Chapter 160

The Straw Hat Pirates head to the Yuba Oasis to negotiate with the rebel leaders to stop the rebellion. Meanwhile, Crocodile and Miss All Sunday finish preparations for the operation, which is to occur in two days at 7 AM. They have the remaining Officer Agents - Mr. 1 and Miss Doublefinger, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei, and Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas - gather at the Spiders Cafe, with Mr. 3 listening in from the outside. The Officer Agents, once assembled, leave for Rainbase to meet Mr. 0.

Spiders Cafe at 8 O'Clock

After Ace's departure, the Straw Hat Pirates head to Yuba. They ask Luffy about the piece of paper Ace gave to him, which has nothing written on it. Despite that, Luffy wants to hold on to it because Ace wanted him to, so Nami sews the paper to the underside of Luffy's hat for safekeeping. The Straw Hats change into clothes that will protect them from the burning temperatures, which Vivi warns Luffy about. They arrive at the mouth of the Sandora River, and Vivi explains the way they will travel to Yuba with a map she sketched. They will exit the river and head inland, across from the town of Erumalu, where they will lay anchor. Afterwards, they will travel across the desert to the Yuba Oasis, so Vivi can meet the Rebel leader to explain the situation. Vivi is convinced that they can stop Baroque Works and save her country.

Meanwhile Crocodile and Miss All Sunday are finalizing their plan, which begins in two days at 7 o'clock AM. Crocodile asks Miss All Sunday about the necessary preparations and Miss All Sunday answers reassuringly, telling him about the 150 Billions agents waiting at Nanohana. She also mentions Mr. 2 Bon Kurei's failure in finding and taking care of Mr. 3, much to Crocodile's annoyance. Miss All Sunday also reveals that the remaining Officer Agents are set to meet at Spiders Cafe that night at 8.

Spiders Cafe is revealed to be the Baroque Works Arabasta Headquarters. Inside, a woman is reading a magazine while listening to a vinyl record. Immediately after, Mr. 4 and Miss Merry Christmas come into the Cafe with a ruckus. Miss Merry Christmas blames Mr. 4 for the long trip, which caused her hips to ache, and Mr. 4 apologizes very slowly. Miss Merry Christmas greets the woman, Paula, the owner of the Cafe, and asks her how business is. She notes how there isn't anybody else in the Cafe, and Paula explains that the Cafe is reserved for the Officer Agents that night. Paula mentions how she hasn't seen the Mr. 4 team in a while, and offers an orange pekoe tea to Miss Merry Christmas and an apple tea to Mr. 4. Miss Merry Christmas urges Paula to hurry with the drinks and impatiently bangs on the counter. Paula then asks about their work. Miss Merry Christmas snaps at her, saying work is dangerous as always, so Paula apologizes.

Suddenly, singing is heard in the Cafe despite the music being played being a sonata. Outside, Mr. 2 Bon Kurei and his subordinate Billions dance towards the Spiders Cafe while singing about the okama Way. Mr. 2 Bon Kurei enters the building on tip-toe, causing Paula to ask if Mr. 2 is an idiot. Mr. 2 laughs it off saying he's an okama and asks Paula for an octofait, octopus parfait, which Paula doesn't serve. Mr. 2 then dismisses his billion subordinates, reminding them not to slack off on their dance practice. Meanwhile, Miss Merry Christmas is getting a massage from Mr. 4, and Mr. 2 observes that "the fat old hag" is also attending. He then asks Paula about the Mr. 1 pair, whom he has never met. Though he has heard rumors of Mr. 1's intimidating personality, they don't bother Mr. 2. From afar, it is revealed Mr. 3 is spying on the gathering through a window.

Fear of a Krabby Patty

The episode begins with Mr. Krabs making new business hours for the Krusty Krab, until he sees that Plankton has the Chum Bucket open for 23 hours every day, so he decides to have the restaurant open 24/7. It is then revealed Plankton opened his restaurant 23 hours as part of his plan to get SpongeBob to collapse from exhaustion so that he'll be tired enough to tell him the formula.

After ten days of nonstop service, Plankton sees SpongeBob is not exhausted, so he calls Mr. Krabs using a fake name, Dr. Peter Lankton, to order 10,000 Krabby Patties so he can get SpongeBob's mind to crack from exhaustion and make him tell him the formula. Mr. Krabs gives the order to SpongeBob, without any breaks. A montage of the Krusty Krab being opening everyday is shown, while Plankton laughs maniacally in amusement because his plan is working very well. After 43 days of cooking nonstop, SpongeBob starts cooking Krabby Patties the wrong way.

When Mr. Krabs comes to check up on SpongeBob, he sees his boss as a Krabby Patty, scaring him. When he goes outside, he visualizes everyone as killer Krabby Patties and starts panicking. When Mr. Krabs sees that SpongeBob is somehow afraid of Krabby Patties now as evidenced by him screaming at the sight of them, he realizes something is wrong with his head and tells him he should go to a psychiatrist to find out why.

At the same time, Plankton secretly gives a flier to SpongeBob to come to his place so he can get the formula, by disguising himself as a nice psychiatrist named Dr. Peter Lankton and the Chum Bucket as his psychiatric center. He tries several methods but fails to get SpongeBob to tell the formula due to his fear and improper ways of participating.

Eventually, Plankton uses hypnosis to get the formula out of SpongeBob, but this ends up curing his phobia, as it gives him a dream where he conquers his fears, meaning Plankton saved SpongeBob from his phobia with hypnosis as all he needed was just some sleep. When SpongeBob goes back to the Krusty Krab, the episode ends with Mr. Krabs now opening the restaurant for 23 hours a day instead of 24. The two laugh over it, but Mr. Krabs shuts him up and sends him back to work.

The Sundering of the World

It fell to the young scholar, Malfurion Stormrage, to find help for his beleaguered people. Stormrage, whose own brother, Illidan, practiced the highborne’s magics, was incensed by the growing corruption amongst the upper class. Convincing Illidan to forsake his dangerous obsession, Malfurion set out to find Cenarius and muster a resistance force. The young, beautiful priestess, Tyrande, agreed to accompany the brothers in the name of Elune. Though both Malfurion and Illidan shared a secret love for the idealistic priestess, Tyrande’s heart belonged to Malfurion alone. Illidan resented his brother’s budding romance with Tyrande, but knew that his heartache was nothing compared to the pain of his magical addiction. . .

Illidan, who had grown dependent on magic’s empowering energies, struggled to keep control of himself and his overwhelming hunger to tap the Well’s energies once again. However, with Tyrande’s patient support, he was able to contain himself and help his brother find the reclusive demi-god, Cenarius. Cenarius, who dwelt within the sacred Moonglades of the distant Mount Hyjal, agreed to help the Night Elves by finding the ancient dragons and enlisting their aid. The Dragons, led by the great, red leviathan, Alexstrasza, agreed to send their mighty flights to engage the demons and their infernal masters.

Cenarius, calling on the spirits of the enchanted forests, rallied an army of ancient tree-men and led them against the Legion in a daring ground assault. As the Night Elves’ allies converged upon Azshara’s temple and the Well of Eternity, all-out warfare erupted. Despite the strength of their newfound allies, Furion and his colleagues realized that the Legion could not be defeated by martial strength alone.

As the titanic battle raged around Azshara’s capital city, the delusional Queen waited in anticipation for Sargeras’ arrival. The Lord of the Legion was preparing to pass through the Well of Eternity and enter the ravaged world. As his impossibly huge shadow drew ever closer to the Well’s raging surface, Azshara gathered the most powerful of her high-borne followers. Only by linking their magics together, in one focused spell, would they be able to create a gateway large enough for Sargeras to enter.

Furion, convinced that the Well of Eternity was the demons’ umbilical link to the physical world, insisted that it should be destroyed. His companions, knowing that the Well was the source of their immortality and powers, were shocked by the rash notion. Yet Tyrande, seeing the wisdom of Furion’s theory, convinced Cenarius and their Dragon comrades to storm Azshara’s temple and find a way to shut the Well down for good.

Knowing that the Well’s destruction would prevent him from ever wielding magic again, Illidan selfishly abandoned the group and set out to warn the high-borne of Furion’s plan. Due to the madness brought on by his addiction and the stinging resentment towards his brother’s affair with Tyrande, Illidan felt no remorse at betraying Furion and siding with Azshara and her ilk. Above all else, Illidan vowed to protect the Well’s power by any means necessary.

Heartbroken by his brother’s departure, Furion led his companions into the heart of Azshara’s temple. Yet, as they stormed into the main audience chamber, they found the high-borne in the midst of their final dark incantation. The raging communal spell created an unstable vortex of power within the Well’s raging depths. As Sargeras’ ominous shadow drew ever closer to the surface, Furion and his allies rushed to attack.

Azshara, having received Illidan’s warning, was more than prepared for them. Nearly all of Furion’s followers fell before the mad Queen’s raging powers. Tyrande, attempting to attack Azshara from behind, was caught off guard by the Queen’s high-borne guardsmen. Though she vanquished the guardsmen, Tyrande suffered grievous wounds at their hands. At seeing his love fall, Furion went into a murderous rage and resolved to end Azshara’s life.

As the battle raged inside and outside of the temple, Illidan appeared from the shadows near the shores of the great Well. Producing a set of specially crafted vials, Illidan knelt and filled each with the Well’s shimmering waters. Convinced that the demons would crush the Night Elves’ civilization, he planned to steal the sacred waters and keep their energies for himself.

The ensuing battle between Furion and Azshara threw the high-borne’s carefully crafted spellwork into chaos. The unstable vortex within the Well’s depths finally exploded and ignited a catastrophic chain of events that would sunder the world forever. The massive explosion rocked the temple to its foundations and sent massive quakes ripping through the tortured earth. As the horrific battle between the Legion and the Night Elves’ allies raged around and above the ruined capital city, the surging Well of Eternity buckled in upon itself and collapsed.

The resultant catastrophic explosion shattered the earth and blotted out the skies. . .

Oda Eiichiro