The Everlasting One Piece Readlong: Vol. 13-15
Welcome back to the Everlasting One Piece Readalong! If you’re just joining us, you can find our previous adventures in our readalong tag. This week, we’re tackling the fifth omnibus collection, containing Volume 13, 14, and 15.
The Adventure Continues!
Zoro takes on Mr. 8, Ms. Wednesday, and Mr. 9. Mr. 8 is the most deadly with his guns. Ms. Wednesday’s giant duck, Karoo, is bad at taking directions. Because it’s three Baroque Works agents against one Zoro, the battle tilts in Zoro’s favor, until Mr. 9 takes an unconscious Luffy hostage. Even by himself, Zoro manages to come out on top, defeating all the attackers
Zoro celebrates while the rest of Baroque Works is running away, only to encounter Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday, two Baroque Works agents who inform on their colleagues and deliver messages. Then they’re surprised when two newcomers arrive: Ms. Valentine and Mr. 5.
At first, the defeated agents believe that their boss sent help, but Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine reveal that they’ve discovered that Baroque Works was infiltrated by the Kingdom of Alabasta. They’ve arrived to take care of it. Immediately, Mr. 8 knows his cover is blown and he reveals himself to be Igaram, the commander of the Alabasta military who is protecting Princess Vivi. She’s posing as Ms. Wednesday! Igaram is defeated by Mr. 5.
This is a dramatic reversal, and one that’s the most genuinely surprising so far in the story. Ms. Wednesday went from mysterious agent to a spy in a short chapter. Vivi is targeted by Ms. Valentine. Mr. 9, not understanding the context, but knowing his partner is in trouble, rushes to help. But like Igaram, he’s also taken down—by explosive boogers. Mr. 5 has the ability to weaponize boogers—he has a Devil Fruit power, but what exactly is it? Vivi escapes with Karoo, but Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine give chase.
Igaram, beaten and bloody, begs Zoro to escort the princess home for a handsome reward. Zoro’s not interested, but Nami, who appears from out of nowhere, is all too willing to haggle.
Nami pretended to be drunk to fool their hosts and so manages to blackmail both Igaram and Zoro—Igaram into agreeing Alabasta will reimburse her for saving Vivi’s life, and Zoro into rescuing Vivi by pointing out he still owes her money due to a loan. Zoro goes to save Vivi.
As Vivi attempts to escape, she’s helped by Ms. Monday, who stands in Vivi’s defense since their failure to stop Zoro means her life is forfeit. But Mr. 5 easily dispatches Ms. Monday by landing an exploding punch!
Devil Fruit Alert!
Mr. 5 has the power of the Boom Boom Fruit, which allows him to transform any part of his body into dynamite. This is how he weaponized his boogers—he can do it with any part of his body!
Back to the Action!
Zoro saves Vivi from Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine Luffy, who has woken up and wandering around, sees Zoro and challenges him to a fight! Turns out, Luffy missed all the action due to being unconscious and has no idea that Baroque Works is evil. All he sees is the people who welcomed them beaten up, and he’s going to teach Zoro a lesson. Luffy attacks, but Zoro sends him flying into Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine. Ms. Valentine, fed up, goes to attack Zoro, revealing she has a secret power!
Devil Fruit Alert!
The Kilo Kilo fruit allows Ms. Valentine to change her weight at will. She can be very light or heavy enough to flatten people with a simple jump and mid-air weight change.
Back to the Action!
Zoro isn’t concerned with Ms. Valentine or her ability to squish him. Her attack misses because Zoro steps out of the way to accept Luffy’s challenge. Luffy is warmed up after beating the crap out of Mr. 5 off the page. That says more than any long battle between them could about their battle level. Zoro and Luffy fight for real, brushing off any attempts by Ms. Valentine or Mr. 5 to interrupt. These agents may be tough, but they’re no match for Luffy and Zoro in a temper.
However! Luffy and Zoro in a temper are no match for Nami, who breaks up their fight and forces Luffy to listen to reason so they can return Vivi to Alabasta and collect the reward. But Vivi reveals that it’s impossible, because Alabasta is mid-revolution due to the fact that Baroque Works has been fomenting unrest. Vivi joined up as a spy to uncover more information about the group, which is truly aimed at conquering Alabasta. Although Vivi says she won’t share what she’s learned, because it would immediately paint a target on the Straw Hats, she accidentally slips and shares that the leader of the Baroque Works is Crocodile, one the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Nami is gutted and tries to leave the crew so she’ll survive, but Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday are already there to identify Nami, Luffy, and Zoro, and carry their names to Crocodile. Luffy and Zoro are predictably excited that they’ll get to meet him sooner rather than later, viewing it as a challenge.
To help Vivi, a roughed up Igaram appears in disguise, and shares that he’ll travel to Alabasta as her, while she travels with the Straw Hats on the usual route to throw Baroque Works off her trail. He sets sail, but it’s not meant to be: his ship immediately explodes, and the Straw Hats usher Vivi into their crew in order to return her to Alabasta.
Sanji and Usopp have to be filled in on the run. As they depart, someone new appears on their ship—Ms. All-Sunday, Crocodile’s second in command. Although Sanji and Usopp threaten her with weapons, somehow she completely disarms in a way that goes unexplained. She reveals that she was the one who let Vivi discover that Crocodile was Mr. 0 and the leader of Baroque Works. she thought it was quaint that a princess would take on the organization. She tells the Straw Hats and Vivi that they’re sailing toward Little Garden. She offers them an Eternal Pose, a Log Pose that always points at the same island, so they can travel more directly to Alabasta. But Luffy crushes it, refusing to let her control their journey or believe that they won’t be able to handle Little Garden.
Amused, Ms. All-Sunday departs and sets a course herself for Little Garden to see how things develop—and leaving her motivations for not targeting the Straw Hats shrouded in mystery.
The Straw Hats do land on Little Garden next. Luffy has Sanji pack him a lunch, and he and Vivi go exploring. Zoro and Sanji go out to hunt for food, leaving Nami and Usopp alone on the ship. Nami looks through her books on Little Garden, and at the same time she’s reading about the truth of the island, Luffy and Vivi are discovering dinosaurs. Back at the ship, Nami reads in a book that Little Garden is an island of giants, as something large emerges from the jungle….
Nami didn’t need a book to tell her that Little Garden was home to giants, because out of the trees comes Broggy. He asks them if they have ale. After he chops up a dinosaur, he invites them back to his camp for lunch. They believe he wants to eat them, but it doesn’t dissuade Nami from asking him how long it takes for the Log Pose to record the island’s magnetic field. They don’t handle the news that it takes a year very well at all.
Elsewhere, Luffy is standing atop a dinosaur to get a better view when the dinosaur eats him! Vivi and Karoo are aghast, but suddenly the dinosaur’s head is chopped off with a huge blade and out Luffy pops through the sliced esophagus, unharmed. The sword belongs to Dorry, another giant, who tells Luffy and Vivi he’s from Elbaph, and he and another giant have been battling on Little Garden for over 100 years. As he finishes his story, the volcano on the island erupts, which is the signal for battle. Vivi can’t believe they’ve been fighting for so long, especially when Dorry reveals they’ve long forgotten whatever issue started their disagreement.
Broggy and Dorry battle. Usopp is captivated and aspires to become a warrior full of honor just like Broggy and Dorry. The fight between the giants ends with a draw, and Broggy shares some of the ale that he got from Nami and Usopp with Dorry, and they head back to their camps. While talking about the best way to get off the island with Dorry, Luffy and Vivi watch him drink the ale and see it explode inside him stomach! Vivi suspects the other giant, but Luffy knows that both the giants are too honorable for tricks after all this time. Since it couldn’t have been Broggy, Dorry targets them, but Luffy stands his ground.
On another island and a bit in the past, Mr. 3 and Ms. Goldenweek receive instructions from their boss. They learn that Mr. 5 has been killed, but they don’t seem very worked up about the loss to the organization; their new orders are to take down the pirates who defeated Mr. 5 and capture Princess Vivi.
Deep in the jungle, we learn that Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine are actually still alive and ready for revenge. And here are Mr. 3 and Ms. Goldenweek! They’re also on the case. Mr. 3 reveals that Broggy and Dorry were once fearsome pirates, with bounties of 100 million berries each! Mr. 5 reveals it was he and Ms. Valentine who spiked the ale on Mr. 3’s orders, because there was no way to win a fair fight. They all plan to take care of the Straw Hats, Princess Vivi, and the giants in one fell swoop! As they plot, the volcano erupts again, Broggy and Dorry head to battle, even though they’re both grievously injured—their honor is at stake!
Dorry traps Luffy under a mountain so he can fight. Back at Broggy’s camp, Nami and Usopp head to their ship to reassess, but as they travel through the jungle, Nami is stopped by…Luffy? Somewhere else in the dense forest, Zoro is lost, and sees…Nami? Something fishy is going on…
Mr. 3. informs his coworkers that psychological warfare is the best way to defeat even the strongest opponent. He’s certain they’ll win if they hide in the shadows and dole out sabotage. Of course, Mr. 3 and the other agents are only aware of Nami, Zoro, Luffy, and Vivi…they have no idea Usopp and Sanji are members of the crew.
Usopp, after losing Nami and making his way through the jungle, finds Luffy and Vivi and tells them Nami was eaten by a dinosaur. Vivi immediately suspects something is up, given the exploding ale and the random disappearances. The giant battle is not going smoothly. Dorry is defeated in a final, definitive slice due to interference from Mr. 3 who, extends his congratulations from the edge of the battlefield, and then traps Broggy in some kind of material!
Devil Fruit Alert!
Mr. 3 ate the Wax-Wax fruit, which allows him to produce and control candle wax. This Devil Fruit power is extremely versatile and strong, and lends itself to building structures, causing accidents, or simple restraint.
Back to the Action!
As Usopp and Vivi plan to find the people responsible for ruining Broggy and Dorry’s battle, they’re interrupted by Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine, who dump Karoo onto the ground, bloody and tortured. They used him to try and draw Vivi away from Luffy, but it failed, but since Luffy is already trapped, Karoo is no longer necessary. Vivi and Usopp attack, but Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine have Devil Fruit powers that make them too strong for fighters at lower levels. Mr. 5 captures Vivi, as per Mr. 3’s orders, and treats Luffy and Usopp to some bombs to leave them out of commission.
Vivi is delivered to Mr. 3, who also captured Zoro and Nami. He places them on
a giant spinning candle, which will slowly change them into perfect wav figures! Nami begs Broggy to fight, but Mr. 3 mocks him, and the truth that the ale Broggy shared with Dorry was spiked comes out from Vivi, who is furious at Mr. 3. Broggy is gutted, but before he can fight back, Mr. 5 sends an explosion to knock him out. Mr. 3 further traps him a place by creating huge wax swords that he stabs through his hands and feet, anchoring him to the ground. The giant candelabra that Mr. 3 trapped Vivi, Zoro, and Nami in continues to spin, slowly covering them in wax.
Back at Dorry’s camp, Usopp, Luffy, and Karoo decide it’s time to clobber some bad guys. They rush through the forest and onto the scene of carnage where the other Straw Hats and Vivi are trapped. Mr. 3 isn’t very worried because he, as many before him have, underestimates Luffy. Zoro asks Luffy if he could break the pillar of Mr. 3’s candelabra, but Mr. 3 isn’t going to make it easy.
While they wait on Luffy to take down the candelabra, Zoro decides to do a pose just in case he does get turned into a wax figure. Vivi marvels at the lack of fear about how much danger they’re all in, while Mr. 3 takes their attitude as a sign of disrespect and attacks Luffy. Mr. 3’s attacks, though, give Luffy weapons thanks to his Gum Gum skills. He uses the first wax lock on his legs to spin on the knife stabbed into Broggy’s hand and knock down the candelabra. Unfortunately, this puts it closer to Vivi, Zoro, and Nami, and speeds up their transformation.
Usopp tries to help Luffy get to their friends by shooting an explosive bomb at Mr. 3, but Mr. 5 swoops in and swallows it where it explodes harmlessly in his stomach due to his Devil Fruit powers.
The next candle lock Luffy gets trapped in, he uses to punch Mr. 3 into the air He’s managed to get Mr. 3 out of the way so he can help his teammates, but suddenly he tells Nami he doesn’t want to save them! From the shadows, Ms. Goldenweek does something fishy…
Luffy is trapped: Ms. Goldenweek can use paint to hypnotize her opponents, and Luffy is standing in the middle of a Betrayal Black circle. With quick thinking, Vivi uses reverse psychology to help Luffy escape, but not before Ms. Goldenweek can paint more symbols to trap Luffy, over and over again.
Usopp and Karoo are on the run from Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine. Mr. 5 is armed with a deadly gun, but escapes into the jungle. When he returns to the battlefield, he finds that Vivi, Zoro, and Nami have become full wax figures (Zoro managed to pose for his own, which if you ignore the horror of being turned into a wax figure, looks pretty nice!). In a desperate move, he attacks a hypnotized Luffy, who is having tea with Ms. Goldenweek, and in the resulting fray, Luffy’s agency is returned!
Back at the ship, Sanji has been waiting for anyone to return. Curious, he finally makes his way into the jungle to look for his wayward crewmates. Instead, he finds a strange wax building…
Back at the battlefield and with a newly free Luffy, they begin to try to save their friends from a terrible, waxy fate. But it’s four against three, counting Karoo, and Mr. 3 encases himself in a huge wax warrior suit to fight Luffy, leaving him impervious to Luffy’s punches. Usopp tries to come up with a plan, but Ms. Valentine interferes and sits on him with her Kilo Kilo fruit power, so all he can do is hand off a rope to Karoo and order him to wrap it around the candelabra. Usopp and Luffy learn that the only way to save their friends is by melting the wax with extreme heat, but they have no fire…except the fire burning on the top of Mr. 3’s head. Luffy grabs him by his hair and drags him toward the candelabra. Usopp stops him and has him light the rope that Karoo has been tangling around the area on fire instead, because it’s soaked in oil…and everything explodes!
Side Story Alert!
We’ve watched Coby and Helmeppo on their journey to Navy officers, and now, we’re starting a new one! This time we open with Django, from the Black Cat Pirates, in the forest. What’s he going to get up to?
Back to the Action!
Mr. 3 escapes into the jungle. Karoo and Luffy follow. Usopp is still in the clutches of Ms. Valentine, who decides to finish him off, but is foiled by a double attack by Nami and Vivi, who have been freed from their wax prisons. Mr. 5 is the only fighting agent left, and Usopp launches a fire star bomb at him, which he swallows, bored by Usopp’s predictably…except Usopp tricked him! It was a spicy pepper bomb instead! He gets one up on Mr. 5 with cleverness and capsaicin! Just when Mr. 5 is about to rain down retribution, Zoro attacks and saves Usopp from his explosive power. Now only two agents remain!
Luffy and Karoo corner Mr. 3 in the jungle, only to find he’s duplicated himself in order to attack Luffy on the sly. He insults Luffy’s intelligence and battle instincts, but he pays for it when Luffy quickly attacks his real physical body instead of the duplicates. “Instinct,” Luffy says, to Mr. 3’s croaked out question about how he knew where he was, which is pretty sarcastic for Luffy, who tends to be pretty straightforward.
The Straw Hats, united (minus Sanji) and celebrating their win with Broggy, are just as shocked as he is when Dorry turns out to have survived the battle! Because their weapons were old and dull, Dorry’s wound wasn’t fatal. Broggy and Dorry’s warrior friendship is beautiful.
Sanji has been sipping tea in the nice wax house he found while the rest of his crew fought Baroque Works. As he prepares to leave to continue his search, the telephone snail rings. He answers it and is the first Straw Hat crew member to talk with Crocodile, code name Mr. 0!
Mr. 0 wants a status report, so Sanji lies and says the Straw Hats and Princess Vivi were beaten. Mr. 0 tells him that the Unluckies are on their way to confirm his report and provide him with an Eternal Pose to Alabasta, at which point Mr. 13 and Ms. Friday appear: they’re the Unluckies. Both they and Sanji are shocked, and Sanji has to take them out as fast as possible before they communicate his identity. Mr. 0 is suspicious over Sanji’s excuse that the Straw Hats weren’t quite dead, but gives Sanji the directions to return at once and hangs up, leaving Sanji with two unconscious agents and an Eternal Pose to Alabasta.
Back at Mr. 0’s headquarters, Ms. All-Sunday only laughs when Mr. 0 orders her to have Mr. 2 put Mr. 3 out of commission for giving a false report.
At Little Garden, Sanji and the Straw Hats fill each other in on their adventures, and Sanji presents the Eternal Pose he took from the Unluckies, which means they won’t be trapped on the island for a whole year. They bid goodbye to Broggy and Dorry and board their ship.
The giants know that the true reason no one can escape the island is the fish that patrols the eastern sea who consumes everything in its path. In honor of their new friendship with the Straw Hats, they both go to the coast, say goodbye to their weapons, and command the Straw Hats to sail straight.
As they do, several members of the crew are horrified as the giant fish swallows them whole. But then Broggy and Dorry attack! The giant flish is sliced in half and the Going Merry emerges whole to sail onward. Dorry and Broggy’s weapons, however, are toast, but their honor is fully intact. Once again, Luffy and his crew leave a place with good friends. But their trip is about to take a turn for the worse, though, because Nami is extremely ill with a terrible fever!
Because of the extreme temperature changes, Nami has a nasty bug and the only one with robust medical knowledge on the ship is Nami herself! Her temperature is soaring, but Nami still wakes up and assures everyone she’ll be fine. She also reveals to Vivi why they can’t hold off on going back to Alabasta by showing her a recent news report about how the rebellion is growing even more violent. Nami goes back to work navigating the ship, and helps the Straw Hats narrowly avoid a massive cyclone! Vivi is startled by Nami’s knowledge of the sea and weather. Here is where Vivi starts really putting together how integral Nami is to the Straw Hats, and she decides to fastest way to get to Alabasta is to get Nami well so she can sail them safely. So, they ignore the Eternal Pose and sail to find an island with a doctor.
As they travel, it begins to snow. Visibility is terrible, but in the distance they see someone standing on the water. As they sail near him, he comments on the weather, and then suddenly a ship emerges from the depths, revealing an attack ship captained by Wapol, the leader of the Tin Tyrant pirates.
Wapol’s crew boards the ship looking for an Eternal Pose or Log Pose to Drum Island. He also starts eating parts of the ship, and the Straw Hats prepare to defend their home. Zoro doesn’t find the rest of their crew that intimidating and makes quick work of them. Wapol then tries chomping on Luffy. Luffy is too chewy to consume quickly, so Luffy stretches his arms back and launches Wapol into the distance, leaving the Straw Hats free to continue their journey.
They finally arrive at an island covered in snow, courtesy of the weird weather patterns of the Grand Line, but the inhabitants aren’t too happy to see them. They order the Straw Hats to leave, assuming their request for a doctor is a trick. When tensions escalate, Vivi throws herself into the fray to prevent a battle. Although Luffy can be dense, he’s a very quick study. Vivi teaches him that to be a good leader, you have to use diplomacy sometimes, instead of force, to protect people you care about. When he and Vivi both bow and request help, the villagers soften. They welcome them onto the island, but warn them that the only available doctor is a witch!
The man who welcomes them to the island is Dalton, the leader of the civilian guard. He takes the Straw Hats, minus Zoro who is guarding the ship with Karoo, into his house, and explains that the only doctor, Kureha, only comes down when she wants to, treats whoever is available, and has a weird pet. Her home is at the top of a mountain, and there’s no way to reach her. Luffy decides that he’ll carry Nami up to see her, and Nami agrees against Usopp and Vivi’s protests. Sanji and Luffy set off with Nami tied to Luffy’s back, as Dalton explains that they should look out for the man-eating lapins on their journey.
After they leave, Dalton tells Vivi and Usopp that the island used to be the Drum Kingdom, until they were attacked by a pirate named Blackbeard. Even before that, the kingdom was unhappy, because their king, Wapol, was terrible. And Usopp and Vivi realize: Wapol was the pirate that Luffy sent flying!
Dalton is shocked to learn they’re aware of Wapol. Vivi thinks the pirates defeated Wapol and that’s why he’s no longer on the island, but Dalton shares that in fact, Wapol and his crew ran away from the pirates, abandoning the people. Now the community is trying to rebuild, although they fear Wapol’s return.
On the mountain, Luffy and Sanji chat as they climb, avoiding mean-looking rabbits without much fuss. But Sanji finally gets fed up with constant attacks and kicks one of them, only to be met with a huge force of even larger rabbits—they found the lapins, which Luffy mistakes for polar bears.
Back in town, Dalton, Vivi and Usopp are told that Dr. Kureha isn’t actually on the mountain that Sanji and Luffy are climbing—she’s in a nearby village, treating a patient with the weirdest bedside manner even for someone who’s an eccentric doctor. Dalton takes Vivi and Usopp to the town in his sleigh, and they hope that she’ll agree to go back to her castle.
Meanwhile, Sanji and Luffy are avoiding lapins, because Luffy can’t fight with Nami strapped to his back and Sanji’s kick is hampered by the snow. They make a run for the peak, while back at the island’s entrance, Wapol and his crew have found their way back to Drum Island after months lost at sea. A runner tells Dalton, back at the village, that Wapol has returned. The other villagers begin calling for help to back Dalton up, but Vivi and Usopp head to the next village, where Dr. Kureha was said to be heading. Dalton races to confront Wapol in Bighorn. As he heads out, he starts slowly transforming…into a bison!
Devil Fruit Alert!
The Ox Ox Fruit is a Zoan type fruit that allows its user to take on characteristics of animals. With his powers, Dalton has the skills and strength of a bison.
In Bighorn, Dalton finally confronts Wapol. Dalton transforms again, into a bison! Even if his animal form, Dalton isn’t a match for Wapol. He’s speared and collapses. Meanwhile, up on the mountain, the lapins have started bouncing up and down on the snow, blocking Sanji and Luffy’s path. Sanji and Luffy stare, shocked, as down in the villages they begin to hear the rumblings of an avalanche!
Next Time
Will the Straw Hats ever find a doctor for Nami? What the they do now that Wapol has returned to Drum Island? Next time, we’ll be reading Volumes 16, 17, and 18!