Ice Hunter Arc

The Ice Hunter Arc, sometimes referred to as the Lovely Land Arc, is the eighth filler arc in the One Piece anime. It ran from episodes 326-335. It chronicles the journey of the Straw Hat Pirates from Water 7, into the Florian Triangle, coming close to a winter island.

The Phoenix Pirates and "Trap Kamome"


The Straw Hats, onboard their new ship, the Thousand Sunny encounter a damaged ship, whose members they help, but who then try to trick them. They are then revealed to be working for the bounty hunter group named Accino Family.

At the same time, Salchow of the Accino family receives Stansen's report on the Straw Hats and begins "trap kamome", using hundreds of fake marine ships (simply sails on rafts, with glowing, hologram-like lights) to drive the Straw Hats into a field of icebergs. These move according to the Sunny's movements and lock them in.

Hyokaido
Meanwhile, the Straw Hats learn that the former Phoenix Pirates reportedly sailed into the New World but were heavily beaten there, losing the life of Vigaro, a crew member and vice-captain. Thereafter, they lost their flag to the Accino Family and became their soldiers-though only Stansen shows any "loyalty" to them. When their heavily injured captain, Puzzle recovers, he says that Stansen's decision "wasn't bad", that they will no longer be pirates or sail to the New World and that they will stay the bounty hunters' underlings. No one in the crew agrees with this, especially the very young and passionate Jiro, but the captain is not moved at all. Luffy, who was with Chopper on the Phoenix's ship to look on the injured Puzzle, head back, but the rope that was used to hold the ship close to the Sunny breaks in a rampage of several mysterious underwater "eruptions".

The Hunt Begins


The trapped Sunny is encountered by Lil, Salchow, Arbell, and Hockera. They claim that it's impossible for them to escape and that all the crew will die. Franky, however, gets the ship out by using a "Coup de Burst". Salchow calls either Brindo or Campacino (as they are twin brothers, that only differ in the color of their shirts and the addressed person was in a partial silhouette, and it's uncertain exactly which one of the twins it was) and he then decides to leave, before Accino points out that he should "take the flag first".

Meanwhile, Lil's flying fish manages to steal the Straw Hats flag. They realize this but decides not to find and tell Luffy as they do not want to get scolded by him, shortly before noticing that Zoro, who helped them by cutting through one of the icebergs, but got lost, is still missing.

Straw Hat Pirates vs. Accino Family: Round 1
The Straw Hats try to follow the bird, but the icebergs cut their way, so Franky and Nami use "Shark Submerge" to go under the icebergs, where they discover that the icebergs are in reality moved around by flocks of penguins, who begin to chase after the sub. Meanwhile, an iceberg is rammed into the Sunny and throws both Usopp and Sanji overboard, because Robin is unable to grab them in time.

When the Shark Submerge get back on the surface, Nami and Franky are confronted by Hockera, and Robin is confronted by Lil on the Sunny. In an ice rift, Sanji and Usopp found themselves chased by penguins and later faced of by Salchow and Arbell, whom Sanji tries (and fails) to court.

Meanwhile, on the ship of the Phoenix Pirates, Chopper and Luffy try to leave in a rowboat, but come back just in time to stop Brindo, who just arrived from severely injuring Stansen. When Brindo tells Luffy, how his family have already stolen their flag, he gets angry and begins to fight him.

As all this occurs, Zoro wanders the snow, coming to a huge, strange mansion in the ice. Meanwhile, the fights begin. Luffy fights Brindo and after a while manages to pull him into the water and then is chained up by Puzzle.

Meanwhile, Hockera fights Franky, but is seemingly beaten. Just as he gets back into the Shark Submerge, he finds out that it's frozen up. Hockera later calls Lil, who sends a flock of flying fish, which then pull the Shark Submerge, with Hockera on top.

In the meantime, Robin tries to convince Lil to tell her where the flag has gone. Sanji and Usopp fight Salchow and Arbell, with Arbell successfully ramming her skates into Sanji's face repeatedly. Usopp however manages to sneak away and shoot Arbell down with the use of Kabuto. Unfortunately, this only serves to enrage Salchow.

The Short Tempered Don
In the Accino Family's castle in Lovely Land, Don Accino is drinking while waiting for his "present". He catches a glimpse of Zoro passing by the window, but Campacino does not notice and says his father is probably too drunk.

Sanji and Usopp battle Arbell and Salchow and get captured by them in the end by being thrown into penguin-infested, freezing-cold water and then "fished out".

On the Phoenix Pirates ship, Brindo is still captured. Puzzle offers a deal: himself for the crew. However, it is foiled by Jiro screaming into a Den Den Mushi to Campacino that should they do anything against them Brindo will be killed. Campacino then comes to the ship and frees his brother.

Luffy and Chopper confront Brindo and Campacino in their "combination play," utilizing the power of magnetism. They plan to knock Luffy into the sea and manage to land him on an iceberg.

The Crew Is Captured
In Lovely Land, Zoro confronts Don Accino and drinks with him. Accino boasts at his pirate flag collection, just as one of Lil's birds brings in the Straw Hats' Jolly Roger, much to Zoro's chagrin. Don Accino then reveals he knew all along who Zoro was and seemingly prepares for battle.

Meanwhile, Luffy battles the twins but is unable to strike at them as they leave back to Lovely Land.

In Lovely Land, Hockera, Salchow, and Arbell bring forth the captured crew. They try to escape, but Franky's Coup de Boo is too weak to take them all up and when Sanji jumps off to reach the top, he's hit by Hockera.



Meanwhile Zoro confronts Don Accino, but his slash flies right through him. He almost hits one of Accino's flags, which gets Accino boiling, so much that his children are summoned up. They then manage to get Zoro to fall down a trap door to make sure he will not get the Don angrier. During that time, Lil brings Robin and shows her her captured friends.

They then go to the "birthday party", but Lil says it is not a good idea, because Don Accino is angry. Robin then requests that food be sent to her captured friends. Amongst the food are 3 bottles of cola, which allow Franky's Coup de Vent to blow away the cap of their prison. This allows the group to escape before freezing. They go and search for the flag. On the Phoenix Pirates' ship, Luffy decides to follow the twins and get his flag back.

Jiro wants to go too, but his captain forbids him to. He gets into a "show" argument with Luffy, who then says he's got strong will and tells him to go with him. At the same time, Brindo and Campacino, having just arrived, tell their father how wonderful a birthday party they'll throw for him. However, the Don is not calmed until he hears Luffy screaming for his flag, just as he reaches Lovely Land.

Straw Hat Pirates vs. Accino Family: Round 2
The newly freed Straw Hats search for the room with Don Accino's "collection", but they make the mistake of letting Zoro lead them, which ends in them getting hopelessly lost. While wandering around the Accino Family's castle, they encounter Robin and know she is safe. She departs, intending to let Lil show her to her father's room. Just as she leaves, the Straw Hats hear Luffy's screaming and notice he has arrived. They then split, most of them getting out to help him fight the whole Accino Family (excluding Lil and Don Accino).

Luffy arrives and is faced off by the Accino Family's group attack. However, Jiro and Chopper, who are with him, take on Hockera and manage to heavily beat him using Chopper's guard point. He then gets angry and summons a literal army of Domo Penguins, who encircle Chopper and Jiro. They try to fight them off, just as the remaining Phoenix Pirates arrive. Puzzle wants Jiro to come back, but he refuses. Hockera then sics the Domo Penguins on the Phoenix Pirates as well. They defend themselves, and this leads to Puzzle finally "snapping out" of his lethargy and, remembering Vigaro's sacrifice, he removes the bandages on his head, revealing a phoenix shaped scar and begins to fight.

The Straw Hats take out the most of the Accino family, while Puzzle goes off to fight Campacino. Franky and Nami chase Hockera while Sanji and Usopp go after Salchow and Arbell. Franky defeats Hockera, meanwhile, Nami goes to Sanji and Usopp to see if she can help. Sanji, who chases after Salchow and Arbell, is at first distracted by Arbell, but Nami steps in and finishes her off using her thunderbolt tempo. Sanji then takes on Salchow and beats him senseless. Meanwhile, Luffy fights Brindo and manages to defeat him.

In the house, Lil leads Robin (whom she calls "big sis") into a greenhouse that she insists leads to her "papa's" room. Robin sees through this and asks Lil why she is lying. Lil then reveals she knew all along that Robin did not want to play with her, but went with her only to help save her friends. As she says this, plant vines take hold of Robin.

Outside, when all of the present Accino family is defeated, except Campacino, Don Accino comes out personally, getting very angry over how Luffy defeated his children and prepares to fight him.

At the end of episode 333, Zoro finally manages to find Accino's room.

Luffy vs. Don Accino
Luffy confronts the Don and demands his flag. The Don becomes angry and "heats up". Luffy tries to punch him, but the Don can heat up any part of his body so he cannot land a single hit. He then uses a slab of ice and rams it into Don Accino with a Gomu Gomu no Bazooka.

Chopper and Jiro manage to go into the family mansion while the rest of the Phoenix Pirates go to fight Campacino, but they realize that the Domo Penguins are trying to steal their ship, so Puzzle fights Campacino while the rest of them go after the ship. Puzzle defeats Campacino. At the same time, his crew secure their ship.

During the fighting, the Straw Hats return to the Accino family mansion, with Nami staying with Luffy to monitor him and the other three going to retrieve the flag.

There, Sanji and Usopp notice that Franky has disappeared. They find Robin trapped by Lil's flowers. Lil wants Robin to stay with her as her "big sister". Usopp wants to force Lil to let Robin go, but Sanji intimidates him that he won't allow him to harm a "lady". They then begin taking out the plants. However, before they can do anything much, the results of the Accino/Luffy fight lead the greenhouse to be flooded by ice. Robin is dropped by the flower just in time to save Lil from the falling ice. She then tells her to cherish her own family.

The Domo Penguins attempt to attack the Thousand Sunny after they tried to take the Phoenix Pirates ship but Franky appears in the Shark Submerge, saves the ship and scares off the penguins.

As the fight progresses, the Don gets even more angry and Lovely Land starts to melt. He utilizes his power at 5,500 degrees and begins throwing "atsuyaki eggs" (heatballs) at Luffy. When this proves still fruitless, the Don amazes Luffy with "Atsu Atsu Gatling", a somewhat copy of Luffy's technique, though the punches themselves do not hit Luffy, only the generated heatballs do.

After a long fight, Luffy enters Gear 2 in order to end it quickly. He punches Accino and manages to throw him into the Accino Family's castle building, while Chopper and Jiro finally find the room where the pirate flags are kept. Chopper and Jiro manage to grab their flags just as Accino crashes through the wall. The majority of the flags from Accino's room are either burnt or left flying in the air. Chopper and Jiro are nearly crushed by the rubble but Zoro and Puzzle appear just in time to save them. Sanji, Usopp and Robin enter the room just as Chopper realizes that he, in fact, didn't grab the Straw Hat flag but, instead, grabbed another one.

Don Accino, after seeing what was left of his collection, uses his nose to gust hot air and propel himself to the ground, where he swears to get Luffy with his own hands.

As Luffy and the Don fight on, Lovely Land melts away before their eyes. The Straw Hats, meanwhile, manage to recover their flag, unknowingly (except to Robin) thanks to the assistance of Lil.

Soon, the temperature heats up so much that a volcanic rift in the iceberg opens, into which the Don falls.

However, thanks to the power of the Atsu Atsu no Mi, he is able to survive and heat up even more to 10,000 degrees. He then proceeds to attack Luffy, trying to make him fall into the lava. He does not succeed, thanks to Nami's cooling a small patch of lava into rock, but he then proceeds to laugh at Luffy's dreams and about pirates risking their lives for "such a stupid thing" like a pirate flag. This finally makes Luffy serious and somehow enables him to actually physically strike the Don without burning, hurling him into the ruins of Lovely Land and defeating him.

Aftermath
The Straw Hats then depart as Hyokaido begins to rip apart, and ensure to put the flag on the ship before Luffy notices its gone.

Meanwhile, on the Accino Families ship, Arbell apologizes to Lil for ignoring her and the entire family (minus Campacino) present their Papa with his birthday cake, which the Don mistakes for Luffy's straw hat and heats up so much that he burns through the iceberg on which he is floating.

In the meantime, the Straw Hats pass the ruins of Lovely Land, but are confronted by Campacino with a horde of the Accino Family's soldiers onboard, saying that they'll fight them for the honor of the Accino Family. However, the Phoenix pirates appear and Puzzle challenges Campacino instead. While they sail off, Chopper is worried about them, but Luffy says to see how determined they are and that nothing will happen to them. With that the arc closes.

Trivia

 * At ten episodes, this is currently the second-longest anime-original arc (surpassed only by the eleven-episode G-8 Arc).
 * It is also the second anime-original arc to be illustrated in the anime's contemporary opening (the first being the Warship Island Arc, illustrated in Believe).
 * Discounting Baroque Works' activities in the early portions of the Arabasta Saga, this is the first arc in the series (canon or otherwise) to feature bounty hunters as the main antagonists.

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