Contents
Cover
Luffy and a dolphin are sitting at a beach table drinking cocktails. Luffy tries to drink from the dolphin’s glass with his straw, as his glass is already empty. In the background, Zoro is leaning against a post, tipping away a drink, while over the sea, two dolphins jump together.
Storyline
Luffy drags Helmeppo through the corridors of the Shells Town Naval Base’s defense tower in search of Zoro’s swords. Helmeppo reveals that he has them in his room as marines appear behind the two, pointing guns at Luffy. He holds Helmeppo in front of him like a shield.
At the execution site, Koby, who has been shot, discovers that he is bleeding. Zoro tries to get him to leave, but Koby enlightens him about Helmeppo’s intention to break his promise and have him executed. The two are threatened by navy soldiers with muskets. Captain Morgan orders the soldiers to open fire. Zoro remembers a promise from his childhood in the dojo:
A much younger Zoro lies on the ground with a bump on his head next to two shinai training swords. His opponent Kuina has just won her 2000th victory against him. Zoro accuses Sensei Koushirou of secretly giving his daughter extra lessons, but he denies it. Zoro vows never to lose another fight.
That same night, Zoro challenges Kuina to another duel, this time with real swords. Kuina accepts, and again she disarms and defeats him. Zoro is distraught, but Kuina thinks that actually she has every reason to be distraught, because as a girl she would soon fall behind her male competitors. According to her father, she could never become the world’s best swordsman. Zoro is beside himself because he would win a future fight only because he would be stronger (physically). He makes them swear to each other that one of them will become the best swordsman in the world.
The next morning, Zoro learns that Kuina has died in a fall. He asks Koushirou for Kuina’s sword so that he can fulfill his promise to Kuina and become the world’s best swordsman for her.
Back in the present, Zoro thinks he can’t die until he fulfills his promise.
In Helmeppo’s room, Luffy has found three katanas. Using a gum-gum missile, he catapults himself out the window between Zoro and the firing squad. He is hit by several bullets as he shields Zoro and Koby.
The bullets drag long bags of skin behind them before being thrown back towards the soldiers by his rubber powers. One bullet misses Morgan’s head by a hair’s breadth. When Zoro asks what kind of person he is, Luffy laughingly announces that he is the future king of the pirates, and asks Zoro which of the three swords is his. Zoro declares that all three are his, and decides he’d rather join Luffy’s gang and become a pirate than get shot here.
Oda’s comment
Aaaah! I saw Princess Mononoke!! He’s so good!! So cool!! The office is visibly becoming Mera.
Princess Mononoke is a popular anime film from Studio Ghibli directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Oda also makes reference to Yoshikazu Mera, a Japanese opera singer who sang the title theme to the film.
| Manga volumes | Romance Dawn Arc (Manga) |
