One Piece Vol 23
Farewell to Alabasta, in all its awesomeness. ;__; (Happy tears! ... mostly.)
Volume 23
206
Tashigi strikes down some BW agents who are claiming to be innocent civilians. (Dude, the "BAROQUE WORKS" on your hat AND the back of your jacket kind of gives you away.)
LOL at the random BW agent with "I <3 Miss Valentine" on his back. I mean, I can't stand Miss Valentine, but I kind of like that the Billions are fanboys.
Tashigi scolds her subordinates for hesitating, saying they don't have time to wait for evidence if they're going to locate the bomb before it explodes. (I can commend her zeal, if not her concern for civil liberties.)
Miss Father's Day and Mr. 7 are looking forward to a promotion for carrying out their important duty. (They appear to have overlooked the fact that they're about to be blown sky-high.)
Mr. 7 prepares to light the fuse on the cannon.
Crocodile and Luffy are still fighting in the tomb.
Crocodile doesn't understand why Luffy keeps fighting, when he's as good as dead -- the poison is already circulating through his veins, and win or lose, he'll be crushed under the falling ruins.
15 seconds to go.
Nami prepares to put her plan into execution. For some reason, it involves Usopp, Chopper and Vivi forming a human pyramid.
Miss Father's Day wants to have a countdown to celebrate the occasion.
13 seconds.
Nami summons "Cyclone Tempo." (Usopp: "But that's just an after-party game...!")
The blast launches Usopp, Chopper and Vivi into the air.
Nami orders Chopper (carrying Vivi) to jump up to where Sanji is.
Sanji kicks Chopper and Vivi up to where Zoro is.
Usopp's remains land head-first on the ground. (Poor, poor Usopp. I think maybe Nami hasn't forgiven him for the party tricks, yet.)
Zoro balances Chopper and Vivi on his sword and prepares to launch them higher. (The laws of physics, we do not has them.)
9 seconds.
Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day finally notice what's going on, and recognize Vivi as Miss Wednesday.
Back in the tombs, Crocodile is still asking Luffy why he keeps fighting. Why doesn't he just abandon a nakama or two and save himself the trouble?
Luffy says he can't abandon Vivi, because she doesn't want anyone else to die, but she's the first to throw her own life away. She would only get herself killed.
Crocodile: "I don't get you at all. Why not rid yourself of such a troublesome nuisance?"
Luffy: "Because I don't want to let her die! She's my nakama, isn't she!"
(I love that Cobra is listening to all of this.)
Until Vivi gives up on her country, the Strawhats can't stop fighting.
Crocodile: "Even if you all die?"
Luffy: "If it comes to that." (死んだ時は、それはそれだ.)
Back at the tower, Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day are training their guns on Vivi. Vivi says they're both trained snipers.
(LOL, Sanji is in free fall, but he can still find time to yell at them for pointing their guns at Vivi-chan.)
Zoro tells Chopper to jump -- at least it'll change the trajectory of the target.
"You figure something out from there!"
"ME!?"
7 seconds.
207
Cover arc: Aw, the dolphin looks sad for Keimi being transported by Macro to the slave-market.
[Shabondy]The reference to the existence of a mermaid slave market is a chilling glance forward.
Luffy is beginning to succumb to the effects of the poison. Crocodile mocks him, saying none of his desire to help his nakama is worth anything unless Luffy can beat him.
Outside the clock tower, Chopper leaps into the air with Vivi on his back. Zoro takes the brunt of the snipers' weird-looking "bullets." (Whoa, Sanji's reaction - he looks pretty freaked out.)
5 seconds.
Wow, Chopper manages to shift from Walk Point to Heavy Point to Brain Point, all in mid-air (pretty impressive). Finally he runs out of steam and starts to fall.
While still in Heavy Point, he hurled Vivi further into the air, so Vivi is able to dive down on the clock tower from above.
2 seconds.
Sanji hits the ground (and bounces up to cheer Vivi on).
Vivi takes out Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day with her Peacock Slasher weapon.
1 second.
Crocodile, in the underground tomb: "It's over."
Amid the chaos of the battle, Pell gets to his feet.
Flashback to the days when the kids from the Suna-Suna clan used to sneak into the palace through the secret passage to invite Vivi to play, and Vivi would "sneak" out to meet with them at the secret base.
LOL Vivi telling Pell she's going out ("Don't tell anyone!") with Igaram not-very-stealthily hiding in the background.
Love the conversation between Chaka and Pell:
Chaka: Where's Vivi-sama?
Pell: Can't tell you. It's a secret.
Chaka: Haha, the clock tower? Nice weather we're having.
Back in the present, Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day are falling from the clock tower. Vivi has cut the fuse with 1 second remaining, but something is still ticking.
Zoro crashes to the ground (and immediately gets up, are we sure Luffy's the only rubber man on the crew?).
Chopper survives his fall relatively unscathed because he fell on some marine's head. (I love this panel.)
The bodies of Baroque Works agents apparently have more mass than Strawhats, because Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day are unconscious in body-shaped indentations in the ground.
The Strawhats are worried because Vivi hasn't called down to them yet.
Cut back to the underground tomb, where Crocodile has once again succumbed to "I'll die if I can't tell my hapless victims about my evil schemes" disease. He explains that he had a fallback plan, in case anything were to happen to the sniper team before they could fire the cannon. The bomb is on a timer and will explode within a minute or two.
Vivi tells the others about the bomb she discovered in the clock tower.
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Cover arc: "TAKOYAKI PUNCH!"
Vivi flashes back on the mocking words Crocodile spoke before he dropped her over the parapet. "You can't save this country." She rages at him for letting them search for a bomb they had no hope of stopping.
A pair of striped stockinged feet appear on the ledge.
(Pell, I love you like burning, but YOUR CLOTHES. Pell needs to be added to the "My fandom has no fashion sense icon." The anime makes it worse by giving him a purple-green color scheme. Are falcons color blind?)
Back in the tomb, Luffy says he'll beat Crocodile, because he's the man who will become the pirate king.
Crocodile again mocks Luffy as a rookie who doesn't understand what he's up against on the Grand Line.
"I'm the man who will surpass YOU!"
Luffy smashes Crocodile's hook.
Pell says being in the clock tower reminds him of the old days ("natsukashii"). He was always having to rescue Vivi from the trouble she got herself into.
Flashback: little Vivi set off an explosion in the weapons stores because she was trying to put together a fireworks display to celebrate Pell's anniversary of joining the guard (aw!).
Pell slaps her and yells at her.
(LOL Igaram: "You're fired! Fired, do you hear!", with Cobra holding him back as usual.)
Pell was only angry because he was so frightened -- what if she'd been killed?
Pell <3 <3 Of the royal ministers, if Chaka is the dad and Igaram is the nanny, Pell is totally the mom.
(I love how Pell's falcon markings always make him look like he's crying, like his makeup is running. But oh god, Pell, that polka dot shirt is hideous.)
Aw, Vivi (in fresh clothes) crying in her room, and chibi-Karoo trying to comfort her.
Afterwards, Pell makes it up to Vivi by taking her for a ride in his falcon form. ("Please don't tell your father! I promised the king I would never do this!")
Aw, Pell's smile when Vivi is once again laughing happily, most adorable blissed-out bird smile ever.
In the flashback, Pell says that protecting something isn't always the same as fighting.
Pell (in the present): "Vivi-sama, serving the royal house of Alabasta has been the greatest honor of my life."
The whole sequence where Pell takes the bomb and flies off is just one of the most beautiful sequences in the entire manga. ;__;
I am the guardian deity of Alabasta - the falcon. (The narration is exactly the same as Chaka's speech when he faced Crocodile to let Vivi and Kohza escape.)
Pell's smile just before the bomb goes off, exactly like the smile he had when he was flying with little Vivi. *bawls*
The bomb explodes in an enormous fireball above the city.
209
Despite the explosion, the frenzied soldiers just keep fighting.
Tashigi remembers Smoker telling her to watch closely what happened in Alabasta -- to see what happens when a civilization is on the cusp of history. She realizes the armies are in the grip of battle lust.
No one can hear Vivi up in the clock tower, chanting "Please stop fighting!" (戦いをやめてください) over and over again. (This is one of the unforgettable moments of Alabasta for me. So powerful.)
Nami, seeing Vivi's distress, tells all the others to get out there and stop the fighting any way they can. (She's quoting what Vivi said earlier about wanting to reduce the number of victims as much as possible.)
Back in the underground tomb, Luffy finally succeeds in punching Crocodile straight through the ceiling and up into the air.
K.O. Crocodile.
210
The Strawhats notice Crocodile's body traveling through the air, and immediately conclude that Luffy won his fight.
(LOL, since Nami told them to get out there and stop the fighting any way they could, Usopp is using his nails-on-a-chalkboard technique and Chopper is chewing on some guy's head. If you look VERY closely, you can see Usopp and his chalkboard in the middle of the big fighting scene that precedes the close-ups.)
Luffy falls back into the tomb. Cobra is stunned, realizing that Luffy had to punch Crocodile through multiple layers of rock.
Vivi is clawing at the mouth of the clock-tower so hard, her fingers are bleeding. ;__;
The cinematic (literally) moment when the raindrops begin to fall is another one of my very favorite sequences. Love how the perspective zeros in on the island from high above, and keeps narrowing until a single drop of rain falls on Kohza's hand. In the middle image, you can see the Sandora river dividing the island of Alabasta.
Like Luffy at Loguetown, Alabasta is saved not by human agency but by the intervention of natural forces.
(I realize that there's a logical explanation of sorts that we get later on, but it's still poetic.)
The rain begins to calm the armies' frenzy.
Outside, Crocodile falls to earth.
Inside the tomb, Luffy crashes to the ground.
When the dust starts to clear and the furor fades, both armies can see and hear Vivi for the first time. (I love this moment, when they realize their missing princess has been restored to them and is speaking to them from the clock tower.)
Love Usopp's fury when the onlookers call Crocodile "Crocodile-san" (but Sanji shuts him up so the people can listen to Vivi).
Vivi: "The nightmare is over."
Cobra (in the tomb): "I thank you."
Luffy: "No sweat." (いいィよ)
Love the smile on Cobra's face as the tomb crumbles around him.
211
At first the rebel army can't accept the end of the war so readily -- they're still angry about all the crimes they think the king committed.
Chaka appears and commands the royal army to lay down their weapons.
Igaram appears with Kappa, the injured boy from Nanohana, in his arms, and tells the rebel army to lay their arms down, as well.
(YAY IGARAM! Love the flashback to a grotesquely made-up Igaram solemnly wishing that he and Vivi may meet again safely in their homeland. Zoro, don't call Igaram an hentai oyaji, that's mean.)
(LOL, I just noticed Chopper going ?. Of course, he never met Igaram.)
Kappa tells the rebels that the king who attacked Nanohana was a fake.
Kohza (sitting up) confirms that the entire rebellion was engineered by Crocodile from the start.
(I don't care how ridiculous it is that no one ever dies in the present in One Piece. This whole scene is still awesome.)
Igaram promises to explain everything if they'll all drop their weapons. (Igaram loves to give speeches. He can so rarely get people to listen to them, poor guy.)
When Vivi runs out of the clock tower, she is greeted by the royal army. The Strawhats are nowhere in sight.
Poor Usopp, he claims he has "I'll die if I take one more step" disease, so Zoro is pulling him by one leg. Be nicer to the guy with the broken skull, Zoro.
The Strawhats run into Cobra, who is carrying an unconscious Luffy on his back.
I love Sanji's sheepish way of claiming Luffy. "That guy's one of ours, we'll take him off your hands."
Love Sanji's and Zoro's disparate reactions when Vivi shows up, and they realize that they're speaking to King Cobra (or, more importantly from Sanji's pov, "Vivi-chan's otousama").
Cobra says that Luffy saved his life. As badly injured as Luffy was after the fight with Cobra, he jumped to the surface carrying the weight of two people on his back. His strength is unbelievable.
Cobra also says that the poison in Luffy's bloodstream has been neutralized. All he needs now is medical treatment.
[Looking ahead]Notice Cobra said two people? The statement about the antidote to the poison likewise goes unexplained here.
The Strawhats tell Vivi to go on ahead to the plaza with her father. Her people need their princess.
Vivi wants to tell everyone about what the Strawhats did for them, but Sanji reminds her that they're pirates; they can't get involved in politics.
After Vivi leaves, they all pass out on the spot, hee. (I like that they used the last of their strength to convince Vivi to go on ahead without worrying about them.)
Acting on Smoker's orders, Tashigi moves in to arrest Crocodile, acting on behalf of the world government.
Tashigi reports that Smoker notified her that they discovered a Baroque Works ship at sea full of Dance Powder and rain-making equipment, designed to draw the rain away from the country.
(This must be the errand Smoker went to sea to perform. It also explains why the rain returned to the country after Smoker confiscated the ship.)
Love the spot-billed duck squad with their beaks lifted to drink in the rain. <3
Montage of fallen enemies (all passed out, except Mr. 2, who is making a slow and painful retreat).
Aw, is the camel just wet from the rain, or is he shedding a tear?
Kohza and the rebels are distraught over the part they played in the revolt, and Vivi can't find the words to comfort them.
Cobra steps forward to address his people.
(This whole speech makes me cry. Cobra, best king. *sniffle* The montage of faces at the end of his speech gets me every time.)
"Stand upon the ruins of this war, and live! KINGDOM OF ALABASTA!"
Love the contrast between the battle that will go down in history (the civil war), and the battle that will never be recorded (that of the now unconscious Strawhats).
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Smoker and Hina on the confiscated "Dance Powder" ship, at sea north of Sandy Island.
I love everything about Smoker and Hina's interaction here. They are so clearly buddies of long standing (they were fellow recruits), for all their temperaments are completely incompatible (Hina is much more by-the-book than Smoker is).
Hina's quirk is to end many of her sentences with "Hina + adjective (emotion)." ヒナ心外: "Hina vexed."
Hina and Smoker hold the same rank (taisa, captain).
Hina is identified as "Black Cage Hina," although the reason for the sobriquet is not explained - yet. (Aw, I just realized that Smoker is "White Chase" while Hina is "Black Cage." How appropriate!)
LOL them flipping a coin to settle whether Hina will give in to Smoker's request to escort Crocodile and his ship to Marine HQ. (Smoker: "You lose." Hina: "You have not changed one bit since you joined the force. Always doing whatever you please. Hina despair." Smoker: "Yeah, whatever. I know myself." Smoker!)
Back on Alabasta, Tashigi shocks her men by absolutely forbidding them to arrest the Strawhats while they're unconscious.
Vivi is fussing over "Leader" as he's being carried off on a stretcher. Kohza tells her she's being a worrywart, same as always. [心配性はなおってねえらしいな. Kohza! <3] He says he plans to go back to Yuba as soon as he's well enough. He thinks he'd sense it if anything had happened to his "stubborn old man," so Toto must be all right.
Throughout the kingdom, the inhabitants are rejoicing at the return of the rain (including the Dugongs guarding the Merry at Elumaru, aw!).
Toto lifts his face happily to the rain. "Look, Kohza! The rain fell, after all. It was only three years. Right, rain?"
Aw, the narration that follows suggests that the rain, too, has been set free to do as it wills, no longer "constrained." Rain wants to be free too!
Vivi sitting by the window watching the rain while the rest of the Strawhats sleep, such a lovely quiet scene.
(LOL the Strawhats' sleeping posture, again. Usopp, geez. And did Zoro kick Sanji out of bed in his sleep? I love that Nami is the only one properly under the covers, and the only one making ladylike sleep-sighing noises instead of horrible honking snores. How can Chopper snore so loudly when he's so little?)
Igaram is tucking Sanji and Zoro back under the covers. IGARAM I LOVE YOU <3 <3
Igaram and Vivi talking about Pell. *sniffle*
The next day, Tashigi reports to Smoker and Hina at the port of Tamarisk.
(Apparently Hina likes to be addressed by her subordinates as Hina-jou (rather than Hina-Taisa, as Smoker is Smoker-Taisa) - "Lady Hina.")
Tashigi, visibly subdued, apologizes to Smoker for not arresting the Strawhats, but Smoker tells her not to apologize for doing what her sense of justice dictated.
Tashigi says it wasn't a sense of justice, so much as that she felt she had no other choice. (I think she means she feels she was too weak to do what her sense of justice commanded. If she had been stronger, she could have taken Crocodile herself, but having been forced to accept the Strawhats' help to take him down, she couldn't then turn on them. She doesn't put all this into words, though, so I'm reading between the lines.)
Smoker comments that when men come to the Grand Line, they learn that there is only one rule -- move forward or die.
When Tashigi sheds tears of chagrin, Smoker says "If it bothers you so much you're gonna cry about it, hurry up and get stronger!" (Smoker: BEST MENTOR.)
The higher-ups call to congratulate him on the commendation and promotion he and Tashigi will both be receiving for their arrest of Crocodile. Smoker is furious -- didn't they listen when he reported that the Strawhats were the ones who defeated Crocodile?
Hina tell him not to fight it; the government has already decided to cover up the truth. They can't admit publicly that pirates saved Alabasta while the government stood by and did nothing.
Love that Smoker is especially furious on Tashigi's behalf. "My subordinate is in there crying right now because she COULDN'T defeat him!" (Aw, poor Tashigi crying her eyes out in her cabin.)
"Hey, give those old men (じじいども) a message from me. Tell them to EAT SHIT!"
(Yes, that's literally what he said. And yet, they promoted him anyway. ^_^;; Smoker can't get himself fired no matter how hard he tries.)
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The scene with Chopper being all tsundere while the doctor admires his skill is SO adorable.
"Shut up! Quit staring at people while they work, idiot! Go away! You bastard!" (The best part is that he's pulling out a chair and offering a cup of tea the entire time.)
Doctor to Vivi: "Can I interpret that as 'Oh, do sit down and have some tea while you watch!'?" Vivi: "Pretty much."
Luffy is the only one still passed out. (Is Karoo grooming himself, or sleeping with his head tucked under his wing? Karoo!)
Sanji and Usopp are out shopping for supplies together.
Usopp admires how resilient the people are.
Sanji: "It's because they have such a cute princess!"
Usopp: "Is that related?"
Sanji: "Course it is!"
Someone is complaining indignantly about the fact that there is a hole straight through from one building to the next. "It looks like someone kicked right through it!"
Sanji, sweatdropping: "Hey Usopp, look over there..."
Usopp: ?
(This is a call-back to Sanji making a shortcut back to the plaza by kicking his way through a building in the last volume.)
Zoro is training by lifting rocks in the desert.
Nami is enthralled with the books in Cobra's library. (Cobra says she can have as many as she wants, he's read them all. Cobra doesn't have a manga backlog!)
LOL Chaka telling the marines that OF COURSE they're not sheltering any pirates while nodding cheerfully to Sanji and Usopp on their way back from running their errands. (I wonder if the marines recognize Sanji and Usopp, but are just too frightened to stand up to Chaka. I would be!)
Luffy's finally awake. And hungry.
LOL, when they tell him he's been asleep three days, he immediately calculates that that means he missed 15 meals.
Nami: How did you manage to calculate that so fast?
Usopp: And why are you counting five meals a day?
Chopper yelling at Zoro for refusing to listen to doctor's orders (Zoro insists on taking his bandages off to train). Chopper barely comes up to Zoro's knee, but he's all righteous wrath.
A female figure who looks frighteningly like Igaram shows up with a cartload of snacks to tide Luffy over until dinner.
Luffy: "Fishpaste hair dude (chikuwa no ossan), you're alive!"
Zoro: "I KNEW you had a thing for cross-dressing." (やっぱりそんな趣味が...?)
Vivi explains that this is Terracotta, Igaram's wife.
(Zoro: "They do say married couples start to look alike, but there are limits.")
The feast scene is one of my all-time favorites. Those poor guards, so shocked at the Strawhats' lack of manners until they can't help getting sucked into the good cheer with all the rest.
Usopp puts Tabasco Star on his food because Luffy keeps stealing it. Chopper eats so fast he chokes. THE CAMEL!
The bath scene. Zoro scrubbing Chopper's back! <3
I will never stop being disturbed by Cobra encouraging the guys to peek over the wall into the women's bath. >.>
Nami's "Shiawase Punch," LOL forever. ("That'll be 100,000 each!")
Nami tells Vivi they're planning to leave that evening. Their goal in Alabasta has been accomplished, Luffy is awake, and the marines are breathing down their necks.
Cobra bowing his head to Luffy in thanks, even though everyone is shocked that a king would bow to another. (Cobra taught his daughter well -- it was Vivi who first taught Luffy that lesson.)
Igaram and Chaka are aghast to discover that both Luffy and Zoro now have wanted posters, for 100 million and 60 million respectively (Luffy's is up from 30 million).
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When Igaram arrives, he discovers that the Strawhats have already left.
A glimpse of Jango and Fullbody's life in the marines under Hina's command.
(Hee, Jango and Fullbody's new nicknames... they've changed a bit to reflect their new status.)
Hina seems somewhat perplexed about how to deal with them. They're capable enough when it comes to subduing the enemy, but have a distressing tendency to randomly break into dance. "Hina dissatisfied."
Hina is in charge of creating a blockade around Alabasta to capture the Strawhats.
Everything is in place, but Hina's subordinate is concerned about the fact that the Merry seems to have disappeared from its previously known position in Erumalu.
Jango and Fullbody are competing with one another to offer flowers to their idol. (They both bristle at the name of "Mugiwara." No wonder!)
The Strawhats are riding through the desert on the Chou-Karugamo squad.
Nami seems sad and preoccupied. (She claims it's about the money, not because she's sad about parting from Vivi as Sanji thinks, but I suspect that's cover - of course she's really upset about saying goodbye to Vivi. I like seeing Sanji show a sensitive, non-idiot side to his personality for once.)
Igaram is suspicious that Vivi seems so calm about the fact that the Strawhats have left, but Vivi insists she's fine.
Alone with Karoo, Vivi comments on how quiet it is. No cook fighting off attempts to raid his refrigerator. No swordsman training night after night. No navigator to throw pillows at her when she talks in her sleep.
Flashback to the Strawhats receiving a call on the den-den mushi from "Bon-chan." (LOL, Sanji hangs up on him as soon as he realizes it's Mr. 2.)
LOL, the den-den mushi is squinting and rolling its eyes just like Bon Kurei does. Also, apparently den-den mushi go to sleep after you hang up.
Bon Kurei tells them that he's temporarily commandeered their ship and will meet them at the head of the Sandora river. They're wary, but have no choice but to go along with his plan.
When Vivi asks what she should do, Nami tells her that they would love to have her come along -- but she'll only have one chance to make up her mind. If she wants to join them, she can meet the ship at noon the next day, at the eastern port.
In order to make the rendezvous by noon, Vivi knows she and Karoo would have to leave by 8 the next morning.
Vivi wrestling with her competing desires and asking a sleeping Karoo what he would want to do, so poignant.
The Strawhats meet up with Bon Kurei and bid farewell to the spot-billed duck squad. (Is one of those ducks smoking a cigar...?)
Luffy is hostile to Bon Kurei at first, but Bon protests that they're not enemies any more now that Baroque Works is finished.
Bon Kurei tells them about the marine blockade of the island ("not even one swan [スワン一羽] could escape"). He protected the Going Merry from being commandeered by the marines.
Instant friendship!
Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Bon Kurei are back to doing the "Jou-dan-ja-nai-WA-YO!" dance line.
Zoro points out that Mr. 2 is as much trapped by the blockade as they are, so he was just looking out for his own interests.
"Take care of us too!" Bon Kurei's pirate ship joins the newly formed alliance.
Hina prepares to do battle with the Going Merry.
215
Igaram has a nightmare about Pirate Vivi. ("I'm gonna become queen of the pirates!")
(Pirate Vivi is hot! She even has her pirate emblem on her hat -- the skull with the ponytail.)
He rushes in to find Vivi in the middle of dressing for her big speech to the people.
Vivi's speech is scheduled to begin at 10 am, but the plaza is already filling up.
Terracotta comments that Vivi's coming-of-age ceremony was delayed by two years. It should have taken place when she was 14 (of course, she was off infiltrating Baroque Works by that time).
Vivi's speech will be broadcast throughout the kingdom over den-den mushi.
In the south, the Merry and Bon's ship are fighting to break through the blockade.
(Aw, Chopper in Heavy Point trying to fix the holes as fast as they spring up. At least Usopp has company now.)
Hina has them completely surrounded with her eight ships.
LOL, Luffy and Sanji reacting to the presence of Jango and Fullbody on Hina's ship.
Luffy: "Hey, hypnotist! Aren't you supposed to be a pirate too?"
Sanji: "Who is that guy on the left, again...?"
Usopp blows their ship out of the water in mid-boast. :-) (He seems as surprised about it as anyone.)
LOL, Bon calls Usopp "Hana-chan."
Bon Kurei is horrified to hear that they're up against "Black Cage Hina" (of course, Luffy hasn't heard of her).
As they prepare to board, Hina orders her men to stay back -- she doesn't want anyone getting in her way. "Hina meiwaku."
Bon Kurei urges the Strawhats to flee to the south, but Nami says they can't afford to lose time by going the long way round -- they have to punch straight through.
Bon Kurei thinks it's all foolishness until Luffy says "We're going to meet up with our nakama!" (Aw, Bon just can't resist an appeal to friendship. In his mind, "nakama" is glossed "dachi.")
Back at the palace, both Cobra and Igaram agree that Vivi is the spitting image of the late queen.
Vivi starts to call Cobra "Papa," but corrects herself. "I mean -- otousama." She says she has something important to discuss with both of them.
From the Merry, Bon addresses his men.
"To run away now... would be conduct unbefitting an okama!" (オカマに有らず. I'm not quite sure whether this is hilarious, or touching, or adorable, or a bit of all three.)
He calls on them all to join with "Mugi-chan," who is willing to risk his life (inochi wo kakete) to meet up with a friend. They won't be able to live with themselves if they don't.
(Apparently the Japanese idiom for this "Will the food you eat tomorrow taste good?")
I love all the Strawhats looking on with a mixture of shock and admiration. Luffy's face! <3
Hina's men report that the two ships are going in separate directions. The Strawhats are all on the "Duck-ship" (Ahiru-bune) - the "Sheep-ship" is the decoy.
Hina's ships all go after the Duck-ship.
After three minutes, the Merry makes a break for it. On Bon's ship, Bon and his crew (disguised as Luffy and his crew) are laughing themselves sick. "Looking for meeee?"
[Return to Shabondy]Bon's fake Mugiwara are disturbingly/hilariously like the fake Strawhats we meet later, only less overweight and pimply.
"We are all experts in disguise... and, Mugi-chan's friends!"
Bon devises a semi-classical poem to suit the occasion. (The calligraphy signals literary intent, as does the incomprehensible literary grammar... I really need to work on improving my classical Japanese.)
Bon and his crew launch a doomed battle with the marines.
The Strawhats are all in tears. "Bon-chan! We'll never forget you!"
BON-CHAN ILU <3
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Flashback to Vivi deciding to infiltrate Baroque Works (to Igaram's horror).
Back in the present, the people are preparing to welcome the appearance of their princess.
The Strawhats are still fighting off the attacking Marines.
The princess steps out onto the parapet.
Vivi is still remembering that day with Igaram. "In that case, Vivi-sama -- are you prepared NOT to die?"
She raises her den-den mushi microphone and begins to deliver her speech.
Throughout Alabasta, the people gather around the loudspeakers (though they wonder why the speech is beginning almost two hours late).
LOL Kohza (back in Yuba) playing it cool. "Jeez, dad. You can hear the loudspeakers all over town."
The people don't quite understand Vivi's poetic description of the one little ship that forged on through dark seas toward the light ahead. ("She's talking about some marine ship... right?")
At the eastern port of Tamarisk, Luffy refuses to believe that Vivi won't come, despite the evidence of her voice being carried over the loudspeakers.
Back in Alubarna, the crowd is indignantly pelting a dress-wearing Igaram with objects (I guess they're above throwing tomatoes, hee -- I see a pillow and a flask) and demanding to know where the real princess is.
Vivi and Karoo are waving to Luffy from the shore.
(Huge kudos for the way this whole chapter is drawn! Even knowing what was coming, it was really difficult to see past the illusion that Oda is creating by intercutting images. Really cleverly done.)
Aw, all the Strawhats' faces when they think she's come to join them. (Nami!)
Vivi says she's come to say goodbye. ;__;
Her farewell is broadcast over den-den mushi (Karoo is carrying the receiver).
The marines are completely confused. "The princess? Isn't she giving a speech in Alubarna right now?"
"I want to have more adventures with you, but after all -- I love my country!"
LOL, Igaram doing a fan dance cheerfully amid all the cheers, boos and catcalls. (Love the royal soldier who's clapping along with him.) This is the country that Vivi loves.
Flashback to Luffy insisting that the mark under the bandage should be an x-mark (batsu). "It's piratical! Right, Vivi?" Zoro: "Whatever, I don't care, just draw it!"
"If we meet again one day, will you still call me your nakama?"
The marines are horrified to hear the princess of Alabasta talking about being a pirate's comrade.
Nami won't let Luffy answer, lest it get Vivi in trouble with the marines who are watching.
What really gets me every time is that awful moment of silence when Vivi thinks they're going to leave without answering. *sniffle*
The mark of the nakama (仲間の印). ;_______;
(I defy anyone to read this chapter without crying. I defy you!)
Volume 23
206
Tashigi strikes down some BW agents who are claiming to be innocent civilians. (Dude, the "BAROQUE WORKS" on your hat AND the back of your jacket kind of gives you away.)
LOL at the random BW agent with "I <3 Miss Valentine" on his back. I mean, I can't stand Miss Valentine, but I kind of like that the Billions are fanboys.
Tashigi scolds her subordinates for hesitating, saying they don't have time to wait for evidence if they're going to locate the bomb before it explodes. (I can commend her zeal, if not her concern for civil liberties.)
Miss Father's Day and Mr. 7 are looking forward to a promotion for carrying out their important duty. (They appear to have overlooked the fact that they're about to be blown sky-high.)
Mr. 7 prepares to light the fuse on the cannon.
Crocodile and Luffy are still fighting in the tomb.
Crocodile doesn't understand why Luffy keeps fighting, when he's as good as dead -- the poison is already circulating through his veins, and win or lose, he'll be crushed under the falling ruins.
15 seconds to go.
Nami prepares to put her plan into execution. For some reason, it involves Usopp, Chopper and Vivi forming a human pyramid.
Miss Father's Day wants to have a countdown to celebrate the occasion.
13 seconds.
Nami summons "Cyclone Tempo." (Usopp: "But that's just an after-party game...!")
The blast launches Usopp, Chopper and Vivi into the air.
Nami orders Chopper (carrying Vivi) to jump up to where Sanji is.
Sanji kicks Chopper and Vivi up to where Zoro is.
Usopp's remains land head-first on the ground. (Poor, poor Usopp. I think maybe Nami hasn't forgiven him for the party tricks, yet.)
Zoro balances Chopper and Vivi on his sword and prepares to launch them higher. (The laws of physics, we do not has them.)
9 seconds.
Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day finally notice what's going on, and recognize Vivi as Miss Wednesday.
Back in the tombs, Crocodile is still asking Luffy why he keeps fighting. Why doesn't he just abandon a nakama or two and save himself the trouble?
Luffy says he can't abandon Vivi, because she doesn't want anyone else to die, but she's the first to throw her own life away. She would only get herself killed.
Crocodile: "I don't get you at all. Why not rid yourself of such a troublesome nuisance?"
Luffy: "Because I don't want to let her die! She's my nakama, isn't she!"
(I love that Cobra is listening to all of this.)
Until Vivi gives up on her country, the Strawhats can't stop fighting.
Crocodile: "Even if you all die?"
Luffy: "If it comes to that." (死んだ時は、それはそれだ.)
Back at the tower, Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day are training their guns on Vivi. Vivi says they're both trained snipers.
(LOL, Sanji is in free fall, but he can still find time to yell at them for pointing their guns at Vivi-chan.)
Zoro tells Chopper to jump -- at least it'll change the trajectory of the target.
"You figure something out from there!"
"ME!?"
7 seconds.
207
Cover arc: Aw, the dolphin looks sad for Keimi being transported by Macro to the slave-market.
[Shabondy]The reference to the existence of a mermaid slave market is a chilling glance forward.
Luffy is beginning to succumb to the effects of the poison. Crocodile mocks him, saying none of his desire to help his nakama is worth anything unless Luffy can beat him.
Outside the clock tower, Chopper leaps into the air with Vivi on his back. Zoro takes the brunt of the snipers' weird-looking "bullets." (Whoa, Sanji's reaction - he looks pretty freaked out.)
5 seconds.
Wow, Chopper manages to shift from Walk Point to Heavy Point to Brain Point, all in mid-air (pretty impressive). Finally he runs out of steam and starts to fall.
While still in Heavy Point, he hurled Vivi further into the air, so Vivi is able to dive down on the clock tower from above.
2 seconds.
Sanji hits the ground (and bounces up to cheer Vivi on).
Vivi takes out Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day with her Peacock Slasher weapon.
1 second.
Crocodile, in the underground tomb: "It's over."
Amid the chaos of the battle, Pell gets to his feet.
Flashback to the days when the kids from the Suna-Suna clan used to sneak into the palace through the secret passage to invite Vivi to play, and Vivi would "sneak" out to meet with them at the secret base.
LOL Vivi telling Pell she's going out ("Don't tell anyone!") with Igaram not-very-stealthily hiding in the background.
Love the conversation between Chaka and Pell:
Chaka: Where's Vivi-sama?
Pell: Can't tell you. It's a secret.
Chaka: Haha, the clock tower? Nice weather we're having.
Back in the present, Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day are falling from the clock tower. Vivi has cut the fuse with 1 second remaining, but something is still ticking.
Zoro crashes to the ground (and immediately gets up, are we sure Luffy's the only rubber man on the crew?).
Chopper survives his fall relatively unscathed because he fell on some marine's head. (I love this panel.)
The bodies of Baroque Works agents apparently have more mass than Strawhats, because Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day are unconscious in body-shaped indentations in the ground.
The Strawhats are worried because Vivi hasn't called down to them yet.
Cut back to the underground tomb, where Crocodile has once again succumbed to "I'll die if I can't tell my hapless victims about my evil schemes" disease. He explains that he had a fallback plan, in case anything were to happen to the sniper team before they could fire the cannon. The bomb is on a timer and will explode within a minute or two.
Vivi tells the others about the bomb she discovered in the clock tower.
208
Cover arc: "TAKOYAKI PUNCH!"
Vivi flashes back on the mocking words Crocodile spoke before he dropped her over the parapet. "You can't save this country." She rages at him for letting them search for a bomb they had no hope of stopping.
A pair of striped stockinged feet appear on the ledge.
(Pell, I love you like burning, but YOUR CLOTHES. Pell needs to be added to the "My fandom has no fashion sense icon." The anime makes it worse by giving him a purple-green color scheme. Are falcons color blind?)
Back in the tomb, Luffy says he'll beat Crocodile, because he's the man who will become the pirate king.
Crocodile again mocks Luffy as a rookie who doesn't understand what he's up against on the Grand Line.
"I'm the man who will surpass YOU!"
Luffy smashes Crocodile's hook.
Pell says being in the clock tower reminds him of the old days ("natsukashii"). He was always having to rescue Vivi from the trouble she got herself into.
Flashback: little Vivi set off an explosion in the weapons stores because she was trying to put together a fireworks display to celebrate Pell's anniversary of joining the guard (aw!).
Pell slaps her and yells at her.
(LOL Igaram: "You're fired! Fired, do you hear!", with Cobra holding him back as usual.)
Pell was only angry because he was so frightened -- what if she'd been killed?
Pell <3 <3 Of the royal ministers, if Chaka is the dad and Igaram is the nanny, Pell is totally the mom.
(I love how Pell's falcon markings always make him look like he's crying, like his makeup is running. But oh god, Pell, that polka dot shirt is hideous.)
Aw, Vivi (in fresh clothes) crying in her room, and chibi-Karoo trying to comfort her.
Afterwards, Pell makes it up to Vivi by taking her for a ride in his falcon form. ("Please don't tell your father! I promised the king I would never do this!")
Aw, Pell's smile when Vivi is once again laughing happily, most adorable blissed-out bird smile ever.
In the flashback, Pell says that protecting something isn't always the same as fighting.
Pell (in the present): "Vivi-sama, serving the royal house of Alabasta has been the greatest honor of my life."
The whole sequence where Pell takes the bomb and flies off is just one of the most beautiful sequences in the entire manga. ;__;
I am the guardian deity of Alabasta - the falcon. (The narration is exactly the same as Chaka's speech when he faced Crocodile to let Vivi and Kohza escape.)
Pell's smile just before the bomb goes off, exactly like the smile he had when he was flying with little Vivi. *bawls*
The bomb explodes in an enormous fireball above the city.
209
Despite the explosion, the frenzied soldiers just keep fighting.
Tashigi remembers Smoker telling her to watch closely what happened in Alabasta -- to see what happens when a civilization is on the cusp of history. She realizes the armies are in the grip of battle lust.
No one can hear Vivi up in the clock tower, chanting "Please stop fighting!" (戦いをやめてください) over and over again. (This is one of the unforgettable moments of Alabasta for me. So powerful.)
Nami, seeing Vivi's distress, tells all the others to get out there and stop the fighting any way they can. (She's quoting what Vivi said earlier about wanting to reduce the number of victims as much as possible.)
Back in the underground tomb, Luffy finally succeeds in punching Crocodile straight through the ceiling and up into the air.
K.O. Crocodile.
210
The Strawhats notice Crocodile's body traveling through the air, and immediately conclude that Luffy won his fight.
(LOL, since Nami told them to get out there and stop the fighting any way they could, Usopp is using his nails-on-a-chalkboard technique and Chopper is chewing on some guy's head. If you look VERY closely, you can see Usopp and his chalkboard in the middle of the big fighting scene that precedes the close-ups.)
Luffy falls back into the tomb. Cobra is stunned, realizing that Luffy had to punch Crocodile through multiple layers of rock.
Vivi is clawing at the mouth of the clock-tower so hard, her fingers are bleeding. ;__;
The cinematic (literally) moment when the raindrops begin to fall is another one of my very favorite sequences. Love how the perspective zeros in on the island from high above, and keeps narrowing until a single drop of rain falls on Kohza's hand. In the middle image, you can see the Sandora river dividing the island of Alabasta.
Like Luffy at Loguetown, Alabasta is saved not by human agency but by the intervention of natural forces.
(I realize that there's a logical explanation of sorts that we get later on, but it's still poetic.)
The rain begins to calm the armies' frenzy.
Outside, Crocodile falls to earth.
Inside the tomb, Luffy crashes to the ground.
When the dust starts to clear and the furor fades, both armies can see and hear Vivi for the first time. (I love this moment, when they realize their missing princess has been restored to them and is speaking to them from the clock tower.)
Love Usopp's fury when the onlookers call Crocodile "Crocodile-san" (but Sanji shuts him up so the people can listen to Vivi).
Vivi: "The nightmare is over."
Cobra (in the tomb): "I thank you."
Luffy: "No sweat." (いいィよ)
Love the smile on Cobra's face as the tomb crumbles around him.
211
At first the rebel army can't accept the end of the war so readily -- they're still angry about all the crimes they think the king committed.
Chaka appears and commands the royal army to lay down their weapons.
Igaram appears with Kappa, the injured boy from Nanohana, in his arms, and tells the rebel army to lay their arms down, as well.
(YAY IGARAM! Love the flashback to a grotesquely made-up Igaram solemnly wishing that he and Vivi may meet again safely in their homeland. Zoro, don't call Igaram an hentai oyaji, that's mean.)
(LOL, I just noticed Chopper going ?. Of course, he never met Igaram.)
Kappa tells the rebels that the king who attacked Nanohana was a fake.
Kohza (sitting up) confirms that the entire rebellion was engineered by Crocodile from the start.
(I don't care how ridiculous it is that no one ever dies in the present in One Piece. This whole scene is still awesome.)
Igaram promises to explain everything if they'll all drop their weapons. (Igaram loves to give speeches. He can so rarely get people to listen to them, poor guy.)
When Vivi runs out of the clock tower, she is greeted by the royal army. The Strawhats are nowhere in sight.
Poor Usopp, he claims he has "I'll die if I take one more step" disease, so Zoro is pulling him by one leg. Be nicer to the guy with the broken skull, Zoro.
The Strawhats run into Cobra, who is carrying an unconscious Luffy on his back.
I love Sanji's sheepish way of claiming Luffy. "That guy's one of ours, we'll take him off your hands."
Love Sanji's and Zoro's disparate reactions when Vivi shows up, and they realize that they're speaking to King Cobra (or, more importantly from Sanji's pov, "Vivi-chan's otousama").
Cobra says that Luffy saved his life. As badly injured as Luffy was after the fight with Cobra, he jumped to the surface carrying the weight of two people on his back. His strength is unbelievable.
Cobra also says that the poison in Luffy's bloodstream has been neutralized. All he needs now is medical treatment.
[Looking ahead]Notice Cobra said two people? The statement about the antidote to the poison likewise goes unexplained here.
The Strawhats tell Vivi to go on ahead to the plaza with her father. Her people need their princess.
Vivi wants to tell everyone about what the Strawhats did for them, but Sanji reminds her that they're pirates; they can't get involved in politics.
After Vivi leaves, they all pass out on the spot, hee. (I like that they used the last of their strength to convince Vivi to go on ahead without worrying about them.)
Acting on Smoker's orders, Tashigi moves in to arrest Crocodile, acting on behalf of the world government.
Tashigi reports that Smoker notified her that they discovered a Baroque Works ship at sea full of Dance Powder and rain-making equipment, designed to draw the rain away from the country.
(This must be the errand Smoker went to sea to perform. It also explains why the rain returned to the country after Smoker confiscated the ship.)
Love the spot-billed duck squad with their beaks lifted to drink in the rain. <3
Montage of fallen enemies (all passed out, except Mr. 2, who is making a slow and painful retreat).
Aw, is the camel just wet from the rain, or is he shedding a tear?
Kohza and the rebels are distraught over the part they played in the revolt, and Vivi can't find the words to comfort them.
Cobra steps forward to address his people.
(This whole speech makes me cry. Cobra, best king. *sniffle* The montage of faces at the end of his speech gets me every time.)
"Stand upon the ruins of this war, and live! KINGDOM OF ALABASTA!"
Love the contrast between the battle that will go down in history (the civil war), and the battle that will never be recorded (that of the now unconscious Strawhats).
212
Smoker and Hina on the confiscated "Dance Powder" ship, at sea north of Sandy Island.
I love everything about Smoker and Hina's interaction here. They are so clearly buddies of long standing (they were fellow recruits), for all their temperaments are completely incompatible (Hina is much more by-the-book than Smoker is).
Hina's quirk is to end many of her sentences with "Hina + adjective (emotion)." ヒナ心外: "Hina vexed."
Hina and Smoker hold the same rank (taisa, captain).
Hina is identified as "Black Cage Hina," although the reason for the sobriquet is not explained - yet. (Aw, I just realized that Smoker is "White Chase" while Hina is "Black Cage." How appropriate!)
LOL them flipping a coin to settle whether Hina will give in to Smoker's request to escort Crocodile and his ship to Marine HQ. (Smoker: "You lose." Hina: "You have not changed one bit since you joined the force. Always doing whatever you please. Hina despair." Smoker: "Yeah, whatever. I know myself." Smoker!)
Back on Alabasta, Tashigi shocks her men by absolutely forbidding them to arrest the Strawhats while they're unconscious.
Vivi is fussing over "Leader" as he's being carried off on a stretcher. Kohza tells her she's being a worrywart, same as always. [心配性はなおってねえらしいな. Kohza! <3] He says he plans to go back to Yuba as soon as he's well enough. He thinks he'd sense it if anything had happened to his "stubborn old man," so Toto must be all right.
Throughout the kingdom, the inhabitants are rejoicing at the return of the rain (including the Dugongs guarding the Merry at Elumaru, aw!).
Toto lifts his face happily to the rain. "Look, Kohza! The rain fell, after all. It was only three years. Right, rain?"
Aw, the narration that follows suggests that the rain, too, has been set free to do as it wills, no longer "constrained." Rain wants to be free too!
Vivi sitting by the window watching the rain while the rest of the Strawhats sleep, such a lovely quiet scene.
(LOL the Strawhats' sleeping posture, again. Usopp, geez. And did Zoro kick Sanji out of bed in his sleep? I love that Nami is the only one properly under the covers, and the only one making ladylike sleep-sighing noises instead of horrible honking snores. How can Chopper snore so loudly when he's so little?)
Igaram is tucking Sanji and Zoro back under the covers. IGARAM I LOVE YOU <3 <3
Igaram and Vivi talking about Pell. *sniffle*
The next day, Tashigi reports to Smoker and Hina at the port of Tamarisk.
(Apparently Hina likes to be addressed by her subordinates as Hina-jou (rather than Hina-Taisa, as Smoker is Smoker-Taisa) - "Lady Hina.")
Tashigi, visibly subdued, apologizes to Smoker for not arresting the Strawhats, but Smoker tells her not to apologize for doing what her sense of justice dictated.
Tashigi says it wasn't a sense of justice, so much as that she felt she had no other choice. (I think she means she feels she was too weak to do what her sense of justice commanded. If she had been stronger, she could have taken Crocodile herself, but having been forced to accept the Strawhats' help to take him down, she couldn't then turn on them. She doesn't put all this into words, though, so I'm reading between the lines.)
Smoker comments that when men come to the Grand Line, they learn that there is only one rule -- move forward or die.
When Tashigi sheds tears of chagrin, Smoker says "If it bothers you so much you're gonna cry about it, hurry up and get stronger!" (Smoker: BEST MENTOR.)
The higher-ups call to congratulate him on the commendation and promotion he and Tashigi will both be receiving for their arrest of Crocodile. Smoker is furious -- didn't they listen when he reported that the Strawhats were the ones who defeated Crocodile?
Hina tell him not to fight it; the government has already decided to cover up the truth. They can't admit publicly that pirates saved Alabasta while the government stood by and did nothing.
Love that Smoker is especially furious on Tashigi's behalf. "My subordinate is in there crying right now because she COULDN'T defeat him!" (Aw, poor Tashigi crying her eyes out in her cabin.)
"Hey, give those old men (じじいども) a message from me. Tell them to EAT SHIT!"
(Yes, that's literally what he said. And yet, they promoted him anyway. ^_^;; Smoker can't get himself fired no matter how hard he tries.)
213
The scene with Chopper being all tsundere while the doctor admires his skill is SO adorable.
"Shut up! Quit staring at people while they work, idiot! Go away! You bastard!" (The best part is that he's pulling out a chair and offering a cup of tea the entire time.)
Doctor to Vivi: "Can I interpret that as 'Oh, do sit down and have some tea while you watch!'?" Vivi: "Pretty much."
Luffy is the only one still passed out. (Is Karoo grooming himself, or sleeping with his head tucked under his wing? Karoo!)
Sanji and Usopp are out shopping for supplies together.
Usopp admires how resilient the people are.
Sanji: "It's because they have such a cute princess!"
Usopp: "Is that related?"
Sanji: "Course it is!"
Someone is complaining indignantly about the fact that there is a hole straight through from one building to the next. "It looks like someone kicked right through it!"
Sanji, sweatdropping: "Hey Usopp, look over there..."
Usopp: ?
(This is a call-back to Sanji making a shortcut back to the plaza by kicking his way through a building in the last volume.)
Zoro is training by lifting rocks in the desert.
Nami is enthralled with the books in Cobra's library. (Cobra says she can have as many as she wants, he's read them all. Cobra doesn't have a manga backlog!)
LOL Chaka telling the marines that OF COURSE they're not sheltering any pirates while nodding cheerfully to Sanji and Usopp on their way back from running their errands. (I wonder if the marines recognize Sanji and Usopp, but are just too frightened to stand up to Chaka. I would be!)
Luffy's finally awake. And hungry.
LOL, when they tell him he's been asleep three days, he immediately calculates that that means he missed 15 meals.
Nami: How did you manage to calculate that so fast?
Usopp: And why are you counting five meals a day?
Chopper yelling at Zoro for refusing to listen to doctor's orders (Zoro insists on taking his bandages off to train). Chopper barely comes up to Zoro's knee, but he's all righteous wrath.
A female figure who looks frighteningly like Igaram shows up with a cartload of snacks to tide Luffy over until dinner.
Luffy: "Fishpaste hair dude (chikuwa no ossan), you're alive!"
Zoro: "I KNEW you had a thing for cross-dressing." (やっぱりそんな趣味が...?)
Vivi explains that this is Terracotta, Igaram's wife.
(Zoro: "They do say married couples start to look alike, but there are limits.")
The feast scene is one of my all-time favorites. Those poor guards, so shocked at the Strawhats' lack of manners until they can't help getting sucked into the good cheer with all the rest.
Usopp puts Tabasco Star on his food because Luffy keeps stealing it. Chopper eats so fast he chokes. THE CAMEL!
The bath scene. Zoro scrubbing Chopper's back! <3
I will never stop being disturbed by Cobra encouraging the guys to peek over the wall into the women's bath. >.>
Nami's "Shiawase Punch," LOL forever. ("That'll be 100,000 each!")
Nami tells Vivi they're planning to leave that evening. Their goal in Alabasta has been accomplished, Luffy is awake, and the marines are breathing down their necks.
Cobra bowing his head to Luffy in thanks, even though everyone is shocked that a king would bow to another. (Cobra taught his daughter well -- it was Vivi who first taught Luffy that lesson.)
Igaram and Chaka are aghast to discover that both Luffy and Zoro now have wanted posters, for 100 million and 60 million respectively (Luffy's is up from 30 million).
214
When Igaram arrives, he discovers that the Strawhats have already left.
A glimpse of Jango and Fullbody's life in the marines under Hina's command.
(Hee, Jango and Fullbody's new nicknames... they've changed a bit to reflect their new status.)
Hina seems somewhat perplexed about how to deal with them. They're capable enough when it comes to subduing the enemy, but have a distressing tendency to randomly break into dance. "Hina dissatisfied."
Hina is in charge of creating a blockade around Alabasta to capture the Strawhats.
Everything is in place, but Hina's subordinate is concerned about the fact that the Merry seems to have disappeared from its previously known position in Erumalu.
Jango and Fullbody are competing with one another to offer flowers to their idol. (They both bristle at the name of "Mugiwara." No wonder!)
The Strawhats are riding through the desert on the Chou-Karugamo squad.
Nami seems sad and preoccupied. (She claims it's about the money, not because she's sad about parting from Vivi as Sanji thinks, but I suspect that's cover - of course she's really upset about saying goodbye to Vivi. I like seeing Sanji show a sensitive, non-idiot side to his personality for once.)
Igaram is suspicious that Vivi seems so calm about the fact that the Strawhats have left, but Vivi insists she's fine.
Alone with Karoo, Vivi comments on how quiet it is. No cook fighting off attempts to raid his refrigerator. No swordsman training night after night. No navigator to throw pillows at her when she talks in her sleep.
Flashback to the Strawhats receiving a call on the den-den mushi from "Bon-chan." (LOL, Sanji hangs up on him as soon as he realizes it's Mr. 2.)
LOL, the den-den mushi is squinting and rolling its eyes just like Bon Kurei does. Also, apparently den-den mushi go to sleep after you hang up.
Bon Kurei tells them that he's temporarily commandeered their ship and will meet them at the head of the Sandora river. They're wary, but have no choice but to go along with his plan.
When Vivi asks what she should do, Nami tells her that they would love to have her come along -- but she'll only have one chance to make up her mind. If she wants to join them, she can meet the ship at noon the next day, at the eastern port.
In order to make the rendezvous by noon, Vivi knows she and Karoo would have to leave by 8 the next morning.
Vivi wrestling with her competing desires and asking a sleeping Karoo what he would want to do, so poignant.
The Strawhats meet up with Bon Kurei and bid farewell to the spot-billed duck squad. (Is one of those ducks smoking a cigar...?)
Luffy is hostile to Bon Kurei at first, but Bon protests that they're not enemies any more now that Baroque Works is finished.
Bon Kurei tells them about the marine blockade of the island ("not even one swan [スワン一羽] could escape"). He protected the Going Merry from being commandeered by the marines.
Instant friendship!
Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Bon Kurei are back to doing the "Jou-dan-ja-nai-WA-YO!" dance line.
Zoro points out that Mr. 2 is as much trapped by the blockade as they are, so he was just looking out for his own interests.
"Take care of us too!" Bon Kurei's pirate ship joins the newly formed alliance.
Hina prepares to do battle with the Going Merry.
215
Igaram has a nightmare about Pirate Vivi. ("I'm gonna become queen of the pirates!")
(Pirate Vivi is hot! She even has her pirate emblem on her hat -- the skull with the ponytail.)
He rushes in to find Vivi in the middle of dressing for her big speech to the people.
Vivi's speech is scheduled to begin at 10 am, but the plaza is already filling up.
Terracotta comments that Vivi's coming-of-age ceremony was delayed by two years. It should have taken place when she was 14 (of course, she was off infiltrating Baroque Works by that time).
Vivi's speech will be broadcast throughout the kingdom over den-den mushi.
In the south, the Merry and Bon's ship are fighting to break through the blockade.
(Aw, Chopper in Heavy Point trying to fix the holes as fast as they spring up. At least Usopp has company now.)
Hina has them completely surrounded with her eight ships.
LOL, Luffy and Sanji reacting to the presence of Jango and Fullbody on Hina's ship.
Luffy: "Hey, hypnotist! Aren't you supposed to be a pirate too?"
Sanji: "Who is that guy on the left, again...?"
Usopp blows their ship out of the water in mid-boast. :-) (He seems as surprised about it as anyone.)
LOL, Bon calls Usopp "Hana-chan."
Bon Kurei is horrified to hear that they're up against "Black Cage Hina" (of course, Luffy hasn't heard of her).
As they prepare to board, Hina orders her men to stay back -- she doesn't want anyone getting in her way. "Hina meiwaku."
Bon Kurei urges the Strawhats to flee to the south, but Nami says they can't afford to lose time by going the long way round -- they have to punch straight through.
Bon Kurei thinks it's all foolishness until Luffy says "We're going to meet up with our nakama!" (Aw, Bon just can't resist an appeal to friendship. In his mind, "nakama" is glossed "dachi.")
Back at the palace, both Cobra and Igaram agree that Vivi is the spitting image of the late queen.
Vivi starts to call Cobra "Papa," but corrects herself. "I mean -- otousama." She says she has something important to discuss with both of them.
From the Merry, Bon addresses his men.
"To run away now... would be conduct unbefitting an okama!" (オカマに有らず. I'm not quite sure whether this is hilarious, or touching, or adorable, or a bit of all three.)
He calls on them all to join with "Mugi-chan," who is willing to risk his life (inochi wo kakete) to meet up with a friend. They won't be able to live with themselves if they don't.
(Apparently the Japanese idiom for this "Will the food you eat tomorrow taste good?")
I love all the Strawhats looking on with a mixture of shock and admiration. Luffy's face! <3
Hina's men report that the two ships are going in separate directions. The Strawhats are all on the "Duck-ship" (Ahiru-bune) - the "Sheep-ship" is the decoy.
Hina's ships all go after the Duck-ship.
After three minutes, the Merry makes a break for it. On Bon's ship, Bon and his crew (disguised as Luffy and his crew) are laughing themselves sick. "Looking for meeee?"
[Return to Shabondy]Bon's fake Mugiwara are disturbingly/hilariously like the fake Strawhats we meet later, only less overweight and pimply.
"We are all experts in disguise... and, Mugi-chan's friends!"
Bon devises a semi-classical poem to suit the occasion. (The calligraphy signals literary intent, as does the incomprehensible literary grammar... I really need to work on improving my classical Japanese.)
Bon and his crew launch a doomed battle with the marines.
The Strawhats are all in tears. "Bon-chan! We'll never forget you!"
BON-CHAN ILU <3
216
Flashback to Vivi deciding to infiltrate Baroque Works (to Igaram's horror).
Back in the present, the people are preparing to welcome the appearance of their princess.
The Strawhats are still fighting off the attacking Marines.
The princess steps out onto the parapet.
Vivi is still remembering that day with Igaram. "In that case, Vivi-sama -- are you prepared NOT to die?"
She raises her den-den mushi microphone and begins to deliver her speech.
Throughout Alabasta, the people gather around the loudspeakers (though they wonder why the speech is beginning almost two hours late).
LOL Kohza (back in Yuba) playing it cool. "Jeez, dad. You can hear the loudspeakers all over town."
The people don't quite understand Vivi's poetic description of the one little ship that forged on through dark seas toward the light ahead. ("She's talking about some marine ship... right?")
At the eastern port of Tamarisk, Luffy refuses to believe that Vivi won't come, despite the evidence of her voice being carried over the loudspeakers.
Back in Alubarna, the crowd is indignantly pelting a dress-wearing Igaram with objects (I guess they're above throwing tomatoes, hee -- I see a pillow and a flask) and demanding to know where the real princess is.
Vivi and Karoo are waving to Luffy from the shore.
(Huge kudos for the way this whole chapter is drawn! Even knowing what was coming, it was really difficult to see past the illusion that Oda is creating by intercutting images. Really cleverly done.)
Aw, all the Strawhats' faces when they think she's come to join them. (Nami!)
Vivi says she's come to say goodbye. ;__;
Her farewell is broadcast over den-den mushi (Karoo is carrying the receiver).
The marines are completely confused. "The princess? Isn't she giving a speech in Alubarna right now?"
"I want to have more adventures with you, but after all -- I love my country!"
LOL, Igaram doing a fan dance cheerfully amid all the cheers, boos and catcalls. (Love the royal soldier who's clapping along with him.) This is the country that Vivi loves.
Flashback to Luffy insisting that the mark under the bandage should be an x-mark (batsu). "It's piratical! Right, Vivi?" Zoro: "Whatever, I don't care, just draw it!"
"If we meet again one day, will you still call me your nakama?"
The marines are horrified to hear the princess of Alabasta talking about being a pirate's comrade.
Nami won't let Luffy answer, lest it get Vivi in trouble with the marines who are watching.
What really gets me every time is that awful moment of silence when Vivi thinks they're going to leave without answering. *sniffle*
The mark of the nakama (仲間の印). ;_______;
(I defy anyone to read this chapter without crying. I defy you!)