Chapters · Dressrosa › Punk Hazard

Chapter 671: Gas-Gas Fruit

Arc: Punk Hazard · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2012-04-23

Summary

The chapter cuts between three fronts on Punk Hazard. At the freezing central lake (“Team Zolo”), the body-swapped crew faces a toxic slime monster — Brook misremembers it from a book as a “scandalous creature that dissolves only women’s clothes,” but it is actually a solid mass of poison whose runoff is killing all the lake’s fish; Sanji (his mind in Nami’s body) dives into the lethally cold water to recover a missing torso while the others keep the slime away. Inside Caesar’s lab (“Team Law”), infiltrators find the “Master” gone and only Monet present; Law arrives, announces he has seen everything on the island and is leaving soon, and coerces the flirtatious bird-woman Monet into coming with him so he can “make use of” her powers. At the lab’s front entrance (“Team Luffy”), Luffy battles Caesar Clown in a full display of the Gas-Gas Fruit: Robin explains that armament Haki lets Luffy physically grab the Logia’s body but doesn’t disable his powers, so Luffy lands Gum-Gum Bell, then shocks everyone by inhaling Caesar’s instant-death poison gas and spitting it back — he’s grown resistant to poison ever since Magellan nearly killed him in Impel Down. Luffy hammers Caesar with Jet Mace and Jet Stamp; Caesar retaliates with Gastanets (which injure his own loyal soldiers) and is finally seized by the head — “Now I’ve REALLY got you!!” The G-5 Marines move to take both Caesar and the Straw Hats into custody. But Caesar smirks, and Luffy abruptly collapses unconscious mid-victory — onlookers cry “What just happened?!” / “Luffy, what’s wrong?!!” and the cause is left unexplained (cliffhanger). The chapter ends inside the lab: amid a figure writhing in pain, a tall silhouette greets Law from his past — “My, how you’ve grown, Law. How many years has it been?”

New reveals

• Logia + Haki mechanics, stated. Robin: armament Haki “only gives you the ability to interact with the ‘body’ of the Logia” and “doesn’t actually sap the opponent’s ability to USE his powers” — unlike “the sea or the energy that comes from sea prism stone.” So Luffy can grab Caesar, but Caesar can still turn to gas. (p. 7)
• Luffy’s poison resistance. He sucks up “all the Master’s poison gas” and blows it back: “Poison doesn’t seem to work much on me anymore!” — “I guess because of Magellan!” His near-fatal poisoning in Impel Down left lasting immunity. (p. 9)
• The Gas-Gas Fruit’s range. “Gas Robe” (compress into a robe of gas / inhale), “Suck it in” (draw in surrounding gas — “my gas powders are more fatal than the leading…”), “Gastanets” (explosive gas charges). After feigning capture, Caesar abruptly suffocates Luffy into unconsciousness mid-victory by an unexplained means — onlookers ask “What just happened?!” — the cause is withheld as a cliffhanger. (pp. 8, 11, 15)
• Caesar’s loyal soldiers rush to protect “the Master,” even as his own Gastanets blast caught them in the explosion. (pp. 10–12)
• Law is leaving. “I’ve been around the island and seen everything I want to see… I’m planning to leave soon,” and he recruits/coerces Monet: “Mind coming with me? But before that, I want to make use of your powers…” (pp. 4–5)
• Cliffhanger figure from Law’s past. A tall silhouette inside the lab: “My, how you’ve grown, Law. How many years has it been?” — someone who knew Law as a child. (p. 17)

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy, Caesar Clown, Trafalgar Law, Monet, Nico Robin, Sanji (mind in Nami’s body), Nami (body), Brook, Zoro (“Team Zolo”), Tony Tony Chopper, Franky, Smoker / G-5 Marines; Magellan, Usopp (referenced).
• Groups/crews: Straw Hat Pirates, Heart Pirates.
• Location: Punk Hazard (central lake; Caesar’s lab — rooms “PH-006”).
• Devil Fruits: Gasu Gasu no Mi (Gas-Gas Fruit — title fruit), Gomu Gomu no Mi, Ope Ope no Mi (the personality swap still in effect).
• Lore: Haki (armament).

Notable panels

• p. 1 — Request-corner title illustration: “Namirella & her mice take a ride on Chopper’s pumpkin carriage” (Nami as Cinderella with the CAT BURGLARS mouse gang; Chopper as the pumpkin carriage), requested by Akemi Isaka of Ibaraki. Decorative reader-request art, not the cover-story serial.
• p. 7 — Robin’s armament-Haki-vs-Logia explanation; Luffy’s Haki-hardened hand grabs the gas.
• p. 9 — Luffy blows Caesar’s poison gas back: “Poison doesn’t seem to work much on me anymore!”
• p. 12 — Caesar’s own “Gastanets” detonate, catching his loyal soldiers.
• p. 15 — Luffy abruptly collapses unconscious mid-victory after Caesar feigns capture; the cause is left unexplained (cliffhanger).
• p. 17 — Silhouette cliffhanger: a tall man greets Law from his past.
• p. 18 — SBS Question Corner (Vol. 68): Oda explains Luffy stopped shrinking after Gear Third because his powers strengthened with training; gives pre-timeskip ages & heights of nine of the eleven Supernovas (Urouge, Apoo, Drake, Hawkins, Kid, Killer, Law, Bonney, Capone — Luffy and Zoro are not in the chart) — “add two years” for post-timeskip. (SBS canon — route to the SBS specialist for cross-linking, not minted here.)

Open questions raised

• Who is the figure that recognizes Law from years ago, and what was their relationship?
• Why does Law want Monet’s powers, and where is he planning to “leave” to?
• Can the G-5 Marines actually contain a Logia like Caesar once they take him in?
• What torso is Sanji recovering from the lake, and how does it tie back to the body-swap / samurai subplot?