Arabasta Kingdom

= Alabasta = The Alabasta Kingdom is a desert kingdom in Paradise. It was the fourth place that the Straw Hat Pirates visited on the Grand Line, and the events here resulted in Luffy's bounty being raised to 100,000,000, and Zoro acquiring a bounty of 60,000,000.

It is where the poneglyph showing the location of Pluton is located, and one of the twenty founding countries of the World Government.

General Information
Alabasta is an established kingdom with a long history. It is located on Sandy Island (サンディ); roughly half-way through the first part of the Grand Line. Sandy Island is a Summer Island. It is arguably one of the largest islands the Straw Hats have visited in the Grand Line, containing several cities and towns and a massive river.

Kingdom Information

 * Kingdom Name: Alabasta
 * Current King: Nefertari Cobra
 * Former Queens: Nefertari Lili (800 years ago), Nefertari Titi (at least 24 years ago)
 * Important People: Nefertari Vivi (Princess), Chaka (Head Guard), Pell (Head Guard), Igaram (Royal Guard Captain), Koza (Former Rebel Army Leader, Minister of Environment)
 * Current Affiliations: Straw Hat Pirates, World Government
 * Poneglyph: Yes (Tomb of the Kings)
 * Population: Over 10 million

Architecture
Alabasta's architecture is very similar to Middle Eastern and Moorish buildings. However, the styles vary between cities.

Alubarna
The capital city of Alabasta has white, simple buildings. The palace is grand and resembles the architecture of Enies Lobby, except more colorful.

The city plan of Alubarna is round and similar to the old design plans of Iraq during the era of the Abbasid caliphate. Due to the Middle Eastern influences on Alabasta, it is possible that the city of Alubarna is designed based on Baghdad.

Yuba
The architecture of Yuba is generally circular buildings. All the tops of the buildings have thin logs. After the arrest of Crocodile, many people went to Yuba and tried to rebuild it.

Rainbase and Nanohana
Both Rainbase and Nanohana have similar architecture, with Rainbase's resembling a classic nineteenth century American town, with white walls, similar to those in Alubarna. Nanohana is extremely similar, but the designs seems closer to Alubarna's, with taller buildings.

Cities
Cities are central gathering places for the citizens of Alabasta. Alabasta is a very old country; there are few oases, but where they exist a town is likely built around it. Some older cities are now in ruins, while new ones also exist. The Sandora Desert is extremely desolate, and is usually only entered for travel. The cities are further divided by the Sandora River, which splits the country in half.

There are 7 known cities in Alabasta (8 if non-canon is included). Two of them are port towns situated on the south and east sides of the island.

Alubarna


Alubarna is the capital city of Alabasta, and is rich in culture. It is an extremely large city, on a huge rock. Stairs are carved and paved for entrance to the city. It is extremely circular, and features both a clock tower and the Alabasta Royal Palace. Just outside the city exist the Royal Tomb, there is a forest where Zoro got lost in, and the Tomb of the Kings.

The Alubarna Clock tower is an extremely tall building, resembling Big Ben in England. There is a large open area at the very top of the tower. The top of the clock tower can only be accessed from the stairs on the bottom floor, and going up the stairs for the building it rests upon will get you nowhere. At the time, Crocodile planned to launch a bomb from there, due to the large open space and the close proximity to the Central City Square. This is a large, circular area where people can meet. It resides just outside of the Alabasta Royal Palace. The first and final confrontation between the Rebel Army and the Alabasta Royal Army took place here, at the climax of the Alabasta Arc.

Nanohana


Nanohana is a port-town in south-east Alabasta. It is the central port city, and handles the most import and exports in all of Alabasta that goes to outside. It is famous for its perfume, which is very pungent to those that aren't used to it. Nanohana is the "Little Flower" of Alabasta. Nano is an English word for "very tiny", and hana is the Japanese word for "flower". This possibly hints the city may have many cultures within it.

Yuba
Yuba is a small town, only about 8–10 years old. It was started by Toto and his son, Koza. It has a very unique, dirt like style of architecture. This town was abandoned (except by Toto) after many sandstorms came. The Rebel Army relocated after this to Katorea. After the events of the defeated Crocodile, most people went to Yuba and try to rebuild it.

Erumalu
Erumalu is an ancient city. It was known as the Green City, but is now all ruins. The city itself resides in a region that lacks large amounts of rain.

Rainbase


Rainbase is one of the few thriving towns left. The casino, Rain Dinners is here, and under it is Crocodile's base. A pyramid-shaped building, it seems like a normal casino, and acts as one. Behind the scenes, Crocodile was secretly scheming against the King.

Katorea
Katorea is a city only seen very briefly. It is just north-east of Nanohana, a short ride away. The only view shown is in a filler scene where Chopper accidentally falls asleep in the back of a caravan and travels there, where he meets Matsuge the camel. While Nanohana is the city that is famous for its perfume, Katorea is where said perfume is made.

Tamarisk
Tamarisk is a city located in Alabasta. This is where Hina arrived in Alabasta.

Suiren
Suiren is a dried-up city located in Alabasta. This is Erik's hometown.

Ido
Ido is a city that was visited by a group of con men led by Camus who came there to take advantage of the town and get free food while posing as Rebel Army men.

Landmarks
Landmarks are memorable places around Alabasta.

Sandora Desert
The Sandora Desert is a large desert that makes up the majority of the land of Alabasta that is not inhabited near oases.

Sandora River
The Sandora River is a large river the runs through Alabasta, right down the center.

Tomb of the Kings


The Tomb of the Kings is the royal tomb where the members of the royal family are buried. It is just outside of Alubarna, located underground beneath ordinary tombs, and accessed through a secret staircase. It was destroyed by Nefertari Cobra in an attempt to kill Crocodile.

Ukkari Hot Spring Island Tunnel
This tunnel consists of an underground passage that directly connects Alabasta to the Ukkari Hot-Spring Island. It was accidentally dug up by the Dirt Boss, under the orders of Goro and Gedatsu, and then converted into a bus system for the transportation of customers headed by Hasami.

Symbol


The symbol of Alabasta Kingdom is a sun consisting of a circle with 8 curved drop shapes around it. It was first revealed in Chapter 130. When Vivi reads about the war in Alabasta the newspaper, a flashback of the kingdom's flag being burned is shown. The flag bears the sun sign. The shield of an Alabasta soldier in Chapter 182 also shows this symbol.

It is also seen on the sleeves of Sanji's overcoat and on Igaram's fan when he disguises as Vivi (the latter only has 5 shapes around the circle, though). Further, a Den Den Mushi seen in Chapter 216 shows a 6 shapes' symbol.

Past
Alabasta has a long, and illustrious history. According to Nico Robin, the country has existed for 500 years before the Void Century, perhaps even longer. The Royal Palace of Alubarna predates the kingdom itself, having existed for around 4000 years.

800 years ago, the Nefertari royal family was one of the twenty royal families who founded the World Government. Notably, they are the only family to remain in rule of their own country, rather than moving to Mary Geoise and letting new royalty take over.

The Poneglyph, initially interpreted by Nico Robin, seemed to describe Alabasta's early history.

Robin, as Miss All-Sunday, recited a few events, until Crocodile interrupted her, not interested in the history of the country:
 * Kahira conquers Alabasta (Alabasta's history, date: Year of Heaven 239. Information supplied by Nico Robin)
 * The Bitein Dynasty of Taymar begins its rule (Alabasta's history, date: Year 260. Information supplied by Nico Robin)
 * Great Taph Temple completed in Erumalu (Alabasta's history, date: Year 306. Information supplied by Nico Robin)
 * The Hero of Oltea, Mamudin... (Alabasta's history, date: Year 325. Information supplied by Nico Robin, however she was not allowed to finish the sentence.)

However, it was later revealed that it contained only the whereabouts of Pluton, not the historical account.

Alabasta Arc
Crocodile, then Warlord of the Sea, attempted to incite civil war in Alabasta and conquer the country. Luffy defeated him after three battles.

Zou Arc
The Royal Family board a ship to set sail for the Levely.

Wano Country Arc
After the Levely, a huge incident involving Alabasta occurred, and the Marines were working on resolving the situation. This is eventually revealed to be the apparent assassination of Cobra by Sabo and the disappearance of Vivi.

Translation and Dub Issues
There remains some debate over whether the kingdom should properly be romanized Alabasta or Alabasta, as katakana tends to be infamously fickle between R and L pronunciations:
 * Alabasta was the manga's earliest romanization, used in the Whisky Peak and Little Garden Arcs (and, much later, the Cover Page of Chapter 611). It is universally used by the 4Kids, VIZ, and Funimation translations.
 * Alabasta came into use with the manga's supplementary maps in Volume 19 and 20, and was favored by many fan translators. Later, the Whole Cake Island Saga depicted it on the sails of Vivi's Levely ship, and it is currently regarded as the canonical spelling.
 * Note that all of these were edited to read Alabasta in Viz's translation.
 * Alabaster was, uniquely, used in the Funimation localization of One Piece: Unlimited Adventure.

Inspirations and Influences
According to Rurubu One Piece, Alabasta was mainly inspired by India. This is most evident in the many "onion" domes atop its buildings (particularly in Alubarna), a staple of Indian—particularly Mughal—architecture such as the famed Taj Mahal.

Trivia

 * Many things about and relating to Alabasta (i.e. the geography, architecture and culture) also heavily resemble elements of ancient Egypt and the modern Middle East.
 * Alabasta's name may come from the Arabian Penninsula, which as a region has been known as "Arabia" for many centuries.
 * The name may also come from alabaster, a mineral commonly found in ancient Egyptian artifacts.
 * According to Crocodile, the prevailing winds of Alabasta always blow from north to south, which was why all his sandstorms continually hit Yuba.

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