Short Summary
As stated, a filler arc set after the Alabasta Arc. Not so much an arc as just a series of five random single-episode adventures with the Straw Hat crew.Main Summary
Chopper's Episode
The crew docks at and spends the day on an uninhabited island. Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp have the task of gathering food while Sanji accompanies Nami as she charts out the island. Chopper stays behind to guard the ship, though the new addition to their crew of Robin makes him ill at ease. After panicking enough that their water supply is compromised, the two go onto the island to find a freshwater spring. On the way, Robin asks about Doctorine, to which Chopper tells her the story of his mentor, touching on how he created the Rumble Ball and the time that Doctorine got sick from one of her patient's illnesses, resulting in Chopper treating her without receiving any directions from her. Succeeding earned him the only compliment she would ever give him. Chopper seems more at ease with Robin at the end of it all.Nami's Episode
A traveling salesman ends up on the Straw Hats' ship, where he shows off his merchandise. The special map paper he has draws Nami's attention, and the salesman inadvertently leaves it behind in a panic upon realizing that he's on a pirate ship. Nami attempts to convey some of her older maps onto the new paper to immortalize them better, but the crew's antics continually mess up her work. She finally snaps and forces them all into silence so she can work in peace, and they fall asleep. Chopper awakens to a storm on the horizon, but is too scared of Nami to go against her wishes, and is unsuccessful in rousing his other crewmates. Nami emerges, happy to have finished the first map, and rouses the crew to get them out of danger, looking forward to fulfilling her dream of drawing a map of the entire world.Sanji's Episode
Early in the morning, the Straw Hats sail through a thick fogbank, where they find themselves surrounded by Marine battleships and attempt to sneak through. A young apprentice chef named Tajio notices them, and is startled enough that he falls overboard. After saving him and providing him a sample of Sanji's cooking, he tells them about how he had messed up the curry that the fleet was going to have for lunch, and his boss told him to remake it himself. He failed each time, and upon learning that he dreamed of the All Blue, Sanji accompanies him back to his ship, ostensibly to examine a Marine kitchen. A few nonchalant and cryptic tips help Tajio perfect the recipe, and Sanji informs him that he shares his belief in the All Blue before leaving with Luffy, who had predictably caused trouble with the Marines onboard. The curry is a success, and as the Going Merry sails away, Tajio vows to be just as good as Sanji one day.Usopp's Episode
The crew finds their way to Fireworks Island, just in time to catch their annual fireworks festival. Usopp, in search on gunpowder, visits the firework workshop, where he finds an old fireworks master named Odama and his apprentice and granddaughter Kodama preparing for the festival. Contrary to her grandfather's wishes, Kodama plans to attempt to launch a dangerous, oversized firework called the 200 Gauge Shell. Her parents had attempted to launch another firework of the same sort the previous year, but the equipment was faulty and they both died. Usopp learns that Kodama's family had successfully constructed those shells years ago, but the knowledge died out, and her parents wanted to bring them back. Kodama plans to use the launch team to help her launch the shell, but the team informs Odama out of concern for Kodama's safety. Investigating the property, Usopp realizes that a tower built beside the workshop was the mortar needed to launch the 200 Gauge Shells, and after talking Kodama into just launching the normal shells, shares this with Odama. That night, after the rest of the fireworks are finished, Odama and Usopp launch the 200 Gauge Shell, and Odama consents to Usopp taking as much gunpowder as he wants.Zoro's Episode
Zoro dreams of the time when he was renowned as the pirate hunter, when he first met Johnny and Yosaku. The two bounty hunters talk over their careers in a certain bar, Johnny in the business because a bounty hunter saved him as a child, and Yosaku in the business because he wants an easy life. Zoro enters the bar, and takes down a bandit named Billy with a bounty 5 million Belly. Johnny and Yosaku object to this, having wanted to take him down themselves, but Zoro allows them the bounty and credit as long as they pay for his meal. Later, Zoro picks up his sword from the shop where he left it to be sharpened, and meanwhile, another bandit named Dick, Billy's brother, attacks the town where they were staying. Upon learning that Johnny and Yosaku turned in Billy's bounty, he beats them down and nearly kills them until Zoro shows up, needing more money to pay for the borrowed sword he broke earlier. Inspired by Zoro's strength, the two bounty hunters resolve to follow him.Post-Alabasta Arc has the following tropes
- A Day in the Limelight: Each of the Straw Hat crew, besides Luffy, gets an episode to themselves.
- Failed a Spot Check: Rice-Rice the traveling salesman does this, not noticing the Jolly Roger signifying that he's on a pirate ship until the crew points it out.
- Foreshadowing: The Rainbow Mist Arc is cleverly foreshadowed with Robin reading up on the subject. She only outright states what she's reading once, and each episode has her progress into another book of the Rainbow Mist series.
- Waking Non Sequitur: When Chopper attempts to rouse Luffy from his sleep, warning them about the dark clouds they're sailing towards, Luffy blearily says "Spiders have ten legs" before falling back asleep. Less non-sequitur and more Bilingual Bonus in the original, where both "cloud" and "spider" are pronounced kumo.
- We Sell Everything: Rice Rice's company deals in all kinds of unrelated stuff. They sell kitchen utensils, weapons, cannonballs, exercising accessories, soaps, encyclopedias, or food and drink products, but the high-quality paper sheets are what end up catching Nami's eye.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Zoro's episode details how he met Johnny and Yosaku, taking place almost entirely in a flashback save for a short cut back to the present.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- The old man Usopp meets in episode 134 has no qualms hitting his daughter when she says she's more skilled than him.
- Dick beats up Harry in episode 135.
