SBS Volume 45
Post-Enies Lobby / pre-Thriller-Bark SBS. Major canon-leaks:
- KOKORO IS A MERMAID (came from Fish-Man Island as a young mermaid out of respect for Tom-san; married a young human man from Water 7); her son was half-merman; he married a human; THEIR daughter is Chimney → Chimney is 1/4 mermaid. This explicitly explains Chimney’s super-swimmer rescue of Luffy in Ch. 403 Vol 42.
- Devil Fruit Encyclopedia (book) is canon: “there’s a book of Devil Fruits. It has info about all kinds of fruit names and abilities, but few of the fruit can actually be identified by their shape. In the case of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, there was a picture and everything, but for Kaku and Kalifa, they were talking about how they wouldn’t know until they had finally eaten the fruit.” First explicit doctrine: most DFs are not identifiable by shape; Gomu Gomu is an unusual book-pictured exception.
- Lucci’s “weakness is sin” doctrine: he killed 500 hostages because “if these soldiers were weak enough to be captured and expose the country to danger, they could do the same thing again in the future. So he arrived at the answer that these weak soldiers did not have the right to live.” Oda explicitly frames this as hair-raising philosophy — Lucci as ideologue.
- Crew favorite foods (canonical chart): Luffy (all meat), Zoro (white rice + sea beast meat + sake-stuff), Nami (oranges + all fruit), Usopp (autumn-island pike + fish-of-the-season), Sanji (spicy seafood pasta + black-tea-stuff), Chopper (cotton candy + chocolate + sweet), Robin (sandwiches + not-too-sweet cake + coffee-stuff), Franky (hamburgers + french fries + cola-stuff).
- Kumadori’s name = literally kabuki facepaint (“kumadori” 隈取り = kabuki face-paint style — Oda confirms).
- Ryotsu from Kochikame cameo in Vol 44 p. 148 — was a Jump 30-year-anniversary tribute appearance.
- Oda is married (incidental disclosure: “the letters from girls have really dropped off since I got married laugh”).
Q&A
Chapter 431, Page 28 — Inoki-style title call + Coup de Boo gag
Q (Polar Bear): Say the title call while imitating a gorilla-ish Inoki eating a banana! A: Ook! Ook-ook! Hi there ook!… ESCUSE ME!!! LET ME DO IT NORMALLY!!
Q (Modai): Is it true you shoot out a “Coup de Boo” when you eat potatoes? A: OH YES. A single Coup de Boo sent me flying to New York.
Chapter 432, Page 48 — Kumadori = kabuki + Ryotsu Kochikame cameo
Q (Sho-kun): Does Kumadori’s name come from the kabuki facepaint “kumadori”? A: That’s right. That’s exactly what it came from.
Q (The Tacchi’s Boss): Volume 44 p. 148 panel 5 — could that be Ryotsu from Kochikame?! A: Yes. It is indeed Ryo-san from Kochikame! Last year Kochikame had its 30-year publication streak, so Jump ran a contest where Ryo-san appeared in all the stories. Congratulations to Akimoto-sensei!
Chapter 433, Page 68 — Shichibukai takeover squad + Nyurin-zaki gag
Q (Many readers): (Various proposals to add reader-OCs to the Shichibukai.) A: C’mon guys, KNOCK IT OFF!!! NO!!!
Q (Ero Ero no Mi Devil Fruit User): Can Robin’s Hana Hana power sprout her bust elsewhere? “Nyurin-zaki” (Breast Sprout)? A: “Ichirin-zaki” / “Nirin-zaki” / “Nyurin-zaki” — Very clever!! NO IT’S NOT!! I’m sure she CAN do it though ♡
Chapter 434, Page 88 — KOKORO/CHIMNEY MERMAID REVEAL + LUCCI 500 HOSTAGES
Q (Petit Panda): If Kokoro-san is a mermaid, why is her granddaughter Chimney a normal human?
A: Kokoro-san came here from Fish-Man Island out of her respect for Tom-san, when she was a young mermaid. She married a young human man from Water 7, their half-merman son married another human, and THEIR daughter was Chimney. Chimney is therefore 1/4 mermaid, so she’s a very good swimmer. It was only her mermaid blood that helped such a little kid save Luffy in Chapter 403, Volume 42, as he drowned.
Q (Wiper is the Coolest!!): Why did Rob Lucci have to kill the 500 hostages?
A: I had to shorten some things to make the pace move quicker. Lucci is a man who believes that “weakness is a sin”. Therefore, if these soldiers were weak enough to be captured and expose the country to danger, they could do the same thing again in the future. So he arrived at the answer that these weak soldiers did not have the right to live, and took action accordingly. It’s a hair-raising philosophy. Thanks for beating him, Luffy!!
Chapter 436, Page 128 — Tamagon + DF swirl pattern + Oda is married
Q (Patty): Please tell us his name. My husband and I keep calling him “Round Guy.” A: Tamagon. (Just made that up.)
Q: Do all Devil Fruit have that swirly pattern on them? A: That’s right. It’s what distinguishes them from other fruit. Sometimes I wonder if Sanji himself is a Devil Fruit.
Q (Koji): Do you still read all fanletters like you said in Volume 4? A: Yes, of course. There was a time when I was getting one to two thousand letters/postcards a week, and I couldn’t read them all. But lately the volume has come down to a manageable level (the letters from girls have really dropped off since I got married laugh). So now I’m reading 100% of them again.
Chapter 439, Page 188 — Crew favorite foods + Devil Fruit book
Q (I Like Cup Ramen): Luffy loves meat. What about everyone else?
A: These are their favorites!!
| Member | Favorite |
|---|---|
| Luffy | ALL KINDS OF MEAT. |
| Zoro | White rice, sea beast meat, stuff that goes with sake |
| Nami | Oranges, all fruit |
| Usopp | Pike from autumn islands, fish of the season |
| Sanji | Spicy seafood pasta, stuff that goes with black tea |
| Chopper | Cotton candy, chocolate, sweet stuff |
| Robin | Sandwiches, cakes that aren’t too sweet, stuff that goes with coffee |
| Franky | Hamburgers, french fries, stuff that goes with cola |
| Oda | Often changes. Currently, qing jiao rou si. |
Q (Shirogitsunekko): Kaku and Kalifa said they wouldn’t know what their Devil Fruit were until they ate it. How did Shanks know what Luffy’s Gomu Gomu no Mi was before he ate it?
A: Well, I think I’ll eventually get to explaining more about Devil Fruits in the main story, but there’s a book of Devil Fruits. It has info about all kinds of fruit names and abilities, but few of the fruit can actually be identified by their shape. In the case of the Gomu Gomu no Mi, there was a picture and everything, but for Kaku and Kalifa, they were talking about how they wouldn’t know until they had finally eaten the fruit.
Notable canon-leaks
- KOKORO IS A MERMAID — full lineage:
- Kokoro came from Fish-Man Island as a young mermaid out of respect for Tom-san.
- Married a young human man from Water 7.
- Their son was half-merman.
- That son married a human woman.
- Their daughter is Chimney = 1/4 mermaid.
- This explains Chimney’s swim-feat in Ch. 403 (rescued drowning Luffy).
- First on-record explicit half-merman/quarter-mermaid genetic-inheritance doctrine in SBS canon. Sets the genetic pattern that later applies to Pedro/Carrot races and the mink-human inheritance discussions.
- Devil Fruit Encyclopedia (book) is canon-confirmed: most DFs are NOT shape-identifiable; Gomu Gomu no Mi is one of the rare exceptions because it has a picture in the book. Resolves the long-running “why did Shanks recognize it but Kaku and Kalifa couldn’t” question — the Encyclopedia + the pictureable subset is the answer. The Encyclopedia also explains how the WG / Marines can identify high-priority fruits like the Mera-Mera before Ace ate it.
- Lucci’s “weakness is sin” doctrine canonized (the 500-hostage reasoning). Lucci as ideological assassin, not just talent — he believes weakness is a moral failing meriting death. Hair-raising; Oda explicitly tags it as such. This is the CP9 ethics-bedrock that drives the Enies Lobby destruction permission.
- Kokoro’s relationship with Tom-san: she came from Fish-Man Island specifically out of respect for Tom — explains why she stayed at the Sea Train station after his execution and why she retained mermaid form openly in Water 7 (relatively safe under the Tom-legacy umbrella).
- Straw Hat favorite foods (canonical chart) — extends the Vol 40 color/number/smell chart. Note Zoro’s “sea beast meat” / “stuff that goes with sake” — Zoro’s drinking-canon is now SBS-stamped.
- Kumadori = kabuki facepaint (隈取り) — onomastic confirmation.
- All Devil Fruits have the swirly pattern as identifying marker.
- Oda is married (incidental disclosure; first SBS confirmation; will recur in later volumes).
- Robin can sprout her bust elsewhere (Oda’s “I’m sure she CAN do it though ♡” — Hana Hana mechanic disclosure that Robin retains sensation in all sprouted limbs, per Vol 47 follow-up).
SBS reveals (cross-linked)
- Kokoro / Chimney mermaid-lineage (notes don’t exist yet) — Kokoro is mermaid, Chimney 1/4 mermaid → high cross-link value if Water 7 character notes get created
- Devil Fruit Encyclopedia (book) → cross-link to Gomu Gomu no Mi — explains how Shanks recognized it pre-ingestion (because the Gomu Gomu has a picture in the Encyclopedia, while most fruits don’t)
- Rob Lucci “weakness is sin” doctrine — CP9 ideology canon (note doesn’t exist yet)
- Luffy — favorite food: ALL meat
- Nami — favorite food: oranges + all fruit
- Zoro — favorite food: white rice, sea beast meat, sake-stuff
- Sanji — favorite food: spicy seafood pasta, black-tea-stuff
- Usopp — favorite food: pike from autumn islands, fish of the season