Chapters · Skypiea › Jaya

Chapter 223: I Promise Never to Fight in This Town

Arc: Jaya · Saga: Skypiea · Released:

Summary

The Straw Hats arrive at Mock Town on Jaya Island. Nami frets that Luffy and Zoro “will get into trouble” in such a rough town; the two have already wandered off (pp. 2-4). Luffy promises Nami: “I promise… never to fight in this town” — because if they make trouble they’ll have to leave, and “then we’ll never find a way up to the sky” (pp. 4-5). A cloaked, sickly man falls off his horse coughing blood; Luffy helps him up, and the man — face hidden in shadow — gives Luffy apples in thanks “I haven’t any money to give you, but… please, take one” (pp. 5-6). Moments earlier a shop exploded (“BOOM!!”), scattering bomb-apples; Luffy unknowingly eats one and survives, and the shadowed man chuckles “You’re… a lucky boy” (pp. 6-8). The townsfolk warn of a “grappling champion” causing trouble and of “Captain Bellamy” (pp. 8-10). At the Tropical Hotel the crew is thrown out by “Big Knife” Sarquiss, first mate of the Bellamy Pirates (bounty 38,000,000), who insults Luffy, throws coins at him and tells him to “go buy yourself some decent clothes”; Luffy refuses to fight and even picks the money up, keeping his promise to Nami (pp. 11-13). The full Bellamy crew lounges on a couch, dismissing the new “supernova”-era rookies as “ants” next to Bellamy (pp. 13-14). Narration establishes Mock Town: built on pirate booty, lawless but never touching townsfolk; the Log Pose resets in four days (pp. 14-15). At a tavern, Luffy and the shadowed man eat at the bar in a famous mirror exchange — “THIS CHERRY PIE IS SO GOOD I COULD DIE!!” / ”…SO BAD I COULD DIE!!” — and order huge quantities of pies and meat to go (pp. 16-18). When Luffy mentions his thirty-million bounty, drinkers call him a liar — “That’s impossible! You’re a liar!” (pp. 18-19). The shadowed man buys fifty cherry pies and leaves, telling Luffy “There’s no fighting in here” (p. 19). Then Bellamy himself smashes through the saloon doors: “Anybody seen a pirate in a straw hat around here?” (p. 19). Page 20 is the SBS Question Corner column.

New reveals

• Marshall D. Teach (Blackbeard) makes his first on-page appearance (pp. 5-8, 16-19). He is drawn entirely as a cloaked figure with his face in deep shadow — a sickly “weak constitution” man who falls off his horse and coughs blood. He gives Luffy apples, watches Luffy eat an unexploded bomb-apple unharmed, and delivers the chapter’s thesis line: “You’re… a lucky boy.” (His name is not spoken on-page here; he is unidentified within the chapter — but this is the long-foreshadowed character first name-dropped back in Ch. 133/Ch. 159.)
• Mock Town introduced — a lawless pirate boomtown on Jaya Island, “built on pirate booty,” where “brawls and killings are commonplace… but the pirates never lay a hand on the townsfolk” (pp. 14-15).
• The Bellamy Pirates introduced. First mate “Big Knife” Sarquiss, bounty 38,000,000 berries (p. 11); captain Bellamy (“the Hyena”); a crew-woman named Lily (p. 13); the full crew lounging on a couch (pp. 13-14).
• Luffy’s restraint vow. Luffy promises Nami he will not fight in Mock Town and upholds it through repeated humiliation — a deliberate inversion of his usual hot temper that defines the entire Jaya arc’s “scoffed-at dreams” theme.
• Log Pose resets in four days (p. 15) — anchors the crew’s stay on Jaya and the urgency of finding “a way up to the sky.”

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy · Zoro (present, off-panel with Luffy briefly) · Nami · Sanji · Usopp · Tony Tony Chopper · Nico Robin (with the crew on arrival) · Blackbeard (first on-page appearance, unnamed/shadowed) · Bellamy (smashes in on p. 19; referenced throughout) · Sarquiss (“Big Knife”, first mate, 38M) · Lily (Bellamy crew-woman) · Straw Hat Pirates · Bellamy Pirates · Blackbeard Pirates (Teach, pre-crew) · Mock Town · Jaya

Notable panels

• Page 1 (cover): Cover serial — “Hachi’s Walk on the Seafloor, Vol. 36: Octopunch and the Smiling Elder.” Hatchan and companions sprawled on the seafloor before a beach takoyaki (“たこ焼”) stall. (Cover-story tracker: Hachi B-plot continues.)
• Pages 2-4: Crew arrives at Mock Town; Nami frets “There is no way… that those two won’t get into trouble!”; Luffy and Zoro have already wandered off.
• Pages 4-5: Luffy’s promise to Nami — “I promise… never to fight in this town” / “Then we’ll never find a way up to the sky.” Big “THUD” Blackbeard’s horse throws him.
• Pages 5-6: The cloaked, shadow-faced man (Blackbeard) falls off his horse, coughs blood, “I was born with a weak constitution”; Luffy helps him up; the man offers apples.
• Pages 6-8: A shop explodes scattering bomb-apples (“BOOM!!”); Luffy eats one and survives; the shadowed man: “You’re… a lucky boy.”
• Pages 11-12: “Big Knife” Sarquiss (first mate, Bellamy Pirates, bounty 38,000,000) throws the crew out of the Tropical Hotel; “Get lost, brat.” He throws coins — “go buy yourself some decent clothes.”
• Pages 13-14: The full Bellamy Pirates lounging on a couch; Luffy’s WANTED poster shown; “they’re ants compared to you and Bellamy.”
• Page 16 (KEY mirror panel): Split two-shot — Blackbeard: “THIS CHERRY PIE IS SO GOOD I COULD DIE!!” / Luffy: “THIS CHERRY PIE IS SO BAD I COULD DIE!!”
• Pages 18-19: Luffy names his thirty-million bounty; drinkers call him a liar — “That’s impossible! You’re a liar!”
• Page 19 (cliffhanger): Bellamy smashes through the saloon doors — “Anybody seen a pirate in a straw hat around here?” Blackbeard exits with fifty cherry pies (“There’s no fighting in here”).
• Page 20: SBS Question Corner column (Ch. 157 tangerine-tree gag answer; Oda’s address bit).

Open questions raised

• Who is the shadow-faced apple man?
• Why does Mock Town scoff at thirty-million bounties as impossible — what does “this new age of pirates” mean for the rookies’ prospects?
• What does Bellamy (“the Hyena”) want with the straw-hat pirate, and will Luffy’s no-fighting vow hold?
• What is “the way up to the sky,” and how does the four-day Log reset factor into reaching it?