One Piece 34
YAY, just a last little bit of Foxy and we can get to the good stuff!
Water 7/Enies Lobby: best arc ever or best arc ever? (To be honest, it's awfully hard to choose. Alabasta and Marineford are in the running, but Water 7 is way up there.)
317
Luffy’s devotion to his comrades moves even the announcer to tears (but Foxy is infuriated that suddenly everyone is cheering for Luffy).
Foxy almost knocks Luffy off the ship, but Luffy manages to withstand the attack. Something clatters on the ground, attracting Luffy’s attention.
When the two are engaged in a massive exchange of blows, Foxy is unexpectedly frozen by his own noro-noro beam. Luffy says it was thanks to a fragment of mirror that got stuck in his afro.
While Foxy is frozen, Luffy deals the final blow. Foxy doesn’t react… right away. Zoro is the first to start counting down the seconds. (And Usopp gets the whole crowd to join in on the countdown, ha. Foxy’s crew isn’t any brighter than he is.)
On zero, Luffy’s blow kicks in and knocks Foxy out of the ring.
318
Cover arc: “The hot spring island is hole-digger Gorou’s dream.” (Gedatsu, what ARE you doing? Also, LOL, why do the birds have Gedatsu-hair?)
When Foxy falls into the ocean, it seals Luffy’s victory.
Half the audience in the stands promptly jumps into the water to save their Oyabin. (Aw, he’s an idiot, but I’m glad his men love him.)
Luffy is dead unconscious. (Aw, Usopp wearing Luffy’s hat while repeatedly poking him because he’s mad at the captain for scaring them like that. Chopper: “Stop that!!”)
Luffy wakes up just long enough to panic about whether he won or not, and then passes out again after being assured that he did.
Usopp: “I wasn’t worried for a second!”
Sanji: “Liar.”
Zoro: “You know, if I left this ship I wouldn’t even have any reason to be a pirate.”
Foxy approaches to shake Luffy’s hand, apparently magnanimous in defeat. (Usopp, WHAT is with that defensive posture?)
… or not. He tries to throw Luffy, but apparently has forgotten about the rubber thing. (Zoro: “Are you stupid?”)
Foxy challenges Luffy to go ahead and pick a crew member. Everyone expects Luffy to pick one of the shipwrights, but Luffy asks for Foxy’s flag.
(“If I got something I wanted, I’d forget why I accepted the duel in the first place.” Interesting reasoning.)
Luffy would have been willing to let them keep their sail, which has Foxy’s mark on it (how would they sail otherwise?), but since the crew refuse to accept Luffy’s “pity,” he gives them a new mark. (Oh, Luffy, that’s just cruel. No one deserves that art.)
Foxy: “Mugiwara! We’ll get you for this!”
Zoro: “Well, that was… interesting.” (どこまでおもしろいんだ、あいつら *sweatdrop*)
Back at his house, Tonjit tells Sherry that he can wait as long as they have to until Sherry is well enough to try to catch up with the other villagers. It’s his turn to wait now.
Luffy hands the flag over to Tonjit. “I kicked his ass!”
Nami: “So… that’s why you accepted the duel.”
(Though, she thinks Luffy probably would have accepted no matter what. Luffy: “How rude!”)
Nami wishes they could give them a ride to the island the other villagers moved to, but the log pose won’t work since all the islands are connected. Tonjit says that won’t be necessary. He can be patient.
He wants to play host to Luffy’s nakama, but Usopp hasn’t forgotten the ten-year-old cheese.
When he turns to go into the house, Tonjit bumps into… someone.
Aokiji is standing there (fast asleep, apparently).
Finally he wakes up. “What’s your problem?” “What’s YOURS?” (何だ、お前ら？ おめエが、何だ！)
Luffy (?): “I thought you were a tree!” (Aokiji is really tall, haha.)
The others are mildly surprised. Robin? Is TERRIFIED.
(I love how the others react with automatic protectiveness. They know that anyone stoic Robin fears is bad news.)
Aokiji: “Well. You sure grew up to be a fine woman… Nico Robin.” (あららら、コリャ、いい女になったな、ニコ・ロビン.)
[I really love how Oda can go from stupid to plotful in an instant.]
SBS points:
- I still think the “brother soul” joke is stupid, but Oda’s attempt to translate the concept for a puzzled reader is kind of hilarious. “HEY YO!! おれ様すげエだろ！etc.”
- A reader asks if the Super-Sparrow is at all similar to Karoo’s species, the Super-Duck. I totally missed that! Oda says it is. They eat super-earthworms and stuff.
319
Cover arc: Gedatsu decides to become a guardian of the Blue Sea. (No one asked you…?)
Robin is crawling away from Aokiji in terror. Everyone else has their hands on their weapons.
Aokiji: “Hey, hey. No need for murder here. I’m not under orders. It’s a nice day for a walk.”
(Poor Tonjit, so confused.)
Robin explains that Aokiji is an admiral, one of the highest powers in the navy. He is one of three: Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru. (The nicknames mean Red Dog, Blue/Green Pheasant, and Yellow Monkey.) Fleet Admiral Sengoku holds supreme authority over them.
Love Usopp yelling at Aokiji to go away, but only from behind the safety of Zoro’s back.
Hitting on Nami? Bad idea. VERY bad idea.
Aokiji complains that they’re the ones who aren’t listening to him. He said he was only out for a walk, and anyway, they’re the ones who are… something. Whatever. He forgot.
[Aokiji is a scary dude, but I kind of love him.]
Usopp wonders if Robin got the wrong guy. Aokiji says they shouldn’t judge by appearances. His motto is “Lazy Justice.”
[This is the translation used on English fan sites, but I feel like I’m missing something. In Japanese: だらけきった正義, which, as far as I can tell, means “justice scattered all over the place.” It must be an idiom, because googling だらけきる turned up pictures of cats lounging on desks and blog entries about sleeping until after lunch.]
Usopp/Sanji: “That’s EXACTLY how you look!!” (見かけ通りだよ！)
Aokiji decides to take a nap. Standing up is so tiring. (He declines to explain why he was sleeping on his feet until just a moment ago.)
Anyway, he’s not interested in arresting them right now. He only wanted to check on Robin’s whereabouts - after she disappeared at the end of the Alabasta incident, he suspected she might be with the Strawhats.
Usopp: “He’s the Admiral of Shamelessness (ふてぶて), I’ll give him that.”
Sleepily, Aokiji comments that their collective bounty will go up when he reports in to headquarters. 100,000,000 + 60,000,000 + 79,000,000 is… whatever. A lot.
Zoro: “Do the math.” (LOL)
Luffy is ready to kick Aokji’s ass unprovoked (“Are you saying we should just let him take Robin without a fight??”).
Robin: “…”
[Robin’s face!]
Aokiji says fine, he’ll go, but before he goes… he heard what Tonjit was telling the others. (He’s a light sleeper.) Tonjit should just pack up and get ready to go.
Usopp protests that if he was listening, he should know Tonjit can’t go anywhere, but Robin says Aokiji could do it. If he wanted to.
Tonjit packs up, and they all convene at the shore. To the utter shock of everyone (except Robin), Aokiji freezes the ocean solid. (“Ice Age.”)
Robin explains that Aokiji has the logia power of the Hie-Hie no Mi (the Freeze-Freeze fruit). That’s the power of an admiral of the navy.
Tonjit and Shelly set off joyfully across the ice, waving farewell. Everyone is happy for them.
When they scurry off the ice (shivering and complaining how cold it is), Aokiji comments that Luffy is the spitting image of his grandfather (じいさんそっくりだな).
Luffy seems… unusually agitated by this remark.
Aokiji says he owes Luffy’s jiisan a debt… and he really did only come to check on Robin… but…
After all, he thinks he’d better kill them here and now.
320
Cover Arc: “Gedatsu-sama, don’t forget to breathe!”
Aokiji remarks that the world government hasn’t figured out that Luffy’s group is a major threat yet, but seeing them all together, knowing how far they’ve come in such a short time… he can tell they’re going to be trouble. And the thing that worries him most, is Nico Robin’s involvement.
Aokiji explains that bounties aren’t just a measure of strength - they are a measure of perceived threat to the government. Which is why Robin has had a bounty on her head since she was eight years old.
She’s done pretty well to stay alive in the underworld this long, betraying and using everyone she’s ever known. Luffy’s crew is just her latest… refuge.
Luffy and Sanji are both enraged that Aokiji seems to hold some grudge against Robin, but Aokiji says he doesn’t hold any grudge. A fated connection (因縁), maybe. He did make the mistake of letting her live, once. But that’s ancient history.
“You’ll understand, soon enough. The day is coming, not far off, when you’ll regret having taken on such a troublesome woman.”
Aokiji points out that the proof lies in the fact that every underworld organization Nico Robin has ever been involved in has been utterly destroyed… except, somehow, she has survived. Why is that, he wonders.
Luffy is furious. “What does the past matter!”
Aokiji: “Oh, you HAVE managed to blend in.”
Robin tries to counter-attack, to no avail.
Aokiji: ひどい事するじゃないの。”My, how awful.” (Robin’s pet phrase. Coincidence?)
Aokiji attacks Robin with an ice-sword, but Zoro, Sanji and Luffy all come to her defense. To everyone’s shock, he takes all three down without blinking. (Not the Monster Trio!)
Aokiji: いい仲間に出会ったな。しかし、お前はお前だ。ニコ・ロビン。
Robin: 違う。私はもう…!
(ROBIN. ;_;)
Aokiji freezes Robin solid.
He says she’s still alive… as long as she doesn’t shatter, that is.
Usopp and Chopper make a run for the ship, carrying Robin’s frozen body. The others stay to fight Aokiji, but Luffy tells them to stand back - this fight is between him and Aokiji.
[I find Nami’s comment here interesting. When Aokiji says the world would be better off without Robin (やめとけ、その女は、助けねえ方が 世の為だ), Nami says “Hate to tell you this, but that’s true of all pirates.” (お言葉ですけだ、そういうのの集まりよ、海賊なんて. Literally: “Just a word but, it’s a gathering of that sort of thing, pirates.”) Very striking in light of Nami’s one-time hatred of all pirates. I love that she’s not only embraced the rep of pirate, but unhesitatingly puts herself and Robin in the same category. Also, minor Viz translation note, but Aokiji calls Nami おねーちゃん, which strikes me as much less insulting than “girlie.”]
SBS: I think it’s shorter than usual in English because they omitted the first question from the Japanese SBS, in which a fan sent in some fan art of Chopper’s rumble ball transformation, labelled with the Japanese infomercial equivalent of “I was a 99 pound weakling, but look at me now!” Ha!
There must be some sort of licensing restriction on fan art, because the often hilarious and/or ingenious fan art collected at the back of many Japanese volumes is never included/translated, either. Sometimes they have English fan art instead.
321
Cover Arc: “Don’t forget to eat, Gedatsu-sama!”
Back on the ship, Chopper and Usopp are frantically trying to thaw Robin out in the shower. (They’re in such a panic, they can’t stop screaming at each other. Aw, guys!)
Zoro, Sanji and Nami return, yelling for Chopper’s help. Chopper says they need to submerge the frozen body parts in water, but since Robin’s in the shower…
Zoro and Sanji hit upon the idea of submerging themselves in the ocean, which seems to work.
Usopp can’t believe that they left Luffy to face Aokiji alone, captain’s orders or no, but Sanji and Zoro say they had no choice. They simply have to suck it up and be prepared for the worst.
[Water 7]The entire scene has chilling (pardon the pun) forward resonance in light of things that will happen later.
Aokiji succeeds in freezing Luffy solid, but he’s not sure what to do next.
[Ah, I missed the significance of this at first in Japanese, but from the Viz translation, I get it. Aokiji realizes that by challenging him to a one-on-one fight, Luffy trapped him in a corner, because he now can’t do anything to the rest of the crew without breaking his word. “Or… did you really think you could beat me?” As so often, the reader is left not quite knowing how much of Luffy’s strategy is genius and how much is blind luck.]
In the end, he simply walks away, telling him that they have no idea what they’ve taken on, accepting Robin as one of them.
[The Japanese is odd here: ニコ・ロビンという女の生まれついた星の凶暴性をお前達は背負きれなくなる. Very literally, I make that “In the end, you won’t be able to bear the burden of the star of violence the woman called Nico Robin was born under.” Viz has “Nico Robin was born with a brutal personality… you will not be able to change that,” which I suppose is technically one possible translation, but I wonder about the force of うまれついた星. It seems to imply some sort of accursed fate that Robin is carrying, rather than her “personality” as such. Incidentally, the Japanese that follows translates literally as “That’s what it will mean to take that woman on your ship” (rather than “taking her on your ship is a great danger”).]
“We’re quits now, regarding the Crocodile incident. And besides - oh, never mind. Just something that idiot Smoker said. See ya.”
[The last statement is also unclear without more context, and I don’t believe it has ever been explained. それと、あ、まあいいや、スモーカーのバカの話は… じゃなあ. Googling suggests that fans have generally taken this to refer to some undelivered message that Smoker had for Luffy (which is how Viz translates it - “never mind Smoker’s silly message”), but I’m not sure if “baka no hanashi” is that specific. I took it to mean that part of what led Aokiji to walk away here is something that Smoker said to him, which he doesn’t necessarily agree with, but can’t totally disregard or disrespect. Something to do with Smoker’s grudging respect for his enemy, perhaps.]
Zoro and Sanji show up to rescue Luffy’s frozen body.
Before leaving, Aokiji consults his log to see where they are headed next.
“Water 7? Well, THAT’S going to hit pretty close to home.”
Back on the ship, Chopper emerges and tearfully announces that both patients are still breathing.
Sanji asks what he can do. Chopper: “You bastard, I’m not happy that you called me Doctor, not at all! They’ll probably want something warm to drink when they wake up, ok!”
Nami says that the log pose has already reset, but she’ll wait until the captain is awake before they set sail.
Usopp is completely worn out. Zoro: “Get some sleep. Idiot.”
In the cabin, that night, Luffy and Robin are fast asleep… until Robin wakes up.
[Robin’s face ;_____;]
322
Cover arc: “Don’t forget to blink, Gedatsu-sama.”
The Merry is on the third day of its ocean voyage, after waiting four days in port. It’s a beautiful day.
Sanji is busy cooking up delectable dishes for the ladies. Zoro is giving him crap (“How is a guy supposed to SLEEP around here?”).
Usopp and Chopper are yukking it up over Luffy’s “frozen solid!” imitation.
Robin emerges from the cabin, and in response to Sanji’s eager inquiries, admits she wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee.
While they’re all eating Sanji’s food, Zoro notices a huge frog swimming by, doing the crawl.
[LOL Usopp and Chopper’s conversation. Usopp is boasting about having killed some sort of 100 meter long sea monster, and when Chopper is impressed, he says it was 朝飯前 (asa meshi mae, lit. “before breakfast,” meaning the same as the English idiom “piece of cake”). Chopper: “You got up that early to kill it???” Chopper <3<3<3]
Luffy insists on following the frog (it looks yummy!).
Nami sees that the frog seems to be headed for a nearby lighthouse. She thinks it’s strange that the island hasn’t shown up on the log pose.
When the frog suddenly stops for no apparent reason, Nami calls for an about-face. Just in time, she steers them out of the path of a train, chugging across the water.
The frog stands right in the train’s path, and gets knocked aside.
Luffy: “What WAS that iron monster? Was that a ship?”
Chopper: “The ship… was puffing smoke…”
By the lighthouse, a little girl runs to call her Baa-chan. Pirates!
When the grandmother emerges, they realize that she’s drunk as a skunk.
The crew is introduced to Kokoro (the station-master), Chimney (her granddaughter), and Gonbe (a cat who is really a rabbit, apparently).
Nami asks about the strange steam-ship. Chimney says she bets they’ve never seen anything like it! That’s Puffing Tom, the sea-train. There isn’t another one like it in the world!
When she looks closely, Nami can see the train-tracks just under the ocean’s surface.
Luffy comments on the frog that the train hit (“He was supposed to be OUR prey!”). Chimney says that frog is a real thorn in their side. His name is Yokozuna (this means “grand champion” in a sumo context). He is determined to challenge the train to a contest of strength, so he keeps jumping in front of it. It’s such a nuisance to the customers!
Luffy is impressed - that frog’s got guts! He won’t eat it, after all. (Nami complains that she was never GOING to eat it, on account of IT’S A FROG.)
Kokoro asks them where they’re headed. They could take the train to their next destination, if they want.
Luffy likes the sound of “Beautiful Food Town,” but Nami smacks him and says they have a ship, duh. They don’t need to take a train.
When she hears that the log pose is pointing north, Kokoro says they’re headed for Water 7, then. Best shipwrights in the world!
Luffy’s made up his mind. They’re on their way to Water 7 to find themselves a shipwright!
323
Cover Arc: “You’re supposed to get IN the bath, Gedatsu-sama.” (I love the towel hanging over top of his hair-spikes.)
Luffy and his crew set out for Water 7, thanking Kokoro and Chimney for all their help.
“Let’s go! To the city of MEAT!”
“Luffy, were you actually listening to what they said?”
The crew argue over who they should hire. Sanji wants a babe. Luffy thinks a shipwright should be huge! At least 5 meters. Usopp: “If he’s too big, he’s not gonna fit on the ship.” Zoro: “Whatever, as long as they’ve got skills. The hard part is going to be finding someone whack enough to want to sail on a pirate ship.”
Nami is thrilled that they gave her a map to find someone called “Iceberg”… until she looks at the map, which is completely useless. (このへん！)
Meanwhile, Luffy is showing off a picture of the shipwright he thinks they should look for. Usopp: “I see that, I’m making a run for it.”
[Water 7/Thriller Bark/New World]Luffy’s picture has “5 meters” written on it. Incidentally, according to the wiki, Franky is between 7 and 8 feet tall; Brook is between 8 and 9 feet tall. Both are just a little taller after the timeskip, but alas, neither is anywhere near 5 meters tall.
I love Robin’s face, just watching her fellow idiots at play.
Usopp is hugging busted-up Merry, saying how grateful he is for all the ship’s been through. Especially since they entered the Grand Line. They’re all thankful that now they finally have enough money to fix her up properly.
[I know Merry is supposed to be a boy, but… “he” just doesn’t sound right?]
At last, they arrive at the Water Capital (水の都), Water 7.
They are amazed to see the foundations of the buildings, apparently built into the ocean. No wonder it’s called the “City of Water.” (Very Venice-like… it’s beautiful.)
They’re eager to weigh anchor, but friendly passers-by keep warning them that pirates can’t dock here. (“Go around back!”)
When they go to cast anchor, Zoro is aghast when he merely pulls on the sail-rigging and the mast splits in half. “Merry, are you really that far gone?”
Nami is puzzled that no one in town seems to be particularly afraid of pirates. Zoro, Sanji and Robin figure that in a shipbuilding town, pirates are just customers like any other. And they probably have people strong enough to handle any pirates that get out of hand.
Usopp is seriously alarmed at the thought of the city having people that strong, but Sanji says it’s no big deal, they’re just customers.
Nami insists on leading the way. She has the letter of introduction to “Iceberg.” And after they find him, they’ll need to find a bank where they can exchange their gold.
Across town, at Dock One, a pirate captain is causing a ruckus. Seems he thinks the price is too high, and he has no intention of paying.
Iceberg (petting the mouse in his pocket): “What’s that, Kalifa?”
Kalifa: “Yes, Iceberg-san. A customer is refusing to pay over at Dock One. That’s sexual harassment!”
The dockworkers are calm and polite in the face of the pirate’s rudeness. They continue to apologize politely while bashing all of the pirate’s crew-members in the head.
We haven’t met them yet, but among the dockworkers are Paulie, Kaku, Rob Lucci, and Lulu (the guy who looks like Freddie Mercury). Collectively, they are introduced as the members of Galley-La Company, official shipwrights in the employ of the world government.
324
Cover Arc: “You really should stand on the ground, Gedatsu-sama.”
On second thought, Usopp suggests they should look for a bank first. Hauling around all that gold is making him nervous. And neither Nami or Usopp is very comfortable leaving the job of carrying the gold to Luffy. (“You don’t trust me??” In unison: “Nope.”)
They are puzzled by the sign for a “Rental Bull Shop.” Luffy charges straight in to rent one. (Nami and Usopp: “Ask what it IS first!”)
The agent says for three people, two Yagara-bulls should do. When he realizes they’re tourists, he explains how transportation works in Water 7. There are more waterways than sidewalks, so fish named “bulls”, of various sizes, haul around passenger cars on their backs.
[They’re kind of like horse-fish-gondolas. Definitely Venice-inspired. I love the bulls, they’re way too cute.]
He’s only going to charge 2000 beli, until Luffy shows off all their gold (at which point the price suddenly becomes 1 million beli).
The yagara-bulls happily take them around town, making use of a shortcut to the downtown market area.
In the crowded marketplace, they see a giant “King Bull” with many passengers wearing elaborate costumes and masks. The entire market area seems to be full of masked people in costumes.
Yagara-bulls really like mizu-mizu meat snacks (so does Luffy).
They take a water-elevator up to the area where the exchange bank is located.
Back on the Merry, Sanji is disappointed to learn that Robin went shopping with Chopper, leaving him alone on the boat with Zoro. (Sanji: “Ugh, how boring!” Zoro: “I feel the same way” [同感だ].)
Sanji decides he’ll go shopping, too, leaving Zoro to guard the boat (Zoro promptly falls asleep).
Luffy and company have arrived at the magnificent town center of Water 7. Nami says she’s never seen such a big city before.
(Kind of an interesting comment - I forget how rare big cities seem to be in the One Piece world. Where else have we seen cities? Loguetown, Alabasta…? I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a good look at Mariejois.)
A crowd has gathered, ooh-ing and aah-ing over their heroes, the shipwrights of Galley-La. A passer-by explains that the shipwrights just finished giving the beatdown to some unruly pirates. Luffy is impressed that shipwrights could beat up pirates, but the guy says they must be tourists, if they haven’t heard of the “pride of Water 7.”
Back on board the Merry, Zoro is fighting off a gang of thugs who tried to take him by surprise.
(I like how he always wants his opponents to “state their names” (名乗れ). I guess you can’t gauge warrior honor correctly if you don’t know who you’re fighting… very Homeric.)
325
Cover Arc: “Oops, dug up something.”
(Haha, I just noticed that both Gedatsu and his host have squiggly exclamation marks, apparently because the local trademark is an onsen with squiggly steam marks above it.)
Zoro’s opponents recognize him as “Pirate Hunter Zoro.” They say they’re bounty hunters from the “Franky Family” (フランキー・一家).
[The horrific fashion choices and weird tattoos are definitely yakuza-inspired.]
The bounty hunters think they’re lucky to have stumbled on an easy money-making opportunity. Zoro: “Unlucky, more like.”
He sends the lot of them flying with one attack. “くだらん.”
In town, Robin and Chopper (in reindeer-form) are out for a walk. Chopper exclaims over a mask-stand, and Robin explains that she overheard people talking about a nearby festival that is taking place, which accounts for all the people walking around in costume. (Chopper figured there were just a lot of people with weird faces, LOL. In the One Piece world, that almost makes sense.)
Chopper is impressed that she could figure that out so quickly.
Robin: “Well, since I was a kid, I’ve lived by watching people’s faces and eavesdropping on their conversations.”
Chopper: “Wow, Robin, that’s so cool!”
Robin: “…”
(Aw, Robin…)
Then she changes the topic by pointing out a nearby bookstore to “Ship’s Doctor-San” (船医さん). Chopper can’t wait to go inside - he races on ahead.
Just as Robin is chuckling over Chopper’s eagerness to go book-shopping, a costumed, masked figure walks past her.
“CP−9です.”
[I assume that’s the masked figure speaking, although it is rather unclear - it’s definitely not Robin, whose facial expression swiftly changes from serene to frozen.]
She turns around and stares after the retreating figure.
Chopper goes into the bookstore. (He changes into “human” form thinking it’ll attract less attention, haha. The shop-lady immediately asks him what his costume is supposed to be.) It takes him a moment to realize that Robin hasn’t followed him.
At the exchange-bank (CASHING, ha), Nami is “negotiating” with the teller. They walk away with 300 million in cash (100 mill in each briefcase), three times what the man first tried to offer them.
Usopp is pretty nervous to be carrying a briefcase with 100 million beli in it. Luffy is blithely unconcerned, to the point where he nearly throws his briefcase into the canal.
They talk about going back to the ship to drop off the money, but Nami figures they might as well stop by the shipwrights’ place first. They’ll need to go back to the ship to let the shipwrights do an evaluation, anyway.
Back at Dock One, they meet up with Kaku (who finally gets his Oda-box). Kaku bears an eerie (unexplained) resemblance to Usopp, except that, as Nami points out, he’s square.
Kaku’s speech quirk: most adorable quirk EVER. (I was vaguely aware of it before, from the anime, but it’s much clearer when reading the manga in Japanese.) He’s all of 23, but speaks like a 60-year-old man (ワシャ２３じゃ). When Luffy says he sounds like a jii-san, he laughs and says “I get that a lot.”
When they ask if he knows Iceburg, Kaku says there’s no one in town who doesn’t. He’s the mayor of the city, the boss of Galley-La Company, and the supervisor of the Sea-Train.
When he finds out they are looking to get a ship repaired, he offers to “run” over and check it out. It’ll only take 10 minutes.
He then stuns them by racing off at top speed and leaping right off a tower.
(Contrary to what you might think, he doesn’t have a devil fruit power yet. He’s just that fast.)
Iceberg (showing up behind them) tells them not to worry. That’s just Kaku, chief carpenter of Dock One. People call him the “mountain wind” (山風).
326
Cover Arc: “Oops! Woke up the legendary earth-guardian.”
Sanji is doing the grocery shopping, admiring the sights of Water 7, and wishing he could be touring the city with Robin and Nami on either arm.
Having completed the bulk of his shopping, he’s just realizing that he might be a little lost (“Don’t tell me I’m turning into a certain swordsman”) when he catches sight of Robin, walking silently behind a costumed figure. He tries to wave and catch her attention, but when he rounds the corner, both Robin and the costumed figure have apparently vanished into thin air, with no sign of a doorway they could have gone into.
Looking up, he sees a figure flying through midair. (“Usopp??”)
Kaku lands on the Merry and starts checking it out. A startled Zoro challenges him (he’s a bit slow to react, since being half asleep, he thinks it’s Usopp at first).
Back at Dock One, Iceberg says they shouldn’t underestimate the shipwrights of Galley-La. Ordinary men wouldn’t be able to make the kind of ships they pride themselves on building.
He asks Kalifa for a report. Kalifa promptly identifies all the bounty-holding members of Luffy’s crew, including the correct bounty sum that Aokiji was too lazy to calculate.
Iceberg (now with Oda-box) introduces himself as the “boss” of the city. His little mouse, which he just picked up… hmm, he’ll call him “Tyrannosaurus” (snerk!). He’ll be needing a cage and some food. Kalifa says it’s already been taken care of. Iceberg is impressed.
When Kalifa recites the rest of Iceberg’s busy daily schedule, he complains “Don’t wanna!” Kalifa: “I’ll cancel everything at once, sir.”
When Luffy asks Nami if that’s “the one” (コレ、アレ) the old lady told them about, Kalifa kicks their asses for speaking disrespectfully about the boss.
Iceberg says they shouldn’t make Kalifa mad. When she gets mad, she shows no regard for her surroundings. (Apparently she accidentally kicked him in the face, too.)
When Iceberg reads the note from Kokoro, he promptly rips it to shreds. The Strawhats think he’s refusing to help them, but actually he has no objection to helping with the ship. He was just grossed out by the kiss mark Kokoro put on the note. He says they’re old drinking buddies.
[Water 7]I guess that’s one way of describing their relationship?
Since he’s got nothing on his schedule, he offers to give them a tour of the facilities. (Usopp points out that he just CANCELLED everything on his schedule.)
When Usopp reaches for the briefcase, he discovers that the Franky Family (the same guys Zoro beat up) are in the process of absconding with two of the briefcases (Nami is the only one who had the sense to hold onto hers). The gang make a run for it.
Meanwhile, Paulie is being chased by debt collectors, coming in from the opposite direction.
When Paulie sees the Franky Family making their getaway, he uses his rope technique to hop down and hijack their bulls to make his escape (accidentally making off with the briefcases at the same time).
The Franky Family got their butts kicked, again. When Paulie (now with Oda-box) realizes that he’s stumbled into 200 million beli, he’s tempted to keep it.
327
Rob Lucci (now with Oda-box) seizes his unruly colleague by his ear and forces him to return the money that the Franky Family tried to steal.
We also get an Oda-box for Hattori, Rob Lucci’s pigeon. (N.B. “hato” is Japanese for “pigeon.”)
Usopp and Nami are beating up on Luffy for being careless (Usopp lost his case too, but he refuses to take all the blame). Nami yells at Luffy for not trying to get the money back. Luffy: “But the pigeon said he was gonna get it!” (Apparently Luffy is not fazed either by the fact that the pigeon talked, or that the pigeon calls itself “ore.”)
When Nami asks about the thugs who tried to steal the money, Kalifa says the Franky Family are junkyard dealers (解体屋, literally “dismantlers”). They double as bounty-hunters, preying on the pirates who come to town. Then they take the pirates’ ships and break them up for scrap.
Luffy says they weren’t that strong, but Iceberg says those were just the flunkies. He warns them not to underestimate the boss (kashira) of the gang, Franky.
[Water 7]Love Iceberg’s expression there. Haha, poor Iceberg. You can’t choose your family.
Lucci (for whom the pigeon is doing all the talking) crankily hauls Paulie to shore and tells him to apologize. Troublesome idiot.
Paulie and Lucci start battling each other. Iceberg shrugs it off; evidently their fights are nothing new.
Usopp is stunned by Lucci’s fighting ability.
Luffy yells at Paulie for fighting Lucci. “It was the pigeon that was making fun of you!” Paulie says whatever, Lucci was the one who hit him.
Luffy apparently thinks that the pigeon is not only doing all the talking but controlling Lucci’s body, LOL.
The pigeon introduces himself. “I’m Rob Lu… ahem! Hattori the pigeon! This guy is Rob Lucci.”
Nami finally figures out that Lucci is using ventriloquism. Paulie, roaring with laughter, confirms that Lucci never actually speaks for himself. He’s a weirdo.
(I feel like this is one of those places you have to watch the anime. I can’t read the manga without hearing Hattori’s pigeon voice.)
Paulie catches sight of Nami. He has a thing about women who show too much skin. (“Harenchi!”) Kalifa tries to calm him down, but he complains that Kalifa is just as bad.
Luffy concludes that Paulie is as much of a weirdo as Lucci.
Iceberg admits they’re all kind of weird (Kaku is one of them as well), but their skill can’t be beat.
When Iceberg walks into the shipyard, all the workers are delighted to see him. Luffy comments that “Ice no Ossan” sure is popular.
Kalifa explains that the seven shipbuilding companies in the city were once competitors, but five years earlier, Iceberg united them all into one organization, the Galley-La Company. All the shipwrights came together in their admiration of Iceburg’s genius shipwright ability.
Luffy: “Oi, Ossan! Wanna come be a pirate with me?” (Paulie and Kalifa are appalled by his rudeness.)
Iceburg says he doesn’t know if any of his shipwrights will be interested in the pirate life, but if any of them want to go, it’s fine by him. He’s not available, though.
Kaku returns from his expedition.
While Usopp, now holding the two cases they recovered from the thieves, is distracted by a cool cannon, the Franky Family is seen sneaking up behind him.
Iceberg asks Kaku what his evaluation of the ship is.
Zoro is sitting on the Merry, looking contemplative. In his memory, Kaku is saying that as a shipwright, he wouldn’t lie.
[Water 7]As a shipwright, at least. That much is true.
Looking around, Nami sees no sign of Usopp, but the cases are still there. Gathering around Kaku and Iceberg, they say they can pay as much as it takes to fix the Merry up like new and give it an upgrade.
Kaku breaks the bad news. Even with all their skill, the Merry can’t be repaired. The hull is too severely damaged. Even if they tried to fix it, the chance that the ship could reach the next island is zero.
Zoro is talking to Merry.
“Merry… is it true you can’t go any further?”
TBC
Water 7/Enies Lobby: best arc ever or best arc ever? (To be honest, it's awfully hard to choose. Alabasta and Marineford are in the running, but Water 7 is way up there.)
317
Luffy’s devotion to his comrades moves even the announcer to tears (but Foxy is infuriated that suddenly everyone is cheering for Luffy).
Foxy almost knocks Luffy off the ship, but Luffy manages to withstand the attack. Something clatters on the ground, attracting Luffy’s attention.
When the two are engaged in a massive exchange of blows, Foxy is unexpectedly frozen by his own noro-noro beam. Luffy says it was thanks to a fragment of mirror that got stuck in his afro.
While Foxy is frozen, Luffy deals the final blow. Foxy doesn’t react… right away. Zoro is the first to start counting down the seconds. (And Usopp gets the whole crowd to join in on the countdown, ha. Foxy’s crew isn’t any brighter than he is.)
On zero, Luffy’s blow kicks in and knocks Foxy out of the ring.
318
Cover arc: “The hot spring island is hole-digger Gorou’s dream.” (Gedatsu, what ARE you doing? Also, LOL, why do the birds have Gedatsu-hair?)
When Foxy falls into the ocean, it seals Luffy’s victory.
Half the audience in the stands promptly jumps into the water to save their Oyabin. (Aw, he’s an idiot, but I’m glad his men love him.)
Luffy is dead unconscious. (Aw, Usopp wearing Luffy’s hat while repeatedly poking him because he’s mad at the captain for scaring them like that. Chopper: “Stop that!!”)
Luffy wakes up just long enough to panic about whether he won or not, and then passes out again after being assured that he did.
Usopp: “I wasn’t worried for a second!”
Sanji: “Liar.”
Zoro: “You know, if I left this ship I wouldn’t even have any reason to be a pirate.”
Foxy approaches to shake Luffy’s hand, apparently magnanimous in defeat. (Usopp, WHAT is with that defensive posture?)
… or not. He tries to throw Luffy, but apparently has forgotten about the rubber thing. (Zoro: “Are you stupid?”)
Foxy challenges Luffy to go ahead and pick a crew member. Everyone expects Luffy to pick one of the shipwrights, but Luffy asks for Foxy’s flag.
(“If I got something I wanted, I’d forget why I accepted the duel in the first place.” Interesting reasoning.)
Luffy would have been willing to let them keep their sail, which has Foxy’s mark on it (how would they sail otherwise?), but since the crew refuse to accept Luffy’s “pity,” he gives them a new mark. (Oh, Luffy, that’s just cruel. No one deserves that art.)
Foxy: “Mugiwara! We’ll get you for this!”
Zoro: “Well, that was… interesting.” (どこまでおもしろいんだ、あいつら *sweatdrop*)
Back at his house, Tonjit tells Sherry that he can wait as long as they have to until Sherry is well enough to try to catch up with the other villagers. It’s his turn to wait now.
Luffy hands the flag over to Tonjit. “I kicked his ass!”
Nami: “So… that’s why you accepted the duel.”
(Though, she thinks Luffy probably would have accepted no matter what. Luffy: “How rude!”)
Nami wishes they could give them a ride to the island the other villagers moved to, but the log pose won’t work since all the islands are connected. Tonjit says that won’t be necessary. He can be patient.
He wants to play host to Luffy’s nakama, but Usopp hasn’t forgotten the ten-year-old cheese.
When he turns to go into the house, Tonjit bumps into… someone.
Aokiji is standing there (fast asleep, apparently).
Finally he wakes up. “What’s your problem?” “What’s YOURS?” (何だ、お前ら？ おめエが、何だ！)
Luffy (?): “I thought you were a tree!” (Aokiji is really tall, haha.)
The others are mildly surprised. Robin? Is TERRIFIED.
(I love how the others react with automatic protectiveness. They know that anyone stoic Robin fears is bad news.)
Aokiji: “Well. You sure grew up to be a fine woman… Nico Robin.” (あららら、コリャ、いい女になったな、ニコ・ロビン.)
[I really love how Oda can go from stupid to plotful in an instant.]
SBS points:
- I still think the “brother soul” joke is stupid, but Oda’s attempt to translate the concept for a puzzled reader is kind of hilarious. “HEY YO!! おれ様すげエだろ！etc.”
- A reader asks if the Super-Sparrow is at all similar to Karoo’s species, the Super-Duck. I totally missed that! Oda says it is. They eat super-earthworms and stuff.
319
Cover arc: Gedatsu decides to become a guardian of the Blue Sea. (No one asked you…?)
Robin is crawling away from Aokiji in terror. Everyone else has their hands on their weapons.
Aokiji: “Hey, hey. No need for murder here. I’m not under orders. It’s a nice day for a walk.”
(Poor Tonjit, so confused.)
Robin explains that Aokiji is an admiral, one of the highest powers in the navy. He is one of three: Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru. (The nicknames mean Red Dog, Blue/Green Pheasant, and Yellow Monkey.) Fleet Admiral Sengoku holds supreme authority over them.
Love Usopp yelling at Aokiji to go away, but only from behind the safety of Zoro’s back.
Hitting on Nami? Bad idea. VERY bad idea.
Aokiji complains that they’re the ones who aren’t listening to him. He said he was only out for a walk, and anyway, they’re the ones who are… something. Whatever. He forgot.
[Aokiji is a scary dude, but I kind of love him.]
Usopp wonders if Robin got the wrong guy. Aokiji says they shouldn’t judge by appearances. His motto is “Lazy Justice.”
[This is the translation used on English fan sites, but I feel like I’m missing something. In Japanese: だらけきった正義, which, as far as I can tell, means “justice scattered all over the place.” It must be an idiom, because googling だらけきる turned up pictures of cats lounging on desks and blog entries about sleeping until after lunch.]
Usopp/Sanji: “That’s EXACTLY how you look!!” (見かけ通りだよ！)
Aokiji decides to take a nap. Standing up is so tiring. (He declines to explain why he was sleeping on his feet until just a moment ago.)
Anyway, he’s not interested in arresting them right now. He only wanted to check on Robin’s whereabouts - after she disappeared at the end of the Alabasta incident, he suspected she might be with the Strawhats.
Usopp: “He’s the Admiral of Shamelessness (ふてぶて), I’ll give him that.”
Sleepily, Aokiji comments that their collective bounty will go up when he reports in to headquarters. 100,000,000 + 60,000,000 + 79,000,000 is… whatever. A lot.
Zoro: “Do the math.” (LOL)
Luffy is ready to kick Aokji’s ass unprovoked (“Are you saying we should just let him take Robin without a fight??”).
Robin: “…”
[Robin’s face!]
Aokiji says fine, he’ll go, but before he goes… he heard what Tonjit was telling the others. (He’s a light sleeper.) Tonjit should just pack up and get ready to go.
Usopp protests that if he was listening, he should know Tonjit can’t go anywhere, but Robin says Aokiji could do it. If he wanted to.
Tonjit packs up, and they all convene at the shore. To the utter shock of everyone (except Robin), Aokiji freezes the ocean solid. (“Ice Age.”)
Robin explains that Aokiji has the logia power of the Hie-Hie no Mi (the Freeze-Freeze fruit). That’s the power of an admiral of the navy.
Tonjit and Shelly set off joyfully across the ice, waving farewell. Everyone is happy for them.
When they scurry off the ice (shivering and complaining how cold it is), Aokiji comments that Luffy is the spitting image of his grandfather (じいさんそっくりだな).
Luffy seems… unusually agitated by this remark.
Aokiji says he owes Luffy’s jiisan a debt… and he really did only come to check on Robin… but…
After all, he thinks he’d better kill them here and now.
320
Cover Arc: “Gedatsu-sama, don’t forget to breathe!”
Aokiji remarks that the world government hasn’t figured out that Luffy’s group is a major threat yet, but seeing them all together, knowing how far they’ve come in such a short time… he can tell they’re going to be trouble. And the thing that worries him most, is Nico Robin’s involvement.
Aokiji explains that bounties aren’t just a measure of strength - they are a measure of perceived threat to the government. Which is why Robin has had a bounty on her head since she was eight years old.
She’s done pretty well to stay alive in the underworld this long, betraying and using everyone she’s ever known. Luffy’s crew is just her latest… refuge.
Luffy and Sanji are both enraged that Aokiji seems to hold some grudge against Robin, but Aokiji says he doesn’t hold any grudge. A fated connection (因縁), maybe. He did make the mistake of letting her live, once. But that’s ancient history.
“You’ll understand, soon enough. The day is coming, not far off, when you’ll regret having taken on such a troublesome woman.”
Aokiji points out that the proof lies in the fact that every underworld organization Nico Robin has ever been involved in has been utterly destroyed… except, somehow, she has survived. Why is that, he wonders.
Luffy is furious. “What does the past matter!”
Aokiji: “Oh, you HAVE managed to blend in.”
Robin tries to counter-attack, to no avail.
Aokiji: ひどい事するじゃないの。”My, how awful.” (Robin’s pet phrase. Coincidence?)
Aokiji attacks Robin with an ice-sword, but Zoro, Sanji and Luffy all come to her defense. To everyone’s shock, he takes all three down without blinking. (Not the Monster Trio!)
Aokiji: いい仲間に出会ったな。しかし、お前はお前だ。ニコ・ロビン。
Robin: 違う。私はもう…!
(ROBIN. ;_;)
Aokiji freezes Robin solid.
He says she’s still alive… as long as she doesn’t shatter, that is.
Usopp and Chopper make a run for the ship, carrying Robin’s frozen body. The others stay to fight Aokiji, but Luffy tells them to stand back - this fight is between him and Aokiji.
[I find Nami’s comment here interesting. When Aokiji says the world would be better off without Robin (やめとけ、その女は、助けねえ方が 世の為だ), Nami says “Hate to tell you this, but that’s true of all pirates.” (お言葉ですけだ、そういうのの集まりよ、海賊なんて. Literally: “Just a word but, it’s a gathering of that sort of thing, pirates.”) Very striking in light of Nami’s one-time hatred of all pirates. I love that she’s not only embraced the rep of pirate, but unhesitatingly puts herself and Robin in the same category. Also, minor Viz translation note, but Aokiji calls Nami おねーちゃん, which strikes me as much less insulting than “girlie.”]
SBS: I think it’s shorter than usual in English because they omitted the first question from the Japanese SBS, in which a fan sent in some fan art of Chopper’s rumble ball transformation, labelled with the Japanese infomercial equivalent of “I was a 99 pound weakling, but look at me now!” Ha!
There must be some sort of licensing restriction on fan art, because the often hilarious and/or ingenious fan art collected at the back of many Japanese volumes is never included/translated, either. Sometimes they have English fan art instead.
321
Cover Arc: “Don’t forget to eat, Gedatsu-sama!”
Back on the ship, Chopper and Usopp are frantically trying to thaw Robin out in the shower. (They’re in such a panic, they can’t stop screaming at each other. Aw, guys!)
Zoro, Sanji and Nami return, yelling for Chopper’s help. Chopper says they need to submerge the frozen body parts in water, but since Robin’s in the shower…
Zoro and Sanji hit upon the idea of submerging themselves in the ocean, which seems to work.
Usopp can’t believe that they left Luffy to face Aokiji alone, captain’s orders or no, but Sanji and Zoro say they had no choice. They simply have to suck it up and be prepared for the worst.
[Water 7]The entire scene has chilling (pardon the pun) forward resonance in light of things that will happen later.
Aokiji succeeds in freezing Luffy solid, but he’s not sure what to do next.
[Ah, I missed the significance of this at first in Japanese, but from the Viz translation, I get it. Aokiji realizes that by challenging him to a one-on-one fight, Luffy trapped him in a corner, because he now can’t do anything to the rest of the crew without breaking his word. “Or… did you really think you could beat me?” As so often, the reader is left not quite knowing how much of Luffy’s strategy is genius and how much is blind luck.]
In the end, he simply walks away, telling him that they have no idea what they’ve taken on, accepting Robin as one of them.
[The Japanese is odd here: ニコ・ロビンという女の生まれついた星の凶暴性をお前達は背負きれなくなる. Very literally, I make that “In the end, you won’t be able to bear the burden of the star of violence the woman called Nico Robin was born under.” Viz has “Nico Robin was born with a brutal personality… you will not be able to change that,” which I suppose is technically one possible translation, but I wonder about the force of うまれついた星. It seems to imply some sort of accursed fate that Robin is carrying, rather than her “personality” as such. Incidentally, the Japanese that follows translates literally as “That’s what it will mean to take that woman on your ship” (rather than “taking her on your ship is a great danger”).]
“We’re quits now, regarding the Crocodile incident. And besides - oh, never mind. Just something that idiot Smoker said. See ya.”
[The last statement is also unclear without more context, and I don’t believe it has ever been explained. それと、あ、まあいいや、スモーカーのバカの話は… じゃなあ. Googling suggests that fans have generally taken this to refer to some undelivered message that Smoker had for Luffy (which is how Viz translates it - “never mind Smoker’s silly message”), but I’m not sure if “baka no hanashi” is that specific. I took it to mean that part of what led Aokiji to walk away here is something that Smoker said to him, which he doesn’t necessarily agree with, but can’t totally disregard or disrespect. Something to do with Smoker’s grudging respect for his enemy, perhaps.]
Zoro and Sanji show up to rescue Luffy’s frozen body.
Before leaving, Aokiji consults his log to see where they are headed next.
“Water 7? Well, THAT’S going to hit pretty close to home.”
Back on the ship, Chopper emerges and tearfully announces that both patients are still breathing.
Sanji asks what he can do. Chopper: “You bastard, I’m not happy that you called me Doctor, not at all! They’ll probably want something warm to drink when they wake up, ok!”
Nami says that the log pose has already reset, but she’ll wait until the captain is awake before they set sail.
Usopp is completely worn out. Zoro: “Get some sleep. Idiot.”
In the cabin, that night, Luffy and Robin are fast asleep… until Robin wakes up.
[Robin’s face ;_____;]
322
Cover arc: “Don’t forget to blink, Gedatsu-sama.”
The Merry is on the third day of its ocean voyage, after waiting four days in port. It’s a beautiful day.
Sanji is busy cooking up delectable dishes for the ladies. Zoro is giving him crap (“How is a guy supposed to SLEEP around here?”).
Usopp and Chopper are yukking it up over Luffy’s “frozen solid!” imitation.
Robin emerges from the cabin, and in response to Sanji’s eager inquiries, admits she wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee.
While they’re all eating Sanji’s food, Zoro notices a huge frog swimming by, doing the crawl.
[LOL Usopp and Chopper’s conversation. Usopp is boasting about having killed some sort of 100 meter long sea monster, and when Chopper is impressed, he says it was 朝飯前 (asa meshi mae, lit. “before breakfast,” meaning the same as the English idiom “piece of cake”). Chopper: “You got up that early to kill it???” Chopper <3<3<3]
Luffy insists on following the frog (it looks yummy!).
Nami sees that the frog seems to be headed for a nearby lighthouse. She thinks it’s strange that the island hasn’t shown up on the log pose.
When the frog suddenly stops for no apparent reason, Nami calls for an about-face. Just in time, she steers them out of the path of a train, chugging across the water.
The frog stands right in the train’s path, and gets knocked aside.
Luffy: “What WAS that iron monster? Was that a ship?”
Chopper: “The ship… was puffing smoke…”
By the lighthouse, a little girl runs to call her Baa-chan. Pirates!
When the grandmother emerges, they realize that she’s drunk as a skunk.
The crew is introduced to Kokoro (the station-master), Chimney (her granddaughter), and Gonbe (a cat who is really a rabbit, apparently).
Nami asks about the strange steam-ship. Chimney says she bets they’ve never seen anything like it! That’s Puffing Tom, the sea-train. There isn’t another one like it in the world!
When she looks closely, Nami can see the train-tracks just under the ocean’s surface.
Luffy comments on the frog that the train hit (“He was supposed to be OUR prey!”). Chimney says that frog is a real thorn in their side. His name is Yokozuna (this means “grand champion” in a sumo context). He is determined to challenge the train to a contest of strength, so he keeps jumping in front of it. It’s such a nuisance to the customers!
Luffy is impressed - that frog’s got guts! He won’t eat it, after all. (Nami complains that she was never GOING to eat it, on account of IT’S A FROG.)
Kokoro asks them where they’re headed. They could take the train to their next destination, if they want.
Luffy likes the sound of “Beautiful Food Town,” but Nami smacks him and says they have a ship, duh. They don’t need to take a train.
When she hears that the log pose is pointing north, Kokoro says they’re headed for Water 7, then. Best shipwrights in the world!
Luffy’s made up his mind. They’re on their way to Water 7 to find themselves a shipwright!
323
Cover Arc: “You’re supposed to get IN the bath, Gedatsu-sama.” (I love the towel hanging over top of his hair-spikes.)
Luffy and his crew set out for Water 7, thanking Kokoro and Chimney for all their help.
“Let’s go! To the city of MEAT!”
“Luffy, were you actually listening to what they said?”
The crew argue over who they should hire. Sanji wants a babe. Luffy thinks a shipwright should be huge! At least 5 meters. Usopp: “If he’s too big, he’s not gonna fit on the ship.” Zoro: “Whatever, as long as they’ve got skills. The hard part is going to be finding someone whack enough to want to sail on a pirate ship.”
Nami is thrilled that they gave her a map to find someone called “Iceberg”… until she looks at the map, which is completely useless. (このへん！)
Meanwhile, Luffy is showing off a picture of the shipwright he thinks they should look for. Usopp: “I see that, I’m making a run for it.”
[Water 7/Thriller Bark/New World]Luffy’s picture has “5 meters” written on it. Incidentally, according to the wiki, Franky is between 7 and 8 feet tall; Brook is between 8 and 9 feet tall. Both are just a little taller after the timeskip, but alas, neither is anywhere near 5 meters tall.
I love Robin’s face, just watching her fellow idiots at play.
Usopp is hugging busted-up Merry, saying how grateful he is for all the ship’s been through. Especially since they entered the Grand Line. They’re all thankful that now they finally have enough money to fix her up properly.
[I know Merry is supposed to be a boy, but… “he” just doesn’t sound right?]
At last, they arrive at the Water Capital (水の都), Water 7.
They are amazed to see the foundations of the buildings, apparently built into the ocean. No wonder it’s called the “City of Water.” (Very Venice-like… it’s beautiful.)
They’re eager to weigh anchor, but friendly passers-by keep warning them that pirates can’t dock here. (“Go around back!”)
When they go to cast anchor, Zoro is aghast when he merely pulls on the sail-rigging and the mast splits in half. “Merry, are you really that far gone?”
Nami is puzzled that no one in town seems to be particularly afraid of pirates. Zoro, Sanji and Robin figure that in a shipbuilding town, pirates are just customers like any other. And they probably have people strong enough to handle any pirates that get out of hand.
Usopp is seriously alarmed at the thought of the city having people that strong, but Sanji says it’s no big deal, they’re just customers.
Nami insists on leading the way. She has the letter of introduction to “Iceberg.” And after they find him, they’ll need to find a bank where they can exchange their gold.
Across town, at Dock One, a pirate captain is causing a ruckus. Seems he thinks the price is too high, and he has no intention of paying.
Iceberg (petting the mouse in his pocket): “What’s that, Kalifa?”
Kalifa: “Yes, Iceberg-san. A customer is refusing to pay over at Dock One. That’s sexual harassment!”
The dockworkers are calm and polite in the face of the pirate’s rudeness. They continue to apologize politely while bashing all of the pirate’s crew-members in the head.
We haven’t met them yet, but among the dockworkers are Paulie, Kaku, Rob Lucci, and Lulu (the guy who looks like Freddie Mercury). Collectively, they are introduced as the members of Galley-La Company, official shipwrights in the employ of the world government.
324
Cover Arc: “You really should stand on the ground, Gedatsu-sama.”
On second thought, Usopp suggests they should look for a bank first. Hauling around all that gold is making him nervous. And neither Nami or Usopp is very comfortable leaving the job of carrying the gold to Luffy. (“You don’t trust me??” In unison: “Nope.”)
They are puzzled by the sign for a “Rental Bull Shop.” Luffy charges straight in to rent one. (Nami and Usopp: “Ask what it IS first!”)
The agent says for three people, two Yagara-bulls should do. When he realizes they’re tourists, he explains how transportation works in Water 7. There are more waterways than sidewalks, so fish named “bulls”, of various sizes, haul around passenger cars on their backs.
[They’re kind of like horse-fish-gondolas. Definitely Venice-inspired. I love the bulls, they’re way too cute.]
He’s only going to charge 2000 beli, until Luffy shows off all their gold (at which point the price suddenly becomes 1 million beli).
The yagara-bulls happily take them around town, making use of a shortcut to the downtown market area.
In the crowded marketplace, they see a giant “King Bull” with many passengers wearing elaborate costumes and masks. The entire market area seems to be full of masked people in costumes.
Yagara-bulls really like mizu-mizu meat snacks (so does Luffy).
They take a water-elevator up to the area where the exchange bank is located.
Back on the Merry, Sanji is disappointed to learn that Robin went shopping with Chopper, leaving him alone on the boat with Zoro. (Sanji: “Ugh, how boring!” Zoro: “I feel the same way” [同感だ].)
Sanji decides he’ll go shopping, too, leaving Zoro to guard the boat (Zoro promptly falls asleep).
Luffy and company have arrived at the magnificent town center of Water 7. Nami says she’s never seen such a big city before.
(Kind of an interesting comment - I forget how rare big cities seem to be in the One Piece world. Where else have we seen cities? Loguetown, Alabasta…? I don’t think we’ve ever gotten a good look at Mariejois.)
A crowd has gathered, ooh-ing and aah-ing over their heroes, the shipwrights of Galley-La. A passer-by explains that the shipwrights just finished giving the beatdown to some unruly pirates. Luffy is impressed that shipwrights could beat up pirates, but the guy says they must be tourists, if they haven’t heard of the “pride of Water 7.”
Back on board the Merry, Zoro is fighting off a gang of thugs who tried to take him by surprise.
(I like how he always wants his opponents to “state their names” (名乗れ). I guess you can’t gauge warrior honor correctly if you don’t know who you’re fighting… very Homeric.)
325
Cover Arc: “Oops, dug up something.”
(Haha, I just noticed that both Gedatsu and his host have squiggly exclamation marks, apparently because the local trademark is an onsen with squiggly steam marks above it.)
Zoro’s opponents recognize him as “Pirate Hunter Zoro.” They say they’re bounty hunters from the “Franky Family” (フランキー・一家).
[The horrific fashion choices and weird tattoos are definitely yakuza-inspired.]
The bounty hunters think they’re lucky to have stumbled on an easy money-making opportunity. Zoro: “Unlucky, more like.”
He sends the lot of them flying with one attack. “くだらん.”
In town, Robin and Chopper (in reindeer-form) are out for a walk. Chopper exclaims over a mask-stand, and Robin explains that she overheard people talking about a nearby festival that is taking place, which accounts for all the people walking around in costume. (Chopper figured there were just a lot of people with weird faces, LOL. In the One Piece world, that almost makes sense.)
Chopper is impressed that she could figure that out so quickly.
Robin: “Well, since I was a kid, I’ve lived by watching people’s faces and eavesdropping on their conversations.”
Chopper: “Wow, Robin, that’s so cool!”
Robin: “…”
(Aw, Robin…)
Then she changes the topic by pointing out a nearby bookstore to “Ship’s Doctor-San” (船医さん). Chopper can’t wait to go inside - he races on ahead.
Just as Robin is chuckling over Chopper’s eagerness to go book-shopping, a costumed, masked figure walks past her.
“CP−9です.”
[I assume that’s the masked figure speaking, although it is rather unclear - it’s definitely not Robin, whose facial expression swiftly changes from serene to frozen.]
She turns around and stares after the retreating figure.
Chopper goes into the bookstore. (He changes into “human” form thinking it’ll attract less attention, haha. The shop-lady immediately asks him what his costume is supposed to be.) It takes him a moment to realize that Robin hasn’t followed him.
At the exchange-bank (CASHING, ha), Nami is “negotiating” with the teller. They walk away with 300 million in cash (100 mill in each briefcase), three times what the man first tried to offer them.
Usopp is pretty nervous to be carrying a briefcase with 100 million beli in it. Luffy is blithely unconcerned, to the point where he nearly throws his briefcase into the canal.
They talk about going back to the ship to drop off the money, but Nami figures they might as well stop by the shipwrights’ place first. They’ll need to go back to the ship to let the shipwrights do an evaluation, anyway.
Back at Dock One, they meet up with Kaku (who finally gets his Oda-box). Kaku bears an eerie (unexplained) resemblance to Usopp, except that, as Nami points out, he’s square.
Kaku’s speech quirk: most adorable quirk EVER. (I was vaguely aware of it before, from the anime, but it’s much clearer when reading the manga in Japanese.) He’s all of 23, but speaks like a 60-year-old man (ワシャ２３じゃ). When Luffy says he sounds like a jii-san, he laughs and says “I get that a lot.”
When they ask if he knows Iceburg, Kaku says there’s no one in town who doesn’t. He’s the mayor of the city, the boss of Galley-La Company, and the supervisor of the Sea-Train.
When he finds out they are looking to get a ship repaired, he offers to “run” over and check it out. It’ll only take 10 minutes.
He then stuns them by racing off at top speed and leaping right off a tower.
(Contrary to what you might think, he doesn’t have a devil fruit power yet. He’s just that fast.)
Iceberg (showing up behind them) tells them not to worry. That’s just Kaku, chief carpenter of Dock One. People call him the “mountain wind” (山風).
326
Cover Arc: “Oops! Woke up the legendary earth-guardian.”
Sanji is doing the grocery shopping, admiring the sights of Water 7, and wishing he could be touring the city with Robin and Nami on either arm.
Having completed the bulk of his shopping, he’s just realizing that he might be a little lost (“Don’t tell me I’m turning into a certain swordsman”) when he catches sight of Robin, walking silently behind a costumed figure. He tries to wave and catch her attention, but when he rounds the corner, both Robin and the costumed figure have apparently vanished into thin air, with no sign of a doorway they could have gone into.
Looking up, he sees a figure flying through midair. (“Usopp??”)
Kaku lands on the Merry and starts checking it out. A startled Zoro challenges him (he’s a bit slow to react, since being half asleep, he thinks it’s Usopp at first).
Back at Dock One, Iceberg says they shouldn’t underestimate the shipwrights of Galley-La. Ordinary men wouldn’t be able to make the kind of ships they pride themselves on building.
He asks Kalifa for a report. Kalifa promptly identifies all the bounty-holding members of Luffy’s crew, including the correct bounty sum that Aokiji was too lazy to calculate.
Iceberg (now with Oda-box) introduces himself as the “boss” of the city. His little mouse, which he just picked up… hmm, he’ll call him “Tyrannosaurus” (snerk!). He’ll be needing a cage and some food. Kalifa says it’s already been taken care of. Iceberg is impressed.
When Kalifa recites the rest of Iceberg’s busy daily schedule, he complains “Don’t wanna!” Kalifa: “I’ll cancel everything at once, sir.”
When Luffy asks Nami if that’s “the one” (コレ、アレ) the old lady told them about, Kalifa kicks their asses for speaking disrespectfully about the boss.
Iceberg says they shouldn’t make Kalifa mad. When she gets mad, she shows no regard for her surroundings. (Apparently she accidentally kicked him in the face, too.)
When Iceberg reads the note from Kokoro, he promptly rips it to shreds. The Strawhats think he’s refusing to help them, but actually he has no objection to helping with the ship. He was just grossed out by the kiss mark Kokoro put on the note. He says they’re old drinking buddies.
[Water 7]I guess that’s one way of describing their relationship?
Since he’s got nothing on his schedule, he offers to give them a tour of the facilities. (Usopp points out that he just CANCELLED everything on his schedule.)
When Usopp reaches for the briefcase, he discovers that the Franky Family (the same guys Zoro beat up) are in the process of absconding with two of the briefcases (Nami is the only one who had the sense to hold onto hers). The gang make a run for it.
Meanwhile, Paulie is being chased by debt collectors, coming in from the opposite direction.
When Paulie sees the Franky Family making their getaway, he uses his rope technique to hop down and hijack their bulls to make his escape (accidentally making off with the briefcases at the same time).
The Franky Family got their butts kicked, again. When Paulie (now with Oda-box) realizes that he’s stumbled into 200 million beli, he’s tempted to keep it.
327
Rob Lucci (now with Oda-box) seizes his unruly colleague by his ear and forces him to return the money that the Franky Family tried to steal.
We also get an Oda-box for Hattori, Rob Lucci’s pigeon. (N.B. “hato” is Japanese for “pigeon.”)
Usopp and Nami are beating up on Luffy for being careless (Usopp lost his case too, but he refuses to take all the blame). Nami yells at Luffy for not trying to get the money back. Luffy: “But the pigeon said he was gonna get it!” (Apparently Luffy is not fazed either by the fact that the pigeon talked, or that the pigeon calls itself “ore.”)
When Nami asks about the thugs who tried to steal the money, Kalifa says the Franky Family are junkyard dealers (解体屋, literally “dismantlers”). They double as bounty-hunters, preying on the pirates who come to town. Then they take the pirates’ ships and break them up for scrap.
Luffy says they weren’t that strong, but Iceberg says those were just the flunkies. He warns them not to underestimate the boss (kashira) of the gang, Franky.
[Water 7]Love Iceberg’s expression there. Haha, poor Iceberg. You can’t choose your family.
Lucci (for whom the pigeon is doing all the talking) crankily hauls Paulie to shore and tells him to apologize. Troublesome idiot.
Paulie and Lucci start battling each other. Iceberg shrugs it off; evidently their fights are nothing new.
Usopp is stunned by Lucci’s fighting ability.
Luffy yells at Paulie for fighting Lucci. “It was the pigeon that was making fun of you!” Paulie says whatever, Lucci was the one who hit him.
Luffy apparently thinks that the pigeon is not only doing all the talking but controlling Lucci’s body, LOL.
The pigeon introduces himself. “I’m Rob Lu… ahem! Hattori the pigeon! This guy is Rob Lucci.”
Nami finally figures out that Lucci is using ventriloquism. Paulie, roaring with laughter, confirms that Lucci never actually speaks for himself. He’s a weirdo.
(I feel like this is one of those places you have to watch the anime. I can’t read the manga without hearing Hattori’s pigeon voice.)
Paulie catches sight of Nami. He has a thing about women who show too much skin. (“Harenchi!”) Kalifa tries to calm him down, but he complains that Kalifa is just as bad.
Luffy concludes that Paulie is as much of a weirdo as Lucci.
Iceberg admits they’re all kind of weird (Kaku is one of them as well), but their skill can’t be beat.
When Iceberg walks into the shipyard, all the workers are delighted to see him. Luffy comments that “Ice no Ossan” sure is popular.
Kalifa explains that the seven shipbuilding companies in the city were once competitors, but five years earlier, Iceberg united them all into one organization, the Galley-La Company. All the shipwrights came together in their admiration of Iceburg’s genius shipwright ability.
Luffy: “Oi, Ossan! Wanna come be a pirate with me?” (Paulie and Kalifa are appalled by his rudeness.)
Iceburg says he doesn’t know if any of his shipwrights will be interested in the pirate life, but if any of them want to go, it’s fine by him. He’s not available, though.
Kaku returns from his expedition.
While Usopp, now holding the two cases they recovered from the thieves, is distracted by a cool cannon, the Franky Family is seen sneaking up behind him.
Iceberg asks Kaku what his evaluation of the ship is.
Zoro is sitting on the Merry, looking contemplative. In his memory, Kaku is saying that as a shipwright, he wouldn’t lie.
[Water 7]As a shipwright, at least. That much is true.
Looking around, Nami sees no sign of Usopp, but the cases are still there. Gathering around Kaku and Iceberg, they say they can pay as much as it takes to fix the Merry up like new and give it an upgrade.
Kaku breaks the bad news. Even with all their skill, the Merry can’t be repaired. The hull is too severely damaged. Even if they tried to fix it, the chance that the ship could reach the next island is zero.
Zoro is talking to Merry.
“Merry… is it true you can’t go any further?”
TBC