Summary:
The chapter opens with Cricket acting out Noland’s words in her journal and everyone happily listening while eating. Cricket shows the straw pirates his gold, which he found after months of searching. He stated that he had 3 identical bell-shaped ingots and told Masira to show the straw hats the gold in the shape of a southern bird. As the Saruyama Alliance explains what the South Bird is, they suddenly notice that they forgot to tell the Straw Hats to go get the South Bird and panic. The Straw Hats question why they would need a bird, and Cricket explains that in order to get to where the Knock Up Stream appears, they must have the South Bird, which always points south because the Knock Up Stream is south of where they are . and since it’s in the middle of the sea, no Log Pose would work. Cricket tells the Straw Hats to hurry up and find one, much to their surprise.
The straw men split into teams with bug nets in the dark. They immediately recognize what South Bird was when they hear the “strange voice” Noland talked about in his journal. The Sanji/Nami/Usopp team searched and found many bugs much to the horror of Nami and Sanji, though Usopp didn’t mind much. The Robin/Zoro team destroys all the big bugs that get in their way and they don’t seem to get along well. Team Luffy/Chopper have found the rare bugs and are having a good time until South Bird drops a bee’s nest at them, forcing them to charge at full speed as the hornets chase them from inside. Chopper notices that South Bird is doing all this and tells Luffy. Back at Cricket’s house, the Saruyama Alliance encounters the Bellamy Pirates, who have come to steal their gold.