The struggles at Thriller Bark almost killed the crew of the Thousand Sunny. But through Zoro's selfless sacrifice they survived and are reinvigorated to continue on to Fish-man Island...along with the newest member of the crew, the living skeletal musician, Brook.
With a ship full of treasure and food, the Straw Hat pirates continue to follow the logpose to Fish-man Island. What better thing to do, to help recuperate, than take a bit of time to pamper yourself! They do so at a luxurious spa called, you guessed it, Spa Island! Here they meet two sisters who are trying to find their father, who had left them years earlier for his scientific research. They are attacked by none other than Foxy and his remaining two lackey crew. The pirates, aware of the abilities of their opponents, handily defeat them and help the sisters on their mission to rejoin their father and complete his research.
After this short distraction the crew is on their way forward with the plot. They find themselves at the other side of the Grand Line, the Red Line. Using a submarine stored on the ship, they investigate beneath the waves, looking for clues to how to get to Fish-man Island. The submarine goes deeper than Frankie built it to withstand and quickly surface before the crew is lost to the depths. Before they can plan their next step a giant sea beast attacks them. After quickly dispatching it, the monster pukes out a mermaid and her starfish companion. The mermaid, Kamie, thanks them for rescuing them. She and her starfish companion, Pappagu, had gotten swallowed a while ago and in that time their friend, who runs a takoyaki stand, had been kidnapped by a gang of slavers called the Macro Gang. Luffy agrees to help her rescue their friend...in exchange for food.
The Macro Gang has captured Kamies friend in order to set a trap, in the hopes of capturing her, to sell into slavery. Mermaids can fetch a lot of money on the slave market due to how elusive they are. The gangs leader, Iron Mask Duval sees another opportunity falling into his lap with the plan, when he learns that Luffy and his crew are with the mermaid. The Straw Hats arrive at the gangs base to find it suspiciously quiet. They also learn that Kamies captured friend is the octopus fishman Hatchi, who had previously been a member of Arlongs crew and caused them some trouble back on Nami's home island. Luffy changes his mind and refuses to rescue Hatchi, forcing Kamie and Pappagu to attempt to do it on their own. This springs the Marco Gangs trap, whose forces reveal themselves and attack the pirates with full force. Luffy and the rest jump into action to fend off the gang. In the process Luffy is knocked into the hideout where he comes face to face with their leader. In the struggle he knocks off the mans mask to reveal his face...
The leader, Duval, a large man who had previously been a low key thug and belligerent in a small town, suddenly found his easy life as a thug disrupted when the Marines began to try and capture him. The reason...he resembles the terrible drawn portrait on Sanji's wanted poster. Duval sees the answer to all of his sudden troubles before him and eagerly takes the opportunity to defeat Sanji and clear his 'good' name in the process. Duval underestimates the threat the Straw Hats pose and his gang is utterly defeated. Sanji, unwilling to accept anyone's life has been ruined more than his due to the terrible portrait, kicks Duvals face with such ferocity that it rebuilds his bone structure, changing how he looks.
With the kidnappers defeated and Hatchi rescued, the Straw Hats are given their promised reward and gorge on his takoyaki. While feasting, Duval returns and pledges his servitude to Sanji in exchange for making him a handsome man. He can resume his life as a petty thug without the Marines hunting him down thinking he's a Straw Hat pirate. Hatchi agrees to help Luffy get to Fish-man Island but they have to go to the nearby Sabaody Archipelago first, to prepare the Thousand Sunny for the journey into the depths of the ocean. He has a friend who is an expert at coating ships in a resin that will protect it from the crushing depths they need to travel through in order to reach the next island.
Sabaody is not an island, but rather a collection of enormous mangrove trees that have created a solid surface to allow for buildings and people. Hatchi warns them that they may encounter World Nobles, also referred to as celestial dragons. They are descendants of the families that had come together to form the World Government 800 years earlier. They are essentially above the law and if they feel like it, they have the ability to call on the Marines to dispatch an admiral to come to their aid. He tells them that what ever a celestial dragon does they are not to react, even if they kill someone. Sabaody exists in a gray area legally, even though it is close to the seat of the Wold Government. Slavers and pirates and bounty hunters can move around without much trouble from the Marines...that is unless they cause a problem. Even with the air of permission, he stresses how important it is for the Straw Hat pirates to refrain from drawing attention to themselves. In addition to that he and Kamie try to hide that they are fishmen,
After renting transportation they learn their first lesson regarding the ways of the island. They encounter a man who is begging for help from the shoppers around him. He is a pirate who has been sold into slavery and is trying to get to freedom. The problem is a collar clamped around his neck. He is begging people to help him remove it but they ignore his pleas. The reason becomes clear when the collar explodes, dealing the man a mortal wound. Before he dies the celestial dragon who owns him arrives, complaining about how bad of a slave he is and puts him out of his misery. Hatchi tells everyone to get on their knees and avoid looking at the celestial dragon. It takes every ounce of self control for Luffy to not avenge the poor pirates pointless death. Lesson learned.
On their way to meet Hatchis friend they thwart and attempt by bounty hunters to capture them, their presence on the archipelago has not gone unnoticed. They reach the place his friend stays to find he is not around. The woman who runs the bar, Shakki, tells them they have arrived at an interesting time. Aside from them there are nine other rookie pirates who have bounties over 100,000,00 berries on the archipelago. It is unusual for so many of the new crop of pirates to be gathered in one place as they all push into the new world, in search of more fortune and adventure. The bounty hunters are itching to cash in on so many high bounties and the world government surely has eyes on their movements as well. They head back out to try and search for Hatchi's friend, Rayleigh, heading to an amusement park first.
Unfortunately their fun is cut short when a slaver captures Kamie, realizing that she is a mermaid. The group rushes into action once her disappearance is noticed even calling Duval to have his gang help them search for her. They know the best place to find their friend is the slaver auction hall but how are they going to get her back without fighting for her. Duval and his gang spread through out the archipelago, gathering up the pirates, who have begun to spread out trying to track her down. They get to the auction hall after the days sales have already begun and discover that some of the celestial dragons are there, further complicating their plan. Nami is resolved to spend all of their treasure from Thrill Bark if necessary to buy Kamie. Those chances are squashed when the same celestial dragon they had encountered, killing the runaway slave, out bids everyone with an astronomical price to add the mermaid to his private collection. Luffy throws the place into chaos when he arrives, making a crash landing and ready to fight everyone, done with playing nice. Hatchi restrains him, revealing his fishman nature, causing the gathered humans to reveal their anti fishman racism. Luffy can no longer contain his anger and punches the celestial dragon, putting everyone life in danger.
The Marines arrive swiftly, surrounding the place and a call is placed to have the nearest admiral arrive to end the disturbance. In the confusion, Hatchi's friends Rayleigh, who had been captured himself, breaks out of his cell and removes his collar. He appears in the middle of the melee and saves Kamie from being killed by another celestial dragon, reuniting with Hatchi at last. Introductions are brief, but they learn that Rayleigh was once Gol D.Rodgers second in command and in one of the most wanted people on the planet. He eagerly agrees to help them, given their relationship with Hatchi. As they prepare to leave Luffy encounters two other rookie pirate captains, a first time meeting peers. The three captains face off against the gathered Marines, showing off their physical prowess to each other in a display of strength, easily defeating the soldiers. Once the threat is neutralized everyone scatters, fearing the imminent arrival of an admiral.
Back at Shakki's bar they come up with a plan to coat the ship and leave as soon as possible Unfortunately it will take Rayleigh three days so the crew needs to hide as much as possible given the sudden attention they have drawn by defying celestial dragons. They agree to split up and meet back at the ship once the coating is done. Unfortunately they don't get far before the weight of the World Government comes crashing down around them. The admiral who has been dispatched is Kizaru and his arrival sends everyone into a panic, wishing to flee his wrath, even if they are not the primary target. He is after Luffy and his crew but will arrest anyone else he comes across. Kizaru is not alone, with him are replicas of Kuma known as Pacifistas. They do not share Kuma's devil fruit power but are incredibly dangerous on their own. The Straw Hats exert almost all of their energy taking one of them down and just when they think they can return to trying to hide, Kizaru arrives.
Once again, at the end of their limit, faced with utter annihilation, the Straw Hats face a danger greater than anything they have ever encountered. Kizaru, one of three Marine Admirals, has the ability of light at his disposal and is impervious to any physical attack. To make things worse, more Pacifistas arrive along with Kizaru's nephew. Before Kizaru can kill Zoro, Rayleigh arrives to try and buy the rookie pirates time to escape. Even though Kizaru is distracted by the arrival of the highly wanted pirate, the Straw Hats escape seems impossible. The real Kuma arrives, coming to the archipelago for a separate matter, and begins to attack the Straw Hats as well. Instead of using his air expansion powers he uses his ability to 'disappear' anyone, as he had done to Perona at Thriller Bark. One by one the Straw Hats are removed from existence until all that is left is Luffy, who has fallen into the pits of despair and terror. And lastly Luffy is hit with Kuma's strange attack and the Straw Hats pirates are no more.
Oh and then we have some filler episodes set in the feudal Japan world...a palette cleanser if you will.
The story just continues to be really solid and well crafted, ever since the terrible arc that was Foxy. From Water Eight, through the intense struggle that was Enies Lobby and then into the mortal dangers of Thriller Bark, the story has been full speed ahead, pushing these whimsical pirates up against one danger after another. They nearly got wiped out in Thrill Bark. Bt now, facing an Admiral and Kuma they were definitely out classed. They have ambitious goals, at least Luffy and Zoro, but its these last few fights that really make you wonder if they can retain their optimistic confidence that set them on this journey so long ago. Luffy recognized this time that they had no chance to survive and was doing everything he could to keep everyone alive. But in the end, their luck and tenacity has run out and the overwhelming power of their foes has outdone them.
Kuma's ability doesn't make someone disappear from existence though, Kizaru's nephew explains that he can hit someone with such velocity that it sends them flaying through the sky....sending them far away form where they were hit, essentially throwing them to the other side of the ocean. The Straw Hats are not dead, they suddenly find themselves scattered to the winds and now we will move into some stories that will find them coming back together. They have come so close to their newest goal only to have their gains erased in an instant. They are now without a ship, there is no treasure and they do not have each other. It could be a long road to pick up where they left off from and they may be different before that happens.
The Sabaody arc has really ramped up the story telling and world building. We have been seeing slices of the powers in the World Government and as Luffy becomes more infamous they begin to pay more attention to him. He and other members of his crew are also benefiting from an amount of protection from some of those same power, for a variety of reasons. For unexplained reasons some members at the top of the decision making tree want to see them survive into an unknown and potentially radical future. Yet they can only grow and succeed on their own in the end and right now...they are at the bottom again. At this point as well the show is into its tenth year and the production values are noticeably improving. Over all the series is keeping at a slowly improving pace between both story its telling and the way its telling it. But how long can it keep this pace up?
Next up, the Isle of Woman arc before we get into an arc that seems quite interesting...but more about that when the time is right.
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