SBS Volume 25
Jaya-to-Skypiea-pivot SBS — Nico Robin’s birthday officially canonized (February 6) via the “ni-ro” syllable-pun; Bellamy’s name = Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy (historical North American pirate); Vira canonized as a “small Grand Line country mid-coup d’état” (the Vol. 11 / Vol. 23 panel reference is to one ongoing crisis, not a continuity error); Clima Tact “Tempo” = Italian for weather; and Mr. 3’s Volume-19 swimming-on-water gag answered (he was on “Unbelievably Floaty Wood”).
Q&A
Q: Three-count collaborative title call
D: Alright everyone, let’s all shout it together on the count of three… two… START THE SBS!! (now everyone got to do it equally!)
O: SPLRAAAAAH!! I bit my tongue. Darn it, I lost my chance!
Q: Sea-cat ear hair
D: In page 28 of volume 18, is that an EARRING I see on that sea cat’s left ear?
O: Ummm. That is “ear hair (mimige)”. On a related note, everyone, try saying this three times fast. “Migimimi Migime Migime Migimimi” (Right Ear, Right Eye, Right Eye, Right Ear). Hard, isn’t it?
Q: Nico Robin’s birthday — February 6
D: Do you think that February 6 would be a good day for Nico Robin’s birthday?
O: Ah, yes, I like the sound of that. ((NI)co (RO)bin… ni=two, ro=six).
Q: Oda gets naked
D: I know how much you like getting butt-naked, so this must be a favourite season for you.
O: Yes, yes. I just LOVE getting completely naked. In the summertime, after I take a bath I just run STRAIGHT OUTSIDE!! … AS IF!! I’D GET ARRESTED!!!
Q: “Sir” Crocodile etymology
D: Long ago, English nobility called each other by the honorific “Sir”. Is that what the “sir” in “Sir Crocodile” is from?
O: Were you SIRprised?
Q: Usopp index vs middle finger error
D: One Piece, Volume 24, page 184! Why is it that when Usopp is fixing the ship and he hits his middle finger with the hammer, in the next picture his index finger is bruised?!
O: Think of it like a balloon. For instance, if you have a long balloon, when you squeeze the right end, the left end will puff up. If you hit Usopp’s middle finger with a hammer (wham!!) his index pointer finger will puff up.
Chapter 229, Page 66
No questions. Just a little game made by a reader.
Q: Clima Tact “Tempo” = Italian for weather
D: Nami says stuff like “Tornado Tempo” a lot with her Clima Tacts, but what the heck does “Tempo” mean?
O: Tempo. It means weather. Weather in Italian. Tempo. I just liked how the word sounded.
Q: Mr. 3 floating on wood (DF-on-water gag)
D: If Mr. 3 is supposed to have Devil Fruit powers, then why is he floating on top of the water in volume 19, page 185, panel 3?
O: I sure got a lot of these response… You wouldn’t believe how many postcards I got about this. But you guys all understimated me… There’s a proper reason for this. Under Mr. 3’s body there just so happened to be a piece of “Unbelievably Floaty Wood”. And that is why he was floating so unbelievably. Let’s say, normally a person’s floating power is 3 Pukas, and a sumo wrestler’s would be about 5 Pukas. But on a good day, a piece of “Unbelievably Floaty Wood” can get as high as 13 Pukas, the world record set by floating master Pukayama Ukijirou.
Q: Bellamy = Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy
D: Is Bellamy the Hyena’s name modelled after the North American pirate Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy?
O: Yes. That is correct. Samuel Bellamy. That’s him. They say he was a pretty big-time pirate in his day, and had a love for speaking. Instead of a “Hyena”, he was more of a “Lion” fond of speeches.
Chapter 231, Page 106
Another game made by a reader.
Q: Zoro’s right-hip swords (with Oda counter-question)
D: Why is it that Zoro has his swords held at his right hip when swords are usually worn on the left?
O: Uhhh… because if Zoro doesn’t have something heavy on his right side, he’d keep leaning to the left (ha). Oh, that’s right. I have a question for you now. In Volume 21, Chapter 194 “Cut Through Steel”, why is it that Zoro has his swords on his left hip in every single picture? And why is it that on page 154, his scabbards seem to have disappeared entirely? Is it true that the mistakes in this chapter were so massive that even the readers failed to write in and scold me for them? Yes, it’s true. Is it true that I didn’t fix a single panel because of the half-assed reason, “there are too many panels to fix”? Yes, that is true.
A haiku: Hmmm, Oda-sensei. Looks tired again today.
Q: Why everyone speaks the same language
D: How come, in manga, no matter where you go, everyone always speaks the same language?
O: Because manga is something where everyone’s dreams are depicted.
Chapter 233, Page 146
Yet another game made by a reader.
Q: Vira — small Grand Line country mid-coup
D: Where is Vira? In Vol. 11, it’s having a “coup d’état”, in chapter 228 it’s a “merry town”. What’s going on?
O: Oh. Well spotted. 400 years ago when Noland visited it, Vira was indeed just a merry town, but these days it’s a violent and dangerous country in the midst of a coup d’état (rebellion). But it’s not really so much what’s happening in Vira, as what’s happening all around the world at this time. I think you’ll discover what I mean in the near future. Not as large as Arabasta, it’s just a small country in the Grand Line. So hold off on your sightseeing trips.
Q: “Odacchi” in Dream Soccer King
D: I saw the movie “Chopper’s Kingdom on the Island of Strange Animals”. The movie that was shown with it, “Dream Soccer King” had a character named “Odacchi” which I was very surprised to see. Oda-sensei, DOES YOUR FACE REALLY LOOK LIKE THAT?
O: Yes.
Q: Sanji’s leg hair
D: Reading the latest One Piece, I’ve just noticed that Sanji has leg hair… I am a huge fan of Sanji, so I must say that I don’t like the fact that he has leg hair.
O: But he’s fuzzy. You know, Chopper’s fuzzy too!
Chapter 235, Page 186
Answers to the third game.
Notable canon-leaks
- Nico Robin birthday = February 6 — canonized via syllable-pun (Ni-co Ro-bin → 2/6). First Robin birthday-canon; carried forward across all post-Vol.25 character-stat references.
- Bellamy the Hyena name = Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy (historical North American pirate, ~1689–1717, famous for the Whydah Gally). Adds Bellamy to the real-pirate-name namesake set alongside Blackbeard/Edward Teach, etc.
- Vira = small Grand Line country in active coup d’état — the Vol. 11 / Vol. 23 coup mentions are the same crisis. Importantly Oda hints “it’s not really about Vira, but what’s happening all around the world at this time” — pre-loads the post-Enies-Lobby world-disorder thread and the broader World Government instability arc.
- Clima Tact “Tempo” = Italian for weather — Nami’s signature weapon-suffix etymology.
- “Sir” in Sir Crocodile = English nobility honorific (Oda confirms via pun) — flags Crocodile as knighted-style addressing convention. (Forward-canon: Crocodile’s Warlord-tier formal-address, never given to Mihawk/Doflamingo/Moria/Boa Hancock — Crocodile alone among the Vol. 25-era Warlords carries the Sir.)
- “Unbelievably Floaty Wood” — 13 Pukas (vs. human 3, sumo 5) — flotation-as-a-quantified-property gag. Provides a handwave for DF-users on water surfaces.
- Zoro’s swords swapped to left hip in Ch. 194 = art-error that Oda left uncorrected — first SBS-canonized art-error admission, future-relevant for distinguishing “Oda mistake” vs. “deliberate inconsistency”.