Follow along as I read One Piece, one chapter a day
Tomorrow I have a good chunk of time to catch up with these posts. I really was busy up until now, so I’ve had to put off the posts, but I have been reading the chapters.
Until tomorrow, then.
More delays, sorry. Just busy at the moment.
Original serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #16
Color pages: page 1 (title page)
Siam throws Zoro’s swords down the slope, so Zoro rushes and slashes him, but only manages to cut his clothing. It turns out Siam can bend his body like a cat, and so avoided the attack.
Siam pounces on Zoro to hold him down, while Butchie jumps up and smashes down with his “Cat-apult Cat-astrophe” attack, cracking the ground. But Zoro manages to barely escape Siam’s hold before Butchie’s attack hits.
Butchie and Siam them charge Zoro with repeated slashes (”Pussywillow March”), which Zoro is barely able to block. Usopp attempts to help with a lead star, but Zoro moves in front of it to take the hit, which creates an opening for Butchie and Siam to slash Zoro’s chest! Recovering from this attack, Zoro yells at Usopp that if he interferes, they’ll go after him, too. Zoro saved Usopp and Nami by taking that hit!
Nami realizes that Zoro needs his other swords, and rushes down the slope to get them, but Jango notices her and slashes her right shoulder with his hypnotism ring/chakram, causing her to fall to the ground.
Just then, however, Kuro appears, mad as hell!
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That’s not good. The whole situation right now is just really bad. Zoro could barely fend off Butchie and Siam with only one sword, and actually took a hit… Nami is down because of Jango, so she can’t get Zoro’s swords back… Usopp is too injured to really fight… Luffy is still asleep… And now Kuro is here, who his entire crew is trembling in fear of at the moment.
But Zoro is smart, protecting Usopp and Nami like that. They definitely would have been killed had Usopp’s lead star hit either of the Meowban Brothers. And speaking of them, they are quite strong. Siam is very flexible, and Butchie is incredibly heavy/strong, cracking the ground like that. They’re definitely tough opponents.
But now that Kuro’s here, man, I just don’t know what they’re going to do. At the moment, there’s no way Zoro could win against either the Meowban Brothers or (I assume) Kuro. Jango’s strength is still in question, but those others are definitely too strong for Zoro to defeat with only one sword… and while injured. I guess the only choices now are to either get Zoro his swords back, or wake Luffy up somehow.
Up until now, Luffy and crew’s victory has always been guaranteed… But not this time.
Original serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #15
Kaya wakes up from a nightmare about a crazed Usopp, and discovers Merry. He’s still alive, and tells her the truth about Klahadore, and how Usopp was actually trying to save the village back then. They decide that since Klahadore wants her fortune, she’ll go and talk to him. They think she’s the only one who can save the village now.
Pepper, Carrot, and Onion are discussing Onion seeing Klahadore heading to the beach, and all admit that they think Usopp was telling the truth the day before. Then they spot Kaya walking on her own in their direction.
At the beach, the Meowban Brothers, Siam and Butchie, hop off the Black Cat’s ship. Jango orders them to attack Zoro, but they’re too scared to do it. After a while, Siam eventually charges him, but he’s still super scared. However, once he gets close enough, he suddenly gets serious and swipes at Zoro with his claws in a surprise attack. Zoro blocks the attack with his sword, but when Siam jumps back it turns out that he somehow managed to steal Zoro’s other two swords!
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This isn’t good… Kaya’s going to get herself killed if she confronts Kuro. There’s no way he’d take her mansion and money but leave her alive. He wants to make a clean escape after this operation is over, and that means no one who knows about him can be left alive. She’s probably going to end up interfering with the fight somehow… This isn’t good.
But Merry’s still alive, at least! Kuro definitely made a mistake by trying to kill him early, since Kaya was bound to find him lying there or know that something was wrong once she woke up.
And now Siam has stolen two of Zoro’s swords… Luffy is asleep, Zoro has one sword, and he has two opponents (not including Jango). And then Kuro is on his way, and Kaya and Usopp’s pirates are going to add another dynamic to this battle…
The odds seem to be against Luffy’s crew+Usopp+the villagers right now. It’s up to Zoro, then, to fight all these opponents, unless Luffy can manage to wake up…
Next chapter, tomorrow!
Original serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #14
Kuro decides that his crew needs to be punished (killed) for being late.
Jango hypnotizes his men into being super strong, but Luffy also falls into the hypnosis. He uses his Gum-Gum Gatling and easily defeats the other pirates.
He then pulls the sternpost off the Black Cat’s ship, but before he can use it as a weapon, Jango puts him to sleep with a hypnosis. The sternpost falls down on top of Luffy, but it doesn’t hurt him. Jango then calls to someone called Butchie onboard the ship, and another one of the Black Cats says it’s the Meowban Brothers, the ship guards.
Meanwhile, Onion notices Kuro, who’s heading towards the north beach…
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Oh wow, Luffy pulled off the entire sternpost. That’s pretty intense. He probably would have finished the battle had he been able to use that, haha. But now that Jango has put him to sleep, we’re basically down to only Zoro being able to fight. If these Meowban Brothers can fight, I guess it’ll be them versus Zoro. Or maybe Jango will fight Zoro, if he can…
Hm, but Kuro’s movements are unsettling. He’s going to kill his whole crew for being late? You know, I could imagine him actually doing it once he gets there… and then Luffy’s crew+Usopp might have to fight him, too…
And Onion has noticed him… I wonder if he’ll warn anyone else… or possibly even get himself killed if he confronts Kuro. In any case, I think he’s starting to realize that Usopp’s story wasn’t a lie, after all.
We’ll see in the next chapter (I hope)!
Original serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #13
Usopp stands up to the Black Cat pirates, while the pirates discover the treasure on Nami’s ship. Usopp tries to bargain with it, but the pirates obviously realize that they can take the treasure and still do whatever else they want. Jango prepares to hypnotize Usopp, but Nami catches up and hits him in the head with her staff just in time (for trying to bargain with her treasure, and to prevent Jango from hypnotizing him).
The pirates begin to charge at Nami and Usopp, but the two of them throw Usopp’s caltrops out at the pirates.
Meanwhile, Zoro finally makes it up the hill using his swords to stab the ground for support, and Luffy is still lost…
The caltrops have temporarily stopped the Black Cat pirates, and Usopp fires his lead stars from his slingshot to further slow them down. Nami realizes that she threw caltrops behind Usopp and herself, too…
Just then, one of the pirates comes forth and smashes Usopp’s head with a stone hammer! Usopp grabs the pirate while on the ground, and the pirate continues to hit him in the head, though Usopp says he’ll never let them pass.
Another pirate rushes to stab Usopp, but Nami hits the pirate with her staff to save Usopp. A different pirate then attacks Nami, and Nami blocks his attack, but is slammed against the cliff wall by the force of the attack.
Jango says that they’re already late, and to not bother with killing them.
Usopp again grabs another pirate, but the pirate kicks him away. Usopp screams out in desperation for the pirates to stop… and the pirates are suddenly knocked back through the air!
Luffy and Zoro have arrived, both in a bad mood!
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All right, safe now. I’m not even sure how Usopp survived after getting hit so many times in the head by a giant rock, but perhaps it was out of sheer resolve to protect his village.
But now that Luffy, mad at Usopp for not telling him which way was north, and Zoro, pissed off at Nami for leaving him behind in the oil, have arrived, they finally stand a chance at protecting the village again. So here’s where the real battle will begin.
Also, I liked the dialogue between Nami and Usopp. They were both trying to get the other one to do the fighting, which was pretty funny. And Nami acts like she cares about nothing but treasure, but she saved Usopp a couple of times, risking her own life the second time.
And Usopp’s determination to protect his village is amazing. He never stopped, no matter how much he was injured. He surely would have died very soon had Luffy and Zoro not arrived when they did.
But now that they’re here, it’s time to start the fight… Let’s go, in the next chapter.
Original serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #12
Color pages: 1-4 (pages 2-3 were the title page)
Luffy and Zoro say they’re going to help Usopp. He’s outnumbered, and pretty scared. Usopp denies that he’s scared until his legs start shaking, but then admits that he’s scared, as anyone would be when going up against Captain Kuro’s pirates. Luffy and Zoro say they’re not laughing; they’re impressed. That’s why they’re going to help. After all, who’d risk their life out of pity? They begin to come up with a plan… If they can defend this one path, the village will be all right, since every other beach on the island is just sheer cliffs.
Back at the mansion, Kuro discovers the glasses Kaya bought for him, and Merry explains for what occasion they are. However, Kuro smashes them under his foot and says his real present from her will be her entire mansion! These actions begin to reveal his true self to Merry, who yells to Kaya to run away, but Kuro slashes him… and later it’s revealed that Kaya is still asleep — she heard nothing…
On Kuro’s ship, the Black Cat, a bit before dawn, the crew wakes up Jango, acting captain, (even though he wanted to be woken up when the sun was out). Regardless, he tells them good morning and to set sail!!
At the beach, Usopp came up with a plan to cover the path in oil, so the pirates won’t be able to climb up it, and so Usopp and company can attack from above. Nami cautions to not slip in it themselves…
Usopp says that when it comes to his daring ideas and his slingshot, he has absolute confidence!
Dawn arrives.
The Black Cat makes landfall!!
But… where Luffy and company are, nothing’s going on. Nami says she hears something to the north of them… And Usopp reveals that there’s another landing just like this one on the north beach; they’re on the wrong beach! He just assumed the pirates would land here because this is where Kuro and Jango had their secret meeting!
Luffy begins to head north, and Usopp heads out too. Nami begins to slip on the oil, though, and grabs Zoro to save herself, sending him all the way down the hill. She says sorry, but she’s got to protect their treasure, which is at the north landing!
At the north landing, the pirates start heading up the pass, only to be stopped by Usopp’s slingshot! Meanwhile, Zoro is struggling to get up the oily hill, and Luffy is… lost, since “north” to him meant “the direction that seemed coldest”……….
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All right, so they had a good plan and everything, but messed up where the pirates would be coming. Ah man, Usopp… But since Luffy and crew’s boats were on the north shore, I wonder why they didn’t question why Usopp was so sure they’d be landing on the south shore. He said he has absolute confidence in his ideas, though, so maybe that convinced everyone.
In any case, now they’re starting this fight with some disadvantages. There’s no oil on the north path, and right now, only Usopp is at the top of it, ready to defend it. Luffy is lost, Nami is still on her way (to protect the treasure, which is obviously the only important thing here -_-), and Zoro is stuck at the bottom of the south beach. This is going to be a lot tougher than it needed to be.
And wow, Kuro killed Merry. That’s insane… the first casualty of this battle. But now he’s going to really have to make sure that Kaya doesn’t discover Merry’s body when she wakes up. It was probably too early to kill him, but I guess he couldn’t hold back any longer after three long years… Crazy…
So, here we go. The battle has begun. We’ll find out how it continues in tomorrow’s chapter…
Oh, and the color in this chapter was very good looking. Beautiful two-page title spread.
Originally published in: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #11
Merry, Kaya’s other butler, hands her some special eyeglasses, which she is planning on giving to Klahadore for his third year anniversary of having been at the mansion.
Meanwhile, the townspeole begin to chase Usopp for his ‘lying’, and back at the beach, Luffy has woken up and is explaining to Nami, Zoro, and the three of Usopp’s pirates Kuro’s plan.
Usopp runs to Kaya’s mansion, and tells her about Kuro’s plan, but she does not believe him, and just thinks he’s trying to get back to Klahadore through her.
The two guards of the mansion then arrive, but Usopp uses a slingshot to knock them both down. Kaya won’t escape with him, so he grabs her arm, but she slaps him. Merry then appears from behind Kaya with a gun, and fires at Usopp, hitting him in the arm! Merry then tells the townspeople who are chasing Usopp that he’s gotten violent, he’s a criminal!
While Usopp is walking on a path, outside of the village, crying about everything that happened, his pirates and Luffy and crew meet up with him. Usopp hides his injured arm and his tears, and tells them all that the whole plan was just a lie… he made it all up. Luffy is slightly confused, but Nami and Zoro realize that Usopp is lying right now. Usopp’s pirates are disappointed in him, that he’d stoop so low and hurt someone like that with his lies, and they return to their homes.
At night, Usopp admits to Luffy, Zoro, and Nami that no one believes him because he’s a liar… But he loves this village! He wants to protect his neighbors! There’s not much time to plan, but he’s going to fight! This time his tale will come true!
Zoro comments that Usopp’s got a noble heart, sending his crew away so that he could face the danger alone. Luffy tells him that they’re going to help him. Nami adds in the clause that the treasure’s all hers.
It ends with Usopp a bit confused about what he’s hearing…
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Aw man, his friendship with Kaya is in serious trouble now. She thinks he’s, basically, a horrible person right now. It’s so sad, so frustrating that no one believes him, not even Kaya or his own crew. And he even got shot by Merry… This is getting nuts; there’s no way he can go back to the village right now. I guess… they’ll believe him tomorrow, but… it’ll be too late to escape once Kuro’s pirates are actually attacking.
Which is why he’s got to defend the village. I don’t know how much he can actually do on his own, so with Luffy and Zoro (and Nami) helping, I think they definitely stand a chance now. And if Kuro and Jango and the rest of his crew are anything like Luffy and crew’s previous opponents, winning should actually not be that hard. But it’s completely up in the air just how powerful Kuro and crew are… We’ll see.
So, the attack begins in the morning. That gives them the night to prepare. Let’s see if they can pull this off and defend the village.
Original serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #10
In talking to Django, it’s revealed that Klahadore is actually Captain Kuro, a pirate! Three years ago, he started a plan to come to this island, gain the trust of the people here, then have Kaya hypnotized by Django into willing her fortune to Klahadore, and having her killed in an “accident”! Usopp notes to Luffy that he’s heard of Captain Kuro before, and that he heard that he was executed by the marines three years ago. Django then reveals (while talking to Kuro) how this was part of the plan, that Kuro’s crew has been spreading rumors about his death for the past three years. Django says that his share of the spoils had better be worth it, for waiting and working on this plan for three years, and Kuro promises that if his plan succeeds, Django will get what he deserves. Kuro also later clarifies that the deaths of Kaya’s parents were not part of his plan.
But this is the cunning of Captain Kuro… In this way, he can get the money, and avoid having to live like a fugitive.
Of course, Luffy stands up at this point and tells them to not kill Kaya! They spot both Luffy and Usopp, and Luffy says that they heard everything! Django uses his hypnosis to put Luffy, and himself, into a deep sleep, causing Luffy to fall off the cliff, and presumably (to the other three present at the scene), to his death. Usopp didn’t look at the pendulum, but Kuro lets him get away, since no one in town will believe him anyway. He orders Django to attack the town with the rest of Kuro’s crew at dawn.
Usopp runs back to town, and sure enough, no one believes him, and they’re actually getting even madder at him than usual, since he’s apparently been doing this a lot lately… Meanwhile, Kuro rallies his men, Kaya is seen asking the other butler in her mansion where Klahadore is (and the other butler telling her that he said he had some business in town), and Luffy is sound asleep on the beach, not dead at all…
———————
Wow, so that’s the plan. Klahadore is actually Kuro. This whole plan is … insane. But really clever. Truly, Kuro is a cunning pirate.
And Django is a crew member of Kuro. That explains a lot about who exactly he is, too.
I wonder, though, what would they have done had Kaya’s parents not died? It would have been obvious to the townspeople that something was up if they had left their fortune to Klahadore instead of Kaya (which they would have done because of Django’s hypnosis). Everyone would be wondering why they willed everything to their butler, rather than to Kaya, their daughter… Kuro says that he didn’t kill her parents, and that their deaths weren’t part of his plan, but… I wonder what his original plan was, then? Hm…
And yeah, of course Luffy has to be so obvious and direct about everything… But this may work to his advantage in some way, since they think he’s dead. Although it probably would have been better if he had never made himself get spotted in the first place.
And man, no one believes Usopp. That has to be crushingly frustrating… But, it’s only natural that they wouldn’t believe him. I guess we just have to hope that Zoro and Luffy can manage to defend the island, if the villagers aren’t going to escape.
We’ll see… The attack starts at dawn…
Original serialization: Weekly Shounen Jump 1998, #9
Color pages: Page 1 (title page)
After Klahadore accuses Usopp of only wanting Kaya’s fortune, Usopp prepares to attack the butler again, but is stopped by Kaya, who doesn’t want any more violence. Usopp leaves the mansion, and at the behest of Klahadore, says he’ll never come again. Everyone else is kicked off the property, too.
Back inside the mansion, Klahadore explains to Kaya that while he knows he went too far, he only wants to protect Kaya. It’s his duty after her father took him in three years ago, when Klahadore was marooned on this island after making one small mistake on the ship he had worked aboard. Kaya understands, but continues to insist that Usopp is a very good person.
Zoro, Nami, Carrot, and Pepper are on a path when Onion comes running back, saying there’s a weird man coming this way. A man walking backwards, who calls himself Django the Hypnotist (and insists he’s not strange) appears. The kids want him to do a trick, so he uses a pendulum to put them asleep, but also puts himself to sleep in the process.
At the beach, Usopp is watching the sea when Luffy suddenly pops out from a tree in front of him. Luffy tells him that he knows his father, Yasopp, and that he’s with Shanks’ crew! He also explains that Yasopp is a great shot, and says that he’s a great pirate. This gives Usopp even more pride in his father.
Then they talk about Klahadore, and Usopp says he’d consider going back if the butler begged him. Luffy asks if he’s talking about that butler, and points down… Klahadore and Django are down at the shore, having a conversation! Usopp notes that he’s never seen Django before.
Klahadore asks Django if he’s prepared everything necessary to carry out the plan, and Django replies that Operation “Murder Miss Kaya” is ready to go any time!!!!
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WHAT?! That’s insane! So… Klahadore wants to murder Kaya?! I guess… it must be for her fortune… But who’s this Django guy (who can’t even control his own hypnosis tricks well)? What does he have to do with Klahadore? Is he a hitman or something?
Well, this is pretty nuts. This completely changes Klahadore… Unless he’s only pretending to work with Django? Agh, I don’t know… I guess we’ll find out more in the next chapter.
On the brighter side of things, it’s quite an awesome coincidence that Luffy knows Usopp’s father. And sort of sad-ish that he probably knows him better than Usopp himself, at least as far as Yasopp as a pirate goes…
Yes, pirate pride, good stuff.
Hm, so I think starting with the next chapter some important stuff is going to be going down. Stay tuned.
