Chapters · Four Emperors (Yonko) › Wano Country

Chapter 997: Flames

Arc: Wano Country · Saga: Four Emperors (Yonko) · Released: 2020-11-30

Summary

On the castle’s third floor, Sanji hears a woman crying for help and rushes to “save” her — only to be snared by the Tobi Roppo Black Maria, whose spider-web “Naughty Trap” (the “famous sexual-harassment technique of the Land of Samurai”) was bait all along; she flirts with the captured Sanji (bounty ฿330 million), and turns vicious the instant he refuses (“Boy?! Don’t insult me!”). Elsewhere two Headliners — Poker (Rattlesnake SMILE) and Mizerka (Gorilla SMILE) — note the ฿1.5 billion Straw Hat heading their way as the alliance climbs a hand-made ladder toward the fourth floor with help from former Udon prisoners. On the Performance Floor, Big Mom departs upward and the alliance chases Scratchmen Apoo, who is fleeing with the antibodies; Zoro cuts Apoo down, and Chopper — having figured out the bioweapon — announces the cure: the Ice Oni virus is fused with a chilling gas, so fire/heat halts its reproduction, and he will brew antibodies for everyone, “friend or foe.” A wave of Conqueror’s Haki (“the color of the Supreme King”) and a quake roll down from Kaido’s fury on the roof, and Okiku’s severed arm falls through the hole in the ceiling, hardening Zoro’s resolve to “slice Kaido into pieces.” Marco the Phoenix touches down to reinforce the floor. Then the whole island begins to shake: underwater, the alliance’s waiting ships cannot surface, and at the port outside the dome Yamato — shielding Momonosuke and Shinobu — realizes the truth: there is no sea to flee to anymore. Kaido has generated flame clouds and lifted all of Onigashima into the sky, declaring the Kozuki finished and Wano his — “New Onigashima,” a pirates’ stronghold — as the alliance grasps that he means to move the entire island over the Flower Capital. “Let us begin the World of Violence!!!”

New reveals

• Kaido lifts the entire island of Onigashima into the air using “flame clouds” — the cloud a dragon generates to fly — and intends to carry it to the Flower Capital, crush the citizenry, and rename Wano “New Onigashima,” a pirates’ stronghold; he opens “the World of Violence” (pp. 15–17).
• Chopper cracks the Ice Oni cure: the virus is fused with a gas that chills the body, so applying fire/heat stops the virus reproducing; he will “make enough antibodies for everybody” and save anyone, ally or enemy (pp. 10–11).
• Black Maria (Tobi Roppo) captures Sanji with her “Naughty Trap” spider-web, baited with a staged damsel-in-distress; Sanji’s bounty is cited at ฿330,000,000 (pp. 2–5).
• Two Animal Kingdom Pirates Headliners named on-page: Poker (Rattlesnake SMILE) and Mizerka (Gorilla SMILE) (p. 6).
• Marco the Phoenix arrives on the Performance/Live Floor to reinforce the Straw Hats (p. 13).
• Scratchmen Apoo flees with “the antibodies”; Zoro cuts him down (pp. 8–11). The alliance’s waiting ships are trapped underwater and cannot surface once the island rises (p. 14).
• Castle/island geography labels: “Performance floor, inside the dome” (p. 7); “Port area, outside the dome” (p. 15).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

Sanji (captured by Black Maria) · Black Maria (Tobi Roppo; “Naughty Trap”) · Nico Robin · Brook · Poker (debut — Rattlesnake SMILE Headliner) · Mizerka (debut — Gorilla SMILE Headliner) · Luffy (referenced — “worth 1.5 billion”) · Eustass Kid (referenced — “we already let Kid past”) · Zoro · Big Mom (leaving the floor, heading to the roof) · Scratchmen Apoo · Tony Tony Chopper · Ohmasa (Boss Ohmasa, infected/rampaging) · X Drake · Okiku (severed arm falls through the ceiling) · Marco (the Phoenix) · Jinbei · Yamato · Momonosuke · Shinobu · Kaido (dragon form) · Animal Kingdom Pirates · Akazaya Nine (Okiku) · Onigashima · Flower Capital (referenced) · Wano Country

Notable panels

• Page 1 — Title/cover page (B&W). Reader-request illustration (not a serial cover story — the Bege “Oh My Family” serial ended @0994): “A racoon-dog priest smacking Sanji’s shoulders because he is too distracted for Zen meditation,” by Michi Nakahara from Tottori. Sanji meditates in a “MIRE / 4” tank top.
• Pages 2–4 — Black Maria’s “Naughty Trap”: Sanji lured by a staged woman-in-distress, caught in a spider-web; “Another would-be hero with impure motives!”
• Page 5 — Black Maria flirts with the bound Sanji (“Do you like me too?”); he refuses and she rages (“Boy?! Don’t insult me!”).
• Page 6 — Headliner debuts: Poker (Rattlesnake SMILE) and Mizerka (Gorilla SMILE), each captioned “Headliner / Animal Kingdom Pirates”; a party-goer is told “Gorishiro, stop dropping banana bits on me!” The alliance is handed a hand-made ladder by ex-Udon prisoners.
• Pages 7–11 — Big Mom heads to the roof; the alliance chases Apoo for “the antibodies”; Zoro cuts him down; Chopper announces the fire/heat cure and “I’ll save anyone, friend or foe.”
• Page 12 — Conqueror’s Haki (“the color of the Supreme King”) + a quake roll down from Kaido’s fury above; Okiku’s severed arm falls through the hole in the ceiling; Zoro vows to slice Kaido apart.
• Page 13 — Marco the Phoenix lands on the floor to reinforce the Straw Hats.
• Page 14 — Underwater: the alliance’s waiting ships cannot surface; “Now we can’t join the fight!!”
• Page 15 — Port outside the dome: Yamato shields Momonosuke/Shinobu and names “flame clouds”; “there’s no escape to sea anymore.”
• Pages 16–17 — Mirror-significant spread: all of Onigashima rising into the sky on flame clouds; Kaido (dragon form) declares “New Onigashima” and “Let us begin the World of Violence!!!” — and the alliance realizes he means to move the whole island onto the Flower Capital. Visual mirror: the wide “inhabited island torn off the sea, lifted into the sky” composition + the conqueror’s “this is mine now, remove the natives” beat restages the Jaya->Skypiea rise from Ch. 292 pp. 14-16 (Knock-Up Stream). See Island Torn From The Sea Into The Sky Jaya Composition Restaged For Onigashima.

Open questions raised

• Will Kaido actually drop/lower the flying Onigashima onto the Flower Capital, and can the alliance (Momonosuke?) keep it aloft?
• Can Chopper distribute his antibodies/heat-cure to the infected before they die within the hour?
• Can the alliance’s stranded ships do anything now that there is no sea beneath the island?
• Is “Gorishiro” a nickname for Mizerka, or a separate gorilla-SMILE Gifter?
• How does Sanji escape Black Maria’s web, and what does her vicious turn mean for their fight?