Chapter 398

Chapter 398 is titled "Declaration of War".

Cover Page
Miss Goldenweek's "Operation: Meet Baroque Works", Vol. 30: "The Strongest Suspects".

Even in defeat, Baroque Works is no pushover; Crocodile, Mr. 1, and Mr. 4—all cuffed—have made short work of every other prisoner that dared to attack.

Short Summary
Robin's life running away from the world is revealed. The flashback ends. Luffy tells Sogeking to burn the World Government's flag and the Straw Hat Pirates declare war to the world. Luffy tells Robin to say she wants to live, and she does. The Straw Hat Pirates get ready for a battle with the CP9.

Long Summary
On the ruins of Ohara, some Marines inspect the damage done to the island. There are no survivors left, but the lake is full to the brim with books.

Elsewhere Spandine exams a poster and identifies the photograph as Robin for sure. She boarded a passenger ship far northeast of Ohara and escaped. Spandine recalls trying to chase after her when she escaped Ohara, but the helm suddenly froze up. Kuzan claims Saul must have allowed her to live as he died. Word is put around the world a eight year old girl called "Nico Robin", who can read the poneglyphs is wanted for 79,000,000 and posters flutter everywhere. A special Marine team is left in charge of finding her.

Robin returns to the old woman she came to stay with, only to find the old woman has betrayed her for the price on her head. Another couple that allow her to stay with them question the danger she is to them. When they read her bounty they find she has fled already. She stays with a pirate group, but when the Marines show up they search for her to hand her over in order to protect themselves. Robin is nowhere to be found.

Over the course of the years Robin is chased and chased. She is not allowed to even walk into a store to buy things and while she was on the run she found a Poneglyph and her search for the Poneglyphs continued. By the time she is 16, she has been on the run for 8 years and had gotten used to consult betrayals until finally she ends up finding Crocodile.

Robin ends her flashback. Robin continues to warn Spandam about the dangers of the Buster Call but he ignores them as silliness. Robin states she wishes to continue on with the Straw Hat Pirates but has a deadly enemy she cannot shake. Robin states she is afraid they will betray her with time. Spandam mocks Robin as a burden no one wants to have. He points to the flag of the World Government and mocks the Straw Hat Pirates. Just then Luffy tells Sogeking to hit the flag with a shot and he does so, burning it to a crisp.

To the absolute alarm of Enies Lobby the flag burns and they all gasp at what the Straw Hat Pirates have done. By burning the flag, they declared war on the World Government. Luffy screams out that it is fine and then tells Robin to say it, the others Straw Hats watch Robin and wait. Robin is upset by the words as Luffy is asking her to demand the one thing she never believed she would dare ask for. She calls out she wants to live and to be taken out to sea once again with them.

The bridge begins to lower, the Franky Family and Galley-La Company workers finally lower the bridge.

Chapter Notes

 * The real reason why Robin was given her 79,000,000 bounty is revealed. It is because of her ability to read the poneglyphs, and not because she sank six Marine ships, like previously stated.
 * Robin's life from escaping Ohara to when she joined Baroque Works is shown, ending the flashback.
 * Luffy orders Sogeking to shoot at the World Government flag, which is considered a declaration of war to the world.
 * Robin tearfully proclaims her desire to go to sea with the Straw Hats.
 * The fight between the Straw Hat Pirates and the CP9 begins.

Trivia

 * The initial Shonen Jump printing of this chapter depicted Crocodile with two intact hands on the cover; in the tankoban release and all subsequent reprintings, this is corrected to depict his hook in place of the left hand.

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