It’s the final volume of the third box set and also the final volume of the Punk Hazard arc. Both Punk Hazard and its predecessor Fishman Island are pretty low on my arc tier list, but the upcoming arcs – long as they may be – will be a lot more interesting I think. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and finish up the shenanigans on the island of fire and ice first.
We start off the volume with a classic Zoro getting lost gag. He’s the only pirate in the world that would find the One Piece by accident somehow, by going the complete wrong way. Caesar finally reveals his true colors to everyone and the entire building is about to become a wasteland of death. Luckily, Luffy has their back and fights Caesar in hopes of turning the tables. With Caesar, Virgo and Monet all taken out, the surviving people on Punk Hazard gather to make their escape. It is unfortunate that Kin’emon seems to have been taken by the deadly gas.
While all of this is going on, Baby 5 and Buffalo, two of Doflamingo’s underlings, arrive at Punk Hazard. They’re here to collect Caesar but run into Franky who uses his high tech robot to fend them off. They think he might be a pacifista and it does make sense since the pacifista were created by Vegapunk and Franky made use of the good doctor’s laboratory in his old home in Baldimore. (Yes Google docs, I understand that you want to change that to Baltimore, but I promise you I intended it to be spelled this way.)
Desperation sets in for Doflamingo’s men and the Joker himself orders Monet to blow the building sky-high, sacrificing herself. It is a testament to their loyalty that she is willing to do so, but unfortunately for her, she gets stabbed to death by Caesar before she can accomplish this task. It turns out that when Law gave Smoker’s heart to Caesar, he actually gave Monet’s heart instead. Thus the gas man accidentally kills his secretary, saving the people on the island. While Nami and Usopp make short work of Baby 5 and Buffalo, Doflamingo and Kizaru are headed towards Punk Hazard.
It turns out Kin’emon was not beyond saving and he reunites with Momonosuke. The G5 navy makes a point of not colluding with pirates until dinner is served and then asks for an immediate ceasefire. With all the enemies on Punk Hazard defeated, it’s time for a celebration. Smoker is worried that Law is using Luffy but it’s likely more the other way around as it is revealed which of the four Emperors they are going after. It is Kaido and Luffy’s only concern is that he doesn’t want to go after Shanks first. But his end goal is defeating all of the emperors and becoming the Pirate King, so he has to dream big enough.
After Luffy, Law and the gang leave for Greenbit – with the intent of going to Dressrosa afterwards – the G5 soldiers and Smoker are attacked by a furious Doflamingo. Smoker almost gets killed but is saved at the last moment by Kuzan, the former marine admiral. Doflamingo has to relent here and leaves the island with Baby 5 and Buffalo. Smoker and Kuzan have a heart to heart and Kuzan informs him that he’s still just himself, but he realizes he doesn’t have to be part of the navy to do good things in the world. This makes some later revelations in the manga very interesting and I have many theories about Kuzan, but as of right now he’s just a wandering sailor who is helping out an old friend.
With the alliance all but set in stone, the gang travels to Greenbit. Doflamingo steps down from the seven warlords and as king of Dressrosa, but it doesn’t look like his people have put in any effort to leave the palace, so who knows what he’s really scheming. He’s seen talking to Diamante, one of his executives who is in charge of the large colosseum of Dressrosa and he’s also shown to have something that might be of particular interest to Luffy. That’s right, he has taken possession of the Flame Flame fruit that belonged to Ace before he sadly passed away in the marineford war. Luffy would definitely want to have this as a memento, so I’m sure Doflamingo will lure him into a trap with it. We also get the news that Admiral Fujitora, one of the replacements for Kuzan/Akainu, is on his way to Dressrosa to get answers from Doflamingo. Things are about to heat up and with the Dressrosa arc about to start, let’s take a couple of weeks off to compose ourselves and have a look back at previous arcs. I’ll hopefully see you all here again with the next post and as always, thanks for reading!
Opal Kaharis 