One Piece Vol 26
Journey to the island in the sky results in overuse of "scare quotes."
I think I just figured out why Skypiea is not my favorite arc -- among other things, way too much fantasy worldbuilding. The hints at future plot developments remain fascinating, however.
Volume 26
The Merry continues its skyward trajectory.
Clinging to the wreckage of their ship, the Blackbeard pirates witness the Strawhat's departure. Blackbeard is surprisingly good humored about the fact that his prey got away. Doc Q and Van Augur share his philosophic outlook (since they both regard it as the working of luck/fate). Burgess is more annoyed.
On board the Merry, the crew members wake up to discover themselves floating on a sea of white.
Usopp has apparently stopped breathing. Luffy tells Chopper to give him mouth-to-mouth. Sanji immediately volunteers to give Nami mouth-to-mouth. (She's fine. Zoro is rolling his eyes.)
Nami notices that the Log Pose is still pointing up.
Having made a miraculous recovery, Usopp decides to go swimming in the Sky Ocean. (Not his best plan ever.)
They belatedly realize that Usopp will be in a lot of trouble if this "sea" has no bottom.
(Why is it that ships can float on this sea, but people apparently can't swim? Oh, whatever.)
Aw, Sanji is mad/worried. "I told that idiot to be careful!"
Luffy reaches for Usopp with his rubber arm, but he can't see through the layer of cloud. Robin uses her power to sprout eyes on Luffy's hand so she can spot Usopp and target him for a rescue. (This is where it becomes apparent that what she requires is not line of sight, but simply the ability to target a known object. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to make eyes grow on Luffy's arm while it is out of sight under the clouds. Also: eyes on arm CREEPY EW. But useful.)
When Luffy pulls Usopp to the surface, some sea monsters (er, sky-sea monsters) come along for the ride.
To their shock, one monster pops like a balloon when Zoro slashes it.
LOL, the smaller sea monster has a bump on its head -- apparently Sanji kicked it while Zoro was slice-popping the big one. Or did Luffy punch it?
A traumatized Usopp pulls another fish out of his trousers.
Usopp has begun his favorite chant of "Sky Island scary" (空島コワい).
The fish is flat and has something like feathers (and teeth!). Robin speculates that the creatures of the Sky-Ocean have evolved to adjust to the lighter buoyancy of their environment. These must be the "sky-fish" that Norland's diary mentioned.
(That fish in Robin's hands is far too cute for some freakish meat-eating sky flatfish to be. It's smiling! It has poofy little balls on its head!)
LOL, Luffy grabs the fish and runs off to Sanji, and he has a plate of sautéed fish in the next panel. Sanji is getting faster all the time.
Chopper sees another ship, which blows up seconds after he spots it. A man (or, as Chopper describes him, a "bull" - he has a horned mask) running over the surface of the "water" is headed for the ship.
The horned masked man attacks, and to their shock, easily defeats the monster trio (Luffy, Zoro and Sanji) with a single blow. Rescue comes in the form of a bearded, armor-wearing man riding on a giant bird.
The bearded man introduces himself as "the knight of the sky" (空の騎士).
(He calls himself wagahai! I love Gan Fall's old-fashioned, aristocratic speech pattern. It's not as extreme as Mihawk's -- Tennyson rather than Shakespeare, maybe.)
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Chopper thanks the knight for saving them (bowing his head, aw!). The knight says that one was a freebie (これはサービスだ).
(I think he means that saving them was an unintended extra bonus that resulted from his real goal, which was fighting the masked man - perhaps on behalf of the destroyed ship?)
Nami can't figure out why the monster trio was so easily beaten, but they complain of feeling sluggish and out of breath.
Robin realizes that they must be suffering from lack of oxygen due to the altitude.
The knight asks if they are "blue-sea dwellers" （青海人). He realizes they must have come up from below.
The "white sea" is 7000 meters above the blue-sea level. He is shocked when Luffy and Zoro almost immediately begin to perk up and recover -- normal people don't adjust that fast.
He explains that he's a soldier-for-hire. He wants to talk business (they might need a protector if someone like that "guerrilla" attacks again), but the Strawhats are completely baffled when he starts talking about whistles and extoru.
(Classic fantasy-world logic: they have no trouble understanding each other's speech, but throw in a few exotic currency units and a weird greeting or two and presto, instant alien culture.)
(LOL, a full chapter later, poor Usopp is still gibbering "Sky island scary, sky island scary." He hasn't recovered from the near-drowning and the fish in his pants yet.)
The knight says if they came by the usual route (the High-West peak), they must have already passed by an island or two. He is shocked to realize that they used the Knock-up Stream -- hardly anyone is crazy enough to do that. However, it turns out the Knock-up Stream is the only method by which an entire crew can survive (all the other methods involve losing a certain percentage of one's crew). It is the only all-or-nothing bet. Not many people have to guts to try it, especially lately.
Making an abrupt recovery, Usopp claims it was all due to his navigational skills. (He deserved that pinch from Nami.)
The knight explains that by whistle, he means a single blast on the whistle to summon his services. Normally he'd charge 5 million extoru (extols) per blast, but just this once, he'll give them a freebie. They can call on him for help, but only once.
He introduces himself as the Sky Knight Gan Fall. His mount is Pierre, a bird who ate the uma-uma (horse-horse) fruit and can transform into a flying horse, a "pegasus." (The polka dot color scheme leaves something to be desired. Pierre, welcome to the "my fandom has no fashion sense" icon!)
As they sail toward something that resembles a large waterfall, they run into large "clouds" that are made of something other than the cloud-sea they're sailing over. The substance is solid but soft and bouncy, like cotton wool.
(LOL, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper are the first to dive in. It's like a bounce house!)
With some difficulty (and lots of bad directions), the ship maneuvers around the cloud-masses and arrives at Heaven's Gate underneath the falls.
Luffy, who has no impulse control, wants to blow the whistle to summon Gan Fall every two minutes.
LOL the variety of crew reactions to the idea that they might actually all be dead and preparing to enter heaven. Luffy: "Heaven? That sounds fun!" Chopper: "WE'RE DEAD???"
A gnarled-up old woman with wings comes out and snaps a picture of the ship. "Sightseeing, or war?"
(Hee, Luffy says she must be an angel, but she looks like an umeboshi [dried plum].)
She demands an entrance fee of one billion extols per person, but when they say they don't have it, she lets them pass anyway. There are no guards; whether they choose to enter or not is up to their own will (意志).
The "special shrimp express" (特急エビ) seizes their ship and carries it up the stream.
The woman (apparently her name is "Amazon") contacts the higher-ups (literally!) to notify them that seven lawless invaders are on their way to God's country (神の国), Skypiea, condemned by Heaven's Judgment (天の裁き).
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The ship continues upward on a ribbon-like path, apparently manmade.
They pass a sign (in English) welcoming them to GODLAND SKYPIEA (which they translate as 神の国, as above).
Montage of crew faces as they enter Skypiea. (Robin has an actual facial expression which slightly exceeds "mild interest." Chopper has sparkles!)
Skypiea is in the "white-white sea." This is the true "Sky Island."
The island is made of the same fluffy but solid stuff they encountered at the lower level.
Zoro is the only one who maintains enough sense to worry about how they're supposed to drop anchor in a bottomless sea (he eventually discovers that it can anchor in the fluffy stuff).
Nami is being pecked by the southbird because they forgot to set it loose when they hit the Knock-up Stream. (LOL, poor bad-tempered bird.) She finally lets it fly off.
Nami and Robin recall that the map from the wrecked galleon was labeled "Skypiea." The galleon must have come to this place 200 years earlier.
Aww, Robin commenting to Zoro that it never occurred to her before to think of "sailing" or "landing" as an adventure.
Much beach-frolicking ensues. (Aw, Chopper's never seen a beach before. He is from a winter island, after all.)
LOL, why are Luffy and Usopp having a conversation like they're talking over a PA system? Such children.
Nami discovers some chairs made out of yet another, firmer kind of cloud-like material. (Chopper: "It's not fukafuka… more like mafu…" Oh, Japanese sfx words, never change.)
Hee, Sanji picking weird flowers for Nami and being completely ignored, poor guy.
A girl with wings and a harp, and a fox that makes "su-su" sounds, appear on the beach.
She greets them with "heso."
(Apparently a greeting word in Skypiea, although it would normally mean "belly button" in Japanese - hence Luffy's baffled and slightly horrified reaction every time someone says it.)
She recognizes them as Blue Sea dwellers and welcomes them to Angel Beach. She shows Luffy how to eat the weird pumpkin/coconut-like fruit (konasshu) he picked from the tree, and offers to answer any questions they might have.
She introduces herself as Conis, and her pet kitsune as "Su." (Does everyone in Japan own a cat called Meow and a dog called Woof? Gan Fall's bird is called Pierre because he makes a pi-e sound.)
(LOL, when she offers to help in case of any "trouble," Sanji says "As a matter of fact, there is a burn in my heart inflicted by your gaze…" and gets pinched by Nami for being a nuisance.)
Conis' father approaches from the sea on a craft they call a "waver."
(I've always wondered - why does Conis' father call his own daughter Conis-san? They are both exceedingly polite in all their speech, but there are limits. Conis calls her father chichi-ue, which is more normal.)
Nami recognizes the waver as being similar to the craft Luffy recovered from the wreck on the sea-floor, and remembers that Norland also described a "waver" in his diary.
Conis' father Pagaya ends nearly all his sentences with "suimasen," hee. (Usopp keeps trying to reply. "Oh, no, not at all." "Don't mention it." Sadly, the Viz translation misses the joke. Usopp, every time Pagaya says "suimasen": え、いや、そんな。いやいや、こちらこそ。)
[Shabondy and Marineford]Is Trafalgar Law's bear-nakama from Skypiea? Suimasen!
Pagaya invites them to his house for a meal of sky lobster.
Conis explains that the wavers operate using "dial" technology (literally, "dial" in katakana). She's surprised they haven't heard of it.
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Luffy tries out the waver and immediately wipes out (and has to be rescued from drowning -- after everyone is finished casually standing around debating whether devil fruit users can drown in sky-ocean, that is).
Sanji and Zoro are still arguing over whose fault it is as they drag Luffy's body ashore (apparently he very nearly fell through into the sky below).
Pagaya is apologizing to everyone in sight.
Usopp to Chopper: "Why did YOU jump in after him??"
Chopper: "Sky island scary… sky island scary…"
Conis and Pagaya explain that it can take ten years to learn to master a waver, because they are so light that you have to be able to anticipate every movement of the waves.
Nami masters it instantly, LOL. (I initially took this as a throwaway joke, but the comment about needing to be able to anticipate the waves might be significant here.)
Nami decides to stay and play with the waver a bit more while the others go to Pagaya's house.
Luffy is in a paroxysm of the sulks because Nami can ride the waver and he can't, hee.
Pagaya explains that the firmest type of "cloud" is cut from Cloud Quarry and made into shapes. The ribbon-road they took up to Skypiea was made of that material.
In Skypiea, there are two types of natural cloud (sea cloud -- the water-like stuff, and island cloud -- the fukafuka type), and one type of man-made cloud (cut from the Cloud Quarry).
Sea-cloud and island-cloud are created when an element they call "pyrobloin" (my best guess at the katakana), carried by particles of collagen*, is driven up into the atmosphere by volcanic eruptions and mixes with water in varying concentrations.
*I think? I couldn't figure out exactly how the particles of collagen were related to the element of pyrobloin. The main point is that the pyrobloin is the seed element around which sea-cloud and island-cloud are formed.
Pagaya casually mentions that this pyrobloin is also an ingredient in the substance that Blue-Sea inhabitants call kairouseki (seastone). (HMMMMM.)
(LOL, why are Luffy and Usopp pretending to nod wisely at everything Pagaya is saying? "Ah, yes, collagen particles, I played with those often as a child." Well, I barely understood a word of that whole speech, syntax and vocabulary-wise, so I guess I understand how the nine year old readers must feel.)
Cloud Quarry "cloud" is a denser, compressed, man-made form of island cloud. (Apparently, the island-cloud is cut from the quarry and then compressed into an artificial material by some sort of industrial process.)
The natural history lesson is interrupted when they arrive at Pagaya's house.
Inside, Luffy is introduced to dial technology.
Tone dial (音貝 - the kanji mean sound-shell): when you press on the top part of the shell, it repeats back whatever it previously recorded. "Usopp no aho!"
(LOL forever at Luffy's reaction: "OMG, Usopp just got dissed by a shell!")
Breath dial (風貝, wind-shell): when you compress air into it and then press the button, it produces a blast of air (or rather, you can gradually release the amount of air stored in it at your own convenience -- thirty minutes worth of air in one-minute increments, for example). These are the type that power the wavers. They can also power skates, skis, etc. (Note the similarity of one of the pictures to the skates the masked guerrilla attacker was wearing on his feet.)
Conis comments that as long as the shell isn't broken, it ought to be possible to fix the waver Luffy rescued from the sea-floor.
(LOL Luffy's endless cycle of hope and despair -- hope of repairing the waver, despair at ever being able to ride it.)
Robin notices the lamp-dial (灯貝 - lamp-shell) on the table, which stores and produces light.
The entire civilization of Skypiea effectively runs on dial technology. Other types can store fire, produce smells (!), and play back still or moving images.
I love how Chopper is wide-eyed or staring in every frame. So adorable!
Sanji is in seventh heaven in the kitchen (well, except when he accidentally tastes a sauce that went bad and thinks it's some kind of exotic spice).
Hee, I love that he's bellowing at Pagaya in a rage, and Usopp and Luffy's immediate reaction is "He sounds like he's having so much fun!" (Maybe all that yelling at Zoro is an expression of affection after all?)
Conis and Pagaya get worried when they realize Nami is no longer in sight from the window. They worry that she might have strayed onto the forbidden land next door.
As they are describing "Upper Yard" (kanji: kami no shima, God's island), the holy land where God lives, Nami is gazing up at an enormous forest which is unmistakably rooted in solid earth.
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Conis explains that Skypiea, "god's country," is ruled by the all-powerful god Enel.
Every single person present, looking at Luffy, knows that he's already decided to go to the "place you absolutely mustn't go."
Luffy figures that God is nice (yasashii) and would forgive a person for going where they're not supposed to go, but Conis only knows that disobeying the order is considered rebellion against god. (The others conclude that Luffy plans to go there whether God forgives him or not.)
[Incidentally, I had a hard time deciding whether to capitalize God or not. Obviously Enel is not the Judeo-Christian deity, but since in this context the reference is generally to a single all-powerful figure, I figured God seemed more appropriate than "a god."]
Pagaya offers to look at the broken waver and see if he can fix it while they're out looking for Nami.
At Upper Yard, just as Nami is deciding she should leave without going ashore, the masked guerrilla figure shows up.
Meanwhile, on land, a man is running and begging for help. Four weird-looking figures seem to be competing to see which one of them can kill the man first.
The guerrilla fires his weapon (apparently at the weird-looking figures?), but a moment later, a pillar of light completely exterminates the helpless fugitive.
The guerrilla says something angry about "Enel" and "vearth" and runs away.
Nami hears the four figures discussing what just happened. One of them comments that Enel must have eliminated the fugitive summarily instead of waiting for them to do it, because they have a more serious incursion to deal with. Seven invaders from the Blue Sea have just been reported.
Nami realizes that the Strawhats are being hunted, just like the man who got blown up.
On Angel Island, the White Beret police force is preparing to deploy under Captain McKinley. (Oh god, those pants. The fashion icon is fast becoming overloaded with candidates. Also: McKinley? Seriously?)
Nami is racing back to Angel Beach. As the Strawhats prepare to board their ship in search of Nami, the White Berets approach and tell them to stay where they are.
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Cover arc: in general, I am bored by Wapol's cover arc, but I will admit to laughing at the hippo question marks as Wapol is arrested by the marines.
The belly-crawl approach of the White Berets is too stupid to laugh at… and yet, it makes me laugh every time.
Nobody ever answers Luffy's question when he asks them why the heck they keep saying "belly button."
Pagaya and Conis are shocked to hear that Luffy and his crew are wanted as "invaders."
The White Berets say that luckily, "invasion" is a minor infraction (a level 11 offense). If they pay the fine, they can go. The fine is a mere 70 billion extols (10 times the original entrance fee), or seven million beli.
Aw, Sanji measures value in terms of rice. "Do you have any idea how many tons of rice that would buy?"
Nami, approaching on her waver, is silently praying that no one will do anything rash.
No one does -- until she hears the amount of the fine, and attacks the captain of the guard in a rage fueled purely by instinct. (Oh, Nami. Also, I really would not like to be a clerk in any store she shops in, if that is her natural reaction to hearing an outrageous price quoted.)
The level of their crime keeps going up. By resisting arrest, they have risen to a level 5 crime, punishable by a sentence of "cloud-wandering." This is tantamount to a death sentence, being forced to wander about on a fragment of cloud with no escape until nothing is left but bones.
Robin deduces that the ship that fell from the sky must have been sentenced to this fate.
When the White Berets attack, Luffy fights back, and they recognize him as a devil fruit user.
LOL, when they find out that there is barely any money on the ship, Luffy lectures everyone on their extravagance until Nami tells him all the money went to feed him.
Defeated, the captain of the White Berets throws a final taunt -- they won't find the next class of divine guardians so easy to beat.
As level two offenders, they will be judged on Upper Yard by the 神官 (shinkan), God's agents.
(Shinkan: this word normally means "shinto priest" in Japanese, but Enel's agents are far from being normal Shinto priests. Here they are literally what the kanji describe, "divine agents" or "divine officers," people who work directly for God.)
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Cover arc: "King Dalton of Sakura Kingdom." Aw, they renamed Drum Kingdom the Sakura Kingdom! (With Hiluluk's flag, of course.)
Luffy is completely unfazed by being declared a level two offender. ("We're used to being hunted, right?")
He's transparently disappointed that Nami came back before they could go looking for her, depriving him of his "great adventure" to the forbidden land.
LOL, Luffy to Nami: "Which is more important, adventure or your life?"
Nami: "My life! And money comes second."
Sanji: "And third is me, right?"
Nami: "Oh, shut up."
Pagaya and Conis explain that in order to return to the Blue Sea, they will need to get back down to the White Sea and then reach Cloud's End in the far east. But even then, getting down won't be easy.
They decide to sail away to avoid causing any more trouble to Pagaya and Conis, at least. They prepare to pack supplies (Luffy wants meat; Usopp wants materials to help mend the ship).
OMG, Chopper changing from Heavy Point to Brain Point just to pull himself on board, CUTEST THING EVER. (Robin: "I was just going to lower the ladder…?") It's like he's in the "I can tie my shoes my own self!" stage.
LOL, Nami trying to talk all the other crew members into helping her change Luffy's mind about going to Upper Yard, and completely failing. I don't know which of the conversations is the funniest, but they're all futile.
Looking on from hiding, the White Beret captain comments that they'll end up on Upper Yard whether they like it or not. God and his agents don't come to the defendant - the defendant comes to them.
Up at the house, Pagaya asks Usopp if he's the shipwright, but Usopp says he's actually the sniper; they don't have a shipwright. Without almighty man-of-all-work Usopp, though, the ship would never be able to function.
[Water 7]
Ow, Usopp. On so many levels. His empty boasting is getting harder and harder to take, knowing where it's leading him. And it's starting to wear awfully thin -- as his insecurities grow, he doesn't believe it himself any more, but the less he believes it, the more loudly he insists on it. A direct correlation to how completely terrifying and overwhelming Sky Island is to him, perhaps.
Then again, it occurred to me only as I was writing this that the one realm (other than sniping) where he has some claim to special status/ability is in relation to his devotion to the Merry. I wonder if, when the Merry is condemned, he unconsciously feels like his last claim to having any right to remain with the Strawhats is being taken away.
While Usopp is rambling on about how everyone calls him Captain Usopp, Pagaya has already wandered off to admire the artistic arrangement of Sanji's bentou. (A nice little glimpse of Sanji the food-artist here.)
Usopp notices that something is wrong on the ship -- Nami and Chopper appear to be struggling.
The ship is moving out to sea (strangely, it's moving backwards).
When they look closer, they realize the ship is being carried by a giant sea-creature: the SUPER-special shrimp express. (It has GOD written on its, er, forehead?
On board, Robin says that the divine judgment has probably already begun. They have no way of escaping the ship or changing its course. Clearly, they are being summoned to THAT ISLAND for judgment.
Back at Pagaya's, Sanji is still in shock and mourning because Nami put a t-shirt on over her bikini. (Priorities, Sanji, priorities.)
Pagaya tells them that the express must be carrying them to the Altar of Sacrifice, in the northeastern part of Upper Yard.
Sanji is outraged to hear that "Nami-san, Robin-chan and the rest (その他)" are going to be sacrificed, but Pagaya corrects him. The "sacrifices" are hostages, held by God. The ones who are truly being judged are the three of them: Usopp, Sanji and Luffy.
Usopp pulls out the map of Skypiea.
In order to get to the Altar of Sacrifice, they will have to cut through the forest of Upper Yard, following the Milky Road on a dial ship. Traversing that river will be their "trial."
In order to pass the trial, they will need to face the four shinkan (divine agents), whose strength is greater than they can imagine, and worst of all, Enel himself.
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Angel Island, Lovely Street. (Really, it's "lovely" in katakana - and English! Why are Skypiea's signs in English? ^_^;;)
Conis is acting as their guide, but all the townspeople are avoiding them because they know they're wanted. (Sanji is depressed because the pretty girls are avoiding him; Luffy thinks it's great because they have plenty of room to walk.)
Sanji is mad at Luffy for taking time to window-shop, but Luffy says Nami and the others will be fine -- Zoro is with them. (This does not placate Sanji AT ALL.)
Usopp is just worried that the Merry might suffer even more damage.
[Water 7]Oda, you're KILLING me with the Merry references. Please stop making every third word that comes out of Usopp's mouth something about the Merry. (Weirdly, what bothers me even more than the foreshadowing about Merry's demise is the reminder that it will hit Usopp harder than anyone. I feel like I'm waiting for someone's pet to die. T_T)
They notice a weird mud figurine under glass.
Luffy: Is it a seal?
Sanji: No doubt some religious artifact.
Usopp: You fools, it's art! I can tell.
Conis identifies it as Vearth (ヴァース, Viz = Varse), the most revered substance in Skypiea. She can understand why Blue Sea dwellers wouldn't see the appeal.
The Water Beret captain is secretly following them.
When they get to the gondola port, Luffy is thrilled by all the ships until he sees theirs: the "Crow-Maru" (カラス丸). (Sanji thinks the "crow" has delusions of grandeur; it's just a waterfowl.) It's Conis' own ship (er, inflatable raft), which she offers to let them use.
When Luffy rudely says he wants the other one, Sanji makes him apologize. (Go, Sanji! Luffy, that was totally rude. He can be oblivious, but he's not usually rude about a kindness or a gift.)
Luffy asks why Conis has been trembling with fear ever since they left her house. And Usopp thinks that openly leading them around and lending them a ship is going to get her into trouble.
(Ah, so is that why Luffy was rude? He sensed that her offer wasn't a sincere act of kindness?)
Conis breaks down in tears and admits that she's been acting under orders. Everyone in town knows it. She was the one who summoned the Super-Special Shrimp Express. If she hadn't turned them in, both she and her father would have been killed. By telling them this now, she's committing sacrilege. (冒瀆, boutoku. Hmm. Is disobedience to a god's orders sacrilege or blasphemy? It's not profanation or desecration. English doesn't really have a generic word for "act of rebellion against god." Whatever the religious equivalent of "treason" is.)
Luffy and all the others yell at her -- WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AND TELL US? (Aw!)
Luffy rescues Conis right before the pillar of light can hit her - or rather, Gan Fall rescues both of them.
"This is a freebie" (これはサービスだ). LOL, he says that every time. He must have a hard time making a living if he goes around rescuing people for free.
He returns Luffy, promising to protect Conis from Enel's wrath.
Luffy, Usopp and Sanji take off in the Crow-Maru.
On Pierre's back, Conis tells Gan Fall that she knows who he really is. Not his "knight of the sky" shtick.
"Please come back to us, Kami-sama!"
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Cover arc: Aw, I can almost feel sorry for Skid Row Wapol. Almost. (He has the same little dog peeing on him in every frame for the next several chapters.)
Luffy, Sanji and Usopp cross the bridge (follow the ribbon-road, whatever) from Angel Island into the forest on Upper Yard.
Sanji, like Nami before him (when she first saw Upper Yard), comments that trees that big would have to have been growing for at least a thousand years.
Sanji is definitely starting to play the big-brother role, alternately encouraging and bullying Usopp into facing up to the challenges they meet.
A monstrous scythe nearly slices the ship in two, followed by dozens more similar blades.
(This is SO Indiana Jones, even down to the grotesque idols and flaming torches. Not that I'm complaining.)
They encounter a stone sculpture with four identical entrance gates, each marked with the name of a different "trial": Swamp, Iron, Thread, and Ball.
Meanwhile, the Merry is lodged atop the Altar of Sacrifice. Zoro is fighting a sky-shark.
LOL Robin: while Nami and Chopper are freaking out about the fact that Zoro might have just gotten eaten, she ponders, "If he was eaten, the clouds should start to turn blood-red." The others don't appreciate her gruesome imagination.
Zoro knocks out the shark and returns, but reflects that they won't be able to get off the altar and make it to shore. The altar is in the middle of a lake, and the "water" is full of shark fins.
The hull of the ship is too badly damaged to return the ship to the water until they repair it (Chopper gets stuck with that job).
LOL, the irony of Zoro (of all people!) saying that when you're lost, you should stay where you are and not move (but he's the one who is planning to leave the ship and explore the forest, while the others stay with the ship and wait for Luffy to come).
Zoro wants to go meet this "God" person and find out what he's like. (Chopper: "Wow, Zoro talks bigger (偉そう) than God!"
When Nami objects that he has no common sense (what is he doing, trying to antagonize God and his agents?), Zoro retorts that he doesn't recall ever praying to a god. Doesn't believe in one, either, so he doesn't owe any duty to him. (Chopper is star-struck. Nami prays: "Dear Lord, I have no connection with this man.")
Robin decides to go with Zoro, because she wants to investigate the history of the place. The altar has to be at least a thousand years old.
When she mentions they might find treasure, Nami decides she wants to come too. (Chopper is freaked out because her eyes turned into beli signs.)
Zoro, Robin and Nami swing over to land on hanging vines, leaving Chopper to guard the ship.
Chopper admires the others for being brave enough to explore and is proud of being given the responsibility of guarding the ship… until he realizes that he's been left alone and is probably in more danger than anyone. (Poor Chopper. Do what you can, little man!)
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The four divine guardians await Luffy's choice of trial.
They decide on "ball" (玉) -- Luffy thinks it sounds like fun, and Usopp admits that it at least sounds less violent than the alternatives.
Sanji warns them to be on their toes. "We're 10,000 meters above the earth -- anything could happen!"
They enter the tunnel. (Sanji yells at Usopp for closing his eyes when he's the one holding the till.)
To Usopp's horror, Luffy wonders aloud if one of the tunnels is a "hit" and the others a "miss." If it's a miss, they might fall from the sky.
When they emerge from the tunnel, they're falling -- but fortunately there is water just below.
(LOL, Sanji kicks Luffy for scaring them all with his ridiculous imagination. Usopp is non-functional for at least three pages.)
The air is filled with white fluffy balls, apparently made of island-cloud. The Milky Road continues to wind through and over the trees in the forest.
Usopp only revives when Luffy suggests that maybe they chose the "hit" and nothing bad will happen. Despite Sanji's warnings, he and Luffy get out the tea and rice crackers.
Sanji takes the wheel and orders the other two to keep watch. (They're eating rice crackers and playing catch with one of the balls instead.)
The ball bursts and a giant snake comes out. The next one Sanji kicks explodes like a bomb.
A cackling voice informs them that the balls are "surprise clouds" - who knows what might come out.
Satori appears and congratulates them on choosing the Ball Trial.
(DEFINITELY among my top five candidates for Most Annoying Villain Ever status. Ugh, ugh, ugh.)
Satori tells them they have to beat him in order to "advance."
Satori startles Luffy by moving faster than he can see, appearing before him, dodging his punch, and applying a blasting force with his hands.
[He just used at least three techniques that we will later see more fully developed elsewhere -- both in Skypiea and back on the Grand Line.]
Luffy is blasted into a tree and stunned. Usopp is shocked -- how can a punch hurt Luffy's rubber body?
Satori predicts Sanji's kick before he can deliver it.
Satori speaks of the "power that is granted only to the initiate, that is, mantra." (修行者にのみ授けられる力は「心綱」[マントラ].)
This requires unpacking. The kanji in the word glossed mantra (心綱) would normally be pronounced shinkou. shinkou in this context, if spoken, would normally be heard as 信抑, "faith, belief." However, Satori actually says "mantra" (glossed in katakana). Morever, the kanji written in the text are not 信抑 (shinkou, "belief") but 心綱, shin-kou, heart-rope (this is not a word in Japanese). Mantra, we will soon learn, is a technical term in Skypiea.
[Chapter 597]Rayleigh confirms that mantra is the term used by the people of Skypiea for what Blue Sea dwellers call "haki" (覇気).
Satori dispatches Sanji as easily as he did Luffy, with a touch of the hand. Lastly, he knocks out Usopp.
He says what he is delivering is not a blow (打撃, dageki), but "impact" (衝撃, shougeki, glossed インパクト).
Luffy is starting to recover.
Satori commandeers their ship and sends it on ahead unmanned. They will have to dodge the surprise balls, defeat him, and catch up with the ship before it falls off the edge of the island if they want to reach the altar where their friends are.
In the "forest of wandering" (迷いの森; I kind of like Viz' "forest of no return"), the chance of surviving the Ball Trial (玉の試練) is 10%.
I think I just figured out why Skypiea is not my favorite arc -- among other things, way too much fantasy worldbuilding. The hints at future plot developments remain fascinating, however.
Volume 26
The Merry continues its skyward trajectory.
Clinging to the wreckage of their ship, the Blackbeard pirates witness the Strawhat's departure. Blackbeard is surprisingly good humored about the fact that his prey got away. Doc Q and Van Augur share his philosophic outlook (since they both regard it as the working of luck/fate). Burgess is more annoyed.
On board the Merry, the crew members wake up to discover themselves floating on a sea of white.
Usopp has apparently stopped breathing. Luffy tells Chopper to give him mouth-to-mouth. Sanji immediately volunteers to give Nami mouth-to-mouth. (She's fine. Zoro is rolling his eyes.)
Nami notices that the Log Pose is still pointing up.
Having made a miraculous recovery, Usopp decides to go swimming in the Sky Ocean. (Not his best plan ever.)
They belatedly realize that Usopp will be in a lot of trouble if this "sea" has no bottom.
(Why is it that ships can float on this sea, but people apparently can't swim? Oh, whatever.)
Aw, Sanji is mad/worried. "I told that idiot to be careful!"
Luffy reaches for Usopp with his rubber arm, but he can't see through the layer of cloud. Robin uses her power to sprout eyes on Luffy's hand so she can spot Usopp and target him for a rescue. (This is where it becomes apparent that what she requires is not line of sight, but simply the ability to target a known object. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to make eyes grow on Luffy's arm while it is out of sight under the clouds. Also: eyes on arm CREEPY EW. But useful.)
When Luffy pulls Usopp to the surface, some sea monsters (er, sky-sea monsters) come along for the ride.
To their shock, one monster pops like a balloon when Zoro slashes it.
LOL, the smaller sea monster has a bump on its head -- apparently Sanji kicked it while Zoro was slice-popping the big one. Or did Luffy punch it?
A traumatized Usopp pulls another fish out of his trousers.
Usopp has begun his favorite chant of "Sky Island scary" (空島コワい).
The fish is flat and has something like feathers (and teeth!). Robin speculates that the creatures of the Sky-Ocean have evolved to adjust to the lighter buoyancy of their environment. These must be the "sky-fish" that Norland's diary mentioned.
(That fish in Robin's hands is far too cute for some freakish meat-eating sky flatfish to be. It's smiling! It has poofy little balls on its head!)
LOL, Luffy grabs the fish and runs off to Sanji, and he has a plate of sautéed fish in the next panel. Sanji is getting faster all the time.
Chopper sees another ship, which blows up seconds after he spots it. A man (or, as Chopper describes him, a "bull" - he has a horned mask) running over the surface of the "water" is headed for the ship.
The horned masked man attacks, and to their shock, easily defeats the monster trio (Luffy, Zoro and Sanji) with a single blow. Rescue comes in the form of a bearded, armor-wearing man riding on a giant bird.
The bearded man introduces himself as "the knight of the sky" (空の騎士).
(He calls himself wagahai! I love Gan Fall's old-fashioned, aristocratic speech pattern. It's not as extreme as Mihawk's -- Tennyson rather than Shakespeare, maybe.)
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Chopper thanks the knight for saving them (bowing his head, aw!). The knight says that one was a freebie (これはサービスだ).
(I think he means that saving them was an unintended extra bonus that resulted from his real goal, which was fighting the masked man - perhaps on behalf of the destroyed ship?)
Nami can't figure out why the monster trio was so easily beaten, but they complain of feeling sluggish and out of breath.
Robin realizes that they must be suffering from lack of oxygen due to the altitude.
The knight asks if they are "blue-sea dwellers" （青海人). He realizes they must have come up from below.
The "white sea" is 7000 meters above the blue-sea level. He is shocked when Luffy and Zoro almost immediately begin to perk up and recover -- normal people don't adjust that fast.
He explains that he's a soldier-for-hire. He wants to talk business (they might need a protector if someone like that "guerrilla" attacks again), but the Strawhats are completely baffled when he starts talking about whistles and extoru.
(Classic fantasy-world logic: they have no trouble understanding each other's speech, but throw in a few exotic currency units and a weird greeting or two and presto, instant alien culture.)
(LOL, a full chapter later, poor Usopp is still gibbering "Sky island scary, sky island scary." He hasn't recovered from the near-drowning and the fish in his pants yet.)
The knight says if they came by the usual route (the High-West peak), they must have already passed by an island or two. He is shocked to realize that they used the Knock-up Stream -- hardly anyone is crazy enough to do that. However, it turns out the Knock-up Stream is the only method by which an entire crew can survive (all the other methods involve losing a certain percentage of one's crew). It is the only all-or-nothing bet. Not many people have to guts to try it, especially lately.
Making an abrupt recovery, Usopp claims it was all due to his navigational skills. (He deserved that pinch from Nami.)
The knight explains that by whistle, he means a single blast on the whistle to summon his services. Normally he'd charge 5 million extoru (extols) per blast, but just this once, he'll give them a freebie. They can call on him for help, but only once.
He introduces himself as the Sky Knight Gan Fall. His mount is Pierre, a bird who ate the uma-uma (horse-horse) fruit and can transform into a flying horse, a "pegasus." (The polka dot color scheme leaves something to be desired. Pierre, welcome to the "my fandom has no fashion sense" icon!)
As they sail toward something that resembles a large waterfall, they run into large "clouds" that are made of something other than the cloud-sea they're sailing over. The substance is solid but soft and bouncy, like cotton wool.
(LOL, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper are the first to dive in. It's like a bounce house!)
With some difficulty (and lots of bad directions), the ship maneuvers around the cloud-masses and arrives at Heaven's Gate underneath the falls.
Luffy, who has no impulse control, wants to blow the whistle to summon Gan Fall every two minutes.
LOL the variety of crew reactions to the idea that they might actually all be dead and preparing to enter heaven. Luffy: "Heaven? That sounds fun!" Chopper: "WE'RE DEAD???"
A gnarled-up old woman with wings comes out and snaps a picture of the ship. "Sightseeing, or war?"
(Hee, Luffy says she must be an angel, but she looks like an umeboshi [dried plum].)
She demands an entrance fee of one billion extols per person, but when they say they don't have it, she lets them pass anyway. There are no guards; whether they choose to enter or not is up to their own will (意志).
The "special shrimp express" (特急エビ) seizes their ship and carries it up the stream.
The woman (apparently her name is "Amazon") contacts the higher-ups (literally!) to notify them that seven lawless invaders are on their way to God's country (神の国), Skypiea, condemned by Heaven's Judgment (天の裁き).
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The ship continues upward on a ribbon-like path, apparently manmade.
They pass a sign (in English) welcoming them to GODLAND SKYPIEA (which they translate as 神の国, as above).
Montage of crew faces as they enter Skypiea. (Robin has an actual facial expression which slightly exceeds "mild interest." Chopper has sparkles!)
Skypiea is in the "white-white sea." This is the true "Sky Island."
The island is made of the same fluffy but solid stuff they encountered at the lower level.
Zoro is the only one who maintains enough sense to worry about how they're supposed to drop anchor in a bottomless sea (he eventually discovers that it can anchor in the fluffy stuff).
Nami is being pecked by the southbird because they forgot to set it loose when they hit the Knock-up Stream. (LOL, poor bad-tempered bird.) She finally lets it fly off.
Nami and Robin recall that the map from the wrecked galleon was labeled "Skypiea." The galleon must have come to this place 200 years earlier.
Aww, Robin commenting to Zoro that it never occurred to her before to think of "sailing" or "landing" as an adventure.
Much beach-frolicking ensues. (Aw, Chopper's never seen a beach before. He is from a winter island, after all.)
LOL, why are Luffy and Usopp having a conversation like they're talking over a PA system? Such children.
Nami discovers some chairs made out of yet another, firmer kind of cloud-like material. (Chopper: "It's not fukafuka… more like mafu…" Oh, Japanese sfx words, never change.)
Hee, Sanji picking weird flowers for Nami and being completely ignored, poor guy.
A girl with wings and a harp, and a fox that makes "su-su" sounds, appear on the beach.
She greets them with "heso."
(Apparently a greeting word in Skypiea, although it would normally mean "belly button" in Japanese - hence Luffy's baffled and slightly horrified reaction every time someone says it.)
She recognizes them as Blue Sea dwellers and welcomes them to Angel Beach. She shows Luffy how to eat the weird pumpkin/coconut-like fruit (konasshu) he picked from the tree, and offers to answer any questions they might have.
She introduces herself as Conis, and her pet kitsune as "Su." (Does everyone in Japan own a cat called Meow and a dog called Woof? Gan Fall's bird is called Pierre because he makes a pi-e sound.)
(LOL, when she offers to help in case of any "trouble," Sanji says "As a matter of fact, there is a burn in my heart inflicted by your gaze…" and gets pinched by Nami for being a nuisance.)
Conis' father approaches from the sea on a craft they call a "waver."
(I've always wondered - why does Conis' father call his own daughter Conis-san? They are both exceedingly polite in all their speech, but there are limits. Conis calls her father chichi-ue, which is more normal.)
Nami recognizes the waver as being similar to the craft Luffy recovered from the wreck on the sea-floor, and remembers that Norland also described a "waver" in his diary.
Conis' father Pagaya ends nearly all his sentences with "suimasen," hee. (Usopp keeps trying to reply. "Oh, no, not at all." "Don't mention it." Sadly, the Viz translation misses the joke. Usopp, every time Pagaya says "suimasen": え、いや、そんな。いやいや、こちらこそ。)
[Shabondy and Marineford]Is Trafalgar Law's bear-nakama from Skypiea? Suimasen!
Pagaya invites them to his house for a meal of sky lobster.
Conis explains that the wavers operate using "dial" technology (literally, "dial" in katakana). She's surprised they haven't heard of it.
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Luffy tries out the waver and immediately wipes out (and has to be rescued from drowning -- after everyone is finished casually standing around debating whether devil fruit users can drown in sky-ocean, that is).
Sanji and Zoro are still arguing over whose fault it is as they drag Luffy's body ashore (apparently he very nearly fell through into the sky below).
Pagaya is apologizing to everyone in sight.
Usopp to Chopper: "Why did YOU jump in after him??"
Chopper: "Sky island scary… sky island scary…"
Conis and Pagaya explain that it can take ten years to learn to master a waver, because they are so light that you have to be able to anticipate every movement of the waves.
Nami masters it instantly, LOL. (I initially took this as a throwaway joke, but the comment about needing to be able to anticipate the waves might be significant here.)
Nami decides to stay and play with the waver a bit more while the others go to Pagaya's house.
Luffy is in a paroxysm of the sulks because Nami can ride the waver and he can't, hee.
Pagaya explains that the firmest type of "cloud" is cut from Cloud Quarry and made into shapes. The ribbon-road they took up to Skypiea was made of that material.
In Skypiea, there are two types of natural cloud (sea cloud -- the water-like stuff, and island cloud -- the fukafuka type), and one type of man-made cloud (cut from the Cloud Quarry).
Sea-cloud and island-cloud are created when an element they call "pyrobloin" (my best guess at the katakana), carried by particles of collagen*, is driven up into the atmosphere by volcanic eruptions and mixes with water in varying concentrations.
*I think? I couldn't figure out exactly how the particles of collagen were related to the element of pyrobloin. The main point is that the pyrobloin is the seed element around which sea-cloud and island-cloud are formed.
Pagaya casually mentions that this pyrobloin is also an ingredient in the substance that Blue-Sea inhabitants call kairouseki (seastone). (HMMMMM.)
(LOL, why are Luffy and Usopp pretending to nod wisely at everything Pagaya is saying? "Ah, yes, collagen particles, I played with those often as a child." Well, I barely understood a word of that whole speech, syntax and vocabulary-wise, so I guess I understand how the nine year old readers must feel.)
Cloud Quarry "cloud" is a denser, compressed, man-made form of island cloud. (Apparently, the island-cloud is cut from the quarry and then compressed into an artificial material by some sort of industrial process.)
The natural history lesson is interrupted when they arrive at Pagaya's house.
Inside, Luffy is introduced to dial technology.
Tone dial (音貝 - the kanji mean sound-shell): when you press on the top part of the shell, it repeats back whatever it previously recorded. "Usopp no aho!"
(LOL forever at Luffy's reaction: "OMG, Usopp just got dissed by a shell!")
Breath dial (風貝, wind-shell): when you compress air into it and then press the button, it produces a blast of air (or rather, you can gradually release the amount of air stored in it at your own convenience -- thirty minutes worth of air in one-minute increments, for example). These are the type that power the wavers. They can also power skates, skis, etc. (Note the similarity of one of the pictures to the skates the masked guerrilla attacker was wearing on his feet.)
Conis comments that as long as the shell isn't broken, it ought to be possible to fix the waver Luffy rescued from the sea-floor.
(LOL Luffy's endless cycle of hope and despair -- hope of repairing the waver, despair at ever being able to ride it.)
Robin notices the lamp-dial (灯貝 - lamp-shell) on the table, which stores and produces light.
The entire civilization of Skypiea effectively runs on dial technology. Other types can store fire, produce smells (!), and play back still or moving images.
I love how Chopper is wide-eyed or staring in every frame. So adorable!
Sanji is in seventh heaven in the kitchen (well, except when he accidentally tastes a sauce that went bad and thinks it's some kind of exotic spice).
Hee, I love that he's bellowing at Pagaya in a rage, and Usopp and Luffy's immediate reaction is "He sounds like he's having so much fun!" (Maybe all that yelling at Zoro is an expression of affection after all?)
Conis and Pagaya get worried when they realize Nami is no longer in sight from the window. They worry that she might have strayed onto the forbidden land next door.
As they are describing "Upper Yard" (kanji: kami no shima, God's island), the holy land where God lives, Nami is gazing up at an enormous forest which is unmistakably rooted in solid earth.
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Conis explains that Skypiea, "god's country," is ruled by the all-powerful god Enel.
Every single person present, looking at Luffy, knows that he's already decided to go to the "place you absolutely mustn't go."
Luffy figures that God is nice (yasashii) and would forgive a person for going where they're not supposed to go, but Conis only knows that disobeying the order is considered rebellion against god. (The others conclude that Luffy plans to go there whether God forgives him or not.)
[Incidentally, I had a hard time deciding whether to capitalize God or not. Obviously Enel is not the Judeo-Christian deity, but since in this context the reference is generally to a single all-powerful figure, I figured God seemed more appropriate than "a god."]
Pagaya offers to look at the broken waver and see if he can fix it while they're out looking for Nami.
At Upper Yard, just as Nami is deciding she should leave without going ashore, the masked guerrilla figure shows up.
Meanwhile, on land, a man is running and begging for help. Four weird-looking figures seem to be competing to see which one of them can kill the man first.
The guerrilla fires his weapon (apparently at the weird-looking figures?), but a moment later, a pillar of light completely exterminates the helpless fugitive.
The guerrilla says something angry about "Enel" and "vearth" and runs away.
Nami hears the four figures discussing what just happened. One of them comments that Enel must have eliminated the fugitive summarily instead of waiting for them to do it, because they have a more serious incursion to deal with. Seven invaders from the Blue Sea have just been reported.
Nami realizes that the Strawhats are being hunted, just like the man who got blown up.
On Angel Island, the White Beret police force is preparing to deploy under Captain McKinley. (Oh god, those pants. The fashion icon is fast becoming overloaded with candidates. Also: McKinley? Seriously?)
Nami is racing back to Angel Beach. As the Strawhats prepare to board their ship in search of Nami, the White Berets approach and tell them to stay where they are.
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Cover arc: in general, I am bored by Wapol's cover arc, but I will admit to laughing at the hippo question marks as Wapol is arrested by the marines.
The belly-crawl approach of the White Berets is too stupid to laugh at… and yet, it makes me laugh every time.
Nobody ever answers Luffy's question when he asks them why the heck they keep saying "belly button."
Pagaya and Conis are shocked to hear that Luffy and his crew are wanted as "invaders."
The White Berets say that luckily, "invasion" is a minor infraction (a level 11 offense). If they pay the fine, they can go. The fine is a mere 70 billion extols (10 times the original entrance fee), or seven million beli.
Aw, Sanji measures value in terms of rice. "Do you have any idea how many tons of rice that would buy?"
Nami, approaching on her waver, is silently praying that no one will do anything rash.
No one does -- until she hears the amount of the fine, and attacks the captain of the guard in a rage fueled purely by instinct. (Oh, Nami. Also, I really would not like to be a clerk in any store she shops in, if that is her natural reaction to hearing an outrageous price quoted.)
The level of their crime keeps going up. By resisting arrest, they have risen to a level 5 crime, punishable by a sentence of "cloud-wandering." This is tantamount to a death sentence, being forced to wander about on a fragment of cloud with no escape until nothing is left but bones.
Robin deduces that the ship that fell from the sky must have been sentenced to this fate.
When the White Berets attack, Luffy fights back, and they recognize him as a devil fruit user.
LOL, when they find out that there is barely any money on the ship, Luffy lectures everyone on their extravagance until Nami tells him all the money went to feed him.
Defeated, the captain of the White Berets throws a final taunt -- they won't find the next class of divine guardians so easy to beat.
As level two offenders, they will be judged on Upper Yard by the 神官 (shinkan), God's agents.
(Shinkan: this word normally means "shinto priest" in Japanese, but Enel's agents are far from being normal Shinto priests. Here they are literally what the kanji describe, "divine agents" or "divine officers," people who work directly for God.)
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Cover arc: "King Dalton of Sakura Kingdom." Aw, they renamed Drum Kingdom the Sakura Kingdom! (With Hiluluk's flag, of course.)
Luffy is completely unfazed by being declared a level two offender. ("We're used to being hunted, right?")
He's transparently disappointed that Nami came back before they could go looking for her, depriving him of his "great adventure" to the forbidden land.
LOL, Luffy to Nami: "Which is more important, adventure or your life?"
Nami: "My life! And money comes second."
Sanji: "And third is me, right?"
Nami: "Oh, shut up."
Pagaya and Conis explain that in order to return to the Blue Sea, they will need to get back down to the White Sea and then reach Cloud's End in the far east. But even then, getting down won't be easy.
They decide to sail away to avoid causing any more trouble to Pagaya and Conis, at least. They prepare to pack supplies (Luffy wants meat; Usopp wants materials to help mend the ship).
OMG, Chopper changing from Heavy Point to Brain Point just to pull himself on board, CUTEST THING EVER. (Robin: "I was just going to lower the ladder…?") It's like he's in the "I can tie my shoes my own self!" stage.
LOL, Nami trying to talk all the other crew members into helping her change Luffy's mind about going to Upper Yard, and completely failing. I don't know which of the conversations is the funniest, but they're all futile.
Looking on from hiding, the White Beret captain comments that they'll end up on Upper Yard whether they like it or not. God and his agents don't come to the defendant - the defendant comes to them.
Up at the house, Pagaya asks Usopp if he's the shipwright, but Usopp says he's actually the sniper; they don't have a shipwright. Without almighty man-of-all-work Usopp, though, the ship would never be able to function.
[Water 7]
Ow, Usopp. On so many levels. His empty boasting is getting harder and harder to take, knowing where it's leading him. And it's starting to wear awfully thin -- as his insecurities grow, he doesn't believe it himself any more, but the less he believes it, the more loudly he insists on it. A direct correlation to how completely terrifying and overwhelming Sky Island is to him, perhaps.
Then again, it occurred to me only as I was writing this that the one realm (other than sniping) where he has some claim to special status/ability is in relation to his devotion to the Merry. I wonder if, when the Merry is condemned, he unconsciously feels like his last claim to having any right to remain with the Strawhats is being taken away.
While Usopp is rambling on about how everyone calls him Captain Usopp, Pagaya has already wandered off to admire the artistic arrangement of Sanji's bentou. (A nice little glimpse of Sanji the food-artist here.)
Usopp notices that something is wrong on the ship -- Nami and Chopper appear to be struggling.
The ship is moving out to sea (strangely, it's moving backwards).
When they look closer, they realize the ship is being carried by a giant sea-creature: the SUPER-special shrimp express. (It has GOD written on its, er, forehead?
On board, Robin says that the divine judgment has probably already begun. They have no way of escaping the ship or changing its course. Clearly, they are being summoned to THAT ISLAND for judgment.
Back at Pagaya's, Sanji is still in shock and mourning because Nami put a t-shirt on over her bikini. (Priorities, Sanji, priorities.)
Pagaya tells them that the express must be carrying them to the Altar of Sacrifice, in the northeastern part of Upper Yard.
Sanji is outraged to hear that "Nami-san, Robin-chan and the rest (その他)" are going to be sacrificed, but Pagaya corrects him. The "sacrifices" are hostages, held by God. The ones who are truly being judged are the three of them: Usopp, Sanji and Luffy.
Usopp pulls out the map of Skypiea.
In order to get to the Altar of Sacrifice, they will have to cut through the forest of Upper Yard, following the Milky Road on a dial ship. Traversing that river will be their "trial."
In order to pass the trial, they will need to face the four shinkan (divine agents), whose strength is greater than they can imagine, and worst of all, Enel himself.
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Angel Island, Lovely Street. (Really, it's "lovely" in katakana - and English! Why are Skypiea's signs in English? ^_^;;)
Conis is acting as their guide, but all the townspeople are avoiding them because they know they're wanted. (Sanji is depressed because the pretty girls are avoiding him; Luffy thinks it's great because they have plenty of room to walk.)
Sanji is mad at Luffy for taking time to window-shop, but Luffy says Nami and the others will be fine -- Zoro is with them. (This does not placate Sanji AT ALL.)
Usopp is just worried that the Merry might suffer even more damage.
[Water 7]Oda, you're KILLING me with the Merry references. Please stop making every third word that comes out of Usopp's mouth something about the Merry. (Weirdly, what bothers me even more than the foreshadowing about Merry's demise is the reminder that it will hit Usopp harder than anyone. I feel like I'm waiting for someone's pet to die. T_T)
They notice a weird mud figurine under glass.
Luffy: Is it a seal?
Sanji: No doubt some religious artifact.
Usopp: You fools, it's art! I can tell.
Conis identifies it as Vearth (ヴァース, Viz = Varse), the most revered substance in Skypiea. She can understand why Blue Sea dwellers wouldn't see the appeal.
The Water Beret captain is secretly following them.
When they get to the gondola port, Luffy is thrilled by all the ships until he sees theirs: the "Crow-Maru" (カラス丸). (Sanji thinks the "crow" has delusions of grandeur; it's just a waterfowl.) It's Conis' own ship (er, inflatable raft), which she offers to let them use.
When Luffy rudely says he wants the other one, Sanji makes him apologize. (Go, Sanji! Luffy, that was totally rude. He can be oblivious, but he's not usually rude about a kindness or a gift.)
Luffy asks why Conis has been trembling with fear ever since they left her house. And Usopp thinks that openly leading them around and lending them a ship is going to get her into trouble.
(Ah, so is that why Luffy was rude? He sensed that her offer wasn't a sincere act of kindness?)
Conis breaks down in tears and admits that she's been acting under orders. Everyone in town knows it. She was the one who summoned the Super-Special Shrimp Express. If she hadn't turned them in, both she and her father would have been killed. By telling them this now, she's committing sacrilege. (冒瀆, boutoku. Hmm. Is disobedience to a god's orders sacrilege or blasphemy? It's not profanation or desecration. English doesn't really have a generic word for "act of rebellion against god." Whatever the religious equivalent of "treason" is.)
Luffy and all the others yell at her -- WHY DID YOU HAVE TO GO AND TELL US? (Aw!)
Luffy rescues Conis right before the pillar of light can hit her - or rather, Gan Fall rescues both of them.
"This is a freebie" (これはサービスだ). LOL, he says that every time. He must have a hard time making a living if he goes around rescuing people for free.
He returns Luffy, promising to protect Conis from Enel's wrath.
Luffy, Usopp and Sanji take off in the Crow-Maru.
On Pierre's back, Conis tells Gan Fall that she knows who he really is. Not his "knight of the sky" shtick.
"Please come back to us, Kami-sama!"
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Cover arc: Aw, I can almost feel sorry for Skid Row Wapol. Almost. (He has the same little dog peeing on him in every frame for the next several chapters.)
Luffy, Sanji and Usopp cross the bridge (follow the ribbon-road, whatever) from Angel Island into the forest on Upper Yard.
Sanji, like Nami before him (when she first saw Upper Yard), comments that trees that big would have to have been growing for at least a thousand years.
Sanji is definitely starting to play the big-brother role, alternately encouraging and bullying Usopp into facing up to the challenges they meet.
A monstrous scythe nearly slices the ship in two, followed by dozens more similar blades.
(This is SO Indiana Jones, even down to the grotesque idols and flaming torches. Not that I'm complaining.)
They encounter a stone sculpture with four identical entrance gates, each marked with the name of a different "trial": Swamp, Iron, Thread, and Ball.
Meanwhile, the Merry is lodged atop the Altar of Sacrifice. Zoro is fighting a sky-shark.
LOL Robin: while Nami and Chopper are freaking out about the fact that Zoro might have just gotten eaten, she ponders, "If he was eaten, the clouds should start to turn blood-red." The others don't appreciate her gruesome imagination.
Zoro knocks out the shark and returns, but reflects that they won't be able to get off the altar and make it to shore. The altar is in the middle of a lake, and the "water" is full of shark fins.
The hull of the ship is too badly damaged to return the ship to the water until they repair it (Chopper gets stuck with that job).
LOL, the irony of Zoro (of all people!) saying that when you're lost, you should stay where you are and not move (but he's the one who is planning to leave the ship and explore the forest, while the others stay with the ship and wait for Luffy to come).
Zoro wants to go meet this "God" person and find out what he's like. (Chopper: "Wow, Zoro talks bigger (偉そう) than God!"
When Nami objects that he has no common sense (what is he doing, trying to antagonize God and his agents?), Zoro retorts that he doesn't recall ever praying to a god. Doesn't believe in one, either, so he doesn't owe any duty to him. (Chopper is star-struck. Nami prays: "Dear Lord, I have no connection with this man.")
Robin decides to go with Zoro, because she wants to investigate the history of the place. The altar has to be at least a thousand years old.
When she mentions they might find treasure, Nami decides she wants to come too. (Chopper is freaked out because her eyes turned into beli signs.)
Zoro, Robin and Nami swing over to land on hanging vines, leaving Chopper to guard the ship.
Chopper admires the others for being brave enough to explore and is proud of being given the responsibility of guarding the ship… until he realizes that he's been left alone and is probably in more danger than anyone. (Poor Chopper. Do what you can, little man!)
246
The four divine guardians await Luffy's choice of trial.
They decide on "ball" (玉) -- Luffy thinks it sounds like fun, and Usopp admits that it at least sounds less violent than the alternatives.
Sanji warns them to be on their toes. "We're 10,000 meters above the earth -- anything could happen!"
They enter the tunnel. (Sanji yells at Usopp for closing his eyes when he's the one holding the till.)
To Usopp's horror, Luffy wonders aloud if one of the tunnels is a "hit" and the others a "miss." If it's a miss, they might fall from the sky.
When they emerge from the tunnel, they're falling -- but fortunately there is water just below.
(LOL, Sanji kicks Luffy for scaring them all with his ridiculous imagination. Usopp is non-functional for at least three pages.)
The air is filled with white fluffy balls, apparently made of island-cloud. The Milky Road continues to wind through and over the trees in the forest.
Usopp only revives when Luffy suggests that maybe they chose the "hit" and nothing bad will happen. Despite Sanji's warnings, he and Luffy get out the tea and rice crackers.
Sanji takes the wheel and orders the other two to keep watch. (They're eating rice crackers and playing catch with one of the balls instead.)
The ball bursts and a giant snake comes out. The next one Sanji kicks explodes like a bomb.
A cackling voice informs them that the balls are "surprise clouds" - who knows what might come out.
Satori appears and congratulates them on choosing the Ball Trial.
(DEFINITELY among my top five candidates for Most Annoying Villain Ever status. Ugh, ugh, ugh.)
Satori tells them they have to beat him in order to "advance."
Satori startles Luffy by moving faster than he can see, appearing before him, dodging his punch, and applying a blasting force with his hands.
[He just used at least three techniques that we will later see more fully developed elsewhere -- both in Skypiea and back on the Grand Line.]
Luffy is blasted into a tree and stunned. Usopp is shocked -- how can a punch hurt Luffy's rubber body?
Satori predicts Sanji's kick before he can deliver it.
Satori speaks of the "power that is granted only to the initiate, that is, mantra." (修行者にのみ授けられる力は「心綱」[マントラ].)
This requires unpacking. The kanji in the word glossed mantra (心綱) would normally be pronounced shinkou. shinkou in this context, if spoken, would normally be heard as 信抑, "faith, belief." However, Satori actually says "mantra" (glossed in katakana). Morever, the kanji written in the text are not 信抑 (shinkou, "belief") but 心綱, shin-kou, heart-rope (this is not a word in Japanese). Mantra, we will soon learn, is a technical term in Skypiea.
[Chapter 597]Rayleigh confirms that mantra is the term used by the people of Skypiea for what Blue Sea dwellers call "haki" (覇気).
Satori dispatches Sanji as easily as he did Luffy, with a touch of the hand. Lastly, he knocks out Usopp.
He says what he is delivering is not a blow (打撃, dageki), but "impact" (衝撃, shougeki, glossed インパクト).
Luffy is starting to recover.
Satori commandeers their ship and sends it on ahead unmanned. They will have to dodge the surprise balls, defeat him, and catch up with the ship before it falls off the edge of the island if they want to reach the altar where their friends are.
In the "forest of wandering" (迷いの森; I kind of like Viz' "forest of no return"), the chance of surviving the Ball Trial (玉の試練) is 10%.