Short Summary
Again tonight the cactus rocks look beautiful, dancing under the moonlight...
— Mr. 8, Chapter 107
The two suspicious people the Straw Hats have picked up in the last arc, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9, lead the crew to an island that welcomes them with open arms. But amid the partying and celebration, something doesn't seem quite right about the inhabitants.
Main Summary
Click to Read
On the way to Whiskey Peak, the crew repeatedly has to deal with rapidly changing weather caused by the Grand Line's unstable climate, as well as the increased difficulty of navigation. Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday mock Nami's lack of preparation for the much tougher environment of the Grand Line, but she is confident that she can handle it, and forces the pair to help the rest of the crew navigate through the storm. Eventually, they finally manage to navigate to more peaceful waters, but everyone is exhausted, save for Luffy and Zoro (the latter of whom slept through the entire thing). Zoro wakes up and finally notices that Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday are on the ship; their strange names seem to mean something to him, but before he can question them further, the conversation is ended by Nami angrily beating Zoro up in retaliation for him sleeping through the storm and not helping out.
As the crew approaches Whiskey Peak, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday suddenly and unexpectedly abandon ship. The Straw Hats see people watching them from the island, but upon docking, are surprised to receive a very warm and enthusiastic welcome from the entire town, led by a man named Igarappoi, who invites them to party with the rest of the townspeople in celebration for making it to the Grand Line. Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji enthusiastically agree, but Zoro and Nami seem more wary; nonetheless, they all go to the bar and have a fun evening, which ends when all five crew members are apparently asleep/passed out—Luffy from a giant food coma, Zoro and Nami from a drunken stupor as a result of a drinking contest, and Usopp and Sanji presumably from drinking and exhaustion as well. After they're all asleep, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday meet with Igarappoi—who is otherwise known as Mr. 8—and his partner, Miss Monday. They and the other townspeople plan to rob the Straw Hats' ship, capture them alive, and turn them over to the government; however, before they can go any further, they are interrupted by Zoro, who was merely pretending to be drunk and passed out earlier. Zoro reveals to them that he knows the entire town runs a scam on rookie pirates of the Grand Line who visit the island, welcoming them by day while robbing them by night, and all of the town's occupants are actually members of a group of bounty hunters called Baroque Works, who once tried unsuccessfully to recruit him back when he was still a bounty hunter himself.
As a result of Zoro knowing this, the entire group of bounty hunters tries to kill him to preserve the secret; however, Zoro near-effortlessly defeats almost all of them, happy for the chance to try out his new swords. He has a bit more trouble with Miss Monday, Mr. 8, Mr. 9, and Miss Wednesday (with a complication arising when Miss Wednesday takes the still-sleeping Luffy hostage), but still defeats them with relative ease as well. Shortly afterwards, as Mr. 8, Mr 9., and Miss Wednesday are attempting to regroup, another pair of agents—Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine—show up to confront them (in a conversation overheard by both Nami—who was also faking being passed out—and Zoro), telling the trio that they were sent by the boss of Baroque Works to eliminate two spies in the organization who had learned his identity. The spies are revealed to be be Igarappoi/Mr. 8 (whose real name is Igaram), the Defense Minister for the kingdom of Alabasta; and Miss Wednesday, who is actually the Alabastan princess, Nefertari Vivi.
Igaram attempts to defend Vivi, but is easily defeated by Mr. 5; Mr. 9, despite not knowing what's going on, also fights the pair to buy Vivi some time out of loyalty for their several years of partnership. Vivi flees the area on the back of her duck mount, Karoo, with Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine chasing them. After they're gone, Igaram begs Zoro to protect the princess, and Nami, seeing the chance to make money, makes an offer to Igaram to save Vivi in exchange for 1 billion berries, although she coerces Zoro into doing the work. After Zoro leaves in pursuit of Vivi and the assassins, Igaram explains to Nami that the final goal of Baroque Works is to create a utopian country, with the group's boss as the leader and its highest-ranking members as his subordinates in positions of power. Meanwhile, Luffy has woken up, and upon seeing the large group of unconscious "townspeople", becomes angry with Zoro for beating up "the nice people who gave us food", and sets off to find him.
Elsewhere, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine catch up with Vivi. Miss Monday tries to step in to defend her and buy her more time, but is quickly defeated. Zoro arrives and defends Vivi from one of Mr. 5's attacks, but before the fight can progress further, Luffy also shows up and, too riled up to listen to reason or explanation, challenges Zoro to a fight. Zoro, annoyed, accepts, and the two start viciously battling, to the bewilderment of the others. Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine try to attack them, but Luffy and Zoro both just respond with anger that the pair are interrupting their fight, and knock both of them out with ease while barely paying attention to them. Nami arrives and breaks up the fight, and the misunderstanding is quickly cleared up. Vivi tells the trio that Alabasta is on the verge of a civil war that's being instigated by the leader of Baroque Works, Mr. 0, and Vivi and Igaram infiltrated BW to figure out his true identity. Vivi refuses to share this information with them, lest they become targets as well, but accidentally says his name anyway: Sir Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea (Shichibukai). This slip-up is overheard by the Unluckies, Mr. 13 (an otter) and Miss Friday (a vulture), the messengers and information-gatherers of BW; they promptly sketch very accurate pictures of Luffy, Zoro, and Nami, and then immediately depart to deliver them to Crocodile, thus adding the three of them to Baroque Works' hit list (much to Luffy's and Zoro's delight and Nami's and Vivi's horror).
Igaram shows up, now disguised (rather poorly) as Vivi, and asks if the Straw Hats will escort Vivi safely back to Alabasta, to which Luffy agrees. Igaram sails off in his disguise, hoping to distract the enemy long enough for the Straw Hats to escape with Vivi; however, almost immediately after he sets sail, his ship is destroyed in a huge explosion witnessed by the group, apparently killing him. They immediately prepare to set sail, with Luffy retrieving the still-sleeping Sanji and Usopp while Nami reassures Vivi that her four male crewmates are strong and that, with their help, Vivi will be able to save Alabasta.
Shortly after the crew departs, a mysterious woman appears on the ship, congratulating the crew for successfully escaping. Vivi recognizes the woman as Miss All-Sunday, Mr. 0/Crocodile's partner and the second-in-command of Baroque Works, as well as the only member who's allowed to know his identity. Her motives and status as a villain are ambiguous, as lampshaded by Luffy: she allowed Vivi and Igaram to follow her and learn Mr. 0's true identity despite knowing that they were traitors, but then reported this security breach to Crocodile; she also implies that she was the one who caused the explosion and killed Igaram. When Sanji and Usopp hold Miss All-Sunday at gunpoint and Zoro also prepares to fight her, she calmly disarms all of them using an unknown Devil Fruit power and insists that she did not come to fight or even antagonize them. In fact, she actually offers to make their trip to Alabasta easier by giving them an Eternal Pose to an island near Alabasta that would allow them to bypass the other islands they would otherwise have to visit, and would also let them shake off BW pursuers. However, Vivi and most of the crew are reluctant to accept it, believing the offer to be a trap, and Luffy then shatters the Eternal Pose, stating that Miss All-Sunday doesn't get to decide the route they will take. She calmly shrugs this off and leaves, while the crew sets sail with Nami's Log Pose to the next island, Little Garden.
As the crew approaches Whiskey Peak, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday suddenly and unexpectedly abandon ship. The Straw Hats see people watching them from the island, but upon docking, are surprised to receive a very warm and enthusiastic welcome from the entire town, led by a man named Igarappoi, who invites them to party with the rest of the townspeople in celebration for making it to the Grand Line. Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji enthusiastically agree, but Zoro and Nami seem more wary; nonetheless, they all go to the bar and have a fun evening, which ends when all five crew members are apparently asleep/passed out—Luffy from a giant food coma, Zoro and Nami from a drunken stupor as a result of a drinking contest, and Usopp and Sanji presumably from drinking and exhaustion as well. After they're all asleep, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday meet with Igarappoi—who is otherwise known as Mr. 8—and his partner, Miss Monday. They and the other townspeople plan to rob the Straw Hats' ship, capture them alive, and turn them over to the government; however, before they can go any further, they are interrupted by Zoro, who was merely pretending to be drunk and passed out earlier. Zoro reveals to them that he knows the entire town runs a scam on rookie pirates of the Grand Line who visit the island, welcoming them by day while robbing them by night, and all of the town's occupants are actually members of a group of bounty hunters called Baroque Works, who once tried unsuccessfully to recruit him back when he was still a bounty hunter himself.
As a result of Zoro knowing this, the entire group of bounty hunters tries to kill him to preserve the secret; however, Zoro near-effortlessly defeats almost all of them, happy for the chance to try out his new swords. He has a bit more trouble with Miss Monday, Mr. 8, Mr. 9, and Miss Wednesday (with a complication arising when Miss Wednesday takes the still-sleeping Luffy hostage), but still defeats them with relative ease as well. Shortly afterwards, as Mr. 8, Mr 9., and Miss Wednesday are attempting to regroup, another pair of agents—Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine—show up to confront them (in a conversation overheard by both Nami—who was also faking being passed out—and Zoro), telling the trio that they were sent by the boss of Baroque Works to eliminate two spies in the organization who had learned his identity. The spies are revealed to be be Igarappoi/Mr. 8 (whose real name is Igaram), the Defense Minister for the kingdom of Alabasta; and Miss Wednesday, who is actually the Alabastan princess, Nefertari Vivi.
Igaram attempts to defend Vivi, but is easily defeated by Mr. 5; Mr. 9, despite not knowing what's going on, also fights the pair to buy Vivi some time out of loyalty for their several years of partnership. Vivi flees the area on the back of her duck mount, Karoo, with Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine chasing them. After they're gone, Igaram begs Zoro to protect the princess, and Nami, seeing the chance to make money, makes an offer to Igaram to save Vivi in exchange for 1 billion berries, although she coerces Zoro into doing the work. After Zoro leaves in pursuit of Vivi and the assassins, Igaram explains to Nami that the final goal of Baroque Works is to create a utopian country, with the group's boss as the leader and its highest-ranking members as his subordinates in positions of power. Meanwhile, Luffy has woken up, and upon seeing the large group of unconscious "townspeople", becomes angry with Zoro for beating up "the nice people who gave us food", and sets off to find him.
Elsewhere, Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine catch up with Vivi. Miss Monday tries to step in to defend her and buy her more time, but is quickly defeated. Zoro arrives and defends Vivi from one of Mr. 5's attacks, but before the fight can progress further, Luffy also shows up and, too riled up to listen to reason or explanation, challenges Zoro to a fight. Zoro, annoyed, accepts, and the two start viciously battling, to the bewilderment of the others. Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine try to attack them, but Luffy and Zoro both just respond with anger that the pair are interrupting their fight, and knock both of them out with ease while barely paying attention to them. Nami arrives and breaks up the fight, and the misunderstanding is quickly cleared up. Vivi tells the trio that Alabasta is on the verge of a civil war that's being instigated by the leader of Baroque Works, Mr. 0, and Vivi and Igaram infiltrated BW to figure out his true identity. Vivi refuses to share this information with them, lest they become targets as well, but accidentally says his name anyway: Sir Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea (Shichibukai). This slip-up is overheard by the Unluckies, Mr. 13 (an otter) and Miss Friday (a vulture), the messengers and information-gatherers of BW; they promptly sketch very accurate pictures of Luffy, Zoro, and Nami, and then immediately depart to deliver them to Crocodile, thus adding the three of them to Baroque Works' hit list (much to Luffy's and Zoro's delight and Nami's and Vivi's horror).
Igaram shows up, now disguised (rather poorly) as Vivi, and asks if the Straw Hats will escort Vivi safely back to Alabasta, to which Luffy agrees. Igaram sails off in his disguise, hoping to distract the enemy long enough for the Straw Hats to escape with Vivi; however, almost immediately after he sets sail, his ship is destroyed in a huge explosion witnessed by the group, apparently killing him. They immediately prepare to set sail, with Luffy retrieving the still-sleeping Sanji and Usopp while Nami reassures Vivi that her four male crewmates are strong and that, with their help, Vivi will be able to save Alabasta.
Shortly after the crew departs, a mysterious woman appears on the ship, congratulating the crew for successfully escaping. Vivi recognizes the woman as Miss All-Sunday, Mr. 0/Crocodile's partner and the second-in-command of Baroque Works, as well as the only member who's allowed to know his identity. Her motives and status as a villain are ambiguous, as lampshaded by Luffy: she allowed Vivi and Igaram to follow her and learn Mr. 0's true identity despite knowing that they were traitors, but then reported this security breach to Crocodile; she also implies that she was the one who caused the explosion and killed Igaram. When Sanji and Usopp hold Miss All-Sunday at gunpoint and Zoro also prepares to fight her, she calmly disarms all of them using an unknown Devil Fruit power and insists that she did not come to fight or even antagonize them. In fact, she actually offers to make their trip to Alabasta easier by giving them an Eternal Pose to an island near Alabasta that would allow them to bypass the other islands they would otherwise have to visit, and would also let them shake off BW pursuers. However, Vivi and most of the crew are reluctant to accept it, believing the offer to be a trap, and Luffy then shatters the Eternal Pose, stating that Miss All-Sunday doesn't get to decide the route they will take. She calmly shrugs this off and leaves, while the crew sets sail with Nami's Log Pose to the next island, Little Garden.
Whiskey Peak Arc has the following tropes:
- 13 Is Unlucky: No better example of this trope than the Unluckies — Mr. 13 and Miss Friday — who sketch pictures of three members of the Straw Hat Pirates, then fly off. Vivi knows what this means and tells them that now they're on the Baroque Works hitlist. Worse, the Straw Hats—whose captain has a 30 million Berry bounty—are up against a government-sponsored pirate who previously had a bounty of over 80 million. Nami is not amused. Luffy and Zoro, on the other hand, are.
- Arc Villain: Miss All-Sunday, though she turns out to be an Enigmatic Minion and only appears near the end; The Heavy for this arc are Mr. 5 and Ms. Valentine.
- The Man Behind the Man: Mr. 0, aka Warlord of the Sea Sir Crocodile.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Zoro is extremely reluctant to help Nami and her extortion of Igaram. Even after Nami points out that Zoro owes her money, he still refuses. It's not until Nami touches a sore spot for Zoro that he "agrees" to help her:Nami: Are you saying that you can't even keep a single promise?
- Balloon Belly: Luffy stuffs himself to ridiculous proportions and gains this. This becomes a plot point during Zoro's battle with the bounty hunters. He digests it all fighting Zoro, while also beating the stuffing out of Mr. 5 offscreen.
- Blood Knight / Casual Danger Dialogue: Zoro spends almost all of the fight with the bounty hunters grinning cheerfully and looking like he's having a great time, eagerly expresses his excitement to test out his two new swords from Loguetown, and, after overhearing a heavy conversation and then noticing that Luffy is right in the middle of a battle zone, casually comments (while drinking booze and grinning), "Well, damn. Oh...Luffy's still down there." Also, when Luffy, Zoro, and Nami realize that they've just been put on the hit list of Crocodile (a Warlord of the Sea), Zoro's reaction is to comment, with a big grin, "We're lucky we get to fight one of them so early on."
- Bowdlerise: Miss Wednesday's dress is changed to be a bit less erotic in the anime.
- Boxed Crook: Mr. 0, a.k.a. Sir Crocodile, is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, pirates endorsed by the World Government to fight other pirates and protect territories, and thus, he is supposed to be this. However, it's subverted; as Vivi tells the Straw Hats, his plan is to tear apart her country for some mysterious end. This obviously means that his aims are not line with the WG.
- Call-Back: Zoro's almost-forgotten background as a bounty hunter is given a reminder when it's revealed that Baroque Works (a bounty hunter organization) tried to recruit him before the series even started.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Miss All-Sunday, whose real name is not yet revealed, will prove to be a very important character down the line.
- Conservation of Ninjutsu: Zoro versus 100 bounty hunters. Guess who wins?
- Cooldown Hug: When Nami realizes Vivi is having a Heroic BSoD over Igaram's apparent death, she hugs Vivi and reassures her that the Straw Hats will get her home to Alabasta and take down Baroque Works.
- Cool Shades: Worn by the Unluckies, the intelligence gatherers/Team Pets of Baroque Works; Mr. 13 is an otter, while Miss Friday is a vulture.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Zoro vs a whole army of bounty hunters. He comes out of it without a scratch. And to bring it home, he had a drinking contest the night before.
- Luffy and Zoro vs. Miss Valentine and Mr. 5. Heck, they want to get that over with so they can go back to fighting each other!
- A Day in the Limelight: Zoro gets most of the action in this arc.
- Early-Bird Cameo: It is only in the last chapter of this arc that we meet Miss All-Sunday, who later becomes a much more important character. Luffy's swifting changes of his opinion of her during their confrontation on the Going Merry provide some good clues to her personality going forward.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Miss All-Sunday's Devil Fruit power looked to be telekinesis, most noticeably when she takes Luffy's hat and there was no plausible place for her extra arms to hide.
- Enigmatic Minion: Miss All-Sunday. Exaggerated in her case, as Vivi mentions she was aware of her and Igaram's infiltration and helped her find out who Mr. 0 really is, but also was the one who ordered Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine to eliminate her. Then she hands her the Eternal Pose to somewhere that would bypass the coming bases...only for Luffy to break it. She also apparently kills Igaram by blowing up his ship, but then leaves without any hostility towards the Straw Hats.
- Epic Fail: Miss Wednesday's "battle" with Zoro. She hops on Karoo and brings out a pair of weapons that seem to be sharp jewels on wires called "Peacock Slashers", which she spins with her pinky. They charge at the swordsman, Zoro just sidesteps out of the way...and they plunge straight off the building. Given that we very soon find out that Miss Wednesday was Good All Along, it's likely that she and Karoo were purposely holding back and hiding their competence at least somewhat.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Vivi demonstrates her
Iron Woobie traits when she sees Igaram's ship blow up: biting her bottom lip, clenching her fists very tightly, and giving a Thousand-Yard Stare, but still determined to keep going with her mission. Nami notices this and becomes very sympathetic towards her. The two form a close sisterly bond after this. - Miss All-Sunday debuts as an Affably Evil Troll who sneaks onto the Going Merry unnoticed, toys with the crew face-to-face without a care in the world, and leaves with a curious view of the Straw Hats. This all fits what we later learn about her to a T.
- Vivi demonstrates her
- Facepalm of Doom: Zoro does this to Miss Monday.
- Foreshadowing: Miss All-Sunday, the second-in-command of the entire BW organization, meets the entire Straw Hat crew at the end of this arc. So why, in future arcs, do the other high-ranking members of the organization only know about Luffy, Zoro, and Nami (whom the Unluckies draw here), only find out about Usopp later when Mr. 2 meets him, and not know who Sanji is at all? Clearly, Miss All-Sunday never bothers to report this or correct Crocodile's misinformation of how many crew members the Straw Hats have, indicating that she's not as much on his side as one might think.
- Genre Blindness: Luffy, really badly. He wakes up, sees that Zoro's beaten up all the townspeople, and, given the Balloon Belly trope, doesn't notice how perilously close it is to To Serve Man (it wasn't that grim, but still, he should have been very suspicious). Zoro and Nami at least have the excuse that they have an inhumanly high tolerance to alcohol, and faked it to see what the islanders do. It could easily be that his naïveté makes the thought of people tricking him with free food a foreign concept.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Vivi joins the crew at the conclusion of this arc. She remains with them until the conclusion of the Alabasta Saga.
- He Knows Too Much: Once Zoro reveals that he knows the true secret of the town—namely, that they are all bounty hunters and part of Baroque Works—Mr. 8 tells all the other assassins that they must now kill Zoro to preserve their secret. Unfortunately for them, they fail miserably.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Mr. 0/Sir Crocodile, at least for the time being.
- Horse of a Different Color:
- Miss Wednesday's/Vivi's pet duck Karoo, who is large enough that she can ride on his back. Unfortunately, he isn't very bright...
- Miss All-Sunday has a large turtle companion named Banchi, who carries her from place to place across the sea.
- Ignored Enemy: Miss Valentine and Mr. 5. In fact, when they start reminding Zoro and Luffy they're here trying to take them out, the latter tell them to get out of their way, and easily beat them up.
- I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You!: Vivi decides not to tell the Straw Hats who Mr. 0 is, fearing for their safety. However...Vivi: As strong as you may be... I cannot tell you that he's one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea: Sir Crocodle.
(beat)
Luffy: What was his name again?
(cue collective shock as she realizes what she just said) - Insane Troll Logic: Luffy's reasoning of Zoro being the one at fault? That bad guys would never give their enemies free food.
- Insult of Endearment: While battling Zoro in her Miss Wednesday persona, Vivi mockingly addresses him as "Mister Bushido". Even after she befriends the Straw Hats and travels with them for quite a while, she still continues to always call him this.
- Instrument of Murder: Mr. 8/Igaram initially fights with a saxophone that has a built-in shotgun.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Zoro and Luffy get in a inconclusive fight after Luffy finds out Zoro beat everyone in town up, not knowing of the town's true plans for the group (Luffy later says he thought Zoro beat everyone up because he didn't like their food).
- The Mole: Miss Wednesday, a.k.a. Princess Vivi of Alabasta, and Mr. 8, a.k.a. Igaram, Defense Minister of Alabasta.
- My Eyes Are Up Here: Averted with Vivi's outfit for most of the time, which actually draws attention to her boobs. As noted above, the anime changed the circle motif (which, aside from highlighting the breasts, also served to hypnotize the target after a fashion) with a less alluring striped one.
- Never Gets Drunk: Zoro and Nami reveal their ability to hold their liquor in this arc. A good thing too, as it prevents an ambush from bounty hunters.
- No One Could Survive That!: The fireball from Igaram's ship exploding is larger than Whiskey Peak itself. It is presumed he does not survive this; not even Miss All Sunday really looks for his remains to make sure he's dead.
- Oh, Crap!: Twice. The first is Played for Laughs when Vivi accidentally blabs to Luffy, Zoro, and Nami who the leader of Baroque Works is. The second is not: Immediately after Igaram sets sail as a decoy, his ship is blown up. Nami immediately panics because she realizes that the crew is already marked, and Zoro makes a direct order that even Luffy follows:Zoro: Get the ship! We're setting sail, now!
- One-Man Army: Zoro shows us exactly why he's a former pirate hunter.
- Out-of-Character Moment:
- Luffy comes across this way due to his actions after he wakes up, albeit unintentionally on his part. Zoro single-handedly saves ALL of the Straw Hats from being kidnapped and robbed by BW, saves Luffy when he's being held hostage by Miss Wednesday, and saves him again by getting him out of the crossfire between the BW agents. When Luffy wakes up and realizes that Zoro beat up all the "nice townspeople", rather than realizing that he had a good reason or at least asking him about it first, Luffy immediately assumes that Zoro beat them up just because he didn't like their food (which, as Zoro points out, is something that Luffy would do, not him), hunts him down, and challenges him to a fight while not listening at all to Zoro's attempts to explain things. It's no wonder Zoro gets annoyed enough to agree to fight Luffy. Luckily, once Nami breaks up the fight, the situation is immediately resolved with no hard feelings.
- Sanji also threatens to kill Miss All-Sunday when it's established later on that he never hits women. Although it could be chalked up to anything between Characterization Marches On, Vivi's life being in immediate danger, or just a really good bluff. Usopp throws a lampshade on it.Usopp: Sanji, you do realize what you're doing here, right?
Sanji: Nope. Not a clue. I just know that the beautiful Miss Wednesday needs me.
- Out of Focus: Sanji and Usopp are asleep for almost the entire arc, save for the first and last chapters of it. Sanji is also out of most of the action in the following Little Garden arc, too. However, this is justified, and turns out to be very important in the Alabasta arc.
- The Power of Friendship: Mr. 9 (Miss Wednesday/Vivi's partner) and Miss Monday (Mr. 8/Igaram's partner) both separately go up against Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine (who are officer agents of BW) to protect Vivi, despite not really knowing why all of it is happening, with Mr. 9 citing their two-year partnership and Miss Monday explicitly calling Vivi a friend.
- Poor Communication Kills: Later shown to be a bad habit of Vivi's: It wouldn't hurt to mention the Unluckies, especially so you don't get situations like Nami complementing them for drawing great pictures of them for their group's hit-list!
- The Promise: Nami swears to Vivi that the Straw Hats will deliver her home after Igaram's ship is blown up. She does want a payment of 1 billion berries in return, but very little mention is made of this requested fee through the coming arcs, and in the end she drops it entirely.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Miss Wednesday is actually the Princess of Alabasta, Nefertari Vivi. Mr. 8 is likewise a very high-ranking official in the country named Igaram.
- The Reveal: Miss Wednesday is really a Princess of a Desert Kingdom.
- Right Behind Me: Vivi lets the name of Baroque Works' leader slip out in front of the Strawhats. The Unluckies turn out to be right next to them.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: Vivi infiltrated the very organization that is causing chaos in her country. Even more impressive is the fact she's in her mid-teens, and kept it up for two years.
- Scary Black Man and Woman: Miss Monday and Mr. 5. Although it's later subverted by Miss Monday being decidedly heroic and moral, Mr. 5 plays the trope straight.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Vivi slips up and tells Luffy, Nami, and Zoro that the leader of Baroque Works is Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords, right in front of The Unluckies. Nami declares she's leaving the island before they figure out what they look like, since she does not want to face a Warlord. Unfortunately, Mr. 13 can draw the three's portraits in few seconds with quality that even Nami can't help but compliment.
- Shout-Out: One of the bounty hunters is wielding the Ten Powers sword.
- Sinister Shades: Mr. 5.
- Sixth Ranger: Vivi joins the crew (albeit temporarily) in this arc, changing the dynamic of the original Five-Man Band that had been established prior to the crew entering the Grand Line.
- Smoking Is Cool: Miss All-Sunday's pet tortoise, Banchi.
- Spanner in the Works: The only Straw Hats that the Unluckies don't draw a picture of are Usopp and Sanji, which the latter takes advantage of in the following arcs...
- Standard Evil Organization Squad: Several villains belonging to Pirate Warlord Sir Crocodile's organization show up here: Miss All-Sunday, Mr. 5, Miss Monday, Mr. 9 & Mr. 8, Miss Wednesday & Miss Valentine, Mr. 13 and Miss Friday (an otter and a vulture respectively, who are dubbed "The Unluckies" together), and Miss Wednesday/Nefertari Vivi and Mr. 8/Igaram (who double as Sixth Ranger Traitors).
- Team Pet: Vivi's pet duck Karoo becomes one for the Straw Hats, while the Unluckies are this for Baroque Works.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Vivi is so shaken up by Igaram's apparent death that she can't move, and solemnly stares at his burning ship, biting her lip. Nami breaks her out of this by hugging her and reassuring her they'll get her to Alabasta safely and beat the crap out of Crocodile.
- Token Good Teammates: Mr. 9 and Miss Monday are revealed to have decent sides to them, as The Power of Friendship is enough to get them to help Vivi when her cover is blown.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Masquerades as an island full of people who graciously welcome newcomers to the Grand Line, but is actually used as a front to deal with potential threats and nuisances before they become a problem to anyone further in the Grand Line.
- The Unfought: Miss All-Sunday.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: Vivi got as far as learning that the mastermind behind Baroque Works is Sir Crocodile, a Warlord of the Sea; his supposed plan is called "Operation: Utopia"; and it gives the impression that he wants to tear apart the kingdom of Alabasta to build one. However, Vivi suspects the real purpose behind Operation: Utopia has nothing to do with this trope. She is correct.
- The Woman Behind The Man:
- Miss All-Sunday to all the Baroque Works agents in Whiskey Peak in general, particularly Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.
- Mr. 0/Crocodile is Miss All-Sunday's Man Behind the Man.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: A nun and child pair of bounty hunters try this on Zoro. He doesn't fall for it (though is nice enough to knock them out with the blunt end of his sword).
- Would Hit a Girl:
- Women and children are involved in Zoro's takedowns against Baroque Works, althought they are knocked out instead of killed.
- Luffy also hits Miss Valentine when she and Mr. 5 goes on Luffy and Zoro's fight.
- Younger than She Looks: Would you believe that Miss Wednesday is actually a teenage girl?
Story Impact
- Zoro's victory over the one hundred bounty hunters in this arc will later be one major factor in the World Government issuing his first bounty after the events of the Alabasta arc.
- Baroque Works is introduced, including two important cast members: Nefertari Vivi (who debuted in the previous arc but has her real name revealed here), who becomes an Honorary True Companion to the Straw Hat Pirates, and Nico Robin as Miss All-Sunday, who will later join the crew.
- Vivi begins traveling with the Straw Hats, as she, along with Luffy, Zoro, and Nami, are now on Baroque Works' hit list.
- Crocodile is the third Warlord of the Sea to be named. Crocodile is also the leader of Baroque Works, code-named Mr. 0, and will later serve as the main antagonist of the Alabasta arc.
- Since they are asleep during the battle at Whiskey Peak, Usopp and Sanji are not put on Baroque Works' hit list. This will give them an advantage in their later encounters with Baroque Works, especially Sanji, who, unlike Usopp, is not added to the hit list later on.
