The Desert Kingdom of Arabasta is ruled by the Nefertari Family and full of hardworking people who have learned to thrive in the desert. Arabasta is one of the greatest countries in the first half of the Grand Line, but it has faced its share of dark days over the years. The country of Arabasta has a deep, rich history that dates all the way back to the Void Century, and the entire country will play a major role in the Final Saga.
This article contains spoilers for One Piece through chapter 1099. Catch up on Viz or MangaPlus before reading further to avoid spoilers!
Where is Arabasta?
Arabasta lies in the first half of the Grand Line, also known as Paradise. A Summer Island, it’s also a desert for the most part, though beautiful beaches and oasis towns scatter the country. It’s medium-sized, compared to other countries like Dressrosa and Wano, Arabasta would fit squarely in the middle with a population of around ten million people. It’s a lovely country, and a favorite spot for travelers and sailors to stop in and take in the sights.
Although it’s a monarchy of historical influence, Arabasta is run much more like a democracy. The people look up to the Nefertari family and see Cobra, the current leader as a fair and honest ruler. They also have a deep admiration for Vivi, his daughter.
Alubarna
The capital of Arabasta is where the Nefertari Family has overseen the country for centuries. It’s a vast, rich city full of culture and life that shines bright as an oasis in the desert. Many live within the massive walls of the city, and citizens often have direct access to the king and his people, as Cobra always looks for the opinions of his people. All things considered, for being a monarch, Cobra is far more in touch with his people than most other countries (Wapol).
This is also the site of the Arabastan Revolution, where the Straw Hats face down Baroque Works. The attempted coup is taken down right here, and even an attempt at bombing those in the town square is foiled thanks to Pell, a guard of Cobra. This ends up being the city where Arabasta is effectively reborn, rain falling for the first time in years as the citizens come together to realize their deception.
Nanohana
The port town of Arabasta is where most of the travelers crossing the Grand Line first come in. Nanohana is sprawling, and controls most of the commerce throughout Arabasta with imports and exports coming through daily. While it’s a great place for the Arabastan economy, it’s also a port where pirates frequently dock to resupply. The standing, unsaid agreement between all is the simple “don’t cause trouble, and there won’t be trouble” rule.
Naturally, that doesn’t always hold up depending on the pirates visiting the port town. When Ace eats enough for twenty people at the local restaurant before dashing out, it’s just one instance of the trouble that happens. Even worse at the time, Luffy and Smoker were both in town, leading to a whole wall being taken out during the escape from the restaurant.
Rainbase
Out of all the weird name changes in the 4kids dub of One Piece, this one became Rain Dinners, and kept that in the original manga translations too. Either way, it’s the same place, and Rainbase is basically the Vegas of the Arabian country. Everything anyone needs for a good time is here, from gambling to great food and drink with plenty of entertainment all over the place. This is where Baroque Works sets up their main base.
Sir Crocodile sets up his operation right beneath the casino in the center of Rainbase. What the casino goers don’t know is that the voracious sea beasts in the moat around the casino also live under it. In a secret room below, surrounded by the moat outside, is Crocodile’s HQ. A sea prism cell completes the look, and he often kills anyone he needs down here.
Yuba
A country located in the middle of the Sandora Desert, Yubaa was once a thriving oasis in the middle of nothing. It was a small village, but the people there had come to greatly respect the king thanks to his renewed efforts to bring travel and commerce to the town. He does this by rebuilding much of the architecture in the city, but also infrastructure between and better relations between Yuba and the capital.
This is also where the Arabastan rebels set up their original base, led by Vivi’s childhood friend Koza. Though Koza and and his rebels relocate after Crocodile covers the city with a massive sandstorm, his father Toto remains. Turns out, there’s a little water still deep under the city, and Toto gives it to Luffy for his travels. It proves vital too, making sure the Straw Hat survives against the Warlord.
Nefertari Family
Currently overseen by King Nefertari Cobra, who is preceded by his daughter Nefertari Vivi, this family has ruled for eight hundred years. Initially, the Nefertari family was one of the original twenty to found the World Government. However, they gave up their position as a Celestial Dragon, deciding instead to go back to Arabasta and live among the people. This automatically sets them apart from the whiny, entitled Celestial Dragons, and shows that there’s a long line of kind, caring rulers.
Vivi absolutely keeps that tradition alive, with a genuine care for those in her country and out. She’s incredibly empathetic to all she meets, and the perfect image of a future queen that will help her people. Even now, she’s on her way to finding the Straw Hats once again, desperate to get to the bottom of everything happening. The wild part is that she doesn’t even know the greatest secret about herself – she holds the Will of D.
Baroque Works Base
Sir Crocodile sets up a base in Arabasta to create his ideal utopia. How he plans to do this is by destabilizing the entire country before staging a coup with a puppet democracy. Croc takes a lot of cues from the United States playbook, obviously, but he is more based on ecological warfare than it is in any kind of mass terror attack. Instead, he attacks the most vital resource of a desert nation – their water supply. Without water, Arabasta isn’t just unable to grow crops, but to have safe drinking water.
Croc accomplishes this eco-terrorism through the use of Danse Powder, a substance capable of of bringing immense amounts of rain. While it brings bountiful rain to wherever it’s kept, the problem is that it draws moisture from the surrounding areas. This in turn causes drought elsewhere, achieving Croc’s goal of unrest throughout the country. Where better to put this to start off a major conflict than Alubarna? The rest of the country sees Alubarna get plentiful rain for months while the rest dry up.
Straw Hats Arrive
Thankfully saviors arrive just in time thanks to the help of Nefertari Vivi. The Straw Hat Pirates make their way through the entire country in a matter of days, starting at Nanohana before heading up the Sandora River. From here they reach Yuba, then make their way across the desert to Rainbase to confront Crocodile. By the end, everyone gets to Alubarna for the final battle, with Croc, Luffy, Robin, and Cobra ending up in the Tomb of Kings.
It’s definitely only thanks to the Straw Hats that Arabasta doesn’t end up falling to Project Utopia. Their defeat of Baroque Works, and Crocodile himself, brings one of the first major chips in the Warlord system forward. It also gets a massive bounty for Luffy and Zoro, while allying Arabasta with the Straw Hat Pirates.
Sandora River
The major river cutting through the country, the Sandora River is a relatively narrow, but long-flowing channel. There is an entire group of fighting seals that guard it at the estuary to enter as well, which usually makes it dangerous to traverse for most people. The river meets the Grand Line a little west of Nanohana, and the Straw Hats end up taking it the entire way to Yuba during their travels.
Luffy also manages to befriend the fighting seals, and turn them into a group of highly trained brawlers. They even end up helping out during the battles and still show up from time to time in cover stories.
Sandora Desert
The greatest span of sand throughout Arabasta is the Sandora Desert. This is also the native home for all kinds of wildlife, like the camel Eyelashes or the massive sand crab that the Straw Hats catch a ride on. The Sandora Desert is cut almost in half by the Sandora River, but otherwise connects almost all cities in the country, existing in the middle of the desert kingdom.
Croc faces down Luffy in the middle of the desert the first time they leave Yuba. It’s only by luck that Luffy manages to survive both the poison and dehydration that Croc pulls, but the desert isn’t as harsh as it seems. The Straw Hat Captain survives, and gets through the desert in time to fight Croc.
Tomb of Kings
The Tomb of Kings is located a ways behind the Royal Palace in Alubarna, deep under the desert sands. There’s no shortage of history in here, and every Arabastan ruler from the past is entombed here with great respect. Both family and normal citizens of Arabasta treat it with great reverence. They pay respect to rulers of the past while learning from the mistakes or successes of those before.
Except a lot of people don’t know the secret hidden underneath the Tomb of Kings. The Poneglyph, one of the many stones carved in an ancient language scattered throughout the world, is first seen here. While some give the location of the One Piece, this one provides historical context about the Ancient Weapon Pluton, and its location. This is also where the final fight between Luffy and Croc takes place, with a massive shift in the balance of power.
Void Century History
Poneglyphs aren’t the only Void Century remnants in the country of Arabasta. As revealed in the recent Egghead Island arc, this country’s historical archives house a great secret the Gorosei don’t want to get out. At the Reverie, Nefertari Cobra reveals that he’s found an old letter from his ancestor Nefertari D Lili, who was one of the charter members of the World Government. When he asks the Gorosei about this though, they’re joined by Imu, the secret puppeteer behind the World Government.
Imu doesn’t necessarily answer Cobra’s questions about the Void Century, but they do say they remember Nefertari Lili. Lili, as Cobra says, never came back to Arabasta after saying she would, and was never seen again. The final bit of information they impart is that the Nefertari family are enemies of the gods – those with the Will of D.
Arabasta’s Future
The Grand Line itself is currently in massive turmoil, with countries overthrowing governments left and right. Thankfully, the Arabastan people have already been there, done that, and aren’t worried about their own civility. Although, currently, their king is dead and the princess is in the safe haven offered by Big News Morgans. This makes the future of Arabasta tie directly into the Straw Hat adventures, as Cobra’s last request to Sabo was to reunite Vivi and Luffy, telling them of their shared lineage. Being an enemy of the gods isn’t going to be easy, but Vivi is always willing to stand up for her people and what’s right.
One hundred percent chance that Arabasta comes to the aid of the Straw Hats bearing their jolly roger. Even the flag of Arabasta, a sun surrounded by raindrops, signals their part in being a Celestial Dragon enemy, bearing the same sun as Nika. It’s highly likely the Arabastan people were secretly allies of Joyboy in the past, but took a different route than the Kozuki’s of Wano did after the Void Century.
The country of Arabasta will play a large part in the story of One Piece to come, much like it played a huge part in the early story. The desert kingdom, ruled by the Nefertari family, may even end up joining along with the Straw Hat Pirates. Considering Vivi is already an honorary member, Arabasta will probably be one of the first countries to join up with the Revolutionaries against the World Government.
