Chapters · Dressrosa › Dressrosa

Chapter 727: The Hero's Ambush

Arc: Dressrosa · Saga: Dressrosa · Released:

Summary

At the Corrida Colosseum, Rebecca evades the gladiator Rolling Logan as the bloodthirsty crowd jeers her for refusing to fight. In the present, the one-legged toy soldier (Thunder Soldier) recounts Dressrosa’s true recent history to Nico Robin, Usopp and the Tontatta dwarves — and lets slip that he is Rebecca’s father and the son-in-law of King Riku, making Rebecca the king’s granddaughter. The bulk of the chapter is the toy soldier’s flashback to ten years ago: Dressrosa was a paradise that the Riku Dynasty kept warless for 800 years, until Doflamingo slipped into the royal palace by night, named himself “Don Quixote Doflamingo, of the Don Quixote line,” and demanded King Riku buy back his own kingdom for 10 billion berries by sunrise. The beloved king publicly grovels to his people over the visual transponder snail, begging them to surrender all their wealth, and they tearfully comply out of love and trust. Then Doflamingo springs the real trap: using his “Parasite” strings he puppets King Riku — and then the royal soldiers — into slaughtering the very citizens who had just given everything, so the whole nation will come to fear and hate their king. Doflamingo gloats that the kingdom must quake with hatred for King Riku before “the hero” can make his grand entrance.

New reveals

• Dressrosa’s true history: ten years ago Doflamingo, not pirates or madness, destroyed the Riku monarchy through a calculated frame-up.
• The Riku Dynasty ruled Dressrosa for 800 years with never a single war — Dressrosa was “an exceedingly peaceful kingdom.”
• Doflamingo’s extortion scheme: he offered to “sell” King Riku the kingdom for 10 billion berries by sunrise, with no outside help and the people kept ignorant.
• King Riku’s love for his people: he broadcast a public plea, bowing/groveling and offering to cut off his own limbs to convince them; they surrendered their wealth out of trust.
• The puppet-massacre: Doflamingo used his strings to make King Riku (then the soldiers) butcher the disarmed citizens — engineering nationwide hatred of the king.
• “Parasite” named as the string technique that hijacks a victim’s body (p. 17).
• Rebecca = King Riku’s granddaughter; the toy soldier = Rebecca’s father and the king’s son-in-law (p. 3) — the woman who links them (Rebecca’s mother, the king’s daughter) is not named here.
• Doflamingo’s lineage: he openly claims to be “from the Don Quixote line,” tied to a history of attacking Celestial-Dragon tribute ships and strong-arming the World Government into a Warlord seat.
• A new Dressrosa town named: Sevio (“Southern Town, Sevio,” p. 14).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Doflamingo · King Riku · Thunder Soldier (the toy soldier) · Rebecca · Tank Lepanto (Commander Tank, Riku Army) · Nico Robin · Usopp · Monet (named only, in a mishearing gag) · Rolling Logan (one-off colosseum gladiator) · the Tontatta Dwarves (“fairies”) · Donquixote Pirates · Dressrosa · Sevio · Corrida Colosseum · Riku · Donquixote

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash: a lean, caped hero figure with an X across a bare chest standing amid ruins (“The Hero’s Ambush”). Cover-story strip caption: Caribou’s New World Kee Hee Hee, Vol. 42 — “Crush all who resist! The captain is arrested.”
• Page 3 — The toy soldier confirms he is Rebecca’s father; she is King Riku’s granddaughter.
• Page 6 — Doflamingo unveils himself to King Riku in the night palace: “I am Don Quixote Doflamingo… from the Don Quixote line.”
• Page 11 — King Riku bows/grovels to his entire nation over the visual transponder snail, begging for their wealth.
• Page 15 — King Riku’s silhouette rampaging through the townsfolk (puppeted), blood and screams — a haunting massacre tableau.
• Page 17 — “Parasite string!!” — Doflamingo extends the puppeting to the royal soldiers.
• Page 19 — “…before the HERO can make his grand entrance!!!” / ”…Doflamingo’s trap!!!”
• Page 20 — “Coloring Corner” line-art page (B&W, not a color spread).

Open questions raised

• Who is the woman the toy soldier started to name (Rebecca’s mother / King Riku’s daughter)? The chapter withholds her name behind a “Monet?” mishearing gag.
• Is the toy soldier the same legendary figure as Kyros (the forgotten gladiator)? — Not confirmed on-page yet.
• What exactly is the “hero’s” ambush Doflamingo is bracing for?
• How did Doflamingo’s “Don Quixote line” come to lose its place — and what is the full nature of its Celestial-Dragon history?