Chapters · Summit War › Post-War

Chapter 586: City of Stench

Arc: Post-War · Saga: Summit War · Released: 2010 (Vol 60) — estimate, verify

Summary

The childhood flashback continues in the Kingdom of Goa. Bluejam, resentful of his own common birth, presses Ace and Luffy to “forget” Sabo, who has been dragged back to Highland by his aristocrat father; the brothers refuse to give him up. Sabo, blackmailed with Ace and Luffy’s lives, has returned to his family’s mansion, where he is introduced to Stelly — an 8-year-old noble boy his parents adopted as a “promising” replacement heir. Stelly taunts Sabo and lets slip the kingdom’s secret: the royals and aristocrats intend to set fire to Gray Terminal, residents and all, to scrub the city clean before a World Government inspection team and the Celestial Dragons arrive. Sabo discovers that Bluejam’s pirates — using oil and explosives that Ace and Luffy unknowingly planted on a “delivery job” — are the arson crew. He runs to warn the brothers, but Bluejam captures them. That night the fire is lit; Gray Terminal burns, the great gate is sealed so the poor cannot flee, and Bluejam learns the King betrayed him, trapping his crew to die with the witnesses. Ace cuts himself and Luffy free and they flee the inferno. Sabo, beaten down by a noble at the gate, vows he is “ashamed to have been born an aristocrat.” In the burning city, a cloaked figure — Monkey D. Dragon — is told the preparations are ready and answers, “All right.”

New reveals

• Sabo is the runaway son of a Highland aristocrat family; his father blackmailed him back into nobility using Ace and Luffy’s lives (pp. 1-5).
• The family adopted Stelly (8) as Sabo’s “promising” replacement heir; Stelly debuts as a spiteful noble child (pp. 6-8).
• The royal families and aristocrats plan to burn Gray Terminal with its people inside to please an incoming World Government inspection and the Celestial Dragons aboard a visiting ship (pp. 8-9).
• Bluejam’s pirates set the oil/explosives; Ace and Luffy unknowingly placed them as the paid “delivery job” (pp. 9, 13).
• The great gate is sealed against the poor; the King double-crosses Bluejam, locking his crew inside to burn with the evidence (pp. 16-17).
• Monkey D. Dragon is in Goa during the fire (cloaked silhouette, named, “All right.”) — first on-page evidence tying Dragon to Goa / the East Blue years before the main story (p. 19).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

(None resolve on-page this chapter — the Gray Terminal arson, Dragon’s presence, and Sabo’s renunciation are seeds whose payoffs land forward.)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Sabo, Bluejam, Stelly (debut), Ace (child), Luffy (child), Dragon (cloaked silhouette), Dadan (Dadan-Family bandits). Unnamed-but-shown: Sabo’s aristocrat father, Sabo’s mother, the King of Goa, Sabo’s tutor.
• Locations: Goa Kingdom (Highland/High Town, Central Town, Edge Town districts), Gray Terminal (“Trash Mountain”), Mt. Corvo, East Blue.
• Groups: Bluejam Pirates, Revolutionary Army (proto-era, via Dragon), Dadan-Family mountain bandits.
• World-building: Celestial Dragons.

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Standalone B&W chapter-title splash: a man in a long coat removing a top hat, a blonde woman in a floral halter and shorts, and a “TAXI” camel. Decorative title art; no running cover serial. (No color spread.)
• Page 2 — Bluejam: “I wish I’d been born an aristocrat… they’re born under the star of good fortune.” His class resentment frames the chapter.
• Page 6 — Stelly’s introduction: “My name is Stelly. I’m 8 years old… I’ve heard a lot about you.”
• Pages 8-9 — Stelly reveals the Gray-Terminal burning plot and the Celestial Dragons aboard the incoming ship.
• Page 13 — Luffy’s child shirt bears the kanji 辻斬 (tsujigiri, footnoted “*Killer”) — a recurring Oda wardrobe gag, not a confirmed tell.
• Pages 14-17 — Gray Terminal ignites; the great gate is sealed; Bluejam realizes “YOU TRICKED ME!!”
• Page 19 — REVEAL: Monkey D.
• Page 20 — SBS Question Corner (Vol 60), header drawing by Aisa: Buggy’s chant = “Joy to the World” lyrics; Ivankov-afro rental rates; editorial-staff joke.

Open questions raised

• What were Dragon and the Revolutionaries “preparing” in Goa during the fire — a rescue, a recruitment, or something else?
• Will Ace, Luffy, and Sabo survive the inferno and the sealed gate?
• How far up does the conspiracy go — is the King of Goa himself the architect, with Bluejam merely a disposable tool?
• What becomes of Sabo now that he has renounced his aristocrat family?