One Piece Vol. 68: Pirate Alliance
- ISBN
- 9781421558813
- Publisher
- VIZ Media
- English release
- Pages
- 192
- Chapters
- 668–678
- Anime
- Season 16: Punk Hazard ep. 579–628
This is where Luffy agrees to an alliance, and the series stops being one crew against whoever happens to be standing in front of it. Chapters 668 to 678 open on Law's proposal and spend the rest of the book on the operation it requires: get Caesar Clown, the scientist running Punk Hazard, off the island, with both crews split into teams to do it. The plan does not survive the book. What is new is the shape of the goal, which is no longer the island anybody is standing on but something much larger that the alliance is aimed past it at. Season 16 covers chapters 655 to 698, so the anime has been through all of this. The book runs 192 pages at the standard $11.99, which is short for this series, and falls inside Box Set 3, which Viz states as volumes 47 to 70.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
The alliance is the structural change, and the target is held back for a book. Law's one condition is that Caesar be taken alive, and his reason is not given here. What the volume does give is the other half of Doflamingo's operation: Vergo, a Marine Vice Admiral commanding G-5, has been Doflamingo's man throughout, which is why the kidnappings on Punk Hazard were never reported. Caesar's contribution is Smiley, the poison gas he was supposed to neutralize and condensed into a pet slime instead, released here as Land of the Dead, a purple cloud that turns flesh to stone. The received reading of Punk Hazard is that it is the light arc after Marineford: body-swap comedy, a rescue, a scientist in a top hat. Underneath it are a weapons program, a corrupted Marine command, children held for tests, and an alliance formed against somebody the story has not yet named.
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.