Chapters · Sky Island › Skypiea

Chapter 240: Dial Power

Arc: Skypiea · Saga: Sky Island · Released: 2002

Summary

On Angel Island, Conis and her inventor father Pagaya give the Straw Hats their first tour of sky-island life. The chapter opens with Luffy test-driving Conis’s waver (a dial-powered sky-skate) — he immediately wipes out and falls off, prompting fears that Devil-Fruit users might sink in the White-White Sea “the way they do in water” (pages 2–4). Pagaya explains that wavers are delicate, throttle-by-touch craft that take years to master; Nami, a natural, takes to the waver instantly and rides off cheering while the rest of the crew gapes (pages 4–6). Pagaya walks the crew along the Milky Road toward his house, narrating sky-island cosmology: the Cloud Quarry where men “cut clouds for construction”; the two kinds of natural cloud — Sea Clouds (rideable, like the one the Merry traversed) and Island Clouds (walkable ground) — both condensed from keratin particles hurled up by volcanoes plus a mineral called pyrobloin (the sky-cloud analogue of the Blue Sea’s sea-prism stone) (pages 7–9). At the house, over tea, Pagaya and Conis demonstrate dials: a Tone Dial that records and replays sound (it mocks Usopp in his own voice), a Wind Dial that stores 30 minutes of air to be blown out on command (the engine that propels wavers), a Lamp Dial that collects and emits light, and they name Flame Dials, Scent Dials, and Vision Dials besides — “The civilization of Skypiea owes much to Dial Power… we wouldn’t be able to live in the sky without them” (pages 10–14). Sanji prepares a sky-seafood feast while Pagaya answers Robin’s pointed questions (where do shellfish live if the White-White Sea has no floor? — sandbars around the reefs) (pages 13–15). At dinner, Luffy asks where Nami went; she has wavered out of sight, and Conis and Pagaya turn grave: Nami may have drifted toward the one place in Skypiea you must never go — and the chapter closes on a splash of colossal sacred trees and the caption: “It’s the Upper Yard, the domain of the Kami.” (pages 16–17).

New reveals

• Dials are introduced as the foundational Skypiea technology: each is “merely the shell of a dead shellfish” from the White-White Sea that stores and reproduces a single property; “as long as it remains intact, it should function” (pages 10–14). Types named/shown this chapter:
  • Tone Dial — records and reproduces sound; “we mostly use them to record music” (pages 10–11).
  • Wind Dial — stores forced-in air (e.g. 30 minutes) and blasts it out on command; “the amount of wind they can absorb depends on their size” (pages 12–13).
  • Lamp Dial — collects light and lights up (page 14).
  • Flame Dials (preserve heat), Scent Dials (retain smells), Vision Dials (archive pictures) — named in passing (page 14).
• The waver is a dial-powered single-rider sky-craft propelled by a Wind Dial; touch-sensitive throttle, “built very light for the sake of speed,” takes years to master. Pagaya can “barely handle a waver” himself (pages 2–6, 12–13). Nami is an instant prodigy (pages 5–6).
• Cloud cosmology (pages 7–9):
  • Two natural cloud types — Sea Clouds (rideable, behave like sea) and Island Clouds (walkable solid ground).
  • Both condense from keratin particles “hurled into the sky by volcanoes,” plus a mineral called pyrobloin — the sky equivalent of the Blue Sea’s sea-prism stone (“No. These clouds have entirely different condensation nuclei from normal clouds.”).
  • The Cloud Quarry (“Cloud Quarry”) — where workers “cut clouds for construction”; Island Clouds are cut here (pages 7–8, 10).
  • Milky Roads — man-made cloud canals/roads; “the road like a big noodle” the lobster dragged the Merry along; the beach chairs and slides are also made of milky road (pages 7, 10).
• Conis (Angel Island girl) and Pagaya (her father, an inventor/craftsman) are the crew’s hosts and exposition guides; both are winged sky-dwellers (angel motif) (throughout; Conis named on page 16, Pagaya addressed as “Father”).
• Chapter-end reveal: there is one place in Skypiea you must never go, bordering Angel Island and easily reached by waver — the Upper Yard, “the domain of the Kami” (God) — shown as a forest of colossal sacred trees on solid ground. Nami has unknowingly wandered toward it (pages 16–17).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy · Nami · Usopp · Zoro · Sanji · Nico Robin · Tony Tony Chopper · Conis (named page 16) · Pagaya (Conis’s father) · Wapol (cover story only) · Angel Island · Skypiea · Upper Yard (named page 17)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash + cover story (1 page): “Wapol’s Omnivorous Rampage, Vol. 5: ‘A Town Makes a Great Snack.’” Giant-mawed Wapol devouring a town’s buildings and a barrel, townsfolk fleeing. Title: “Chapter 240: Dial Power.”
• Pages 2–3 — Luffy presses the waver’s “accelerator,” the craft rockets off (“ZOOOM”) and he immediately tumbles off and falls in the sea (“FWUMP… he fell off”).
• Page 5 — Two-page-style “TA-DA!!” reveal of Nami riding the waver effortlessly; “She’s riding it!!” / “You’re wonderful, Nami!”
• Pages 7–8 — Pagaya walking the crew up the Milky Road; the Cloud Quarry (“a place where they cut clouds for construction”) visible as scaffolding/factory in the background.
• Page 8 — The Island Cloud / Sea Cloud diagram panel: floating houses on a fluffy island cloud above a flat sea cloud, with hand-lettered labels.
• Pages 10–11 — The Tone Dial records and replays Usopp’s voice, “the shell made fun of Usopp!!”; “Is this shell a Dial?!”
• Page 12 — The Wind Dial demonstration: forced air blown into Zoro’s face (“FWOOOO”), then released to spin Luffy’s chair — “so a waver is propelled by a blast of wind.”
• Page 14 — The Lamp Dial lights up; Conis: “The civilization of Skypiea owes much to Dial Power… We wouldn’t be able to live in the sky without them.”
• Page 15 — Sanji’s sky-seafood feast: “A seafood extravaganza featuring the products of Sky Island… Dinner is served!!”
• Page 16 — Pagaya and Conis turn grave about Nami’s whereabouts: “I have a bad feeling about this, Conis” / “In Skypiea, there is one place… you must never go, no matter what.”
• Page 17 — Chapter-closing splash of the Upper Yard’s colossal sacred trees on solid ground; caption: “It’s the Upper Yard, the domain of the Kami.” Nami’s silhouette dwarfed at the base.

Open questions raised

• Why is the Upper Yard forbidden, and what does “the domain of the Kami / God” actually rule over? (The political/religious structure of Skypiea is not yet shown.)
• Will Nami’s accidental drift into the Upper Yard trigger “Heaven’s Judgment” or some divine penalty the hosts so clearly fear?
• Do Devil-Fruit users in fact sink in the White-White Sea, or only in the (denser) Sea Cloud — and does sea-prism-stone’s sky-analogue pyrobloin have the same Devil-Fruit-nullifying property? (Raised on page 3 but not resolved.)
• Where exactly do the dial-shellfish live, given the White-White Sea has “no seafloor”? (Pagaya answers “sandbars around the reefs,” but the geography of the sky-sea floor remains vague — page 11.)