Chapters · Water Seven › Enies Lobby

Chapter 397: In Hopes of Reaching the Future

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

Summary

Full Ohara flashback (≈20 years before the present). The island’s scholars frantically try to save their books as their library and the Tree of Knowledge burn under a Marine assault; Vice Admiral Saul — who deserted to protect the captured prisoner Olvia (Robin’s mother) — fights the Marines and shelters the young Nico Robin. The evacuation ship refuses to take Robin (a wanted “monster” — daughter of “that criminal” Olvia, an archaeologist and a target of the attack) until Saul intervenes. Director Spandine of CP9 orders the scholars wiped out so the True History can never be passed on. A former Navy member — Mr. Kuzan (the future Admiral Aokiji) — appears as one of the assault force; Saul recognizes him as an old comrade and pleads with him to call off the attack, arguing “justice changes shape depending on one’s standpoint.” Vice Admiral Sakazuki (the future Akainu) fires cannons that blow up the entire evacuation ship to ensure not one scholar escapes alive — over Kuzan’s objection that this “isn’t right” and that “justice changes shape depending on one’s standpoint.” Unable to stop the genocide, Kuzan instead saves Robin and Saul: he gives Saul a chance to run with Robin, then — when the giant is cornered — freezes Saul solid with “Ice Time” so the Navy won’t keep hunting him. Saul’s last words: “When it’s unbearable, remember what I taught you… Don’t look back!! Run, Robin!! …Go and live with them!” The scholars’ farewells — be proud, Ohara is noble, laugh when it hurts (“Dereshishi”) — echo as the island and the Tree of Knowledge fall. Kuzan lets Robin escape on a small raft, drawing “lines of ice in the sea” so she can reach landfall while warning he will be “the foe who comes after you first” if she ever steps out of line. Robin floats away weeping, hearing Saul’s voice: “Go and find your friends, Robin!! Somewhere out at sea… I know they’re waiting.”

New reveals

• The Ohara Buster Call is shown on-page for the first time — previously only defined mechanically ([[Chapters/0359]]) and named as the island-eraser ([[Chapters/0374]], [[Chapters/0382]]). Here the depicted operation razes Ohara, its library, and the Tree of Knowledge (pp. 2–20).
• Aokiji’s real name is “Kuzan.” Marines on the ships and Saul both address him as “Kuzan” / “Mr. Kuzan” (p. 9). He is a “former Navy member” who turns against the Buster Call (p. 10) — using “Ice Block” to freeze the warships’ cannon fire and demanding the assault withdraw, arguing “this isn’t right” and “justice changes shape depending on one’s standpoint” (pp. 9–11). First on-page utterance of the name Kuzan. (He is the Hie Hie no Mi user — [[Devil-Fruits/Hie Hie no Mi]] — the same ice powers Aokiji wields in the present.)
• Vice Admiral Sakazuki is named on-page and shown — VIZ editorial caption: “Navy Headquarters Vice Admiral (later to become Admiral Akainu)” (p. 12). He orders the cannons that destroy the evacuation ship, declaring “if even a single scholar is hiding out in that ship… you must destroy evil at its very roots” (pp. 11–12). His ship’s cannon fire blows up the evacuation ship (p. 11). Saul: “I would never go as far as that jerk!”
• Vice Admiral Saul is shown and named — a giant who “deserted with the prisoner Olvia” (p. 3) and is “attacking us,” per the panicking scholars. Kuzan freezes Saul solid with “Ice Time” / “Ice Time Capsule” (pp. 13–16) — framed as a mercy so the Navy won’t keep hunting the giant, not as the assault force’s victory. Saul’s smiling frozen face delivers his final “Dereshishi” laugh-doctrine to Robin.
• Director Spandine commands the operation for CP9 — addressed as “Director” and “Director Spandine” (pp. 8–10); Robin recognizes the agency: “CP9, huh?” (p. 9).
• Nico Olvia named as Robin’s mother — “that kid’s mother, Olvia, was in the newspaper… daughter of that criminal” (p. 7); she is also “the prisoner Olvia” Saul deserted to protect (p. 3). Robin’s anguished “Mother!!” (p. 6) and “My mother is on the island” (p. 17).
• Ohara named on-page as the eradication target: “That’s why Ohara is being eliminated!” / “This is just being used as an example” (p. 10).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Nico Robin (young; flashback), Saul (Vice Admiral Saul; frozen by Kuzan into an ice statue), Aokiji (as “Kuzan”/“Mr. Kuzan”, former Navy member opposing the Buster Call), Sakazuki (Vice Admiral; first appearance — captioned future Admiral Akainu), Spandine (Director; commands the operation), Nico Olvia (Robin’s mother, “the prisoner Olvia” — now shown in-scene and dying, vs. WANTED-poster-only @0392), Clover (the Ohara scholars; their words quoted — leader not individually named this chapter)
• Groups: CP9 (“CP9, huh?”, p. 9), Marines (the assault force / warships)
• Locations: Ohara (the burning island, its library, the Tree of Knowledge)
• Lore: Buster Call (the depicted operation), Poneglyph (the True History the scholars die to preserve, by implication)

Notable panels

• p. 1 — Chapter title splash + cover story (Ms. Golden Week’s Plan, A Baroque Reunion, Vol. 29: Baroque Works officers in coats, “pretending to be captured to infiltrate the prison”).
• pp. 2–5 — Ohara’s library and scholars burning; “Save every last sentence… so that the words of our predecessors, going back several thousand years… can be passed on to the future!” The chapter title beat.
• p. 6 — Young Robin: “Mother!!” as the island burns.
• pp. 7–8 — The evacuation ship rejects Robin as “a monster”/“a demon,” daughter of “that criminal” Olvia.
• p. 9 — Spandine (“Director Spandine”); Robin: “CP9, huh?”
• pp. 9–10 — Kuzan / “Mr. Kuzan” named; Saul recognizes him.
• p. 11 — Sakazuki’s cannon fire blows up the entire evacuation ship.
• p. 12 — VIZ caption names Sakazuki “(later to become Admiral Akainu)”; “destroy evil at its very roots.”
• pp. 13–16 — Kuzan freezes Saul solid with “Ice Time” / “Ice Time Capsule” (KACHINK!!!); Saul’s final words to Robin (“you’ll find friends who will protect you… someday, without a doubt”; “Go and… live with them!”); the Tree of Knowledge falls.
• p. 17 — Kuzan draws “lines of ice in the sea” so Robin’s raft reaches landfall; “I am not an ally… I will be the foe who comes after you first”; “this seed that Saul protected… I wonder what she will grow up to be.”
• pp. 18–19 — Scholars’ farewell montage (“Be proud, Robin! Ohara is noble!”; “Laugh when you’re hurting, laugh! Dereshishi!”); Robin sails away weeping along the frozen path.
• p. 20 — “Coloring Corner”: Straw Hat Pirates vs. Cipher Pol No. 9 reader-coloring lineup (decorative, not a foreshadowing color spread).

Open questions raised

• What exactly did Clover and the Ohara scholars read in the Poneglyphs that warranted total annihilation? (still open — [[Threads/True History Ohara Was Killed For]], [[Threads/Void Century and Ancient Kingdom]])
• The scholars die preserving “the words of our predecessors, going back several thousand years” — the same blank the WG erased (links [[Threads/Void Century and Ancient Kingdom]]).
• Did Olvia survive the evacuation-ship destruction? (Robin’s “Mother!!” / “My mother is on the island” implies she perished here.)
• What became of Saul after the ice freeze — was he killed by Aokiji’s “Ice Time,” or merely frozen?
• Why did Kuzan spare Robin in defiance of orders — and what does “I will be the foe who comes after you first” foreshadow about his present-day stance?