Adventure in the Demonic Sea

On the Thousand Sunny, Usopp and Luffy lower a freshly caught shark into the fish tank, only to find the food chain has already cleaned it out. The crew eases into shipboard life until Zoro catches sight of a floating barrel labeled treasure. They bring it aboard and argue over opening it despite Usopp's warnings of a curse, and the moment Luffy lifts the lid a flare shoots skyward, which Robin recognizes as a distress flash. Reading the weather, Nami steers southeast as a storm batters the vessel, which holds together only once Franky fires up the Soldier Dock System, Channel 0.

Clearing the storm, the crew slips into endless darkness and realizes they have crossed into the renowned Florian Triangle. Sanji rattles Usopp by repeating Kokoro's grim warnings about the region. A ghostly "Yohohoho" carries over the water as a massive ghost ship rises into view, with a skeleton seen aboard calmly sipping tea. Climbing up to reach it, Luffy, Nami, and Sanji come face to face with the courteous skeleton, Brook, who immediately asks to glimpse Nami's underwear and gets struck down for it. Without a moment's pause, Luffy asks him to join the crew, and Brook agrees.

This serves as the opening chapter of the Thriller Bark Saga, and of its arc by the same name, bringing in Brook and the Florian Triangle. A concealed ghost, the first Negative Hollow under Perona's command, hides behind Zoro one chapter ahead of Thriller Bark's own debut. The cover continues the lunar serial, with Enel dropping the space pirate using a single electrified kick.