One Piece 36
I really think anything I could possibly say about this volume would be a spoiler.
Volume 36: "Justice Number 9" (９番目の正義)
(That isn't supposed to make sense until the end of the volume.)
337
[Cover arc: while tunneling - all the way to China? - the earth guardian pops up in a place that looks AWFULLY familiar. Kohza!]
When the shipwrights interrupt Luffy's fight with Franky, Nami is thrilled, thinking they'll take Luffy's side.
Mozu (I think? hard to tell which one is speaking) is annoyed by the interruption (とんだ邪魔だわいな).
Franky tells Galley-La not to interfere in his fight. Tileston starts to yell at Franky for the damage he's caused, but Paulie tells him to back off. They have more important business to attend to. (Luffy: ?)
Luffy is completely bewildered when Paulie says he has a lot of nerve, coming here.
Franky: "It wasn't enough that you attacked my family (ウチの一家), you have to pick a fight with Galley-La too?"
[LOL, てめーら触れるものみな傷つける思春期？ "思春期" means puberty, so Viz pretty much nailed it with their translation: "Are you at that awkward age where you hurt everything you touch?"]
[Water 7]Also LOL: Franky would know, destructive adolescent brat that he was.
Luffy: "We didn't DO anything!"
To Luffy's shock, Paulie attacks him with his ropes.
Franky: "I TOLD you to stay out of this! I'm the one who's got a grudge here!"
The other shipwrights are preparing for battle, too. (They have their own "WARRIOR MODE ON" ritual. Haha, even the pigeon is ready for battle.)
Nami is horrified - why are the shipwrights attacking THEM?
At first, Luffy doesn't counterattack, saying he has no reason to fight Galley-La.
Franky attacks the shipwrights. "I said, he's MINE!" But the shipwrights easily beat him off.
Luffy asks them to tell him why, but they say they're the ones who ought to ask why. Why did he have to attack Iceberg?
Franky hasn't heard the news about Iceberg, apparently.
Luffy can't believe his ears, but Paulie says Iceberg told them himself that Nico Robin was one of the two people who attacked him. And Robin is a member of Luffy's crew.
Luffy and Nami are shocked to hear Robin's name.
Paulie says they don't understand why they did it, but they won't let them get away. The people listening are outraged, hearing that Luffy and Nami were behind the attack on Iceberg.
Franky asks if Iceberg is dead, but Paulie scoffs at the idea that Iceberg would let himself be killed by "these idiots."
[Water 7]Aw, Franky! Of course he'd be worried.
Kaku asks if they know the meaning of "Wanted, Dead or Alive." Pirates are outlaws who can be killed without consequence. The law won't protect them.
Luffy is furious that they would talk trash about Robin when they don't even know her. He asks to see Ice no Ossan, thinking it must be a misunderstanding.
[I love that Luffy always takes the most straightforward path to clear up any problem. Communication!]
Of course, the shipwrights have no intention of letting him get anywhere near Iceberg.
Someone in the crowd grabs Nami, saying they won't let any of the gang get away.
Paulie says their faces are already known all over town. None of the crew will escape.
The newspaper-criers are telling everyone to report anything they know or see of Mugiwara's crew.
From a nearby rooftop, Robin is watching.
338
[Cover arc: Gorou the hole-digger is Kohza's uncle, Toto's little brother. Aw! I didn't see that coming. Gedatsu, what are you looking at?]
Sanji and Chopper are screaming at each other at the top of their lungs.
"HEY, DID YOU HEAR THE AQUA LAGUNA IS COMING?" "YEAH, WE BETTER GET TO HIGH GROUND!"
They sneak a look over their shoulders, and make a run for it.
[LOL forever, it took me almost a full minute to figure out what they were doing. TOO ADORABLE.]
Usopp comes out of the Merry, looking puzzled - did someone just say something about a high tide? He notices that indeed, the wind and waves are getting pretty high.
Nami and Luffy keep insisting that neither they nor Robin would have had any reason to attack Iceberg, but Paulie doesn't care. He informs them they've made enemies of Galley-La, and all of Water 7.
Luffy keeps dodging their attacks, not wanting to fight them without a reason.
Franky, Mozu and Kiwi have pulled up a table to enjoy the spectacle - NOT. He's still mad at the shipwrights for attacking his prey.
He starts attacking the shipwrights again. The three-way fight is on.
Mozu & Kiwi: "Go get 'em wai na, aniki!"
Franky uses the attack which previously blew up half the shipyard (thus blowing up the other half): Coup de Vent.
[Franky's French is about as bad as Sanji's.]
Luffy and Nami take advantage of the chaos to escape (Luffy grabs Nami and tells her to hold on).
Mozu and Kiwi ask if it's ok to let them get away wai na, but Franky (whose hair is looking rather limp) says the Coup de Vent used up the last of his "fuel." He needs to recharge.
He's reluctantly impressed. Luffy might just be worth 100 million, after all.
The shipwrights (dusting themselves off) discuss how to go after Luffy and his crew. Without a functioning ship, the Strawhats' only way to get off the island is by train. They decide to use the information-gathering network of the entire shipwright union to search the city and hunt them down.
Kokoro, Chimney and Gonbe are headed for the dock of Water 7.
339
[Cover Arc: Everyone's off for a jaunt to the hot spring! (Karoo!)]
Nami tells Luffy that she can sense a storm coming, and in a water-based city, that means trouble. She says she'll try to find out more later.
They easily identify where Iceberg is being kept, but while Nami is still trying to come up with a clever plan to sneak Luffy in quietly, Luffy just charges right in, raising a huge uproar.
(Nami: …)
When Kalifa tells Iceberg that Luffy has apparently broken into the building, Iceberg says he has a request.
Kalifa signals Luffy to get his attention.
A moment later, standing outside Iceberg's door, she tells the pursuers that she hasn't seen the intruder.
Luffy is inside Iceberg's room, thanking him for letting him in. Iceberg tells him that it's true that he saw Robin. He only wants to know one thing - where is Robin? He needs to see her one more time.
Luffy says he doesn't know that himself.
A shot rings out. By the time the pursuers break into Iceberg's room, Luffy has gone out the window (Iceberg is fine - I think he was the one who shot at Luffy?).
Iceberg says he was stupid to think he could get at the truth so easily. He gives the order to arrest the entire crew.
Meeting up with Nami, Luffy says that Iceberg confirmed that Robin was the one who attacked him. But Luffy refuses to believe it.
At "Blueno's Bar" downtown, Franky and his girls have come to see the bartender.
"How're ya doing, Blueno? SUPER?"
Franky asks for a full tank of cola, as usual.
When Franky whines about Blueno asking for payment, Mozu says they've got 1 million beli left over from the day before. Franky is aghast to hear that he's actually got money LEFT. (カッコ悪！) He promptly tells everyone that drinks are on the house.
For the first time, Franky notices that Kokoro ("Kokoro no baba!") is drinking at the bar.
Chimney waves hello and asks if she can have another round of juice. Franky wants to know what Kokoro thinks she's doing, bringing a kid to a bar.
[Water 7]When FRANKY is the one enforcing the family values… aw, he's a good uncle. Also, I LOVE how he immediately spills his guts to Kokoro. Foster mom!
Franky sits right down and starts grousing about the day he's had.
"Oh yeah, business is great, but life sucks. This week's me sucks!" (今週のおれサイテーよ.)
After he recharges with cola, Franky feels much better (his hair recovers, too).
"SUPER!"
He stays to have a drink (or ten) with Kokoro. They talk about the attack on Iceberg. Franky says the word on the street is that pirates did it. Kokoro asks him if he really believes that. She suspects the World Government. Franky seems to know about Iceberg's frequent government visitor, too, but he doesn't think the guy is assassin material.
Kokoro is babbling drunkenly about a secret organization called CP-9. Their existence is a mere rumor because they always operate in the shadows.
[Jeez, drunk Japanese is hard to understand.]
In the back streets, Robin is meeting with someone whose face is in shadow. He tells her that she did well the night before, but the more important thing is what they have planned for tonight.
The unknown person doesn't mind if she ends up having to erase all the evidence. "Tom" was the one who had that thing, and the only one of his disciples left alive is Iceberg. Tonight, in the name of CP-9, they'll get their hands on IT. Keep in mind, this is a "mission for justice." (これは正義の任務だと心得ておけ.)
340
[Cover arc: the forest guardians have been busy building a great bath house.]
Luffy is still trying to jump about the city like Kaku, to Nami's very great wrath, since he's been dragging her with him.
(Love the little graphic of Kaku in Nami's dialogue.)
The loudspeaker is still broadcasting instructions for the evacuation of the lower city. Citizens are boarding up their homes and shops.
At Blue Station, every passenger boarding the train is being thoroughly searched.
Zoro figures out from looking at a newspaper why people have been chasing him all over town. Officially, only his face, Luffy's and Robin's are known.
[I had to look back at my earlier notes to remember that at this point, only Luffy, Zoro and Robin have wanted posters, and Robin's is from when she was 8 years old. Luffy got his after Arlong, and Zoro got his after Alabasta.]
Galley-La's agents are searching all over town. The innkeeper says their stuff is still in the room, maybe they'll be back. Other agents are searching the Merry. They think it's been abandoned, since Usopp is hiding offshore.
[I find it odd that when the others abandoned ship, they left the flag. Too much part of Merry's identity, perhaps?]
Sanji and Chopper are checking out a train timetable (neither of their faces were printed in the paper). The last train will be the 11 pm leaving for Enies Lobby. They wonder if Robin might be planning to escape by train.
Chopper wonders if he did something at the bookstore to make Robin mad. (Oh, Chopper. ;_;) Of course Sanji tells him not to be ridiculous.
Chopper seems to catch a whiff of something. Suddenly, they see Robin standing on the other side of the canal.
[There's something so poignant about this conversation conducted across the divide of the water.]
Sanji says they should head back to the inn ("Oh yeah… a lot's happened with us too"), but Robin says she's not coming back.
Sanji thinks she's worried about the story in the paper, but he assures her no one believed that. People hang false charges on pirates all the time.
Robin says that may be, but the paper didn't lie about her. She was the one who snuck into Iceberg's residence.
"There is a darkness in me you don't know. Someday, that darkness will destroy you."
Sanji remembers what Aokiji said, about how every organization Robin ever belonged to has been destroyed.
Robin says that she's planning to pin the crime on the Strawhats and disappear. The situation is only going to get worse… They've only known each other a short while, but today is the last time they'll ever see each other.
[Exact wording is worth quoting: 現に私はこの事件の罪をあなた達に被せて 逃げるつもりでいる。事態はもっと悪化するわ… 短い付き合いだったけど今日限りでもう 二度とあなた達と会うことはないわ.]
"Thank you, for being kind to a person like me until now." (こんな私に今まで良くしてくれてありがとう.)
"Farewell." (さようなら.)
Robin walks away. Sanji tries to dive into the water to go after her, but she's gone.
Wringing out his shirt, Sanji tells Chopper to get back to the others and tell them what Robin said. EVERYTHING she said - don't leave out a word. He needs to… take care of something.
[Water 7]Sanji so smart! I don't normally think of him as the brains of the operation, but he gets right away that Robin's carefully chosen words were important.
Luffy, Nami and Zoro (who caught up with them - or rather, apparently, he led a bunch of pursuers straight to them, haha Zoro) are hiding under a bridge, until Chopper sniffs them out.
They hide out on a rooftop, and Chopper delivers Robin's message, word for word.
Zoro draws a line in the sand (more or less literally). They should have seen this coming. They knew that Robin was an enemy when they let her join the ship. They can't simply let her run off on them now.
The time has come to determine once and for all whether that woman is an enemy, or a nakama.
341
[Cover Arc: "Ukkari Hot Spring Island" Tunnel Open For Business. Hee, the people of Alabasta imitating the earth guardian's V-salute.]
"Things are only going to get worse… Today is the last time we'll ever see each other."
Zoro asks Chopper if he's sure that's what Robin said.
When Chopper confirms it, Zoro says it sounds like Robin was deliberately informing them that sometime today, she was going to do something to make the situation worse. The only thing that could possibly be worse than an attempted assassination of the mayor would be a successful assassination of the mayor.
The only question that remains, is whether Robin is luring them into a trap or not. If they show up at the scene of a successful assassination, they're sure to be held responsible.
When Nami protests that it sounds like he's already made up his mind that Robin is guilty, Zoro says that they have to be completely neutral. If they let themselves be biased in either direction, and events prove them wrong, a split second lost to hesitation could be fatal.
Luffy agrees: tonight, they go to the scene of the crime.
Nami points out that Sanji and Iceberg both said they saw someone with Robin. Chopper wonders if the unknown figure could be forcing her to do something against her will, but again, Zoro says it could go either way. "Blessing" (吉), Robin is being coerced. "Curse" (凶), that figure is Robin's true nakama.
[This language is taken from o-mikuji, the fortunes you get at Shinto shrines.]
When Nami asks what their goal is then, Luffy doesn't hesitate. The goal is to catch Robin. They won't know the truth until they can talk to her.
(Chopper's 俺もがんばるぞ ["I'll do my best, too!] face is so cute!)
In town, Usopp is pleading with a shopkeeper (who is anxious to get to higher ground) to sell him some shipbuilding materials. Finally the guy gives in, even though Usopp doesn't have enough money to pay for everything. When he sees Usopp is too weak from his wounds to carry the lumber, he gives him some food, too.
("Ain't you got any nakama to help you?" Aw, Usopp! But ugly dude is a nice guy.)
Usopp, heartened by the food, tries to cheer Merry up as he works on the repairs.
"You'll be just fine! You're the ship that flew to the sky!"
*sniffle*
[Oh man… it just now occurred to me that all of the Strawhats have suffered loss, but Usopp is the only one who had to watch his mother die of a lingering illness. T_T]
At Blueno's Bar, Franky has finally worked himself back into a state to confront Luffy.
Blueno: What's up with him?
Kokoro: Who knows. I can never tell what that idiot is thinking.
[Water 7]Aw, family!
As night falls, the Galley-La forces prepare to pull back and retrench.
The shipyards have apparently been designated as refuge centers. Huddled inside, the people whisper and worry. Rumor has it there are 50 Strawhats. Maybe a hundred. Three thousand of them might be lurking off shore, just waiting to attack.
[Usopp would be so proud!]
Outside Galley-La headquarters, every available shipwright is standing guard. The five foremen of Dock One are stationed outside Iceberg's bedroom.
Iceberg is grateful for everyone stepping up to help. "I feel like a king." まるで王様だ.
[Speculation]Hee! manga_crow once suggested that someday, the world government will be in the hands of Iceberg, Vivi and Dalton. I'd vote for them!
Kalifa asks about the wanted poster of Nico Robin on Iceberg's wall.
Iceberg: しらん方がいい。あれは、悪魔だ. ("Better you don't know. That thing is a demon.")
Perched in a tree outside Galley-La, Luffy and the others are watching for any change. We see what looks like Robin's boots, standing on another rooftop nearby.
342
[Cover arc: hee, the ero-crab from Alabasta is running a bus service to the hot spring island!]
Franky is stomping around town, looking for Luffy.
Kiwi and Mozu are right behind him, but they have to stand sideways to avoid the windshear (on account of the square hair).
They comment that Franky seems unusually upset. "Shaddup! That's just how I am this week!"
[Water 7]I'm not sure I understand why Franky is so upset, other than at Luffy, but I'm guessing it has to do with his conversation with Kokoro and his worries about Iceberg.
Zambai and the other underlings catch up with them. Zambai says that he saw the 弱々長っ鼻 (weak-weak long nose, poor Usopp! with illustration!) out by the ship alone doing repairs, so he figured Franky beat the rest up already.
Franky decides to go take Usopp hostage, while the rest of his men spread the word: "We have Longnose, come to the warehouse under the bridge if you want him to live!"
Inside Galley-La, Iceberg asks Kalifa to leave him and send Paulie in.
Iceberg and Paulie talk quietly, and Paulie agrees to accept something dangerous that Iceberg has asked him to do.
Paulie goes to take care of an "errand," leaving the other four shipwrights to guard the door.
Paulie goes to Iceberg's office and opens a hidden safe, which Iceberg told him how to find.
On the rooftop, Robin and a tall costumed man wearing a bear's head mask are waiting. (Judging from the costume, it's the same masked figure she was with before, although the mask is different.)
Robin is holding a den-den mushi, which rings. The person on the other end of the line says he's about to create a distraction. The "four" of them know what to do when they see the signal.
When an explosion goes off, Robin recognizes that as the signal.
Inside, someone yells that they've spotted an intruder. Tileston charges off in hot pursuit, followed by Lulu. Kaku and Lucci stay behind. (Kaku: まったく…)
A costumed figure with a whip, wearing a dress, is leading a merry chase inside the residence. The figure leaps up to a higher level, only to find another group of shipwrights waiting.
Outside, another gang are chasing Robin and the mystery bear.
The Strawhats waiting outside realize too late that Luffy has gone on ahead.
As Paulie pulls the object Iceberg sent him to get (a roll of papers?) out of the safe, a masked skeleton and bull-headed figure appear at the door, telling him to hand it over.
[OK, everyone got it straight? Robin, bear, whip person, skeleton, bull - five people in all ("the four" plus whoever was giving the orders).]
343
[Cover arc: The Alabasta royal coterie approach the baths, presided over by Gedatsu.]
(Kyaa! Vivi! Igaram! Chaka! PELL! I love that Igaram has the camera.)
[Decks of the World]Cobra's not with them. Is his health already failing? :-(
The guards appear to have Robin and the bear surrounded, but with a flash and a bang, they simply disappear.
The whip-user appears to be able to leap through thin air, easily evading and defeating his opponents. "Moon walk." (月歩)
Paulie is confronting the skeleton and the bull. When he asks who they are, the bull says they are people from the darkness, who execute justice. (闇より、しかし我々は… あくまで正義を遂行する者.) They are undercover organization Cipher-Pol #9.
When Paulie says they must have run into "our men" (ウチの職人達), the bull says "Maybe. Maybe not."
His hands are dripping with blood. The hall is heaped with bodies.
[Water 7]Obviously this is just supposed to be creepy, but I'm guessing the いた様な、いなかった様な comment has a double meaning. "Maybe they were. Maybe they weren't."
The bull again demands Iceberg's "precious item," and says that as a witness, Paulie will have to die.
Elsewhere inside Galley-La, Robin says that their destination is on the other side of the wall. The bear stands against the wall, and with a weird puzzle-piece effect, he swings aside and Robin steps through. The bear closes the "door" on the other side, and both are inside Iceberg's bedroom.
[Well, that explains how the attackers got in and out of a locked room the night before.]
The bear explains that he ate the door-door fruit (ドアドアの実).
[Is it time for the "stupidest devil fruit" conversation again? What was our previous leading contender - Alvida's slip-slip fruit?]
The bear pulls a gun and shoots Iceberg. Again. (Icebergggg!)
The bear explains his strategy using the metaphor of a professional chef.
Iceberg guesses (correctly) that Robin and the bear are agents of CP-9. He is dismayed to realize that he accused Luffy unjustly.
The bear says their goal all along (besides pinning the blame on some convenient pirates) was to discover the location of the blueprints to a certain ship.
Those blueprints have been passed down in secret by shipwrights, from generation to generation, master to disciple. If Iceberg thought his life was in danger, he would surely try to pass the plans along to someone.
The bear says he's going to deal with the shipwrights outside. He leaves Robin to "dispose" of Iceberg, but not until they get word from their confederates that the plans are in their hands. Afterwards, they'll eliminate Paulie too, and pin the blame for everything on the Strawhats.
Outside, Nami, Chopper and Zoro are thoroughly ticked off at their captain for jumping the gun, but they figure that once Luffy goes crashing through the front door, all eyes will be on him and they should be able to slip through the guards. They are dismayed to arrive at the gate and discover it very thoroughly guarded.
Meanwhile, Luffy is stuck between two buildings. He tried to jump, but didn't quite make it.
[This may be one of the funniest moments in the arc. Luffy!!]
When Tileston arrives back at the door of Iceberg's room, he finds the bear sitting quietly, and Kaku and Lucci lying in a pool of blood.
The bear is waiting for the signal to finish the job.
344
[Cover arc: Men's bath. Natsukashii! Ow, Pell, those are some nasty-looking scars. Also, the ero-camel! Looks like he managed to join the Spot-Billed Duck Squad after all.]
When Tileston attacks the bear, the bear invokes "Tekkai" (鉄境, "iron boundary"). Tileston's enormous hammer shatters against the bear's fist.
[Chapter 597]According to the wiki, this is similar to but not identical to Armament Haki, because (as far as we know) tekkai is a physical form of training that does not require haki to use.
The bear knocks Tileston out easily, with a single blow.
Back at the entrance, the Strawhats are running for their lives, but Zoro decides to stand and fight his way through the front entrance. He promises to use the blunt edge of the blades, since the shipwrights aren't to blame for any of this. (Nami and Chopper point out that he can still kill people with blunt force.)
Luffy finally manages to wriggle his way out of the place where he was stuck.
This time, he's determined to punch straight through. "Gomu-gomu no Rocket!"
Robin is watching over a severely wounded Iceberg.
Iceberg says he never expected they would meet like this. They've never met (before the previous night), but he always wanted to meet her.
He and Robin pull guns on each other, simultaneously. (Heh, Robin has more hands = more guns.)
Robin: "In order to kill me?"
Iceberg says yes, to kill her - before she can destroy the world.
She ought to know better than anyone that the government long ago decreed that seeking out, researching and deciphering the poneglyphs (歴史の本文) is a crime of the highest order.
Robin is surprised that he would even have heard of the poneglyphs.
Iceberg says that Robin is probably the only person on earth who still possesses the power to read them. That was why the government put a huge bounty on her head when she was only eight years old.
[I believe this is the first time that we learn why Robin got her bounty? Before, we just knew that the government saw her as a threat.]
Because, she is the only person on earth who has the ability to revive the ancient weapon. (お前が世界で唯一… 「古代兵器」を復活させられる女だからだ.)
If CP9 is behind all this, Iceberg deduces, Robin has already left the Strawhats and is working with the government. Not that he understands why a woman who spent her life being hunted by the government would be working for them.
Iceberg doesn't particularly care if Robin is good or evil. Simply having the power to awaken the weapon is enough. There is no way a weapon would be used to bring peace; the world would be destroyed. The "evils" of the past must not be invoked.
[Not that we know for sure, but the exact wording may be important here: 兵器が人の世にもたらすものが「平和」であるわけがねー 世界は滅ぶ. 過去の「異物」など呼び起こすべきではないんだ！ I very strongly suspect that it is NOT a coincidence that 異物 (foreign body, contamination) has the same pronunciation (ibutsu) as 遺物 (relics, remains).]
Robin says that she agrees, but it is none of his business how she researches history.
[Possibly also important in terms of word choice. 私がどういう形で歴史を探究しようとも.]
Iceberg says actually, he's in much the same position she is. Since he possesses the plans for the ancient weapon, Pluton.
[Robin was clearly unaware of this.]
Pluton, he explains, was a warship that was built on "this island" (この島 - Water 7?) long ago.
The shipwrights, fearing that the weapon was too strong, hit upon the idea of passing down the plans from generation to generation, so that there would always be the possibility of building a counter-weapon. The government wants those plans. He's shocked that she would have been cooperating with the government without knowing that much.
He says that Tom, the shipwright who passed the plans to him, had long worried about the existence of a young girl who was the lone survivor of "the Ohara incident" twenty years earlier.
[The first mention of Ohara, I believe?]
Tom believed that, although young, she was a dangerous child who shared the mindset of the "demons of Ohara." It is now Iceburg's responsibility to stop her, as the one who inherited the will of the shipwright(s).
[Hmmm. 製造者の意志を汲んだおれ. This isn't the first time we have seen the term ishi, "will of." 汲む is an interesting verb. It means to draw off, like water from a well, but also means to inherit a tradition, e.g. 流れを汲む.]
Now that the government knows of the existence of the blueprints, he would have liked to just burn them, but he can't. As long as Robin is alive, the possibility exists that she could reactivate the weapon (thus, the plans for a counter-weapon are still needed).
Iceburg tries to attack Robin with his gun, but she counterattacks with her devil fruit power.
With a gun held to his forehead, she asks him if that's all he wants to say before he dies. She points out one thing - even if he had succeeded in killing her, if the government gets their hands on those plans, the result will be the same in the end.
Iceberg says he does have one more thing to say. Robin and her fellows are the ones who have fallen into HIS trap.
Paulie is on his knees before the bull and the skeleton, dripping with blood. He collapses, saying he thought he could beat them.
The truth is, he says, Iceberg advised him to throw the documents away and run if he was attacked. After all, these are just a fake.
345
[Cover arc: the women's bath! Vivi's looking well.]
Paulie says whoever they are, their plan has failed. He himself doesn't even know what it is they're looking for.
The bull says that although Paulie was just a decoy, they still can't let him live.
Just at that moment, Luffy crashes through the wall. He's stuck… again.
"Rope guy! You okay? You're covered with blood."
"Are YOU okay? This is the third floor…"
Seeing the bull and the skeleton, Luffy concludes that since they're wearing masks, they must be the guys who told Robin to do stuff. Give her back!
[So much for being neutral - not that anyone could really expect that of Luffy.]
The skeleton attacks with a whirlwind kick (rankyaku, 嵐脚). The kick is powerful enough to split the wall.
Bending metal spikes, the bull secures both Luffy and Paulie to the floor with curved restraints.
The bull and the skeleton leave.
A signal goes out to Robin, the bear and the whip-person, telling them to gather in the bedroom and not to shoot Iceberg yet.
The whip-person knocks Lulu out with a single blow and leaps/flies away.
Paulie apologizes to Luffy for thinking that the Strawhats were the criminals.
Luffy says he doesn't mind, he's used to being hunted (ha!), but the masked guys took one of his nakama with them, so he came to get her back.
Paulie asks Luffy if he's strong enough to beat THEM. Luffy is sure that he is. In that case, Paulie says, they should fight together. He wants to beat them, too. He's PISSED that their Iceberg-san was almost killed by some idiots from god-only-knows-where.
He says he owes Iceberg everything. Iceberg made him the shipwright that he is. As badly hurt as he is, if he can make them pay, he doesn't care about what happens to his body after that. Luffy agrees to join forces. (He's fired up!)
Walking past the bodies outside Iceberg's room, the bull takes the hat from where it had fallen next to Lucci.
Robin and all four masked figures are standing in Iceberg's bedroom.
Iceberg tells them to go home. He has nothing for them.
The bull says that's a problem.
The pigeon flies to the bull, and lands on his shoulder.
"Where should I start…? Since you're a dying man…"
Each of the figures in turn removes their mask.
Lucci (bull): You let us down.
Kaku (skeleton): This is all your fault. You should have just given the government what they wanted.
Kalifa (whip-person): We would have liked to leave town without hurting you, if possible.
Blueno (bear): Did you get this stubbornness from your shishou?
All four are re-introduced as undercover agents of the secret organization, Cipher Pol 9. (Two page spread!)
Lucci (I think) adds something. What exactly does あなたの思慮深さには呆れて物も言えない mean? Viz has "You just had to go and make things difficult!" I make it literally "I'm shocked by the extent of your forethought." Is this a set phrase?
Lucci demands the location of the plans for the ancient weapon Pluton, before any more lives have to be needlessly sacrificed.
[Seriously one of the best reveals in all of One Piece. I never saw it coming.]
346
[Cover arc: Gedatsu got to be a blue sea guardian after all. Er, guarding a bath-house.]
Zoro assures them that he used the blunt edge of the blade, but Nami is still mad that he knocked all the shipwrights out. Chopper is filled with admiration. "Zoro's strong!"
Nami tries to lead the way, but of course Zoro goes the opposite way. ["Is it a miracle?" (奇跡), haha]
Luffy manages to wiggle out of his restraints using his rubber ability, and frees Paulie.
Lucci says they're been working undercover for the past five years. Not to worry, they did their day jobs well.
[I find him REALLY difficult to understand. Is he using excessively formal/polite Japanese? It's not super-keigo per se, but it seems very… ornate. Needless to say, he is now speaking in his own voice, not through the pigeon. I suspect the reason why the bull has been doing pretty much all the talking this whole time (besides the fact that he's the leader) is that Lucci's real, non-pigeon voice was the only one that wouldn't be recognized. The skeleton barely said a word, probably because Kaku's speech quirk would have been so easy to spot.]
[Along the same lines - I love the misdirection. Not only did I never guess that these awesome characters were all undercover agents, but the behavior and appearance of the costumed figures was designed to mislead, even if you did suspect them. A person might logically have suspected that the bull was Blueno (he kind of looks like a bull anyway), the whip-person was Kaku (he/she was able to do the flying through the air thing - although the fact that that figure was the only one wearing a dress might also have pointed to Kalifa). And for a while I thought Lucci was the bear.]
Since Iceberg knows about Cipher Pol, he presumably knows that there are 8 regular divisions, eight intelligence agencies scattered in bases around the world. Cipher Pol 9 is a ninth, super-secret division that enjoys certain… privileges. (特権)
In the name of justice, they take action against civilians who take an uncooperative attitude toward the government. They are licensed to kill.
Iceberg is disgusted by the idea of calling assassination "justice."
Lucci explains that a part of the government has changed its thinking. Rather than live in fear of the ancient weapon as they have been doing for centuries, they feel that it would be better to reactivate the weapon and use it to put an end to the "Great Age of Pirates," using it as a force for justice.
(Suddenly a lot of stuff about the various admirals' brands of justice is starting to make a lot more sense. Brrrrr.]
The way Lucci sees it, by refusing to cooperate, Iceberg is refusing to help the people around the world who are suffering at the hands of pirates. Iceberg thinks the damage would be vastly greater if the weapon were reactivated.
Lucci says that Iceberg doesn't seem to trust the government. Iceberg says that it's just that he knows human nature. "Brat (小僧)."
Lucci kicks Iceberg in the face.
"Watch your tongue. Do you think you're still my superior?"
He orders Kaku to take Iceberg's pulse. He wants to test out a certain theory they've come up with.
The fact that Iceberg risked the possibility of being killed while trying to pass along fake plans tells them that the plans have already been entrusted to another party.
For five years, they have been studying the movements of people around him. A person to whom he would entrust the plans would have to have the necessary skill.
Looking closely at the "fake" plans, they bear the signatures of three people: Tom, Iceberg, and one Cutty Flam (collectively, "Tom's Workers").
The identity of Tom's Workers has virtually been eliminated from the record, but an agent was able to confirm that Tom had two apprentices, and that one had died in an accident eight years before. Or… so they thought.
But, as sleeper agents who have been around a long time, they recall hearing the name Cutty Flam once, four years ago, when a certain man came to see Iceberg.
Their theory is that Cutty Flam is still alive, and living in Water 7, under the name of "Franky."
(Oh, poor Iceberg. His face!)
Kaku says it seems they weren't mistaken. Who would have suspected they were so closely connected?
Lucci says it was the perfect cover. But the rate of Iceberg's pulse tells him that they guessed right.
Nami, Chopper and Zoro are racing toward the door of Iceberg's bedroom.
Paulie is trying to get Luffy to break into the right room. (Luffy is seriously no better than Zoro.)
The CP-9 agents say they have no further need of Iceberg, now that they've discovered what they came to learn. The next step is to find Franky. (They are strangely courteous toward their old boss… courteous, but cold.)
Luffy busts through the wall into their midst, just as Zoro smashes through the door from the other side.
[Hee, now that's an entrance!]
Robin: Luffy.
Zoro: Luffy!!
Lucci: Damn nuisance. (邪魔を.)
TBC
Volume 36: "Justice Number 9" (９番目の正義)
(That isn't supposed to make sense until the end of the volume.)
337
[Cover arc: while tunneling - all the way to China? - the earth guardian pops up in a place that looks AWFULLY familiar. Kohza!]
When the shipwrights interrupt Luffy's fight with Franky, Nami is thrilled, thinking they'll take Luffy's side.
Mozu (I think? hard to tell which one is speaking) is annoyed by the interruption (とんだ邪魔だわいな).
Franky tells Galley-La not to interfere in his fight. Tileston starts to yell at Franky for the damage he's caused, but Paulie tells him to back off. They have more important business to attend to. (Luffy: ?)
Luffy is completely bewildered when Paulie says he has a lot of nerve, coming here.
Franky: "It wasn't enough that you attacked my family (ウチの一家), you have to pick a fight with Galley-La too?"
[LOL, てめーら触れるものみな傷つける思春期？ "思春期" means puberty, so Viz pretty much nailed it with their translation: "Are you at that awkward age where you hurt everything you touch?"]
[Water 7]Also LOL: Franky would know, destructive adolescent brat that he was.
Luffy: "We didn't DO anything!"
To Luffy's shock, Paulie attacks him with his ropes.
Franky: "I TOLD you to stay out of this! I'm the one who's got a grudge here!"
The other shipwrights are preparing for battle, too. (They have their own "WARRIOR MODE ON" ritual. Haha, even the pigeon is ready for battle.)
Nami is horrified - why are the shipwrights attacking THEM?
At first, Luffy doesn't counterattack, saying he has no reason to fight Galley-La.
Franky attacks the shipwrights. "I said, he's MINE!" But the shipwrights easily beat him off.
Luffy asks them to tell him why, but they say they're the ones who ought to ask why. Why did he have to attack Iceberg?
Franky hasn't heard the news about Iceberg, apparently.
Luffy can't believe his ears, but Paulie says Iceberg told them himself that Nico Robin was one of the two people who attacked him. And Robin is a member of Luffy's crew.
Luffy and Nami are shocked to hear Robin's name.
Paulie says they don't understand why they did it, but they won't let them get away. The people listening are outraged, hearing that Luffy and Nami were behind the attack on Iceberg.
Franky asks if Iceberg is dead, but Paulie scoffs at the idea that Iceberg would let himself be killed by "these idiots."
[Water 7]Aw, Franky! Of course he'd be worried.
Kaku asks if they know the meaning of "Wanted, Dead or Alive." Pirates are outlaws who can be killed without consequence. The law won't protect them.
Luffy is furious that they would talk trash about Robin when they don't even know her. He asks to see Ice no Ossan, thinking it must be a misunderstanding.
[I love that Luffy always takes the most straightforward path to clear up any problem. Communication!]
Of course, the shipwrights have no intention of letting him get anywhere near Iceberg.
Someone in the crowd grabs Nami, saying they won't let any of the gang get away.
Paulie says their faces are already known all over town. None of the crew will escape.
The newspaper-criers are telling everyone to report anything they know or see of Mugiwara's crew.
From a nearby rooftop, Robin is watching.
338
[Cover arc: Gorou the hole-digger is Kohza's uncle, Toto's little brother. Aw! I didn't see that coming. Gedatsu, what are you looking at?]
Sanji and Chopper are screaming at each other at the top of their lungs.
"HEY, DID YOU HEAR THE AQUA LAGUNA IS COMING?" "YEAH, WE BETTER GET TO HIGH GROUND!"
They sneak a look over their shoulders, and make a run for it.
[LOL forever, it took me almost a full minute to figure out what they were doing. TOO ADORABLE.]
Usopp comes out of the Merry, looking puzzled - did someone just say something about a high tide? He notices that indeed, the wind and waves are getting pretty high.
Nami and Luffy keep insisting that neither they nor Robin would have had any reason to attack Iceberg, but Paulie doesn't care. He informs them they've made enemies of Galley-La, and all of Water 7.
Luffy keeps dodging their attacks, not wanting to fight them without a reason.
Franky, Mozu and Kiwi have pulled up a table to enjoy the spectacle - NOT. He's still mad at the shipwrights for attacking his prey.
He starts attacking the shipwrights again. The three-way fight is on.
Mozu & Kiwi: "Go get 'em wai na, aniki!"
Franky uses the attack which previously blew up half the shipyard (thus blowing up the other half): Coup de Vent.
[Franky's French is about as bad as Sanji's.]
Luffy and Nami take advantage of the chaos to escape (Luffy grabs Nami and tells her to hold on).
Mozu and Kiwi ask if it's ok to let them get away wai na, but Franky (whose hair is looking rather limp) says the Coup de Vent used up the last of his "fuel." He needs to recharge.
He's reluctantly impressed. Luffy might just be worth 100 million, after all.
The shipwrights (dusting themselves off) discuss how to go after Luffy and his crew. Without a functioning ship, the Strawhats' only way to get off the island is by train. They decide to use the information-gathering network of the entire shipwright union to search the city and hunt them down.
Kokoro, Chimney and Gonbe are headed for the dock of Water 7.
339
[Cover Arc: Everyone's off for a jaunt to the hot spring! (Karoo!)]
Nami tells Luffy that she can sense a storm coming, and in a water-based city, that means trouble. She says she'll try to find out more later.
They easily identify where Iceberg is being kept, but while Nami is still trying to come up with a clever plan to sneak Luffy in quietly, Luffy just charges right in, raising a huge uproar.
(Nami: …)
When Kalifa tells Iceberg that Luffy has apparently broken into the building, Iceberg says he has a request.
Kalifa signals Luffy to get his attention.
A moment later, standing outside Iceberg's door, she tells the pursuers that she hasn't seen the intruder.
Luffy is inside Iceberg's room, thanking him for letting him in. Iceberg tells him that it's true that he saw Robin. He only wants to know one thing - where is Robin? He needs to see her one more time.
Luffy says he doesn't know that himself.
A shot rings out. By the time the pursuers break into Iceberg's room, Luffy has gone out the window (Iceberg is fine - I think he was the one who shot at Luffy?).
Iceberg says he was stupid to think he could get at the truth so easily. He gives the order to arrest the entire crew.
Meeting up with Nami, Luffy says that Iceberg confirmed that Robin was the one who attacked him. But Luffy refuses to believe it.
At "Blueno's Bar" downtown, Franky and his girls have come to see the bartender.
"How're ya doing, Blueno? SUPER?"
Franky asks for a full tank of cola, as usual.
When Franky whines about Blueno asking for payment, Mozu says they've got 1 million beli left over from the day before. Franky is aghast to hear that he's actually got money LEFT. (カッコ悪！) He promptly tells everyone that drinks are on the house.
For the first time, Franky notices that Kokoro ("Kokoro no baba!") is drinking at the bar.
Chimney waves hello and asks if she can have another round of juice. Franky wants to know what Kokoro thinks she's doing, bringing a kid to a bar.
[Water 7]When FRANKY is the one enforcing the family values… aw, he's a good uncle. Also, I LOVE how he immediately spills his guts to Kokoro. Foster mom!
Franky sits right down and starts grousing about the day he's had.
"Oh yeah, business is great, but life sucks. This week's me sucks!" (今週のおれサイテーよ.)
After he recharges with cola, Franky feels much better (his hair recovers, too).
"SUPER!"
He stays to have a drink (or ten) with Kokoro. They talk about the attack on Iceberg. Franky says the word on the street is that pirates did it. Kokoro asks him if he really believes that. She suspects the World Government. Franky seems to know about Iceberg's frequent government visitor, too, but he doesn't think the guy is assassin material.
Kokoro is babbling drunkenly about a secret organization called CP-9. Their existence is a mere rumor because they always operate in the shadows.
[Jeez, drunk Japanese is hard to understand.]
In the back streets, Robin is meeting with someone whose face is in shadow. He tells her that she did well the night before, but the more important thing is what they have planned for tonight.
The unknown person doesn't mind if she ends up having to erase all the evidence. "Tom" was the one who had that thing, and the only one of his disciples left alive is Iceberg. Tonight, in the name of CP-9, they'll get their hands on IT. Keep in mind, this is a "mission for justice." (これは正義の任務だと心得ておけ.)
340
[Cover arc: the forest guardians have been busy building a great bath house.]
Luffy is still trying to jump about the city like Kaku, to Nami's very great wrath, since he's been dragging her with him.
(Love the little graphic of Kaku in Nami's dialogue.)
The loudspeaker is still broadcasting instructions for the evacuation of the lower city. Citizens are boarding up their homes and shops.
At Blue Station, every passenger boarding the train is being thoroughly searched.
Zoro figures out from looking at a newspaper why people have been chasing him all over town. Officially, only his face, Luffy's and Robin's are known.
[I had to look back at my earlier notes to remember that at this point, only Luffy, Zoro and Robin have wanted posters, and Robin's is from when she was 8 years old. Luffy got his after Arlong, and Zoro got his after Alabasta.]
Galley-La's agents are searching all over town. The innkeeper says their stuff is still in the room, maybe they'll be back. Other agents are searching the Merry. They think it's been abandoned, since Usopp is hiding offshore.
[I find it odd that when the others abandoned ship, they left the flag. Too much part of Merry's identity, perhaps?]
Sanji and Chopper are checking out a train timetable (neither of their faces were printed in the paper). The last train will be the 11 pm leaving for Enies Lobby. They wonder if Robin might be planning to escape by train.
Chopper wonders if he did something at the bookstore to make Robin mad. (Oh, Chopper. ;_;) Of course Sanji tells him not to be ridiculous.
Chopper seems to catch a whiff of something. Suddenly, they see Robin standing on the other side of the canal.
[There's something so poignant about this conversation conducted across the divide of the water.]
Sanji says they should head back to the inn ("Oh yeah… a lot's happened with us too"), but Robin says she's not coming back.
Sanji thinks she's worried about the story in the paper, but he assures her no one believed that. People hang false charges on pirates all the time.
Robin says that may be, but the paper didn't lie about her. She was the one who snuck into Iceberg's residence.
"There is a darkness in me you don't know. Someday, that darkness will destroy you."
Sanji remembers what Aokiji said, about how every organization Robin ever belonged to has been destroyed.
Robin says that she's planning to pin the crime on the Strawhats and disappear. The situation is only going to get worse… They've only known each other a short while, but today is the last time they'll ever see each other.
[Exact wording is worth quoting: 現に私はこの事件の罪をあなた達に被せて 逃げるつもりでいる。事態はもっと悪化するわ… 短い付き合いだったけど今日限りでもう 二度とあなた達と会うことはないわ.]
"Thank you, for being kind to a person like me until now." (こんな私に今まで良くしてくれてありがとう.)
"Farewell." (さようなら.)
Robin walks away. Sanji tries to dive into the water to go after her, but she's gone.
Wringing out his shirt, Sanji tells Chopper to get back to the others and tell them what Robin said. EVERYTHING she said - don't leave out a word. He needs to… take care of something.
[Water 7]Sanji so smart! I don't normally think of him as the brains of the operation, but he gets right away that Robin's carefully chosen words were important.
Luffy, Nami and Zoro (who caught up with them - or rather, apparently, he led a bunch of pursuers straight to them, haha Zoro) are hiding under a bridge, until Chopper sniffs them out.
They hide out on a rooftop, and Chopper delivers Robin's message, word for word.
Zoro draws a line in the sand (more or less literally). They should have seen this coming. They knew that Robin was an enemy when they let her join the ship. They can't simply let her run off on them now.
The time has come to determine once and for all whether that woman is an enemy, or a nakama.
341
[Cover Arc: "Ukkari Hot Spring Island" Tunnel Open For Business. Hee, the people of Alabasta imitating the earth guardian's V-salute.]
"Things are only going to get worse… Today is the last time we'll ever see each other."
Zoro asks Chopper if he's sure that's what Robin said.
When Chopper confirms it, Zoro says it sounds like Robin was deliberately informing them that sometime today, she was going to do something to make the situation worse. The only thing that could possibly be worse than an attempted assassination of the mayor would be a successful assassination of the mayor.
The only question that remains, is whether Robin is luring them into a trap or not. If they show up at the scene of a successful assassination, they're sure to be held responsible.
When Nami protests that it sounds like he's already made up his mind that Robin is guilty, Zoro says that they have to be completely neutral. If they let themselves be biased in either direction, and events prove them wrong, a split second lost to hesitation could be fatal.
Luffy agrees: tonight, they go to the scene of the crime.
Nami points out that Sanji and Iceberg both said they saw someone with Robin. Chopper wonders if the unknown figure could be forcing her to do something against her will, but again, Zoro says it could go either way. "Blessing" (吉), Robin is being coerced. "Curse" (凶), that figure is Robin's true nakama.
[This language is taken from o-mikuji, the fortunes you get at Shinto shrines.]
When Nami asks what their goal is then, Luffy doesn't hesitate. The goal is to catch Robin. They won't know the truth until they can talk to her.
(Chopper's 俺もがんばるぞ ["I'll do my best, too!] face is so cute!)
In town, Usopp is pleading with a shopkeeper (who is anxious to get to higher ground) to sell him some shipbuilding materials. Finally the guy gives in, even though Usopp doesn't have enough money to pay for everything. When he sees Usopp is too weak from his wounds to carry the lumber, he gives him some food, too.
("Ain't you got any nakama to help you?" Aw, Usopp! But ugly dude is a nice guy.)
Usopp, heartened by the food, tries to cheer Merry up as he works on the repairs.
"You'll be just fine! You're the ship that flew to the sky!"
*sniffle*
[Oh man… it just now occurred to me that all of the Strawhats have suffered loss, but Usopp is the only one who had to watch his mother die of a lingering illness. T_T]
At Blueno's Bar, Franky has finally worked himself back into a state to confront Luffy.
Blueno: What's up with him?
Kokoro: Who knows. I can never tell what that idiot is thinking.
[Water 7]Aw, family!
As night falls, the Galley-La forces prepare to pull back and retrench.
The shipyards have apparently been designated as refuge centers. Huddled inside, the people whisper and worry. Rumor has it there are 50 Strawhats. Maybe a hundred. Three thousand of them might be lurking off shore, just waiting to attack.
[Usopp would be so proud!]
Outside Galley-La headquarters, every available shipwright is standing guard. The five foremen of Dock One are stationed outside Iceberg's bedroom.
Iceberg is grateful for everyone stepping up to help. "I feel like a king." まるで王様だ.
[Speculation]Hee! manga_crow once suggested that someday, the world government will be in the hands of Iceberg, Vivi and Dalton. I'd vote for them!
Kalifa asks about the wanted poster of Nico Robin on Iceberg's wall.
Iceberg: しらん方がいい。あれは、悪魔だ. ("Better you don't know. That thing is a demon.")
Perched in a tree outside Galley-La, Luffy and the others are watching for any change. We see what looks like Robin's boots, standing on another rooftop nearby.
342
[Cover arc: hee, the ero-crab from Alabasta is running a bus service to the hot spring island!]
Franky is stomping around town, looking for Luffy.
Kiwi and Mozu are right behind him, but they have to stand sideways to avoid the windshear (on account of the square hair).
They comment that Franky seems unusually upset. "Shaddup! That's just how I am this week!"
[Water 7]I'm not sure I understand why Franky is so upset, other than at Luffy, but I'm guessing it has to do with his conversation with Kokoro and his worries about Iceberg.
Zambai and the other underlings catch up with them. Zambai says that he saw the 弱々長っ鼻 (weak-weak long nose, poor Usopp! with illustration!) out by the ship alone doing repairs, so he figured Franky beat the rest up already.
Franky decides to go take Usopp hostage, while the rest of his men spread the word: "We have Longnose, come to the warehouse under the bridge if you want him to live!"
Inside Galley-La, Iceberg asks Kalifa to leave him and send Paulie in.
Iceberg and Paulie talk quietly, and Paulie agrees to accept something dangerous that Iceberg has asked him to do.
Paulie goes to take care of an "errand," leaving the other four shipwrights to guard the door.
Paulie goes to Iceberg's office and opens a hidden safe, which Iceberg told him how to find.
On the rooftop, Robin and a tall costumed man wearing a bear's head mask are waiting. (Judging from the costume, it's the same masked figure she was with before, although the mask is different.)
Robin is holding a den-den mushi, which rings. The person on the other end of the line says he's about to create a distraction. The "four" of them know what to do when they see the signal.
When an explosion goes off, Robin recognizes that as the signal.
Inside, someone yells that they've spotted an intruder. Tileston charges off in hot pursuit, followed by Lulu. Kaku and Lucci stay behind. (Kaku: まったく…)
A costumed figure with a whip, wearing a dress, is leading a merry chase inside the residence. The figure leaps up to a higher level, only to find another group of shipwrights waiting.
Outside, another gang are chasing Robin and the mystery bear.
The Strawhats waiting outside realize too late that Luffy has gone on ahead.
As Paulie pulls the object Iceberg sent him to get (a roll of papers?) out of the safe, a masked skeleton and bull-headed figure appear at the door, telling him to hand it over.
[OK, everyone got it straight? Robin, bear, whip person, skeleton, bull - five people in all ("the four" plus whoever was giving the orders).]
343
[Cover arc: The Alabasta royal coterie approach the baths, presided over by Gedatsu.]
(Kyaa! Vivi! Igaram! Chaka! PELL! I love that Igaram has the camera.)
[Decks of the World]Cobra's not with them. Is his health already failing? :-(
The guards appear to have Robin and the bear surrounded, but with a flash and a bang, they simply disappear.
The whip-user appears to be able to leap through thin air, easily evading and defeating his opponents. "Moon walk." (月歩)
Paulie is confronting the skeleton and the bull. When he asks who they are, the bull says they are people from the darkness, who execute justice. (闇より、しかし我々は… あくまで正義を遂行する者.) They are undercover organization Cipher-Pol #9.
When Paulie says they must have run into "our men" (ウチの職人達), the bull says "Maybe. Maybe not."
His hands are dripping with blood. The hall is heaped with bodies.
[Water 7]Obviously this is just supposed to be creepy, but I'm guessing the いた様な、いなかった様な comment has a double meaning. "Maybe they were. Maybe they weren't."
The bull again demands Iceberg's "precious item," and says that as a witness, Paulie will have to die.
Elsewhere inside Galley-La, Robin says that their destination is on the other side of the wall. The bear stands against the wall, and with a weird puzzle-piece effect, he swings aside and Robin steps through. The bear closes the "door" on the other side, and both are inside Iceberg's bedroom.
[Well, that explains how the attackers got in and out of a locked room the night before.]
The bear explains that he ate the door-door fruit (ドアドアの実).
[Is it time for the "stupidest devil fruit" conversation again? What was our previous leading contender - Alvida's slip-slip fruit?]
The bear pulls a gun and shoots Iceberg. Again. (Icebergggg!)
The bear explains his strategy using the metaphor of a professional chef.
Iceberg guesses (correctly) that Robin and the bear are agents of CP-9. He is dismayed to realize that he accused Luffy unjustly.
The bear says their goal all along (besides pinning the blame on some convenient pirates) was to discover the location of the blueprints to a certain ship.
Those blueprints have been passed down in secret by shipwrights, from generation to generation, master to disciple. If Iceberg thought his life was in danger, he would surely try to pass the plans along to someone.
The bear says he's going to deal with the shipwrights outside. He leaves Robin to "dispose" of Iceberg, but not until they get word from their confederates that the plans are in their hands. Afterwards, they'll eliminate Paulie too, and pin the blame for everything on the Strawhats.
Outside, Nami, Chopper and Zoro are thoroughly ticked off at their captain for jumping the gun, but they figure that once Luffy goes crashing through the front door, all eyes will be on him and they should be able to slip through the guards. They are dismayed to arrive at the gate and discover it very thoroughly guarded.
Meanwhile, Luffy is stuck between two buildings. He tried to jump, but didn't quite make it.
[This may be one of the funniest moments in the arc. Luffy!!]
When Tileston arrives back at the door of Iceberg's room, he finds the bear sitting quietly, and Kaku and Lucci lying in a pool of blood.
The bear is waiting for the signal to finish the job.
344
[Cover arc: Men's bath. Natsukashii! Ow, Pell, those are some nasty-looking scars. Also, the ero-camel! Looks like he managed to join the Spot-Billed Duck Squad after all.]
When Tileston attacks the bear, the bear invokes "Tekkai" (鉄境, "iron boundary"). Tileston's enormous hammer shatters against the bear's fist.
[Chapter 597]According to the wiki, this is similar to but not identical to Armament Haki, because (as far as we know) tekkai is a physical form of training that does not require haki to use.
The bear knocks Tileston out easily, with a single blow.
Back at the entrance, the Strawhats are running for their lives, but Zoro decides to stand and fight his way through the front entrance. He promises to use the blunt edge of the blades, since the shipwrights aren't to blame for any of this. (Nami and Chopper point out that he can still kill people with blunt force.)
Luffy finally manages to wriggle his way out of the place where he was stuck.
This time, he's determined to punch straight through. "Gomu-gomu no Rocket!"
Robin is watching over a severely wounded Iceberg.
Iceberg says he never expected they would meet like this. They've never met (before the previous night), but he always wanted to meet her.
He and Robin pull guns on each other, simultaneously. (Heh, Robin has more hands = more guns.)
Robin: "In order to kill me?"
Iceberg says yes, to kill her - before she can destroy the world.
She ought to know better than anyone that the government long ago decreed that seeking out, researching and deciphering the poneglyphs (歴史の本文) is a crime of the highest order.
Robin is surprised that he would even have heard of the poneglyphs.
Iceberg says that Robin is probably the only person on earth who still possesses the power to read them. That was why the government put a huge bounty on her head when she was only eight years old.
[I believe this is the first time that we learn why Robin got her bounty? Before, we just knew that the government saw her as a threat.]
Because, she is the only person on earth who has the ability to revive the ancient weapon. (お前が世界で唯一… 「古代兵器」を復活させられる女だからだ.)
If CP9 is behind all this, Iceberg deduces, Robin has already left the Strawhats and is working with the government. Not that he understands why a woman who spent her life being hunted by the government would be working for them.
Iceberg doesn't particularly care if Robin is good or evil. Simply having the power to awaken the weapon is enough. There is no way a weapon would be used to bring peace; the world would be destroyed. The "evils" of the past must not be invoked.
[Not that we know for sure, but the exact wording may be important here: 兵器が人の世にもたらすものが「平和」であるわけがねー 世界は滅ぶ. 過去の「異物」など呼び起こすべきではないんだ！ I very strongly suspect that it is NOT a coincidence that 異物 (foreign body, contamination) has the same pronunciation (ibutsu) as 遺物 (relics, remains).]
Robin says that she agrees, but it is none of his business how she researches history.
[Possibly also important in terms of word choice. 私がどういう形で歴史を探究しようとも.]
Iceberg says actually, he's in much the same position she is. Since he possesses the plans for the ancient weapon, Pluton.
[Robin was clearly unaware of this.]
Pluton, he explains, was a warship that was built on "this island" (この島 - Water 7?) long ago.
The shipwrights, fearing that the weapon was too strong, hit upon the idea of passing down the plans from generation to generation, so that there would always be the possibility of building a counter-weapon. The government wants those plans. He's shocked that she would have been cooperating with the government without knowing that much.
He says that Tom, the shipwright who passed the plans to him, had long worried about the existence of a young girl who was the lone survivor of "the Ohara incident" twenty years earlier.
[The first mention of Ohara, I believe?]
Tom believed that, although young, she was a dangerous child who shared the mindset of the "demons of Ohara." It is now Iceburg's responsibility to stop her, as the one who inherited the will of the shipwright(s).
[Hmmm. 製造者の意志を汲んだおれ. This isn't the first time we have seen the term ishi, "will of." 汲む is an interesting verb. It means to draw off, like water from a well, but also means to inherit a tradition, e.g. 流れを汲む.]
Now that the government knows of the existence of the blueprints, he would have liked to just burn them, but he can't. As long as Robin is alive, the possibility exists that she could reactivate the weapon (thus, the plans for a counter-weapon are still needed).
Iceburg tries to attack Robin with his gun, but she counterattacks with her devil fruit power.
With a gun held to his forehead, she asks him if that's all he wants to say before he dies. She points out one thing - even if he had succeeded in killing her, if the government gets their hands on those plans, the result will be the same in the end.
Iceberg says he does have one more thing to say. Robin and her fellows are the ones who have fallen into HIS trap.
Paulie is on his knees before the bull and the skeleton, dripping with blood. He collapses, saying he thought he could beat them.
The truth is, he says, Iceberg advised him to throw the documents away and run if he was attacked. After all, these are just a fake.
345
[Cover arc: the women's bath! Vivi's looking well.]
Paulie says whoever they are, their plan has failed. He himself doesn't even know what it is they're looking for.
The bull says that although Paulie was just a decoy, they still can't let him live.
Just at that moment, Luffy crashes through the wall. He's stuck… again.
"Rope guy! You okay? You're covered with blood."
"Are YOU okay? This is the third floor…"
Seeing the bull and the skeleton, Luffy concludes that since they're wearing masks, they must be the guys who told Robin to do stuff. Give her back!
[So much for being neutral - not that anyone could really expect that of Luffy.]
The skeleton attacks with a whirlwind kick (rankyaku, 嵐脚). The kick is powerful enough to split the wall.
Bending metal spikes, the bull secures both Luffy and Paulie to the floor with curved restraints.
The bull and the skeleton leave.
A signal goes out to Robin, the bear and the whip-person, telling them to gather in the bedroom and not to shoot Iceberg yet.
The whip-person knocks Lulu out with a single blow and leaps/flies away.
Paulie apologizes to Luffy for thinking that the Strawhats were the criminals.
Luffy says he doesn't mind, he's used to being hunted (ha!), but the masked guys took one of his nakama with them, so he came to get her back.
Paulie asks Luffy if he's strong enough to beat THEM. Luffy is sure that he is. In that case, Paulie says, they should fight together. He wants to beat them, too. He's PISSED that their Iceberg-san was almost killed by some idiots from god-only-knows-where.
He says he owes Iceberg everything. Iceberg made him the shipwright that he is. As badly hurt as he is, if he can make them pay, he doesn't care about what happens to his body after that. Luffy agrees to join forces. (He's fired up!)
Walking past the bodies outside Iceberg's room, the bull takes the hat from where it had fallen next to Lucci.
Robin and all four masked figures are standing in Iceberg's bedroom.
Iceberg tells them to go home. He has nothing for them.
The bull says that's a problem.
The pigeon flies to the bull, and lands on his shoulder.
"Where should I start…? Since you're a dying man…"
Each of the figures in turn removes their mask.
Lucci (bull): You let us down.
Kaku (skeleton): This is all your fault. You should have just given the government what they wanted.
Kalifa (whip-person): We would have liked to leave town without hurting you, if possible.
Blueno (bear): Did you get this stubbornness from your shishou?
All four are re-introduced as undercover agents of the secret organization, Cipher Pol 9. (Two page spread!)
Lucci (I think) adds something. What exactly does あなたの思慮深さには呆れて物も言えない mean? Viz has "You just had to go and make things difficult!" I make it literally "I'm shocked by the extent of your forethought." Is this a set phrase?
Lucci demands the location of the plans for the ancient weapon Pluton, before any more lives have to be needlessly sacrificed.
[Seriously one of the best reveals in all of One Piece. I never saw it coming.]
346
[Cover arc: Gedatsu got to be a blue sea guardian after all. Er, guarding a bath-house.]
Zoro assures them that he used the blunt edge of the blade, but Nami is still mad that he knocked all the shipwrights out. Chopper is filled with admiration. "Zoro's strong!"
Nami tries to lead the way, but of course Zoro goes the opposite way. ["Is it a miracle?" (奇跡), haha]
Luffy manages to wiggle out of his restraints using his rubber ability, and frees Paulie.
Lucci says they're been working undercover for the past five years. Not to worry, they did their day jobs well.
[I find him REALLY difficult to understand. Is he using excessively formal/polite Japanese? It's not super-keigo per se, but it seems very… ornate. Needless to say, he is now speaking in his own voice, not through the pigeon. I suspect the reason why the bull has been doing pretty much all the talking this whole time (besides the fact that he's the leader) is that Lucci's real, non-pigeon voice was the only one that wouldn't be recognized. The skeleton barely said a word, probably because Kaku's speech quirk would have been so easy to spot.]
[Along the same lines - I love the misdirection. Not only did I never guess that these awesome characters were all undercover agents, but the behavior and appearance of the costumed figures was designed to mislead, even if you did suspect them. A person might logically have suspected that the bull was Blueno (he kind of looks like a bull anyway), the whip-person was Kaku (he/she was able to do the flying through the air thing - although the fact that that figure was the only one wearing a dress might also have pointed to Kalifa). And for a while I thought Lucci was the bear.]
Since Iceberg knows about Cipher Pol, he presumably knows that there are 8 regular divisions, eight intelligence agencies scattered in bases around the world. Cipher Pol 9 is a ninth, super-secret division that enjoys certain… privileges. (特権)
In the name of justice, they take action against civilians who take an uncooperative attitude toward the government. They are licensed to kill.
Iceberg is disgusted by the idea of calling assassination "justice."
Lucci explains that a part of the government has changed its thinking. Rather than live in fear of the ancient weapon as they have been doing for centuries, they feel that it would be better to reactivate the weapon and use it to put an end to the "Great Age of Pirates," using it as a force for justice.
(Suddenly a lot of stuff about the various admirals' brands of justice is starting to make a lot more sense. Brrrrr.]
The way Lucci sees it, by refusing to cooperate, Iceberg is refusing to help the people around the world who are suffering at the hands of pirates. Iceberg thinks the damage would be vastly greater if the weapon were reactivated.
Lucci says that Iceberg doesn't seem to trust the government. Iceberg says that it's just that he knows human nature. "Brat (小僧)."
Lucci kicks Iceberg in the face.
"Watch your tongue. Do you think you're still my superior?"
He orders Kaku to take Iceberg's pulse. He wants to test out a certain theory they've come up with.
The fact that Iceberg risked the possibility of being killed while trying to pass along fake plans tells them that the plans have already been entrusted to another party.
For five years, they have been studying the movements of people around him. A person to whom he would entrust the plans would have to have the necessary skill.
Looking closely at the "fake" plans, they bear the signatures of three people: Tom, Iceberg, and one Cutty Flam (collectively, "Tom's Workers").
The identity of Tom's Workers has virtually been eliminated from the record, but an agent was able to confirm that Tom had two apprentices, and that one had died in an accident eight years before. Or… so they thought.
But, as sleeper agents who have been around a long time, they recall hearing the name Cutty Flam once, four years ago, when a certain man came to see Iceberg.
Their theory is that Cutty Flam is still alive, and living in Water 7, under the name of "Franky."
(Oh, poor Iceberg. His face!)
Kaku says it seems they weren't mistaken. Who would have suspected they were so closely connected?
Lucci says it was the perfect cover. But the rate of Iceberg's pulse tells him that they guessed right.
Nami, Chopper and Zoro are racing toward the door of Iceberg's bedroom.
Paulie is trying to get Luffy to break into the right room. (Luffy is seriously no better than Zoro.)
The CP-9 agents say they have no further need of Iceberg, now that they've discovered what they came to learn. The next step is to find Franky. (They are strangely courteous toward their old boss… courteous, but cold.)
Luffy busts through the wall into their midst, just as Zoro smashes through the door from the other side.
[Hee, now that's an entrance!]
Robin: Luffy.
Zoro: Luffy!!
Lucci: Damn nuisance. (邪魔を.)
TBC