Chapters · Water Seven › Enies Lobby

Chapter 391: The Girl

Arc: Enies Lobby · Saga: Water Seven · Released:

Summary

At Enies Lobby the rescue alliance presses on: the two giants Oimo and Kashii — now fighting for the Franky Family and Galley-La “out of allegiance to the King of Snipers” (Usopp) — crush World Government soldiers and guard the towers and gate so the others can advance. Atop the courthouse, Spandam gloats over the captive Nico Robin, brandishing the golden Transponder Snail and threatening to press its button to summon a Buster Call. He taunts that this same power “wiped out your homeland, Nico Robin” and made “the name Ohara disappear from maps the following year.” Robin reacts in dread; CP9 (Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, Blueno) watch impassively. The chapter then cuts to the flashback proper — “TWENTY YEARS EARLIER · WEST BLUE · OHARA” — where children chase an eight-year-old Nico Robin, calling her “the monster girl.” We follow young Robin home to her cold guardian Aunt Roji, who leaves her a curt birthday note and a list of chores, then to the Tree of Knowledge — Ohara’s library and archaeological research center — where Professor Clover and the warm community of “the Archaeologists of Ohara” celebrate that Robin has passed her doctoral exam with a perfect score and can now call herself an archaeologist.

New reveals

• The Ohara flashback opens on-page. A box caption reads “TWENTY YEARS EARLIER · WEST BLUE · OHARA” (p. 14) — the first on-page naming of Robin’s homeland as a place and the first dating of its loss to ~20 years before Enies Lobby. This is the long-seeded payoff-runway for True History Ohara Was Killed For.
• Young Nico Robin is shown for the first time, captioned “NICO ROBIN (EIGHT YEARS OLD)” (p. 15). The townsfolk shun and bully her as “the monster girl” / “creepy”; she has already manifested the Hana Hana sprouting hands that frighten the village children (pp. 14–15).
• The Tree of Knowledge is established (p. 19): “THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE — OHARA LIBRARY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH CENTER,” a colossal tree-mounted library, home of “the Archaeologists of Ohara.”
• Professor Clover appears and is named on-page for the first time (pp. 19–20) — the elderly head scholar who congratulates Robin and announces she passed her doctoral exam “with a perfect score” and may now “call herself an archaeologist.”
• Aunt Roji — Robin’s cold guardian/relative — is named (her note is signed “—ROJI”) and shown (pp. 17–18); she resents Robin, leaves only “bread, so please fix yourself dinner,” and goes to dinner with her own daughter and husband, excluding Robin on the girl’s own birthday.
• Spandam ties the Buster Call to Ohara on-page. With the golden Transponder Snail in hand he taunts Robin: “this was the power that wiped out your homeland, Nico Robin!!” and “the name Ohara disappeared from maps the following year… isn’t that right?” (pp. 9–10). First explicit on-page statement linking the Buster Call to Robin’s origin and to the erasure of Ohara — the mechanism named generically at Ch. 359 is now attached to the specific historical event.
• The name “Saul” is spoken: in an inset flashback fragment child Robin screams “Stop, Saul!! Fire!” (p. 11).
• The “people from maps” theme is articulated: Spandam mocks that the World Government can “do such heinous things” because “you people only see the world through such devices… can you confirm the existence of people from maps?” (pp. 13) — framing the Buster Call as a tool that erases people into mere absences on a map.
• Oimo and Kashii have switched sides: the two giants now guard the gate/towers for the alliance “out of allegiance to the King of Snipers” (Usopp/Sogeking), bellowing “OIMO PRESS!!” and crushing the WG soldiers (pp. 4–5). They split off to defend the left and right towers and the front (pp. 5).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Nico Robin (present-day captive + eight-year-old flashback), Spandam (the Director; named only as “the Director” here — face/golden-snail), Clover (first appearance, named), Aunt Roji (first appearance, named), Oimo, Kashii, Aokiji (referenced as the Buster-Call authorizer, not shown), Usopp (referenced as “the King of Snipers”), Franky (cover/serial)
• Named on-page but not shown: Saul (child Robin’s flashback cry, p. 11)
• Groups: CP9 (Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, Blueno watching), Franky Family, Galley-La Company, “the Archaeologists of Ohara” (Ohara scholar community)
• Locations: Enies Lobby (Tower of Law / courthouse), Ohara (West Blue; the Tree of Knowledge), West Blue
• Lore: Buster Call, Poneglyph (the forbidden-history archaeology context), the golden Transponder Snail (prop)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Decorative volume front-art: tagline “THEY CALLED A DEMON” above the ONE PIECE logo, over a snowy alpine scene — a fur-clad hunter/Eskimo figure stirring a pot, penguins (one in a hat), a polar bear, a walrus and a fox/wolf. Wintry decorative art (not a serial cover-story panel).
• Page 2 — Title splash / color spread (decorative): “Chapter 391: THE GIRL.” A Chopper-centric snowy mountain tableau — Chopper bounds forward in the foreground; Sanji, Nami, Robin and Franky in winter gear, with a walrus, penguins and a Viking-ship-prow snow sculpture filling a wintry alpine scene. Volume title-splash art, not a serial cover panel. Cataloged as a Notable panel (decorative; not a foreshadowing color-spread).
• Pages 4–5 — Oimo & Kashii crush the WG soldiers (“OIMO PRESS!!”); the giants now fight FOR the alliance “out of allegiance to the King of Snipers,” splitting to guard the towers and the front.
• Pages 9–10 — Spandam with the golden Transponder Snail: “this was the power that wiped out your homeland, Nico Robin!! …the name Ohara disappeared from maps the following year.” Robin’s stricken reaction; “ROBIN’S HOMELAND?!”
• Page 11 — Inset flashback fragment: child Robin cries “Stop, Saul!! Fire!” — the name Saul planted. Below: Franky (“Of course I do!”), Zoro, Sanji reacting.
• Page 13 — Spandam’s “people from maps” speech against the panoramic Enies Lobby skyline; “the ruthless power of the Buster Call takes away even your own purpose.”
• Page 14 — Flashback opens: caption “TWENTY YEARS EARLIER · WEST BLUE / OHARA”; the island and the great tree shown; children chase the “monster.”
• Page 15 — Caption “NICO ROBIN (EIGHT YEARS OLD)”; she sprouts hands (“FWISH”); villagers scream “the monster attacked us!!”
• Pages 16–18 — Robin walks home through the cold town; the curt birthday note from “Aunt Roji” (“There is bread, so please fix yourself dinner… and go upstairs early. —Roji”); Roji’s family leaves for dinner without her.
• Page 19 — “THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE — OHARA LIBRARY AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH CENTER”; Robin enters; “Professor Clover, I brought back the…”
• Page 20 — The Archaeologists of Ohara surprise-celebrate “Congratulations, Robin!!”; Clover: “From this day forward, you can call yourself an archaeologist! That doctoral exam… you passed it with a perfect score!”; “Genius blood runs in your veins, after all!”
• Page 21 — SBS “Question Corner” (Vol. SBS): Transponder-Snail-in-the-wild explainer; Oda’s harassment/cup-size joke exchange. Bonus page, non-canon.

Open questions raised

Notes

• Firsts discipline. First on-page appearances: Ohara (named + shown), Professor Clover, Aunt Roji, the Tree of Knowledge, the Archaeologists of Ohara, and eight-year-old Nico Robin. The name Saul is spoken only — do NOT create a Saul note yet. Spandam, the Buster Call, Robin, Oimo, Kashii, the Franky Family and Galley-La all pre-exist; this chapter advances their last_appearance only. Aokiji and Usopp are referenced in dialogue, not shown.
• Cover / cover-story. Pages 1–2 are decorative winter front-art (p. 1: “THEY CALLED A DEMON” tagline + ONE PIECE logo over a snowy hunter scene; p. 2: the Chopper-themed “THE GIRL” title splash), so chapter 391 carries no “Baroque Reunion” serial panel of its own. The Miss Goldenweek “A Baroque Reunion” serial otherwise runs continuously across this stretch — the next instalment, Vol. 25 “The Captain’s True Power,” appears on the ch. 392 title page (the overrun page 22 here), assigned to 392.
• Capture note: page 22 is the ch. 392 title page (“DERESHI”) — a capture overrun; chapter 391 proper is pp. 1–21 (p. 21 = SBS).