Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Whole Cake Island

Chapter 869: Castling

Arc: Whole Cake Island · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2017-06-19

Summary

The wedding-day coup collapses into a fighting retreat. With Big Mom still locked in the grief-scream the smashed Carmel portrait triggered, the Straw Hat / Vinsmoke / Fire Tank alliance withdraws into Capone Bege’s castle-fortress body — the “Big Father.” Sanji blitzes through the smoke to pull Nami out of an enemy’s grip; the four armored Vinsmoke siblings cover the breakout with their signature colored Germa attacks (Sparking Red, Electric Blue, Winch Green, Poison Pink) while an onlooker (Caesar) marvels at Germa’s flameproof “memory armor.” Amid the chaos an opportunistic Big Mom Pirate makes off with the giant Tamatebox, cracking it open to swap out the loot — and the box slips loose. Katakuri then jams every one of Big Father’s cannons with mochi and Perospero walls the castle’s limbs in candy, leaving the fortress immobilized and ringed by Big Mom’s entire crew. Inside, Bege admits the truth: the castle is his body — break it and he dies, and everyone gets dumped out among the “monsters.” He laments a year-long assassination plan now ruined as Chiffon frets over him. As the chapter ends Big Mom snaps back to her right mind, understands she has been betrayed — “Did you… betray meee?!!” — and demands the traitors show themselves.

New reveals

• Bege’s Devil Fruit is life-bound. Big Father is literally Bege’s body: “If the castle gets destroyed, I die—which means the castle disappears… and you all get tossed out there with the monsters!!! This castle is ME!! It’s hardy, but it ain’t invincible!!” (p. 18). The fortress is durable but mortal — and everyone inside is staking their lives on it holding.
• The fortress is neutralized from outside. Katakuri stuffs Big Father’s cannons with mochi so they can’t fire (“All the cannons in the castle… are jammed with mochi!! KATAKURI!!”, pp. 15-16) and Perospero’s candy pins the castle’s limbs (“The Bigfather’s limbs are trapped under candy!!! We can’t move anymore!!”, p. 16). The alliance is immobilized and surrounded.
• The coup cost “over a year” of planning and has now wholly misfired: “Dammit… we spent over a year on this assassination plan, and now it’s all ruined!!” (p. 17).
• A thief loosens the Tamatebox. A Big Mom Pirate swipes the box in the confusion to “switch out the contents” (“Heh heh!! Gotta love a good chaotic diversion! …opening the Tamate box!!”, p. 13) — and it tumbles free (p. 13), the rigged prop now loose in the chateau.
• The Vinsmokes fight as Germa. Ichiji, Niji, Yonji and Reiju deploy their armored colored attacks; Germa’s armor is shown to be flameproof “memory” metal (p. 8) — onlooker comment: “Ah, yes, Germa’s science!! So that’s what their ‘memory armor’ looks like! And flameproof, to boot!”
• Big Mom recovers. Her scream-fit/craving rampage breaks and “Big Mom… is back in her right mind again!!!” (p. 19) — and she immediately grasps Bege’s betrayal.

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Capone Bege (as the Big Father) · Big Mom · Luffy · Sanji · Nami · Caesar Clown · Charlotte Perospero · Charlotte Katakuri (acts; jams the cannons with mochi) · Charlotte Brulee (hostage inside the castle) · Charlotte Chiffon · Vinsmoke Ichiji · Vinsmoke Niji · Vinsmoke Yonji · Vinsmoke Reiju · Vinsmoke Judge (with Germa) · Vito (Fire Tank crew) · unnamed Big Mom Pirate (Tamatebox thief) · Shiro Shiro no Mi · Pero Pero no Mi · Germa 66 · Tamatebox · Firetank Pirates · Big Mom Pirates · Whole Cake Chateau · Whole Cake Island · Totto Land

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page / cover-story art: “The Saga of the Self-Proclaimed Straw Hat Fleet, Vol. 6 — Bartolomeo: ‘It’s the usual raucous ruckus from the Barto Club.’” The Barto Club ship (jolly-roger sail, “BARTO CLUB” banner, Luffy figurehead) makes a noisy entrance to a cheering crowd (“WOOOOOOOAH!!”).
• Page 2 — “Into the castle!!” The alliance pours into Big Father as Big Mom screams; Perospero: “I saw what you did, Bege!! You were plotting to assassinate Mama!!”
• Page 3 — Big Mom’s scream “killin’ my eardrums”; “The Tamate box…!!” glimpsed; “Into the castle!!!”
• Pages 4-5 — “Into the Big Father!!” Katakuri’s mochi (MOOCH!!) in play; Nami is snagged (“EEEK!! NAMI!!”) as Big Mom laughs/rages.
• Pages 6-7 — Sanji speed-blitz rescue of Nami through the smoke (SAN-DABBA-DABBA / FWAP / SHWURRR).
• Pages 8-11 — The “GERMA / 66” label-splash; the Vinsmoke siblings’ colored attacks: Sparking Red (Ichiji), Electric Blue (Niji), Winch Green (Yonji), Poison Pink (Reiju). Onlooker on Germa’s flameproof “memory armor.”
• Page 13 — The Tamatebox thief: “Heh heh!! Gotta love a good chaotic diversion! …opening the Tamate box!!” — he cracks it open to swap the loot.
• Page 14 — Perospero’s “Candy Wall!!!” blocks Big Father’s barrage.
• Pages 15-16 — Big Father’s cannons revealed jammed with Katakuri’s mochi; the limbs candy-trapped; “We’re surrounded by Big Mom’s crew…”
• Pages 17-18 — Inside the Big Father: Bege (“I’ve never had a hit job backfire on me before…”) explains the castle is his body and not invincible; Luffy gawks, “This is wild, Bege!! You can turn into a huge castle!!”
• Page 19 — Big Mom snaps back to lucidity and rounds on Bege: “Did you… betray meee?!!” — “Show yourselves!!!” (To be continued in Vol. 87.)

Open questions raised

• With Big Father immobilized, cannons jammed and the alliance ringed by Big Mom’s whole crew, how does anyone escape a “battle we can’t hope to win”?
• Where does the loosed, bomb-rigged Tamatebox end up — and when does it go off?
• Now that Big Mom is lucid and knows she was betrayed, how does an enraged Emperor respond to a castle she can crack open?