Short Summary
An anime filler set in between the Loguetown Arc and the Laboon Arc. The Straw Hats manage to escape Loguetown and are headed to Reverse Mountain. Their trip takes an unexpected detour when they rescue a girl, Apis, who was fleeing the Marines who wanted her ability to talk to animals. The reason: she has a dragon for a friend, whose bones are the MacGuffin the villains are after.
Main Summary
Warship Island Arc has the following tropes:
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
- Zoro claiming he can cut anything, even the steel chains that connect the blockade. Later in the Alabasta arc, we find that steel is the one thing he can't cut.
- The fact that Dragons are a key plot point of this arc is one for much later on in the series, where dragons are played up as mythical beings that anyone outside the Grand Line has never seen. During his fight with Ryūma in the Thriller Bark saga, Zoro remarks that he doesn't believe in dragons despite what he sees here. Later still in the Punk Hazard arc, a dragon appears before Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp (along with Robin) and they act as they've never seen one before.
- Yet another where Nami pretty casually murders Eric by tripping him off the Going Merry and into the extreme currents of Reverse Mountain, knowing full well he can't swim due to his Devil Fruit powers. Much later with Caesar Clown, a far nastier villain, she considers throwing him overboard too cruel, even for him. Somewhat interesting parallel considering that Eric and Caesar share the same actor in Japanese.
- Arrow Catch: Luffy does this with a harpoon no less.
- Bittersweet Ending: Well somewhat. They manage to stop Eric and Nelson from getting the dragon bones to make the immortality elixir and Ryuu is reborn again on the Lost Island. But as discussed by the Straw Hats and Apis they'll never see Ryuu again as by the time the dragons return to the island, they'll be long dead. Apis, however, is okay with this and vows to guards the island and make sure her descendants do likewise.
- Filler Arc: Though interestingly it does incorporate elements of the manga into it. Such as accidentally sailing into the Calm Belt and the trip up Reverse Mountain.
- Foreshadowing:
- A rather unintentional one, but during the arc it's revealed that Luffy can understand Ryuu despite not having Apis' powers of animal communication. Way later in the Zou arc it's revealed he could actually understand the elephant the island was on hinting he has the power of the "voice of all things".
- Another unintentional one for future Straw Hat member Nico Robin. Apis is a little girl being held by the Marines at the beginning and her escape ends up being played (mostly) for laughs. Robin's past involved her getting a bounty of 79,000,000 berries for allegedly sinking six Marine vessels (which is a lie) under far more horrific circumstances. That's right; even this far back the government was shown as willing to kidnap and endanger children for their own preservation, Nelson's involvement notwithstanding. Even so, it's downplayed here as some of the initial Marines are shown genuinely worried about Apis' safety and tell her not to jump ship in the middle of a fierce storm.
- Groin Attack: When trying to run away from the Marines who kidnapped her, Apis accidentally kicks one right in the crotch. The poor guy was frozen in position by the pain.
- Killed Off for Real: Nelson is killed by Eric, who himself dies when trying to take his revenge on the Straw Hats.
- Lethal Chef: Apis' attempt at cooking breakfast caused an explosion in the kitchen, destroyed the utensils, and the resulting food was completely burnt and incredibly spicy. Luffy, unsurprisingly, was the only one to enjoy it. And of course, Sanji still insists that everyone finishes their share.
- Not So Extinct: Millennium Dragons are thought to be extinct, so it really came as a surprise when a whole flock of them appeared near the end of the arc.
- Our Dragons Are Different
- Papa Wolf: Ryuu, in spirit. Seeing Erik hurt Apis caused the otherwise lethargic dragon to stand up and punch Erik into the ocean with his wing.
- Razor Wind: Erik's Devil Fruit powers.
- Reincarnation: The Millennium Dragon life cycle works like this as when they get old, they return to the Dragon's nest to be reborn again. They do live a long time, so it'll be a while before that happens.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Apis's Devil Fruit powers which allows her to talk to animals.
- Unlike most instances, her power seems to be purely telepathic. Neither her nor the animals ever make a noise during their "conversations" — we don't even hear any internal monologues.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway? / Heart Is an Awesome Power: You'd think Apis's power wouldn't be very useful considering she can only talk to animals but can't command them. Turns out due to her friendly nature, animals willingly help her out and inform her of incoming dangers and where to find something they're looking for.
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Erik offers to split the dragonite with Luffy. When he refuses, Erik asks bewilderingly if he'll really pass up eternal life.
