One Piece Vol. 9: Tears
- ISBN
- 9781421501918
- Publisher
- VIZ Media
- English release
- Pages
- 208
- Chapters
- 72–81
- Anime
- Season 1: East Blue ep. 1–61
Ten chapters, 72 to 81, which is one more than any other volume in the first thirteen. Arlong Park is a standoff rather than a battle for most of them: Usopp shoots at Arlong to save a villager and then has to run, Zoro is loose in the park with the wound Mihawk gave him in Vol. 6, and Nami is turning away the people who came for her. The fighting is thin and the length goes on a flashback instead, which is what makes the arc work. 208 pages, and chapter 81 gives the book its title, 'Tears'. Season 1 of the anime covers chapters 1 to 100, so this sits well inside it.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
The flashback is the arc. Bellemere, who took in Nami and Nojiko, could not pay Arlong's protection money for three people and gave up her life to save her daughters, and Nami then joined the crew that killed her, as its cartographer, on an agreed price that would buy her village back. In the present Arlong breaks the agreement, which is what finally lets her accept help. The chapter titles carry it without assistance: 77 'The First Step Toward a Dream', 78 'Belle-Mère', 79 'To Live', 81 'Tears'. Before that the book plays its one piece of misdirection, with Nami apparently killing Usopp and kicking his body into the sea to keep the crew's suspicion off him. It closes with Luffy putting his straw hat on Nami's head, which the book does not explain and does not need to.
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