Most manga don’t make it to fifty published volumes. I don’t know the statistics, but I’m confident that a lot don’t even make it to ten volumes. That makes it all the more impressive that after reading volume 50 of One Piece, we’re still not even halfway done with everything that’s out. And that’s not even taking into account what is yet to come. This volume is labeled as the first volume in the Sabaody Archipelago saga but in reality it mainly deals with Thriller Bark and its aftermath. We don’t even see Sabaody yet, so I’m going to treat this as the final volume in the Thriller Bark Saga.
We start off with Luffy and his crew fighting against Moria. In a desperate move to stay up, Moria has absorbed all of the shadows on the island, thus effectively killing his zombie army and is trying to survive until dawn. If Luffy doesn’t defeat him before dawn arrives, then everyone who is out in the open will die due to exposure to sunlight. Moria’s powers would be terrifying in a less lazy and arrogant man. Of course this is a shonen manga and Luffy ends up defeating Moria just in time. Hogback and Absalom flee the island with their master’s unconscious body and the crew has finally defeated their second member of the Seven Warlords. Everyone has their shadows back and we get some glimpses of people all over the world who no longer have to live in darkness. But speaking of the Seven Warlords, isn’t there something we’re forgetting?
Right as everyone is celebrating their well earned victory, Bartholomew Kuma shows up. The giant person with paws for hands is here to take care of Moria’s sloppy work and deal with any witnesses. After displaying several of his paw-paw powers, he compresses the air into a bomb and takes out everyone in the open area. At least most people. A few people managed to stay conscious. One of these people is Zoro, who manages to slash Kuma, only to reveal that his body is built out of metal. He’s a cyborg called a Pacifista, built by the legendary scientist Vegapunk. After Zoro refuses to sell out his captain and Sanji gets knocked out for trying to play the hero, he gets offered a deal. Kuma can extract someone’s pain and suffering and turn it into a floating ball of misery. If you absorb that, you take someone else’s pain for yourself. If Zoro accepts taking all of Luffy’s pain from the battle into his own body, Kuma will let the people go. Zoro does this and we get the legendary scene where Sanji asks a blood covered Zoro what happened and he replies with: Nothing, nothing at all. Needless to say, Zoro is out for the count, but everyone is happy that they survived.
Brook reveals some more information about his past. The Rumbar pirates, led by Captain York, were quite notorious to the point that Brook even had a bounty of 33 million before he died. Brook’s story is quite sad and we learn a little bit more about their parting with Laboon. At the revelation that Laboon is still waiting for him, Brook cries out in joy. He formally joins the Straw Hat crew. He’s going to travel the world and get back to Laboon from the correct direction, like he promised 50 years ago. With their 9th crew member secured, the Straw Hats set out to sail to Sabaody Archipelago. Before they leave, Lola reveals that her mother is a famous pirate and gives Nami a vivre card that leads to her mother. Fans at this point speculated who this famous pirate could be and many guessed correctly. This prompts Luffy to show off Ace’s vivre card, revealing that it’s quite burnt. Lola explains that this means Ace is in danger. After some consideration, Luffy decides to press on and not meddle in Ace’s adventure.
On their way to Sabaody and Fishman Island, the crew gets into some trouble. After fighting a sea monster, it spits out a mermaid named Caimie and a talking starfish named Pappagu. Can I just say that I love the explanation for why Pappagu can talk? There’s no mysterious powers or anything, he was just convinced he was a human and by the time he realized his error, he already learned how to talk. That’s such a fun way to introduce a character that makes no sense on paper but just works if you give it a moment. Caimie then calls her friend who has a takoyaki stand. He’ll feed the Straw Hats for free as a thanks for saving Caimie. This is where she learns that her friend – an octopus fishman named Hachi – has been captured by Duval, the leader of the flying fish gang, who is working with some slavers. Nami, Sanji and Zoro realize that the name Hachi is not unfamiliar to them, but they go to rescue him anyway. He needs to give them free food after all. We see a shot of Duval wearing a mask and armor, and he claims to have personal problems with the Straw Hat Pirates. I wonder what that could mean.
Now we’re properly starting the Sabaody arc. There’s only a couple of volumes in this arc but a lot is going to happen in the near future. I hope you’re enjoying this read through the older volumes of One Piece as much as I am. As always, thanks for reading and I’ll be here again next Wednesday!
Opal Kaharis 