Chapters · Water Seven Saga › Water Seven
Chapter 374: Scramble
Predictions this chapter touches — filed in writing, chapter-cited, scored on the board.
This chapter's foreshadowing ledger — what it plants, what it pays off, and what debuts here. Locked seeds pay off beyond your ⚓ progress; tap one to reveal it anyway.
- Plants
- 2 seeds🌱 chekhov-explicit🌱 chekhov-explicit
- Firsts
- Buster Call burned an island to ash with no survivor but young Nico Robin
- Blueno's Door-Door Fruit can open an 'Air Door' in the wall of the atmosphere
- The Sea Train's destination is Enies Lobby, the Nightless Island
Arc: Water Seven · Saga: Water Seven Saga · Released: 2005-09-12
Summary
On the rooftops of the speeding Sea Train, the Straw Hats have just snatched Nico Robin back from CP9 (the carriage where Lucci’s group rides). Their smoke-screen escape attempt is foiled when CP9 agents yank the train cars back together with a thorn whip, dragging the rooftop fighters into a melee. Sanji and Usopp (as “Sopp/Sniper King”) trade blows with Blueno — whose Iron Body shrugs off Sanji’s Concasser — and a female CP9 agent. Franky crashes the fight with a wave-blast, but the Straw Hats can’t get Robin to flee with them: she keeps refusing, insisting they have no reason to follow her and warning of “the government’s Buster Call threat.” Blueno opens an Air Door in the wall of the atmosphere with his Door-Door Fruit and vanishes with Robin into the lead carriage. Lucci’s group explains to her why she will never break their agreement: a long time ago the Navy initiated a Buster Call that burned a certain island to ash, leaving the young Nico Robin as its only survivor — a nightmare she will do anything to keep from happening to her companions. Robin demands “Is there no limit to your depravity?!!” as Lucci’s faction calls it “all for the sake of justice.” The chapter closes on the Puffing Tom approaching its destination: the Nightless Island — Enies Lobby.
New reveals
- A Buster Call once burned “a certain island” completely to ash “so that not a trace of it remained,” and the only survivor of that incident was the young Nico Robin (p. 18). First on-page statement tying Robin’s childhood trauma to a Navy total-annihilation order.
- The Buster Call is described as a recurring nightmare embedded in Robin since childhood, and CP9 explicitly threatens to call one down on the Straw Hats (pp. 13, 18-19) — the leverage forcing Robin’s cooperation.
- Blueno’s Doa Doa no Mi (Door-Door Fruit) can open an “Air Door” in the wall of the atmosphere itself, letting him pass instantly from the train roof into a sealed carriage (p. 15). New application of a fruit previously seen opening doors in solid surfaces.
- Blueno has no bounty but is “likely one of their main fighters” — his Iron Body (Tekkai) almost negated Sanji’s kick (pp. 9-10).
- The Sea Train’s destination, the Nightless Island, is named on-page as Enies Lobby (pp. 20-21).
Foreshadowing seeds planted
Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)
Mentions / appearances
- Luffy — referenced (“Have faith in Luffy,” p. 17); not present in the rooftop scramble.
- Nico Robin — central; refuses rescue, revealed as the lone Buster Call survivor (pp. 5, 16-19).
- Sanji — fights Blueno (Concasser, p. 9); blasted by a Tempest Kick / Rankyaku (p. 14).
- Usopp — fighting as Sniper King / “Sopp”; downed by Finger Pistol (Shigan) (p. 16).
- Tony Tony Chopper — uses Ocho Fleurs… (mislabeled SFX; Chopper present on roof, p. 10).
- Nami — present on the roof (pp. 5, 13).
- Franky — crashes the fight with a wave-blast (pp. 12-13); urges them to regroup with the Straw Hats.
- Blueno — CP9 fighter; Iron Body, Air Door, takes Robin (pp. 7-15).
- Rob Lucci — present in the lead carriage with Robin; his faction delivers the Buster Call exposition (pp. 18-20). (Pigeon/“Hattori”-style agent shown silhouetted; not named on-page this chapter.)
- Unnamed female CP9 agent — wields a thorn whip to pull the cars together (pp. 7, 11).
- Yokozuna — the giant frog jumps onto the tracks ahead of the train (pp. 3-5).
- Sea Train (the Puffing Tom) — the speeding train, setting of the whole chapter.
- Enies Lobby — destination revealed (pp. 20-21).
- CP9 — Blueno and the female agent operate as CP9; Buster Call invoked as their backing.
Notable panels
- p. 1 — Bonus content: “Fan Favorite Moves” contest results (Gum-Gum Gatling / Three Thousand Worlds / Mouton Mallet). Decorative; not story canon.
- p. 2 — Title page. Cover story “Ms. Golden Week’s Plan, A Baroque Reunion, Vol. 12: ‘We Tried Disguises’” — Miss Goldenweek, Mr. 5, Miss Valentine, Mr. 3 in disguise.
- pp. 3-5 — Yokozuna the giant frog leaps onto the tracks; the Puffing Tom honks and barrels toward him.
- p. 9 — Sanji’s Concasser barely dents Blueno; “I told you they use some weird techniques!!”
- p. 15 — Blueno opens an Air Door in the atmosphere and disappears with Robin.
- p. 17 — Robin’s full-face panel: “…have faith in Luffy.”
- p. 18 — Buster Call reveal; young Robin’s WANTED poster; “the only survivor of that incident… was the young Nico Robin.”
- p. 19 — Robin: “Is there no limit to your depravity?!!”
- p. 21 — Reveal panel: ”…Enies Lobby.”
Open questions raised
- What island did the Buster Call destroy, and why was the young Nico Robin wanted as a child? (Ohara, not yet named on-page here.)
- What exactly is a Buster Call — who can order it, and what force does it field?
- What awaits the Straw Hats at Enies Lobby, the Nightless Island?