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Chapter 789: Lucy

Arc: Dressrosa · Saga: Dressrosa · Released: 2015-06-22

Summary

The Birdcage continues to shrink, and all of Dressrosa — Riku’s people, the freed Tontatta, the gladiators, and the pirate allies — strains to hold it back, with King Riku and “Commander Tank” Lepanto leading from the front and Mansherry’s healing dandelixirs already spent. On the royal plateau the battered Donquixote officer Diamante uses his Flag-Flag power to puppet Rebecca’s body, forcing her to fight the wounded Viola — whom he condemns for a decade of espionage-”betrayal” — and readies a one-hit killing blow. To save them, the Corrida Colosseum announcer Gatz (Gyats) climbs Doflamingo’s “execution stand,” broadcasts to the whole island that the beloved gladiator “Lucy” is in fact Straw Hat Luffy, recaps Lucy’s colosseum feats, reveals Lucy wears the very “hero’s mask” the Donquixote Family used in their coup ten years ago, and proclaims Luffy’s ironclad oath to defeat Doflamingo — drawing the citizens into a roaring countdown chant of “Lucy!” to hold the cage until their champion returns. At zero, as Diamante’s finishing strike falls, Luffy returns and punches the officer away, saving Rebecca and Viola.

New reveals

• Gatz publicly outs “Lucy” as Straw Hat Luffy to all of Dressrosa (p.11), and frames Luffy’s pledge to topple Doflamingo as an “ironclad oath” the people can rally behind.
• The bull-helmet “hero’s mask” Lucy wears is the same mask the Donquixote Family wore “on that night ten years ago” during the coup (p.11) — a real hero now wears the false heroes’ mask.
• Mansherry’s healing has a hard limit: her “dandelixirs” cannot revive the same person twice — those already touched are “out of time, it won’t work on dem again” (p.14).
• Diamante’s Flag-Flag power can puppet a person’s body: he forces Rebecca to fight Viola against her will (“I can’t control my body… what am I doing?!”, pp.4–5).
• Gatz recaps Lucy’s colosseum legend: he “felled a giant whose head split the clouds” (Hajrudin), “tamed the dreaded Killer Bull,” and “crushed Don Chin Jao, the living legend” (p.9).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy (as “Lucy”), Gatz (VIZ “Gyats”), Diamante, Violet (as “Viola”), Rebecca, King Riku, Tank Lepanto (“Commander Tank”), Mansherry, Leo, Hajrudin, Ideo, Dagama, Zoro, Kin’emon, Kanjuro, Fujitora, Franky, Bartolomeo, Trafalgar Law (named — “Where did he go?”), Doflamingo (addressed by Gatz, not on-page), Chin Jao (named only — “Don Chin Jao”)
• Groups: Donquixote Pirates / Donquixote Family, the Tontatta (Dwarves), the gladiators
• Locations: Dressrosa, Corrida Colosseum, the royal/new-palace plateau, the town center, Doflamingo’s “execution stand”

Notable panels

• p.1 — Chapter title page (B&W reader-request): “Shanks and a bulldog chilling under a café terrace” by Yassu from Chiba; the café sign reads “LE COFFEE, BEER & SMILE.” A standalone reader-request gag one-off (no serial banner, no “Vol. N” counter) — logged in the Dressrosa-Reader-Request-Title-Pages register-bin.
• pp.2–3, 6–8 — Map-panel of the citizen/gladiator/Tontatta lines pushing the Birdcage back; King Riku and “Commander Tank” Lepanto rally the front.
• pp.4–5 — Diamante puppets Rebecca’s body to attack the wounded Viola; Rebecca: “I can’t control… my body!! …what am I doing?!”
• pp.8–13 — Gatz climbs the execution stand and broadcasts the Lucy = Luffy reveal + Luffy’s oath, daring Doflamingo to come for him instead of Viola/Rebecca.
• pp.15–16 — The crowd’s countdown chant of “LUCY!!” to zero as they hold the cage.
• pp.18–19 — Luffy returns and punches Diamante away — “IT’S LUCYYY!!!! / STRAW HAT!”

Open questions raised

• Will the island-wide reveal hold the people’s faith long enough for Luffy to actually reach and stop the Birdcage?
• Where did Law go (the crowd notes he has vanished from the plateau)?
• Can Luffy make good on his “one-hit K.O. of Doflamingo” oath, given he’s still injured from the prior clash?