One Piece Chapter 098

Cover

Koby’s diary, part 14: Obstructing the bombardment.
Koby wants to stop Helmeppo from being fired upon. He jumps in front of the barrel of the cannon and chases the other soldiers away with pistol shots.

Storyline

East Blue, Loguetown: Sanji buys an elephant tuna at the market from the merchant Sapi, which is normally only found in the Southblue. Sapi caught it himself, which is probably why the fish swam into the East Blue on its own. By chance, he runs into Usopp, who is about to buy eggs. Nami is stocking up on a lot of clothes at a clothing store. As she leaves the store, she notices the oppressively muggy weather and suspects it will rain soon.

Loguetown, Scaffold: Luffy has climbed the scaffold and is enjoying the view that Gold Roger must have had when he died. An official asks him to step off the scaffold because it is government property and can only be climbed during executions. However, he is knocked to the ground by a spiky iron ball. A slender woman greets Luffy like an old acquaintance. Luffy does not recognize the woman. She likes strong men and has chosen Luffy, who once knocked her down, as her husband. Police officers surround her for assaulting the officer and Luffy is to be arrested as well. A large boulder is thrown at the policemen and a broken chunk flies towards the unknown woman.

But he simply bounces off her. A masked man apologizes to her, but she remains unharmed by her alabaster skin anyway. The unknown woman turns out to be Lady Alvida, who ate of the alabaster fruit, making her beautiful and her skin smooth and invulnerable. If Luffy wants to become her husband, he must defeat the masked man, who throws away his cloak and turns out to be Buggy the Clown. Buggy wants revenge for his first defeat at the hands of the Straw Hat. Buggy and Alvida’s crews draw their weapons and occupy the space around the scaffold. Cabaji manages to get to Luffy unnoticed and captures him with a wooden stake. Buggy wants to execute him, in the exact same spot where Gold Roger died.

Naval Base Loguetown: Captain Smoker is building a tower of stones in his room when a soldier enters the room, without knocking, and informs his captain that there are pirates on the scaffold. The stone tower collapses, but Smoker figures you can’t do everything. He puts on his jacket and orders a battalion to the harbor and one to the scaffold immediately, and another to surround the place. In town, the little girl Yu accidentally runs into Smoker’s legs with an ice cream cone, getting his pants dirty. Yu’s father shakes with fear and immediately apologizes to Smoker, but he kindly bends down to Yu and gives her money so she can buy five new scoops. Lieutenant Tashigi comes running, who is immediately yelled at by Smoker for being late. They eventually make their way to the scaffold.

In the square in front of the scaffold, Sanji, Nami, Usopp and Zoro accidentally arrive together in search of Luffy. Due to the weather, Nami wants to get back to the Going Merry as soon as possible. Smoker is with marines in a building overlooking the scaffold. He is informed that the pirates are Alvida with the Iron Club, Buggy the Clown, and Luffy with the Straw Hat. Smoker doesn’t know Luffy yet, but is impressed by the bounty of 30 million berries. Luffy’s crew is horrified to realize that he is about to be executed.