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Chapter 205: The Sand-Sand Band's Secret Fort

Arc: Alabasta · Saga: Alabasta · Released:

Summary

Two minutes remain before Baroque Works’ false-flag cannon fires on the warring armies in Alubarna’s central square. Nami, Chopper, Usopp and Karoo race against the clock to find the hidden bomber; Nami deduces the cannon must be somewhere unseen from the sky yet able to aim at the square, and pinpoints the clock tower (pp. 4-6). The deduction is complicated by Usopp having just shot down “a great big bird” with his Ribbit-Ribbit gun — unknowingly downing Pell, the crew’s intended air-route up to the tower (p. 6). Interleaved with the search, the Luffy vs. Crocodile duel continues at the palace square: Crocodile pummels Luffy across the rubble, and when Luffy will not stay down, Crocodile reveals the kill: he has poisoned Luffy with his hook — “Soon the poison will start to take effect” (p. 15). Luffy, bleeding and venom-struck, still rises (“…still don’t get it!!”). Sanji and Zoro converge on the tower having comically misread Vivi’s “clock tower” note (Sanji read “clock tower,” Zoro climbed “north” because the navy kept yelling “go north”), but the only entrance is a single far-corner stairway and there is no time and no safe way in. The chapter ends with the bombers atop the clock tower unmasked: Mr. 7 and Ms. Father’s Day of Baroque Works, counting down the final seconds to fire.

New reveals

• The false-flag cannon is in the Alubarna clock tower — a position invisible from the sky yet able to aim down into the square (Nami’s deduction, pp. 4-6).
• Crocodile’s hook carries poison. He reveals Luffy has been envenomed and that the toxin will soon take effect — recasting the hook from a sand-shaping/impalement tool into a lethal venom-delivery weapon (p. 15).
• Usopp shot down Pell by accident (the “great big bird,” p. 6); this removes the crew’s planned aerial access to the tower (confirmed by Vivi’s “I’d hoped that Pell might…” / “What happened to Pell?!”, p. 16).
• The clock-tower bombers are Mr. 7 and Ms. Father’s Day, Baroque Works Frontier Agents, here given dialogue and combat-presence for the first time (chapter-end splash, p. 19).
• The tower’s only access is a single stairway at the far corner of the first floor; Zoro could smash through the walls but that might trigger the explosion (p. 17).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy · Crocodile · Vivi · Nami · Usopp · Tony Tony Chopper · Sanji · Zoro · Pell (shot down, off-panel) · Karoo · Mr. 7 · Ms. Father’s Day · Hatchan (cover) · Alubarna · Alabasta · Suna Suna no Mi · Gomu Gomu no Mi · Baroque Works

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash + cover-story serial: Hachi’s Walk on the Seafloor, Vol. 20: “Hachi’s Rage at Being Fooled.” Hachi (Hatchan) in a furious sand-blast pose on the seafloor — part of the ongoing Hachi cover serial.
• Page 3-4 — The two-minute / ninety-second countdown to the cannon; the armies clash in the square below the clock face.
• Page 5 — The clock tower in full, ticking, framed as the answer to Nami’s puzzle (“a place not visible from the sky… they can still take aim from”).
• Page 6 — Usopp’s “Ribbit-Ribbit gun” downs “a great big bird” (Pell) — the inadvertent friendly-fire beat, easy to miss on first read.
• Page 8-9 — Luffy vs. Crocodile: Luffy launches off the rubble; the two trade blows (the duel mid-recovery after Luffy’s water-hit deduction from earlier chapters).
• Page 15 — Crocodile’s poison reveal in close-up: “Soon the poison will start to take effect.” Luffy’s bleeding rebuttal: “…still don’t get it!!”
• Page 17 — Zoro/Sanji “north vs. up” comedy + the single-stairway access constraint; Zoro could smash the walls “but that might trigger the explosion.”
• Page 19 — Chapter-end reveal splash: Mr. 7 (Frontier Agent, harlequin/checkered garb) and Ms. Father’s Day (Frontier Agent, polka-dot heart-themed garb) atop the tower with the cannon; “This is our final mission!”

Open questions raised

• What is the nature of Crocodile’s hook poison, and how will Luffy survive it?
• Can the crew reach and disable the cannon in under 30 seconds without triggering it?
• Is Pell incapacitated, dead, or recovering after being shot down? (Sets up his forward-canon clock-tower intervention.)