Gangs of the Sea

Overview

Not to be confused with the group.
“This is your home, fight for it! I promise this is gonna be good.”
Arin to the algae farmers


Gangs of the Sea is the twelfth episode of the first season of Ninjago: Dragons Rising.

Synopsis

Synopsis[]

The Ninja split up to find the three Dragon Cores. Lloyd and Arin are diverted by an ocean gang and their monstrous pet crab.[1]

Netflix: When the Ninja split up to find the three Dragon Cores, Arin and Lloyd take the airship but soon need help from a village of peaceful algae farmers.

Extended: The Ninja split into three teams to find the Dragon Cores that will end the MergeQuakes. Nya pairs with Sora, and Kai ends up with Wyldfyre. Lloyd and Arin head out on the Bounty, but a training mishap crashes them into the sea. To repair the ship, the Ninja must reclaim a floating village from an ocean gang and their monstrous pet crab, but the situation is not what it seems.[2]

Plot

Plot[]

As Rapton mocks the incarcerated Ras while watching the security feed, Empress Beatrix shows up, demanding an update, which Rapton tells her the Claws of Imperium are ready to search for the Dragon Cores, but wonders if they're too focused on the Ninja and should resume hunting for dragons, leading to Beatrix chastising Rapton, claiming her reputation has been humiliated by them.

The ninja split into groups

The ninja split into groups

Back at the Monastery of Spinjitzu, with the three locations on hand, Lloyd decided that they should split into three groups, which Nya, Sora, and Riyu immediately came together, and Lloyd picks Arin to go with him, leaving Kai and Wyldfyre (much to their shock and annoyance), while Zane will stay behind to deal with MergeQuakes and study the Portal gate. As they prepare to leave, Nya unintentionally calls upon dragon Sora, whom they'll be riding on, and keeps getting the two mixed up. Wyldfyre, mocking Kai's age, decides to take Heatwave, and Lloyd and Arin will take the Destiny's Bounty.

While en route to Mother Garden, Lloyd decided to teach Arin how to meditate, but the latter becomes bored by it before Lloyd then came up with how Arin used Spinjitzu and transferred it to an inanimate object when they fought Dorama, but he hasn't done it since and believes it was an imagination. But Lloyd believes he has more skills than he thinks and should learn them by knowing what holds him back.

The red sea

The red sea

Convinced, Arin attempts to try with a dinner plate, but fails and ends up throwing it overboard. However, Lloyd insists that he keeps trying before volunteering to catch the next plate if Arin can't transfer Spinjitzu into it, until he managed to do so, but ends up striking the Bounty's engine, sending the whole ship falling into the ocean. Without power, they have solely rely on the wind to move, where they soon pass through red ocean from another realm before spotting a vehicle in the air and call out to it, but it ignores them, both Ninja unaware that it was Rapton.

The floating structure

The floating structure

The Crab awakens

The Crab awakens

After some time, they eventually come across a floating structure and believe they'll stop there for repairs. However, the village, run by Merlopian pirates, attempts to dispose of them by firing arrows at them and summoning a giant crab, which damages the Bounty even more before they manage to blast it back with the ship's cannon and make their getaway. Eventually, they come across a much smaller village, where the townsfolk point them out to a man, who could help, but he has a shop at the previous village the two were at. Turns out, their village was actually a small portion of the other village and they are farmers that harvest algae. Unfortunately, the pirates then arrived, staged a mutiny and the crab forced them all onto the portion before separating it from their home village. With their resources running low, Arin insists the farmers fight back, but they're too afraid to do so, so he and Lloyd decide to train them, which seemed tough at first, but managed to achieve it in the end.

The tooth

The tooth

The Crab is defeated

The Crab is defeated

Later that night, they sneak into the village and take down some pirates before coming up with a plan to search for the leader as his crown is the one controlling the crab. However, the crab soon showed up, making the attack complicated, but they eventually find the leader before Lloyd goes after him while Arin kept the crab and the other pirates busy as best as he could, during which he tries to transfer Spinjitzu to a plate, but fails. Lloyd manages to defeat the leader, which knocks his crown off, and he admits that the crown was controlling him so that the crab can feed off the algae. They then notice the crab’s center tooth was larger than the rest, so everyone works together to try and get it off. As all their combined tactics fail, Arin decided that since the whole thing was annoying, he decided to annoy it back by getting on its head and make it try to pince at him, giving Lloyd the chance to knock the tooth out, which causes the crab to shrink and retreat.

The next morning, everyone soon works on the Bounty's engine before the mechanic tells Lloyd that because he and Arin helped reclaim their village, freed the pirates from being controlled, and brought them together, the cost would be on the house. With repairs soon complete, Lloyd and Arin soon leave with the latter hoping the others are having better luck than they had.

Kai and Wyldfyre trapped

Kai and Wyldfyre trapped

It turns out to be untrue for Kai and Wyldfyre, who end up in a pitfall trap with closing walls and spikes, both insisting it’s the other's fault.

Appearances
Trivia

Trivia[]

Cultural references[]

  • Arin standing on top of the crab monster's head where it started to try and grab him off is similar to Dr. Babble trying to grab Sonic off the top of his mech in the Sonic Prime episode "Battle in the Boscage."
    • Coincidentally, Arin and Sonic share the same voice actor, Deven Mack.
  • The premise of the episode with Lloyd and Arin teaching the farmers how to fight back against the Merlopian Gang is a homage to the 1954 film ‘Seven Samurai’, which features a group of samurai teaching a village of natives how to defend their home from bandits.

Errors[]

  • The map of the Merged Realms at the beginning of the episode is flipped.
  • When Zane was struck in the head by Frohicky's tongue, his sigh doesn't possess the vocal filter for his animatronic voice.
  • When a farmer objected to Arin's encouragement, his hood is not seen.
  • Before attacking the group, the three Merlopians that came around the corner had orange scales. After Arin's encouragement, they're all individually colored.
Videos

Videos[]

Translations

Translations[]

Language Name
Arabic عصابات البحر
Chinese (Traditional) 海上幫派
Czech Mořský gang
Dutch Bendes op de zee (Apple TV, YouTube, title card)
Bendes op zee (Netflix)
Finnish Meren jengit[3]
French Le Gang des Mers
German Die Riesenkrabbe
Italian Battaglia Marittima
Japanese 海のギャング!? 巨大カニの侵略を止めろ!
Polish Morskie gangi
Portuguese A Gangue do Mar
Romanian Bandiții mărilor
Zulu Izigelekqe Zasolwandle
Turkish Deniz Çeteleri
References