Summary:
As they sail away from Drum Island, the Straw Hats gaze in awe at the sakura effect over the island. Usopp wonders why Chopper looks so distant, sitting on the railing as if lost in thought. Others don’t bother with it. Sanji says that his first journey as a “man” is a rite of passage. His thoughts are on Hiriluk and Kureha. It doesn’t take long before he starts playing with the horses and Luffy amuses the others with his “sticks to the nose” trick. The boys soon try to get Chopper in on the fun, Usopp offers him a drink, Sanji invites him to sing with them, and Luffy offers him chopsticks up his nose. He crawls away, still feeling a little overwhelmed by the attention. Nami gets Chopper’s attention and tells him that his new friends can get a little out of hand at times. Chopper begins to warm to the idea that he really belongs to a group of friends.
Vivi loves Karoo, whom she found frozen in the river. Zoro jokes that he probably fell. Chopper asks Karoo about it himself and finds that he jumped after Zoro thinking he was in trouble. Hearing this, Nami punches Zoro. Chopper reveals that he can talk to animals at this point. Nami is impressed with this skill in addition to her medical skills. The others ask what he means by medical skills and find out that he was trained as a doctor by Kurehou. Luffy just thought they were getting a great talking reindeer with seven transformations. Sanji just thought Chopper was emergency food.
At this point, Chopper remembers his medical bag and thinks he left it on Drum Island. Nami then picks up his medical bag and tells him it’s inside the sled. Chopper doesn’t remember packing it and realizes that Kureha must have put it there, expecting him to leave. Nami gets angry as the boys continue their revelry. He then finds Chopper trying out wands in his nose. As things get crazy, Usopp proposes a toast to their new crew member. Chopper then says that he’s never had this much fun before.
Back on Drum Island, Kureha and Dalton continue their conversation. Kureha says that the true miracle of Hiriluka’s cherry blossoms sent Chopper out alone. Dalton starts talking about his plans when Wapol is gone. He wanted to leave to atone for his past working with Wapol, but has since decided that he can atone better by helping to reform the kingdom. Kureha thinks he has what it takes to lead a new country.
Dalton then recalls an incident 10 years ago involving Wapol on Levely. He remembers how impressed he was by Vivi’s father and King of Arabasty Nefertari Cobra. The theme is a “revolutionary” dragon, and Wapol is not very interested in driving. King Cobra calls him out on his dismissive attitude and Wapol gets angry. Afterwards, Wapol takes revenge by hitting Cobra’s daughter and pretending it was some sort of accident. She stood up, smiled and forgave Wapol for the accident in public. Not long after, Dalton spotted her crying with Igaram in pain. He greatly respected the child for the dignity with which she carried herself.
The Isshi-20, who were previously commissioned by Wapol, pledge their allegiance to Dalton and beg him to allow them to help the country. Someone runs up and hands out Dalton Luffy’s wanted poster. He says a young man entered Robelle the week before. He noticed that it was strangely not snowing that day. The young man looked for Blackbeard but missed him. He then presented the man with a wanted poster saying he was looking for a man in a straw hat. He was asked to tell him that if Luffy showed up, he was to look for Ace in Arabasta for the next ten days. The man is then on the run when it is discovered that he jumped the bill at a nearby restaurant. Recognizing the name on the wanted poster, Kureha mentions that Will of D. is still alive, revealing that the previous Pirate King’s name was actually Gol D. Roger.
The next day, Chopper sits at the bow of the Going Merry with Luffy, contemplating the vastness of the ocean. Suddenly a giant bird flies in and Luffy calls out to it. The bird starts flying towards the ship head on and swoops down just above the bow and grabs Luffy. Chopper freaks out, thinking Luffy was eaten. Zoro tells Chopper to calm down and says that he shouldn’t worry about Luffy unless he actually calls for help. Luffy grabs the giant bird’s beak and uses Gomu Gomu no Propeller to knock it down. While the others are upset that he interrupted the card game, he presents the bird as fresh meat for Sanji to deal with. Chopper thinks the adventure was incredible. Nami then returns and tells the boys that they will be in Arabasta soon.
The Straw Hats caught up with Chopper on their current mission: to return Vivi to Arabasta so they can prevent a coup by Crocodile, one of the Seven Sea Warriors. Crocodile abuses his authority as a world government robber with his crime syndicate Baroque Works to undermine the kingdom. Vivi describes the group’s structure as having five pairs of officer agents under Crocodile, eight groups of border agents below them, and billions and millions of subordinates, about 2,000 men in all. The crew believes that if the Crocodile’s goal is to truly take control of Arabasta, then they must muster the full force of the Baroque Artifacts to the area to assist him in the coup. Luffy seems eager to defeat the Crocodile.
Mr. 2 Bon Kurei has arrived at Little Garden and is punishing his navigator. They were tasked with assassinating Mr. 3, but somehow he missed him. They head to Arabast to continue their mission. Meanwhile, at Baroque Works headquarters, Crocodile and his Baroque Works assistant, Miss All Sunday, discuss the growing threat of pirate attacks on Arabasta.