Netflix’s ‘One Piece’ is heading for a second season, so what’s ahead, matey?
The Drum Island arc, also called the Drum Kingdom arc, is the tenth arc of Eiichiro Oda’s iconic epic manga and falls under the Alabasta (also known as Arabasta) saga. The arc before is called the Little Garden, and it is here that Nami falls sick with an unknown disease which leads directly into the story of Drum Island.
To cure Nami the Straw Hats need to make a little detour to the kingless land, Drum Island. Before getting there, they have a little run-in with the pirate Wapol, who is the wielder of the Baku Baku no Mi Devil Fruit, allowing him to eat anything they please and manifest it within his body. Luffy deals with him with no problem, and he and his crew head onward.
Upon arrival on the island, they are greeted by its militia, who, having heard of Nami’s plight, offer their help, however, there are almost no doctors save one on the island. It turns out that the very pirate they ran into was the former monarch of Drum Island and it was upon his orders that so few doctors remained as he wished to monopolize healthcare so people had to beg to be seen by a physician. (Oof, Oda was really drawing some parallels here wasn’t he?) Only one doctor remains, Dr. Kureha, and she isn’t the easiest to reach.
Is there a doctor in the house?!
To get to Dr. Kureha, Sanji and Luffy must carry Nami on a treacherous path up the highest mountain to Drum Castle. After being attacked on the way, Luffy winds up carrying Sanji and Nami, injuring himself in the process. Luckily, they manage to make it to the castle just as Luffy collapses. Meanwhile, Wapol returns to his former kingdom and overpowers the militia before heading to his old home, Drum Castle.
At Drum Castle, Dr. Kureha is treating all three of them and we are also introduced to yet another strange character from the One Piece world, Tony Tony Chopper. A small reindeer character, Chopper ate the Hito Hito no Mi, transforming him into a human reindeer hybrid. Since he was cast out by his herd, he has been studying the ways of medicine. While all this is ongoing, Wapol has made it to the castle and a fight of epic and ridiculous proportions gets underway.
You are what you eat
Wapol’s powers take the above heading very literally as he eats through many of the weapons in the castle in order to transform his body to attack Luffy and his crew. It isn’t just weapons he eats, but he also ingests his crew members Chess and Kuromimo to create Chessmarimo! Finally, Chopper steps up to the mark, ingesting his special drug Rumble Ball that allows him to expand his Devil Fruit abilities and take on Chessmarimo.
Wapol is on the hunt for a very powerful and giant cannon called the Royal Drum Crown 7-Shot Bliking Cannon to consume, but on the way finds a still-healing Nami and gives chase. Luffy steps in just in time, but Wapol also gets to the cannon, swallowing it. What he doesn’t realize is that he also consumed some birds who nested in it and his attack on Luffy fails, with Luffy sending him flying. Wapol begs for his life but Luffy has had enough and sends Wapol flying to another island.
A new comrade
With Wapol defeated and Nami better, Luffy convinces Chopper to join his crew—after all, a medic would be very handy! Chopper agrees to go and the island gives them a great send-off allowing the Straw Hats to continue on their journey to deliver Princess Vivi to Arabasta.
This arc introduces readers to Zoan Devil Fruit, a type that allows the eater to turn into a human/animal hybrid. In Chopper’s case, from an animal to a human/animal hybrid. We cannot wait to meet Chopper in season two of Netflix’s live-action adaptation!
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