Chapter 619

Chapter 619 is titled "At the Sea Forest".

Cover
From the Decks of the World Vol. 6 - Orange Town, the grand opening of Chouchou's giant pet food shop.

Chouchou and Mayor Boodle of Orange Town introduce the new pet food shop. There is a fountain with a statue of Chouchou, and Boodle is sitting on the edge reading the newspaper of the Straw Hat Pirates' reappearance. People around them are seen gathering at the food shop.

Quick Summary
Neptune takes Zoro, Usopp, and Brook and attempts to evacuate the palace with the guards. The guards manage to escape, but Hordy Jones is revived by an Energy Steroid and intercepts Neptune. Neptune and the three Straw Hats with him are then captured by the New Fishman Pirates. Luffy, Shirahoshi, Megalo, Hatchan, Chopper, Sanji, Nami, and Keimi make it to the Sea Forest where they get acquainted with Franky, Den, and Jinbe.

Long Summary
The chapter starts with Zoro having just cut Hordy Jones. The New Fishman Pirates are shocked. They cannot believe that a human could actually beat a fishman in water, asking just who exactly Zoro was. One of the pirates shouts not to let Zoro escape, and to recharge their strength with Energy Steroids. Neptune then wonders why he is feeling such an odd turmoil about him. Zoro resurfaces gasping for air. Neptune tells the Straw Hats that they must get out of the palace, as soon it will be completely flooded. He then orders Zoro to grab onto him. Zoro does so and they go under. Neptune then puts his arms behind his right side, and seemingly grabs the water, saying that what he is about to do will badly hurt his back. He tells the Straw Hats that he is making an escape route for them so they don't have to fight. The pirates in front of Neptune watch curiously, wondering what Neptune is going to do. Neptune uses his attack, Merman Combat: Ultra Marine and launches what is basically a pressurized beam of water at the fishmen in front of him. The blast sends the fishmen flying in all directions. Neptune, while holding his hurt back, tells the soldiers to go. The Minister of the Right is seen among the other soldiers, quickly swimming through the gap Neptune made for them. A fishman frantically swims over to the unconscious Hordy Jones and tells him to do something. He then proceeds to put an Energy Steroid pill in his captain's mouth. Meanwhile, the soldiers have made it out of the palace. Someone gives the order to keep moving and to head inland into Fishman Island.

Neptune is flat on his back,Usopp and Brook (who are wearing air bubbles) are trying to convince him to get up. Neptune tells them he is too old to be doing this kind of thing and that his body won't move. Several guards notice the king in need of help, and apparently, so does Jones. Hoe arrives just in time. Neptune grabs a rope around the whale, and Hoe begins to carry him out of the palace. Neptune thanks Hoe, telling him he owes him. Zoro, in the mean time, is about to be out of breath. Neptune then feels something stop him and is jerked back. Jones had grabbed him by the fin. The guards are surprised to see Jones up and moving around, as they thought he was incapacitated. They try and help, but Neptune turns them away, telling the guards to go and find Fukaboshi and his men. The soldiers are reluctant at first, but the Minister of the Right tells them to obey the king. Zoro is out of air, Usopp is raising his hands in surrender, and Brook seems to have gone limp, and they are captured by the New Fishman Pirates.

The scene changes to the Sea Forest, where Luffy is remarking how pretty it is. Shirahoshi is in tears as she thanks Luffy for bringing her there. Chopper decides it is safe for him to take his time to treat Hatchan's wounds. Luffy then sees the Thousand Sunny and Franky and calls out to him. Franky notices Luffy and asks him what he has been doing as he seems to have brought a pin-up girl (Shirahoshi) with him. Luffy introduces Franky to Scaredy-Cat, who then properly introduces herself as Shirahoshi. Franky then tells Luffy that Robin came by too. She said she was looking for something and went into the coral forest behind him. Luffy seems curious, but then Jinbe calls out to him, happy to see him after two years, and commenting that he hardly recognized him. Luffy is surprised and happy to see Jinbe, as he thought he would not get to see his friend since he heard Jinbe wasn't around. This confuses Jinbe, as he thought Luffy came to the forest because of his message. Shirahoshi is also glad to see Jinbe, who comments that Luffy came with the princess, whom he had not heard from in what felt like forever. It then dawns on Jinbe that Shirahoshi is in the Sea Forest, and not in her tower. He is so shocked that his eyes bug out of his head. While he is asking why she is in the Sea Forest, Chopper tells Franky he is going to lower Hatchan down from Megalo, and he should be ready to grab him. Jinbe's eyes bug out again at the sight of the injured Hatchan, and asks him how he got his wounds. He then asks him what he is doing on Fishman Island since he heard that Hatchan had been captured along with the rest of the Arlong Pirates. Hatchan, still weak from his injuries, asks if Jinbe is the one he is hearing.

Meanwhile, Sanji is completely enthralled by Shirahoshi. He then launches into a poetic metaphor where he is a painter, unable to capture Shirahoshi's beauty, as he dances around her. Chopper is overjoyed by Sanji's reaction to Shirahoshi, as he is behaving the way he normally does around a woman, saying he is back to his weird self again. Den then asks Shirahoshi why she is in the Sea Forest. Before she can answer, Luffy asks Den who he is and what he is doing on the Sunny. Franky then introduces Luffy to Den, saying he agreed to coat the ship as well as his relation to his old master, Tom. Luffy was surprised, and asked Franky if his brother really was a coating master (having only heard bits and pieces of Den's introduction). Franky tells him he is close enough. Jinbe is then talking to Shirahoshi, saying he understands her reasons for coming, but she must not leave her tower. Both Luffy and Jinbe then notice something in the air. Luffy jumps up and kicks a giant axe that was meant to kill Shirahoshi, redirecting it into the ground. Luffy then comments on how persistent Vander Decken IX is. Jinbe then asks Luffy why he brought the princess with him. Instead of answering him, Luffy turns to Shirahoshi and tells her that everything is okay, and he's here. Shirahoshi casually replies okay. Jinbe is amazed by how care-free Luffy is.

While everyone is hanging out around the Sunny, Luffy points to Otohime's grave and asks if that was the grave Shirahoshi was talking about, saying she has been in front of it for a long time. Jinbe explains to Luffy that Shirahoshi's mother is resting in that grave. He goes on to say that Shirahoshi had a poorly timed encounter with Vander Decken IX's poison fang ten years ago. She could not even go to her mother's funeral, as she had to stay in the tower. Shirahoshi is praying in front of the grave. Jinbe said there would be so many things she wanted to say to her mother. Just then, Nami calls out to Luffy. She and Keimi have arrived. Keimi is surprised to see him with Shirahoshi. Luffy asks Nami if the banquet had started yet, while Sanji is overjoyed to see her, and Chopper pronounces Sanji fully cured. Nami tells them that Hordy Jones is now on the loose. Jinbe is astounded that the Ryugu Palace could fall into such a crisis. Luffy asks what happened to the rest of the crew. Nami tells him she doesn't know, as she was planning to go back after she found Luffy and Jinbe. Shirahoshi starts crying over her father's capture, while Keimi asks Hatchan what happened to him. Jinbe apologizes, saying the Straw Hats had gotten entangled in the situation before he even realized it. He asks if he could explain quickly, saying it is hard to tell Luffy this now, and would have been even harder to tell him two years ago. He tells them that the Arlong Pirates were rampaging all over East Blue until a group of people put a stop to them. He adds that he has the utmost gratitude for those people, and thanks the Straw Hats. Hatchan adds that he would also like to take this opportunity to apologize. Jinbe then reveals that he was the one who set Arlong loose in East Blue, much to Nami's stunned surprise.

Chapter Notes

 * Chouchou and the mayor of Orange Town are seen for the first time since the Buggy Arc.
 * Hordy Jones and his crew take Energy Steroids for the second time.
 * King Neptune is a Fishman Karate user.
 * Hordy Jones and the New Fishman Pirates capture Neptune, Zoro, Usopp, and Brook.
 * Luffy and Shirahoshi finally reach the Sea Forest.
 * Robin has reached the Sea Forest and has gone searching for the Poneglyph.
 * Sanji is cured of his nosebleeds, as he acted normally around Shirahoshi and Nami.
 * Luffy meets Jinbe again after two years.
 * Jinbe has his first comic shock look in the (manga) series, after finding out that Shirahoshi had left the palace.
 * Shirahoshi finally sees her mother's grave for the first time.
 * Jinbe revealed that he was the one who set Arlong loose in East Blue eleven years ago, which was confirmed earlier by Yosaku in the Arlong Arc.