Arabasta Arc

The Alabasta arc is the eleventh story arc in the series, the fifth and final one in the Baroque Works Saga of the manga and anime, One Piece. The Straw Hats finally reach the desert kingdom of Alabasta and begin their race across the land to reach Alubarna before a massive war breaks out between the kingdom's royal guards and the rebels. However the true perpetrator of the war, Mr. 0 (Sir Crocodile) and the remaining Baroque Works officer agents stand in the way of reaching their goal.

The Island of Alabasta is the fourth island the Straw Hat Pirates encounter on The Grand Line. It is a large desert kingdom ruled by King Nefertari Cobra.

Chapters 154-216 (Volume 17-23)

Episodes 92-130 (English Dub: 60-98)

Mr. 2 and Nanohana
The Going Merry is on its way to Alabasta and the crew is trying to catch fish to eat. When they steer through a hot spot (in One Piece an undersea volcano making the sea above steaming hot) Usopp and Luffy catch Mr. 2 Bon Clay on their fishing rods who coincidently took a similar course. The crew pulls him up and quickly befriend him, mainly due how entertaining he is, especially with his ability to transform into other people with the Mane Mane fuit. He imitates everybody on the ship except Sanji, who was cooking at the moment, and Vivi, who he simply didn't touch. Bon Clay is then picked up by his own ship and crew and leaves, swearing on friendship. Just as they leave, Vivi realizes that he is Mr. 2 of the Baroque Works, but the Straw Hats see it as good fortune to have met him and wear white cloths on their wrists so Bon Clay can't imitate them without noticing.

The Strawhats finally reach the desert kingdom of Alabasta in the port town of Nanohana. Luffy, hungry from the long journey, storms off into town without waiting for his crew. At a bar, he interrupts a confrontation between a man named Portgas D. Ace and Captain Smoker of the Navy, knocking both through the wall without noticing. Luffy grabs a lot of meat, but flees when Smoker stands back up and gives chase. He leads the Navy directly to his crewmates that were purchasing provisions and water in the town. Just as Smoker tries to catch them, Ace interrupts and secures an escape route for the Strawhat Pirates. Back on the ship, Luffy tells the crew the man who saved them was his brother. Ace hops onto the ship and meets the crew, but doesn't stay long and gives Luffy a piece of paper before leaving, destroying seven ships with Billions of the Baroque Works on the way out. Vivi also sends Carue with a message to Alubarna to warn the King.

Traveling the Desert
The Strawhat crew sails to the west side of the Sandora (Alabasta's biggest river) delta and anchor, leaving the ship. They encounter a group of Kung-Fu Dugongs, who challenge the crew only to be beaten up by Luffy. However, the dugongs now want to become his apprentices, forcing Chopper to bribe them with half their food so they can leave. They enter the town of Elumaru, formerly also known as the Green City, but is now deserted and destroyed by the sand.

They continue their journey through the desert, and Luffy, while resting in a shadow of a big rock, loses half their stuff to Warusagi Birds who trick travelers and steal their luggage. He chases after them but returns alongside a camel thats being chased by a gigantic Great Sandora Lizard. In joined efforts, Sanji, Zoro and Luffy kill the lizard and cook it. The camel, who happens to be a pervert, gets the name Eyelashes by Nami and joins the crew, giving Nami and Vivi (and only them) a ride on his back.

(The anime adds several episodes worth of filler scenes and even has Ace accompany the crew on their journey, though he leaves before they reach Yuba.)

In the meantime, the Officer Agents have gathered in the Spiders Cafe and are lead to Rainbase for the briefing of their final mission as Baroque Works.

The journey is continued and the Straw Hats finally arrive in the Yuba Oasis, the supposed hideout of the Rebel Army. However, the only citizen left in town tells them that the rebels are now in an oasis near Nanohana, for Yuba is now almost a daily target of sandstorms. The old citizen turns out to be an old friend of Vivi's, Toto. Here, we learn of their past together along with his son and her friend, Koza, who is currently the leader of the Rebel Army. He gives the Straw Hats a place to sleep and also digs up a gallon of water in the night.

The Straw Hats leave Yuba in the morning as Vivi wants to return to Nanohana, but Luffy is stubborn and tells her that stopping the Rebels won't get rid of Sir Crocodile and they should go to Rainbase where Crocodile resides. He notes that even if they manage to reach the rebels, Crocodile will still try something to continue the war--it should be noted that, at this point, they still thought there was time before the battles started. After a tough argument, Vivi agrees and leads them to Rainbase.

Meanwhile the Officer Agents of the Baroque Works met up with Miss All-Sunday and Sir Crocodile in the basement of the Rain Diners Casino, owned by Sir Crocodile. They are told the goal of the Baroque Works, their final mission and their respective parts in overthrowing Alabasta. They are interrupted by Mr. 3 who tells them that the Strawhats and Vivi have escaped him during their time in Little Garden. He asks Crocodile for forgiveness, but is fed to his pet bananawanis (huge crocodiles with banana-shaped growthes on their heads) instead. The Officer Agents all get pictures of Vivi and the Straw Hat crew with the help of Bon Clay's abilities, except of Sanji.

Rainbase
Upon their arrival in Rainbase, the thirsty Luffy and Usopp rush right into a bar to get water, only to unexpectedly run into Captain Smoker and Tashigi there. They get chased by the two and their navy squad, which also draws the attention of the Baroque Works Millions stationed. The crew splits into groups: Nami and Usopp; Zoro and Vivi; Sanji; Luffy, chased by Smoker; and Chopper, who was left behind. Luffy, Nami, Usopp, Zoro, and Smoker all arrive at Rain Dinners, but they all are caught by a trap and thrown in a seastone cage by Crocodile.

Vivi is surrounded by Millions, but is saved by Pell, a guard of the king who flew to Rainbase after Carue's arrival in order to scout. Pell however is defeated by Miss All-Sunday and Vivi is taken to the Rain Dinners basement. There Crocodile tells her his plan to overthrow Alabasta while it is being executed.

In Alubarna, Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas have kidnapped King Nefertari Cobra while Mr. 2 Bon Clay acts as him in Nanohana alongside a fake group of soldiers. There, he "admits" that he used Dance Powder to make it so that it rains only in Alubarna, and orders his soldiers to destroy the town, because they were the ones who saw the powder being carried in. Koza confronts him, but he is shot. Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger add to this destruction by crashing a huge ship filled with weapons into Nanohana. However, during execution Mr. 2 is spotted changing back by a local kid named Kappa, but the child is taken care of by Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger. Kappa, heavily wounded, is spotted by rebel soldiers, and seeing what the "king" has done, Koza decides to launch an attack on Alubarna.

Crocodile dares Vivi to try and help her friends and he floods the room, lets banannawanis in, and has one swallow the key. However he suddenly gets a phone call by a Mr. Prince, recognized by the crew as Sanji, who starts off by imitating the phone call in Little Garden. Sanji makes Crocodile believe he got caught in front of the Rain Dinners and Crocodile goes to check out the situation in front of the casino. Chopper acts as a decoy, using his powers to avoid Crocodile while Sanji destroys the bridge between the Rain Dinners and the rest of Rainbase. Sanji kicks the bananawani with the key, making it cough up both the key and a large wax ball. As it turns out, the wax ball was created by Mr. 3 to protect himself from being digested, but still wanting revenge, Mr. 3 gets rid of the key. However, Sanji forces him to make a copy of the key using his powers, and releases everyone. When Crocodile returns, he sees that everyone is gone.

Chopper picks up the crew with a Moving Crab named Scissors, a friend of Eyelashes. As they run away, Crocodile tries to snatch Vivi from the Crab, but she is saved by Luffy who lets himself get dragged off the crab, promising to meet them in Alubarna.

Crocodile says that he will humor Luffy for five minutes, but will finish him off once that time is up. Luffy attacks Crocodile, but discovers that he can't hit Crocodile as he just turns into sand thanks to his devil fruit ability. Once the time is up, Crocodile also shows off some attacks as well, one of which dries Luffy's arm out, but Luffy takes water from his cantine to restore his strength. Crocodile creates a sandstorm and sends it off to Yuba, where Toto is, and explains that he was the one who was sending storms there every day. Luffy yells for him to stop it but Crocodile impales him with his hook during his distress and leaves him in quicksand to die.

Luckily Luffy is saved by Miss All-Sunday after Crocodile's departure who leaves Luffy in the hands of Pell, telling Pell that Luffy is responsible for the safe return of Vivi.

Alubarna
The rest of the Straw Hat crew is on the way to Alubarna, only to discover that the Sandora River is in their path and that moving crabs can't swim. They try anyway, but they almost drown and are attacked by a Sandora Rare Catfish. However, the fish is defeated by the Kung-Fu Dugongs they met before. The Dugongs bring them on the back of the fish to the other side of the river where they are met by Carue and the Spot-Billed Duck Squad, the fastest animals on Alabasta.

Meanwhile the Rebel Army under the leadership of Koza have started their rush on Alubarna. Alubarna is evacuated and the royal army is preparing the city for the rebel attack. Outside of Alubarna, the officer agents are waiting for Vivi to arrive and catch her, but are thrown into confusion as six hooded people arrive on Spot-Billed Ducks. They are forced to pursue them in a hasty decsion trying to figure out which one is Vivi.

The real Vivi however hid behind a rock and waited for the Strawhats to distract the officer agents to buy her time. She tries to stop the rebel army, but a dust cloud caused by a Baroque Works agent under cover in the royal army prevents the Rebel Army from seeing her. She is covered by Carue to not get trampled down by the rebel army. As she awakes she is greeted by Usopp, but she sees through Mr. 2's disguise (he beat up Usopp and Eyelashes shortly before) as he does not show her the special mark under his cloth. Carue runs off with her climbing the steep walls of Alubarna but still is pursued by Mr. 2. However, he gets delayed by Sanji, who buys Vivi time to get to the palace.

The Straw Hats each face a dangerous battle: Chopper and Usopp battle Mr. 4, his devil fruit gun/dog Lassou, and Ms. Merry Christmas, despite Ussop taking serious injures the duo manage to turn their enemies' attacks against them and defeat the trio. Sanji takes Mr. 2 Bon Clay in a very comical yet brutal match of martial arts with Sanji the victor. Nami fights Ms. Doublefinger in her first solo fight in the series, using a new weapon created by Ussop and her knowledge of weather to beat her opponet. And lastly Zoro vs. Mr. 1 where Zoro has to confront and overcome his lingering problem of being unable to cut steel before striking down Mr. 1.

Meanwhile, Vivi arrives at the palace and gives order for the Royal Army to blow up the palace in order to get everyone's attention, but is stopped by Sir Crocodile. The army, realizing what's happening, try to enter the palace but are stopped by Miss All-Sunday. Koza also arrives at the scene, intending to demand Cobra's surrender, only to find out the truth of the situation. Here, Crocodile reveals that he is going to blow up the palace plaza, soon to be center point of battle, with a humongous bomb. He also reveals his true intentions: to find the location of the secret ancient weapon Pluton, which is said to be buried in Alabasta.

Koza wants to warn the city but is stopped by Vivi, who states that it will create a panic. The Royal Army raises the white flag, with Koza in front, but he is shot down by a double agent in the Royal Army, provoking the rebels. A battle starts on the palace plaza and Vivi watches in horror. Sir Crocodile proceeds to throw Vivi off a palace wall, but she is saved by Luffy who came in flying on Pell's back. Vivi meets the rest of the Strawhats on the foot of the wall and goes to search for the bomb with them and Pell.

Luffy flings himself back up to Crocodile and Miss All Sunday goes off with Cobra to the Poneglyph, which is supposed to reveal the location of Pluton. Luffy, armed with a barrel of water, confronts Crocodile again, as he found his weakness and manages to get a few good hits. Crocodile however runs the entire palace dry and also just soaks up the water Luffy throws at him. He grabs Luffy by the neck and holds him over the palace wall and Luffy shoots a water bubble straight in the air at Crocodile, but misses. Crocodile runs Luffy entirely dry and leaves him to die once again. Luffy falls to the plaza, but gets hit by his own water bubble, rehydrating him, and then goes on to pursue Crocodile.

Vivi, Pell and the Strawhat crew are separately fighting their way through gangs of Millions and Rebel/Royal Army fights to find the hideout for the bomb, but without any luck. Right then Vivi thinks about the only place that would be useful for launching such an attack: the clock tower, which used to be a hideout for Koza and her other friends.

Usopp calls all the crewmates to the clock tower, but they turn up on different levels (the top can only be reached through a secret staircase at the base), and Pell is shot down by Miss Father's Day, who, alongside Mr. 7, is preparing the cannon. The Strawhats take advantage of being on different levels of the tower as Nami plans on flinging Vivi to the top level of the tower through multiple stations each assisted by a Straw Hats member. She reaches the cannon and defeats Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day and stops the cannon from going off, only to discover that it's a timebomb that will go off regardless of being shot or not. Just when it seems everything for naught Pell shows up and carries the bomb off into the sky, allowing it to explode high and harmlessly above the city while sacrificing himself.

However, despite the bomb's explosion knocking the soldiers over, they simply get up and continue the battle. Desperately, Vivi repeatedly yells for them to stop fighting, but her voice isn't heard.

Meanwhile, Miss All-Sunday and King Cobra go in the hidden Grave of the Kings and find the Poneglyph. Sir Crocodile soon arrives but doesn't get the information he wants from the stone. He turns his back on Nico Robin and attacks her while she tries an assassination attempt of her own but fails. Cobra triggers a destruction effect on the grave to keep the secerts safe, but Crocodile points out that he can easily escape with his ability. On his way out however, he is confronted by Luffy again. Crocodile is now determined to end it once and for all, using his poisonous hook.

Luffy fights him, using his own blood to activate Crocodile's weakness to water, but gets struck by the hook. However, he is so determined to send Crocodile flying that it hardly fazes him, and after a massive attack called the Gum Gum Storm, he smashes Crocodile through the roof of the mausoleum, through solid bedrock, and into the air, knocking over several buildings in the process. Luffy is later saved from Crocodile's poison by Nico Robin who gives him the antidote. Luffy suddenly awakens again and grabs Robin and Cobra to carry them out before the grave caves in.

Aftermath
Finally, the first rain in years falls over Alabasta and the soldiers and rebels start to come to their senses. Then Igaram, Vivi's bodyguard who was thought dead since Whiskey Peak, shows up in Alubarna with Kappa, the beaten up kid from Nanohana in his arm. He reveals the truth of Baroque's ploy to everyone, and the war officially ends. The Strawhats meanwhile are spared by Tashigi's marine forces, who instead arrest Crocodile and strip him of Shichibukai rank, and are later led to the palace.

Luffy awakens after three days of sleep, demanding food immediately. Luffy and his crew are hailed as heroes in the palace for their efforts in saving the country, but it is kept secret on the outside. Bon Clay suddenly calls the crew, telling the Straw Hats that he has saved their ship from the Navy and is protecting it for them. The Strawhat crew gives Vivi a choice of coming with them if she wants to, and to make her decision by noon.

The Strawhats and Bon Clay's crew leave in the morning, but they get engaged in a battle with Navy Captain Hina the Black Cage. Bon Clay and his crew disguise themselves as the Straw Hats to draw their attention, giving them the opportunity to flee though Luffy yells he'll never forget them. In the end, Vivi chose not come with them, but came to wave them goodbye, holding her speech over a Den Den Mushi. The Straw Hats respond back by showing her their friendship marks on their arms before sailing off.

An important point to be noted here is that during the end of this saga, that is after the "vivi's good bye part" it was shown that Pell is alive.

However, no sooner then the Straw Hat leave Alabasta, Nico Robin a.k.a. Miss All-Sunday makes herself known having hid herself on board of the Going Merry before their departure from Alabasta. She claims she wants to join the crew for Luffy saved her, even though she lost her will to live, making her their problem. Luffy accepts her offer to join the crew, but the rest (excluding Sanji) are suspicious of her. However, she manages to quickly win everyone's favor, though Zoro remains wary of her. With an unexpected seventh member of the crew, the Strawhats continue onward with their voyage of the Grand Line for their next adventure.

Manga-to-Anime changes:

 * There are four anime-only episodes based around the crew's journey in the desert. The crew is accompanied by Ace, as opposed to the manga, where he left right after destroying the ships.