Chapters · Sky Island › Skypiea

Chapter 273: Quintet

Arc: Skypiea · Saga: Sky Island · Released: (unknown)

Summary

The cloud floor of Upper Yard has given way: Nami (on the Waver), Aisa, and the Sky Knight Gan Fall on Pierre scramble to rescue those falling, while Zoro and Robin plunge down with enormous chunks of falling ruin (pages 2–5). They land deep underground among the buried ancient ruins — the legendary “City of Gold” — where Gan Fall flatly tells Robin “there’s no gold here” (pages 5–6). The giant serpent Nola is here too, behaving strangely: crying and “searching for something” rather than simply attacking, with Luffy lodged somewhere inside it (pages 7–13). Enel arrives, annihilates the serpent with his named lightning strike “El Thor”, and reveals the true shape of the Survival Game: a three-hour clock counted from the intruders’ arrival, in which he counts himself a player (pages 11–17). He announces he predicted exactly five survivors out of the original 81, that “the Kami cannot make a false prophecy,” and that — because there now appear to be six people standing — one of them must “disappear” to honour his prophecy (pages 17–18). The five survivors (Zoro, Robin, Nami, Gan Fall, Wyper) refuse to fight each other; Zoro instead points his blade at Enel’s ball-cloud throne and Enel declares it “a bad choice” (pages 18–19).

New reveals

• The collapsed Upper Yard floor deposits the survivors on the buried ancient ruins — the “City of Gold” — but Gan Fall says outright “there’s no gold here” (page 6).
• The giant serpent (Nola) is shown crying and behaving as if “looking for something” amid the ruins, not merely rampaging (pages 7, 10–11). (Inference: this seeds the serpent’s later sympathetic backstory; the chapter only shows the behaviour.)
• Enel’s lightning attack is named on-page for the first time as “El Thor” (page 12).
• Enel lays out the Survival Game’s hidden rule: it runs from the moment intruders set foot on the island to three hours later, and he counts himself a “player” (pages 16–17).
• Enel declares he predicted exactly five survivors out of an original 81 people and that “the Kami cannot make a false prophecy” — so the count must match (pages 17–18).
• Because a sixth person appears to be present (Luffy, hidden inside the serpent — Nami notes “good thing he hasn’t seen me”), Enel demands one of the visible survivors “disappear” to make the count “five” (pages 17–19).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Enel, Nami, Nico Robin, Zoro, Gan Fall, Conis, Pagaya, Luffy (referenced/hidden inside the serpent), Pierre (Gan Fall’s steed), Aisa (Shandian child — recurring), Wyper (Shandian warrior — recurring), the giant serpent Nola (recurring, named “Nola” later in the arc — here shown only).
• Locations: Upper Yard (its underground ruins), Skypiea.
• Cover: Ace.

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Cover / title page. Cover-story serial “Ace’s Great Search for Blackbeard, Vol. 2: ‘Sorry About the Dine and Dash!’” Ace sits on a stone bridge over a town, tipping his hat; a chef (“PL” apron) chases after him in the background — he’s left without paying. A tall lighthouse/belfry-like tower stands at right.
• Pages 2–3 — The cloud floor collapses after a “KA-BOOM”; Nami on the Waver kicks the engine, Pierre flies people to safety, Zoro and Robin fall through.
• Pages 5–6 — Robin and Zoro land amid huge fallen ruin-pieces; Gan Fall: “It’s your city of gold… there’s no gold here.”
• Pages 9–10 — Wide shot of the towering stepped pyramid / ziggurat (“DOOM!!”) at the heart of the buried ruins; Gan Fall: “Could this be… our homeland?”
• Page 11–12 — Enel zaps the crying serpent, then unleashes “El Thor!!” — a colossal vertical lightning bolt.
• Page 14 — Enel: “I couldn’t wound the ruler of the sky with multiple bazooka shots… yet in one attack he…” — establishing the serpent’s durability and Enel’s overwhelming power.
• Page 17 — Enel: “I predicted there would be five survivors. There are exactly five! … I can’t have six people left. The Kami cannot make a false prophecy.” “I wanted to see how many of the 81 people would remain.”
• Page 19 — The five survivors lined up across the ruins (Gan Fall with bazooka, Wyper, Zoro, Robin); Zoro points his sword at Enel’s ball-cloud throne (“CHAK”). Enel: “A bad choice.”

Open questions raised

• Why is the giant serpent crying and searching the ruins? (pages 7, 10–11)
• If the buried ruins are the “city of gold” but hold “no gold,” where is the actual gold/treasure of the legend? (page 6)
• Who is the sixth presence Enel’s count cannot reconcile — and can his “infallible” prophecy actually account for Luffy, hidden inside the serpent? (pages 13, 17–19)
• Will the five survivors fight Enel together, and what happens when Enel makes good on “obliterate one of you”? (pages 18–19)