Chapters · Dressrosa › Punk Hazard

Chapter 673: Vergo and Joker

Arc: Punk Hazard · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2012-05-07

Summary

At a G-5 town, grieving parents beg the Navy to search the New World for their children, only to be mocked, threatened with execution, and dismissed by Commodore Yarisugi (Unit 06) — their children’s disappearance three years ago was buried as a “sailing accident.” On Punk Hazard’s icy side, Team Nami/Usopp struggles to restrain the kidnapped giant children whose candy-withdrawal rages overpower the tranquilizers; Caesar Clown (“Master”) gasses in and lures the children back to the lab with promises of their “favorite yummy candies.” At Punk Hazard’s center lake, the slime mass that worshipers feared awakens into a colossal axolotl-shaped creature — Smiley, Caesar’s pet, a gel-form poison gas that ate the Sala-Sala Fruit (Axolotl Model) — which begins shooting self-replicating copies of itself across the island while its main body shrinks; the crew scatters and heads for the lab, with Kin’emon still hunting for Momonosuke. Outside the lab, locked-out G-5 marines demand the return of the captured Tashigi and “Smokey.” Inside, Vergo — eating a hamburger off his own cheek — is fully revealed: V.A. Vergo, Vice Admiral and base commander of Navy G-5, content to watch his own soldiers die in Caesar’s experiment. In a shared prison cell, Luffy, Smoker, Law, and Tashigi sit captured; Law explains that Vergo “has been Joker’s man from the very start,” a pirate who enlisted in the Marines fifteen years ago on Joker’s orders, and that the children’s abduction was always destined to “go into the books as an accident.” Vergo vows to kill Smoker and Tashigi to keep his secret and feed the G-5 men to Caesar. When Luffy asks who “Joker” is, Law answers: Joker is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, a pirate known the world over whose underground alias is Joker — and Law knows him because he once worked for him: Donquixote Doflamingo.

New reveals

• Vergo unmasked. A title card formally introduces V.A. Vergo — Vice Admiral and base commander of Navy G-5 (p. 15). Law then exposes him: “He’s a pirate, through and through… He’s been Joker’s man from the very start!!” He “enlisted on Joker’s orders before he made a name for himself,” and “fifteen years of service have carried him through the ranks. There isn’t a more useful and trustworthy sailor in Joker’s employ” (pp. 17–18). Vergo “hasn’t suddenly gone turncoat on the Navy” — he was always a plant.
• “Joker” = Donquixote Doflamingo. Luffy asks who Joker is; Law: “One of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. In reality, he’s a pirate known the world over… but ‘Joker’ is only his underground alias.” The reveal panel names him — ”…Doflamingo!!! Don Quixote…” (p. 19). Joker is a black-market broker (p. 18).
• Law once worked for Doflamingo. “That’s how I know Vergo… when I worked for him” (p. 19) — Law’s hidden past under Joker is exposed for the first time.
• Smiley named, with its Devil Fruit. Info box (p. 9): “SMILEY — Master’s pet (gel-form poison gas that ate the Sala-Sala Fruit, Axolotl Model).” It awakens “angry” (its “baby slimes” were blown up earlier), grows into a giant axolotl shape, and self-replicates — “can it produce an infinite number of copies?!” — with the main body shrinking as it shoots copies (pp. 8–11). Cutting it makes gas; burning it causes an explosion (p. 12).
• The “sailing accident” cover-up. Caesar’s abduction of the town’s children was “covered up and labeled a ‘sailing accident’” (p. 17). Three years ago, “neighborhood kids playing in the street… died in an accident at sea?!” — the parents refuse to believe it; G-5 threatens to execute them and burn their town (pp. 2–4).
• Caesar’s “big experiment.” Vergo notes that Caesar “woken up Smiley, his pet… would suggest he’s about to launch a big experiment” (p. 14); the lab is sealed shut on every door, and “everyone outside will die” while those inside are safe (p. 15).
• The captured lineup. Luffy, Smoker, Law, and Tashigi are held in one cell inside the lab (pp. 16–18). Luffy needles Smoker about Alabasta (“you guys had me and Smokey captured back in Alabasta!”); Vergo vows to “ensure your silence by seeing to it that you die here, Vice Admiral Smoker and Captain Tashigi,” and to give the G-5 men outside “to Caesar for his plans” (p. 18).
• G-5 internal structure. Commodore Yarisugi commands Unit 06 (p. 3); Tashigi is “the right hand of Vice Admiral Smoker in Unit 01” (p. 4); Vergo is G-5’s top commander / base commander.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy (captured in cell) · Trafalgar Law (captured; exposes Vergo & names Joker) · Smoker (captured; confronted by Vergo) · Tashigi (captured; Vergo vows to kill her) · Caesar Clown (“Master”; lures the children, wakes Smiley) · Vergo (V.A. Vergo, G-5 base commander; Joker’s mole — first full on-page appearance/title card) · Yarisugi (Commodore, G-5 Unit 06 — first appearance) · Smiley (Caesar’s pet poison-gas Zoan — first appearance) · Doflamingo (revealed as “Joker”) · Monet (with Vergo in the lab; hamburger gag) · Nami (mind in Franky’s body) · Sanji (mind in Nami’s body) · Usopp · Brook · Kin’emon (searching for his son) · Momonosuke (referenced) · Tony Tony Chopper · Franky (mind in Chopper’s body) · Sala Sala no Mi, Model Axolotl · Seven Warlords of the Sea · Marines · Punk Hazard · G-5 · New World (referenced)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page / request cover: “REQUEST: Museum security guard Usopp finds Brook dancing with the dino skeleton late at night,” by Sean from Aomori. A one-off reader-request illustration (Usopp in a guard cap, bottle in hand; Brook waltzing a Rex-saurus dinosaur skeleton under a disco ball) — not a serial cover-story B-plot.
• Pages 2–4 — G-5 town: grieving parents beg the Navy to find their lost children; Commodore Yarisugi threatens to execute them; “you’re going too far, Commodore!” (the gag echoes his name).
• Page 7 — Caesar (“Master”) gasses in and lures the candy-craving children back to the lab — “You want your favorite yummy candies, don’t you…?”
• Page 9 — Info box names Smiley: “Master’s pet (gel-form poison gas that ate the Sala-Sala Fruit, Axolotl Model).”
• Pages 10–11 — Smiley fully forms into a colossal axolotl and begins shooting self-replicating copies across the island.
• Page 15 — Title card: V.A. Vergo — Vice Admiral and base commander of Navy G-5; the hamburger-on-the-cheek gag; “Everyone outside will die?! I’d love to observe this experiment…”
• Page 16 — The shared prison cell: Luffy, Smoker, Law, and Tashigi captured together — “Stuck in the same cell… makes you think of the old days, doesn’t it?”
• Pages 17–18 — Law exposes Vergo as Joker’s lifelong mole; Vergo vows to kill Smoker and Tashigi.
• Page 19 — The reveal: “Joker” is Donquixote Doflamingo, and Law once worked for him. (Volume 68 material.)
• Page 20 — SBS installment (Vol. 68): childhood portraits of Hina, Smoker, and Tashigi, plus a fan-submitted ranking of Japan’s prefectures by Usopp-Gallery fan-art count. (Route to SBS cross-link.)

Open questions raised

• What exactly is Caesar’s “big experiment,” and what does waking Smiley unleash on everyone outside the lab?
• Why did Law work for Doflamingo, and what is the nature of the grudge driving his move against a Yonko?
• How deeply has Doflamingo infiltrated the World Government if he can plant a Vice Admiral as a sleeper for fifteen years?
• Can Luffy, Law, Smoker, and Tashigi escape the cell before Vergo kills them and Smiley engulfs the island?
• What is the Punk Hazard “key” Law spoke of (carried from Ch. 667), and how does it tie to Joker/Doflamingo?