Chapter 745: The Birdcage

Arc: Dressrosa · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2014-02-24

Summary

A two-page title splash (cleaning/washing theme spelling out “ONE PIECE”) opens. At the SMILE Factory the freed former-toys assault the building; Doflamingo’s men note it is solid sea-prism stone — “the young master’s lifeline” — guarded by two supreme officers. In the trading port a battered Usopp is carried in while Robin reunites with Koala, Sabo, and Hack. At the Royal Plateau, the reverted human Kyros confronts Doflamingo and beheads him — but the body is a marionette of string; Robin realizes “there are two masters.” Luffy crashes in and trades blows (Armament Haki, Gum-Gum Jet Gatling) with the double. King Riku begs Doflamingo not to repeat the massacre of ten years ago; Doflamingo, intending to bury the truth, orders Pica to “expel the rats” and deploys The Birdcage — a continent-spanning cage of blades that seals the island and the sea around it, trapping the G-5 Marines and Vice Admiral Bastille offshore. Doflamingo’s “Parasite” strings puppet civilians and Marines into attacking each other, while Pica raises the palace and SMILE Factory atop a colossal stone tower. From the lifted palace Doflamingo broadcasts the rules of his game: kill him to end it, or hunt down the people on his list for bounties — everyone in Dressrosa is now a bounty hunter, and there is no escape.

New reveals

• The Birdcage is deployed for the first time on-page: a vast dome/cage of blade-strings encircling all of Dressrosa and the open sea, cutting the island off from the outside world (pages 12–14, 17).
• Doflamingo’s death-game: kill him to end it, OR bring him the people on a “list of names” he will provide — each head carries a bounty; “every man, woman and child in this country is a bounty hunter”; he stays in the palace, no running, no hiding (setup page 18, rules page 19).
• Parasite — Doflamingo’s string power forces ordinary people’s bodies to move and attack on their own (“It’s not me! My body’s moving on its own!!” → “PARASITE.”), demonstrated on civilians and Marines (page 15).
• Doflamingo can field a string marionette body-double; the Doflamingo Kyros beheaded was the double, the real one untouched (“There are two masters!!” / “a marionette made of string! I’ve never seen him do such a thing!”) (pages 7, 10).
• The SMILE Factory is solid sea-prism stone, Doflamingo’s “lifeline,” and is watched over by two supreme officers (page 3).
• Pica reshapes the land with stone powers, raising the Royal Plateau, palace and SMILE Factory into a towering column and expelling Zoro’s group past the outer towers (pages 13, 16–17).
• Vice Admiral Bastille named; he and the G-5 Marines are trapped offshore and cannot signal headquarters (pages 14–15).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Doflamingo, Luffy, Kyros, Riku Doldo III (King Riku), Nico Robin, Usopp, Zoro, Sabo, Koala, Hack, Violet (Viola), Pica (named; power shown), Bastille (Vice Admiral; named/shown), Tony Tony Chopper & Nami (title splash only)
• Groups: Donquixote Pirates, Revolutionary Army, Straw Hat Pirates, Marines (G-5)
• World / lore: Birdcage, SMILE, Living Toys of Dressrosa, Sea-Prism Stone
• Location: Dressrosa (Royal Plateau, outer towers, trading port, Flower Hill, the palace, SMILE Factory)

Notable panels

• Pages 1–2 — Two-page title splash: a “cleaning/washing” themed spread spelling out “ONE PIECE” in objects, with Usopp, Chopper, Nami and gag characters (decorative; reads as a reader-theme splash, not plot).
• Page 6 — Kyros’s “SLIKK!!” decapitating slash on the Doflamingo double.
• Pages 12–14 — The Birdcage descends (“SWISH SWISH”); the G-5 Marine ship hits the “fence of blades” that “stretches as far as we can see.”
• Page 17 — Pica’s stone column raising the palace and the SMILE Factory above the town (“Look at Flower Hill!! It’s sucking up the town and growing taller!!”).
• Pages 18–19 — Doflamingo’s broadcast laying out the death-game rules (setup p18, rules p19).
• Page 20 — An SBS Question Corner column (out-of-story volume material): confirms Koala — reunited with Robin this chapter — is the Revolutionary Army’s “Assistant Fish-Man Karate Master,” the slave girl Fisher Tiger freed. (Flagged for the SBS specialist; not part of the chapter narrative.)

Note: this capture over-ran the chapter — page 20 is an SBS column and page 21 is the opening title page of Chapter 746 (“Stars”). Only pages 1–19 are Chapter 745.

Open questions raised

• Who are the “two supreme officers” guarding the SMILE Factory, and how is the factory Doflamingo’s “lifeline”?
• Whose names are on Doflamingo’s kill-list, and how will the alliance break the Birdcage from inside?
• How is Kyros, a former toy, still standing in human form — and what is his history with Doflamingo and the Riku family?
• Can the trapped G-5 Marines / Vice Admiral Bastille act, or are they swept into Doflamingo’s game?