Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Zou

Chapter 805: The Minks

Arc: Zou · Saga: Four Emperors · Released: 2015-09-21

Summary

On the back of a living colossal elephant, the land of the Mink Tribe reacts to intruders in the Whale Forest. A felt “electric shock” and a Straw Hat Luffy rampage through the Forbidden Forest alarm the minks, who scramble to respond. Carrot (a rabbit mink) and Wanda (a dog mink) of the Battlebeast Tribe race toward the disturbance riding the mount Warney, relaying directions to other minks. Meanwhile Law, Robin, Zoro and Usopp confer over alarming reports that “the crews’ corpses are ahead” — and Law reveals he carries a Vivre Card belonging to Bepo, his navigator, who is “from this island,” left young, and can be trusted for accurate intel; a mink remarks “that talking polar bear is a mink too?!” In Whale Forest, Luffy brawls with the Whale Forest Guardians — bull mink Roddy and gorilla mink BB/Blackback — whose Electro does nothing to his rubber body; a thrown banana finally distracts Blackback, and the guardian commander Pedro orders a full withdrawal out of respect for Wanda. The Heart Pirates then mob Luffy in delight — they helped him escape the Paramount War and saw the alliance news in the paper. In Kurau City, the middle of the elephant’s back, Robin’s group finds a great city emptied “without a trace,” scored with claw-marks and stamped with giant footprints — a nation that collapsed a week or two ago. Wanda explains: the centuries-old Mokomo Dukedom was ruined half a month ago by one named Jack. A tremor (a “Rampruption,” not an earthquake) sends them onto Warney’s back to ride for Rightflank Forest — where Sanji’s group is. (End of Vol. 80; the volume closes with an SBS page of the Don Quixote Family drawn as children.)

New reveals

• The Mink Tribe, shown on-page at last (pp. 2–13): animal-human hybrid people — rabbit, dog, bull, gorilla, lion and polar-bear types — living on Zou. Captions name them “Battlebeast Tribe” and, for the forest wardens, “Whale Forest Guardian.” First on-page depiction of a people only ever named before (the Sabaody auction price-list, Ch. 501).
• Zou is a living elephant (pp. 15–17): the populated island sits on the back of a colossal elephant — “This from an elephant?”, “look at these giant footprints,” and tremors the minks call a “Rampruption” (explicitly not an earthquake). Kurau City is “the middle of the elephant’s back.”
• Electro (pp. 2, 9): the minks’ racial electric power; a “momentary electric shock” is felt when they strike. It fails on Luffy — “why doesn’t the Electro work on Himgara?!!” — because he is rubber.
• Bepo is a mink (pp. 6–7, 14): “that talking polar bear is a mink too?!” Bepo is from Zou, an “Assistant Guardian,” left the island at a young age, and has been with Law ten years. Law carries Bepo’s Vivre Card.
• The Heart Pirates are on Zou (pp. 9, 14): Jean Bart, Bepo and the rest reunite with the alliance; they “helped you out after the Paramount War” and learned of the Law–Straw Hat alliance from the newspaper.
• The Mokomo Dukedom was destroyed (pp. 15–17): a centuries-old mink nation, laid waste ~half a month ago; the people are gone “without a trace,” leaving claw-marks and giant footprints.
• The destroyer is named: JACK (p. 17): Wanda — “The name of the one who ruined our land… is Jack!!!” (Affiliation unstated on-page; Jack first appeared Ch. 801 attacking Doflamingo’s Marine escort.)
• The Straw Hats are split (pp. 4–6, 15–16): Sanji’s group (“Twirly-brow’s with them”) is somewhere ahead in Rightflank Forest; their safety is openly worried over.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Luffy (Whale Forest brawl) · Trafalgar Law · Nico Robin · Zoro · Usopp · Nami · Carrot (Mink) (first appearance — rabbit mink) · Wanda (first appearance — dog mink) · Pedro (named — guardian commander) · Roddy (first appearance — bull mink, Whale Forest Guardian) · Blackback (first appearance — gorilla mink, Whale Forest Guardian) · Bepo (confirmed mink) · Jean Bart · Penguin (Heart Pirates, present) · Jack (named — Zou’s destroyer; not shown this chapter) · Sanji (referenced — “Twirly-brow,” his group ahead) · Tony Tony Chopper (referenced — “an island of Choppers”) · Heart Pirates · Straw Hat Pirates · Minks · Zou · Mokomo Dukedom · Whale Forest (Forbidden Forest) · Kurau City · Rightflank Forest · Righttrump Forest · Deep Dark Swamp (sub-locations of Zou) · Warney (mink mount) · the Paramount War (referenced)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Cover story begins. “LIMITED COVER SERIES, NO. 22 — DECKS OF THE WORLD, 500-MILLION-MAN ARC, VOL. 1: ‘News Coos Travel to the Ends of the Sea’.” Splash (line art, not color) of figures riding flying creatures over ocean waves as news coos take flight — the opening installment of a multi-chapter cover arc on Luffy’s 500M bounty news spreading worldwide.
• Page 3 — Carrot’s enormous leap; “Wow, what a jump!! Is that what the minks are capable of?!” — first display of mink athleticism.
• Page 6 — Law reveals the Vivre Card; “that talking polar bear is a mink too?!” — the Bepo species confirmation.
• Page 8 — Luffy’s “Gum-Gum… Bell!!” headbutt on a guardian, intercut with a mink shouting “GOLOVA!!!” (the minks’ Russian-flavored speech).
• Page 11 — Title-card introductions: “Whale Forest Guardian (Gorilla Mink) BB (Blackback)” and “Whale Forest Guardian (Bull Mink) Roddy.”
• Page 12 — Title-card introductions: “Battlebeast Tribe (Rabbit Mink) Carrot” and “Battlebeast Tribe (Dog Mink) Wanda”; Luffy: “It’s like an island of Choppers!”
• Page 14 — “Heart Pirates Navigator (Assistant Guardian) Bepo”; the crew mobs Luffy over the Paramount War.
• Pages 15–17 — Kurau City emptied; claw-marks and giant footprints; Wanda names Jack and the ruined Mokomo Dukedom.
• Page 18 — SBS (end of Vol. 80): Oda draws the Don Quixote Family as children (Trebol, Diamante, Pica, Monet, Lao G, Gladius, Machvise, Giolla, Señor Pink). (Cross-link via the SBS refresh — Vol. 80.)

Open questions raised

• What is the colossal living elephant that carries Zou, and is it sentient / walking?
• Where did the entire mink population go — and how did they survive an attack that gutted their city?
• Who is Jack, what power does he serve, and why did he assault Zou?
• Is Sanji’s group safe at Rightflank Forest, and what happened to them?