Isn’t it crazy that this manga is giving Wapol a better character arc than some main characters get in other stories? Maybe that’s an exaggeration but the fact that a disgraced and defeated king turns into a toy vendor is a wild direction to take. I don’t believe this stuff was ever added to the anime either, so many people might be missing out on this part of the story. Good afternoon, by the way, and welcome to volume 27 of One Piece. Today we’ll be diving deeper into the Upper Yard and Enel and his vassals. I’ll not waste your time and get right to it.
Speaking of not wasting time, things escalate rather rapidly. There are a few things of interest that happen in this volume, so let’s talk through them all. The first big thing is Enel and his vassals. Apparently they came to Skypiea from another skyborn region about six years ago. They fought the previous Kami, Ganfor, and hold his men hostage to this day. His four priests have one part of the island to rule over. Each of them have their own trial and the one we prominently see in this volume is Satori’s trial of balls. He fights our trio of Luffy, Sanji and Usopp and although he does significant damage to all three of them, he’s eventually bested by their chaotic teamwork. The other three fight the Shandians but are eventually called back by Enel himself.
So who are the Shandians, then? They’re the people that the strange guy in the mask belonged to. His name is Wyper and he’s a descendant of Nolan’s friend: Kalgara. Ganfor explains to us that they are the original people who lived on the earth part of Skypiea. Ganfor’s people were enamored with the earth that mysteriously appeared 400 years ago and stole it from the people who used to live there. What’s that line from Bo Burnham’s song again?
Genocide the natives, say you got to it first.
Yeah, that sounds about right. Ganfor regrets all of this and has been trying to make amends, and in his words it was even working. But after Enel and his people arrived things got more complicated once more and now there is an anger in Wyper – and to a lesser extent in his allies – that can’t just be calmed down.
Speaking of having soil in Skypiea, we find out pretty soon where this came from. It turns out that El Diablo didn’t sink into the sea but instead was shot up in the sky through the knock-up stream. I do think people who were reading the manga weekly at that point in the story had probably figured it out by that point but when I first watched this arc I was watching a dozen episodes a day so I got there faster than I could have time to ponder. So to quickly recap the timeline here. The Shandians are descended from the people of Jaya and were sent up into the sky 400 years ago. There they were chased out of their homeland by Ganfor’s people who were in turn chased out again by Enel’s people. That is how the world works.
Ganfor gets seriously wounded while trying to defend Chopper and the Going Merry. When the crew manages to reconvene they have a feast on a campfire. That’s what this is all about, right? You beat up some strange priest, almost get burned to death and then when you have a moment you just relax with your friends. When Usopp goes out for a piss at night he encounters a spooky ghost though. We don’t quite learn what this ghost is yet, but we will in a little while. For now it seems this mysterious ghost has helped the crew out by repairing their ship and even being aware of what the ship is supposed to look like, since they didn’t repair the wings and the other flying creature elements the crew added to get to Skypiea.
The volume ends with all three parties being deep into Upper Yard. Enel has just given his priests the right to go wherever they please on the island and the Shandians are still trying to make their way towards Enel. Meanwhile the straw hats just want to find gold because at the end of the day, that’s what pirates do. Unfortunately the group gets separated once again because they’re all idiots. Well, except Robin. Oh, and there’s a giant snake.
Skypiea is one of those arcs where a lot happens even though it feels like very little happens. I’m hoping to dive more into the lore when we get further into this arc, since quite a few things are still mysteries at this point. I am enjoying myself though and I hope you are too. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you here again next week.
Opal Kaharis 