Chapter 223

Coverstory Summary
Moved by the Catfish elder's tears, Hatchan gives the last batch of Takoyaki to him. Though the act and the food brings a smile on the elder's face, Octopako however is displeased. For not having her selfish desires met, she punches Hatchan out and leaves. Hatchan is left with the smiling catfish elder, and a shocked Keimi and Pappug.

Plot Summary
Having made port in Mock Town in Jaya, Luffy and Zoro disembark. Fearing that they may cause trouble, Nami joins them in order to make sure that they don't do something stupid. Sanji wants to to join with Nami but is forced to stay on the Going Merry by Usopp and Chopper, who are both afraid of being attacked. Robin on the other hand, apparently also disembarked from the ship on her own.

As Luffy and Zoro venture into town while promising an accompanying Nami not to cause any trouble, they met an incredibly sick man. The man is so sick that he doesn't have enough strength to get back on his horse by himself. The three help the man get back on his horse but find out that ironically the man's horse itself is just as sickly and doesn't have enough strength to carry his master. After helping both the man and his horse up, the man offers some apples as a token of his gratitude. Luffy alone accepts this present without hesitation. At the same moment, an explosion happens. From the uproars from the crowd, the three Straw Hats learned that after some guys ate some apples from a sickly man, they exploded. Fearing that the same thing would happen to Luffy, Nami tried to get the apple out of Luffy while Zoro confronted the sickly man. The man however told them not to worry as the apple that Luffy ate was a dud. If Luffy chose the "wrong one", the man stated he would've died upon the first bite. With this, the man praises Luffy's luck.

After encountering the sickly man with the explosive apples, the three continued with their journey. As they traveled onwards, they heard that someone was causing an uproar. This apparently unknown fighting champion had claimed another victim and was boasting his victory from atop a roof. Hearing that he was a fighting champion, Luffy and Zoro were almost tempted into fighting had not Nami stopped them.

The three eventually came into a tropical hotel. Seeing the three, the owner of the hotel told the three to get out as the whole hotel was currently reserved for Bellamy and his crew. Just then, the first mate of Bellamy's crew, Sarquiss, and a fellow crew member, Lily, came in and told the owner to throw the three Straw Hats out faster. Seeing this behavior, Luffy asked Nami if he could send Sarquiss flying, a request of which that was denied by the navigator. Finding Luffy and his group slightly interesting, Sarquiss decided to give them money as if they were worthless beggars. Though Luffy was tempted to accept the offer, Nami was insulted by this act and took her fellow crew mates out of the hotel without accepting the money. Though the three Straw Hats left the hotel with Sarquiss thinking that they were just trash, his fellow crew mates however told him not to underestimate them and showed him a wanted poster with Luffy's first bounty of 30,000,000. While they didn't believe that Luffy could match up to Bellamy and him, Sarquiss decided to share this new development to Bellamy.

The three Straw Hats meanwhile, decide to stop over at a local tavern. There, they learn from the owner about Mock Town's history and Jaya's time for the Log Pose to record. Learning that it takes four days, Nami figures that they should be gone in two days beforehand if they want the Log Pose to continue pointing to the Sky Island. Just as Nami decides then to ask some more questions from the owner, Luffy and some fat guy sitting next to him both suddenly make a remark about the cherry pie being served to them. Noticing that both their remarks opposed one another, Luffy and the fat guy decided to not mind each other and just drink some soda. At drinking the soda, they both once again made opposing remarks. Really noticing each other this time around, the both of them were starting to get mad at the other's preference. The two then decided to have some food for take out, with Luffy ordering pieces of meat and the fat guy ordering cherry pies. However upon learning the number of food that the other was ordering, the two started competing about who can order more. At this moment, Luffy and the fat guy decided to fight each other over a meaningless matter.

Not wanting any trouble in his tavern, the owner gave the fat guy his pies and asked him to leave. As the fat guy was leaving the tavern, Bellamy stepped in to the surprise of the other customers.

Character Introduction

 * Doc Q
 * Stronger
 * Sarquiss
 * Lily
 * Rivers
 * Myure
 * Ross
 * Mani
 * Huett
 * Eddy
 * Marshall D. Teach