Chapter 417 · Ashura

00AI-written

Chapter 417, "ASHURA", opens with a cover illustration. Usopp sits on a tall stool in a place marked "BEAR GARDEN," holding a long tool while a large bear-shaped topiary stands with its arms raised. A smaller white bear sits nearby with a leaf fan, and buildings, trees, insects, a bottle, and a little outdoor meal fill the strange garden setting.

Usopp

Zoro and Kaku stand across from one another in the wrecked chamber, smoke drifting through the broken garden-like room. Kaku says, "... I HAVEN'T SHOWN YOU... THE HIDDEN STRENGTH OF A WILD 'GIRAFFE'..." Zoro, breathing hard, answers, "NO NEED TO BRAG. JUST SHOW IT TO ME." Kaku lowers his long neck toward the ground and begins to build up power with "GU GU GU..." Then he warns, "YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO ASK...!!"

Roronoa ZoroKaku

Kaku tells Zoro, "OBSERVE CAREFULLY THE POWER OF A GIRAFFE..." and prepares "KIRIN HOUDAI"--noted as "giraffe battery," with a pun reading "giraffe man pierce tower." Zoro snaps, "THERE'S NO GIRAFFE LIKE THAT." Kaku compresses and then releases an "ultimate nose gun," shouting "KYOKU BIGAN!!!" His body and neck surge forward in an absurdly powerful attack called "KILIMANJARO!!!" Zoro is struck and flung aside, crying "BK!!" as he realizes, "IT GREW!?"

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Kaku's expanded neck smashes Zoro into the rubble and leaves him pinned amid dust and broken stone. Zoro growls from the impact, but then grins and says, "SEE, TOLD YOU. YOUR LONG NECK WILL BE YOUR WEAK POINT!!" Kaku rejects that completely: "NO, IT WON'T!!" He lashes out from the long neck with "RANKYAKU," using the very part Zoro called a weakness to send a cutting strike back at him. The exchange shows that Kaku's bizarre body is not just comic; he is learning to weaponize every awkward shape.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Kaku spins into "NEJI HAKUJIN!!!"--noted as "screw white blade"--and the rotating attack tears toward Zoro like a drill of slashing force. Zoro is forced back, crying "UWAH!!!" as the room churns with the attack's spiral. Kaku lands in another awkward, upside-down stance, laughing with "GEE GEE GEE GEE," then tells Zoro, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S OFF-GUARD." The giraffe-man has turned his strange body into unpredictable angles, and Zoro is momentarily the one being chased.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Zoro studies Kaku and asks, "WHAT KIND OF CREATURE IS HE...!?" Kaku drops again and says, "I WON'T LET YOU GET AWAY THIS TIME. KIRIN HOUDAI!!!" But when he compresses his neck too deeply, his arms and legs stretch instead. Zoro and Kaku both stare in disbelief. Kaku curses, "DAMN. I PUSHED MY NECK IN TOO DEEP AND EXTENDED MY ARMS AND LEGS INSTEAD. HOW THE HELL DOES YOUR BODY WORK!?" Zoro asks. Kaku explains, "IT'S KINDA LIKE A PASTA MACHINE THAT PUSHES OUT THE NOODLES AFTER YOU SQUEEZE IN THE FLOUR..." and immediately names the result "PASTA MACHINE!!!" Zoro snaps, "DON'T NAME YOUR ATTACK ON THE SPOT!!!"

Roronoa ZoroKaku

Kaku insists that his long neck is useful, but so are his arms and legs, declaring, "I'M A PROFESSIONAL FIGHTER WHO CAN TURN UNEXPECTED SITUATIONS TO HIS ADVANTAGE!! LOOK!! LOOK AT THE FIGHTING TECHNIQUE THAT I CAN GENERATE WITH THIS REACH!!" Zoro can only say, "YOU REALLY COULDN'T THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE, HUH!!?" Kaku launches "KILIMANJARO!!!" again, while Zoro admits, "I CAN'T KEEP UP WITH YOU...!!" He shifts to "SANTOU-RYUU" and "TATSU"--dragon--as he prepares to meet the incoming reach with a tornado-like sword technique.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Zoro releases "MAKI!!!" with his three-sword tornado; a note says Tatsumaki means tornado. Kaku braces with "TEKKAI!!!" but feels the force immediately, thinking, "STRONG...!!!" The impact throws him upward, and Zoro notes, "HE... JUMPED TO THE UPPER LEVEL!!" Kaku counters with "GEP-POU" and slams back down as "PASTA MACHINE!!!" His strange compressed body turns the battlefield vertical, dropping from above with a heavy "TATATAN!!!" while Zoro watches for the next opening.

Roronoa ZoroKaku

Kaku crashes down in his compressed form, but Zoro waits and meets him with a clean crossing of blades. Kaku reacts, "!!?" and Zoro says, "THANKS FOR WAITING." Kaku lands back on his feet, impressed by his own new reach. He explains, "IF I CAN CONTROL THE 'REACH' OF MY ARMS, LEGS AND NECK... I CAN SWING THE SWORDS ANY WAY I WANT...!!" Zoro, breathing hard, now faces not just a giraffe body but a four-sword fighter using every stretched limb like an extension of his blades.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Kaku declares, "I'M A YON-TOURYUU SWORDSMAN." A note identifies it as four sword style. "NOW I CAN MAXIMIZE THE GIRAFFE'S POWER. YOU WON'T STAND A CHANCE!!" he boasts, attacking with his stretched swords from several directions. He explains, "THE FACT THAT A GIRAFFE IS POWERFUL...!! AND THE FACT THAT YOU CAN RETRACT YOUR TROUBLESOME NECK...!! AND THE FACT THAT YOU USE 'YONTOURYUU'...!!" Zoro keeps dodging and guarding as the strange style pushes him through rubble, while Kaku's square body and elongated limbs make the battlefield feel closed from every side.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Zoro smiles grimly and says that "NOT ONE OF THEM IS A GOOD ENOUGH REASON TO DEFEAT ME!!!" Kaku shifts into "SANTOU-RYUU" with a leopard-labeled move, "HYOU!!!" then follows with "KIN!!!"--noted as koto, a Japanese music instrument--and "DAMA!!!" A note explains that hyoukin-dama means humorous person. Kaku launches himself like a ball toward Zoro, and Zoro realizes, "HE'S GOING TO LAUNCH HIMSELF TOWARDS ME!!!" The clash becomes a contest not of species trivia, but of whether Kaku's creativity can overpower Zoro's resolve.

Roronoa ZoroKaku

Kaku spins into "KANIE!!!" and uses his compressed body to hurl himself in a violent arc. Zoro is caught by the impact and cries, "OWEE!!!" while Kaku's strike batters him through the air. Kaku thinks, "NO WAY!! I READ HIS ATTACK...!!" but Zoro, even after taking the blow, watches carefully and asks himself, "DID HE ANTICIPATE MY MOVE?" The room shakes with the force of their collision as Kaku keeps pressing and Zoro refuses to lose track of the pattern.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Kaku decides, "I GUESS I LOOKED DOWN ON YOU A LITTLE...!! BUT THIS IS IT!! I WON'T GIVE YOU ANY MORE OPENINGS...!!!" He releases "RANKYAKU SHURIKEN!!!" and sends spinning slashes flying across the chamber like thrown blades. Zoro cuts through the first assault, but Kaku follows with "KILIMANJARO!!!" and slams into him again. The blows crash against the ruined walls with "DOH!!!" and Zoro's stance is forced lower, yet he keeps his swords between himself and the oncoming giraffe-man.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Kaku's neck twists into another whip-like attack. He says, "DAMN IT...!! THIS NECK CAN ALSO TURN INTO A WHIP...!!" and names "HENCHIKIRIN!!!" A note explains it as "whip bamboo forest," a pun with absurd and fierce bamboo forest. Zoro coughs from the pressure while Kaku increases the speed: "I'LL INCREASE THE SPEED...!!" He follows with "MOUCHI-KIRIN!!!" and lashes the battlefield repeatedly, the long neck striking through smoke and shattered stone until Zoro is forced to guard under a storm of impacts.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Kaku keeps attacking without pause, calling the sequence "NEVER-ENDING FOUR CONTINUOUS SWORDS!!! JUST GIVE UP!" He slams down with "GEKIRIN!!!"--noted as wrath--and Zoro is driven back, thinking, "WHAT A FIERCE ATTACK." Kaku presses with more slashes and body blows, shouting "YOU!!!" as Zoro is knocked from one side of the room to the other. Zoro still endures, grunting "KU...!!" while Kaku's barrage fills the page with overlapping strikes and shock lines.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

The two face each other across the wreckage. Kaku warns, "DON'T GET TOO CARRIED AWAY...!!" and, after seeing something impossible, thinks, "WHAT... WHAT WAS THAT JUST NOW...? FOR A MOMENT, HE LOOKED LIKE A DEMON GOD WITH 3 FACES AND 6 ARMS!!!" Zoro answers by standing firm, while Kaku says, "... THEN I'LL USE THE STRONGEST 'RANKYAKU,' 'AMANE-DACHI,' WHICH SLICED THIS TOWER IN HALF, TO CUT YOU IN HALF AND END THIS!!!" A massive wind gathers around them as Kaku prepares the tower-splitting attack.

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Kaku declares, "GIVE UP... YOU HAVE NOWHERE TO RUN...!!" Zoro answers, "THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM THE EARLIER DEMON-STRATION." Kaku tells him, "IDIOT, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SHOULD GIVE UP." Zoro spreads his blades and manifests the vision in full: "DEMON SPIRIT...!! 'KYUU-TOURYUU'"--a note names it nine swords style--and "ASHURA." Kaku stares, "!!?" as the illusion of extra faces and arms surrounds Zoro. He realizes, "IT'S THE DEMON GOD THAT I SAW EARLIER...!!! CAN HE REALLY CREATE AN ILLUSION LIKE THAT WITH HIS SPIRIT...!?" Zoro says, "QUITE AMAZING. BUT IT'S TOO LATE!!" Kaku tells him, "YOU SHOULD ONLY TALK CHEEKY LIKE THAT AFTER YOU AVOID THIS 'RANKYAKU'!!" and releases "AMANE-DACHI!!!"

Roronoa ZoroKaku

Kaku fires the tower-cleaving Rankyaku, but Zoro steps through it as Ashura, the nine-sword image towering around him. Kaku realizes in horror, "HE TURNED... MY 'RANKYAKU' INTO MIST!!!" Zoro replies, "BRING ON THE HARDSHIP; IT'S PREFERRED IN A PATH OF CARNAGE." He finishes with "ASHURA" and "ICHI-BUGIN!!!" A side note says one mist silver also a silver coin used back in the Edo period. The huge panel shows Zoro's demonic three-faced, six-armed form cutting through Kaku's attack and closing the fight in a single decisive slash.

Roronoa ZoroKaku

The SBS page includes two reader questions and Oda's answers. One reader asks how beautiful someone can get if hit by Sanji's "Parage Shot" from chapter 372, and Oda answers that it gives a complete makeover like Wanze's, but because Sanji would never kick a woman and only the face changes, a potato-like body with a beautiful face would still be unsettling. Another reader asks why One Piece volumes have been unusually thick lately; Oda explains that comic volumes are usually around 184 pages and commonly fit nine chapters, but he sometimes asks to include ten or eleven chapters because he wants to serve readers and cares about the story, also noting that after moving from eleven-chapter volumes to nine-chapter ones, readers complained about thinner volumes.

SanjiWanze

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End of chapter20 pages

Discussion

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Usopp

Roronoa ZoroKaku

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Roronoa ZoroKaku

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Roronoa ZoroKaku

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Roronoa ZoroKaku

KakuRoronoa Zoro

Roronoa ZoroKaku

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End of chapter20 pages