One Piece Vol. 42: Pirates vs. CP9
- ISBN
- 9781421534589
- Publisher
- VIZ Media
- English release
- Pages
- 208
- Chapters
- 400–409
- Anime
- Season 9: Enies Lobby ep. 264–336
Chapters 400 to 409, ten chapters of one continuous engagement, and a book that does not work on its own. It opens with the crew and CP9 already squared off and closes with the fighting unfinished, so anyone buying it without the two volumes before it and the one after it has bought a middle. Vols. 40 and 41 set the board and Vol. 43 clears it. What this one has is the arc's best structural idea: the Straw Hats find their first pairings badly matched and trade opponents on purpose, while Luffy goes after Robin's escort alone. Season 9 of the anime covers all of it. At 208 pages it is the shortest book of the raid, priced the same $11.99 as the rest.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
The best thing in this volume is administrative. Spandam, trying to call for help, triggers a Buster Call by accident in chapter 409, 'The Terrifying Broadcast': the government's own procedure for erasing an island, aimed at the island its own agents are standing on. Enies Lobby is condemned by panic and paperwork rather than by anyone winning a fight, and that is the joke the rest of the arc runs on. Around it, two of CP9 go down, and they go down because the Straw Hats stop fighting the opponents they were handed and swap. Chapters 407 and 408 give Chopper a form the titles simply call 'Monster'. Luffy spends the book climbing after Lucci and Spandam rather than fighting alongside anyone, which is the shape the last stretch of this arc keeps. Chapter 401 supplies the cover title, 'Pirates vs. CP9', and that is exactly and only what the book is.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links on this page are affiliate links, which cost you nothing extra. They never influence what appears on this site or what the commentary says about it.