Big Trouble in the Secret Room

The day after the fight, Usopp sits by himself aboard the hushed, deserted Going Merry. In the streets of Water 7, residents trade theories about an incident they pin on either Franky or the visiting pirates, and crowds gather at Dock 1 wondering whether it connects to the wrecked Franky House.

On an inn rooftop, the Straw Hats minus Nami gather as Sanji turns up, grumbling that they paid for rooms nobody slept in. He reveals he had been watching the Peninsula for Robin and plans to spend the day searching, and Chopper offers to come along. Nami then bursts in with word that Iceburg has been shot. A panicked Paulie gets summoned, learning Iceburg lives but lies in a catatonic state. Inside Galley-La's headquarters, Kaku and Lulu rule out robbery and start to suspect the World Government.

Iceburg turns out to have taken five bullets from an unidentified assailant inside his own home, yet he survives in a catatonic condition. Paulie, Lulu, and Kaku rush to him while Lucci and Kalifa already wait at his bedside, and given how widely respected the man is, people call the shooting the gravest disaster the city of Water 7 has ever seen. No door showed any sign of forced entry, leaving only a plain mask as the sole clue.

The crew divides up: Luffy and Nami set out to look in on the wounded shipwright, Sanji and Chopper launch their search for Robin, and Zoro remains at the inn to watch how things develop. Over at the Blue Station, Franky steps down from the newly arrived Puffing Tom, oblivious to the chaos. Returning with Mozu and Kiwi to the rubble of his house, he flings away his mask and concludes the Straw Hats must be to blame.

The chapter falls within the Water 7 Arc. Its cover is a color spread depicting the Straw Hats batting a beach ball around atop a giant Sea King's body, breaking from the ongoing Gedatsu serial.