Summary:
The history of Mont Blanc Noland and Calgary is told as a flashback from Wyper.
Long summary
As Enel watches the destruction, Usopp urges everyone to hurry before everything is destroyed, and Luffy vows to make Enel pay as he runs the stop sign. Enel notices the village of Shandia and notes that since they are of Blue Sea origin, they can “enjoy” his plan to destroy Skypiea and send it back down to the Blue Sea. He then directs the lightning to specifically destroy the village. Shandia looks on in horror from the ship, noting that they could have been destroyed along with their village if they hadn’t evacuated as quickly as they did.
Wyper recalls his oath to Kalgara to light the fire of Shandor as Aisa tries to get him to leave. He remembers Chief Shandia telling him as a child about the Kalgara’s other reason for wanting to protect their homeland. That reason was the friend Calgary had found, Mont Blanc Noland.
400 years ago, a crew on the beach ran to their anchored ship. “The Demon of Shandora” was hot on their heels, one of the crew said. The captain sailed away, but Kalgara saw a ball-shaped anchor on the ship and jumped aboard to attack the crew. He told them to drop everything and go.
On another ship at sea, Admiral Mont Blanc Noland was told that the ship had run out of provisions. He jumped into the water. The crew speculated that he would abandon them, but he returned to the surface and caught a huge fish for them to eat. The same ship was later caught in a storm. Noland was writing in his journal when he heard a bell in the distance.
On the island, a dying priest, his skin covered in green spots, told the men surrounding him that Shandia was cursed and that a girl must be sacrificed on the sacrificial altar to save the village. The priest died and Shandia noted around him that there were already a hundred victims.
In the castle chamber, Mousse said that she was willing to offer her body if it would save the village and was looking forward to meeting the Sun God. Her mother was sobbing.
A crying young man named Seto was in the forest in the rain, trying to use stones to remove the same type of green spot on his skin. Kalgara walked by and Seto angrily told him that he once wanted to be like him and instead he was going to die “like this”.
The storm died down and Noland’s crew were grateful to him for directing them to the island. However, they did not hear the bell as he did. The crew went ashore and saw the Southbird so they thought the strange noise it was making must be what the admiral heard. At that moment the bell rang and they commented on the beauty of its sound. Noland guessed that meant the island was inhabited.
As they went into the jungle, they ran into Seto. The doctor diagnosed Seth’s strange spots as Tree Fever and Noland ordered the crew to get some horseradish to give to the boy and the crew. They reached the town of Shandia and were saddened to note that the crops were also infected and the entire village was sick.
At the sacrificial altar, Mousse was brought to the altar by boat while a priest recited a prayer for the village to be saved from sickness. As Mousse was tied to the altar, Kashigami swam to the altar and hovered over the girl. As the giant snake was about to eat Mousse, Noland jumped into the water, climbed the altar, and cut off the head of the Kashigami, much to the horror of the Shandia, who had come to pray to the gods for the safety of their loved ones. Noland comforted the crying Mousse, but the villagers were enraged and shouted for both of them to be killed to appease the gods, who must surely be angry that one of them had been killed. Noland’s crew feared for him, and encouraged by the crowd’s screams, Kalgara swam up to the altar and attacked Noland.
Noland presented himself as an explorer from the North Sea and tried to defend Calgary, who would not hear of it. As Noland fought him to stop, Kalgara threw a knife at Mousse, urging her to kill herself to appease the gods. Noland stopped her, but Kalgara stabbed him from behind.
Noland’s crew were taken hostage by some of the Calgary warriors who held knives to their throats. Kalgara shouted that all intruders were forbidden to enter the island and that, moreover, Noland had killed a god and his life alone would not atone for it. All must be killed. An enraged Noland dismissed these notions of victimhood as shame and lectured Calgary on progress. He said that if their gods care about Shandia lives, then these rituals are the complete opposite of what they would want. Noland told the villagers that he would “undo the curse” and cure the disease, but that he needed time, and if he ended up not keeping his word, they should do whatever they wanted with him and his crew. In exchange, if he saved them, he must swear never to keep human sacrifices again.
The villagers were furious and Kalgara released him and started attacking him again. Chief Shandia interrupted them and told them to give Noland a chance. He had until tomorrow night to heal them all and then his fate would be decided.
Noland’s crew was locked in a cage and feared they would be killed tomorrow. Mousse, who was in a nearby cage, asked about Noland. They explained to her that he was an experienced explorer and botanist who traveled the seas to find new species for his research, but from time to time he got into trouble.
A council was assembled and angry with the chief for giving Noland a chance. The chief pointed out that there was nothing to lose by waiting. Kalgara said that if he felt the slightest threat from Noland, he would not wait until tomorrow to kill him. The chief said that although he could not hear the words of the gods, he knew that he recognized the words of the wise man. Kalgara stormed out and ran into Set outside who said he was cured and wondered what Noland meant when he mentioned “progress”.
In the forest, Noland was happy to find a Kona tree.
The ground suddenly started shaking and the villagers thought it was an earthquake to punish them for what had happened. After stopping, Kalgara went to a high rock to assess the damage and saw part of the forest sinking. He saw Noland wounded and stuck in the crevice and came near to rejoice that God had punished Noland himself. Noland and Kalgara exchanged a few awkward words until Noland said he had to get out of where he was stuck and hurry to the village. Kalgara said he wanted to stay and watch him try.