The battle with Arlong concludes, and Luffy realizes how he can free Nami from her trap. But, in doing so, he manages to tick off the local naval officer who was doing business with Arlong for many years. Thus, Luffy gets a price on his head of 30 million berries, far more than Arlong, Don Krieg, or Kudo. The crew finally sail off towards the Grand Line, but decide to make one more stop at Roguetown, the site of the execution of Gold Roger, the original King of the Pirates, but another chance for them to stock up on provisions and other supplies. Luffy stops off at the site of the Pirate King’s execution and runs into some old foes who have partaken in the Devil’s fruits themselves and undergone some transformation. Their altercation brings out the local soldiers, but Nami’s keen senses helps her realize a storm is rolling in on the island.
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It’s the end of the Strongest under the Heavens tournament, and it’s no surprise that Goku and Kuririn have made it through to the finals. Also in the finals are some colorful side characters, including Bacterium, who dispatches his opponents with his lack of bathing, and Jackie Chen, who faces off against Kuririn. Back again is Yamcha, who is also in the finals. Goku and Kuririn learn some valuable moral lessons during the tournament and have some great reflection time with Master Roshi afterwards. After the tournament, Goku decides it’s time to go after the dragon balls again because he wants the one his grandpa left him, not because he wants a wish. He sets off alone with Bulma’s radar to guide him, and he soon finds out that he is not the only one seeking the dragon balls. His quest sets him up against the Red Ribbon Army, an organized, well funded crime group that has a less sophisticated radar and no morals when it comes to achieving their goals.
Nami is finally beaten by Arlong and realizes that he’s never going to set her free nor free her town from his control. She breaks down and asks Luffy for help. The crew springs into action, as does the town. It turns out that the hunters, Johnny and Yosaku, never fully left the island. They bar the villages from needlessly throwing their lives away urge them to wait for the crew before attacking the fish-men. Sanji and Zolo arrive first and take on two of Arlong’s men while Usopp kind of runs away but still has to take on one of Arlong’s officers anyway. Luffy initially enters the fray but is sidelined by being captured thrown into the ocean.
Nami continues to be torn between Arlong’s crew, her love for her village, and the fleeting loyalty she still has for Luffy and his crew. In another epic flashback, we see Nami as a child with her stepsister and their adoptive mother, who was once a pirate soldier who rescued the two young babies and decided to raise them on the island. Bellemére didn’t have much for them and scraped by as a tangerine farmer until the fateful day when Arlong’s fish-men crew raided the town and demanded a toll for every person in it. Arlong discovered young Nami’s gift for drawing maps, and she enters a fool’s deal with the pirate to buy her village from him while drawing navigational maps in his service.
In a remote part of the world, Son Goku is living his life alone after his grandpa, Son Gohan, has passed away. One day, he gets a visit from the beautiful genius Bulma who has crafted a device to detect the legendary Dragon Balls which, once collected, will grant her a wish from the Dragon god, and her radar is telling her Goku is in possession of one! She manages to recruit Goku to be her bodyguard as she collects the rest of the Dragon Balls. The two set off and encounter episodic adventures and meet a colorful cast of characters. Then, Goku begins training under the legendary Turtle master, Muten Rōshi, where he first has a rivalry with fellow trainee Kuririn that buds into a friendship as the two compete in the Strongest Under The Heavens martial arts tournament.
Sanji finally agrees to come with Luffy, which is great for many reasons: many volumes ago, Nami made off with the Merry Go, so they’ll have to take Sanji’s boat to track her down. Luffy already sent Usopp, an injured Zolo, and one of the pirate hunters after her, so the second pirate hunter, Sanji, and Luffy are on their tail now. But Nami may be going into a Lion’s Den. She had expressed interest in a great reward on a dangerous pirate, a Captain of the Fish-Men named Arlong. His brute strength makes Don Krieg look weak, and he has a crew of mutant fish-men with special abilities and strengths under his command. Nami’s treachery may run a bit deeper than everyone originally thought as Usopp uncovers her family home in a small village on the same island as the Arlong pirate compound.
In an epic flashback, we learn Sanji’s backstory and his debt to Chef Zeff, who saved his life but lost his leg in the process. Now, Sanji feels he owes a great debt and must save the Baratie Restaurant at all costs. Sanji goes up against the Indestructible Pearl, who has never shed blood in all his fights. After Luffy and Sanji make Pearl feel he is in danger, Pearl ignites the deck of the Baratie in self-defense. Then, Gin takes on Sanji himself and vows to take him down for Don Krieg, while Luffy has some difficulty getting to Krieg without landing in the ocean. Don Krieg then unleashes his mightiest weapon on the Baratie, punishing some of his own men and his enemies at the same time.
In their continued efforts to find a cook, Luffy has indentured himself for a year at the floating restaurant for damaging the ship. But, on the horizon is the fierce pirate Don Krieg who, until recently, commanded 5,000 men on an armada of ships. Recently, they had gone onto the Grand Line and had been single-handedly decimated by a fierce swordsman Zolo had been hunting before joining Luffy’s crew: “Hawkeye” Mihawk. Sanji, the sous chef of the restaurant ship, agrees to feed Don Krieg’s starving crew because he believes a chef’s calling is to feed people, but then he calls for all the chefs, and enlists Luffy’s help, to defend the restaurant once the pirates have recuperated.
Luffy and his crew finish their fight with the Black Cat pirates, and their reward is a new ship: the Merry Go. Usopp decides that his time being a villager is done, and that he must finally be a pirate sailing the seven seas. Initially content to sail on his own, Luffy invites Usopp to join the crew even thought they disagree on who should be captain. The crew find a few more folks who know Zolo during a cannon practice “accident”, and Nami saves the day with her advanced sea knowledge and knowing the signs of scurvy. The group agrees that they need a cook to do something with all the wonderful stores they have in the hold. One of the new folks help steer the Merry Go towards a floating restaurant that might have a cook Luffy could persuade to join the crew, but a skirmish between a naval officer gets Luffy in hot water immediately upon arrival at the restaurant.
Illustrated by MyeongMi Kim
After working for Vice-Chairman Youngjun Lee for nine years, Secretary Kim has decided that it is finally time to focus on herself. She wants to find a nice, considerate man from an unknown family, have a few kids, and settle into a quiet life doing a menial job. But all of this completely baffles Youngjun who not only relies on her for every task in his life, but, as he has come to respect her as an equal, he can’t imagine Secretary Kim being satisfied with a boring, hum-drum existence. He sets out to figure out why she would really want to leave and what he could do to make her want to stay, even if that means marrying her himself. |
About MeI've been reading manga and comicbooks for years. Now, I write reviews and other helpful things for School Librarians, teachers, parents, and students. Search this siteRatings, Audience, and Subject Tags
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