Severed Head

On the Isle of Punk Hazard, the Straw Hats stare at the impossible sight of Luffy wearing the severed lower half of the samurai like a pair of legs. Usopp calls out, "Hey, you guys!! Look! He stuck on to me!!" Luffy asks, "What do you call something like this again, Usopp?!" Usopp answers, "You mean... a centaur?" Luffy throws both arms up and celebrates, "Yeah!! I'm a centaur!!!" then laughs, "Wahaha hahaha ha!!" The lower half complains from beneath him, "Ugh...!! Got myself stuck onto something again, pfft..." Usopp, less amused, demands, "Do you give in yet?! I've just eaten dragon meat, you know!!" Luffy boasts, "I have dragon power now!!" but the samurai's legs answer with stubborn outrage: "The dragon was tasty, sure, but I'm full already!! If you're gonna eat almost all the meat, why don't you carry it yourself?!"

Robin watches Luffy's new "centaur" form and tells him, "That's not in very good taste. Luffy." Luffy only turns back with, "Really?" and Usopp mutters, "Hm?" The lower half erupts again with "Pffeehh!!!!" and Luffy decides they cannot just abandon it. He says, "You see?! He's not gonna just become part of you!! What kind of creature would do that?!" Usopp explains, "The other half of him must be out there somewhere waiting for him!! You should take him to where he belongs!" Luffy complains, "You just don't know how to dream, do you, Usopp?" and Robin dryly says, "This is just how he is! Nothing wrong with that!" The samurai's legs ask, "Right? What's your name, any-" before Luffy notices something nearby: "Oi!! You guys, get over here!! Zoro! Did you find him?! The guy who was sliced up by the samurai ...?!" Zoro answers, "...Take a look." Usopp and Luffy scream at what they see.

Across the island, the crew sees a completely different side of Punk Hazard: beyond the fire and ruins lie snowy mountains, a huge lake, and a frozen landscape. Someone stammers, "S... Snowy mountains?!!" and another explains, "There's a huge lake, and on the other side of the island..." Usopp shouts, "It's all snowy... No, ice-covered mountains!! How come?!" Robin understands the split island: "Meanwhile over on this side, it's boiling hot with active volcanoes!! What kind of island is this?!!" Usopp remembers the Den-Den Mushi report: "Oh, right! The guy on the Den-Den Mushi... He said it was cold..." Luffy realizes, "Well, that solves one mystery." Usopp finishes the thought in horror: "Is that you, boss...?! It's cold so cold... Which means..." The page establishes Punk Hazard's impossible geography: one side is volcanic heat, the other is ice and snow.

The frozen side becomes the likely destination. The group concludes, "The victims of the murderous samurai... must be on that side of the island...!!!" Luffy immediately wants to go: "This is a really cool islaaand!! There's snow falling on those mountains!! It's so hot here, I could do with a snow cone!!" Usopp protests, "You'd end up freezing cold if you went over there!! Besides, it's too far! We should head back to the ship!!" Robin is more practical: "Well, this is a problem. It does look rather cold over there." Usopp says, "If there are animals over there, we can skin them for furs... Either way, it'll work out somehow." The lower half objects, "Like hell it will!! What's wrong with you people?!!" and Luffy hears only the important part: "Snow cones!!" Then something falls from the smoky sky. Sanji shouts, "Aghh!! Did you see that?! Just now...!!" Luffy says, "That bird!! No, it was like... a bird and a human!!"

The bird-like human shape crashes hard into the ruins with a great impact, leaving the group staring through smoke and dust. The fallen figure gives a long, strange cry: "Haaaaaaaaaaaa!!" and then groans, "Haaa ahhh hhh!!!" A nearby reaction asks, "Huh?" while another sound trails out as "Zzzzzzzzzzzzz." The scene then cuts back to the captured group. Sanji wakes in a closed room, panting, while Franky sits nearby. Franky asks, "Sanji... What's got you so excited?" Sanji, still breathing hard after the sleeping gas and the sudden awakening, hears Chopper say, "*Pant* Oh good, you're awake." The page links two mysteries at once: a bird-person has fallen on the burning island, while the kidnapped crew members begin regaining consciousness somewhere marked by clean walls and industrial confinement.

Nami wakes in Sanji's arms and immediately notices what should have been obvious: "If you look around, it's fairly obvious." Chopper cries, "Franky!! We've been locked up, Franky!!" The room is marked "DECK-102," and the group sits inside an unfamiliar chamber behind a heavy door. Franky asks, "What?! Hey... where are we?!!" and remembers, "Huhh...? Last thing I remember, I was eating that fishy dessert on the deck, and then... ...I can't remember anything else..." Nami explains, "I can only suspect that somebody flooded the ship with sleeping gas... ...and then abducted us all while we were sleeping." Sanji adds, "The ship was flooded with gas, that much is for sure... I'm sorry, you guys. If only I'd noticed what was happening a little sooner..." Chopper panics, "You think they're gonna sell us?! They could be slave traders!!"

The captured crew checks who is missing. Franky says, "...Hang on, what about Brook? He was on the Sunny too..." Nami answers, "We don't know. When we woke up, it was just the four of us." Chopper worries that the abductors might not want skeletons if they are trading humans, and Franky snaps, "Uh, you're not exactly human yourself. And neither are you!! Oh, forget it!!!" Then a voice comes from nearby: "Say, friends... Do you enjoy the art of 'Hanjimono'?" Franky asks, "Huh? Did someone just talk?" Sanji says, "Well... it sure wasn't one of us..." Chopper points at the objects in the room: "I think the voice came from these things!!" The page shifts the locked-room problem into a bizarre new clue: the scattered parts on the floor are speaking.

The objects reveal themselves as parts of a face. Chopper asks, "What the hell...? Is it some new kind of Den-Den Mushi?" Franky says, "There are eight of them! I can't believe I didn't notice!" Chopper panics, "What do you mean, 'things'?!!" The voice from the pieces declares, "I am no filthy snail!! But it seems to me that you are not evildoers!! These objects before you are parts of my face!! Could I perhaps trouble you to reassemble them!!" Franky examines them and says, "His face? Come to think of it, this is a mouth... and these seem to be eyes..." Chopper realizes, "It really turned into a face!! You seem to have left out quite a few pieces!!" Franky tries a wrong arrangement and says, "How about this?" but the face protests, "Completely wrong!!" Sanji tries another and laughs, "Ahaha hahaha ha! This must be right." The face yells, "Are you toying with me?!"

The scattered pieces finally form a recognizable head. The samurai head says, "There!! This must be right! It's a proper human face!!" Then, noticing the details, he admits, "I get the feeling there's still something a little wrong with my chin and my hair... but no matter!! You have my thanks!!" Chopper screams, "It's a talking head!!" and Sanji shouts, "What kind of timing is that?!" Franky asks, "Why are you even alive?!! Are you an evil spirit?" The head answers with grim pride: "Even I am unsure of the answer to that question!! I most certainly did not end up this way of my own choice!!!" He explains, "I was sliced into pieces by an individual of whom I know naught!! Though I thought my life was ended, I ended up as you see me now!! To fall at the hands of the enemy and yet live on is great shame for a warrior!!!"

The head says he would ideally slice open his chest and end his life, but he cannot: "But alas, there remains to me an important task that I must fulfill at all costs!!" Franky observes, "He's so weird. Kind of like Buggy." Nami asks the practical question: "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you?" The head immediately turns old-fashioned and indignant toward her: "How can you address me so bluntly?! You are a woman, and a proud warrior! This is not natural!! A woman's place is to stand demurely in the shadow of menfolks ...and speak with reserve and modesty!!" Nami punches back verbally: "You've got a pretty big mouth for a disembodied head!!" and adds, "That's no way to talk to the people who were kind enough to put you back together!" The head is then scandalized by her clothes, calling them "H...how positively obscene!!" while Nami replies, "This is what I wear!"

Nami asks the head, "You don't like it?" and the head, suddenly charmed, blurts, "I must say I do!!" Sanji instantly calls him out: "You dirty-minded crook...!! It was a trap..." The head keeps mumbling, "Urg hh..." but Nami focuses the conversation: "Now, let us get to the heart of the matter! Who are you people?! You said that you were abducted from a ship of some sort...?" Sanji says, "We're pirates, idiot." Chopper adds, "I'm pretty sure his skull must be cracked... Is he not in pain...?" The head explodes at the word: "Pirates?!!" Then he declares, "So you are pirates!! No wonder your ways are barbaric!!! I detest pirates!! The very thought of them makes me sick to the stomach!!!" Nami reacts with surprise while the head's prejudice turns the room hostile again.

The head refuses to cooperate, saying, "Considering our shared predicament, imprisoned here on this isle of ice... I had thought that we might work together to escape, but nay!! I will not join hands with pirates!!" Franky asks, "Huh? What's all this about an 'isle of ice'? I thought we were on a burning island of fire!" Chopper agrees, "Franky's right!! It was a crazy burning island!! Even the sea around it was burning!!" Nami corrects the picture: "That burning island that Luffy and the others set off for... I knew it... The 'winter sky' I saw from the Sunny... It wasn't a mistake!! On the other side, it must be an 'isle of ice'! Which means we've been taken around to the far side of the island!!" The head claims he heard volcanic noises too, but Nami says she cannot learn more until they leave the room. Before she can finish, Franky blasts the door open, shouting, "Frankyyyyyyy!!" and "Out of the way!! My cola tanks are full to the brim!!"

Franky's escape method is pure force. He fires "Radical Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeam!!!" and tears the door open with a blast that fills the room. The others stare through the smoke while Franky complains, "I wish I could fire beams!" Sanji steps toward the opening and says, "The door's open. Let's leave." Nami follows with, "I guess that freaky body isn't just for show!!" The freed group prepares to move out of the room, taking the talking head with them despite his protests and despite having little idea where they are. The page is a clean turning point: the abducted crew is no longer passively locked up, and the mystery of Punk Hazard's ice side can now be investigated from inside the enemy facility.

As the group escapes, Sanji keeps hold of the severed head. The head protests, "So what's your plan?" and insists, "If we weren't pirates... you'd be leaving with us about now, right?" Sanji points out the obvious: "Well, you're not gonna escape on your own without a body, are you?" The head shouts, "Silence! Leave me be, pirate!" Sanji carries him anyway while Nami watches and asks, "What are you doing?!!" Then Sanji notices the topknot and identifies him: "Isn't that right... Samurai of the Wano Country!!" He explains, "Look at his hair. This topknot is a traditional hairstyle from the Wano Country." Chopper connects the clue: "Then you mean... He's the terrifying murderer from the Den-Den Mushi?!! Too scary!!!" Suddenly alarms sound: "Beep!" Nami warns, "Sanji-kun!! Chopper!! We have to move!! They're onto us!!" and someone says, "Hurry up!! It must be the pirates we captured!! I heard some kind of explosion!!"

Sanji questions the head while carrying him through the facility: "You want to know why we came here? We followed a distress signal from the guys you were slicing up..." Chopper calls him "...Mister Samurai!!" and Sanji warns, "Sanji!! Come on!! Just leave that scary samurai behind!!" The head answers with wounded pride: "I would not shamefully take the lives of others without reason!!" Then his motive erupts across the page: "I came to this island... in order to rescue my son!!!! Those who stand in my way... I will slice down without hesitation!!!!" The bottom panels show suited enemies rushing through the smoke and machinery as Sanji's expression hardens. The samurai is not simply a random murderer; his violence is tied to a missing son somewhere on Punk Hazard.

Sanji chooses to bring the samurai head with them despite the risk. Chopper protests, "You're taking him with us?! But he's way too dangerous!!" and Sanji answers, "I'll take full responsibility!" Then someone spots the next opening: "A door!!" The group bursts through and stops in front of an unexpected room full of children. The children are enormous compared with normal human size, standing around in hospital-like clothes while the Straw Hats stare from the doorway. One child asks, "Where they?" and another reacts, "Huh??" Sanji and the others freeze. Chopper calls, "Young-lings?!" and Sanji says, "Giant... children?!" The final reaction sums up the shock: "There's nothing but kids everywhere!! What is this place?!!" The chapter ends by replacing the locked-room mystery with a worse one: the facility is holding giant children.

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