Wano Country Arc

The Wano Country Arc is the thirty-first story arc in the series and the fourth in the Yonko Saga of One Piece, continuing from the Levely Arc.

The Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance sets their plan into motion to recruit allies within the Wano Country to liberate it from the control of the shogun Kurozumi Orochi and his allies, Kaido of the Yonko and his crew the Beasts Pirates. Meanwhile, the Big Mom Pirates also head to Wano to get revenge on the Straw Hats for the previous events back on Totto Land.

Nekomamushi and the Guardians arrived on Sphinx, where Marco resided and worked as a doctor. Marco revealed that Sphinx was Whitebeard's homeland and his last keepsake. With Edward Weevil and Bakkin hunting for Whitebeard's inheritance, Marco anticipated that they would attack this place, and so elected to stay behind and protect it instead of joining the Ninja-Pirate-Mink-Samurai Alliance against Kaido. However, he told Nekomamushi to give Luffy a message from him once he arrived at Wano Country.

Meanwhile, Kin'emon, Law, Zoro, Usopp, Robin, and Franky had snuck into Wano's Flower Capital. Kin'emon warned the group that the shogun, Kurozumi Orochi, had agents lurking around every corner, so they would need to disguise their identities and assimilate into the populace. Franky became an apprentice carpenter under Minatomo, Usopp sold toad oil on the streets, and Robin trained to become a geisha performing for Orochi. Zoro, however, became a ronin, and was framed for several street murderers. The magistrate sentenced him to seppuku and gleefully apprehended the stolen Shusui, but Zoro sensed that he was the one who actually committed the murders. With the short seppuku blade, he cut down the magistrate from a considerable distance.

Some time later, Luffy's Whole Cake Island group read about the Levely while sailing to Wano. Nami noticed an article about Kaido and Big Mom, but was unable to read it due to Sanji and Chopper cutting pictures out. The crew then came to a stormy area that looked like Wano, and as they sailed through it, they encountered a school of giant carp. They then came to the bottom of a massive waterfall, and Luffy grabbed onto two of the jumping carp to pull themselves up. At the top of the waterfall, was a whirlpool, and Luffy had Sanji fly the others to land. When he tried to follow them, however, an octopus that had boarded the Sunny held him back, causing him to go down into the whirlpool. Luffy and the Sunny washed up on Kuri Beach, and after coming to, Luffy immediately encountered a baboon with a sword named Hihimaru battling a komainu named Komachiyo. Close by, a group of Beasts Pirates scouts were riding to shore with a young captive girl named Tama, whom they had captured after she mentioned the Kozuki Family when they were harassing her at the market. They attempted to take out Luffy for illegally entering the country, but Luffy quickly brought them down. One of them was still conscious and told Hihimaru to take down Luffy, but it quickly backed down due to Luffy's Haoshoku Haki. Tama then knocked out the scout and submitted herself to Luffy, and in his confusion she managed to pull a piece of kibi dango from her cheek and feed it to Hihimaru, instantly taming him. To thank Luffy, Tama helped him dock the Sunny in a hidden cave before taking him to her home to feed him. When they got to her place, she made a small meal for him out of the little rice she had. She then went out, and Luffy was suddenly confronted by her master Tenguyama Hitetsu, who thought he had stolen her small rations. Tama then came back and revealed what happened, but she then fell ill due to drinking contaminated river water to suppress her hunger.

Hitetsu said that much of the country was turned into a polluted wasteland by Kaido and his factories, and this place, Amigasa Village, had been destroyed by the Headliner X Drake a year ago. Tama continued living here, however, in order to wait for Portgas D. Ace, who had come during a famine four years ago and helped feed everyone. Before he left, he had promised to take Tama along with him the next time he came. Luffy revealed that Ace had died, causing Tama to faint. He then decided to go out to the nearest town to get Tama treated by a doctor, and donned a kimono. He also chose to take the cursed sword Nidai Kitetsu despite Hitetsu's protests, and set off with Tama. Somewhere in Kuri, Beasts Pirates Headliner Basil Hawkins received a report that they had lost contact with their men on Kuri Beach, and Hawkins decided to deal with this himself. On the way to town, Komachiyo arrived to give Luffy and Tama a ride. They emerged from the forest into a massive wasteland, and Tama told Luffy more about the pollution in the country. Luffy then saw a woman being chased by some Beasts Pirates, only for the pirates to be cut down by someone. Luffy saw that the attacker was in fact Zoro, and quickly went to reunite with his crewmate. However, the two of them were soon confronted by Hawkins and his men. The two sides began battling, and Luffy and Zoro went after Hawkins, but he shrugged off their attacks with his Wara Wara no Mi abilities. Komachiyo then ran in and grabbed Luffy and Zoro to make sure Tama got to treatment, and Hawkins pursued them with a giant straw avatar for a bit until Zoro managed to cut down the avatar Kiku immediately mounted Komachiyo to go rescue Tama, and Luffy and Zoro joined her. She explained to them the situation in Bakura Town, and revealed that she was a samurai.

On top of the mountain where Oden Castle was located, Bepo, Shachi, and Penguin spotted Luffy and Zoro from afar. When they saw the duo heading to Bakura Town, they told Law, who quickly became worried and planned to stop them. In Bakura Town, Gazelleman brought Tama to Holdem, who decided to try testing her abilities by pulling on her cheek with pliers. Elsewhere, Urashima told the Gifter Mouseman about Kiku while eating, and Mouseman encouraged him to use his high status to take her by force. Luffy, Zoro, and Kiku later arrived at Bakura Town, and while racing down the street, they were suddenly hit by a sumo wrestler who had been knocked out of the ring by Urashima. As Urashima was dominating his opponents, he saw Kiku and became ecstatic, thinking she had come to accept his proposal. He had his men bring her to him, but when he silenced and degraded the lower-class spectators, Kiku became mad and cut off his topknot with her sword. One of Holdem's men told him that Urashima's topknot had been cut off, while Hawkins and his men warned the Bakura Town forces about Luffy as they headed there themselves. Back at the sumo ring, Urashima decided to attack Kiku for her actions, but his attack was met by Luffy. Luffy challenged him to a sumo match for Kiku, and the two of them began fighting.

Luffy was able to effortlessly dodge Urashima's attacks, and knocked him out of the ring with a single Gear Third-enhanced Harite, destroying several buildings. The Beasts Pirates guards then attacked Luffy, Zoro, and Kiku, causing a fight to break out as the latter trio searched for Holdem. Holdem then appeared on a rooftop with Tama, angry that Luffy had sent Urashima flying into his house, and said he would kill Tama if he made a move. Law was still on the mountain when Shachi saw that a fire had broken out and Hawkins had arrived at Bakura Town, leaving him aghast. Deep within Bakura Town, the Headliner and Horse SMILE user Speed collected a cart full of clean food from the Paradise Farm. She saw the fire and destruction around Holdem's house as she went into town, and wondered what was going on. As Holdem threatened Tama with Kamijiro, the lion head growing from his stomach, Kiku warned Luffy that going against Holdem would attract the wrath of the All-Star and ruler of Kuri Jack. However, Luffy decided to take action after seeing Speed bring the food provisions cart onto the scene, and in the blink of an eye punched Kamijiro and freed Tama. Zoro attacked the pirates around the provisions cart, and Komachiyo pulled it away.

When Luffy saw that Holdem had hurt Tama's cheek, he turned around to attack the Headliner. Holdem had Kamijiro breathe fire at Luffy, but it was to no avail as Luffy took him out with Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk. As Hawkins entered Bakura Town, he was confronted by a masked Law, who intended to take him out before the fellow Supernova could recognize him. However, Hawkins quickly recognized Law by his Devil Fruit power and tattoos, and after a brief clash, he removed Law's mask. He revealed to Law that he had figured out that his and Luffy's alliance had infiltrated Wano, and Law's panic only grew as Hawkins received a call that Holdem had been taken out and Jack had been notified. Nearby, Luffy and Tama immediately started running away, and Luffy saw Speed's horse body and jumped on her. She quickly became angry, and Luffy told Tama to feed her a kibi dango, which she did. Although the dango was not supposed work on humans, it did work on Speed due to her Devil Fruit, and she happily carried Luffy and Tama away. Zoro and Kiku rode the provisions cart out of town, and Law hitched a ride with them in order to yell at Zoro for his actions. They took the provisions cart to Okobore Town, where they offered it to the delighted citizens. Some Gifters attempted to stop this, but they were then crushed by a massive tub of clean water that Luffy brought. As Tama ate an apple, Luffy promised her that by the time he left Wano, she would be able to eat until she is full every day, and this caused Tama to start crying as Ace had said the exact same thing..