Chapters · Dressrosa › Dressrosa

Chapter 766: Smile

Arc: Dressrosa (the “Story of the Man Named Corazon” flashback) · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2014-11-24

Summary

Flashback, ~13 years before Dressrosa. On a burning Minion Island, Corazon has just stolen the Op-Op Fruit — a devil fruit worth ฿5,000,000,000 — from the pirate Diez Barrels, leaving Barrels’s crew slaughtered. He force-feeds the fruit to a young, terminally ill Law, insisting it will save his life, then collapses: he has been shot. Dying, Corazon hands Law a small report tube and begs him to deliver it to a lone Navy scout ship on the island’s west coast, telling him it can “save a kingdom called Dressrosa.” Law delivers the message and pleads with the officer to help save Corazon — but the officer is Vergo, the Donquixote Family’s mole inside the Navy. When Corazon, startled, speaks in front of Vergo, he blows the cover he has kept for years; Vergo realizes Corazon is “the second Corazon,” a Navy spy and Doflamingo’s own brother Rocinante, and crushes the report. Vergo beats Law and phones Doflamingo, who is already disembarking on Minion Island with the whole family. Doflamingo — having watched the Swallow Island rendezvous from afar and accepted that his brother meant him harm — deploys the Birdcage over the town and turns the trapped people on one another with his strings. Resolved to die, Corazon prepares to smuggle Law out of the cage, asking only that Law remember his smile.

New reveals

• Corazon stole the Op-Op Fruit from Diez Barrels. The fruit is worth ฿5,000,000,000; Corazon beat Barrels to it, leaving Barrels mortally wounded and his crew dead (pp. 2–3).
• Law eats the Op-Op Fruit. Corazon force-feeds it to him, claiming it will cure his disease and “save your life” (pp. 4–6). This is the origin of Law’s devil-fruit power.
• The Op-Op Fruit’s power “doesn’t work like magic.” Corazon admits to Law that the fruit alone won’t directly heal him (“those powers don’t work like magic,” p. 7) — telegraphing a deeper mechanism.
• Corazon’s “muteness” was a lifelong cover. He speaks aloud in front of Vergo and instantly regrets it (“a slip of the tongue”), exposing himself (p. 10).
• Vergo is the family’s mole in the Navy. The lone Navy scout Law approaches is “Mr. Vergo,” a Donquixote operative (“a powerful man acting separately from the family on his own top-secret mission,” pp. 9–12).
• Corazon = Rocinante = Doflamingo’s brother, “the second Corazon.” Vergo names him “Rocinante,” reveals he disappeared at age eight and returned 14 years later, and that Dofy never suspected him “because you were his brother” (pp. 11, 13).
• Doflamingo deploys the Birdcage on Minion Island. ~13 years before Dressrosa, he seals the town in the string-cage and uses Parasite to make the trapped townsfolk attack one another (pp. 16–17).
• The Navy’s deployment ran on Corazon’s intel. V.A. Tsuru at Navy HQ wonders where Sengoku got the information to demand the Minion Island deployment (p. 2) — i.e., from his undercover man Corazon.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Trafalgar Law (young, flashback), Corazon (flashback), Doflamingo (flashback), Vergo (flashback — the Navy-mole scout), Diez Barrels (first appearance — wounded), Tsuru (flashback — Navy HQ), Sengoku (mentioned)
• Groups: Donquixote Pirates (family lineup, p. 14), Donquixote, Marines
• Locations: Minion Island (first appearance), Swallow Island (first appearance), Marine Headquarters, Flevance (referenced as “White Town”), Dressrosa (named as the message’s destination)
• Devil fruits / lore: Ope Ope no Mi (eaten by Law), Birdcage (deployed), Den Den Mushi (Vergo ⇄ Doflamingo call)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page / Naruto tribute. Nami, Chopper, and Luffy at a Japanese food stall; a translator note explains the first letters of the menu signs spell out “Naruto, otsukare-san deshita” (“Thanks for the great run, Naruto!”) — Oda’s tribute to the conclusion of Kishimoto’s Naruto. A one-off illustration, not a cover serial.
• Page 2 — Three-locale establishing tier. Aerial of Swallow Island (caption “meeting place of Corazon and the Don Quixote family”); Navy HQ with V.A. Tsuru; Minion Island aflame (caption “hiding place of Diez Barrels”).
• Page 5 — Law eats the Op-Op Fruit. The fruit’s spiral-spotted skin shown as Corazon force-feeds it.
• Page 11 — “It had to be him.” Vergo crushes Corazon’s report tube and names him “Rocinante.”
• Page 14 — The Donquixote Family lineup. Splash of Doflamingo and his officers disembarking; Doflamingo’s “you guys are my only true family” line lands on the next page, p15.
• Page 16 — The Birdcage descends. The string-dome seals Minion Island town (~13 yrs pre-Dressrosa).
• Pages 17–18 — Corazon’s smile. A tearful grin and his dying wish; the page ends on a near-blank panel with a feather-coated silhouette tumbling.

Open questions raised

• How exactly does the Op-Op Fruit “save Law’s life” if eating it alone won’t cure his disease? **
• Was there a first Corazon before Rocinante (the title “the second Corazon”)?
• Will Corazon’s stolen intel ever reach the Navy now that Vergo has destroyed it?
• Can Corazon get Law out of the sealed Birdcage before he dies? **