Limited-Cover-Series-No-21-The-Solitary-Journey-of-Jimbei

The 21st numbered Limited Cover (Page) Series, opening on the chapter title pages after the No. 20 “Caribou’s New World Kee Hee Hee” picaresque signs off with its FINAL VOLUME (@0731). It opened with the same two-part convention as both its predecessors: the opener (@0751) carried both a “Limited Cover Series No. 21” banner and a descriptive Vol. 1 title (“Onward to My Friends”), printed beneath an art-only establishing snapshot — an underwater seascape with no lead character yet shown.

As anticipated (No. 19’s running name “From the Decks of the World” and No. 20’s “Caribou’s New World Kee Hee Hee” both first surfaced from the Vol. 2 caption), the serial’s running series name surfaces at the next installment, @0752: “The Solitary Journey of Jimbei, First Son of the Sea.” The lead is the fish-man Jimbei — the “First Son of the Sea,” his on-page epithet from the Marineford/Impel-Down arc — embarked on a solo voyage. This thread is now keyed on that running name.

Installment table

Captions recorded verbatim from the printed strips. The “Vol. N” caption is the strip’s own running installment count (tankōbon-independent). Each installment is a 1-page chapter-title-page cover.

Coverage / numbering

• Vol. 1 = the opener at Ch. 751 — banner “Limited Cover Series No. 21” + descriptive title “Onward to My Friends” over an art-only establishing page (sea creatures only; no lead yet).
• Vol. 2 = Ch. 752 — the running series name “The Solitary Journey of Jimbei, First Son of the Sea” and the lead (Jimbei) surface, exactly mirroring the opener→Vol.2 reveal cadence of both predecessors (No. 19 @0613→@0614, No. 20 @0674→@0675).
• Vol. 3 = Ch. 753 — “Looks Like Trouble For This Sea-Dog Officer (Sea Animal Sheriff)”; Jimbei is cornered in a bubble/cage by a sea-dog officer and a sea-cat. Still a solo sea-travelogue; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 4 = Ch. 754 — “Well, good thing this sea kitten happens to live in my town.”; the lawman standoff de-escalates as the strayed sea-kitten turns out to be a local. Jimbei makes the officer’s acquaintance. Still a solo sea-travelogue; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 5 = Ch. 755 — “Got an incident on our hands. Town’s gone.”; the sea-kitten’s town has vanished and the sea fauna weep on the beach — the travelogue pivots from comedy into a disaster/mystery beat. Still a solo sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• No installment at Ch. 756 — that chapter ran a full-cast Straw Hat color/title cover rather than a Jimbei strip, so the serial skips it; the Vol. count stays continuous (Vol. 5 → Vol. 6).
• Vol. 6 = Ch. 757 — “The Officer’s House Is Miraculously Found! The Mystery of the Crying Sea-Kitten Deepens.”; the vanished house reappears but the sea-kitten still weeps — the disaster of Vol. 5 turns into a deepening mystery rather than a clean resolution. Still a solo sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 7 = Ch. 758 — “Look, A Sinking Ship!!”; Jimbei and the sea-cat, from the diving sphere, watch a burning ship sink — the deepening sea-kitten/vanished-town mystery gains a shipwreck clue. Still a solo sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 8 = Ch. 759 — “Saved the Capsized Ship”; the Vol. 7 sinking ship turns to rescue as Jimbei rights the capsized vessel and its passengers cry “THANK YOU!!!” (his whale-shark silhouette breaching at lower-right). Still a solo sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 9 = Ch. 760 — “The Sailors’ Newspaper Tells of Luffy’s Alliance”; Jimbei reads a sailors’ newspaper of the Straw Hat–Law alliance (bounties Law 440,000,000 / Luffy 400,000,000). The serial’s first main-canon-aware beat — no physical Straw Hat contact (Luffy & Law appear only as newspaper photos/bounties), but the cover Jimbei is now tracking the main plot, tightening the “Onward to My Friends” payoff framing.
• Vol. 10 = Ch. 761 — “Not That Article, This One! A Mob of Sea Beasts.”; the newspaper beat continues but the caption redirects away from the Luffy-alliance story to a different headline, “SEA BEASTS RAMPAGE IN PORT TOWN” — folding the serial’s own vanished-town / crying-sea-kitten disaster thread (Vols. 5–8) back into the news. Still a solo sea-tale; no physical main-canon contact, and the “not that article” gag deliberately dismisses the Vol. 9 convergence rather than advancing it.
• Vol. 11 = Ch. 762 — “Let’s Visit the Port Town”; Jimbei voyages in his bubble past a torii gate marked 海神 (“Sea God”) and sets course for the port town of the Vol. 10 sea-beast headline — acting on the printed news by making the disaster site his next destination, keeping the serial inside its own vanished-town / sea-beast mystery. Still a solo sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 12 = Ch. 763 — “The Ruins atop the Port are the Sea-Kitten’s Town”; Jimbei reaches the port town of the Vol. 11 course-set and, in a small boat with the weeping sea-kitten alongside, passes the port-top ruins — revealed to be the sea-kitten’s vanished town (the home lost in Vol. 5). The serial’s Vols. 5–11 vanished-town / crying-sea-kitten disaster thread resolves to its destination within the cover story. Still a solo sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• No installment at Ch. 764 — that chapter ran its own decorative chapter-title page (“White Monster” — Chopper as a giant white snow-beast with the Straw Hats fishing, “Beware of the Pirates!”; no “REQUEST” credit, no serial banner) rather than a Jimbei strip, so the serial skips it (as @0756); the Vol. count stays continuous (Vol. 12 @0763 → Vol. 13 @0765, the latter previewed on the 764 p. 21 spillover).
• Vol. 13 = Ch. 765 — “Suddenly the ruins destroyed our town, the creatures wrecked our ships, and the offerings disappeared.”; Jimbei stands among the townspeople before the destroyed ruins of Vol. 12, who recount the cause of the disaster — the ruins themselves wrecked the town, the sea-creatures smashed the ships, and the offerings vanished. The testimony explains the serial’s Vols. 5–12 vanished-town / sea-beast mystery (the news headline of Vol. 10 now given an on-the-ground account). Still a solo sea-tale with local townsfolk; no main-canon contact.
• No installment at Ch. 766 — that chapter ran a Naruto-tribute one-off title page (Nami/Chopper/Luffy at a food stall, the menu-sign acrostic spelling “Naruto, otsukare-san deshita”) rather than a Jimbei strip, so the serial skips it (as @0756 and @0764); the Vol. count stays continuous (Vol. 13 @0765 → Vol. 14 @0767).
• Vol. 14 = Ch. 767 — “The Mountain of Offerings, Appearance of the Ruins, and Furious Sea Creatures”; a torii gate marked 海神 (“Sea God”) stands in the open sea with a lone boat approaching (the same Sea-God torii of Vol. 11), and the caption names the three strands of the Vol. 13 testimony — the offerings (now a “Mountain of Offerings”), the ruins’ “Appearance,” and the “Furious Sea Creatures” — previewing the next stage of the disaster’s explanation. Still a solo sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 15 = Ch. 768 — “I Definitely Saw That Ruin Fall Just Now”; the colossal multi-tiered 海神 “Sea God” port-top ruin (the temple-stair structure of the Vol. 11–14 torii motif) is shown collapsing into the sea, the sea-cat companion reacting in shock in the foreground. The serial’s disaster mystery moves from the Vol. 13 townsfolk testimony and the Vol. 14 preview to a witnessed ruin-collapse on-page. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 16 = Ch. 769 — “A shadow vanishes into the depths! The culprit is in the water!!”; the Vol. 15 witnessed ruin-collapse becomes a whodunit as a culprit’s shadow slips away into the depths — the caption naming a hidden underwater perpetrator behind the toppled 海神 “Sea God” ruin and the wrecked port. The serial turns from witnessing the disaster to hunting its cause. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 17 = Ch. 770 — “Discovered! A Huge Mound of Offerings”; the offerings that the Vol. 13 townsfolk said had “disappeared” — and that the Vol. 14 caption promised as a “Mountain of Offerings” — are now found: a huge mound of offering-barrels with a mermaid/fish in a bubble alongside, captioned “Treasure for the Sea God” (海神). The Vol. 16 whodunit advances toward the lost treasure, the missing offerings recovered as a discovered hoard. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• No installment at Ch. 771 — that chapter ran its own color/title spread (“SAI, DON OF THE HAPPOSUI ARMY” — the Straw Hats on horseback, previewing Sai’s rise to “Don”) rather than a Jimbei strip, so the serial skips it (as @0756/@0764/@0766); the Vol. count stays continuous (Vol. 17 @0770 → Vol. 18 @0772, the latter previewed on the 771 p. 21 spillover).
• Vol. 18 = Ch. 772 — “The Giant Monk, Sea God Wadatsumi Appears. ‘No Need to Thank Me.’”; the serial’s “Sea God” disaster culprit gains a face — the giant monk captioned “Sea God Wadatsumi” is the colossal blowfish Wadatsumi (last seen in main canon among the New Fish-Man / Flying Pirates at Fish-Man Island). The Vol. 16 “culprit in the water” and the toppled 海神 “Sea God” port-top ruin (Vols. 11–15) resolve onto a recognizable main-canon character, the “No Need to Thank Me” tag framing Wadatsumi as a clumsy benefactor rather than a villain. A character bridge, not a cover→main merge — Jimbei still voyages alone; no physical Straw Hat contact; no main-plot event flows out of it.
• Vol. 19 = Ch. 773 — “As Thanks for the Offerings, I Just Gave You the Underwater Humans’ House.”; the Vol. 18 “Sea God” Wadatsumi explains the disaster — in exchange for the town’s offerings he “gave” them an Underwater Humans’ House, the colossal undersea ruin that rose over and toppled onto the port (Vols. 11–18). This closes the Vols. 5–18 cover-internal mystery (vanished town, destructive ruins, furious sea-creatures, missing offerings → all Wadatsumi’s clumsy “gift”). The strip is a 5-panel numbered travel montage, and panel 1 shows Jimbei thinking of Luffy / the straw hat — the serial’s first main-canon-aware beat since Vol. 9 (@0760), re-asserting the “Onward to My Friends” payoff framing. Still a character/thematic bridge, not a cover→main merge: no physical Straw Hat contact, no main-plot event flows out of it.
• Vol. 20 = Ch. 774 — “Jimbei Lectures the Sea God”; the aftermath of the Vol. 18–19 culprit reveal — Jimbei stands before the giant weeping “Sea God” (Wadatsumi) and lectures/scolds him, stepping in as moral mediator over the disaster the Sea God’s clumsy “gift” of the Underwater Humans’ House (Vol. 19) inflicted on the town. The serial turns from solving the mystery to morally resolving it, the chastened Sea God in tears. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• No installment at Ch. 775 — that chapter ran its own color title spread (“TO RUSSIAN WITH LOVE” — the Straw Hats on a Route-325 bicycle/seal-sidecar road-trip, ONE PIECE logo = chapter splash, tie-in to the in-chapter wife “Russian”) rather than a Jimbei strip, so the serial skips it (as @0756/@0764/@0766/@0771); the Vol. count stays continuous (Vol. 20 @0774 → Vol. 21 @0776).
• Vol. 21 = Ch. 776 — “The Sea Beasts’ Misunderstanding”; the serial clears the sea-beast strand of its disaster mystery — the “Mob of Sea Beasts” of the Vol. 10 news and the “furious sea creatures” of the Vol. 13 testimony / Vol. 14 preview, who “wrecked our ships,” turn out to have acted on a misunderstanding rather than malice, dovetailing Wadatsumi’s clumsy-”gift” explanation (Vols. 18–20). An aftermath/wind-down beat tidying the last suspect of the cover-internal catastrophe. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 22 = Ch. 777 — “A Big Mess of Apologies, Understandings and Reunions”; the cover-internal disaster mystery reaches its warm denouement — a reconciliation of apologies, mutual understanding and reunions that clears the Vol. 21 sea-beast “misunderstanding,” forgives Wadatsumi’s clumsy-”gift” catastrophe (Vols. 18–20), and restores the uprooted sea-kitten / townsfolk. A Kung-Fu Dugong, a large round-faced fish-creature and smaller sea fauna gather before a coastal tower, the wrecked port’s cast reunited in peace — winding the Vols. 5–21 vanished-town mystery down to a happy resolution within the cover serial. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 23 = Ch. 778 — “Oh yeah, we found this in the ruins.”; a post-denouement coda — Jimbei and his sea-fauna companions stand before a large stone block covered in poneglyph-style ancient script recovered from the ruins (the wrecked port-top ruins of the Vols. 5–22 disaster). After the Vol. 22 reconciliation tidied the vanished-town mystery, the ruins now note flags a possible later tie to the poneglyphs and to Jimbei’s route toward the Straw Hats). Recorded, not promoted — still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no physical Straw Hat / main-canon contact, and no main-plot event flows out of it on-page (§Forward guards).
• No installment at Ch. 779 — that chapter ran a reader-request color double-spread (“Let’s go for Pirate Festival” — the full Straw Hat crew at a feast, Zoro in a “GSM” shirt) rather than a Jimbei strip, so the serial skips it (as @0756/@0764/@0766/@0771/@0775); the Vol. count stays continuous (Vol. 23 @0778 → Vol. 24 @0780).
• Vol. 24 = Ch. 780 — “Sank the Ruins Down Next to the Port”; a restoration/tidy-up coda to the resolved disaster — the wrecked port-top ruins of the Vols. 5–23 catastrophe are sunk back down beneath the waves beside the port (submerged ruins next to a port amid cat-fish creatures). After the Vol. 22 reconciliation and the Vol. 23 ancient-artifact find, the disaster wreckage is cleared by returning the ruins to the sea floor, putting the port back in order. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 25 = Ch. 781 — “New fishing boats to make up for the busted ones”; a second restoration coda following Vol. 24’s sinking of the ruins — fishermen launch newly-built fishing boats to replace the vessels lost in the disaster, closing the “the creatures wrecked our ships” strand of the Vol. 13 testimony (cleared as a misunderstanding in Vol. 21). With the ruins resettled (Vol. 24) and the fleet rebuilt (Vol. 25), the catastrophe site is fully restored. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 26 = Ch. 782 — “Time for a Party”; the celebration finale of the restored disaster site — with the ruins resettled (Vol. 24) and the fishing fleet rebuilt (Vol. 25), the town throws a party. A grinning Wadatsumi “Sea God” beams at center amid the restored coastal town and port, music notes (♪) afloat and sea-fauna gathered under a full moon — the clumsy Sea God whose “gift” caused the catastrophe (Vols. 18–19) now welcomed and forgiven, the Vols. 5–25 vanished-town disaster arc reaching its festive close. Jimbei is not shown on this panel (as on the Vol. 1 opener art). Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; no main-canon contact.
• Vol. 27 = Ch. 783 — “I Wadda Go Wif You”; a new companion strand off the resolved disaster arc — Jimbei stands beside a colossal sea creature that, in baby-talk phonetics (“I Wadda Go Wif You” = “I wanna go with you”), begs to join his journey. With the Vols. 5–26 vanished-town catastrophe wound to its festive close, the serial pivots from the closed mystery to a fresh travelogue beat — a sea-creature suitor wanting to come along, echoing the “Onward to My Friends” (Vol. 1) framing. Still a solo cover-internal sea-tale; the would-be companion is a cover-internal sea creature, not a main-cast tie; no physical Straw Hat / main-canon contact.
• No installment at Ch. 784 — that chapter ran a full-cast color spread (“Picnic with zombies” — Luffy, Nami, Robin and Brook picnicking with Thriller-Bark-style biker zombies) rather than a Jimbei strip, so the serial skips it (as @0756/@0764/@0766/@0771/@0775/@0779); the running count stays continuous (Vol. 27 @0783 → FINAL VOLUME @0785).
• FINAL VOLUME = Ch. 785 — “Setting Off With a New Kimono and Some Gifts”; the serial’s concluding installment, captioned “FINAL VOLUME” rather than a numbered “Vol. N” (exactly as predecessors No. 19 @0668 and No. 20 @0731 signed off). A send-off coda: Jimbei, gifted a new kimono and parting presents, waves “Thank you!” from atop a giant fish as the sea fauna of the wrecked-port arc see him off and he sets off onward — the “Onward to My Friends” framing closing on Jimbei pressing toward companionship. The serial ENDS here, on its own internal travelogue; not a cover→main merge (no physical Straw Hat contact, no main-plot event flows out of it).
• Predecessor: No. 20 — “Caribou’s New World Kee Hee Hee”, which concluded at its FINAL VOLUME (@0731) before this serial began.
• status: concluded — Vols. 1–27 + FINAL VOLUME are on record (no installments at 756, 764, 766, 771, 775, 779, 784). The serial ends at its FINAL VOLUME (@0785). No payoff_chapter — concluding ≠ merging; the eventual on-page crew-rejoin lies far ahead of this read frontier.

Cover→main payoff watch (do NOT promote yet)

Notes

• Register: narrative serial (running cover-page installments), opened by an art-only establishing page — same opener pattern as No. 19 and No. 20; single-lead travelogue from Vol. 2 onward.
• Lead: Jimbei, the “First Son of the Sea.” First serial-lead appearance @0752.
• Conclusion: the serial ends at its FINAL VOLUME (@0785) — “Setting Off With a New Kimono and Some Gifts,” a send-off coda — captioned “FINAL VOLUME” (not “Vol. N”), the same closing convention as No. 19 (@0668) and No. 20 (@0731). status: concluded; not a cover→main merge (no payoff_chapter).
• Predecessor: No. 20 — “Caribou’s New World Kee Hee Hee” (concluded @0731).