Short Summary
Main Summary
Click to Read
- A Day in the Limelight: Zig-zagged; most of Sanji's screentime this arc is in flashbacks, but said flashbacks have developed him quite a bit, in comparison to the last several years which he spent either as comic relief or Out of Focus. It's also the start of a much larger arc that will focus on saving him.
- The Alliance: The already-established StrawHeart Alliance (the Straw Hats and the Heart Pirates) grows larger this arc, officially allying with the Mink Tribe and the Wano samurai's Kozuki Clan to take down Kaido together and thus forming the "Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance".
- An Arm and a Leg: While torturing them, the Beast Pirates cut off one of Dogstorm's legs and one of Cat Viper's arms.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Bege makes it clear to Sanji that the invitation to his own "wedding" is mandatory and Sanji has no say in the matter — especially since the Straw Hats and Caesar are targets of Big Mom anyway. Then there's whatever the Firetank Advisor, Vito, whispers to Sanji, which forces Sanji to accept. Pekoms later tells the Straw Hats that if Sanji had not gone to the Tea Party, Big Mom would would have sent him the head of someone he cares about, be it someone from the Straw Hats, Baratie, or Kamabakka Kingdom.
- Arranged Marriage: One has been arranged between Sanji (who's revealed to be the third son of the Vinsmokes, a family of assassins) and Pudding, the 35th daughter of Big Mom's family.
- Bait-and-Switch: 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. 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.
- Bait-and-Switch Boss: Ultimately, Jack turns out to be a minor annoyance in the overall scheme of the plot, getting 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.
- Badass Crew: The Mink Tribe are capable fighters in their own right.
- Beast Man: The Minkmen resemble anthropomorphic animals.
- Bookends: One of the first chapters of this arc is called "Climbing the Elephant". One of the last is called "Descending the Elephant".
- Breather Episode: Zou Arc is basically a cool down from Dressrosa. Most of the focus is on exposition, revealing more of the Myth Arc, and setting up for the encounters with Big Mom and Kaido. Heck, the crew don't even confront Jack face to face.
- Brick Joke: Zoro in Chapter 822 expects Sanji to be attracted the woman he's partnered with already by just being Sanji. Come Chapter 824, Zoro's proven right.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Tons of previously seen kings and royal families (Vivi and Cobra, the Riku family, Mansherry, Elizabello II, Wapol, Dalton and Kureha, the Neptune family, and
even Stelly) return to the main story in Chapter 823 as they make their way to the Reverie. Whether or not they'll end up involved with the Straw Hats again remains to be seen. - Captain Hina (now Rear Admiral Hina) also finally reappears, escorting the Alabasta Kingdom's ship. Jango and Fullbody also appear with her.
- Tons of previously seen kings and royal families (Vivi and Cobra, the Riku family, Mansherry, Elizabello II, Wapol, Dalton and Kureha, the Neptune family, and
- Call-Back: When Sanji's last name is revealed, Nami thinks back to the Jaya arc where Sanji revealed he came from North Blue. When Usopp questioned it, Sanji just dropped the topic altogether.
- After learning about the Road Poneglyphs, Nami recalls what Crocus said about following the Log Pose to the end of the Grandline; Dogstorm explains that at the Log Pose's final island they would have learned about the Road Poneglyphs, which was how Roger figured out how to find Raftel.
- Doubles as a Meaningful Echo: When Luffy tells Law about his plan to go get Sanji and asks him to wait on fighting Kaido until he comes back, Law points out that, with Kaido hunting them and aware of their location, it's not the safest plan for the Minks for their alliance to remain stationed there. The words he uses are "What will happen to this country if it's attacked again?", similar to Luffy's words to him on Dressrosa ("What will happen to this country if I stop now?").
- Cuddle Bug: Nuzzling is a common unisex greeting among Minks, who usually say "Garchu" before doing so. In one of the flashbacks, Sanji tries to abuse this to nuzzle all the Mink women before making a move on Nami. It didn't work.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Jack and his crew really thought they could take down Zunesha because it doesn't seem to act against its assailant, but they are proven absolutely wrong when Momonosuke orders Zunesha to fight back and it uses its trunk to not only destroy five of Jack's ship but also took out Jack himself with one hit.
- Didn't See That Coming: A couple of examples for in-universe characters and out-of-universe fans alike:
- Sanji's Arranged Marriage to a daughter of Big Mom.
- The major plot twist that not only was Raizo the ninja-samurai actually on Zou, but that the Minks (who were almost wiped out by Jack over this information, which they supposedly did not have) did know that and had been lying to Jack the entire time.
- One for the villains, Jack orders his fleet to kill the elephant and almost succeeds. But once Momonosuke gives it permission to fight back, it quickly does just that. You can practically see the Oh, Crap! look on Jack and his crew as it turns to face them.
- Didn't Think This Through: Jack, the crazy, bloodthirsty right-hand man to Kaido with a 1 billion Berry bounty, tries to kill Zunesha — the eponymous island-sized Zou (elephant) — with his fleet of ships and some cannons, but he and his crew are immediately sunk by Zunesha's trunk once Momo gives the order to fight back. This may be a world where the strongest fighters can beat literal giants, but Zunesha'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).
- Dismantled MacGuffin: It has been revealed that in order to find Raftel, the Straw Hats' end location where Roger's treasure is hidden, they must find four red Road Poneglyph that together will pinpoint its location. Good News: The Straw Hats' already found one. Bad News: one is lost and the other two are in the hands of Kaido and Big Mom of the Four Emperors, thereby making confrontations with them inevitable if the Straw Hats' are to reach the finish line.
- Distracted by the Sexy:
- Sanji angrily tells Tamago and Vito that he has no intention of marrying Pudding, a woman he's never met... but is immediately distracted and gets his usual heart-eyes when he sees a picture of how beautiful she is.
- Chopper takes a liking to Milky,
a female Reindeer Mink that is one of the Guardians.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Jack tries to kill Zunesha to destroy the city on his back. Zunesha only doesn't fight back because he can't without orders. As soon as he gets it, Jack's fleet doesn't stand a chance.
- Doomed Hometown: Nearly got this way for the Minks after Jack decided to use a gas weapon on the tribe which nearly wiped them out. It's only when Sanji's group arrived that they were saved.
- Dramatic Irony: A lot of it during this arc:
- Bucking, Whitebeard's self-proclaimed lover, believes the old man left behind a valuable treasure, when the audiences know from a flashback that the only treasure Whitebeard was interested in was a family.
- When Burgess discovers the Revolutionary Army's base, he contacts the other members of the Blackbeard Pirates to come to his location, completely unaware that Dragon ordered that all the leaders of the Revolutionary Army to gather back to the base.
- The greatest disaster to the Mink Tribe, who live on the back of a giant elephant, was a pirate who can turn into a mammoth.
- The Mink tribe were nearly wiped out by one of Caesar's weapons. Caesar himself helps to save them (albeit begrudgingly) when the Straw Hats force him to dispel the gas and help them make antidotes to the poison.
- When discussing Sanji's MIA status, Luffy and Zoro aren't too worried, with Zoro commenting that he left a note and Luffy adding, "It's not like he was captured or anything." We find out later that he really was essentially captured; he allowed himself to be taken, but only to save his friends and take care of something dark from his past that had caught up with him.
- The Straw Hats spend the first half of the arc trying to hide their association with the Wano samurai because they're afraid that the Minks, whose country was just destroyed by someone seeking a ninja who supposedly isn't there, must surely hate even the idea of samurai with a passion as a result. However, the Minks are actually generations-long friends with the samurai's Kozuki clan and in fact had been hiding Raizo on the island the entire time; it's highly likely that, if the Minks had known that Raizo's companions were traveling with the Straw Hats, they would have told their saviors the truth.
- Epic Fail: After the Minks and the rest of the pirates have tired themselves out from partying and passed out, the older members of the Straw Hat crew (Robin, Franky, and Brook) stand watch outside the entrance to Zou in order to ward off Kin'emon and Kanjuro, specifically citing, as the adults of the crew, their need to be responsible. When the samurai arrive, all three have fallen asleep as well.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Zou is Japanese for "elephant", fitting as the island is an elephant.
- Expy: Raizo is one of Jiraiya from Naruto: an older, not-particularly-attractive ninja who's not successful with women. He also gives a similar Badass Boast when introducing himself, and even strikes a pose identical to one of Jiraiya's, complete with a scroll in his mouth.
- Flying Dutchman: Zunesha reveals to Momo (and subsequently the people on Zou) that, long long ago, he was punished for a crime to forever wander on the seas and not to do anything unless he's ordered to.
- Foreshadowing:
- In Chapter 806, Kin'emon and Kanjuro correctly surmise the nature of the eruption rain, even though the Mink Tribe are supposed to hate the Samurais. This clues to the fact that the Minks and the Samurais are indeed close.
- In Chapter 808, we see a suspicious shot of a mink reacting with concern when he overhears Sheepshead and Ginrummy arguing about the terminology of what to call people from Wano like Raizo. The mink in question then goes on to claim that he doesn't know who they're talking about.
- In Chapter 815, Cat Viper says he would never abandon a True Companion. In Chapter 816, he proves he means it when it's revealed that he and the rest of the Minks were protecting Raizo from Jack despite being nearly tortured to death.
- Tied in with the Call-Back above, Brook points out to Nami that even the casual mention of Sanji being born in North Blue should have been a massive one for the crew, since they first encountered him in East Blue. The only way to get there from North Blue is to have crossed the Red Line, which is a huge deal since only the rich and powerful have the means to do so easily.
- In Chapter 815, when Luffy mentions his plan to sneak into Big Mom's tea party to get Sanji back, Carrot enthusiastically notes that it sounds like fun. In Chapter 823, we find out that she stowed away on the Thousand Sunny to join them, wanting to go on an adventure.
- 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.
- Cat Viper told Pedro to go with Luffy's group because he was the only one who could keep Pekoms in line. This wasn't referring to Pekoms being untrustworthy, but that Pedro was the only one who could snap him out of a berserker frenzy.
- Cat Viper and Dogstorm are said to have been at odds ever since their return to Zou, which was before Carrot was born. Despite this, Momo, who is eight, knows them and correctly assumes their disagreement came from what happened to his father Oden. The disconnect in the time frames involved is a hint to the reveal in the Wano arc that some of the Red Scabbards traveled forward through time.
- Likewise, another hint towards the time travel is that eight-year-old Momo claims he has met Gol D. Roger, though he doesn't remember him very well, despite Roger having died 24 years before the present time. Usopp naturally assumes he must be lying about this, but the Wano arc reveals that he was on Roger's ship when he was a toddler.
- This arc sets up the idea that someone in the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai alliance is The Mole for Kaido and his crew, since Jack and his underlings 1) are certain that Raizo is on Zou—though they don't know where on the island he is—even when the Minks lie and try to claim otherwise, and 2) are able to reach the island twice, and the only way outsiders can get there is by following a vivre card. We don't learn the identity of the traitor until the Wano arc.
- The Glomp: Happens several times to Luffy in this arc:
- The surprising way that Nami greets Luffy after being separated from him for most of the previous story arc. Combining O.O.C. Is Serious Business and the No Hugging, No Kissing nature of the series, this tells everyone that something is very wrong.
- Cat Viper also does this to Luffy when he comes to his place. But as he was still recovering from his wounds, it reopens them, much to Chopper's chagrin.
- Carrot does this to the present Straw Hats after revealing her presence on the Thousand Sunny.
- How We Got Here: Luffy's half of the Straw Hats are surprised to find the cities destroyed, and to receive a warm welcome from the Minks despite their reputation of being human-haters, upon their arrival to Zou. They also reunite with Nami, Chopper, and Brook, but find Sanji and Caesar missing. The former three, as well as the Minks, then spend the next several chapters — presented as flashbacks — explaining how all of this happened.
- In the Back: Where Bege (or, more specifically, his men hiding inside his body) shoots Pekoms.
- In Medias Res: The crew arrives after Sanji's group rescued the Minks from Jack. The first few chapters are spent learning how, while the next few reveal what happened to Sanji and Caesar, who were absent when Luffy's group finally arrived.
- Irony: The people of Zou are nearly killed by Jack who wields an Mammoth Zoan Devil Fruit. When he comes back to finish the job, he's taken down by an even bigger elephant, Zunesha, the Zou island itself.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite being one of Big Mom's combatants, Pekoms showed concern for his homeland upon seeing the destruction Jack had wrought, along with relief that his family and friends were all right thanks to Sanji's half of the Straw Hats. In gratitude, Pekoms was going to spare them in exchange for Caesar and lie to Big Mom about killing them. Unfortunately, Capone Bege wasn't willing to deviate from the mission.
- King Incognito: Momonosuke is revealed to be the heir of the Kozuki clan, and the next Daimyo (Feudal Lord) to replace his father, Lord Oden (since Oden was killed by Kaido and the Shogun of Wano). In order to hide this identity, Momo pretended to be Kin'emon's son and did not reveal his full name until this arc.
- Laser-Guided Karma: For all the crap Jack did to the people of Zou, getting taken down by the walking elephant whose back they live on, and who is much bigger than he is, is definitely karmic.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: The Straw Hats and allies split into four groups at the end of the arc:
- Luffy, Nami, Chopper, Brook, and Pedro (and, revealed in the next arc, Carrot, who's a stowaway) are going with Pekoms to retrieve Sanji from Big Mom.
- The rest of the Straw Hats will head to Wano with Law and the samurai, to begin preparing for the war with Kaido.
- Cat Viper and a few subordinates of his will roam around in search of Marco, to ask for his aid in the battle with Kaido.
- Momonosuke and Dogstorm will remain on Zou until it's time for the gang to get back together, in the hopes of learning the secrets of Zunesha.
- Lethal Chef: Luffy tries cooking for his group on the way to Whole Cake Island. Unsurprisingly, no one can stomach his food, including himself. Made "lethal" in another sense as well: he used their week's supply of food in his attempt, leaving them with nothing to eat at all after his attempt fails.
- Literal Metaphor: The two leaders of the Mink tribe — Duke Dogstorm and Master Cat Viper — don't get along at all. They literally "fight like cats and dogs", because that's what they actually are.
- Little Stowaway: Carrot sneaks aboard the Thousand Sunny to tag along on Luffy's adventure to Whole Cake Island.
- Living MacGuffin:
- 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 very strong enemies (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 very strong friends protecting her.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Apparently, Rayleigh prevented any word from the outside world from reaching Luffy during his two years of training, as he was completely unaware of the Payback War between the Blackbeard Pirates and the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates. The others are surprised Rayleigh actually went that far.
- Loose Lips: Pell almost lets loose that Vivi was a pirate (while they're being escorted by the Marines) before Igaram shuts him up.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!":
- Jack's crew becomes terrified when they see Zunesha's trunk heading towards them, and while his crew tries to run away on their own ship, Jack just stands there looking completely petrified.
- Played for Laughs when Luffy cheerfully grabs his Whole Cake Island group and jumps off Zunesha, 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 Group Wild Take.
- The Medic: In order to cure the poisoning that befell the Minks, Chopper and Caesar work with Dr. Miyagi, a Goat Mink, and Tristan, his female Squirrel Mink nurse.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: The Heart Pirates certainly feel this way when Law quickly introduces them as a group to Luffy, only to then immediately leave them there so he can talk to Luffy and the other Straw Hats privately.
- No Challenge Equals No Satisfaction: After hearing that two of the other Road Poneglyphs are in the possession of Big Mom and Kaido, but that there was a way to copy Ponegylpyhs, Usopp comments that the Straw Hats would be able to obtain them without having to fight the Emperors. Luffy gives an expression that shows he doesn't like that idea, to Usopp's consternation.
- No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: After taking the Curlyhats + Caesar captive, Bege lets Sanji sit at a nice table (while the other four sit, chained up, on the floor), apologizes for keeping them waiting, and offers Sanji food or drink; unsurprisingly, Sanji refuses.
- Non-Mammalian Mammaries: All the female Minks have breasts. Then again, if the legend that the Minks descended from people who consumed animal Devil Fruits is true, this could be justified. It's further justified because all Minks seen so far are based on some form of mammal, as evidenced by the fact that they all seem to have fur, meaning that there's nothing "non-mammalian" about their mammaries to begin with.
- Noodle Incident: Duke Dogstorm and Master Catviper used to be the best of friends, but at some point in the past they had such a big falling out that they started to refuse to even be awake at the same time. Eventually Momo makes them call a temporary truce. What did they actually fall out over in the first place? We don't find out yet.
- No One Gets Left Behind: 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.
- Once More, with Clarity: Near the end of the Dressrosa arc, in Chapter 795, we finally saw the Curly Hats 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.
- Out-Gambitted: Bege originally hopes to bring Sanji's whole group of Straw Hats with him to Big Mom when he's holding them hostage. However, Sanji manages to save Nami, Chopper, and Brook by shoving them out of Bege's castle-body, and holds Caesar at gunpoint — knowing Bege was ordered to make Sanji and Caesar the major priority — to keep the Firetank Pirates from going after them. The arrival of Master Cat Viper, one of the kings of Zou, as well as Bege shooting Pekoms and leaving him where he was collapsed, also contributes to keeping him from re-capturing them.
- Pose of Supplication: Momonosuke does this when begging Luffy to help him fight Kaido. Luffy stops him before his head reaches the floor, and agrees to officially ally with him.
- Prodigal Family: This arc reveals that Sanji is the third child of a royal family. Brook and Chopper wonder about his past, and Nami recollects the conversation about Sanji's family in the Jaya Arc. Later, it's revealed by Pekoms that he is part of a family of assassins. There is obvious tension between Sanji and his family, and in the Whole Cake Island Arc, we see why. At birth, Vinsmoke Judge (Sanji's father) wanted his children to become nothing more than Tyke-Bombs. After having an already-super-powered Reiju (Sanji's sister), he successfully did so with his sons Ichiji, Niji, and Yonj. However, thanks to the intervention of Vinsmoke Sora (Sanji's mother) due to the drug she took Sanji became a normal human being. His compassion and humility are what drove his brothers and his father to abuse him physically, mentally, verbally, and psychologically for the next couple of years. Fortunately for Sanji, Reiju helped him escape. 13 years later, he is whisked away and threatened by Big Mom and his father, for the fate of his hands and loved ones, specifically his old crew and his adoptive father Zeff, on the Baratie. Unfortunately, he undergoes more torment by his brothers and father, and WORSE by his manipulative fiancée. Just when hope seems grim, his friends, along with new allies, decide to intervene with a plot to take down Big Mom and rescue his family. After they are rescued and the commotion has settled, Judge asks Sanji for what reason he saved him. Sanji replies that it was to honor his adoptive father's beliefs and tells Judge not to go to him or East Blue again. After even more commotion, as the Straw Hat crew passes by Judge's castle, Judge asks Luffy why he would go so far with Sanji. The latter just responds with a thank you and goodbye.
- Put on a Bus: Sanji and Caesar mostly appear in flashbacks rather than the present day, since said flashbacks show that they were captured by Capone Bege and taken to Big Mom. Sanji finally reappears in the present time in the last chapter of the arc.
- Putting the Band Back Together:
- 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 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.
- Played straight for Law, though, who's finally reunited with the rest of the Heart Pirates (who at last make their own post-timeskip appearance, two arcs and three real-time years after their captain's).
- Quit Your Whining: Luffy initially turns down Kin'emon's request to save Wano. It turns that he's willing to do it, but he wants to hear the request from Momonosuke, demanding that he stop crying and start acting like the heir that he's supposed to be.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Several examples from the arc.
- 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.
- Loud and hyperactive Sicilian is red; Quiet and calm Pedro is blue.
- Genki Girl type Carrot is the red; mature, responsible Cool Big Sis type Wanda is the blue.
- The Reveal: Since this arc is exposition-heavy, there are several big ones:
- Sanji is a member of the Vinsmoke family, a family of assassins/killers, and is arranged to be married to one of Big Mom's daughters, being coerced into doing so under threat of the death of someone close to him.
- A big plot twist that shocks the Straw Hats and the reader alike: the samurai's clan and the Minks are longtime friends; Raizo actually was on Zou the whole time, and the entire Mink tribe lied to Jack about it, refusing to sell out their comrade.
- Kin'emon and Momonosuke aren't really father and son. They were only pretending to be in order to to hide Momonosuke's true identity and lineage as the son and heir of Lord Oden, the leader of the Kozuki clan.
- The path to Raftel is hidden by four Poneglyphs, two in the possession the the Emperors (Big Mom and Kaido), one on Zou, and the last one's location is currently unknown.
- The Poneglyphs were originally made in Wano by the Kozuki Family's ancestors, and Lord Oden (and thus, Dogstorm and Cat Viper, who were traveling with him at the time) once went with Roger's ship (although Dog and Cat didn't follow to Raftel) and, previously, Whitebeard's. They knew both Roger's and Whitebeard's crews well, which intrigues Straw Hats as some of them have relations to the (former) Roger's crew. Usopp is so overwhelmed by all of these new revelations he got that he needs to write them down.
- Revision: In the previously shown flashbacks to what Sanji and the others were up to, Kaido's men on Zou were hunting a samurai but in this arc, Raizo is a ninja. The flashback sequence reconciles this by having one of Jack's minions mentioning Raizo is strictly speaking a ninja, but the others continue calling him a samurai as a generic term for a warrior from Wano.
- Sequence Breaking: It turns out that the Straw Hats did this already: they were supposed to learn about the Road Poneglyphs and more about the Poneglyphs at the place the Log Poses lead to, which is what Roger did, but they learned about them on Zou instead.
- Shout-Out:
- Cat Viper's introduction in present day shows him eating lasagna.
- The Straw Hats' introduction to Raizo the ninja is one big shout-out to Naruto (fitting, considering the authors of the two series are friends). Raizo himself is an Expy of Jiraiya, and he uses ninja scrolls, shuriken techniques, and Naruto's signature clone ability.
- Stupid Evil: Subverted when it comes to Jack's rampage against the Minks. His refusal to even try negotiating with the Minks or searching for Raizo seems self-defeatingly foolish, especially given they offer to let him scour the island as he wishes if he'll just stop attacking him. However, it's revealed the Minks were indeed sheltering Raizo and had no intention of letting Jack find him despite their claims. Jack's destructive onslaught, on the other hand, nearly did uncover Raizo as the ninja would have offered himself up to halt the attack if the Minks hadn't bound him hand and foot to prevent that.
- Surrounded by Idiots: For once, the Straw Hat crew (the Dressrosa half) deals with this when they see how incompetent Bartolomeo's crew is at sea. Not even Luffy was dumb enough to go to the Grand Line without at least having a decent navigator.
- That's No Moon: Zou isn't just an island, but one located on the back of a giant, 1000-year old elephant roaming around the New World.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- Now that they finally got some down time, Usopp upgrades Nami's Clima-Tact again at the end of the arc.
- Vivi shows readers she has leveled up since she was last seen by jumping from a crows nest several hundred feet in the air and landing perfectly fine with no assistance.
- Turtle Island: Or rather, "Elephant Island". Zou is located on the back of a giant elephant named Zunesha.
- Underestimating Badassery: 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 Kid as proof. Once these two actually meet, Kaido takes out Gear Fourth Luffy with a single strike.
- Undying Loyalty: The entire Mink Tribe to the Kozuki Family of Wano Country. Even when all faced with torture and death, as well as the possible destruction of their entire civilization at the hands of Jack, they denied any knowledge of Raizo's whereabouts. Even the Kozuki retainers consider it excessive. Raizo calls the Minks "loyal to a fault" after they imprisoned him rather than let him give himself up for their sake.
- Vagueness Is Coming: While his rant while being taken to Impel Down exemplifies that he's gone completely insane, Doflamingo hints that with his defeat, the biggest confrontation for supremacy between all the major players on the sea will soon begin.
- Wham Episode:
- Chapter 818 is one of epic proportions, finally shedding some light on the overlying Myth Arc by revealing how to reach Raftel, the Straw Hats' end location where Roger's treasure is hidden. The red poneglyph found in the previous chapter is one of four, and the four together will allow the user to pinpoint Raftel's location. The second poneglyph is lost. The third and fourth? One each in the hands of Kaido and Big Mom. This chapter also reveals that Wano is where the poneglyphs were made, the Kouzuki Clan made them, and that Momonosuke's father Oden traveled with the Roger Pirates and has set foot on Raftel. He could also read the poneglyphs, and was hinted to have the ability to hear the "voice of all living things", but was executed by Kaido and Wano's shogun, the former of which is currently occupying Wano.
- In Chapter 820, aside from more details of the Myth Arc (involving the Log Pose Nami is following the entire time), we find out that Blackbeard engaged the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates in a ferocious battle and emerged victorious.
- In Chapter 823, we learn that Baltigo, the headquarters of the Revolutionary army, is in ruins.
- Wham Line:
- From Chapter 802:
Jesus Burgess: "I found it! The Revolutionary Army's base!"- From Chapter 808:
Chopper: "The weapon that destroyed this country was Caesar's poison gas weapon!"- From Chapter 811:
Pekoms: "Leave this to me, Mama. Zou is my homeland!"- From Chapter 812:
Capone Bege: "The main event this time around will be a wedding ceremony. The groom will be the third son of the Vinsmoke family, Sanji. The bride will be the 35th daughter of the Charlotte family, Pudding!"- From Chapter 814:
Pekoms: "The Vinsmoke family...Well to put it simply, is a family of assassins!"- From Chapter 816:
Duke Dogstorm: "Sir Raizo...is safe!"- From Chapter 819:
Jack: "We're going after the elephant itself." - Your Little Dismissive Diminutive: Kaido refers to the Supernovas' activities so far (namely, those of the Luffy-Law Alliance as well as the defeated Kid's) as "little pirate games", which also provides the name of Chapter 824.
Story Impact
- The Straw Hats make a lasting alliance with the Minks.
- Sanji is revealed to be the third son of the Vinsmoke Family, and goes with Bege to attend his engagement with Pudding, one of the daughters of Big Mom.
- Momonosuke is revealed to be the son of Kozuki Oden, the crewmate of Roger, and the head of the family who inscribed the Poneglyphs.
- The Red Poneglyphs are introduced which give the direct coordinates of Laugh Tale, the last island of New World. Big Mom and Kaido have 2 of them, making a confrontation with them inevitable.
