Bamboo Hat Village

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Chapter 912, "Bamboo Hat Village," opens inside Hitetsu's home after Tama has been rescued and fed. The old swordsmith connects the name in her heart to Luffy's past and asks, "Is the Ace you're waiting for Portgas D. Ace, Tama?" Tama, still weak from the poison and hunger, coughs and looks up at Luffy with sudden hope: "Big bro? Do you know him?" Luffy answers simply, "Yeah." Then, with no softening and no sense for the wound he is touching, he tells her, "Ace's dead." The room freezes around that sentence. For Luffy, it is a fact from the war; for Tama, it is the collapse of a promise she has been surviving on.

Tama's face crumples under Luffy's words. She refuses the truth with everything she has left, screaming, "You're a liar, big broooo!" and then, "Nooooo waaaayyy!" The shock is too much for her already weakened body, and she faints on the spot. Luffy stares down at her and says, "She fainted. Crap." Hitetsu is shaken for another reason as well. Luffy's blunt statement confirms that the Ace Tama knew was the same Ace known to the outside world, and the old man realizes aloud, "So Ace came to Wano, too!" The page turns a child's waiting into grief and links Wano directly to Ace's unfinished promise.

Hitetsu erupts at Luffy's lack of delicacy. "Are you some sort of demon knave?!" he demands, furious that Luffy dropped the news so harshly. "Even if you speak the truth, why wouldst you say such a thing now?" Luffy answers from his own blunt logic: "But no matter how long she waits, Ace isn't coming." Hitetsu snaps back, "Be that as it may, there are such things as timing and phrasing!" Only then does the conversation shift into introductions. Luffy declares, "I'm Luffy! I'm going to be pirate king some day! Who are you, old man?!" Hitetsu answers, "I am Hitetsu," and the narration identifies him as Swordsmith Hitetsu of Mt. Tengu, Collector of Beautiful Girl Dolls. He calls Luffy a blasted man with no grasp of delicacy, then explains that he, too, is waiting for someone.

Hitetsu explains what this place used to be. Though only he and Tama remain now, it was once Braided Hat Village. Over a year earlier, a pirate named X Drake joined Kaido's army as a new Headliner, and the village's protectors, five samurai who formed its cornerstone, were killed. The settlement was destroyed. Hitetsu widens the explanation from one village to all of Wano: the only land still prosperous is the Flower Capital, where the shogun Orochi resides. Everywhere else has been decimated by Kaido's army into lawless wastes. The peaceful name "Bamboo Hat Village" begins to feel like a memory preserved after disaster, and Tama's poverty is shown as part of a country's deliberate ruin.

Hitetsu tells Luffy how Ace entered Tama's life. About four years ago, the village was nearly beyond saving. People were starving to death, and just as they thought they would not make it, a pirate ship washed ashore. The desperate villagers tied up the weakened pirates and stole the food and supplies on board, eating properly for the first time in a long while. Hitetsu expected retaliation once the pirates broke their bonds, but one of them instead asked, "Where can I go to get you guys dessert?" The villagers were shocked that shipwrecked pirates had saved them. Ace and his friends stayed for a few weeks, and O-Tama became very attached to him. Luffy listens and smiles quietly: "Hmm. I see!"

Luffy prepares to leave with Tama on his back, asking practical questions as he goes: "Any doctors in the area?" and "And where can I get water and food?" He puts on a kimono, pleased by the new outfit, while Hitetsu explains that he is giving Luffy the clothes because his usual ones would stand out too much. Luffy says, "Oh! A kimono!" and imagines adding armor and a helmet, because they "would be cool, too!" He promises the unconscious girl, "As thanks for giving me food! I'll take Tama with me!" but adds that he has to find his friends first. Hitetsu cannot enter town for certain reasons, so Luffy leaves her in his care no longer: "Food and treatment will be free! Please, help me."

As Luffy leaves, he notices a sword and casually grabs it. "I'll take this sword, too. It looks pretty samurai-y," he says, already moving. Hitetsu panics: "Yagh! Wait! You idiot! You can't take that!" He tells Luffy that even touching the sword named blade is a grave offense, because his ancestor Kotetsu forged it and it is known across the world. Luffy only calls back, "Later!" and "Okay!" while Hitetsu shouts the name after him: "It is one of the 21 Great Grade Swords! Its name is... Nidai Kitetsu!!" The page pauses to explain sword grades: the 12 Supreme Grade Swords, the 21 Great Grade Swords, and the 50 Skillful Grade Swords. Luffy recognizes the sound of the name and mutters, "Kitetsu? I feel like I've heard that somewhere..."

Hitetsu tries to stop Luffy by warning him that Nidai Kitetsu is cursed. Luffy answers that Hitetsu's own blade is cursed too and says, "I don't want to carry it around!" When Hitetsu insists, "This one is a named blade, too, fool!" Luffy casually offers, "Then trade me for yours!" Hitetsu refuses in a panic: "No no no no no! You must not!" Luffy, already committed, says, "It's fine! Lemme take it!" Hitetsu shouts after him, "Its curse will befall you, too! I won't forgive you if something happens to O-Tama!" and then, "Be sure to bring it back! Can you hear me?!" Outside, Luffy asks the lion-dog, "Will you take me there?" Koma-chiyo barks, "Woof woof," and the journey begins with Tama, the cursed sword, and Luffy all racing away.

Tama wakes in Luffy's arms as Koma-chiyo runs through the bamboo. Luffy says, "Oh! Tama! I hope this dog knows the way. We're going to a doctor!" Still half-dazed, she calls him "B-Big bro?" then immediately returns to the wound he opened: "Big bro, you're a big fat liar!" and "Ace is coming! I know it!" Luffy tells her, "He can't! Everyone knows what happened during the Summit War!" and warns, "Oi, knock it off. You'll fall." Tama cries, "But... he promised me!" The memory appears: little Tama begging, "Ace! Take me out to sea with you!" Ace laughs that she is still only five years old, promises, "We'll be back! With a bigger crew!" and she asks, "Will'n you take me with you then?"

In Tama's memory, Ace gives the promise its condition. "Pirates have to be strong!" he tells her, and says that when they return, if she has become "a bewitching girl ninja or somethin'," they will take her. Another pirate laughs, "She doesn't have to be 'bewitching,' Ace! Hahaha!" Ace still says, "We'll take ya!" and Tama beams: "It's'n a promise, then!" Back in the present, she hits Luffy for saying Ace is dead, crying, "We were such good friends!" and "He said he'd come back!" Luffy says she just does not know how nice Ace is, while she answers that Luffy does not understand how much it hurts. Koma-chiyo clatters onward, Tama's stomach growls with a "clink" and "crrshh," and Luffy says they are leaving the bamboo forest to the north.

The bamboo gives way to the country Hitetsu described. Smokestacks pour poison over a ruined wasteland, and the ground lies barren and cracked under the factory smoke. Luffy looks across it and says, "Decimated, huh..." Tama answers, "It really has been..." Yet the wasteland is not empty. A tiger growls "Grrr rrr!" and Luffy exclaims, "A tiger!" A boar rushes by with a "Frrgh!" and he calls, "A boar!" Then a crocodile-shark lunges into view, prompting Luffy to say, "And what's that?! A-a croco-shark!" and "Dang, it looks super wild!" Wano's wilderness is alive, but it has been twisted into a harsh place where even the animals seem dangerous and desperate.

Luffy sees the huge animals and immediately thinks of food: "Why don't we just eat that thing, then?" Tama explains why they cannot. All the animals drink from the polluted river, so they are basically poisonous to humans, and the strong samurai who might have caught them are either locked up or have become bandits. Luffy asks about the smoking factory, and Tama confirms, "Yes! That's where their mine and weapons factory are." She says there are many of Kaido's men there, too. Luffy is furious: "What the heck?! It looks so tasty! Unforgivable." When he asks what the enemy eats, Tama points toward clean private plantations where the shogun and Kaido have clean water, clean rice, clean fish, and clean meat. Luffy realizes that food does exist in Wano, but it is hoarded by the rulers.

Tama's body worsens again. She faints with a sharp "Faint," and Luffy cries, "Oi! Tama!" then notices her fever has gotten worse. He urges Koma-chiyo onward: "Hold on! We'll get you to a doctor soon!" But Luffy also hears trouble nearby. Someone screams, "Please, forgive me!" while another voice laughs, "Kyaha ha! Stop, woman!" and orders, "Leave everything on your person here!" Luffy, thinking of his crewmate, asks, "Is that Sanji?" before deciding, "Er, probably not." The voice says, "Stop, woman?" and Luffy sees that someone has run in from the side. With Tama sick in his arms and food and water guarded by the enemy, another act of cruelty unfolds directly in his path.

Before Luffy can act, the attackers are blasted away with a crash and a scream of "Gyaaah!" Someone has already beaten them up. The rescued woman stares and says, "I know not who you might be, but... thank you!" The swordsman answers in awkward local speech, "Yeah. Don't worry. I'm... er, I art after..." When she asks how to thank him, he says, "These guys' sake. Eth. Sakeeth." Luffy immediately recognizes the posture, the swords, and the appetite behind the strange phrasing. He calls for Koma-chiyo to stop, then shouts across the wasteland, "Oi! Zoro, is that you?!" The page turns the detour into a reunion: Luffy has found one of the friends he was searching for, and Zoro has already been causing trouble in Wano.

Zoro turns at the voice, unsure for a breath, and Luffy calls again, "Zoro! Me! It's me!" Recognition hits them both. Zoro shouts, "Luffy!" and Luffy beams, "You made it!" The reunion is rough, loud, and immediate, with the two crewmates meeting in the middle of the poisoned wasteland as if it has only been a short delay. Luffy says, "Whoa it's been a wh-hagh!" and Zoro answers in his borrowed Wano manner, "It definitely hath been a long time!" Luffy quickly asks, "Is everyone else with you?" Zoro replies, "Yeah! We got separated, but... I bet they're fine!" There is no long panic between them, only trust in the crew's ability to survive and the relief of finding each other in enemy territory.

Zoro has meat, and Luffy notices at once: "Is that meat you have there?!" Zoro tells him there is no shortage of food in these parts because fish and animals are plentiful, and Luffy can hunt as much as he wants. Then he warns, "Nah, you've gotta be careful. The water around here is poisoned or something. Makes this meat and the fish poisonous, too. 'S what I heard." Luffy finally understands why his stomach has been hurting after eating earlier. The urgency returns when Zoro sees Tama unconscious: "Wait, this kid's passed out! Should you be standing around eating at a time like this?!" Luffy says he has to take her to a doctor, but the path is blocked by Basil Hawkins, who identifies Zoro as the nationally wanted ronin Zorojuro and asks whether the straw-hatted man is his crewmember.

Basil Hawkins arrives mounted with Kaido's forces behind him. He says, "Two of my underlings and one hihi have vanished," then reads the situation with his cards: "There's a 98% chance you all did this." His conclusion is cold and direct: "But none of that matters. Here, in Wano, one joins the strong, or one spends their life running from them. Choose." Luffy and Zoro do not retreat. Zoro reminds Luffy of Kinemon's warning: "Here's what Kinemon said, Luffy! 'Don't start any trouble!'" Luffy, still chewing, answers, "Alright! Looks like we'll hafta apologize to him later!" The chapter ends with the two Straw Hats side by side against Hawkins, the rescue of Tama still urgent, and the promised secrecy in Wano already collapsing into a fight.

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