Episode 23
- Captain Hardrock - Tales of Anarka the Pirate
Kitty Section is going to hold a concert on board the Liberty, and Alya, Nino, and Marinette are getting things ready ahead of time. Nino lets the girls know that Adrien needed to do something with his father first and should arrive later. Alya tries to tease Marinette by remarking on how that's great news, only for Marinette to completely miss her hinting, declaring, "It's always great when Adrien can hang out with his friends!"
Anarka interrupts, telling the teenagers that they don't clean on board her ship: everything goes on the Liberty! Just then, Chloé suddenly announces her arrival, and Juleka observes that "Everything goes on the Liberty except her."
What's she doing there, anyway? Well, Chloé just happened to hear that Adrien would be attending their concert, so she decided to invite herself over, bragging about how gracious she's being by showing up. Ivan silently sets her back down on the dock, then helps Juleka and Mylène pull up the gangplank. Fuming over the snub, Chloé hurries off to find and flag down an officer...
Meanwhile, Anarka shows Alya and Marinette why they shouldn't bring metal near her ship's compass, using a statue of a horn-throwing hand to demonstrate how it throws the needle off. Alya asks Marinette if this reminds her of anyone in particular, only for Marinette to cluelessly ask if she's referring to herself and Nino.
After listening to his son play the piano, Gabriel decides to renege on his promise to allow Adrien to attend the concert, claiming Adrien didn't perform well enough and needs more practice. Plagg attempts to comfort his holder, only for Adrien to ask him whether he should go with pink or blue dye for his hair this time. He also calls Nino to let him know what happened and asks what his favorite color is, prompting Nino to yelp, "Adrien, put the credit card down!"
Anarka asks Marinette to head over to Luka's cabin and let him know they're waiting for him so they can start rehearsal. Marinette finds him mediating on his bed and is struck by how cute he is, fumbling and flushing as she stammers her way through an introduction. Luka playfully calls her "Ma-Ma-Marinette" to mimic her but inwardly panics when she pouts at him. He apologizes, saying that he communicates better through his guitar and offering to let her listen.
Thankfully, the melody helps smooth things over. Luka explains that he finds that "Music is clearer than words"; Marinette also learns that he's a fan of Jagged Stone, giving them something in common. He gives her a guitar pick, telling her that he's got plenty of others. As they head off to join the others, Marinette silently reprimands herself—her heart already belongs to Chat Noir!
Back at the manor, Adrien is frustrated by Nadja hyping up the music festival, especially when she declares that "You'd have to be a complete loser to miss it!" Plagg points out that he can watch it online, but Adrien protests that he only cared about his friends' concert. The Kwami then tries to cheer his wielder up by serenading him with a dreadfully off-tune ballad about cheese.
Up on stage, Juleka notices that her brother seems out of sorts and teases him about meeting Marinette. Alya also notices that Marinette has been staring at Luka and playfully asks, "Is your compass moving towards a new statue!" Marinette denies it, stating that she just admires how cool, calm, and collected he is... unaware that he's mentally freaking out about having her attention.
Right as Luka is about to strike the first chord, Officer Roger interrupts, yelling at the Liberty on his bullhorn. He reveals that they received a noise complaint, and Chloé cheerfully waves at the group before tucking herself in close to Roger as she hides her sneer behind her hands and fakes weeping. Anarka protests that they haven't even started playing yet, but Roger insists he has a "witness"—prompting Anarka to declare, "I knew you were a landlubber, but I didn't know you were a bootlicker too!"
Infuriated, Roger declares that they don't have any authorization to dock there, either. He's also ticketing Anarka for everything he can think of: the mess, all the decorations, her bad attitude, her provoking him, his seasickness, and just because he can. Unable to actually board the Liberty, though, he attempts to throw the tickets to her in the form of paper planes—and adds another charge for name-calling when she accuses him of being "bilge-rat scum!"
Hawk Moth then contacts her, offering an indestructible ship from which she can blast her music for all to hear. Anarka declares that's a much better plan than simply refusing to pay the tickets, becoming Captain Hardrock. Unaware of this, Chloé taunts her classmates, declaring that they probably wish they'd let her on now. As her peers boo her, she notices Luka and is immediately smitten (despite thinking he dresses like trash)... and shocked when he shoots her an utterly disgusted look upon learning that she's none other than the infamous Chloé Bourgeois.
Captain Hardrock then reveals herself, transforming the Liberty into her flying vessel with everyone still on board. She declares that when she's done, they'll be the only concert left playing in Paris! Tikki points out that this means Chloé's father will be in danger, but Chloé shrugs it off; only his lame orchestra is actually being threatened. But what about her dear XY, Tikki adds? That quickly worries Chloé.
When her captive crew refuses to man their stations, Captain Hardrock declares it a mutiny and orders the Liberty to capture them all and haul them downstairs. Everyone gets chained together in groups of two: Ivan with Mylène, Rose with Juleka, Luka with Marinette, and Alya with Nino. The latter four are especially embarrassed, with Nino frantically insisting that he's not touching Alya.
A pouting Nadja reveals that Hawk Moth has attacked yet again; Adrien cheers at the news, declaring to Plagg that he's ungrounding them and rushing off to find his friends. His good feeling fades once he runs into Scarlet Lady, who wastes no time insulting him and demanding to know where he's been.
Meanwhile, Pollen sneaks out of Marinette's purse and frees her holder and Luka from their chains. When Luka asks how Marinette managed it, she has to hastily keep the Kwami from answering, claiming that she used the guitar pick he gave her earlier to pick the lock. As Captain Hardrock comes storming down the stairs, Luka has Marinette hide under his bed while he makes it appear that she escaped out the window. Captain Hardrock recaptures him while declaring that Marinette won't be able to make it far. Once they leave, Pollen remarks on how brave Luka was; Marinette agrees, determined to save him and all of her friends.
Marigold arrives in time to destroy the chains that were just ensnaring Scarlet Lady. Not that Scarlet Lady appreciates the rescue; when Marigold remarks that it's tricky to sneak away, the Ladybug heroine just scoffs and declares that it's proof Marigold's a new-bee (Marigold retorts that it's likely much easier for Scarlet because she doesn't have friends). After hearing that the butterfly might have gone into the Liberty itself, Chat Noir is ready to Cataclysm the ship, but Marigold protests—the akuma has hostages on board who could drown if he does that. Scarlet Lady dismissively declares that the Miraculous Cure would just bring them back, much to her teammates' disgust.
While Chat Noir distracts Captain Hardrock, Marigold and Scarlet Lady venture below and find the hostages. Luka asks Marigold if Marinette is okay; she explains that Marinette was the one who found and warned her about what was happening. Irritated by "Clumsinette" getting all the attention of a cute guy when she's not even there, Scarlet Lady boldly declares that she'll save the day with her Lucky Charm... but is left baffled by the chain it produces.
Then a baton clatters down beside them—Chat Noir's weapon, tossed aside carelessly by the victorious akuma, who boasts that his Miraculous will be her war treasure. As Marigold and Scarlet Lady scramble back up to the deck, Luka picks up the baton, instructing the others to follow his lead. Manning the bow, Captain Hardrock orders her ship onward to city hall—but the whole Liberty quakes and shudders, revealing that Luka and all of the captured classmates are using the extended baton to throw the ship off-course.
Captain Hardrock tries to attack—but in doing so, leaves herself open as Marigold and Chat Noir lunge forward in tandem, carrying the Lucky Charm-created chain between them and catching her right around the waist. They drag her back onto the bow, knocking her—and themselves—for a loop as the Liberty crashes into a building. Dazed, Chat Noir finally Cataclysms the ship.
As always, Scarlet Lady proudly claims the credit, bragging to everyone on board about how she saved the day and angrily shouting down one of the classmates when they ask, "Uh, didn't we save the day?" Chat Noir, meanwhile, remarks to Marigold that this is her third akuma and then offers her a fist bump to celebrate their victory, declaring, "Bien joué, partner."
Back at the manor, Gabriel coldly orders his son to play again. But Adrien has a request of his own: since he can't go to his friends' concert, why don't they play together? Taken aback, Gabriel declares that he'll permit his son to go after all. Not because he's had a change of heart, but because he doesn't want Adrien to learn that he's severely out of practice; it's been ten years since he last touched a piano.
Meanwhile, Officer Roger tests Kitty Section's playing and notes that it is a few decibels above the limit... but what the heck, it's the music festival, after all! Outraged, Chloé insists that they're still breaking the rules, threatening to call her daddy and have him fire Roger (again). Roger then reveals that he and Sabrina looked into things and learned that Mayor Bourgeois doesn't actually have the proper jurisdiction and authority to fire him, rendering her threats utterly toothless.
Adrien finally arrives and recognizes the keyboard they have on board as an original ZX2O.4. Upon learning he can play, Luka invites him to join the band; Adrien cheerfully agrees before asking, "What band?"
During the concert, Rose declares via song that she loves unicorns almost as much as she loves her girlfriend while pointing at Juleka, proudly announcing to all of Paris that the two of them are dating. Juleka is understandably flustered, but the performance goes smoothly... and afterwards, Luka notices how well Marinette and Adrien are getting along. Casually going over, he gets Adrien to join him in complimenting Marinette, remarking how sharp and quick on her feet she is... and how cute as well. Adrien happily agrees that she's gorgeous before finally realizing that he's got a romantic rival.
Back in the privacy of her bedroom, Marinette apologizes to one of her pictures of Chat Noir for getting so caught up in Luka. But Pollen reassures her that there's nothing wrong with her liking multiple people. Queens typically have many consorts, after all, and she has two wonderful ones: a chivalrous knight in Chat Noir to defend her and a lovely bard to sing her praises in Luka! And a romantic prince as well, though a flustered Marinette protests, "You lost me at consort!"
This episode contains examples of:
- Accidental Truth: Chloé files a noise complaint against Anarka and Kitty Section before they've played a single note. However, it turns out their equipment really is slightly above the legal decibel limit.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: All the people who get chained by Captain Hardrock for "mutiny" in canon just roll into the hold like logs. Here, we see reactions of embarrassment and concern because each pair is at least a potential love interest. The author notes, "The Ship is a shipper."
- Adaptational Badass: The members of Kitty Section and their classmates work together to beach the pirate ship by using Chat Noir's baton to push and control the steering despite knowing this risks the akuma's retaliation.
- Adaptational Dumbass: In canon "Captain Hardrock," Roger only tried to ticket Anarka due to her music being loud enough to shake the entire street. Here, however, Roger angrily confronts Anarka about a noise complaint before a single note has been played based solely on the word of Chloé, even refusing to listen at first when Anarka tries to explain. Additionally, the comic reveals that the mayor doesn't actually have the authority to fire Roger here, something that Roger should've been aware of when Mayor Bourgeois "fired" him in "Rogercop."
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Chloé was absent from this episode canonically. Here, she invites herself to the concert on the Liberty and then files a false noise complaint against Anarka and Kitty Section when they kick her off the houseboat, which leads to Anarka's akumatization.
- Roger gets hit with this as well. Thanks to Chloé, he arrives at the houseboat before the concert starts, tells them he received a noise complaint, refuses to listen when Anarka tries to explain that they haven't even played a single note, and hits her with a list of tickets for Felony Misdemeanors due to getting upset by Anarka calling him a "bootlicker."Roger: No authorization to dock here, no concert! And the mess! And the decorations! A ticket for your attitude, for provocation, for my sea-sickness, and 'cuz I can!
Anarka: You bilge rat scum!
Roger: And one for name-calling! - André Bourgeois doesn't appear in this episode, but the mayor's actions in "Rogercop" and the revelation that he doesn't actually have the power to fire Roger subject him to this in hindsight. While Mayor Bourgeois was already a Sleazy Politician who often abused his powers in the show, there was never any confirmation that he was abusing power he doesn't even have by firing Roger. Additionally, while André apparently tried to make amends with Roger in canon by giving him his job back with a promotion, the mayor almost certainly lacks the authority to do this as well in the comic, meaning what was originally a Pet the Dog moment is now just the mayor distracting Roger with a Motivational Lie and an Empty Promise.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Because Anarka's rock concert is halted before it can begin by a false accusation from Chloé, it's left undetermined if her music would have been as loud and harmful as in canon or if she would've been as unconcerned about the damage as she was in the show.
- Adaptational Sympathy: In canon, Anarka's gets into an argument with Roger over his justified decision to ticket her when her music shakes the entire street. In this story, the noise complaint comes before she's played a single note, with Roger even refusing to listen when she tries to explain herself.
- Beneath the Mask:
- Despite his calm and collected appearance, Luka can be quite awkward and worries about looking cool in front of Marinette. He's also familiar with Passive-Aggressive Kombat if the smile he gives Adrien after indirectly declaring himself as the latter's love rival for Marinette is any indication.
- When Adrien asks to play a duet with his father, Gabriel immediately allows him to attend his friends' concert, with Gabriel's inner thoughts revealing he hasn't played in a decade and is afraid of embarrassing himself.
- Big "WHAT?!": Chloé belts one out when Officer Roger decides to be a Reasonable Authority Figure and let Kitty Section play after all.
- Black-and-White Insanity: The author holds this to be Officer Roger's Fatal Flaw: he has an oversimplistic and somewhat skewed sense of what "justice" means. While this prevented him from going along with Chloé and André Bourgeois's blatant disregard for the law during "Rogercop," it also makes him an Unwitting Pawn in Chloé's scheme to ruin Kitty Section's concert.
- Call-Back:
- Adrien wonders if he should go with blue or pink dye this time to get back at his dad, referencing to how he dyed his hair green in "The Bubbler" after Gabriel called Nino "fashion trash."
- Chloé threatens a repeat of the events that led to the Rogercop incident (in which she made André fire Roger over a petty whim) when she name-drops her father to try and intimidate Officer Raincomprix. Unfortunately for her, Roger and Sabrina have since learned that the mayor never even had the power to fire Roger to begin with.
- Chekhov's Gun: Played With; Marinette uses the guitar pick Luka gave her... to convince him that she used it to pick open the lock for their chains so that he doesn't learn about Pollen's presence.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Implied to be Adrien's reaction to Plagg's song about cheese.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- Alya tries teasing Marinette about her crush on Adrien, only for Marinette to sincerely agree that it's always great when he gets the chance to spend time with her friends. The caption even remarks, "Marinette just Matrix Dodged that hint."
- Similarly, when Alya attempts to liken the ship's magnetized compass to Marinette and Adrien, Marinette instead thinks Alya's talking about herself and Nino.
- Commonality Connection: Luka and Marinette start bonding over the fact that both of them like Jagged Stone.
- Continuity Nod: Chat Noir offering a fist bump to Marigold is one to "Vanisher": in that episode, Marigold tried to initiate one with him after defeating the titular akuma, only to be turned down.
- Crocodile Tears: Chloé sheds these as she claims that Kitty Section attempted to deafen her with their music.
- Death Glare: Adrien gives one to Luka upon realizing the latter also has a crush on Marinette and has declared himself as Adrien's rival.
- Didn't See That Coming:
- Thanks to her father and Mme. Bustier, Chloé is used to adults either being useless or enabling her. In particular, her teacher regularly forces her peers to invite and include her. This makes it all the more shocking to her when Anarka kicks her off the Liberty and when Roger ultimately decides not to enforce her will.
- Chloé is also taken aback to learn that Officer Raincomprix and Sabrina actually researched the limits of the mayor's authority and learned that Mayor Bourgeois doesn't have the jurisdiction to fire him in the first place, rendering her favorite threat completely moot.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Marigold reveals that Captain Hardrock has hostages on board the Liberty who could drown if it sinks, Scarlet Lady fails to understand how that would be a problem, declaring that she'll just bring them back with the Miraculous Cure. Chat Noir and Marigold are both appalled.
- Entitled Bastard: Chloé arrives on the Liberty uninvited and unannounced—and yet expected to have a red carpet ready to welcome her.
- Evil Is Petty:
- Chloé lies to Officer Roger and tries to get him to shut Kitty Section's concert down before it even started, all because she got kicked off the Liberty after showing up uninvited. She even rides along with Officer Roger just so she can ensure everybody sees she was responsible for reporting them and ruining the concert.
- Gabriel arbitrarily decides to go back on his word and refuses to let Adrien go out... pretty much just because he can, though he claims his son failed to impress him with his piano playing.
- Officer Roger is far from evil, but while listing off all of Anarka's supposed crimes, he outright says that he's charging her both for his seasickness (while he's standing on the dock) and "cuz I can!"
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Near the end, Adrien and Luka both start praising Marinette in front of the other. After Luka calls her "cute," Adrien begins to say, "Gorgeo—," before finally realizing he now has a love rival.
- Fakeout Escape: While fleeing from Captain Hardrock, Luka ends up in front of an open porthole with Marinette right behind him. The akuma soon catches up and barges into the room to see Luka by himself, apparently getting ready to climb out through the porthole. Captain Hardrock assumes that Marinette already escaped through it, but the latter is really hiding under the bed.
- Honor Before Reason: Played With. When asked why Roger even listened to Chloé's complaints, the author explains that he has a very black-and-white view of how justice works, believing that his duty as an officer comes first and foremost.
- Hostage Situation: Dealing with Captain Hardrock proves tricky due to her taking several of the passengers on board her ship captive, meaning Chat Noir can't just Cataclysm the Liberty without endangering everyone.
- Hypocrite:
- Gabriel complains that Adrien's piano skills are unimpressive and that he needs more practice when Gabriel himself hasn't touched a keyboard in ten years.
- Officer Raincomprix decides to overlook Kitty Section being slightly over the legal decibel limit due to the spirit of the music festival. Chloé complains about his decision and tries to pressure him into shutting down the concert again, declaring that the band is still breaking the rules. Chloé regularly breaks the rules while avoiding any consequences by invoking her father's name.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: When Captain Hardrock calls him a scally wag, landlubber, and bilge rat, Chat Noir protests—he's a bilge cat, thank you very much!
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Instead of Anarka Couffaine being so loud and obnoxious that she gets into a conflict with Officer Raincomprix all by herself, Chloé takes an active role and makes a noise complaint to him before a single not has been played out of revenge for getting kicked off Anarka's boat. The result is still an akumatized Anarka.
- Marinette doesn't have the Ladybug Miraculous or Tikki in this universe, but Pollen just frees her from Captain Hardrock's chains instead.
- Incoming Ham: Chloé announces her arrival at the Liberty with a grand hand flourish as she declares, "A princess is coming aboard!"
- Insistent Terminology: Upon being called a bilge rat by Captain Hardrock, Chat Noir declares to the akuma, "That's bilge cat to you!"
- Jerkass Has a Point: Since it turns out that Kitty Section and Anarka's music equipment is in fact slightly above the legal decibel limit, Chloé's noise complaint would've been valid... if she had waited until they actually started to play. Instead, she files it out of spite for getting kicked off the houseboat after trespassing.
- Kick the Dog:
- Gabriel casually breaks his promise to let Adrien attend his friends' concert after arbitrarily deciding that his son needs to practice the piano more.
- Chloé files a false noise complaint to shut down Kitty Section's concert, all because she got kicked off the Liberty for inviting herself on board. She even makes sure to get the band's attention while in Officer Raincomprix's police car simply so that she could ensure everyone knows she was the one who ruined their concert.
- Lack of Empathy: When Marigold prevents Chat Noir from Cataclysming the ship by pointing out there are hostage in there, Scarlet Lady doesn't care that they might drown since she can just bring them back with the Miraculous Cure.
- Mythology Gag: Chloé remarks how cute Luka is the first time she sees him, just like she did in "Miracle Queen" in canon.
- Not So Above It All: Marinette repeatedly admires how Luka seems completely calm, cool, and collected... blissfully unaware that he's internally panicking in much the same way she is.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Marinette stumbles over her introduction to Luka; Luka then does much the same when he mimics her stammering "Ma-Ma-Marinette" and internally panics at her hurt expression.
- Police Are Useless: Zigzagged for Roger Raincomprix:
- He chooses to believe Chloé's noise complaint while ignoring Anarka's attempts to explain that she and Kitty Section haven't even played a single note yet. When Anarka responds angrily to this, he makes it worse by spitefully ticketing her for various Felony Misdemeanors, some of which clearly aren't even her fault, which ends up causing Anarka's akumatization. However, after he's had time to cool down, he actually examines Anarka and Kitty Section's equipment and decides to look the other way when they turn out to be slightly over the legal decibel limit since it's the music festival.
- The reveal that the mayor doesn't actually have the authority to fire Roger means that this trope also applies to Roger's actions in "Rogercop"; he might've been able to avoid akumatization then if he had recognized André Bourgeois was pulling a Bavarian Fire Drill by "firing" Roger.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Officer Roger zigzags back and forth on this throughout the episode. Despite having ample reason to distrust Chloé, he puts his personal feelings aside to investigate her claims about Kitty Section, feeling that professionalism and duty come first... but then lets his anger and frustration get the better of him and pettily hits Anarka with a barrage of fines, many of which aren't even her fault. After calming down, however, he hears Anarka and Kitty Section out and decides to overlook them being slightly over the legal decibel limit in order to preserve the spirit of the music festival.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Played With. As usual, Chloé attempts to invoke her father's name in order to get her way... but in this case, Anarka's sound system does turn out to be slightly louder than the legal decibel limit. However, Roger decides to let it slide... and when Chloé threatens to get her father involved, Roger reveals that, unlike in the Rogercop incident, he's now fully aware that the mayor doesn't have the authority to fire him.
- Shipper on Deck: The Liberty chains up two established couples (Ivan/Mylène and Rose/Juleka) alongside two implied couples (Luka/Marinette and Alya/Nino), much to the embarrassment of the latter four.
- Shout-Out: One of the captions says that Marinette Matrix Dodged Alya's hint about Adrien.
- Skewed Priorities: When Tikki points out that Chloé's father is in danger of being attacked by Captain Hardrock, Chloé dismisses that by saying it's just his lame orchestra. Tikki pointing out that XY (Chloé's favorite singer) is also in danger elicits a panicked response.
- Tempting Fate: Anarka says everything goes on her boat; she changes her mind once Chloé shows up moments later, amending it to everything except her.
- This Is Gonna Suck: As the members of Kitty Section and their classmates are beaching the ship, Luka laments how they're all going to be really sore tomorrow.
- Wham Episode: Downplayed, but Rose announces to Paris that she's dating Juleka during their performance near the end.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: After getting kicked off the Liberty, Chloé claims that they deliberately tried to hurt her hearing by playing their music far too loud.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Everyone on board the Liberty has this reaction when they realize Chloé filed a noise complaint against them before they'd played a single note.
- Your Television Hates You: After Gabriel changes his mind about allowing Adrien to attend the concert on the Liberty for the music festival, Adrien watches a TV program about the festival where Nadja declares, "You'd have to be a complete loser to miss it!"Adrien: Why do you mock me, Nadja?
