Chapters · Dressrosa › Punk Hazard

Chapter 690: S.A.D.

Arc: Punk Hazard · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2012-12-03

Summary

As the captive children scream “Master!!!”, Luffy ends his duel with Caesar Clown: Caesar fires his steel-melting gas burner “Gastille” and laughs (Shu ho ho ho) that his patron — the underworld broker “Joker,” i.e. Donquixote Doflamingo, “the man who controls the darkness of the New World” — will bring monstrous vengeance, and that the lab’s resident monster Vergo will finish Smoker and Law. Luffy, unmoved, hardens his fist with Armament Haki (“Spin spin!”) and blasts Caesar away. Elsewhere the petrifying “Land of the Dead” gas pours into Structure B with about five minutes before it overruns the room, and the Straw Hats, G-5 Marines and children race for the island’s only escape route while Kin’emon, despairing that he struck down a “little dragon” who is his lost son Momonosuke, runs back toward the gas, and Brownbeard hunts for Sea-Prism-Stone cuffs. In the S.A.D. Manufacturing Room (Structure D), Vergo thrashes Smoker with full-body Armament Haki and a Haki-clad bamboo staff (“Demon Bamboo”) — a Logia’s smoke being a bigger target, not a defense. Law arrives, returns the debt by taking back his own heart from Smoker (“Now we’re even — finish this”), then phones Joker to gloat that Straw Hat will destroy Caesar and that all of Doflamingo’s S.A.D. is gone, costing him his most vital pawn. Doflamingo retorts that Law is no match for Vergo, whom Law has feared since “years ago,” and Vergo falls on Law. Over the snail Doflamingo delivers a sweeping prophecy — it has been two years since the Paramount War, Whitebeard merely “left his mark,” the Navy has rearmed, the other powers have only been “preparing,” and “that war was nothing more than a prologue”: a new age of unmatched power, “an age of the daring and mighty,” is coming, and — Law answers — “now I’ve destroyed the gears, and no one can turn back.”

New reveals

• Luffy beats Caesar. Caesar unleashes “Gastille” — his “steel-melting gas burner” (Brownbeard’s caption, p. 4) — and crows about his protection, but Luffy hardens his fist with Armament Haki (“Spin spin!”, p. 5) and lands the finishing blow (“Blew him right to… dea—rlgh!!!”, p. 5).
• Caesar names Doflamingo’s underworld stature (pp. 3–5): “He is the man who controls the darkness of the New World!!! Guns, weapons, drugs!! … of the twisted pirate Doflamingo!!! He is the root, the spark of evil! He has connections to every criminal mastermind there is… You need to consider how enraged those powerful monsters will be when they learn you attacked me!!”
• Vergo’s combat profile. Vergo wields a simple bamboo staff made lethal by Armament Haki — “even a simple bamboo staff is a formidable weapon” (p. 9), technique “Demon Bamboo” (p. 9) — and notes that turning to smoke against superior Haki “only makes for a bigger target.” He overwhelms Smoker (pp. 9–10) and, later, batters Law with full-body Armament Haki (pp. 15–16). “Even your severing powers can do nothing to the strength of his Haki” (p. 15).
• Law reclaims his heart (pp. 11–12): “You’ve got me my heart back, Smoker. … Now we’re even. So finish this!!” Smoker: “So that’s what this was about?!” — but refuses to face his own men, “a stain on my Navy honor.”
• S.A.D. is named and destroyed. The facility map labels the S.A.D. Manufacturing Room, Structure D (p. 8); the tank reads “S.A.D.” (p. 8). Law tells Joker by Den Den Mushi: “Straw Hat will take care of Caesar. In other words, you’ve lost all your S.A.D.!! … You’re losing your most vital pawn” (pp. 13–14).
• Doflamingo seeds Law’s hidden past (p. 15): “…when you crossed the line with Vergo?! Have you forgotten what happened years ago… You were traumatized, weren’t you?! You have a deep-seated fear of Vergo that will never disappear!”
• The “new age” prophecy (pp. 17–19): “It’s been two years since the Paramount War!!! Whitebeard only left his mark on our times. Navy Headquarters has bolstered itself with new strength!!! None of the other big players have acted… as though they’ve only been preparing!! That war was nothing more than a prologue. … a new age is coming with unmatched power… an age of the daring and mighty!!!” Law: “Well, now I’ve destroyed the gears!! And no one can turn back!!!”

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy (defeats Caesar), Caesar Clown (beaten), Vergo (full combat showcase — Armament Haki, “Demon Bamboo”), Smoker (loses to Vergo; returns Law’s heart), Trafalgar Law (reclaims heart; phones Joker; sabotages the S.A.D.), Doflamingo (as “Joker,” on the Den Den Mushi — face shown, pp. 14–15, 19), Kin’emon (despairs over wounding the dragon Momonosuke; runs back toward the gas), Momonosuke (referenced — the “little dragon” Kin’emon struck), Brownbeard (helping; seeks Sea-Prism-Stone cuffs; caught in an “enemy attack” in Structure R), Caribou (cover serial only)
• Groups: Marines (G-5; Smoker), Straw Hat Pirates
• Locations: Punk Hazard — interior: S.A.D. Manufacturing Room (Structure D), Structure R 1F/2F (Luffy vs. Caesar; the Secret Room), Structure B (the Land-of-the-Dead gas), the island’s only escape route
• Devil Fruits / powers: Gasu Gasu no Mi (Caesar — “Gastille”), Moku Moku no Mi (Smoker — Logia smoke, shown ineffective vs. Haki), Ope Ope no Mi (Law — heart retrieval, severing), Haki (Vergo’s full-body Armament Haki / “Demon Bamboo”)
• World-Building: S.A.D., Land of the Dead, Sea-Prism Stone, Den Den Mushi, Seven Warlords of the Sea, Paramount War of Marineford

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page “Chapter 690: S.A.D.” with the cover serial “Caribou’s New World Kee Hee Hee, Vol. 15: Waking Up Next to an Old Hag” (Caribou waking in a polka-dotted bed beside a grinning old woman on a ship deck). (Cover-tracker: 1 cover-story page, serial Vol. 15; continues from Ch. 689’s Vol. 14.)
• Page 5 — Luffy hardens his fist with Armament Haki (“Spin spin!”) and lands the finishing blow on Caesar — a clean Haki tell mid-arc.
• Page 8 — Facility map. Smoker vs. Vergo and Luffy vs. Caesar plotted onto Structures D/R/B; the “S.A.D. Manufacturing Room, Structure D” is labeled, and the S.A.D. tank explodes (“KADO-OOM!!”).
• Page 9 — Vergo’s “Demon Bamboo”: a Haki-clad bamboo staff shatters Smoker.
• Page 16 — Full-page Armament-Haki splash: Vergo’s entire body sheathed in jet-black Busoshoku Haki as he falls on Law with staff and kick — a standout Haki visual.
• Pages 17–19 — Doflamingo’s “prologue”/“new age” monologue intercut with Vergo battering Law and with reaction shots; ends the chapter proper on Luffy’s wide-eyed face.
• Page 18 — End-of-chapter caption “TO BE CONTINUED IN ONE PIECE, VOL. 70!” (volume-boundary back-matter).
• Pages 20–22 — Appended volume back-matter, not chapter content: a “Coming Next Volume” promo (Doflamingo’s shocked face + the pulled teaser line “QUIT THE SEVEN WARLORDS!!!” and a blurb that “an even darker figure heads for the island”), a Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan house ad, and the standard VIZ “You’re Reading in the Wrong Direction” notice. (Recorded for completeness; the teaser line is promo copy, not dialogue from this chapter.)

Open questions raised

• What exactly is S.A.D., and why is destroying it the lethal blow to Doflamingo’s empire (“your most vital pawn”)?
• What happened “years ago” between Law, Vergo and “Joker” that left Law with a deep-seated fear of Vergo?
• Can the Straw Hats, G-5 and children clear the Land of the Dead gas in time via the island’s only escape route?
• Will Vergo’s superior Armament Haki overcome Law, whose severing powers “can do nothing” to it?
• What is the coming “new age of the daring and mighty” Doflamingo prophesies, and who are the “big players” said to be only “preparing”?