Chapters · Dressrosa › Punk Hazard

Chapter 667: Cool Fight

Arc: Punk Hazard · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2012-03-19

Summary

On the frozen half of Punk Hazard, Luffy’s group learns from Brownbeard’s centaur subordinates that the “Master“‘s men just eliminated Brownbeard himself — despite his loyal worship — because their true targets were the abducted children and the Straw Hats’ lives. Desperate to recover the kidnapped “Nami” (Nami’s mind trapped in Franky’s body) and worried about Caesar’s lab, the body-swapped crew chases the captors up the icy mountains. Franky — whose mind is stuck in Chopper’s body — gulps one of Chopper’s Rumble Balls to gain fighting power but rampages out of control as a feral Monster Point, attacking even Luffy. Inside Vegapunk’s old lab, Caesar Clown plots to surgically remove “Vegapunk’s lasers” installed in Franky’s cyborg body before incinerating the rest, orders all his soldiers evacuated, and laughs that he has a plan ready for the approaching navy. The captors are revealed as the Yeti Cool Brothers — Scotch & Rock, Caesar’s face-hidden “Snowy Mountain Assassins,” who lure pursuers into ice-spike traps and snipe with poison and knockout (K.Y.P.) gas rounds. Luffy battles them with Gum-Gum Fire Salute, Balloon, Armament-hardened Gatling, and Elephant Gun — invoking Rayleigh’s training to bounce their bullets back — and uses the out-of-control Franky-monster as a wrecking ball, finally KO’ing Franky to end the chaos. A fleeing brother carries off captured “Nami,” only for Trafalgar Law to drop in and blast him with Counter Shock, saving her. Law tells “Straw Hat” he has thought it over and come to talk: this island holds a key powerful enough to upend the New World, and the only two ways to survive these seas are to serve an Emperor or become one. His shocking offer — form an alliance to take down one of the Four Emperors. “I have a plan…”

New reveals

• The alliance offer. Trafalgar Law openly proposes a pirate alliance with the Straw Hats — “Together, you and I might be able to pull it off… to take down one of the Four Emperors!! I have a plan…” (pp. 19–20). The arc’s central engine is set in motion.
• Law’s New World doctrine (p. 19): “There are two ways to survive on this sea… Affiliate yourself with an Emperor… or try to be one.” Luffy refuses servitude — “Nope! I like being captain!”
• The Punk Hazard “key” (p. 19): “this island harbors a crucial key powerful enough… to throw the New World into disarray.” Law frames Caesar’s operation as strategically decisive leverage. (Nature unstated — anti-spoiler: do not name it.)
• Caesar’s harvest plan (pp. 5): Caesar wants Franky’s body so he can “cut the laser system out of him,” because “this cyborg Franky has Vegapunk’s lasers installed in his body” — “I don’t know where he got them.” He orders the rest of the body incinerated.
• Caesar evacuates and schemes (p. 5): “Evacuate all soldiers from the island now… unless you WANT to die” and “I’m preparing a plan as we speak. Also, about the navy…” — a self-endangering plan involving the G-5 Marines is teased.
• Brownbeard betrayed (p. 2): the Master’s men “eliminated Brownbeard on their master’s orders!! And he was on their side!!” — confirming Caesar discards even loyal subordinates; the real targets were the children and the crew.
• Yeti Cool Brothers introduced (p. 7): Scotch & Rock, “Snowy Mountain Assassins,” Caesar’s snipers who never show their faces, use the snow to track footprints, and fire “rifles like cannons” loaded with poison rounds and K.Y.P. gas that drops targets into an alcohol-induced stupor.
• Rayleigh callback (p. 11): Luffy’s Sabaody training surfaces in combat — “Rayleigh taught me that just bouncing back shots wildly in defense… is a poor way to fight!!”

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy · Franky (mind in Chopper’s body — rampaging Monster Point) · Nami (mind in Franky’s body — captured, rescued) · Tony Tony Chopper (mind in Sanji’s body) · Nico Robin · Trafalgar Law · Scotch · Rock · Caesar Clown (“Master,” referenced) · Brownbeard (referenced — eliminated) · Vegapunk (referenced) · Silvers Rayleigh (referenced) · Sanji (body, referenced) · Emporio Ivankov (cover story) · Straw Hat Pirates · Heart Pirates · Four Emperors (Yonko) · Punk Hazard · New World (referenced)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Cover / B-plot: From the Decks of the World, Vol. 47: “Kamabakka Queendom — The King of the Queens Follows Straw Boy’s Travels.” Emporio Ivankov reads a newspaper over tea — the okama cover-story strand tracking the timeskip aftermath (Sanji = “Straw Boy”). (Route to cover-tracker.)
• Page 4 — Franky (in Chopper’s body) downs a Rumble Ball and erupts into an uncontrolled Monster Point (“GABI-NG!! He’s completely out of control!!”).
• Page 7 — Introduction banner: Yeti Cool Brothers — Snowy Mountain Assassins — Rock & Scotch, drink-themed snow snipers who keep their faces hidden.
• Page 11 — Luffy cites Rayleigh’s lesson and answers the snipers with Gum-Gum Fire Salute.
• Page 15 — Luffy KO’s the rampaging Franky-monster with Gum-Gum Elephant Gun to end the friendly-fire chaos, just as the surviving brother makes off with captured “Nami.”
• Page 17 — Trafalgar Law drops in and hits the fleeing assassin with Counter Shock.
• Pages 19–20 — Law’s alliance pitch and the chapter’s cliffhanger smile: “…to take down one of the Four Emperors!! I have a plan…” (Volume 67’s closing chapter; “To be continued in One Piece Vol. 68.”)

Open questions raised

• What exactly is Law’s plan, and which of the Four Emperors does he intend to topple?
• What is the “crucial key” on Punk Hazard that could throw the New World into disarray?
• Will Luffy — who “likes being captain” — accept an alliance under Law’s terms?
• What is Caesar’s prepared “plan” for the approaching navy, and why must his own soldiers evacuate to survive it?
• Where did Franky obtain Vegapunk’s laser technology, and how does Caesar know it’s in his body?