Chapter 323

Before parting, Kokoro hands the crew a rough map and a letter of introduction, warning that Marines may be present in the city. Leaving the Shift Station behind, Luffy and his friends set out to find a new shipmate. They joke about their dream carpenter, Sanji wanting a gorgeous woman and Luffy sketching a sixteen foot giant, while Zoro points out the real need is a skilled builder willing to sail with pirates. Nami checks Kokoro's map and finds it useless, then summons everyone to collect their weekly allowance.

Reflecting on their journeys with the Going Merry, the crew imagines how she will look once repaired, then catch their first stunned sight of Water 7. A fishing local explains how to enter, and the Straw Hats see that the buildings sit atop other submerged structures. Another resident directs them to a small peninsula where they can dock. When Zoro accidentally snaps the mast, the full extent of the ship's damage becomes plain. The group decides that Luffy, Usopp, and Nami will carry the gold to be exchanged and deliver Kokoro's letter to Iceburg.

In the city, residents rush toward a disturbance at dock one, where Mikazuki, captain of the Big Helmet Pirates, refuses to pay for repairs. A woman named Kalifa reports the trouble to Iceburg. A man in goggles and his fellow carpenters then thrash the Big Helmet Pirates with ease, revealing the muscle behind Water 7's shipwrights, the Galley-La Company, whose members include a long nosed man named Kaku and another who keeps a pigeon partner named Hattori. The cover shows Goro coaxing Gedatsu into an open air drum bath after a day of digging.