Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Whole Cake Island

Chapter 856: Liar

Arc: Whole Cake Island · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2017-02-13

Summary

At Capone Bege’s hidden fortress in Sweet City, Jinbei catches the Sanji-retrieval team up: Sanji and Luffy fought that morning, Sanji will not be easy to bring back, and tomorrow’s tea party “will be anything but ordinary” — there was a conspiratorial plot that nearly had Pekoms fed to the sharks. In the Vinsmoke guest rooms, Sanji’s three brothers (Ichiji, Niji, Yonji) drink and mock him — toasting their “usefully useless brother,” whose marriage will let Germa 66 rule the North Blue again under Big Mom’s flag. Out in the rain at the edge of town, a starving, beaten Luffy refuses to leave; Sanji insults and kicks him, then drops a crushed box lunch — and Luffy devours it, calling it the best food ever, drawing Sanji’s quiet “Liar.” Sanji finally lays out the three reasons he cannot return: he can’t face the captain he came all this way to track him down, only to insult; Zeff and the Baratie are held hostage; and he cannot abandon even the family he hates to be slaughtered. Luffy refuses to fight back, demanding Sanji “tell me how you really feel” — and Sanji breaks, sobbing that he wants to go back to the Sunny. Luffy declares they’ll crash this wedding together: “You’ve got us!!!”

New reveals

• The wedding/tea party is a trap. Big Mom intends to slaughter the entire Vinsmoke family “in a matter of hours” once the ceremony begins; Sanji knows it (pp. 3, 13).
• A conspiratorial plot nearly had Pekoms fed to the sharks; he survived. Jinbe relays this and the morning’s Luffy–Sanji fight (p. 3).
• Germa 66’s North-Blue ambition: with Big Mom’s backing, “Germa will once again rule the North Blue”; her flag on the Germa fleet is meant to make foes lose all will to fight (p. 6). Sanji was their “bait.”
• Zeff and the Baratie are hostages. “The old fart who saved my life and the home where I was raised” is held to force Sanji to play along (pp. 12–13).
• Sanji’s three reasons he can’t leave: (1) he can’t return after tracking down then insulting his own captain; (2) Zeff/Baratie are hostage; (3) he can’t let the Vinsmokes — “scum I owe nothing but hatred” — be slaughtered (pp. 12–14).
• Sanji’s turn: he admits he wants to go back to the Sunny; Luffy commits the crew to crashing the wedding (pp. 16–18).
• Lady Reiju is held under guard in the third-floor medical room (p. 7).
• (SBS, p. 18) Big Mom is 68 years old, bore children annually for ~42 years, and has 85 children (many twins/triplets); the largest batch was a decuplet (5 boys + 5 girls), now 18. Five look-alike sons are quintuplets: Opera, Counter, Cadenza, Cabaletta, Gala.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Appear: Luffy, Sanji, Nami (guarding the captive Caesar Clown at the fortress), Jinbei, Caesar Clown, Vinsmoke Ichiji, Vinsmoke Niji, Vinsmoke Yonji.
• Groups / lore: Vinsmoke, Charlotte, Germa 66, Firetank Pirates (Bege’s fortress).
• Locations: Whole Cake Island, Sweet City, the Mirro-World (referenced), Whole Cake Chateau guest rooms.
• (SBS) named: Opera, Counter, Cadenza, Cabaletta, Gala (Charlotte quintuplet sons — SBS only, not on-page in-story).

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page. Reader-request cover illustration: “Franky giving a crab a mecha body to protect it from a bullying monkey,” by Noda Skywalker from Osaka. (Cover-request corner, not a serialized B-plot.)
• Page 2 — The Mirro-World: the alliance hunts for Luffy and Sanji through Brulee’s mirrors; deduces they’re “outside, so there aren’t any mirrors.”
• Pages 5–6 — The Vinsmoke brothers’ drinking party; the Germa-rules-the-North-Blue toast and the “usefully useless brother” jeer.
• Page 9 — Sanji kicks Luffy, then drops the crushed box lunch: “Eat. If you can eat this…”
• Pages 10–11 — Luffy devours the ruined food, declaring it the best; Sanji’s title-drop “LIAR.”
• Pages 12–14 — Sanji’s three reasons, laid out in the rain.
• Pages 14–15 — THWAK / KRAAASH: Sanji beats Luffy, who refuses to fight back (“Tell me how you really feel!!!”).
• Pages 16–18 — Sanji breaks down (“I want to go back… to the Sunny!!!”); Luffy: “Let’s crash this wedding!!! But you’ve got us!!!”
• Page 18 — SBS Question Corner (Vol 85): Big Mom’s child demographics (85 children, age 68, decuplet batch) and the Charlotte quintuplet sons.

Open questions raised

• How will the alliance’s plan to “crash the wedding” actually unfold, and can they save the Vinsmokes (and rescue Sanji) before Big Mom’s slaughter?
• How is Zeff/the Baratie being held, and will it be freed?
• Why does Big Mom want the Vinsmokes dead rather than simply allied — what does Germa’s technology give her?
• What exactly is the “conspiratorial plot” that nearly killed Pekoms?