One Piece Vol 12
Crossing into the Grand Line, Laboon, and the beginning of Baroque Works. (Laboon! LABOON!)
Volume 12
100
The number of the chapter is not an accident. Oda has a habit of saving big developments for significantly-numbered chapters (see, for instance, chapter 601).
First mention of inherited will, I think (attributed to Roger).
Dragon: "Pirate, huh? That works."
Speculation: what does sore mo ii (lit. "That's also good," Viz = "Not a bad idea") mean here? It seems to imply Dragon had something else in mind.
[Post-Enies Lobby and Post-Marineford]What did Dragon think Luffy would grow up to be, if not a pirate? A revolutionary like him? A marine like Garp? How much does Dragon know about Luffy's childhood, anyway?
Buggy survived the lightning strike, only slightly toasted.
Buggy's paranoia is getting worse -- he now misunderstands his OWN lines as slurs on his nose (and then punches other people for them).
I am not sure which is sillier, Buggy's car or Alvida's "skis."
Smoker's devil fruit power (the moku-moku [smoke-smoke] fruit) appears at last. Buggy & his entire crew are trapped with a single attack.
LOL, Smoker has a weird vehicle* too, which he uses to go after Luffy. (Admittedly, his "Billower Bike" is way cooler than Buggy's bara-bara car.)
*According to the SBS in chapter 248, it's an amphibious vehicle, and Oda hopes to work it back into the story again when he gets a chance.
Buggy and Alvida are trapped in a net with mysterious properties. Alvida asks about "the weird gun" Smoker fired the net from, and Buggy calls it a "prison bullet" (kangokudan, 監獄弾), a weapon developed by the marines for use against devil fruit users.
[Alabasta]The properties of kairouseki (seastone) will not be more fully explained until Alabasta. The properties of Smoker's staff (his kairouseki-tipped jutte) haven't been explained yet, either, though we see him carry and fight with it.
Mohji and Ritchie are having trouble setting the Merry on fire because of the downpour.
LOL, when Usopp shows up, Mohji trips and knocks himself out, and then Usopp wants to take credit for it. (Well, he can take credit for distracting Ritchie with his fresh-egg-star, since the lion stops to lick up all the eggs, giving Usopp and Nami a chance to jump on board. Never mind that the intent was to hit Ritchie. I guess Usopp isn't quite a master sharpshooter yet.)
Tashigi blocks Zoro, Sanji and Luffy as they're running away; Zoro tells the others to go on ahead.
Zoro and Tashigi squabbling after Zoro defeats her is kind of equal parts adorable, hilarious and heartbreaking. They sound just like children. (Zoro: "And you even SOUND like her! Quit being such a copycat!" Tashigi: "How rude! She's the copycat, not me!" Marines: "....")
I find it interesting that Zoro admits so readily to Tashigi why he can't deal with her; he's really very open and honest, for all he's not usually a wear-his-heart-on-his-sleeve type.
Smoker blocks Luffy and Sanji from escaping. This is the first time he and Luffy officially meet.
Neither Luffy nor Sanji can figure out why Smoker is so hard to handle (neither can we, until later).
[Alabasta]Smoker is the first Logia devil fruit user to appear, but I don't think the properties of Logia fruits are explained until Alabasta, at least. When does the term Logia first appear?
Dragon interferes, and Smoker recognizes him as a wanted man. ("You! The government wants your head.")
"The world is waiting for our answer (kotae)." (Cryptic much? See narration at the beginning of the chapter: "As long as people seek the answer (kotae) of "freedom"...")
A whirlwind blows up out of nowhere, knocking Luffy out of Smoker's hold.
[Speculation]Again, not clear whether this is chance, or whether Dragon did something to cause it.
Smoker: "Why are you helping him? Dragon!" (First time Dragon's name is mentioned.)
Dragon's answer is a bit cryptic, but I think I would interpret it as "No man has a right to interfere with another's journey." (男の船出を邪魔する理由がどこにある; very literally, "The reason to interfere with a man's setting sail, where does it exist.")
Luffy, Zoro & Sanji make it back to the ship.
An officer reports that Buggy and co also escaped due to the storm.
Smoker and Tashigi resolve to follow Luffy and Zoro to the Grand Line, orders or no.
[On marines that don't obey orders]
Smoker and Garp are very similar in their attitude toward orders from the top brass; it is a MIRACLE either of them has survived this long without being kicked out of the marines. Unbelievably, they keep getting promoted. I guess they're just that good.
ETA: according to the SBS in Ch. 248, Hina and Smoker joined the marines at the same time and became close friends during their training. Hina, a top recruit and a rising star in the ranks, has more than once protected Smoker from getting fired. (Garp is still a mystery, at least to me.)
Buggy and Alvida decide to follow Luffy to the Grand Line, too.
"The grand line, how nostalgic." I believe this is the first time we learn Buggy was on the Grand Line before -- before this, all we knew is that he and Shanks were on a ship together, somewhere.
The "setting sail" ceremony, sworn over a barrel of sake as they approach the Grand Line. (Oda explains this as a variation on christening a ship before its maiden voyage.) Everyone has a goal, even Usopp (who stammers a bit before coming up with his: "To become a brave warrior of the sea!").
101
More on the Red Line, the Grand Line and the four seas. Nami explains that to cross over, they're going to have to go over Reverse Mountain.
"Mystery mountain!" Hee, I think this might be the first time Luffy starts calling everything he doesn't understand (which, on the Grand Line, is a lot) "fushigi."
The ship inadvertently wanders into the Calm Belt, and they find out the hard way why no one crosses over into the Grand Line via that route. (The crew hasn't quite learned, yet, that when Nami panics and starts screaming "Row! Row!", you don't ask questions, you just do it.)
Nami: "This sea is..."
*pause for visual*
"... a nest of sea kings. (BIG ones.)"
I never realized that the wacky sea monsters from the first opening sequence in the anime only ever appear in the manga during their brief appearance on the Calm Belt. (Especially that one that looks like a turkey with fluffy ruffles around its throat. I was always half-waiting for it to show up in the anime as a major plot point.)
[Fishman Island]
Well, until we see them again later, that is. MUCH later.
The critters look so adorably perplexed when they show up. (The big one has a "You rang?" expression on his face.) Did they respond instinctively to Luffy's presence in the Calm Belt, just as they later do to Shirahoshi's call?
"Oh, thank god. Back in the nice, safe hurricane."
Nami's map shows how all the currents from the four blues flow UP the mountain, but the only exit is out into the Grand Line.
[Returning from the Grand Line: speculation]Come to think of it... how does anyone get BACK from the Grand Line, without passing through Raftel? (Not counting the marines, who have kairouseki hulls.) We know Krieg did, and Zeff did, and neither of them circled the entire line to exit the other end (at least, Krieg sure didn't). Gin and Gaimon both mention pirate survivors fleeing from the Line looking like zombies. But Laboon couldn't get back, and surely Crocus would have known of a reverse route if one existed. Do we have to assume that all the known escapees somehow made it back through the Calm Belt alive?
Crossing into the Grand Line!
102
Poor whale, crying and crying at the base of Reverse Mountain, and he never even notices the Merry until Luffy punches him right in the eye. :-(
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SPECIAL SEAT??" Jeez, Luffy, you shot him with a cannon and ran right into him, and you're mad at the whale for breaking the sheep's head?
Swallowed by a whale: the motif just never gets old.
Luffy gets separated from the others and finds the hatch on top of the whale (and the metal corridors inside it).
The crew on the Merry discover an "island" in the whale's stomach.
103
First meeting with the "island"'s sole inhabitant, Crocus (the lighthouse-keeper of the Twin Capes).
[Looking ahead]Crocus is 71, that means he was barely twenty when he first met Laboon. When did he find time to go to medical school?
The whale's stomach has an exit gate.
The "island" is a boat, enabling Crocus to stay afloat when the whale starts his head-butting routine against the Red Line.
The Strawhats initially assume that Crocus is trying to kill the whale from the inside. :-(
Miss Wednesday and Mr Nine, squee!
I like that when we first meet them, we can't tell what side they're on (they seem to be targeting Crocus for assassination, and it's all "for the sake of this whale," which is "precious" to their town, but why?).
LOL that they call each other by their names every. single. time.
Ahaha, totally didn't realize that those are "9"s on Mr. Nine's face until I looked him up in the wiki.
[Alabasta]All the male Frontier and Officer agents have numbers woven into their appearance in some way, even Mr. 2.
Luffy crashes right into Miss Wednesday and Mr 9 and knocks them into the whale's stomach.
Crocus gives Laboon a tranquilizer and pleads with him to stop hurting himself (this is the first time we learn the whale's name).
The crew fishes Luffy (and Miss W/Mr 9) out of the whale's stomach. It becomes apparent than Crocus is the one protecting the whale, and Miss W/Mr 9 are the ones attacking it, because they're hunting the whale for food to feed their town. Luffy knocks the whale-poachers out cold.
[Looking ahead, again]Why are they so hot to hunt whale meat? Was it part of their cover story at Whiskey Peak? More speculation on this in the next volume.
Laboon is an Island Whale, a species native to the West Blue.
[Speculation about the Four Blues (and crew spoilers)]Meaning that Brook is also from the West Blue -- I had forgotten that. Robin is West Blue, as well. Sanji is North Blue, and Franky is South Blue, so the crew has representatives of all four Blues.
How Laboon crossed over Reverse Mountain, and why he still throws himself against it and cries -- because he's waiting for the return of the nakama who left him at the cape, 50 years before.
104
Crocus explains that he's not just a lighthouse-keeper, but a doctor who used to run a clinic at the cape. He uses his medical skills to care for Laboon (from the inside, now, because Laboon grew too big to treat from the outside).
"I even spent a few years as a ship's doctor." (Aw!)
Crocus refuses Luffy's invitation to be their ship's doctor (he's too old to keep up with a bunch of youngsters, he says).
Crocus opens the gate to let the Merry escape from Laboon's stomach.
Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 get tossed overboard (good thing neither is a devil fruit user).
The crew argues over whether Laboon's nakama will ever come back, until Crocus tells them the truth: they're not coming back, because they lost heart and fled the Grand Line (through the Calm Belt, apparently). He confirmed the information through a "reliable source" (who?).
Rereading this BROKE. MY. HEART.
[Thriller Bark]Don't cry, Laboon! They didn't abandon you! Brook is still trying to get back to you, he is! He's out there in the Florian triangle singing "Binks' Sake" right now! Just wait a little longer...
[Shabondy, and Return to Shabondy]I often wonder if Brook was able to get word back to Crocus after he was rescued, or if Crocus saw Brook's picture in the papers when he became a rock star -- would he even recognize him? The marines seem to have made the connection between skeleton-Brook and his old wanted poster right away.
I like that Sanji points out that Crocus was betayed, too, because he can't bring himself to break his promise to look after Laboon in the pirates' absence. Sanji knows what it feels like to be trapped by an obligation, however willingly assumed.
So, so much love for Luffy's instinctive understanding of what the whale needed: a new reason to wait just a little while longer.
LOL at the crew being completely unfazed (at least at first) by his bizarre behavior when he tears off the mast, starts screaming and attacks the whale out of nowhere. "What NOW? You can't take your eyes off him for a second." "Maybe he likes mountain-climbing." "Isn't that the main mast?" "Yeah, I think it is."
105
LOL forever at Luffy's horrible art. (And the one stupid little band-aid on the whale, what's the point of that?) But, aw, now Laboon can't bash himself in the head any more. ("No rubbing that off!")
Usopp, grousing about having to fix the damage Luffy caused: "I'm not the ship's carpenter." (The word there is 船大工 [funadaiku], shipwright. First mention of needing a shipwright, if I'm not mistaken.)
Nami gets an education in navigation on the Grand Line. Normal compasses won't work, so you have to use a log pose to follow one of seven possible paths.
(I like that you can choose from among the seven paths at the beginning, but after that, you just have to follow where the path leads. It makes me wonder what's on the other paths that they didn't choose.)
First graphic illustration of the "two halves" of the Grand Line -- first the paths leading to the Red Line half-way around the world, then those converging on a single point in the second half.
Raftel identified as the final goal on the Grand Line, the point where all the navigation lines converge. Only one crew was ever able to confirm the existence of Raftel -- the crew of the Pirate King.
Usopp: "Then is it there? One Piece?"
Crocus: "Dunno. That's the most persuasive theory, but no one's ever made it that far."
[Shabondy]Wouldn't Crocus know whether One Piece is at Raftel, or not? Perhaps he's being deliberately vague? I assume he was with the Roger Pirates for that part of the journey.
LOL, I love how, when Nami gets mad at Sanji and Luffy for fighting and breaking their first log pose, she just kicks them both into the ocean and then ignores them (as does everyone else!), presumably knowing that Sanji will save Luffy from drowning.
Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 get blown up by the Unluckies (Miss Friday [vulture] and Mr. 13 [otter]) because they were late reporting to the "boss."
Miss Wednesday, Mr. 9, Luffy and Sanji all crawl out of the water at the same spot.
Luffy agrees to take the whale-hunters to Whiskey Peak, effectively deciding on the first leg of their journey (and eliminating the other six possible routes).
"If we don't like it, we'll just sail around again" -- ahaha, I like to imagine Luffy and his crew doing the Grand Line over and over again, like repeating a video game to get all the different endings.
Crocus, left alone: "Wonder if those are the pirates we're been waiting for. He had a strange air about him. Don't you think so... Roger?"
106
Nami gets a first-hand introduction to the insanity of navigating the Grand Line.
It's summer. It's winter. (LOL Luffy and Usopp building snowmen and then destroying each other's creations, they're such children.)
There's a thunderstorm. The ship turns itself around 180 degrees and starts heading in the opposite direction.
Miss Wednesday is kind of hilariously, priggishly smug about Nami's cluelessness... the attitude of the native-born inhabitant to the newly-arrived greenhorn.
It's spring, balmy and warm. The waves whip up. It's foggy. They hit an iceburg. The ship springs leaks faster than Usopp can patch them.
LOL, Zoro sleeping through the entire crisis. And, double LOL: not only did he sleep through the storms, he's been asleep for the last two chapters (we see him lie down for a nap right around the time Usopp was trying to fix the ship). He completely missed Luffy agreeing to take Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday to Whiskey Peak. ("What are you guys doing here?")
Zoro comments that he's sure he's heard the names of Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday somewhere before.
Usopp sweatdropping at Nami's triumphant declaration: "There's no doubt about it! My navigation skills are completely useless!"
Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday take off as soon as land is spotted. "Bye bye, baby."
Nami points out that they won't be able to leave this island until the log pose resets, which could be anywhere from hours to days. Usopp comes down with his first attack of "I'll-die-if-I-set-foot-on-this-island-disease."
The Strawhat pirates receive a mysteriously warm welcome on their arrival at Whiskey Peak.
Igaram Igarappoi (hee, that name), I love you so. (The -ppoi ending implies that he's sorta Igaram-ish.)
(Luffy: "Ossan, your hair. It's too curly.")
Igara(ppoi) avoids answering Nami's question about how long the log pose will take to reset.
The sun sets on Whiskey Peak... beneath the watchful eyes of vulture and otter.
107
Heh, the town caters to all the crew's tastes. (Usopp tells tale tales. Zoro and Nami drink. Luffy eats. Sanji flirts.)
Igara(ppoi) tries to play the genial host and make pompous speeches, but no one's listening. [Alabasta]Poor Igaram, plus ca change...
Mr 9 & Miss Wednesday put their report in the Unluckies mailbox. (Check out the ornament on top! And, of course, the Baroque Works logo on the side.)
[On mail delivery (speculation)]I guess this doesn't tell us anything about the existence of mail in the normal One Piece world, since this is clearly a special means of communication for the Baroque Works officers.
LOL, Nami is a giggly drunk. (Or so it seems.)
Mr 9 & Miss Wednesday greet Igara(ppoi) as Mr. 8.
The rather masculine-looking nun Nami was trying to drink under the table introduced as Miss Monday.
[Looking ahead]I like both Miss Monday and Mr. 9 so much better knowing how they stood up for Vivi later (and Igaram, of course, but that goes without saying).
Zoro was only pretending to let himself be drunk under the table. (No swordsman worth his salt allows himself to be overcome by alcohol, he says.)
The "town of welcome" is a nest of bounty hunters.
Zoro knows the bounty hunters work for a secret criminal organization called Baroque Works, because Baroque Works once tried to recruit him. (I had completely forgotten this.)
Mr. 8: "One more gravestone for the cactus rocks." The prickles on the giant cactus rocks are all gravestones... which would undoubtedly be more frightening and generally impressive if I weren't giggling over the fact that the headstone we see is inscribed (in English!) "Mr. Sacrifice."
Chapter ending plate: This might not be in the English (the pictures in Usopp's gallery seem to differ between the English and Japanese versions), but the sheet of computer icons that won the prize is freaking AWESOME and I WANT ONE. (Oda's icon is a rather strange looking fish, hee.)
108
Zoro, facing down an army of bounty hunters, seizes the opportunity to try out his new swords.
Yubashiri wins high praise, but Sandai Kitetsu is pronounced a "problem child" (its eagerness to cut exceeds the will of its master).
(Apparently, this is the last we'll hear of Kitetsu's curse until another incidental reference during Water 7.)
Zoro takes out all the low-level bounty hunters and Miss Monday without hardly breaking a sweat. Joke number 1 of 1,001 about how Zoro must be the real captain.
Volume 12
100
The number of the chapter is not an accident. Oda has a habit of saving big developments for significantly-numbered chapters (see, for instance, chapter 601).
First mention of inherited will, I think (attributed to Roger).
Dragon: "Pirate, huh? That works."
Speculation: what does sore mo ii (lit. "That's also good," Viz = "Not a bad idea") mean here? It seems to imply Dragon had something else in mind.
[Post-Enies Lobby and Post-Marineford]What did Dragon think Luffy would grow up to be, if not a pirate? A revolutionary like him? A marine like Garp? How much does Dragon know about Luffy's childhood, anyway?
Buggy survived the lightning strike, only slightly toasted.
Buggy's paranoia is getting worse -- he now misunderstands his OWN lines as slurs on his nose (and then punches other people for them).
I am not sure which is sillier, Buggy's car or Alvida's "skis."
Smoker's devil fruit power (the moku-moku [smoke-smoke] fruit) appears at last. Buggy & his entire crew are trapped with a single attack.
LOL, Smoker has a weird vehicle* too, which he uses to go after Luffy. (Admittedly, his "Billower Bike" is way cooler than Buggy's bara-bara car.)
*According to the SBS in chapter 248, it's an amphibious vehicle, and Oda hopes to work it back into the story again when he gets a chance.
Buggy and Alvida are trapped in a net with mysterious properties. Alvida asks about "the weird gun" Smoker fired the net from, and Buggy calls it a "prison bullet" (kangokudan, 監獄弾), a weapon developed by the marines for use against devil fruit users.
[Alabasta]The properties of kairouseki (seastone) will not be more fully explained until Alabasta. The properties of Smoker's staff (his kairouseki-tipped jutte) haven't been explained yet, either, though we see him carry and fight with it.
Mohji and Ritchie are having trouble setting the Merry on fire because of the downpour.
LOL, when Usopp shows up, Mohji trips and knocks himself out, and then Usopp wants to take credit for it. (Well, he can take credit for distracting Ritchie with his fresh-egg-star, since the lion stops to lick up all the eggs, giving Usopp and Nami a chance to jump on board. Never mind that the intent was to hit Ritchie. I guess Usopp isn't quite a master sharpshooter yet.)
Tashigi blocks Zoro, Sanji and Luffy as they're running away; Zoro tells the others to go on ahead.
Zoro and Tashigi squabbling after Zoro defeats her is kind of equal parts adorable, hilarious and heartbreaking. They sound just like children. (Zoro: "And you even SOUND like her! Quit being such a copycat!" Tashigi: "How rude! She's the copycat, not me!" Marines: "....")
I find it interesting that Zoro admits so readily to Tashigi why he can't deal with her; he's really very open and honest, for all he's not usually a wear-his-heart-on-his-sleeve type.
Smoker blocks Luffy and Sanji from escaping. This is the first time he and Luffy officially meet.
Neither Luffy nor Sanji can figure out why Smoker is so hard to handle (neither can we, until later).
[Alabasta]Smoker is the first Logia devil fruit user to appear, but I don't think the properties of Logia fruits are explained until Alabasta, at least. When does the term Logia first appear?
Dragon interferes, and Smoker recognizes him as a wanted man. ("You! The government wants your head.")
"The world is waiting for our answer (kotae)." (Cryptic much? See narration at the beginning of the chapter: "As long as people seek the answer (kotae) of "freedom"...")
A whirlwind blows up out of nowhere, knocking Luffy out of Smoker's hold.
[Speculation]Again, not clear whether this is chance, or whether Dragon did something to cause it.
Smoker: "Why are you helping him? Dragon!" (First time Dragon's name is mentioned.)
Dragon's answer is a bit cryptic, but I think I would interpret it as "No man has a right to interfere with another's journey." (男の船出を邪魔する理由がどこにある; very literally, "The reason to interfere with a man's setting sail, where does it exist.")
Luffy, Zoro & Sanji make it back to the ship.
An officer reports that Buggy and co also escaped due to the storm.
Smoker and Tashigi resolve to follow Luffy and Zoro to the Grand Line, orders or no.
[On marines that don't obey orders]
Smoker and Garp are very similar in their attitude toward orders from the top brass; it is a MIRACLE either of them has survived this long without being kicked out of the marines. Unbelievably, they keep getting promoted. I guess they're just that good.
ETA: according to the SBS in Ch. 248, Hina and Smoker joined the marines at the same time and became close friends during their training. Hina, a top recruit and a rising star in the ranks, has more than once protected Smoker from getting fired. (Garp is still a mystery, at least to me.)
Buggy and Alvida decide to follow Luffy to the Grand Line, too.
"The grand line, how nostalgic." I believe this is the first time we learn Buggy was on the Grand Line before -- before this, all we knew is that he and Shanks were on a ship together, somewhere.
The "setting sail" ceremony, sworn over a barrel of sake as they approach the Grand Line. (Oda explains this as a variation on christening a ship before its maiden voyage.) Everyone has a goal, even Usopp (who stammers a bit before coming up with his: "To become a brave warrior of the sea!").
101
More on the Red Line, the Grand Line and the four seas. Nami explains that to cross over, they're going to have to go over Reverse Mountain.
"Mystery mountain!" Hee, I think this might be the first time Luffy starts calling everything he doesn't understand (which, on the Grand Line, is a lot) "fushigi."
The ship inadvertently wanders into the Calm Belt, and they find out the hard way why no one crosses over into the Grand Line via that route. (The crew hasn't quite learned, yet, that when Nami panics and starts screaming "Row! Row!", you don't ask questions, you just do it.)
Nami: "This sea is..."
*pause for visual*
"... a nest of sea kings. (BIG ones.)"
I never realized that the wacky sea monsters from the first opening sequence in the anime only ever appear in the manga during their brief appearance on the Calm Belt. (Especially that one that looks like a turkey with fluffy ruffles around its throat. I was always half-waiting for it to show up in the anime as a major plot point.)
[Fishman Island]
Well, until we see them again later, that is. MUCH later.
The critters look so adorably perplexed when they show up. (The big one has a "You rang?" expression on his face.) Did they respond instinctively to Luffy's presence in the Calm Belt, just as they later do to Shirahoshi's call?
"Oh, thank god. Back in the nice, safe hurricane."
Nami's map shows how all the currents from the four blues flow UP the mountain, but the only exit is out into the Grand Line.
[Returning from the Grand Line: speculation]Come to think of it... how does anyone get BACK from the Grand Line, without passing through Raftel? (Not counting the marines, who have kairouseki hulls.) We know Krieg did, and Zeff did, and neither of them circled the entire line to exit the other end (at least, Krieg sure didn't). Gin and Gaimon both mention pirate survivors fleeing from the Line looking like zombies. But Laboon couldn't get back, and surely Crocus would have known of a reverse route if one existed. Do we have to assume that all the known escapees somehow made it back through the Calm Belt alive?
Crossing into the Grand Line!
102
Poor whale, crying and crying at the base of Reverse Mountain, and he never even notices the Merry until Luffy punches him right in the eye. :-(
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SPECIAL SEAT??" Jeez, Luffy, you shot him with a cannon and ran right into him, and you're mad at the whale for breaking the sheep's head?
Swallowed by a whale: the motif just never gets old.
Luffy gets separated from the others and finds the hatch on top of the whale (and the metal corridors inside it).
The crew on the Merry discover an "island" in the whale's stomach.
103
First meeting with the "island"'s sole inhabitant, Crocus (the lighthouse-keeper of the Twin Capes).
[Looking ahead]Crocus is 71, that means he was barely twenty when he first met Laboon. When did he find time to go to medical school?
The whale's stomach has an exit gate.
The "island" is a boat, enabling Crocus to stay afloat when the whale starts his head-butting routine against the Red Line.
The Strawhats initially assume that Crocus is trying to kill the whale from the inside. :-(
Miss Wednesday and Mr Nine, squee!
I like that when we first meet them, we can't tell what side they're on (they seem to be targeting Crocus for assassination, and it's all "for the sake of this whale," which is "precious" to their town, but why?).
LOL that they call each other by their names every. single. time.
Ahaha, totally didn't realize that those are "9"s on Mr. Nine's face until I looked him up in the wiki.
[Alabasta]All the male Frontier and Officer agents have numbers woven into their appearance in some way, even Mr. 2.
Luffy crashes right into Miss Wednesday and Mr 9 and knocks them into the whale's stomach.
Crocus gives Laboon a tranquilizer and pleads with him to stop hurting himself (this is the first time we learn the whale's name).
The crew fishes Luffy (and Miss W/Mr 9) out of the whale's stomach. It becomes apparent than Crocus is the one protecting the whale, and Miss W/Mr 9 are the ones attacking it, because they're hunting the whale for food to feed their town. Luffy knocks the whale-poachers out cold.
[Looking ahead, again]Why are they so hot to hunt whale meat? Was it part of their cover story at Whiskey Peak? More speculation on this in the next volume.
Laboon is an Island Whale, a species native to the West Blue.
[Speculation about the Four Blues (and crew spoilers)]Meaning that Brook is also from the West Blue -- I had forgotten that. Robin is West Blue, as well. Sanji is North Blue, and Franky is South Blue, so the crew has representatives of all four Blues.
How Laboon crossed over Reverse Mountain, and why he still throws himself against it and cries -- because he's waiting for the return of the nakama who left him at the cape, 50 years before.
104
Crocus explains that he's not just a lighthouse-keeper, but a doctor who used to run a clinic at the cape. He uses his medical skills to care for Laboon (from the inside, now, because Laboon grew too big to treat from the outside).
"I even spent a few years as a ship's doctor." (Aw!)
Crocus refuses Luffy's invitation to be their ship's doctor (he's too old to keep up with a bunch of youngsters, he says).
Crocus opens the gate to let the Merry escape from Laboon's stomach.
Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 get tossed overboard (good thing neither is a devil fruit user).
The crew argues over whether Laboon's nakama will ever come back, until Crocus tells them the truth: they're not coming back, because they lost heart and fled the Grand Line (through the Calm Belt, apparently). He confirmed the information through a "reliable source" (who?).
Rereading this BROKE. MY. HEART.
[Thriller Bark]Don't cry, Laboon! They didn't abandon you! Brook is still trying to get back to you, he is! He's out there in the Florian triangle singing "Binks' Sake" right now! Just wait a little longer...
[Shabondy, and Return to Shabondy]I often wonder if Brook was able to get word back to Crocus after he was rescued, or if Crocus saw Brook's picture in the papers when he became a rock star -- would he even recognize him? The marines seem to have made the connection between skeleton-Brook and his old wanted poster right away.
I like that Sanji points out that Crocus was betayed, too, because he can't bring himself to break his promise to look after Laboon in the pirates' absence. Sanji knows what it feels like to be trapped by an obligation, however willingly assumed.
So, so much love for Luffy's instinctive understanding of what the whale needed: a new reason to wait just a little while longer.
LOL at the crew being completely unfazed (at least at first) by his bizarre behavior when he tears off the mast, starts screaming and attacks the whale out of nowhere. "What NOW? You can't take your eyes off him for a second." "Maybe he likes mountain-climbing." "Isn't that the main mast?" "Yeah, I think it is."
105
LOL forever at Luffy's horrible art. (And the one stupid little band-aid on the whale, what's the point of that?) But, aw, now Laboon can't bash himself in the head any more. ("No rubbing that off!")
Usopp, grousing about having to fix the damage Luffy caused: "I'm not the ship's carpenter." (The word there is 船大工 [funadaiku], shipwright. First mention of needing a shipwright, if I'm not mistaken.)
Nami gets an education in navigation on the Grand Line. Normal compasses won't work, so you have to use a log pose to follow one of seven possible paths.
(I like that you can choose from among the seven paths at the beginning, but after that, you just have to follow where the path leads. It makes me wonder what's on the other paths that they didn't choose.)
First graphic illustration of the "two halves" of the Grand Line -- first the paths leading to the Red Line half-way around the world, then those converging on a single point in the second half.
Raftel identified as the final goal on the Grand Line, the point where all the navigation lines converge. Only one crew was ever able to confirm the existence of Raftel -- the crew of the Pirate King.
Usopp: "Then is it there? One Piece?"
Crocus: "Dunno. That's the most persuasive theory, but no one's ever made it that far."
[Shabondy]Wouldn't Crocus know whether One Piece is at Raftel, or not? Perhaps he's being deliberately vague? I assume he was with the Roger Pirates for that part of the journey.
LOL, I love how, when Nami gets mad at Sanji and Luffy for fighting and breaking their first log pose, she just kicks them both into the ocean and then ignores them (as does everyone else!), presumably knowing that Sanji will save Luffy from drowning.
Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 get blown up by the Unluckies (Miss Friday [vulture] and Mr. 13 [otter]) because they were late reporting to the "boss."
Miss Wednesday, Mr. 9, Luffy and Sanji all crawl out of the water at the same spot.
Luffy agrees to take the whale-hunters to Whiskey Peak, effectively deciding on the first leg of their journey (and eliminating the other six possible routes).
"If we don't like it, we'll just sail around again" -- ahaha, I like to imagine Luffy and his crew doing the Grand Line over and over again, like repeating a video game to get all the different endings.
Crocus, left alone: "Wonder if those are the pirates we're been waiting for. He had a strange air about him. Don't you think so... Roger?"
106
Nami gets a first-hand introduction to the insanity of navigating the Grand Line.
It's summer. It's winter. (LOL Luffy and Usopp building snowmen and then destroying each other's creations, they're such children.)
There's a thunderstorm. The ship turns itself around 180 degrees and starts heading in the opposite direction.
Miss Wednesday is kind of hilariously, priggishly smug about Nami's cluelessness... the attitude of the native-born inhabitant to the newly-arrived greenhorn.
It's spring, balmy and warm. The waves whip up. It's foggy. They hit an iceburg. The ship springs leaks faster than Usopp can patch them.
LOL, Zoro sleeping through the entire crisis. And, double LOL: not only did he sleep through the storms, he's been asleep for the last two chapters (we see him lie down for a nap right around the time Usopp was trying to fix the ship). He completely missed Luffy agreeing to take Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday to Whiskey Peak. ("What are you guys doing here?")
Zoro comments that he's sure he's heard the names of Mr 9 and Miss Wednesday somewhere before.
Usopp sweatdropping at Nami's triumphant declaration: "There's no doubt about it! My navigation skills are completely useless!"
Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday take off as soon as land is spotted. "Bye bye, baby."
Nami points out that they won't be able to leave this island until the log pose resets, which could be anywhere from hours to days. Usopp comes down with his first attack of "I'll-die-if-I-set-foot-on-this-island-disease."
The Strawhat pirates receive a mysteriously warm welcome on their arrival at Whiskey Peak.
Igaram Igarappoi (hee, that name), I love you so. (The -ppoi ending implies that he's sorta Igaram-ish.)
(Luffy: "Ossan, your hair. It's too curly.")
Igara(ppoi) avoids answering Nami's question about how long the log pose will take to reset.
The sun sets on Whiskey Peak... beneath the watchful eyes of vulture and otter.
107
Heh, the town caters to all the crew's tastes. (Usopp tells tale tales. Zoro and Nami drink. Luffy eats. Sanji flirts.)
Igara(ppoi) tries to play the genial host and make pompous speeches, but no one's listening. [Alabasta]Poor Igaram, plus ca change...
Mr 9 & Miss Wednesday put their report in the Unluckies mailbox. (Check out the ornament on top! And, of course, the Baroque Works logo on the side.)
[On mail delivery (speculation)]I guess this doesn't tell us anything about the existence of mail in the normal One Piece world, since this is clearly a special means of communication for the Baroque Works officers.
LOL, Nami is a giggly drunk. (Or so it seems.)
Mr 9 & Miss Wednesday greet Igara(ppoi) as Mr. 8.
The rather masculine-looking nun Nami was trying to drink under the table introduced as Miss Monday.
[Looking ahead]I like both Miss Monday and Mr. 9 so much better knowing how they stood up for Vivi later (and Igaram, of course, but that goes without saying).
Zoro was only pretending to let himself be drunk under the table. (No swordsman worth his salt allows himself to be overcome by alcohol, he says.)
The "town of welcome" is a nest of bounty hunters.
Zoro knows the bounty hunters work for a secret criminal organization called Baroque Works, because Baroque Works once tried to recruit him. (I had completely forgotten this.)
Mr. 8: "One more gravestone for the cactus rocks." The prickles on the giant cactus rocks are all gravestones... which would undoubtedly be more frightening and generally impressive if I weren't giggling over the fact that the headstone we see is inscribed (in English!) "Mr. Sacrifice."
Chapter ending plate: This might not be in the English (the pictures in Usopp's gallery seem to differ between the English and Japanese versions), but the sheet of computer icons that won the prize is freaking AWESOME and I WANT ONE. (Oda's icon is a rather strange looking fish, hee.)
108
Zoro, facing down an army of bounty hunters, seizes the opportunity to try out his new swords.
Yubashiri wins high praise, but Sandai Kitetsu is pronounced a "problem child" (its eagerness to cut exceeds the will of its master).
(Apparently, this is the last we'll hear of Kitetsu's curse until another incidental reference during Water 7.)
Zoro takes out all the low-level bounty hunters and Miss Monday without hardly breaking a sweat. Joke number 1 of 1,001 about how Zoro must be the real captain.