Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Whole Cake Island

Chapter 877: Bittersweet

Arc: Whole Cake Island · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2017-09-25

Summary

The Straw Hats flee along the coast aboard the Thousand Sunny while Charlotte Perospero candies Brook and Tony Tony Chopper into lethal “candymen” and Charlotte Katakuri pursues from the Mirro-World, his mochi powers visibly mirroring Luffy’s. Big Mom, deep in her craving-illness, rampages after the ship by sea and land screaming for “CAAAKE!! WEDDING!!”, while Charlotte Mont-d’Or arranges a Tarte-fleet blockade of the coastline. Luffy blasts through Perospero’s “Candy Maiden” wall with Red Hawk and drives Katakuri off with Hawk Gatling, but Perospero’s “Candy Wave” floods the Sunny in hard candy, jamming the Coup de Burst and pinning the crew between Big Mom’s fists and the ships’ guns. As Perospero boasts his 700-million bounty, Pedro — the jaguar mink whose lifespan Big Mom had already stolen — straps explosives to himself, tells Carrot that Luffy’s crew are the ones the Minks and the Kozuki Clan have awaited for centuries to guide the world to its dawn, and detonates point-blank into Perospero (“SO LONG!! …my final voyage…”) in a massive blast — his actual death.

New reveals

• Pedro dies here. His point-blank self-detonation against Perospero (pp. 16–17) is his real death — undertaken to undo Perospero’s candy and keep the Straw Hats alive. (NOTE: distinct from his earlier non-fatal Tamago-escape detonation Ch. 850, “I’m not dying yet!!!” — see the queue file’s reconcile flag.)
• Charlotte Perospero’s bounty: 700,000,000 berries (p. 16, boasted to Pedro: “DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH MY BOUNTY’S WORTH?! IT’S 700 MILLION!!”).
• Expanded “dawn of the world” prophecy (p. 12): Pedro names Luffy and his friends as “the ones who will guide us to the dawn of the world… those whom our people [the Minks] and the Kozuki Clan have awaited for centuries.”
• Perospero’s candy mechanics (p. 3): the candy coats, permeates, and suffocates the target — a “candyman” becomes a “delightfully sweet candied corpse” within three minutes.
• Plan among the Big Mom Pirates (p. 5): lure the craving-stricken Big Mom toward Pudding on Cacao Island (where the substitute wedding cake is being prepared) — “we’re not at that stage yet.”

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy, Nami, Brook, Tony Tony Chopper, Carrot (Mink), Pedro (dies), Charlotte Perospero, Charlotte Katakuri, Big Mom, Charlotte Mont-d’Or (ordered to set the blockade), Charlotte Amande (Tarte fleet, named), Charlotte Pudding (mentioned, on Cacao Island)
• Crews / groups: Straw Hat Pirates, Big Mom Pirates, Nox Pirates (Pedro’s old crew), Minks, Kozuki (in the prophecy)
• Locations: Totto Land, Whole Cake Island (coastline), Cacao Island (mentioned), Big Mom Pirates’ Tarte vessels “Nuts Island Tarte” & “Candy Island Tarte”
• Fruits / powers: Pero Pero no Mi (Perospero — “Candy Maiden,” “Candy Wave,” candyman conversion); Katakuri’s mochi powers (un-named here, “like Luffy’s”); Luffy’s Gum-Gum (Red Hawk, Hawk Gatling)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash “Bittersweet.” Cover story present: The Saga of the Self-Proclaimed Straw Hat Fleet, Vol. 12 — Sai & Ooklicia (Sai’s marriage subplot). B&W, not a color spread.
• Page 3 — Perospero details the lethal candyman conversion (suffocating candied corpse within three minutes).
• Page 8 — Perospero’s “CANDY MAIDEN!!!” candy wall.
• Page 9 — Luffy’s “RED HAWK!!!” burns through the candy wall.
• Page 11 — “HIS POWERS… THEY’RE LIKE LUFFY’S!” — Katakuri’s mochi vs Luffy.
• Page 12 — “HAWK GATLING!!!”; Pedro delivers the Mink–Kozuki “dawn of the world” prophecy to Carrot.
• Page 15 — Perospero’s “CANDY WAVE!!!” floods the Sunny in hard candy, jamming the Coup de Burst.
• Page 16 — Perospero boasts his 700,000,000 bounty; Pedro: “SO LONG!! …my final voyage…”
• Page 17 — Massive explosion; Carrot screams “PEDROOO!!!” — Pedro’s death.

Open questions raised

• Does Perospero survive Pedro’s point-blank blast? (Aftermath is forward of this chapter.)
• Will the candy-locked Sunny escape Big Mom’s fists and the Tarte blockade?
• What is the “true importance” of Luffy’s survival that Carrot is told she will one day understand?
• Can Brook and Chopper be un-candied before the three-minute lethal window?