History Recap / OnePieceZouArc

* UnexpectedCharacter: Stelly, Sabo's brat of a step-brother, shows up during the montage of royals preparing for Reverie, being a newly-crowned king.

* LivingMacguffin:

* MyFriendsAndZoidberg: The Heart Pirates certainly felt that way when Law introduced them to Luffy, then immediately went away with him so they could talk privately.

** Arguably, it could also be justified due to the fact that all Minks seen so far are based on some form of mammal, as evidenced by the fact that they all seem to have fur.

** Chopper takes a liking to Milky, a female Reindeer Mink that is one of the Guardians.

* There are quiet a few remarks throughout the arc about the moon and Dogstorm mentions that the Minks had an ace up their sleeve if Jack ever attacks again. This ace wouldn't be revealed until towards the end of the next arc.

* RedOniBlueOni: Energetic, hot-blooded party animal Cat Viper (the "King of Night") is the red; composed, reasonable, regal Dogstorm (the "King of Day") is the blue.

* BadassCrew: The Mink Tribe.

* OnceMoreWithClarity: Near the end of the Dressrosa arc, in chapter 795, we finally saw the Curlyhats again...in the middle of a tense situation on Zou, with no explanation as to what was happening and why. The flashbacks in the first half of this arc depict events leading up to this scene, repeat it, and show what happened after, providing the necessary context.

** Subverted with the Straw Hats. The Dressrosa half are reunited with ''most'' of the Curly Hat half...except for Sanji, who was captured by Big Mom. As a result, they split ''[[LetsSplitUpGang back]]'' up again at the end of the arc, in mostly the same groups (except that Luffy's with the Curly Hat half this time), so that Luffy's group can go get him back.

* RealityEnsues: Jack, the crazy, bloodthirsty right-hand man to Kaido with a 1 billion Berry bounty, tries to kill Zunisha--the eponymous island-sized Zou (elephant)--with his fleet of ships and some cannons, but he and his crew are immediately sunk by Zunisha's trunk once Momo gives the order to fight back. This may be a world where the strongest fighters can beat literal giants, but Zunisha's still an ''island-sized'' elephant with the strength and mass to match that size. Meanwhile, Jack's just a large human whose Devil Fruit power lets him turn into a still-not-even-close-to-that-size woolly mammoth with a human crew (some of whom ate artificial Zoan fruits) firing cannons from his fleet of ships on the ocean (which, of course, sinks Devil Fruit users like rocks).

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Brought up by the Beast Pirates to Kaido, saying that underestimating Luffy could prove dangerous. Kaido, however, became enraged at the idea of taking Luffy seriously, saying that the Worst Generation is nothing compared to him, using his defeat of Captain Kidd as proof.

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind:
** Averted with Capone Bege. He had no qualms with leaving Pekoms behind after capturing Sanji and Caesar and leaving.
** Played straight towards Sanji, however. Despite Sanji promising to return and clearly not wanting any of his crewmates to come with him to see Big Mom, Luffy insists on going to retrieve him before beginning the war with Kaido, and the other three Curly Hats (Nami, Chopper, and Brook) are adamant on coming along, too.

* BreatherEpisode: Zou Arc is basically a cool down from Dressrosa. Most of the focus is on exposition, revealing more of the MythArc, and setting up for the encounters with Big Mom and Kaido. Heck the crew don't even confront Jack face to face.

* TookALevelInBadass: Now that they finally got some down time Usopp upgrades Nami's Clima-Tact again at the end of the arc.

-->'''Jack:''' "We're going after the elephant itself."

* LivingMacguffin: Momonosuke was hinted to be this from Dressrosa Arc, where Doflamingo wanted him for some reason. In this arc, we see why: he's the son of daimyo Kozuki Oden of the Wano Country. Oden was known as the man who sailed with Pirate King Gold Roger to Raftel, and has the generations-passed ability of making Poneglyphs (although he hadn't got the time to pass it to Momo before he was executed). Momo, too, has some knowledge of the Poneglyphs.
** Cat Viper mentions that Robin might be wanted by "invincible people" (Kaido, Big Mom and their men) if the Straw Hats are after the red poneglyphs, because she can read them. She assures him that she also has invincible friends protecting them.

* BaitAndSwitch: The general formula for an arc plot is for the Straw Hats to be at odds with some of the newly introduced characters, before eventually befriending them and helping them against the main antagonist of the arc. [[spoiler: Then it's subverted in that by the time the rest of the crew reach Zou, the Mink Tribe are ALREADY expecting the remaining crew and welcome them as honored friends. Then yet another subversion when the flashback reveals the first group were greeted with some hostility. Subverted once more in that no major fight happened and the current crisis was quickly resolved. It seems that the arc is going for a reversal of the norm in that the biggest issue is the discovery of Samurai in Zou and what the Minks will do. Then comes the big reveal that the Minks, Raizo and the others were allies all along! Judging by how past arcs went, there was no telling how this would have been resolved.]]

* BookEnds: One of the first chapters of this arc is called "Climbing the Elephant". One of the last is called "Descending the Elephant".

* BaitAndSwitchBoss: Ultimately, Jack turns out to be a minor annoyance in the overall scheme of the plot, getting [[CurbStompBattle curbstomped]] without ever engaging the Straw Hats, the real villains of the arc are Bege and, by proxy, Big Mom and not Kaido. However, his defeat does get reported to Kaido by Scratchmen Apoo.

* {{Bookends}}: One of the first chapters of this arc is called "Climbing the Elephant". One of the last is called "Descending the Elephant".

* LiteralMetaphor: The two leaders of the Mink tribe--Duke Dogstorm and Master Catviper--don't get along at all. They ''literally'' "[[CatDogDichotomy fight like cats and dogs]]", because that's what they actually are.

With Doflamingo defeated and Dressrosa liberated, Luffy, Law, Zoro, Usopp, Robin, Franky, Kin'emon, and Kanjuro head on to catch up to the rest of the Straw Hats and the Heart Pirates. Unfortunately, Luffy and Law are now targeted by new enemies, complicating their trip to Zou, an isolated country on the back of a moving elephant that serves as the home of the Mink tribe. Further complications arise when, upon their arrival, the group finds the Minks' cities destroyed and one of the Straw Hat members missing.

** PlayedForLaughs when Luffy cheerfully grabs his Whole Cake Island group and ''jumps off Zunisha'', resulting in the entire watching crowd (except the rest of the Straw Hats, who, of course, are used to such eccentricities from Luffy) having a hilarious and epic WildTake.

** PlayedForLaughts when Luffy cheerfully grabs his Whole Cake Island group and ''jumps off Zunisha'', resulting in the entire watching crowd (except the rest of the Straw Hats, who, of course, are used to such eccentricities from Luffy) having a hilarious and epic WildTake.

** When Luffy cheerfully grabs his Whole Cake Island group and ''jumps off Zunisha'', this is the reaction of nearly everyone else present (including his team members), with the only ones not reacting being the rest of the Straw Hats (who, of course, are used to such eccentricities from Luffy).