Lords of All Creation

Sitting inside what was once Nami's childhood home, Usopp learns from Nojiko that the two women are adopted sisters and that the mother who raised them has died. Staggered by all of it, Usopp decides Nami turned on her own town the day she joined the Arlong Pirates, the very crew that lords over Cocoyasi. He confesses he believed she only ever wanted the treasure, yet that cannot explain why she rescued his village and seemed glad in their company. Nojiko cautions that picking a fight with Arlong leads only to death, so Usopp resolves to go, then panics on remembering a comrade is held captive close by.

That comrade is Zoro, hauled into Arlong Park and grilled by the fish-man captain in person. Zoro needles the fish-man and maintains he is merely searching for a certain girl, only to stiffen when Nami steps into view beside Arlong, presented as the crew's cartographer. Asked plainly where her loyalties lie, Nami dismisses Zoro as one more dupe and insists she stood with Arlong the entire time, masking her grimace as Arlong sneers that she is a cold woman who loves only money.

Unwilling to swallow Nami's performance, Zoro flings himself into the park's pool, leaving her no choice but to plunge in and pull him out. She tells him sharply to stay out of the matter and orders the fish-men to lock him away, claiming she will deal with him herself. News breaks that the long-nosed human slipped away, and Arlong heads for Cocoyasi to settle it. In the village, Genzo is challenged over the weapons he keeps; Arlong bans such arms and recalls how he leveled Gosa Village for failing to pay. Nojiko spells out for Usopp the monthly fee each home owes for Arlong's protection, with the entire village destroyed should a single person come up short. At the park, Nami rushes to release Zoro before Arlong comes back.

Arlong personally interrogates Zoro after he is dragged into Arlong Park. Nami quietly reveals her care for her crewmate, first by hauling him out of the water and then, by the chapter's end, by aiding his escape. Her step-mother is confirmed to have died. Every month each villager must deliver a tribute to the fish-man or watch the settlement burn. The trivia notes that, counting from Sanji's debut, this is the earliest chapter in which he is absent.