Cover
Ace’s Search for Blackbeard, Part 15: The Coffee is Bitter! In his disguise, Ace attends a conference of the rank and file colonels entitled “Justice with a Scope”. All the officers sitting at the table don’t like the coffee served and it runs out of their mouths.
Storyline
Flashback 400 years: Jaya: Noland is desperately trying to get out of the crevice he is trapped in. He manages to beat the tree fever, but has to go to the village to do so. Kalgara watches him with grim satisfaction and tells him that when the sun, which has already risen, sets, 100 of Noland’s men will be sacrificed.
Village of the Shandia: Another warrior succumbs to the disease. The anger of the villagers is unleashed and they do not want to wait until evening, but sacrifice the prisoners immediately. They rush towards the cage, but are stopped by Seto, who sits down in front of the cage. He does not comply with the request to step aside. He only replies that Shandora’s warriors are proud and worthy.
Noland manages to move the ground a little, but only gets trapped further. By now, dusk has fallen and the ritual is being prepared. The prisoners ask for an extension of time. After Kalgara predicts a miserable death for killing God, Noland asks what they are so afraid of. They sacrifice to dispel their fear. Kalgara kicks him, people have lived like this here for centuries, Noland doesn’t understand. The latter retorts that no god is more valuable than a human life, that sacrificing a young girl is cold-blooded. Kalgara opens up to him that Mouse is his own daughter, but the shaman’s word is very powerful, it is the word of God. Refusal means punishment. The prisoners have been brought to the sacrificial altar, at whose base a pyre is prepared.
A giant boa, smaller than the one killed before, has appeared in front of Noland and Kalgara and now wants to devour Noland. Kalgara thinks this is God’s punishment. Desperate, Noland tries to convince him that the curse hanging over the village is just a disease. Sixty years ago, hundreds of thousands of people died of tree fever, and 90% of those who contracted it died. Until a Southblue plant scientist found a cure. Konine from the Kona tree. This reduced the mortality rate to 3%. Many have faced danger in search of the cure. The human sacrifices of the Shandia offend these people. He has Konine in his hand and can save the village. Kalgara remembers the chief’s words about Noland. He kills the giant boa and asks Noland what he just killed. He replies a snake, Kalgara means a god. With tears in his eyes, he wants to know from Noland if the village can be saved. It is, he says. Kalgara frees Noland and no sacrifice takes place. The villagers are vaccinated, the already sick are cured. Everyone is happy about the averted disaster.
| Manga volumes | Skypiea Arc (Manga) |
