange shirt, which are covered by a darker orange button-up vest adorned with a striped black pattern, and dark brown suit pants.

Every Shichibukai member has a animal theme. His animal theme is the crocodile, which reflects in his name, the Bananawani he kept as pets and his large scar (which resembles a "crocodile's smile") are reflections of his theme.

Personality

Crocodile was the Shichibukai with the second lowest bounty at the time, Hancock having the lowest, and they are likely the only one's known to have a bounty of less than 100,000,000 Beli (excluding Blackbeard), although had his bounty represented his threat level at the time he met Luffy it would have more than doubled and broken the 100,000,000 Beli mark. He is extremely intelligent and cunning (one of the smartest in the series) which is apparent from his ability to mastermind Baroque Works while at the same time keep the World Government completely in the dark about what he was doing while making himself a hero of the people. He also has a skill for making flawless plans and seeing things that most other people wouldn't notice and deduce a correct conclusion from nearly no information (ex. seeing the white wrapping on the Straw Hats arm and almost instantly figures out it is a safe guard against Mr. 2's infiltration).

Like many villains Luffy has met, Crocodile is confident in himself and in his abilities (although unlike previous villains such as Don Krieg, Crocodile's confidence comes from skill and power. His power is shown when he beats Luffy twice, nearly killing him both times). However, due to his confidence, he underestimated Luffy's willpower, which eventually led him to his defeat. His willingness to kill displays his cold-hearted nature and will not think twice about sentencing another to death. He is also very quick to anger if someone insults him in any way as seen when Sanji insults him over his Den Den Mushi and comments that anyone who has ever insulted him he has killed. This is also shown latter in his first fight with Luffy, when Luffy calls him stupid he bites his cigar in half and threatens to kill Robin for laughing at the comment.

He also lacks almost any code of honor and does not see the point in offering those who about to die a chance of dying honorably. [1] One of the few signs of honor he displayed at all was in his third fight with Luffy; he states that Luffy deserves an honorable death from his venomous hook. However, due to the situation at the time of battle, this could be considered more an act of cruelty than honor. However, it's also possible that due to the fact that he almost never fights with his poison hook, it is a tribute to Luffy's tenacity, as he stated himself. He also has a habit of often using the term "worthless" to refer to the desperate struggles of his enemies.

Crocodile has shown to be extremely cynical and cold-hearted. He displays complete disregard of the "romantic" pirate lifestyle, stating that all the things the Pirate King once had mean nothing to him. He places more importance in military power, and believes that only ignorant fools declare their grandiose dreams. Several times, he refers to trust and faith in others as idiotic, and has stated that he has done away with countless people like that. He goes so far as to mock those who fight for others, making their defeats to him all the more harsh.

If Crocodile is extremely angry or annoyed with his victim, he will rarely kill them outright, often leaving them for dead and suffering. This proves to be a bad habit of his as it lead to his defeat. The first two times he fought Luffy, instead of killing him out right, he leaves him suffering, which allows Luffy to come back and finally defeat him. This habit is the only reason Luffy lived through any of his fights with Crocodile.

He may very well have been the same happy, carefree person as Luffy once. They even shared the same dream. Despite this, his time in the Grand Line has corrupted him and jaded his personality causing him to turn into the cruel person he is now, causing him to let go of his dream.

Abilities and Powers

Crocodile is one of the strongest characters in the One Piece world as well as a (former) Shichibukai.

He is one of the few people to be able to take a "baptizing" in boiling water in Impel Down without flinching, which is considered an impressive feat.

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Bellamy

Apperance

Bellamy is a tall and darkly tanned man with unkempt blonde hair wearing a pink sleeveless shirt with a navy blue pirate captain's coat over it.

Personality

The Lost city of Gold!? The Emerald city!? The great Treasure of "One Piece"!? The fools who go looking for their "dream treasure" cannot notice what's in front of them! In this era of the sea the ones that do not have real strength... are the ones that are killed by their own imaginations!

-Part of Bellamy's speech on pirates chasing Dreams.
”

Bellamy's character is one that is cruel, violent and vain. He is very arrogant and is highly confident in his own powers (evident by the fact that he thought he was winning when Luffy fought against him seriously for the first time; although of course, none of his attacks were actually effective against the Straw Hat, due to his elastic physiology, and instead believing that Luffy survived them all through sheer luck), but only against foes he thinks he could win against; which led to his eventual defeat at Monkey D. Luffy's hands, whom Bellamy thought was weak, not knowing that this Pirate Captain recently defeated a Shichibukai, Sir Crocodile, before moving into Jaya. Also he seems to laugh at other people misfortune. Like his pirate crew, he heavily believes in the "New Age" and thinks it will soon come after what he calls the "Age of Dreams" The New Age is what Bellamy believes will follow the "Age of Dreams", which is where people dream of finding One Piece and becoming the Pirate King. His heavy beliefs in the "New Age" had made him mock and laugh at any one who dreams.

Abilities and Powers

Bellamy has the ability to turn his legs into springs, allowing him to jump with great speed and power. At his most powerful, Bellamy can easily break apart bits of a house simply by bouncing off of them. He appears to be an average fighter without the aid of his powers.

Eneru/Enel

Personality

Eneru thinks of himself as an invincible god - quite literally. He believes that he is a divine and immortal being, with the authority to do, take or destroy whatever he pleases and is capable of doing anything. As the result, he appears fearless, childish, arrogant and without a care in the world. His lifestyle is relaxed and hedonistic, and when not attending to his "godly duties" of smiting the natives of Skypiea (for speaking against him), he spends his time sleeping or eating in his residence, being waited on hand and foot by beautiful women. This attitude carries over to his battles, where he's hardly serious and barely annoyed - instead he's relaxed, and enjoys himself by effortlessly absorbing attacks, and humiliating his opponents. In his fight against Kamakiri, he even went to sleep in the middle of the fight, in order to prove his immortality.

Eneru holds no regard for other lives except his own, and has no moral qualms about killing thousands - instead he sees it as his godly duty, and laughs maniacally as he sends Skypiea to its doom. He is, in short, completely insane, which becomes even more obvious when he sets off for the moon, which he believes to be the home of God (himself). Sometimes, against an annoying opponent like Usopp using his "Usopp Spell", rather then shocking them he simply bludgeons them with his staff.

Before Luffy showed up, his fruit power and mantra ability made his God-complex completely legitimate. Once Luffy began gaining the upper hand in the battle, Eneru incapacitated him in order to remove him as a threat, and reclaim his status as "invincible" while stating that there is no need for him to fight Luffy - and from that point he acts somewhat cowardly, trying his best to avoid another confrontation with Luffy. According to Oda, Eneru's favorite fruit is apples. Going along with this, when Eneru taunts in One Piece Grand Battle! Rush!, he eats an apple.

Many of One Piece's primary villains were given distinct laughs. Eneru follows this tradition with a stressed "ya" at the beginning of his laugh (i.e. "Yaaa ha ha ha ha ha!"). This carries over to the English dub.

Power's and Abilities

Eneru has a great knowledge and awareness of objects that many Sky Islanders would usually not have, such as an understanding of what gold is, partly due to studying the ruins of Upper Yard. This awareness allows him to keep these items for himself believing he is truly worthy of them. However, before Luffy he was unaware of the existence of rubber. He is also very perceptive and has an amazing deductive ability, quickly seeing through Robin's deception and concluding that the Shandorian Golden Belfry Bell was not at Upper Yard but beyond it. He is also brilliant enough to understand the mechanical functions and capabilities of his ship: Maxim, and quickly repaired it once he deduced the origin of the problem. In addition, he has some awareness of the meteorological functions of the sky.

Eneru is usually portrayed as very acrobatic, often doing backfips with one hand, and has an above average endurance, shrugging off most of Luffy's attack. He is also adept at using his golden staff and gives powerful hits to his opponents with it. On top of this, he had access to Mantra which had been enhanced by his Devil Fruit powers, making him virtually omniscient of the thoughts and actions of Skypeia.

Note: THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

Foxy the Silver Fox

Appearance

Foxy is a stout man with skinny arms and legs. He has almost a cleft lip-like mouth and an unique hairstyle. His nose is also colored red. With these characteristics, they make him look like a fox. Foxy typically wears yellow orange suspenders and a coat. His coat is colored purple in the anime, while it is colored silver in the manga and other manga related media.

Personality

Foxy is a cheater and trickster, who participates in the Davy Back Fight, a contest between pirate crews where the winning team can steal crew members from the losing team. Most members of Foxy's crew joined him because he won them in this contest. However, they seem to be genuinely enthusiastic about being in the Foxy pirates, and wholeheartedly cheer on their crewmates and captain in the Davy Back Fight.

Though he acts supremely confident most of the time and seems quite fond of himself, Foxy is extremely sensitive to insults or criticism. Any offensive words from others cause him to instantly become depressed, and he usually ends up losing his footing and falling to the ground, barely supporting himself with his arms, while a black cloud suddenly appears over his head. Luckily for Foxy, all it takes is a few kind words from anybody to perk him up again. In the anime, Nami and Usopp used this weakness to their advantage by alternately hurling insults and compliments at Foxy non-stop, leaving him emotionally (as well as physically) paralyzed and unable to help his team during the roller race.

Abilities and Powers

Foxy is a cunning character who uses his Devil Fruit powers as well as various other tricks to aid in him cheating. He also seems to have an extraordinary sense of time, even when he had slowed down multiple cannonballs he still knew exactly when each and everyone of them was going to regain fullspeed.

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Note: THIS SECTION CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, AS THE CHARACTERS IN THIS POST HAVE NOT BEEN INTRODUCED YET!

Akoji

Appearance

Aokiji is an incredibly tall person, easily towering over all of the Straw Hats. (At the time of this meeting, Brook was not a member of the crew) His standard outfit consists of a white button-up vest over a long-sleeved navy blue shirt and matching white pants and shoes. He also wears a yellow tie divided geometrically by black lines and a sleep mask on his forehead.

He also rides a bicycle over the ocean, which is possible due to the powers of the Hie Hie no Mi.

Personality

Admiral Aokiji is a sleepy, somewhat lazy fellow, evidenced by the "sleep mask" he constantly wears over his eyes. He always seem to have a lazily relaxed attitude most of the time, whether it be in simple flirting or in deadly confrontation. He is so lazy that he can't even bring himself to work simple details like adding a crew's total bounty. He even states that he's an upholder of "lazy justice". As the result of his nature, he appears fearless, childish, and without a care in the world. Because of this however, it infuriates most people and several people have questioned whether he really is an Admiral.

Aokiji is a loyal follower of the World Government and, even if he does as he pleases, always carries out his orders, within his own ideals of right and wrong (He let Nico Robin go which was in contrast to the Marine's final orders). Like many One Piece characters (e.g. Smoker, and Jaguar D. Saul), after witnessing the senseless killing of so many innocent people, it is possible Aokiji came to realize just how low the World Government's morals had sunk. His sense of justice, however, differs greatly from that of his fellow admiral, Akainu, whose belief in "absolute justice" contradicts Aokiji's morals.

Aokiji is also known to say "Arararara" sometimes in conjunction with his lazy attitude.

Abilities and Powers

As an Admiral, Aokiji is able to command vast number of Marine troops that are under his rank. Most of all, he has the ability to order a Buster Call attack on any island.

Rob Lucci

Personality

Lucci never talks, preferring to instead talk through his pet pigeon, Hattori (ハットリ, Hattori), using ventriloquism. Hattori always rides on Lucci's shoulder until Lucci begins fighting, at which point he will fly overhead until the battle is over. Lucci seems to have a rivalry with Paulie, and often chides him for having money problems. Because of this rivalry, the two often fight; however, the matches generally end before there is a victor. Other than this, however, Lucci appears to be very distant from everyone else, including the other foremen and Iceburg.

The true Lucci comes off as the most cold and collected member of CP9, almost never displaying any emotions (nevertheless even HE displays shock that Franky had the blueprints to Pluton the whole time, and is shown smiling when convincing Kaku, and Kalifa to eat Devil Fruits). An example is the brutal assault on his friend of 5 years, Paulie, whom he even tried to kill after the CP9's identities had been revealed. He also states that he feels no real bonding with the city he's lived in for 5 years, and he seems to have no feelings for his fellow CP9 colleagues, least of all Spandam. Interestingly enough, he does react rather violently if anyone calls him a gakki (slang in Japanese for kid or brat), responding with a kick and a retort both times after Iceburg and Franky referred to him as such. The reason that he killed the 500 soldiers in his past was due to another belief of his - the belief that weakness is a sin. He finds it offensive when someone speaks weakness around him. He also believes if he is involved then the situation means blood will be drawn and that he also does not have to accept other peoples' views and ideals.

He seems to derive amusement and gratification from inflicting physical and emotional pain on others, making him a typical sadist. These scenes, along with when he anticipates battle, are the only times where he smirks. In the Tower of Justice at Enies Lobby, he reveals that he only joined the government so he can be legally allowed to kill people. An example of Lucci's lust for violence is when he compromised the mission of bringing Robin to the Gates of Justice by allowing Luffy to tail him, for the sole purpose of having a battle (even giving a happy yet highly disturbing smirk when Luffy burst through the door). Lucci's violent and predatory nature is also shown when he goes into full-beast mode during battle, in order to attack Luffy more violently. He is also apparently somewhat sensitive to his Devil fruits form as Usopp managed to goad Lucci into coming after him (and getting Luffy to continue fighting) by calling him a "Worthless little kitten" which noticeably angers him.

His emotionlessness includes anger and distress (he's "kept together" all through his fight with Luffy, unlike all the previous villains). Even while taunting or demoralizing Luffy, he keeps a passive face, and refrains from the classic "villain laugh". However, during the final moments of his fight with Luffy, he expresses horrified surprise prior to being defeated.

Powers and Abilities

ucci has a complete mastery of Rokushiki, having used at least one or more moves from each of the different forms. He demonstrates this when he unveils the Rokushiki hidden technique, Rokuougan, during his fight with Luffy. The massively powerful technique is so strong that it causes severe internal injury to Luffy's body, who described its effect as an Impact Dial with greatly amplified power; no small feat considering he's made of rubber. Even at the tender age of 13, Lucci has already shown to be a very capable mass-murderer, by killing 500 soldiers and a crew of pirates single-handed. With his complete mastery of Rokushiki, in conjunction with his Devil Fruit ability, Lucci proved to be a resilient foe, even going on even terms with Luffy in Gear Second, and literally forcing him to exert every ounce of strength against him. It should be also noted that Lucci is the strongest member of CP9 in history by far, with his douriki almost twice that of the next strongest, Kaku. Franky himself noted his strength is levels above the rest of CP9, and later remarked that, were it not for Luffy, he wasn't sure how many of them would have been slaughtered. Because of his reputation, he is a very valuable asset to the World Government, almost to the point of legend; the other vice admirals even believe that he can survive a Buster Call attack. His (along with the rest of the CP9 unit's) value has been diminished upon his loss against Luffy.

Aside from his super human strength, Lucci appears to exhibit a rather high level of intelligence. It was he who deduced the connection between Iceburg and Franky, figured out the principles behind Luffy's Gear Second[5] and Gear Third[6] "upgrades", and showed extensive knowledge about Devil Fruits. On Enies Lobby, he even effortlessly jeopardized the lives of Luffy's crewmembers and friends — as well as their mission to save Robin by flooding the underwater passageway to the Gates of Justice. Although this might just as well be yet another display of sadism, where he removes Luffy's chances of "having everything" just for the sake of angering him.

Bartholomew Kuma also stated that Rob Lucci's power is such that it is acknowledged even by the Shichibukai, warning Gecko Moria to never underestimate the Straw Hats - "No battle has a certain outcome (...) Who could have predicted that Rob Lucci would be defeated?".

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Note: THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS POST, THESE CHARACTER'S HAVE YET TO BE INTRODUCED. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED

[continued from previous post]

Gecko Moria

Appearance

Moria is a large person with devil-like features. His animal theme is a gecko, based on his first name and his shadow asgard form looks like a giant gecko. He has two horns on his forehead and stitches running down vertically from the top of his face. His ears and teeth are both pointed and his neck is rather thick and long in comparison with his body. His lower body is relatively fat with stubby legs. His hair is red and his skin is pale. His lips, his armbands, and the edges of his gloves are blue. His shirt and gloves are black while his pants are bright orange. The collar of his shirt resembles the frill of a lizard. Around his neck, Moria wears cravat and a necklace with a blue crucifix-like ornament with claw-like appendages sprouting out from three of the cross' points. Moria is roughly the same size as Kuma. His overall design resembles a giant leek. During the meeting of the Shichibukai at the Marine Headquarters, Moria has added a fur-laced cape to his attire.

Personality

Though he once claimed that he would rely on his own powers to achieve his goals, Moria now is incredibly lazy. His motto is "Relying upon others for one’s own objective" and his favorite phrase is "You do it!!". Like other characters in One Piece, he has a distinct laughter which is "Ki shi shi shi". He apparently wants to be the new Pirate King and believes that if he has strong underlings, he can achieve his goal. He almost always smiles and only seems to change expression when something bad happens to him. He maintains a relaxed and laid back stance at all times, seemingly appearing to believe he cannot lose. Like Luffy, he had many good friends in the past, considering them valuable nakama and considered himself as once too overconfident, like Luffy is. The loss of his crew to Kaidou changed his outlook on life substantially, making him believe that subordinates are better off as zombies, as, due to their undead status, they cannot be harmed by any physical damage. They can only be "purified" by the sea or elements of the sea. Even if they were purified, he could easily find other shadows to reanimate them.

He feels that a true pirate should fear nothing, even death.

Powers

Moria is able to steal a person's shadow with the Kage Kage no Mi. The loss of that person's shadow causes them to be vaporized if they come in contact with sunlight. Moria is also able create various zombies by implanting a stolen shadow into a lifeless corpse. People who have their shadow stolen are left in comas for two days. If they die, the zombie with their shadow loses the shadow.

His own shadow can also fight for him, while he does nothing but watch. The shadow is mostly solid, and can easily change its form into things like tiny bats. The shadow cannot be destroyed and will continue to reform. Moria is able to switch his location with his shadow's location, which can also be used to dodge attacks.

Moria, in general, prefers to avoid fighting altogether, or at least fighting his enemy directly, either making his shadow fight or ordering one of his zombies to do so.

He however is by no means defenseless, if there is no one left to fight for him, he can fight using his trump card: take every shadow from every zombie on Thriller Bark and absorb them in a style similar to "Nightmare Luffy," except he has 1000 shadows inside of him, instead of 100. This form increases his mass to the size of a giant, as well as giving him a monstrous boost in physical strength.

Physically, he was capable of getting up a short time after a devastating attack by Nightmare Luffy that toppled Oz over and apparently not be damaged by Nami's thunder-attack. Due to his size, he can easily carry a normal human with a single hand.

Kuma

Appearance

Kuma is a large man that is usually seen carrying a Bible. His hat has bear ears and along with his pants, have spots all over them. His jacket contains a large white design based on a target crosshair (also reminiscent of a "Chi Rho", an old Christian symbol) and also has several bear paw prints lining the bottom edge of it. He is roughly the same size as Moria. His overall appearance looks like a bear. His eyes are strangely convered by glasses or lens and his pupils glow in the dark (often resembling the Terminator movie).

In the anime, Kuma's hair and jacket are black. His hat is gray and the spots on it are dark brown. The covering of his Bible is also shown to be intricately colored. In the manga, Kuma has a completely different color scheme, than the one presented in the anime, that was originally intended by Oda. Kuma's hair is brown while his jacket is orange. His hat is yellow with green spots and his Bible is gold.

Personality

Despite his imposing figure and his past reputation, Kuma is a very calm and quiet person. The story behind him becoming a "Pacifista" and what exactly it entails is still unknown, but this may explain the contradictory stories.

Though he obeys the World Government and despite his title as a tyrant, Kuma appears to be a rather benevolent character, especially compared to the other Shichibukai, having saved the Straw Hats lives twice. He seems to have a rather pacific view and appears to actually care for the state of world. When he met up with Moria, he offered help in the chance that Moria may be defeated despite not being given an order to do. When ordered to kill all the witnesses to Moria's defeat, he offered them alternatives for them to survive despite being told to leave no survivors.

Kuma even fears that Blackbeard's acceptance into the Shichibukai ranks may be a bad thing despite it filling up the gap left by Crocodile. Kuma overall appears to be not totally blind to what is good and bad as commonly defined by the World Government, unlike others such as Rob Lucci or Akainu for instance. Kuma also acts on his own intentions if the World Government is not involved in the situation, such as the Sabaody incident where he use his Devil Fruit powers to send the Straw Hats away rather than letting them fall into the Navy's hands.

When talking, Kuma usually uses figures of speech involving "target" in his sentences, such as "You're right on target, I am Kuma". This is also shown on his clothes with his closed jacket and the backcover of his bible having a large cross-hairs on it.

Kuma usually asks someone where they would like to go right before he sends them away with his Devil Fruit's power.

Abilities and Powers

Kuma is a cyborg modified by Dr. Vegapunk. However, he is unlike and much stronger than Franky. His body is able to withstand most attacks, including Sanji's kicks and even Zoro, who was able to cut through steel, only leave a scratch in Kuma with a surprise attack. With his modifications, he is an incomplete weapon of the World Government and the Marines, called a "Pacifista". In terms of fighting style, he fights in a style reminiscent of sumo-wrestling. He crouches low in a wide stance, even using the signature stomp, and attacks with open-palm strikes using his special Devil Fruit paws. Much in keeping with the sumo inspiration, Kuma spends almost all of his time with his feet planted, refusing to give his ground. Ironically, he is actually one of the fastest characters yet introduced (with the ability to move at the speed of light, only Kizaru and Eneru can match his speed). Thanks to his devil fruit, he instantaneously appears at his destination, and is never actually observed moving at more than a slow walk. With his cyborg abilities, he's capable of firing a laser attack from his mouth capable of melting steel.

Adding to this, he is the only person who has completely defeated the Straw Hat Crew, and did so twice, though both times the crew were extremely weakened and were in no shape to fight another battle much less a Shichibukai. However, he doesn't seem to want to permanently injure the Straw Hat's either, having spared their lives twice, indicating he may have held back.

[CM Punk]

Note: THIS SECTION CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS, AS THE CHARACTERS IN THIS POST HAVE NOT BEEN INTRODUCED, DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

Kizaru

Appearance

Kizaru is a middle aged man with a moderate amount of wrinkles on his face. He has appeared in a striped suit with the standard Marines' coat over it. He wears shades and a portable Den Den Mushi on his wrist. He is very tall, about the same height as Aokiji.

The way Kizaru's character design is drawn resembles the famous Japanese actor, Kunie Tanaka

Personality

Kizaru's pesonality appears a combination of the more laid-back Aokiji and the more ruthless Akainu.

Like Aokiji, Kizaru seems to be very laid-back and easygoing, even in surprising and unexpected situations, but he's apparently never shocked. Even when a pirate fired a gunshot at him, he seemed to be focused only on calling his subordinate, and didn't even mind. He even asked the offenders where his subordinate was. After uprooting a mangrove tree, he laughed to himself that the force he used was a tad excessive. He's also very calm and cool-headed, even in tense situations, such as when Basil Hawkins appeared unharmed by his attack, or when Rayleigh appeared. Unfortunately, he can be quite absent-minded and irresponsible, judged by the fact he used a lot of power in a kick directed at escaping pirates, uprooted an entire mangrove tree, and tried to call Sentoumaru with a black Den Den Mushi, which is only for intercepting communications. He also seems to prefer his original name, Borsalino, rather than his alias, as shown when Sentoumaru called him and he said, "This is Borsalino".

However, more in line with Akainu, he is shown to have a ruthless side: he gives criminals, in particular pirates, very little mercy once he has targeted them. He even planned to capture Silvers Rayleigh, who had given up pirating over twenty years earlier, simply because he was the first mate of the Jolly Roger Pirates. Also although appearing calm and easy going, in annoyance of the events at the Sabaody Archipelago, Kizaru went for far to take his anger out on the pirates around the archipelago, which led to the capture of 500 pirates. Also like Smoker and Sengoku, he sees the Shichibukai as nothing more than just pirates, even if they are on the World Government's side

Abilites and Powers

Kizaru possesses the power of the Pika Pika no Mi, meaning glimmer or light, a Logia-type Devil Fruit. As a Logia-user, he is able to let objects pass through him and reconstruct his body from energy particles. He's as fast as light. All of his attacks are based on the element of light, such as firing energy blasts from his finger tips or feet. His power is very destructive, causing huge explosions and easily destroying buildings

End of Villian Bio's.

[CM Punk]

Note: The following section of this thread will be the largest, but the will be the last one. It will cover each and every arc. Posts will be reserved (About 5) for incoming information in ANY Section.

East Blue Saga

Captain Morgan Arc

Romance Dawn: Luffy's Beginning

This saga starts off with a flashback. Gold Roger was about to get executed, before he dies he tells the crowds to go out and search for his treasure. With that he sparked the Golden age of pirates; countless pirates raise their flags and set off to find One Piece.

We then move 12 years later to Fuschia Village where we immediately meet Luffy (age 7 at the time), who tries to prove his worth to the Red Haired pirates by cutting himself in the cheek (which is the cause of his scar). Afterwards we get a more formal introduction to Luffy and his idol, Red-Haired Shanks, while his crew enjoy themselves in a bar owned by Luffy's friend, Makino. Shank's crew has used the village as a base of operations for a year of which during that time Luffy has taken an appreciation to the pirate life and tries to talk Shanks into taking him with them on their next departure. But Shanks continually refuses as it too dangerous and instead teases Luffy on his inability to swim.

The mood shifts when mountain bandits enter the bar and their leader, Higuma, demands some rum. Makino tell him that the pirates had already finished off all the rum, though Shanks offers the last remaining bottle as an apology. Higuma smashes it over his head and insults him for being a pirate. Shanks ignores Higuma and starts to clean up the mess. This only serves to anger Higuma and causes him to break more bottles. With one final insult, Higuma and his bandits leave. After they are gone, Shanks and his crew laugh at what had just occurred, though Luffy thinks otherwise. He chides Shanks because he didn't fight back and then starts to leave. When Shanks grabs Luffy's arm to stop him, it suddenly stretches! That's when one of the crew members realizes that a fruit that was kept in a chest on the bar is gone. It doesn't take them long to figure out that Luffy had eaten it. Shanks then reveals the cause for panic: Luffy had eaten a Devil Fruit that will cause him to never be able to swim again!

The next day and Luffy starts to see an upside in eating the fruit. He begins to show off his rubber powers to some of the villagers, much to the chagrin of the Mayor of the village who doesn't like the idea of Luffy becoming a pirate. Later, Luffy visits Makino and once again expresses his disappointment at Shanks not fighting back the day before. Next we see Higuma and his bandits enter the bar.

The story shifts ahead a bit when Makino runs to the mayor for help because Luffy had upset the bandits and they were beating him up. After couple of more poundings, Higuma goes to finish Luffy off. The mayor tries to apologize for Luffy's action and offers money for his safety. But Higuma refuses and proceeds to kill Luffy anyway. Shanks returns and demands he let Luffy go. Higuma laughs at Shanks and sends his men to kill him as well. Instead, Shanks' first mate easily takes care of Higuma's thugs. When Shanks again demands that he let Luffy go, Higuma throws a smoke bomb, grabs Luffy, and escapes. Shanks starts panicking, but his first mate notices something...

Higuma sails a boat away from the town claiming a perfect getaway because no one suspects a bandit would flee to the ocean. Far from land, Higuma throws Luffy into the water and (true to the myth of the devil fruit), Luffy can't swim. A flashback shows us that when Higuma reentered the bar, he immediately started badmouthing Shanks, to which Luffy takes offense and screams for them to take back their words. Back in the present, Higuma laughs at Luffy's struggle but fails to notice the giant sea monster creeping up on him - until it is too late and he is eaten in one bite. The monster then sets his sights on Luffy, but Shanks pulls him away just in time and, with a very menacing expression on his face, tells the sea monster to leave. The monster leaves and Shanks tries to calm down a sobbing Luffy. Luffy points out that his left arm has been chomped off. Shanks tells him it's just a small price to pay for saving him.

Some time later, Shank's crew prepares to leave the village for the last time, and Luffy comes to say his goodbyes. When asked if he is disappointed, Luffy replies he is, but won't ask to join and that he will be a pirate on his own. Shanks teases him again and Luffy screams that he will be a better pirate than him - that he will be the Pirate King. Upon hearing this, Shanks gives Luffy his favorite straw hat and make him promise that he will return it someday when they meet again. Afterwards, Shanks and his crew leave the village.

Ten years pass and Luffy, now a teenager (17), is old enough to leave on his own. As Luffy sails away from his village, he runs into the sea monster again. This time, Luffy is ready and punches the monster with a Gomu Gomu no Pistol, instantly knocking it out. Luffy once again claims that he will become the Pirate King!

Coby and Alvida

The next act in the arc finds Luffy being sucked into a whirlpool but rescued by a pirate crew when they find him in a barrel (which he jumped into at the last second). Their captain, an ugly and fat woman named Alvida, barges in after their discovery, thinking that they're drinking behind her back. But the crewmates put the blame on their cabin boy, Coby.

Meanwhile in some woods not far from the ship, Luffy gets acquainted with Coby, who turns out to be quite the coward and only became a cabin boy because he got on the wrong ship while out fishing and it was the only way to spare his life. Coby also reveals he wants to be a Marine, but feels this goal is out of his reach. However when Luffy tells Coby of his dream and his willingness to do it or die trying, Coby starts to get inspired. Which turns out to be good timing as Alvida finds the two and barks at Coby to say who the prettiest person in the world (something she makes all her crew do). At first Coby starts to do as told, but remembering Luffy's words, he blurts out that Alvida's the ugliest hag in the sea!

This, of course, angers Alvida and she goes to kill Coby with her iron mace (her signature weapon). Luffy pushes him back and takes the blow, taking no damage as his rubber body absorbs the impact. He then retaliates by hitting Alvida with a Gomu Gomu no Pistol, knocking her out with one punch. He then demands to the rest of her crew to give Coby a dingy so he can fulfill his dream of joining the marines.

The crew does so and the two sail off with Luffy wondering if he can get a famed pirate hunter named Roranoa Zoro to join his crew though Coby thinks it'll never happen.

[CM Punk]

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Captain Morgan

The third and final act of the Captain Morgan arc sees Luffy and Coby arriving in Shelltown that is home to a local Marine base. While stopping at a café to eat, the two talk about Zoro and Captain Morgan, which make the residents a little jumpy when their names are mentioned and gives Coby a bad feeling.

The two boys then head for the Marine base where they see the pirate hunter Zoro tied to a post. Zoro tries to get the two to untie him which Luffy is all for and Coby of course is against. Before the two can make their decision, a girl (to be known as Rika) climbs over the gate and goes to Zoro, offering him some rice balls. He refuses and tries to send her away, but a man in a tacky outfit with marines behind him approaches. He is Helmeppo, Captain Morgan’s spoiled son. Helmeppo swipes Rika’s rice balls and eat them, only to spit them out and complain they have too much sugar (whereas you originally season them with salt). He stomps them into dirt right before her eyes before ordering one of his men to literally throw Rika out, but luckily she is caught by Luffy.

Helmeppo then talks with Zoro where we find out that if Zoro can survive a month at the stake with no food, Helmeppo promises he’ll let him go. After Helmeppo and his guards leave, Luffy confronts Zoro and ask him to join his crew. Zoro initially turns him down, but before Luffy leaves. Zoro asks him to feed him the now heavily dirtied rice balls. After he eats it, he tells Luffy to tell Rika that they were delicious. To which Luffy does relay it to her, back in town, giving Coby a sense that Zoro can’t really be all bad.

Rika then tell Luffy and Coby that Zoro was thrown in prison for protecting her from a mean dog of Helmeppo's that was attacking her and the town. She also reveals that Morgan is the true menace to the island. Helmeppo happens to stroll into town at that very moment, bragging that he’ll put Zoro to death in three days. When Luffy confronts him on his promise, Helmeppo admits he was lying to which he receives a punch in the face from Luffy once the truth is known.

The townspeople start to panic as Helmeppo threatens to tell his dad what happened. Luffy, of course, isn’t worried and heads back to the base. In the base, Helmeppo bursts into his father's quarters, yelling he wants him to kill someone. On the marine ground, Luffy confronts Zoro again and makes a rather unfair deal with the swordsman, Luffy will get Zoro’s sword from the base. But if Zoro wants them back, he has to join the crew. Luffy then heads for the fortress while Zoro thinks he's a pretty dumb pirate.

At the top of the fortress, the marines are preparing to raise a newly finished statue of Captain Morgan, whom we are finally introduced to. He smacks then chides his son for his whining. Then he shows his cruel side when kills a lieutenant for not following his orders to search for and kill Rika. As the men begin to raise the statue, Luffy uses his rocket move to reach the top of the fortress. But overshoots and grabs onto the statue to stop himself, pulling the statue to the edge of the fortress and breaking it in half. Needless to say, Morgan is outraged and orders his men to kill Luffy, who ignores them and grabs Helmeppo before running into the base. On ground level, Coby trying to untie Zoro while asking him join Luffy and stop Morgan. Before he can finish his task, he is shot.

In the base, Luffy trying to get Helmeppo to tell him where Zoro’s swords are. He uses the man as a shield when he runs into marines. Back on ground level, we see Coby only been hit by in the arm. When Zoro tries to tell him to escape, Coby reveals Morgan's true intention of killing him. Morgan then appears before the two with a firing squad in tow. Back with Luffy he finds Zoro's sword but notices both his friends about to be killed. As the squad prepares to fire, Zoro reflects on his past where he was younger and met a girl name Kuina who he couldn’t beat in a duel, despite him being the strongest in his class.

One night, he challenges Kuina to a fight with real swords, which results in his 2001th loss against her. However Kuina reveals that she’ll get weaker when she grows older and can’t become a true swordsman. Zoro convinces her otherwise and makes her promise that one of them will someday become the greatest sword fighter in the world. Sadly, Kuina dies the next day from falling down some stairs, prompting Zoro to take it upon himself to keep their promise. Back in the present, Morgan tell the squad to fire, but Luffy jumps in front of the two,taking the bullets and then bouncing them right back at the marines. He then asks Zoro one more time to join his crew to which, under the circumstances, Zoro accepts.

Luffy then unties him just as the marines are bearing down on them with their swords. Surprisingly Zoro hold them all off with his Santoryu (three sword) style. He then pledges his loyalty to Luffy though he threaten to make Luffy commit suicide if he interferes with Zoro's dream. Luffy accepts his terms then takes care of the Marines with a Gomu Gomu No Whip (a stretching leg sweep.) Morgan then confronts Luffy afterward with his Ax-arm but the fight turns out to be very one-sided as Luffy keeps hitting Morgan without taking a blow himself.

Helmeppo stops the fight when he shows that he holding Coby hostage with pistol to his head. Coby however tells Luffy to not to worry about him and defeat the captain. Morgan rises over with his axe ready to bring fatal blow as Luffy hits Helemppo with a Gomu Gomu Pistol, but Zoro stops Morgan at the last second. The marines soon rejoice after their defeat as Captain Morgan’s tyranny is finally over.

Later Luffy, Zoro, and Coby are rewarded with a dinner at Rika’s house. As the three discuss their future plans, a Marine lieutenant named Ripper confronts the three, telling Luffy and Zoro that they have to leave since they're pirates, despite having saved them, though Ripper points out that he'll not report them to headquarters to repay the favor he owes them. When this issue is brought up with Coby (because of his cabin boy background), Luffy starts to reveal his past to which Coby socks him the face. The two start to fight until the lieutenant orders Luffy to leave. Coby realizes Luffy helped him out once again and comes to the realization that he must start standing up for himself. He proclaims to the weary lieutenant that he's no pirate and that he’ll be a Marine. Which is enough to get him accepted.

As Luffy and Zoro prepared to leave town, Coby catches up with them and salutes the two followed by the rest of the Marine base. Luffy tells Coby they’ll meet again someday as he and Zoro ride off to continue their adventure, bringing a close to the Captain Morgan arc.

Buggy the Clown Arc

The Thief and the Red-Nosed Pirate

The arc begins with Luffy and Zoro out at sea, lost and starving, due to the fact that neither of them have any sense of direction. Luffy spots a bird in the air and uses his rubber power to try and catch it so they can eat it. However, the bird turns out to be much larger than they thought, and flies off with Luffy in its mouth. Zoro rows after them, but comes across three pirates struggling in the ocean. They jump into Zoro's boat as he passes them (since he can't stop) and then try to steal the boat from Zoro, only to get beaten up for it. The pirates then apologize for their actions, recognizing Zoro as the famous pirate hunter, and explain to him how their situation came about. They were returning from successfully plundering a ship when they the came across a small boat drifting the ocean with a female passenger on board. She asked for some food and water and offered a treasure chest as payment. The greedy pirates decide to check the chest first, only to find it empty and that the girl had stolen their boat. A sudden maelstrom appeared and sunk the small boat along with the pirates while the girl waved goodbye as she rode off with their boat.

Back in the present, the pirates growl about getting revenge and worry about what their captain Buggy will do to them if they come back empty handed, while Zoro wonders who Buggy is. Meanwhile, in a small village named Orange Town, a pirate ship designed like a carousel is docked near the town. One of the pirates on the ship spot Luffy and the bird, alerting the captain, to which their captain orders him to shoot it down. In town, the same girl who had robbed the pirates is running away from three more angry pirates who are yelling at her to return a map of the Grand Line she stole. An explosion halts the chase for a moment and something crashes in the middle of the four. Luffy emerges from the smoke unharmed, wondering what shot at him. The girl suddenly gets an idea and calls Luffy "boss", asking him to take care of the pirates. The pirates crowd around Luffy, one them striking him on the head and knocking off his straw hat. This angers Luffy and he easily defeats all three. The girl, who was watching, is impressed by his abilities and introduces herself as Nami, a thief who specializes in robbing pirates.

[CM Punk]

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Nami at first tries to form a partnership with Luffy but when she finds out he is a pirate, she switches to the idea to pretend to turn Luffy in to Buggy as her former boss and join Buggy so she can steal his gold. This works well until Buggy orders her to kill Luffy to prove her loyalty. Nami's conscience gets the best of her and she is compelled to save Luffy. Fortunately, Zoro shows up in time to save them both and fights Buggy. He cuts Buggy into pieces, marveling at how easily he was defeated. But when he turns around, he finds that Buggy's hand has managed to detach itself, stabbing Zoro in his midsection. Buggy then reveals he has eaten a Devil's Fruit giving him the power to detach his body parts, separating into sections. However, our heroes manages to escape by firing Buggy's cannon at Buggy and his crew.

The Town's Last Citizen

Escaping into the empty town, the three happen upon a dog, Chou-Chou, and the Mayor of Orange Town, Boodle, who explains the dog's situation of guarding his master's pet shop, despite knowing his master is dead. But the talk is interrupted by the arrival of Buggy's first mate, Mohji, and his pet lion, Richie. Nami and Boodle escape (Zoro is recovering from his wound in the Mayor's house) but Luffy is still stuck in the cage Buggy imprisoned him in when Nami turned him in. Richie attacks Luffy, breaking the cage and sending Luffy flying through a house. Noticing the pet store, he then turns his attention toward it. Chou-Chou defends it to the best of his ability, but is no match for the lion. When Luffy comes back into the area, he see the pet shop burned to the ground and the dog heartbroken over it. Luffy then confronts Moji and Richie and defeats both easily, then takes the last box of dog food left from the store and gives it to Chou-Chou.

Buggy's Flash Finale

Boodle, inspired by Luffy's courage, goes to confront Buggy, but is almost choked to death. Luckily, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami arrive and save him, then knock him out to make sure he doesn't get in the way. Zoro fights with Cabaji, Buggy's second mate and swordsman, and despite his wounds, defeats him. Luffy finally takes on Buggy while Nami sneaks off to steal Buggy's treasure. During the fight, Buggy reveals his acquaintance with Shanks and how he gained his powers. He then sets after Nami when he spots her taking his loot, but Luffy saves her. As Buggy separates his body parts again, preparing for another attack on Luffy, Nami steals some of them, tying the stolen body parts together. Buggy is left with just his hands, feet and head, vulnerable for Luffy to send him flying.

Nami gives Luffy the map of the Grand Line as she thanks him and agrees to partner up with him for the time being. As the trio starts to relax however, the townspeople come back into the town, and seeing their mayor knocked out, demand answers. Luffy replies that the three are pirates, and the townspeople chase them out of town, though the three managing to lose them thanks to Chou-Chou's intervention. Boodle wakes up and set after them himself just as Luffy, Zoro, and Nami leave the island on two small boats, thanking the three from the dock as they sail off. To Nami's surprise however, Luffy had deliberately left one of her treasure bags behind that was worth half a million berries to help the people of Orange Town rebuild their homes and she threatened Luffy never to do that again.

So with that, the three pirate sail off to continue their journey to the Grand Line.

Captain Kuro Arc

The Man in the Treasure Chest

The first part of this arc sees the group land on a mysterious island inhabited by strange creatures. After passing the "Test" of the forest, the Straw Hat Pirates (now comprising Luffy, Zoro, and Nami) meet Gaimon, a pirate stuck inside a treasure chest that was marooned by his crew. The four become friends and Luffy agrees to help Gaimon get down the treasure he has been guarding on top of the rock. When Luffy refuses to throw down the treasure chests, Gaimon realizes that the chests on the rock are the same as the island’s other treasure chests which are empty. Seeing Gaimon’s disappointment, Luffy offers to take him off the island. Gaimon decides to remain on the island and protect the island’s rare animals which he has become his friends. With that, The Straw Hats bid Gaimon goodbye and continue on.

The Liar and the Deceiver

Next, the Straw Hat Pirates arrive in Syrup Village where we meet Usopp. Usopp entertains notions of grandeur by commanding the Usopp Pirates (called the Veggie Pirates in the English dub). This group is composed of Usopp and three loyal village children, Tamanegi, Ninjin, and Piiman. The Usopp Pirates cause no real trouble, but do frequently annoy the villagers, most often by giving false warnings of attacking pirates.

Usopp's wealthy friend Kaya is bedridden, but is well-provided for by her two butlers Merry and Kurahadol. However, Kurahadol hides a dangerous secret: he is act ually the evil Captain Kuro, leader of the Black Cat Pirates. Though Kuro was believed to have been executed years ago, in reality, an imposter was switched to take his place. The real Kuro has since been undercover, working to acquire the villagers’ respect and Kaya's assets so he can have peaceful retirement.

The Straw Hat Pirates make a stop at Syrup Village in search of a ship. Usopp is overjoyed to have real pirates arrive, and greets them with a cleverly-conceived act designed to fool the pirates into believing he is the commander of his own huge pirate fleet. The ruse fails, and Luffy and friends proceed into Syrup Village unhindered. Soon the Straw Hats make friends with Usopp when Luffy discovers he is the son of Yasopp, one of the pirates in Shank's crew.

[CM Punk]

[continued from previous post]

The Plans of the Black Cat

Kuro's long awaited time to act arrives, as he meets with his former first Mate Jango but his identity and plan was accidentally overheard by Luffy and Usopp. Django hypnotizes Luffy to sleep who then falls off a cliff and is believed to be dead by everyone present but is unaware that Luffy had survived because of his Devil Fruit powers.

Kuro allows Usopp to flee because no one would believe him which proves to be true as the villagers choose to not believe in Usopp's warnings and when trying to warn Kaya, she thinks that Usopp is trying to kidnap her and Merry, armed with a gun chases him off. Usopp then lies to his crew in order to protect them from harm. The Straw Hat Pirates are aware that the situation however, and decide to lend aid on the side of Usopp and Kaya and prepare with setting up traps. That night Merry gives Kurahadol the glasses that Kaya bought for his three years of service, only for Kurahadol to destroy them and reveal his true intentions that he wants Kaya's estate and then attacks Merry to prevent him from warning Kaya. Kuro's ship and crew arrive at Syrup Village the next day and believe to find no resistance.

Battle Against the Black Cat Pirates

Miscalculations in the Black Cat pirates landing area (because Usopp assumed the area where Kuro met Jango was the arrival point, unaware that the real landing point was on the other beach) caused for Usopp and Nami to initially fight the pirates alone, as Luffy got lost and Zoro was tricked by Nami into the oil slick trap they set up earlier when Nami realized the pirates landing point was where their rafts and her treasure are and did not want anyone to claim it.

Just before the two are killed, Zoro and Luffy arrive and fight Kuro's crew. Jango hypnotizes the crew to increase their strength but accidentally hypnotizes Luffy and Jango is forced to hypnotize Luffy to sleep again but accidentally causes the crew to be knocked out by the ship's stempost which Luffy was holding onto when he fell asleep. Meanwhile Kaya finds the wounded Merry who informs her of Kurahadols identity and realizing she was wrong about her accusations to Usopp heads out to find Kuro to talk to him. Right around that time Usopp's crew figures out that his earlier lie about a pirate attack was actually a lie and noticing Kaya walking out of the village the three follow her.

Meanwhile Jango summons the ship's guards the Meowban brothers, Buchi and Sham who fight against Zoro. Disarmed of all but one sword, Zoro must fight an uphill battle against the team-work of Buichi and Sham which is difficult without all three swords and Zoro prevents Usopp from helping him by taking a hit from his Lead Star to keep him from getting dragged into the fight. Kuro then appears disgusted by how Black Cat pirates are getting beaten by children and gives the Meowban brothers five minutes before he kills everyone.

Nami is able to kick Zoro's swords back to him, allowing him to defeat the Meowban brothers, but Buchi survives and is hypnotized by Jango which injures Zoro faster. Nami goes to wake Luffy up, and Jango tries to stop her with his Chakram, but at the last second Nami steps on Luffy's face that gets him up in time to stop the Chakram with his rubbery body. Kaya then intervenes, holds Kuro at gunpoint and tries to get him to remember the fun times they had. However, Kuro reveals that he never cared about her and only wants her money and was simply waiting for this day where he can kill her, causing Kaya to drop the gun in shock Usopp tries to attack Kuro to defend Kaya, but Kuro injures him badly in retaliation. Kuro is then attacked by Usopp's crew who had arrived and Kuro simply brushes off their attack.

Usopp orders his crew to take Kaya and flee, the three take Kaya into the forest, while Kuro sends Jango after them. Zoro finishes off Buchi and then heads out with Usopp as his guide on his back to rescue Kaya and the boys (since Usopp can't move due to his injures and Zoro needs him to navigate through the forest), while Luffy deals with Kuro and his lightning-fast movements and his ten deadly finger-blades. Eventually Jango catches up with his target and easily overpowers the boys. Kaya threatens to kill herself with Jango's Chakram to stop Jango from hurting Usopp's crew and allows Jango to force herself to sign the will that allow Kuro to "legally" acquire her wealth after he kills her. Zoro and Usopp catch up and proving himself less useless than he may seem, Usopp aids Zoro in defeating Jango and rescuing Kaya and the boys with his sniper skills.

Meanwhile Kuro unleashes his "Shakushi" that attacks everything in sight including his own men and reveals that part of his original plan was to kill his crew including Jango so his true identity could never be exposed. Angered by Kuro's lack of respect to his crew, and that Kuro had abandoned the ideal of what it means to be a pirate, the final victory is won by Luffy, however, who defeats him with his devastating Gum Gum Bell attack and forces the Black Cat pirates to leave the village with Kuro's body.

Baratie Arc

Of Bounty Hunters, Cooks, and Pirates

The arc begins with the Straw Hats (Monkey D. Luffy, Roronoa Zoro, Nami and the newly joined Usopp) checking out their new pirate ship as well as designing a Jolly Roger for it. As a test of the ship's capabilities, Luffy and Usopp test out one of the cannons on board by shooting at a rock formation. However, unbeknownst to them, two pirate hunters happen to be on said rock and one of them attacks the ship in retaliation. Luffy fights him, but Zoro points him out to be a friend of his. It's here we meet Johnny and Yosaku, who were on the rock that was shot at. After the Straw Hats apologize and Nami cures Yosaku of his scurvy, the crew realizes that they are going to need a cook for the ship to maintain the quality of their food stores before they can go to the Grand Line. To repay the favor for helping them, Johnny and Yosaku tell the crew of a floating restaurant in the middle of the ocean where they might find a cook and then help navigate the crew to said restaurant, the Baratie.

As soon as they get there the group runs into trouble with a Marine Lieutenant, Fullbody. In the scuffle between the two, Luffy accidentally redirects a cannonball into the Baratie's roof. While Luffy tries to make a deal with the captain, head chef and owner of the ship, Zeff, to pay for the damages caused to the roof, we meet Sanji, the assistant chef. Sanji has an encounter with Fullbody as well, and almost kills Fullbody for insulting the Baratie's food. However, an even bigger incident occurs when a pirate named Gin, comes onto the ship demanding food (he was being detained by Fullbody, because he is a member of Don Krieg's armada). Although denied food, beaten and thrown out of the restaurant by the crew, Sanji secretly serves the man a savory meal, saving Gin from starvation. Despite this act of kindness, when Gin leaves and returns to his ship, he tells Don Krieg about the Baratie. After hearing about the ship, Don Krieg comes to believe that taking over the Baratie is a key step in ressurecting his fleet.

Eventually Krieg comes to the restaurant under the pretense that he won't hurt anyone if he receives some food. Of course, Krieg attacks the cooks onboard and claims the Baratie as his own, since his original ship and his entire fleet were destroyed seven days into the Grand Line by a mysterious figure. Just as important, his crew is on the verge of death from starvation. Surprisingly, Zeff gives a sack of food to Krieg and warns his cooks about the upcoming battle. The Baratie raises the battle fins, which protect the restaurant part of the Baratie, and the cooks and Krieg's pirates begin to fight.

[CM Punk]

[continued from previous post]

The Ultimate Armada and The Ultimate Swordsman

In the midst of the battle, Luffy (who has been working as "Chore Boy" to pay off the damages to the roof) and the other male Straw Hat members try to get the Going Merry away from the battle. Only then do they realize that Nami double crossed them and stole their ship and treasure. Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku prepare to go after her. However, their plans are brought to a halt when Krieg's galleon is suddenly sliced in half. Through the wreckage of the ship sails the mysterious figure that Zoro instantly recognizes as Dracule "Hawkeye" Mihawk, one of the Shichibukai, and the best swordsman in the world. Zoro decides to try and defeat Mihawk to gain the title of best swordsman in the world, but is clearly outmatched by Mihawk's strength. However, Zoro impresses Mihawk with his courage and honor. As a result, Mihawk spares Zoro's life (so that he can become a better swordsman and that they may battle again). After the loss, Zoro vows never to lose again before setting off with the other Straw Hats to go after Nami while Luffy stays behind to help the Baratie. With that Mihawk disappears and Krieg directs his attention back to the Baratie.

The Chef's Battles and the Chore Boy's Battles

The cooks find that Krieg's pirates aren't pushovers and the battle isn't going well for the Baratie's cooks, at least until Sanji joins the fray. However, the tide turns back in Krieg's favor when his second mate, Iron Wall Pearl arrives. He almost burns down the ship, and thrashes Sanji around while Gin holds Zeff at gunpoint. It is during this point we learn about Sanji's past. Surprisingly, Gin saves Sanji from Pearl, claiming he wanted to kill the cook. The two fight briefly, with Gin gaining the upper hand. However Gin can't bring himself to kill Sanji, which makes Krieg furious. As a result, he tries to kill Gin with a poison gas grenade known as MH5. Gin barely survives. This act upsets Luffy, and he attacks Krieg. What follows is a long fight on the wreckage of Krieg's ship. Krieg uses everything in his armor's arsenal to kill Luffy. However, Luffy counters and powers though each weapon, finally finishing off Krieg by slamming him into the side of the Baratie with his legs (although Krieg would not stay down until a final punch in the gut by Gin stops him in his tracks). However, Krieg's final attack with his iron net sends Luffy into the ocean . Sanji saves Luffy from the ocean and Gin and the rest of Kreig's pirates sail away on a small dingy.

In the final act of the arc, Zeff and his cooks try to persuade Sanji to leave by telling him a soup he cooked tasted awful. Sanji doesn't buy into the act but remembers his dream of the All Blue and finally decides agrees to join Luffy's crew. Just as he makes his decision, Yosaku comes back (traveling on a panda shark) and warns Luffy that Nami headed toward a dangerous island. Zeff and the Baratie cooks all give Sanji a tearful send off before he, Luffy, and Yosaku head out to catch up with the others.

Arlong Arc

In Pursuit of Nami

The Arlong arc begins with the end of the Baratie arc, starting off with Luffy, Sanji, and Yosaku heading for Arlong Park in a small boat. To pass the time Yosaku tells them about the Shichibukai and how this relates to their current destination Arlong Park. When Sanji doubts that Nami is heading there, Yosaku explains that they were able to estimate her course after he and Johnny had suspected the connection between the two before they were thrown off the Going Merry, where the two noticed that Nami had been interested in their copy of Arlong's wanted poster and her behavior quickly became suspicious when they told her that Arlong recently became more active. Meanwhile, Nami arrives at Arlong Park in the Merry. Once she arrives at the park's gate. A boy confronts her, trying to fight Arlong for the death of his father. Nami slaps him however and gives some berries to make him go away. After which were introduced to Arlong and his crew and discover that Nami is part of Arlong's pirates.

Usopp, Zoro, and Johnny arrive at the island, but Usopp and Johnny freak out once they discover the island and, seeing that two fish-men have spotted them, abandon ship leaving Zoro (who was tied up by the two to, ironically, prevent him from fighting the fish-men) to be captured by the fish-men. Both boys then find themselves in the remains of Gosa Village with all the houses upturned. One of the fish-men from earlier spot the two and gives chase. Johnny manages to escape and hide while Usopp ends up getting attacked by the same boy from earlier believing Usopp to be a fish-man; however, a woman manages to stop him. Seeing the real fish-man getting closer, Usopp readies to fight him but gets knocked out by the woman who claims it not a good idea to fight the fish-men.

Meanwhile, Luffy, Sanji and Yosaku continue sailing, and just as they take a break to eat, they encounter a giant sea cow monster that’s attracted by their food. Luffy punches it at first prompting Sanji to reprimand him for it. But when he realizes the sea cow sees them as food, he quickly subdues it with his kicks. The three then strap the boat to the sea cow and use it to tow them to the island.

Meanwhile, Usopp awakens in the woman's household whom introduces herself as Nojiko. After convincing the boy to give up on his quest for vengeance. Nojiko reveals to Usopp that she Nami's sister and the island is her hometown as well as Nami being a part of Arlong's crew. Usopp then panics after he realizes what he gotten Zoro into. Speaking of whom, Zoro is brought to Arlong Park where he finds out Nami's allegiance to Arlong. After some banter, in which Arlong proudly states that Nami is the type of person who would betray even her own family for the sake of riches, which visibly disturbs Nami; trying to test her allegiance, Zoro throws himself into the water to test Nami. To which she does saves Zoro but beats him to reassure that she still part of Arlong's crew.

The Navigator's Tragedy

Arlong then heads to Cocoyashi Village, where he confronts Genzo, the village sheriff, for simply collecting a new weapon. It's here Nojiko reveals to Usopp, both of whom are watching, about the monthly fee the villagers have to pay Arlong in order to survive. Just as Arlong is about to kill Genzo, Usopp saves him, and runs as some of the Fish-men come after him while the others drag Arlong off before he goes berserk. Nami arrives sometime later, but the villagers treat her coldly and leave save for Nojiko and Genzo. The three later visit the grave site of Nami's adoptive mother, Bellemere, where Nami reveals she's almost finished paying Arlong's fee to buy back Cocoyashi.

At Arlong Park, Zoro has busted free from the dungeon (with some help from Nami, who cut his bonds) and defeated all the fish-men. He meets the octopus fish-man, Hatchan, who is oblivious of what happened at the park, thinking Zoro a corrupt Marine, tows him to Cocoyashi. However, after landing, he overhears some villagers talk about Usopp's attacking the fish-men and quickly tries to rush back to the park to save. But its already too late, the fish-men have captured Usopp and threaten to kill him. Nami happens upon the scene and threaten to kill Usopp herself. Usopp makes to get away with a smoke bomb. But Nami intercepts him and stabs him with a knife before kicking him into the ocean to drown, convincing Arlong and the fish-men that she is indeed one of them while from afar Johnny looks on in horror.

Back with Luffy's group, who finally arrive on the island and run into Zoro in the process. Johnny finds them as well and tells the group what happened to Usopp. Nami soon meets them and reminds Luffy that she just partnered up with him for the treasure. She then tells the group to take their ship back and get off the island but Luffy refuses causing Nami to angrily walk away. Johnny and Yosaku also split off, not wanting to be killed by the fish-men. It’s at that moment we find Usopp alive and well as Nami had stabbed her arm instead of him and he merely fainted. He comes across Luffy and the others and tells of what really happened. Nojiko finds the four and agrees to tell them the reason behind Nami's motives. Though Luffy and Zoro don't heard it, Sanji and Usopp (as well as an eavesdropping Johnny and Yosaku) listen to the story of Nami's past...

When Nami was younger, she and her sister Nojiko lived with their foster mother, Bellemere. Although they were poor, they were happy. Then Arlong came. Upon his arrival, he demanded that the citizens of the island pay him for their lives - 100,000 Beli per adult, and 50,000 Beli per child. Needless to say, Bellemère could not pay this fee. She could only come up with 100,000 Beli. And, although the two children are in hiding, she decided to sacrifice her own life so that they could live freely. Arlong agreed to Bellemere's terms, and killed her in front of the two children. Not only that, but Arlong decided to take Nami with him, deciding her cartography skills would be useful. Later, Nojiko finds Nami at Bellemere's grave. Nami reveals to Nojiko that she has made a deal with Arlong to buy back Cocoyashi village for 100,000,000 Beli.

[CM Punk]

Later, some Marines, led by a captain named Nezumi, land on the island. Nezumi has Genzo take him to Nami and Nojiko's household, where he accuses Nami of harboring illegal money. Nami tries to stop them, but the Marines find the money. Genzo reveals to the Marines that the money is for the repurchase of the town, and admits to a startled Nami that he and the town always knew what she was doing after she "joined" Arlong. Nami tries to prevent the Marines from taking the money. However, she fails, and Nojiko is shot in the arm when she tries to protect Nami. Nami runs back to Arlong and accuses him of sending the Marines to look for her money. But Arlong denies it, claiming he never broke their deal and tells her that if she want her village back, she'll just need to start again from scratch. Nami runs off as he laughs. Back in the village, Genzo rallies the villagers. He wants to attack Arlong for going back on the deal he and Nami brokered. Nami tries to halt them but their minds are set and they head for Arlong Park. A furious and upset Nami stabs herself in the arm where Arlong's tattoo is, only to be stopped by Luffy. After his interruption, Nami finally asks for Luffy's help. He places his straw hat on her and agrees. With that, Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji head for Arlong Park.

Straw Hats vs. Fishmen

Johnny and Yosaku, who tried to take on Arlong and failed, stop the villagers at the gate and tell them to wait for "those guys" to show up (meaning the Straw Hat crew). When the crew arrives, Luffy breaks down the door and slugs Arlong for making Nami cry. The rest of the fish-men attack, along with Mohmoo, the sea cow from earlier. However, Luffy takes care of them by grabbing Mohmoo and spinning around like a pinwheel using his rubber powers. This leaves Arlong and his three subordinates, Hatchan, Chew, and Kuroobi standing. The last attack left Luffy's feet stuck in the ground. Arlong takes advantage of this by uprooting the gravel around Luffy's legs and throwing him into the ocean, proclaiming that it is a "game" and the other Straw Hats must beat the fish men to save Luffy. Zoro takes on Hatchan despite his wound and fever but manages to win against Hatchan's six-sword style (with some help from Johnny and Yosaku). Sanji fights Kuroobi, almost being defeated when he goes into the water to rescue Luffy. But, seeing that Nojiko and Genzo are helping Luffy, Sanji forces Kuroobi up to dry land and defeats him. Finally, Usopp fights Chew outside of Arlong Park. At first he fakes his defeat so Chu will leave him alone. But, remembering the others are fighting for Nami's sake, Usopp gains the courage to take on and eventually beat Chew.

Nami arrives in the midst of the battle and sides with the villagers to fight Arlong. Luckily Nojiko and Genzo revive Luffy and Sanji frees him of the rock on his feet to finally fight Arlong one on one. A rough battle ensures as Luffy and Arlong trade blows around the park until Arlong forces Luffy to escape into a room at the top of the tower where Arlong reveals is where Nami slaved on making maps for him. When Arlong pronounced Luffy can't use Nami the way he can, that proves to be the turning point as Luffy begins to destroy the room that has brought Nami grief through the years (with Nami thanking him as she watches furniture she worked on fall from the tower.) Arlong tries to stop him with a final attack but Luffy is quicker on the draw with his Gomu Gomu no Ono move and smashes Arlong through the tower, finally beating him. The impact also destroys the park in the process.

The Navigator's Last Laugh

At first everyone believes Luffy dead, but he reemerges from the wreckage yelling "NAMI, YOU'RE MY NAKAMA!" to which she wholeheartedly agrees. The village then celebrates their freedom, though it is almost spoiled by Nezumi who tries to claim Arlong's money for himself. Some swift beatings from Nami and the rest of the Straw Hats convince him otherwise. Nezumi retreats, telling Luffy he will make him pay. He reports Luffy's victory at his Marines base. As a result, the Marines place a 30 million Belly bounty on Luffy's head.

In the aftermath, the village has a party celebrating their heroes. Luffy finds Genzo at Bellemere's grave site, where the sheriff makes him promise he won't make Nami cry or else. Also, Nami gets a new tattoo of a tangerine and a pinwheel merged together to replace her Arlong one. The next day, Johnny and Yosaku leave the Straw Hats with the reasoning since their bounty hunters and it wouldn't look good to be traveling with pirate, thus bidding them farewell. As the crew gets ready to leave, they realize Nami hasn't arrived yet. That is until Nami yells for them to cast off as she runs for the docks. The confused villagers try to stop her so they can say goodbye but she runs past them and jumps onto the ship. She pulls up her shirt to reveal that she stole all the villager's wallets as she ran past causing all of them to yell "YOU LITTLE BRAT". Despite their disbelief and anger, they wave goodbye to her and the Straw Hats as they leave the island. As she watches them go, Nojiko realizes Genzo does not have on the pinwheel. Genzo wore the pinwheel on his hat to make Nami laugh when she was a baby, and to make her feel better as she grew up. When asked, Genzo tells Nojiko that he does not need it anymore. It then goes to reveal the pinwheel on Bellemere's grave as the Going Merry sails off for the Grand Line.

Loguetown Arc

Last Stop to the Grandline

The arc starts off with the Straw Hats lounging around on the Going Merry's deck when a flier slips out of the newspaper Nami is reading, showing the 30,000,000 Beli bounty on Luffy's head. Luffy is more than overjoyed with it, though Nami tells him it'll be more trouble for the crew now that people will be after him. Zoro then spots an island, and Nami points it out to be Loguetown, the last stop in East Blue before the Grand Line, as well as the birth and death place of the famous pirate, Gold Roger. The crew decide to stop off there to grab supplies.

Meanwhile, the bounty poster reaches Luffy's hometown and the villagers are more than happy that Luffy's fulfilling his dream though the Mayor, Woop Slap, whose always been against Luffy becoming a pirate, thinks its more destiny then a dream. Meanwhile, Mihawk also delivers the poster to Shanks, who celebrates Luffy's coming with a party.

Back in Loguetown, while shopping for new swords to replace the ones Mihawk destroyed, Zoro has his first meeting with Tashigi, shaken that she looks like his childhood friend Kuina, who helps him pick out two new swords. Sanji buys a gigantic fish for the crew; Usopp, some more supplies, ammo, and new goggles; and Nami, a bundle of clothes. Luffy, meanwhile, goes to check the execution stand where Gold Roger was executed. While he climbs and admires the view from the stand, a woman calls out to him, seemingly recognizing Luffy though he has no idea who she is. When part of the fountain in the town square breaks off and hits her, the debris just slides right off her. She then reveals herself to be Alvida, the first pirate Luffy came across on his trip. Only now, she eaten the Slip Slip Fruit causing her figure to change, dramatically. She not alone either, as another familiar pirate makes himself known, Buggy the Clown. Cabaji ambushes Luffy on the platform, and puts him in shackles, while Buggy's pirates holds the town square hostage. Buggy then explains that this is Luffy's execution.

At the Marine Base in town, one of the men reports to his captain about the pirate ongoings in town. It is here where we meet Captain Smoker (Chaser in the English dub) who never lets a pirate leave his town uncaptured. He decides to wait for Luffy to be executed before moving in. The rest of the Straw Hats also get wind of whats going on and split off, Zoro and Sanji to go rescue Luffy, while Nami and Usopp ready the ship to leave as Nami detects a storm approaching the island.

Zoro and Sanji reach the execution area and try to plow through Buggy's pirates. But it doesn't look like they'll make it as Buggy begins to bring his sword down on Luffy's head. With all seeming lost, Luffy smiles and tells his two friends that it looks like the end. However a bolt of lighting hits Buggy's sword at the last second, and destroys the platform, freeing Luffy as with not a scratch on him. He, Zoro and Sanji then make for the Going Merry while Smoker, who was looking on, seems disturbed that Luffy laughed in the face of death. Realizing that it was very similar to Gold Roger before he died.

Buggy, after recovering from the shock, Alvida and Buggy's crew try to make their escape but are quickly captured by the Marines. Nami and Usopp reach the ship and quickly take down Mohji and his lion Richie who were trying to burn down the Going Merry. The other Straw Hats also run into opposition in the form of Tashigi, angry at that Zoro "tricked" her, causing him to stay behind and duel her. As well as Smoker, who Luffy and Sanji can't even hit due to his Moku Moku (Plume Plume in the dub) powers. However, the two are saved by a mysterious figure named Dragon, and his apparent powers over the storm that quickly blows the Marines away, allowing Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji to reach the ship unhindered. However, Smoker and Tashigi decide to abandon their posts to chase after them. Buggy and his crew, also freed by Dragon's powers, also decide to head for the Grand Line to chase Luffy.

With the storm guiding them and the lighthouse in sight, the Going Merry is soon nearing its long awaited destination. Each of the Straw Hats perform a "ceremony" of sorts by placing their foot on the barrel and revowing their dreams as the ship nears the entrance to the Grand Line.

[CM Punk]

Laboon Arc

The Giant Whale and Reverse Mountain

The arc begins with the Straws Hats arriving at Reverse Mountain through the storm after fleeing Loguetown. They are nearly blown off course and into the Calm Belt but eventually reach the entrance of Reverse Mountain and manage to climb its uphill rapids despite some tricky close calls. As they come down they hear a noise and notice something is blocking their path. They identify the blockage as a huge whale which is threatening to crush the Going Merry. Monkey D. Luffy manages to keep the ship from crashing into it, but seeing the bow broken off enrages Luffy and he attacks the whale. The whale swallows the Going Merry and her crew, except for Luffy who manages to escape onto the whale's back. Luffy finds an oddly placed hatch on the creature before it dives and climbs in. Inside, the Straw Hats suddenly find themselves in what looks like an outside setting with a house in the middle of the water where they meet an old man named Crocus. Meanwhile Luffy finds himself in a series of narrow passages and comes across two mysterious people inside known only as Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday who apparently are plotting to kill the whale. Eventually Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats reunite and it is revealed that the strange setting is in fact the whale's stomach. Crocus reveals that the whale's name is Laboon and that he is trying to ram into the mountain. Crocus manages to stop Laboon and after a brief struggle with the mysterious pair, Crocus begins to explain to the Straw Hats why the whale is covered with scars continually rams the mountain.

Years ago, Laboon befriended a group of pirates who stopped by the lighthouse, where Crocus worked, to make repairs on their ship. When they entered The Grand Line, Laboon, then only a very small whale, followed them. Out of fear for the whale's safety the pirates told Laboon to stay behind with Crocus, promising they would return someday. The pirates apparently fled the Grand Line later and never came back for Laboon, who continues to wait for them though its been over 50 years. The reason his head is scarred is that Laboon believes he can break through the mountain to reach his friends. Despite Crocus telling Laboon the truth, he still continues to ram into the mountain as it is the only hope Laboon has.

Crocus helps the Straw Hats out of the whale where Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday are thrown out to sea and escape. Once Crocus finishes Laboon's tale, Luffy suddenly picks a fight with Laboon again by jamming the Going Merry's mast into his forehead. After a brief scuffle between the whale and Luffy, Luffy claims the match to be a tie though he tells Laboon they will have a rematch when he and his crew come back from the Grand Line. As an extra precaution to this promise, Luffy paints the Straw Hats' pirate symbol on the whale's forehead, citing that if Laboon rams his head into the mountain it will wash away.

Finally, Crocus explains to the Straw Hats about how a regular compass will not work past Reverse Mountain and that they need a Log Pose (Grand Compass in the English version) if they want to travel the Grand Line. Crocus explains how the Log Pose works and mentions the final destination of the Grand Line, Raftel, where One Piece may lay as the only person to reach there was Gold Roger. Luffy reveals a Log Pose he found after they dumped the Mr. 9 pair but it is broken so Crocus loans them his. The Mr. 9 pair spies on the group from afar until they are knocked into the ocean by The Unluckies for failing their mission to kill Laboon. They reacquaint themselves with the Straw Hats again and beg them to take the two to their hometown, Whiskey Peak, to which Luffy agrees. With that they bid Crocus and Laboon farewell and set off.

As he watches them go, Crocus begins to wonder if these are the pirates they have been waiting for due to their strange atmosphere and asks if Roger thinks so too as the arc comes to a close.

End of East Blue Saga

Baroque Works Saga

Whiskey Peak Arc

The Fake Town and Mystery Characters

The arc begins with the crew out in the ocean on the starting leg of the Grand Line and quickly are introduced to the abnormality of the place as they experience first hand the ever changing weather, the shifting of the wind and the tides constantly keeping the crew (save for Zoro who slept through the whole thing) on their toes. Eventually the weather stabilizes and the crew spot an island on the horizon, the cactus town Whiskey Peak. Once there, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday thank the crew and jump ship much to the crew's confusion. Since the log pose needs time to reset, the crew have no choice but to dock at the mysterious island. Much to their surprise the resident welcome them as if they were heroes. Soon they meet the town's leader, Igarappoi who treats them with a party. The crew quickly take to the place eating, drinking, and flirting (in Sanji and Ussop's case) themselves silly into the night till eventually they all fall asleep.

However Igarappoi, as well as a few other operatives in disguise, turn out to be agents of the elusive Baroque Works criminal syndicate, but both Zoro and Nami knew something was wrong and stayed awake, thwarting their surprise attack. This syndicate operates only with the assignments that are delegated to its agents by the leader, who, like every other member higher than it's latter, remained secret and anonymous. When the town hiding bounty hunters (aka. Millions) are discovered, they hunt and attempt to murder Zoro who, without much effort, picks them off little by little, leaving an anxious Mr. 8 , Mr. 9, Miss Monday and Miss Wednesday to be dealt with.

Soon after, Mr. 5 and his lady partner Miss Valentine arrive, but were not present to aid the other, less capable agents of the organization. They reveal that the leader of Baroque Works (Mr.0) has discovered a spy, who has somehow successfully infiltrated its ranks, and that they've been sent to dispatch them. The spies are none other than Igaram (Mr.8, who used the alias Igarappoi as the town's leader) and Princess Nefertari Vivi (Ms. Wednesday) of the Arabasta kingdom. Mr. 9 and Ms. Monday, despite being rather unaware of the situation to their own admission, decide to hold off the Mr. 5 pair so that Vivi can escape but are quickly defeated.

In a twist of fate, the pirates that Vivi was meant to kill in her role as a double-agent are now her protectors, when Igaram promises Nami 100,000,000 Beli to ensure her safety back to Arabasta. When Zoro comes to Vivi's rescue, however, Luffy arrives at the scene and attacks him, under the assumption Zoro killed everyone in the town because they didn't make his favorite food. After fighting for a bit, they unintentionally defeat the Mr. 5 pair and stop fighting when they are hit by Nami.

At this point, Vivi explains that her kingdom was being ruined by a civil war started by Baroque Works, and if she can confront the rebel army with the information on the true cause of the war, she can end it. The leader of Baroque Works, according to her, wants to take over Arabasta and turn it into an "ideal nation" ruled by him, and she reveals the name of the leader--Sir Crocodile of the Shichibukai (Seven Warlords of the Sea). Unfortunately, by revealing his name, Luffy, Zoro, and Nami are added to the Baroque Works hitlist by the nearby Mr. 13.

Afterwards, Igaram appears dressed as Vivi and explains that he will act as a decoy. He departs from Whiskey Peak, only to have his ship be blown up as soon as he leaves, apparently killing him. The Straw Hats and Vivi run to the Going Merry only to find Miss Allsunday, the highest ranking female Baroque Works agent, waiting for them. As it turns out, she was the one who let Vivi find out the boss's identity, yet she was also the one who revealed that she and Igaram were double-agents and blew up the ship, so the crew is not sure whose side she's on. Ms. Allsunday gives them an Eternal Pose (a permanent Log Pose) to Nanimonai Island, which is supposedly very close to Arabasta, but Luffy destroys it, claiming that she doesn't decide their course. As Ms. Allsunday leaves, the crew leave for Little Garden, the next island of the Grand Line.

[CM Punk]

Little Garden Arc

The Land of Giants and...Dinosaurs?!

With a newly acquired Princess Vivi on board, the Straw Hats soon find themselves on the island of Little Garden, which is a misnomer as the island is anything but little- it is stuck in the prehistoric time period and teeming with huge dinosaurs and massive plant life. While Usopp and Nami feel uncomfortable leaving the ship, Vivi and Luffy decide to go explore the island. They soon meet Dorry, a giant warrior from the village of Elbaf who befriends them. Meanwhile, still back on the ship, Usopp and Nami are left alone when Sanji and Zoro decide to compete against each other to see who can bring back the most amount of meat. They are terrified when Broggy, another giant, shows up and decapitates a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He decides to bring them home with him, much to their alarm.

Elsewhere, Baroque Works agents Mr. 5, Miss Valentine, Mr. 3 and his partner Miss Goldenweek come together and reveal the 100,000,000 beli bounty on each of the giant's heads and it is suggested by Mr. 3 that they kill them, along with the Straw Hats.

Back at Dorry's campsite, Dorry explains that Broggy and he are forever destined to continue their 100 year long war, which was started over a reason Dorry had long forgotten (it is later revealed that a quarrel about their hunting competition which resulted in their exile from Elbaf). When Dorry and Broggy are just about to continue their bout, Dorry suffers from an internal explosion from his intake of the Straw Hats' wine, that of which was tampered by Mr. 5 and his Devil Fruit abilities. When Dorry chose to continue fighting Broggy despite his injuries, Broggy noticed a deficiency in his performance but was too late in identifying the perpetrators.

A series of battles begins as the Officer Agents try to kill or capture the Straw Hats and their giant hosts. Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek capture Nami, Vivi and Zoro and imprison them in a trap which slowly turns them into wax sculptures. It is up to Luffy, Usopp and Carue to defeat Mr. 5, Mr.3, Miss Goldenweek and Miss Valentine before this happens. With the giants' help they succeed and all four agents are put out of action.

Meanwhile, Sanji enjoys tea in Mr. 3's candle house and receives a call from Mr. 0 (referred to by other parties as Sir Crocodile) who mistook him for Mr. 3. He is ordered to go to Arabasta (later revealed to be a ploy to make assassinating him easier for Mr. 2) by way of the permanent Log Pose which is sent by the Unluckies, Mr. 13 and Miss Friday who attack Sanji and are defeated upon making the delivery. Dorry and Broggy bid farewell to the Straw Hats by destroying a Giant Goldfish who eats ships leaving the island. With that the Straw Hats head for Arabasta using an Eternal Pose they got from the Unluckies.

Drum Island Arc

The Island of Doctors and Sickness

Nami catches a terrible fever after their adventure in Little Garden, forcing the Straw Hat Pirates to make a detour to the king-less island of Drum. On their way to the island they are attacked by a group of pirates led by Wapol, whose Baku Baku no Mi allows him to eat anything and assimilate it into himself. After a brief skirmish, Luffy sends Wapol flying into the sea and the Straw Hats continue onto Drum Island. When they land, they are attacked again, this time by Drum Island's militia. However, after hearing about their plight, Dalton, the former captain of the guard, calls off the attack and leads them to the town of Bighorn. There, he explains the situation that the island is in.

In the recent past, the island was ruled by a cruel king, Wapol, the pirate the Straw Hats encountered earlier. Wapol banished all but the 20 best doctors from the island. For any medical treatment, one would have to beg him for the help of one of the remaining doctors, his "Isshi 20" as he called them. However, a powerful pirate named Blackbeard attacked the country. After witnessing Blackbeard's power, Wapol and his cabinet, with the exception of Dalton fled to the sea without even fighting back. Now, there is only one doctor left on the island--Dr. Kureha, who is often called a witch by the townspeople. She comes into towns at her own whim to check for patients. She lives in Drum Castle, which is on top of the highest of the "Drum Rockies", a chain of drum shaped mountains.

The Reindeer Doctor

After learning this, Luffy and Sanji head for the mountain with Nami in tow, only to be attacked by dozens of Lapahns, giant ferocious rabbits. A fight ensues, and its ferocity causes an avalanche. Sanji is injured, so Luffy must climb up the mountain while carrying both Nami and Sanji. When he reaches the top, both his hands and feet are severely damaged. He collapses in front of Dr. Kureha and her assistant, Tony Tony Chopper, a reindeer that ate the Hito Hito no Mi.

Meanwhile, Wapol and his crew return to Drum Island and attack a city to announce their presence. Dalton tries to fight them, but is defeated. Having done this, Wapol and his crew decide to go back to their old home, Drum Castle. As this is happening, Dr. Kureha and Chopper are curing Nami and caring for Sanji and Luffy, there are a few hilarious scenes, mostly involving Sanji and Luffy trying to catch and cook Chopper. Later, Dr. Kureha explains Chopper's tragic past to Sanji and Nami (Luffy was too busy chasing after Chopper trying to convince him to join the crew).

When Chopper was younger, he ate the Human Human fruit. As a result, and because of his blue nose, the other reindeer wouldn't accept him into their herds. He was an outcast for much of his life. Finally, he found a friend in a Dr. Hiruluk, a quack doctor that was trying to cure the people of Drum but usually made a mess of things. He found Chopper with bullet wounds in his back. By curing Chopper, he gained Chopper's trust and inspired Chopper to become a doctor. However, their friendship was not to last. Dr. Hiruluk kicked Chopper out of his home, seemingly for no reason. Later, Chopper found out that Dr. Hiruluk was going to die in ten days. Despite his attempts to save him, the good doctor sacrificed him for the sake of Chopper and his country. Since then, he has stayed with Dr. Kureha, and learned the art of doctoring. Although time heals all wounds, some of Chopper's wounds are still a little raw.

The Siege of Wapol Castle

Eventually, Wapol and his crew arrive at the castle. His senior henchman, Chess and Kuromarimo are in tow. Kuromarimo distracts the crew by throwing fuzzy black balls that won't come off onto Sanji. This gives Wapol time to get to the armory and devour a cannon. It is then that another trait of the Baku Baku Fruit is revealed - Wapol can become whatever he eats! Wapol's arms turns into a cannon, and he starts shooting at Dr. Hiruluk's flag (his memorial as Kureha puts it). Chopper does not respond so Luffy takes action, standing in front of the cannonballs so they do not damage the flag, effectively thwarting the assault. Wapol then employs a different strategy, he eats Chess and Kuromimo. Then turns into a house, and a combination of Chess and Kuromarimo emerges - Chessmarimo! Finally, Chopper reacts. He fights with Chessmarimo and shows off the skills he gains through his invention, the Rumble Ball. Using the Rumble Ball he finds Chessmarimo's weakness and defeats him. Wapol goes into the castle looking to eat more weaponry along along the way running in to Nami giving chase when he realize she a friend of Luffy, when he gets stuck in a stairwell he "eats himself" and emerges skinny before continue the chase. Luffy finds Nami in time to stop Wapol from killing her, but Wapol escapes. Luffy pursues Wapol through, but Wapol reaches a tower which supposedly holds a very powerful and giant cannon called Royal Drum Crown 7-Shot Bilking Cannon. Wapol attempts to shoot Luffy with it, however while it sat unused during his absence, Snow Birds made nests in it. As a result, Wapol's attack on Luffy fails. The king then tries to stop Luffy with his the cannon he ate earlier, but Luffy dodges it and send Wapol into the the castle's ceiling with his bowgun attack. Realizing he outmatched, Wapol frantically begs Luffy to spare him by offering him the position of second king. Luffy doesn't listen and sends Wapol flying to another island with his bazooka move.

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Cherry Blossoms in the Snow

In the aftermath, Luffy continues to try and recruit Chopper to his crew. Chopper, remembering how his old mentor, Dr. Hiruluk, wanted him to go out to sea and see the world, decides to join the Straw Hats. When he goes to tell Kureha this, she flat out refuses to let him leave, chasing after the reindeer with a variety of weapons until Chopper escapes down the mountain with the rest of the Straws Hats on a sled. Turns out however Kureha's refusal was all an act (or in a way reverse psychology) to convince Chopper to leave as she doesn't like tearful goodbyes. Dr. Kureha then has most of the villagers set up cannons pointed into the air and uses the "cure for the country's cold heart" that Dr. Hiruluk had developed before he died to produce the image of falling cherry-blossoms on the snow as a send off to her beloved student. After witnessing this, the Straw Hats finally set off for Arabasta.

However in the closing moments of the arc, as Kureha and Dalton are talking, one of the villagers come to Dalton with Luffy's bounty poster. When Kureha realizes that his full name is Monkey D. Luffy she reveal that the legendary pirate, Gold Roger, full name was Gol D. Roger and that her student seems to be sailing with a very dangerous man. Also, two of the villagers remember that they had to give Luffy a message from Ace, a man who was searching for Blackbeard and was going to wait for Luffy in Alabasta for 10 days. But since Luffy's gone, they didn't had the time to tell him. However, Dalton who remembered Vivi as Arabasta's princess knows it is alright since the Straw Hats are bound to encounter Ace in Arabasta.

Arabasta Arc

Mr. 2 and the Nanohana

The Going Merry is on its way to Arabasta and the crew is trying to catch fish to eat. When they steer through a hot spot (in One Piece, an undersea volcano making the sea above steaming hot), Usopp and Luffy catch Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, who coincidentally took a similar course, on their fishing rods. The crew pulls him up and quickly befriend him, mainly due how entertaining he is, especially with his ability to transform into other people with the Mane Mane no Mi. He imitates everybody on the ship except Sanji, who was cooking at the moment, and Vivi, who he simply didn't touch. Bon Kurei is then picked up by his own ship and crew and leaves, swearing on friendship. Just as they leave, Vivi realizes that he is Mr. 2 of Baroque Works, but the Straw Hats see it as good fortune to have met him and wear white cloths on their wrists so Bon Kurei can't imitate them without them noticing.

The Straw Hats finally reach the port town of Nanohana in the desert kingdom of Arabasta. Luffy, hungry from the long journey, storms off into town without waiting for his crew. At a bar, he interrupts a confrontation between a man named Portgas D. Ace and Captain Smoker of the Marines, knocking both through the wall without his noticing. Luffy grabs a lot of meat, but flees when Smoker stands back up and gives chase. He leads the Marines directly to his crewmates that were purchasing provisions and water in the town. Just as Smoker tries to catch them, Ace interrupts and secures an escape route for the Straw Hat Pirates. Back on the ship, Luffy tells the crew the man who saved them was his brother. Ace hops onto the ship and meets the crew, but doesn't stay long and gives Luffy a piece of paper before leaving, destroying seven ships with Billions of the Baroque Works on the way out. Vivi also sends Carue with a message to Alubarna to warn the King.

Traveling the Desert

The Straw Hat Pirates sails to the west side of the Sandora River (Arabasta's biggest river) delta and anchor, leaving the ship. They encounter a group of Kung-Fu Dugongs, who challenge the crew only to be beaten up by Luffy. However, the dugongs now want to become his apprentices, forcing Chopper to bribe them with half their food so they can leave. They enter the town of Erumalu, formerly also known as the Green City, but is now deserted and destroyed by the sand.

They continue their journey through the desert, and Luffy, while resting in a shadow of a big rock, loses half their stuff to Warusagi Birds who trick travelers and steal their luggage. He chases after them but returns alongside a camel that's being chased by a gigantic Great Sandora Lizard. In joined efforts, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy kill the lizard and cook it. The camel, who happens to be a pervert, is given the name "Eyelashes" by Nami and joins the crew, giving Nami and Vivi (and only them) a ride on his back.

(The anime adds several episodes worth of filler scenes and even has Ace accompany the crew on their journey, though he leaves before they reach Yuba.)

In the meantime, the Officer Agents have gathered in the Spiders Cafe and are led to Rainbase for the briefing of their final mission as Baroque Works.

The journey is continued and the Straw Hats finally arrive in the Yuba Oasis, the supposed hideout of the Rebel Army. However, the only citizen left in town tells them that the rebels are now in an oasis near Nanohana, for Yuba is now almost a daily target of sandstorms. The old citizen turns out to be an old friend of Vivi's, Toto. Here, we learn of their past together along with his son and her friend, Kohza, who is currently the leader of the Rebel Army. He gives the Straw Hats a place to sleep and also digs up a gallon of water in the night.

The Straw Hats leave Yuba in the morning as Vivi wants to return to Nanohana, but Luffy is stubborn and tells her that stopping the Rebels won't get rid of Sir Crocodile and they should go to Rainbase where Crocodile resides. He notes that even if they manage to reach the rebels, Crocodile will still try something to continue the war--it should be noted that, at this point, they still thought there was time before the battles started. After a tough argument, Vivi agrees and leads them to Rainbase.

Meanwhile the Officer Agents of the Baroque Works met up with Miss All-Sunday and Sir Crocodile in the basement of the Rain Dinners Casino, owned by Sir Crocodile. They are told the goal of the Baroque Works, their final mission and their respective parts in overthrowing Arabasta. They are interrupted by Mr. 3, who tells them that the Straw Hats and Vivi have escaped him during their time in Little Garden. He asks Crocodile for forgiveness, but is fed to his pet bananawani (huge crocodiles with banana-shaped growths on their heads) instead. The Officer Agents all get pictures of Vivi and the Straw Hat crew (excluding Sanji) with the help of Bon Kurei's abilities.

Rainbase

Upon their arrival in Rainbase, the thirsty Luffy and Usopp rush right into a bar to get water, only to unexpectedly run into Captain Smoker and Tashigi there (and spit water in their faces from shock). They get chased by the two and their Marine squad, which also draws the attention of the Baroque Works Billions stationed. The crew splits into groups: Nami and Usopp; Zoro and Vivi; Sanji; Luffy, chased by Smoker; and Chopper, who was left behind. Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Zoro, and Smoker all arrive at Rain Dinners, but they all are caught by a trap and thrown in a seastone cage by Crocodile.

Vivi is surrounded by Billions, but is saved by Pell, a guard of the king who flew to Rainbase after Carue's arrival in order to scout. Pell however is defeated by Miss All-Sunday and Vivi is taken to the Rain Dinners basement. There Crocodile tells her his plan to overthrow Arabasta while it is being executed.

In Alubarna, Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas have kidnapped King Nefertari Cobra while Mr. 2 Bon Kurei acts as him in Nanohana alongside a fake group of soldiers. There, he "admits" that he used Dance Powder to make it so that it rains only in Alubarna, and orders his soldiers to destroy the town, because they were the ones who saw the powder being carried in. Kohza confronts him, but he is shot. Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger add to this destruction by crashing a huge ship filled with weapons into Nanohana. However, during execution Mr. 2 is spotted changing back by a local kid named Kappa, but the child is taken care of by Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger. Kappa, heavily wounded, is spotted by rebel soldiers, and seeing what the "king" has done, Kohza decides to launch an attack on Alubarna.

Crocodile dares Vivi to try and help her friends and he floods the room, lets banannawani in, and has one swallow the key. However he suddenly gets a phone call by a Mr. Prince, recognized by the crew as Sanji, who starts off by imitating the phone call in Little Garden. Sanji makes Crocodile believe he got caught in front of the Rain Dinners and Crocodile goes to check out the situation in front of the casino. Chopper acts as a decoy, using his powers to avoid Crocodile while Sanji destroys the bridge between the Rain Dinners and the rest of Rainbase. Sanji kicks the bananawani with the key, making it cough up both the key and a large wax ball. As it turns out, the wax ball was created by Mr. 3 to protect himself from being digested, but still wanting revenge, Mr. 3 gets rid of the key. However, Sanji forces him to make a copy of the key using his powers, and releases everyone. When Crocodile returns, he sees that everyone is gone.

Chopper picks up the crew with a Moving Crab named Scissors, a friend of Eyelashes. As they run away, Crocodile tries to snatch Vivi from the crab, but she is saved by Luffy who lets himself get dragged off by the crab, promising to meet them in Alubarna.

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Crocodile says that he will humor Luffy for three minutes, but will finish him off once that time is up. Luffy attacks Crocodile, but discovers that he can't hit Crocodile as he just turns into sand thanks to his devil fruit ability: having eaten the Suna Suna no Mi, especially in a sand-based environment. Crocodile also shows off some attacks as well, one of which dries Luffy's arm out, but Luffy takes water from his small barrel to restore his strength. Once the three minutes are up, Crocodile creates a sandstorm and sends it off to Yuba, where Toto is, and explains that he was the one who was sending storms there every day. Luffy yells for him to stop it but Crocodile impales him with his hook during his distress then when he proves he's still alive, he leaves him in quicksand to die.

Luckily, Luffy is saved by Miss All-Sunday after Crocodile's departure who leaves Luffy in the hands of Pell, telling Pell that Luffy is responsible for the safe return of Vivi.

Alubarna

The rest of the Straw Hat crew is on the way to Alubarna, only to discover that the Sandora River is in their path and that moving crabs can't swim. They try anyway, but they almost drown and are attacked by a Sandora Rare Catfish. However, the fish is defeated by the Kung-Fu Dugongs they met before. The Dugongs bring them on the back of the fish to the other side of the river where they are met by Carue and the Spot Billed Duck Squad, the fastest animals on Arabasta.

Meanwhile the Rebel Army under the leadership of Kohza have started their rush on Alubarna. Alubarna is evacuated and the royal army, led by Chaka, is preparing the city for the rebel attack. Outside of Alubarna, the officer agents are waiting for Vivi to arrive and catch her, but are thrown into confusion as six hooded people arrive on Spot Billed Ducks. They are forced to pursue them in a hasty decision trying to figure out which one is Vivi.

The real Vivi however hid behind a rock and waited for the Straw Hats to distract the officer agents to buy her time. She tries to stop the rebel army, but a dust cloud caused by a Baroque Works agent under cover in the royal army prevents the Rebel Army from seeing her. She is covered by Carue to not get trampled down by the rebel army. As she awakes she is greeted by Usopp, but she sees through Mr. 2's disguise (he beat up Usopp and Eyelashes shortly before) as he does not show her the special mark under his cloth. Carue runs off with her climbing the steep walls of Alubarna but still is pursued by Mr. 2. However, he gets delayed by Sanji, who buys Vivi time to get to the palace.

The Straw Hats each face a dangerous battle. Chopper and Usopp battle Mr. 4, his devil fruit gun/dog Lassou, and Miss Merry Christmas, despite Usopp taking serious injures the duo manage to turn their enemies' attacks against them and defeat the trio. Sanji takes Mr. 2 Bon Kurei in a very comical yet brutal match of martial arts where Mr. 2 takes advantage of Sanji's weakness towards women by turning his head into Nami to take the upper hands until Sanji figures out his weakness and emerges the victor. Nami fights Miss Doublefinger in her first solo fight in the series, using a new weapon created by Usopp and her knowledge of weather to beat her opponent called Clima-Tact. And lastly Zoro vs. Mr. 1 where Zoro has to confront and overcome his lingering problem of being unable to cut steel before striking down Mr. 1.

Meanwhile, Vivi arrives at the palace and gives order for the Royal Army to blow up the palace in order to get everyone's attention, but is stopped by Sir Crocodile. The army, realizing what's happening, try to enter the palace but are stopped by Miss All-Sunday. Kohza also arrives at the scene, intending to demand Cobra's surrender, only to find out the truth of the situation. Here, Crocodile reveals that he is going to blow up the palace plaza, soon to be center point of battle, with a massive and powerful bomb. He also reveals his true intentions: to find the location of the secret ancient weapon Pluton, which is said to be buried in Arabasta.

Kohza wants to warn the city but is stopped by Vivi, who states that it will create a panic. The Royal Army raises the white flag, with Kohza in front, but he is shot down by a double agent in the Royal Army, provoking the rebels. A battle starts on the palace plaza and Vivi watches in horror. Sir Crocodile proceeds to throw Vivi off a palace wall, but she is saved by Luffy who came in flying on Pell's back. Vivi meets the rest of the Straw Hats on the foot of the wall and goes to search for the bomb with them and Pell.

Luffy flings himself back up to Crocodile and Miss All Sunday goes off with Cobra to the Poneglyph, which is supposed to reveal the location of Pluton. Luffy, armed with a barrel of water, confronts Crocodile again, as he found his weakness and manages to get a few good hits. Crocodile however can still dry him up and stop his attempts at getting him wet by trying to blow away the soaked Luffy and his barrel. Seeing this, Luffy decides to take in all the water from the barrel, completely filling him, dubbing himself "Water Luffy". Crocodile doesn't take this form seriously and pays for it when Luffy fires a water bubble completely soaking Crocodile, and hits him with a Gomu Gomu no Bazooka. While the fight continues, Miss All Sunday takes the nails painfully out of Cobra's body and cuffs him with her powers to force the King to the location of Pluton. Meanwhile, a furious Crocodile recovers and orders his partner to quickly depart. Soon, the Shichibukai reveals that his powers affect everything including inanimate objects and proceeds to dry out the entire garden of the Royal Palace, and anything connected to it, forcing Luffy to attempt to hang on to the walls. Unfortunately, Crocodile appears grabbing Luffy by the neck, as he attempts to soak the Baroque Works leader him but misses, and is dehydrated in response. Luckily, the water bubbles that Luffy fired rehydrated him, narrowly saving his life and then goes on to pursue Crocodile.

Miss All Sunday is confronted by Marines led by Tashigi. Having a more than personal enmity against Marines than other pirates, she yells at them to get out of her way. Tashigi demands she releases Cobra, but Miss All Sunday is not prepared to take orders form those who directly take orders from the World Government. Tashigi is later informed by one of her men that Miss All Sunday was originally known as "Nico Robin", who received a bounty of Image:Bsymbol10.gif79,000,000 as a child because she was believed to have been responsible for the sinking of six warships. Visibly angered, Miss All Sunday easily dispatches the Marine grunts, and defeats Tashigi with her Devil Fruit ability. As Tashigi struggles for her sword, Crocodile appears, calling her superior Smoker "cowardly" and mocking her and the Marines' ideals of "Justice" before departing again. Tashigi is left crying confused as to what action she should take, and angry she's not strong enough.

Vivi, Pell and the Straw Hat crew are separately fighting their way through gangs of Billions and Rebel/Royal Army fights to find the hideout for the bomb, but without any luck. Right then Vivi thinks about the only place that would be useful for launching such an attack: the clock tower, which used to be a hideout for Kohza and her other friends.

Usopp calls all the crewmates to the clock tower, but they turn up on different levels (the top can only be reached through a secret staircase at the base), and Pell is shot down by Miss Father's Day, who, alongside Mr. 7, is preparing the cannon. The Straw Hats take advantage of being on different levels of the tower as Nami plans on flinging Vivi to the top level of the tower through multiple stations each assisted by a Straw Hats member. She reaches the cannon and defeats Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day and stops the cannon from going off, only to discover that it's a time bomb that will go off regardless of being shot or not. Just when it seems everything for naught Pell shows up and carries the bomb off into the sky, allowing it to explode high and harmlessly above the city while sacrificing himself.

However, despite the bomb's explosion knocking the soldiers over, they simply get up and continue the battle. Desperately, Vivi repeatedly yells for them to stop fighting, but her voice isn't heard.

Meanwhile, Miss All-Sunday and King Cobra go in the hidden Grave of the Kings and find the Poneglyph. Sir Crocodile soon arrives but doesn't get the information he wants from the stone. He turns his back on Nico Robin and attacks her while she tries an assassination attempt of her own but fails. Cobra triggers a destruction effect on the grave to keep the secrets safe, but Crocodile points out that he can easily escape with his ability. On his way out however, he is confronted by Luffy again. With Luffy soaked in blood, the punches he delivers to Crocodile negate his powers, due to blood also able to harden sand. Crocodile is now determined to end it once and for all, releasing the golden cover to reveal a poison hook.

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Luffy fights him and gains the upper hand, but eventually gets struck by the hook. However, he is so determined to send Crocodile flying that it hardly fazes him, and after a massive attack called the Gomu Gomu no Storm, he smashes Crocodile through the roof of the mausoleum, through solid bedrock, and into the air, knocking over several buildings in the process landing the Baroque Works president in the centre of the capital. Cobra crawls to the victorious young pirate to thank him for defeating Crocodile, to which Luffy replies "No problem" and smiles. Luffy is later saved from Crocodile's poison by Nico Robin who gives him the antidote. Luffy suddenly awakens again and grabs Robin and Cobra to carry them out before the grave caves in.

On the surface, Vivi continues her plead as the Rebels and Royal Guard continue to fight as the sky seemed to signify Crocodile's defeat and loss of influence of the land by raining of the first time in years. The Rebels and Royal Guards notice the rain and begin to cease fighting and Vivi's pleas are finally heard. With their attention on the princess who had be thought missing for two years, Vivi tells them that the rain has fell as it will always fall, and the nightmare is over.

Aftermath

Nefartari Cobra delivers Luffy on his back to the Straw Hats and tells them what happened. Finally, Igaram, Vivi's bodyguard who was thought dead since Whiskey Peak, shows up in Alubarna with Kappa, the beaten-up child from Nanohana, in his arms. He reveals the truth of Baroque Works' ploy to everyone. At last, Cobra himself informs both sides what whoever they rose their swords at and whoever they pointed their guns at no longer matters. Furthermore, while they cannot erase what happened from history but they can together rebuild the country. Rebels and Royal Guards alike were moved by his wise words, and the war officially ended. The Straw Hats, meanwhile, are spared by Tashigi's marine forces, who instead arrest Crocodile and strip him of Shichibukai rank, and are later led to the palace.

Luffy awakens after three days of sleep, demanding food immediately. Luffy and his crew are hailed as heroes in the palace for their efforts in saving the country, but it is kept secret on the outside. Bon Kurei suddenly calls the crew, telling the Straw Hats that he has saved their ship from the Marines and is protecting it for them. The Straw Hat crew gives Vivi a choice of coming with them if she wants to, and to make her decision by noon.

The Straw Hats and Bon Kurei's crew leave in the morning, but they get engaged in a battle with Marine Captain Hina the Black Cage. Bon Clay and his crew disguise themselves as the Straw Hats to draw their attention, giving them the opportunity to flee though Luffy yells he'll never forget them. In the end, Vivi chose not come with them, but came to wave them goodbye, holding her speech over a Den Den Mushi. The Straw Hats respond back by showing her their friendship marks on their arms before sailing off.

However, no sooner then the Straw Hat leave Arabasta, Nico Robin a.k.a. Miss All-Sunday makes herself known having hid herself on board of the Going Merry before their departure from Arabasta. She claims she wants to join the crew for Luffy saved her, even though she lost her will to live, making her their problem. Luffy accepts her offer to join the crew, but the rest (excluding Sanji) are suspicious of her. However, she manages to quickly win everyone's favor, though Zoro remains wary of her. With an unexpected seventh member of the crew, the Straw Hats continue onward with their voyage of the Grand Line for their next adventure

End of Baroque Works Saga

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Skypeia Saga

Jaya Arc

An Archeologist and a Ship from the Sky

With Princess Vivi now safely back in Arabasta and a new crew mate, Nico Robin on board, the Straw Hats' next adventure begins when a giant ship suddenly falls from the sky. At this point, the log pose (grand compass) starts pointing straight up and Robin explains that the log (compass) was "captured" by an island with a stronger magnetic field--a sky island. While exploring the sinking ruins of the ship, they come across an old map of a land named Skypiea.

When they try to salvage the sinking ship for more information, they come across a group of pirates led by Masira, who claims that he has control over the territory and all ships that sink there belong to him. Him and his crew begin salvage operation and are in the process of raising the ship when they run into a snag , Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji, who are underwater searching the wreck start beating up Masira's crew. Masira goes down to handle things and confronts them when a Giant Seaturtle comes along and swallows the ship, though Luffy, Zoro (Zolo), Sanji, and Masira all escape. However, out of nowhere, the sky turns dark and three humongous shadows appear. Out of fear, the pirates run away as quickly as possible. Luckily, Robin managed to take an eternal pose to the nearby island of Jaya from Masira's Ship, and they go there for more information.

The Dreamless City

In the port town of Mock Town, the group of Luffy, Zoro (Zolo), and Nami encounter several odd people, all of whom are members of the Blackbeard Pirates, until they end up at a hotel. There, they encounter Sarquiss of the Bellamy Pirates, who insults the group and even gives them some money to buy better clothes. They later end up in a bar, where they encounter Blackbeard himself, though they don't know who he is. After he leaves, Bellamy himself barges in looking for Luffy, claiming that he wants to test him to see if he's worthy of joining his "New Age" of pirates. However, when Nami asks the bartender for information about Sky Island, Bellamy rejects this notion immediately and the entire bar starts ridiculing the three.

In Bellamy's New Age, dreams will be worthless. He explains that so many people are focused on searching for dream treasures like The Gold City (City of Gold) and One Piece that they ignore all of the real treasures around them. Bellamy attacks Luffy and Zoro (Zolo) while the other people in the bar throw objects at them, but despite Nami's urging, they refuse to fight back--this mirrors how Shanks and his crew didn't fight back against Higuma the Bear when he and his crew attacked them in Makino's bar.

The Tale of Noland the Liar

They are thrown out of the bar, where they once again encounter Blackbeard, who states that they did the right thing. The three go back to the ship to discover that Robin managed to find some relevant information--on the other side of the island there was a man who might know how to reach Sky Island, Montblanc Cricket. On the way there, they encounter Shojo, Masira's brother, but they manage to escape. They arrive at his house to find that it's empty, but they find a book--the story of Montblanc Norland (Monbran Noland), aka "Liar Norland" ("Noland the Liar"). Sanji explains that it is a fairy tale from North Blue.

The story of Norland (Noland) goes that while exploring the Grand Line hundreds of years ago, Norland (Noland) came across a city of gold. He returned to his home and informed the king, who accompanied him on the next journey to the island. However, when they reached the island, the city of gold was gone. Angered, the king sentenced him to death for lying. To his last breath, Norland (Noland) claimed that he was telling the truth, and that the gold city must have sunk underwater. However, no one would believe him and he was executed.

As it turns out, Cricket is a descendant of Norland and is trying to prove whether it exists or not by diving into the ocean every day to search for evidence, to the point of injuring himself. Chopper treats him and they meet up with Masira and Shojo again, who help Cricket out on his quest under the name "Saruyama Alliance". Cricket explains that if Sky Island exists, the only way to reach it would be through "Knock-Up Stream", a humongous geyser in the ocean. In order to reach it, Cricket has the Straw Hats go into the forest to search for a "South Bird", a bird whose head always points south. During this, the Saruyama Alliance upgrades the Going Merry (Merry Go) in order to withstand Knock-Up Stream.

The Captain's True Power

Meanwhile, hearing that Cricket managed to uncover some gold, Bellamy and his crew decide to steal it from him, severely injuring him and the others in the process using his "Bane Bane no Mi" (Spring Spring Fruit), which can turn his limbs into springs. When the crew returns with the South Bird in tow, Luffy decides to get the gold back. In Mock Town, new bounties are mailed in, and to everyone's surprise, they find out that Luffy's bounty is now 100,000,000 Beli while Zoro's is 60,000,000 Beli --in comparison, Bellamy's was only 55,000,000 Beli Bellamy scoffs at this, claiming that they were fakes made to scare him. This calms everyone down, until Luffy screams for Bellamy to come out.

Luffy demands that Bellamy give the gold back, but he refuses. Bellamy attacks him with his devil fruit (cursed fruit) powers, but Luffy still doesn't fight back. Angered, he decides to finish him off with his ultimate attack, Spring Hopper. At this point, Luffy finally attacks, and takes him down in one punch. He takes the gold and heads back to Cricket's house while the townspeople run away in fear. Upon hearing about his bounty, Blackbeard and his crew decide to strike.

A World on the Move, Ship going Up

Somewhere else, on an island in the Grand Line, the status of Buggy and his crew is shown, as Ace boards his ship and offers to help him search for Luffy. Meanwhile, Shanks tries to contact Whitebeard only to have his letter torn up, with Whitebeard telling the messenger to have Shanks meet him in person. On Mariejoas, it is being discussed who should replace Crocodile in the Shichibukai (Seven Warlords) when Laffite of the Blackbeard crew appears to recommend his captain. The people there state that nobody knows about him, but Laffite states that they'll be addressing that problem soon.

When Luffy returns, he and the crew set off for Knock-Up Stream, led by the Saruyama Alliance and the South Bird. When they reach it, they are confronted by the Blackbeard Pirates, who reveal the Straw Hat's bounties to them. However, before they can do anything, the Straw Hats are caught in Knock-Up Stream and are sent flying into the White Sea.

[CM Punk]

Skypeia Arc

Arrival at Skypeia

Having ridden Knock-Up Stream, the Straw Hats find themselves in a sea of clouds (which, as they find out, has the same effect as normal water on a Devil Fruit user), but before they have a chance to relax, they are quickly attacked by a strange man in a mask who is riding on the clouds. The crew are unable to defend themselves, but they are thankfully saved by an old knight named Gan Fall, who rides on a bird with a horse Devil Fruit named Pierre. He points out to them that the reason they couldn't fight back against the "guerilla" was due to the thin air, though immediately afterwards the crew says that they are starting to get used to it. Gan Fall gives them a whistle to summon him incase they run into more trouble, and the crew continues on.

They reach "Heaven's Gate", the entrance to Skypiea where they are told to pay 7 billion extol for the entrance fee, but the Straw Hats have no idea what extol is. In response, the gatekeeper. Amazon, tells them they can pass, and the crew goes into Skypiea. This turned out to be a trick, however, as Amazon calls for "Heaven's Judgement" on the illegal immigrants.

The ship reaches the shore of Angel Island, the main part of Skypeia, where they meet a girl named Conis and her father, Pagaya. They let the crew come into their house so they can introduce them to Skypiean society, but Nami decides to stay at the ocean and try out Pagaya's Waver, a device similar to a jetski that can move under its own power without any wind. While Conis explains the use of Dials, Nami ends up riding the waver to a nearby island with a huge forest. When Sanji points out that she is gone, Conis and Pagaya explain that the nearby island is known as Upper Yard. Upper Yard is a forbidden sacred ground where God Eneru and his priests reside, and no one must ever set foot on it. This immediately sparks Luffy's interest, and he commands that they head out to "rescue Nami", but he makes it obvious that he simply wants to go to Upper Yard to explore and have an adventure.

At Upper Yard, Nami witnesses Eneru's priests chasing a man who was searching for treasure on the island. However, before the priests can finish him off, Eneru decides to act on his own and in a show of power, a massive beam of energy fires from the sky and disintegrates the treasure hunter. Gedatsu of the priests explains to the others that their time limit was up--another group of criminals has just appeared, a group of seven. From this, Nami realizes that they are talking about them, and rushes back to Angel Island.

Meanwhile, on Angel Island's beach, the crew encounters the White Berets, led by Chief McKinley, who act as Skypiea's lowest level of law enforcement. The White Berets explain that the Straw Hats are criminals, and that the punishment for illegally entering is to pay 10 times the entrance fee, or 10 billion extols. Here, it is explained that there are 10 thousand extols per berry, making the fee 1 million berries. The crew decides to wait for Nami to come back, but even doing minor things like snoring ends up raising the crime level. Nami eventually returns, but when she finds out about the fee, she rams the waver into McKinley while yelling that it's too high. In response, the White Beret's launch an attack, only to be easily defeated by Luffy. This ends up raising them to Class 2 criminals that are to be dealt with by the priests.

The crew starts packing up to leave with Nami, Chopper, Robin, and Zoro at the ship while Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp get food and supplies from Pagaya's home. Suddenly, the ship is grabbed by a "Super-Express Speed Shrimp" that carries them to Upper Yard. Luffy, Sanji, and Usopp, lead by Conis, go to Lovely Street in order to get a boat to rescue them. Conis lends them her dial-powered ship, the Little Crow, but before they leave, Luffy notes that she was shaking the entire time she was leading them. Conis reveals that she was the one who called the shrimp to take the ship and is intentionally leading them to Upper Yard--it is God Eneru's will that they lead criminals to that island, and not following it will result in death. Upon hearing Conis say this, all of the townspeople run away. True to her word, Eneru strikes and fires a massive beam of energy at her from the sky, but she is saved by the knight, Gan Fall. He explains that since both she and her father will be considered criminals, he will take them back to his house, which is out of Eneru's range.

Despite this show of Eneru's power, the three Straw Hats continue on to Upper Yard unhindered.

The Ordeals

Meanwhile, Nami, Zoro, Robin, and Chopper find themselves, and the ship, on top of a large Sacrificial Altar surrounded by shark-infested clouds. Using a vine, however, the crew swings over to land, except Chopper who stays to guard the ship.

Luffy's group enters Upper Yard and they travel through the "Milky Road", a cloud river, avoiding several dangerous traps. Eventually, they reach a hand stature with the river branching off into four paths going through each finger, each labeled with a different ordeal: "Ordeal of Swamp", "Ordeal of Iron", "Ordeal of String", and "Ordeal of Balls". Luffy chooses the Ordeal of Balls, thinking that it sounds fun, and after a drop, they find themselves in an area of the forest with several cloud balls floating around. Each of the "Surprise Balls" contains a different object--some contain snakes, others explosives, others harmless flowers, etc. At this point, the priest Satori appears and attacks them, but they find that he is somehow able to read their minds using an ability called "mantra". After a long and difficult battle, they manage to get past his mantra by turning his own attacks against him.

At Gan Fall's house, he explains to Conis and Pagaya how there is a constant war between the guerillas, known as Shandians, and the sky people over control of Upper Yard, and as the previous "god" (which is just the title for the ruler of Skypiea--Eneru took the title too seriously and thought of himself as a real god) he tried to find peace. However, once Eneru took over, all notions of peace were abandoned.

Meanwhile, the priest Shura arrives at the Sacrificial Altar to find that Chopper is the only one left to kill. In response, Chopper uses the whistle to call Gan Fall. Shura heavily damages the ship with his fire-based attacks, but before he can finish off Chopper, Gan Fall attacks. They seem to be evenly matched, until Shura starts his "Ordeal of String", which activates several dials that shoot out nearly invisible string to tangle up the foe. Gan Fall, Pierre, and Chopper end up falling into the clouds.

After looking around a bit, Zoro's group reaches a startling conclusion--Upper Yard is part of Jaya. Specifically, it is the location of the gold city mentioned in Liar Norland's tale. In other words, the gold city didn't sink into the water, it was launched into the sky by Knock-Up Stream. At the same time, Chopper wakes up to find that he, along with Gan Fall and Pierre, are safe on the Sacrificial Alter. As it turns out, they were saved by a flock of giant South Birds.

At the tribe of the Shandians, a girl named Aisa, who also has the ability to use mantra, reveals that both Satori and Gan Fall were defeated. Taking this as an opportunity, Wiper, leader of the Shandian warriors and the one who attacked the Straw Hats earlier, decides to invade Upper Yard. He and the tribe's warriors battle with the remaining priests and when Wiper comes across Luffy's group, he warns them to leave the island and not to interfere. The battle between the Shandians and the Priests seems to be even, until one of the stronger warriors, Kamakiri, is defeated while trying to rescue another, named Laki. Once Wiper hears about this, he orders a retreat.

Nami, Zoro, and Robin return to the Alter, and at the same time Luffy's group finally arrives. It's getting dark, so the crew decides to camp out in the forest--if they were found, they would have more room to fight and they wouldn't destroy the Going Merry more. The Straw Hats pool all of their information together, and Nami puts the maps of Jaya and Skypiea together to form the image of a skull. Norland's logbook stated that the city of gold was in the skull's right eye, which they realize is referring to Jaya's geography. Thus, they decide to steal from the gold city before they go back to the Blue Sea. In order to celebrate, Luffy starts a huge bonfire, much to Nami's annoyance, since it will just get the priests' attention. Along with a pack of wolves, the Straw Hats dance around the fire as an "Eve of Gold Festival". At this point, Gan Fall regains consciousness. He explains to Robin that objects from the Blue Sea sent to the White Sea by Knock-Up Stream are considered very valuable treasure and are collectively called Vearth. This is because dirt can rear plant life much better than cloud can and they have a religious reverence for it as a result, so when Upper Yard was launched into the sky hundreds of years ago, it was considered a holy land, which led to a war with the native Shandians over control of the land.

[CM Punk]

After the party ends, Usopp goes to the river to urinate when he sees a strange figure fixing the Going Merry, but fog prevents him from seeing it clearly. In the morning, they find that all of the damage caused by Shura has been fixed and the upgrades done by the Saruyama Alliance have been removed. Not only is it odd that someone else would help them in the enemy's territory, but also that the person would know what the ship originally looked like. However, they decide not to focus too much on it, and once they get the ship off of the alter, Nami forms a plan. While Luffy, Zoro, Chopper, and Robin go to the city, Nami, Usopp, and Sanji will take the Going Merry and Gan Fall out of Upper Yard.

Meanwhile, Wiper punishes Laki because a bag of dirt, given to her by Aisa as a present, was what got her caught in the first place, but Kamakiri stops him, stating that he can still fight. Thus, Wiper decides to start one final offensive, telling his soldiers that anyone who isn't willing to step over their wounded comrades to reach their goal shouldn't come. At Upper Yard, Eneru reveals himself and meets with the priests, telling them that they will be free to use their ordeals on all of the island. As the Shandians and the Straw Hats both head into the island, the Survival Game begins.

The Survival Game

Luffy's group set off for the gold city, only to encounter a gigantic python. Due to its attack, the group gets separated, with only Robin still on the right path. On the Going Merry, Gan Fall explains how dials can be used as weapons, demonstrating with his Impact Dial, which can absorb and reflect impact attacks. Meanwhile, the Shandians come across Shura and are immediately caught in his Ordeal of String. However, Wiper managed to avoid it and kills Shura using a Reject Dial, a thought-to-be-extinct version of the Impact Dial that multiplies the attack power, but also damages the user. As the warriors continue on, Eneru releases his 50 Enforcers, led by Yama, to fight them. At this point, Eneru predicts that within a few hours there will only be five participants in the Survival Game, including himself, left.

Zoro ends up facing one of the Shandian warrior, Braham, but defeats him using his 36 Pound Cannon. At the same time, Luffy encounters Wiper once again. Though they seem to be evenly matched, Luffy is eaten by the giant python, interrupting the battle. Chopper ends up encountering Priest Gedatsu, who, after being defeated by the reindeer, gets caught in his own Ordeal of Swamp and falls to the Blue Sea. Robin encounters Yama at some ancient ruins and defeats him. On the Going Merry, Eneru appears to tell Gan Fall that he has no use for the island anymore and is about to leave. When Sanji and Usopp attack him, he uses his Devil Fruit ability to electricute them, rendering them both unconscious. Immediately afterwards, Satori's brothers Hotori and Kotori arrive to get revenge, but are defeated by Nami and Gan Fall. During all of these events, the minor Shandian warriors and the Enforcers battle fiercely.

Meanwhile, Aisa, the Shandian girl who can use mantra, uses a dial boat to go to Upper Yard, but the ship shuts down and she is picked up by Conis and Pagaya. After Hotori and Kotori's defeat, Gan Fall leaves the ship with Pierre in order to find out what Eneru meant, leaving Nami his Impact Dial. Immediately afterwards, Conis and Pagaya use a Milky Dial to form a shortcut to the exit and meet with Nami on the ship, giving Nami a new waver. While they take care of Usopp and Sanji, Zoro unintentionally ends up with a South Bird following him everywhere, because it thinks Zoro has food. In the snake's stomach, Luffy sees tons of gold and ruins, but can't seem to find his way out, under the assumption that he's in a cave.

A bored Eneru decides to participate in his "game" and attacks the Shandian warrior Kamakiri. However, his electric attack unintentionally knocks out all of warriors fighting along the river. It's two hours into the Survival Game and there are only 25 participants left. Eneru comments that it's more than he expected, so he decides to even it up a bit to make his prediction come true.

During all of this, Robin reaches the gold city, which has been separated onto different layers of clouds, to find that there is no gold, but she instead finds out that a poneglyph is in the city--specifically, on the golden bell. However, the bell is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Chopper climbs a giant beanstock he finds in search for the gold city, only to end up in the domain of Priest Ohm, who badly wounds him. On the Going Merry, Aisa tries to escape, but when Nami chases after her, the python appears and attacks them, because Luffy is hitting the lining of his stomach out of frustration. Using the waver to escape, Nami and Aisa end up even deeper in the jungle. At the same time, the South Bird, while trying to steal Zoro's backpack, carries Zoro through the air but drops him when the snake tries to eat him.

Wiper reaches Ohm's area when Gan Fall appears to explain that he has just been to God's Shrine and it's completely destroyed with Eneru nowhere in sight, meaning there is no point in going there. Zoro ends up landing here, and Ohm declares that not one of them will escape his Ordeal of Iron. As they all fight, Nami and Aisa, along with a couple of soldiers, end up in the area too. Wiper attacks them, telling Aisa to get out of the way, but Gan Fall and Pierre save them, only to end up being eaten by the python.

As Zoro fights, eventually defeating, Ohm, the group in the python ends up meeting with Luffy. In the ruins of the gold city Shandra, Robin encounters Eneru, who explains that he took the gold from all the buildings, but expresses interest when Robin mentions the gold bell. On the edge of the island where the Going Merry is, one of his soldiers warns them that Eneru is planning on destroying the sky islands, and Eneru attacks him, along with Pagaya, with his lightning attack, leaving Conis to go warn everyone on Angel Island. Eneru then destroys the clouds above him and Robin, sending Zoro, Wiper, and the snake falling to where he is. Gan Fall and Nami manage to escape the snake, accidentally leaving behind Luffy, Aisa, and Pierre, and after Eneru electricutes the python, he announces that with three minutes until time is up, there are six survivors left. One of them will have to go. When he asks the remaining survivors who it should be, they unaminously decide Eneru.

At this point, Eneru explains why he wants to destroy Skypiea--people living in the sky is unnatural, so as God it is his job to keep the natural order. After that, he wants to take people with him to the "Fairy Vearth", a piece of Vearth of infinite size, where it is only natural for God to reside as opposed to the limited Upper Yard. In response, Gan Fall attacks him, only to be defeated. When Robin says that he can't simply destroy the land haphazardly, since he wants the gold bell, Eneru replies that he already knows where it is and attacks her, since he hates manipulating women. Zoro fights back, but then Wiper uses seastone to shut off Eneru's Devil Fruit and uses his Reject Dial to kill him. However, with the seastone off of him, Eneru uses his ability to restart his heart and comes back to life. Eneru defeats all of the fighters, leaving only Nami. With no hope to escape, Nami says that she'll go with him, and she follows him, taking along her waver so she can escape at the right time. However, this proves to be useless, as Eneru reveals his means of escape--the Ark Maxim, a flying ship using his powers as a source of energy, using the gold from the city as a conductor.

Skypeia's Destruction

Meanwhile, Luffy's group manages to escape from the python and come across Eneru's victims. After a barely conscious Robin explains the situation, Aisa explains that she can use her mantra to lead Luffy to him. At Angel Beach, Conis tries to convince everyone to leave to island, but she is labeled a heretic. To prove her point, she loudly yells that she doesn't consider Eneru as God, and everyone runs away to escape God's Judgement. However, when nothing happens to her, they realize that she is right--afterall, Eneru will be destroying the entire land soon, so there's no point in specifically killing one person. They panic and run away, but the White Berets managed to bring order to the evacuation, so Conis hurries back to Upper Yard to show the Straw Hats the way out of Skypiea.

[CM Punk]

Luffy finally reaches Eneru, whom Eneru fights. He is completely stunned, however, to find that his attacks have no effect of Luffy, because he's a rubber man. Not only that, but Luffy can bypass his Logia ability and hurt him. After calming down, Eneru switches to a different mode of attack by heating up staff, teleporting around, and using his mantra to predict his moves. As the Ark Maxim launches into the air, Luffy has the upper hand until Eneru attaches a large ball of gold to the rubber man's arm and knocks him off the ship back onto Upper Yard. During the fight, Eneru had used the Ark Maxim to start a process he called "Deathpiea" to form massive thunderclouds. By doing this, he can amplify his power enough to destroy the islands.

As Nami prepares to fight against Eneru, using her Clima-Tact's thunder balls to deflect his weaker attacks, Sanji and Usopp finally wake up. When Sanji declares that he is going to rescue Nami, he forces Usopp to grapple them onto the ship. On the deck, Usopp distracts Eneru while Nami prepares the waver to jump off, aiming for the patch of island cloud around the beanstalk, but as Eneru prepares to kill them both, Sanji gets in the way of the attack, allowing them to escape. Immediately afterwards, the ship starts to blow up, revieling that Sanji was wrecking the machines allowing Ark Maxim to fly. As Eneru leaves to fix the problem, Usopp, who had actually used one of his devices to stick onto the side of the ship, climbs back up and jumps off with Sanji. Eneru manages to keep the ship flying with emergency dials and begins to shower the land with thunderbolts.

Back in the ruins of Shandra, Luffy manages to recover and, along with Aisa and Pierre, runs towards the beanstalk. After leaving the other two with Robin, who had carried everyone back up to the surface, Luffy runs up the beanstalk with the gold ball still attached to his arm. At this point, Wiper, Zoro, and Gan Fall wake up, and Nami tells everyone to go to the Going Merry and uses her waver to try to reach Luffy and get him to leave too. As Wiper reflects on a story told to him as a child, which shows what really happened when Montblanc Norland came to Jaya, Luffy continues up the beanstalk and is eventually met by Nami. Nami tries to convince him to leave, but he replies that he has to ring the bell so Montblanc Cricket and everyone else will know that the city of gold is in the sky.

As Eneru reaches the top, he unleashes his ultimated technique: Raigoh. Using this, he destroys all of Angel Island, forming a gigantic hole in the clouds. When he reaches the Gold Bell, he creates another Raigoh much larger than the first, meant to destroy all of Skypiea. Nami realizes that everyone is still near the beanstalk, so she sends down instructions to cut down the plant so that it will fall towards Eneru. Despite Zoro's efforts, it remains standing, so, upon hearing why Luffy wants to ring the bell, Wiper uses his Reject Dial to fell the beanstalk. Using the waver's full power, Nami and Luffy blast up the falling plant and are sent flying towards Eneru. However, Luffy pushes Nami onto a cloud and makes a detour into the Raigoh.

As all of the Sky People and Shandians pray for the real God to act, Luffy swings the gold ball around to draw the electricity from the Raigoh into him and eventually breaks it apart. Despite Eneru unleashing his full power, Luffy sends him crashing into the bell, sending a ring that could be heard everywhere. On the island of Jaya below, Cricket and the Saruyama Alliance hear the sound. At this point, Cricket explains the "monsters" at the beginning of the Jaya arc--it was theorized that these giants were actually shadows casted by people in the sky, and this is proven true by a giant shadow of Luffy in a victorious pose. Cricket breaks down crying, both because the city really existed and because he was glad that Luffy was alright. They then try to think of another dream to pursue. However, for the people of Skypiea, the ring means something else: the war between the Sky People and Shandians is over.

Aftermath

As Eneru and his ark, along with the bell, fall into the sea clouds below and the sky clears, everyone gathers on Upper Yard. The Shandian warriors begin to recover, Pagaya is revealed to be alive, and the ones who were forced to build the Ark Maxim were reunited with their families. At night, Wiper regains consciousness to find that he is being taken care of by Conis, Gan Fall, and his tribe's chief. Wiper tries to convince his chief that they have to fight the Sky People to take control of Upper Yard, but he explains that war is the farthest thing from everyone's mind. Wiper runs outside to see everyone celebrating.

Meanwhile, Eneru has recovered and is back on his ark. However, he decides to let them keep their land as he heads towards the Fairy Vearth by himself, which, as it turns out, is actually the moon.

The next day, they find out that the bell was caught in the felled Giant Jack, so the Shandians and the Sky People work together to pull it up, representing their unity. On the base of the belfry is a Poneglyph, which Robin deciphers to be information on the location of the ancient weapon Poseidon. With this, the Shandians find out that they have no need to protect it anymore so they no longer have to fight. To Robin's surprise, however, there is another message on the gold itself, from Gold Roger. From reading it, she realizes that the Rio Poneglyph is on Raftel. In order to thank the Straw Hats, they offer one of the belfry's pillars, which Robin accepts.

Meanwhile, Usopp managed to exchange several rubber bands, claiming that they were the same material that defeated Eneru, for dials from the Sky People. Inside the still-sleeping snake, the rest of the pirates steal several bags full of gold. When Robin appears with all of the people carrying the pillar, the Straw Hats think that they are attacking them for stealing the gold and that the pillar is a giant cannon, so they run away. Robin tells the Skypieans that it looks like they don't want it and runs after them. The entire crew boards the Going Merry and, led by Conis and Pagaya, they reach "Cloud End" where they can return to the Blue Sea. As Gan Fall is once again made "God" of Skypiea, the Straw Hat Pirates fall to the Blue Sea, aided by an octopus balloon to slow their descent. They finally land on the ocean and continue their adventures: in the anime, they land in the Marine base of G-8; while in the manga they land in open sea.

It should also be noted that this is the arc where it is revealed that the One Piece storyline takes place around the year 1522.

END OF SKYPEIA SAGA

[CM Punk]

Warning: THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS IN THIS SAGA! DO NOT READ ANY INFORMATION ON THE SAGA IF YOU DO NOT WANTED TO SPOILED!

CP9 Saga

Davyback Fight Arc

The Davyback Fight

After the Skypiea arc, Monkey D. Luffy and his crew arrive at the island of Longring Longland, a bizarre island where everything, including the animals and plants, stretches in either length or height. Despite Nami's warning Chopper, Usopp and Luffy go exploring and find an unoccupied house, a tall horse and two "walking" stalks of bamboo. They break the bamboo and Tonjit plummets down. Tonjit has lived on the bamboo stilts for 10 years. He is delighted that his horse, Shelley, waited for him so long although his folk are nomads and left the place years ago. He also tells the Straw Hats the geography of Longring Longland, which consist of ten islands that are connected and can be walked between on foot during a big ebb every year. Tonjit's tribe changes the island every three years. He takes Shelley for a ride.

In the meantime, the Going Merry and the rest of the crew is surrounded by an unnamed pirate crew, stating that their Captain wants to play Davy Back Fight with Luffy. Back at Tonjit's house, Chopper, Usopp and Luffy watch Tonjit riding Shelley just to see her getting shot by Foxy the Silver Fox, who asks Luffy to play Davy Back Fight. In the Davy Back Fight, members of each pirate crew face off in different events in which the winner of the event can steal crew members of the losing team, even the captain. The Jolly Roger can also be taken and with it the dignity of the crew.

Foxy tricks Luffy who is angry for the unprovoked attack at Shelley and unknowingly accepts.

Donut Race

In this event, three members of each crew must build a make-shift boat out of nothing but three barrels and two oars. Each team then races around the island, trying to avoid obstacles and enemy cheating in order to make it to the finish line first. Each team is given a type of Log Pose called an Eternal Pose so that they can find their way back to the island if they get too far away from the shore.

A team of Nami, Usopp, and Robin face a team of Porche, Kapoty, and Monda in the manga. In the anime, all of the Straw Hats and most of Foxy's crew participates. Though the Straw Hats manage to get in the lead, Foxy uses his Devil Fruit to slow them down enough for his team to pass them. Foxy takes Chopper to be part of his crew.

Groggy Ring

In this event, the teams of three from each pirate crew choose one of their members to be the 'Ball', and they other team has to try and knock the opposing team's ball into the goal once. This event forbids the use of weapons, as it is a sport, though other kinds of cheating are allowed.

Zoro and Sanji take on a team of 3 known as the Groggy Monsters. Chopper was to participate, but Foxy won him in the previous game. After much difficulty, mostly due to fighting between the two crewmates, and partly due to a bias on the referee's part against them, Sanji and Zoro team up and defeat the Groggy Monsters. In the manga, Chopper is taken back, but in the anime they take Tonjit's horse, Shelly, back from the Foxy Pirates.

Combat

This event is a duel between the two captains. A cannon is spun to randomly determine the fighting area, and the goal is to knock the opposing captain out of the fighting area.

When Luffy and Foxy fight in this competition, the battle takes place on Foxy's ship, which is full of traps and weapons to give him the advantage. Before the match, Usopp persuades Luffy that wearing a large afro wig will increase his strength. Its actual effect, if any, unknown, but eventually, and despite his foe using several of the ship's weapons and even robotic battlesuits, he manages to defeat Foxy by reflecting his beams back at him using a mirror and punching him into the ocean. In the manga, Foxy's flag is taken. In the anime, Nami made a deal with Foxy that the winner would take 2 crewmembers, but Foxy changes this to 500 crewmembers, with the losers "paying" for this through their children if they don't have that many. Thus, when Luffy wins, he takes Chopper, Robin, 497 members of Foxy's crew and their flag, leaving only 3 people. He later dismisses the crewmembers he won and they all run back to Foxy.

[CM Punk]

The Encounter with Akoji

After Luffy has beaten up Foxy and took their flag (replacing it with one of his "drawings"), it is revealed that he only fought for Tonjit and Shelley. Back at the house they run into a very tall and thin guy who is sleeping while standing in front of the house. After removing his sleeping mask, Robin is shocked as the guy turns out to be Aokiji, one of the three Admirals of the Marines.

In the Anime, Aokiji is encountered by the Straw Hats on the visit to the next island. The crew encounters shipwrecked people whose boat was destroyed by Yokozuna (doing the backstroke). Aokiji is against a tree, sleeping when encountered instead of Tonjit's house. This was done so that a filler arc could be added between this and the Davy Back Fight. Like the filler added to the Davy Back Fight (see above)

Aokiji states that he is privately on the island, doesn't seek a confrontation and only wanted to see where Robin ended up after leaving Arabasta. After that he helps out Tonjit to get to his tribe by freezing the path to the next island with the power of the hie-hie devil fruit he possesses (in the anime, he helps out the shipwrecked passengers to leave to a gourmet island). After Tonjit leaves, Aokiji confronts the crew as he sees them a threat for the world. The biggest threat he sees in Robin for her ability to read the Poneglyph and tells the crew that every organization Robin belonged to doesn't exist anymore and she is the only survivor each time.

Robin attacks Aokiji, but fails and Aokiji tries to retaliate with a strike from a sword he instantly made by freezing grass. Zoro blocks the strike and Sanji kicks the sword away, but both get caught by Aokiji freezing Sanji's leg and Zoro's arm. Luffy tries a punch, but only gets his fist frozen on Aokiji's body. Aokiji freezes down Robin and tries to shatter her with a punch, but Luffy saves her. When Aokiji tries to stomp her, Usopp grabs her from Luffy's arms and runs to the ship along with Nami and Chopper to unfreeze her. Luffy sends Zoro and Sanji after them.

Luffy battles Aokiji but only ends up being entirely frozen. Aokiji spares Luffy but wonders if Luffy only wanted to buy time for the others or really thought he could beat him. However he doesn't pursue the Going Merry stating that the crew will be destroyed by Robin sooner or later anyway. Luffy is later found by the rest of the crew and is, like Robin, defrosted. The Crew continues their journey three days later.

Water 7 Arc

Arrival at Water 7

After being attacked by Aokiji, the crew has fully recovered and has returned to sailing. Along their way, the crew sees a giant frog doing the crawl stroke and, wanting to eat it, Luffy orders everyone to make the ship follow after it. They end up on some tracks underwater and are nearly run over by a train traveling on top of the water, and the frog is sent flying by it. On a nearby island, they meet with a train conductor named Kokoro and her granddaughter Chimney, along with her pet rabbit (who acts like a cat) Gonbe. After revealing that the frog, Yokozuna, is perfectly fine and that it is always testing its strength against the train, Kokoro explains that the train is a Sea Train that connects several of the nearby islands and is called the Puffing Tom. She then tells them that the Log Pose will lead them to Water 7, a city of shipwrights where they can fix their ship, and tells them to get help from a man named Iceburg.

The crew arrives at the city, which resembles a fountain, and sail through the canals in the city looking for a place to dock, but the people are kind enough to tell them where to hide their boat. After stopping, a group of Luffy, Nami, and Usopp head out to exchange their gold from Skypiea and find a shipwright, using creatures called yagaras to navigate the canals. Later, Robin and Chopper leave to look around, and Sanji goes by himself to do the same, leaving Zoro on the ship. While Chopper goes into a book store, a masked man walks past Robin and simply says "CP9", leaving her in shock. When Chopper comes out, Robin is gone. Meanwhile, several bounty hunters come onto the Going Merry to claim the bounty on the crew, but they underestimate Zoro's power and are quickly defeated.

Luffy's group manages to exchange the gold for 300 million berries and they go to Dock One of the Galley-La Company. There, they meet Kaku, one of the foremen, who reveals that Iceburg is the mayor of Water 7 and the president of Galley-La. Kaku doesn't know where he is, so he decides to inspect their ship in the meantime, using immense speed and leaping capabilities to rocket across the city. Just after he leaves, Iceburg and his secretary, Kalifa, introduce themselves to the three and he agrees to work on their ship. However, as they're about to enter the dock, the crew finds that all of their money is gone, and they see it being taken by several people. Luckily, at that moment, another foreman, Paulie, was running from tax collectors and knocked the robbers off of their yagaras, but was about to use the money to pay his debt before another foreman, Lucci, stopped him. Iceburg reveals that the thiefs (and the men who attacked Zoro) are known as the Franky Family, a gang of dismantlers that bounty hunt and steal on the side, and are led by a powerful man named Franky.

Meanwhile, Sanji sees Robin with the masked man from before, but when they turn the corner he finds that they're gone. He later meets up Chopper and they start looking for Robin. Meanwhile, in Dock One, while Usopp is separated from the group, he is attacked by the Franky Family and the 200 million berries he had were taken. Kaku returns from his inspection of the ship and reveals a startling fact--the Going Merry is impossible to fix. Since the keel is broken, trying to fix it would be no different from making a new ship entirely. Though Luffy complains about this, Iceburg tells him to think about it for a while. The empty suitcases containing the money Usopp carried are found, and they conclude the Franky Family is the cause, so Luffy rushes off aimlessly into the city while Nami heads back to the ship after finding out about the location of their headquarters from the Galley-La workers. On the way, however, Nami finds Usopp bloody and battered on the street, who shows deep regret about letting them take the money. She leaves him there for now so she can get everyone else and explains the situation to the others, including Sanji and Chopper who had returned to the ship. At Franky House, the dismantlers' headquarters, the stolen money is presented to Franky himself, who reveals that the amount will be enough to buy what they've always wanted, and leaves his gang a bunch of money to party with. As he is about to leave, the door explodes as Usopp walks in demanding that he gives the money back.

After a failed attempt to attack Franky, the others gang up on Usopp. The other Straw Hats go to where Usopp was, but all they can find is bloody footsteps as Luffy falls from the sky. After he explains that he was trying to leap across the city like Kaku, he is told the situation. Outside of the Franky House, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper find Usopp even worse off than before. The four battle the Franky Family, destroying the building, but they find that Franky already left with most of the money. At this point, Luffy decides to abandon the Going Merry and buy a new ship.

[CM Punk]

The Crew Splits Apart

At the Going Merry, Usopp's wounds are treated and the news is broken to him that they will change ships. At first, Usopp thinks they're joking but when its confirmed to be true, he asks if it's because he lost the money, but Luffy insists that the money wouldn't have made any difference and the ship can no longer sail. Usopp gets angry and insists that the Going Merry is just as much of a crewmate as everyone else, yelling that Luffy would trust strangers he met just that day and abandon a friend that was with them from the beginning. Luffy insists that he thought long and hard to make the decision and that if Usopp doesn't like the way he captains then he should just leave. Sanji manages to get Luffy to calm down and the captain apologises for what he said, but Usopp says those were his true feelings and states that if they're going to abandon Merry they'll have to leave him behind too. As Usopp leaves the ship, with everyone else looking on tearfully, he turns around and challenges Luffy to a duel over control of the ship at 10:00 that night.

On the ship, Nami tries to convince Luffy to resolve the matter with words, but Luffy points out that Usopp isn't the type to arbitrarily put his life on the line for things he didn't strongly believe in. Once he issued the challenge, there was no turning back. Meanwhile, Sanji yells at Zoro for letting the Franky Family escape after they attacked him, because if they didn't steal the money from Usopp none of this would have happened, but Nami gets them to calm down.

True to his word at ten o'clock that night Usopp came back to the ship for his duel. The fight begins and Usopp mostly uses his weaker attacks like the Rotten Egg Star and Usopp Spell, but at it turns out these were simply to set up for several brand new attacks. Usopp reveals that his strategy is to not even give Luffy a chance to attack and manages to get in several damaging hits in, though Luffy manages to hit him with a Gum-Gum Pistol. After being hit by a humongous explosion caused by shooting a Flame Star into a cloud of explosive gas stored in a Breath Dial, Luffy charges towards Usopp while doing his Gum-Gum Bazooka attack, but his foe absorbs the blow into his Impact Dial. Usopp then hits Luffy with the full force of his own attack, thinking he won, but Luffy manages to land on his feet and brings down Usopp with a Gum-Gum Bullet. Despite being the winner, Luffy lets Usopp have the Going Merry and has the rest of the crew leave the ship.

The next morning, the entire city is in a frenzy--Iceburg was shot! Upon hearing this at the hotel they're staying in, Luffy and Nami decide to see the mayor while the others continue to look for Robin. At the ruins of Franky House, Franky returns and concludes that the Straw Hats were behind this. As it turns out, the other Franky Family members were hoping their boss would want to avenge them and were keeping tabs on the pirates. They tell Franky that Luffy is heading for Dock One. Meanwhile, Iceburg manages to wake up and identify his attackers--one was a large man wearing a mask, while the other was Nico Robin of the Straw Hat Pirates. At the same time, it is announced around the town that Aqua Laguna, an annual high tide that engulfs the lower part of the city, is coming, so Kokoro, Chimney, and her rabbit come to Water 7.

At Dock One, Franky attacks Luffy with a flame attack, leading the two pirates to believe he's a Devil Fruit user, until he jumps straight into the canal and attacks from there. After trading several more attacks, Franky reveals that he's a cyborg, a human with robotic parts. Before the fight can go on for much longer, however, the Galley-La foremen intervene. At first, Luffy and Nami think they're helping fend off Franky, but then they start attacking Luffy. They reveal that the Straw Hat Pirates are behind the assassination attempt and are trying to arrest Luffy. After much fighting, with Luffy not fighting back, Franky gets tired of everyone ignoring him and unleashes his ultimate attack, Coup de Vent, to destroy the entire dock. Luffy and Nami take this chance to escape and Luffy decides to see if Iceburg was telling the truth about Robin being his attacker. Meanwhile, the Galley-La workers search through the town for the other crewmates and the Iceburg's statement is printed in all of the newspapers. At the company's headquarters, and where Iceburg lives, Luffy breaks in and rushes around the building looking for the mayor's room, avoiding the attacks of the shipwrights there. Iceburg hears about this and has Kalifa lead Luffy to his room. When the two meet, Iceburg confirms that he really saw Nico Robin and then pulls out a gun, requesting that Luffy let him see her. Luffy says that he has no idea where she is and Iceburg shoots, attracting the attention of the other workers, though Luffy manages to escape before they get there.

Meanwhile, Chopper and Sanji find Robin. Robin explains that there is a darkness in her heart that will engulf the rest of the crew if she stays any longer and declares that she is leaving. Sanji tells Chopper to go back and tell everyone what happened, but he has something else he needs to do. Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Chopper gather together and reach the conclusion that Robin may be being forced to do everything by the man in the mask, but Zoro points out that it wouldn't be good to have false hope. Either way, they conclude that there will be another attack that night and they should confront her there. Meanwhile, Franky decides to bring Luffy out of hiding by kidnapping Usopp and stealing the ship. At the Galley-La headquarters, all of the workers and foremen gather to protect their director.

CP9 Attacks

In the Galley-La headquarters, Iceburg calls Paulie into his room to tell him something, and afterwards Paulie leaves his guard post to go into another room, opening a hidden safe. The four remaining Straw Hats gather outside of headquarters hiding in a tree, observing the building for any events out of the ordinary when there is a huge explosion. At that point, several masked men in costumes rush into the building, who the workers assume are Straw Hat pirates. Nami, Chopper, and Zoro decide to break in too only to find that Luffy is gone. While the female assassin distracts the guard, showing incredible speed and the ability to jump while airborne, the man with Robin, wearing a bear mask, manages to enter Iceburg's room from the side using his Doa Doa no Mi (Door Door Fruit). He shoots Iceburg to weaken him, stating that they can't kill him until they get the signal, and leaves him to Robin while he handles the guards. The bear masked man easily takes care of the foreman Tilestone, demonstrating an ability to make his body as hard as metal. At this point, Iceburg reveals the identities of the attackers--they are the government agency Cipher Pol 9, who intentionally failed in the first assassination attempt in order to place the blame on the Straw Hats, and they are after the blueprints for the ancient weapon Pluton, which Iceburg owns through inheritance from the great shipwright Tom.

Meanwhile, Zoro, Nami, and Chopper break into the building, thinking that Luffy would have distracted all of the guards by aimlessly rushing in, only to find themselves surrounded. As it turns out, Luffy got stuck between two buildings. Meanwhile, Paulie pulls blueprints out of Iceburg's safe only to encounter two men in a bull and skull mask. Paulie attacks them only to be beaten easily, but as it turns out the blueprints are fake. Using Den Den Mushis, the other CP9 agents are alerted to gather in Iceburg's room. At this time, however, Luffy manages to get free and breaks into the room only to be caught off guard by the powers of CP9, which include the ability to fire an "air blade" from their legs. Luffy and Paulie are pinned to the ground, but after talking for a bit, Luffy manages to squeeze himself out and release Paulie. Meanwhile, Zoro fends off the carpenters using the backs of his swords and the three make their way upstairs. In Iceburg's room, the four CP9 agents reveal their identities--the foremen Lucci and Kaku, the secretary Kalifa, and the bar owner Blueno!

As Kaku checks Iceburg's pulse, Lucci (who, as it turns out, can speak normally) gives his theory as to what happened to the Pluton blueprints. It was assumed that Iceburg was the last apprentice of the shipwright Tom and inherited the blueprints as a result, since reports said that his other apprentice, Cutty Flam, died when he was run over by the Sea Train. However, Cutty Flam isn't actually dead--he continues to live in the city to this very day under the name Franky! When he hears this, Iceburg's pulse greatly quickens and Lucci concludes that he was right. Just as CP9 is about to leave to go after Franky, Luffy, Paulie, Zoro, Chopper, and Nami break into the room. When Paulie finds out the situation, he attacks Lucci only to be beaten easily. Lucci reveals that all CP9 agents are capable of using "rokushiki", six martial art techniques, to put them beyond any other human. The Straw Hats try to talk to Robin, but she leaves stating that there's a dream she can't accomplish when with them. As it turns out, CP9 had set a firebomb in the building to go off soon, but before that Lucci decides to show off his Devil Fruit power, the Neko Neko no Mi (Cat Cat Fruit) Model Leopard. Luffy and Zoro attack him, only to be thrown across the island, and the building is engulfed in flames, with Iceburg and Paulie tied up unconscious, Nami thrown outside, and Chopper buried under rubble inside.

[CM Punk]

At this point, the four CP9 agents leave and come across several Franky Family members, who are yelling around town that they have Usopp and the ship captive and that Luffy has to go to the workplace under the bridge if he wants to see them again. Lucci beats them up to find an exact location and the agents head for Franky's hiding place.

Meanwhile, at Franky's hide-out, Usopp continues to fix the ship while Franky and his assistants, the Square Sisters, cry from his story. When Franky asks what Usopp plans on doing once he fixes his ship, he replies that he's going back to the Syrup Village in East Blue after adventuring for a bit longer. Franky tells him that he can't let him do that, since the ship won't even reach the next island, nonetheless go back to East Blue, and suggests letting him dismantle it. After arguing, Franky throws Usopp into the water under the ship so he can see for himself that the ship is too damaged to go anywhere. Even after resurfacing, Usopp continues fixing the ship and reveals that he already knew the ship was doomed.

On Skypiea, the night after the ship was heavily damaged by Priest Shura, Usopp saw a strange figure in the fog fixing it, telling Usopp, "Don't worry, I'll carry everyone a little longer." The next day, though crudely done, the ship was fixed and back in its original form without the upgrades made by the Saruyama Alliance. Not only was it odd that someone would be there to help them, but that they would know what the ship originally looked like, which led Usopp into thinking that the figure was the Going Merry's soul. Franky confirms this suspicion, telling Usopp about the Klabautermann, a ship spirit that appears to warn and even save crewmembers when the ship is near destruction and only appears if the ship loves the crew it carries. He then points out if Usopp traveled on the ship and ended up dying when it fell apart, the Going Merry's soul won't be able to live with itself, but Usopp asks Franky if he should just leave behind a friend when he is about to die.

Before this discussion can go on much longer, the four CP9 members break in, knocking out the Square Sisters. Franky recognises them as being from the Galley-La Company and attacks them, asking them what they think they're doing there. Lucci reveals to him that they are from the government and they know he is really Cutty Flam, also claiming that they killed Iceburg. The cyborg is then knocked through a wall, revealing a dusty workshop--the place where Tom's Workers operated--and the CP9 decide to look through it in search of the Pluton blueprints, tearing the room apart, but Franky tells them to get out of there.

Franky's Past

Twenty-two years ago, a young Franky sails his newest ship only to be attacked by a Sea King and his new weapons are ineffective against it. When he comes back onto shore, a young Iceburg scorns him for constantly making weapons as their mentor, a pufferfishman named Tom, finishes up on a ship by tossing it into the air and throwing the masts in with great accuracy. As they, along with Yokuzuna the frog, eat food made by Kokoro, she explains how the island isn't getting any business, and when they do the shipbuilding companies fight each other over customers, and with the water level steadily rising, all anyone can do is wait for the city to sink. That night, however, Tom works on his plan to fix this problem.

Later, after the execution of Gold Roger, a judiciary ship arrives in the town to put Tom on trial--they are arresting anyone who helped the late Pirate King, and Tom was the one who built his ship, the Oro Jackson. Tom is about to be sentenced to be executed at Enies Lobby until he reveals his plans: he will build a Sea Train that can travel in any weather to connect the nearby islands together. After the judge requests a route to Enies Lobby, he gives Tom ten years to make the Sea Train before his trial is redone. Though Franky is angry that Tom would be arrested for making such a great ship that reached the end of the Grand Line in the first place, Tom's Workers immediately gets to work. After ten years, the Puffing Tom makes its first successful launch.

Government agents, led by the leader of Cipher Pol 5, Spandam, arrive at where Tom and Iceburg are, only to be shot by Franky's cannons. Spandam is ignored as Franky exclaims that he finally made a ship strong enough to defeat a Sea King, but is once again yelled at by Iceburg, explaining that he can't just leave such powerful weapons lying around. Spandam manages to get their attention again and talks with Tom personally. Spandam explains that he is after the blueprints for the Pluton, though Tom denies having them. The CP5 leader then threatens to reveal that Tom built Gold Roger's ship if he doesn't reveal where the plans are, only to be dumbfounded when Tom points out that everyone already knows that. After the agents leave, Tom takes the blueprints out of a safe and entrust them to Iceburg and Franky. Franky suggests that they try to build it, but is yelled at by Iceburg once again. Meanwhile, at a bar, Spandam laments that it's just not right for the builder of the Pirate King's ship to go free.

The next day, the judiciary ship comes back to give Tom a retrial and everyone is sure that Tom will go free this time, until the ship is attacked. As Franky watches in horror, the attacking ships turn out to be his own creations, and after the judiciary ship sinks Spandam order the agents controlling the ships to return and jump off the ship. Tom and Iceburg board the ships once they stop attacking only to find that there is no one there and are shot by some more ships. Franky arrives to find them badly wounded and the three are arrested by CP5. At the trial, Spandam claims that he was the one who saved everyone and no one believes Franky when he declares that Spandam was the one who attacked in the first place. It is pointed out by the CP5 leader that the ships were made by their company, but Franky declares that no ship that hurts his friends like that is any ship of his, which Tom responds to by breaking out of his manacles and punching his apprentice for the first time. The Fishman declares that no matter what a ship does, even if it ends up bringing about the end of the world, the creator must love it with all of his heart. He then runs up and attacks Spandam too only to be shot by tranquilizers. Since the creation of the Sea Train nullifies one crime, Tom request that this one be erased, making it so that he will be executed for building the Oro Jackson but Franky and Iceburg are now safe.

Franky and Iceburg are released and the first thing Franky does is take a tranquilizer gun from a nearby soldier and smash in Spandam's face with it, running away as the soldiers attack him. Tom is taken onto the Sea Train, which is leaving for Enies Lobby, and Franky takes one of his boats farther down the track. As he stands on the track, with Yokozuna watching, he fires cannons at the train but it won't stop. He then tries to stop it with his bare hands only to get run over, supposedly getting killed.

Four years later, Iceburg has managed to unite the shipping companies of the island and Water 7 is thriving once again. One day, Franky comes to Galley-La Headquarters requesting to talk to Iceburg only to be turned away. Later that day, Iceburg meets with Franky in secret and he gives him the Pluton blueprints after an argument. Iceburg requests that Franky leaves the island, but he refuses to do so.

[CM Punk]

The Other Sea Train

As Franky and Usopp are restrained by CP9, Franky is told that their commander would like to talk with him. As it turns out, the leader of CP9 is Spandam, who now has to wear a leather mask to cover his wounds, and he states that he will make Franky pay for what he did to him before. CP9 decide to arrest Usopp too, as even though he left the crew he still claims to be a pirate. Kaku then notices that they still haven't gotten rid of the ship and releases it into the storm of Aqua Laguna.

Meanwhile, at the Galley-La Headquarters, Iceburg and Nami manage to regain consciousness and Iceburg requests to the other carpenters that they speak alone. Iceburg then reveals that Robin told him that CP9 could call for an island-destroying fleet of battleships known as the Buster Call, thanks to permission from Aokiji, and that they would use it on the Straw Hat Pirates if Robin didn't help assassinate Iceburg and come with them to be executed at Enies Lobby. In other words, the goal she can't reach when with the Straw Hats is for the six crewmembers, excluding herself, to leave the island safely. With the knowledge that Robin didn't betray them, Nami rushes to wake up Chopper. Paulie wakes up and tells the other shipwrights that the pirates weren't the assassins, but lies that he didn't see who the attackers really were and that Lucci, Kaku, and Kalifa were at home. Nami then rushes to stop the Sea Train, led by Paulie and several other Galley-La workers, while Chopper and other workers search for Luffy and Zoro.

At the Blue Station, the four CP9 agents, along with Corgi and their prisoners, board the Sea Train as Sanji observes the situation. As the train starts to leave, Sanji sneaks on board, but Nami and the others get there just in time to see it leave. Thankfully, the carpenters find a note from Sanji that states that he's on the train (after a love letter for Nami) along with a Baby Den Den Mushi so they can contact each other once he finds a Den Den Mushi on the train. Thus, Nami switches her priorities to finding a ship to chase after them, but Paulie says it would be crazy to use a ship during Aqua Laguna.

During this, Kokoro watches the ocean, noting that the distance the water draws back shows how strong the following waves will be during Aqua Laguna. This year, the water draws back an abnormally large distance, giving the appearence of the ocean drying up. At this point, Chimney notices something in the backalleys and, as Nami approaches them, she points out that Luffy is stuck between two of the buildings. Meanwhile, Chopper looks at the backalley too and sees Zoro stuck in a chimney. Both Nami and Chopper hop across the buildings to where each respective crewmate is. While Chopper tries to pull Zoro out of the chimney, handing Zoro his sword upon request, Nami yells to Luffy that Robin gave up her life so that they could escape the government's wrath. Luffy then pushes the buildings he was stuck between apart and Zoro slices in half the building whose chimney he was stuck in just as the first wave of Aqua Laguna crashes towards them. They just barely manage to reach higher ground only to underestimate the strength of the waves and are engulfed. Thankfully, Paulie was closeby and manages to pull them up, but it's still not over as they have to quickly reach even higher ground before they are caught again. They succeed and the two crewmates are told about the situation.

Meanwhile, on Puffing Tom, Sanji tries to decide the best course of action when he is found by an agent. He kicks the agent through the cart, drawing the attention of everyone there. One of them suggests alerting CP9, but the CP6 agent Jerry, a very tall man that needs to bend over to fit in the cart, says that there's no need to do that. He tries to fight Sanji only to be beaten without any effort. In the car where CP9 is staying, Corgi explains that in the 5th car is the Marine Captain T-Bone, in the 4th Wanze of CP7, and finally in the 3rd the newest member of CP9, Nero, making it so that there is no chance of any attackers reaching them.

Back at Water 7, Luffy decides that they're going to take a ship to chase after Robin, but Paulie points out it's useless since no ship can get past a normal Aqua Laguna and this year's is far beyond average. At this point, Kokoro says that if any ship could get past this it would be the Sea Train, and tells the Straw Hats to follow her. She takes them to an old cellar where the prototype Sea Train, Rocketman, was kept, and they find Iceburg finishing up on maintenance. He had the same idea as Kokoro and came to the warehouse earlier to get it ready, and the train is ready for departure. Luffy and Zoro manage to fully recover by eating a bunch of meat brought by a group of conductors and before they can leave, the Franky Family appears before them. They tearfully request to Luffy that they come with them to Enies Lobby so they can rescue Franky, and Luffy lets the group join them. As Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Chopper get on board, with Kokoro conducting, the train launches out of one of the gates in the city straight into Aqua Laguna.

En Route to Enies Lobby

As the train launches out of the city, the Franky Family attaches their cart to the train, bringing along their king bulls Sodom and Gomorrah, and Kokoro steers the ship onto the tracks, greatly boosting its speed. Being a prototype, Rocketman's speed can't be controlled and, once it gets on the tracks, it's almost impossible to steer. As it turns out, Chimney, Gonbe, Paulie, Tilestone, and Lulu stowed onboard. After Paulie tells the other two foremen the identities of the assassins, he reveals that he came along to avenge Iceburg. Since they share a common enemy, the Straw Hats, Galley-La, and Franky Family officially form an alliance.

Meanwhile, on the Puffing Tom, Sanji breaches the next car, which is where Usopp and Franky are being kept. After being convinced that Franky is good by Usopp, Sanji reluctantly frees both of them and they climb on top of the next car, where Captain T-Bone is stationed. Using a Den Den Mushi from the previous car, he calls Nami and is told about Robin's situation. Back at the Rocketman, a huge wave is coming towards them and despite the best efforts of the Franky Family and the Galley-La Foremen, they can't break it apart. At this point, Luffy and Zoro make their move by performing their ultimate combo attack, Gomu Gomu no 300 Pound Cannon, and blast a huge tunnel through the wave, saving the train.

Though Franky decides to help rescue Robin, Usopp refuses to, citing that he is no longer a member of the crew, and walks away. Minutes later, however, a masked man in a cape who looks exactly like Usopp, calling himself Sogeking (sogeki, or "sniper", combined with "king"), appears before them and says that Usopp told him about the entire situation and that he is willing to help. Sanji and Franky see right through his disguise, but decide not to say anything. As Captain T-Bone, an ugly but honorable knight swordsman, and his soldiers look through the last two cars, the three intruders detach them from the rest of the train, leaving very few people left. They enter the next car, which holds the kitchen, and encounter the CP7 chef Wanze, a very odd-looking and energetic man that makes ramen with his nosehairs and fights using Ramen Kenpo. Sanji holds him off as Franky and Sogeking continue to the next car.

After a while, Rocketman approaches the detached cars and, after Luffy makes sure Sanji and the others aren't on it, Zoro cuts it in half to get it off the tracks. Soon afterwards, they come across Captain T-Bone, who ran on ahead on the Sea Train tracks in a desperate attempt to stop the intruders. T-Bone fires projectile slashes towards Zoro, but he manages to dodge them and knocks T-Bone off the tracks.

[CM Punk]

Meanwhile, Sanji battles Wanze and Franky faces off with Nero as Sogeking continues on to Robin's car by using suction octopuses to walk along the side of the train. He tells Robin about the situation, but she still refuses to be saved. When Corgi comes in to see the source of the noise, Sogeking hides under Robin's cloak. In the kitchen, Wanze proves to be very weak, but Sanji can't hurt him with his kicks since his feet will get stuck in his ramen armor. The Straw Hat cook manages to bypass this, however, but using knives to cut the armor apart, stating that he's in a kitchen and he's cutting up food, so he can ignore his legs-only rule in this case. On the top of Car 3, Franky is overwhelmed by Nero's speed, especially once he discovers that his back is his weakpoint, but through trickery Franky manages pin him down. As the cyborg punches Nero through the roof, Sanji kicks Wanze through several cars until he lands right next to the CP9 agents.

In Robin's car, Corgi finds Sogeking, but he is shot by one of his Gunpowder Stars. Despite Sogeking trying to stop her, Robin goes into the car where CP9, Sanji, and Franky are. She once again denies their help, even going as far as attacking the sniper king, but he throws a smoke bomb and the four criminals escape to the last car, detaching it from CP9's car. However, Kalifa manages to grab onto the car with her whip and it is pulled in by Blueno. Franky sacrifices himself by breaking down the wall being held by Blueno and falling back into their car, but this is futile as Blueno teleports to the separated car with an "Air Door" from his Devil Fruit. He attacks Sanji and Usopp, but Robin has him stop on the condition that she willingly goes with him. Before Sanji can counterattack, Blueno and Robin go into the air door back to the Sea Train. Talking to Robin, Franky learns that Iceburg is still alive (Sogeking told her this) and then informs her that no matter what anyone says, simply being alive isn't a sin. Puffing Tom then arrives at the no-night government island of Enies Lobby.

Meanwhile, Yokuzuna the frog appears on the tracks to test his strength against Rocketman and the impact separates the Franky Family's car from the train and knocks the train off the tracks. After landing on the train, Kokoro calls the frog over and he is extremely happy to see her, since he thought she was kidnapped by the government. Somehow managing to talk to the frog, Kokoro finds out that he was attacking the Sea Trains so he could become stronger and so he'll be able to stop his friends from being taken away again.She informs him that Franky was taken just like Tom was, and Yokozuna decides to accompany them to Enies Lobby. Meanwhile, the Franky Family come across the cars Sanji and Sogeking were in and the two board theirs. Rocketman and the Franky Family's car reconnect and Sogeking introduces himself to everyone there--everyone realizes that he's Usopp in disguise except for Luffy and Chopper. As the sky starts to turn blue again, Enies Lobby comes within sight.

Enies Lobby Arc

Assualt on Enies Lobby

Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Roronoa Zoro, Tony Tony Chopper, the Franky Family, the Galley-La carpenters of Dock 1, Kokoro, Chimney and Gonbe leave Water 7 in the prototype Sea Train, Rocketman, and begin to head for Enies Lobby despite a heavy storm known as Aqua Laguna. Meanwhile in the Puffing Tom, Sanji, Sogeking (Usopp) and Franky attempt to rescue Nico Robin. However their mission ends in failure and Franky is recaptured by CP9.

Reunited with Sanji and Sogeking shortly after on the Rocketman, the Straw Hats, along with the Franky Family and Galley-La, begin an all out assault on the government island of Enies Lobby against thousands of Cipher Pol agents and Marines in a last ditch effort to rescue their friends Nico Robin and Franky before they are dragged through the Gate of Justice. These massive doors are the only thing standing between the marine headquarters and the terrifying prison of Impel Down- Robin and Franky's respective destinations.

While the others do battle with giant gatekeepers, dog-riding guards, monstrous jurors and three-headed judges, Luffy runs ahead and does battle with the CP9 agent Blueno, whom he defeats with his "Gear Second" ability which allows his body to withstand the soru technique, which he imitates to great effect.

The others finally catch up, and as the CP9 and Straw Hats face each other, Robin's past is finally revealed, as well as her reasons for leaving the crew. Luffy responds by declaring war on the World Government that has hurt Robin so, and makes her confess that she wants to stay with the Straw Hats. Spandam tells the Straw Hats that by attacking Enies Lobby, they have declared war on 170 nations that make up the world government. Luffy doesn't care and tells Sogeking to shoot the Government flag, which he does so with his new weapon "Kabuto" sending the flag up in flames.

[CM Punk]

Invading the Tower of Justice

Spandam tells CP9 that they have permission to kill all of the Straw Hats, which includes Franky at this point due to the burning of the plans of "Pluton". He tells Lucci to come with him to take Robin to the Gate of Justice. This is also the first time we see that Spandam's sword is actually his pet elephant Funk Freed. The sword 'ate' the devil fruit zou-zou no mi (elephant-elephant fruit), which is a phenomenon only seen once before, with Lasso, Mr. 4's gun/dog during the Arabasta arc.

Once the Straw Hats get inside the judicial tower, they are met by Fukurou. He tells them where Robin is being taken and that once she goes through the gates of justice, she can never be saved. He then shows them a key, which he explains is a key to Robin's Seastone handcuffs. He goes on to explain that all the members of CP9 have a key, but only one of them will actually work on her handcuffs. He then runs away. Zoro says that should all split up and try and find a key, since time is against them.

Luffy goes after Robin, Spandam and Lucci. Nami encounters Kumadori in a dungeon, and Franky meets Fukurou outside the kitchen. Sogeking tries a number of doors before coming across a garden where Jyabura is sleeping. Sanji encounters Kalifa in her bedroom, and, entranced, starts taking afternoon tea with her, while Zoro confronts Kaku in his study.

Luffy Finds his way to the top of the Judicial Tower, but finds it deserted. Spandam, Robin and Lucci have already left for the Gate of Justice. Spandam explains that even if Luffy were to catch up to them, he wouldn't know how to get across to the Gate.

Kaku, claiming to be CP9's best swordsman, tests his four-sword style against Zoro, whose skill he admires. After a duel reveals them to be evenly matched, he declares Zoro a worthy opponent, ad uses his newfound Devil Fruit powers for the first time.

Meanwhile, Usopp tries to steal the key from the sleeping Jyabura without a fight. Before he can reach it, however, a rooster appears and chirps, which scares Usopp into making noise that wakes Jyabura up. He recognizes Sogeking as a pirate and attacks him, revealing his Devil Fruit ability: the Dog-dog fruit, Model: wolf. The fight is then interrupted by the room's ceiling collapsing. Zoro falls down, followed by Kaku, whose Devil fruit gives him the form of a giraffe. Jyabura finds Kaku's new appearance very funny indeed, and he and Kaku get into an argument. Noticing their distraction, Usopp tries to immobilize them with a pair of Seastone handcuffs he finds, but only succeeds in hitting Zoro, as his aim was spoiled by laughing at Kaku. Kaku, annoyed that everybody is laughing at him, loses his temper and cuts the tower in half with his 'rankyaku'. Zoro and Usopp avoid the attack, but find themselves accidentally locked together by the Seastone handcuffs. Seeing their predicament, Kaku and Jyabura offer to unlock them to ensure a fair fight, but neither one has the correctly numbered key.

Meanwhile, Tony Tony Chopper manages to find the room where Zoro and Sogeking are fighting. They tell Chopper that he must find one of the other CP9 members and get the number 2 key. Chopper runs off, hoping that Sanji will have the right key.

Down in the dungeon, Kumadori has Nami trapped with his hair attacks, giving her no opportunity to use the Clima Tact.

Franky, being low on cola and thus unable to use any special attacks, is forced to box with Fukurou. They compare the strength of their punches, and find themselves evenly matched in strength and toughness.

After three cups of tea, Sanji comes to his senses and demands Kalifa's key. She takes advantage of his reluctance to hurt women and kicks him across the room.

Finally, Luffy has reached the bottom of the judicial tower, where he can see the Gates of Justice in front of him. The only problem is that between him and the Gates is a giant whirlpool.

VS CP9

Sanji is paying dearly for his chivalry, as Kalifa deals him a brutal beating while he refuses to fight back. Nami is nearly killed by Kumadori before Chopper attacks him to rescue her, and she escapes having stolen Kumadori's key. Suddenly Sanji falls from an upper story, his body terribly wounded and deformed by some unknown power into a rubbery doll. He explains his plight to Nami, who gently chastises him for his foolishness before advancing to face Kalifa herself.

Back at the Gate of Justice, Luffy nearly drowns trying to cross the ocean by himself, but is rescued by Gonbe and Chimney, who lead him to a secret passage that Spandam had used earlier. It leads to the lower areas of the tower, and eventually to an immovable steel door. Luffy breaks through it with his mysterious new move, 'Gear Third'. Its effects are not shown, but afterwards his body is briefly shrunk to child-size.

On returning to normal, Luffy pursues Lucci and Spandam. Lucci informs his commander that they are being followed, and Spandam orders him to wait behind to hold off any pursuit while he takes Robin to the Gates of Justice.

Meanwhile, Franky and Fukurou's battle has continued into the kitchen, each one trying to punch harder than the other. As the two swap blows and taunts, Franky begins to flag due to lack of cola, but their fight is interrupted by Kumadori and Chopper, who burst in through one wall. Chopper's first rumble Ball has worn off, so he stalls Kumadori by locking him in an enormous fridge. He joins forces with Franky, and after a few slip-ups involving other drinks, Chopper gives Franky a full cola refill. Franky, now super-charged, punches Fukurou out of the building, and their fight continues outside, taking them down into the ocean and then high above the Tower, where Franky ends the fight with his 'coup de Vent' cannon.

[CM Punk]

Zoro and Usopp are still handcuffed together, and running from Kaku and Jyabura as best they can. The two agents manage to get into another argument in the process, giving Zoro and Usopp a chance to form a plan-- if Zoro can't hold a sword with Usopp on his arm, Usopp must 'become' his sword and be used as a weapon instead. Usopp reluctantly agrees.

Back in the kitchen, Kumadori escapes from the fridge by eating his way out, and confronts Chopper, who is forced to eat another rumble Ball in the hope of beating this powerful enemy. However,eating two Rumble Balls in such a short time makes his transformations random and erratic, leaving him open to attacks. In the end even his strongest attack cannot defeat Kumadori, and he falls, badly wounded. In the moment before Kumadori finishes him, he remembers the last time he took three Rumble Balls in a row, and how he woke up to hear that a monster had destroyed much of his village. His mentor Dr. Kureha had told him that the monster had been him, and made him promise never to do it again. With an apology to Kureha, and hoping that his friends aren't nearby, he takes a third Rumble Ball, and grows into a gigantic, terrifying monster than dwarfs Kumadori. He crushes the CP9 agent and throws him across the island.

In Kalifa's room, Nami's battle seems to have ended prematurely-- she lies paralyzed on the floor as Kalifa blithely takes a bath. Nami, recovering her strength, tries to attack the CP9 agent, who defends herself with her newfound Devil Fruit powers-- she is revealed to have eaten the Soap Soap Fruit, which allows her to create bubbles which can weaken enemies (As with Nami as she entered the room), harden into soap for defense, or transmute an enemy's body entirely (As in the case of Sanji). Having worked this out, Nami continues to fight, but is soon weakened by Kalifa's bubbles.

Down in the basement, Luffy finally catches up to Lucci, who holds him at bay while Spandam escapes towards the Gates of Justice with Robin. When Robin tries to escape, Spandam attempts to summon CP9 with his ordinary Den-Den Mushi, but uses the Golden Den-Den Mushi by mistake, which summons the Buster Call, a massive Marine fleet with orders to to carpet-bomb the entire island. Realizing his mistake, Spandam alerts all the marines stationed on the island, ordering them to evacuate. Robin cuts in on his broadcast with a warning appeal against the indiscriminate cruelty of the Buster Call. Spandam, not realizing that he is still on air, retorts gloatingly that the lives of the Marines don't matter as long as he can bring Robin alive to the Gates of Justice. Understandably alarmed, the listening marines evacuate the island, leaving the Franky Family and Galley-La workers behind as prisoners.

Hearing Robin's warning, Luffy tries to force his way past Lucci to reach her, but Lucci fights back fiercely and stops him in his tracks, forcing him to continue the fight. Jyabura and Kaku decide to wrap up their fight with Zoro and Usopp quickly in order to escape the approaching bombardment. In Kalifa's room, Nami is struggling against the superior skill and powers of her opponent, who begins to transmute Nami's body just like she did with Sanji. Before she can finish Nami off, however, Chopper breaks into the room, still in monstrous form and totally out of control.

The giant Chopper attacks Nami wildly, uprooting Kailfa's bath in the process. He throws it down the stairs to where Sanji lies unconscious below, drenching the whole areas with water before storming off. The water from the bath washes away Kalifa's weakening bubbles, and Nami joins the battle once more, using her mirages to confuse Kalifa before eventually finishing her with her Thunder Lance attack and taking her key.

Meanwhile, Chopper has wandered into Zoro and Sogeking's fight, and Zoro fights to protect him from Jyabura and Kaku. Franky arrives and decides that the only way to stop Chopper is to knock him into the ocean. He knocks Chopper out of the tower with his Coup de Vent, then jumps in after to save him. Nami unlocks Zoro and Sogeking's handcuffs, allowing the real fight against Jyabura and Kaku to begin.

The scene switches to Robin, who is trying to escape from Spandam. However, Spandam stops her by attacking with Funkfreed.

With Chopper safe and out of the water, Franky remembers that Nami told him to head towards the Gates of Justice to try Fukurou and Kumadori's keys on Robin's handcuffs, so Chimney and Gonbe show him the way.

Zoro begins to once again battle Kaku. Kaku reveals more impressive abilities through the use of his devil fruit, using his nose as a large version of shigan; the deflected blow easily punctures a boulder nearby.

Usopp tries frantically to defend himself against Jyabura, but even his new Kabuto is no match for the CP9 agent's speed. Jyabura catches Usopp off guard by offering him the key without a fight, but sucker-punches Usopp at the last moment, knocking him down. With his opponent helpless, Jyabura begins to gloat at Usopp's weakness, but is cut short by the sudden arrival of Sanji, returned to his normal self by the falling water from Kalifa's bath. He distracts Jyabura, and tells the wounded Usopp to help any way he can.

Outside, the Sea Train is departing, filled to capacity with escaping Marines. Meanwhile, Paulie has managed to untie himself and the other captives, and they try to find an alternative way off the island.

Fighting Sanji on the tower's high landing, Jyabura reveals his 'Tekkai Kenpo'- a fighting style which allows him to move and fight while using Tekkai, making him all but immune to Sanji's kicks. Suddenly Jyabura interrupts the fight, tearfully offering Sanji his key and telling him that Robin is really his long-lost sister. Sanji ignores the lie and continues the fight. Meanwhile, Usopp, high above on the tower, has come up with a plan.

To combat Jyabura's impenetrable Tekkai, Sanji creates a new technique, Diable Jambe, where he heats up one foot with friction, resulting in powerful kicks that burn through his enemy's defense. He kicks Jyabura all the way down to the ground floor, defeating him. Meanwhile, Spandam takes Nico Robin across the bridge of hesitation, onto a long bridge that leads to the Gate of Justice.

Franky catches up to Luffy and Lucci, where it seems that Luffy is losing. Franky asks Luffy for help. Luffy snaps at him, telling not to interfere. He tells Franky to take the keys and head to where Robin is behind the door Lucci is standing in front of.

Zoro and Kaku continue their duel,with Kaku using his Devil fruit power to gain the upper hand, wounding Zoro with a rain of Rankyaku. Zoro stalls Kaku by mocking his voice. Angry now, and experimenting wildly with his transformations, Kaku changes to a more powerful form which removes his long neck while lengthening his arms and legs, and prepares his finishing blow, the same powerful Rankyaku that sliced the tower in half. In response, Zoro debuts his mysterious 'Asura' technique, appearing as a many-limbed figure in the style of an Asura deity. The attack he delivers is so powerful that Kaku's Rankyaku is negated and he himself totally incapacitated.

In the end, the downed Kaku freely gives Zoro his key, and even shares a joke with the man who defeated him. Key in hand, Zoro meets up with Sanji and the two run to the Gates of Justice.

The scene changes back to Spandam and Robin. Robin tries to escape but fails and soon they reach the gates of justice. Robin admits she is afraid of death and bites down on the bridge, refusing to budge. At the same time, she insists in her mind that the crew will be coming to save her.

The scene changes again back to Luffy and his fight with Lucci. Luffy is unable to hurt Lucci, who hits him with a rapid-fire Shigan. Franky comes to Luffy's aid by trying to hit Lucci with the same moves he tried to Fukurou. Franky's move is unsuccessful and soon Lucci comes to strike Franky. Luffy however enters his gear 2 ability and blows Lucci away. Franky is surprised by Luffy's strength and power and eggs on Luffy to beat Lucci. Luffy manages to keep Lucci at bay and allows Franky to leave the room to chase after Spandam and Robin.

[CM Punk]

On the bridge, Spandam drags Robin by a rope, claiming that no one will ever reach her because he set up landmines to keep anyone from helping her. He then gloats that his father, Spandine, was the one who led the destruction of Ohara, which infuriates Robin. Franky activates the landmines, so Spandam laughs that no one will save Robin. Spandam is suddenly hit in the face by a huge fireball, and the Marine ship waiting is also attacked. Sogeking had fired the shots from the top of the judicial tower, a distance that none of the Marines could hit with any weapon and none could see without binoculars. Robin escapes and the Marines fire at her, but Franky jumps in the way to block the bullets. Sogeking then shoots Zoro and Sanji's keys to Franky, leaving him with all of the keys to use on Robin's cuffs. Spandam is shocked that CP9 was defeated.

Franky now has all the keys and tries one after another to unlock Robin's Seastone cuffs. Finally he unlocks the cuffs and Robin is now free. Robin thanks Sogeking but he replies that she should save the thanks until later. Sogeking also tells Robin that she is now free to do whatever she wants, and Robin makes her decision. Using her "seis fleur clutch" attack she takes down Spandam. The celebration is cut short when the buster call arrives and a nearby island is totally annihilated. The defensive fence surrounding Enies Lobby is also destroyed. Franky shouts out that this is their last chance to escape as there is an escort ship by the side. The scene changes to Nami, Kokoro (carrying Chopper on her hat), and Chimney who are continuing their escape.

The battle with Luffy and Lucci still continues. Luffy is able to land an attack on Lucci, who is forced back with pain. Lucci then explains to Luffy that his gear 2 form is wearing his body away and shortening his life span by pumping air into his legs, causing his blood-flow to speed up. Luffy yells back that he does not care and wishes to save his nakama first. Lucci then uses a rankyaku to smash a wall so that it crumbles and water begins to flow into the passage, drowning anyone in it.

The scene goes back to Spandam who tells the marines to take back Robin, but the marines stop as they see the buster call approaching. The buster call is now upon Enies Lobby and is about to destroy everything. The fleet appears along with the five vice admirals.

(Note: Good God, thats some detail right there!)

Buster Call

The Buster Call personnel say that they can destroy everything but the bridge on Enies lobby because Robin is standing there, although Spandam thinks it's because he's the CP9 chief. Apparently, during the last Buster Call, everything on Ohara was destroyed except for the ground where Spandine was standing. The Franky Family continues to rush to the Gate of Justice, while Sanji and Zoro are trying to get Sogeking to leave, who says he can't because he has broken all his ribs. He also is trying to say something special about the properties of Kabuto, but is cut off by Sanji. Nami, Kokoro, Chimney, and Gonbe are under the room where Lucci and Luffy are fighting, which is also filling up with water. Lucci begins to pound Luffy, saying he thought Luffy was stronger. Luffy's Gear 2 then runs out, then immediately, Luffy activates Gear 3. He explains that Gear 3 is different from Gear 2 because instead off putting air through his blood, it's through his bones, inflating them. His arm then swells to massive proportions, and attacks Lucci with a Gomu Gomu no Giganto Pistol, sending him flying through the wall, toward the sea.

The scene then changes back to a marine asking a Vice Admiral Doberman on how to handle the capture of Nico Robin. The Vice-Admiral tells him to leave her and begins to tell about Lucci's past. Sometime, 15 years ago, an incident happened where 500 soldiers were captured on an island by pirates. The pirate’s captain wanted to become the king of the island in return for sparing the soldiers lives. Just as the island was about to fall, the World Government sent a boy to the island. The boy infiltrated the pirate's hideout and killed the 500 soldiers on the spot. The pirates, infuriated, then began to shoot at the boy. The boy emerged from the explosions and killed the pirate's captain and ended the incident. That boy who had many bullet wound scars, at the age of 13, became a member of CP9 and has since been there serving justice from the darkness and became the strongest and coldest killing machine since CP9’s inception. The marines hearing the story became frightened with fear. He tells the marines that as long as that man is here assisting in the escorting of Nico Robin, they don't need to act and will do nothing until all but the Bridge of Hesitation is destroyed.

[CM Punk]

The scene changes again to Zoro, Sanji and Usopp (Sogeking). Usopp starts hearing the sound of water, when all three sees Nami, Kokoro (with Chopper on her hat), Chimney, and Gonbe running away from the rushing water. The water begins filling up the passage and swallows them all in.

Lucci, who had just gotten hit by Gomu Gomu no Giganto Pistol, feels faint and lands on one of the marine's ships. Lucci returns to human form and takes off his shirt, showing bullet wound scars that are vaguely similar to the world government's symbol. Luffy is shown blowing air into his chest and then crashes into the ship with a Gomu Gomu no Rocket. The marines fire at him, and Luffy takes it head-on, saying that his bones are very hard and cannot hurt him. Luffy begins the fight with Lucci again, with him attacking Lucci with a Gomu Gomu no Giganto Axe, but Lucci manages to dodge it, as he turns into his complete animal form and bites Luffy. Luffy escapes by blowing himself up, while Lucci returns to his human form. Luffy tries to hit Lucci with a Gomu Gomu no Giganto Whip but Lucci dodges it and destroys the mast of the ship. Lucci fires a Tobu Shigan "Bachi" and hits Luffy, while revealing that Luffy's speed decreases as his strength increases. The ship's iron brackets are starting to split, while Lucci laughs boldly. Vice Admiral Onigumo notices Lucci and Luffy fighting and tells all the ships to target the ship they're on. He tells them that if it's Lucci, then he will survive. A marine objects about the idea, saying that 1000 of their allies are aboard on the ship. The Vice-Admiral kills the marine, asking if he can protect the future from a criminal with his weakness. The ships begin firing and the ship that Luffy and Lucci is on, is hit and starts sinking.

Luffy escapes the bombardment but when he lands he becomes his chibi self and tries to hide from Lucci until he can return to normal size. The scene then switches to Franky, Robin, and Spandam on the Bridge of Hesitation. Spandam is laughing because he thinks Luffy has died in the attack and then he continues to brag about the Buster Call until Franky punches him in the face. Angry, Spandam tries to attack Robin with Funkfreed in elephant form, but it is stopped by Franky and he throws the animal back right on top of Spandam.

The scene then switches back to the Luffy fight and by this time Lucci has just found Luffy and has started beating him up while still in the chibi form. But right before Lucci can finish Luffy off he feels pain in his legs from an earlier attack, as Lucci is on the ground in pain Luffy has returned to normal size. The scene then goes to Zoro and the others having been swallowed up by the sea. As all of them are nearing death Kokoro saves them all by transforming into a mermaid.

Robin and Franky have hijacked Spandam's escape ship and Kokoro soon arrives, jumping into the ship with the unconscious Straw Hat crew. Robin and Franky thank her as she changes back into a human and their friends wake up, but they realize they still need to wait for Luffy. Meanwhile, Oimo and Kaashii, who have been carrying Zambai, Mozu and Kiwi, the Mighty Destroyers, the rest of the Franky Family, Paulie, Lulu, Tilestone, Sodom, Gomorrah, and Yokozuna out of the path of the Buster Call, have finally reached the exit of Enies Lobby when they are jumped by a trio of Buster Call ships. Hit by cannon fire, the Straw Hats' allies tumble into the waterfall below. Luffy, still having trouble with Lucci, transforms into Gear 2 once more to even the odds.

The Straw Hats and Franky continue to wait on the ship for Luffy, and they hear an announcement from the Buster Call ships about the apparent deaths of their allies, leaving everyone, especially Franky, shocked. The group then comments of Luffy's fight with Lucci, claiming that Luffy always seems to know exactly which opponent he has to fight so they aren't overwhelmed. Back at the battle, Lucci hits Luffy with the most powerful Rokushiki technique he knows, damaging Luffy internally. Luffy compares it to an Impact Dial, but much stronger. However, it only leaves Luffy more determined than ever to defeat Lucci.

Meanwhile, the Buster Call ships realize that Rob Lucci and Luffy are in tower one, so they destroy half the bridge and isolates the tower. The fleet then aims toward where the rest of the crew were waiting, to capture Nico Robin and Zoro and the rest of the crew. The crew gets ready to fight back so that Robin won't be recaptured. The marines marvel at the crew, noting that one pirate crew was able to take down Enies Lobby and CP9.

Sogeking recognizes Luffy and Lucci in tower one and calls out to him. Franky, Sogeking, Zoro, and Sanji, who are on the bridge cheer him on. Newly motivated, Luffy gets ready to fight Lucci again. Lucci, seeing the crew remarks "Quite the little group..." but exclaims that "evil will never flourish."

As the fight of Luffy and Lucci goes on, the Buster Call ships announce for 200 of the best Captains and Lieutenants to finish off the crew and capture Nico Robin. As they get ready to fight back, they realize that Sanji has gone missing. Nami exclaims that they need to get off the ship as Chopper finds himself unable to move. On the bridge, Franky, Sogeking, and Zoro take on the Captains and Lieutenants as Franky notices that there are devils fruit users among them and it would be more difficult. Zoro's sword Yubashiri is broken during this fight, proving Franky's prediction true. Robin and Nami also fights off the marines that attacked the ship.

Meanwhile, in the battle against Lucci, Luffy is starting to struggle as the effects of his Gear 2 begin to show. Lucci tells him that no matter how hard Luffy struggles, in the end, Luffy cannot take down Enies Lobby. Luffy attacks, but Lucci parries his attack and catches Luffy with another devastating Rokuougan. Luffy falls to the ground, and attempts briefly to stand before collapsing in a pool of his own blood. On the bridge, while fending off the attackers, Sogeking sees Luffy's fall and freezes. He finally takes off his mask, and cries out for Luffy.

Usopp then encourages Luffy to get up and to stop looking so defeated. Usopp tells Luffy that he came to save Robin, not to see Luffy being beaten up and challenges Lucci to a fight. Luffy stops him, knowing that Usopp will be killed almost instantly. Now determined more than ever, Luffy gets up again to fight. Despite being attacked again and again by Lucci, Luffy still fights back. Lucci then hits Luffy with another Rokuougan but this time, Luffy does not fall. He musters up his energy for the Gomu Gomu no Jet Gatling Gun, finally defeating Lucci. As everyone else, marines and the crew watch Lucci's demise, Luffy falls to the floor tired but triumphant, yelling, "Let's all leave together, Robin!"

[CM Punk]

Leaving Enies Lobby

The marines and Vice-admirals who stood by and watched the fight are shocked at the loss of Rob Lucci, who they consider to be the strongest in all of CP9's history. Usopp, Franky, and the rest of the crew, letting out a sigh of relief, begins to congratulate Luffy and his victory. Suddenly, a Den Den Mushi from somewhere transmits a mysterious voice which also starts to congratulate Luffy. Knowing that they are being heard by everybody, they revealed themselves to be the Franky Family, Galley-la, Yokozuna, Oimo and Kaashii, dangling by Paulie's said "unbreakable" rope. They told them that the giants took all the shots for them, and that they're all safe. All of them begins climbing the rope, as Franky starts crying. Wiping the last of his tears, he yells to the marines "Bring it on!"

The scene changes back to the marines realizing that Luffy is seriously injured and hasn't been able to move from that spot. Usopp encourages Luffy again to move, but he can't move at all. The marines now notices that the pirates are escaping through the escort ship, fires at it, and destroys the ship. The crew realizing that Kokoro, Chimney, Gonbe and Chopper are still there, watch in horror as the ship starts sinking. Suddenly, Sanji pops up and is seen carrying all four of them. A marine tries to capture Sanji, but Kokoro knocks him out with a kick. The Buster Call ships start firing at Zoro and the others as they start running away from the explosions. They are preparing to fire at Luffy on tower 1. Robin tells everyone that, at this distance, even if she tried to pull him there, Luffy will just fall in the water. Everybody begins to shout at Luffy, saying that he needs to get up. As the rest of them shout at Luffy, Usopp notices another voice. Franky yells at him that it is his family, but Usopp says it's a different voice. Luffy begins to hear the voice too, as it says to look below. Soon, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Chopper starts hearing the mysterious voice too. The marines starts the countdown, when Usopp says "Jump into the sea!" He asks Robin if she could drop Luffy into the sea. Zoro says that it will kill him, but Usopp says that they still have a friend among them, which leaves Zoro speechless. 2 seconds remaining in the countdown as Robin desperately tries to drop him into the sea. Chopper starts crying as he sees a familiar figure, coming up from the water. Sanji, Nami, and Chopper shouts out "To the sea!" as Going Merry comes up and tells them all "Let's all go home!! To the sea of adventure!!"

Kokoro flings Chopper, Robin, and Luffy onto the Going Merry due to their inability to swim, then jumps on the boat. Spandam returns, broken and bruised from being hit with Funkfreed, and says to the Marines that they have permission from Aokiji to fire on the Merry, which is a lie. Two Buster Call ships fire, only to get caught up in a strong current and hit each other. Sanji, during his absence, had begun to close the Gate of Justice. As Nami uses the current to ensure a speedy getaway, more shots are fired, which Zoro and Sanji deflect by using Luffy as a sling. Spandam begins yelling, but Robin uses her extra arms to break his back.

At the front of the island, the Franky Family, Galley-La, Giants, King Bulls, and Yokozuna have commandeered the Puffing Tom and are returning to Water 7. Aokiji arrives on the scene and declares that Enies Lobby was a "complete defeat" for the World Government. The now-reunited Straw Hat Pirates leave the chaos of the Buster Call behind and sail out of Enies Lobby. A moments later, they saw a Galley-La ship with Iceburg and his shipwrights in it. However their joy is short-lived as Going Merry's hull finally gives out and splits in two. Luffy pleads with Iceberg to fix the ship up one last time, but Iceberg cannot. After evacuating to Iceburg's ship, Luffy and the rest of his crew gives Going Merry a Viking's Funeral, by setting her ablaze for her final voyage. As the crew laments the loss of their ship, they each hear the "soul" of the Going Merry thanking them for taking good care of it.

Post-Enies Lobby Arc

After the Straw Hats leave Enies Lobby, the story shifts forward two days where the heroes have returned back to Water 7. Galley-La has begun fixing the damages to the city by the Aqua Laguna, while the Franky Family repairs their house. Sodom and Gomorrah have been patched up as well. While in Iceburg's office, Iceburg and Franky are shown having a conversation where Iceberg reveals that he plans to turn Water 7 into a ship and float it out to sea. Franky suddenly gets a call from Zambai that the stuff he bought with the Straw Hats' stolen 200 million berri has arrived.

The Straw Hats have finally awaken after two days of sleep save for Luffy who's still sleeping while simultaneously eating at the same time. Nami mopes over having lost their belongings in the storm but Galley-La returns them after confiscating it while thinking that the Straw Hats were the assassins. Franky then comes by to visit and reveals to them that he bought a legendary treasure tree with their stolen 200 million to which he plans to build a ship with and give to the Straw Hats because of his dream that someone he admires to ride on it.

Suddenly an outcry from the shipwrights sound out as they realized a Marines ship has docked at their port, recognizing it as the ship of the legendary Vice Admiral Garp, who cornered the Pirate King, Gold Roger. Garp tells two mysterious marines to wait as he unceremoniously breaks down the wall to where the Straw Hats are staying and then punches the sleep-eating Luffy, waking him up. Surprisingly, it hurts the rubber man, and Sanji comments that it shouldn't. Garp claims theres no way to dodge a "fist of love" while removing his mask, commenting that Luffy has been too reckless. Luffy looks on in surprise as he identifies, much to everybody's shock, Garp as his grandfather.

[CM Punk]

Luffy tells the others to not lay a finger on him, as Garp may kill them. Luffy goes on to explain that he has nearly been killed many times by Garp in the past. Garp claims that the reason he shoved Luffy into deep valleys, left him into the jungle in the middle of the night, and many other dangerous methods, was all to make him a strong man. Garp then tells everyone that, in the end, he entrusted Luffy and Ace to a friend of his to make them into strong marines. Luffy yells at his grandfather that he always wanted to be a pirate and Garp tells him that "the Red-Hair" influenced him with that nonsense. Luffy tells Garp that Shanks saved his life, and a fight between the two breaks out. Suddenly, the two fall asleep. Garp, who wakes up first, punches Luffy and then ironically says that this kind of attitude is what makes people angry. Garp then asks if Luffy knows what Shanks is doing right now. He then explains that there are four great pirates, at the level of Whitebeard, who rules the latter half of the Grand Line and Shanks is one of them, along with Whitebeard. The only known power to stand against them are the Marine Headquarters and the Shichibukai. Zoro then arrives and a fight between him and the marines occurs. Garp tells the two marines he told to wait to try to stop him. Zoro fights against the marine who wields the rare Kukri blades and Luffy fights against the marine who uses Soru. Luffy and Zoro effortlessly defeat them and they reveal themselves to be Koby and Helmeppo. Luffy and Zoro are surprised on how Koby has grown so fast. Helmeppo starts getting angry at the two of them as they can't recognize him. Garp then breaks up their little reunion as he repairs the wall he broke down while telling Luffy that he has met his father in Loguetown. Luffy is clueless as he doesn't even know he had a father. Everyone is curious as to who Luffy's father may be. Garp then reveals Luffy's father to be Monkey D. Dragon, the revolutionary, shocking everyone.

As the shock of Luffy's background settles, Garp states that his intention was not to arrest Luffy, as he was his grandson. The reason of his visit was to fulfill Koby and Helmeppo's wish to meet Luffy and his crew. After saying that, he leaves for his boat. Koby talks with Luffy, stating he did not pass through Reverse Mountain for Marines boats are equipped with a kairouseki layer, thus being able to cross the Calm Belts unnoticed. After some more conversation and fun, Koby prepares to leave. Before, though, he tells Luffy about the second half of Grand Line, named by a large number of people as "The New World". He says that the one to conquer such a sea is to be the new "Pirate King" and invites Luffy to meet him there, when both their goals are accomplished: Luffy becoming Pirate King and Koby becoming a new Marine Admiral. Some time later, as the Straw Hats throw a BBQ Party with the Franky Family and Galley-La, Aokiji and Robin have a chat. Aokiji states that he originally intended to end Robin's drifting with her capture, but he himself was surprised when the CP9 were defeated. He then asks if Robin has found a place to stay, to which she answers with a sincere "yes".

Meanwhile, in "The New World", Marines report Red Haired Shanks breaking through a Naval Blockade between himself and Whitebeard. As there's nothing else they can do to prevent the reunion, they stand by. Shanks is about to meet Whitebeard and does some kind of big entrance, defeating the lower ranked ones of his crew with nothing more than his "aura". As both of them begin their conversation, it's revealed that Shanks and Buggy were in fact members of Gol D. Roger's crew and had been in numerous battles with Whitebeard's crew. Whitebeard says just about everyone was astounded when he came back from East Blue without an arm, to which Shanks replies he had it bet in the "new era". Shanks tells Whitebeard the only scar he was still angry about was the one in his eye, made neither by Hawkeye nor by any other enemy but the one and only Blackbeard. They proceed to discussing the menace represented by that man. Shanks makes a shocking statement, asking Whitebeard to summon back Ace, in fear for his security. Whitebeard tells Shanks that he cannot do that, for Blackbeard's crime was killing one of his crew and that was unforgivable. They disagree and pull their swords. The two clash and the heavens split. The scene changes to Grand Line, in an island where Blackbeard comments an article about Luffy's most recent adventure, pointing out they're nearby and preparing to leave to chase them. At that moment, Ace reaches Blackbeard and begins to talk.

Back on Water 7, The Straw Hats eagerly wait for their new ship, which would be done in 5 days. Kokoro asks Nami whether she has already found the direction to the next island. Nami answers 'yes' but she says that the direction is pointing a little too downwards. Kokoro answers that the next island is Fishman Island, located underwater. Sanji is very excited because of the amount of young mermaids there (a dream that is crushed when he remembered that Kokoro is a mermaid at this she angrily yells there are much younger mermaids). Robin is a bit worried about how Devil Fruit users can get there but Kokoro says that getting undersea is not the problem, but even getting there is. Just between Water 7 and Fishman Island there is a Florian Triangle, where hundreds of ships are crushed by the vicious terrain. The ships which do not sink are all empty, and many people speculate that the vacant ships are haunted. They were also wondering what bounties they will get, since the entire Enies Lobby's destruction is blamed on them (while mentioned nothing of Franky Family or Buster Call), but they are all excited — except Nami, who sees it as a bad thing, and Robin, who sees it neutrally about it. 5 days later, as they go to receive their new ship, the Strawhat Crew received their new bounties from a worrisome Franky Family:

"Straw Hat" Luffy: 300,000,000 "Pirate Hunter" Roronoa Zoro: 120,000,000 "Demon Child" Nico Robin: 80,000,000 "Black Leg" Sanji: 77,000,000 "King of Snipers" Sogeking: 30,000,000 "Cat Burglar" Nami : 16,000,000 "Cotton Candy Lover" Chopper: 50 While Luffy and Zoro are happy, Nami is horrified to see she now has a bounty, and Robin just smiled at her "small" rise. Chopper is shocked, due to his small bounty. Sanji is completely dejected, as the Marines failed to get his photograph and thus used a very ugly composite of him.

Ignoring the fact that the Straw Hats found this as a good news, they revealed the last bounty poster:

"Cyborg" Franky, with 44,000,000 belli. The Franky Family urges Luffy to take Franky, since he is now a wanted man and made a great asset to Luffy during Enies Lobby. They also reveal that he is a son of a pirate.

While everyone talks about their pictures and the Marines discuss what happened to Sanji's picture, they are presented with their new ship, an enourmous brigantine twice the size of Merry called the Thousand Sunny, with many features like specially designed sails, a courtyard, and a locked fridge. Franky is also shown to have went back to the Franky House. He wants to stay on Water 7, but also wants to go with the Straw Hats. He knows he will say yes to Luffy if Luffy asks him to join, so he is hiding. However, the Franky Family wants him to join Luffy, and takes his underwear. What results is a hilarious scene which has a half-naked Franky chasing them to get him underwear back. Franky is then caught by Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper, and is then put into a cannon. He is then shown fired near to the Kings of All Beasts and Luffy is seen holding his underwear. He tells Franky if he wants his underwear back, he'll have to join his crew.

Franky refuses at first, however, until Nico Robin uses her devil fruit power to grab and begin to crush Franky's testicles, causing an uproar from both sides (Luffy, in particular, states that he wants Franky on his crew "as a man"). Franky uses this pain to hide the outpouring of emotion he feels as everyone tries and eventually succeeds in convincing him to go with the Straw Hats. Meanwhile, Zoro and Sanji rush to the scene stating that Garp is on the other side of the island. Despite the pain, he continues to refuse until Iceburg reminds him that his dream has not been fulfilled. His dream ship was built, yes, but his dream itself was to see his ship around the world and in many adventures. Franky finally relents, although using his need of vengeance to Nico Robin as an excuse (and the fact none of them is able to properly repair a ship), and joins the Straw-Hat Pirates. As he leaves, his family says goodbye and he thanks Tom for everything.

In one of Water 7's alley, Usopp hurriedly ran toward the new ship, stating that he had perfected his return to Straw Hats, believing that his crewmates will actually be cheering for his return. However, it is revealed that earlier on, the Straw Hats were talking about Usopp's practice. While Luffy initially was eager to pick him up, Zoro was against it, stating that aside from the fact Usopp is no good as a fighter and messed up often, Usopp is a coward that cannot protect his comrades, but had too much pride; furthermore, he had left the crew by his own decision. Thus, he threatened that Luffy must make Usopp realize he himself is too prideful and the guilty party here, or else he will leave this time. After further discussion, they agreed to leave him on Water 7, unless Usopp gave a proper apology for his actions to the crew.

[CM Punk]

On board of Garp ship, Garp was "complaining" that Sengoku forced him to come back to deal with Luffy, while Aokiji took a nap on board of his ship. By then, the new ship set sail, believing Usopp is not coming back. Suddenly, Garp began to attack by himself at the Straw Hats, and demonstrated his Iron Fist Meteor—in which he threw a very fast cannon ball by himself—shock ing everyone. It was then Usopp showed up, who admitted that he himself had fought in Enies Lobby as Sogeking. He continued by talking about the great times that they had, but despite the fact that the Straw Hats are having trouble defending the Iron Fist meteor, everyone (save for Chopper) pretend they couldn't hear Usopp's words. Finally, Usopp apologized for all the lies and stupid things he had committed in the past, and on that, Luffy grabbed Usopp back onto the new ship.

With the Straw Hats once again whole, the group begin to head out just as Garp's ship begin to bear down on them. Before doing so, they realize they must name their ship. Luffy stupidly suggests a few animal combinations with lion (due to the lion shaped sternhead) but Franky makes a suggestion that Iceberg came up with as since Luffy wants to be the king of pirates then he and the straw hats should have a ship that shall "sail thousands of oceans just like the sun" thus the name "Thousand Sunny". The crew instantly take a liking to it (despite Franky also having a name of his own) and thus the Thousand Sunny begins its maiden voyage as Garp prepares to crush the ship with a gigantic cannon ball with his bare hands! Luffy however tells Garp and Coby (though forgets Helmeppo again) that he'll see them soon and gives one last thanks to the people of Water 7 before Franky activates the the Coup De Burst (a cannon on the back of the ship) to catapult the ship into air just as Garp launches the ball. Franky then states the Thousand Sunny will do everything the Merry Go can do and better and will pick up its torch for the Straw Hats adventures as the ship escapes from the marines. Life soon starts to return to normal for Water 7, Oimo and Kaashi decide to stay a little while though comment on meeting "Sogeking" on Eblaf. Gallery-La returns to their shipyard. Kokoro, Chimeny and Gonbe start to head back for their train station and Iceburg offers the Franky Family jobs at Galley-La prompting them to call him the "new bro". Meanwhile on an unnamed island, Smoker has just caught another pirate when Tashigi reminds him of the award ceremony for what happend in Alabasta. Smoker comments that the marines are restless and need a group even stronger then the Straw Hats to fight though bets his pride that he'll crush the SHs in the new world. It then goes to Alabasta where King Cobra and his subordinates are just finding out about the Straw Hats new bounties as well as Nico Robin in the crew, however when Vivi is told she takes the news in stride telling the others that theres no way to know what Luffy thinking, though is convinced that he will become Pirate King. With that we go back to the crew who celebrates the return of Ussop and Robin as well their new crewmate and ship, Franky and the Thousand Sunny before setting out for their next destination, Fishmen Island.

Meanwhile, word spreads about the Straw Hats taking down Enies Lobby in the Baratie, in Fuschia villiage, Syrup village, Cocoyashi Village and the Drum Kingdom, with everyone noticing the Straw Hats' wanted posters. Then the scene shifts to Paladego, with some men talking about the fall of Saint Reia. A man walks out on the conversation and its revealed to be Monkey D. Dragon. He says that the stability of the world must be questioned and that soon that time will come. The scene then goes over to Blackbeard encountering Ace. While talking, it is revealed that Blackbeard killed Whitebeard's 4th Division Commander Sachi, because he possesed the Devil Fruit he had looked for for so long. It is also revealed that Blackbeard joined Whitebeard's crew only to find the fruit. He then killed Sachi and ate it. The chapter ends with Blackbeard anouncing to Ace that it is a Logia fruit, but a special one and that he is "Darkness".

A large battle ensues and Ace uses a technique in which he makes a perpetual sun. Eventually Ace's hat is seen on the ground and the outcome of the fight is unknown.

END OF CP9 SAGA

[CM Punk]

Warning: THIS IS THE CURRENT SAGA IN ONE PIECE, IT WILL BE THE MOST DETAILED, AND WILL CONTIAN THE MOST SPOILERS SO FAR IN THIS THREAD! DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!

Whitebeard War Saga

Thriller Bark Arc

Arriving in the Devil's Sea

Three days after the Post-Enies Lobby arc, the Straw Hats enjoy the features of their new ship; Usopp and Luffy go fishing together and toss everything they catch into the aquarium; Robin, Franky and Sanji relax in the dining room, Nami takes a bath in the bath hut, Chopper enjoys his expanded room/infirmary and Zoro takes a nap in the observation tower.

When Zoro wakes up, he notices a barrel floating in the ocean and alerts the rest of the crew over the built-in speaker system. When they fish the barrel out of the sea, they notice that it is an Offering to the Sea God. After a short discussion, they open the barrel, but instead of finding food and sake, a Red Light shoots out of the barrel and into the sky. Fearing that someone may spot them and knowing that a big storm is heading in their direction, Nami orders the crew to head southwest. Unfortunately, the Highwind catches them, prompting Franky to unveil the Dry Soldier Deck System Number 0; a set of paddle wheels. Using the paddle wheels they avoid the storm and finally enter the Florian Triangle.

At first Usopp thinks they might already have arrived at Fishman Island but he is quickly corrected by the others who explain to him that they are in fact in the Florian Triangle (he did not know this, since he was not around when Kokoro told the others about it). Upset that he was not notified about this and scared about the ghosts, he quickly grabs his exorcism set to rebuke any evil Spirits. Suddenly, he and the rest of the crew hear a "Yohohohoho" song and discover a Ghost Ship that has suddenly appeared behind them.

Brook

Intrigued, Luffy starts to board the ship, with Nami and Sanji behind him, who want to stop him "in case he does something impulsive and stupid". When they arrive on board of the ship they are greeted by the self-proclaimed "Gentleman Skeleton" Brook, whose first action is to question Nami whether or not he may see her panties. She, of course, denies this and hits Brook. Luffy, finding all this hilarious, asks Brook if can "take dumps", to which Brook replies with a yes. Sanji then starts to shout questions at Brook only to be interrupted by Luffy, who, much to the shock of everybody else, asks Brook to join his crew. Brook replies by saying: "sounds good".

Brook goes with them back to the ship and ends up having dinner with the crew. Brook is explaining his Devil Fruit ability when Usopp (in full exorcist gear) notices that he has no shadow and no reflection. Brooke explains how his shadow was stolen, and sadly cannot leave the foggy Florian Triangle with the Straw Hats for the sun would destroy him. Not wanting his new friends to get hurt, Brook refuses to reveal the culprit. Nonetheless, meeting the crew has brightened his dreary existence, and Brook is about to play the violin when a ghost appears. Just then, the gates of Thriller Bark capture the Thousand Sunny. Brook warns the Straw Hats to escape and runs across the water to Thriller bark

Thriller Bark

After seeing Brook leave and the prospect of an adventure Luffy decides he wants to explore Thriller Bark.

Franky suggest they try out the solider dock system while they decide what to do. Activating the mechanism Franky reveals a Going Merry-themed paddle boat named Mini Merry. Usopp, Nami, and Chopper immediately jump in to try it out and check the shore line. Franky explains the solider dock system. Suddenly they are attacked by some invisible beast. After making fools out of Luffy, Franky, Sanji, and Zoro it tries to lick Robin who resists using her Hana Hana powers. The unseen enemy then flees. Meanwhile, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper arrive on shore (crashing the Mini-Merry into a moat in the process) and try to figure out where they are. Suddenly out of the shadows appears a frightening three-headed stitched up dog. After fleeing up a tree to escape the Cerberus they encounter a strange Vampire like individual named Hildon. He asks them if they would like to come to the mansion of Doctor Hogback. This gets Chopper's attention.

Chopper explains that Hogback is a famous doctor that went missing many years ago. By this time they are in a carriage with Hildon listening to Chopper talk about Hogback. However after seeing several frightening animals Nami and Usopp ask Hildon if he can ask the coach driver to take them back to the shore. After seeming to agree he goes outside to relay their request. Ten minutes pass and when the three look outside they find Hildon and the horses gone. Meanwhile, Hildon, who was previously watching over head, flies off. Out of the ground come hundreds of zombies. A chaotic fight ensues with the three only getting away after Ussop uses his Fire Star attack to scare the zombies. However with the undead still chasing them the three take off toward the mansion that Hildon earlier informed them was owned by Doctor Hogback.

Back at the shore the remaining crew on the Thousand Sunny are pondering what to do. Deciding the only thing to do is to explore the island they enter a gate way that leads into Thriller Bark. Back at the mansion Nami, Usopp, and Chopper are confronted by a frightening stitched-up maid that starts hurling plates at Usopp until a man appears and orders her to stop. The man is revealed to be Doctor Hogback. Inviting them to dinner, Hogback explains he's on the island to do research on the zombie inhabitants. Later, in the shower, Nami tells Usopp and Chopper she thinks Hogback's lying and knows more about the island than he let on. Suddenly however Nami is attacked by the same invisible creature who attacked Robin. The creature tells her she will be his bride. Getting her mouth free Nami shouts out to Usopp and Chopper. Bursting in and seeing the window opening on its own, Usopp lets off another Fire Star.

Meanwhile in the moat the remaining crew encounter the Cerberus from earlier. After Luffy "tames" it, the crew wanders through the forest encountering other strange creatures. Meanwhile in the mansion Nami, Usopp, and Chopper attempt to explore only to be frightened by more Zombies. They stumble upon a room decorated with pictures of Cindry the maid. Nami discovers she was once a famous actress and she was reported to have died ten years ago. Finding a chest they open it only to be terrified by a zombie Jack-in-the-box. Taking off once again, this time they're pursued by this figure that other zombies refer to as the Guardian.

Luffy and the rest of the crew stumble across a ghost similar to the one they encountered on the ship earlier. The ghost are revealed to have the ability to induce a depressed state on people by passing through them. Luckily for Luffy, Franky, and Zoro the state is temporary. Walking through the graveyard, they are attacked by Zombies but using a team attack the crew defeats them with ease. Leaving the Graveyard, they encounter an old man who like Brook is missing his shadow. The man then tells them the shadow thief is a man named Gecko Moria. Hearing this name Robin reveals that Gecko Moria is a Shichibukai with a bounty that exceeds even Luffy (who has a bounty of 300,000,000 beli). The rest of the crew is stunned by this news. Back in the mansion Nami, Usopp, and Chopper find Hogback's lab. Peeking inside they watch as Hogback creates a zombie he calls Mario. Suddenly the mysterious figure from earlier appears and knocks them forward into the lab. Nami and Chopper exclaim it sounded like Brook but had flesh and skin.

[CM Punk]

Warning: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT

[continued]

The person comes forward revealing himself to be a zombie samurai named Ryuuma, and when he sees Nami he asks to see her panties. Initially angered by this, Nami realizes he's acting just like Brook. Ryuuma responds by taking out his sword and then he runs right past them. Confused they try to run but are quickly taken down by his attack which they didn't even realize had been done when he ran by them.

Outside the clock struck midnight. In the graveyard the voice of the invisible man is heard ordering the defeated zombie soldiers to get up which they do. The man starts to become visible revealing a tall man with a stitched lions face. The Zombies begin calling out his name Absalom, then calling him "Ero-salom" until he yells for them to shut up. Elsewhere, it shows dozen of ghosts heading toward the tower behind Hogback's mansion. Entering this room with this weird teddy bear zombie welcoming them as they enter. A girl in the back of the room gets up telling the bear zombie to not talk because it's not cute. Meanwhile in another part of the tower three Zombies enter this room where Gecko Moria is asleep to wake him up. From the top of the tower lost in fog a enormous black sheet starts to come down. Luffy and his crew then learn from the old man that Thriller Bark is actually the world's largest pirate ship. With that, Luffy and his crew enter the Mansion.

Soon after the Zombie soldiers surround the place and Absalom enters the place to wake up the Zombie Generals. These are revealed to be several large zombies, armored zombies, a drunk man called Captain John and some other strange zombies.

As Absalom watches them leave to hunt the Straw Hats he is confronted by a large zombie warthog bride named Lola asking Absalom to marry her. Failing to force him to sign a marriage contract, Absalom tells Lola he plans to make Nami his bride. He even shows her Nami's wanted poster. Enraged, Lola vows to destroy Nami and runs off to do it. Absalom runs after her.

Down in the mansion Luffy and his crew are attacked by "Surprise Zombies" led by the taxidermied pig zombie Buhichuck (Oinkchuck). The battle is short, and they notice Sanji has gone missing.

Meanwhile in this strange forest two zombie squirrels are transporting a coffin. Tripping, they drop the coffin Chopper is in, waking him up, and after driving of the squirrels he wakes up Nami and Usopp. They quickly realize it isn't an actual forest but Perona's Wonder Garden which is located on a bridge spanning from Hogback's mansion the tower (which turns out is also a mast). More zombie animals show up including a dog-faced penguin zombie. However when the other zombie's attack Nami the dog penguin rushes to her defense. When the other zombies demand to know what he's doing. The dog-penguin declares he won't ever harm a lady.

Lola shows up attempt to attack Nami suddenly however Nami is lifted off her feet. It is revealed to be Absalom. Nami takes Clima-Tact and uses a thunderball to electrocute Absalom, then she and the boys take off pursued by Lola. Absalom mistakes the shock for love. He orders the Zombie animals to help him. After some rude remarks he threatens the zombies to mind who they talk to. Being confronted by the dog penguin he blasts the dog with some sort of invisible attack.

In the mansion Zoro has gone missing too.

Luffy finds a suit of armor and puts it on. Coming into a huge room full of tents they are ambushed by a General Zombie. Franky proceeds to pound it but the armored knight keeps getting up. Many more Zombie Generals appear. Oinkchuck runs off. sealing the way they came from. A vicious battle ensues as Luffy, Robin, and Franky try to get out. Franky discovers these Zombies fend off their weakness to fire with buckets of water. Luffy suddenly sees a Zombie General named Jiguroh use Zoro's 36 Pound Cannon technique. Finally Franky and Robin manage to escape on to a stone bridge spanning from the mansion to the tower beneath Perona's wonder garden. However they discover Luffy's been taken captive by the zombies and is being transported by chain to the tower. As they run after him they are blocked by a giant Spider/monkey Zombie General called Talleran.

Back on the Thousand Sunny, Perona and Other zombie's are scavenging the ship for treasure when Hildon shows up and informs her that Luffy's been capture and their master is planning to bring out Zombie 900. In Perona's Wonder Garden, Nami is cornered by Lola. Keeping her wits Nami convinces Lola she's really a gay transvestite male. Having stopped Lola, Nami proceeds to talk to Lola telling her she has to go after Absalom if she wants him to marry her. Taking this advice Lola goes after Absalom who is next seen in Perona's room with Bearsy when Perona shows up. Then it's revealed that while Lola went after Absalom Nami and the others ran away and are hiding in Bearsy.

Back on the Bridge Robin and Franky are cornered by the generals. Thinking quickly Franky smashes the bridge. However as they fall Robin reveals the ability to fly for five seconds by using her Hana powers to form large wings. While she keeps them airborne Franky launches his strong right to grab the ledge. However Talleran is on the tower side of the gap. Suddenly a weird noise is heard an Brook plummets out of the sky and into the court yard with the Zombie general.

Talleran begins spinning his web out of his hand moving toward them. Using her Hana powers to slap Talleran in the eyes when he brings his hands to his eyes he gets webbing in them. Next Franky takes his iron nunchuks and combine them with some stone columns and starts bashing Talleran hard. However just when It seemed theyed won Robin is attacked by several spider mice zombies. As Franky turns to help her he is caught by Tallerans webbing. Just then Brook Appears having leaped up from the courtyard.

After a brief conversation with Robin and Franky Talleran suddenly gasps in pain. It is revealed just like Ryuma, Brook attacked Talleran without him realizing it for a short period of time. Suddenly this black thing comes out of Tallerans mouth. Horrified by the defeat of their leader the Spider Mice flee. After freeing himself and Robin, Franky asks Brook whats going on. Brook tells them after Hogback gathers bodies he fixes them up, but to bring them to life he needs Moria's help. Moria steals shadows and puts them in copses creating his zombie army. Moria is able to do this because he has the power of the Kage kage fruit. And The stronger the person whos shadow is stolen the stronger the zombie warrior. The Zombies also gain the personality and combat styles of the person whose shadow they come from.

However the zombies do have a weaknesses. Because their power is devil fruit based salt from the ocean frees the shadow to go back to its owner. It flashes back to the front of the mansion where hundreds of zombie of soldiers lie lifeless having been purified by Brook. Also Moria cannot kill the person he steals shadows from for it would kill the zombie. Brook gives the two a bag of salt and runs off.

Gecko Moria

Perona, Bearsy, Absalom, and Hogback with Cindry arrive in a massive room and sitting on the throne is Gecko Moria. Moria reveals his desire to be pirate king. Luffy who is tied up in a cage yells he'll be King. Moria and his chief officer converse on they're aims when the three solider guarding him yelled out he ate the steel cage is escaping. Perona lets loose a a few ghost who subdue him with there negative attack. With that Gecko Moria begins to remove Luffy's shadow while Nami, Ussop, and Chopper watch in horror from Bearsy. With his shadow removed, Luffy loses consciousness. Moria mentions how he was once defeated by a person called Kaidou in the New World.

Moria orders the Spider Mice to take Luffy back to his ship. Before they leave, the Spider Mice inform him of Talleran's defeat. They take Luffy and rush off down the stairs. Absalom is concerned about Brook but Perona doesn't know about him. Moria, not bothered by this development, orders his three personal zombies to open the door to the Freezer where zombie 900 is stored. Elsewhere, Franky and Robin hurry back to the Thousand Sunny, looking for the others on the way. Meanwhile Brook confronts Ryuma in Hogback's Lab.

In the tunnel of the Freezer, all the leaders of Thriller Bark are excited about their plans for the future. They enter the chamber, where this enormous giant twenty times Moria's size rests. Moria declares it was once the great conquerer known as Oz. Moria walks on one of the the chains supporting Oz and inserts Luffy's shadow. The monster becomes awake and roars for food. Nami, Ussop, and Chopper fall out of Bearsy and are discovered. However Oz roars out for food again and they run off. They head down the stairs when suddenly Usopp and Chopper are enveloped in explosions. Absalom grabs Nami and turns himself and her invisible and escapes. Ussop and Chopper are set upon by dozens of soldier zombies. However, just as they're being overwhelmed, Franky and Robin show up and begin purifying zombies.

[CM Punk]

Warning: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT

Oz and Luffy

Moria has his zombies bring Oz tons of food to eat. The zombies watch in shock as Oz consumes vast amounts of Thriller Bark's stores and still wants more food. Moria tells Oz who he is and that he is now his minion but Oz declares he will be pirate king and proceeds to break out of the freezer much to the astonishment of the zombies. Meanwhile Robin, Franky, Usopp, and Chopper run down stairs that lead to the ships. Elsewhere Absalom prepares to marry Nami. In Hogback's lab Ryuma reminds brook of what happened last time he was in Thriller Bark. They begin to fight. The remaining straw hats reach their ship which has been ransacked by the Zombies and find Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro. After several blows on the head by Franky, to no effect, Usopp lies that "A beautiful lady swordsman just arrived with a ton of meat!!" they begin to come to.

After their current situation is explained to the now awakened Straw Hats it is revealed by Franky that Brook was a member of the crew that promised Laboon 50 years ago that they would return to Reverse mountain, meanwhile Brook is fighting with Ryuma while thinking how every time he thinks about Laboon his heart squeezes in pain even though he does not have a heart, and that how Laboon will not recognize him without his afro. With the situation revealed Luffy is now more determined than ever to make Brook join his crew.

They begin to plan their counter attack, with Luffy stating that it would be easier to just go and beat Moria than to look for their individual shadows, leaves Nami up to Sanji (burning with rage over the idea of a wedding) and Usopp, Franky decides to go help Brook with Zoro joining him. Before setting out Usopp gives everyone a bag of salt and says that they should defiantly finish their objectives before dawn or they will be at a disadvantage. Meanwhile Oz has climbed to the top of the main mast of Thriller Bark, amazed that it is a ship, and declares that he will become pirate king with it while Hildon reports to Moria that the Straw Hats have woken up and are rampaging about destroying zombies and that Absalom's wedding has started with all the General zombies attending. Perona says she will take care of them and Hogback requests to be made second in command. Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, Robin, and Chopper are taking the upper bridge to where Moria is when Luffy and Sanji get hit with the negative ghosts and Oz comes crashing down destroying the bridge and taking Sanji and Usopp down with him to the lower bridge where Zoro and Franky are, where they attacked what they thought was a wall but is actually Oz.

Luffy, Robin, and Chopper continue to where Moria is when they encounter Dr. Hogback along the way, Chopper says he will fight Hogback and that Luffy should go on ahead, Robin stays behind as well to deal with Cindry. Chopper tells Hogback that he no longer recognizes him as a Doctor and Luffy finds Moria, who treats him with indifference. Back at the bridge Oz gets up causing Sanji, Zoro, Franky, and Usopp to panic over his shear size, but Oz dose not even notice them. He makes a hat out of part of the mansion then walks away saying he will be pirate king. After voicing their concerns over the destroyed bridge they realize Franky has already built a new one and are all shocked by the speed and quality Franky put into it. They then encounter Perona in her room where she reveals she has the powers of the Horo Horo (ghost ghost) fruit and are all hit with her negative spirits and fall to the ground. Perona then orders her zombies to capture them but are destroyed by Usopp's salt star, Perona sends more ghosts through him but they have no effect as Usopp sates he is already negative, thoroughly shocking Perona. Usopp tells the others to get up, and says he will deal with her. Meanwhile the wedding has progressed and Absalom is about to kiss, a still unconscious, Nami.

Perona sends four more of her ghosts through Usopp causing the ghosts and Perona to become depressed, meanwhile Sanji flies off (literally) to save Nami. The fight between Brook and Ryuuma continues with Ryuuma wondering what he should cut off next with his special arrow notch slash. Brook reveals that the technique came from a kingdom's assault squad and its real name is "Requiem Handoul", nicknamed "Flower sons three petals notch slash" by his old crew, and he does not want Ryuuma using that name. They face off one last time, seemingly walking past each other, using their fastest sword techniques and Brook is defeated. Just as Ryuuma is about to cut off Brook's afro all of Thriller Bark starts shaking causing both of them to fall over just as Zoro and Franky arrive, Ryuuma charges and is blocked by Zoro who says Ryuuma has a nice sword. Ryuuma states that it is one of the 21 great swords, the "Meitou Shuusui", and Zoro says that he will use that blade. Back at the wedding the shaking has caused Absalom to miss kissing Nami and it is revealed that a strange ocean current is causing it thanks to Oz moving the rudder. Absalom orders all general zombies to stop Oz who pummels them with his gomu gomu no Gatling gun, Sanji finally arrives at the wedding.

Luffy demands that Moria return everybody’s shadows and that he will kick Moria's ass, prompting Moria to ask how exactly Luffy will do that and even if Luffy beats him up or even kills him the shadows will not return unless he orders them to do so. Luffy rears up for a gomu gomu no pistal only to have it blocked by Moria's shadow, his duplicate Doppelman. Moria then tells Luffy that in the past he was too overconfident in his own ability and ambition and learned the importance of having strong subordinates so their power can make him pirate king without himself having to lift a finger. Luffy retorts that he will be pirate king and Moria reveals that a shadow’s master can sometimes leave a very strong will behind, but it’s still just a matter of time until that will fades and they become another obedient zombie. Moria's shadow turns into several black bats to block Luffy's attacks and then starts to bite him making Moria ask how this is "kicking my ass?". Luffy jumps down into the freezer causing Moria to think Luffy is trying to escape only for Luffy to launch a Gomu Gomu no Stamp through the ledge Moria is sitting on literally kicking his ass behind.

One on One

Sanji kicks the zombie holding Nami away and for a moment thinks he rescued a goddess instead. Absalom demands that Sanji return his bride and mistakes Nami for an angel. Sanji finds this totally understandable because of Nami's pure white dress. Absalom then fires an explosion at Sanji, who dodges it and berates Absalom for nearly hitting Nami. Absalom then figures out that the animal zombie that attacked him earlier must have had Sanji's shadow, as Sanji is mistaking Nami as a holy nymph, and that he does not have time to deal with small fry only to be kicked in the face, sending Absalom's 300 kilo body flying. Absalom tries to use his "Dead Man's Hand" (the explosion technique) only for Sanji to redirect it. He then proceeds to kick the hell out of Absalom who tries to escape by turning invisible. Sanji uses Usopp's salt balls to find him and continue kicking him, literally exploding with anger, states that there is one last problem between them.

Sanji reveals he knows the source of Absalom's power, the Suke Suke no Mi. Sanji goes on to add that he had always been on the lookout for the fruit desiring the power to make himself invisible. Its revealed that Absalom's body has been upgraded by Hogback with Gorilla and Bear muscle, elephant skin, and his lion jaws. Despite this Sanji slams Absalom against a wall.

Meanwhile, Usopp fights Perona, who at the beginning runs away, only to threaten Usopp with previously unrevealed powers, like flying or sending exploding mini ghosts on Usopp. Though Usopp tries, he can't seem to harm her, as all attacks go right through her. He is beaten heavily by Kumancy, so that he asks "Sogeking" for "help". "Sogeking" then purifies Kumancy and demands Usopp to fight on, till, at the end of his wits, Usopp discovers the reason of Perona's invulnerability-she is a host projection, while her real body is in her room.

Usopp fires a shot at the real Perona but misses and Perona then launches an attack with a gigantic exploding ghost and then goes back into her body. Usopp stores the explosion in his impact dial and Perona find herself unable to move, as she is glued to the wall. A mustached hippo attacks Usopp, whom he hits with the stored impact. Ussop then shoots his "Glitering black star" (a bunch of cockroaches, that are fake but she does not notice) at her and then hits her with a "10 ton" hammer that is actually a balloon on a stick. She collapses from the shock, as Usopp leaves her behind. At another point Zoro fights Ryuuma, who proves to be a formidable enemy whose main technique is to destroy Zoro's swords in combat.

Zoro fights on, until he manages to defeat Ryuuma. He then gives Zoro his sword, saying that it shall be "happy with him" and that he feels ashamed that he has "made this samurai's body suffer defeat". A few second later, his shadow returns to Brook.

[CM Punk]

Warning: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT

[continued]

Meanwhile, Robin and Chopper are fighting Hogback, but are restrained by Jigorou and Inuppe, until the two (bearing Zoro's and Sanji's shadow and thusly their personality traits) begin to fight when Hogback orders them to kill anyone who gets in their way. Robin then holds Hogback's mouth shut, commanding him to "order them to jump of the building". Hogback, angered after the crushing, does indeed shout it out in anger, making the two zombies jump off instead. Chopper talks about how Hogback has failed as a doctor, to which Hogback replies that he only was a Doctor because of the wealth. He explains how he proposed to Cindry in her lifetime, but she refused him, and later on she died. He was then approached by Gecko Moria to travel with him, accepting, on the condition that he can bring Cindry back, with a different person's shadow. He then demonstrated Cindry's obedience when given a direct order, by kicking her down and forcing her to lick the floor with her tongue. He then states he only cared about the body and not about the soul of the woman that rejected him. He then sends Cindry to beat Chopper. He, however does not fight her, saying, what would her family think if they knew about this. Hogback orders her to spare him some time, as he is escaping, but Cindry starts crying, saying that her body can't move.

She regains her posture somewhat, and charges forth again, but is held back by Robin, while Chopper goes forth for Hogback. Then, using a combined attack with Robin,using a feet sprouting technique, they ascend to a great hight, from which Chopper wishes to drop off Hogback for all the evil he has done. But meanwhile, Oz, who was summoned to Moria and has now become obedient, is sent off by Moria to wreck Havoc across Thriller Bark and capture all the Straw Hats, beat them and put them on their ship, just before he smilingly runs away from Luffy. Oz does indeed rampage and interrupts Chopper's and Robin's attack. Hogback falls down, but is engulfed within rocks. He orders Cindry to free him, yelling that her only positive feature is the face of her's, being afraid that Oz, who is coming closer, will crush him. However, Cindry just turns to him, smiling for the first time, like she did when she was alive, afterwards we are left to believe Hogback was stepped on by Oz.

Vs. Oz

In a different place, Oz chases Usopp and Sanji respectively, while this interruption makes it possible for Absalom to once again steal Nami away from Sanji. The crew is reunited, just as Oz is standing in the courtyard, yelling at the Straw Hats to come out, to which Franky replies that they have to take him down together. Luffy continues to chase Moria while the rest of the crew, minus Nami, faces off against Oz, who identifies them by their wanted posters on his arm. Each of the Straw Hats tries attacking Oz individually, but to no avail, and no small amount of salt can purify him as he pummels the crew.

Meanwhile Perona wakes up wondering who could have caused so much destruction, only for Oz's arm to smash through the wall near her while looking for the girl (Nami). Perona panics and decides to leave Thriller Bark with the Thousand Sunny.

Back at the wedding ceremony Nami has woken up, about to be kissed by Absolam only to be attacked be an enraged Lola, which was a ruse to try and help Nami escape. Absolam attacks Lola prompting Nami to attack Absolam with her clima tact's swinger arm knocking him out thanks to all the damage he took from Sanji, and leaving Lola to marry the unconscious Absolam.

Meanwhile the rest of the crew gets back up for another round with Oz. Zoro decides they should send Oz flying and Franky decides to use "Tactic Fifteen" which is essentially Franky standing on Zoro and Sanji's shoulders holding Usopp in his right hand with Chopper on top of his head, Robin does not participate because it was too embarrassing, this upsets Oz (he was getting pumped for it) who sends Franky, Usopp, and Chopper flying all the while feeling betrayed by Robin who flatly tells them never to do that again. After a lot of team work and combo attacks the crew manages to flip Oz over on his head.

Nami finally reaches the treasure room only to find it has already been cleaned out by Perona. Back at the Thousand Sunny Perona's zombies have restocked the food supply and almost loaded all the treasure on board when out of nowhere Bartholemew Kuma of the Shichibukai shows up asking where Moria is. Nami has found out what Perona is planning and races off to Thousand Sunny while Oz finds that his horns are stuck in the ground allowing the crew to get in some free shots throughly pissing Oz off. Once Oz gets free, they proceed to break his knees, while Nami has caught up with Perona. Before the two begin to fight, Kuma appears again whom Perona identifies as "The Tyrant", stating that he was brutal beyond all measure while he was still a pirate. Kuma asks if Perona works for Moria, which she denies and says she was just leaving, Kuma asks her where she would like to go to which she answers a creepy old castle and then tries to attack Kuma, who makes her disappear, literally. He then asks Nami if it's true that Luffy has a brother, to which she replies yes. Back in the forest Luffy thinks he has finally caught up with Moria but its just his shadow and dawn is now approaching.

The fight with Oz continues with Zoro using his 108 pound cannon, which is now much more powerful with his new blade, remarking that that Autumn Water has a bit of a temper. Oz dodges it. The crew resolves to get Luffy his shadow back before dawn so he can still fight even if they run out of time. Thriller Bark starts shaking again and the fog clears. Thanks to Oz messing with the rudder Thriller Bark has drifted out of the Florian Triangle. Meanwhile Kuma has finally found Moria who tells him that the successor to Sir Crocodile has been chosen: Marshal D. Teach aka Blackbeard with a former bounty of zero. Moria takes this with indifference until Kuma tells him the government is afraid of another Shichibukai being defeated by the Straw Hats, thoroughly angering Moria, who tells Kuma to sit back and watch as he defeats the Straw Hats.

Back at the fight with Oz, the crew is still shocked over the mist dissipating when Moria reveals that he is inside of a control room in Oz's stomach. Moria then challenges them saying that if they can defeat him he will return all their shadows. Zoro tells Usopp to go find a mountain of salt so they can purify Oz only for Moria to destroy the way to the kitchen. Luckily Usopp was saved by Brook who already went and got the salt. Brook reveals that he drank some milk in the kitchen and it revived him completely. Moria continues to take this with indifference while Brooks asks to fight along side the crew. After some more combo attacks Franky tries to hit Moria point blank only to get knocked out. As Oz is about to finish him Nami arrives using her Thunderbolt tempo so they can get Franky to safety. Oz uses Gomu Gomu no Pistol at Nami and this time his arm really stretches. Robin saves Nami from the attack and Luffy is still lost in the forest, where he meets some of Moria's other victims who say they can give him the power he needs to defeat Moria.

They take Luffy to their captain "Proposal" Lola, who has been rejected 4,443 times, who immediately proposes to Luffy who rejects her making it 4,444 times. They inform Luffy that Moria is now inside Oz's stomach and the only Luffy can beat Moria is to beat Oz first. They proceed to place a shadow into Luffy stating that once purified they are easy to capture and ask Luffy if he is good with a sword, Luffy says he is not while demonstrating amazing swordsmanship. It is explained that if a shadow is placed in a body that has its own soul it will augment their power with the shadow's skill but will only last about 10 minutes before the shodow goes back to its owner. They proceed to place 100 shadows in Luffy and dubbing him "Nightmare Luffy". The crew and Oz continue to fight with Oz gaining the upper hand thanks to his new found stretching ability. Moria tells them that he has reversed the role of the shadow obaying the body hence forth he can now alter Oz's shape at will by changing the shape of Oz's shadow.

Brook, Nami, Usopp, and Robin launch a new combo and throw Oz off balance and giving Zoro a chance to land a damaging blow. Oz takes out Brook with a Gomu gomu no axe and then targets Usopp, but he stops stretching thanks to Robin putting Moria in a choke hold with her powers. Shortly after this, Moria uses his powers to steal Robins shadow through Oz, making her pass out instantly and loose her grip. Enraged by this, Sanji activates his Diable Jambe Technique, just in time to deflect a Gomu Gomu no Bazooka aimed at the defenseless Robin, shortly after Chopper discovers Oz's cause of death (freezing to death in the snow due to lack of cloths) and his weak point, Sanji and Chopper launch a combo attack on Oz's right arm and are then knocked out by Oz's Gomu Gomu no Gatling attack leaving only 3 of the 8 fighting them standing.

[CM Punk]

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD (LAST WARNING!)

[continued]

Zoro creates an opening for Usopp to launch the salt into Oz's mouth but gets knocked out in the process, but instead of Luffy's shadow coming out Moria's dose and throws the salt back at Usopp. Moria orders Oz to stomp Nami and Usopp but Luffy arrives in time to save them. Oz uses his Gomu gomu no rifle on Luffy who stops it with one hand and proceeds to send Oz flying into Thriller Bark's forest. The Rolling pirates arrive and tend to the wounded Straw Hats while Nightmare Luffy unleashes a barrage of attacks against Oz and Moria, at one point slashing through Oz with a sword, hitting Moria in the face with a Gomu gomu no Hammer, and seemingly finishing them off with Gomu gomu no Storm. All the shadows then leave Luffy and he goes unconscious as the victims of Moria cheer that Thriller Bark has fallen.

However, shortly afterwards, Oz gets back on his feet and the sun is almost up. The rest of the Straw Hats and Brook make it to their feet to end the fight with Oz. Usopp and Franky make a freezing wind cannon to turn the water from Nami's Rain Tempo to ice to keep Oz from moving his legs, Robin uses her powers to create legs for Brook to jump on while carrying Luffy to the top of Thriller Bark's main mast while Sanji uses a huge chain to keep Oz in place and Zoro using his Three Thousand Swords technique to straighten Oz's back. Chopper explains that the human spine is S-shaped so it can absorb shocks, straightening it will cause Oz to take much more damage. Luffy descends activating Gear Third and hitting Oz directly in the face with his Gomu Gomu no Gigant Bazooka shattering Oz's spine.

Shadow Asgard

However, their victory is short-lived, as Moria arises from Oz's cockpit. After giving the Straw Hats a speech about how the New World is out of their league, he uses his ultimate technique: Shadow Asgard. By absorbing all of his zombie's shadows (including Cindry, Inuppe, Captain John, Lola, Jigorou, Hildon, Buhichuck,Gyoro, Nin,Bao and Oz), he transforms into a giant, deformed version of himself, resembling a lizard or a gecko. As he displays his newfound, destructive power, the pirates have one more problem at their hands: The sun is rising. As the Rolling Pirates (minus Lola) run for cover so they don't burn away, Luffy activates Gear 2nd in order to defeat Moria's new form.

Luffy then begins battling Moria's stomach, after which Moria starts leaking the shadows. Soon after, he manages to stop their progress, but Luffy uses all his strength to combine gear 2nd and 3rd and launch into Moria. The impact then makes the islands mast fall on him,forcing him to spew out all the shadows, just as the sun comes out and the strawhats start burning away.

At the last second the shadows return to the crew and they are saved. The Rolling Pirates and the Straw Hats celebrate, Absalom is woken up by Dr. Hogback and plan to escape. Other people around the world celebrate as their shadows are returned too.

The Tyrant Strikes

The celebration is cut short when Kuma appears and is ordered by the World Government to revive Moria and eliminate everyone who witnessed his defeat. Kuma takes out a few of the Rolling Pirates by launching paw shaped air blasts similair to roukugan. He then teleports again and appears infront of the Straw hats and claims he'll start the slaughter with Zoro. Zoro begins the battle but Kuma is able to dodge or deflect all of Zoro's attacks with the use of his devil fruit ability, the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. Franky mocks Kuma's ability and is taken out by one hit from Kuma. Sanji and Usopp enter the fray in order to save Zoro but their attacks don't faze Kuma at all. Kuma somehow begins to make a paw shaped air ballon and compresses the air, making it a small but powerful bomb. Kuma replies that he can let them live if they surrender Luffy to the World Government. The Straw Hats and Rolling Pirates reject the offer, and Kuma merely replies, "What a pity" and launches the bomb.

Though this does not succeed in killing the Straw Hats, it knocks out all of them except Zoro, who offers to trade his life for Luffy's. Kuma agrees and uses his Devil Fruit to project Luffy's pain onto Zoro. Kuma then teleports to the entrance to the ship, musing about how Dragon has raised a good son with a fine crew.

Aftermath

Hogback, Absolam, & Moria make their escape from Thriller Bark and read in the paper that Ace is now imprisoned in Impel Down. A day has passed and everyone except Zoro is up and celebrating with a feast in the courtyard. Sanji prevents any of the victims from informing anyone of what Zoro did (Robin eavesdrops on the conversation). Brook finds a piano and plays some background music, a song that all the pirates of old know: "Bink's Sake", which both Luffy & Robin have heard before. Luffy tells Brook of how he met Laboon at Reverse Mountain which causes Brook to break down in tears. Now that he knows Laboon is still waiting for him, Brook remembers the first time he and the Rumba pirates met Laboon.

In the West blue, more than 50 years ago, the Rumba pirates encountered a baby whale who had strayed from his pod and decided to sing a song to cheer him up, not long after all the Rumba pirates grew fond of him and named him Laboon. When they were approaching the Grand Line they knew that it was too dangerous for Laboon to come, so they ignored him, hoping he would leave and try to find his pod. After coming down from Reverse Mountain they discovered that Laboon had followed them. Three months later they leave Laboon at Twin capes and promise to return. Three years have passed now and the captain of the Rumba pirates, "Calico" Yorki, and some of the crew have fallen ill with a virus their doctor cannot cure. Filled with regret, he asks Brook to keep their promise to Laboon for them as he and the other infected members meet their deaths trying to escape through the Calm Belt.

Back in the present Brook takes a tone dial out of his skull that contains the final song the Rumba pirates performed before they died. As the song plays, the Straw Hats and Rolling pirates join in and Brook remembers how the rest of the Rumba pirates died from poisoned enemy weapons. He also remembers how they went from a band, to a quartet, a trio, a duet, and finally a solo as Brook finally died remembering Laboon. In the present Brook still has the pride of a pirate and resolves to meet Laboon from the "front" as promised. Brook decides to seal the tone dial away inside his skull and joins Luffy's crew. At Reverse Mountain Laboon is shown in good spirits as he lets out a terrific roar. Brook shows the others his wanted poster as he is known as "Humming Brook" with a bounty of 33,000,000 and pledges his life to Luffy.

Two days have passed and Usopp and Franky have erected a grave in the cemetery for Brook's crew. Zoro is awake and holds a memorial for 'Yubashiri' as well. As the Straw Hats are getting ready to leave Lola gives Nami half of a piece of paper calling it her mothers "Biblicard" which will always point in the direction of its owner and how they should find Lola's mother in the new world if they ever get in to trouble. Luffy remembers the piece of paper Ace gave him and finds that it is getting smaller and is burning, Lola explains that this means Ace's life is in danger. Though Luffy is concerned, he decides to not pursue his brother, believing that Ace can handle himself and that the next they meet, they will be rival pirates.

With everything needed to continue on their journey, the Straw Hat Pirates finally leave Thriller Bark and Florian Triangle, following the Log Pose towards Fishman Island. However, as the Rolling Pirates attempt to leave via Brook's ship, Lola almost thinks she sees something in the fog as they attempt to escape the triangle. Although she passes it off, a pair of huge eyes stares at the opposite crew.

Meanwhile, back at Marijoa, fleet admiral Sengoku puts down Kuma for not going after the Straw Hats like originally planned, while Vice-Admiral Monkey D. Garp tells the leader of the Marines about how Luffy was able to get away from yet another government foe.

End Thriller Bark Story Arc

[CM Punk]

Sabaody Archipelago Arc

Halfway there, and a Mermaid

A few days after departing from the Florian Triangle and the ghost ship Thriller Bark, the Straw Hats continued to follow the Log Pose in the direction it has been pointing in since it last set on Water 7. After making their way through bizarre weather and fighting massive Sea Kings, they finally arrive directly above the location indicated by the pose, Fishman Island. However, instead of finding the long-sought after destination, the Straw Hats encounter another obstacle: the Red Line, the continent that encircles the main meridian of the world. Having originally entered the Grand Line at Reverse Mountain on the other side of the Red Line, this means that the crew have traveled half-way around the Grand Line, with the continent blocking access into the New World, and therefore to both Luffy's dream of becoming Pirate King and new crew mate Brook's dream of getting back to Reverse Mountain and reuniting with Laboon.

Therefore, the presence of the Red Line poses many problems to the Straw Hats. For one thing, the extremely tall Red Line looks impassable, preventing passage into the New World. Also, their exact location is close to many of the crucial government landmarks, including the holy land of Mariejois and Marine Headquarters. With the log pose continuing to point downwards, Luffy, Robin and Brook decides to use the ship's Shark Submerge to search for any signs of Fishman Island, only to find nothing after reaching the limit of 5000 meters except an angry rabbit Sea King . Chased to the surface by the creature, Luffy defeats it easily with his Gomu-Gomu no Rifle, which made it spit out a small mermaid (who lands right on a super-excited Sanji) and a starfish.

The Flying Fish Riders and...

The Macro Fishmen Pirates tries to ask Duval why he made them retreat, and he replies by shooting harpoons at them whilst ranting about the man who ruined his life, striking fear into his own crew as well as the fishmen. Macro himself tries to apologize to Duval for the stupidity of his own crew, but Duval congratulates them for revealing the Straw Hats to him. Meanwhile Hatchan (former Arlong Pirate crew member, now Takoyaki salesman), who is tied up in front of Duval is both concerned about Keimi and also afraid of hearing the Straw Hat name mentioned again.

The Sunny is spotted near the base and Duval is informed that "that man" is aboard the ship whilst Hatchan tries to bribe Macro with takoyaki to release him but, it does not work. As the Sunny nears the base, Keimi is worried that her friend is alright. Sanji goes lovestruck promising Keimi that he will rescue her friend, but Keimi mentions how many time she got caught by Macro crew (at least 30 times), making Usopp exaggerate about the number of times, she has been captured as well as being eaten up by sea kings.

As the Straw Hats enter the base, they notice it is too quiet and they find out that the base is not an island, but a small village built in the middle of the sea. Keimi and Pappug calls out Hatchan, and the octopus fishman sees the Jolly Roger of the Straw Hats and covers himself in his own ink to disguise himself in order to protect his friends. The Straw Hats know that the whole place is a trap, but Keimi and Pappug freaks out when Franky yells at them of how they could be so blind of the obvious. They find Hatchan in a cage right in front them warning them about the trap.

The Straw Hats recognize the voice and shape of the octopus fishman and Sanji tricks him to talk about Arlong and his crew, revealing to the crew that Camie's friend Hatchan is really their former enemy, Hatchan of the Arlong Pirates. Luffy however is between his memories of the past as well as his own appetite and Keimi is excited that they know him, but Zoro states that they are not his friends and Nami is considering to turn away. This makes Keimi sad and Pappug angry at the Straw Hats, calling them nitwits, after which they both jump in to the sea only to be immediately captured by the Macro Pirates.

Fortunately, Nami convinces the other Straw Hats to save Keimi and Pappug since after all, Keimi and Pagagg are their friends. Duval orders the Flying Fish Riders to attack whilst Luffy rescues Camie and Pappug using his devil fruit abilities and orders Zoro to free Hatchan and the rest Straw Hats to Battle.

Hatchan asks Keimi and Pappug to get out of the way while the Macro Pirates are fuming that they will get Camie back. Luffy says that he is ready for them all, while Keimi and Pappug is cheering for him. Zoro, Sanji and Chopper prepare themselves as dozens of Flying Fish Riders emerge all around Thousand Sunny. Luffy is however distracted because of his fascination of the fishes, and he tries to find one to ride - and grabs one by holding on to the rider.

Meanwhile the Flying Fish Riders begins to bombard the ship, leaving Sanji to deflect all of the bombs being dropped on them. Luffy manages to pilot one of the fish, but the attack leader orders the entire crew to dive underwater including Luffy, which of course turns him into a hammer. Chopper and Brook try to save him only to realise that they can't swim as well. This infuriates both Nami and Franky who rescues them while complaining about extra work that those 3 caused. The Macro Pirates see a opportunity and try to capture Keimi again only for them to find out that Zoro had freed Hatchan from his cage when they were not looking. Hatchan defeats them quickly by uppercutting them into the air.

Hatchan reunites with Camie and Pappug, but they are attacked by a Flying Fish Rider, though they quickly is saved by Zoro. Hatchan thanks Zoro for rescuing him and tries to apologize for what he did to Zoro at Arlong Park. Usopp is defending the ship by using a cannon to shoot down the flying fish with Chopper praising his skill. As the Straw Hats find out that there are tons of flying fish riders in the sky, Brook becomes ashamed that he can't lend a hand in his first fight as a Straw Hat pirate, so he unsheathes his blade and jumps high in the sky using his violin to unleash a musical sound wave that puts the riders as well as Chopper and Luffy to sleep.

This move allows Brook to perform a quick attack on the sleeping riders while running on water, and it also allows Luffy to grab a flying fish only to find it and it's rider are asleep which causes him to plummet into Duval's room where Luffy sees his maskless face - with an extremely chocked reaction. Meanwhile, Brook spots that Zoro's wounds after his battle against Kuma still have not healed, but Zoro tells Brook that he's fine enough to take on the Flying Fish Riders.

Hatchan complains to Zoro and Brook that they should still keep their guard up, but Keimi and Pappug praise Hatchan. Hatchan turns his back and lowering his guard only to be attacked by another rider, but is saved by both Zoro and Brook. As the group of Riders attacks the Sunny, they fall to a combo attack by Nami and Robin's clutch skills.

Chopper goes in Arm Point attacking a fish and using a new technique - Kokutei Diamond, which leaves a diamond shaped impression on the fish skin, while Franky uses Strong Hammer a rider after the above-mentioned realizes that bullets don't affect Franky. Keimi and Pappug watch the battle amazed by the strength of the Straw Hat crew is while Usopp advises Franky that they must dock the ship because the riders still have an advantage on open sea and Franky accepts this advice, but tells him that the ship is their pride.

Luffy appears running towards Zoro, Brook, Hatchan, Keimi and Pappug, announcing that a giant iron masked man on a giant cow is approaching them and the riders when they hear the bull's roar. They realize that it is the Duval's beloved bison, Motobaro.

[CM Punk]

Duval's Tragedy

Duval shouts that he does not need the base anymore - his only wish is to kill the Straw Hats. He reveals that "that man" is none other than Sanji. The Straw Hat crew on the ship try to remember who he is, but Sanji draws a blank. Suddenly, Duval shoots his scorpion poisoned tipped harpoons at them and screams at him that it is something just recent - confusing Sanji even further.

As Sanji tries to tell Duval that he does not know him, Luffy tells Zoro that he has seen his face and that the whole Straw hat crews knows this face well. As Luffy violently removes Duval's mask, it is shown to the whole crew and the riders that by a cruel twist of both fate and irony, Duval was born with a face that is perfect replica of Sanji's wanted poster. Duval shouts that he wants his life back and that marines and bounty hunters have been after him since the poster appeared, but Sanji, upon seeing the face, leaves the Sunny, swims to the base dock, and immediately kicks Duval in the face, claiming he doesn't care.

Sanji and Duval argue with each other about the wanted poster, while the Straw Hats on the ship are amazed that something like this could happened - Franky has one of his emotional moments whilst the straw hats on the dock are amazed at what they are seeing. Brook just laughs (prompting Sanji to yell "Oh I'm so kicking your ass later Brook"). Sanji argues to Duval that he could have changed his appearance all this time, making Duval and the riders sport a "why did not I think of that" face while Sanji remarks on their stupidity.

Duval reveals his past to everyone: He was once a mafia boss on a remote island doing his usual job until powerful bounty hunters and marines came after him and forced to wear his iron mask to protect himself. Sanji beats him up and says he has had enough of his accusations. Duval orders his riders to reveal a steel fishing net and trap Sanji in it, dragging him into the sea.

Luffy tries to rescue Sanji and Zoro also tries to go in Luffy's place - however, Hatchan says that he's faster underwater and he will go. Duval then states that the Flying Fish are the fastest creatures underwater and it is futile to try to chase them. Suddenly, Keimi jumps into the sea to rescue Sanji, and Pappug remarks that Duval is wrong; he agrees that the fish are fast but that there is nothing faster in the oceans than a mermaid. Luffy is amazed at this revelation, and Pappug says that if they she keeps her guard up, Keimi is uncatchable.

Whilst they were distracted by this, the Flying Fish Riders reveal that they are carrying a very huge anchor from and extraordinary large ship and are planning to drop it on the Thousand Sunny. Usopp asks Franky if they could use the "paddle" or "Burst" get them away. Franky states that there is not enough time but reveals that he has built in a secret weapon for times like this. Reaching the bow of the ship, Franky tells everyone to believe in Sunny. As the Riders drop the anchor, Sunny's figurehead spins like a propeller revealing the emergency evasion secret weapon "Chicken Voyage" to everyone and making the ship go into reverse.

The riders are baffled about the prospect of a reversible ship. Franky tells Usopp that there is a secret compartment inside the prowl and reveals a new feature of the sunny, much to the excitement of Luffy and Chopper. A cannon reveals itself from within Sunny's figurehead's mouth, and Franky tells Usopp to get as many riders as he can. Usopp locks on and fires, revealing the incredible destructive power of the "Gaon Cannon".

Luffy cries in his amazement, Zoro says it's too awesome, Usopp claims that it's a monster and Brook said that he was so amazed that his eyes fell out (even though he has no eyes Yohohohoho). Franky mentions that it takes 3 barrels of cola for "Coup de Burst" and 2 Barrels of cola for "Gaon Cannon", warning them only to use it in emergencies.

Meanwhile, Keimi manages to rescue Sanji and has trapped the Fish riders in their own steel net. As Camie reaches the surface, Nami asks if Sanji is alright and Keimi says that he is safe but bleeding from his nose (due to his usual pervertedness).

Duval is now furious that Sanji is still alive, but Luffy remarks that his henchmen are now all gone. This further infuriates Duval and he unleashes the full rage of his bison Motobaro onto Luffy. But, to everyone's surprise, Luffy, reminiscient of Shanks, somehow makes the bison drop his rider, trod a few feet away and then faint. The Straw Hats, including Luffy, are amazed and confused about how he did it, further angering Duval. However, at this point Sanji arrives back on the dock, and tells Luffy he'll take care of the rest.

Just as Duval about to attack, Sanji performs the same face bashing techniques that he did on Wanze on the sea train.

Aftermath

The story then moves ahead with the Sunny back at sea and The Strawhats are heading for Sabaody Archipelago now while they have a takoyaki party with Hatchan cooking. Hatchan carefully asks Nami if she likes it,to which she replies that she hasn't forgiven him yet, but likes his takoyaki nonetheless.

The entire crew enjoy the takoyaki (with even Sanji being amazed at the flavor),until the "eating trio" of Usopp,Luffy and Chopper can continue no longer(just as well as Hatchan collapses exhausted from trying to keep up with their servings). It then that Duval,whose face has become handsome,finds them. He expresses his gratitude for the change (and gets into fits about his own beauty) before gives the crew his den den mushi, saying if they need anything to just call him up before and his gang (Now renamed the Rosy Flying Riders) depart.

[CM Punk]

The Islands of Bubbles and Nobles

The crew arrive at Sabaody (after Pappug and Keimi explain to them about the two ways of getting to the new world-one,requesting permission from the government and passing through Mariejoa and the second to go through Fishman Island), and are amazed at its structure (large trees, blowing bubbles). Hatchan then says they'll need a special coating to make sure the ship gets to Fishman island all right. Hatchan promises in to take them to a mechanic he would "bet his life on", but they have to promise not to oppose the World Nobles, people who are allowed to live in Mariejoa and are sometimes seen walking around Sabaody, even if someone was to be killed before their very eyes.

Ussop, Franky and Sanji stay on the Sunny to fix the damages to the ship (or in Sanji's case to look after the treasure at the behest of Nami) while the others explore the island. Zoro is the last to leave much to the shock of the others as they know of his lack of direction. But Zoro points out he just has to look at the numbers on the grove trees to remember where they're dock and to ask directions if his gets lost. The three agree to this though tell him not to trust himself while he remembers the number of the dock as "1". However a bubble had floated in the way at the time revealing the dock to actually be "41".

Meanwhile Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Robin and Brook tour the island with Hatchan, Keimi and Pappug acting as guides. Hatchan warning them not to draw attention to themselves as even though pirates walk freely on the island so do marines and bounty hunters, plus if they're captured and sold as slaves the law will not help them. He also mentions to treat Keimi and himself as regular people calming it'll be easier for them (even bandaging the mark on his forehead, something Luffy notices).

After which the fishman shows the SH the wonders of island and how they make use of the bubbles, from making bikes out of them and using them for transportation to holding their souvenirs in balloon like bubbles to even creating hotels and shopping malls out of them the latter of which Nami and Robin depart from the group. However Robin can't but notice Keimi acting reserved since they've gotten to the island.

No sooner then they leave the group, a pirate captain run through the town, begging the citizens to removes a collar from his neck. He pleas that he given up on the new world and just wants to leave, even claiming he has a wife and child, the latter whose never even seen him since he was a baby. Hatchan however tells the group not to help him as he a slave of the World Nobles. After mentioning this fact, the collar activates and blows up the captain though he surprisingly survives still feebly begging to leave while shadowed figure holding an axe and bounty poster identifies the captain from above a building. Two nobles, Rosward Ze and his daughter, Shalulia, show up afterwards causing everyone to bow as they pass. After their dog urinates on the charred captain, Shalulia kicks him before shooting him with a pistol, Luffy nearly attacks them after seeing this but Hatchan stops him. Rosward and she then causally walk away talking buying another slave.

The group then talks about the oddity of it since the pirate looked strong enough to deal with both nobles. But Pappug comments that wounding one would make the offender the target of one the admirals. When asked what gives the nobles such special treatment, the starfish tells them that they are the descendants of the ones that created the World Government, and due to this they have become abusive with their influence.

The Eleven Supernovas

Despite having witnessed the cruelty of the nobles, the group continue on encountering a few bounty hunters along the way. After Luffy, Chopper and Brook easily take care of them, the group find themselves in Grove 16 which Hatchan explains is a lawless region of the island. He goes on to explain that Grove 1-29 which make up the interior of the island are like this while the surrounding Groves house the entertainment and shopping districts. Finally after a bit of traveling, they reach Grove 13 and a bar where the coating engineer is said to stay.

Upon entering they meet the owner of the bar Shakuyaku (Shakky for short), a former pirate and friend of Hatchan. After the usual meet and greet, Shakky reveals she been following the SH's exploits and that she was even chased by Garp during her pirate career. When asked about the engineer Ray Leigh, Shakky tells them he isn't there though hasn't left the island. When Luffy suggest waiting for him, she reveals that he hasn't been back in a half a year pretty much wandering the island's bars and casinos. Hearing this, the group agree on searching for him to which Shakky warns them to be careful in doing so, as since the SH's arrival, that now make eleven rookie pirate with over one hundred million berry bounties on them that have reached the Red Line. Luffy being the second highest of the ranks.

The story then shows said pirates, most who are in grove 24. First off comes Capone Gang Bege (138,000,000 Berri), a mafia type pirate whose dining at a restaurant and complaining of the food. When one of his crew tries to warn him of the marine, he attacks him with a fork. Then we meet "Big Eater" Jewelry Bonney (140,000,000 Belli), who's in the same restaurant and living up to her title by eating an enormous amount of food and demanding more of it despite the cooks going as fast as they can. There is also "The Magician" Basil Hawkins (249,000,000 Belli), who tells a pirate who got spaghetti spilled on him that its an unlucky day for him. In another section of the grove two of the rookies Eustass Kid (315,000,000 Belli) and "Roar of the Sea" Scratchmen Apoo (198,000,000 Belli) are fighting against one another.

Meanwhile, in Grove 21, two more pirates are doing the same: "The Mad Monk" Urouge (180,000,000 Belli), a Bilkan, and a masked individual called "Massacre Man" Killer (162,000,000 Belli) are about to go all out until "Red Flag" X. Drake (222,000,000 Belli), a former marine officer, breaks the two up. As Drake walks on, the last of the rookies, "Dark Doctor" Trafalgar Law (200,000,000 Belli), asks him how many people he has killed.

We then go back to Luffy's group as Shakky tells them all the pirate beyond this point are the best of the best. She also reveals that Eustass only has a higher bounty than Luffy himself because he caused damage to civilians and that she's rooting for the Straw Hats. Even after hearing this, Luffy responds that he'll just relax for the time being but is a bit worried for the engineer. However Shakky tells him Ray will be fine because he's 100 times stronger than all those rookies!

[CM Punk]

Kidnapped!

Finished at the bar, Luffy's group soon head out to look for Rayleigh. Shakky sees them off, informing them that although the marines are aware of some of the big names on the island, they have their hands full with another matter and gives one last warning not to make a big scene before they head out. Meanwhile in another section, another kidnapping group led by a large individual name 'Hound Pets' Peterman has found out about Keimi being a mermaid through the bounty hunters the SH encountered earlier and plans to kidnap her. Luffy's group reach Grove 32.33.34 known as Bubbles Island which is the haven of Sabaody Park, the theme park of the island and begin their "search" there. Though moreover spend their search riding the rides and having good time, even fulfilling Keimi's dream of riding the Ferris Wheel. However unknowest to them, their being followed by Peterman.

Meanwhile in Grove 24, we meet another noble Saint Charloss who was left behind by Shalulia and their father, which he blames on the pirate he riding like house by kicking him. Charloss then spots some doctors transporting an gravely injured man by stretcher and stops them. One of the doctors plead with Charloss to let them pass so they can save the man, the hospital being right in front of them. Charloss however "helps" by kicking the stretcher over, asking which is more important: the lives of commoners or the respect for him. He then spots the nurse with them and instantly claims her to be his wife. Both the nurse, named Marie, and one of the doctors, who incidentally is her fiancee, object to this which Charloss responds by shooting the man with his pistol much to Marie's horror. Charloss then has his servant take Marie away as she pleas for someone to help her lover. Zoro just happens to walk by, minding his business (and of course ignorant of the rules about nobles) but catches the attention Charloss who steps in his way.

Zoro ask if he need directions which angers Charloss , the noble instantly pulls his pistol on Zoro and fires. But the swordman easily dodges and goes for a counter attack. Bonney however tackles Zoro into the ground before he can do so, putting up an act as if he was shot and killed. Charloss, at first thinking Zoro dodged, shrugs it off and buys it before he and his subordinates go on their way. Once gone, Bonney instantly chastises Zoro for his actions and almost bringing the Admirals on them. Zoro however is clueless to the whole situation while most of the supernovas, who were watching and commenting on everything, are impressed by his strength. Zoro then picks up the doctor that was shot and goes to locate a hospital, much to the confusion of Bonney since after all he is a pirate.

Back on the Sunny, Franky, Ussop and Sanji are taking a break when the den den mushi calls revealing Chopper on the other end, he frantically informs them that that Keimi was kidnapped (yet again). Peterman's gang somehow got the drop on Luffy's group and manage to steal her away, making matters worse is that they don't know which group took her and where she is since the island is very big and there are many human shops. Sanji tells them to stand by, since they're dealing with a kidnapping gang they need experts in this field. To which Sanji reveals he's calling the Flying Fish Riders.

Duval and his gang soon reach the Sunny Go (albit late), with him still going on about how handsome he is. But soon he and the SH get to the task at hand. Back at Sabaody Park, Luffy, Hatchan and Pappagg have split off to search for Keimi despite Sanji telling them to stay put, leaving Chopper and Brooke behind. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Brooke pretty calm about it even having a cup of tea. Chopper yells at him for this but Brooke convince him to relax by mentioning Sanji has it covered till they get there. However they take the calming bit overboard by the time the Fish Riders reach them, earning them some bumps on the head before they set off to search. The Flying Fish Riders then split up to find kindapping teams while a few go off to collect the remaining Straw Hats.

Meanwhile in a human shop in Grove 22, Luffy shaking down the owner on if they have Keimi, but the shop doesn't the only mermaid they have being an extremely ugly one. The three leave with Luffy and Pappagg shouting out for Keimi and drawing attention to themselves. Pappagg cries, blaming himself for the mermaid kidnapping as it was when he went to go get ice cream for Keimi was when she was abducted. The starfish then goes on about how he shouldn't have brought her to island in the first place, claiming it wasn't just kidnappers but that the whole island was their enemy. In a shopping mall in Grove 30, Robin explains to Nami the history of the relationship between human, fish, and mermen. Two hundred years ago, the fishmen race was classified as just that, fish, and were persecuted by humans. Even with their superior strength, human numbers outweighed their own with kidnapping and slave trade being the most common of methods on the fishmen. Finally the World Government signed a treaty with Fishman Island and these method were abolished though Sabaody Archipelago still continues this trade. As she finishes the explanation with her theory on why Hachi and Keimi have to hide their true form, some of the Fish Riders arrive with Franky quickly explaining what happen to Keimi.

Back in 22, Pappagg also finishes explaining this story to Luffy and continues to rant about not letting Keimi come to the island. Hachi tries to apologize for the trouble but Luffy dismisses the apology by telling them they've done nothing wrong, and tells the two that all three of them are their friends now and that he vows to save Keimi no matter what. Just as he makes this claim, they spot the Flying Fish Riders heading toward them. We then shift to Grove 1 which is home to an human auction ground. Peterman has just left the ground, having given them Keimi while Rosward and Shalulia soon arrive at the house. Also there are Kidd, Killer and their crew, as well as Trafalgar Law who flips Kidd off after catching his glance. Meanwhile, in the waiting room of the building, Keimi is brought before the head auctioneer named Disco who is excited to have a young mermaid in the auction. Keimi yells that Hatchan will make them pay which earns her a slap and beating from Disco though the pleas of his subordinates stop him as he "damaging the merchandise". However Keimi still presses her threat, before Disco can become more angry with her though he suddenly passes out.

As his staff rush to find a doctor, one of the captive, a giant, tells another that he knows he was the cause of Disco fainting with his "burst of spirit". When asked who he is, the culprit just claims hes an old man that can't ignore a young girl. This man however turns out to be none other thhen Silvers Rayleigh, which we discover was the "right hand" of the pirate king.

The Auction House Incident

At a marine base, it is revealed to Garp that Rayleigh is being sold at the auction house, who comments that he probably is selling himself to pay off a gambling dept. He also tells the marine not to mention this to anyone else and he will take care of it as not to underestimate Rayleigh just because of his age and many good men could be hurt or worse if handled the wrong way.

The Auction soon begins with a pirate musician and wine maker is the opening item as the Straw Hats continue there search. While questioning the kidnapping team that brought the giant mentions a mermaid at the auction house to Ussop, who alerts the others searching. Duval is berated by Sanji for traveling so slowly, who in turn questions Sanji as to why he did not change course when the location was revealed. He was heading to Grove 1 all along, but soon receives a kick from Sanji for claiming to be first but only to have been beaten there by Chopper. Franky, Nami, Pappagg, Hatchan all arrive while the others are on there way with Zoro lost on foot.

After questioning an employee who refuses to help them, Franky suggests using force to save Keimi, but is reminded that the nobles could be inside and could alert the admirals. Nami suggests they then play by there rules and try to buy Keimi back, which causes Hatchan and Papagg to cry over her desire to help them and not being able to repay her. When entering the auction house they are soon noticed by Kidd who notices Luffy is missing and wondered how big of an idiot he really is.

[CM Punk]

Meanwhile, several of the other supernovas are reading the paper, when they discover the reason behind the marine shortage in Sabaody even though so close to HQ. Ace has been scheduled for a public execution, which is commented that will bring Whitebeard's wrath and start a war between him and the marines.

Back at the auction, Charloss soon arrives, once again blaming his slave for his delay and telling his servant to sell him off. He soon joins with with the other nobles there as the next auction, a pirate captain named Lucueva, begins. However before any bids are made, Lucueva's mouth suddenly starts bleeding before he promptly collapses. Disco quickly closes the curtain while Sanji comments that Lucueva bit his own tongue off, preferring to face death to slavery. With this incident, Disco decide it time to bring out Keimi next whose been fitted with an explosive collar and put into a fishbowl.

With a grand bravo, he introduces her to the crowd prompting Nami to get ready to bid for her. However Charloss blindsides her and everyone in the house with an instant bid of five hundred million belli. Needless to say, no one has the money to outbid him. As Disco begins to close out Keimi's auction, something crashes into the house. That something being Luffy as the fish rider he was with couldn't land properly (that and he took Luffy's comment "Smash right in there" literately), Zoro is with the two as well having been picked up on the way to the house. The Straw Hats themselves were astounded by the sudden arrival of their two most powerful members, as do everyone else in the auction. Upon seeing Keimi, Luffy rushes the stage despite the protest of Hachi, who is forced to use his remaining arms to try and restrain him. This unfortunately reveals his identity as a fishman to the crowd, and they immediately raise a panic, confirming Robin's earlier story of discrimination against fish people.

A shot suddenly rings out, stopping the commotion. Charloss has shot Hachi with his pistol, much to the horror of the SH, Papagg, and Keimi, who pounds furiously on her fishbowl. Charloss then begins to gloat while Luffy makes his way toward the world noble. Hachi tries to stop him, reminding Luffy about the promise not to harm them and citing the fact that he was a pirate and that he deserved it anyway. He apologizes further, stating he only wanted to make up his past actions to Nami and help any way he can but only got in the way. Charloss hears enough and tries to shoot him again. Luffy, already angered, no longer restrains himself and, and not caring about the rules anymore, gets up and punches Charloss in the face.

The whole room is speechless after such an attack (save for Law and Kidd who can't help but smirk) while Luffy apologizes to his crew for the attack though they understand given the circumstances (Zoro even commenting he wanted to slice Charloss). Roswald is obviously not pleased, sending the place into yet another panic. The audience quickly clears out to avoid the world noble's wrath while the guards set upon the Straw Hats, and a fight ensues. While Roswald demands for an admiral and shoots at Luffy (to no avail) Zoro slices Keimi's fish bowl in half, freeing her. More fish riders arrive, dropping off Brook, Robin and Usopp who accidentally falls on Roswald, knocking him out and sparking more of the guards' anger as they take it as an attack. Luffy tells the group that they would leave once Keimi has rid herself of her collar, but Law informs him that the marines already have the place surrounded. Shalulia suddenly makes her way to Keimi's fish bowl, intending to kill the mermaid. However, before she can pull the trigger, she suddenly faints.

The back wall is suddenly ripped open, revealing Rayleigh and the giant prisoner from before. The giant states that RayLeigh was just there to take the auction house's money as well as any from whomever buys him, though RayLeigh adds that no one would buy an old man for a slave anyway. As the guards stand there in shock, confused as to what they should do about this new development, Rayleigh spots Hatchan and asks what he doing there. Upon seeing Keimi, however, he connect the dots before using another burst of spirit on the guards, knocking them all out. RayLeigh then spots Luffy, commenting that he been waiting to meet him.

The news of Luffy hitting a world noble quickly spreads throughout the island, causing more widespread panic. Most of the supernovas quickly decide to leave the island to avoid the inevitable dispatch of an admiral, though a few who are curious decide to stay behind and see which admiral will come. At Mariejois, the news has reached Sengoku, who becomes greatly irritated upon hearing that it was Luffy who committed the act. A marine informs him that the pirates have taken the world nobles "hostage" at the human auction house (or "Public Employment Security Office" as he calls it) but haven't yet given any demands. An admiral, Kizaru speak up suddenly, telling Sengoku that he'll handle it.

Back at the auction house, Disco has called his boss, revealed to be Doflamingo, about the situation. However Donflamingo has no interest in the conflict or the slavery trade any more and leaves it to Disco, effectively abandoning it. He also states that the Seven Warlords have been called together to engage the Whitebeard Pirates. As the marines continue to mobilize outside the house, RayLeigh manages to remove the collar from Keimi and throws it aside before it explodes without the need for a key, much to the astonishment of the Straw Hats and to the annoyance of Franky who had just found the keys; he throws them to the remaining slaves to free themselves. RayLeigh apologizes to Kidd and Law for the blast from the collar, though comment they can't be normal if they managed to survive it. Both brush it off, rather amazed to have run into the "Dark King" himself. RayLeigh replies that he is merely a simple coater now and warns not to use the former title as he would prefer to live a peaceful life. He then checks on Hachi and thanks the SH for saving him before telling the group that they should leave. However, the marines have the place covered by now and demand that they release the World Nobles.

Kidd offers to take care of the marines while the others escape. However Luffy and Law seem to take it as an insult and join him in battle. The SH ready themselves for a fight and the giant slave from before offers to get the other slaves out while they thank the SH for freeing them. Back outside, the marines open fire with mortars but Luffy and Kidd reflect them back, with Luffy doing so using his 'Fuusen' move, and the latter using only his hand to do so. Law meanwhile covers an area with a spherical barrier and cuts off one of the marines' heads within the sphere, though the action doesn't kill him. Instead he replaces it with a cannonball that promptly explodes hitting those that were near his decaptitated body while Law hold the marine's head in his hand. It now becomes clear that the two other captains alongside Luffy are no mere pirates and the marines realize that they are dealing with devil fruit users.

Despite this revelation, the marines continue to press the attack. Luffy, Kidd and Law easily decimate them all. Luffy uses his Gear 3rd technique, Law his "ROOM" move as he chops up body parts and rearranges them on the marines, and Kidd his power over metal as he forms an arm of said material and strikes at the marines with it. Soon, the SH arrive and see the damage caused by the three captain's rampage. Rayleigh delights in all the mayhem being caused.

The marines reinforcements are deployed hoping to contain the offenders until Kizaru arrives. The pirates, however, have no intention of staying that long. Kidd prepares to pull out and warns Luffy, stating that the next time they meet he won't be as merciful. Though Luffy replies that he'll be the one to find One Piece which shocks Law and Kidd. Kidd then comments that anyone who makes that claim in the Grand Land would be laughed at, though in the New World they'd be good as dead. He then concludes by telling Luffy and Law that they should all meet in the New World again someday. With that he and his crew bowl through the marines and head out. Law decides to head back to the auction house as his bear, Bepo,defends him. The SH soon join the fray, spotting Duval and the Fish Riders. The marines prepare to shoot him but Robin saves Duval before they can do so. The others clear a path for Franky and Rayleigh to get Keimi, Hachi and Pappagg out first before they follow. Nami covers their escape with a Thunderbolt Tempo.

Law soon emerges from the house with a slave who was under the Roswalds, Jean Bert, a former pirate captain who joins his crew as thanks for freeing him, though Law states that half of his thanks should go to Luffy. Meanwhile, Kidd's crew manages to clear the house and destroys a bridge to keep the marines at bay. However, just when it seems they will get away, Kidd is suddenly hit. To their horror, the culprit blocking their escape is one of the Shichibukai, Bartholomew Kuma

[CM Punk]

The Truth of Roger and the Admiral Arrival

The Heart Pirates are still fighting off the remaining marines at the auction house, tearing through them to escape. However, they come across the Kidd Pirates, most of whom are already wounded due to Kuma. The warlord immediately identifies and attacks Law but Law manages to dodge the attack. With the marines starting to close in from behind, Kidd and Law, despite their mutual dislike of the other, tell Kuma they're leaving and prepare to face him. In Grove 8, Peterman has been thrashed by the the SH and the Rosy Life Riders for his earlier abduction of Keimi (though Duval's face ended up getting messed up in the process again). After giving back Keimi's backpack, they depart promising to aid them till they leave the island.

The Straw Hat then head back to Shakky's bar to heal Hachi's gun wound. As they do so, they talk with Rayleigh where he reveals his relation with Gold Roger, much to their surprise (Hachi apparently knew this too but didn't tell them since they just needed a coater). Rayleigh also reveals how he met Hachi (the fishman had saved Rayleigh's life when he was a kid, and they had remained friends till Hachi joined Arlong's crew then named the Sunny Pirate Gang). Sanji then question how he still could be alive if Roger's crew were captured to which Rayleigh reveals that Roger actually turned himself in. The government just made it seem that way to show their strength to the public. Ray goes on to tell the reason why was because four years before he was executed, Roger came down with a incurable disease. His crew however had came across Crocus at the entrance of the Grand Line and asked him to join him on his final journey to keep his disease in check. Finally after three years they had managed to conquer the Grand Line. This surprises the SH, Brooke especially, since Crocus did reveal to them he was a pirate doctor for a time. Rayleigh even tell them that the reason Crocus joined was to find a certain pirate crew which the SH figure must've been the Rumbar Pirates, bringing tears to Brook's eyes sockets.

Ray continue telling that after they conquered the sea, Roger was dubbed the Pirate King. However the title was meaningless since he was about to die. But Roger enjoyed it anyway through parties and fighting as a way to coop with the future. Eventually Roger disbanded his crew who silently went their separate ways, fates unknown. One year later, Roger turned himself in to the marines who decided to make a public execution of him to throw fear into pirates around the world. However Roger had other plans, his last words to Rayleigh being "I ain't gonna die, partner". Then on the fateful day of his execution, Roger made his famous speech to the world which in turned created the current age of piracy. Say the least the SH are astonished by the story. Rayleigh then tells the group about Buggy and Shanks apprenticeship aboard Roger's ship, the latter of which ran into Rayleigh ten years afterward who told Ray about Luffy, claiming that Luffy had said the same thing as Gold Roger.

The story suddenly shifts to a harbor at Grove 27, where a pirate crew is about to set off. Before they can do so, they spot a ship on the horizon that suddenly fires a cannonball with a person actually standing on top it. The ball lands in the harbor amidst the pirates and the figure, revealed to be Kizaru, awaits orders from his den den mushi.

Back at Shakky, Rayleigh congrats Luffy for making it this far into the Grand Line and offers to do the coating job for free much to the SH's pleasure. Robin then speaks up and asks about the Blank Century, explaining to Ray her findings from the Poneglyph in Skypiea. Ray replies he did indeed find out the history of it however advises that she continue looking for it on her own as if he told her now she wouldn't be prepared for it. Still he offers to reveal it to her but she politely turns him down agreeing with his earlier advice. Ray also revel that Roger couldn't decipher everything and express sorrow that Ohara was destroyed complimenting that Clover could hear the voice of all things. Ussop then ask Robin if she would want to let an opportunity like this get away and start to question Ray about One Piece. Luffy stops him however demanding that the mystery of the treasure remain hidden since countless pirates were risking their lives just to search for it. He then threatens to quit being a pirate if any of the crew ask Ray about it stating "I DON'T WANT TO GO ON A BORING ADVENTURE LIKE THAT!!!"

Ussop apologizes for his actions before Ray asks Luffy if he can really conquer the Grand Line. Luffy reply that he doesn't really intend to conquer it, only that the person with the most freedom in the ocean would be the pirate king which bring a smile to Ray and Shakky's faces. Ray then tells the crew he'll have their ship coated in three days which until then the crew will have to avoid trouble. Thus the SH decide their best bet is to split up and draw attention away from the shop. Shakky gives each member a biblicard so they can keep track of each other and find their way back to Ray once the coating is finished who decides to move the Sunny Go to a safer location. With that they bid Hachi, Keimi, Pappag, and Shakky farewell for the time being and head back into the groves. Luffy suggesting to hide in the theme park though the others (save for Chopper and Brook) reject this idea.

In Grove 27, pirates are trying their best to distance themselves from Kizaru whom we're finally introduced to properly. One pirate tries to shoot the admiral but the shot doesn't even seem to phase him. Kizaru then blurs in front of them trying to ask them where he can find someone named Sentoumaru but the pirates run away in fear. Kizaru then attack them with a light coming from his foot which he kicks out outward that not only hits the pirates. But topples a mangrove in the process much to the disapproval of his troops. Apoo, whose nearby, however seem impressed by his power. In another part of the area a few of the marines have been turned into either old man or children, the culprit of such being Bonney who laughs at them as she stuffs her face. A few more marines encounter and surround Capone but he informs them they've already lost. Kizaru then come across Hawkins whose crew wish for him to run, he calmly tell them though that today isn't his day to die. Back with the SH, as Ussop tries to convince Luffy not to go back to the amusement park, a figure stands before them prompting Luffy to ask who he is.

Sabaody Chaos

The marines confronting Capone quickly find out, to their bewilderment, what he meant by his earlier statement as he opens up compartments on his chest. Inside are his crew, now miniatures, who quickly attack the marines with cannons before charging at them on horses. In both cases growing to normal size once outside of Capone to overrun the squad. In Grove 41 Urouge has an encounter with Kuma and having difficulty fighting him. While back in Grove 24, Hawkins's crew keep pleading for him to run as Kizaru approaches but the captain is more focused on his pack of tarot cards. Reading his chances of fighting Kizaru, running from him, defending himself, and survival of the encounter the last of which read zero percent. Hawkins then tell Kizaru that he hasn't seen the person he looking for. Kizaru then replys he gets bored easily and that he can't let a high bounty like Hawkins get away before firing his "speed of light" kick at him then firing off another shot from his fingers. However in Grove 27 and the harbor, two pirates suddenly double over from pain, getting hit from seemingly out of nowhere. It then reveal that Hawkins has a voodoo like ability, having transfer both of the attacks to dolls that grow on his right arm.

Urouge suddenly topples by them, bruised badly and citing his bad luck at running into a warlord and, upon seeing Kizaru, an admiral as well. Hawkins informs him that the shadow of death isn't upon him yet though he takes this news as a joke. X. Drake suddenly appears and kicks Kuma aside. Kizaru instantly recognizes the pirate while X.Drake comments he wasn't trying to run into an admiral. Urouge then recovers, taking off his shirt to reveal a large figure underneath and having suddenly gotten bigger. Now ready for a counter attack while Apoo continues to look on from a roof enjoying whats occurring before him.

Back in Grove 12, the Straw Hats encounter yet another Kuma who fires a beam at Luffy though he manages to dodge it (as well as be amazed by it along side Chopper). His crew then inform him of their encounter with Kuma on Thriller Bark before Franky fires a Coop De Burst on the warlord in retaliation for that attack, knocking him back. Realizing that Kuma is very strong, Luffy goes into Gear 2 while Sanji and Zoro prepare to attack as well though the latter realizes that this Kuma seems different from their previous encounter. Meanwhile in Grove 49, the axe-wielding shadowed figure from before comment that his uncle Kizaru is late and that if he doesn't hurry there won't be anything left.

[CM Punk]

Back at Grove 2; Franky, Ussop and Brook just barely avoid a blast from the Kuma their facing. As Kuma goes to fire again, Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro rush him and preform a combo attack, managing to knock him down. Luffy then questions Zoro on if the Kuma their fighting is a fake which he confirms due to this Kuma's attack style not fitting the one they faced before. The group then come to the conclusion that theres more then one Kuma running around.

Meanwhile, Urouge is pounding away at the Kuma he fighting but is shot in the shoulder in retaliation, X Drake notes that Doctor Vegapunk has even managed to integrate Kizaru's light based powers into the Pacifista cyborgs. Kuma then attacks X Drake who retaliates with his Zoan Devil Fruit and manages to injure Kuma though he get's injured in the process as well. Urouge takes note of the Kuma's injury too but is kicked from behind by Kizaru through three buildings. Seeing this, Hawkins transforms into a large voodoo doll like creature and attacks Kizaru but is easily repelled. Just when it seems Kizaru will finish him off, he's saved by Apoo who severs Kizaru's right arm before exploding him with a blast of sound. Apoo starts gloating and leaves only for an annoyed Kizaru to blind Apoo with a blast of light before kicking him straight through a building, Kizaru then sends X Drake flying before defeating Hawkins by blasting him with a laser. With all 4 of the supernovas defeated he is contacted by his nephew who yells at him, he decides to then go after either Law, Kid or Luffy.

Meanwhile all the Strawhats work together to bring down the Kuma clone; Zoro was the first to go down, and Sanji encourages Luffy to first bring down the clone before tending Zoro's injuries, though the former notes that Zoro still suffers from the aftermath of the events that occurred in Thriller Bark. Chopper uses Roseo Metel on Kuma enraging him and causing him to try and blast Chopper only for Franky to nail him with his Strong Hammer, Kuma easily sends Franky flying but Franky is saved by Robin who uses her Spider Net to catch him, Brook tries to attack him from above only for Kuma to try and blast him, he is saved by Usopp who uses Atlas Suisei to distract Kuma. Suddenly it seems like Usopp's attack managed to injure it badly, Franky notes that the Kuma clone is like him; enhanced with weapons but still only human and that one of Usopp's explosive projectiles must have went inside his mouth and dealt severe internal damage. Kuma tries to blow them all away with a laser from his mouth only for his mouth to be clamped shut by Robin causing to shoot himself, Nami quickly strikes him with a Thunderlance Tempo. This however only causes Kuma to go berserk, Sanji uses Flambage Shot to knock him back, Zoro uses Asura and Makyuusen to damage Kuma before Luffy uses Gear third and Gigant Rifle to finish him off.

After doing so, the SH are completely wiped, having had to use all their strength just to fight the Kuma clone. They soon start to discuss what to do next when someone calls out to them. Out from the sky drops the ax wielding figure, along with yet another Kuma cyborg, in the middle of the SH. The figure introduces himself as Sentoumaru and the Kuma clone as PX-1 (the one the SH defeated was PX-4). PX-1 soon fires on the group forcing the SH to dodge. This prompts Luffy to decides they must now split up and run. Sanji sticks with Nami with Franky tagging along. Ussop goes with Zoro with Brook joining as well out of concern for Zoro's injuries. Leaving Luffy, Robin, and Chopper together. The three groups run in different direction promising to meet up in three days.

Ussop tries to cover their escape with a smoke bomb. But the PX-1 blows up a bridge preventing Sanji's group from escaping before appearing right in front of them. Sentoumaru goes for Luffy's group prompting Luffy to try to Gatling him. But Sentoumaru easily deflects the attack with his palms and sends him flying much to Luffy's shock. Sentoumaru then hits him again and knocks Luffy into a tree, managing to actually hurt him as the marine reveals he not a devil fruit user. An explosion nearby halts the fight, which Luffy notices it came from where Zoro's group ran. Indeed his group ran into the worse possible scenario as Kizaru reveals himself befpre them. Zoro himself has taken the brunt of the admiral's attack and, compounded with his previous injuries, can no longer move while Brook and Usopp try desperately to keep Kizaru from killing Zoro. However none of their attacks work since, as Kizaru reveals, he eaten the Pika Pika no mi (Light Light) Fruit, a logia type that essentially makes him a light man. Kizaru then goes to finish Zoro off but the attack is suddenly thwarted by RayLeigh's intervention who manages to kick Kizaru's leg and divert the light attack. Kizaru greets the "Dark King" while Ray tell him not to pluck the fine sprouts (i.e: the Straw Hats) since their era is just beginning.

Afterwards, Luffy orders for everyone to concentrate on running away, telling them they can't fight. They all start to run, with Franky using a Coup de Vent to distance himself, Nami and Sanji from the Pacifista. Kizaru however, heads for Zoro's direction to attack him, but Rayleigh stops him in his tracks, even managing to cut his cheek. Afterwards, The Pacifista begins to attack Zoro, but is temporarily stopped by Sanji and Brooke, both of whom are quickly defeated. Luffy is then attacked by Sentoumaru and knocked into one of the mangrove trees. Rayleigh and Kizaru begin a sword fight, with Kizaru using a light sword. The Pacifista then attacks Usopp, causing him to drop Zoro. Chopper enters Monster Point to try and help. The Pacifista is stopped from it's attack by the real Bartholemew Kuma, who then asks if Zoro were to go on a trip, where would he like to go. Zoro then disappears right in front of Usopp's eyes.

The crew is completely shocked by Zoro's disappearance. Luffy demands to know what has happened to him to which Sentoumaru unwittingly answers, telling him if a person touched by Kuma's paw they go flying for three days though where they end up is uncertain. Sanji and Ussop continue to question where Zoro is just as the PX-1 prepares to fire at them from behind. Kuma, however, warps to it and makes it disappear confusing both the SH and Sentoumaru. Luffy yells for the remaining SH to run to which they oblige. Kuma however advances on the injured SHs (Sanji, Ussop and Brook) prompting Brook to try to defend the latter two. However he is vanished by Kuma. Sanji quickly gathers himself and goes for an attack but is easily knocked aside leaving Ussop to himself. He tries to fire a star but vanishes before he can do so. Angered, Sanji rushes the Kuma again but is vanished as well.

Luffy is quickly losing his morale after seeing four of crew disappear right before his eyes while RayLeigh continues to battle Kizaru. Kuma passes by them and whispers something to Ray prompting him to question whatever he doing. Kizaru inquires as well but Kuma brushes him off. Luffy then enters Gear 2, Kuma ignores him and goes for Franky and Nami. Despite counterattacks from Franky and Luffy, none deter the warlord before he causes Franky to vanish. Nami is next to go as she is in the midst of calling Luffy for help. Luffy again tries to attack Kuma but he warps to Robin and Monster Chopper, causing them both to vanish despite Luffy pleas for him to stop. Now alone, Luffy loses any remaining will to fight and collapses to the ground in despair. Tearfully asking himself with wrong with him for not being able to save even one of his nakama. Kuma then appears before Luffy, paw raised, he tells the captain they won't meet each other again before Luffy too disappears at his touch. A caption then comes up telling us that on this day in Grove 12 of Sabaody Archipelago. The Straw Hats were completely and utterly defeated.

End of Sabaody Archipelago Arc

[CM Punk]

Amazon Lily Arc

Last Thoughts from Sabaody

In Grove 41, Duval and his Rosy Life Riders, despite worrying about the Straw Hats, decide to watch over the Thousand Sunny till it can be coated. In Grove 1, at the auction house, Shalulia is complaining to the marines about their lack of seriousness towards the Straw Hats. Also why they haven't been captured yet. It is also seenthat he/she vows to show them hell on earth. At Shakky's house, Keimi is also worried about the Straw Hats, though Pappug and Hatchan think otherwise. Shakky remains neutral about commenting on them facing an admiral, before remarking that this pirate age is slowly beginning to move

Luffy's Arrival

We then go to Luffy who's flying over the ocean due to Kuma's power. Asking aloud on where his crew had vanished to and also worrying about landing in the ocean. Presumably after three days of flight. He lands on an island in a paw shaped crater. After recovering himself Luffy set about heading back to Sabaody with the help of the Biblicard. He make good headway till he reaches a mountain and tries to plow through it with a Gigant Pistol but is too weak to do so till he notice a wild boar near him. After cooking and eating it (with a slight remembrance to the training Garp put him through) he notices a mushroom known as a Laughing Shroom and eats it to cheer himself up. He then notices more and eats them too though they seem to have different effects on him. Sometime later, a trio of women named Margaret, Sweet Pea and Aphelandra happen to come across his unconscious form which is now growing mushrooms out of his body. Margaret identifies it as "Mushrooms growing out of your body" shroom which can suck the life force out of its victim should they remain. They then take Luffy back to their village where another woman named Belladonna helps them in ridding Luffy of the fungus by plunking and burning them off his skin (though overdoing it on the latter, knocking him unconscious just as he was starting to wake up). The group then proceed to wash him while others in the village, all women, look on. Sweet Pea notices there another "mushroom" in between Luffy's legs they can't seem to pull off despite numerous tries to do so. It then their Elder Nyon come across the scene, immediately identifying Luffy as a man which sends the whole village into a state of panic (up until that point they thought he was a girl). We're then told that this island is the home of the Kuja, a tribe of female warriors and the island is called "Amazon Lily" a place said one should never to set foot on if you value your life.

Kuja Island

We're then told of the island's culture. Amazon Lily is, of course, a land of all woman though on occasion a few set sail and give birth before coming back. Oddly all of the resident's children have all been girls and have been raised from birth to be strong fighters and workers. However if any man were to set foot on the island they would be eliminated in an instant. In a huge hole at the top of the island's mountain is where the central village lays and thus is where we find Luffy, whose been put into a jail cell after the amazons had discovered his gender. Now conscious, he finds himself being stared at by most of the residents who comment on his habits (as most have never seen a man before) misinterpreting them as how a normal man acts. Luffy especially shocks them when he takes back his hat from Sweet Pea using his stretching powers. After revealing his name (as well as answering a question on what's between his legs (referring to his genitals) which Luffy answers as "Kintama": Balls of gold). The amazons give him some new clothes due to his old one being worn out. However his new ones are rather girly looking and understandably he freak outs.

However some of the amazons, led by one named Kikyou, take his exclamation as Luffy becoming vicious. Aiming bows and arrows made of snakes at him as a result. After Belladonna reveals they had saved him, Luffy apologizes for his outburst and thanks them for doing so. However Kikyou also reveals there is a ban on men on the island and they would have to kill him anyway. She also wishes to do so to keep Margaret, Sweet Pea and Aphelandra from getting into trouble with their leader. Luffy tries to plea with them to just let him go but they proceed to shoot anyway, forcing him to break out of his cell through the roof. The Amazons quickly set after him, managing to knock him to ground level though he able to avoid their attacks. Realizing that his Biblicard card is still in his other trousers, which Margaret is currently holding. He quickly grabs her, jumps out of the mountain and lands in the jungle via his balloon attack. After distancing themselves a bit, Margaret returns his Biblicard to him. They get to know each other a little where she reveal the island emperor, Boa Hancock, a pirate as well and that everyone on the island looks up to her. Back in the village, the other amazons spot ships on the horizon realizing that the emperor is on her way back. Kikyou then orders the amazons into the jungle to find Luffy and eliminate him before their leader returns.

Back in said jungle, Margaret has taken off the frills on Luffy's clothing. With a thanks, he heads off to try to leave the island and find his crew, still miffed at his defeat from Kizaru, Sentoumaru, and Kuma. He then ask Margarent for a boat but she reveals there are none on the island as Amazon Lily is within the Calm Belt, which means no winds to move the ship and sea monsters roaming the waters. Margaret also explains that Hancock manages to get around the water by a sea king named Yuda, a poisonous type of sea monster that no other sea monster would dare to get close to. After hearing this Luffy decides to try to build a raft to paddle his way out. But poorly builds it that it quickly collapses upon entering the water, forcing Margaret to save him. Margaret however realizes she'll be in trouble if she get too attached to him. Thus goes to attack Luffy once more with her arrows which she explains are imbued with Haki making them strong enough to break through rocks. If that wasn't bad enough the rest of the amazons have managed to find them. Luffy quickly turns tail while Sweet Pea informs Margaret that their snake princess is coming back.

[CM Punk]

Snake Princess

Meanwhile out in the Calm Belt, a navy ship and a pirate ship rest side by side together. The captain,a vice-admiral named Momonga, the calls out for the pirate captain, a Shichibukai, to show herself. At first the amazon crew deny him their captain's audience but eventually ,Boa Hancock, shows herself along with her sisters Boa Sandersonia and Boa Marigold. Momonga show her that the date for Ace's execution has been set for one week from that and she is to attend, as per her treaty with the World Government for staying away from the island, to help against the inevitable retaliation of Whitebeard's crew or her title as a Shichibukai is forfeit. However Hancock refuses to relinquish her title nor attend the gathering and instead brazenly tells the Vice Admiral rather his marine ship will have a little "accident" to retain her position. Momonga warns her that her title will be revoke should she not heed the World Government's call but she demonstrates her power over his marine crew by making them fall for her then turning them all into stone with her Mero Mero devil fruit power. Momonga manages to avoid the attack by stabbing his hand to block out it effect then gives Hancock one last warning. If she doesn't return with him within two days the treaty is void. Hancock just tells him to do as he wishes.

With that the Kuja Pirates return to the island to a heroes welcome and start unloading the supplies they got from their trip, including that of the recent marine ship they encountered. Hancock asks one of the amazons if anything happened while she was away but the amazon denies it. Hancock heads back to her castle, showing more of her cruel personality by knocking and breaking a statue the younger amazons recently made for her just because it was crudely made. She also inquires why most of the warriors weren't at the harbor to meet her. Enishida‎, the one asked, makes up that a dangerous "monkey" was on the island and they went to go kill it to which Hancock brushes it off and goes to relax. Nyon suddenly shows up in the throne room and tries to convince here to take the World Government's order. Since it was her title that was the sole reason the island was kept safe in the first place after marines found a way to to cross the Calm Belt. When Hancock doesn't budge, Nyon goes to show her her future through a crystal ball but Hancock stops the process. Hancock then tell Nyon she doesn't care if the island is destroyed since everyone will forgive her before throwing Nyon out a window though the elderly amazon manages to land on her feet, avoiding injury.

The princess's bath time is soon announced and the amazons in the castle are forced to leave and set up a perimeter around it, not allowing anyone in. One of the younger amazons asks Lan (whose part of Hancock's pirate crew) why they do the routine every day. Lan answers her that in the past there was a gorgon in the center of the sea that the Boa sisters managed to defeat, however in it death it placed a curse on the three in the form of its large eyes on their backs. If anyone were to see these eyes they would turn to stone and thus the castle is emptied and surrounded to supposedly protect the amazons from this power.

Back in the jungle, the warrior amazons had lost track of Luffy but noticed that he went back up the mountainside and quickly rush back to the village. Luffy meanwhile is roaming one top of the castle wall trying to figure out what to do next. He decides the best course of action is to ask for a ship from the head of the island and figures she must be in one of the village's tallest buildings. With that he jump to the nearest building he see and lands on the roof but it caves in under his weight and sends him pummeling through, attracting attention to the castle. Luffy drops into the bathtub where Hancock is currently bathing. After realizing he can stand in the water he notice the snake princess and her backside yet doesn't turn to stone. Rather he comment he recognizes the mark on her, Hancock however turns to him with a menacing expression, angry that he saw it.

Hancock's sisters soon bust into the room to find Luffy standing there in the bath. Angry that Luffy saw back (which also angers her sisters as well when she tell them), she attempts to use her powers on Luffy only to find they don't work after two tries though Luffy confuses her powers with that of Foxy's Noro Noro beam. Sandersonia quires that this is due to his fear of dying being greater than the wicked desires in his heart. Realizing he in a bad position, Luffy makes to escape by jumping out of bathhouse's window. But is shot by an attack from Hancock blowing a kiss, knocked to the ground and captured by the amazons.

Trial of the Arena

He is then brought to their Arena for execution where he is questioned before his death as to why he is there. Luffy tries to explain the events with Kuma to her, but she doesn't believe him and even pleading for a boat to simply just leave doesn't change her mind either. Suddenly Margaret speaks out, begging for her to spare Luffy and revealing that she was the one to bring him to the village, with Sweet Pea and Aphelandra soon trying to take the blame as well. Hancock approaches the warriors and proceeds to turn them to stone. Luffy questions why they have been turned to stone, which Hancock claims they were punished accordingly, and to bring Bakura to the arena to fight Luffy.

Bakura is soon revealed to be a giant black panther whom has served the Emperess of Amazon Lily for generations, and leaves no bones of his victims. To the warriors surprise Luffy is able to defeat Bakura in one blow! Many begin questioning how he could without the use of haki, with just brute strength. Angered, Luffy demands to know how everyone could just laugh as Hancock turned the three warriors into stone for simply helping him. They claim they do feel sorry for them, but it was there own fault for breaking the laws, and Hancock states she will be forgiven since shes beautiful, She asks if Luffy will too forgive her, which he answers that she pisses him off!

Unable to understand how any man can resist her, Hancock demands that Luffy is executed right away. As the crowd shouts for death, Hancock orders Marigold and Sandersonia to take Luffy's head for her. Luffy questions if the sisters are devil fruit users as the crowd comments that they are being to use the Gorgons curse and begin the "Saragi Dance", revealing the sisters appear in a more snake like forms as they surround Luffy, the crowd fawn over the cursed sisters which confuses Luffy as he correctly believes that they are just Devil Fruit users. Just as they prepare to fight Luffy puts the statues of Margaret, Sweet Pea and Aphelandra away so they won't be broken and states that he's going to beat them up, just before they fight, Marigold warns him not to fall and get impaled on the spikes below and attacks him. During the fight she reveals the ability to spit acid venom and later deflects Luffy's attack before striking him away with her weapon. Luffy is confused that physical blows can hit him now and is suddenly captured by Sanderonia and is constricted, during this Sandersonia realizes he also has a Devil Fruit power and predicts his kick before slamming him into the ground. Luffy quickly recovers and attacks Sandersonia only for her to predict and dodge all of his moves, during this he is sent flying by an attack from Marigold and nearly into the spike pit but manages to saves himself at the last second. Hancock cheekily makes a remark at Luffy who promptly tells her to "Shut Up you dumb lady" causing her to collapse again before she orders his execution to be done immediately. Her sisters, complying with her orders, wrap up Luffy and prepares to destroy the statue of Margaret despite his pleas. Just before Margaret was broken Luffy unleashed a devastating wave of Haki which freezes Marigold and Sandersonia as well as causing most of the audience to faint, the sister quickly release Luffy and the statue while the audience, Marigold, Sandersonia and even Hancock herself are thunderstruck at Luffy for using the Haoushoku Haki as the only other user is Hancock who hasn't mastered it yet. Luffy realizing how powerful the two sisters are states that he's going to fight with everything he's got before taking a Gear Second stance.

[CM Punk]

Indeed Luffy does go Gear Second, astonishing the crowd with the steam coming out of him. Even so, Marigold and Sandersonia are not worried since Luffy can't properly control his Haki yet. Sandersonia proceed to attack by turning her hair into snake forms then charging at Luffy with them. He dodges the attacks much to Sandersonia's surprise as even though she can still read his movements she can't keep up him to score a hit. Luffy manages to get an arm around her neck before smashing her into the ground. Marigold tries to swipe at him with her spear again but he dodges, gets behind her and preforms Jet Boozaka. She reminds Luffy that she'll just deflect the attack again but it hits straight on. The impact nearly knocking Marigold out of the arena and breaking her spear in the process. The Kuja are speechless at seeing their two top warriors being handled so easily. While Hancock is obviously not amused, asking her sisters what they are playing at. The two recover, nervously telling Hancock they'll deal with Luffy straight away.

Marigold then light a match and set herself on fire, but oddly doesn't feel it much to Luffy's surprise. Rather she forms salamanders from it while Sandersonia forms her snake hair once more, the two effectively surrounding Luffy on all sides. The Kuja cheer proclaiming that its the sister's ultimate attack and Luffy has no way out. However Luffy aims upward and preforms his Jet Gatling move on the hair and fire alike, stopping their attack. He then split kicks the sister's underbellies causing their upper halves to collide into each other. As Marigold is still on fire, Sandersonia is burned as a result. The two try to separate from one another but find that Luffy tied their tails together. Luffy flashes the victory sign while Sandersonia is in agony over being burned. In desperation she leans backwards too far nearly going into the spike pit. Luckily she manages to grab onto the audience stand to save herself. Luffy suddenly jumps on her back which the audience and Sandersonia think he trying finish her off. Sandersonia calls to Marigold to attack him but she can't. As she explains he the only thing protecting them. The Kuja realize that Sandersonia's clothes were burned off in the last attack and her position is exposing her back and thus the "Gorgon's eyes" to them. Luffy, remembering that Hancock would rather die then show the object on her back, explains this to Sandersonia telling her not to move. Hancock then orders the ceremony over and all the Kujas to evacuate which they all comply very quickly. Sandersonia then asks Luffy why protect them when they were just fighting moments ago. He answers that the thing they don't want anyone to see has nothing to do with their fight. Meanwhile Hancock sit on her throne covering her face, silently crying to herself.

Truth of the Mark

Afterward, Sandersonia and Marigold revert to their human forms, apologizing to Hancock for losing the fight. Luffy asks the Kuja leader if she's gonna fight him next but she denies it, citing that she not in the mood anymore. Luffy shrugs it off and checks over Margaret and then asks Hancock to change them back, claiming they only rescued him and didn't deserve the punishment they were given. Hancock gives him a choice, she'll either change them back or give him a boat to leave the island. Luffy instantly decides for reverting Margaret and the others, shocking the Boas and Nyon (who still watches from the audience stand) at his selflessness. Later Margaret, Sweet Pea and Aphelandra leave the arena, now back to normal much to the joy of their fellow Kuja warriors. As the three were in stone, they don't have much memory of what happened before the fight. Only awakening to find Luffy by them glad that they were alright.

Meanwhile at the Kuja Castle, Luffy sits in the Empress Hall with Sandersonia and Marigold who thank him for keeping their secret safe. Though he is more interested in being fed. Hancock then called him into her throneroom (which is veiled) which he does eagerly thinking a feast is awaiting him. He is disappointed to find only a semi-naked Hancock who remarks that Luffy's rudeness is astounding. She turns her back and shows him the mark once more. Asking if he recognizes it, after a bit more observation. Luffy realizes that the mark he was thinking of was the one Hachi had on his forehead but it was more sun shaped. Thus he had mistaken the one on her back for it. Nyon suddenly shows up and tells Hancock to tell him what the symbol means. She also tells Hancock of Luffy's actions on Sabaody, having found out from the newspaper Ran gave her. When asked if it was true Luffy confirms it even stating he didn't regret hitting one of the World Nobles, despite it being taboo. Hancock breaks down at that, surprised there was still someone else who was willing to stand up to them. She then begins her story. At the age of twelve, she and her sisters were kidnapped from a Kuja ship by slave traders and sold into slavery. The World Nobles branded a mark on their backs called "Hoof of the Soaring Dragon" which was meant to signify they were "less then human". For four years they were treated cruelly and faced many hardships and horrors (Sandersonia even crying out from the memories of it as Hancock continues the tale). One night a Fishman named Fisher Tiger, who climbed the Red Line with his bare hands, raided Majorios and set fire to it seeking to free all Fishmen who were sold into slavery. While he hated humans he didn't discriminate the slaves that were there and freed them as well. The Boas quickly escaped, claiming to own him a debt for their freedom.

Hancock then goes on that Fisher took those Fishmen that were slaves into his crew and modified the mark into a sun, thus creating the Sunny Pirates. Luffy asks if the mark meant Hachi was once a slave, but the Boas answer that might not be the case. As even though the mark was meant to hide the former slaves it also could mean he was just part of the crew once. Nyon then reveals that Fisher is long since dead and his crew having split off into factions. Hancock also reveals that the sisters were given devil fruits during their slavery which helped with the Gorgon story they created to hide their shame, and that her selfish attitude is only to keep her guard up as she doesn't want to be controlled again, even if she had to deceive an entire country. This seems to satisfy Nyon a bit since she was worried that Hancock's heart had turned to ice. When the empress snaps at her, Nyon counters that it was her who found the Boas and guided them back to their land, even raising them as if they were her own children. Hancock then asks Luffy if he still scorns her but he answers not anymore, just the world nobles. This causes Hancock to smile and grant him a boat to leave the island, much to Luffy's joy.

[CM Punk]

Change of Plans

Hancock tells Luffy they would leave the following morning, so he occupies himself by entertaining the Kuja and sampling the food they gladly cook for him. However the amazons curiosity over him, which leads into touching and prodding (one Kuja even charging money to do so), gets to Luffy as he tries to eat. Eventually he forced to run from his newfound fans with assistance from Margret who thanks him for keeping her friends and she safe in the arena before leading him to Nyon's hideaway. There Luffy and Nyon begin a conversation as he eats in peace. The newspaper which Momonga gave the Kuja, eventually passed to Elder Nyon also provides information to her since news is hard to come by in the Calm Belt. Its here Luffy finds out about Hancock's Shichibukai status, the coming war against Whitebeard and more importantly, that his brother Ace is going to be executed. After a bit of panic and going over his options, Luffy changes his original goal of finding his crew to saving his brother. Nyon informs him that to get to Impel Down where Ace is held, Luffy must get Hancock to take the WG's orders as a marine ship is the only fastest way to get to Impel Down before the execution.

Luffy and Nyon head for Kuja Castle where Enshida tells the two that Hancock had suddenly been struck sick. Belladonna has no clue what causing it but Nyon knows as she once had it before, even mentioning it was the reason she had to flee the island during her rule. She tells Hancock that Luffy has come to see her which Hancock, surprisingly willing herself to sit up at the mention of his name, agrees to hear him out. Thus Luffy asks Hancock if she could answer the call for the Shichibukai. Even though Hancock despises Mariejois and her sisters are against the idea (thinking Luffy trying to take advantage of her), she can't resist her desire to fulfill Luffy's wish. As it turns out the illness was a love sickness and Hancock has fallen in love with Luffy much to her family's shock. However Nyon later reveal this is a good thing as it was this sickness that killed the previous empresses since they tried to suppress their feelings rather then admit to them and died of broken hearts. By helping Luffy, Hancock not only saves herself but helps keep Amazon Lily safe from the World Government by honoring their treaty. The Kuja pirate ship is readied straight away as Luffy says his goodbyes to the Kujas, personally thanking Margaret and her friends for saving him and promising to return one day with his crew. With that Hancock and he head out to meet the Momonga where she restores his marine crew. Luffy, wrapped on Hancock's back and hidden by her cloak, boards Momonga's ship as it heads for Impel Down.

The Other Strawhats

Note that these events happen during the beginning of the Amazon Lily arc.

When Nami wakes up she find herself on a Sky Island. This sky island is very small and one of the people living there, an old man, tries to entertain her by showing her a wind knot and then demonstrating its applications (which unfortunately, only annoyed Nami even more). He then tells her that this small sky island is called Weatheria, an island where the scientific study of weather is conducted.

Franky finds himself on an winter island where he is almost blasted by a projectile fired by a hunter's pet cyborg dog. When a man asks him if he wants to get some warm clothes he says "I'd be a pervert disgrace!" And proceeded to perform some of his trademark poses (curiously, the men and dog who found him followed his example); Karakuri Island is the name of the place where he landed. Two townspeople tell him that he is in the "Future Kingdom Barjimoa."

Sanji, however, has landed in what would probably be the worst place for him to be. Making a mental letter to Nami and Robin, he notes that he is in hell; the transvestite-infested kingdom of Momoiro Island.

Usopp is on the Boian Archipelago in the grand line. He was attacked by many creatures withing Glinstone, where he is saved by Heracles. He is attacked by a man eating plant but Heracles saves him again. He is warned by the strange man that if he wishes to keep his life and his possessions then he should take great care within the forest.

Brook awakens on Namakura Island, the land of poverty in the Grand Line. He finds demonic cultists around him, who think that he's a demon that they have attempted to summon in a ritual. They ask of him to destroy their enemies who robbed them, but Brook is only concerned about "getting back to the others". The cultist's get afraid and beg him not to go back to the "Demon Realm" with the other demons. They give Brook a sacrifice, a scared pretty girl. Brook asks her to see her panties, and all the cultists rush to find panties for "Satan-sama", as they call him.

In the East Blue on the bridge Tequila Wolf, Robin is questioning the foreman about the bridge, and finds out it is where prisoners or citizens of countries that did not join the world government end up. He says that they are brought there to build the bridge, which has been in construction for over 700 years. He then tells Robin to start working and it is revealed that she is shackled.

Chopper awakens in Torino Kingdom in the South Blue, where he was found by two gigantic birds who attempt to peck at him. Chopper, rendered immobile due to the aftermath of Monster Point, falls out of their nest to avoid being eaten. He lands in front of a couple of natives residing in the island, where it is revealed that they are actually ruled over by the birds. They attempt to eat him, but stop when they realize he can speak.

Perona is shown on Kuraigana Island, complaining about not having any servants with her. Suddenly, she hears a crash and sees that Zoro has crashed there, much to her discomfort. She bandages him up and puts him on a bed, and when he wakes up he asks for his swords, but she refuses to give him his weapons.

End of Amazon Lily Arc

[CM Punk]

Impel Down Arc (CURRENT STORY ARC)

War With Whitebeard Approaches: The Marines Bolster Their Forces

Following Luffy's and Hancock's entrance on the ship, Hancock lets the marines know of her demand for more food, obviously for Luffy. They bring it to her, and she even uses her Mero Mero devil fruit to freeze any of the marines that peeked into her room as demonstrated by a pair of unfortunate marines, so they would not see Luffy as a stowaway (though she probably would have turned the peeping marines to stone anyway). Luffy eats his meals, and remarks how they are delicious. The marines outside hear, and think someone else is in there and betting that if Hancock said that they would shave their hair into mohawks, but Hancock emerges with a few huge plates on a cart, remarking that she was stuffed as the marines stare in awe (and they all get mohawks).

Meanwhile, many powerful Marines, (including Smoker, Tashigi, Hina, Django, Fullbody, John Giant, Kizaru, and Aokiji) are gathering at Marinford to prepare to combat Whitebeard following the destruction of their observation ships.

At Mariejoa, five of seven Shichibukai are gathered, Donquixote Doflamingo, Blackbeard, Gecko Moria, Bartholomew Kuma, and Juracule Mihawk, who are eating with a few marines. Off to the side, Garp is talking to Ace, saying that even if Ace was killed right there, it wouldn't do any good because they would not be able to stop Whitebeard, saying that they have already angered the "Ruler of the Seas."

Garp continues on, expressing his disappointment that both Luffy and Ace turned to piracy when he wished for them to be marines. Ace counters it wouldn't have mattered anyway since they have the blood of a world class criminal in them. He goes on further explaining that he took his mother's name "Portgas" out of love for her and doesn't care in the slightest of his father, Dragon, claiming Whitebeard to be his only true father.

The Break-In!: Entering Hell

Meanwhile Momonga's ship reaches one of the gates, spotting a pirate ship as they near it. Though Momonga leaves it be due to keeping to his schedule of reaching Impel Down on time. The pirate ship turns out to be Buggy the Clown's as his crew try to reach Impel Down as well to save their captain whose been captured. But are stopped as their dangerously close to reaching the Calm Belt. The crew argue with Alvida on continuing their mission though she reminds them of the impossible nature of it all and seems more interested in taking Buggy's ship for herself. Upon realizing she right, the crew wish Buggy luck and sail on.

We then go to the underwater prison and given a glimpse inside it horrific structure. Prisoners being tortured viciously. One new prisoner gets into a fight with another after others try to tell him how things work there. While the newbie manages to win, a minotaur-like figure beats them both with his club then throws them into a cell where a monstrous being attacks them. Also shown are various devices used for torturing further implying the nature of the prison.

Meanwhile four days have past since Luffy and Hancock left Amazon Lily as Momaga's ship has finally reached the prison. As they go past the gate, Luffy notices the strict security around the place. Hancock and he (hiding in her robe again) leave the ship to the main entrance, Momonga informing her that precautions will be made since she a former pirate to prevent chaos from happening in the prison. Among such being seastone handcuffs to nullify her power and a body search. The latter of which worries Hancock though Luffy tell her he'll deal with it. With that Hancock and Luffy enter Impel Down while a official receives news that Buggy escaped from his cell. Thirty three hours remaining before Ace's execution.

The group reach the front gate where they're greeted by the vice chief of Impel Down, Hannyabal, who introduces himself and the jail head, Domino. Hancock is taken to be searched, along the way being told of the prisoner entrance process into the prison as well as who their currently holding. Eventually Hancock is taken to a room to be searched by Domino. Before Domino can do so, Hancock freeze her as well as the camera den den mushi to stone allowing to Luffy to come of her robe undiscovered. She then tells him that as far as she can go and apologizes for not being able to help further. But Luffy disagrees, thanking her for getting him that far (even calling her by her name which causes her to swoon). Before he leaves, Hancock makes him promise not to cause a ruckus as she doesn't wish to see him get caught, which he agrees too. Hancock then leaves the room, restoring Domino in the process who has no memories of her being turned to stone. The group then proceed downward to Ace's cell, before they go Hancock sees Luffy ahead of them hiding in the ceiling mouthing "thank you" to her though she misinterprets this as "I love you" and faints much to the prison's staff surprise.

Meanwhile out in the sea, a few rather deformed beings called Bullgory slices up some sea kings, the pieces which are then sucked into a compartment in the building. They then reenter the prison from an underwater opening as an officer praises them for refilling the prison's food supply.

[CM Punk]

Crimson Hell: An Old Enemy Turned Comrade

In level 1, Luffy who begins his search for Ace, noting the vastness of the prison and the screaming being heard near constantly. He passes a few cells where the prisoners inside question on why he's out of a cell then being astonished to learn he snuck in. Before they can go on further, something heads Luffy's way. It is a prisoner escapee with a few Bullgory close on his tail. They manage to catch up and slice the man in half. But the prisoner turns out to be Buggy who reconnects himself. He then realizes Luffy, forced to run as well from the creatures, beside him. After a bit of unusual chatting among one another on what to do next. They decide if they've already been spotted, they might as well called a truce, team up and raise a ruckus. With that the two attack the Bullgory together.

Buggy manages to escape from the axe attack of a Bullgory with his Bara-Bara Emergency Escape and tried to defeat it with the attack Midair Spinning Super Circus, but failed to even harm him. Yet, Luffy defeats him in a single attack and saving Buggy, whose extremely shocked he took the guard down so quickly remarking Luffy's ability comparing to the last time he met him. Buggy then remembers the four other Bullgory, only to realize Luffy had already defeated them. Buggy initially decides to escape but after hearing Luffy mention the battleships waiting outside the prison, he decides to stay. Buggy suddenly spots the arm band that Luffy is wearing and immediately identifies it as the map to Captain John's treasure. He makes a deal with Luffy; he will escort him to Level 4 of Impel Down but in return Luffy has to give him the treasure. Without hesitation, Luffy agrees. Buggy then tells Luffy to pick his feet up, explaining that so long as his feet are on solid ground, or touching something on the ground, such as Luffy, he could fly within a set range. After Buggy mistakenly reveals the truth behind the armband, Luffy decides to give him the arm band in advance for helping him. Buggy feels guilty for lying to Luffy but nonetheless, decides to escape from Luff. Before Buggy could make good on his escape, he flies into a wall backwards. Luffy mistakes this as a shortcut through the wall and crashes into the Goaler's room and towards the Crimson Hell, the first level of Impel Down which is a forest that has blade like leaves and grass. Prisoners are made to run through such a place while being chased by poisonous spiders, dyeing the forest red with blood due to cuts, hence the title of the level. Luffy grabs hold onto Buggy as they fall while Luffy throws Buggy's feet into the ground as told and they fly towards the entrance of Level 2, with Buggy feet spitting apart to avoid the blade grass. Eventually the two reach a hole in the middle of the forest which Buggy explains leads to Level 2. Luffy immediately jumps down and heads towards Level 2 despite Buggy's warnings. Buggy shrugs this off and prepares to find another way to escape but an attack by a chasing Bullgory knocks him into Level 2 as well.

Beast Hell: The Wax Man Offers His Aid

In Level 2, we can see in a cell none other then Mr. 3, appearing more ragged and with more facial hair than he had prior to his sentencing. He surprised by the sudden rage of the beasts of Hell on the level, but he doesn't care since he doesn't have the energy to be afraid anymore since all prisoners in Level 2, Beast Hell, are their food anyway. When Luffy and Buggy arrive in the floor, they meet a Gaoler Basilisk, a snake born of a chicken and make run for it at the moment. Meanwhile, Boa Hancock is introduced to the warden in charge of Impel Down: Magellan, a gigantic person with wide black wings and two goat horns with two parallel lines circling them, with a large coat. After a bit discussion with Hannyabal, he accepts her proposal of see Fire Fist Ace, for Hannyabal's shock, firstly made by Hannyabal and promptly denied by the warden, after he performed his well-known persuasion technique. Back in Level 2, Luffy knocks out the basilisk and destroy without knowing the monitor room in the process with Gear Third, to Buggy's amazement.

Buggy hears the requests of the prisoners to free them and does so, including Mr. 3, with the keys on the floor of the former monitor room with the thought about making a riot to make it easier to escape. His thoughts are interrupted by Luffy, who pulls him by the neckband and say to him to hurry up and show the way to Level 3. Buggy retort saying he actually doesn't remember how to go there nor to Level 4, he lied for him only to get the Captain John's treasure map. Suddenly, he notices that the inmates returned to their cell and closed them because, as one of them mention, is useless to escape when there is still the Boss Monster around. Seeing his riot plan ruined, he promptly says to Luffy that he decided to lie to him again, telling him the way to Level 3. Luffy didn't buy it and retort saying that he thought that he said he doesn't know the way, and insults him as Big-nose, to Buggy's anger. Mr. 3 appears (though having to jog Luffy's memory a bit for him to remember the former Baroque Works officer), who says that he will help them to get to the next floor, as a part of his plan to escape from the Great Gaol.

Meanwhile, at the Level where Ace is being held, we finally see Jimbei's face, talking with Ace about his real pain is laying inside his heart, which it is bursting to deal out justice to prevent the upcoming war between the World Government and Whitebeard, and he says that he would willingly give up his Shichibukai title and even his own life to stop this fighting. It seems that Ace and Jimbei know each other for a long time due to his conversation about Whitebeard. Meanwhile Luffy, Buggy and Mr. 3 are running away of and sometimes attacking in distance horrible and some mythological monsters. Finally they meet the boss of the floor, the Sphinx, a fathered lion which says a bunch of ramen types like a parrot. While Luffy is fighting against the Sphinx, Mr. 3, who made a lot of Doru clones to trick the Floor Boss, and Buggy team up to get away from the Great Gaol using Luffy as a bait. Unfortunately for them as their making their escape, the Sphinx smashes the floor to pieces while trying to find the real Mr. 3 (with Luffy egging him on no less), leading everyone down to Level Three.

The guards reach the area soon after the trio have fallen through, wondering at what Luffy could be after. Before they can ponder any further. The escaped prisoners soon gang up on them and with the sphinx now gone start to run wild, thanking Buggy for their freedom. As the guards go to deal with them, Security soon get news that they know that Luffy's after Ace realizing that the two of them are related and that the purpose of Luffy's invasion was to rescue Ace. Quickly the guards go to inform Magellen just as this news quickly reaches the ears of Sengoku. Frustrating him further while Garp however is more amused by the whole situation. Sengoku goes on to explain that only one pirate named Kinjishi (dubbed the flying pirate) was successful in escaping Impel Down but twenty years since then no one has managed the feat again. He soon goes on to scold Garp about it being his grandson who may tarnish the record, as well Kuma's failure to kill the Straw Hats (though Garp realized that was a lie right off the bat) and expressing his temptation to let Garp take all the responsibility for his family's actions but can't due to his reputation. Garp, through all the ranting, simply laughs it off.

[CM Punk]

Starvation Hell: An Old Friend and A New Enemy

Meanwhile, Luffy, Buggy, and Mr. 3 have landed in Level 3 which Luffy realizes is much hotter then the previous floors. Mr. 3 however points the nature the level, the prisoners in the cell who look very starved and emancipated were once people who held a bounty of fifty million and over. However in this level, theres very little food or water given to them and their made to suffer the heat from the bottom floor till their near death, thus earning the level the title of Starvation Hell. As the three try to figure out a way out of the level and squabble with Luffy on helping him. The security on the level spring a net made of seastone from under them, hoisting the trio into the air. The guards quickly gather under the bunch headed by the chief guard and commander of the Bullgory, Saldeath, who prepares to secure them while mentioning the four demon guards below should they have continue. Before the guards can do so however the Sphinx, which was also caught in the net, suddenly wakes up. Swinging the net around in and eventually breaking it, freeing Luffy, Buggy and Mr.3 in the process.

Luffy quickly takes advantage of the situation and runs for it though the Bullgory set after