Chapters · Dressrosa › Dressrosa

Chapter 721: Rebecca and the Soldier

Arc: Dressrosa · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2013-09-23

Summary

In the Corrida Colosseum’s holding cells before the Block D match, Rebecca weeps that “the soldier’s going to die” and tells the outsider Lucy (Luffy) why the one-legged toy soldier matters to her: on the day she lost her mother, he took her in and raised her as his own. The chapter then flashes back roughly a decade. Rebecca and her mother, Lady Scarlett, sell flowers together until the “Riku royal army” sets the village and palace ablaze and a manhunt drives them into a flower field. Scarlett leaves the starving Rebecca to buy bread, is gunned down off-page, and the wounded toy soldier delivers the bread with her dying request, confessing “I couldn’t save your mother.” He explains that because Rebecca carries her mother’s royal blood, the new king will hunt her too, and vows to give his life to protect her until she is finally happy. Outside, the crowd hails Doflamingo as Dressrosa’s new king while he frames the centuries-old Riku dynasty as greedy oppressors. The soldier defends Rebecca from stray dogs, kidnappers, and slavers, becoming a wanted “toy,” and the two live in secret under the Toy Laws — he leaves a fresh flower petal through the window each morning as proof he was there. Back in the present, Block D begins; the colosseum showers Rebecca with boos and death threats as “scum of the Riku dynasty,” while a handful of children wonder why everyone hates the girl who once bought them lunch. This is the final chapter of Volume 72.

New reveals

• Rebecca is a Riku royal — the deposed “old king” of Dressrosa is her grandfather; she is reviled by the colosseum crowd as “scum of the Riku dynasty” / “descendant of evil.”
• Lady Scarlett is Rebecca’s mother, a Riku princess. She was a “very special and powerful person”; she is killed (shot, off-page) during Doflamingo’s takeover while buying bread for her hungry daughter.
• The one-legged toy soldier raised Rebecca after Scarlett’s death, vowing on his life to protect her “until the day you are finally happy.”
• Doflamingo’s coup: ~10 years ago the “Riku royal army” torched Dressrosa’s towns and palace; Doflamingo was crowned the new king to public acclaim and publicly branded the Riku dynasty centuries-long oppressors who “stole from their citizens out of shameless greed.”
• The Toy Laws: living toys are forbidden from cohabiting with humans and must return to “the house of toys” at night; the soldier and Rebecca live together in secret.
• A bystanding gladiator remarks it is “stranger that he’s alive in the first place” — the soldier’s very existence/aliveness is treated as anomalous.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Rebecca — present and in flashback (orphaned child to colosseum gladiator)
• Luffy (as “Lucy”) — in the holding cells; “May we meet in the final”
• Doflamingo — flashback, crowned king of Dressrosa
• Scarlett — Rebecca’s mother (flashback; killed) — first appearance
• the one-legged toy soldier — unnamed; Rebecca’s guardian (see The Forgotten Legend of Kyros)
• the Riku royal dynasty / “the old king” / “His Majesty” — Rebecca’s deposed grandfather, referenced but not clearly shown (Riku)
• Corrida Colosseum · Dressrosa
• Living Toys of Dressrosa
• Cover story: “Caribou’s Kehihihihi In the New World,” Vol. 38 — “Take Over Scotch the Oppressor!!”

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash (B&W): “Lucy” (Luffy) caught in a swirl of water/waves. Cover-story serial caption beneath.
• Page 8 — The wounded toy soldier staggers to Rebecca with the bread, “I couldn’t save your mother… I’m sorry!!”
• Page 11-12 — The crowd hails “King Doflamingo!!”; Doflamingo proclaims he will bring Dressrosa “true wealth” while damning the Riku dynasty.
• Page 14 — The Toy Laws and the morning flower-petal ritual through the window crack.
• Page 19 — Dramatic backlit silhouette of the one-legged toy soldier walking into the Block D arena amid a storm of boos (“Scum of the Riku dynasty!!”). (mirror candidate)

Open questions raised

• Who is the one-legged toy soldier really, and why is his being “alive” considered strange?
• Was the Riku royal army acting of its own will, or was it manipulated (and by whom)?
• Why does the entire populace uniformly accept Doflamingo’s anti-Riku narrative — and forget the Riku family’s true history?
• Why do living toys exist on Dressrosa, and what are the “Toy Laws” really enforcing?
• What became of the rest of the Riku royal family?