Chapters · Water Seven › Enies Lobby

Chapter 422: Rob Lucci

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

Summary

Color spread “ONE PIECE SPEEDSTERS!” opens the chapter (pp. 1-2), the crew racing across the sea in numbered submarine/jet vehicles. Amid the Buster Call shelling of Enies Lobby, terrified Marines relay Rob Lucci’s legend (pp. 3-5): fifteen years ago, in a certain monarchy, pirates took 500 soldiers hostage and the captain demanded to be made king; the World Government sent in a single boy who infiltrated the hideout, and when the pirates shelled the captive boy with cannonballs, the 13-year-old turned his back on them atop a mountain of bodies, slew all 500 hostage soldiers himself, and beheaded the pirate captain — earning his reputation as “the strongest, most cold-blooded killer in the history of CP9.” His present mission is to escort/recover Nico Robin, so the Marines conclude they “need do nothing.” Below, the undersea passage is flooding around Zoro, Sanji, Nami and Chopper, who flee the rising water. On the Bridge of Hesitation, Luffy’s Gear-Third giant fist and Lucci’s leopard-hybrid Rokushiki collide: Luffy lands a Giant Axe, Giant Whip and Victory Bird, but Lucci repeatedly out-defends and counters him, observing “the more you increase your power, the slower you become.” The two combatants’ attacks wreck the surrounding Marine warships (a mast snaps; the ships are “out of control”). The Marines, despite a thousand of their own men aboard, resolve to fire on the Straw Hat vessel “to stop the world’s most dangerous criminal,” train their guns on “Vessel Number 4,” and open fire (BOOM). A bonus SBS “Question Corner” page closes the chapter (p. 20).

New reveals

• Rob Lucci’s backstory (pp. 3-5): 15 years ago, in a certain monarchy, pirates held 500 soldiers hostage and the captain demanded to be made king. The WG sent in a single boy. Taken hostage himself and shelled with cannonballs, the 13-year-old Lucci turned his back on the pirates atop a mountain of bodies, killed all 500 hostage soldiers, and beheaded the pirate captain to end the standoff — then took “dark justice” as his calling and became a CP9 intelligence agent. “People say he is the strongest, most cold-blooded killer in the history of CP9.”
• Gear Third’s speed drawback stated on-page (p. 17): Lucci, outmaneuvering the giant-scale Luffy, observes “It seems the more you increase your power, the slower you become” — the first articulation of the cost of the Gear Third tier debuted Ch. 421.
• The Marines fire on their own ship to kill Luffy (pp. 18-19): with 1,000 men aboard, they put “Vessel Number 4” in their sights “to stop the world’s most dangerous criminal… whatever it takes” and open fire.
• Luffy’s Gear-Third attack vocabulary expands: Gum-Gum Giant Axe (p. 12), Giant Whip (p. 15), Victory Bird (p. 17), against Lucci’s leopard-form Rokushiki (Finger Pistol/Shigan, Tempest Kick/Rankyaku, claw/bite rush).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Rob Lucci (leopard-hybrid form; backstory told), Luffy (Gear Third), Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Tony Tony Chopper, Nico Robin (referenced as Lucci’s mission target)
• Groups: CP9, Marines
• Locations: Enies Lobby (Bridge of Hesitation / Tower of Law)
• World-building / fruits: Buster Call, Six Powers (Rokushiki), Gomu Gomu no Mi (Gear Third), Neko Neko no Mi, Model Leopard

Notable panels

• Pp. 1-2 — Color spread “ONE PIECE SPEEDSTERS!”: the crew race across the sea in numbered submarine/jet vehicles (Zoro & Sanji in a car, Robin behind them, Chopper in a “GP”-helmet kart marked No. 1/2; a shark-nosed vehicle, an octopus, etc.). Decorative racing fan-art tie-in to the chapter’s “speed” motif — recorded as a notable panel; no clear foreshadowing content.
• Pp. 3-5 — The Lucci backstory told by terrified Marines over the Buster Call shelling: “15 years ago,” the monarchy hostage crisis, the boy who killed the 500 hostages and beheaded the pirate captain; “the strongest, most cold-blooded killer in the history of CP9.”
• P. 9 — Marines glimpse Lucci’s leopard-hybrid form: “Is it a creature?! No! A Devil Fruit power user!”; “ROB LUCCI of CP9!”
• P. 12 — “Gum-Gum… GIANT AXE!!!” (Gear-Third giant fist).
• P. 17 — Lucci: “It seems the more you increase your power, the slower you become” (Gear Third drawback) + Luffy’s “Victory Bird.”
• Pp. 18-19 — The Marines train on “Vessel Number 4” and fire on their own ship to kill Luffy (“to stop the world’s most dangerous criminal… whatever it takes”; BOOM).
• P. 20 — SBS “Question Corner”: confirms BF36 = Battle Franky 36 (Franky numbered his warships BF1–BF35, then carved “BF36” on his own cyborg body and became a dismantler of ships); reveals Kumadori’s mother is Kumadori Yamanbako, still alive, occupation assassin. (SBS cross-link handled by the specialist SBS-refresh pass — tag technique/sbs-leak; content belongs to SBS Volume 43.)

Open questions raised

• Which monarchy was Lucci’s 15-years-ago siege, and who were the pirates? (Left unnamed on-page.)
• Will the Marines’ decision to shell their own 1,000 men aboard the warship actually stop Luffy, and what does it cost CP9’s escort of Robin?
• How far can Gear Third’s power-for-speed trade go before the drawback is fatal in a fight?