## One Piece Chapter 550: Marine Headquarters - Chapter: 550 - Pages: 0-14 - Characters: Usopp, Masked Boin Archipelago inhabitant, Civilians, Whitebeard, Marines, Portgas D. Ace, Children, Marineford residents, Reporters, Cameramen, Shabondy Archipelago crowd, Donquixote Doflamingo, Dracule Mihawk, Gecko Moria, Boa Hancock, Bartholomew Kuma, Salome, Royal Shichibukai, Kizaru, Akainu, Aokiji, Whitebeard Pirates, Luffy, Jimbei, Buggy, Impel Down prisoners, Gates of Justice, Sengoku, Monkey D. Garp, Denden Mushi, Tsuru, Doflamingo, Coby, Helmeppo, Cipher Pol, World Government, Portgas D. Rouge, Gol D. Roger ### Summary Page 0: Chapter title page: Chapter 550, "Marine Headquarters." The cover begins Usopp's short focused serial, "Usopp's 'I'll Die If I'm On My Own' Disease," with Vol. 1 titled "The Forest of Gluttony on the Boin Archipelago." Usopp sits in an impossible forest of oversized, tempting food-plants, eating while strange fruit, flowers and vines crowd around him. A masked local figure watches nearby. This is a separated-crew cover story rather than part of the Marineford countdown, but it sets Usopp's new Boin Archipelago situation in motion. Page 1: Around the world, civilians wait for Ace's execution and Whitebeard's possible arrival. In the South Blue, people say, "There are only three hours left..." and wonder whether Whitebeard is already there. In the East Blue, others ask if he will really show up, saying even Whitebeard is getting old and has not made major news in years. An older man calls him "a pirate from another age" and asks whether the Marines could lose. Another voice says that win or lose, there will be many deaths, and that it would be best if Whitebeard never showed up and the execution simply ended. Page 2: The anxiety spreads through other seas. In the North Blue, a desperate drinker yells at "Boozie" and the old shopkeeper, asking if he is really supposed to work on a day like this and demanding booze because he cannot live without something to drink. In the West Blue, men insist Whitebeard is not just some old man and remember that only a year ago, when he glanced at them for a second, they gave up on their lives. On the Grand Line, children skip rope while singing, "Whitebeard the Pirate, scarier than a demon," and adults listen in fear, asking what will happen to the world. Page 3: Narration explains Marineford, the island where Marine Headquarters stands. A large city on the island houses the families of the Marines, but those residents have been evacuated. As the execution draws closer, evacuated residents and crowds watch monitors at Shabondy Archipelago, while reporters and cameramen from all over the world gather there, ready to send word at a moment's notice. When Ace appears on the broadcast, spectators shout, "Hey, look!! They're bringing Ace out!!" Page 4: At Marineford, narration says the patrol ships sent out by the Marines have all been sunk. Whitebeard has still not been sighted, and the tension at Marineford is running high. The execution slowly draws closer with only three hours remaining. Ace is brought out in chains and forced onto the execution platform, the cuffs clanking with a "Gachan!" sound. The crowd below and the watching world see the condemned commander kneel at the top of the scaffold while the final countdown begins. Page 5: A full view of Marineford shows the fortress, harbor and battleships filling the crescent-shaped bay. Narration says well-known Marines have been gathered from all over the world and that, in all, over 100,000 elites are there waiting for the final battle. The location card reads, "Grand Line, Marineford, Marine Headquarters." Marines rally themselves, shouting, "Then it'll all be over!!!" "No matter what happens, there's only three more hours!!" and "Don't be nervous!!!" The giant sound effects over the fortress turn the entire island into a braced battlefield. Page 6: The defenses are laid out in layers. Narration says fifty battleships are stationed around the crescent-shaped bay and island, countless heavy cannons are set up along the coast, and at the very front of the troops, visible from the port, stand the five villains who hold the key to the battle: the Royal Shichibukai. Donquixote Doflamingo laughs among them, Dracule Mihawk stands calmly with his sword, Gecko Moria looms behind, Boa Hancock poses with Salome, Bartholomew Kuma stands silently with his book, and Marines wait under the heavy SFX of the assembled force. Page 7: At the rear of the plaza, atop the towering execution platform, is the center of the incident: the head of the second division of the Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace, awaiting his fate. Before Ace's eyes, protecting the platform, sits the Marines' greatest military force, the three admirals. The labels identify Marine HQ Admiral Kizaru, Borsalino; Marine HQ Admiral Akainu, Sakazuki; and Marine HQ Admiral Aokiji, Kuzan. The page places Ace behind them, the scaffold above the troops, and...