Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Whole Cake Island

Chapter 888: Lion

Arc: Whole Cake Island · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2018-01-15

Summary

Inside Brûlée’s Mirro-World, Katakuri presses Luffy on why he came back instead of fleeing — was it to plead to serve under him? Luffy answers with a flurry of fists: he came back “to beat you,” running was never an option (pp. 2-3). Out on the Totto Land sea, the Thousand Sunny’s escape crew (Jinbei helming, with Nami, Carrot and Chopper) is boxed in between converging Big Mom fleets — Perospero (1st son), Smoothie’s backup fleet (14th daughter, Sweet 3), and the genie-wielding Daifuku (3rd son) from the fore, with Bavarois’s (26th son) cannonball homies on their tail and Big Mom herself being dragged along, screaming “WEDDIIIING!!” and bound for Pudding and Cacao Island (pp. 4-9). As a full moon rises, Carrot announces she’ll fight, undergoes a violent transformation — white fur, red eyes, a roaring lion-beast — and the crew names it: Sulong, a “Moon Lion,” the true form and true power of the minks, the same hidden card the two kings of Zou withheld against Jack (pp. 10-13). In Sulong form Carrot leaps onto the enemy ships, shrugs off gunfire as “a warrior of Zou,” and smashes Daifuku’s fleet apart, busting a ship’s wheel and sending it veering off course (pp. 14-17).

New reveals

• Sulong — the minks’ full-moon transformation — is shown on-page for the first time in the series. The crew calls it a “Moon Lion” and “the TRUE POWER of the MINKS”; it is explicitly the “ace up the sleeve” the two kings reserved against Jack’s forces at Zou (pp. 11-13).
• A mink must be trained to control Sulong or risk losing themselves; Carrot says Pedro trained her for it (p. 10). Sulong amplifies a mink into a roaring beast-form with white fur and red eyes (“She’s like a different person!!”, pp. 11-12).
• Charlotte Daifuku (3rd son of Charlotte) appears, commanding a fleet — and “controls a genie” via his power (pp. 6, 9, 17).
• Charlotte Bavarois (26th son of Charlotte) appears, commanding a fleet of homie cannonballs whose accuracy collapses because “Mama’s not in her right mind” (p. 5).
• The Big Mom fleet cannot catch the Sunny because Jinbei “knows all there is to know about the waves,” yet Big Mom’s craving-driven pursuit keeps pace at top speed (pp. 5-7).
• Big Mom’s destination is named: she is heading for Pudding and Cacao Island (p. 8); a sibling notes she appears to have “lost weight” (her craving illness, p. 8).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy, Charlotte Katakuri (Mirro-World duel); Carrot (Mink) (first Sulong), Tony Tony Chopper, Nami, Jinbei (Sunny escape crew); Charlotte Perospero, Charlotte Smoothie, Charlotte Daifuku, Charlotte Bavarois, Big Mom (pursuing fleet). Referenced: Pedro (Carrot’s late Sulong trainer), Jack (Zou flashback), Charlotte Pudding (Big Mom’s destination).
• Groups / crews: Minks, Big Mom Pirates.
• Locations: Mirro-World, Totto Land (open sea), Cacao Island (referenced destination), Zou (flashback).

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title splash + cover-story header: “The Saga of the Self-Proclaimed Straw Hat Fleet, Vol. 21 — Ideo: ‘The Ideo Pirate Crew — I Guess We’re Pirates Now.’” B&W title page (no color spread this chapter).
• Pages 2-3 — Luffy resumes the Mirro-World duel; “I came back… to beat you!!! That wasn’t… an option!!!”
• Page 5 — Title card: “26th son of Charlotte — Charlotte Bavarois,” commanding the cannonball-homie fleet.
• Page 6 — Title card: “3rd son of Charlotte — Daifuku”; Carrot spots the ships ahead from the Sunny’s lookout.
• Page 7 — Title card: “14th daughter (Sweet 3) — Smoothie,” her backup fleet joining the encirclement.
• Pages 10-12 — Carrot’s Sulong transformation under the full moon (white fur, red eyes, roaring); “PEDRO!!”
• Page 13 — The crew name it a “Sulong — a Moon Lion!!!”; “the TRUE POWER of the MINKS”; Jack/Zou flashback callback.
• Pages 15-17 — Sulong Carrot tanks gunfire (“a warrior of Zou”), wrecks Daifuku’s fleet, busts a ship’s wheel.
• Page 18 — SBS Question Corner (Vol. 89 installment): carrier bats / News Coo / Songbird Post / Albatross Post; Oda notes he has answered 1,199 SBS questions to date.

Open questions raised

• What are the full limits and costs of Sulong — how long can it last, and what happens to a mink who turns without Pedro-style training?
• Will the Sunny break free of the encircling Big Mom fleets, and does Big Mom’s craving illness alter the chase?
• How does Luffy’s renewed assault fare against Katakuri’s future-sight Observation Haki?