Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: How to Steal the Tonberry King Crown
The Saga of the Seaside Inn is one of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth's longest and most detailed side quests. Cloud's effort to aid young Johnny in making his tourist trap into a tourist triumph spans multiple stages and no less than three of the game's main story chapters. It's final step is also a doozy: Cloud must obtain nothing less than the Tonberry King's Crown. Getting it is easier said than done, so we've crafted a quick guide to stealing the crown.
Note that this page discusses locations and side quests from the game, and as such will constitute some very mild spoilers. You have been warned.
Finding the Tonberry King in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
The first step to taking the Tonberry King's Crown for Johnny is actually finding the Tonberry King. You'll only be able to find this fearsome fiend in Chapter 9, after you've gained access to Southern Corel and earned the Buggy vehicle used to traverse it via the Main Scenario.
The Tonberry King is Corel's Classified Intel, a special Fiend Hunt Intel activity that unlocks after you've fought most of the region's normal enemies and completed the other Fiend Hunt activities. Once you've done Chadley proud, the Tonberry King fiend hunt will become will become available as "Classified Intel: Heavy Lies the Crown."
The hunt is located in the southeastern portion of Corel, inside an old, ruined arena. The hunt itself will be marked on the map when unlocked, but you can also find it to the northeast of the Drainwater Drift Cache location and southeast of Fiend Intel 4: Death from Below.
How to Steal and Deliver the Tonberry King's Crown
You'll need to grab the Tonberry King's crown during the fight. For this, you absolutely need the Steal Materia, ideally equipped on a character with high Luck. Yuffie has multiple abilities that improve the chance of successful steals, so she's an ideal party member for this particular task. If you're following our best party member suggestions, she's probably in your party already.
You can also nullify most of the threat the King poses by equipping the Karmic Cowl and Safety Bit accessories. These protect against Instant Death attacks, making the party immune to being killed by their deadliest move. Revival Earrings and the Resist spell will also suffice if you don't have the relevant accessories.
Like other Tonberries, the Tonberry King isn't very mobile, but can lunge forward with a move that will instantly kill anyone it touches. This is your chance to pressure it, so play in close with characters like Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie.
Dodge the King's attack, then wallop him with moves. Once Pressured, you'll notice the crown fall off the King's head. The crown will then then be targetable like any other enemy. At this point you need to target the crown with a Steal. Do it quickly, because the Tonberry King will immediately move to recover the crown after it falls.
On successfully stealing the crown, you'll immediately receive a Pristine Crown key item. At this point you can end the fight and go on with your day.
Be careful about killing the King before you can steal the crown, as killing the king will drop a Mangled Crown. You can still deliver this to Johnny for the quest, but it'll lead to a lesser result. If you do fail to steal the crown, you can still repeat the fight at your leisure, though.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is available on PS5. Check out our other guides for more side quest solutions and essential info!