The Everlasting One Piece Readalong: Vol. 4-6
Last time on the Everlasting One Piece Readalong, we covered the beginning of Luffy’s adventures and the addition of his first two crew members! Start there if you’re new!
At the end of previous collection, the truth about Klahadore was revealed—he’s really Captain Kuro of the Black Cat pirates! But who will believe Usopp after all his playful lying over the years? Turns out, not very many people. That leaves Usopp struggling with his past choices and terror about people he cares about being hurt. Luckily, he’s got Luffy and his crew around to help him save the day. But when they interrupt Kuro’s plans, nothing goes the way it should, for them or the attacking pirates…
Side Segment Introduction: Side Story Alert
This omnibus, containing Volumes 4, 5, and 6, also feature the start of the chapter cover side stories. Beginning with Chapter 35, Oda begins to tell the stories of characters we’ve seen before, characters we’ll soon meet, and other neat adventures from around the world. There will often be places Luffy and his crew have been before. They’re fascinating, entertaining, and incredibly important worldbuilding for later volumes. Every time a new side story begins, we’ll let you know the chapter so you can easily follow along. The side stories are one panel, are always at the beginning of each chapter. You’ll be very happy you paid close attention to them later on.
Editor’s Note: Due to fan outrage popular demand, we’re going to be using the fan-favored spelling for Luffy’s sword-weilding first mate. He is Zolo no more; from now on we’re calling him Zoro. For more on this change, read up on the controversy.
Volume 4-6 Overview
Luffy’s new friend Usopp is pitted against sneaky pirates who are planning to unfold an elaborate murder plot against Usopp’s good friend! Plus, out in the sea there’s a restaurant that floats along and serves pirates, government officials, and regular passersby. Where this be where Luffy finds another crew member, or will it be where Zoro meets a bloody end? Plus, a double-cross no one saw coming!
Our adventure continues…
Kaya is celebrating Klahadore’s three years of service, and it’s obvious her fondness for him runs deep. Usopp, in a panic, rushes to tell Kaya the truth about her butler—he’s really a pirate! In Usopp’s determination, he fails to account for how much he’s undermined his own credibility. Kaya doesn’t believe him, and after harsh words from her, and a violent altercation with the guards, Usopp runs away. Kaya, of course, is already weak, and passes out into the arms of one of her servants, Merry.
When Usopp meets his tiny pirate crew—made up of Onion, Pepper, and Carrot—on the road, accompanied by Luffy and his crew, he plays the whole story off as a lie. Given his past behavior, the kids buy it completely, and head home for the day, disappointed in their captain for trying to get someone in serious trouble for fun.
Back on the beach, Usopp bares his soul to Luffy, Zoro, and Nami. Usopp’s enjoyment of playing pranks on his fellow villagers and friends has resulted in terrible consequences. Usopp is terrified of facing the pirates, but he knows he doesn’t have a choice since he created the situation in that makes his village unprepared. His lies—and Kuro’s convincing Klahadore persona that hid his true identity as Captain Kuro for years—means that no amount of pleading with people to believe him will save the village. Usopp’s honor is at stake. He knows he has to stand up and fight for the home that he loves no matter what.
Usopp isn’t a natural fighter, but one of my favorite things about him is that he’s quick to rush to the defense of people at risk, even when he wants to run away. His bravery in the face of an entire crew of pirates doesn’t go unnoticed by Luffy. The Straw Hats immediately agree to help Usopp foil Kuro’s plans.
As Usopp prepares for battle, Kuro arrives home to find Kaya in an exhausted sleep. Merry explains about the excitement with Usopp, and Kuro, in a confident, bold move, decides to play his hand early and reveal his true piratical intentions. He wants Kaya’s whole estate, and for him to take it she has to die. Merry, appalled, doesn’t have time to warn Kaya before Kuro removes him as an obstacle.
Back on the beach, Usopp’s plan to stop the pirates is taking shape. One of Usopp’s strengths is leveraging his intelligence to make up for his lack of physical skill. Luffy has his Devil Fruit power and Zoro is an excellent swordsman, but Usopp’s weapon of choice is a slingshot, which is a long range weapon. When it comes to physical altercations, Usopp tries to think outside of the box. We see his first official anti-pirate trick as he and the Straw Hats block the entrance to the island by pouring oil on the only slope available. It’s a pretty brilliant plan.
Except Usopp completely forgets that there’s another way to get to the village—and therefore, to Kaya—on the other side of the island.
There’s a mad scramble to reach the other side in time to stop the pirates from descending in full force. Unfortunately, Nami and Zoro accidentally get caught in their own trap, Luffy gets lost, and Usopp arrives as the pirates land—alone. When Nami finally arrives, both she and Usopp are facing the pirates without their heavy hitters. Pitted against fresh fighters with weapons, Usopp and Nami do the best they can, but they’re no match for the full force of Captain Kuro’s Black Cat pirates.
It seems like their plan to stop the pirates has failed, but Luffy and Zoro arrive to save them just in time, complete with solid punches. Of course, Django (who might remind you of a certain famous pop artist, but we’ll let you be the judge…), Captain Kuro’s second, wastes no time in hypnotizing his crew so they believe they have superior strength and energy. Predictably, Luffy also manages to be hypnotized and wrecks havoc on the pirates and their ship before Django manages to render him unconscious. It leaves the playing field more level, but Luffy out of the fight.
In the village, Kaya wakes from a terrible nightmare to another terrible situation when she discovers Merry—who survived! He’s seriously injured, though, and tells Kaya that only she has the power to stop Kuro now. She takes him to heart and heads toward the beach, but Usopp’s tiny pirate crew sees her and is worried, because Kaya doesn’t go for long walks due to her sickness. They’re suspicious.
The battle on the beach rages on. While Luffy is down for the count, Zoro tries to keep the fight focused on himself to protect Nami and Usopp. When he loses two of his swords, Nami attempts to get them back, but Django attacks her. It looks dire, until the Black Cat pirates realize that Captain Kuro has arrived to see why his plans have been derailed. Once he drops his Klahadore persona, Kuro is vicious, mean, and impatient. His remaining crew doesn’t enjoy his verbal abuse, and they let him know. Then he shows them that although he hasn’t been a pirate for three years, he hasn’t lost his edge.
Zoro and Nami continue the fight by themselves, but the Black Cat pirates are too much. Nami attempts to rouse Luffy; her tactic is to stop directly on his head. Django launches a chakram, but instead of hitting Nami, it hits Luffy, who’s only just woken up. They reaffirm their resolve to win the fight, and exchange a very subtle and sweet moment. Then Luffy steps into battle.
Before he can take the Black Cat pirates to school, though, from the cliff Kaya calls out to Kuro. She pleads with him to stop, but he won’t. Instead, he mocks and ridicules her, and lets her know the only end to his plan is her dead and gone so he doesn’t have to listen to her anymore. He also wants her estate in his name. Klahadore as Kaya knew him is completely gone and Kuro is back and determined to see his plans through. Usopp, unable to listen to Kaya being maligned, attacks Kuro, only for Luffy to launch a devastating punch and send Kuro flying!
Side Story Alert!
Our first side story begins the adventure of Buggy the Clown, after Luffy defeated him and sent him flying. Buggy is out at sea all alone (never good for a Devil Fruit user, due to their inability to swim), sans body parts, and being chased by vicious pirate sharks. Will he make it?
And we’re back…
With Kuro down for the moment, Usopp’s tiny pirates arrive on the scene. They followed Kaya to the battle after seeing her in town. They heroically beat on Kuro until Usopp sends them away by charging them with protecting Kaya, getting all of them out of harm’s way. Django follows them on Kuro’s orders to capture Kaya, who is the key to his plan. Kuro and the last remaining minion stand in the Straw Hat’s way so they can’t follow and help.
Zoro defeats the last of the Black Cat pirate crew and takes Usopp to help Kaya and Usopp’s tiny pirates. Luffy formally challenges Kuro to fight, but they’re evenly matched. As they fight, Kuro reveals his ultimate plan—to leave behind his Captain Kuro identity forever.
Kuro continues, in the vein of a really bad supervillain, to share his plans—to kill everyone who knew who he was before, even his crew. He begins to use an attack that scares all his crew members. Nami, who has been busy robbing the Black Cat’s ship, watches from above as all the pirates on the beach are slashed into pieces. Luffy is furious and manages to capture Kuro in a body hold. Luffy’s fury is startling, not to Kuro, but to Nami, who is watching the battle proceed. Luffy’s investment in how Kuro treats his crew is notable for the future.
Kaya is in the forest where Django is trying to hypnotize her into writing a will. Usopp’s tiny pirates seem unconscious, but suddenly spring into action, after pretending to be hypnotized. They attempt to take Django by surprise, but he’s too quick, and soon Kaya is begging him to stop hurting them. Right as Django pockets the false will he got from Kaya under duress, Zoro and Usopp find them.
As Usopp readies an attack to beat Django, Luffy finally has Kuro where he wants him. Both Usopp and Luffy deploy their attacks, Usopp with an exploding slingshot attack and Luffy with an epic head butt (yes, really…welcome to One Piece).
Django and Kuro are defeated!
As the Black Cat pirates escape, Nami comes out to tend to an injured Luffy. Luffy is still mad about Kuro’s treatment of his crew, and Nami doesn’t quite understand where his anger comes from. Luffy isn’t, at this point, the type of pirate Nami is used to. This is the first of many moments we’ll see Nami at odds between her feelings about the type of pirate Luffy is and her feelings about other pirates.
As Luffy’s crew and Usopp’s friends debrief after the battle, they all follow Usopp’s lead and promise not to tell anyone about the pirate attack. Usopp makes them swear, because he doesn’t want the villagers to feel unsafe, after so many years of peace, due to one aborted attack that was years in the making.
The battle has helped Usopp make a decision, though: he announces to his tiny pirate crew that he’s going to become a pirate. He gives a rousing, tear-filled speech and disbands Usopp’s pirates, charging them with going on to make their dreams come true. In true One Piece fashion, there is some ugly crying. Get used to it, because it’s going to happen over and over and over—and you’ll eventually join the crying party, too.
As a reward, Kaya gives Luffy a ship! The omnibus translation calls the ship the Merry Go, but if you’re a One Piece fan who plans to spread into the fandom or who’ve been in fandom for a long time, you’ll know the ship as Going Merry. This is our very first introduction to one of the most important characters in One Piece. It’s also a moment where, in a quietly emotional exchange, Luffy asks Usopp to join his crew and become a Straw Hat pirate; there’s some foreshadowing here that I came to appreciate later. Make a note of this moment!
As the Straw Hat crew gets used to their new digs at sea, they run across some of Zoro’s old bounty hunting pals, Yosaku and Johnny, and welcome them aboard. They’re embroiled in a debate about what crew member to add next, and Johnny settles it when he lets them know about a potential cook who works at a nearby floating restaurant.
The restaurant, called Baratie, is a dangerous place very close to the Grand Line where a wide variety of people come to eat. As they arrive, Yosaku and Johnny pick a fight with a Navy captain, Ironfist Fullbody. As they’re nursing their wounds, Nami sees a wanted poster that Johnny dropped, and she reacts strangely. Before that can be explored, though, they have to dodge cannonballs from Ironfist! Luffy uses his Gum Gum skills to bounce the cannonball away, but instead of launching it toward Ironfist, he sends it toward the restaurant!
The Baratie is where Sanji, the cook Yosaku and Johnny told the Straw Hats about, works. But the Baratie is owned by Chef Zeff. After Luffy sends the cannonball into the restaurant, the workers bring him to account for his error directly to Zeff. Zeff tells Luffy he has to work at the restaurant for one year. Luffy and Zeff argue over the details, because Luffy isn’t waiting another year to start his pirate adventures, and Zeff offers him a quick resolution…
Meanwhile, in the dining room, Ironfist, the Navy dude who shot the cannonball at the Straw Hats, is trying to impress a woman. Unfortunately, he insults Sanji. His attitude and disrespect for food and the people who make it leads (predictably) to violence. Before it can escalate too much, a Navy officer rushes in to tell Ironfist that a pirate they were holding has escaped, taking out multiple people. Before he can finish his report, the escapee shoots him and then saunters into the restaurant to request food. But because he can’t pay he’s ejected from the restaurant.
Well, Sanji doesn’t like that one bit. On the sly, he brings food to the man, who is obviously starving. Too bad Luffy is watching from a distance, deciding Sanji’s fate as the Straw Hats cook. Too bad Sanji isn’t interested in this. Once Luffy wants something, so far we haven’t seen him not get it.
Gin, the man who Sanji feeds, leaves to return to his captain, a terrifying pirate called Don Krieg. He thanks Sanji for his kindness. In the days after Gin’s departure, Luffy works in Baratie as a chore boy, but he’s awful at almost everything. His disastrous service work time ends when Gin brings Don Krieg to the restaurant with a ship full of starving men. Sanji, against the wishes of the rest of the Baratie staff, feeds Krieg.
Once Krieg is feeling better, he attacks! He takes a liking to the Baratie and reveals that because his ships is trashed, the Baratie will be a perfect replacement. Gin, who brought his captain back on good faith, is horrified by his behavior. Sanji, however, doesn’t hesitate—he’s ready to feed Krieg’s men. He defends himself by saying that his job is to feed people, not to weigh their sins and judge whether or not they deserve food.
After Krief attacks, Zeff gives him the food. Krieg recognizes Zeff as a former pirate who had amazing leg strength, but who is now sporting a peg leg. Krieg knows that Zeff has knowledge of the grand line, and he wants that knowledge so he can go back and find the one piece. Luffy, who has been listening quietly (surprise!) to the exchange so far, pipes up and corrects Krieg on who, exactly, will be the ruler of the seas (him, thanks). Krieg is notably unimpressed with Luffy and the size of his crew.
Krieg’s time in the Grand Line was a mess. Their whole armada was destroyed by one man with hawk-like eyes, and the survivors barely made it out alive. But now, armed with food, the pirates rally and they attempt to come take the Baratie….
…except in a surprise attack, their ship is carved up by a mysterious arrival!
In the chaos of the destruction of Krieg’s ship, the Straw Hats rush to check on their ship, which Nami is guarding with Yosaku and Johnny. But what they discover is gutting: Nami has stolen their ship and all the treasure, telling Johnny she was only playing the part of Luffy’s navigator. Her pirate-robbing ways are still alive and well. Of course, as she sails away in tears, it’s obvious to us that there’s something else going on. Luffy is determined that Nami, and only Nami, will be his navigator. But the remaining Straw Hats have bigger problems: the man who attacked Krieg and his crew has followed them to the Baratie to finish the job. It’s the man they call Hawkeye Mihawk: the greatest swordsman in the world.
Zoro is shocked, but he remembers his old promise to become the best swordsman in the world. He challenges Hawkeye to a battle, but Hawkeye has no confidence in Zoro’s chances. Zoro loses badly and his swords break, but he stands tall and loses with dignity. Because of that, Mihawk compliments Zoro’s courage and leaves him wounded but alive, challenging him to grow stronger and find him in the future. Zoro swears to Luffy that he will never lose again. Luffy accepts Zoro’s promise happily; Hawkeye compliments them on their match, and this becomes one of the defining moments between Luffy and Zoro. For me, this is when Zoro formally becomes Luffy’s first mate.
While Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku attempt to care for a grievously wounded Zoro, Hawkeye vanishes after dealing one last blow to Krieg’s crew. He leaves the Baratie an open target for the desperate pirates who have just lost their ship completely. But the Baratie crew has Luffy on their side, and Luffy offers to take care of Krieg in exchange for his freedom from Baratie service. It’s the fighting cooks and Luffy versus Don Krieg—who will come out on top?
Takeaways
In this second omnibus, we meet stronger and more callous enemies. Luffy’s crew moves from two to three with the addition of Usopp, and then mysteriously back down to two, even though Luffy hasn’t accepted Nami leaving the crew yet. Usopp is a sharpshooter and a creative battle strategist, and he seems well matched with the others, especially Luffy, they share a light-hearted outlook.
In this collection we learn a little about the area of the world we’re exploring, East Blue. It’s a rough area, given the enemies Luffy has faced so far, but it’s also considered one of the easiest places to survive. Luffy has been dealt some blows in the East Blue that are some of his first real setbacks: Zoro was utterly defeated in battle, albeit honorably, and he’s got to fetch a wayward navigator. But these volumes also give quite a few insights to Luffy’s character that are understated and quiet. This trick of characterization with Luffy truly begins here as he begins to really expand his crew and the people he interacts with on a regular basis. It’s absolutely possible, for those with a keen eye, to see who Luffy is not by watching his battles, or his goofing off with his crew, or anything else that involves his boisterous personality, but instead by watching his silences.
Next time
We’ll be reading and discussing the third omnibus, containing Volumes 7, 8 and 9. This collection contains some of my favorite chapters. Come along and see what happens to the Baratie, learn whether Sanji joins the crew, and what in the world is going on with Nami…
Follow all installments of the Everlasting One Piece Readalong here.