One Piece Vol. 21: Utopia
- ISBN
- 9781421524290
- Publisher
- VIZ Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 187–195
- Anime
- Season 4: Alabasta ep. 93–130
Nine chapters of people fighting in adjacent streets, and the volume in this arc least worth owning by itself. Chapters 187 to 195 have no protagonist in them, move the war they are fought over not at all, and finish exactly one of the three duels they start. Sanji is up against an opponent who can wear other people's faces, Nami against a woman who grows spikes anywhere on her body, and Zoro against a man who does the same with blades. The Zoro problem is the reason to read it and it is not solved here. Alabasta is a six-book purchase and this is the one bought because it sits in the middle of the other five. Nothing here falls outside season 4, which stops at chapter 217. Viz puts volumes 1 to 23 in Box Set 1 for $244.99.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Zoro against Mr. 1 is what the book is for. The opponent makes blades out of his own body, so a sword does not cut him, and the problem Zoro is handed is not strength or speed but what cutting is, which the volume states and does not answer. Sanji beats Bon Clay by attacking the instant of a transformation, and it is the only decided fight in the nine chapters. Nami's is the more interesting failure: she is fighting with the Climate Baton she was handed as an upgrade, and most of what it does is stage magic, which is the series conceding that her new weapon is not yet a weapon. The volume is named for Crocodile's plan, 'Operation Utopia', titled back in chapter 165, and the plan is working throughout. Crocodile and Nico Robin arrive in the closing chapter, and the arc's actual decision is two books away.
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