If any story is known for topping the ridiculous nature of its characters and stories time after time, it’s One Piece. The story started as pirates with abilities from weird fruits, and Skypiea brings it further yet to an ocean in the clouds! How in the world did that jump happen, both literally and metaphorically? It’s time to take a look at One Piece’s Skypiea arc and find out!
Last time on the Jaya arc, the Straw Hats encountered some unsavory characters like Blackbeard’s crew and Bellamy the Hyena. They also discovered there was more to Jaya though, and met Mont Blanc Cricket, a far descendant of Mont Blanc Nolan, a famous explorer. Now, they’re determined to sail to the sky island of legend, not just for themselves, but to fulfill the dream of Noland and Cricket.
Knock Up Stream
When the only way to go is up, it’s just finding a way to get there. The Knock Up Stream gives the Straw Hats just the boost they need to fly through the air. It’s a perilous journey though, and requires help from everyone not only save the Merry but themselves too! They manage though, and find a way into the clouds, surprised when the Merry can sail smoothly along.
Of course, it’s not long until they’re attacked on the lower ocean. Someone wearing a mask and flying on a strange device shoots at them, and a massive explosion follows. Thankfully they’re saved last moment by the Sky Knight Ganfor, who explains the sea and gives them a whistle to call for help.
This is only the lower ocean of clouds though, another above only reachable on a cloudy river that flows upward. They’re told they need to pay a toll to get through to the upper clouds by a guard at the gate, but being the Straw Hats, bypass it entirely and pay no mind. This will set up a central conflict later on in the arc.
Lower Yard
The main regions of the Skypiean Island are Upper Yard and Lower Yard. Upper Yard is the land over by the Kami. It’s also sacred to Wyper and his native tribe, who have been at war with the Skypieans over it. Now, Enel sits on a throne there and allows nobody else in as he rules over the entire land with an iron fist.
The majority of citizens live in Lower Yard, where the main village is located. The entire area is under Enel’s ‘Mantra’ ability. The Lower Yard is full of citizens who can’t speak up. They’re too afraid that the slightest offense to Enel will earn a bolt of lightning. This area of Lower Yard mostly houses Angel Island.
Skypiea is Real!
The island in the sky that the Straw Hats ask about, in Jaya, but they discover the truth. Entire civilizations of people live there in the sky and have adapted to their conditions with small wings and strange antennae. They’re just the start when it comes to where people can live in the world of One Piece, as the Straw Hats will visit Fishman Island even later in their travels.
They don’t know it when they enter, but the Straw Hats aren’t the first to discover Skypiea. Few others have made it in their journey, but among them is Gold Roger’s crew. They find a Poneglyph in the city of gold’s ruins and note that Roger engraved a note on it, a message for any that may read it after him. The island actually received more visitors in the past, and usually sent them off in a safe manner, until a new ruler moved in.
Enel
Enel is the new Kami of Skypiea and lords himself over the endless wealth of land in Upper Yard. He keeps all the gold and treasure, called Varse, for himself here along with his enforcers. Now he sits above while residents of Skypiea and native Shandians toil in work camps. They now have to extract all the gold they can find for Enel.
Enel is a terror who bears the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. It doesn’t sound like much from the name, but the Rumble-Rumble is a Logia-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to become lightning. It’s dangerous and means Enel can travel at ridiculous speeds while doing massive damage. His advanced use of Observation Haki in combination makes him a terrifying, omniscient ruler over Skypiea.
Dials
A new tool introduced in the Skypiea arc is the Dial. These can range, with uses everywhere from playing recordings to battle. Dials are tools from an older civilization of Shandia around Noland’s time. Now they’re a fairy tale of history below. The Straw Hats end up bringing a few of them along after they leave Skypiea, though some actually end up defunct when not in the sky, like the Milky Dial.
Still, the Impact Dials and Wind Dials prove effective for both escape and combat at sea. The Wind Dial is good for powering things like Wavers, but the Impact Dial gets special use in the final battle with Enel by Wyper. There’s, even more, to come with it as well since Usopp incorporates all kinds of Dials he takes from Skypiea into his future arsenal.
Stolen Varse
A central piece of history in Skypiea is the Varse itself, which ranges from everything such as gold to the dirt they stand on. All of it is one massive chunk of Jaya. One day the Knock Up Stream knocks up Jaya, which now sits among the clouds next to Angel Island. This makes it especially important to the people of this ancient land, the Shandians.
A decades-old war rages between the Skypieans and Shandians over the land, as they want the treasures the land brings whereas the Shandians only want their ancestral homeland. It takes a lot from the struggle of indigenous people. This time, the two sides are able to team against a common enemy in Enel though.
Merry Go Breaks Down
Even before the showdown with Enel, the Merry Go is barely holding together by hopes and dreams. This poor ship has barely been through the Grand Line yet, but she’s already been to hell and back. Now she’s in desperate need of repairs. Merry even manages to lose its mast when Enel’s lackey attacks it. There’s not much this poor ship hasn’t been through, but she stays strong through it all.
Usopp witnesses the Merry Go miraculously repair itself in the dark of night, still empty on the sacrificial altar. He’s not sure what he saw, but he knows the Merry had her ways to keep the Straw Hat crew sailing as long as they needed. It’s a rough go, though, and starts to bring about the end of their time with the ship.
Mantra is Observation Haki
Mantra debuts as the power Enel and his subordinates use to keep tabs all over the island. it seems like a mysterious power at first that none of them could ever be capable of. Little do the Straw Hats know, this is just the first introduction of Observation Haki. Haki comes around further in later arcs, but for now, just the Mantra will be the focus. Enel uses the type that allows him to sense everyone in the surrounding area, and he has a pretty wide radius.
More terrifying, is Enel has perfected his Haki in the sense that he can hear voices and recognize emotions. When someone says something against him, they get immediate retribution in the form of a lightning bolt. It terrifies the people of Angel Island for good reason, and they dare not speak out against the Kami for fear of death.
Conis and Pagaya
Native Angel Island folks, Conis and her father Pagaya serve as the Straw Hats allies in this arc. When they arrive, the crew knows nothing of the customs or ways of Skypiea, and Conis quickly guides them away by calling Express Shrimp to take the Merry. Her guilt overwhelms her though, and she eventually confesses. Her father Pagaya also steps in to help the Straw Hats and offers help in return for how they saved Conis from Enel’s fury.
Pagaya (supposedly) dies by a massive lightning bolt when Enel institutes a Survival Game. Now, the Straw Hats have to race against time as Enel takes off in an airship made of gold, his ultimate plan. He’s off to the moon, and completely cool with sending Skypiea to the ground while he does.
The Survival Game
When Enel starts his game, he predicts that only he will be left standing by the end of his plan. He doesn’t expect interference from the Straw Hats. As his subordinates fall one by one to the pirates, Enel ends up face to face with Luffy, now determined to save his new friends. The battle is fierce as they ascend and descend through the air multiple times, whether by knockdown or some other obstacle. Enel forgets that rubber is naturally resistant to electricity though, and that’s his fatal mistake.
He finds some form of fighting back by melting a massive gold boulder around Luffy’s fist, dragging him down to the ground. Luffy, in the only form of quick strategy he knows, makes his way back up and socks Enel with the same gold boulder the Kami gave him. Enel and his airship are sent blasting off somewhere else as Luffy finishes up his final task on the great sky island.
Wyper
The Straw Hats all work together to win, with help from the Shandian warrior Wyper. Despite his attempt to kill the Straw Hats with a damn bazooka, his determination to kill Enel proved stronger. He suffers multiple injuries during the fight but was a proud Shandian warrior as he never gave up.
The Bell Tolls
Luffy finally defeats Enel and rids the Skypiean people of their cruel god, but that’s still something to do. Luffy finds the great golden bell of Shandia and gives it a hit that echoes throughout the Grand Line below. In a stroke of good timing his shadow projects to the fog around Jaya. This is how the giants appeared to the Straw Hats, which were shadows of Wyper’s people. Mont Blanc Cricket watches on from below as he repairs his house after an attack from Bellamy. He knows that his ancestor was right.
This also gives the first hint of Luffy as Joyboy. The Shandian people are some of the few that still worship the Sun God Nika. Luffy’s image projected below bears great resemblance to the former liberator’s depictions. It’s only a hint of things to come, as Luffy he frees more kingdoms, bringing joy wherever he goes.
Goodbye Skypiea
Now that the people of Skypiea are free and Enel launched off to the moon (no really, he goes to the moon) where do the Straw Hats go next? Better yet, how does anyone get back to the ocean from Skypiea without dying? Thankfully, the people of Skypiea have a safer way to leave than just sailing off the edge. This comes in the form of a giant, inflatable octopus that glides them down gently to the surface.
The good people saw them off with plenty of souvenirs too! The Straw Hats have packed the Merry Go full of treasure and gold from all around the island. They’ve also made off with quite a few new dials in their possession, but it remains to be seen how those will work on the surface when they get there. Either way, Usopp doesn’t waste much time thinking up new, clever ways to use them.
Important Events
- Skypiea and the Sky People debut.
- Dials debut as a weapon.
- Observation Haki debuts under the name of Mantra
- Robin finds the Poneglyph and learns of the Ancient Weapon Pluton.
- Straw Hats discover Roger visited Skypiea as well.
Dumbest Straw Hat Award
Yes, it’s obvious that Luffy will probably take this award every single arc, but nonetheless, it must be done. This arc’s award goes to Luffy, who decided to find out if the sea of clouds had the same effect on him as the seas of water. How? The idiot dives headfirst into the ocean and is only saved thanks to Robin and the rest of the crew. Then, he climbs back up with a stupid grin as if he didn’t just almost die.
The Straw Hats are back in the waters of the Grand Line as they leave Skypiea behind. Now, they sail toward the next island of the sea, unsure of what they may find. The Long Ring Long Land arc that comes next will give a little comic relief after such a serious bout but takes an icy turn near the end. Stay tuned for the next arc review of One Piece!
One Piece currently streams on Crunchyroll and Netflix in both sub and dub versions.
