Ice Hunter Arc

The Ice Hunter arc in an anime only 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 Strawhats, 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 Achino Family.



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

Hyoukaidou
Meanwhile, the Straw Hats learn that the former Phoenix Pirates reportedly sailed into the New World but were heavily beaten there, loosing the life of Vigaro, a crew member and vice-captain. Thereafter, they lost their flag to the Achino Family and became their soldiers-though only Stansen shows any "loyalty" to them. When their heavily injured captain, Puzzle recovers, he says that Stancen'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 Jirou, 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 Lilo, Salco, Arabelle, and Hockera. They claim that its impossible for them to escape and that all the crew will die. Franky, however, gets the ship out by using a "Coup de Burst". Salco calls either Brindo or Kanpachino (as they are twin brothers, that only differ in the color of their shirts and the addressed person was in a partial silhouette, its uncertain exactly which one of the twins it was) and he then decides to leave, before Don Achino points out that he should "take the flag first".

Meanwhile, Lilo's flying fish manages to steal the Strawhats flag. They realize this, shortly before noticing that Zoro, who helped them by cutting through one of the icebergs, but got lost, is still missing.

Strawhat Pirates vs. Achino 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 off both Usopp and Sanji, because Robin is unable to grip them in time.

When the Shark Submerge get back on the surface, Nami and Franky are confronted by Hockera, and Robin is confronted by Lilo on the Sunny. In an ice rift, Sanji and Usopp found themselves chased by penguins and later faced of by Salco and Arabelle, whom Sanji tries 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.

Hockera meanwhile fights Franky, but is seemingly beaten. Just as he gets back into the shark submerge, he finds out its frozen up. Hockera later calls Lilo, who sends a flock of flying fish, which then pull the shark submerge, with Hockera on top.

Meanwhile, Robin tries to convince Lilo to tell her where the flag has gone.

Sanji and Usopp fight Salco and Arabelle, with Arabelle successfully ramming her skates into Sanji's face repeatedly. Usopp however manages to sneak away and shoot Arabelle down with the use of Kabuto. Unfortunately, this only serves to enrage Salco.

The Short Tempered Don
In the Achino Family's castle in Lovely Land, Don Achino is drinking while waiting for his "present". He glimpses Zoro pass by the window, but Kanpachino doesn't notice and says his father is probably too drunk.

Sanji and Usopp battle Arabelle and Salco 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 Kanpachino that should they do anything against them Brindo will be killed. Kanpachino then comes to the ship and frees his brother.

Luffy and Chopper confront Brindo and Kanpachino 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 Achino and drinks with him. Achino boasts at his pirate flag collection, just as one of Lilo's birds brings in the Straw Hats' Jolly Roger, much to Zoro's chagrin. Don Achino 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, Salco, and Arabelle 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 Achino, but his slash flies right through him. He almost hits one of Achino's flags, which gets Achino 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 won't get the Don more angry.

Meanwhile, Lilo brings Robin and shows her her captured friends. They then go to the "birthday party", but Lilo says it's not a good idea, because Don Achino 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 and get out, before they would freeze. They go and search for the flag.

On the Phoenix Pirates' ship, Luffy decides to follow the twins and get his flag back. Jirou 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 Kanpachino, 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.

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

Luffy arrives and is faced off by the Achino Family's group atack. However, Jirou 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 Jirou. They try to fight them off, just as the remaining Phoenix Pirates arrive. Puzzle wants Jirou to come back, but he refuses. Hockera then sics the doom 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 Strawhats take out the most of the Achino family, while Puzzle goes off to fight Kanpachino. Sanji, who chases after Salco and Arabelle, is at first distracted by Arabelle, but Nami steps in and finishes her of using her thunderbolt tempo. Sanji then takes on Salco and beats him senseless. Meanwhile, Luffy fights Brindo and manages to defeat him.

In the house, Lilo 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 Lilo why she is lying. Lilo then reveals she knew all along that Robin didn't 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 Achino family is defeated, except Kanpachino, Don Achino 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 Achino's room.

Luffy vs. Don Achino
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 can't land a single hit. He then uses a slab of ice and rams it into Achino.

Meanwhile, Puzzle fights Kanpachino and manages to defeat him. At the same time, his crew secure their ship, which was being stolen by the Domo 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 don't hit Luffy, only the generated heatballs do.

During the fighting, the strawhats return to the Achino family mansion to retrieve the flag.

There, they find Robin trapped by Lilo's flowers. Lilo wants Robin to stay with her as her "big sister." Usopp wants to force Lilo to let Robin go, but Sanji intimidates him that he wont allow him to harm a "lady." They then begin taking out the plants. However, before they can do anything much, the results of the Achino/Luffy fight lead the greenhouse to be flooded by ice. Robin is dropped by the flower just in time to save Lilo from the falling ice. She then tells her to cherish her own family.

After a long fight, Luffy enters Gear 2nd in order to end it quickly. He punches Achino and manages to throw him into the Achino Family's castle building. The majority of the flags from Achino's room are either burnt or left flying in the air. Chopper (who arrived here before with Puzzle and Jirou) found the strawhats flag, but in the commotion took another one instead.

Don Achino, 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 Lilo.

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 doesn't 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 makes Luffy mad and somehow enables him to actually physically punch the Don without burning, hurling him into the ruins of Lovely Land and defeating him. The Straw Hats then depart as Hyoukaidou begins to rip apart, and ensure to put the flag on the ship before Luffy notices its gone.

Meanwhile, on the Achino Families ship, Arabelle apologizes to Lilo for ignoring her and the entire family (minus Kanpachino) present their Papa with his birthday cake, which the Don mistakes for Luffy's strawhat 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 Kanpachino with a horde of the Achino Family's soldiers onboard, saying that they'll fight them for the honour of the Achino Family. However, the Phoenix pirates appear and Puzzle challenges Kanpachino 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.

Episodes

 * Episode 326-"Mysterious Party of Pirates! The Sunny and a Dangerous Trap"- 謎の海賊ご一行！サニー号と危険な罠 (Nazo no Kaizoku Go Ichigyō! Sanī-gō to Kikken na Wana)

Air Date - October 14 2007


 * Episode 327-"Sunny in a Pinch! Roar, Secret Superspeed Mecha"-サニー号ピンチ!唸れ超速の秘密メカ (Sanī-gō Pinchi! Unare Chōsoku no Himitsu Meka)

Air Date - October 21 2007


 * Episode 328-"The Dream Sinking in the New World! The Pirate of Despair, Puzzle"-世界に沈む夢!失意の海賊パズール(Shinsekai ni Shizumu Yume! Shitsui no Kaizoku Pazūru)

Air Date - October 28 2007

Daibatoru Kaishi)
 * Episode 329-"The Assassins Attack! The Great Battle Above the Ice Begins"-襲い来る刺客たち!氷上大バトル開始 (Osoi Kuru Shikaku-tachi! Kōri Ue

Air Date = November 4 2007


 * Episode 330-"The Hard Fights of the Straw Hat Crew! The Pirate Soul Banking it All on the Flag!"-大苦戦麦わら一味！旗にかける海賊魂 (Taikusen Mugiwara Ichimi! Hata ni Kakeru Kaizokudamashī)

Air Date - November 11 2007


 * Episode 331-"Hot Full Throttle! The Twins' Magnetic Power Draws Near"-暑苦しさ全開!迫る双子の磁力パワー(Atsukurushisa Zenkai! Semaru Futago no Jiryoku Pawā)

Air Date - November 18 2007


 * Episode 332-"The Great Chaos Mansion! The Angry Don and the Imprisoned Crew"-大混乱の館!怒るドンと囚われの一味 ( Daikōran no Kan! Ikaru Don to Toraware no Ichimi)

Air Date - November 25 2007


 * Episode 333-"The Phoenix Returns! The Dream of the Pirate Flag Sworn to a Friend"-不死鳥ふたたび!友に誓う海賊旗の夢 (Fushichō Futatabi! Tomo ni Chikau Kaizokuki no Yume)

Air Date - December 2 2007

アツアツ超決戦!ルフィvs灼熱のドン (Atsu Atsu Chōkessen! Rufi vs. Shakuretsu no Don) Air Date - December 9 2007
 * Episode 334-"The Red Hot Decisive Battle! Luffy vs. the Scorching Don"


 * Episode 335-"Waiting in the New World! Farewell to the Courageous Pirates" 新世界で待つ!勇ましき海賊との別れ (Shinsekai de Matsu! Isamashiki Kaizoku to no Wakare

Air Date - December 16, 2007

Trivia

 * There are a few things left unclear after this arcs conclusion-
 * Zoro was able to cut straight through Don Achino without hurting him at all, which was attributed to his devil fruit. However, later the Don is punched by Luffy, even though still using the power of this fruit.
 * Brindo's words about how pirates captured by the Achino Family smile when being given to the Marines in Lovely Land is never again spoken of or explained afterwards.