Summary:
The episode opens with the Straw Hat Pirates riding Reverse Mountain to the Grand Line when they are suddenly engulfed in fog, but they don’t seem to mind. Just then, Zoro hears a strange sound, though Nami says it’s probably just the wind. Then Sanji claims to see a mountain at the end of the path they were heading down. However, when the mist clears, he discovers that it was not a mountain; it was a huge whale! At the speed they were going, they hit it head on and crashed. Zoro tells them to try to head for the opening on the left, but Usopp says the helmet is still broken before they reach the mountain. Zoro goes to help, but then Luffy gets a “good” idea and heads down below deck. Meanwhile, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji try to pull the helm in the direction they want, but it won’t budge. Everyone was about to crash… When suddenly Luffy fires a cannon! While everyone is in shock, Luffy asks if they stopped. Even though the ship slowed down, it still hit the whale, but the only thing that broke was the head, to which Luffy was outraged (it was his special seat).
The whole time the whale didn’t react at all. Zoro yelled to run for it while still ignoring them. As they rowed around his eye, Luffy punched him right in the eye in a fit of rage. After a few seconds, the whale finally looked at them. Luffy kept yelling that he was going to kick his ass, the rest of the crew kept telling him to shut up. The whale then began to suck in the water around its mouth and the Straw Hats with it. Luffy fell overboard but grabbed one of the whale’s teeth before he could hit the water. He then began to climb the whale as the rest of the crew were swallowed alive. Luffy, who was now sitting on the whale, started pounding on it, telling it to let his friends go, but the whale was starting to sink under the water. Luffy started yelling louder and louder until he finally noticed the door on top of the whale…
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew found themselves… in front of a small island in the middle of green waters with a bright blue sky overhead. Suddenly, a giant octopus emerges from the water, but is quickly killed by someone (or something) that apparently lived on a small island. Nami wanted to go home and Usopp wished Luffy was there; “knows what to do”. Nami then began to wonder what happened to him; at the same time, Luffy found himself in some kind of corridor, very confused. Back on the island, someone came out of the house on the island and revealed that he was an old man.
The Straw Hats stared at the old man and the old man returned his gaze as he pulled in a giant octopus and began walking over to a chair and began reading the paper. Sanji yelled at him and told him to say something. Usopp then blurted out that they should fight him however he wanted. Suddenly some dramatic shots are shown and then the old man suggests not to fight or someone will die. Nami and Usopp panicked at this, though Zoro and Sanji looked calm. Sanji then asked who would be the one dying and the old man simply replied that it would be him. Sanji became very frustrated with the old man, but Zoro calmed him down and tried to talk to the old man. He asked him where they were and who he was. Suddenly the same dramatic sequence was repeated and the old man replied that if they wanted to know something about someone, it was proper to introduce themselves first. However, before Zoro could introduce himself, the old man had already said his name was Crocus, he was the keeper of the Twin Capes lighthouse, he was 71 and a half years old, he was a Gemini, and his blood type was AB. This made Zoro frustrated as well.
Crocus then goes on to say that this is his “one man recreation” and that he was being called such rude things. Usopp asks again if there are really whales in the belly. Nami begins to panic again, fearing that she will be consumed. Krokus then starts going through the dramatic sequence again, but the Strawmen tell him to stop and Krokus asks them to appreciate a good running gag. Then he points to the east, which the Straw Hats find strange; what does a giant door do in a whale’s stomach? And why is he in the sky? It was then that they realized the scenery had been painted. Crocus admitted that it was his job and he enjoyed having fun, to which Usopp began to resent him.
Then suddenly everything started shaking and swaying, with Crocus saying “it” started. It was then that Nami noticed that the island was actually made of iron and chained. Usopp asked what started it and Crocus replied that the whale, Laboon, started hitting the red line. Nami then realized that the whale was in pain, remembering that it had many scars on it, and roared to the sky. Usopp and Nami then conclude that Crocus might be trying to kill the whale from the inside out, but Zoro says that they should get out of there before the ship dissolves. Meanwhile, elsewhere inside the whale, two mysterious individuals with weapons…
The Straw Hats tried to get to the door, but the waves were too big. Just then Crocus dove into the liquid and began to swim deep into the stomach. Meanwhile, Luffy was starting to get knocked down by a whale that crashed into the side of a mountain. It then fell into the tunnel, possibly the same liquid flowing between the two walkways. As Luffy wondered what it could be, the tunnel bent down and Luffy fell again. Meanwhile, back with the two individuals from earlier who revealed themselves to be Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday, Mr. 9 commented that their infiltration thus far had been a complete success. They are standing on the other side of the same door and Mr. 9 says they need to remove the “old bugger” because of the whale. Miss Wednesday agreed and said that their town needed a whale.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Crocus emerged from them and began climbing up the side of the whale’s stomach. Back on the other side, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were about to walk through when Luffy fell on top of them, sending them flying through the door and falling into the digestive juices. Meanwhile, Crocus went to an exposed area where he had a huge needle filled with sedative and injected some into the whale to stop it. As he says this, he “talks” to the whale, saying that no matter how hard he hits the wall, it won’t break through.
Meanwhile, back with the Straw Hats, they rescued Luffy along with two individuals and Zoro asked who they were. Krokus then re-entered the stomach and told the two that he would not lay a finger on Laboon (the whale). The two said that killing the whale was their mission and they would not allow him to interfere anymore. They immediately fired two cannonballs from their bazookas to tear a hole in the whale’s stomach, but Crocus ran over and carried the cannonball away dead. The two started to laugh at him and said they were going to kill the whale to feed their city when Luffy suddenly froze them both and said he just had to hit them.
Later, Crocus thanked Luffy for his help, but Luffy said he didn’t help; he just didn’t want to see it. Nami asked who the two were and what they were doing inside the whale. Crocus explained that the two were from a nearby town and wanted whale meat, saying that Laboon (the whale) could feed their town for two to three years. He also explained that the Laboon is an island whale that inhabits the West Blue and is the largest species of whale in the world. He also says there’s a reason why he keeps banging his head on the red line and why he’s yelling at the mountain. He explains that he is a whale with a human heart and the episode ends with him waiting for a certain group of pirates for 50 years…