Short Summary
With the battle against CP9 won, the Straw Hats make their way back to Water 7 to rest after the Enies Lobby ordeal. Some figures from Luffy's past come to visit; Franky unveils a new surprise for the crew and asks to join them. And a event on another island plants the seeds that'll shake the world.
Main Summary
Return to Water 7 has the following tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Usopp when it becomes clear what he needs to do to atone for his earlier actions.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- The anime shows how the Marine photographer got the photos for the Straw Hats' bounty posters, such as Nami's, and his hilarious attempt to take a photo of Sanji.
- There are three full filler episodes, each centering on a member of the Monster Trio hanging out with certain Water 7 natives. Zoro's is based on a one-panel Brick Joke from the manga, while Luffy's and Sanji's were more or less made from whole cloth.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: Subverted. The anime mentioned that Coby and Helmeppo went though Reverse Mountain to get to the Grand Line, when in this arc, it's revealed they did so with the Seastone-layered Marine ships they traveled in to traverse the Calm Belt. In the anime, Coby explains that the Reverse Mountain thing was a cover story.
- Affably Evil: Marshall D. Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard. He knew Ace was there to kill him, but still referred to him as "Commander" and invited him to join his crew.
- Angrish: What Sanji was reduced to when he saw that his bounty poster was a (very unattractive) drawing of his face.
- Badass Boast:
Shanks: I see...(draws sword) Well then, no-one can stop the coming of this rampaging era!
Whitebeard: Not enough to scare me, (grabs his bisento, and prepares to attack Shanks) I am WHITEBEARD!
- Balance of Power: Garp explains who The Four Emperors are and how they fit in the Three Great Powers, which is also formally introduced in his exposition. Also, the idea of how Shanks allying with Whitebeard could upset the balance is mentioned, and Robin also explains how Dragon's actions deliberately upsets the world's balance.
- Because Destiny Says So: When Blackbeard explains why he killed Thatch, Ace concludes that he did it because he was power-hungry and just wanted the Dark-Dark Fruit Thatch had. Blackbeard rebuffs this and says that the Fruit's power was meant for him regardless of what he did to get it:
Ace: So you killed Thatch, and then stole his Devil Fruit?
- Berserk Button: Telling Whitebeard what to do, especially when you're two generations younger than him.
- Sanji's is his bounty poster, or even the mere mention of it.
- Stealing Franky's speedo. The Franky Family invoked this to lure him to the Straw Hats and get him to join their crew. The result? Franky goes on a (naked) rampage through Water 7 to get his shorts back.
- Teach threatens to kill Luffy as part of his plan to become Pirate King. Ace was not amused.
- Garp took Luffy's farewell in the Thousand Sunny mid-battle as a boast, and got very irate.
- Big Bad: Err, Garp, sort of. Aokiji is still around as well though he's not overly concerned with capturing Robin anymore.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Blackbeard is not too far from the Straw Hats either, and it's only by sheer luck that he didn't catch up with them.
- Blade Lock: Shanks and Whitebeard do this after the former's request annoys the latter enough. The force emitted by that single parried strike cleaves the clouds in the sky in half.
- Blatant Lies: The crew decides, on Zoro's insistence, to only let Usopp come back if the first words out of his mouth are an apology for his actions. When Usopp arrives and starts going through his canned speeches, Luffy and Zoro pretend they can't hear anything until he makes a proper apology.
- Blue with Shock: When Robin uses her Devil Fruit to summon arms on Franky's legs, this happens to him. He knows what's about to happen.
- Book Ends: Fittingly, given the title of the arc: Usopp rejoins the crew, Aokiji makes peace with Robin, and a disciple of the shipwright who made the Pirate King's ship joins the crew to see his own ship reach the end of the Grand Line with the future Pirate King.
- Breather Episode: A literal and figurative one for the crew after going through everything since they've arrived at Water 7. It's not all that major of an arc, just some comedy, closure, revelations, and set-up for a later arc down the line.
- Brick Joke:
- When Paulie revealed who tried to assassinate Iceberg during the train ride to his Galley-La teammates, they assumed before that two people, Michael and Hoichael, were somehow involved. This arc reveals that they're two kids known for causing mischief around Water 7, namely trying to hassle Zoro who had (yet again) gotten lost. It goes about as well as you'd expect.
- Garp says he'll report in that he didn't arrest the crew because Luffy is his grandson, with one of his men pointing out that's a terrible reason and they should instead say the pirates simply escaped. When Garp turns up at the end of the arc fuming about Sengoku sending him back, Aokiji points out it was his own fault for saying he let Luffy go for being his grandson on the transponder snail.
- Call-Back:
- Many of the people encountered so far on the crews various adventures are seen reacting to the Straw Hats' new bounties, including Princess Vivi (who shows no hard feelings about Nico Robin joining them), Smoker and Tashigi of the Marines, and even Dragon, who is revealed to be Luffy's father. Luffy and Zoro even meet Coby and Helmeppo again in person.
- Sanji finally receives a bounty... but instead of a proper photo, he gets a very unflattering drawing.
- Shanks was told by Beckman that the WG wouldn't like the idea of him meeting with Whitebeard, which they didn't, as they sent a fleet to serve as a blockade to the Red-Hair Pirates' ship, which was easily penetrated by them. Apparently, Shanks wanted to talk to Whitebeard about Ace and Teach.
- Casting a Shadow: Teach's power: The Dark-Dark Fruit (''Yami-Yami no Mi''). Teach implies that out of all the Fruits, it has the literal power of the Devil himself.
Teach: Ace, you're a man of fire, right? Well, I AM...DARKNESS!
- Casual Danger Dialog: The crew bring back Usopp into the crew, and name their new ship, all while they're battling Vice-Admiral Garp.
- Chekhov's Gunman:
- Vice Admiral Garp, who trained Coby and Helmeppo, turns out to be Luffy's grandfather.
- The mayor of the town Luffy grew up in mentions Dadan, who apparently raised him.
- Coby talks to Luffy about some of the technological advancements made possible thanks to Dr. Vegapunk. He would remain The Ghost for a long time before his proper introduction in the Egghead arc.
- Cool Boat: The Thousand Sunny, hands down. It's even powered by cola! And can catapult itself to travel long distances!
- Cool Old Guy: Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, none other than Luffy's grandfather, who throws cannonballs like baseball pitches (and they're actually more powerful that way than if they'd been fired with a cannon).
- Cool Shades: Helmeppo now wears them.
- Didn't See That Coming: Aokiji admits to Nico Robin that he orchestrated the events of Enies Lobby because he felt Robin was too much of a Wild Card with her constant wandering and inability to settle with a group. But he honestly never expected the Straw Hats to actually beat the CP 9.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Played With, but it's heavily implied that Garp was able to easily bypass Luffy's ability to nullify blunt force due to using Haki in his punch. Even so, the ability is apparently so rare that while it shows up during Shanks' meeting with Whitebeard, Ace and Blackbeard - two experienced pirates who should by all means have knowledge of it (Ace particularly was revealed to have the rarest kind of Haki in the Post-Marineford arc, but whether he ever mastered it is unclear) never use anything other than their Devil Fruit powers to battle each other. When Blackbeard nullifies Ace's fruit power completely and decks him, he muses whether Ace had spent years never taking a punch, and boasts that he has the ultimate Devil Fruit, and finally exposed the weakness of all Devil Fruit users of the Grand Line.
- Easily Forgiven: Zigzagged with Usopp. The rest of the crew had forgiven him already and would have brought him back into the fold if Zoro hadn't put his foot down and insisted that Usopp acknowledge what he did was wrong and apologize for it. Even then, Zoro was still willing to tank cannonballs thrown by Vice Admiral Garp while waiting for Usopp to work up the nerve to do so. After he apologizes and is back in the crew, you wouldn't even know he and Luffy fought. Even Nami notices it.
- Epic Flail: Garp throws a giant cannonball (even larger than the battleship!) on a chain, towards the Thousand Sunny.
- Feeling Their Age: Parodied by Garp, who laments he's gotten old and can't quite throw cannonballs as fast as he used to. This is after he chucked one as fast as a baseball pitch.
- Flash Step: Both Coby and Helmeppo learned Soru since their last encounter with Luffy and Zoro.
- Filler Arc: A few anime only episodes of the crew milling around the city as their new ship is being built.
- Foreshadowing:
- When Kokoro tells the Straw Hats about a sketch of sea that is haunted and has haunted ships, Luffy eagerly asks if they will see skeletons move. This comes true when they meet future crewmate Brook, who is a living skeleton.
- Zoro mentions a few times that he needs a new sword now that Yubashiri has been destroyed. He will get a new sword in the following arc.
- Coby tells Luffy of the second half of the Grand Line, called "the New World".
- Shanks warns Whitebeard that Blackbeard may come to steal his Emperor title. Can you guess what happens?
- Shanks also makes mention of the "rampaging era" coming.
- The results of the fight between Ace and Blackbeard are said to be "the trigger of a great event, on the Grand Line".
- In the anime, as Garp explains the existence of the Four Emperors, the silhouettes of Big Mom and Kaido can be seen, long before they're properly introduced in the story. That said their silhouettes don't really match their final designs all that well.
- The World Government feared Shanks and Whitebeard meeting up, fearing the prospect of an alliance between the two Emperors to the stability of the world. In the Wano Arc, Big Mom and Kaido team-up with the explicit aim of Taking Over The World.
- Friendly Enemy:
- Zoro muses that by meeting Coby again as a Marine, Luffy's "made another great enemy".
- Attempted by Shanks with Whitebeard, but it apparently didn't work out so well with him soon getting annoyed by him, as he asked him to reconsider his order.
- Giver of Lame Names: The entire Straw Hat crew only come up with awful ideas for what to call their new ship, leading them to eventually go with Iceburg's idea, the Thousand Sunny.
- Graceful Loser: Garp witnesses the Thousand Sunny get away, and is more proud of his grandson than irritated that he couldn't capture a world-famous pirate crew.
- Gravity Master: One of the abilities of Teach's Dark Dark Fruit allows him to turn himself into a black hole that draws enemies and objects into his grasp.
- Groin Attack: Robin uses this to convince Franky to join them, much to the shock and horror of her male crewmates.
- Hammerspace: This must be where Garp stores his Epic Flail whenever he's currently not using it, given the thing is clearly too big to be hidden anywhere on the Marine Battleship even if it were completely hollow.
- Hero Antagonist: Garp, and his Marine Branch, which includes Coby and Helmeppo who come to Water 7 to capture the Straw Hats but are pretty civil otherwise. Garp initially didn't even bother fighting Luffy when he first arrived on the island and only tried again when Sengoku ordered him to. When the Straw Hats manage to escape he's pretty content to let them leave.
- Honour Before Reason: Whitebeard refuses to heed Shanks' warning to call back Ace from the order to kill Marshall D. Teach, since Teach broke an iron-clad rule of his crew: not to kill your own crew-mates, and believes that Thatch's soul won't rest until it's done.
- Identity Concealment Disposal: Vice Admiral Garp finally removes his dog mask.
- It Runs in the Family: Nami remarks this of the Monkey family, noticing the egocentrism of both Luffy and Garp. Apparently, they both have narcolepsy, too.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Usopp, and eventually Luffy, when the former finally apologises for his actions.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Zoro stops Luffy from going to recruit Usopp back into the crew after their fight, citing that as captain he needs to be firm when orders are given. Nami and Chopper disagree but Zoro makes such a strong point that even Sanji agrees with it.
- Knight Templar Parent: Whitebeard, who refuses to allow Blackbeard to get away with murdering one of his fellow crewmates and is willing to come to blows with Shanks when he argues against that course of action.
- La Résistance: Dragon, Luffy's father, is revealed to be the leader of Revolutionary Army opposing the World Government. Notably, the Revolutionaries are well aware of who really defeated Crocodile, instead of what the Government told the world.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Subverted with Garp, who finally unmasks himself here to reveal he's Luffy's grandfather. Played straight when he tells Luffy that Dragon, a famous revolutionary, is his father.
- Made of Iron: Both Ace and Teach, taking severe punishment during their battle.
- Man of Kryptonite: What the Dark-Dark Fruit made Teach, as Ace is horrified to find out.
- Manly Tears: Franky sheds some after finally letting go of his mistakes in the past and working up the courage to leave Water 7 behind to peruse his dream. He even pretends that Robin is still giving him a Groin Attack to give him an excuse to cry.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Played for Laughs. The Marine photographer says that he needed to use a drawing of Sanji because the photo he took inexplicably came out as pure black. It turns out he forgot to take the lens cap off.
- Moment of Weakness: Subverted, as Zoro stops Luffy from going to get Usopp upon hearing he wants to come back to the crew. Zoro makes it a point that regardless of who was right or not, Usopp disobeyed the captain's orders, and if he wants to come back, he has to do so on Luffy's terms, not the other way around. Luffy going to apologize to Usopp would make him seem weak in Zoro's eyes, and Zoro even threatens to leave himself if that happens.
- Mood Whiplash: The arc seems light at first, with the Straw Hats getting a new ship, partying on their victory, getting a new crewmember, and old ones rejoining, with the world finally learning about their antics; But then it later turns pretty dark when the story turns to Teach and what Ace confronting him means.
- Naked People Are Funny: Franky spends quite a lot of time without any pants on, after the Franky Family steals it.
- No Hero Discount: Zigzagged. For avenging the attack on Iceberg, the people of Water 7 give the Straw Hats a hero's welcome (despite their still being wanted criminals), party with them, and even build them a new ship for free.note Well, in a manner of speaking — Franky did buy that Adam Wood from money he stole from the Straw Hats On the other hand, Zoro still gets kicked out of an arms-shop because he doesn't have enough money to buy a decent replacement for Yubashiri and Luffy had to spend nearly all of their remaining 100 million berries to pay for their celebration party.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Sanji never misses a chance to defend Nami, especially if it means going against Zoro. But when Nami criticises Zoro for being too harsh when he demands that Usopp apologise to Luffy before letting him rejoin them, Sanji actually sides with Zoro and even says that he's right.
- Ordered Apology: Inverted as Zoro demands that Luffy waits for Usopp to apologize after the latter quit the crew. Could be seen as a double subversion because Usopp's apology only happened because Zoro was so adamant about it in the first place. Though not to say Zoro wasn't right, they may be a close pirate crew, but they still are a crew and must act like one if they wish to survive the Grand Line any further.
- Parental Hypocrisy: Garp clobbers Luffy for sleeping on him...despite nodding off himself.
- Pet the Dog:
- Aokiji catches up with Robin and explains that he thought that Enies Lobby would put an end to the misery in her life, and never expected the Straw Hats to go so far for her, and asks her if she's genuinely happy with the crew. When Robin replies she is, Aokiji then leaves telling her Ohara isn't completely destroyed yet suggesting that it lives on through her.
- When the news of Enies Lobby finally breaks and the Straw Hats get new bounties for their crimes, the Franky Family are relieved to see they aren't newly wanted men as well. Robin privately speculates that Aokiji is responsible for covering up their part in the attack.
- Aokiji's actions on Garp's ship, just sitting there without doing anything and later saying he can confirm the Straw Hats got away, imply he wanted the Straw Hats to escape and that he's there to vouch that Garp didn't let the pirates go like before, they truly escaped on their own.
- The Reveal:
- Shanks was once part of Gold Roger's crew, along with Buggy.
- Teach was the one who gave him the scars across his eye.
- The man that saved Luffy from Smoker, back in Loguetown, is Monkey D. Dragon, Luffy's father.
- Running Gag:
- Luffy and Zoro not noticing Helmeppo, even after he reformed.
- Everyone not realising the figurehead of the new ship Franky built is supposed to invoke the image of a lion, not a sunflower. Which led to Iceburg christening it, the Thousand Sunny. Which in turn, everyone likes the name so much, they ignore Franky's ideas for the name.
- Sand In My Eyes: Franky cries Manly Tears when he says goodbye to his True Companions, using Robin's earlier Groin Attack as an excuse for his tears.
- Scenery Censor: Parodied when the Straw Hats and Franky Family steal Franky's speedo to force him to join the Straw Hats.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The Straw Hats have their usual end of the arc victory party with all the supporting cast but this time they are the ones footing the bill. The expense of providing food, drink, and entertainment for hundreds of people nearly wipes out their savings.
- Share the Male Pain: Everyone who sees it reacts this way to Robin's Dos Fleur Grab on Franky.
Luffy: Stop it, Robin! I still want him to be a man when he joins our crew!
Robin: As pirates faced with a treasure, why should we let go without good reason?
- She Is All Grown Up: Coby has grown up quite nicely from his weedy self to a looker as a result of Garp's training.
- Sincerity Mode: Usopp's apology to Luffy after initially trying to play off their fight in order to get back on the crew. It's him finally owning up to what he's done and begging to be allowed one last change that causes Luffy to bring him back and rejoin the Straw Hats.
- Skewed Priorities: When Aokiji hitches a ride on Garp's ship, he reassures a crewman that he will stay out of the way. The crewman points out that since they are going after pirates, an Admiral probably should be getting involved. Implicitly this is less Aokiji prioritizing the wrong thing and more him secretly wanting the Straw Hats to get away.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The Straw Hats sail a good distance from the island before Luffy shouts some final goodbyes to Iceburg and co. Cut to Iceburg and Kokoro who can tell he's yelling something but he's much too far away for them to hear what.
- Tears of Joy: Basically everyone in the crew sans Zoro is crying in happiness when Usopp re-joins the crew. At the very least, Zoro is smiling.
- There Was a Door: Invoked with Garp, as he felt it was cooler to burst through the wall to hit Luffy. At least he repairs the wall afterwards.
- To Be a Master: Coby announces his dream is to be an Admiral.
- Took a Level in Badass: Coby and Helmeppo.
- Tough Love: The Straw Hats to Usopp, until he apologizes for his actions. Zoro in particular is the most adamant about Usopp apologizing, yet he's the first one to grin when Usopp does so.
- We Can Rule Together: Blackbeard asks Ace that instead of him trying to kill him, he can join his crew as he becomes Pirate King. Ace wasn't interested, but Blackbeard did no favors to himself by mentioning he plans to go after Luffy.
Story impact
- Having received a bounty for his part of the battle with CP9, Franky joins the Straw Hat Pirates as their shipwright.
- Usopp finally apologizes for his duel with Luffy, and is accepted back into the Straw Hat Pirates, resuming his role as their sniper, though no longer their de facto shipwright.
- All members of the Straw Hat Pirates now have bounties, though Usopp's is not under his name, and Sanji's is not attached to a real photograph. The increased bounties of Luffy, Zoro, and Robin are also revealed.
- A battle takes place between Blackbeard and Ace. Blackbeard has a new Logia power. The result of the battle is not immediately clear.
- Iceburg builds a new ship using the Adam wood that Franky acquired with the money he looted from the Straw Hats in the Water 7 arc. That ship is christened the Thousand Sunny.
