Chapters · Summit War › Sabaody Archipelago

Chapter 490: Arriving Again

Arc: Sabaody Archipelago · Saga: Summit War · Released:

Summary

The Straw Hats depart Thriller Bark; Nami carries a vivre card given by Captain Lola, and the revived victims see them off. As Lola’s crew lingers in the Florian Triangle telling the legend of “the Gallant Men of the Straw Hat Pirates,” the Thousand Sunny sails on toward Fish-Man Island. Aboard ship the crew formalizes Brook’s membership and Luffy explains why he won’t detour to help Ace — Ace gave him a vivre card, and Nami spells out its mechanic (it shrinks when its person is weakened, regrows when they recover). At Mariejois, Sengoku berates Kuma for sparing the Straw Hats against a kill-order while Garp clowns about his grandson. After running the Grand Line’s candy-rain, sea-snake-current weirdness, the crew reaches the towering Red Line — the halfway point — with the Navy/World-Government holy land of Mariejois close by. They dive in the submarine to find Fish-Man Island but the sea is too deep to reach; surfacing, they’re attacked by a “sea rabbit,” and from its mouth tumbles Camie, a mermaid who promptly tries to sell them octopus fritters.

New reveals

• The word “Vivre Card” is spoken on-page for the first time in the series (pp. 2, 6); previously (Ch. 159) Ace’s gift was only ever called “a piece of paper.”
• Vivre-card mechanic, explained: the paper “shows when a person is in a weakened state… but it also reverts to its original size if he gets better” (Nami, p. 6).
• Luffy declines to go to Ace: “Ace has his own adventures… if I go to help him, he’ll just scold me… if I’m to see him, that’s the time!!” — i.e., he will only act when the card weakens (pp. 5-6).
• Kuma defied his orders. At Mariejois, Sengoku says Kuma “was given clear orders to exterminate the lot of them… yet you failed to even bring back the head of Straw Hat Luffy,” and accuses him of an “act of mercy” (pp. 7). Garp covers for Luffy: he beat Moria “but he’s not the type to go blabbing about that fact.”
• Mariejois (“Marijoa”) = home of Navy Headquarters and the World Government, sitting atop / beside the Red Line, “really close by” to the crew’s position (pp. 7, 12).
• The Red Line is the halfway point of the Grand Line — Twin Cape (where they met Laboon) is on its far side; to circle the rest of the world and reach this wall again is Luffy’s road to becoming Pirate King (pp. 9-11).
• Fish-Man Island lies deep underwater below this point, below the 5000 m crush-depth of the submarine; the crew can’t see the bottom and has no method to descend (“it’s like Sky Island all over again,” pp. 13-15).
• Camie — a kissing-gourami mermaid; dream job “designer,” current job “octopus-fritter shop employee” (profile box, p. 19) — debuts in the main story; she’s been eaten by sea monsters “20 times” (p. 18); mermaids “don’t wear panties” (p. 20).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy · Nami · Zoro · Sanji · Usopp · Tony Tony Chopper · Nico Robin · Franky · Brook · Lola · Sengoku · Garp · Kuma · Camie · Ace (via Ace) · Laboon · Straw Hat Pirates · Marines · Seven Warlords of the Sea · Nikyu Nikyu no Mi · Fish-Men (mermaid) · Florian Triangle · Thriller Bark · Red Line as Continental Divider · Mariejois · Fish-Man Island · Twin Cape Cover (Where Are They Now? Shot 7): Oimo and Kashii return to Elbaf. Logged in Where Are They Now? (Shot 7 — first Enies-Lobby installment).

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page + cover-story header: “WHERE ARE THEY NOW? SHOT 7: OIMO AND KASHII RETURN TO ELBAPH” — the two Enies Lobby gate-giants walk home up an Elbaf street.
• Page 2 — The crew leaves Thriller Bark; Nami: “Thanks for the vivre card, Lola!!”; the revived victims cheer “Thank you for bringing back the sun!”
• Pages 3-4 — Framing device: Lola’s crew in the Florian Triangle tells “the Gallant Men of the Straw Hat Pirates” as a legend; the Sunny sails “toward an underwater paradise.”
• Page 6 — Vivre-card mechanic explained in a single line by Nami; Brook’s crew-membership made official.
• Page 7 — Mariejois (“the sacred land, Marijoa”): Sengoku interrogates Kuma; Garp jokes about Luffy.
• Page 10 — Full-page splash: the towering wall — “THIS IS THE RED LINE!!!” — the Sunny a speck at its foot.
• Page 11 — Crew montage of how each entered the Grand Line via Reverse Mountain (a member from West Blue “five years ago”; a member from South Blue “as a baby… over thirty years ago”), ending on Luffy: ”…I’ll be… the King of Pirates!!!”
• Page 19 — Camie character box: “CAMIE — Kissing Gourami Mermaid. Dream job: designer. Current job: octopus-fritter shop employee.”
• Page 20 — Camie: mermaids “…don’t wear panties!!” — Brook and Sanji nosebleed.

Open questions raised

• How does anyone reach Fish-Man Island if no ship can dive that deep? (Seeds the arc’s central problem.)
• Whose vivre card did Lola give Nami, and who is the “momma” she sends regards to?
• Will Kuma’s repeated mercy toward the Straw Hats draw consequences — and what is his real motive?
• The crew is sailing straight past Mariejois / Navy Headquarters — what danger does that proximity invite?