Chapter 22: You're the Rare Breed

Nami repairs the straw hat that Buggy had wrecked earlier, but the thrilled captain promptly jabs a hole through it and takes a sewing needle to the brow for his trouble. The commotion stirs a famished Zoro awake. Catching sight of an island ahead, Luffy charges toward it at top speed in pursuit of food, yet the place turns out empty and blanketed in forest. Leaving the dozing swordsman behind, he and Nami press on alone and run into a string of strange crossbred animals: a dog-chicken, a rabbit-snake, and a lion-pig. A thundering voice orders them to flee before the island's curse claims them, then a shot strikes the captain, who deflects the bullet and tracks it back to an odd chest topped with hair.

The thing scampers off, stumbles, and spills out Gaimon. Stuck in the box for two decades with no human contact, his body has set into its shape. A former pirate himself, he is overjoyed to find fellow pirates and is shown the crew's map and told of the Grand Line, though he can give no directions of his own.

Nami spells out the layout of the world for the very first time: the single continent of the Red Line cutting the globe in two, the great sea route slicing it further into four oceans, and Gold Roger standing as the only soul to ever master that course. Gaimon recalls landing two decades back with a crew to seek treasure, scaling a hill where he found the chests, then toppling into an empty one and waking trapped after his shipmates sailed off without him. Luffy and Nami agree to bring down the long-watched hoard that is rightly his, yet when the captain reaches the crest, the five chests sitting there prove hollow, plundered before Gaimon ever arrived.

Nami mends the captain's hat and chides both him and Zoro for setting out with no food or water. The world's geography appears for the first time, and Gold Roger is named for the first time since the opening chapter, now actually heard about by the crew. Gaimon and his backstory enter the tale; given the chance to come aboard, he turns it down to stay and shield the island's creatures. This installment opens the Syrup Village Arc, and its color cover depicts the captain crushing mochi beside moon rabbits hard enough to split the mortar.