Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Whole Cake Island

Chapter 891: They Believe in Me

Arc: Whole Cake Island · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2018-01-29

Summary

Across Totto Land, broken-mirror reports keep arriving (Flour Town on Wheat Island panics) as the Mirro-World duel between Luffy and Master Katakuri drags past “le half past nine o’clock”; in the underworld brokers’ lounge, Madame Stussy teases the assembled financiers that the Tamatebako — a gift from Straw Hat Luffy — was behind the chateau blast (p1-2). Inside the Mirro-World, Charlotte Flampe, Katakuri’s fanatically devoted 33rd-sister and “fan-club president,” pelts Luffy with poison needles, furious that the filthy “bloodied ape” keeps standing despite fatal damage and spoils her brother’s flawless image (p3-5). Luffy and a battered Katakuri trade blows at blinding speed; Katakuri notices the light in Luffy’s eyes and is shaken — Luffy is starting to dodge the undodgeable (p6-8). Katakuri lectures that he reads every action ahead of time, that there is “a will to every attack,” and Luffy, listening, very infrequently glimpses the same future and slips a punch (p9-11). Katakuri tells Luffy to stay down: his brothers’ fleet will crush Luffy’s friends before they ever reach Cacao Island at one o’clock, and the same fate awaits Luffy if he escapes the mirror (p12). On Bege’s ship at sea, Sanji and the collapsing cooks — with Pudding and Chiffon — finish the “ultimate wedding cake to stop Big Mom”; Pudding flusters between insults and tenderness toward Sanji (p13-14). Both Luffy and Sanji push on for one reason — their crew believes in them (p15). Out on the Thousand Sunny, a monstrous Big Mom in full craving-rampage bears down on Nami and Chopper, boasting of an Emperor’s tremendous soul, until a tasty smell distracts her: she now wants her cake (p16-17). One Piece is off the following week.

New reveals

• Charlotte Flampe — 33rd daughter of Charlotte, age 15; captioned “president of the Katakuri fan club and suicide squad captain.” She and her attendants have been hiding in the Mirro-World firing poison needles at Luffy to “score points” with Katakuri, enraged that Luffy keeps standing (p3-5).
• Katakuri’s power is advanced Observation Haki / precognition: “This is what happens when I can read your actions ahead of time.” He explains there is “a will to every attack” — a presence he reads before it lands (p10).
• Luffy begins to see the future too: “Very infrequently, he sees the same future that I do!!” — Luffy slips a punch he should not be able to dodge, and Katakuri is rattled by the new light in his eyes (p7-8, p11).
• Katakuri spells out the ambush: even if Luffy wins and leaves the mirror, his brothers’ “massive fleet” will crush the Straw Hats “before they actually reach the island” — Cacao Island at one o’clock (p12).
• The wedding cake is finished: Sanji, Pudding, Chiffon and the cooks complete the giant replacement cake to satisfy Big Mom — “no poison” this time (p13-14).
• Big Mom’s craving-rampage reaches the Sunny; her “tremendous” Emperor’s soul is invoked, and the smell of cake redirects her (p16-17).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Characters: Luffy, Charlotte Katakuri, Charlotte Flampe (first appearance), Sanji, Charlotte Pudding, Charlotte Chiffon, Capone Bege, Big Mom, Nami, Tony Tony Chopper, Stussy
• Groups / crews: Big Mom Pirates, Firetank Pirates, Charlotte, Underworld
• Locations: Mirro-World, Whole Cake Island, Totto Land, Cacao Island, Wheat Island (Flour Town)
• Items / powers: Tamatebox, Mochi Mochi no Mi, Haki
• Cover-story: Leo and the Straw Hat Grand Fleet (cover series Vol. 23) — tracked in Limited-Cover-Series-No-23-The-Saga-of-the-Self-Proclaimed-Straw-Hat-Fleet (Vol. 23, second straight Leo installment: the Tontatta rebuild a town — “Assist da Town in Weconstwuction!!”; disproves the Vol. 22 finale read, serial continues)

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title page / cover-story: “The Saga of the Self-Proclaimed Straw Hat Fleet, Vol. 23 — Leo: ‘Assist da Town in Weconstwuction!!’” — Grand Fleet members rebuilding a town.
• Page 2 — Flour Town, Wheat Island panics over broken mirrors; the underworld brokers’ lounge with Madame Stussy and the Tamatebako blast tease.
• Pages 3-5 — Charlotte Flampe introduced (bio-box, p4): 33rd daughter, age 15, Katakuri fan-club president / “suicide squad captain,” sniping Luffy with needles.
• Pages 7-8 — Katakuri unsettled by the changed “light” in Luffy’s eyes.
• Pages 10-11 — Katakuri’s future-reading lecture; Luffy slips a punch by seeing the same future.
• Page 12 — “Cacao Island at one o’clock” ambush reveal.
• Pages 13-14 — The wedding cake completed; Pudding’s tsundere turn toward Sanji.
• Page 15 — Title-drop split panel: Luffy and Sanji — ”…They believe in me!!!”
• Pages 16-17 — Big Mom’s craving-rampage looms over the Sunny; redirected by the smell of cake.

Open questions raised

• Can Luffy reliably command the future-sight he just glimpsed, or only catch it “very infrequently”?
• What is Katakuri hiding beneath his perfect image (the cracked composure)?
• Will the Sunny crew survive Big Mom’s rampage long enough for Sanji’s cake to arrive?
• How will the crew get past Katakuri’s brothers’ fleet waiting at Cacao Island?