Chapters · Summit War › Post-War

Chapter 585: Brotherly Pact

Arc: Post-War · Saga: Summit War · Released:

Summary

A flashback to Dawn Island years before the present. Young Luffy trains his still-weak Gum-Gum powers and loses every spar to Ace and Sabo, but the three orphan-thieves are inseparable, raiding Goa’s Central Town for food and treasure under the harsh wilderness of Mt. Corvo. After a townsman mistakes Sabo for someone who is “alive” and calls him home, Ace and Luffy press him for the truth: Sabo is no orphan at all but the runaway son of a Goa aristocrat from the High Town, who fled his status-obsessed family for the freedom of Gray Terminal. The three share their dreams — Luffy and Ace to become great pirates, Sabo to sail the world and write a book about it — and seal a sworn-brother pact by exchanging cups of stolen sake: “this bond will never be broken.” A montage shows their wild life with the Dadan bandits. The chapter closes with Sabo’s father arriving with the pirate Bluejam, paying him to take Sabo back; to spare Ace and Luffy, Sabo surrenders, vowing to live the way his family demands. An SBS at the end reveals Sengoku’s power: the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Buddha.

New reveals

• Sabo is introduced and characterized: a boy who looks like an orphan thief but is secretly the son of a High Town aristocrat family — “both my parents are still alive… that guy back there was my father” (p. 9). He ran away because his family “only cares about wealth and status” and forced him to study to marry into the royal family (p. 10).
• Sabo’s dream: navigation is the one thing he likes to study; he wants “to see the world and write a book about it” (p. 11), and to prove his life is worth something (p. 12).
• The sworn-brother pact: “If you exchange cups, it makes you brothers!” Ace, Sabo, and Luffy drink sake to become brothers “starting today” — a bond that “will never be broken” even if they sail on separate ships (pp. 13–14).
• Full geography of the Kingdom of Goa laid out on a map (p. 6): Palace, Highland (High Town), Central Town, Edge Town, Gray Terminal, Mt. Corvo, and the isolated Windmill Village (Luffy’s birthplace).
• Gray Terminal (“Trash Mountain”) established — the dump north of the Great Gate where the kingdom’s garbage is dumped twice a day and society’s discarded people scavenge to survive (pp. 4–5, 11).
• Goa is described as “the most beautiful land of the East Blue… a successful example of a society where everything unnecessary is removed” (p. 6) — the aristocrats call Gray Terminal’s people “trash in the shape of people” (p. 11).
• Bluejam, a pirate operating in Goa, is introduced when Sabo’s father hires him to retrieve Sabo and keep Ace and Luffy away (pp. 18–19).
• The three boys live with the Dadan bandit family on Mt. Corvo; the ceremonial sake is “Dadan’s bottle” they stole (p. 13).
• SBS (p. 20): Oda confirms Fleet Admiral Sengoku’s Devil Fruit is the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Buddha — a Mythical-Zoan “human-human fruit, model Buddha,” put in the same mythical-beast category as Marco’s power. (Also a Franky “Coup de Boo” gag.)

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy (child), Ace (child), Sabo (debut, child), Dadan (montage, p. 16), Bluejam (debut, pp. 18–19), Sabo’s father (unnamed Goa aristocrat, pp. 8, 18–19), Sabo’s mother (unnamed, p. 10 flashback). SBS-only: Sengoku, Marco (referenced), Franky (referenced).
• Locations: Goa Kingdom, Gray Terminal (Trash Mountain), Mt. Corvo, Edge Town, Central Town, Highland / High Town, Foosha Village (labeled “Windmill Village” on the map).
• Groups: Dadan Family bandits; Bluejam Pirates (implied); Goa aristocracy / Trash Hunters.
• Devil Fruits (SBS): Hito Hito no Mi Model: Buddha (Sengoku).

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title-page illustration (B&W): a young-adult Ace and an unidentified bearded man fishing off a dock beneath a giant whale shark; Ace’s shirt reads 昇格 (“Promotion”). One of Oda’s running gag-slogan shirts for Ace (later shirts read Innocent, Violence, Victory, Independence, Pillage). Decorative; no cover-serial running this volume.
• Page 6 — The full Kingdom of Goa map: Palace, Highland, Central Town, Edge Town, Gray Terminal, Mt. Corvo, and isolated Windmill Village. The canonical geography reference for Luffy’s homeland.
• Page 9 — Sabo’s confession panel: “You’re the son of an aristocrat?! / I am!!”
• Page 14 — The sake-cup ceremony: the three cups clink (“KLINK”), “We’re brothers! Starting today…!” — the iconic ASL brotherhood beat.
• Pages 15–17 — Wordless montage of the brothers’ wild childhood (fighting, the rope bridge, tiger hunt, raiding) with the Dadan family.
• Pages 18–19 — Sabo’s father and the pirate Bluejam; Sabo’s surrender.
• Page 20 — SBS Question Corner: Sengoku = Hito Hito no Mi, Model Buddha (Mythical Zoan).

Open questions raised

• What is the name of Sabo’s aristocrat family, and how high in Goa society do they sit?
• What will become of Sabo now that he has surrendered to his father and Bluejam?
• Will the brothers’ “go to sea and become free” promise survive Sabo’s forced return home?
• Who is the bearded man fishing with Ace on the title page?